WHAP- Vocab List #3

Quiz on 9/23

Islam

A religion based on the teachings of the prophet Mohammed which stresses belief in one god (Allah), Paradise and Hell, and a body of law written in the Quran. Followers are called Muslims.

Muslim

a follower of the religion of Islam.

Islamic/Islamicate

relating to Islam/Associated with regions in which Muslims are culturally dominant, but not specifically with the religion of Islam.

Caliph

successor to Muhammad as political and religious leader of the Muslims.

Jizya

tax paid by Christians and Jews who lived in Muslim communities to allow them to continue to practice their own religion.

Sunni

One of the two major branches of Islam, the branch that consists of the majority of that religion's adherents. These muslims regard their denomination as the mainstream and traditionalist branch of Islam.

Shi'a

The smaller of the two major branches of Islam. They believe that the successors to Muhammad must be relatives and that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad.

Umayyad

The first great Muslim dynasty to rule the empire of the caliphate (661-750 CE), sometimes referred to as the Arab kingdom.

Abbasid

Second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim empire of the caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in 750 ce and reigned as the Abbasid caliphate until it was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258. The name is derived from the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, al-ʿAbbās (died c. 653) of the Hashemite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca.

Harun al-Rashid

was the fifth caliph of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (786-809), who ruled Islam at the zenith of its empire with a luxury in Baghdad memorialized in The Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights Entertainment). Sun of Mahdī, the third ʿAbbāsid caliph.

dhows

one-or-two-masted Arab sailing vessel, usually with lateen rigging (slanting triangular sails), common in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

al-Mahdi

Third of the Abbasid caliphs; attempted but failed to reconcile moderates among Shi'a to Abbasid dynasty: falled to resolve problem of succession.

Buyids

Persian invaders of the 10th century; captured Baghdad and acted as sultans through Abbasid figureheads

Seljuk Turks

Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis; ruled in name of Abbasid caliphs from mid-11th century

Mamluks

Muslim slave warriors; established a dynasty in Egypt; defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 and halted Mongol advance.

Sultan

"holder of power"; the military and political head of state under the Seljuk Turks and the Ottomans.

Sultans of Delhi

Rulers of a Muslim dynasty rooted in the Indian subcontinent. For 300 yrs. from c. 1200, a series of Persian, Afghan, Turkic or mixed descent ruler proclaimed themselves Sultans of Delhi.
Fought each other, Mongols, Turks & indigenous Hindu princes.

Ibn Battuta

(1304-1369) Morrocan Muslim scholar, the most widely traveled individual of his time. He wrote a detailed account of his visits to Islamic lands from China to Spain and the western Sudan. His writings gave a glimpse into the world of that time period.

Sufi

A member of the more mystical third sect of Islam famous for their dance and their poetry.

Factions

When Muhammad died, there was debate over who should replace him as leader. This led to a schism in Islam, and two major sects emerged: the Sunnis and the Shiites.

Disseminate

to scatter or spread widely.