AP HISTORY Muslim empire and vocab

Egyptian Mamluks

known as Arabs often purchased enslaved people were frequently ethnic Turks from Central Asia, to serve as soldiers and later as bureaucrats. Because of their roles, they had more opportunities for advancement than did most enslaved people. In Egypt,

Mamluk Sultanate

Established in egypt by facilitating trade in cotton and sugar between the Islamic

world and Europe. However, when the Portuguese and other Europeans

developed new sea routes for trade they later declined in power.

Seljuk Turks

Starting in the 11th century, they

began conquering parts of the Middle East, eventually extending their power

almost as far east as Western China. The Seljuk leader called himself sultan,

thereby reducing the role of the highest-ranking Abbasid from caliph to chief

Sunni religious authority.

Crusaders

The Abbasids allowed Christians to travel easily to and

from their holy sites in and around Jerusalem. However, the Seljuk Turks

limited this travel. European Christians organized groups of soldiers, called

Crusaders, to reopen access.

Mongols

The fourth group to attack the Abbasid Empire were among the

most famous conquerors in history Like many

Mamluks and the Seljuk Turks, they came from Central Asia. as well as conquered the remaining Abbasid Empire in 1258 and ended the Seljuk rule. They continued to push westward but were stopped in Egypt by the Mamluks

Economic Competition

Since the 8th century, the Abbasids had been an

important link connecting Asia, Europe, and North Africa. Goods and ideas

flowed from one region to another on trade routes controlled by the Abbasids.

Many went through Baghdad. However, trade patterns slowly shifted to

routes farther north.

Baghdad.

Baghdad lost its traditional place at the center of trade,

it lost wealth and population. It could not afford to keep its canals repaired.

Farmers could not provide enough food for the urban population. Slowly, the

infrastructure that had made Baghdad a great city fell into decay.

The Abbasid

Caliphate

led by Arabs and Persians, but the later Islamic states were

shaped by Turkic peoples who descended from people in Central Asia. For

example, the Mamluks in North Africa, the Seljuks in the Middle East, and

the Delhi Sultanate in South Asia were all at least partially Turkic. By the

16th century, three large Islamic states had their roots in Turkic cultures: the

Ottoman Empire in Turkey, the Safavid Empire in Persia, and the Mughal

Empire in India.

Cultural Continuities

Islamic scholars followed the advice of the

prophet Muhammad: “Go in quest of knowledge even unto China.” By

learning from many cultures, they carried on the work of earlier thinkers:

• They translated Greek literary classics into Arabic, saving the works

of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers from oblivion.

• They studied mathematics texts from India and transferred the

knowledge to Europeans.

• They adopted techniques for paper-making from China. Through

them, Europeans learned to make paper.

Cultural Innovations

In addition to building on the intellectual

achievements of other cultures, scholars during the “golden age” in Baghdad

made their own achievements.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274)

one

of the most celebrated Islamic scholars. He contributed to astronomy, law,

logic, ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine.

Ibn .haldun

was well known for his historical accounts and

is widely acknowledged as a founder of the fields of historiography

the study

of the methods of historians

and sociology.

‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

A’ishah’s poetry

reflects a contrast between most Muslims and Sufis.

Unlike Muslims who focused on intellectual pursuits,

Sufis

emphasized introspection to grasp truths that they believed could

not be understood through learning may have begun as a mystical

response to the perceived love of luxury by the early Umayyad Caliphate.

Sufi missionaries played an important role in the spread of Islam. They

tended to adapt to local cultures and traditions, sometimes interweaving local

religious elements into Islam, and in this way they won many converts.

Commerce, Class, and Diversity

Helping to power the golden age of

natural and moral philosophy and the arts was commerce. Islamic society

viewed merchants as more prestigious than did other societies in Europe and

Asia at the time. Muhammad himself had been a merchant, as had his first

wife. With the revival of trade on Silk Roads, merchants could grow rich from

their dealings across the Indian Ocean and Central Asia. They were esteemed

as long as they maintained fair dealings and gave to charity in accord with the

pillars of the Islamic faith.

non-Arab areas of Islamic expansion,

control by Islamic caliphs led

to discrimination against non-Arabs, though rarely to open persecution. This

discrimination gradually faded in the th century. The caliph’s soldiers were

forbidden to own territory they had conquered. The presence of a permanent

military force that kept order but did not own property allowed life for most

of the inhabitants of the countryside to remain virtually unchanged. However,

people paid tribute to Islamic caliphs rather than to Byzantine rulers.

Slavery

Slavery Islam prohibited Muslims from enslaving other Muslims or

monotheists such as Jews, Christians, and =oroastrians.

See Prologue.

However, it permitted enslaving others. Muslims often imported enslaved

18 WORLD HISTORY MODERN: AP® EDITION

people from Africa, .ievan Rus

present-day Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine

and Central Asia, but the institution of hereditary slavery had not developed.

Muhammad’s Policies

Muhammad raised the status of women in several

ways. He treated his wives with love and devotion. He insisted that dowries,

the payments prospective husbands made to secure brides, be paid to the

future wife rather than to her father. He forbade female infanticide, the killing

of newborn girls. Muhammad’s first wife was educated and owned her own

business, which set a pattern for the recognition of women’s abilities.

The Status of Women

Overall, Islamic women enjoyed a higher status

than Christian or Jewish women. Islamic women were allowed to inherit

property and retain ownership after marriage. They could remarry if widowed,

and they could receive a cash settlement if divorced. Under some conditions,

a wife could initiate divorce. Moreover, women could practice birth control.

Islamic women who testified in a court under shariah

see Topic .were to be protected from retaliation, but their testimony was worth only half that of

a man. One gap in the historical record is written evidence of how women

viewed their position in society: most of the records created before 150 were

written by men.

The rise of towns and cities

in Islamic-ruled areas resulted in new

limitations on women’s rights, just as it did in other cultures. The new status

of women might best be symbolized by the veil and the harem, a dwelling set

aside for wives, concubines, and the children of these women.

the Umayyads ruled

only briefly in the Middle East, they kept power

longer in Spain. In 11, after Muslim forces had defeated Byzantine armies

across North Africa, they successfully invaded Spain from the south. They

designated Cyrdoba as their capital for Spain.

Battle of Tours

The Islamic military was turned back in 2 when it lost

the Battle of Tours against Frankish forces. This defeat, rare for Islamic armies

during the 00s, marked the limit of rapid Islamic expansion into Western

Europe. Most of the continent remained Christian, but Muslims ruled Spain

for the next seven centuries.

Prosperity Under Islam

Like the Abbasids in Baghdad, the Umayyad

rulers in Cyrdoba created a climate of toleration, with Muslims, Christians,

and Jews coexisting peacefully. They also promoted trade, allowing Chinese

and Southeast Asian products to enter into Spain and thus into the rest of

Europe. Many of the goods in this trade traveled aboard ships called dhows.

These ships, first developed in India or China, had long, thin hulls that made

them excellent for carrying goods, though less useful for conducting warfare.

Ibn Rushd,

He wrote influential works on

law, secular philosophy, and the natural sciences.

The Muslims, Christians, and Jews living in al-Andalus 2

“people of

the book” as Muslims regarded them 2 not only tolerated one another but also

influenced one another.

. Maimonides

developed a synthesis of Aristotle’s reasoning and biblical interpretation. He,

in turn, influenced Christian philosophers, including St. Thomas Aquinas

1225±12. Islamic scholarship and scientific innovations, along with the

knowledge transferred from India and China, laid the groundwork for the

Renaissance and Scientific Revolution in Europe. For example, making paper,

a technology developed in China and taught to Europeans by Muslims, was

vital to spreading ideas in Europe.