AP World History Chapter 14.2

The Realm of Islam

Sufi

Effective Islamic missionaries and mystics who worked to deepen spiritual awareness through their piety and devotion.

Qadis

Judges who set moral standards and resolved disputes in local communities.

Umayyad Dynasty

A group of prominent Meccan merchant clans whose seized power after the assassination of Ali whose rule favored Arab-Muslims.

Abu Bakr

One of Muhammad’s closest friends, he was chosen to serve as Islam’s head of state, judge, and military leader after the death of the prophet.

Ibn Rushd

A Muslim philosopher who tried to adapt the teaching of the Greek philosopher Aristotle to Islamic economy.

Sakk

Letters of credit established during the Abbasid dynasty that helped to stimulate trade for the Islamic economy.

Abbasid Dynasty

An Islamic group founded by Abu al-Abbas that rejected favor to Arab-Muslims by annihilating clans of the previous rulers and welcoming non-Arab Muslims to positions of wealth and power.

Caliph

Essentially lieutenants or substitutes who led the umma in the years after the death of Muhammad.

Rubaiyat

One of Islam’s great literacy works of poetic verse produced by Omar Khayyam.

Harun al-Rashid

Caliph during the highest point of the Abbasid dynasty.

Jizya

Special “head-tax” levied on primarily monotheistic Christians and Jews who refused to convert to Islam.

Shia

The minority sect within Islam that believed leadership should pass to a line descended from Muhammad and Ali and divinely appointed to rule Islam.

Sharia

Islamic holy law offering detailed guidance on proper behavior in almost every aspect of life.

Madrasas

Formal institutes of higher learning and education that began to be established in the 10th century to promote Islamic values.

Sunni

Traditionally, the majority sect within Islam that believed that any Muslim who followed Muhammad’s example may lead.

Al-Andalus

Islamic Spain established by Muslim Berber conquerors on the Iberian peninsula

Ulama

Pious scholars with great “religious knowledge” who sought to develop public policy in accordance with the Quran and sharia under the Abbasid’s.