Islamic Empires

the quizzes

Why was Islam able to spread so quicky after Muhammad’s death?

 

A long war had exhausted the Byzantine and the Persian empires

The movement led by Muhammad and those who succeeded him, however it is to be identified, was a religious one, or more precisely had important religious components, and those components had considerable force. (...) The monotheism preached by Muhammad was of central importance, since it both demanded a radical break from the polytheism of pre-Islamic Arabia... and provided a channel for dialogue with Near Eastern Judaism and Christianity. More importantly, Muhammad’s religious message had social and political implications, which were reflected most acutely in Umar’s establishment of the diwan. [The ranking system based on tribal identity and role in the new Islamic community.] 

From Jonathan Berkey's The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800

Which of the following best describes the relationship between Islam and politics?

Islam and politics were intertwined

Whatever the reason, it is clear that the empires of Byzantium and Persia failed to keep in check the  peoples within and beyond their borders in the late sixth and early seventh centuries. The Turks and Arabs [were] all able to make significant encroachments over the course of this period. …the Arabs were directly adjacent to the soft southern underbellies of these empires, and so it was they who ultimately triumphed in this seventh-century great game.

From Robert Hoyland's In God's Path: The Arab Conquest

Based on this excerpt, what statement best explains the rapidity of Islamic expansion in the 7th century?

The Persian Empire was significantly weakened by years of war with the Byzantines and civil war. This made it vulnerable to being conquered by the armies of the caliphs.

The early Islamic Empire is one of the largest in the history of the world, true or false?

True

How did Islamic artists regard techniques from other cultures?

They borrowed and transformed the into unique styles

What purpose did the courtyard serve in the Great mosque of Damascus?

a social space for people to gather

The...emergence during the seventh and eighth centuries of particular Islamic identities and patterns of religious authority can be read as a continuation...of the focusing of religious identities which characterized the late antique Near East. (...) Islam itself only took shape through a process of dialogue with other faith traditions. Indeed, it is misleading to speak of the “appearance” or “rise” of Islam (...) It would be safer to say that Islam “emerged,” gradually and uncertainly, over the decades... which followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. 

From Jonathan Berkey's The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800

What is Berkey's argument about the development of Islam?

Islam did not appear as a fully-formed faith, but developed through conversation and study with other religions

What was the status of Jews and Christians under early Muslim rule in Spain?

Jews and Christians were protected religious minorities who were expected to pay a tax for their protection but who were participating members of society.

How did knowledge from the Middle East and Spain find its way to Europe?

Scholars from the city of Toledo translated works from Arabic into Latin and spread their works to Northern Europe which eventually inspired the Renaissance.

Which statement best describes the complex of Alhambra?

It was a magnificent complex that reflected the synthesis of cultural influences combining to create a unique style of beauty with ornate decorations and sophisticated gardens.

What materials were prominently used in the construction of the Great Mosque?

Remains from earlier structures

Which of the following elements are commonly found in Islamic architecture?

domes and minarets

"Travel and trade also flourished in this period [...] One 9th-century writer tells us of [multi-lingual] Iraqi Jews who criss-crossed Eurasia, travelling between France and China (covering Muslim lands, southern Russia, and India along the way), and the discovery of thousands of Abbasid coins in Scandinavia attests to the scope of this commercial activity. Even the spread of papermaking from China to the Near East is instructive in this context: our sources tell us that Muslims defeated a Chinese army in 751, capturing papermakers in the process from whom they learned the techniques themselves. What is interesting is that such hostile circumstances – a bloody battle in Central Asia – did little to hinder cross-cultural interaction and the spread of commodities, people, and ideas."

From Adam J. Silverstein, Islamic History: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

What evidence does Silverstein use to support his claim that commercial and cultural exchange flourished during this period?

• Papermaking spread from China to the Middle East

• Abbasid money was found in Scandinavia

What options did Jews have after the Conquest of Granada by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle?

They could either convert to Christianity, flee or be killed.

What happened to the Mosque of Cordoba after the Christian conquest took the city of Cordoba?

 

Seized from the Muslims and expanded, it became a Christian Cathedral.

"Conversion was a very gradual process. Although earlier Muslim and Western writers assumed that the region was forcibly, quickly, and massively converted to Islam, nowhere in the sources is there mention of the conversion of large numbers of people, or of whole villages, towns, and regions. The only known exception may be on the Byzantine frontier. The available evidence points, rather, to a slow and uneven process of social and religious transformations. Moreover, the “modern” notion of conversion does not correspond to the historical process by which individuals came to identify themselves as Muslim for a variety of political, economic, and social reasons. Conversion did not necessarily imply a profound inner spiritual change.

There are a number of reasons for the slow pace of conversions. The Arab-Muslim elite assumed that they would form a dual society in which the conquerors would constitute an aristocracy and the conquered peoples a subject population: the former Muslim, the latter not. Arab elites were resistant to the conversion of masses of people partly to defend their exclusive privileges and partly to preserve the full revenue base of the regime. The early Muslim regime was also religiously tolerant of the non-Muslim populations. In the highly fluid social world of the seventh century, peoples of all ethnicities and religions blended into public life. Muslims and non-Muslims were not segregated in public spaces such as markets, baths, and festivals. In Syria, they even shared churches before the conquerors were ready to build mosques for themselves. The Muslims recognized or accepted these churches as holy places and may not have fully distinguished Islam from Christianity."

From Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

According to Lapidus, what was one reason Arabs did not seek to immediately convert many conquered people to Islam?

Being Arab and Muslim provided a way for the new rulers to distinguish themselves from conquered peoples

What is a caliphate?

A state under the leadership of an Islamic leader

"Travel and trade also flourished in this period [...] One 9th-century writer tells us of [multi-lingual] Iraqi Jews who criss-crossed Eurasia, travelling between France and China (covering Muslim lands, southern Russia, and India along the way), and the discovery of thousands of Abbasid coins in Scandinavia attests to the scope of this commercial activity. Even the spread of papermaking from China to the Near East is instructive in this context: our sources tell us that Muslims defeated a Chinese army in 751, capturing papermakers in the process from whom they learned the techniques themselves. What is interesting is that such hostile circumstances – a bloody battle in Central Asia – did little to hinder cross-cultural interaction and the spread of commodities, people, and ideas."

From Adam J. Silverstein, Islamic History: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

What is Silverstein’s claim about the relationship between conflict and cross-cultural interaction during the Abbasid Caliphate?

 

Conflict does not always limit cross-cultural exchange

Before it became the Great Mosque of Damascus, the temple of Hadad-Ramman was converted into what during the Hellenistic period?

A Temple for Zeus

Where did the Islamic empire originate?

Saudi Arabia

Hunain ibn Ishaq

• Father of Arab medicine

• also a Christian

• Worked on translations

• Credited to inventing medical and philisophical terms 

• This school was the FIRST to translate the Hippocratic Oath

Farabi

• The MAster Philosopher

• Was called the “second master” of knowledge after Aristole

Alhambra

• most famous buildings in the world came from the cultural synthesis taking place in Andalusia. 

• Alhambra Palace in Spain

• Built by Muslim King

• Referred to as the red one because of the red hues

• All the archives were incinerated in a fire

• Theres a pool that reflects the palace, making it look like it has been suspended up in the air

• The king asked the architect to harmonize the space by a family of rectangles

Fibonacci

• studied mathematics with a “marvelous” Muslim tutor

• introduced Hindi-Arabic numerals to Europeans. 

  • simplified business accounting and trade when they replaced Roman numerals

• Also introduced the concept of zero

• Met with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and helped publish books about math