History - Islam Quest

What was a caliph?

• The successor of Muhammad

• Chief Muslim ruler

• Ruler of the Islamic Empires during the post-classical period.

• Term caliph is no longer used

What was a caliphate?

• Islamic State that was ruled by a caliph

• Caliphates that ruled during the post-classical era were large land empires

  • Stretched from Spain to North Africa, the Middle East, and into Asia and Eastern Europe.

  • Democratic in theory

What were the 4 rightly guided caliphs?

• First four caliphs ACCORDING TO SUNNI TRADITION

  • Shia’s thought only Ali legitimate

• Aka Rashidun caliphs

Umayyad Dynasty (661-750)

• Tried to avoid civil war

  • Provinces with governors

  • Nomads recruited into army

  • Capital to Damascus

  • Established hereditary succession

    • caliph’s son comes into power

  • Arabic = official language

• Collapsed quickly

  • Non-arab Muslims rebel

  • Wealth gap between ruler and lower classes widens

• Overthrown by Abbasids in 750CE

• Empire at largest under their rule

Abbasid Caliphate

• Took over from Umayyads

  • Invited fam to dinner and murdered

    • 2 escaped, one of which drowned (other hid)

• Capital city to baghdad

• Vizier = high official

• Replaces Arab aristocracy

• Considered Golden Age of Islam

  • long period of stability

  • trade centers became centers of learning and innovation

• 750-1258CE

Power Vacuum

• Lack of central authority

• Usually follows collapse of empire

• No one is in power

Political Legitimacy

• General belief that person in power has the right to rule

• Shia’s don’t believe first 3 of the rightfully guided caliph’s had political legitimacy (thought Ali should rule)

• Sunni’s believe that caliph should be elected, Shia’s think only politically legitimate if descendent of Muhammad

Hereditary Succession

• Transfer of title/class/office through generations (at birth)

• Slavery not hereditary

• Sunni’s think caliphate should not be inherited, Shia’s think there should be political hereditary succession within the caliphate

Allah

The god in Islam/for Muslim’s

Muslim

Someone who follows/practices Islam

Islam

• Monotheistic religion

• God is Allah

• Started with Prophet Muhammad in the Middle East

Ka’aba

• Means cube in arabic

• square building draped with silk veil

• In Mecca, Saudi Arabia

• Holiest shrine in Islam

• Muslims pray towards the Kaaba

• Hajj is pilgrimage to Kaaba

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/west-and-central-asia-apahh/west-asia/a/the-kaaba

Qur’an

• Record of the revelations given to Prophet Muhammad by Allah

• Most important religious book in Islam

Mosque

• Islamic place of worship

  • Muslims gather for prayer, etc

Hajj

• Traditional, annual journey to Mecca

• Brings thousands of Muslim pilgrims from all over to worship at Ka’aba at Mecca

Hadith

• Reports from the Prophets and companions/early muslims

• Important text in Islamic faith

• 2 most important sources of religious info = Quran and Hadith

• Shiite and Sunni Hadith = different

Five Pillars of Islam

1) Declaring faith in God and Prophet Muhammad

2) Praying everyday

3) Fasting during Ramadan

4) Giving to the poor'

5) Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) at least once in life

Dhimmi

• Non Muslims in the caliphate

• Must pay jizya

Shi’a or Shiite Islam

• 10-15%ish of all muslims

  • majority in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan

• Believe Ali was first true caliph (should have ruled right after Muhammad)

  • First 3 of the four rightly guided caliphs not legitimate

• Think caliph should be descendent of Muhammad'

  • hereditary succession

• Imam’s

  • Used to signify leadership skill and blood relation to Muhammad

  • Chose successor & passed down knowledge

• Religious practice centers around Hussein (Ali’s younger son)

  • martyred by Sunni forces (680CE)

  • death remebered on Ashura

    • somber holiday

    • ritual of whipping oneself

Twelver Schiism Beliefs

• branch of Shiite

• Believe there was a line of 12 Imams appointed at birth by God

• Very important in religious culture

• 12th on disappeared in late 800”s

  • Twelvers believe last Imam will return to lead Islam someday

Sunni Islam

• 85-90%

• All over the world (majority of muslims)

• Believe the four rightly guided caliphs were all politically legitimate

• Caliph should be elected person who follows Muhammads beliefs

• More relaxed hierarchy

  • religious leaders often under gov control

• More flexible

  • even not religious-leaders can lead prayer/be preachers

Monotheism

The belief in only one God

(Opposite is polytheism)

Pilgrimage Center

Pilgrims go to Mecca to see the Kaaba

Calligraphy

• Art of beautiful handwriting

• Often seen in arabic script

• used for spritirual, artistic, and decorative purposes

• Fundamental element in Islamic art 

• Quran writtin in calligraphy

Minarets

• Tall, slender towers on mosques

• Once used to call Muslims to prayer

• Symbol and beacon of Islam in an area

House of Wisdom

• In Baghdad

• Center of scholarship

• Scholars of House of Wisdom created many new innovations

  • Arabic numerals still in use today

Camel

• Mode of transportation for Arab traders

  • did not need much water, so could travel for long time in desert

• Made trade/travel easier/safer

Paper

• Muslims armies encountered paper in Central Asia (~700, maybe 750CE)

• paper quickly became available in Islamic Caliphate

  • huge industry

• Tons more books being made

  • hundreds of scribes transcribed translations and new writings of Baghdad scholars

  • Books available to normal people

    • tons of bookstores

    • Population more educated as a whole

Algebra

• Created by Islamic scientists

Trade Institutions

• Caravans

  • Made travel safer for merchants (power in numbers0

    • less likely to be robbed

• Funduq

  • Safe place for merchants to rest and learn about trade opportunities

  • Functioned as centers of trade

• Souq

  • Outdoor marketplaces for merchants

  • Large areas with stalls set up for trade

• Sakks

  • Method of checks rather than actually currency 

    • less likely to be robbed while traveling, and easier to carry

• New mathematical ideas

  • Made transfer of money easier 

Ideology of Conquest

• Conquest in the name of caliphate led to the spread of Islamic faith

• When caliphate conquered new areas, did not force islamic culture upon new area

  • Muslim culture still often merged with local culture

Civil Wars

First Fitna

• First Muslim Civil War

• Sparked when Ali becomes Caliph in 656

  • Muawiya (related to Uthman → Uthman assasinated) thinks Ali not doing enough to bring assassins to justice

    • Refuses to pledge allegiance

  • Muawiya also has built large army

    • lots of tension

• Battle of the Camel (656CE)

  • Ali’s followers attack Aisha’s army to prevent compromise between Ali and Muawiya

  • Very bloody

• Battle of Siffin (657CE)

  • Ali and Muawiya armies meet

  • Ali’s army doesn’t want to wait for compromise → attacks

  • very bloody

Also, lots of overall unrest during all the caliphates (most rulers assassinated)

Muslim Trade Network

Islamic Caliphate situated at center of tons of trade routes

International Trade Network:

• 750-1350CE

• Spread tech, products, religion

• most merchants Muslim → trade was in arabic

• new business practices

  • Banks

  • Sakks

Trans-Saharan Trade Route

• Gold out of West Africa

• Salt out of North Africa

• Camels introduced

Silk Road

• China → Middle east → Europe

• Silks and spices

Indian Ocean Trade Network

• Connected China, India, Middle East, and East Africa

• Silks, porcelain, cotton, pearls, horses, slaves, gold, and ivory

Jizya

Tax non muslims had to pay to the Islamic Caliphate if living in Empire

Sakk

Check like slip of paper that promised payment, rather than actual currency

• Made travel for merchants safer, as less likely to be robbed

Trade Route

A path or network used for commercial transport of goods and services between different regions; established routes that facilitate trade.

Mecca

• Holiest city in Islam

  • Birthplace of prophet Muhammad

  • Where the Ka’aba is

  • Direction that Muslims pray (always facing Mecca)

Oases

A source of water in the desert. (Cities such as Mecca and Medina often formed near oases)

Status of Women

• Islam ended female infanticide (buried alive at birth for not being male)

• Men and women equal in eyes of Allah

• Property rights

  • even in marriage, women keep their land

• Women must be educated

  • often scribes → worked in House of Wisdom

• Women had a say in marriage (COULD SAY NO)

• Men had up to 4 wives

  • Not romantic → if brother killed in war, married sister in law to provide for brothers wife and children

    • safety net for widows

• Women must wear Hijab (expected attire)

  • Mandil → Headscarf

  • Jilbab → Long, wide coat

  • Chader (or bbaya) → long black sheet covering body (only eyes visible)

Class Structure

Theoretically Quran states there should be no caste system, and all are equal

Reality of hierarchy:

1) Arab Muslims (from birth)

2) Arab Converts

3) Non-Arab Muslims

Cultural Diffusion

When cultures blend together. Islamic culture blended with local cultures when areas were conquered. 

Examples:

• Can be seen in architecture of Great Mosque in Xian China (mosque w Chinese architecture)

• Can be seen in style of mosque in Djenne in Mali

  • Ostritch eggs and mud clay show local culture, while minarets show Islamic culture

Medical Advances

• Advanced study of anatomy (religion didn’t prevent study of corpses like christians)

• A lot of work on optics

  • Ibn Al-Haytham = father of optics (was muslim)

  • produced first treatise that tried to explain how the eye sees

  • Muslims drs removed cataracts surgically with a hollow needle thousands of years before the west even tried