APWH CH 8 - Islam in South and Southeast Asia

Lateen

Triangular sails attached to the masts of dhows by long booms, or yard arms, which extended diagonally high across the fore and aft of the ship.

Buyids

Regional splinter dynasty of the mid-10th century; invaded and captured Baghdad; ruled Abbasid Empire under title of sultan; retained Abbasids as figureheads.

Seljuk Turks

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

Crusades

Series of military adventures initially launched by western Christians to free Holy Land from Muslims; temporarily succeeded in capturing Jerusalem and establishing Christian kingdoms; later used for other purposes such as commercial wars and extermination of heresy.

Saladin

Muslim leader in the last decades of the 12th century; reconquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam.

Sufism/Sufis

Islamic Mysticism; an approach to Islam where believers can attain a mental and spiritual state in which they feel joined with Allah. Many Sufis were important missionaries of Islam in conquered lands and who were revered as saints

Sati

burning of widows on the same funeral pyres as their deceased husband

Ulama

Orthodox religious scholars within Islam; pressed for a more conservative and restrictive theology; increasingly opposed to non-Islamic ideas and scientific thinking.

Mongols/Chinggis Khan

Central Asian nomadic peoples; smashed Turko-Persian kingdoms; captured Baghdad in 1258 and killed last Abbasid caliph. Chinggis Khan was elected khagan of all Mongol tribes in 1206; responsible for conquest of northern kingdoms of China, territories as far west as the Abbasid regions; died in 1227, prior to conquest of most of Islamic world.

Demak

Most powerful of the trading states on north coast of Java; converted to Islam and served as point of dissemination to other ports.

Mamluks

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

Muhammad ibn Qasim

Arab general; conquered Sind in India; declared the region and the Indus valley to be part of Umayyad Empire.

Mahmud of Ghazni

Third ruler of Turkish slave dynasty in Afghanistan; led invasions of northern India; credited with sacking one of wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India; gave Muslims reputation for intolerance and aggression.

Muhammad of Ghur

Military commander of Persian extraction who ruled small mountain kingdom in Afghanistan; began process of conquest to establish Muslim political control of northern India; brought much of Indus valley, Sind, and northwestern India under his control.

Quth-ud-din Aibak

Lieutenant of Muhammad of Ghur; established kingdom in India with capital at Delphi; proclaimed himself Sultan of India (r. 1206-1210).

Bhaktic cults/Shiva/Vishnu

Hindu groups dedicated to gods and goddesses; stressed the importance of strong emotional bonds between devotees and the god or goddess who was the object of their veneration; most widely worshipped gods were Shiva and Vishnu.

Kabir

Muslim mystic; played down the importance of ritual differences between Hinduism and Islam.

Shrivijaya

Trading empire centered on Malacca Straits between Malaya and Sumatra; controlled trade of empire; Buddhist government resistant to Muslim missionaries; fall opened up southeastern Asia to Muslim conversion.

Malacca

Portuguese factory or fortified trade town located on the tip of the Malayan peninsula; traditionally a center for trade among the southeastern Asian islands.