Chapter 6: The World of Islam

The Rise of Islam

The Arabs

  • Like the Hebrews and the Assyrians, the Arabs were a Semitic-speaking people who lived in the Arabian Peninsula, a desert land sorely lacking in rivers and lakes.
  • Survival in such a harsh environment was not easy, and the Arabs organized into tribes to help one another.
  • Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh who was chosen from one of the leading families by a council of elders.
  • The Arabs lived as farmers and sheepherders on the oases and rain-fed areas of the Arabian Peninsula.
  • Most early Arabs were polytheistic—they believed in many gods.
  • The Arabs trace their ancestors to Abraham and his son Ishmael, who were believed to have built at Makkah (Mecca) the Kaaba, a house of worship whose cornerstone was a sacred stone, called the Black Stone.
  • The Arabs recognized a supreme god named Allah (Allah is Arabic for “God”), but they also believed in other tribal gods.
  • The Arabian Peninsula took on a new importance when political disorder in Mesopotamia and Egypt made the usual trade routes in Southwest Asia too dangerous to travel.
    • Communities along this route, such as Makkah, prospered from the increased caravan trade.

The Life of Muhammad

  • Into this world of tension stepped Muhammad.
    • Born in Makkah to a merchant family, he became an orphan at the age of five.
    • He grew up to become a caravan manager and married a rich widow named Khadija, who was also his employer.
  • Over time, Muhammad became troubled by the growing gap between what he saw as the simple honesty and generosity of most Makkans and the greediness of the rich trading elites in the city.
    • During one of these visits, Muslims believe, Muhammad received revelations from God.
    • Muhammad came to believe that Allah had already revealed himself in part through Moses and Jesus — and thus through the Hebrew and Christian traditions
  • Out of these revelations, which were eventually written down, came the Quran, the holy book of the religion of Islam.
    • The Quran contains the ethical guidelines and laws by which the followers of Allah are to live.
  • Those who practice the religion of Islam are called Muslims.
  • Islam has only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is God’s prophet.
  • After receiving the revelations, Muhammad returned home and reflected upon his experience.
    • People were surprised at his claims to be a prophet.
  • Muhammad became discouraged by the persecution of his followers, as well as by the failure of the Makkans to accept his message.
    • He and some of his closest supporters left Makkah and moved north to Yathrib, later renamed Madinah (Medina; “city of the prophet”).
  • The journey of Muhammad and his followers to Madinah is known as the Hijrah
    • The year the journey occurred, 622, became year 1 in the official calendar of Islam.
  • Muhammad soon began to win support from people in Madinah, as well as from Arabs in the desert, known as Bedouins.
    • From these groups, he formed the first community of practicing Muslims.
  • Muslims saw no separation between political and religious authority.
  • Submission to the will of Allah meant submission to his prophet, Muhammad.
  • In 630, Muhammad returned to Makkah with a force of ten thousand men.
  • ll Muslims are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Makkah, known as the hajj, if possible.

The Teachings of Muhammad

  • Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is monotheistic.
    • Allah is the all-powerful being who created the universe and everything in it.
  • Unlike Christianity, Islam does not believe that its first preacher was divine.
  • Islam is a direct and simple faith, stressing the need to obey the will of Allah.
    • Islam is not just a set of religious beliefs but a way of life as well.
  • After Muhammad’s death, Muslim scholars developed a law code known as the shari’ah
    • The shari’ah does not separate religious matters from civil or political law.
    • Believers are expected to follow sound principles for behavior.
    • Family life is based on marriage.

The Arab Empire and Its Successors

Creation of an Arab Empire

  • Muhammad had been accepted as both the political and religious leader of the Islamic community.
  • Shortly after Muhammad’s death, some of his closest followers chose Abu Bakr, a wealthy merchant and Muhammad’s father-in-law, to be their leader.
    • He was named caliph, or successor to Muhammad.
    • Under Abu Bakr’s leadership, the Islamic movement began to grow.
  • Muhammad had overcome military efforts by the early Makkans to defeat his movement.
  • The Quran permitted fair, defensive warfare as jihad, or “struggle in the way of God.”
  • Muhammad’s successors expanded their territory.
  • Unified under Abu Bakr, the Arabs began to turn the energy they had once directed toward each other against neighboring peoples.
    • Four years later, they took control of the Byzantine province of Syria.
  • The Arabs, led by a series of brilliant generals, had put together a large, dedicated army.
  • Early caliphs ruled their far-flung empire from Madinah.
  • In the conquered territories, Arab administrators were quite tolerant, sometimes even allowing local officials to continue to govern.

The Umayyads

  • In 661, the general Mu’awiyah, the governor of Syria and one of Ali’s chief rivals, became caliph.
  • Mu’awiyah moved quickly to make the office of caliph, called the caliphate, hereditary in his own family.
    • In doing this, he established the Umayyad dynasty.
  • He then moved the capital of the Arab Empire from Madinah to Damascus, in Syria.
  • At the beginning of the eighth century, Arab armies conquered and converted the Berbers, a pastoral people living along the Mediterranean coast of northern Africa.
    • Around 710, combined Berber and Arab forces crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and occupied southern Spain.
    • In 717, another Muslim force had launched an attack on Constantinople with the hope of defeating the Byzantine Empire.
  • The Arab advance had finally come to an end, but not before the southern and eastern Mediterranean parts of the old Roman Empire had been conquered.
  • In spite of Umayyad successes, internal struggles threatened the empire’s stability.
  • An especially important revolt took place in present-day Iraq early in the Umayyad period.
    • It was led by Hussein, second son of Ali—the son-in-law of Muhammad.
    • Hussein encouraged his followers to rise up against Umayyad rule in 680.
    • This struggle led to a split of Islam into two groups.
  • The Shiite Muslims accept only the descendants of Ali as the true rulers of Islam.
  • The Sunni Muslims did not all agree with Umayyad rule but accepted the Umayyads as rulers.

The Abbasid Dynasty

  • Resentment against Umayyad rule grew.
    • As mentioned, non-Arab Muslims resented favoritism shown to Arabs.
  • In 750, Abu al-Abbas, a descendant of Muhammad’s uncle, overthrew the Umayyad dynasty and set up the Abbasid dynasty, which lasted until 1258.
  • The move eastward increased Persian influence and encouraged a new cultural outlook.
  • The Abbasid dynasty experienced a period of splendid rule during the ninth century.
  • Best known of the caliphs of the time was Harun al-Rashid, whose reign is often described as the golden age of the Abbasid caliphate.
  • This was also a period of growing prosperity.
  • Under the Abbasids, the caliph began to act in a more regal fashion.
  • The bureaucracy assisting the caliph in administering the empire grew more complex as well.
  • A council headed by a prime minister, known as a vizier, advised the caliph.
  • Despite its prosperity, all was not well in the empire of the Abbasids.
    • Vast wealth gave rise to financial corruption.
    • The process of disintegration was helped along by a shortage of qualified Arabs for key positions in the army and the civil service.
    • Eventually, rulers of the provinces of the Abbasid Empire began to break away from the central authority and establish independent dynasties.
  • Morocco became independent, and a new dynasty under the Fatimids was established in Egypt, with its capital at Cairo, in 973.
  • The Muslim Empire was now politically divided.

The Seljuk Turks

  • The Fatimid dynasty in Egypt soon became the dynamic center of Islamic civilization.
  • The Seljuk Turks were a nomadic people from central Asia.
    • They had converted to Islam and prospered as soldiers for the Abbasid caliphate.
  • In 1055, a Turkish leader captured Baghdad and took command of the empire.
    • His title was sultan— or “holder of power.”
  • By the second half of the eleventh century, the Seljuks were putting military pressure on the Byzantine Empire.
    • At first, Muslim rulers were thrown on the defensive by the invading crusaders, who were able to conquer areas and establish crusader states.
    • In 1169, however, Saladin, a new Muslim ruler, took control of Egypt and made himself sultan, thus ending the Fatimid dynasty.
  • The Crusades had little lasting impact on Southwest Asia, except to breed centuries of mistrust between Muslims and Christians.

The Mongols

  • The Mongols were a pastoral people who swept out of the Gobi in the early thirteenth century to seize control over much of the known world.
  • Beginning with the advances led by Genghis Khan in North China, Mongol armies spread across central Asia.
    • After his forces captured Baghdad in 1258, he decided to destroy the city.
  • Schools, libraries, mosques (Muslim houses of worship), and palaces were burned to the ground.
  • The Mongols advanced as far as the Red Sea.
    • Their attempt to seize Egypt failed, however, in part because of resistance from the Mamluks.
  • Over time, the Mongol rulers converted to Islam and began to intermarry with local peoples.
  • As a result of the Mongol destruction of Baghdad, the new center of Islamic civilization became Cairo, in Egypt.

Islamic Civilization

Prosperity in the Islamic World

  • Overall, the period of the Arab Empire was prosperous.
  • The Arabs carried on extensive trade, not only within the Islamic world but also with China, the Byzantine Empire, India, and Southeast Asia.
  • Trade was carried both by ship and by camel caravans, which traveled from Morocco in the far west to the countries beyond the Caspian Sea.
    • Starting around 750, trade flourished under the Abbasid dynasty.
    • With flourishing trade came prosperous cities.
  • While the Abbasids were in power, Baghdad, the Abbasid capital known as the City of Peace, was probably the greatest city in the empire and one of the greatest cities in the world.
  • After the rise of the Fatimids in Egypt, however, the focus of trade shifted to Cairo.
  • Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus were the centers of administrative, cultural, and economic activity for their regions.
    • This is exemplified by Córdoba, the capital of Umayyad Spain.
    • With a population of two hundred thousand, Córdoba was Europe’s largest city after Constantinople.
  • Islamic cities had a distinctive physical appearance.
  • The bazaar, or covered market, was an important part of every Muslim city or town.
  • The Arab Empire was more urban than most other areas of the world at the time.
  • During the early stages of the empire, most of the farmland was owned by independent peasants.
  • Despite all the changes since the days of ancient Egypt, peasants along the Nile continued to farm the way their ancestors had.

Islamic Society

  • To be a Muslim is not simply to worship Allah but also to live one’s life according to Allah’s teachings as revealed in the Quran, which was compiled in 635.
    • According to Islam, all people are equal in the eyes of Allah.
  • One group of people in the Islamic world was not considered equal.
    • Slaves often served in the army.
    • This was especially true of slaves recruited from the Turks of central Asia.
    • Many military slaves were freed.
    • Many slaves, especially women, were used as domestic servants.
  • The Quran granted women spiritual and social equality with men.
  • Islamic teachings did account for differences between men and women in the family and social order
    • Every woman had a male guardian, be it father, brother, or other male relative.
    • Parents or guardians arranged marriages for their children.
  • The Quran allowed Muslim men to have more than one wife, but no more than four.
    • Most men, however, were unable to afford more than one, because they were required to pay a dowry (a gift of money or property) to their brides.
  • After the spread of Islam, older customs eroded the rights enjoyed by early Muslim women.
  • The custom of requiring women to cover virtually all parts of their bodies when appearing in public was common in the cities and is still practiced today in many Islamic societies.

The Culture of Islam

Preservation Of Knowledge

  • During the first few centuries of the Arab Empire, the ancient Greek philosophers were largely unknown in Europe.
  • The process of translating works and making them available to scholars was aided by the making of paper, which was introduced from China in the eighth century.
  • It was through the Muslim world that Europeans recovered the works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers.
  • In the twelfth century, the Arabic translations were translated into Latin, making them available to the West.

Philosophy, Science, and History

  • The brilliant Islamic civilization contributed more intellectually to the West than translations, however.
  • When Aristotle’s works arrived in Europe in the second half of the twelfth century, they were accompanied by commentaries written by outstanding Arabic philosophers.
    • One such philosopher was Ibn-Rushd.
    • He lived in Córdoba and wrote a commentary on virtually all of Aristotle’s surviving works.
  • Islamic scholars also made contributions to mathematics and the natural sciences that were passed on to the West.
  • In astronomy, Muslims set up an observatory at Baghdad to study the position of the stars.
    • They were aware that Earth was round, and they named many stars.
    • They also perfected the astrolabe, an instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the positions of stars and planets.
  • Muslim scholars developed medicine as a field of scientific study.
  • Especially well known was the philosopher and scientist, Ibn Sina.
    • He wrote a medical encyclopedia that, among other things, stressed the contagious nature of certain diseases.
  • Islamic scholars also took an interest in writing history.
    • Ibn-Khaldun, who lived in the fourteenth century, was the most prominent Muslim historian of the age.
    • In his most famous work Muqaddimah (Introduction to History), he argued for a cyclical view of history.

Literature

  • Islam brought major changes to the culture of Southwest Asia, including its literature.
  • One of the most familiar works of Middle Eastern literature is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám.
  • Another is The 1001 Nights (also called The Arabian Nights).
  • Little is known of the life or the poetry of the twelfth-century Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, Omar Khayyám.
  • The anonymous stories of The Arabian Nights are a collection of folktales, fables, and romances that blend the natural with the supernatural.
    • The Arabian Nights allows the reader to enter a land of wish fulfillment through unusual plots, comic and tragic situ- ations, and a cast of unforgettable characters.

Art and Architecture

  • Islamic art is a blend of Arab, Turkish, and Persian traditions. The best expression of Islamic art is found in the magnificent Muslim mosques.
    • The mosque represents the spirit of Islam.
    • The Great Mosque of Samarra in present-day Iraq was the world’s largest mosque at the time it was built (848 to 852), covering 10 acres (more than 40,000 square m).
  • The most famous section of the Samarra mosque is its minaret.
    • This is the tower from which the muezzin, or crier, calls the faithful to prayer five times a day.
  • One of the most famous mosques is the ninth-century mosque at Córdoba in southern Spain.
    • Because the Muslim religion combines spiritual and political power in one, palaces also reflected the glory of Islam.
    • Designed around a central courtyard surrounded by two-story arcades and massive gate-towers, Islamic castles resembled fortresses as much as palaces.
  • The finest example of the Islamic palace is the fourteenth-century Alhambra in Granada, Spain.
  • Most decorations on all forms of Islamic art consisted of Arabic letters, natural plants, and abstract figures.
    • These decorations were repeated over and over in geometric patterns called arabesques that completely covered the surfaces of objects.
    • No representation of the prophet Muhammad ever adorns a mosque, in painting or in any other art form.