1.2 Dar al-Islam Notes

Dar al-Islam: "House of Islam"

• Refers to regions where Islam was the majority religion around 1200.

Major Religions Interacting

• Three major religions interacted during this period: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• Understanding their core beliefs and societal impact is crucial.

Judaism

• Ethnic religion of the Jews originating in the Middle East.
• Monotheistic: Worship of one God.
• Significance: Served as the foundation for Christianity and Islam.

Christianity

• Established by Jesus Christ, a Jewish prophet.
• Jesus claimed to be the Messiah.
• Followers spread his message of salvation by grace after his crucifixion.
• Early Christians were a persecuted minority.
• The adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire significantly influenced society.
• Organized states in Europe and Africa under a hierarchy of popes, bishops, and cardinals.

Islam

• Founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century on the Arabian Peninsula.
• Muhammad claimed to be the final prophet in the line of God's messengers.
• Salvation is achieved through righteous actions (almsgiving, prayer, fasting).
• After Muhammad's death in 632, Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and South Asia, forming Dar al-Islam.
• Islam affected societies through trading connections.
• Muhammad was a merchant before becoming a prophet which encouraged trade.
• Islamic states became more prosperous than Christian states before 1200.

The Rise of Islamic Empires

• Islam facilitated the rise of large empires. Understanding the Abbasid Caliphate is important in understanding developments in Dar al-Islam from 1200-1450.

Abbasid Caliphate

• Founded in the 8th century.
• Ethnically diverse.
• Empowered during the Golden Age of Islam:
  • Significant innovations and advancements in science, mathematics, literature, and technology.
• By 1200, the Abbasid Empire was fragmenting.
• The Abbasids replaced the Umayyad Caliphate in the mid-8th century.
  • After defeating them in battle, the Abbasids invited 80 members of the Umayyad court to a dinner, and subsequently killed them.

Rise of Turkic Muslim Empires

• New Islamic empires began to rise as the Abbasid Caliphate declined, largely made up of Turkic peoples rather than Arabs.

Seljuk Empire

• Established in the 11th century in Central Asia.
• The Seljuks were a pastoral people from Central Asia.
• Initially brought in by the Abbasids as a professional military force.
• By the 1200s, the Seljuk warriors began to claim more power.
• Abbasid caliphs remained in power nominally, but the Seljuks held political power.

Mamluk Sultanate

• Located in Egypt.
• Prior to the Mamluks, the Ayyubid Sultanate ruled Egypt under Saladin.
• Saladin enslaved Turkic warriors known as Mamluks to advance his state's goals.
• Mamluk means enslaved person.
• After Saladin's death, the Mamluks seized power due to incompetent successors.

Delhi Sultanate

• Established in South Asia by invading Turks.
• Ruled over the Indian population for about 300 years.
• Arab Muslim empires were replaced by Turkic Muslim empires.
• In these new states, the military was in charge of administration.
• Continued the Islamic practice of implementing Sharia law based on the Quran.

Expansion of Islam

• Islam expanded across Afro-Eurasia through:
  • Military expansion: establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.
  • Merchant activity (trade): North Africa was ruled by Muslims, stimulating trade, and the Empire of Mali converted to Islam to increase access to trade within Dar al-Islam.
  • Muslim missionaries (Sufis):
    • Sufism emphasized mystical experience available to anyone.
    • Became a significant force for the spread of Islam, despite criticism from Islamic scholars due to lack of theological rigor.

Intellectual Developments in Dar al-Islam

• Significant intellectual advancements occurred across Dar al-Islam.

Mathematics

• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi invented trigonometry to better understand planetary movements.
• (\text{Al-Tusi's trigonometry}) influenced Nicholas Copernicus's heliocentric theory.

House of Wisdom

• Established in Baghdad during the Golden Age of Islam under the Abbasid Caliphate.
• A world-famous library where scholars studied religion and natural sciences.
• Scholars preserved Greek works of philosophy (Plato, Aristotle) by translating them into Arabic and providing commentaries.
• Arabic translations of classical texts were transferred to Europe, forming the basis for the Renaissance.