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.
  • (Al-Tusi’s trigonometry)(\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.