Historical Developments

• Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions continued to shape societies in Africa and Asia.

• As the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, new Islamic political entities emerged, most of which were dominated by Turkic people. These states demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity.

• New political entities:

  • Seljuk Empire

  • Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt

  • Delhi Sultanates

• Muslim rule continued to expand to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam, subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants, missionaries, and Sufis.

• Muslim states and empires encouraged significant intellectual innovations and transfers.

  • Innovations:

    • Advances in mathematics (Nasir al-Din al-Tusi)

    • Advances in literature (A’ishah al-Bu’uniyyah)

    • Advances in medicine

  • Transfers:

    • Preservation and commentaries on Greek moral and natural philosophy

    • House of Wisdom in Abbasid Baghdad

    • Scholarly and cultural transfers in Muslim and Christian Spain

Making an Arab Empire

• 644 CE Sassanid (what was left of the Persian Empire) were defeated by Muslim forces

• Byzantine Empire (what remained of the Romans) ost southern half of their empire

• Swept across North Africa

• Conquered Spain in the early 700s

• Attacked southern France

• To the east, Arab armies reached the Indus River

• In 751 CE they defeated Chinese forces in the Battle of Talas River

  • This stopped China from expanding further West

  • Converted Central Asia’s Turkic-speaking people to Islam

• The merchant leaders of the new Islamic community wanted profitable trade routes and access to wealthy agricultural regions

Establishing an Empire

• Arab Empires were generally tolerant of outside beliefs

• Many who were conquered were already monotheistic and familiar with Muslim practices like prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and prophets

• Tolerant of established Christian and Jewish faiths (dhimmi)

• Dhimmis = people of the book

  • Protected by second-class subjects of the empire

  • Practiced their religions freely after paying a jizya, tax was substitute for military service

  • Dhimmis could even serve in high positions in Muslim kingdoms

Abbasid Empire/Caliphate

• Third Islamic caliphate to succeed Muhammad

• Took over the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 CE

• 762 founded the city of Baghdad and made it their capital

• Relied on Persian bureaucrats to run their government

• Baghdad became a centre of science, culture, philosophy and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam.

• Power ended when Seljuk Turks captured Baghdad in 1055

• Baghdad was then sacked by the Mongols in 1258

• The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated politically by the 10th c.

• Last Abbasid caliph killed when Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258

Delhi Sultanate

• Turkic-speaking warrior group from Central Asia (recently converted to Islam) and brought their faith to northern India

• Conquests began an enduring encounter between Islam and Hindu-based Indian civilization

• Began around 1000 CE

• Early invaders destroyed Hindu and Buddhist temples

• With Sultanate of Delhi in 1206, Turkic rule became more systematic

• Substantial Muslim communities merged in India

  • Disillusioned Buddhists and low-caste Hindus and untouchables found Islam attractive

  • Others converted to avoid paying the jizya tax

• Sufi missionaries also made it appealing by accommodating local gods and religious festivals to develop a “popular Islam”  similar to the more devotional bhakti forms of Hinduism

Sufi Missionaries

• Sufi missionaries had the biggest impact on frontier regions of Islam

• Followed conquering armies or trades into Central and Southeast Asia, India, Anatolia, parts of Africa

• Devotional teachings, modest way of living, and reputation for supernatural powers gained a hearing for their faith

• Emphasized personal experience of the Divine, rather than law

  • This allowed them to accommodate local beliefs and practices and encouraged the growth of Islam

• Ulama (Islamic scholars) often condemned Sufis because they oftens deviated from the sharia (Islamic law)

Delhi Sultanate pt. 2

• Although Islam was popular, it was never the dominant faith as it was in the Middle East and North Africa

• 20-25% of the population

• Muslim communities were only concentrated in small areas and never penetrated core regions of Hindu culture

• Islam = monotheistic with no representations of Allah

• Hinduism = thousands of statues of the various gods/goddesses that represent multiple manifestations of the Brahmin

• Islam could not be absorbed into Hinduism like Buddhism

Seljuk Turks

• Converted to Islam between the 10th and 14th centuries

• Became the third major carrier of Islam following the Arabs and Persians

• Migrated southward into the Middle East

• Initially they were slave soldiers but gradually took over as the Abbasid Caliphate declined

• Empire centered in Persia and present-day Iraq

• Claimed Muslim title of sultan (ruler) rather than the Turkic kaghan.

• Abbasid Caliph was former ruler (figurehead) while real rule extended from the Seljuk Turks

Islamic Science and Scholarship

• The well-connected, diverse Muslim world allowed ideas to circulate freely

• Scientific, medical, and philosophical texts (esp from ancient Greece and Hellenistic world) were translated in Arabic

• These gave a big boost to Islamic scholarship and science for several centuries

• Abbasid caliph al-Mamun (a poet and scholar) established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad

Golden Age of Islam (from Khan Academy)

• Caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun directly encouraged a translation movement, a formal translation of scholarly works from Greek into Arabic.

• Abbasid rulers wanted to make Greek texts, such as Aristotle’s works, available to the Arab world.

• Goal was to translate as many of these famous works as possible in order to have a comprehensive library of knowledge and to preserve the philosophies and scholarship of Greece.

• The Abbasids aimed to have philosophy, science, and medicine texts translated.

House of Wisdom

• Academic center for research and translation

• Islamic thinkers called Mutazalites (“those who stand apart”) started a school inspired by Greek texts

• Argued that “reason” not “revelation” was the way to the truth (who does that sound like?)

• Eventually this trend clashed with religious conservatism that stated only the Quran, mystical experiences, and sayings of the Prophet were the only ways to reach God

Intellectual Wisdom

• Using Indian numerical notation, Arab scholars developed algebra

• Built on Greek and Indian practice to create tradition in medicine and pharmacology

• Arab physicians (like al-Razi and Ibn Sina) diagnosed many diseases like hay fever, measles, smallpox, diphtheria, rabies, and diabetes

• Cataract and hernia operations

• Filling teeth with gold to fix cavities

• These discoveries entered Europe through Spain

A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah

‘A’ishah al-Bā’ūnīyah (d. 1517) was one of the greatest women mystics in Islamic history. A Sufi master and an Arab poet, Ā’ishah wrote of her great devotion to God and His prophet Muhammad, and spoke of love and longing on her mystical quest for union.

She also alluded to her extensive education and mystical training, and her own particular life experiences, which are often reflected in her verse. Her many writings were read and copied by later generations of admirers who preserved her substantial literary and mystical legacies.

Though many of her works are lost today, several still exist in manuscript including her poetic collection Fayḍ al-Faḍl wa-Jam’ al-Shaml: “The Emanation of Grace and the Gathering Union.”

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

• celebrated scholar of the 13th

• approximately 165 titles on astronomy, ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, theology, poetry and the popular sciences

• Most historians of Islamic astronomy believe that the planetary models developed at Marāgheh found their way to Europe (perhaps via Byzantium) and provided Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) with inspiration for his astronomical models.

Spread of Islam

• Islam came peacefully by traders, not conquest

• Spread through urban centers.

  • Provided links to Muslim trading partners

  • Provided literate officials and religious legitimacy to the state

• Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic schools.

• Libraries had 10s of 1000s of books

• Rulers built mosques

• Arabic becomes language of trade, religion, administration, education.

• No significant Arab Immigration

• Sufis play little role

• No significant spread into the countryside.

  • Rulers made little effort to impose Islam or rule by Islamic law.

Spain

• Arab forces conquer most of Spain in the early 8th c.

• Islam did not overwhelm Christianity there

• High degree of interaction between Muslims, Christians, Jews.

  • Some Christians convert to Islam

• Religious tolerance breaks down by late 10th c.

• Increasing war with N. Spain

• Reconquista of Spain

  • Christians conquered regions and force Muslims out.

  • Complete by 1492

    • 200k Jews expelled