Arab Empires

The Making of an Arab Empire

• Afro-Eurasian world transform,ed by the Prophet after his death
• Arab state - huge empire; in all or part of Egypt, Rome/Byzantine, Persia, Mesopotamia, and India
• Islam widely spread throughout
• Language of Arabia thanks to relocation diffusion and advantages of learning Arabic
• Mixing and blending of these people caused uprise of civilization of Islam, bound by a common faith but divided by differences of culture, class, politics, gender, and religious understanding

War, Conquest, Tolerance

• after Muhammad died in 632, the Byzantine and Persian empires were engaged and the Arabs soon spread from Spain to INdia
  • Persia → weakened by plague and endemic rivalries → defeated in 644
  • Byzantium → remains of East Rome → lost South part of territory
  • Westward to North Africa → 642 - 648
  • Spain → early 700s
  • South France → attacked
  • Indus River & major oasis towns in Central Asia
  • China → defeat in Battle of Talas River
  • checked Chinese westward expansion and conversion of Turkic speakers to Islam
• mostly involved imperial armies, but sometimes civilians too
• Islam’s initial rapid and extensive spread - far more than Buddhism and Christianity
  • gave rise to empire ruled by Muslim Arabs that encompassed previous empires
• Motives for Arab empire creation - broadly similar to other empires
  • Merchants wanted to capture good trade routes and agriculture regions
  • individual Arabs found in military expansion route to wealth and social promotion
  • need to harness energies of the Arabisn transformation - unity of umma threatened to come apart, expansion gave them a common task
• Creation of a religion - to many, the mission was in terms of jihad but they didn’t mean to make a new religion
  • jihad - religious struggle; in this context, a struggle vs opps of Islam
  • Muhammad’s followers called themselves “believers” - appears in Quran more than Muslims
  • included Jews, Christians, and new monotheistic Arabs
  • easted acceptance of the new political order because many were already monotheists and familiar with core ideas and practices of believers movement
  • prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, revelation, and prophets
  • new rulers tolerant of Judaism and Christianity
• first governor of Arab-ruled Jerusalem was a Jew - many old churches continued to operate and new ones were built
• dhimmis - protected but second class status given to Jews, CHristians, and Zoroastrians
  • if they paied a special tax called the jizya, they could freely practice their religion
  • substitute for military service - many dhimmis served the highest offices in Muslim kingdoms and their armies
• Arab rulers wanted to limited destructiveness - to prevent destruction and exploitation occupying armies restricted to garrisons segregated from native population
  • local elites and structures incorporated into empires; nonetheless mass conversion to Islam

Conversion to Islam

“Social conversion” motivated by convenience instead of conviction

• after Muhammad died, millions in Arab empire believed in Allah and became Muslims
• Islam wasn’t a foreign concept: monotheism, ritual prayer and cleansing ceremonies, fasting, divine revelation, Heaven Hell and Final Judgment; similar to Jews, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism
  • it was sponsored by a powerful state unlike Buddhism nd Christianity
• deliberately forced conversion rate and forbidden by Quran but there were incentives for being a Muslim
  • slaves and prisoners of war, especially in Persia, were among early converts
  • avoiding jizya, social mobility for going for office, and a religion friendly to commerce
  • merchants enjoyed a safe, huge, and predictable trade (reduced uncertainty)
• conversion wasn’t easy or automatic - resistance in North African Berbers, Spanish Christians insulted Prophet, and Persian Zoroastrianism followers fled to escape
• Religions Transformation in Arab Empire
  • in Persia, about 80% converted from 750 to 900