Rise of Islam, Caliphates & Crusades

Background and Chronological Setting

• Preceding lecture ended with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire (≈ $6^{th}$ century); the present material ties directly into events that follow chronologically: the rise and spread of Islam and the crusading era.
• Reminder: Earlier class sessions already covered Muhammad’s life and the very beginnings of Islam up to the point where the Mongols sacked Baghdad and terminated the Abbasid caliphate in $1258$.

Triple-Holy City: Why Jerusalem Matters

• Christianity
  • Site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection; focal point for pilgrimage.
• Islam
  • The “Night Journey” (al\text{_Israʾ}): Muhammad miraculously rides the creature Buraq from Mecca to Jerusalem.
  • al\text{_Miʿrāj}: From the Temple Mount he ascends through the heavens to meet earlier prophets.
  • Consequence: Jerusalem becomes the third holiest city in Islam (after Mecca and Medina).
• Judaism
  • Ancient capital built by Israelites; Temple location; part of the biblically promised land.

Timeline: Political Control of Jerusalem (Early Islam → First Crusade)

• $638$ CE (≈ $6$ yrs after Muhammad’s death): Captured peacefully during Caliph ʿUmar’s Rashidun rule.
• Muslim control lasts $461$ years until $1099$.
  • Rashidun (until $661$)
  • Umayyad (≈ $661$–$750$) — build the Dome of the Rock (completed $691$).
  • Abbasid (≈ $750$–late $960$s) — looser control after $9^{th}$ c.; local governors Tulinids & Ikhshidids.
  • Fatimid (Shīʿa, $969$–$1099$) — relatively tolerant, invest in walls/Al-Aqṣā repairs.
• Seljuk Turks (Sunni) briefly seize city $1071$–$1098$ after victory at Manzikert; reputation for harsher treatment of Christian pilgrims.
• Fatimids retake Jerusalem months before Crusaders arrive (spring $1099$) but cannot hold it.

Immediate Causes of the First Crusade (Urban II, $1095$)

• Emperor Alexios I Komnenos begs West for mercenaries at Council of Piacenza (March $1095$) to repel Seljuks in Anatolia.
• Pope Urban II seizes opportunity at Council of Clermont (Nov $1095$):
  • Frames a universal “holy war” to "liberate" Jerusalem & aid Eastern Christians.
  • Rhetoric highlights exaggerated tales of:
  • Pilgrims robbed, taxed, or assaulted en route.
  • Desecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
  • Political motives:
  • Assert papal supremacy.
  • Attempt reunion with Eastern (Orthodox) church post-Great Schism ($1054$).
• No single documented atrocity in Jerusalem serves as a direct trigger; Urban capitalizes on cumulative grievances + propaganda.

Results of the First Crusade

• Crusaders capture Jerusalem July $1099$ — the only crusade deemed "successful" by Latin Christendom.
• Latin Kingdom endures $88$ years (until Saladin recaptures city $1187$).
• Success owed partly to Muslim fragmentation (Seljuk–Fatimid rivalry, internal Fatimid weakness).

Key Concept: Caliphate vs. Sultanate

• Caliphate
  • Universal Islamic polity; leader (caliph) wields both religious & political authority over the ummah.
• Sultanate
  • Regional Muslim kingdom; ruler (sultan) exercises mainly military–temporal power—often still nominally acknowledging a caliph.

Governing Principle: Religion = State in Islam

• In classical and many modern Muslim lands (Iran, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, etc.) leadership is expected to be both political and religious; secular–religious separation is historically atypical.

Four “Rightly Guided” (Rashidun) Caliphs ($632$–$661$)

• Abu Bakr
• ʿUmar ibn Al-Khaṭṭāb — conquest of Levant from Byzantines.
• ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān
• ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib
• Era remembered as ideal yet marred by civil strife; succession dispute after Muhammad’s death births Sunni–Shīʿa schism.

Major Dynasties (Chronological Highlights)

Umayyad Caliphate ($661$–$750$)

• Capital: Damascus.
• Rapid expansion to N. Africa & Iberia; reach Gaul until defeat at Battle of Tours ($732$).
• Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik:
  • Centralizes administration.
  • Adopts Arabic as official language.
  • Builds Dome of the Rock.
• Criticized for privileging Arab elites.

Abbasid Caliphate ($750$–$1258$) — “Golden Age”

• Move capital to Baghdad (founded $762$).
• Patronage of science & translation (House of Wisdom).
• Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (legendary in Arabian Nights): diplomacy with Charlemagne; gifts an elephant to Franks.
• Fragmentation:
  • Buwayhid (Buyid) Shīʿa emirs seize Baghdad $945$–$1055$ yet keep puppet caliph.
  • Fatimids in Egypt ($909$–$1171$) challenge Sunni legitimacy.
  • Independent Umayyad emirate/caliphate in al-Andalus ($756$–$1031$).
• End: Mongol sack of Baghdad (Hulagu Khan) $1258$ — caliph rolled in carpet and trampled; House of Wisdom destroyed.

Fatimid Caliphate ($969$–$1171$)

• Shīʿa Ismāʿīlī dynasty; capital Cairo.
• Tolerant administration in Jerusalem; patronize Al-Aqṣā repairs.
• Fail to overthrow Baghdad but become major Mediterranean power.

Seljuk Empire ($1055$–late $12^{th}$ c.)

• Sunni Turkic converts; seize Baghdad, establish sultan title.
• Defeat Byzantines at Manzikert ($1071$) → opens Anatolia to Turkomans.
• Branch forms Sultanate of Rūm in central Anatolia (precursor to Turkish state).

Ayyubid Dynasty ($1171$–$1250$)

• Founded by Saladin (Kurdish Sunni).
• Abolishes Fatimids; wins Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn ($1187$), retakes Jerusalem.

Mamluk Sultanate ($1250$–$1517$)

• Military slaves (mostly Turkic) seize power in Egypt.
• Defeat Mongols at ʿAyn Jālūt ($1260$) — first major Mongol setback.
• Eradicate remaining Crusader strongholds by $1291$.
• Revive ceremonial Abbasid caliphate in Cairo (purely symbolic).

Mongol Successor States & Timurids

• Il-Khānids (Hulagu’s line) convert to Islam; stimulate Persian arts.
• Conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) ($1336$–$1405$): brutal campaigns + cultural patronage; Timurids endure to late $15^{th}$ c.

Ottoman Empire ($c.1300$–$1922$)

• Founded by Osman I; capture Constantinople $1453$ (end of Byzantine Empire/medieval era).
• Sultan Selim “the Grim” conquers Cairo $1517$, ends Mamluks, proclaims himself caliph.
• One of three “Gunpowder Empires” alongside Safavid (Iran) & Mughal (India).
• Final Sunni caliphate; abolished after World War I.

Pivotal Battles & Dates (Exam-Ready)

• Hijra (Mecca → Medina): $622$ — start of Islamic calendar.
• ʿUmar captures Jerusalem: $638$.
• Manzikert: $1071$.
• Clermont speech / call for Crusade: $1095$.
• Crusaders take Jerusalem: $1099$.
• Ḥaṭṭīn & Saladin’s reconquest: $1187$.
• Mongols sack Baghdad: $1258$.
• ʿAyn Jālūt (Mamluks vs. Mongols): $1260$.
• Fall of Constantinople: $1453$.
• Ottoman capture of Cairo & claim to caliphate: $1517$.

Sunni–Shīʿa Schism (Origins & Persistence)

• Root cause: succession dispute immediately after Muhammad’s death.
  • Shīʿa: ʿAlī & descendants are divinely appointed imāms.
  • Sunni: community consensus; caliph chosen on merit or lineage later.
• Political rivalries (Umayyad vs. ʿAlid; Abbasid vs. Fatimid; Seljuk vs. Buwayhid) reinforce theological split.
• Modern distribution (simplified):
  • Shīʿa majorities in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Bahrain.
  • Sunni majorities in most other Muslim-majority nations.

Examples, Anecdotes & Metaphors

• Buraq: winged creature symbolizing the miraculous al-Israʾ journey.
• Harun al-Rashid’s elephant: diplomatic gift to Charlemagne — illustrates Abbasid global outreach.
• Caliph rolled in a carpet and trampled (Hulagu’s execution of last Baghdad caliph): dramatic end of Abbasid power.

Connections & Implications

• Crusading ideology interweaves religious fervor + papal politics + Eastern plea; early globalized propaganda campaign.
• Islamic golden age translations preserve & enhance Greco-Roman knowledge later re-transmitted to Europe—seedbed for the Renaissance.
• Recurrent pattern: conquest → prosperity → fragmentation → conquest; each dynasty builds on predecessors (e.g., reuse of Abbasid caliph title by Buwayhids, Seljuks, Mamluks, Ottomans).
• Theocratic governance in Islam continues to influence modern Middle-Eastern politics (e.g., Iran’s clergy-state fusion).

Key Terms Glossary

• Ummah – worldwide Muslim community.
• Caliph – “successor” to Muhammad; combines religious & temporal authority.
• Sultan – military ruler; de facto power where caliph is figurehead.
• Emir – prince/governor.
• Imām (Shīʿa) – divinely guided leader from ʿAlī’s lineage.
• Dome of the Rock – Umayyad shrine on Temple Mount; earliest monumental Islamic structure.

Study Tips

• Anchor memory with battle dates (Manzikert $1071$ → pilgrim hardships → Crusade $1095$ → Jerusalem $1099$ → Ḥaṭṭīn $1187$).
• Trace capital shifts: Medina → Damascus → Baghdad → Cairo (Fatimid & later Mamluk) → Constantinople/Istanbul.
• Use “dynasty dominoes” mnemonic: Rashidun → Umayyad → Abbasid → (regional: Andalus, Fatimid, Buwayhid) → Seljuk → Ayyubid → Mongol/Ilkhanid → Mamluk → Ottoman.
• Always pair a dynasty with: 1) capital, 2) sect (Sunni/Shīʿa), 3) key cultural or architectural legacy.