Social Studies
Arabia’s Geography & Environment
Arabia:
Receives little rain
Has no permanent rivers
Covered by desert
Because of Arabia's climate, the population was limited
People depended on oases for water
Early settlements happened around oases in the Hijaz a mountainous region along the western coast of Arabia
Arabian Peninsula Features:
Surrounded by water on 3 sides
Increased trade with East Africa, India, and China
The coast provided fertile soil for farming
Arabian Life Before Islam
The Arabs (people of Arabia) practiced two ways of life
Sedentary Lifestyle
Settled and lived in one place
Lived life as farmers and merchants
Nomadic Lifestyle:
Had no fixed houses and lived in rural areas
Bedouins:
Aka. Arab nomads
Traveled from an oasis with their flocks and herds of animals
Skilled warriors
Raided other tribes for animals and goods
Trade brought wealth and more settlers
Jewish people and Christians moved towns in the Hijaz
Meca became a trading center
Rise of Islam
Muhammad
Considered the prophet of Islam by Muslims (people who practice Islam)
Born in Mecca
It was a religious center at the time of Muhammad's birth
Had the Kaaba where Arab people would come to worship their gods
Married a wealthy widowed merchant Khadjia
Prospered in business but was critical of greed, corruption, and violence in Meccan society
Often retreated to a cave outside Mecca to pray and reflect
610; The angel Gabriel appeared before Muhammad in the cave
Here Gabriel told him to recite messages from God which Muhammad passed on to his followers
These messages were later recorded in the Quran (Islams holy book)
Muhammad began to preach in Mecca
Told Arabs to worship one god and to change many of their behaviors
Said he received revelations from the same God who had spoken to Abraham and Jesus
Muhammad respected both Judaism and Christianity
Muslims belive Muhammad is the final prophet
Meccans opposed Islam
Fered that other beliefs would reduce their status and wealth
Feared that Muhammad would anger the gods they worshiped
The Hijrah
622: Muhamad and his fellow Muslims fled Mecca and moved to Medina (275 miles north)
Hijarah= Ardic word for migration
Medina
Muhammad continued his preaching
Became a politician and military leader
Muslims of Medina fought with the Meccans
Mecans where defeated
630: Muhammad returned to Mecca as its ruler banned worship to the gods
Destroyed Statues of the old gods at the Kabba and rededicated it as an Islamic holy site
The Kabba became a place for Muslim pilgrims to visit
Muhammad led desert tribes to conquer the entire Arabian Peninsula
The spread of Islam continued even after Muhammads death in 632.
How did Islam spread?
Methods of Conquest
Warfare:
Sasanian Empire
Most powerful state in southwest Asia (found 224)
Conquered by Muslim armies in 651
800
Muslim armies conquered lands in Siria, Egypet, Palestine western Afghanistan and northern Pakistan
Trade
Merchants and missionaries traveled outside the empire and spread Islam
The spread of Islam happened at different speeds in different regions
Success of the Muslim Arab empire
Decline of the Persian & Byzantine empires
The ability and devotions of muslim warriors
religious toleration:
Many people began to convert to Islam
Becasue of Islams promise of a direct oath to god and salvation
Because Islam emphasized the equailty of all muslims and justice
Society in the Arab Muslim Empire
The quran and the Sharua laid out the roles of men and women
Men:
Supported their families & conducted their business in public
Women :
Stayed at home
Islam improved conditions for women by declaring that women and men had religious equality
Jewish people and Christians were required to pay taxes and faced other restrictions
Followers of other religions were treated more harshly
Sucsession
After Muhammad died caliphs (successor in aribic) led muslim community and empire
The question of who would be the first caliph split muslims into 2 competing groups
Sunnis
Belive that the community needed a leader with political skills
Supported muhammads main adviser \Abu Baku as the first caliph the majority of the muslims are sunni
Shias
Belive that onnly muhammads relatives should become caliph
Supported muhhammads cousin and son in law Ali
The first Caliphs
4 calphis ruled arab muslim empire in its earliest years
Sunni muslims refer to them as the rightly guided caliphs
Because each had close ties to muhammad and was guided by muslim principles
656 Muhammads cousin Ali became the fourth caliph
He was assasimanted in the 5th year of his reign
which led to the caliphate passing to the umayad family
The Umayad Dymasty
The Umayads founded the first muslim dynasty
Dynasty = family that passes down political power from one reletive to another
Rule Under Umayyads:
The capitial moved from Medina 2 Damassucas
The empire reached its latest size
Cultural blending and religious conversion occured
Many conquered people accepted Islam because it offered social ecominic snf political advantages
The people who converted to Islam adopted aspets of Arab cultre
The Abbasid Dynasty
750: Rebel arab forces overthrewe the abbasid family
In the abbasid dynasty
The new capital called Bagdad was built
Became a cultural hub and the center of the Islamic Golden age
756 spain became an imdependepentandt muslim state under its own caliphs
900s Turks nomadic people from central asia who became muslims migrated into muslim lands
Allowe the Abbasid caliphs to reman the throne but stripped them of real power
1250s The mongols invaded dmusli kands
1258 the city of Baghad was destroyed and the abbasid caliph was killed →the end of their dynasty
Islam still continued to spread through trade networks and sud=fism
Sufism an islamic lifestyle that stressees controlling ones desireds giving up worldly attachments
And seeking nearness to gos
Non arab muslims
The mongol invasian ended the caliphate and the golden age of Islamic civilization
Individual Musilm states survived ruled by non-arab dynastys
The leaders of tese states cakked themselves sultans-rulers of muslim states