The Muslim World

The Muslim World

1.Rise of Islam

1.1Deserts, towns, and trade routes.

The arabian peninsula, a crossroads of Africa, Europe and Asia. Arabs nomads, called Bedouins organized in clans.In 600s, they choose to settle, western coast of Arabia became market place.Trade routes connected Arabia to the major ocean, they don't transport only spices and incense, they also transport information to Arabia from the outside world.The Ka'aba is an ancient shrine from the city of Mecca it was associated with a hebrew prophet, Abraham. The Ka'aba contined 360 idols brought by many tribes.

1.2The prophet Muhammad.

Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. into a powerful clan of Mecca. He became orphan at the age of six and was raised by his grandfather and uncle. When he was a young man, he worked at the trade market, then he become a business manager for Khadija a woman of 40 years that later become his wife.

At the age of 40, while he meditated the voice of the angel Gabriel called him. Gabriel told him that he was a messenger of Allah and had to proclaim "Allah is the only God". Convinced that he was the last prophet, he start teaching about the only god, Allah. The people who belive him, become called Muslims "one who has submitted" and their religion Islam "submission to the will of Allah". In 613, when Muhammad start to preach publicly in Mecca, the Meccans didn't like it because they think he neglect the traditional Arab gods and Mecca woul lose its position.

In 622, Muhammad left Mecca and move to Medina, this year become the year 1 of the Islamic calendar. Also, this migartion become know as Hijrah. In Medina he convinced, Christinas and Jews, to become a single comunity called umma.

In 630, the prophet and 10,000 followers went to Mecca and destroyed the idols in the Ka'aba and most of the Meccans converted into Islam. Muhammad died two years later at the age of 62.

1.3Beliefs and practices of Islam.

Muhammad teach its followers that Allah is the only one god, there's good and evil and that each one is resposible of its actions.

The five pillars to be a muslim...

Belief. Testify the following testament "There's only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah".

Prayer. Five times a day towards Macca.

Charity. Muslims think that suporting less fortune, giving alms or money to the poor is an special religious tax.

Fasting. During Ramadan, Muslims fast between dawn and sunset and a simple meal at the end of the day.

Pilgrimage. All the Muslims must do the hajj (pilgrimage to mecca)at leats one time on their life, except if they can't do it for some physically reason.

Muslims are forbidden to eat prok or drink acohol, Friday afternoons are for pray. The Islam has no central religious authority and have a schoolar class called ulama.

The angel Gabriel give revelation to Muhammad, this ones were collected in a book, the Qur'an. This book is written in arabic and Muslims consider this version the true word of Allah.

The sunna or Muhammad's example is the way they have to live, because they belived the missionof Muhammad was that, show them how to live. The Qur'an and the sunna was assembled in a body of law called shari'a.

For Muslims, Allah is the same God that in the Christinism and Judaism. Muslims, view Jesus as a prophet, not as the Son of God. Other point they have in common, the three religions belive in the day of judgment. For Muslims the Christians and jews are "people of the book" because each religion has a holy book.

2.Islam expands

2.1Muhammad's successor spread Islam.

Muhammad didn't choose a successor or teach how to choose one, so Muslims choose Muhammad's loyal friend, Abu-Bark and in 632 became the first caliph "successor" or "deputy". Abu-Bark and the next caliphs -Umar, Uthman and Ali- had know Muhammad and used the Qur'an and Muhammad's action to guide the Muslims, fror that they have become called the "rightly guided" caliphs.

When Muhammad dies some tribes abandoned the Arabian peninsula, some refused to pay taxes and a few declared themselves prophets. Abu-Bark invoked jihad "striving" can refer to the inner struggle against the evil, in the Qur'an this word is used to mean an armed struggle against unbelivers, and the caliph used this meaning to justified the expansion of Islam.

In 634, Abu-Bark died and Arabia was controlled by the Muslims. The next three caliphs, by the 750, they have conquered more than 9,600km from the atlantic ocean to the Indus River, making true the desire to spread the faith of Muhammad.

The Muslims armies were disciplined and expertly, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires were weak nad the persecuted people welcomed Muslims invaders, after thoose reasonsfro the Muslims were very easy to caonquered other places.

The Christians and the Jews form conquered places were allowed to follow their own religion, they paid a poll tax each year for exemption from military duties.

2.2Internal conflict creates a crisis.

In 656, Uthman was murdered, starting a civil war. Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law was a natural choice for the next caliph, but he was challenged by a governor of Syria, Muawiya.(Ali was choose). In 661, Ali was assassinated and the elective system of choosing a caliph died with him.

The Umayyads family came to power and moved the capital to Damascus to made controlling conquered easier, but Arab Muslims felt it was too far and the family abandoned the simple life of previous caliph and surroung themselves with wealth and ceremony. That causes a division in the Muslims community.

The majority of Muslims acepted de Umayyads for peace, but a minority tought the caliph must be a descendant of the prphet, Muhammad. This group was called shi'a "party" of Ali and the members were called Shi'ites. The people who didn't resist to the Umayyads were called Sunni meaning followers of Muhammad's example. Another group called the Sufi, rejected the luxurious life of the Umayyads and a life of poverty and devotion to a spiritual path.

2.3Comtrol extends over the three continents.

In the 750, a rebel group called the Abbasids took the control of the empire and murdered all the members of the Umayyad family, but one prince scaped to Spain and set up an Umayyad caliphate, he was Abd al-Raham. 

In 762, Abbasids moved again the capital to Baghdad to solidify power. They developed a strong bureaucracy to conduct the huge empire's affairs. To support it, they taxed land,imports and exports, and non-Muslims' wealth. 

Abbasids caliphate lasted from 750 to 1258, in that time they increased thier authority consulting religious leaders. But they haven't the control of all the territory, there were local leaders that dominated small regions. The Fatimid caliphate was formed by Shi'a muslims who claimed descendant from Muhammad's daughter, Fatima. 

The Muslims used the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean to engage trade with the rest of the world. They only needed one language, Arabic, and the Abbasids dinar. There were Muslim money changers set up banks. There they offerd letters of credit, called sakks ("check" in Europe) at it could be exange in any other bank in the empire. In the 10century, Córdoba had a population of 200,000(Paris had 38,000); there were poets, philosophers and scientist. This city became the dazzling centre of Muslims culture.

3.Muslim culture

3.1Muslim society.

The most important cities were Damascus(Umayyad firts capital), Baghdad(Abbasids capital), Córdoba (Ummayd captial), Cairo(Fatimid capital) and Jerusalem; thoose cities symbolized the streng of a caliphate. Baghdad approched to one million population, this city had a covered marketplace called bazaar. 

The muslim sociaty had four classes; 

1.Muslims from birth.

2.Converted Muslims.

3."Protected people"(Christians+Jews)

4.Slaves.

Muslims coulden't be slaves, many of themwere prisioners of war from non-Islamic populations. The slave should be treated fairly and it was considered good to free them.

The qur'an says "Men are the managers of the affairs of women" and "Righteous women are therefore obedient", but the Qur'an also says that men and women, as belivers, are equal.In the Shari'a gave Muslims women specific legal rights, mariage, family, and poperty. Muslims women had more rights than other womens in that period. When a man wanted to divorced all he had to do is repeat "I dismiss thee". Womens had access to education and their were responsible for childrens. Poor womens had to help their husbands in fields. All womens were expected to be veiled when they go out.

3.2Muslims schoolarship extends knowledge.

Rulers wanted qualified physicians treating their ills; mathematicians and astronomers to calculate the times for prayer and the diraction of Mecca. Muhammad also belived strongly in the power of learning. In 800s, the caliph al-Ma'mun opened a library in Baghdad called House of Wisdom. Schoolars of different cultures worked side by side transleting text from Greece, India, Persian... into Arabic.

3.3Art and sciences flourish.

Literature had been a strong tradition in Arabia even before Islam. The Qur'an is the standart for all Arabic literature and poetry and a popular book is The Thousand and One Nights. 

The calligraphy was considered art, the art of beautiful handwriting. Other arts were woodwork, glass, ceramics, arquitecture and texiles.

Muslims contributions in sciens were recognazed in medicine, mathematics and astronomy. Al-Razi was the greatest physician in the Muslim world and in the period between A.D. 500 and 1500. He wrote Comprehensive Book and Treatise on Smallpox and Measles. 

The Muslims resolved problem in a different way as greek does. Greek search answersby a logical way and Muslims prefer to observe and do experiments. Al-Khwarizmi a matematician born in Baghdad in late 700s, studied Indian soureces and in the 800 wrote a book explaining "the art of bringing togetherunknows to match a know know quantity" called al-jabr or álgebra. Ibn al-Haytham(Alhazen) wrote a book called Optics and showed people the idea we have actualy about why we see objects.

3.4Philosophy and religion blend views.

Ibn Rushd, a schoolar in the House of Wisdom, was critized for trying to blend Aristotle's and Plto's view with those of Islam, he argued that both philosophys had the same objective, find the truth. Moses Ben Maimon, Jewish phisician and philosopher born in Córdoba, became know as the great Jewish philosophy in history, writting the same time as Ibn Rushd, he produced a book called The Guide for the Perplexed.