The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam

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The First Global Civilization The Rise and
Spread of Islam

• Chapter 6
• EQs What is the history behind Islam?
• What are the teachings of Islam?
• How did Islam spread?

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Arabiabefore Islam

• Barely inhabitedthose who did live there settled
  mainly near coastal plains
• Main characteristics of the region
• Bedouin nomads who wander across the deserts
• They bounce from oasis to oasis trading goods or
  herding animals
• Each have an established territory usually
  surrounding a wadi, an flat plain of a dry
  river bed, with a well

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A Culture of Rivalry

• Clans were composed of related peoples and clans
  migrated together
• Survival in this harsh environment relied upon
  interdependence within the clan
• The clan was led by the shaykhs (sheiks), elder
  men who dictated clan life
• Clans fought clans for dominance, most wars were
  over land and wells
• Captured clan members were most often taken as
  slaves for the victorious clan

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Bedouin Practices

• Arab culture was not complex
• There was little art, architecture or other
  social contributions worth noting
• One major city Mecca
• There was an aura of mysticism about Bedouin
  life, emphasized in their poetry
• Religion was animistic and polytheisticthey
  recognized the one supreme god (Allah) of the
  soon-to-be founded Islambut most notably they
  did not take their gods/religion very seriously

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Enter Muhammad

• Born 570 CE in Mecca
• Lost both parents at young age
• Was lucky to be born in a wealthy clan, traveled
  extensively with his uncle (less wealthy than
  parents), was exposed to both Jewish and
  Christian faiths as well as other belief systems
• By his 20s he was working for Khadijah, the widow
  of a wealthy merchant, whom he married

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Muhammad the Prophet

• HOW DID ISLAM COME INTO BEING?
• Muhammad was troubled by idol worship and all the
  negative things he saw in Bedouin society
• He had a vision, from the angel Gabriel, calling
  on him to be a messenger of God
• Muhammad was persecuted for promoting belief in
  one God
• Muhammad fled to Yathrib in 622 CE (now known as
  Medina) on a journey known as the hijra (622 CE
  is the holy beginning year for Islam)
• Those in Medina welcome Muhammad and his
  followers grew
• He attacked the people of Mecca, destroyed their
  idols and began uniting all Arabs under his
  religion

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The Five Pillars of Islam

• The basis of Islam is 5 things (rules) its
  followers must adhere to in their daily lives
• 1. Affirmation of faith in God (Allah)
• 2. Daily Prayer face east (Mecca) 5 times a day
  and pray
• 3. Charity must give to the poor and enfeebled
• 4. Fasting During Ramadan, not eating, sunrise
  to sunset
• 5. Pilgrimage hajj, Every able bodied Muslim
  must go to Mecca once in their life
• Jihad or struggle in Gods service, is noted as
  another duty that some Muslims practice

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The Spread of Islam Begins

• The effects of Muhammads teachings were quite
  significant
• UNITY! It gave the divided Arab clans one
  single God
• It was Arab in origin (appealing) but still
  directly paralleled Christian and Jewish
  monotheism
• It was simple, no complex rituals, no saints or
  different ideologies ONE BOOK, ONE AUTHORITY
  the Quran
• Muslim law (Sharia) based on the Quran
• Brought end to the clan feuding/vendettas
• Transformed the Bedouins from savage nomads
  into civilized people
• Because Muhammads faith was all accepting and
  tolerant, numerous people from the Middle East,
  to North Africa and Southeast Asia (particularly
  India) eventually accepted Islam

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Leadership Issues

• Despite Muhammads successes in providing UNITY,
  his death in 632 complicated matters
• It left the Arabs without a clear leadermany
  candidates wanted to expand the Muslim society
  into other areas while other did not
• Abu Bakr, Muhammads closest friend) was chosen
  (after Muhammads own son-in-law was passed over)
  as caliphhe continued expansion with LITTLE/NO
  HELP from the Umayyads in Mecca

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The Conquests

• Muslim invaders were naturally full of zeal to
  spread their faith to other areas, the more
  converts the better, HOWEVER they also wanted to
  control areas where people did not convert
• Muslim leaders were naturally interested in
  controlling wealth and riches in other areas
• In order to get money, the levied a jizya on
  non-believers, though mawali or recent converts,
  still had some taxes to payin any case, wealth
  was as great a motivation for spreading Islam as
  was glory of spreading Allahs word, but they
  were NOT the primary reason for Muslim success

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The Conquests

• Spreading Islam in the Middle East, North Africa
  and Eastern Mediterranean was easy because
• The Byzantine and Sassanian (Persian) Empires
  were weakZoroastrianism lacked popular roots in
  Persia and was becoming repressed
• The Byzantines were more resilient in fending off
  Arab invaders, yet still lost valuable territory
  to them in Syria, Israel and Egypt
• In the end, the general weakness of these empires
  to maintain a foothold on their outlying
  territory allowed for the easy expansion of Islam

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The Sunni/Shia Problem

• Despite all this success, their was STILL a large
  division in Muslim society, further complicated
  by the sudden death of Abu Bakr in 634 CE
• The problem was succession of leadership, and
  there were 2 different schools on the matter
• Sunnis believed that the caliph should be
  chosen by religious leaders and NOT a religious
  leader (most Umayyads)
• Shiites believed that only direct descendants
  of Muhammad should be caliph (Ali)
• These differences further complicated practices,
  rituals and aspects of the faith (like women
  veiling, tribute, the meaning of jihad)

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The Umayyad Imperium

• By the end of the 7th/Early 8th century CE,
  differences were somewhat settled and the
  business of expansion continued
• The Umayyads established their capital at
  Damascus, Syria, though Mecca remained the holy
  city
• They created a bureaucratic administration with a
  strong military dominated by elite Muslim
  Arabstheir method of territorial control was to
  leave warrior garrisons in fortresses separated
  from the common people in major towns throughout
  the empire
• Again, converts, though not prevented from
  interacting, marrying or cavorting with members
  of the Muslim elite, STILL had to pay taxes,
  received little or no support from the Umayyad
  government and were in general seen as just
  clients of Muslim society
• As a result, the rate of conversion to Islam
  during the Umayyad Imperium was much lower than
  future empires, as people so no real need to
  convert to avoid major penalties

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Family/Gender Roles in Umayyad Society

• Women had a favorable status (same as was done
  when the Arabs were Bedouins)
• Adultery was forbidden, HOWEVER, men could have 4
  wives and women could only have 1 husbandall
  WOMEN had to be treated equally no matter what
• Women had greater freedom to receive inheritance
  and a divorce
• The only thing women were not allowed to do was
  be a priest (Imam) and lead prayers or other
  religious rituals

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Umayyad Decline and Fall

• The spoils of victory and a decline in military
  power lead to the downfall of the Umayyad
  Imperium
• Many Muslim groups within the empire saw the
  Umayyads as committing sins against Allah,
  leading to revolts, many of which came from
  remote border areas (Merv)
• Soldiers who had settled there began to see less
  and less from the central treasury in
  Damascuswhen Damascus tried to replace them with
  new soldiers, they revolted
• Eventually, the Abbasid clan gained supporters
  from Merv and other outlying regionsmost of
  these supporters were Shia (Umayyads were Sunni)
• Led by Abu al-Abbas, he Abbasids defeated the
  Umayyads in 750 CE, and made sure to
  assassinate/wipe out any remaining Umayyad clan
  leadersthough some retreated to Spain

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THIS WEEK

• Read Chapter 6 and do your dialectical journal
• Tuesday Conflict Analysis Sunni v. Shiite
• Wednesday Compare and Contrast Umayyads and
  Abassids
• Thursday DBQ Practice on the Spread of Islam
• Friday TEST on C6notes due

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Umayyads and Abbasids

• Societal Comparison Pages 130-142
• I am going to assign you a number, and you will
  fill/figure out the sections associated with that
  number
• We will discuss this as a class in about 20
  minutes
• 1 Political and Intellectual/Technological
• 2 Social and Military
• 3 Economic and Geographic
• 4 Artistic and Demographic
• 5 Religious and Womens Status