Islam

1
Islams five pillars

• Provide basis for underlying unity
• Acceptance of Islam No god except the God, and
  Muhammad is his messenger.
• Prayer five times daily facing Mecca
• Fast from sun up to sun down during the month of
  Ramadan
• Alms to the poor
• Pilgrimage to Mecca

2
Islam

• Unifying elements of Islam
• Monotheism
• Legal codes
• Shria
• Egalitarianism
• Strong sense of community

3
Umayyads

• Muhammads pilgrimage won the alliance of many
  Bedouin tribes, but the unity was threatened when
  he died in 632.
• Tribes broke away and his followers quarreled
  about his succession.
• The community manages to select new leaders who
  reunited Islam by 633 and then began campaigns
  beyond Arabia.

4
Umayyads

• Muhammad could not have a successor possessing
  his attributes.
• He had not established a procedure for selecting
  a new leader.
• After a troubled process Abu Bakr was chosen as
  caliph, leader of the Islamic community
• Break-away tribes and rival prophets were
  defeated during the wars to restore Islamic unity

5
Umayyads

• Arab armies invaded the weak Byzantine and
  Sassanid Empire where Bedouins who had migrated
  earlier joined them.
• The Arabs defeated the poorly prepared Sassanid
  military in 651. The Byzantines were more
  resilient. Arabs seize Iraq, Syria, Palestine,
  and Egypt. Byzantine remains in control of Asia
  Minor and the Balkans

6
Succession and Split

• The murder of the third caliph increased
  succession struggle. Ali (Muhammads cousin and
  son-in-law) wins succession.
• The Umayyads reject Ali as the true leader and
  proclaim their own leader in 660.
• The result is a schism in Islam.
• Sunni Muslims believe the Umayyads are the
  rightful leader of Islam
• Shiites believe that only Muhammads family is
  the true heir.

7
Umayyads

• Political capital was at Damascus
• Caliphs built an imperial administration with
  both a bureaucracy and military dominated elite
• There was interaction between Arabs and subjects
• Muslim converts mawali still paid taxes
• Most conquered people were also dhimmis people
  of the book.
• Also had to pay taxes, but allowed to keep own
  values