Islamic Empires

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Islamic Empires

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A Brief History of Islam

• The religion of Islam was founded in, what is
  today, Saudi Arabia.

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Pre Islamic Arabia

• Harsh ethic of desert warfare,
  extermination of enemies no mercy
• Patriarchal women veiled segregated, no
  property, female infanticide, child marriage

• Caravan Culture Trade central to economy
• Tribal organization -- alliances and client
  states
• Pilgrimage to Mecca essential to economic and
  political success of leading tribes (Quraysh).
• Violent, warrior states based on vendetta culture
• ghazu (raids) on caravans

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The Prophet Mohammed

• Founded Islam during his lifetime (570-632 CE)
• He was an orphan who grew up with his uncle, a
  caravan trader, near the city of Mecca.
• Claimed he received a divine revelation at the
  age of 40 from the Angel Gabriel.

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The Koran (Quran)

• Muslims believe
• The Koran is the direct word of God (Allah)
• Mohammed was illiterate but remembered the
  messages and recited them to scribes in Arabic.
• It took 23 years to collect all the verses.

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The Prophet Mohammed

• Married a rich widow who was much older to him
  named Khadijah when he was 25.
• This was a wise business decision because it
  insured Mohammed great wealth and prestige in the
  community.

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The Wives of Mohammed

• He would later marry several other wives, as was
  the custom of the day. Muslim men are today only
  allowed 4.
• Mohammed married the widows and orphans of
  regions that were conquered in war to save them
  from starvation and destitution.
• Mohammeds second wife, Ayesha, was only nine
  when he married her according to some accounts.
  She was said to be his favorite wife and gathered
  an army to defend his successor.

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The Islamic Community

• Mohammed began to preach in public in Mecca.
• He taught his followers that there was only one
  God.
• He preached against
• those who worshipped
• idols in the Kaaba.

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Persecution

• Mohammed was seen as a threat
• to the rulers of the city who were pagans his
  own tribesmen, the Quraysh.
• If they removed their idols from the Kaaba
  there would be no more pilgrims, no more trade,
  and no more wealth.
• Mohammed, his family, and followers were mocked,
  threatened with death and persecuted. Some of
  his enemies even tried to assassinate the Prophet.

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The Hijra

• Mohammed and
• his followers
• fled Mecca and
• escaped to the
• city of Yathrib (Medina).
• This Hijra
• (flight) marks the
• beginning of the
• Islamic Calendar

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Importance of Hijra

• Moving to Yathrib (Medina) was mor than a change
  of address
• Saved the Ummah from total extinction
• Allowed the implementation of a new polity
  Quranic ideal of a state with Muhammed as head of
  many tribes.
• Put the religious community (ummah) above the
  sacred blood ties of tribe and clan.

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Mohammed led raids on Meccan caravans and rallied
an army to defend Medina from a Meccan
attack. The Muslims conquered many neighboring
tribes.
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Mohammed and the Jews

• Contract with Jewish tribes in Medina
• Jewish tribes betray Mohammed -- two tribes
  expelled.
• The Massacre of Qurayzah 700 men killed, women
  and children sold as slaves.
• 7th century Arabia no mercy for traitors
• Mohammed NOT ANTI SEMITIC.
• Part of the process of Mohammeds consolidation
  of power at his base in Medina over a period of
  3-5 years.

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Return to Mecca
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Return to Mecca

• Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force,
  said to number 10,000 men.
• He took the city without bloodshed.
• Most Meccans converted to Islam and Muhammad
  destroyed the idols in the Kaaba.
• Muslim pilgrims re-inact the return to Mecca
  every year by performing the Hajj

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Approximately 2-3 million pilgrims from all over
the world make the Hajj to the Kaaba in Mecca
each year. Devout Muslims turn towards the
Kaaba in Mecca to pray five times each day.
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Pilgrims circle the Kaaba 7 times in a clockwise
motion and perform other rituals of devotion
during the Hajj.
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Warrior or Preacher?

• For most of the sixty-three years of his life,
  Muhammad was a merchant, then a preacher. He took
  up the sword late in his life. He was a warrior
  for only ten years.

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Who will be Mohammeds successor?The Caliph
debate

• Abu Bakr vs.
• Muhammad's
• father-in
• law and close
• friend

• Ali
• Mohammeds
• cousin and
• son-in-law

Supported by Sunni Muslims
Supported by Shia Muslims
The schism or divide happened during the First
Islamic Civil War 656661 CE
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The First Four Caliphs

• Elected Abu Bakr as first Caliph (632-34), unites
  Arabia..
• Umar (634-44) Unites ummah through outward
  aggression (to replace ghazu economics) Syria,
  Egypt and Iraq.
• Professional soldiers and garrison towns
• Soldiers Rights vs. Central Authority

• Uthman (644-56) Arabs move into Byzantine
  territory, across North Africa
• More tension, less plunder, soldiers exhausted.
• NEPOTISM
• Mutiny, assassination of Uthman call for Ali to
  be new caliph.

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Before his death in 632, Muhammad had established
Islam as a social and political force and had
unified most of Arabia. A few decades after his
death, his successors had united all of Arabia,
and conquered Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, Armenia, and much of North Africa.
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First Civil War (Fitnah)

• 656-661
• Muawiyyah (Uthmans kinsmen) vs. Ali (the
  son-in-law of the prophet).
• Battle of the Camel (Aisha anti Ali)
• War ends with arbitration, Ali to except M. as
  Caliph
• M. proclaims himself Caliph in Jerusalem. Ali is
  murdered by rebels in 661, leaving his son Hasan
  as possible Caliph.
• M. moves capital to Damascus, Syria.

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Kharijites

• the seceders from Arabic word to go out
• They first emerged in the late 7th century AD,
  concentrated in today's southern Iraq, and are
  distinct from the Sunnis and Shiites.
• Rebelled against Ali when he accepted the
  arbitration between himself and Muawiyyah.
• Felt betrayed by Ali and murdered him in 661.

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First Civil War continued

• 1st Umayyad Caliph Muawiyyah (661-80), strong
  govenor, unified ummah under strong
  administration.
• Umayyad Dynasty rule 661-750
• Ms son Yazid inherits caliphate (no-no!) 680 and
  the second son of Ali, Husain, is massacred in
  Iraq by Ummayads with all the women and children
  of his household. The prophets own
  grandchildren slaughtered by Muslims!

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Sunni vs. Shia

• Sunni short for Ahl Al-Sunna wa al-Jamah the
  year of the jamiyat or the year of the 1st Muslim
  Civil War that ended with Ali accepting the peace
  treatry
• Shia means the party of Ali.

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The Courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
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Second Civil War

• Yazid dies 683.
• Al-Zubayr challenges Umayyads and starts Second
  Civil War 683-692
• Al-Zubayr in Mecca, cant take Syria or Egypt
• Marwan I (r. 684-685) elected Caliph
• For short time, Zubayrs family ruled Iraq.
• Marwans son, Malik, reconquered Iraq and
  defeated Al-Zubayr by bombarding Mecca!

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Today, the majority of the worlds Muslims are
Sunni. Iran and Iraq are the only countries in
the world where most the Muslims are Shia. The
people of Iran are Persian (not Arabic) and in
Iraq most people are of Arab descent.
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The Abbasid Dynasty

• The Umayyads were overthrown in the east by the
  Abbasid dynasty after their defeat in the Battle
  of the Zab in 750, following which most of the
  clan was massacred by the Abbasids.
• An Umayyad prince, Abd-ar-rahman I, took over the
  Muslim territory in Al-Andalus (Hispania) and
  founded a new Umayyad dynasty there.

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The Abbasid Dynasty

• It seized power in 750, when it finally defeated
  the Umayyads in battle, and flourished for two
  centuries, but slowly went into decline with the
  rise to power of the Turkish army they had
  created, the Mamluks. Ended 1258.
• A number of medieval thinkers and scientists
  living under Islamic rule played a role in
  transmitting Greek, Hindu, and other pre-Islamic
  knowledge to the Christian West. They contributed
  to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe. In
  addition, the period saw the recovery of much of
  the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric and
  astronomical knowledge, such as that of Euclides
  and Claudius Ptolemy. These recovered
  mathematical methods were later enhanced and
  developed by other Islamic scholars

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The Umayyads of Cordoba (Spain)
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The Umayyads of Cordoba (Spain)

• Islamic Spain 756-1031
• Threatened by Fatimids mMuslim rivals of Cairo
  in 10th century
• For 100 years, the Caliph of Córdoba ruled over
  Spain and North Africa.
• Scholarship, science, art, music and medicine
• Empire crumbles into small fiefdoms over time and
  overcome by Christians
• The Reconquista (Reconquest) refers to the
  liberation of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim
  rule, conducted from 718 to 1492.

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The Alahambra, 1248-1354
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Court of the Lions, Alahambra

• Granada in
• Al Andalus
• Last stronghold of
• The Moors in Iberia.
• Isabelle and
• Feridnand, 1492

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The Christians called Santiago their protector
saint (todayhe is still the patron of Spain)
under the rubric ofSantiago Matamoros ("St.
James the Moor-killer").
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Fatimid Dynasty

• Shia dynasty ruled much of North Africa from CE
  5 January 910 to 1171. The Fatimids had their
  origins in the Tunisia area ("Ifriqiya"), but
  after the conquest of Egypt ca. 970, they moved
  their capital there CAIRO
• Tolerant to Sunnis, Jews, Christians
• Empire spread to middle east, eaten away by
  Turks, the Crusades, finally absorbed into
  Abbasid in 1171.

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• The Five Pillars of Islam

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The Five Pillars of Islam

• 1) Shahadah Declaration of Faith

There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is His
Prophet.
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The Five Pillars of Islam

• 2) Salah Prayer 5 times daily (facing Mecca)

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The Five Pillars of Islam

• 3) Sawm Fasting during the month of Ramadan

Abstaining from drinking, eating, smoking,
sexual intercourse and other worldly pleasures
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The Five Pillars of Islam

• 4) Zakah Giving alms (donations) to charity

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The Five Pillars of Islam

• 5) Hajj The pilgrimage to Mecca

Performance of the Hajj at least once in one's
lifetime is obligatory to all who are physically
and financially able to undertake it.
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• Key concepts

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Key concepts

• Shariah Law Muslim law based on Quran, Hadith,
  and community consensus.
• The Hadith traditions related to the sayings
  and doings of Mohammed.

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Key concepts

• Madrassah university

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Key concepts

• Jizya Tax on non-Muslim males in Islamic
  Empires.

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Tax TOLERANCE

• The Ottoman Empire organized society around the
  concept of the millet, or autonomous religious
  community. The nonMuslim "People of the Book"
  (Christians and Jews) owed taxes to the
  government in return they were permitted to
  govern themselves according to their own
  religious law in matters that did not concern
  Muslims. The religious communities were thus able
  to preserve a large measure of identity and
  autonomy.

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Key concepts

• the People of the Book Jews, Christians,
  Muslims who all share common creation stories
  (Adam and Eve), prophets (Abraham and Moses) and
  one god (monotheism).

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Key concepts

• Muslims believe Jesus was a
• wise teacher, sage and prophet
• (but not divine).
• One of the books in the Quran
• is named Maryam after Mary
• and tells the story of Jesus
• birth.

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Key concepts

• Jihad The Struggle to live a Muslim life.

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Key concepts

• Women and Islam

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The Great Muslim Empires

• Ottoman (1362-1915)based in Annatolia
• Mughal (1526-1857) based in South Asia
• Safavid (1501-1740) based in Persian plateau

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Ottoman Empire
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Safavid Empire
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Mughal Empire