MUSLIM EMPIRES DBQ EXAMPLES OF HIGH-QUALITY THESIS STATEMENTS, POV, ADDT’L DOC REQUESTS, AND TOPIC SENTENCES…

GOOD THESIS “Documents 1, 6, 9 and 10 discuss the militaristic political climate of the [Gunpowder] Empires c , while documents 1, 5, 7, 8 and 10 describe the tolerant religious climate of the [Gunpowder] Empires, and documents 2, 3, 4 and 10 display the religiously intolerant climate of the empires.”

GOOD THESIS “While the overall political and religious climates of the Muslim Empires in were tense, religious tolerance can be seen in the Mughal and Ottoman Empires.”

GOOD THESIS “The political and religious climate of the Muslim Empires in c was very tense…The military was needed to support the government and to back up political decisions, while the religious tension was a result of the close proximity of various religious groups.”

GOOD THESIS, AND GOOD TOPIC SENTENCES “Documents 7 and 8 portray a tolerant religious climate throughout the Muslim Empires c , while documents 1,2,[3] and 9 show an intolerant religious climate. Documents 1,4, and 10 show a diverse religious climate. Documents 3, 5, and 7 portray a tense political climate.” –Topic sentence, paragraph 1: Documents 7 and 8 show a tolerant religious climate throughout the Muslim Empires. –Topic sentence, paragraph 2: Documents 1,2,3 and 9 show an intolerant religious climate. –Topic sentence, paragraph 3: Documents 1, 4 and 10 show a diverse religious climate. –Topic sentence, paragraph 4: Documents 5 and 6 show a tense political climate.

USING DOCS SPECIFICALLY, IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THE THESIS Thesis: –The Muslim Empires of had a very diverse religious climate… Paragraph 1, topic sentence: –“Docs 1,2,3,4,5,7,8, and 10 show the diversity of the Muslim empires’ religious climate.” Subsequent use of examples from all listed docs: –Doc 1 shows that there were Jews and Christians in most major Turkish cities…Doc 2 shows that there was a large Hindu population in the Mughal empire. Doc 3 shows that the[re] were Christian missionaries in the Safavid Empire. Doc 4 shows how the Sikhs interacted with Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Doc 5 shows that there was both of the major Islamic sects and Hindus in the Mughal empire. Doc 7 shows that there was a lot of discussion and possibly syncretism among different religions. Doc 8 shows the interactions between Hindus and Muslims. Doc 10 shows the varieties of religions in all the empires…”

HOW MIGHT WE FIX THIS PARAGRAPH?? Documents 1,7, and 8 demonstrate the tolerant religious climate of the Muslim Empires. “…Document 1…[shows] the Janissaries’ purpose of protecting the local weaker religions. Document 8 shows how Jahangir [justifies the protection of] the Hindus because they are ‘usefully engaged’ and benefiting the [empire]. The painting in document 7 shows Akbar’s tolerance [of] the Jesuits.”

GOOD POV :”How and why is this document biased?” “Document 3 is taken from the perspective of a missionary who traveled to the Safavid Empire in order to convert others to Christianity. However, the missionary failed and upon his return to Spain, brought along with him the point of view that all those of the Safavid Empire were rude, inconsiderate, and [disingenuous] peoples who merely feigned appreciation of the Spanish missionaries. This perspective is taken, of course, only because the missionary was unsuccessful.”

GOOD POV “Doc 3 shows how the Muslims didn’t like the Christian missionaries. However, Father Simon may have exaggerated the Muslims’ hostility because he was making excuses for his mission’s failure.”

GOOD POV “Document 3, which is about the Safavid empire, shows the ruler Shah Abbas’s disrespect for Christian traditions… However, coming from a group that was a minority in the Safavid Empire, Father Simon, the author of Document 3, probably felt that the Muslim shah was more oppressive than he actually was… Because Father Simon came to the Safavid Empire to explore missionary work, it is clear that he viewed Muslims as wrong and thus would have been more critical of Islamic rule.”

GOOD POV (and outstanding use of ‘bandit’) “Document 6 describes the Janissaries in a completely different light. They are corrupt and are stealing money from the central government. They are also described as stealing bandits [whoo hoo!]. Because the author’s POV is definitely in favor of the central government and in particular to the treasury department, he is going to be very critical of the Janissaries, especially if he suspects that they are squandering [the money in] in the Ottoman treasury.”

PROBABLY, OR ALMOST THERE POV… “Document 8 also discusses the role of religion in regard to the political climate of the Mughal Empire, but is written by one of the emperors, and thus could be biased when he describes how his father was so tolerant of the Hindus.” –Jahangir may have exaggerated Akbar’s level of tolerance, because he would have wanted to positively portray his Muslim family to his Hindu subjects (especially given the tense religious climate in the Mughal Empire).

GOOD ADDT’L DOC “Another document, which would be helpful in further understanding the religious climate of the Muslim empires from , would be an account written by an indigenous follower of Judaism (or some religious minority). This would give us information about how such minorities adapted to the changes in religious climate and what their perspective was on larger religions which may or may not have oppressed them and their faith.”

GOOD ADDT’L DOC “I think it would be helpful to have a document pertaining to the perspective of the Hindus. All of the documents were written by people outside of the empire or a government official but not from the opinion of a Hindu. Considering that many documents discuss being tolerant to them, it would be interesting to hear from the subjects about that tolerance. A survey asking the Hindus if they believed they were being treated fairly would be helpful. That way you could compare the points of views to decide which is the more accurate. Considering that the Hindus were the majority in the Mughal empire, it would be a helpful document to understand the actual relationship between the Hindus and the Muslims.

Another one I made up… An additional document that would be helpful in better understanding the political and economic climate of the Muslim empires would be that of a government official working inside of the Safavid Empire. Right now, the only perspective on the Safavid Empire that we have is that of a disaffected Christian missionary. A more formal document from someone in the government could better help us to determine whether or not the government did in fact discriminate against religious minorities, thus creating a hostile religious climate, or if it was more open minded than the author of document 3 is letting on.