1. Chapter 8 Notes
AP World History

2. I. The Origins of Islam A. The Arabian Peninsula Before Muhammad
1. Most Arabs were settled people, but nomads were responsible for caravan trade that connected Arabia with the Byzantine and Sasanid civilizations.
2. Nomads were polytheists who worshipped natural forces and celestial bodies.
3. Mecca was a caravan city and a cult center that attracted nomads to worship the idols in the Ka’ba.

6. B. Muhammad in Mecca 1. Received revelations from Allah in 610.
2. Message was that there is one god, Allah and that all who submitted to him would go to paradise and those who did not would go to hell.
3. Considered the final revelations, superceding the earlier revelations of God to Noah, Moses, and Jesus.

10. C. The Formation of the Umma
1. Fled from Mecca to Medina to form the community of believers.
2. Medina developed into the core of the Islamic state.
3. Abu Bakr took over the leadership of the umma.
4. He saw that Muslim authority was established over the Arabs and he oversaw the compilation and organization of the Quran in book form.
5. Civil war broke out between the third caliph’s clan Uthman, and Muhammad’s first cousing and son-in-law Ali. The Umayya forces won and established the Umayyad Caliphate in 661.
6. These disagreements led to the development of the 3 sects of Islam; Sunni(Umayyad), Shi’ite(Ali), and Kharijite sect.

15. II. The Rise and Fall of the Caliphate, 632-1258
A. The Islamic Conquests,
1. First wave of conquest took Syria, Egypt and the Sasanid Empire.
2. In the 7th and 8th centuries Tunisia, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, and Sind were taken.
3. Reason for conquests come down to the talent of the Muslim leaders and the structure of Arab society.
4. Arab forces were organized into regular, paid, armies that were kept in military camps and garrison towns so they did not overrun the countryside.

19. B. The Umayyad and Early Abbasid Caliphates, 661-850
1. The Umayyads ruled over an Arab, not Muslim empire and ruled their territory through the established Byzantine and Sassanid Apparatus.
2. Rebellions overthrew the Umayyads and the Abbasids came to power and ruled the Caliphate until 1258.
3. They provided renewed religious leadership which was derived from the Sassanids.
4. Baghdad was the center of Abbasid culture and saw an acceleration of the rate of conversion of non-Muslim peoples and literature, learning, translation of Greek and secular Arab poetry thrived under their leadership.

25. C. Political Fragmentation 850-1050
1. Abbasid power began to decline because the caliphs found it impossible to control their vast territory.
2. Difficulty of transportation and communications.
3. Dissatisfaction of the non-Muslim provincial populations with a political and economic system that was centered in Baghdad.
4. Slave troops known as Malmuks took over the government during the late 9th century and held it until 945 when the Iranian Shi’ite Buyids took control.
5. Other groups began to gain power such as the Samanids in Bukhara and the Fatimids in Egypt.
6. In Spain the Umayyads held control over a diverse population and saw substanial urbanization, introduction of citrus crops, a diverse irrigated, agricultural sector, and a florescence of Muslim and Jewish intellectual activity.
7. However, there was continuity with the strong sense of religious identity preserved by the religious scholars, the ulama.

29. The Alhambra

31. D. Assault from Within and Without 1050-1258
1. The Seljuk Turks, took advantage of the weakness of the Abbasids to establish the Suljuk Sultanate.
2. They ruled a territory from Afghanistan to Baghdad and took Anatolia from the Byzantines in 1071.
3. Turkish depredations, the deterioration of the Tigris-Euphrates irrigation system, insufficient revenue, and insufficient food resources led to the collapse of the city of Baghdad.
4. The Crusades also put some pressure on the Islamic lands, but the Muslims were able to unite under Saladin and drove the Christians out. However, Saladin’s descendants were not able to restore unity and order to the Islamic world and it was hit by another Turkish invasion in1250 and by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century.

34. The Crusaders

38. III. Islamic Civilization
A. Law and Dogma
1. Shari’a was Islamic law.
2. The most important source of the law was the traditions of the Prophet(sunna) as revealed in reports(hadith) about his words or deeds.
3. The Shari’a held that all Muslims are brothers and sisters and shared the same moral values.

40. B. Converts and Cities
1. People found that the best way to learn about Islam was to move to the wealthy, expanding urban areas where the population was concentrated.
2. Cities provided an expanding market for agricultural and manufactured products and contributed to an increase in trade.
3. In medicine and astronomy Muslim scholars surpassed the work of the Greek and Hellenistic civilizations and developed far more advanced skills and theories than those of Christian Europe

44. C. Islam, Women, and Slaves
1. Women were veiled and secluded.
2. Women’s rights included the right to inherit and own property, to retain it in marriage, right to divorce, to remarry, to testify in court, and to go on pilgrimage.
3. Biggest fear centered around Muhammad’s young wife A’isha illustrate what Muslim’s feared most about women; infidelity and meddling in politics.
4. Islam did not permit homosexuality.
5. Were not permitted to enslave their fellow Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Zoroastrians except when taken as prisoners of war.

48. D. The Recentering of Islam
1. During the 12th and 13th centuries the madrasas(religious colleges) and the Sufi brotherhoods developed.
2. Sufi brotherhoods were mystic fraternities whose members sought union with God through rituals and training.
3. Also provided members with spiritual guidance and rules for everyday life.

51. IV. Comparative Perspectives
A. Similarities Between Sassanid and Roman Empires
1. Both empires forged strong relations between the ruler and the dominant religion.
2. Citizens began to identify themselves more with religion that ruler.
3. Allowed Muhammad to begin commanding both political and religious loyalty.

52. B. Comparing Local and Universal Islam
1. The concept of umma united all Muslims in a universal community.
2. New religious institutions such as the madrasas and Sufi brotherhoods also provided a sense of community for Muslims as they carried Islam into new regions.