1. The Expansive Realm of Islam
Chapter 14
The Expansive Realm of Islam

2. Muhammad and His Message
Born 570 to merchant family in Mecca
Orphaned as a child
Marries wealthy widow c. 595, works as merchant
Familiarity with paganism, Christianity and Judaism as practiced in Arabian peninsula

3. Muhammad’s Spiritual Transformation
Visions c. 610 CE
Archangel Gabriel
Monotheism
Attracts followers to Mecca

4. The Quran Record of revelations received during visions
Committed to writing c. 650 CE (Muhammad dies 632)
Tradition of Muhammad’s life: hadith

5. Conflict at Mecca
Muhammad’s monotheistic teachings offensive to polytheistic pagans
Economic threat to existing religious industry
Denunciation of greed affront to local aristocracy

6. The Hijra Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) 622 CE
Year 0 in Muslim calendar
Organizes followers into communal society (the umma)
Legal, spiritual code
Commerce, raids on Meccan caravans for sake of umma

7. The “Seal of the Prophets”
Islam as culmination and correction of Judaism, Christianity
Inheritor of both Jewish and Christian texts

8. Muhammad’s Return to Mecca
Attack on Mecca, 630
Conversion of Mecca to Islam
Destruction of pagan sites, replaced with mosques
Ka’aba preserved in honor of importance of Mecca
Approved as pilgrimage site

9. The Ka’aba

10. The Five Pillars of Islam
No god but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet
Daily prayer
Fasting during Ramadan
Charity
Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

11. Muslims at Prayer

12. Jihad
“struggle”
Against vice
Against ignorance of Islam
“holy war”

13. Islamic Law: The Sharia
Codification of Islamic law
Based on Quran, hadith, logical schools of analysis
Extends beyond ritual law to all areas of human activity

14. The Caliph No clear to successor to Muhammad identified
Abu Bakr chosen to lead as Caliph
Led war against villagers who abandoned Islam after death of Muhammad

15. The Expansion of Islam
Highly successful attacks on Byzantine, Sassanid territories
Difficulties governing rapidly expanding territory

16. The expansion of Islam, 632-733 C.E.

17. The Shia Disagreements over selection of caliphs
Ali passed over for Abu Bakr
Served as caliph CE, then assassinated along with most of his followers
Remaining followers organize separate party called “Shia”
Traditionalists: Sunni

18. Shi’ite Pilgrims at Karbala

19. The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750 CE)
From Meccan merchant class
Capital: Damascus, Syria
Associated with Arab military aristocracy

20. Policy toward Conquered Peoples
Favoritism of Arab military rulers causes discontent
Limited social mobility for non-Arab Muslims
Head tax (jizya) on non-Muslims
Umayyad luxurious living causes further decline in moral authority

21. The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE)
Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab, allied with Shia, non- Arab Muslims
Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia
Defeats Umayyad army in 750
Invited Umayyads to banquet, then massacred them

22. Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty
Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab)
Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion
Dar al-Islam
Growth through military activity of autonomous Islamic forces

23. Abbasid Administration
Persian influence
Court at Baghdad
Influence of Islamic scholars (ulama, qadi)

24. Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE)
High point of Abbasid dynasty
Baghdad center of commerce
Great cultural activity

25. Abbasid Decline Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid
Provincial governers assert regional independence
Dissenting sects, heretical movements
Abbasid caliphs become puppets of Persian nobility
Later, Saljuq Turks influence, Sultan real power behind the throne

26. Economy of the Early Islamic World
Spread of food and industrial crops
Trade routes from India to Spain
Western diet adapts to wide variety
New crops adapted to different growing seasons
Agricultural sciences develop
Cotton, paper industries develop
Major cities emerge

27. Formation of a Hemispheric Trading Zone
Historical precedent of Arabic trade
Dar al-Islam encompasses silk routes
ice exported from Syria to Egypt in summer, 10th century
Camel caravans
Maritime trade

28. Banking and Trade Scale of trade causes banks to develop
Sakk (“check”)
Uniformity of Islamic law throughout dar al-Islam promotes trade
Joint ventures common

29. Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain)
Muslim Berber conquerors from North Africa take Spain, early 8th c.
Allied to Umayyads, refused to recognize Abbasid dynasty
Formed own caliphate
Tensions, but interrelationship

30. Changing Status of Women
Quran improves status of women
Outlawed female infanticide
Brides, not husbands, claim dowries
Yet male dominance preserved
Patrilineal descent
Polygamy permitted, Polyandry forbidden
Veil adopted from ancient Mesopotamian practice

31. Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition
Islamic values
Uniformity of Islamic law in dar al-Islam
Establishment of madrasas
Importance of the Hajj
Sufi missionaries
Asceticism, mysticism
Some tension with orthodox Islamic theologians
Wide popularity

32. Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) Major Sufi thinker from Persia
Impossibility of intellectual apprehension of Allah, devotion, mystical ecstasy instead

33. Cultural influences on Islam
Persia
Adminstration and governance
literature
India
Mathematics, science, medicine
“Hindi” numbers
Greece
Philosophy, esp. Aristotle
Ibn Rushd/Averroes ( )