1. The First Global Civilization: The Rise & Spread of Islam

2. Spread of Islam

3. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
Before Islam the Arabian Peninsula was divided into rival tribes and clans that worshiped local gods
Agriculture in coastal areas
Bedouin culture depended on camel and goat herding
Shaped the career of Muhammad, his teachings, & the spread of new beliefs
Key towns: Mecca & Medina

4. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
Social organization of town dwellers
Clan
Family
Culture
Language
Religion

5. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
I. Clan Identity, Clan Rivals, & the cycle of Vengence
Kin-related clan groups survived the harsh environment due to strong dependence & loyalty to family & the clan
Clan councils regulated water places & grazing lands
Shaykhs
Free warriors – constant fighting weakened bedouin relations with others

6. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
II. Towns & Long Distance Trade
Trans-continental trading system
Mediterranean to east Asia
A. Mecca
Founded by Umayyad clan or the Quraysh Bedouin tribe
Ka’ba – important Islamic Shrine

7. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
B. Medina
City of the prophet Muhammad
Established in oasis
Sedentary agriculture
Wheat & date palms
Contested by Bedouin & Jewish clans

8. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
III. Marriage & Family in Pre-Islamic Arabia
Women had higher status than in the Byzantine & Sasanian empires
Women played a key economic role
Milk camels
Weaving cloth
Raising children
Matriarchs
Women could have multiple husbands

9. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
Women cont’
Men had to pay bride-price
Not secluded
Didn’t have to wear veils
Advised clans & councils
Ladies we still weren’t seen as equals
Stable family life in towns led to patriarchal societies

10. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
IV. Poets & Neglected Gods
A. Poetry
No written language so poems transmitted orally
Provided a vision of life & society in pre-Islamic Arabia
Some poets seen as magical or possessed

11. Desert and Town: The Pre-Islamic World
Religion
Animism
Polytheism
Morality & ethics steamed from tribal customs and codes of honor NOT religion

12. The Life of muhammad and the genesis of islam
Mesopotamia, Byzantine & Sasanian empires established monotheistic religions
Christianity & Judaism
Muhammad influenced the worship of a single, almighty god
Orphaned
Resided in Mecca as a trader for Khadijah

13. The Life of muhammad and the genesis of islam
Muhammad revelations from Allah via the angel Gabriel in 610 CE
Revelations written in Arabic & collected in the Qur’an
Basis for Islam

14. The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
I. Persecution, Flight, and Victory
Muhammad seen as a threat by Umayyads
Plotted to murder him
Threatened gods of Ka’ba
Hijra – Muhammad’s flight to Medina marking the first year of the Islamic calendar
Quraysh launched a series of attacks on Muhammad and his followers in Medina
Proclaimed Allah as the one true god by smashing idols on the Ka’ba

15. The Ka’ba

16. The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
II. Arabs and Islam
Offered monotheism equal to Christianity & Judaism
Distinctively Arab in origin
Umma offered political unity for tribal boundaries
Bedouins unite and conquered Middle East

17. The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
Islam provided ethics
Zakat – tax for charity
Muhammad’s teachings & revelations in the Qur’an regulated all aspects of Muslim life
Last Judgment

18. The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
III. Universal Elements in Islam
Monotheism
Ethics
Legal codes
Sense of community
Egalitarianism

19. The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
Five Pillars
Confession of faith
Prayer facing Mecca 5 x a day
Fast during Ramadan
Zakat
Hajj to Mecca

20. The Arab empire of umayyads
I. Consolidation & Division in the Islamic Community
Leadership crisis after Muhammad’s death
Caliph – Islamic religious leader
Abu Bakr
Ridda Wars – defeat of rival prophets

21. The Arab empire of umayyads
II. Motives for Arab Conquests
Booty – loot/goods
Conversions
Jihads – holy war to forcibly spread the Muslim faith

22. The Arab empire of umayyads
III. Weakness of Adversary Empires
A. Sasanian Empire
Practiced Zoroastrianism
Muslims assassinated Sasanian rulers the ended the empire

23. The Arab empire of umayyads
B. Byzantine Empire
Christian sects like the Copts & Nestorians rallied to Arabs since they would tolerate Christians and tax them less heavily
Empire survived but was constantly under siege by Muslims

24. The Arab empire of umayyads
IV. Succession and the Sunni – Shiite split
A. Uthman - 3rd caliph
Murdered
His death led to the split of Islam into two main sects

25. The Arab empire of umayyads
C. Ali
Rejected by Umayyads as caliph
Battle of Siffin
Loses support
Assassinated, 661
Son, Hasan,
renounces caliphate
Son, Husayn
Killed, Karbala, 680 Sunni – follow Umayyads
Majority of Muslims are Sunni
Shiite – follow Ali’s descendants

26. The Arab empire of umayyads
V. Umayyad Imperium
Spread conquests into Central Asia
Rival Buddhism
Northwest India
North Africa
Expansion into Europe blocked by Charles Martel and the Franks at Gibraltar
Damascus – center of community

27. The Arab empire of umayyads
VI. Converts and “People of the book”
Mawali – converts
Jizya – head tax non-believers had to pay
Dhimmi – “people of the book”
Originally applied to Christians and Jew who shared the Bible with Muslims
Later Zoroastrians & Hindis

28. The Arab empire of umayyads
VII. Family and Gender Roles
Women’s position strengthened
Teachings proclaimed equality of sexes
Qur’an stressed the moral and ethical dimensions of marriage
Men could marry up to 4 wives
hadiths

29. The Arab empire of umayyads
VIII. Umayyad Decline & Fall
Alienation of Muslim faith led to revolts
Abbasid Revolt in Merv
Supported by Shiites & Malwai
Defeated Umayyads

30. From Arab to Islamic Empire – Early Abbasid Era
Islam became a universal language
Sunni rule
Suppressed Shiites
Seen as heretics
Baghdad
Bureaucratization of Islamic Empire

31. From Arab to Islamic Empire – Early Abbasid Era
A. Islamic Conversion & Mawali acceptance
Integration of Arab & Non-Arab converts
Most converted willingly

32. From Arab to Islamic Empire – Early Abbasid Era
B. Town & Country: Commercial Boom & Agrarian Expansion
Dhows – sailing vessels
Trade with Christians and Jews
Urbanization
Government & private workshops
Artisians poorly paid
Slaves did labor and unskilled work
Ayan – landowning elite

33. From Arab to Islamic Empire – Early Abbasid Era
C. First Flowering of Islamic Learning
Mosques – Islamic place of worship
Palaces
Science
Math