2. The Worlds of Islam
C.E.

3. The Arabs A people group from the Arabian Peninsula Speak Arabic
Nomadic pastoralists, some began settling down
Lived in independent clans and tribes (kinships and relationships)
Frequent conflicts, decent military skills

4. The Arabs Lived along trade routes
Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Byzantium, Silk Roads, even West Africa
Connected to wider world – learned much from this:
Monotheism, wealth, and trade
Controlled the city of Mecca:
Trade city
Site of the Kaaba (shrine to local gods)
Practiced polytheistic religion

5. Muhammad The founding of Islam is ALL ABOUT MUHAMMAD
Known as the last of the prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others)
Showing connections to Judaism and Christianity
Received the final revelations from God – later written in the Quran- God’s literal words.

6. Muhammad Who is he? Merchant from the Quraysh tribe in Mecca
Troubled by corruption and inequalities of Meccan life
Meditating brought him the revelations from God
Began teaching and attaching followers (610 C.E. – 632 C.E.)

7. Muhammad Muhammad greatly challenged existing life in Mecca:
Most people at the time polytheistic
Meccan business life and wealth?
Tribe and clan social structure
Muhammad encouraged a community for all believers (called the Umma)

9. Discussion
What motivates proper behavior and participation in society more? Good laws or shared belief system?

10. Sufi Mysticism The mystical side to Islam
Sought a direct and personal experience of the “Divine”
Meditation on the words of the Quran
Use of missionaries

11. Establishing Islam Muhammad was rejected in Mecca
Too challenging and dangerous
In 622, he and his followers went to Medina – journey now known as the Hijra
Also the beginning of the Islamic calendar
Umma was formed and expanded (belief over birth)
Muhammad becomes both a religious of political leader

12. Establishing Islam Much political and military success (622-630)
Ending of tribal warfare, new wealth, new faith, marriage alliances
630 – Reentered Mecca peacefully, rededicated the Kaaba to Allah
Controls most of Arabia

13. New Religion, New State, New Society
Muhammad as political and religious leader
Umma as new community
No separate religious organization or professional clergy
State and “Church” all the same
No separation between religious and political law
Sharia Law – laws for every aspect of life

14. Creation of Arab Islamic Empire
Rightly Guided Caliphs (Religious and Political leaders)
Capital – Medina
Conquests: Mesopotamia, Sassanid (Persian) Empire, Egypt
Conflicts: Who will lead after Muhammad? Sunni/Shia Split
Success: massive spread and conversion

15. Creation of Arab Islamic Empire
Umayyad Dynasty
Capital: Damascus
Conquests: North Africa, Spain, all the way to India
Conflicts: how to treat non-Arab Muslims, how to rule (taxes, succession, bureaucracy, centralization)
Success : spread & conversion, centralization, developing Sharia law

17. Creation of Arab Islamic Empire
Abbasid Empire
Capital: Baghdad
Conquests: Smaller area – Mediterranean islands, parts of Anatolia
Conflicts: holding itself together – local splinter, Mongols in 1258
Sharia law vs. Sufi mysticism
Success : flourishing culture – tech, science, math, medicine, philosophy, education, astronomy
Flourishing trade – merchants everywhere – Indian Ocean, Silk Roads, Mediterranean, Trans-Saharan, all the way to China

18. Creation of Arab Islamic Empire
What supported conversion, spread, success?
Familiarity – monotheism, heaven/hell, prayers, fasting
Association with a powerful new state
Conversion offered incentives – avoid taxes, social mobility
Merchant activity
Military prowess
Islamized without Arabizing?
Turkey, Persia/Iran, Pakistan

19. The Islamic World as a Connected World
After the fall of the Abbasid Empire, there will not be another Islamic Empire in the political sense, however, Muslims will stay connected culturally. HOW?
Faith and Religion:
Ulama – scholars, judges, administrators, teachers of Sharia
Madrassas – formal colleges – Quran, hadiths, language, math, medicine, Sharia Law, philosophy, etc.
Sufi orders of practice – Widespread, missionaries, frontier (followed army)
Hajj

20. The Islamic World as a Connected World
After the fall of the Abbasid Empire, there will not be another Islamic Empire in the political sense, however, Muslims will stay connected culturally. HOW? 2. Commerce and Exchange – 1. Muslim Merchants on every major trade network 2. Trade was valued, viewed positively 3. Agricultural diffusion 4. Tech diffusion 5. Diffusion of ideas

21. Recapping Major Conflicts within Islam
Who leads after Muhammad? Sunni/Shia Split
Treatment of non-Muslims and non-Arabs Muslims
Sharia Law vs. Sufi Mysticism (What does it mean to be a good Muslim?)
Women: opportunities and struggles
Where/how were women treated with less patriarchy
Where does patriarchy and limits come from?