1. Islamic Empires and the Muslim Synthesis

2. Chronology of the Islamic Empires
Life of Muhammad
Umayyad Dynasty
Abbasid Dynasty
Crusades from Europe
1258 Mongol capture of Baghdad

3. The Islamic Empires

4. How? Muhammad transforms Arabia – jihad against Arab polytheists
creates a confederation centered on Medina, Muhammad, Islam
“Pax Islamica” – Muslim brotherhood
New raids to “expand and survive”

6. Expansion beyond Arabia
Convert Arab pagans living in Persia and Byzantine Empires
How to treat Christians and Jews-dhimmis
conquest not for conversion but for loot
could keep their religion, homes, churches, businesses
sometimes welcomed Arabs as liberators
had to pay poll tax to Muslim rulers

8. Age of the Orthodox Caliphs 632-661ce-capital at Medina
Crisis over succession-consensus vs. inheritance
Shia (“party”) vs. Sunni
Conquests under Umar (See RGH #54)
-encourage expansion and loot
-discourage assimilation-don’t encourage conversion, only happens gradually
-don’t cause opposition by locals
-don’t’ settle on the land (garrison towns)
-emphasize loyalty to Islam
-don’t lose “masculine virtues”

9. EARLY EXPANSION OF MUSLIM RULE

10. Umayyad Dynasty 661-750 – capital at Damascus
Arab military aristocracy
Masters of the seas
More interested in conquest than conversion
Growth of criticism
Mawali – non-Arab Muslims
Shi’ites
Rebellion in 750ce

12. Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258-capital at Baghdad
The “golden age” of Islam
Cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic
Time of the “Muslim synthesis”
Nomadic traditions fade
Jihad dead
Sufi mystics and merchants spread Islam
Harun al Rashid

13. The “Muslim Synthesis”-First World Civilization?
Trade and commerce-Islam friendly to business (control trade routes)
An educational community -they preserved Greek philosophy at a time that Europe was a “cultural backwater”
Islam as a unifier-Islamic brotherhood
The Muslim Empire becomes the Intercommunicating Zone and agents of Southernization-Muslim Synthesis (See RGH #55)

14. ARABS DOING BUSINESS WITH MEDIEVAL MERCHANTS TRADE

15. dar-al-Islam (world of Islam)
ARTERIES OF TRADE AND TRAVEL IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD, TO 1500
“First World Civilization”

16. Confrontation with Europe
al-Andalus – Islamic Spain
Spain easily conquered
Rule for 700 years
Arabs revolutionize the economy
Liberal, tolerant regime
Great cultural achievements
Toledo and Cordoba

17. Great Mosque at Cordoba, 786
When the Abbasids attempted to massacre 800 family members of the Umayyad dynasty at a dinner of peace, a few of them escaped, fled to Spain, and established Cordoba as their capital. The Great Mosque of Cordoba, begun in 786, contains all of the usual features of a mosque, but it is best known for its interior double set of horseshoe-shaped arches, one above the other, which are mounted on the capitals of granite and marble columns. (Christopher Rennie/Robert Harding Picture Library)

18. Map of the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain

19. The Crusades Crusade = “holy war”
Series of military campaigns undertaken by European Christendom against the Abbasid empire
Five military campaigns between
Offensive or defensive wars?

21. Reasons for the Crusades
To “recapture” Jerusalem
To end wars among Europe’s knights
Desire for wealth and information from the more advanced Islamic civilization

22. Important turning points…
First crusade conquered Jerusalem 1099; recaptured by Saladin 1187
Fourth crusade targeted Constantinople, weakening Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

23. Long-term effects of the Crusades
The Crusades were never a mortal threat to the Abbasids but they eroded their long-held culture of religious toleration
Weakened the Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks
The Crusades stimulated Europe’s economy and “reintegrat[ed] Western Europe into the larger economy of the Eastern hemisphere” TE
Helped unify Europe vis a vis the “East”

24. After the Arab conquests, the Byzantine Empire will be
on the front lines of Christianity

25. Seige of Constantinople
Conquest by Ottomans, 1453
End of the Byzantine Empire
Map of Constantinople

26. Hagia Sophia
From church
to mosque

27. INTERIOR OF AYASOFYA MOSQUE, FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF HAGIA SOPHIA, ISTANBUL

29. MUSLIM EMPIRES IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

30. The Crusades Crusade = “holy war”
Series of military campaigns undertaken by European Christendom against the Abbasid empire
Five military campaigns between
Offensive or defensive wars?

32. Reasons for the Crusades
To “recapture” Jerusalem
To end wars among Europe’s knights
Desire for wealth and information from the more advanced Islamic civilization

33. Important turning points…
First crusade conquered Jerusalem 1099; recaptured by Saladin 1187
Fourth crusade targeted Constantinople, weakening Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks

34. Long-term effects of the Crusades
The Crusades were never a mortal threat to the Abbasids but they eroded their long-held culture of religious toleration
Weakened the Byzantine empire against the rising power of the Turks
The Crusades stimulated Europe’s economy and “reintegrat[ed] Western Europe into the larger economy of the Eastern hemisphere” TE
Helped unify Europe vis a vis the “East”