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ISLAM. Beliefs and Practices. The Five Pillars: Five duties at the heart of the faith “ There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah ” Alms giving/Charity: special religious tax
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Beliefs and Practices The Five Pillars: Five duties at the heart of the faith • “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” • Alms giving/Charity: special religious tax • Fasting: During the month of Ramadan. Reminds Muslims faith is more important than food and water
5 pillars continued • Prayer: Face city of Mecca and pray 5x per day. • Pilgrimage- to Mecca The events called the hajj takes place once per year.
Qur’an • Single most important source of religious authority • Holy Book: God’s will spoken through Gabriel, who revealed it to Muhammad • Sharia: Islamic law that regulates family life, moral conduct, business and community life • Brings a sense of unity to early Islam
Factors for Success… • Religious zeal • Well disciplined armies • Weakness of Byzantine and Persian Empires. Many of the people in Persian/Sassanid and Byzantine were willing to convert • Treatment of conquered people: No forced conversions. Jews and Christians superior to polytheistic people (people of the book). • People willing for exemption of poll tax and appeal
SUNNI: Caliph should continue to be elected by the leaders of the Muslim community “The followers of Muhammad's example” SHIA: Caliph should be relative of the prophet “party of Ali” *** Split contributed to decline. Areas it conquered remained united by religion, but fragmented politically. Other splits followed Ex: Sufi Brotherhood Sunni vs. Shia
Changing Status of Women • Patriarchal – similar to other civilizations • Women enjoyed some rights: inheriting property, divorcing husbands and engaging in business opportunities (like Muhammad’s first wife) • Qur'an emphasized equality of all people before Allah • Patrilineal descent, strictly controlled the sexual and social lives of women…Men could have multiple wives • Veiling women (Mesopotamia, also present in Persia and E. Mediterranean)
Umayyad Caliphate661-750 CE • Centralized rule of Islam • Capital in Damascus • Primarily Arab conquest state • Built bureaucracy and administration • Women not veiled and held occupations like law, scholarship, etc. • Lost touch with Muslim faithful
Abbassid Caliphate750-1258 CE • Moved capital to Baghdad • Continuing civil wars over succession • Decline in women’s role: harem and veil • Elite women married as young as age 9 • Great demand for female and male slaves • Areas broke away, e.g. Egypt and Syria • Period of greatest cultural achievement
Arts, Sciences and Technologies • Missionary religion • Ulama: people with religious knowledge • Qadis: judges to • bridge cultural differences and spread Islamic values. • Formal educational centers attracted many due to cultural flowering • As they conquered, integration of new ideas and knowledge (example Persia and philosophical, literary and scientific base)
Adoption of knowledge from conquered lands… • India: Mathematics • Hindi numerals Arabic numerals • Interested in Greek philosophy and medical teachings • IbnKhaldun- a Moroccan who wrote a comprehensive history • Nasir Al-din- improved upon cosmological model of Ptolemy (Copernicus)
Islamic Architecture • Blending of Cultures seen in architecture… (Egyptian, Persian/Sassanid, Byzantine and Roman) 1. Domes (Byzantine) 2. Arches (Persian, Greek) 3. Ordered repetition and rhythmic, metric patterns. Geometric patterns • Expansion of Dar-al-Islam seen in Architecture in Spain, Turkey, India…