The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam

1. The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam Stearns, Chapter 11

2. The Pre-Islamic World • Bedouin • Social organization = clans • Shaykhs, slave families, rivalries • Constant fighting • Mecca dominated by Umayyad clan • Medina is disputed territory • Women have status and don’t wear veils • Why does Islam flourish here?

4. Muhammad • Muhammad • Khadijah • 610- revelations • Quran • Umayyads plot against him – why? • Flees Mecca to Medina • Hijra – flight (622) • Treaty in 628 with Quraysh

5. The new religion offers society… • Monotheism • Umma • Ethical system • Zakat • Universal Elements…. • Five pillars • Ramadan • Hajj

6. The idea of a caliphate • Term combining the ideas of a leader, successor, and deputy (of the Prophet) • Abu Bakr was the first caliph; 2 years • Muslim teaching maintained that there is no distinction between the temporal and spiritual domains; social law is a basic strand in the fabric of comprehensive religious law. • Abu Bakr led many assaults; Ridda Wars

7. Abu’s successors • Umar, Uthman, Ali • Caliphate becomes an ‘institution’ • Umar began conquests outside Arabia • Prohibited Arabs from assuming ownership of conquered territory • Collected taxes from non-Arabs; remained the minority (language) • Did not try to convert the conquered

8. Uthman (644-656) • Asserted the right of the caliph to protect the economic interests of the entire umma • Publication of the definitive text of Qur’an • Armies consisted of Muslim Arabs • Introduce Arabic as official language • Distinctive Muslim coinage; new order • Accused of nepotism; appointed power positions to family • Assassinated in 656

9. Ali • Refused to punish the soldiers that killed Uthman • Umayyads reject Ali’s claim to the throne • Warfare erupts; Ali’s experience gives him the upper hand • Battle of Siffin; accepts mediation • Mu’awiya (Uthman’s cousin) proclaimed caliph in Jerusalem • Ali was assassinated a year later

10. Sunni and Shi’a split • Sunnis backed the Ummayad • Shi’a were supporters of Ali • Over the years differences have compounded

11. Umayyad Dynasty • Mu’awiya switched capital to Damascus (Syria) • Reached from Spain to central Asia (biggest since the Romans) • ‘Arab conquest state’ • Muslim Arabs only taxed for charity • Muslim warrior elite kept isolate • Intermarriage meant a loss of taxes

12. Converts in the Umayyad Age • Mawali • Still had to pay taxes; Received no share of the ‘booty’ • Couldn’t get good gov’t positions; Not members but ‘clients’ • Frustrated by the royal elaborate caliphal court • The hajib, or chamberlain, resisted access to the caliph, who now received visitors seated on a throne surrounded by bodyguards

13. Umayyad Decline and Fall • Royal harems • ‘aloof’ in their pleasure gardens and marble palaces • Soldiers in Iran began to resent orders from Damascus • Marched under the banner of ‘al-Abbas’, Muhammad’s uncle in 747 • Shi’a and Mawali all help in the defeat • Umayyad are slaughtered (p 253)

14. Abbasid Empire • New capital in Iraq • Gradually became more ‘Sunni’ although Shi’a continued to support them. Why? • Bureacrats, servents and slaves • Wazir – chief administrator, royal executioner • Integration of new converts; mass conversions • Growth of merchant class, urban expansion, dhows, guilds, slaves often rose to power

15. “Flowering of Islamic Learning” • Priceless works of Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy and Euclid were saved and written in Arabic • Material was spread throughout the empire • Made the Scientific Revolution possible • Read p 258 – Global Connections