History Project: The Muslim culture

1. History Project: The Muslim culture By: Mariu Speroni, Juan Sosa and Luli Zin City of Mecca

2. WANT TO DISCOVER ISLAM? Arabia and the Arabs Meet Mohammmed Want to explore Ancient Islam? Get on my back, let’s go for a ride! Government and Economy Culture and Scholarship The Faith of Islam The Turks END

3. Arabia and the Arabs • Most of Arabia was a desertic region with few vegetation. • Arabs who live as nomads and were organized in tribes were called Bedouins. Each tribe had a chief called “Sheik.” • However, coastal areas which had greater vegetagion could support sedentaries. • These Arabs devoted their life to trade. The most important port was the port of Jidda and the city of Mecca was the starting point of Caravans. Menu

4. Mohammed • A child called Mohammed was in Mecca about 570. He was orphaned at an early age, and became a caravan trader. • After meditating and deeply thinking about religion, he became convinced that there was only one god whom he called Allah. • When he was 40, Mohammed had a religious experience. He preached the Arabs religious purity. He didn´t claimed to have supernatural powers, he called himself a prophet. • As Mohammed met opposition because of his beliefs , fearing for his life, he escaped from Mecca to Medina.-event of Hegira meaning “flight”. This is the first day of the Muslim (In the year 622). • While he was in Medina he converted many people. He returned to Mecca and captured it. Making use of values he could make the Bedouins convert to his religion. When Mohammed died by 632 almost all Arabia had accepted Allah. Menu Mohammed´s religious experience

5. The Faith of Islam • Mohammed new religion was called “Islam” (submission to God). • Islam’s main belief is that there is only one God (Allah) and Mohammed is its prophet. • The Muslim’s sacred book Is the Koran (to recite). It was written in Arab. • There are 4 chief obligations for Muslim: 1- Pray 5 times facing Mecca. 2- Make a pilgrimage at least once to Mecca. 3- Aid the needy people. 4- During the month of Ramadan (September) fast every 24 hours. • Mohammed gave a lot of importance to these values: humility, justice, generosity and tolerance. • If the Muslims felt threatened in their believes a holy war was declared. This made the Islam expand easily. • The Islam has no religious symbols nor religious authorities (except for the reciter in the ceremonies). The mosque is the holy place to pray. The Koran Menu

6. Government and Economy • The caliph was the supreme authority who had political, social and military power. • First, the Islamic Empire was divided into provinces, but later it was divided into 3 caliphates: one in Bagdad, another one in Cairo, and the other one in Cordova, Spain • The Arabs were excellent traders and have developed a complex system of trade. • Manufacturing was stimulated by the demands of trade: the Empire produced a lot of things. • The Arabs cultivated vegetables, fruits and crops. Arabian coin Arabian carpet Arabian pottery Menu

7. Culture and Scholarship • The Arabs gathered knowledge from the Greeks, the Romans and the Orient. • As they learnt how to make paper, they were the first ones to write about Maths, Geography, Medicine, etc. • There were two important Muslim scientists: Rhazes and Avicenna. They both wrote books about medicine which were used in the future. • They perfected algebra and Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3…) • The two main ways in which the Europeans got in touch with the Muslims were when thee settled down in Spain and in the Crusades. Menu

8. The Turks • Until 1300´s the Muslims were quite peaceful with the people living in their Empire. • After that they were invaded by a group of Turks called Ottoman. • The Ottomans conquered most of the Islamic territories and that’s one of the reasons the Byzantine emperor called for help to the Christian Kings. • This fight between the Ottoman and the Christian Kings is known as the Crusades. In 1453 Constantinople fell and became the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman´s Empire symbol Menu

9. THE END I hope you enjoyed the ride, see you! Sources: http://www.english-worldwide.com/assets/images/idiomas_ALS-_030.jpg http://www.tuswallpapersgratis.com/wallpaper/Dunas/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saudi_Arabia_map.png http://www.duiops.net/seresvivos/galeria_camellos.html http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohammed_the_Prophet.jpg http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/3142/Arabian-carpet.html http://www.anythinganywhere.com/commerce/coins/coinpics/ancgk-arabia.htm http://www.justmorocco.com/pd_nomad.cfm http://www.wonderquest.com/foiling-flats-arabic-numbers.htm http://wasalaam.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/who-are-the-ottomans/ http://cornellreading.typepad.com/the_pickup/page/2/