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The Arab World

Where did the Arabs come from?

Arabian Peninsula:large dry desert. Full of many religions and tribes

Most Arabs lived as nomadswith herds of animals (goats, camels, horses, sheep) & most belonged to the large

Bedouin tribe. Bedouins traded with the Persians, Egyptians, and Romans (Byzantines) Often raided smallertribes and each other for valuable resources.

Valued hospitality, loyalty, and honor (similar to the Chivalric Code). Had a polytheistic religion, most holycity was Mecca, where many gods had shrines and a holy black rock from heaven

Mohammad is born in 570 son of a merchant in Mecca. Grows up with a reputation as an honest and

intelligent merchant, marries a widowed noblewoman named Khadija(very wealthy) and becomes part of theruling class.

Sources: Mohammad; very tough to study

In Arab society women had many rights and could own and operate their own businesses also had a lot of say

in the home and community.

Mohammad learns of the Jewish and Christian belief of One God and begins to meditate to try and reach God

(Allah).

One day he is visited by the Angel Gabriel who reveals to him the true word of Allah and teaches him to bethe last and greatest prophet of Allah. Mohammad begins to share his teachings with others calls his faith

Islam (dedication to Allah) those who follow him are call Muslim (followers of Allah). He and his

followers write down his teachings so that others can learn called the Quran/Koran.

What does the Koran say?

Kindness to other faiths of the Book = Judaism, ChristianityWomen are to be respected and revered

Men are to only have one wife unless circumstances creates a need

Koran encourages the conversion of others by force

To gain heaven Muslims must follow the 5 Pillars of Faith.

- Salah= 5 times a day must pray towards the Holiest City, Mecca morning, (halfway), noon,(halfway), sunset

- Haji= Journey to Mecca at least once in your lifetime, if possible- Ramadan(no eating or drinking for 1 month) between sunrise and sunset- Shahada = There is one god, Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet- Zakat= Must be generous to the poor and widowed

Muhammad spreads his religion, but all the priests of the various gods in Mecca get ticked at his one godpractice and drive him out of Mecca so he goes to the next city in Arabia, Medina.

As a whole the people of Medina welcome Mohammad and he gathers an entire city of followers and seizesall of the Arab Jews lands and wealthbecomes ruler of Medina, makes it into a powerful merchant city.

Raises an army and marches back to Mecca forcing the city to convert to Islam.

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This struggle against non-believers is call = Jihad

Mohammads move from Mecca to Medina = Hegira

Muslim rulers supported by Mohammad = caliphs

After he controls both Mecca and Medina, decides to unite all of the Arab tribes under 1 religion, 1 language,and 1 ruler (himself)

As he conquers new regions he sets up religious/political leaders called caliphs who carry out his wishes andhelp expand his power

Mohammad dies in 632 replaced by Abu Bakr.

Bakr tries to lead by the Koran and further expands Muslim power

And 3 more caliphs that follow him are very successful in conquering Egypt, Syria, Persia, Parthia, Numidia,

and North-East Africa

The 4th

caliph, Aliis murdered in 661 a powerful family called the Umayyadstakes control many

members of this family are already local rulers they are supported by the Hassines, a devoted group of

religious extremists that had perfected assassination and spy work.

The word Assassin comes from Hassine.

However a small group of the Eastern Arabs (Persian Arabs) claims that only direct descendent of theProphet Mohammad can rule, and they support a different ruler these Arabs that split away are called the

Shiitesand they tend to be a more violent and extreme group they develop slightly different traditions and

beliefs (not to mention a slightly different Koran)

Those that support the Umayyads are called Sunni.

The Umayyads create a new capital at Damascusand attempt to conquer Europe

Cannot break through the walls of Constantinople

Lose the Battle of Toursto Charles Martel

Due to their loses, Arabs and many other new Muslims in the Arab Empire lead a revolt and establish a new

family, the Abbasids(750)

The Abbasidstreat all Muslims as equal, and try to establish an enlightened kingdom in which science andlearning is encouraged They move their Capital to Baghdad, and convince the Shiitesto ally with them.

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They start to study Greek and Roman art, science, math, architecture, and agriculture use many of the old

Roman cities and Greek cities of Alexandria to advance their learning.

Slowly much of this spreads back to Europe.

Beliefs of an Islamic Society & Culture

Tolerance= Muslim society believed in allowing all religions and all beliefs as long as they did not encourage

the harming of others

Slaves= treated fairly well considered unpaid servants, valued and often educated and used almost as a

competition (who has the better/smarter/stronger etc slave)

Women = not equal to men, but allowed to own property, can remarry on their own choice, must be allowed to

decide who they marry, often educated men are not allowed to have more than 4 wives

Harems= large house where one man keeps his concubinesonly in the richest of houses

Scholarship= caliphs and rich merchants would help lesser people gain an education they encouraged tradeof ideas and inventions with other rulers (even Charlemange) in the hope to make both societies better

Philosophy= advanced philosophy based mainly on Aristotle focused on science and understanding society

and people

Math & Science= Modern science and math developed by the Arabs first people to have the number zero,first to develop a system based on 10, first to accurately map triangular math etc.

Technology & Farming= bring back Roman, Babylonian, and Egyptian irrigation technology

Medicine= develop modern surgery, first to understand vaccines, first to document the idea of viruses, first to

understand sterilization (besides a few Romans)

Literature= The Koran can only be taught and used in Arabic (because that is the language that Gabriel spokein). Therefore all good writing has to be in Arabic. However the Arabs also translated other texts into

Arabic Plato, Aristotle, Kamma-Sutra, Chinese legends, Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology etc.

The most famous work of Arabic Literature is Thousand and One Nights(also calledArabian Nights) a

very long collection of stories, among themAladdin and His Magical Lamp,Ali-Babba and the 40 Thieves, and

The Seven voyages of Sin-bad.

Architecture and Art= Copy the Byzantine style of construction use towers called minarets in almost all

major buildings. Use the onion dome and the horseshoe arch in almost all construction develop beautifulrugs for walls usually showing pictures of stories, often from Arabian Nights also develop Damascus

Steel and Toledo steel very expensive and well made swords.

The Muslim world would next be tested when Europe came to it.