The Islamic CaliphatesARAB ISLAMI

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Historic Period Review

• Ancient Period

• Classical Period

• Post-Classical Period

Rise of Islam• Umma- Muslim Religious Community

– Imam

• Qur’an (koran)• Hadith• Shari’a Law• Five Pillars of Islam

– Confession of Faith– Prayer– Fasting– Alms– Hajj

Rise of the Caliph• The Caliph

– Theocracy– Growth of Islam linked to growth of it’s Empire

• Abu Bakr– First Caliph– Sunnis vs. Shia– Umar, Uthman, and Ali Followed

• Ali assassinated, makes way for Umayyad Dynasty

The Umayyad Dynasty

• New Capital– Mecca Remains Spiritual Center

• Arabic Becomes official Language• Standard Money Unit

– Gold and Silver Coin

• Subjects “encouraged to convert”– Extra tax on those who did not convert

• Enormous Expansion– Charles Martel stops Muslims at Spain

The Dome of the Rock

Rise of Abbasid Dynasty• 750 to 1258 A.D.• Abu al-Abbas • Shi’a and Mawali were his allies. • Mawali (Islamic converts) also supported him to

gain acceptance in the community of believers. • Battle of River Zab • “Reconciliation Banquet”

– Bad day for the Umayyad

• 750 A.D. Abbasid replaced Umayyad in all areas except Spain

Early Abbasid Era• Began to reject Shi’a and Malawi allies

– Defended Sunni Islam.

• Built a centralized, absolutist imperial order.• New capital: Baghdad “The Round City” on Tigris River

– Baghdad became the richest city in the

world (only Constantinople came close)

• Golden Age– Sat on jeweled thrones. Had palaces and harems! Image of

elitism was important.

• For more than a century, able to collect revenue and preserve law over much of the empire.

AbbasidArt

Islamic Conversion and Mawali Acceptance

• Mass conversions to Islam were encouraged throughout the empire.

• Tolerant of other cultures/traditions • Sufis• Most converts were won over peacefully

because of appeal of Islamic beliefs and advantages they enjoyed:

- didn’t have to pay head tax- educational opportunities- jobs as traders, administrators,

judges

Town & Country: Commercial Boom and

Agrarian Expansion• Abbasid Era was a great time of urban

expansion and growth of merchant and landlord classes.– Tang & Song Dynasties in China were also

reviving middle merchant class. (results of falls of Rome/Han)

• Arab DHOWS - trading vessels with triangular (lateen) sails were used from Mediterranean to S. China Sea. This style later influenced European ship design.

Town & Country: Commercial Boom and Agrarian Expansion,

cont..• Hospitals and medical care

– Abn al-Sina (Avicenna)– Mohammad al-Razi

• Credit System– Itemized Receipts and Bills

• Much unskilled labor was left to slaves. – Some slaves were able rise to positions of power

and gain freedom– Huge estates might have slaves, indentured

servants or sharecroppers.

The First Flowering of Islamic Learning

• Early contributions from Abbasid were great mosques and palaces. Ex: Dome of the Rock

• Advances in religious, legal and philosophical discourse.

• Science and Math! Abbasid scholars preserved Greek works of medicine, algebra, geometry, astronomy, anatomy, and ethics.

• Arabic traders in India carried the Indian number system across Mediter. and into Northern Europe. These number systems became ESSENTIAL to Scientific Revolution in W. Europe.

Global Connections: Early Islam & the World…

cont.• In the midst of achievement, Muslims were people

that had some growing disadvantages, especially to Europeans.

• Muslim divisions would leave openings for political problems.

Growing intolerance and orthodoxy led to the belief that the vast Islamic world contained all requirements for civilized life, which caused Muslim people to grow less receptive to outside influence and innovations…led to isolation at a time when Christian rivals were in a period of experimentation and exploration.

Decline of the Caliphates• Internal Struggles and Civil War

– Sunnis vs. Shia– Different Ethnic Groups

• Destabilized Central Power– Threats from Seljuk Turks, Persians, Europeans and

Byzantines

• Mongols deal final blow– 1258 overran Islamic Empire and destroyed

Baghdad

• Ottoman Turks