The Near East Before the Crusades (cont.)

HIST 30049/9/13

History Club Meeting

• 5:30-7:00, Wed. Sept. 11• McMicken Room 357

Syria and the United Stands: Internal and International Politics of Crisis and Intervention

• 4:00-5:30, Thur. Sept. 12• 800 Swift Hall• Panel including– Elizabeth Frierson (History)– Richard Harknett (Political Science)– Andrew Lewis (Political Science)– Stephen Porter (History)– Robert Haug (History) (moderator)

The Umayyads and the ‛Abbasids

• The Umayyads (r. 661-750) vs. the ‛Abbasids (r. 750-1258)

• Arab Kingdom vs. Muslim Empire (or Persian Empire)

• Jihad State vs. Imperial State• Narrow support vs. Multiple constituencies

The ‛Abbasid Revolution

• da`wa: Period of propagation• Shi’ite? – al-rida min aal Muhammad (the chosen one from

the family of Muhammad)• Sunni?– Are the Umayyads irreligious?

• Military/Khurasanian?– abna al-dawla (sons of the dynasty)– Are the Umayyads too attached to Syria?

The `Abbasid Revolution747: Abu Muslim leads siege of Marw(modern Mary in Turkmenistan)easternmost frontier garrisonand capital of Khurasan.

Early `Abbasid Caliphs

749 - al-Saffah (the Slaughterer)

754 – al-Mansur (the Victorious)

775 – al-Mahdi (the Redeemer)

785 – al-Hadi (the Rightly Guided)

786 – Harun al-Rashid

al-Mansur’s Round City

• 762CE – Foundation of Baghdad• Newly founded as ‛Abbasid capital.• Located in Iraq, at the center of the empire.

“This is indeed the city I am to found,where I am to live,and where my descendents willreign afterwards.”

Cosmopolitan Baghdad

• Bayt al-HikmaHouse of Wisdom

• Translation projects• Arabic as lingua franca• Astronomy• Mathematics• Medicine• Philosophy

The Islamic Golden Age• Philosophy – Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (ca.

980-1037)• Mathematics - al-Khwarizmi (ca. 780 –

850)• Astronomy – al-Farghani (active 833 –

861)• Medicine – al-Razi (Rhazes) (865-925)• Chemistry – Jabir (Geber) (ca. 721 –

ca. 815)

Literature• 1,001 Nights

• Khalila wa Dimna

• Tales migrate from India, Through Iran, and into Islamic world.

`Abbasid Civil War

• 810-813: War between sons of Harun al-Rashid

• al-Amin: supported by Baghdadis, descendents of fighters of the ‛Abbasid Revolution, established ‛Abbasid elites

• al-Ma’mun: supported by Khurasanis, Persians

• al-Mu`tasim (833): Employs Turkish mamluk (slave) bodyguard

Samarra’

836: founded by al-Mu`tasim861: Assassination of al-Mutawakkil865: Second Civil War892: Capital returned to Baghdad

An Expanding Umma• 9th and 10th centuries: Explosion of conversion, the Caliphate is

finally majority Muslim.

• Non-Arabs contest Arab supremacy.

• Shu’ubiyya• Qur’an 49:13“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations (shu‛ūb) and tribes (qabā’il), that you may know each other. Surely the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. And indeed Allah is All-Knowing and All-Informed.”

Things Fall Apart

New Persian and the Samanids• The Iranian Intermezzo

Tahirids (r. 821-873)Saffarids (r. 861-1003)Samanids (r. 819-1005)Buyids (r. 945-1055)

• New PersianArabic script and Arabic loan wordsTranslation of Arabic texts, histories and Qur’anic commentaries (Why not the Qur’an itself?)

• ShahnamahThe Persian Book of Kings

Shi’ite Opposition

• Buyids (r. 945-1055)Shi’ites from northern IranCapture Baghdad, but leavethe Caliph in place

• Fatimids (r. 909-1171)Shi’ites from North AfricaControl Egypt and SyriaCounter-Caliphate

The Seljuqs (1037-1194)

Turks from Central Asia

Sunni Revival

Complete collapse ofcentralization