the rise and spread of islam saeed tahseen” titled “salah aldeen al-aiubi”
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The Rise and Spread of Islam
Saeed Tahseen” titled “Salah Aldeen Al-Aiubi”.
• Arabian peninsula is shaped by bedouin culture, which emphasized:– Kin-related clans
which formed larger tribes led by shaykhs
– Interclan rivalry for resources
– Women playing key roles and enjoying greater relative freedom
– A religion that blends animism and polytheism
Desert & TownThe Pre-Islamic Arabic
World
Towns & Trade
• Arabian peninsula lies on the periphery of the classical world
• Bedouins live by herding; cities develop further south (Mecca and Medina)
• Fierce competition and battles over oases and trade routes
Muhammad and the Birth of Islam
• 7th century C.E., a new religion arose in the Arabian peninsula.
• Built on the revelations received by the prophet Muhammad, Islam won over many camel-herding tribes of the peninsula within decades.
• Islam united Arabs under an important ethical system.
• Islam’s beliefs and practices (including the five pillars) eventually made it one of the great world religions.
The archangel Gabriel brings the word of God to Muhammad. (Turkish poet - Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet, 1595.)
•Why are paintings like this not accepted in all Muslim societies?
•
Birth of the Prophet Muhammad
Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet. Istanbul, 1594.
What scene does this painting
resemble?What are the differences?
Persecution, Flight & Victory
• Muhammad gains a small following but it constantly threatened by the Umayyad
• Hijra to Medina creates a loyal core and the return to Mecca makes the new faith permanent
The Prophet and his companions advancing on Mecca, attended by the angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail.Siyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet 1595.
What Islam Offers
• One god that transcends all clan rivalries• End to vendettas and feuds under the
umma• An ethical system that heals social rifts• A code of law to organize society• An acceptance of the revelations in
Judaism and Christianity which makes it easier for Islam to spread
The Death of Muhammad
• Many bedouin reject Islam• Conflict over succession• Abu Bakr works to bring
people back into the umma• Conquests into the Persian
and Byzantine empires garners wealth and spreads Islam
• Mourning of the Death of MuhammadSiyer-i Nebi: The Life of the Prophet. Istanbul, 1595.
http://wpscms.pearsoncmg.com/wps/media/objects/3052/3125929/flash/ch7/ch07.swf
The Expansion of Islam
Umayyad Rule and the Sunni-Shi’a Split
• Conflict over successors leads to split, which remains to this day• Umayyad settle internal disputes and pushed forward into central
Asia, northwest India, and southwestern Europe.• built an imperial administration with both bureaucracy and
military dominated by a Muslim Arab elite.• Sunnis believe the successor to Muhammad (caliph)should be
chosen by Muslim community• Shiites believe that only direct descendants should succeed
Muhammad• Sufis were missionaries who sought to communicate through
rituals, poetry and meditation
Umayyad policy did not prevent interaction, intermarriage, and conversion between Arabs and their subjects.
Most of the conquered peoples were Dhimmis (people of the book). Included Jews and Christians; later Zoroastrians and Hindus.
Dhimmis had to pay taxes (jizya) but could retain their own religious and social organization.
Shariah- provide laws for everyone to live by (Qadis-judges)(Ulema- jurists)
Converts and “People of the Book.”
Family and Gender Roles• Altered as the Muslim community(Umma) expanded. Initially,
the more favorable status of women prevailed over the seclusion and male domination common in the Middle East.
• Quran stressed the moral and ethical dimensions of marriage. Adultery of both partners wasdenounced; female infanticide was forbidden. Women could have only one husband,but men were allowed four wives, though all had to be treated equally.
• Muhammad strengthened women’s legal rights in inheritance and divorce.
• Both sexes were equal before Allah
Abbasid Era • Focus on luxury and weakened military led to decline of Umayyad
• Abbasid clan wins power; led to increased bureaucratic expansion, absolutism, and luxurious livingMalwiya Minaret
Abbasid Policies• Accepted Persian ruling concepts
• Large bureaucracy worked under the wazir, or chief administrator.
• Mawali were fully integrated into the Muslim community.
• Most conversions occurred peacefully
Town and Country: Commercial Boom & Agrarian Expansion
Flowering of Islamic Learning
• Before Islam—no writing/knowledge of the outside world.
Receptive to the accomplishments of conquered civs
Islamic learning flourished in religion, law, philosophy, sciences and mathematics.
Recovered and preserved the works of earlier civs (Greeks) which was passed on to the Christian world.
Global Connections
• Basis for the first global civilization
• Islam becomes one of the great universal religions.
• Arabs absorbed precedents from earlier civilizations.
• Muslims did the same in the arts and sciences, later contributing to other societies in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
From 600-1450 , the Arab worldFrom 600-1450 , the Arab worldUnified under the political Unified under the political Banner of the Banner of the Caliphate, establishedCaliphate, establishedA “golden age’ focused on tolerance A “golden age’ focused on tolerance And adoption and adaption from theAnd adoption and adaption from theClassical world through Classical world through the the continuedcontinuedInteractions across overland and Interactions across overland and Maritime trading networks. Maritime trading networks.