The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600-1500 PDF

C HA P T ER 9 The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600–1500 CHAPTER LEARNING C. Islam had already been prominent in the...

C HA P T ER 9 The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600–1500 CHAPTER LEARNING C. Islam had already been prominent in the world between 600 and 1600. OBJECTIVES 1. encompassed parts of Africa, Europe, To examine the causes behind the spread of Middle East, and Asia Islam 2. enormously significant in world history To explore the dynamism of the Islamic world 3. creation of a new and innovative as the most influential of the third-wave civilizations civilization To consider the religious divisions within Islam 4. was the largest and most influential of the and how they affected political development third-wave civilizations To consider Islam as a source of cultural 5. Islam’s reach generated major cultural encounters with Christian, African, and Hindu encounters cultures D. In the year 2000, there were perhaps 1.2 To increase student awareness of the billion Muslims in the world (22 percent of accomplishments of the Islamic world in the period the world’s population). 600–1500 C.E. II. The Birth of a New Religion A. The Homeland of Islam 1. unlike most religious/cultural traditions, CHAPTER OUTLINE Islam emerged from a marginal region 2. Arabian Peninsula as home of nomadic I. Opening Vignette Arabs (Bedouins) A. By the start of the twenty-first century, Islam a. fiercely independent clans and tribes had acquired a significant presence in the b. variety of gods United States. 3. Arabia also had sedentary, agricultural 1. more than 1,200 mosques areas 2. about 8 million Muslims 4. Arabia lay on important East–West trade B. The second half of the twentieth century saw routes the growing international influence of Islam. a. Mecca became important as a trade center 93  b. the Kaaba was the most prominent 5. jihad (“struggle”) is sometimes called the religious shrine “sixth pillar” c. the Quraysh tribe controlled local trade a. greater jihad: personal spiritual striving and pilgrimage b. lesser jihad/jihad of the sword: armed 5. Arabia was on the edge of the Byzantine struggle against unbelief and evil and Sassanid empires c. understanding of the concept has a. so Arabs knew some practices of these varied widely over time empires C. The Transformation of Arabia b. Judaism, Christianity, and 1. Muhammad attracted a small following, Zoroastrianism had spread among aroused opposition from Meccan elites Arabs a. in 622, emigrated to Yathrib/Medina B. The Messenger and the Message (the hijra) 1. the prophet of Islam was Muhammad Ibn b. created Islamic community (umma) in Abdullah (570–632 C.E.) Medina a. orphaned at a young age c. broke definitively from Judaism b. became a prosperous merchant thanks 2. rapid expansion throughout Arabia to marriage to Khadija a. military successes led to alliances c. took to withdrawal and meditation b. large-scale conversion 2. beginning of revelations from Allah in c. consolidation of Islamic control 610 C.E. throughout Arabia by time of a. revelations recorded in the Quran Muhammad’s death in 632 b. when heard in its original Arabic, 3. fundamental differences between births of believed to convey the presence of the Islam and Christianity divine a. Islam did not grow up as persecuted 3. radically new teachings minority religion a. monotheistic b. Islam didn’t separate “church” and b. Muhammad as “the seal of the state prophets” III. The Making of an Arab Empire c. return to old, pure religion of Abraham A. The Arab state grew to include all or part of d. central tenet: submission to Allah Egyptian, Roman/Byzantine, Persian, (Muslim = “one who submits”) Mesopotamian, and Indian civilizations. e. need to create a new society of social 1. many both in and out of Arab Empire justice, equality, and care for others converted to Islam (the umma) 2. Arabic culture and language spread widely 4. core message summarized in the Five 3. Islam became a new third-wave Pillars of Islam civilization a. first pillar is simple profession: “There B. War, Conquest, and Tolerance is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is 1. Arabic conquests were a continuation of the messenger of God.” long-term raiding pattern b. prayer five times a day at prescribed 2. new level of political organization allowed times greater mobilization c. generous giving to help the community 3. Byzantine and Persian empires were and the needy weakened by long wars and internal d. fasting during the month of Ramadan revolts e. pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) 4. limits of Arab expansion:  a. defeated Sassanid Empire in the 640s, 8. Others like the peoples of Iran, Turkey took half of Byzantium and Pakistan have “Islamized” without b. in early 700s, conquered most of “Arabizing” Spain, attacked France a. Persian language and culture had c. to the east, reached the Indus River enormous influence on world of Islam d. in 751, Arabs crushed a Chinese army D. Divisions and Controversies at the Battle of Talas River 1. a central problem: who should serve as 5. reasons for expansion: successor to Muhammad (caliph)? a. economic: capture trade routes and 2. first four caliphs (the Rightly Guided agricultural regions Caliphs, 632–661) were companions of b. individual Arabs sought wealth and Muhammad social promotion a. had to put down Arab tribal rebellions c. communal: conquest helped hold the and new prophets umma together b. Uthman and Ali were both assassinated d. religious: bring righteous government c. civil war by 656 to the conquered 3. result was the Sunni/Shia split of Islam e. tolerant of Jewish and Christian faiths a. Sunni Muslims: caliphs were rightful 6. conquest was not too destructive political and military leaders, chosen a. Arab soldiers were restricted to by the Islamic community garrison towns b. Shia Muslims: leaders should be blood b. local elites and bureaucracies were relatives of Muhammad, descended incorporated into empire from Ali and his son Husayn C. Conversion c. started as a political conflict but 1. initial conversion for many was “social became religious conversion,” not deep spiritual change d. Shias identified themselves as 2. Islam’s kinship to Judaism, Christianity, opponents of privilege and Zoroastrianism made it attractive 4. over time, caliphs became absolute 3. Islam was associated from the beginning monarchs with a powerful state—suggested that a. Umayyad dynasty (661–750) was a Allah was a good god to have on your side time of great expansion 4. the state provided incentives for b. Abbasid dynasty overthrew Umayyads conversion in 750 a. earliest converts included slaves and 5. basic religious issue: what does it mean to prisoners of war be a Muslim? b. converts didn’t have to pay the jizya a. Islamic law (the sharia) helped answer c. Islam favored commerce the question d. social climbers were helped by b. reaction against the distraction of conversion worldly success: Sufis 5. resistance to conversion among Berbers of c. the ulama and Sufism weren’t entirely North Africa, some Spanish Christians, incompatible—e.g., al-Ghazali (1058– some Persian Zoroastrians 1111) 6. around 80 percent of the population of d. but there was often tension between the Persia converted between 750 and 900 two approaches 7. some areas (Egypt, North Africa, Iraq) E. Women and Men in Early Islam also converted to Arabic culture and 1. what rise of Islam meant for women language remains highly controversial  2. spiritual level: Quran stated explicitly that a. at first, violent destruction of Hindu women and men were equals and Buddhist temples 3. social level: Quran viewed women as b. Sultanate of Delhi (founded 1206) subordinate, especially in marriage became more systematic 4. Quran helped women in some ways 3. emergence of Muslim communities in (banned female infanticide, gave women India control over their own property, granted a. Buddhists and low-caste Hindus found limited rights of inheritance, required Islam attractive woman’s consent to a marriage, b. newly agrarian people also liked Islam recognized a woman’s right to sexual c. subjects of Muslim rulers converted to satisfaction) lighten tax burden 5. social practices of lands where Islam d. Sufis fit mold of Indian holy men, spread were also important in defining encouraged conversion women’s roles e. at height, 20–25 percent of Indian a. early Islam: some women played population converted to Islam public roles; prayed in mosques, f. monotheism vs. polytheism weren’t veiled or secluded g. equality of believers vs. caste system b. growing restrictions on women h. sexual modesty vs. open eroticism (especially in upper classes) under 4. interaction of Hindus and Muslims Abbasids a. many Hindus served Muslim rulers c. veiling and seclusion became standard b. mystics blurred the line between the among upper, ruling classes two religions d. lower-class women didn’t have the c. Sikhism developed in early sixteenth “luxury” of seclusion century; syncretic religion with e. practices were determined by Middle elements of both Islam and Hinduism Eastern traditions much more than by d. Muslims remained as a distinctive Quran minority 6. hadiths (traditions about Muhammad) C. The Case of Anatolia developed more negative images of 1. Turks invaded Anatolia about the same women time as India 7. Islam gave new religious outlets for a. major destruction at early stages in women, especially as Sufis and in the Shia both places tradition as mullahs b. Sufi missionaries were important in IV. Islam and Cultural Encounter: A Four-Way both places Comparison c. but in Anatolia by 1500, 90 percent of A. The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated the population was Muslim, and most politically by the tenth century. spoke Turkish 1. last Abbasid caliph killed when Mongols 2. reasons for the different results in the two sacked Baghdad in 1258 regions 2. but Islamic civilization continued to a. Anatolia had a much smaller flourish and expand population (8 million vs. 48 million) B. The Case of India b. far more Turkic speakers settled in 1. Turkic-speaking invaders brought Islam to Anatolia India c. much deeper destruction of Byzantine 2. establishment of Turkic and Muslim society in Anatolia regimes in India beginning ca. 1000  d. active discrimination against Christians 3. high degree of interaction between in Anatolia Muslims, Christians, and Jews e. India’s decentralized politics and a. some Christians converted to Islam religion could absorb the shock of b. Christian Mozarabs adopted Arabic invasion better culture but not religion f. Turkish rulers of Anatolia welcomed 4. religious toleration started breaking down converts; fewer social barriers to by late tenth century conversion a. increasing war with Christian states of g. Sufis replaced Christian institutions in northern Spain Anatolia b. more puritanical forms of Islam 3. by 1500, the Ottoman Empire was the entered Spain from North Africa most powerful Islamic state c. in Muslim-ruled regions, increasing 4. Turks of Anatolia retained much of their limitations placed on Christians culture after conversion d. many Muslims were forced out of D. The Case of West Africa Christian-conquered regions or kept 1. Islam came peacefully with traders, not by from public practice of their faith conquest e. completion of Christian reconquest in 2. in West Africa, Islam spread mostly in 1492 urban centers V. The World of Islam as a New Civilization a. provided links to Muslim trading A. By 1500, the Islamic world embraced at least partners parts of nearly every other Afro-Eurasian b. provided literate officials and religious civilization. legitimacy to state B. Networks of Faith 3. by the sixteenth century, several West 1. Islamic civilization was held together by African cities were Islamic centers Islamic practices and beliefs a. Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic a. beliefs/practices transmitted by the schools and several centers of higher ulama, who served as judges, education interpreters, etc. b. libraries had tens of thousands of b. starting in eleventh century: formal books colleges (madrassas) taught religion, c. rulers subsidized building of major law, and sometimes secular subjects mosques c. system of education with common d. Arabic became a language of religion, texts, sharing of scholarship education, administration, trade throughout Islamic world 4. did not have significant Arab immigration 2. Sufism: branches of Sufism gathered 5. Sufis played little role until the eighteenth around particular teachers (shaykhs) by century the tenth century 6. no significant spread into countryside until a. development of great Sufi orders by nineteenth century the twelfth/thirteenth centuries E. The Case of Spain b. Sufi devotional teachings, practices, 1. Arab and Berber forces conquered most of writings spread widely Spain (called al-Andalus by Muslims) in 3. many thousands of Muslims made the hajj the early eighth century to Mecca each year 2. Islam did not overwhelm Christianity C. Networks of Exchange there 1. Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of goods, technology, and ideas  a. great central location for trade b. Islamic teaching valued commerce c. urbanization spurred commerce 2. Muslim merchants were prominent on all the major Afro-Eurasian trade routes 3. exchange of agricultural products and practices between regions 4. diffusion of technology a. spread ancient Persian water-drilling techniques b. improvement of Chinese rockets c. adoption of papermaking techniques from China in the eighth century 5. exchange of ideas a. Persian bureaucratic practice, court ritual, poetry b. ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Indian texts c. developments in mathematics, astronomy, optics, medicine, pharmacology VI. Reflections: Past and Present: Choosing Our History A. People look to history to understand the world we now inhabit. B. What can history tell us about the Islamic world today? 1. reminds us of central role in Afro- Eurasian world for over 1000 years 2. followed by several centuries of Western imperialism 3. when breaking with Western dominance more distant past an inspiration a. fundamentalists see early Islamic community as model for renewal b. Islamic modernizers look to achievements in science and scholarship as foundation for more open engagement with the West 4. history reveals great diversity and debate in the Islamic world 5. past points to considerable variation in the interactions of Muslims and others