• Abbasids slowly eliminate all enemies, become more righteous about their defense of Sunni
Islam, and less tolerant of Shi’a sects. This leads to the building of a centralized, absolutist imperial order.
• Moved the capital to Baghdad
• Huge and expanded bureaucracy- Symbol of bureaucratization of empire in wazir- chief administrator and head of the caliph’s inner councils

• Full integration of new converts, both
Arab and non-Arab
• Mass conversions encouraged o Appeal of Islamic beliefs o o
Muslims exempt from paying head tax
More opportunities for schooling and careers
 Persians came to dominate

• Rise in growth and status of merchant and landlord classes
• Urban expansion linked to a revival of the Afro-
Eurasian trading network o o o o o
Arab dhows- sailing vessels
Joint ventures with Christians and Jews
Specialized trade in luxury items for the elite
This growth encouraged handicraft production
Unskilled labor left to slaves

• Arabs, from the desert at first, were illiterate and ignorant
• Land they took over was the site of ancient centers of civilization
• Arabs open to influences and very tolerant
• Early Abbasid rule o Focus on mosques o o o
Advances in science and mathematics
“saved” Greek scholarship
Carriers of goods and inventions- eventually brought the Indian number system to Europe, which would play a role in the
Scientific Revolution

• By mid-9th century CE Abbasid dynasty had begun to lose control over empire with rebellious governors and new dynasties to challenge them
• Ironically this was a time of creativity and expansion
• From 10th-14th century Muslim warriors, traders, and wandering mystics spread Islam, which would play a huge role in the extension and transformation of the
Afro-Asian world
• Became conduits for exchange of ideas, medicine, inventions, etc.

• 3rd Abbasid caliph- al-Mahdi (775-785) already signs of division,
Shi’a revolts common, had a life of luxury, failed to fix the problem of succession o Eldest son was poisoned after alMahdi’s death
• Harun al-Rashid (786 – 809) – most famous of the Abbasid caliphs
(only 23 when he ascended the throne) o Luxurious livingevident in Baghdad’s mosques, palacesimmortalized in The Thousand and One Nights o o
Because of his youth very dependent on Persian advisors, which had consequences later in that the royal court became more important than the caliph
Problem of succession after his death- leads to civil war
 Sons of al Ma’mun (813-833) (he won the first civil war) armed themselves in anticipation of their fight for successor . The son who won had 4,000 slaves from CAR, which he increased to 70,000. This would be a mistake since they would revolt and kill him and the next 4 caliphs

• Resources drained with constant civil disobedience and the building of extravagant palaces and mosques
• This leads to abandonment of many farming peasant villages and agricultural production in the Tigris-Euphrates basin fell into disrepair
• Increased Shi’a instigation of uprisings

• Harem was a creation of the Abbasid court
• Growing wealth of the Abbasid elite created a demand for female and male slaves (mostly from regions surrounding the empire like the
Balkans, CAR, Sudanic Africa)
• Slave concubines had more freedom than freeborn wives
• Women’s freedom severely curtailed during this time

• Caliphs too preoccupied with struggles in the capital to control loss of territory on the outskirts of the empire
• In 945 armies of regional splinter dynasties- Buyids of
Persia- invaded the heartlands and captured Baghdad o o
Buyids took the title of Sultan
Controlled the caliph and the court but couldn’t prevent the disintegration of the empire
 1055 Seljuk Turks took over the Buyids
 Staunch Sunnispurged remaining Shi’a officials
 Got rid of Byzantine threat

• Crusaders determined to capture portions of the Islamic world that made up the Holy Land of biblical times
• 1096-1099 crusader’s assault most deadly- captured holy land and divided it into Christian kingdoms - Jerusalem taken in June 1099
• Europeans mounted eight Crusades and for two centuries had a hold on the Mediterranean
• Salah-ud-Din in last decades of 12th century- strong leaderrecaptured most crusader outposts 1291- end of crusader influence
• Crusades intensified European borrowing from the Muslim world o Swords, building fortifications (castles), recovery of Greek learning, mastered Arabic numbers, demand for rugs o Muslims showed little interest in borrowing from the west

• Expansion of professional classes
• Artists and artisans prospered because of high demand for luxury goods
• Persian replaced Arabic as the primary written language at the
Abbasid court o o o o
Shah- Nama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi in late 10th century- brilliant work detailing history of Persia
 Islamic civilization outstripped others in scientific achievement
Math- sine, cosine, tangent
Chemistry- animal, vegetable, mineral classification
Papermaking, silk-weaving, ceramic firing- from China o Great maps
• Ulama- orthodox religious scholars – increasingly suspicious of non-Muslim ideas

• Al- Ghazali- greatest Islamic theologian – tried to fuse the Greek and Qur’anic traditions
• Sufism- similar to ascetic movement in
Hinduism/Buddhism- Sufis were wandering mystics who sought personal union with Allahhelped continue expansion of Islamic civilization b/c gained following
• Mongols (Chinggis Khan) first raided in the
1220s o 1258 (HuleguKhan’s grandson) takes Baghdad