Yea
r:
13
Term:
1/3
Male:
6
Title:
Cla
ss:
12AS
Topic:
Applied Ethics
Femal
e:
12
Lesso
n No:
Entry Task:
Read
specification,
highlight
what topics
and areas of
study you
are most
looking
forward to
studying this
year.
Engaging:
Demonstrating:
Do you think
you need to
know the
origins of a
religion to
understand its
current
teachings and
practices?
In groups draw
maps of Pre-Islamic
Arabia, with key
cities, trade routes
and empire labelled.
Write your
opinion on a
post it, share
with a partner
they then write
a reply.
Discuss the
geography of
Pre-Islamic
Arabia.
Read and
make notes
on ‘Prehistory’
reading.
Consolidating
Plenary:
Peer assess maps
using success
crireria.
Predestination
22
Date:
Plenary:
AFL:
Do you think a
religious leader
could give
teachings which
were unaffected
by the
background in
which they were
born and lived?
Students write a
paragraph
explaining their
opinion using
the PEA or PEE
formula.
• Peer Assess
maps
•Questioning
18/4/13
Extended
Learning:
•Make notes
on Reading
–Jahillyah
•Answer
questions at
the end of
the reading
•Where
possible
identify
aspects of
life that were
kept in Islam
and those
that were
abandoned
Resources:
•Heinnemann
green books
•Oliphant books
•Gattaca film
clip
Entry Task:
• Read the specification, and highlight
what topics and areas of study you
are most looking forward to studying
this year.
Today's Date: 23 March 2016
Year:
12
Today’
s Title:
Term:
1/3
Topic:
AS: Islam
The Geography of Pre-Islamic
Arabia
Learning Outcomes:
 To explain the geographical background from which Islam emerged
(AO1)
 To evaluate the extent to which the geographical background of PreIslamic Arabia effected the emergence of Islam (AO2)
A01 – Knowledge & Understanding
Evaluation
A02 – Analysis &
What do you think?
• Do you think you need to know the
origins of a religion to understand its
current teachings and practices?
Pre-Islamic Arabia
• What was life like in Arabia?
• How did the geography of the land
effect how people lived?
• What trade links were established in
Pre-Islamic Arabia?
• How much did this influence the life of
Muhammad (pbuh) and the rise of
Islam?
Pre-Islamic Arabia
History
• Stone Age settlements from c.3000 BCE have been
found in Arabia. There are no written records until after
1000 BCE. The earliest records have been found in
modern-day Yemen and are in the form of inscriptions
on stone and bronze tablets. These are written in many
languages including Old North and Old South Arabian,
Aramaic, Greek and Latin.
• A Greek, Eratosthenes, writing in the 3rd century said
that four tribal peoples lived in the edge of the Yemen
desert controlling most of the trading routes through the
area. These people were nomads and Bedouins who
spent their lives in the desert. They relied on their
animals and on trade with other groups. There were
frequent battles between tribes.
Geography



The Arabian peninsula was a very arid a
dry place, neighboured by three seas. The
Red sea, Arabian sea and the Persian Gulf
The area can be largely split into three
sections. The southern peninsula of
Yemen, the western coast of Hijaz and the
central and eastern area, Najd.
In the southern lands towns and villages
prospered as the landscape was more
hospitable and agriculture was able to
prosper
Agriculture
 This difference between the regions, as far as
vegetation is concerned, can also be observed in the
regional produce.
 In the inner regions, date trees thrive in the arid
climate, and being hardy with little need of water,
dominate, whereas Yemen is renowned for the sweetgum (liquidambar styrax), which is a symbol of
productivity and luxury. Dates are the main food
source for people in the oases. There are a few areas
where wheat, barley, millet, onions, sesame, various
vegetables, tobacco, apricots, almonds, grapes and
citrus fruits can be grown.
 In the southern regions it is possible to grow such a
variety of crops as bananas, cotton, coffee and even
rice and sugar cane.
Trade

The increased trans-Arabian trade produced two
important results.

One was the rise of cities that could service the trains
of camels moving across the desert. The most
prosperous of these- -Petra in Jordan and Palmyra in
Syria, for example--were relatively close to markets in
the Mediterranean region, but small caravan cities
developed within the Arabian Peninsula as well. The
most important of these was Mecca, which also owed
its prosperity to certain shrines in the area visited by
Arabs from all over the peninsula.
• Some Arabs, particularly in the Hijaz, held
some religious beliefs that recognized a
number of gods as well as a number of
rituals for worshiping them. The most
important beliefs involved the sense that
certain places and times of year were
sacred and must be respected. At those
times and in those places, warfare, in
particular, was forbidden, and various
rituals were required. Foremost of these
was the pilgrimage, and the best known
pilgrimage site was Mecca.
• By the 4th century Makkah was ruled by
the Jurhum tribe. The Bedouins around
Makkah formed an alliance c.400 CE and
settled in Makkah. This was brought
together by the Quraysh tribe, who wanted
to take on a residential style of life rather
than their traditional nomadic existence.
• Through family links the Quraysh turned
Makkah into an important trading centre
standing on the junction of the north-south
and east-west routes. Makkah had water
for camels but not enough for agriculture
and depended for its existence on the
merchants passing through the city.
• Although there was fighting all around the
area, Makkah provided a safe place in the
country. Large trading fairs were set up there
and pilgrimage to the shrine of the Ka’bah
became increasingly important. The Ka’bah
contained statues of the many gods of the
tribes who travelled through Makkah on their
trading routes.
• Changes in Makkah produced a settled and
established community which then moved
towards adopting a common language. The
city, with its established trading community,
produced a social structure which was based
on trade and wealth.
Empires
Byzantine
 The Byzantine Empire, the successor of the
Roman Empire, reigned over the Balkan Peninsula,
Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt from 330 to
1450.
 Before the emergence of Islam in the Arabian
Peninsula and its sovereignty over a huge region,
Byzantium was one of two significant forces in the
region, holding territory over three continents.
 The era between 610-641, which corresponds to
the birth of Islam in Arabia, was one of the harshest
eras in Byzantine history. The state was going
through severe hardships during this period, when
there were dynastic struggles, corruption in civil
and military administration, and economic decline.
Economic and religious embargos laid upon the
members of different sects led to serious problems
between the state and the people.
Byzantine
 In addition to all these domestic threats, as the expansion policy
of the Byzantines targeted the lands of the Sassanid Empire,
they were faced with serious threats from the Avars and Slavs,
bringing the state to the edge of collapse.
 The invasion by the Sassanid Empire into the eastern provinces
in 611 led to the loss of Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem and
Egypt;
 The Persian army then targeted Istanbul, moving along the
coast of the Bosphorus. This predicament forced the Byzantine
emperor Herakleios to sign a treaty, the terms of which were
considerably detrimental.
 The fact that the Sassanid Empire had defeated the Byzantines,
who were considered to be people of the Book (of an
Abrahamic, monotheist religion), delighted the polytheist Arabs
to whom Prophet Muhammad was conveying Islam. This defeat
also led the polytheists to think that the end of the Muslims
would be the same as that of the Byzantines.
Pre-Islamic Arabia

Use the maps to create your own map of
Pre-Islamic Arabia. You should include:








Mecca
Medina
Yemen
Jerusalem
Damascus
Byzantine Empire
Sassanid Empire
Red sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea
Discuss
• Do you think a religious leader could
give teachings which were unaffected
by the background in which they were
born and lived?
• Write a paragraph explaining your
opinion using PEE (Point, Evidence,
Explain) or PEA (Point, Evidence,
Analysis)
Homework
• Make notes on Reading –Jahillyah
• Answer questions at the end of the
reading
• Where possible identify aspects of life
that were kept in Islam and those that
were abandoned