CHAPTER 3, CONQUEST AND
CONFLICT AFTER
MUHAMMAD
The history of the Muslim community to about 700 CE
Views about historicity (cf. previous presentation):
1. Traditional: accept much of what has been reported more or less at face
value
 Sectarian or ideological differences, e.g. Sunni vs Shi‘i, very important in
determining which traditional reports are accepted
2. Critical:
 Little written material for the earlier decades
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Reports are problematic
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later: administrative papyri, coins, inscriptions; non-Muslim sources
Fullest accounts (e.g. Tabari, d. 922) are late
Reports are often contradictory,
Reports usually ideological or partisan and tend to be anti-Umayyad.
Reports and other evidence properly sifted give main outline of events,
though details are less than certain.
F. E. Peters’ viewpoint still holds:
“ . . . it seems most useful and productive simply to
apply a combination of common sense and some
modern heuristic devices to the traditional accounts.
We must begin with the traditional material and
attempt to make some sense out of it.” (Muhammad
and the Origins of Islam, p. 266)
Views about historicity
Inward Turmoil / Outward Success
Struggle for leadership of the umma.
 Khulafā’ Rāshidūn (Rightly Guided Caliphs – Sunni view)
 Umawis (Umayyads)
Rapid fatḥ (opening/conquest) of surrounding territory)
 First stage (632-660)
 Second stage (660- c. 718)
Struggle for leadership of the umma.
 Initial moves
Ghadir Khumm?
 Meeting in the Hall of the Banu Sa‘ida: Abu Bakr
declared leader

 “Obey
me as long as I obey God and His apostle, and if I
disobey them you owe me no obedience.”
 Ali
was not present
Struggle for leadership, ctd.
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Khulafā’ Rāshidūn (Rightly Guided Caliphs – Sunni view)
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Abu Bakr (632-4) “Khalīfat rasūl allāh”
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‘Umar (634-44) “Amīr al-mu’minīn”
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Wars of Ridda
Musaylima et al. defeated
Strict in religious and moral matters
Main organizational prescriptions
Convenes shūrà to choose successor
‘Uthman (644-56)
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Authoritative edition of Qur’an
Favors relatives, mostly late converts to Islam
Revolt against him, killed.
Struggle for leadership, ctd.
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First Fitna (656-61)
Ali chosen in Medina
 Mu‘awiya (in Syria) opposes him
 ‘A’isha, Talha, Zubayr oppose him:
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defeated by ‘Ali at the Battle of the Camel (656)
Battle of Siffin: ‘Ali vs Mu‘awiya (657); arbitration
 Kharijis secede from ‘Ali / reject ‘Ali and Mu‘awiya
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Defeated by ‘Ali at Nahrawand (658)
‘Ali assassinated by Khariji (661)
Struggle for leadership ctd
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Umawīs (Umayyads)
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Mu‘awiya (661-80)
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Yazid ibn Mu‘awiya (680-3)
Second Fitna
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“Khalīfat allāh”
Effective in recognizing and using traditional tribal ways and feelings
In fact centralized power and restricted tribal freedom.
Designated son as successor: beginning of hereditary “monarchy”.
Husayn ibn ‘Ali rebelled, killed at Karbala (680)
Ibn Zubayr: rebelled, held Mecca (681-92)
Tawwabun (Repenters) rebel (684)
Mukhtar(685-7) in the name of Ibn al-Hanafiyya
Marwan (684-5, from a different branch of the ‘Umayyads)
Struggle for leadership ctd
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Umawīs (Umayyads) – Marwanids (Different branch of the family)
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Marwan (683-5)
‘Abd al-Malik (685-705)
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Major administrative reforms; Dome of the Rock (see later frame)
Walid I (705-15)
Sulayman (715-7)
‘Umar II b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (717-20)
Yazid II (720-24)
Hisham (724-43)
Walid II (743-4)
Yazid III (744)
Ibrahim (744)
Marwan II (744-50)
Fatḥ (opening/conquest): rapid conquest of surrounding
territory
Muslim world about 660
Fatḥ (opening/conquest): rapid conquest of surrounding
territory
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First stage (to the first Fitna)
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Confirmation and completion of control of Arabia (under
Abu Bakr, 632-4)
Musaylima (Maslama) and other claimed prophets defeated
 Wars of Ridda
 Allegiance of other tribes
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Raids on the northern frontier for booty
 Al-Hira and other towns (border of Iraq) taken (633)
 Ajnadayn (634), first encounter with Byzantine army
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Fatḥ ctd
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Second stage (after the first Fitna)
 Syria
‘Umar (634-44)
 Battle
of Yarmuk (636) major victory over Byzantines
 Damascus (635, 636)
 Jerusalem (638)
 Conquest of Syria complete (640)
Fatḥ ctd
Iraq – Iran (‘Umar, 634-44)
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Battle of Qadisiya (637) major victory over Sasanians
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Ctesiphon, Sasanian capital 637
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Battle of Nihavand 641
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Mosul (641)
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Persepolis 649-50
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Marw (650)
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Death of last Sasanian shah (651)
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Armenia mostly taken (652)
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Khurasan, conquest complete 654
Egypt and Maghrib
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Egypt (641-6)
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Tripoli (643)
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Cyprus 649 from Egypt
Fatḥ ctd
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Second stage (after the second Fitna)
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Failure to capture Constantinople (660, 668, 717)
North and East
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Bukhara 709
Samarqand 713
Sind (712-3)
West (magrib)
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Carthage 698
Qayrawan founded 670
North Africa, conquest complete (712)
Andalus/Spain (711-718 and continuing)
Muslim world about 800
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Administrative reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik (and successors)
include:
Arabic as language of administration
 Reorganized finances
 Coins reflecting Islamic motifs
 Dome of the Rock
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Can perhaps be seen as the “birth” of a distinctively
Islamic culture and civilization (as distinct from Islamic
religion).
Motives for conquests and reasons for success
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Desire for booty
Opportunity
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Adequate ideology
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To support a continuing rule
To guide policy in a general way
Tolerance
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Weakness of Byzatines and Sasanians
Disaffection of many subject peoples
Necessary for a small elite to rule a large populace
Migration of Arabs into conquered lands
Motives, ctd.
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Religious
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obligation/desire to spread Islam / God’s rule
confidence in God’s support
encouraged discipline
“Know, O Muslims, that you have never seen an army of Rome as you
see now. If Allah defeats them by your hand, they shall never again
stand against you. So be steadfast in battle and defend your faith.
Beware of turning your backs on the enemy, for then your punishment
will be the Fire [on Doomsday]. Be watchful and steady in your
ranks, and do not attack until I give the order.” (Khalid ibn al-Walid
at Ajnadayn)
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Immediate results
 Arab-Muslim
Political Control
 Wealth flows to Arabia
 Arab immigration to conquered lands
 A small elite ruling a large subject (dhimmī) population
 Islam as Arab religion (?)
 Tolerance
and taxation of dhimmis
 Some reluctance to seek converts
 Converts must be affiliated to tribes
Dome of the Rock / Ḥaram al-Sharīf
 Courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism
(www.goisrael.com)
Dome of the Rock / Ḥaram al-Sharīf
Unique: nothing quite like it before or since: not a mosque
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A monument to Muslim success and greatness, to its
relation to the Greco-Iranian past and its superseding
of it.
Political and culturally replaces and transcends the previous
empires
 Religiously re-presents and transcends the former prophetic
religions
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Dome of the Rock ctd
Some features:
 As a whole, meant to be seen from afar.
 Individual elements of design, construction and decoration derive
from late Antiquity but no building of late antiquity building like it.
 Mosaics depicting jewelry etc of pre-Muslim rulers –
(commemorating Muslim victory over them?)
 Inscriptions inside, Qur’anic and other:
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God is One without associate
Muhammad is Messenger of God
Jesus is Messenger of God, but not son of God, not part of a Trinity.
Dome of the Rock ctd
Connections with sacred history
 Site of Temple of Israel (symbolism relating to King/Prophet Sulayman)
 Site of Isra’ and Mi‘raj (evident for direct association not till 12th or 13th
century)
 Caliph ‘Umar worshipped there after conquest of Jerusalem
Some possible uses (no predominant use)
 devotions, ṣalāh and teaching.
 focus of pilgrimage (ziyāra) to Jerusalem as third sanctuary in Islam.
 Built to replace Ka‘ba as goal of pilgrimage during revolt of Ibn Zubayr. (?)
Pre-Islamic to Islamic Arabia in the light of the Axial
Age theory
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Early Islamic
Ultimate Reality
Allah (transcendent but
somewhat marginal)
Allah only
Supernatural
Jinn, spirits, gods – connected
with nature
Jinn, angels, etc. – creatures of
Allah
Mediator
kāhins (poets)
Prophet
Action, Ritual
Sacrifice, divination,
circumambulation, etc.
Ṣalah, du‘ā’ pilgrimage
Ethical
Sunna of tribe
Sunna of the umma, prophet
Religious actors
Diverse: kahins, tribal leaders,
others, (hanifs) marginal
Khalīfa, (later) ‘ulamā‘, imāms
(for ṣalah),Qur’an reciters
Social Group
Tribe, clan
Umma
Individual
Individual immersed in group
(some exceptions)
Group is important, individual
less “immersed”
Future Life
No
Yes, for individual