AP REVIEW OF THE
ISLAMIC CALIPHATES
Arabia pre-Islam


Nomadic traders
Organized by tribes and clans


Inter-clan rivalries prevented unity
Polytheistic
Had contact with Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians
 Some Arabs were monotheistic


Mecca
Governed by Umayyad clan
 Important religious and trading center
 Big money maker

Muhammad



Orphaned, raised by uncle
Became respected merchant
Starting in 610, received revelation from the angel
Gabriel
Islam = submission to the will of god
 Muslim= one who submits



By 620 a fair minority of Meccans followed Muhammad
Monotheism challenged polytheism in Mecca
(remember, MONEY)
Forced to flee Mecca
 Hijra- Muhammad’s flight to Medina

Early Islam




Muhammad = political and religious leader
Series of wars against the Umayyads in Mecca
Raids of caravans, etc
Conquered Mecca in 630
 Forced
conversion of elites
 Destroyed pagan shrines (only Ka’ba remained)
 Imposed monotheistic theocratic government
By 632, most of Arabia under Muhammad’s control
After Muhammad’s Death



no established line of succession
Recently conquered territories broke away from
Muslim control
Under the leadership of the caliph (deputy of
Islam), Muslim dominance was reasserted AND
expanded beyond the borders of Arabia
 1st
caliph = Abu Bakr
 Substitutes from Muhammad (NOT PROPHETS)
 Purpose of later expansion was for political and
economic reasons, not for religious conversion
Expansion

633-637



640s


Took down the Sassanid Empire (Persia)
711


Egypt & North Africa(B)
651


Syria & Palestine (Byzantine territory)
Mesopotamia (Sassanid territory)
Northwest India (Sind)
711-718

North Africa and Iberian Peninsula
First Islamic Civil War

First four caliphs chosen by negotiation between
more powerful clans
 3rd
Caliph (Uthamn) assissinated
 Issue over the election of 4th Caliph, Ali (relative of
Muhammad)
 Umayyad clan rejected Ali
 Ridda Wars

Civil War created two major branches in Islam



Sunni (majority)- any good Muslim could be Caliph
Shi’ia (minority)- Caliph must be relative of Ali and Muhammad
Ali martyred, Umayyads reign supreme!
Umayyad Caliphate

Renewed conquest (latter half 7th c)



Spain-central Asian steppes
Shift from Mecca to Damascus
Small Arab Muslim aristocracy ruled over the people




Arabs = first class citizens
Made up core of army, imperial administration, and received
share in booty
Taxed only for charity
Separated from non-Muslim majority
 Sought to prevent mass conversion (keep the jizya tax base and
keep booty for the umma only!)
Conquerors and the Conquered


Intermarriage between urbanized Bedouins and non-Arab
non-Muslim conquered folk
Some voluntary converts (Mawali)





did not gain political or social status
Still had to pay jizya even though Muslim
Not considered full members of the umma
Low numbers of conversion
Dhimmis (people of the book)


Originally Christians and Jews
 As Arab territory expanded, included Zoroastrians and Hindus
Communities and legal systems left intact
Umayyad treatment of women

Early days of Islam
 Women
gained status
 Important members of religious community, translating
and passing down hadiths, etc

As Islam urbanized and spread, status of women
decreased (especially upper class women)
 Seclusion
 Veiling
Umayyad Luxurious Decline

Soft, luxurious living
 Increasingly
large harems
 Abandonment of conquest
 Excesses ticked off more devout Muslims

Abbasid party overthrew Umayyads
 From
Iranian boarder lands
 Resented foreign dictates and lack of booty sharing
 Led by Abu al-Abbas
 Support

of Shi’ites and malawi
Rejected Umayyad legitimacy and repressed by Umayyads
Collapse and Rebirth of the Umayyads


Damascus fell in 750
Abd al-Rahman (Umayyad) fled to Spain
established self as Imir- 2nd Caliphate
 Spain in Islamic world of its own!
 756
Abbasids 750-1258



Moved capital from Damascus to Baghdad
Wiped out former rivals and rejected old allies
(especially Shi’ias)
Established centralized absolutist control
 Abbasid


rulers placed selves above other Muslims
Glittering palaces and expanding bureaucracies
Wazir- chief administrator- head of Caliph’s
councils = super important in administration
 Little
chance of gaining an audience with the Caliph
Mawali Experience


Full integration of converts into umma
Desire to gain new converts
 No
more booty division, so no monetary reason to
prevent conversion
 Most conversions were peaceful
 Tax breaks! Better education! Better jobs in government!
 Persians dominated bureaucratic offices (after
conversion)
Urban Growth



Growing wealth and status of merchant class
Time of urban expansion
Revival of Afro-Eurasian trading network






Abbasids and Tang and Song central to trading
Dhows (sailing vessels)- influenced later Western ship design
Muslim, Christian and Jewish merchants
Increased production of handicrafts
Countryside- ayan (wealthy landed elite)
Slaves used for unskilled labor

Some slaves in government, rose to high rank and status
Learning and the House of Wisdom


Open to intellectual traditions of conquered
territories (Hellenistic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian,
Mesopotamian)
Recovered and preserved learning (esp. math and
science) of earlier civilizations
Fall of the Abbasids


Weakening political control + too much territory =
disaster for Abbasid Caliphs
Look up the rest in chapter 7, I’m tired.