In years to come, Muhammad would be
recognized by millions of Muslims as the
Prophet. Islamic would be carry out through
three continents and it would be one of the
most powerful foces in world history.
Oasis Towns and Desert Life
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Islam appeared in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of southwestern Asia.
Many Arab clans at that time were nomadic herders, called Bedouins, adapted
to the conditions of the desert. Using camels, they crossed long streches of
blistering, sandy desert in search of seasonal paturelands.
Bedouins regularly traded with other Arabs who had settled in oasis towns
like Mecca in wester Arabia. Mecca was a bustling market town at the
crossroads of two main caravan routes.
Mecca was also a thriving pilgrimage center. Arabs came to pray at the Kaaba,
an ancient shrine that Muslims today believe was built by the prophet
Abraham.
The Prophet Muhammad
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Muhammad was born in Mecca about 570. In his youth , he worked as a
shepherd among the Bedouins. Later he became a successful merchant.
In the age of 40 he heard the voice of angel Gabriel in the desert, the angel
tells him to become the messenger of God.
Muhammad devoted the rest of his life to spreading Islam. He urged people to
give up their false gods and submit to the one true God.
At first few people listened, in 22 faced with threat of murder, he and his
followers left Mecca for Yathrib, a journet known as the hijra.
In 630 he return to Mecca, and destroyed the idols in the Kaaba. He work to
unit the Arabs.
His death in 632 plunged his followers into grief. Later Abu Bakr was elected
the first caliph, or seccessor to Muhammad.
The Message of Islam
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Muslims believe in one all-powerful, compassionate God, who name is Allah.
Islam also teaches that people are responsible for their own actions.
Quran, is the sacred text of Islam
There are Five Pillars of Muslim
1. “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
2. Daily prayer/ Muslims may pray anywhere/ they often gathered in Mosque.
3. Giving charity to poor.
4. Fasting from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of Ramadan.
5. All Muslims are expected to visit the Kaaba at least once.
Women in Early Muslim Society
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Islam affirmed the spiritual equality of women and men.
The Quran fohibited the killing of daughters and ensured protetion for widow.
Inheritance laws guaranteed a woman a share of her parents or husband’s
property.
Muslim wome are freely to marriage and divorce.
The amount of an inheritance given to a daughter ws less then a son.
The Quran permitted a man to have up to four wives if he treated them all
justly.
Inspired by the teaching of Muhammad, Arab
armies surged across the Byzantine and
Persian empires. In short period of time, an
Arabic empire reached from the Atlantic to
the Borders of India.
The Age of Conquest
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Under the fist four cliphs, Arab armies marched from victory to victory. They
conquered great chunjs of Byzantine empire, including the provinces of Syria
and Palestine wi the cities of Damascus and Jerusalem. Next was the Persian
empire, then swept into Egypt and later defeating Byzantine forces across
North Africa.
Efficient fighting methods contributed to the Arab success.
The key reason for Arab success was the common faith Myhammad had
given his people.
With the lands they conquere, Muslim leaders imposed a special tax on nonMuslims, but they were allow to pratice their own religion.
The Muslim Presence in Europe
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The major areas of Muslim influence in Europe at this time were Spain and
Sicily.
For centuries, Spain was one of the most brilliant corners of the Muslim
world. Princes encouraged poetry, the arts and sholarship.
Also during the early Middle Ages, when Europe was weak, the Arabs seized
control of Sicily and a number of other Mediterranean islands.
Movements Within Islam
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Not long after Muhammad’s death, divisions arose within Islam over his
successor. The split between Sunni and Shiite.
The Sunnis felt that the claiph should be chosen by leaders of the Muslim
community, and he should be viewed as a leader, not as a religious authority.
The Shiites argued that the onlytrue successors to the Prophet were
descendants of Muhammad.
Ali became fourth caliph, but was assassinated in 661. His son, too,was killed.
The division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims has survided for more than
13,000 years.
The Arab Empire
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After the death of Ali, the Umayyad family set up a dynasty that ruled the
Islamic world until 750.
The Umayyads faced numerous problems, to govern their empire they relied
on local officials.
Shiites hated the Umayyads because they had dishonored the Prophet’s family.
Muslims found a new leader in Abu al-Abbas, and he then founded the
Abbassid dynasty, which lasted until 1258.
It was time of peace durin the Abbassid dynasty.
From 786 to 809 , the claiph Harun al-Rashid ruled, he was seen as a model
ruler and as a symbol of wealth and splendor.
Decline of the Caliphate
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As the caliph’s power faded, civil wars eruptd, and Shiite rulers took over parts of the
empire. Between 900 and 1400, a series of invasions was also added to the chaos.
In the the 900s, the Seljuk Turks migrated into the Middle East from Central Asia.
In 1099, after a long and bloody siege, christian crsaders captured Jerusalem, a city
holy to Christians, Muslims, and Jews. For 200 years, the city passed back and forth
between Muslims and Christians.
In 1216, Genghiz Khan led the Mongols out of Central Asia across Persian and
Mesopotamia.
In 1258, Hulagu, grandson of Genghiz, burned and looted Baghdad, killing the last
Abbassid caliph.
In the late 1300s, another Mongol leader, Timrith Lame , or Tamerlane, led his armies
into the Middle East and conquer Muslim as well as non-Muslim lands. His armies
overran Persia and Mesopotamia before invading Russia and India.
By 830, the cliph had set up the “House of Wisdom,”
a library and university in Baghdad. Under the Abbassids,
Islam absorbed traditons from many cultures. A vital new
cilvilization rose that flourished in cities from Damascus
to Cairo to Cordoba and later to Delhi in India. The great
works produced bu scholars of the Abbassid golden age
shaped the Muslim world just as Greek and Roman
classics shaped western culture.
Society and the Economy
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The Muslim empire united people from diverse cultures, including Arabs, Persians,
Egyptians and other Africans, and Europeans.
Muslim scociety ws more open thatn that of medical Europe, people could move up in
society, especially through reiligious, scholarly, and military achievements.
Muslims could not be enslaved. Non-Muslim slaves could also be freed in many other
ways.
Between 750 and 1350 , merchants built a vast trading network across the Muslim
world and beyong, spreading Islam peacefully in their wake.Muslim traders traveled
the Silk Road from China.
Handicraft manufacturing in Muslim cities was typically organized by guilds. Workers
also get pay by wages.
Muslim farmers cultivated sugar cane, cotton, dyes, medicinal herbs, fruits, vegetables,
and flowers that were bought and sold in world markets.
Muslim Art
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The Quran strictly banned the worship of idols, Muslim religious leaders
forbade artists to potry God or human figures in religious art.
The walls and ceilings or mosques were decorated with elaborate abstract and
geomatric patterns.
In nonreligious arts, some Muslim artists did paint human and animal figures.
Muslim architects adapted the domes and arches of Byzantine buildings to
new uses.
Literature
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The great work of Islamic literature was the poetic Quran itself. Scholars studied the
sacred words of the Quran in Arabic and then produced their own works interpreting its
meaning.
Bedouin poets chanted that the dangers of desert journeys, the joys of battle, or the
glories of their clans. The most important theme, chivalry and the romance of nomadic
life, recurred in Arab poetry.
A Persian Muslims, name Firdawsi wrote in Persian using Arabic script. His
masterpiece, the Shahnamah, or king’s bood of kings, tells the history of persia in
60,000 verses.
Omar Khayyam, famous in the Muslim world as a scholar and astronomer, is best
known to westerners for The Rubariyat.
Arab writers prized the art of storytelling. The best-known collection is The Thousand
and One Night, a group of tales narrated bu the fictional pricess Scheherezade.
The World of Learning
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Muslim scholars translated the works of the Greek philosophers, as well as many Hindu
and Buddhist texts.
In Cordoba, the philosopher Ibn Rushd known in Europe as Averroes-he puts all
knowledge to the test of reason.
Ibn Khaldun set standards for the scientific study of history, he stressed the importance
of studying the causes of events.
The greatest Muslim mathematician was al-Khwarizimi study of algebra.
Muhammad al-Razi-the most respected doctor in the city, al-Razi was engaged in
serious environmental research.
Government set up hospitals for people, an injured people could get quick treatment
similar to today’s emergency room.
Persian physician Ibn Sina, his great work was the Canon on Medicine, a huge
ecyclopedia of what the Greeks, the Arab, and he himself had learned about the
diagnosis and treatment of disese.
Muslim invaders built a dazzling new Muslim empire
in India. The arrival of Islam brought changes to India as
great as those caused bu the Aryan migrations 2,000 years
earlier. As Muslims mingled with Indians, each
civilization asorbed elements from the other.
The Muslim Advance
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The Gupta empire fell about 550, India fragmented in to many local
kingdoms.
Arab armies conquered the Indus Valley in 711, they advanced no farther into
the subcontinent. About 1000, Turkish converts to Islam pushed into India.
In the late 1100s, though, the sultan of Ghur defeated Hindu armies across the
northern plain. He made Delhi his capital, his successors organized the Delhi
sultanate, which lasted from 1206 to 1526.
Delhi Sultanate
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Muslim rule brought changes to Indian government and society. Sultans
expanded their power over much India, introducing Muslim traditions of
government.
The newcomers helped create a brilliant civilization at Delhi, where Persian
art and architecture flourished.
In 1398, Tamerlane invaded India, he plundered the northern plain and
smashed into Delhi. Ten of thousands of artisans were enslaved and marched
off to build Tamerlane’s capital at Samarkand.
Meeting of Two Cultures
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Muslim conquest of northern India inflicted disaster on Hindus and Budhists.
The Muslim advance brought two utterly different religions and cultures face
to face. Hindus recognized many sacred texts and prayed before statues
representing many gods and goddesses. Islam was a newer faith with a single
sacred text.
Some Muslim scholars argued that behind the many Hindu gods and
goddesses was a single god. Hinduism was thus accepted as a monotheistic
religion.
An Indian holy man, Nanak, sought to blend Muslim monotheism and Hindu
beliefs. His teaching s led to the rise of a new religion, Sikhism,in northern
India.
Mughal India
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In 1526, Turkish and Mongol invaders again poured through the mountain passes in
Indian. At the head was Babur, who claimed descent from Genghiz Khan nad
Tamberlane.
Babur’s force was small but had cannons, which he put to good use. Babur swept away
the remnants of the Delhi sultanate and set up the Mugha dynasty, which ruled from
1526 to 1857.
The chief builder of the Mughal empire was Babur’ grandson Akbar. His long reign,
from 1556 to 1605, earning the title Akbar the Great.
Akbar’s son Jahangir was a weaker ruler than his father. But his wife, Nur Jahan, she
was an able leader whose shrewd political judgment was matched only by her love of
poetry and royal sports.
The high point of Mughal literature, art and architecture came with the reign of Shah
Jahan, when his wife, Mumtaz Mahal died he had a stynning tomb built for her, the Taj
Mahal.
While the Mughals ruled India, two other dynasties,
the Ottomans and Safavids, dominated the Middle East
and parts of Eastern Eruope. In 1453, Ottoman cannons
blasted gaps in the great defensive walls cannons blasted
gaps in the great defensive walls of Constntinople. The
new military technology helped the Ottomans and
Safavids create strong central governments. As a result,
this period from about 1450 to 1650 is sometimes called
“the age of gunpowder empires.”
The Otoman Advance
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The Ottomans were yet another Turkish speaking nomadic people who had
migrated from Central Asia into northwestern Asia Minor.
In the 1300s, they expanded across Asia Minor and into the Balkans.
In 1453, Muhammad II captured Constantinople, which he renamed Istanbul.
In the next 200 years, the Ottoman empire continued to expand.
In 1529 and 1683, Ottoman armies besieged Vienna, sending waves of fear
through Western Europe.
Ottoman Culture
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The Ottoman empire enjoyed its Golden ages under the sultan Suleiman, who
ruled from 1520 to 1566.
The Ottomans ruled diverse peoples who had many religions. Non- Muslims
were organized into millets, or religious communities.
Ottomans recruited officers for the army and government from among the
huge populations of conquered people in their empire.
The Ottoman empire was a powerful force for 500 years. By the 1700s,
however, European advances in both commerce and military technolgy were
leaving the Ottomans behind.
The Safavid Empire
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By the early 1500s, the Safavids, a Turkish-speaking dynasty, had united a
strong empire in present-day Iran.
The outstangding Safavid ruler, Shah Abbas the Great, revived the glory of
ancient Persia. From 1588 to 1629, he centralized the government and created
a powerful military force.
To strengthen the economy, Abbas reduced taxes on farmers and herders and
encouraged the growth of industries.
Under Abbas, Isfahan flourished as a center of Persian culture. He welcomed
artists, poets, and scholars to the court.
Safavid glory slowly faded after the death of the Shah Abbas, though the
dynasty held onto power until 1722.
In late 1700s, a new dynasty, the Qajars won control of Iran.
1) A major feature of the Golden Age of Moslem culture
was the
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political and economic isolation of the Arab world
development of the foundations of modern science and mathematics
adoption of democratic government
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persecution of Jews and Christians
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2) The contributions of the Golden Age of Islamic
civilization include.
1.
2.
3.
4.
advances in mathematics
irrigation systems
polytheistic beliefs
gunpowder and guns
3) Which activity occurred during the Golden Age
of Muslim culture?
2.
destruction of books containing Greek and Roman ideas
beginning of pilgrimages to Mecca
3.
opposition to freedom of thought and to foreign ideas by rulers
4.
major discoveries in mathematics and science
1.
4) Mansa Musas journey to Mecca in the 1300s is
evidence that
1.
2.
3.
4.
the Crusades had a great influence on western Africa
most African leaders were educated in the Middle East
European culture was superior to the cultures of western Africa
Islam had a major influence on the Mali Empire
5) Which factor helps explain the scientific and literary
achievements of the Muslims during their Golden Age
(A.D. 800-1300)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
expansion of trans-Atlantic trade
innovations introduced by the Europeans during he Renaissance
cultural diversity accepted by many Islamic governments
legal equality of all people in the Islamic empire
1.B
2.A
3.D
4.D
5.C