Chapter 10: The Muslim World, 600-1250
I. Deserts, Towns, and Trade Routes
 Arabian Peninsula is a crossroad between three continents: Africa,
Asia, and Europe
 Little land for agriculture; most of the land is desert a) Desert and Town Life
 Arab nomads called Bedouins
 Ideals of courage, loyalty to family, warrior skills— became part of Islamic way of life
 By 600s, many Arabs had settled down in an oasis or in a market town
b.) Crossroads of Trade and Ideas
 Trade routes connected Arabia to major ocean and land trade routes
 Traded with the Byzantines and Sassanid to the North
 The Silk Roads of the East; spices and incense from Yemen; carried information and ideas from the world outside Arabia
c.) Mecca
 During holy months, caravans stopped in Mecca, Western
Arabia
 Pilgrims came to worship at the ancient shrine, Ka’aba
 Associated with Abraham, prophet, believer in one god
 Belief in one god, Allah,
 Christians and Jews lived in region; practiced monotheism
II. The Prophet Muhammad
 Born into a powerful Meccan family
 Little schooling; caravan trader at a young age
 At 25, worked for Khadijah trading goods; married her (15 years his senior b) Revelations
 Spent much interest and time meditating and praying
 Went to a cave at Mount Hira to meditate—while there the
Angel Gabriel appeared
 Revelations from the one god Allah: Allah is one god, All other gods must be abandoned
 Islam = “submission to the will of Allah”
 Muslim = “one who has submitted”
 613, began to teach publicly in Mecca
 People in Mecca feared his monotheistic beliefs would run off the pilgrims who worshipped the other Arab gods c) The Hijrah
 After followers were attacked, Muhammad left Mecca in 622
 Moved to Yathrib, 200 miles north of Mecca

 Migration known as Hijrah, later changed to Medina; marks first year of Muslim calendar
 Muhammad improved his leadership skills
 Joined his people, Arabs, and Jews into a single community in
Medina
 Many converts; became military leader in the growing conflict between Mecca and Medina d) Returning to Mecca
 In 630, Muhammad and 10,000 followers marched on Mecca
 Meccan leaders surrender; all idols destroyed in Ka’aba; now a mosque
 Many Meccans pledged loyalty and joined umma—Muslim religious community
 Two years later, Muhammad dies; unified the entire Arabian
Peninsula under Islam
III. Beliefs and Practices of Islam
 Only one god, Allah; there is good and evil; each individual is responsible for the actions of his or her life e) The Five Pillars
 Faith—profess the faith
 Prayer—pray 5 times daily
 Alms—give alms to the poor
 Fasting—during the holy month of Ramadan
 Pilgrimage—make a Hajj to Mecca f) A Way of Life
 Five pillars ensure Muslims live their religion while serving their community
 Rituals and customs: no eating pork, no intoxicating beverages, Fridays are communal worship, no priests/central religious authority, worship Allah directly g) Sources of Authority
 Allah expressed his will through the angel Gabriel, who revealed it to Muhammad
 Followers memorized and recited the revelations
 Collected in a book called the Qur’an, the holy book of the
Muslims
 Written in Arabic; this version considered the true word of
Allah; only Arabic can be used in worship
 Muslims believe that Muhammad’s mission as a prophet was to receive the Qur’an and to demonstrate how to apply it in life
 Sunna = Muhammad’s example, or the best model for proper living

 Guidance of Qur’an and Sunna assembled creates the body of law known as shari’a—regulates family life, moral conduct, and community life of Muslims h) Links to Judaism and Christianity
 All three religions share the same God
 Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God
 People regard the Qur’an the same as the Torah and the
Gospels—the word of God
 Muhammad is the final prophet
 All three believe in a heaven, hell, and final judgement
 All three trace their ancestry to Abraham
 Qur’an regards Christians and Jews as “people of the book”, to be extended religious tolerance
IV. Muhammad’s Successors Spread Islam
 Muhammad did not have a successor and left no instructions on how to choose one
 Abu-Bakr, loyal friend of Muhammad, becomes first caliph—
“successor” or “deputy” a) “Rightly Guided” Caliphs
 Abu-Bakr and next three elected Caliphs—Umar, Uthman, and
Ali—all used the Qur’an and Muhammad’s actions as guides to leadership
 After Muhammad died, many abandoned Islam
 Abu-Bakr invoked jihad, meaning “striving”—the inner struggle against evil or struggle against non-believers.
 Abu-Bakr uses this as the justification to expand Islam
 Dies in 634, Muslim state controlled all of Arabia; eventually
Syria, lower Egypt, and part of the Byzantine Empire
 By 750, Muslim Empire stretched 6000 miles from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Indus River b) Reasons for Success
 Muhammad desired to spread Islam to the North
 Muslim armies were well disciplined coupled with the weakness of the exhausted Byzantine and Sassanid militaries
 Persecuted people in the Byzantine and Sassanid regions, welcomed the invaders and accepted Islam; did not support
Christianity or Zoroastrianism
 Islam offered equality and hope, which was attractive to many c) Treatment of Conquered People
 Qur’an forbids forced conversion; conquered people were allowed to worship their own religion
 Christians and Jews paid a poll tax with restrictions; they were not allowed to spread their religion

V. Internal Conflict Creates a Crisis
 In 656, the Muslim community had trouble maintaining a unified rule
 Civil wars will break out between various groups struggling for power
 Elective system for electing a caliph will end with the assassination of
Ali—Muhammad’s cousin.
 Umayyads move the capital city from Mecca to Damascus; easier now to rule the region but Arab Muslims upset.
 Simple life of caliph replaced by Umayyad extravagance d) Sunni-Shi’a Split
 To keep the peace, many accepted Umayyad rule
 A minority group wanted the caliph to be a descendant of the
Prophet—this group is the Shi’a, or “party” of Ali—Shi’ites
 Those who did not resist Umayyad rule were known as the
Sunni—followers of Muhammad’s example
 Sufi rejected luxury and lived life of poverty and devotion to the spiritual path
 Political opposition led to the Umayyad downfall and Abbasid take over in 750.
VI. Control Extends Over Three Continents e) Abbasids Consolidate Power
 Abbasids solidify power by moving the capital to Baghdad
(central Iraq) in 762.
 Location gave caliph access to trade goods, gold, and information
 Developed strong bureaucracy to conduct business, taxation, and governmental affairs f) Rival Groups Divide Muslim Lands
 Abbasid caliphate lasts from 750-1258
 Independent Muslim states spring up from incomplete control; local leaders begin to dominate smaller regions
 Fatimid caliphate forms from Shi’a Muslims who claimed descent from Muhammad’s daughter Fatima
 North Africa—to Western Arabia and Syria
 Still connected to the Abbasids through religion, language, and trade g) Muslim Trade Network
 Two major sea trading networks existed—Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean
 Muslims could engage with the rest of the world
 Connected Silk Roads of China and India with Europe and
Africa
 To encourage trade, Muslim money changers set up banks in cities and letters of credit called sakks
 Could exchange for cash in any city in the empire; first check.

VII. Muslim Society h) The Rise of Muslim Cities
 Until Baghdad built, Damascus was the cultural center of
Islamic learning; Cordoba, Cairo, and Jerusalem—symbolized the strength of caliphate
 Baghdad’s population approached 1 million at its peak i) Four Social Classes
 Upper class—Muslims at birth
 Converts to Islam
 Protected people—Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians
 Slaves—prisoners of war; non-Muslims j) Role of Women
 Men are managers of women’s affairs; women obedient to men
 Qur’an declares that men and women are equal
 Shari’a law gives women legal rights in marriage, family, and property—more than you see in China, India, and Europe of the same time
 Still have to submit to men; over time began to live increasingly isolated lives (veils)
VIII. Muslim Scholarship Extends Knowledge
 Reliance on mathematics and astronomers to calculate times of prayer and direction of Mecca
 Attitude reflected a curiosity about the world and quest for truth;
Muhammad believed in the power of learning
 After fall of Rome, A.D. 476, Umayyads and Abbasids encouraged translation of philosophical texts
 House of Wisdom, Baghdad—combination library, academy, and translation center.
IX. Arts and Sciences Flourish k) Muslim Literature
 The Qur’an is the standard for all Arabic literature and poetry
 During Abbasid caliphate, tastes began to expand to poems about nature, life, and love
 The Thousand and One Nights—collection of fairy tales, parables, and legends; linked to India and Persia, but Muslims added to it (10 th Century) l) Muslim Art and Architecture
 Muslims believed that only Allah can create life; images of living beings was discouraged.
 Artists turned to calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting
 Great Mosque of Damascus was built on the site of a Christian church; huge dome and vaulted ceilings blended Byzantine architecture with Muslim ideas m) Medical Advances

 Al-Razi, Muslim physician, wrote a medical encyclopedia—
Comprehensive Book, which drew medical knowledge from
Greek, Syrian, Arabic, and Indian sources/ Treatise on Smallpox
and Measles n) Math and Science Stretch Horizons
 Al-Khwarizmi—Baghdad mathematician writes textbook explaining “the art of bringing together unknowns to match a known quantity”
 Calls this technique al-jabr, or today algebra.
X. Philosophy and Religion Blend Views
 Ibn Rushd—Muslim philosopher who tried to blend Aristotle’s and
Plato’s views with those of Islam; Criticized by others for this
 Stated that Greek philosophy and Islam both had the same goal: to find the truth.