The Muslim World
600-1250
Roots of Islam
Bedouins
in Arabia
Sasanid Empire, 224-651
–Control
–Zoroastrianism
–Silk Road
Arabian Peninsula before Muhammad
Settled
people
Nomads rare, but important –
caravan link
CROSSROADS OF TRADE
Muhammad
Born in 570
Caravan
trader
In 610,
revelations
Qur’an
(contains actual
revelations of
Allah)
Beliefs of Islam
Five
Pillars of
Islam
–Faith (Allah is supreme
God)
–Prayer
–Zakat (offerings,
charity)
–Fasting
–Hajj (pilgrimage)
Formation of the Umma
Muhammad fleas from Mecca to Medina with followers
and establishes a community of believers– “umma”
Spread of Islam under Muhammad
Islam Spreads
Caliph
(successor)
Four caliphs
By 750, the Muslim empire
stretched from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Indus River
 http://mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-
religion.html
http://mapsofwar.com/ind/imperi
al-history.html
The Four Caliphs
 Abu
Bakr (632-634)
 Umar (634-644)
 Uthman (644-656)
 Ali (656-661)
Muslim World, 1200
Copyright © McDougal Littell. All Rights Reserved.
Muslim Empire Splits
Umayyads
caliph (Ali)
Sunni
Shi’a
Sufi
succeed the fourth
Umayyad (661-750) Land Conquests
In Spain, the Umayyads held power over a society in which Islamic,
Roman, German, and Jewish cultures combined to form a unique
Iberian variant of Islamic civilization. Muslim Spain saw substantial
urbanization; the introduction of citrus crops; a diverse, irrigated,
agricultural sector; and a florescence of Muslim and Jewish
intellectual activity.
Downfall of the Umayyid
Abbasids Give it a Shot
Rise and Fall of the Abbasid
Caliphate
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
Rise of Abbasid Caliphate





Family of Abbas—an uncle of Muhammad—took
over and established the Abbasid Caliphate
Provided renewed religious leadership, which they
combined with a style of rulership and royal
ceremony derived from the Sasanids
Literature and learning, including the translation
of Greek texts and secular Arab poetry, thrived
under the Abbasids
Baghdad was a center of Abbasid culture; other
areas shared in this culture to varying extents.
The Abbasid period: high rate of non-Muslim
subjects convert to Islam
Muslim Conquests
SHARIA
Women in the Islamic World
1. Muslim women did have rights under Islamic law
• right to inherit and own property and to retain it
in marriage
• right to divorce, to remarry
• to testify in court
• go on pilgrimage
HOWEVER,
2. Women were veiled and secluded as they had been
previously in the Byzantine and the Sasanid
empires.
• Could be influential in the family, but only
slave women could have a public role or
appear in public before men.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Chapter 8 – BIG PICTURE!
Islam emerged among the nomadic
pastoralists and caravan traders of Arabian
peninsula
 Muhammad (Arab trader from Mecca)
experienced revelations that called people
to submit to God’s will
 Muhammad fled to Median with followers–
where umma was formed
 Succession troubles: Sunni and Shi’ite split

– Caliph = office(s) or leader(s) of succession
Ch. 8– BIG PICTURE! (con’t)
 Early
successor- Abu Bakr confirmed
5 Pillars
 Shari’a = foundation of Islamis
civilization (derived from Quran)
 Women in general enjoyed relatively
high status under Islamic law, though
tended to live in seclusion
 Urbanization and religious conversion
reinforced each other and prompted
the expansion of agriculture, trade,
science, technology