The Abbasid Empire
Chapter 6 (part 5 of 5)
Arab Empire Becomes More Islamic
Abbasid more
righteous in their
Sunni Islam
Turn on Shia, who
had helped them
gain power
Move capital from
Damascus to
Baghdad
The Baghdad Bureaucracy
Abbasid
lived even
more
lavishly than
Umayyad
Increased
power over
empire
(increased
taxes)
Caliphs kept
separated from
public
An executioner followed the
caliph around
At a moment’s notice, the
caliph would order a person
murdered
Wouldn’t shy away from killing
important Muslims to show
Abbasid caliph in charge of the
religion
Abbasid Start Converting People
Treated
converts
as equals
(no jizya)
Now
incentive
to
convert,
most do
Persians
take full
advantag
e and
gain
power
Merchant class grew
under Abbasid rule
(Afro-Eurasian trade
revived)
Traded with
Tang and Song
dynasties in
China
Economic
Boom
Muslim merchants
worked with Jewish
and Christian
merchants
Dhows – triangular
Arab sailing ships,
influenced later
European ships
New handicraft
production led to
new workshops
opening, and
cities growing
Artisans
mostly poor,
but not slaves
(owned own
tools)
Skilled
artisans
formed guilds
(like labor
unions)
Products made by Muslims under the Abbasid caliphate included:
Furniture
Carpets
Glassware
Jewelry
Tapestries
Slaves
Used by
wealthy for
domestic
service and on
public works
Slaves could
advance in
status and
buy freedom
Others in Abbasid Empire
Ayan
Wealthy elite class
that arose in the
countryside under
Abbasid rule
Peasants
Most did not own
land, instead
worked as
sharecroppers on
estates
Islamic Art and
Architecture
Mostly focuses on building mosques
At 1st
uneducated,
mostly preserved
ancient learning
Eventually
Arabs start
creating math
and scientific
discoveries on
their own
Math
and
Science
Indian number
system brought
by Arabs to
Europe (why it’s
called Arabic)
Through trade,
Arab merchants
spread learning
Abbasid Decline
• By 800s, Abbasid
began losing
control of huge
empire
• Non-Arab Muslims
in empire began
setting up own
kingdoms (like
Turks)
Great Achievements of the Arab Empire
Nobody thought that “backwards”
camel nomads could build an
empire so large and so quickly
Successfully used religion (Islam)
as political power
Arab dominance began a period in
time when nomads dominated
much of the world