Chapter 11: Islam
Islam means “submission” in Arabic
Story of Muhammad’s life, words, and deeds
(hadith) are basis of Islam
Teachings of Quran and of Muhammad’s life
are fulfilled in the life of a community (the
umma)
Combination of religion and government
makes Islam similar to empires
The Origins of Islam
The Prophet: His Life and Teaching
Visited by Angel Gabriel in 610 C.E. at age
forty; visits continued for twenty years
After Muhammad’s death, his words were
memorized and written down as the Quran
Quran regarded as absolute, uncorrupted
word of God
Discovery of paper and printing speeds the
spread of the Quran
The Origins of Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam
Declaring the Creed
Praying five times a day facing Mecca
Giving alms to the poor
Fasting each day during Ramadan
Making a hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)
The Origins of Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam [cont.]
Jihad (sacred struggle) sometimes called
the “sixth pillar”
• For some it means the extension of Muslim
lands (dar al-Islam)
• For others it means personal struggle
Faithful Muslims will attain paradise
Many parallels among Islam, Judaism, and
Christianity
The Origins of Islam
Responses to Muhammad
Residents of Mecca found his moral
teachings too demanding and questioned
his mental stability
Meccan Christians and Jews did not
believe their monotheism needed
purification
Death of many of first-generation followers
caused remainder to relocate
The Origins of Islam
Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
The Hijira and the Islamic Calendar
• Muhammad invited to Medina to adjudicate dispute
• Flight to Medina (622 C.E.) known as hijira and is Year
One of the Islamic calendar
• Converted many in Medina but not Jews
• Created religious community (umma) interlocked with
Islamic government (dar al Islam)
• Formulated legal code based on the Quran
The Origins of Islam
Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
Muhammad Extends His Authority
• Warfare between early Muslims and Mecca with
Muhammad ultimately winning in 630 C.E.
• Muslims destroyed Meccan idols, captured Ka’aba, and
turned it and its sacred black rock into Islmaic shrine
• By time of Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslims were well
on their way to creating an Arabia-wide federation
dedicated to faith and the political structure of Islam
The Origins of Islam
Responses to Muhammad [cont.]
Connections to Other Monotheistic Faiths
• Muslims claim Abraham (Hebrew) as the first Muslim and
see Jews, Christians, and Muslims as “children of
Abraham”
• Accept earlier prophets including Jesus as people whose
ideas were later corrupted by followers
• Believe there will be no further revelations
• Christians and Jews allowed to practice their faith but
were subject to a special tax
Successors to the Prophet
Problem of successor to Muhammad initially
met by election of close associates as caliph
Military successes spread Islam: Damascus
in 636 and Jerusalem in 638
Administered conquered lands with garrison
towns which were unstable
Islam an empire or a religion?
Successors to the Prophet
Religious Conflict and Sunni-Shi’a Division
Should caliph be from Muhammad’s family
[Shi’ites] or from Ummayid clan of recent caliphs
[Sunni] ?
Two Shi’a caliphs were assassinated and war
broke out (680); eleven Shi’a imams or caliphs
were assassinated in all
Shi’a wanted imam to model religious principles;
opponents saw post as political
Successors to the Prophet
Religious Conflict and the Sunni-Shi’a
Division [cont.]
Hereditary line of Muhammad’s family
ended with the disappearance of the
“twelfth imam”
Office of caliph no longer exists but dispute
continues
83% of Muslims are Sunni today
Successors to the Prophet
Umayyad Caliphs Build an Empire
Urban life eroded tribal life, created class
differences, and mixed Arab and non-Arab elites
Used Byzantine and Persian governing practices
Revolts from 740s onward but some military
victories including Talas River (751), which halted
Chinese advance westward
Successors to the Prophet
The Third Civil War and the Abbasid
Caliphs
From northern Iran Abbasids claimed
caliphate in 750
Continued imperial quest of the Umayyids
Abbasids successfully ruled empire for a
century with centralized administration and
good local relations
Successors to the Prophet
The Weakening of the Caliphate
Abbasids faced succession issues and civil
war
Began to rely more on slave troops
Civilian administration became more
corrupt
Tax collection became exploitive
Successors to the Prophet
The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]
The Emergence of Quasi-Independent States
• Distance of rulers from people prompted revolts
• Ismaili and Shi’ite leaders promoted rebellion
• In 945 rebels took control of Baghdad and effectively
ended the empire, but allowed Abbasids to continue to
rule in name only
• Arrival of Seljuk Turks led to creation of sultanate over
government while Abbasids administered the religious
side (1055)
Successors to the Prophet
The Weakening of the Caliphate [cont.]
Mongols and the Destruction of the Caliphate
• Temujin (later called Chinngis Khan) forged alliance with
Turks and built extensive empire
• Hulegu conquered Baghdad (1258) and executed
Abbasid caliph
• Death of Hulegu’s brother and military defeat ended
expansion of Mongol empire
• Muslims continued to expand and win converts despite
military defeats
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Fall of Caliphate in 1258 meant fall of umma
Some scholars saw this as decline of Islam
Others point to continued spread of Islam and
its acceptance by Mongol descendents
Current distribution of Muslims shows
presence in areas never reached by Caliph or
converted after end of caliphate
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Islam Reaches New Peoples
India
• Muslim raids into India led to conquest of Delhi by 1211
and creation of Delhi Sultanate (1211-1526)
• Controlled subcontinent by 1335
• Most Muslim rulers accommodated Hinduism
• Converts to Islam escaped “untouchable” status
• Many Muslims were near the top of the social hierarchy
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]
Southeast Asia
• Most conversions occurred in 14-15th centuries
Sub-Saharan Africa
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Islam arrived via traders and Sufis
Ghana was major trading center, rival of Arabs
Traders converted to Islam; masses in 19th century
Wave of conversions accompanied defeat of Ghana by
Almoravids
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Islam Reaches New Peoples [cont.]
Sub-Saharan Africa [cont.]
• Mansa Musa of Mali, orthodox Muslim, made
hajj in 1324 and revealed wealth of area
• Timbuktu a major center of learning
• Spread of Islam into East Africa met fierce
resistance in Christian Ethiopia
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Law Provides an Institutional Foundation
Legal system of Islam, shari’a, survived fall of
caliph
Can use any of a group of legal interpretations
• Abu Hanifah, Malik ibn Anas, Muhammad al-Shafii,
Ahmed ibn Hanbal
• Exercise primary influence in different regions
Laws administered by religious scholars (ulama)
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Sufis Provide Religious Mysticism
The Role of Mysticism
• Rose as rejection of materialism of Umayyad
• Sufis enabled followers to experience God
directly
• Sufis attracted adherents with simplicity
• Some emphasized ecstatic practices while
others were more sober and meditative
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Intellectual Achievements
History
• Formal history introduced by al-Tabari (c. 839923)
• Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was first to apply
social science theory to the understanding of
history
• Favored cyclical view of history where new
waves of invasion introduced new cycles of
history
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Intellectual Achievements [cont.]
Philosophy
• Encountered philosophy from Greeks and
Indians
• Attracted to Platonism and neo-Platonism
• Mutazilites argued that Quran should be seen
as metaphorical, not literal, word of God
• Enabled Christian and Jewish philosophers to
encounter Greek and Indian texts
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
Intellectual Achievements [cont.]
Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine
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Astronomy texts from India to Baghdad by 770
al-Khwarazmi (d. c. 846) developed algebra
Medical cures were spread around the empire
Qanum fi’l-tibb (Canon of Medicine) of ibn Sina
(d. 1037) dominated Christian medical thinking
for three hundred years
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
The Extension of Technology
Islam a communication network connecting
all major Eurasia civilizations
Exchanged information with all of them
Agricultural exchange extensive
Used irrigation to offset absence of
monsoon rains prevalent in India, source of
many new crops
Spiritual, Religious, and Cultural Flowering
City Design and Architecture
Muslim governments built great cities
Mosques were a necessary element of
every city and neighborhood
Writings of Ibn Battuta underscore link
between cities, commerce, and travel
Relations with Non-Muslims
Dhimmi Status
Three choices for non-Muslim in Muslim state
• Conversion
• Dhimmi Status
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For worshippers of one God who accepted Muslim rule
Status defined by The Pact of Umar (634-644)
Paid special tax but could worship in their own faith
Couldn’t build new churches, seek converts, wear Muslim
clothing, or build houses higher than Muslim houses
• Fight against the Muslim state
Relations with Non-Muslims
The Crusades (1095-1291)
Called by Pope Urban II at request of Alexius I
Were political as much as religious efforts
Early crusades were successful and brutal
European crusaders were mercenaries
Crusades could capture but not hold holy places
of Christianity
Crusades divided Christianity along east-west
lines
Relations with Non-Muslims
A Golden Age in Spain
Berbers revitalized Spanish culture and broke
Byzantine control of trade in western
Mediterranean
End of Spanish caliphate (1030) opened door to
start of Christian reconquista
Rich hybrid culture survived in midst of
reconquista
Ferdinand and Isabella defeated Muslims in 1492
and expel Jews from Spain; Muslims follow
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam:
What Difference Do They Make?
Sources of friction among religions with
common heritage
Are proselytizing religions in search of
converts
Each sought to be the government in its
areas of predominance
Each became identified with a specific
geographic region
But there was also peaceful coexistence