Chapter 10, Section 1 The Rise of Islam
The cultures of the Arabian Peninsula had been in contact for centuries. The Middle East was a bridge between Africa, Asia, and Europe where both goods and ideas were shared. One of these shared ideas would later become a powerful force that would change the world — the religion of Islam.
Deserts, Towns, and Travelers: The Beginning of the Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is very large — 1,200 miles long and 1,300 miles wide — and has only a small strip of fertile land, located in southern Arabia, Oman, and some oases that are fertile enough to support agriculture. The rest of the land, however, is pure desert, which was previously inhabited by Arabian nomadic tribes. In the desert, the nomads, called Bedouins were organized into individual tribes called clans. These clans provided both security and supported each other in the difficult lives they led because of their environment. The tribesmen took extreme pride in the fact that they were able to quickly adapt to their new environment. They were also proud of the fact that they were able to fend off enemy tribes seeking water, grazing land for their animals, and livestock, or food. (Because of the nomadic tribes' fighting abilities, they were able to become the core of armies of a large empire during the 6th and 7th centuries.)
The Bedouins encouraged the ideals of loyalty and courage, familial loyalty, and one's abilities as a warrior. These beliefs would later shape the Islamic way of life.
By the early 600s CE:
• Trade routes had been established between the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and the
Byzantine Empire in the north, making trade easy. Merchants traded exotic spices from Yemen.
• Many tribes began to settle in the oases, but continued to live the Bedouin lifestyle.
• Larger towns on the western coast of Arabia became trade hubs and cultural epicenters.
• Cities such as Petra and Palmyra were developed, and were the centers of caravan routes and trade centers.
The city of Mecca became a very important stop along these trade routes. Mecca was a very important religious center, and during certain holy months, whole caravans stopped and would bring religious pilgrims to a small, simple prayer house called a Ka'aba. The Ka'aba was associated with Abraham, the founder of monotheism. The Ka'aba, however, contained over 360 idols which were brought by various tribes that passed through the city. The one god that these people believed in was called Allah, and this belief was not uncommon in the Arabian peninsula. A tradition of monotheism had been practiced for a very long time by a group called the hanifs. Many Jews and Christians also lived in Arabia, which only helped spread the belief of monotheism. In this world of mixed religions, Muhammad was born around 570 CE.
The Life and Teaching of the Prophet Muhammad
This became the tenet belief of Islam, and the people who subscribed to this philosophy were called Muslims, which means, “one who has submitted.” Muhammad's wife, Kahdijah, and his close friends were his first followers, and then the belief began to spread.
In the year 613 CE, Muhammad began publicly preaching about Allah in Mecca, his hometown. His philosophies, however, were met with much controversy. The Meccans believed that Islam would lead to neglect of the Arabian pagan gods, and that Mecca would lose its pilgrimage center if this happened if Islam would begin to spread.
Facing this controversy, Muhammad made a decision to leave Mecca, and resettled in the town of Yathrib, which is over 200 miles to the north of Mecca. This became known as the Hijrah. This marked a turning point for Muhammad, and in Yathrib, he gathered a vast following. Later, the city was
renamed to Medina, meaning, “City of the Prophet.” In Medina, Muhammad displayed his impressive leadership skills. He created an agreement that enabled his followers, the Jews, and the Arabs to form a single community in Medina, and these groups would later accept Muhammad as a political leader. He was also a religious leader, and later would become a military leader in the growing tension between Medina and Mecca.
Many of the Bedouin tribes had converted to Islam by now. During the wars between the Muslims and the Meccans, Mecca as a city began to decline. In 630, Muhammad and some 10,000 followers
marched to the outskirts of Mecca. Mecca, fearing certain defeat, surrendered and Muhammad entered the city victorious. Upon entering the Ka'aba, he ordered that all of the idols be destroyed, and that the call to prayer be made from the roof of the building. At this point, most of the citizens of Mecca had surrendered to Muhammad, and joined the umma, or the Muslim religious community. Despite this, however, Muhammad had to take many steps in order to unify the Muslim community.
The Beliefs and Practices of Islam
The main teaching of Islam is that there is only one God, Allah. All of Islam's other beliefs stem from this teaching. The holy book of the Muslims in the Qur'an. There, it also says that one must be
responsible for himself. Muslims believe that after death, one must stand before Allah, who will decide whether you merit heaven or deserve hell.
Islam also has The Five Pillars, which demonstrate a Muslim's submission to Allah. All Muslims have to carry these five beliefs.
• Faith: To become a Muslim, one must testify that there is no God besides Allah and that all other Gods are false.
• Prayer: Five times a day, a Muslim must face Mecca in prayer. They may assemble at a mosque, or a Muslim house of worship, or they may pray wherever they are at that moment.
• Alms: All Muslims, it is taught, have the obligation to support the less fortunate. Muslims meet this obligation by giving alms, or a special religious tax.
• Fasting: During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, all Muslims must fast during the day, from dawn until dusk. This is supposed to remind Muslims that they have “greater needs than bread.”
• Pilgrimage: All Muslims have the responsibility to perform the hajj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca. In the past, this may have a been a long and grueling journey, but today, many arrive by airplane. During the pilgrimage, Muslims wear the identical garments to remind them that before God, they are all equals.
beliefs, and the Five Pillars influence a Muslim's lifestyle. For example:
• Muslims are expected to not eat pork or drink alcohol or any other intoxicating beverage.
• They are expected to pray directly to Allah, and not through some messenger, and Friday afternoons are set aside for communal prayer. Because of this, Islam does not have any clergy or religious authority. They do, however, have ulama, who are scholars. They study the works of Muhammad and try to implement them into their everyday lives.
Muslims believe that Muhammad's mission was to receive the Qur'an and to demonstrate how to apply it in life. To them, the model of Muhammad's life, or Sunna is the proper way to live. The combination of the Sunna and the Qur'an are to serve as practical aid on how to live one's life and how to apply Allah into one's daily life. This body of law is known as the Shari'a This system of law regulates:
• Family life and its laws
• Moral and ethical conduct
• The business and community life of Muslims
The Shari'a does not separate civil or secular matters, such as crime, from religion, but rather, it brings all aspects of life together. Because the Shari'a applies to all who follow Muhammad, it brings a sense of unity too all Muslims.
Chapter 10, Section 2 The Spread of Islam
When Muhammad died in the year 632 CE, the Muslim community faced a crisis. Muslims, inspired by the word of Allah, believed that they had the divine commandment to carry out of the word of God to the rest of the world. Eventually, the issue of leadership would divide the Muslim community.
Muhammad's Successors Spread The Religion of Islam
Muhammad had not named a successor before his death. Relying on custom, the Muslims elected a leader named Abu-Bakr, who was a loyal friend of Muhammad and a respected man and revered for his devotion to Islam. In 632 CE, Bakr became the first caliph, which means “deputy” in Arabic. Abu-Bakr and the following three caliphs, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, had all known Muhammad personally and had supported him in his mission. They were known as the “rightly guided” caliphs.
Abu-Bakr promised the Muslims that he would continue Muhammad's work. Shortly after
Muhammad's death, however, several Arabian Bedouin tribes left Islam. Others refused to pay taxes, and still others declared themselves to be prophets. For several years, military force was employed to assert power. During this time, the armies gained experience and were able to organize themselves into an effective military. By the time Abu-Bakr died in 634 CE, the Muslims controlled all of the Arabian Peninsula. Under Umar, the second caliph, highly disciplined armies conquered Syria and Lower Egypt. (Both of these were part of the Byzantine Empire.) Parts of Persia were also taken over by the Muslims. The next two caliphs, Uthman and Ali, continued to expand the Muslim empire. They were also able to gain the military and naval forces of the conquered lands. By 750 CE, the Muslim empire spanned from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River, and spanned over 6,000 miles.
Muslims of that time viewed these victories as a sign from Allah that He supported Islam. They were able to draw inspiration and faith from their religion, and were willing to struggle to defend Islam. The Muslim armies were well-disciplined and commanded. Their military tactics enabled them to defeat those who were unaccustomed to their style of warfare. The success of the Muslims can also be
attributed to the fact that the Byzantine and the Persian empires were at odds with one another, and as a result were weakened — by the time that the Muslims had invaded that area, their armies were
exhausted, making the two empires an easy defeat. The Muslims' success can also be attributed to the fact that many of the prosecuted for not converting to the official religions of either empire welcomed the invaders as a reform.
Treatment of Those Conquered by the Muslims
Many of the people that were conquered by the Muslims chose to convert to Islam, and were attracted to the message Islam portrayed. Muslims also allowed those conquered to maintain their previous religion; conversion to Islam was not mandatory. Christians and Jews received special consideration. Since they were “People of the Book,” they had the option of paying a poll tax to exempt themselves from otherwise mandatory military service, and though they were not allowed to spread their religion, Christians and Jews played an important role as political officials in the Muslim state.
Internal Conflicts in Islam Result in Crises
made controlling the empire easier. They also left behind the simple lives that previous caliphs had led and surrounded themselves in wealth and other practices that were frowned upon by the Muslims. This, along with the issue over leadership, ultimately led to the division of the Muslim community.
The Sunni-Shi'a Split
In the interest of keeping the peace, most Muslims accepted the Umayyads' rule. A minority group, however, continued to rebel and refused to accept the Umayyads' rule; they believed that the caliph must be related to Muhammad. The following were several groups that resulted:
• The Shi'a, or the “party” of Allah.
• Those who supported the Umayyads became known as the Sunni, meaning “Followers of Muhammad's Example.”
• The Sufi reacted very strongly to the Umayyads' view of luxury by taking upon themselves a life of poverty and simplicity as a way to purse the spiritual path, along with meditation and were very focused on the Qur'an and tradition.
• The Abbasids became the most powerful group, and in 750 CE, took over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads.
Muslims Control Areas of Three Continents
When the Abbasids came to power in the year 750 CE, they ruthlessly hunted down and murdered the members of the Umayyad family. One Umayyad prince, Abd al-Rahman fled the slaughter and escaped to Spain, where he set up another Umayyad dynasty (Spain and northern Africa were already conquered by the Muslims, and were headed by a military leader named Tariq). Spain was currently occupied by the Berbers, who created a mighty Muslim State called al-Andalus.
The Abbasids power lay in the former Persian lands, which included Iraq, Iran, and central Asia. To solidify control over the vast empire, the capital was once again moved, this time to Baghdad, a city in (an now the capital of) Iraq in 762 CE. This location was key for trading, thus giving the caliph access to goods and information about what is happening in the empire, which by now spanned across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Abbasids also created a strong bureaucracy to manage matters of state. To support this government, the Abbasids imposed taxes on land, import/export, and the wealthy non-Muslims. The Abbasid caliphate (dynasty of caliphs) lasted from 750 CE to 1258 CE.
The Muslims Divide
During their time, the Abbasids strengthened themselves by consulting religious leaders, but they failed to keep political control over the immense amount of territory they now controlled. Independent
Muslim states began to rise, with the rulers over the larger cities taking control over the smaller ones. One example was the Fatimid dynasty began in North Africa and spread across the Red Sea to the Middle East, but failed.
Although politically separate, the Abbasid empire and the smaller political powers maintained their unity in other ways, such as via trade, language, and religion.
The Muslim Trade Network
Chapter 10, Section 3 Muslim Achievements
The Abbasids governed during an age of prosperity in Muslim history. Money flowed in from Europe, Asia, and Africa. This money was used to build magnificent cities and monuments. Science, philosophy, and math were encouraged. In this ideal atmosphere portrayed by Islam, scholars were able to
preserve existing knowledge and produced large amount of original learning and discoveries.
The Structure of Muslim Society
Over time, the Muslim community grew as the empire began to encompass people that belonged to many different cultures and religions. Jobs in the government as well as in the military. Cultural epicenters developed all over the empire in Syria, Persia, Spain, Egypt, and Arabic combined with the various cultures to create an international flavor. The Muslim government had a level of sophistication that was rivaled only the Tang empire in China.
Throughout the empire, small market towns began to develop into sophisticated and advanced cities. Migrants from the farmland and new converts to Islam came to these cities looking for new lives and opportunities. (Until the construction of the city of Baghdad, Damascus, which is located in Syria, was the largest city in the empire.) Damascus also became famous for the armor and weapons that it
produced, and was an epicenter of Islamic learning. Other cities, such as Córdoba, Cairo, became prominent cities as well. Urban centers symbolized the strength of the dynasty that controlled it, grew to be impressive. The Abbasid capital, Baghdad1, impressed all who saw it. Caliph al-Mansur chose this
to be the site of the Muslim capital in 762 CE, and it boasted magnificent palaces, along with a grand mosque.
The Social Structure of the Muslim Empire
Baghdad's population was comprised of different cultures and social classes, which was typical for these types of cities at the time.
• The upper class included those who were Muslims by birth.
• The next class was comprised of those who converted to Islam. They were required to pay a higher tax than the upper class.
• The third class was the “protected people,” or Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.
• The bottom and fourth class were slaves. Their main purposes was to work in the house or serve in the military for the family to whom they belonged.
Women in the Muslim empire had more rights than the Europeans granted them during this time. The Qur'an provided rules as to:
• widows
• orphans
• allowed divorce
• the protection of a woman's inheritance
The Shari'a, or Muslim oral law, created laws that concerned:
• marriage
• family
• property
Women's responsibilities depended on which social class they belonged. Poor women might work in
the fields alongside her husband, women from wealthier families would oversee the household and its servants. They were also in charge of raising the children, whether rich or poor. In the early days of Islam, women were even allowed to participate in public life and obtain an education.
Muslim Scholarship Extends Knowledge
Muslims had many practical reasons for the advancement of science:
• Rulers employed qualified physicians to treat them
• Mathematicians and astronomers were employed to calculate the time at which Muslims should pray. (The Muslims rely on a lunar calendar, similar to the Jews. The difference is, however, is that the Jews also partially use the solar calendar — the Muslims do not, which means that Ramadan could either fall in the summer or the winter.)
The amount of time and energy that Muslims devoted to research, however, went beyond just practical reasons. Their attitude reflected great
curiosity toward how the world works and a quest for truth, and this attitude went back as far as Muhammad
himself. Muhammad's strong emphasis on learning lead to great places of learning created by Muslim leaders. (After the fall of Rome in 476 CE, Europe went into upheaval, where lots of important information might have been lost, if not for the Muslim
scholars who helped preserve it.) Both the Umayyads and the Abbasids were great supporters of education and
research, and in the 800s CE, Caliph al-Ma'mun
opened a library, academy, and translation center called the House of Wisdom. There, scholars from various cultures and beliefs worked side-by-side translating texts from all over the empire, including Greece, India, and Persia into Arabic, which made theses texts available for the masses.
Arts and Sciences Flourish in the Muslim World
Scholars at the House of Wisdom included experts that included researchers, editors, linguists, and technical advisers. These researchers created techniques and methods that are still used today.
• Some used Greek methods combined with their own to create newer and better methods
• Others created original work of very high quality
These advancements set the stage for European learning and research. Muslim advancements are most acknowledged in medicine, math, and astronomy.
A Persian scholar named named al-Razi (Rhazes) was probably one of the most famous physicians in the Muslim empire. He wrote books that combined Greek, Syrian, Arabic, and Indian sources and compiled an encyclopedia called the Comprehensive Book. He also believed that people would be healthier and breathed clean air.
Among the various and sundry theories that were introduced by the Muslims, two stood out:
• the reliance on scientific observation and experimentation
• the ability to find mathematical solutions to old problems
The Muslims also translated Greek works by Aristotle and other philosophers of the time as the basis of their own work. Like Aristotle, they also believed that math was the basis of everything else. A
mathematician named al-Khwarizmi also created algebra. The Muslims also make key advancements in astronomy.
In addition to scientific works, the Muslims also created works of philosophy. The Muslim philosopher Ibn Rashud (Averröes) tried to sync Aristotle's and Plato's works with those of Islam. He was, however, attacked by others because he used these methods to interpret the Shari'a. Maimonides was a Jewish physician who also faced controversy for his theories. He wrote the book A Guide to the Perplexed, which combined philosophy, religion, and science.
Literature was very strong in Arabia. The Qur'an, which is the holiest book in Islam, is the standard of Muslim literature. The Sufi2 were very famous for their poetry, whose main focus was experiences with
God. Popular literature from this time included The Thousand and One Nights.
The Muslims were also very famous for their art and architecture. As they expanded, the Muslims countered regions with various artistic techniques and traditions. These traditions continued under the modifications of Islam. For example, Islam forbade the drawing or depiction of living things, since only Allah could make living beings. In response to this, many artists turned to calligraphy. Others expressed themselves through other media, such as woodwork, glass, and ceramics. It is architecture, however, that the cultural blending of the world can be seen. For example, the Great Mosque of Damascus was built on the site of a previous Christian church, and the gold dome atop the mosque symbolizes the mixing of the culture of the Byzantine empire with the culture of the Muslims.
The elements of Muslim life remained and blended with whatever local culture that they happened to come across. Though the once unified Muslim empire broke up, the culture of Islam continued to thrive. Three individual empires—the Ottoman, the Safavid, and the Mughal—would emerge, and they would continue to exhibit the blended culture of this time. The theories developed during this time would be saved, and then later called upon during the Renaissance, in the beginning of the 1300s CE.
