The Origins of Islam
The monotheistic religion of Islam emerged from the teachings of Muhammad. These teachings and the political genius of Muhammad brought unity, power, cultural and economic growth, and intellectual creativity to much of the world. Under Islam the old pre-Islamic world of tribal localism, family ties, and agriculture was converted into a cosmopolitan world that emphasized urban culture, trade, and social status based on wealth and merit.
Muhammad
Little is known of Muhammad's early life, but according to tradition he was orphaned at age six, raised by an uncle, married a wealthy widow, and at age forty began receiving angelic messages from Allah to preach the revelations he would receive.
The Islamic Faith
Muhammad's teachings formed the ideas central to Islam—the ideas of a last judgment, predestination, and the jihad, or holy war. These ideas were compiled in the Qur'an. The fundamental obligations of Muslims are the Five Pillars of Islam.
Islamic States and Their Expansion
Driven by a religious fervor focused by the concept of jihad and the idea of a unified community, or umma, the Muslims quickly expanded. By 751 C.E., their conquests reached eastward as far as China and to the west as far as Spain
Reasons for the Spread of Islam
The spread of Islam was facilitated by the use of garrisoned cities, good wages for soldiers, and by the militancy of Muslims.
The Caliphate and his Power
When Muhammad died in 632, the Muslim umma threatened to disintegrate. With Abu Bakr and his successors, however, the office of caliph evolved.
Work of the Caliphate
Originally an elective office, it became a hereditary office based on ceremony and military might. The caliph became the center of a centralized state governed through an administrative bureau (the diwan al-kharaj), a legal council called the ulama, and a sophisticated communication system called the barid. The shari'a as interpreted by the ulama formed the legal system of the Islamic state.
Muhammad's death and the split of Arabia
After Muhammad's death, the Muslim world split into two factions with differing theological and political views -Shi'ites, who claimed to have been given divine authority from Muhammad, and Sunnis, who looked to the Qur'an for authority and were generally more worldly. The Shi'ites were the followers of Ali, one of the first caliphs, who was assassinated when the opposition Umayyad (Sunni) dynasty was founded
The Abbasid Caliphate
Under the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) the caliphate declined, and the Islamic state moved toward decentralization.
Administration of Islamic Territories
The chief adviser to the caliph, the vizier, assumed much power, and by the mid-tenth century the caliphs had become largely symbolic.
Fragmentation and Military Challenges (900-1400)
A general breakdown of Muslim unity occurred, as independent Muslim states developed in Spain, North Africa, and elsewhere.
The Ascendancy of the Turks
The Seljuk Turks took over the eastern Muslim world by 1055, and the caliph became a puppet of the Turkish sultan.
The Mongol Invasions
By the thirteenth century the invading Mongols, first under Chinggis Khan, disrupted Muslim unity even further. The Mongols took control of Damascus and ruled the central Muslim lands for eighty years.
Muslim Society, The Life of the People
A basic Muslim doctrine was social equality. Islamic teaching opposed the pre-Islamic tribal emphasis on family membership and birth as the criterion for social status.
The Classes of Society
The caliph's household and ruling Muslims were the elite of society, followed by converts to Islam and dhimmis.
Slavery
Slaves were at the bottom of the social scale but owners were encouraged to treat slaves with humanity. Expansion ensured a steady flow of slaves captured during war.
Women in Classical Islamic Society
The Qur'an and Islamic law intended to reverse pre-Islamic tribal custom and treat women as spiritual and sexual equals of men. By the early years of the Umayyad dynasty (the seventh century) women had achieved significant equality in religious, economic, and political life. Nevertheless, by the later Umayyad years the situation had reversed, and women were regarded as incapable and unfit for public affairs. Polygamy (which weakens the position of women within society) was practiced, and the harem had become a symbol of male dominance.
Trade and Commerce
Islamic society was geared toward mercantile rather than agricultural interests. Its economic world was held together by a vast commercial network that spanned a great number of commercial seaways (the Black and Caspian Seas, the Arabian Gulf, and the Mediterranean Sea being the most important) and land routes (from North Africa to China).
Goods & Impact on Culture
Goods such as silk and peacocks to slaves and white lead that brought fabulous wealth to some merchants and provided the basis for a gracious and sophisticated urban culture. Both Baghdad and Cordoba are examples of the remarkable material and intellectual wealth found in Muslim urban centers.
Cultural Developments
The wealth of Baghdad, Cordoba, and the Muslim world in general gave rise to a great intellectual flowering.
Education and Intellectual Life
Muslim paper-makers improved upon Chinese techniques, thus encouraging the diffusion of books. Education flourished, and the intellectuals who emerged from this cosmopolitan culture made important advances in philosophy, medicine, and science, drawing upon Islamic, Hebrew, and Greco-Roman thought.
Sufism
Sufis were ascetics who opposed the materialism of the Umayyad regime.
Muslim-Christian Encounters
Contact was frequent between Muslims and Christians because of business and trade encounters. Beginning in the late tenth century, Muslim regulations closely defined what Christians and Muslims could do.
Muslim and Christian Trouble
Christians were considered infidels, and a Muslim who converted to Christianity immediately incurred a death sentence. Relations between Muslims and Christians grew increasingly complicated. Although Muslims and Christians traded with each other and exchanged artistic, philosophical, and technological ideas, periods of warfare and conquest turned theological differences into bloody hostility.
caliph
The successor to Muhammad; the representative or deputy of God.
dhimmis
A term meaning "protected peoples"; they included Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians.
diwan
An administrative device meaning "register"; it listed all Muslim soldiers.
emirs
Arab governors who were given overall responsibility for good order, maintenance of the armed forces, and tax collection.
Five Pillars of Islam
The basic tenets of the Islamic faith; they include reciting a profession of faith in God and in Muhammad as God's prophet; prayer five times daily; fasting and prayer during the month of Ramadan; a pilgrimage to Mecca once in one's lifetime; and contribution of alms to the poor.
hadith
Collections of the sayings of or anecdotes about Muhammad.
harem
The separate quarters of a house or palace where women live and men are excluded .
imam
The leader in community prayer.
infidel
An unbeliever; the Muslim term for a Christian, no matter how assimilated.
jihad
Holy war," a Muslim term that some scholars interpret as the individual struggle against sin and others interpret as having a social and communal implication.
Ka'ba
A Muslim temple containing a black stone thought to be God's dwelling place.
madrasa
A school for the study of Muslim law and religious science.
Mozarabs
Christians who adopted some Arabic customs but did not convert.
qadis
Muslim judges who carried out the judicial functions of the state.
Qur'an
The sacred book of Islam.
shari'a
Muslim law, which covers social, criminal, political, commercial, and religious matters.
Shi'ites
Arabic term meaning "supporters of Ali"; these make up one of the two main sects of Islam.
Sunna
An Arabic term meaning 'Trodden Path.' The term refers to the deeds and sayings of Muhammad, which constitute the obligatory example for Muslim life.
Sunnis
Members of one of the larger of the two main sects of Islam; the division between Sunnis ad Shi'ites began in a dispute about succession to Muhammad, but over time many differences in theology developed .
ulama
A group of religious scholars whom Sunnis trust to interpret the Qur'an and the Sunna.
umma
A community that consisted of those who shared a religious faith and commitment, rather than a tribal tie.
vizier
The caliph's chief assistant.