RISE OF ISLAM    

Arab society:
    Economic base: nomadic pastoralism, camels, sheep, goats
    Tribal organization: pre-political, stateless society,
     extended kin group as source of protection, justice
     Poetry highly developed: warrior poetry, strength, courage

6th C: MECCA on Arabian peninsula
      center for commerce, overland trade; new merchant wealth
 

PRE-ISLAMIC RELIGION:
    polytheistic, animistic (anima = soul)

1) animistic power ascribed to nature; spirits in trees, stones;

2) jinn, supernatural beings in human form, do good & evil

     3) monotheism, both Judaism or Christianity as alternatives

PROPHET MOHAMED (circa 570-d.632)
      merchant family of Mecca, sons of Hashim; caravan traders
      Biblical ancestor is Ishmael, son of Abraham by concubine Hagar

Mecca pilgrimage site:
     Kaaba, major shrine to pre-Islamic Arab gods

Career: business agent to older widow, Khadija; marries, six children;
Religious crisis:  reaction against materialism of Mecca,
      retreats to mountain cave for meditation

610 AD (circa age 40) experienced vision, or awakening by angel Gabriel
        Allah (God)’s message: "Mohamed, you are God's messenger,"
        told to memorize, recite specific messages as Prophet of Allah.

KORAN (means "recital") = complete revelations throughout his life

613 start of Mohamed's public preaching,
     denounces materialism;pagan Mecca is hostile
    calls on fellow Arabs to submit to God's will;

Basic concepts: Islam = submission;
      Muslim = one who has surrendered to God    (or Moslem)

FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM:

      1) confession of faith: no God but Allah, Mohamed is his Prophet

      2) prayer: five times daily, bow towards Mecca, washing first

      3) almsgiving: wealth must be used to help others

      4) Ramadam: month fasting, one meal at night     

      5) Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca once in lifetime

622: Hejira flight from Mecca to Medina = year 1 of Muslim calendar

Medina:  200 miles north, mixed Arab and Jewish population; feuds,
Constitution of Medina: - first communal organization of Moslems
      umma: both religious community and proto-state;

630: surrender of Mecca,
     Mohamed purifies the pagan Kaaba, imposes monotheism

JIHAD = “striving in the path of Allah” – early struggles
       Holy War as central means of expansion of Islam,

632 death of Mohamed: Arab tribes incorporated into umma;
    expeditions sent north to Byzantine Syria

 

Problem of succession after death of Mohamed:

THEOCRACY: God is the ultimate ruler
ABU BAKR chosen leader (imam), suppresses local revolts

CALIPH: elective office:
     khalifa "successor" or "deputy" of Prophet

     kingship rejected as blasphemous (only God is king)

 

EXPANSION OF ISLAM: origins of Moslem state
      Arab victories against Byzantium and Persia in 634, 637

UMAR (634-44) Second Caliph
       all lands taken by force are to pass into state ownership

 

CIVIL WAR:  assassination of Third Caliph

661 Ali son-in law and cousin of Prophet 
          Shiites: followers of Ali

 

UMAYYAD Muawiya (r. 661-680) wins war, capital to Damascus

692 building of DOME OF THE ROCK in Jerusalem: 
    continues conquests in north Africa,  
711 conquest of Spain: CORDOBA = capitol of Umayyad Spain

715 Umayyad mosque in Damascus:
    Byzantine influence on architecture.

UMAYYAD Dynasty introduces hereditary succession
     Caliph Muawiya's son Yazid (680-683) as successor, no election;
     seen as non-Islamic; turning Caliphate into Kingship
       
Second civil war (683-92):
Umayyads win by siege of holy city Mecca;

Umayyad dynasty lasts until 750,
        conquests in India & central Asia

        751: defeat of Chinese by Moslem armies

 

ABBASID dynasty emerges in 750 after 3rd civil war,
    capital moved to Baghdad as Abbasid capital:
      Spain secedes and remains under Umayyads;

    827-902 conquest of Sicily = territorial gain under Abbasids

10-11th C: Abbasid dynasty disintegrates;
      period of political chaos but cultural brilliance;
       Islamic philosophy & science: Avicenna, Averroes
          

10th C. FATIMID CALIPHS: arise in north Africa

 

Internal conflict within Islam: rise of sectarian differences

Sunni = mainstream form of Islam, headed by Abbasid caliph in Baghdad

Shi'a: followers of Ali; sectarian group, challenge Sunni/Abbasid power
                    

Umma = Arabic word for community;
       no distinction between citizen body of each city and world Moslem community;    
       uniformity of laws [Sharia] create worldwide Islamic society from Spain to Pacific.
      

Ulama (= scholars): emerge as a distinct social group under Umayyads

Arabic as language of religion, law, science and learning;

guardians of Islamic values: golden age in time of Mohamed

Hadith (=tradition):
       literary genre in which statements of Prophet recorded;
       study of tradition as core of Islamic scholarship;
       basis of Islamic law

Sharia: Islamic law, regulates social & religious life
                    (eg taxation, role of women)

 

Historiographical emphases of West vs Islam:

European historians:
       battles of Tours, Poitiers (732) as ending Moslem advance;

Arab histories: 
       stress Narbonne as furthest point of expansion (to 759) 

      - Islamic writers focus on battles in east: India, China