Arab Empires

Unit 2 Extension of Islamic Notes

From your Reading…

What was the Ka’ba? Explain the split between the Sunni & Shi’ite. How did the Umayyad first respond to

Muhammad’s new religion What are the five pillars?

Arab Empires

Technology etc

Arab scholars read translated Western works philosophy (like Plato, Aristotle), mathematics from India etc

Got papermaking from China Perfected Astrolabe (device for sailing using

stars) Study medicine, medical encyclopedias,

attributed spread of disease to unsanitary conditions

Arab Empires

Umayyad and Muhammad

Initially worried about Muhammad’s influence War with Muhammad and Medina Muhammad wins; Umayyad convert to Islam After Muhammad’s death = Four Rightly

Guided Caliphs Umayyad take over Caliphate after Ali is

assassinated

Umayyads

Umayyads 661-750

661 Mu’awiyah became caliph Made position hereditary, started dynasty

Moved capital from Medina to Damascus Conquered the Berbers, pastoral North Africans Occupied Spain; defeated in France in 732 Internal struggles cause revolts by son of Ali Abu al-Abbas led a revolt in the northeast…

Umayyads overthrown…WHY?

Expanded rapidly through North Africa, Spain, Middle East, South Asia

Created capital in Damascus Treated non-Arab converts (Mawali) poorly Instituted Sharia Law Umayyads did not seek to convert people

(tax reasons) Women given high status through Islam Dhimmis treated better by Umayyads than in

Byzantium or Sassanian empires.

Umayyads 661-750

Abbasid

Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258

Overthrow Umayyad b/c corruption New Capital Bagdad (on Tigris) Increased Persian influence (Iran) All Muslims, Arab or not, could hold military

and civilian positions Women in harems, covered to ‘protect men

from their lust’; married very young Required slavery for soldiers and service but

not allowed to enslave Muslims

Center of trade empire extending to Asia, Africa and Europe

Caliph became more regal Expanded bureaucracy Vizier, prime minister, and council advised

the caliph Even more control and centralized than

Umayyad

PoliticsAbbasid Dynasty

Harun al-Rashid Dynasties golden age Charity, patronage of the arts Not provide for an heir Learning at the Baghdad House of Wisdom

Abbasid Dynasty 750-1258 cont

Disintegration

Sons of al-Rashid fought to take control Financial corruption Non-Arabs fill key gov’t positions Rulers of provinces began to break from

central gov’t Retention of regional identities Largeness of Empire

Abbasid Dynasty

Seljuk Turks

Nomadic people from central Asia Converted to Islam (Sunni); prospered as

soldiers to Abbasid 1055 leader captured Baghdad Sultan- ‘holder of the power’; political/military

power in Abbasid Empire 1071 Byzantines challenged them; Turks took

over Anatolian Peninsula Byzantine asked for help; started the crusades

Crusades…. 1169 Saladin took control of Fatimid dynasty in Egypt;

1187 went on offensive to take back Jerusalem after 1st Crusade won because of political strife between Islamic powers

Most to be learned when discuss Middle Ages in Europe Stay tuned…

Crusades breed mistrust between Muslims and Christians; Christians take Islamic technology

The Mongols

Pastoral people from Mongolia Destroyed mosques, invaded Abbasid caliphate Seized most of Asia, never made it to Africa b/c

Mamluk resistance Turk slave-soldiers who overthrew Saladin’s administration

Mongols converted to Islam, integrated into lands By 1300s, split into separate kingdoms

Again find elsewhere when discuss invasions during this time period…

Mongol Empire