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IslamDevelopment, Diffusion, and

Achievements

Islam

Islam

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• Geography

– Arabia: desert region connected to outside world by trade routes

• Nomads

– Bedouins are nomadic herders

– Some settle down on oases as farmers or town dwellers

• Mecca

– Important trade and pilgrimage center

The Prophet Muhammad

• Gains converts by teaching that Allah is the only God

• Muhammad and followers move to Medina (Yathrib) – Hijrah

• Muhammad and his army of Bedouin followers subdue Mecca

• They move on to unify Arabia under Islam

Beliefs and Practices

• Moslems believe

there is only one God,

Allah

• Five Pillars of Islam

• Qur’an is a source of

authority for Moslems

• Jews, Christians, and

Moslems all share

certain beliefs

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Faith

PrayerAlms

FastingPilgrimage

• Early successors defend

and expand Islam

– “Rightly Guided” Caliphs

• Many conquered people

choose to convert to Islam

• Army is well disciplined

and expertly commanded

Muhammad’s Successors

Internal Conflict Creates a Crisis

• Umayyads take power and move the

capital city to Damascus

– Hereditary succession, no elections

– Life of luxury

• Islam splits as a result of the changes

– Sunni – did not resist Umayyad rule

– Shi’a – believed caliph should be related to

Muhammad

– Sufi – live life of poverty and path of devotion

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Abbasid Caliphate

Moslems take Control ofThree Continents

• Religious and political opponents overthrow the Umayyads

• Abbasids take power in 750 and rule for 500 years

• An Umayyad prince sets up a Moslem dynasty in Spain

• Abbasids serve as main religious authority but lose some political power

• Trade extends to China and below Sahara

Moslem Society• Urban centers

– Market towns develop into cities

– Baghdad: Abbasid capital, one million people

• Many cultural traditions and four classes

1. Moslems at birth

2. Converts – paid a higher tax than upper class

3. Protected people – non-Moslem monotheists

4. Non-Moslems / slaves (prisoners of war)

• Women have a limited but vital role

– Raising the children, in earl days could gain education

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Moslem Scholarship Extends Knowledge

• Muhammad and later Moslem leaders support scholarship

• Moslems preserve knowledge that might otherwise have been lost after the fall of Rome

• 800 – House of Wisdom in Baghdad was a library, academy, and translation center

themuslimempire.blogspot.com

House of Wisdom Ruins

forums.civfanatics.com

Arts and Sciences

• Moslem contributions to medicine, mathematics, and science advance learning

• They blend philosophical and artistic traditions with their own ideas and also create original works

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Advances in Medicine

Baghdad Battery

weburbanist.com

Pre-dates the Moslem

Empire, but it’s a

reminder of the

sophistication this

region had developed.

Contributions of

the Muslim World

• Because of the arid

nature of much of

the Muslim world,

Arab engineers

were skilled in

methods of raising

water from the

ground and piping

it into their homes.

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• Arab medicine and pharmacology were very advanced. IbnSina (Avicinna) wrote the definitive medical encyclopedia of the time.

Contributions of

the Muslim World

Cartographer: Al-Idrisi

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http://www.icsm.gov.au/mapping/web_images/Al-Idrisi.jpg

Al-Idrisi’s map of the

world was for a

Sicilian rule in the

1100s. Notice that it

seems upside down.

Or is it?

Astronomy

http://www.brasscompass.com/armillaryglobe1.jpg

Astronomers use an armillary sphere to calculate the time of day or year

http://fromoldbooks.org/Sibly-Astrology/964-Armillary-Sphere-q75-391x500.jpg

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Astronomy

The astrolabe was used to measure the angles of the sun and the stars.

http://astrolabe-visions-du-monde.chez-alice.fr/astrolabe.JPG

Calligraphy

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/eastwest/images/calligraphylion.jpg

Pictorial Calligraphy uses the letters of the alphabet to form pictures. Prayers are in the shape of boats, plants, birds, and other objects.

This ornamental writing was considered a way to reflect the glory of Allah