Rise and Fall of the Islamic Caliphates

1. AP Review of the Islamic Caliphates

2. Arabia pre-Islam • Nomadic traders • Organized by tribes and clans • Inter-clan rivalries prevented unity • Polytheistic • Had contact with Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians • Some Arabs were monotheistic • Mecca • Governed by Umayyad clan • Important religious and trading center • Big money maker

3. Muhammad • Orphaned, raised by uncle • Became respected merchant • Starting in 610, received revelation from the angel Gabriel • Islam = submission to the will of god • Muslim= one who submits • By 620 a fair minority of Meccans followed Muhammad • Monotheism challenged polytheism in Mecca (remember, MONEY) • Forced to flee Mecca • Hijra- Muhammad’s flight to Medina

4. Early Islam • Muhammad = political and religious leader • Series of wars against the Umayyads in Mecca • Raids of caravans, etc • Conquered Mecca in 630 • Forced conversion of elites • Destroyed pagan shrines (only Ka’ba remained) • Imposed monotheistic theocratic government By 632, most of Arabia under Muhammad’s control

5. After Muhammad’s Death • no established line of succession • Recently conquered territories broke away from Muslim control • Under the leadership of the caliph (deputy of Islam), Muslim dominance was reasserted AND expanded beyond the borders of Arabia • 1st caliph = Abu Bakr • Substitutes from Muhammad (NOT PROPHETS) • Purpose of later expansion was for political and economic reasons, not for religious conversion

6. Expansion • 633-637 • Syria & Palestine (Byzantine territory) • Mesopotamia (Sassanid territory) • 640s • Egypt & North Africa(B) • 651 • Took down the Sassanid Empire (Persia) • 711 • Northwest India (Sind) • 711-718 • North Africa and Iberian Peninsula

7. First Islamic Civil War • First four caliphs chosen by negotiation between more powerful clans • 3rd Caliph (Uthamn) assissinated • Issue over the election of 4th Caliph, Ali (relative of Muhammad) • Umayyad clan rejected Ali • Ridda Wars • Civil War created two major branches in Islam • Sunni (majority)- any good Muslim could be Caliph • Shi’ia (minority)- Caliph must be relative of Ali and Muhammad • Ali martyred, Umayyads reign supreme!

8. Umayyad Caliphate • Renewed conquest (latter half 7th c) • Spain-central Asian steppes • Shift from Mecca to Damascus • Small Arab Muslim aristocracy ruled over the people • Arabs = first class citizens • Made up core of army, imperial administration, and received share in booty • Taxed only for charity • Separated from non-Muslim majority • Sought to prevent mass conversion (keep the jizya tax base and keep booty for the umma only!)

9. Conquerors and the Conquered • Intermarriage between urbanized Bedouins and non-Arab non-Muslim conquered folk • Some voluntary converts (Mawali) • did not gain political or social status • Still had to pay jizya even though Muslim • Not considered full members of the umma • Low numbers of conversion • Dhimmis (people of the book) • Originally Christians and Jews • As Arab territory expanded, included Zoroastrians and Hindus • Communities and legal systems left intact

10. Umayyad treatment of women • Early days of Islam • Women gained status • Important members of religious community, translating and passing down hadiths, etc • As Islam urbanized and spread, status of women decreased (especially upper class women) • Seclusion • Veiling

11. Umayyad Luxurious Decline • Soft, luxurious living • Increasingly large harems • Abandonment of conquest • Excesses ticked off more devout Muslims • Abbasid party overthrew Umayyads • From Iranian boarder lands • Resented foreign dictates and lack of booty sharing • Led by Abu al-Abbas • Support of Shi’ites and malawi • Rejected Umayyad legitimacy and repressed by Umayyads

12. Collapse and Rebirth of the Umayyads • Damascus fell in 750 • Abd al-Rahman (Umayyad) fled to Spain • 756 established self as Imir- 2nd Caliphate • Spain in Islamic world of its own!

13. Abbasids 750-1258 • Moved capital from Damascus to Baghdad • Wiped out former rivals and rejected old allies (especially Shi’ias) • Established centralized absolutist control • Abbasid rulers placed selves above other Muslims • Glittering palaces and expanding bureaucracies • Wazir- chief administrator- head of Caliph’s councils = super important in administration • Little chance of gaining an audience with the Caliph

14. Mawali Experience • Full integration of converts into umma • Desire to gain new converts • No more booty division, so no monetary reason to prevent conversion • Most conversions were peaceful • Tax breaks! Better education! Better jobs in government! • Persians dominated bureaucratic offices (after conversion)

15. Urban Growth • Growing wealth and status of merchant class • Time of urban expansion • Revival of Afro-Eurasian trading network • Abbasids and Tang and Song central to trading • Dhows (sailing vessels)- influenced later Western ship design • Muslim, Christian and Jewish merchants • Increased production of handicrafts • Countryside- ayan (wealthy landed elite) • Slaves used for unskilled labor • Some slaves in government, rose to high rank and status

16. Learning and the House of Wisdom • Open to intellectual traditions of conquered territories (Hellenistic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian, Mesopotamian) • Recovered and preserved learning (esp. math and science) of earlier civilizations

17. Fall of the Abbasids • Weakening political control + too much territory = disaster for Abbasid Caliphs • Look up the rest in chapter 7, I’m tired.