Western Civilization Notes – David Underhill

 

Pages 269 – 283 – 25 Feb 2004

      The Growth of Islam (269)

  • Islam (means “submission”) begins with Muhammad in the 7th century
  • Islam is worshipped by 1/7 of the world’s population, mostly in Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and former Soviets
  • Islam requires adherence to certain worship, social, and cultural norms

      The Rise of Islam (270)

  • Born in Arabia
  • War between Byzantines and Persians shift trade rounds through safer Arabia
    • Mecca grows much from this
    • Mecca alreadya large religious base – Kabah (pilgrimage shrine central to many tribes worship)
    • Shrine controlled by the Quraish tribe who also directed the economic life of Mecca
    • Muhammad born to this family in Mecca in 570
      • Orpahned early – served a rich widow for money until he married her
      • Prosperous trader until 610 when he underwent a relgious experience
  • Until then most Arabs were polytheists (Allah was their more powerful God)
    • Muhammad heard Allah was the only god
    • Became a monotheist and received further messages for the basis of a new religion
    • Gained few followers; Quraish refuse to convert in fear of loss of importance of the Kabah
    • Migrated (called “hijrah” in Arabic) in 622 to Yathrib (a town that invited him to come)
      • This migration marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar
      • Changed the town’s name to Medina (“city of the Prophet”) and became ruler
    • Muhammad wants to punish the Quraish and leads his followers to raid their caravans
    • Quraish submit and Mecca converts in 630
      • Kabah preserved as main shrine of Islam
      • Most of Arabia follows Mecca and converts
  • Muhammad dies in 632

The Relgious Teachings of Islam (271)

  • Believe “there is no divinity but God”
  • Muhammad was God’s last prophet
  • Judgement Day – the pious will be granted eternal life in paradise; the damned sent to eternal fire and torture
  • Koran – compilation of revelations sent to Muhammad
    • Dedication to morals, compassion, fidelty; regimen of prayers, fasts, pilgimages to Mecca, and recitation
  • Islam similar to other two major monotheisms; Muhammad influenced by them
  • Muhammad accepted the Bible and New Testament as divine too
  • Accepted Jesus Christ as a prophet, but not as the son of God
  • Muslims expected to pray together in mosques but there is no “mass” – absence of clergy

The Islamic Conquests (272)

  • Move to world influence began after Muhammad’s death
  • After the death there was no clear line of succession
    • Zealous convert Umar names Abu-Bakr caliph (“deputy of the Prophet”)
    • Dies soon after but Umar becomes caliph
  • Arab conquest
    • 636: rout Byzantine army in Syria; occupy Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem
    • 637: destroy Persian army and take Persian capital city
      • Conquered all of Persia easily by 651
    • Captured Egypt in 646 and slowly conquered the rest of North Africa
    • Captured Spain in 711
    • Failed only in attempts to capture Constantinople in 677 and 717
  • Why was conquest so fast?
    • Not a religious crusade; they did not want converts
      • Muslims could pay taxes in goods; others had to pay in cash
      • Muslims were also the ones allowed to rule and collect taxes
    • However, the caliph’s religious position made his followers motivated to follow his orders to fight
    • Many welcomed Islamic conquerers
      • Conversion not necessary
      • Taxes far less oppressive than Persians, Byzantines, and others

      The Shiite-Sunni Schism (275)

  • Umar diead and was replaced by a weak caliph, Uthman
  • Murdered by supporters of another Muslim with strong leadership qualities, Ali
    • Uthman’s family murders Ali
    • Ali’s family become Shiites, a religious minority who only believe Ali’s descendents could be caliphs
    • Sunnites (sunna is “religious custom”) – committed to actual historical development
  • Shiites often persecuted throughout history and became militant  and feel like “preservers of the faith”
    • Ruled in modern Iran and Iraq but comprise only 10% of Muslims worldwide

      Umayyads and Abbasids (275)

  • Umayyads caliphates – focussed on the west (Mediterranean, Constantinople)
    • Seriously weakened after a failed attack on the Byzantine capital in 717
    • Continued in Spain after Abbasids took over in the east
      • Lavishly spent on culture: eastern hairstyle, deodorant, and a Persian musician, astronomer, geographer, etc
  • Abbasids – (succeeded Umayyads); focussed on the east
    • Built capital in Baghdad
    • Ruthlessly killed their enemies and created elaborate court ceremonies
    • Described in Arabian Nights (written during the rule of Harun al-Rashid from 786 to 809)
  • Al-Hakem II of Cordoba (961-976) – amassed a library of over 400,000 books
    • At the time, 100 books made a place a “center of learning”
  • Abbasids were less hostile and did not threaten Byzantine
    • Byzantine learned from Muslim cultural achievements and recovered
    • Abbasids hostile towards the Umayyads that ruled Spain
    • Harun al-Rashid sent an elephant to Charlemagne (very symbolic)

       The Changing Islamic World (277)

  • Abbasid power declined quickly in the 9th and 10th century … due to:
    • Gradual impoverishment of the economic base
      • Ecological crises and African slave revolt
    • Declining tax revenues
    • Expensive rebuilding of the capital Baghdad
    • Mercenary armies replaced with slave armies due to lack of money; these armies controlled caliphs
  • Two fundamental results
    • Growth of regionalism
    • Increasing relgious hostilities between Shiites and Sunnis
      • Some Shiites seize North Africa and Egypt
      • Other Shiites attacked Baghdad and Mecca and seized the Kabah (930)
        • Caused Abbasid power to completely collapse
        • Caliph stayed until 1258 when Mongols deposed them, but was essentially powerless
  • Umayyad power in Spain declines
    • Political failures (succession disputes) – incompetent, extravagent rulers
    • Pagans forced to convert to Islam (only Christians and Jews allowed to maintain their beliefs)
    • Caliph dissolved and land split between petty kingdoms
    • Christian kingdoms invade
      • King Alfonso of Leon captures Toledo in 1085
        • North African Muslims invade and check the advance
        • Fail to reunite Spain though
      • Christian invaders recapture Spain essentially by the 13th century
        • Granada holds out until 1492

      Muslim Society and Culture, 900 – 1250 (278)

  • Islamic rule spreads to Turkey and India
  • Muslim culture highly cosmopolitan because:

1)       Inherited sophistication of Persia and Byzantine

2)       Centered at the crossroads of trade between the Far East and West

3)       Prosperous town life counterbalanced agriculture

  • Importance of trade helped Islam spread
  • Islam has social mobility because it stresses the equality of all Muslims
  • Office was not inherited
  • Literary very high – 20% could read
  • Egalitarianism – treatment of women
    • Men could have up to four wives and often servants and concubines kept
    • Guarded by castrated males (eunuchs)
  • Male homosexuals tolerated among the upperclass
  • Islamic religious life – two paths:
    • Ulama – learned men who studied and offered advice on religion and religious law
    • Sufis – mystics; stress contemplation and ecstasy; like monks except they practiced celibacy (often in public)
      • No common thread; very different approaches to being a Sufi
        •  “whirling dervishes” to the West (dancers)
        • faqirs – snake charming
        • quiet, meditative men who were not exotic
      • Organized into brotherhoods

      Muslim Philosophy, Science, and Medicine (279)

  • Faylasufs – Islamic philsophers
    • Study of Greek thought; most notably of Aristotle and Plato
    • Major problem: Greek thought said the soul’s life was finite and the world was eternal
      • Al-Farabi (d.950) – one may philosophize without being distracted by the masses’ religious beliefs
      • Avicenna (d. 1037) – taught less rationalisitc philosophy; similar to mysticism
      • Averroes (d. 1198) – extreme rationalist; after him rationalism faded away
    • Up until 1200, Muslim philosophy was more advanced than any other Western culture
    • Also studied natural science to make a living
      • Astronomy – created advanced theories about how the Earth moved; advanced observations and predictions exceeded the Greeks
      • Medicine – learned of contagion in several diseases and that food and water could spread it; created medical writings
        • Rhazes (d. 925) was the greatest physician of the Medieval world – discovered the difference between measles and smallpox
        • Other found value of cauterization and styptic agents, diagnosed stomach cancer, made poison antidotes, etc
        • Organized hospitals – had wards for certain cases, dispensary for meds, and library
      • Also made advances in optics, chemistry, and math

     Literature and Art (280)

  • Unrestricted poetry written and performed in court
  • Art inspired by Byzantine and Persia
    • Little human art (discouraged by Islam)
    • Architecture the most important Islamic art (domes, arches, etc)
    • Minor arts of carpets, rugs, and tapestries

      Trade and Industry (282)

  • Shipping established new routes across the Indian ocean
    • Dominated the Med for some time too
  • Learned to make paper from the Chinese

      Contributions of Early Islamic Civilizations (283)

  • Irrigation techniques, new crops, paper, alcohol distillation
  • Preserved and expanded Greek philosophy and scientific knowledge
  • Arabic numerals, adopted from India