Islam

1
Islam
2
Islam

• The word Islam comes from the Arabic words
  meaning obedience and peace through submission
  to the one God.
• Muslim means one who submits to the will of
  Allah.

3
Islam

• Today there are over 1.3 billion Muslims
  throughout the world, concentrated in the Middle
  East, Africa, and Asia.
• Islam is the worlds second largest religion
  after Christianity and it is the fastest growing.

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Islam

• Arabia before Islam
• Before the advent of Islam, the Arab civilization
  had little impact on neighboring Roman, Persian,
  or Abyssinian empires.
• Traditionally, the Arabs were two distinct
  peoples one, the nomadic Bedouins who roamed the
  desert plains and were loosely held together by
  tribal codes and two, the urban dwellers, whose
  tribal divisions were mostly social, not
  geographic.

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Islam

• In pre-Islamic Arabia, the life of the Bedouins
  was romanticized by the urban Arabs as pure,
  chivalrous, and unrestricted.
• They were considered to embody all the noble
  characteristics of the Arab peoples.

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Islam

• Children of Arab towns were often temporarily
  sent to live with the nomads to learn traditional
  Arab culture, such as desert living, camel
  rearing, goat herding, and pure Arabic language.
• Antar, a 6th century Arabian poet and warrior.

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Islam

• Arabia was on the periphery of two established
  and rival civilizations of the timethe Byzantine
  Empire (heir to Rome) and the Sassanid Empire
  (heir to the imperial traditions of Persia).
• Because of its location and long-distance trade,
  Arabs were familiar with the larger world,
  including the monotheism of Judaism,
  Christianity, and Zoroastrianism.

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Islam

• By the time of Muhammad, most of the urban Arabs
  had acknowledged the preeminent position of
  Allah, the supreme god of the Arab pantheon
  (there were many gods, including Allahs three
  daughters).
• Many Arabs increasingly identified Allah with
  Judaisms Yahweh, and regarded themselves also as
  the children of Abraham.

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Islam

• By 600 CE, many Arabs were religiously moving
  towards Judaism or that of Christianity, the most
  rapidly growing religion in western Asia.
• As many Arabs were beginning to explore the
  possibility that Allah/Yahweh was the only God,
  the many other gods residing in the Kaaba and in
  shrines across the peninsula were considered
  nothing more than helpless and harmless idols.

10
Islam

• Even though Arab cities were widely scattered,
  the city of Makkah (Mecca) had long been
  established as a trading center between Arabia
  and Africa to the west, Yemen and India to the
  south, and Egypt and Syria to the north.

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Islam

• Mecca was also important because it was the site
  of the Kaaba, the most important religious
  shrine in Arabia and a destination for thousands
  of pilgrims.

12
Islam

• During this period, every Arab tribe had its own
  (pagan) idol placed inside the Kaaba (when
  Muhammad conquered Mecca in 630 CE, the city had
  over 360 idols, statues, and other pieces of
  devotion to various gods).

13
Islam

• The leading tribe of Mecca were the Quraysh,
  whose bloodline stretched back to the prophet
  Ibrahim (Abraham).
• However for most (but not all), the religion
  taught and practiced by Abraham had long since
  been replaced by polytheism and/or animism.
• The Quraysh controlled access to the Kaaba and
  were able to grow extremely wealthy taxing
  pilgrims wishing to see it.

14
Islam

• Superstitions omens, amulets, astrology, and
  divination (by the casting of arrows) were
  important in deciding serious matters like when
  to travel, marry, or go to war.
• In Islam, this pre-Islamic polytheistic period is
  known as jahiliyyah, or the days of ignorance.

15
Islam

• Social and tribal hierarchies also meant the
  pre-Islamic period was marked by oppression,
  tyranny, and conflict.
• There was constant strife and hostility between
  various tribes (wars between clans was a
  continuous problem).
• Slavery was a common practice (seen as a sign of
  wealth and power).

16
Islam

• Female infanticide was also common, as daughters
  were considered an expensive liability.
• Women, whether married or not, like slaves, were
  often considered personal property that could be
  sold or exchanged.
• Polygamy was a common practice, and some tribes
  allowed women to have several husbands.

17
Islam

• It is believed women had more freedom than their
  counterparts in most of the civilized world.
• Women did not wear veils and were not secluded.
• Some tribes traced ancestry through the mother
  (matrilineal), not the father.
• Changes were coming, as a result of Muhammad.

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Islam

• The Arab Oral tradition
• From as early as the 5th century BCE, the Arabs,
  originally a largely illiterate people who were
  proud of their tribal genealogies and histories,
  developed an incredibly descriptive and rhythmic
  language.
• This was achieved mostly through the custom of
  memorizing oral narratives and poetry from
  generation to generation.

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Islam

• Here is the tradition of the birth of Islam
• In the year 570 CE, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (which
  means Praiseworthy) was born in the city of
  Mecca.

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Islam

• Muhammad was born into a family of noble lineage
  that belonged to the Quraysh.
• Orphaned at a young age (6), he would be raised
  mostly by his uncle (his fathers younger
  brother).
• As a young man, he became a merchant.
• Being a merchant enabled him to travel throughout
  the Arabian Peninsula, where he would come into
  contact with several cultures and religions
  (including Judaism and Christianity).

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Islam

• He married Khadijah (known as the Pure), an
  older woman (15 years older), and had six
  children (2 boys/4 girls). But both sons died in
  infancy (which will be important later).

22
Islam

• Muhammad lived the life of a wealthy merchant.
• But he was a highly reflective man who was
  constantly troubled with religious and moral
  issues, as he disapproved of the lawlessness of
  his countrymen and was troubled because many were
  polytheistic and superstitious.

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Islam

• Muhammad was a hanif (one who followed the
  monotheistic teachings of Ibrahim).
• As a hanif, he would spend weeks at a time in the
  caves in the mountains outside Mecca, fasting,
  praying, deep in contemplation, grieving over
  what he saw as social injustices infant
  daughters buried alive women traded and bartered
  like chattel and slaves were treated no better
  than livestock.

24
Islam

• So Muhammad would often retreat into the
  mountains outside Mecca to pray and contemplate
  the meaning and purpose of existence (Buddha and
  Jesus had similar experiences).
• Then in the year 610 CE (around his 40th
  birthday), while praying in a cave on Mount Hira,
  Muhammad believed that he began to receive
  revelations from the archangel Jibril (Gabriel).

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Islam

• Convinced after some initial self doubt that he
  was chosen to be a prophet, he committed his life
  to fulfilling the divine commands he thought he
  received.

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Islam

• Muhammad was told by Jibril (Gabriel) he was to
  be the Rasulillah (the Messenger of God), a
  prophet charged with delivering a message that
  would set straight misinterpretations of earlier
  revelations given through the Jewish or Christian
  prophets.
• These revelations would continue over the next 22
  years.

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Islam

• The archangel Gabriel instructing Muhammad
  (Persian manuscript).

28
Islam

• Here Muhammad leads Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in
  prayer (from a medieval Persian text).

29
Islam

• The revelations from Gabriel to Muhammad,
  recorded in the Quran, became the sacred
  scriptures of Islam, which to this day Muslims
  everywhere regard as the very words of God and
  the core of their faith.
• Intended to be recited rather than simply read
  for information, the Quran, Muslims claim, when
  heard in its original Arabic, conveys nothing
  less than the very presence of the divine.

30
Islam

• In its Arabian setting, the Qurans message,
  delivered through Muhammad, was revolutionary.
• Religiously, it was radically monotheistic,
  presenting Allah as the only God, the
  all-powerful Creator, good, just, and merciful
  rejecting as utterly false and useless the many
  gods housed in the Kaaba and scorning the
  Christian notion of the Trinity.

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Islam

• Muhammad was not trying to create a new faithhe
  wanted to return to the old and pure religion of
  Abraham from which the Arabs, Jews, and
  Christians had deviated.
• According to the Quran, submission to Allah
  (Muslim means one who submits) wasnt just an
  individual or spiritual act, it involved the
  creation of a whole new society.

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Islam

• Over and over the Quran denounced the prevailing
  social practices of Mecca the hoarding of
  wealth, the exploitation of the poor, corrupt
  business deals, usury, abuse of women, and the
  neglect of widows and orphans.
• Like the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament,
  the Quran demanded social justice.

33
Islam

• It sought to return to the older values of Arab
  tribal lifesolidarity, equality, concern for the
  poorwhich had been undermined in Mecca by its
  growing wealth and commercialism.
• The Quran also challenged the entire tribal and
  clan structure of Arab society, which was prone
  to feuding and violence.
• The just and moral society of Islam was the umma,
  the community of all believers, which replaced
  tribal, ethnic, or racial identities.

34
Islam

• Such a society would be a witness over the
  nations, for according to the Quran, You are
  the best community evolved for mankind, enjoining
  what is right and forbidding what is wrong.
• In this community, women had an honored and
  spiritually equal place.
• The umma was to be a new and just community,
  bound by a common belief, rather than by
  territory, language, or tribe.

35
Islam

• Muhammad began preaching to his fellow Meccans
  that there was no god but Allah, that they must
  submit to Gods will, and he pointed out their
  unjust and evil ways.

36
Islam

• He warned them of the impending judgment of Allah
  (God).
• His early preaching called for social justice and
  equality and condemned the oppression of the poor
  by the wealthy and powerful (ideals also common
  in Judaism and Christianity).

37
Islam

• At first, some of the people of Mecca were amused
  by Muhammad while others scorned him. Eventually
  many became interested in his words.
• As his popularity and power grew, the political
  leaders of Mecca began a hostile campaign against
  him (because his popularity threatened their
  power).

38
Islam

• Muhammads message of absolute monotheism and
  social equality was against the Meccan
  establishment (of his own Quraysh clansmen).
• Fearing that their pagan beliefs and tribal
  social hierarchies were threatened by Islam,
  tribal elders began to persecute and torture
  Muslims and plotted Muhammads assassination (his
  arch enemy was one of his own uncles).

39
Islam

• In 615, Muhammad sanctioned the migration of 80
  Muslims to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) where they were
  welcomed and protected by the Christian king and
  his subjects.

40
Islam

• The year 619 is known as the Year of Grief for
  Muhammad. His uncle and protector, Abu Talib
  died, and a few months later, his beloved wife
  and spiritual companion, Khadijah, passed away.
• Adding to his humiliation, he visited a nearby
  village to invite its people to Islam and its
  people set their children upon him, chasing him
  from the city and pelting him with stones.

41
Islam

• In 621, Muhammad came upon some pilgrims from the
  city of Medina. They had heard of Muhammad and
  were aware of the Judeo-Christian claims of a
  promised prophet.
• Muhammad explained Islam and these pilgrims
  converted.
• A year later, they invited Muhammad and his
  followers to settle in Medina (Al Madinah-which
  means the city in Arabic).

42
Islam

• Still fearing for his life, in 622 he and several
  followers secretly fled from Mecca (he barely
  escaped assassination) to the safer haven of
  Medina about 200 miles north, where Muhammad
  established an Islamic community in the city.
• It is in Medina that Islam became the foundation
  for an entire way of life.

43
Islam

• This moment, known as the Hijira (migration),
  was so important, it marks the starting date of
  the Muslim era, Year 1 on Islams calendar
  (meaning were now in 1392 of the Islamic
  calendar).

44
Islam

• In the early seventh century Arab society was in
  social and cultural disarray, but Muhammad
  forcefully taught Allahs lessons and began to
  transform his culture.
• He assumed full leadership of the city of
  Medinareorganizing and reforming the city
  politically, religiously, and militarily.
• Muhammad became the Prophet-ruler of a virtual
  Islamic state within the heartlands of pagan
  Arabia.

45
Islam

• He was so successful that Muslims look back to
  this time as the creation of the standard or
  model for Muslim society to follow.
• One of the key ideas was that of equality among
  Muslims (in the sight of Allah, there were no
  differences among believers).
• That meant in theory, no racism. In reality
  though, this only applied to Muslims. Others
  were considered inferior.

46
Islam

• The ancient tradition of slavery continued, but
  one Muslim could not enslave another.
• In the Muslim world it was considered a good deed
  to free a slave, just not the slave (s) of a good
  friend or relative.

47
Islam

• Muhammad was particularly successful in military
  affairs (followers believed he was led and
  protected by the will of Allah).
• He planned and led many successful military
  campaigns, and in 630 he led his followers to
  victory over Mecca.

48
Islam

• Muhammad was a compassionate conqueror, granting
  mercy to all who submitted to Islam.
• He became known throughout the land as the
  Prophet of God.
• Muhammad provided such a powerful stimulus that
  Arab society was mobilized almost overnight.

49
Islam

• Even though he died in 632 CE, his faith and fame
  spread like wildfire.
• Arab armies carrying the banner of Islam invaded,
  conquered, and converted wherever they went.
• By 715 CE, Islam reached far into North Africa,
  into Spain, through the Transcaucasia, and into
  most of Southwest Asia.
• By 1000 CE, Islam had penetrated Southern and
  Eastern Europe, Central Asia (even reaching
  China), West Africa, East Africa, and Southeast
  Asia.

50
Islam

• By 1000 CE, Islam had become the worlds first
  truly global religion, stretching half way across
  the world (Iberia to Indonesia).
• Muslims hold that the only genuine explanation
  for the rapid Islamic conquest of the Middle East
  outward was Divine Providence, Allahs help to
  those who worked/fought for the faith.

51
Islam

• While the spiritual capital remained in Mecca, as
  the Arab-Islamic Empire expanded, the
  political/administrative capital went from its
  original location in Medina to Damascus (Syria)
  and then to Baghdad (Iraq).
• While the empire expanded, it matured and
  prospered.

52
Islam

• In architecture, mathematics, medicine, and
  science the Arab/Islamic world far outpaced their
  European contemporaries.
• The Arabs established great universities and
  libraries in many cities, including Baghdad,
  Cairo, Timbuktu, and Toledo.

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Islam

• Cathedral of Seville. It used to be a mosque.

• The Alhambra Palace in Grenada.

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Islam

• The Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus.

• Interior of the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

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Islam

• How do Muslims regard Muhammad?
• Muslims believe Muhammad was singled out for his
  natural virtue and integrity to fulfill the role
  as the final intermediary of divine
  communication.

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Islam

• As a human (he was never considered divine),
  Muhammad naturally had his faults, but Muslims
  regard him as the finest our species has
  produced, the ideal family man and leader of
  humanity.
• Throughout his married life with Khadijah,
  Muhammad stayed away from adultery, drinking
  alcohol, gambling, and the rivalries which
  plagued pre-Islamic Mecca.
• He was known for his compassion and care towards
  orphans and the poor.

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Islam

• So what is Islam?
• The precepts of Islam in many ways are a revision
  and embellishment of Judaic and Christian beliefs
  and traditions.
• All three faiths trace their origins to Abraham
  (in Hebrew Abraham means Father of Nations ).

58
Islam

• The Judaic/Christian faiths followed his son
  Isaac while Islam traced itself to Abrahams
  first son Ishmael.

59
Islam

• All three faiths believe in the same God, who
  occasionally communicated to humankind through
  prophets.
• Islam believes that God spoke to humankind
  beginning with Adam and continued through
  Abraham, Moses and Jesus, (and several others),
  but considered Muhammad as the seal, the final
  and greatest of the prophets.
• Muslims believe Muhammads mission was to bring
  Gods final revelation to humankind.

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The Five Pillars

• What are some of the fundamental beliefs?
• Islam brought to the Arab world not only a
  unifying religious faith it had lacked but also a
  new set of values, a new way of life, a new
  individual and collective dignity.
• The core message of the Quranfollowing the law
  of Godwas summarized as a set of requirements
  for believers, known as the Pillars of Islam.

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The Five Pillars

• Islam dictated the observance of what became
  known as the Five Pillarsthey are how the
  beliefs of Islam are to be put into action every
  day.

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Shahadah

• The first pillar is the confession of faiththe
  repeated expression of the basic creed (belief in
  one God and the prophet hood of Muhammad)known
  as the Shahadah.

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Salat

• The second pillar is the daily prayer five times
  a day facing Mecca known as the Salat.
• Prayer times are dawn, just after noon,
  mid-afternoon, just after sunset, and after dark.

64
Ramadan

• The third pillar is daytime fasting called Sawm.
• This occurs during the ninth month of the Muslim
  calendar (lunar not solar) which is called
  Ramadan (it is considered the holiest month of
  the Islamic year).
• In 2014, Ramadan was June 28 to July 28.
• From sun-up to sun-down, Muslims are not supposed
  to eat or drink anything.

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Ramadan

• After sun-down Muslims usually eat a light meal
  filled with sweets.
• The evening is spent in spiritual reflection and
  prayer.
• This daily sacrifice shows equality with the poor
  and it reminds Muslims that the good things in
  life are to be enjoyed but not to be overindulged
  in.
• Ramadan ends with the three day holiday known as
  Eid-al-Fitr (Festival of Fast-Breaking)

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Zakat

• The fourth pillar is the giving of alms (charity)
  to the poorknown as Zakat.
• If you can afford it, you are to give 2.5 of
  your savings to the poor every year.

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The Hajj

• The final pillar is at least one pilgrimage in
  each Muslims lifetime to Mecca known as the
  Hajj to see the Kaaba (Kaba, Kaabah). This is
  one of the prerequisites for entering Heaven.

68
The Kaaba

• According to tradition, Abraham and Ishmael built
  a simple cube-like structure in what came to be
  the center of the city of Mecca (a large mosque
  has been built around the Kaaba).

69
The Kaaba

• In Muhammads time, the Kaaba was about 15 feet
  tall with a black stone about the size of a
  bowling ball in one corner (believed to be a
  meteor of divine origin from the time of Adam and
  Eve).

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The Kaaba

• This miniature (c. 1315) shows Muhammad
  rededicating the stone at the Kaaba.
• The meteor is framed in silver, and pilgrims
  attempt to kiss it like Muhammad supposedly did.

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The Kaaba

• Since this isnt always possible because of the
  crowds, you are to point to the stone and bow
  every time you make a circuit around the Kaaba.
• You are to make seven circuits.

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The Kaaba

• The Kaaba was thought to be at the center of the
  world with the Gate of Heaven directly above it.

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The Kaaba

• The Kaaba marked the location where the divine
  world intersected with the mortal.
• The embedded Black Stone was a symbol of this
  intersection (as a meteorite that had fallen from
  the sky, it linked heaven and earth).

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The Kaaba

• Today the Kaaba is about 43 feet high and about
  40 feet wide.
• Its holiness as a divine presence comes mainly
  from its association with the lives of Abraham
  and Muhammad.
• It is covered by a black silk curtain made in
  Egypt, decorated with gold-embroidered
  calligraphy. This cloth is known as the kiswah
  and it is replaced yearly.

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The Hajj

• When performing the Salat (prayer 5 times a day),
  you are to face towards Mecca (because thats
  where the Kaaba is).

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The Hajj

• Since Islam teaches that all people are equal
  before God, Muslims are required to shed any
  symbols of their social status when making the
  Hajj.
• The same ihram (Hajj clothing) is worn by all
  men wear two white, unsewn pieces of cloth (which
  represents the shroud)
• Women wear any plain, simple clothing that covers
  them fully.
• No jewelry or perfume is to be worn.

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The Hajj

• Ihram clothing

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The Hajj

• The Hajj occurs during the last month of the
  Islamic year (known as the Month of the Hajj).
• The pilgrimage rites occur during a 5-day period,
  between the 8th - 12th days of this lunar month.
  
• In 2014, the Hajj was between October 2nd-7th.

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The Hajj

• Over three million pilgrims attend the Hajj every
  year. Most stay in the white tents at Mina
  where they are arranged by nationality.

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The Hajj

• Muslims believe that performing the Hajj purifies
  them from sin, and when they return home, there
  are usually great celebrations of their sinless
  status.
• The majority of Muslims do not manage to perform
  the Hajj, so during the Hajj period, they fast
  and pray at home.
• http//video.nationalgeographic.com/video/saudiara
  bia_mecca

81
Jihad

• To the five pillars, many Muslims would add a
  sixth, jihad, which means a persons inner
  struggle to live a good life.
• Muhammad believed jihad to be the personal effort
  each devout Muslim must make against greed and
  selfishness, a spiritual striving toward living a
  God-conscious life.

82
Jihad

• Today, many see jihad to mean either holy war
  or spiritual struggle against the adversaries of
  Islam.
• In its lesser form, the jihad of the sword was
  to mean the armed struggle against the forces of
  evil and defending the umma from threats of
  infidel aggressors.

83
Islam

• Like the Judeo/Christian heritage, Islam believes
  in angels (several are the same), the devil, and
  a Judgment Day for all humanity.

84
Islam

• Those who have been faithful and have done
  Allahs will, will be rewarded in Paradise
  (Heaven).
• For Muslims, death is not seen as the end but
  merely as a transition from one state of being
  into another as the soul journeys back to the
  creator.
• But those who have rejected faith and commit sins
  and grave injustices are condemned to the fires
  of Hell.

85
Islam
86
Islam

• Muslims, like many Christians and Jews, also
  believe in predestinationthat your life is
  predetermined and that God controls everything
  that happens.
• Muslims, like Christians and Jews, also have a
  code of behavior that stresses correct social
  behavior like respecting your parents, your
  neighbors, and your community and being honest,
  trustworthy, and patient.

87
Islam

• Islam forbids alcohol, smoking, eating pork , and
  gambling.
• It tolerated polygamy (you could have up to 4
  wives because Muhammad had 4), although it spoke
  of the virtues of monogamy.
• Mosques (Muslim churches) were not only for
  prayer, but they became social gathering centers
  which knit the Arab religious community (umma)
  closer together.

88
Islam

• Mecca became the spiritual center for a divided,
  widely dispersed people for whom a collective
  focus was something new.
• Yet for all its vigor and success, Islam still
  fragmented into two theological sects.
• The earliest and most consequential division came
  about after the death of Muhammad (632 CE).

89
Islam

• Who should be his legitimate successor?
• The Quran dictated a democratic system for
  choosing the successor (or caliph).
• Muslims were free to debate, have differences
  about successors, and elect a new leader.
• No one could have predicted the consequences of
  this would lead to the most serious divide in the
  Islamic community.

90
Successors

• A few believed that it should be a blood relative
  of the prophet who led Islam.
• Others felt that any truly devout follower of
  Muhammad was qualified to lead the faithful.
• The first chosen successor (known as the caliph)
  was a Muhammads closest friend (since childhood)
  and the father of one of Muhammads four wives
  (and thus not a blood relative). His name was Abu
  Bakr.

91
Successors

• Abu Bakr was also a merchant and from the Quraysh
  tribe.
• He was the fourth person to convert to Islam, and
  the first outside Muhammads own family.

92
Successors

• His principal achievement was consolidating power
  and spreading Muslim control over the entire
  Arabian Peninsula.
• His forces put down several rebel uprisings in
  what were known as the Ridda wars, where rebel
  leaders declared themselves prophets to rival
  Muhammad.

93
Successors

• Under Bakr, Muslims won their first victories
  over the Persians and Byzantines in what is today
  Iraq and Syria.
• These raids showed the weakness and vulnerability
  of the post-Classical Byzantine and Sassanid
  (Persian) Empires.
• Bakr fell ill and died after serving only 27
  months as caliph (August 624 CE).
• Before he died, he appointed Umar ibn al-Khattab
  to succeed him as caliph.

94
Successors

• The next two caliphs, Umar, who ruled 10 years
  until 644 CE, and Uthman, who ruled 12 years
  until 656 CE, were also close friends and
  associates of Muhammad, but not relatives.

95
Successors

• Umars Arab armies attacked the Byzantines in
  Syria and captured Damascus in 635.
• Further south, they captured Jerusalem from the
  Byzantines in 638.
• They also moved against the Byzantines in Egypt,
  capturing Alexandria.
• In 637, Umars forces captured the Persian
  capital of Ctesiphon, forcing the Sassanid king
  to flee (they eventually killed him several years
  later, ending the Sassanid dynasty).

96
Successors

• Ctesiphon (about 20 miles SE of Baghdad) had been
  a major city for over 700 years when it was
  captured by Arab troops in 637 under Umar. This
  was the imperial palace.

97
Successors

• With victories came the problem of how to divide
  the spoils of conquest among the tribes.
• In 644, Umar was assassinated by a slave from
  rival clan in the mosque of Medina. He had just
  returned from a Hajj.
• Since he hadnt chosen a successor, a council of
  elders chose the third caliph, Uthman ibn-Affan.

98
Successors

• Uthman, the first caliph of the Umayyad clan,
  ruled for 12 years.
• He was an unpopular choice when made caliph and
  was eventually assassinated by rebels from a
  rival clan, run through with a sword while in
  prayer at home (at the age of 84).
• His death sparked a civil war between the Umayyad
  clans and those that supported Muhammads
  son-in-law and cousin, Ali.

99
Successors

• These three caliphs didnt satisfy a faction of
  Muslims who wanted to see Ali, a blood relative
  and married to Muhammads daughter Fatima, named
  caliph.
• Tradition states that Ali was the first person
  who converted to Islam.
• Ali had been previously passed over because the
  tribes didnt think he was old enough or
  experienced enough to lead the faithful.

100
Successors

• When Uthman died, Ali assumed the position of
  caliph (and he became the fourth one 24 years
  after Muhammads death).
• His followers, known as the Shiat Ali (the
  followers of Ali) or the Shiites, proclaimed
  that Muhammad finally had a legitimate successor.
  

101
Shiites

• The Shiites believed that Ali should have been
  the first caliph and that the caliphate should
  pass down only to direct descendants of Muhammad
  via Ali and Fatima.
• The Holy Family of Shia Muhammad (center),
  Fatima (veiled), Ali, and grandsons Hassan
  (green) and Husayn (red).

102
Shiites

• Entirely rejecting the authority of the first
  three caliphs, the Shiah Muslims regarded Ali as
  the first in a line of infallible religious
  leaders called imams.
• But Ali moved the capital of the Islamic
  community from Medina to Kufa (now in Iraq) where
  he had more support.
• This made him unpopular and many Muslims refused
  to accept his authority.

103
Shiites

• Even though he was a skilled soldier, Ali lost
  the backing of powerful clans and a new Umayyad
  chieftain, named Muawiyah was proclaimed caliph
  in Jerusalem.
• This directly challenged Alis position and in
  657, both men led armies into a three day battle
  to decide who was the legitimate caliph.
• The battle was inconclusive and both agreed to a
  six-month truce and arbitration.

104
Shiites

• However when the time came, neither man backed
  down and the stand-off continued.
• Some Muslims hatched a plot to end what they saw
  as a damaging conflict on the 19th day of
  Ramadan in 661, both men were stabbed with
  poisoned swords while at prayers.
• Muawiyah recovered, but Ali died two days later.

105
Shiites

• Alis eldest son, Hassan, agreed to Umayyad
  demands not to make a claim on the caliphate in
  return for his life and a pension. He died less
  than a year later (allegedly poisoned).
• Those who backed Muawiyah and the Umayyads
  against Ali and the Shiites were known as the
  Sunni (which means the path or example shown
  by Muhammad).

106
Shiites

• Muawiyah ruled as caliph with no further
  challenges until his death in 680.
• He governed from Damascus, and his rule was
  notable for his liberal and tolerant policies
  towards Christians and Jews, who came to occupy
  many prominent government positions.

107
Shiites

• In 680 when Muawiyah died, Muhammads grandson
  Hussain claimed the caliphate.
• He and his army of 72 men were marching from
  Mecca to his father Alis power base in Kufa
  (Iraq) when they were intercepted by Muawiyahs
  son Yazid (who also claimed to be caliph).
• Yazid had a force of over 40,000 (so at 550 to 1
  odds, take a guess who won the battle).

108
Shiites

• Hopelessly outnumbered, Husseins army was
  slaughtered at the Battle of Karbala.
• The only survivor was Hussains son Ali, who was
  too sick to fight. He was taken prisoner and
  sent to Damascus, where he was freed several
  years later.
• He became the fourth imam of Shia.

109
Shiites

• The Battle of Karbala (680 CE).

110
Shiites

• Husseins head was sent to Yazid in Damascus.
• The division between those who were Shiites and
  those who were Sunnis was set.
• Husseins death (or martyrdom) is commemorated
  annually with intense processions during which
  the marchers beat themselves bloody with chains
  (flagellation) and cut themselves with sharp
  metal instruments. This is known as the day of
  Ashura.

111
Shiites

• Ashura for Shiites

112
Sunni

• The date of Ashura is also said to be the day
  Noah left the Ark and the Israelites began their
  Exodus from Egypt.
• Sunnis also commemorate Ashura, but it is a
  solemn occasiona day of Atonement.
• Tradition states that Muhammad observed Jews
  fasting for two days on their day of atonement
  and he followed that practice.

113
Sunni

• The Sunnis did not see a blood relationship as
  necessary for succession.
• From the beginning of this disagreement, the vast
  majority of Muslims took the Sunni position.
• The Sunnis believed all the early caliphs
  (including Ali) were legitimate.

114
Islam

• There were two Islamic dynasties during the
  post-Classical period the Umayyad Dynasty
  (661-750) and the Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258).
• The great expansion of Islam was propelled by
  Sunnis the Shiites survived as a small minority
  scattered throughout the empire (today mainly in
  Iran and Iraq).
• Today, about 85-90 of Muslims are Sunnis.

115
Islam

• Since Alis last descendent died in the 9th
  century (and thus the blood line of Muhammad),
  Shiites created a council of 12 scholars called
  the ulema to elect a Supreme Imam.
• Shiites believe their Supreme Imam is a fully
  spiritual guide, and the sole source of true
  knowledge, inheriting some of Muhammad's
  inspiration.

116
Islam

• The Shia Imam has come to be imbued with
  Pope-like infallibility and the Shia religious
  hierarchy is not dissimilar in structure and
  religious power to that of the Catholic Church.
• Sunnis and Shiites agree on the fundamentals of
  Islam, like the Five Pillars, and they recognize
  each other as Muslims, but they have some deep
  divisions (like in Christianity).

117
Umayyads

• Muawiya moved the political capital from Medina
  to Damascus (Syria) where it was more centrally
  located in the growing empire.

118
Umayyads

• From Damascus, the Umayyads built a bureaucracy
  to govern their vast lands (which would become
  the largest empire since the Romans).
• The caliphs were more secular than religious and
  they differed from the simple lifestyle of
  Muhammad and his early successors.

119
Umayyads

• The caliph became more powerful and imperial,
  living in lavish desert palaces and conducting
  court against an exotic background of wild birds
  and beasts and dancing girls.

120
Umayyads

• Under the Umayyads, a distinctive Islamic
  culture began to take shape, influenced largely
  by their Arab background.
• Arabic became the official language of the
  administration, replacing Greek and Persian,
  which had been used in the conquered territories.
• An extensive communications system was
  established, with horseback postal routes and
  staging points for official use.

121
Umayyads

• The first currencygold dinars and silver dirhams
  bearing Quranic textswere minted to replace
  standard Byzantine or Persian coins stamped with
  the images of emperors.

122
Umayyads

• The core of the caliphs government and army
  officers were Arabs who lived in the urban
  centers and shared in the rewards of conquest.
• Towards the end of his reign, Muawiya made sure
  that his son Yazid was made his successor,
  setting the precedence for the next 13 caliphs.

123
Umayyads

• The Umayyads were talented military leaders, and
  under their rule Islams second great wave of
  conquests took place (early Eighth Century).
• The Muslim banner was carried from Central Asia
  to the Indus River (todays Afghanistan and
  Pakistan), west through North Africa and into
  Spain/Portugal.

124
Umayyads
125
Umayyads

• For seven years, the Islamic armies of the
  Umayyads battled for the Iberian Peninsula.
• Landing at Gibraltar in 711, a Muslim leader had
  his boats burned, then told his men The sea is
  behind you and the enemy is in front of you. By
  God, there is no escape for you save in valor and
  determination.

126
Umayyads

• The Umayyads were pressing northward when they
  were finally turned back in central France at the
  Battle of Tours (732 CE).
• The Franks were led by Charles Martel (known as
  the hammer.)

127
Umayyads

• Rural areas held mostly non-Arab subject peoples,
  who paid taxes to support the government (unlike
  Arab Muslims who were only taxed for
  Zakatcharity).
• The Umayyads tried to keep interactions between
  the Arab Muslims and subject peoples to a minimum
  to prevent the loss of badly needed tax revenue.

128
Umayyads

• Non Muslim converts (known as the mawali)
  received few social or financial benefits, so
  conversions were not very common, yet.
• The Arabs denied them equality, considering them
  inferior to marry a non-Arab convert was
  considered social suicide.
• Even though many of these newcomers to Islam
  fought in its armies, they usually had to fight
  as foot soldiers rather than in the elite
  cavalry, and they received less pay.

129
Umayyads

• They still had to pay land taxes and special head
  taxes, and they were not considered to be a part
  of the umma.
• Often non-Muslims were discouraged from
  converting so that they would have to continue to
  pay higher taxes.
• Realizing the explosiveness of these
  inequalities, the Umayyads repeatedly tried to
  institute new reforms.
• The most famous reformer was Umar II.

130
Umayyads

• During his reign (717-720), Umar II called for an
  end to all foreign campaigns and devoted himself
  to tax reform.
• He revived the rule of exempting all Muslims from
  all taxes except the compulsory religious tax.
• However well intentioned, this had a disastrous
  effect on Islams economy.

131
Umayyads

• The People of the Book, as Jews and Christians
  were known, were considerably better treated than
  most subject peoples, even though they had to pay
  the same taxes.
• However, Jews and Christians were allowed to
  worship as they pleased and their communities and
  legal systems remained intact.

132
Umayyads

• The name Jews and Christians were given, the
  dhimmis (or People of the Book) explains why
  Muslims respected Jews and Christians because
  they were also governed by holy scriptures and
  they had shared beliefs and common roots.
• Jews and Christians had received part (but not
  all) of Gods revelations.

133
Umayyads

• The Umayyad exclusion of non-Arab Muslims
  (mawali) proved to be problematic as Arab
  administrative centers became increasingly
  far-flung.
• In the 740s, rebel mawali forces demanded social
  and religious equality with Arab Muslims and
  eventually brought down the Umayyad Dynasty.

134
Islam

• Recapping the early expansion of Islam
• Shortly after the death of Muhammad, Islam began
  a rapid drive for expansion.
• Unlike Buddhism or Christianity, which expanded
  through missionary or commercial activity, Islam
  initially extended its influence by military
  conquest.
• Islam spread quickly throughout portions of
  Africa and Eurasia.

135
Islam

• Within a year of Muhammads death, most of the
  Arabian Peninsula was united under Islam.
• Persia was conquered in 651 when the Sassanid
  Dynasty was overthrown.
• By the end of the seventh century, Islam had
  reached Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt.
  

136
Islam

• Also by the end of the seventh century Islam
  extended into Central Asia east of the Caspian
  Sea, where it competed with Buddhism.
• During the eighth century, Muslim armies reached
  present-day Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco
  Hindu-dominated northwest India and the Iberian
  peninsula (Spain and Portugal).
• The earliest Muslim conquerors were less
  concerned with spreading religion and more
  concerned with the extension of Arab power.

137
The Umayyad Caliphate

• Under the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750)
• The office of caliph united both secular and
  religious authority in the person of one leader.
• After the assassination of Ali in 661, the
  Umayyad family came to power.
• Establishing their political capital in Damascus,
  the Umayyad were noted for the following

138
The Umayyad Caliphate

• An empire that emphasized Arab ethnicity over
  adherence to Islam.
• Thousands of non-Arab converts (mawali) seethed
  at discriminatory taxes and mistreatment.
• Respect for Jews and Christians as People of the
  Book. Even though required to pay taxes on
  property and for charity, Jews and Christians
  were allowed freedom of worship and self-rule
  within their communities.

139
The Umayyad Caliphate

• They created a unified state, a vigorous
  commerce, and a resolute military based upon Arab
  tribes.
• But by 740 Umayyad policies had severely
  polarized their subjects and generated widespread
  hostility to their authority.
• Arab armies on the frontiers resented their low
  pay, constant campaigning, and the privileges of
  more favored tribes.

140
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The Umayyad ruling family lived lives of luxury,
  which prompted riots and instability among the
  general population.
• These riots led to the overthrow of the Umayyad
  Dynasty by a group known as the Abbasids in 750.
  
• The Abbasids were formed by a ruthless Muslim
  named Abbas, a descendant of an uncle of Muhammad
  (named al-Abbas). This blood relationship
  carried favor with the Shiites.

141
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The center of the Abbasid movement was in Persia
  where there was much resentment against the
  Umayyads.
• The Persians considered themselves heirs to a
  higher culture than their Arab conquerors who
  treated them as inferiors.

142
The Abbasid Caliphate

• To undermine the Umayyads, the Abbasids waged an
  effective propaganda campaign proclaiming the
  Umayyads were not true caliphs, that they lived
  worldly and decedent lives, and promised that
  they, the Abbasids, would again make Islam a true
  theocracy in the tradition of the rightly
  guided caliphs.

143
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The mawali also supported the Abbasids (they
  never liked the Umayyads) because they hoped the
  Abbasids would accept them as members of the
  Islamic community of believers (the umma).
• In 749, Abbas was acclaimed caliph by his
  followers.
• In 750, Umayyad forces met Abbasid forces at the
  Battle of the Great Zab (northern Iraq) and the
  Abbasids were victorious.

144
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Led by a brilliant Persian general named Abu
  Muslim, the Abbasid victory ended the Umayyad
  Empire.

145
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The deposed caliph (Marwan II) fled to Egypt but
  was caught there and killed, his head sent to the
  new caliph (Abbas) as a present.
• Settling into power, the new rulers of Islam
  began wiping out the rest of the Umayyads with
  systematic thoroughness to eliminate the
  possibility of future Umayyad challenges.

146
The Abbasid Caliphate

• At one epic slaughter, a Persian general named
  Abdullah invited 80 of the remaining members of
  the Umayyad clan to a banquet of
  reconciliation.
• At the height of the festivities he had all of
  them murdered, then ordered the bodies covered
  while he and his aides resumed their meal.

147
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Those Umayyad not attending the banquet were
  hunted down and killed.
• Only one of the Umayyads escaped the banquet, Abd
  al-Rahman, known as the Falcon of the Quraysh.
  He managed to flee across Africa and escaped to
  Spain, where he established the Caliphate of
  Cordoba, a dynasty that flourished for 300 years.

148
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The Abbasids carried their revenge even to
  Umayyad caliphs who were already dead, exhuming
  their corpses and desecrating their graves.
• Only one tomb was not violatedthat of Umar II,
  considered the only pious caliph among the
  Umayyads.

149
The Abbasid Caliphate

• In an effort to assure a stable government, the
  Abbasids tried to eliminate all dissidents who
  might undermine their ruleeven those who had
  supported them.
• The Shiites were quickly betrayed.
• The new rulers even ruthlessly executed the men
  who helped them gain office.
• General Abu Muslim was hacked to pieces while
  meeting with the Caliph, and his head was thrown
  to his followers who waited outside the palace
  gates (the rest of him was tossed into the
  Tigris).

150
The Abbasid Caliphate

• General Abdullah was imprisoned for seven
  yearsthen taken from prison and led with great
  pomp to a house especially built for him.
• But the dwelling, unknown to him, had foundations
  of salt, which gradually dissolved.
• At last the house crashed down on the
  unsuspecting general, becoming his tomb.

151
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate was a
  true revolution, not just a change of
  administrations.
• They ended the ethnic and economic discrimination
  against non-Arab Muslims (mawali) and they
  established the fundamental principle that all
  Muslims were equal before the state as well as
  before God.
• Freed of Umayyad elitism, Islam experienced a
  dramatic surge in conversions.

152
The Abbasid Caliphate

• To dramatize the newness and purity of their
  government, Abbas abandoned the Umayyad capital
  of Damascus and moved his capital to Hashimiya,
  Iraq (where Abbas received his early support).
• When he died in 754 after only four years in
  office (from smallpox), he was succeeded by his
  brother Mansur.

153
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Mansur realized Hashimiya had two major
  drawbacks it was not strategically located, and
  the area around it had long been a center of
  rebellion.
• He wanted to establish a new capital that would
  be a magnificent symbol of Abbasid power, so he
  journeyed throughout Iraq looking for a suitable
  location.

154
Baghdad

• He chose an ancient village named Baghdad, about
  20 miles northwest of the former Persian capital
  of Ctesiphon.
• Baghdad is situated on the west bank of the
  Tigris, in the midst of a fertile plain, with a
  canal linking the Tigris with the Euphrates.
• The site was excellently situated to serve
  commerce, dominating the crossroads of the great
  trade routes, both land and water, that went from
  the Far East to the Mediterranean.

155
Baghdad

• To Mansur, the new city that would rise in this
  island between the Tigris and Euphrates would
  be a market place for the world.
• Mansur said, Praise be to God who preserved it
  for me and caused all those who came before me to
  neglect it. By God I shall build it. Then I
  shall dwell in it as long as I live and my
  descendents after me. It will surely be the most
  flourishing city in the world.
• Besides Baghdads agricultural, commercial, and
  military advantages, Mansur was impressed by its
  cool nights and freedom from mosquitoes.

156
Baghdad

• Mansur named his capital city Madinat al-Salam
  (The City of Peace), but everyone still called
  it Baghdad.
• The first stones of the new buildings were laid
  in August 762, the time picked by a court
  astrologer as auspicious to begin construction
  (Mansur was the first caliph who kept an
  astrologer at court).

157
Baghdad

• Baghdad was built in the form of a circle nearly
  two miles across (it was known as the round
  city.)

158
Baghdad

• At the very center of the round city was the
  caliphs palace, a magnificent edifice built of
  marble and stone said to have carried from the
  old Persian capital of Ctesiphon.
• The palace had two striking features a golden
  gate and a green dome that rose to 120 feet over
  the caliphs main audience hall.

159
Baghdad

• The round city was divided into four pie-shaped
  quadrants by two highways that cut across it at
  right angles, linking the gates and running
  through them.
• By the Tenth Century, it is estimated the capital
  had over 1.5 million residents (potentially
  making it the worlds largest city).
• Under the Abbasids, the empire retained the
  religion and language of the Arabs, but in most
  other areas, it was not dominated by them.

160
Baghdad

• In Baghdad, the Abbasid state took on an
  international character it had never known
  before.
• With the end of their wars of conquest, the Arab
  aristocracy lost their monopoly on high offices
  and Arab warriors were replaced by Persian
  soldiers.

161
Baghdad

• Officials and administrators were drawn from the
  many peoples making up the empire they achieved
  social position by their ability and the caliphs
  favor rather than by fortune of birth, as in the
  past.
• Persian and other non-Arab influences entered
  Islam through intermarriage within the Abbasid
  family although the family was originally
  Arabian, of the 37 caliphs in the dynasty, only a
  few had Arab mothers.

162
Baghdad

• Abbasid caliphs were autocratic rulers who had
  absolute power like the Persian kings of
  antiquity.
• To emphasize the idea of their omnipotence,
  Abbasid caliphs sequestered themselves behind the
  walls of their palace in the heart of Baghdad,
  living in awesome splendor.
• Mansur commanded that his family was never to be
  seen in public unless they were dressed in costly
  silks and luxuriously perfumed.

163
Baghdad

• The caliph himself was inaccessible to all but a
  privileged few, who had to make their way past a
  multitude of guards and chamberlains to reach his
  presence.
• Upon at last reaching the caliphs throne,
  concealed by a resplendent curtain, one had to
  prostrate oneself and kiss the floora custom
  alien to the rude democracy of Arabia.

164
Baghdad

• A more grisly reminder of the caliphs absolute
  power was a leather carpet spread out from in
  front of the caliphs throne for the use of the
  executioner (who stood behind the caliph, sword
  drawn, ready to lop off the head from any
  luckless person who displeased his emperor).

165
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Here the Abbasid court welcomed Muslims of all
  ethnic backgrounds, laying the foundations of an
  intellectual, philosophical, and scientific
  renaissance.

166
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Under the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)
• The mawali (converts) experienced new
  opportunities for advancement in education,
  government, and the military.
• Trade became increasingly important and routes
  stretched from the western Mediterranean to China.

167
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The learning of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and
  Persians was preserved.
• Between the 9th-14th centuries, Abbasid chemists,
  mathematicians, geographers, physicians, and
  astronomers not only extended ancient knowledge,
  Greek logic, especially that of Aristotle,
  permeated Muslim intellectualism.

168
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Scholars were drawn to Baghdad, where the Caliph
  Mamun (r. 813-833) created the House of
  Wisdom.
• According to legend, Mamun was worried about
  applying reason to Gods universe until one night
  when he had a dream where he was visited by the
  ghost of Aristotle.
• Aristotle assured him that there was no conflict
  between reason and religion and the next day the
  ordered the House to be built.

169
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Within 75 years, the greatest works of the
  Western tradition had been translated into Arabic
  (Aristotle, Plato, Ptolemy, Euclid, Archimedes,
  Hippocrates, Galen among them)important Persian
  and Indian scientific works were also housed here.

170
The Abbasid Caliphate

• In mathematics, the fields of algebra, geometry,
  and trigonometry were further refined.
• The astrolabe, which measured the position of the
  stars, was improved.

171
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The study of astronomy produced maps of the
  stars.
• Optic surgery became a specialty, and human
  anatomy was studied in detail.
• Muslim cartographers produced the worlds most
  detailed maps (including the maps that guided
  Columbus).
• Some of the worlds first universities and
  largest libraries were built in Cairo, Baghdad,
  Timbuktu, and Cordoba.

172
Calligraphy

• In the arts, calligraphy and designs called
  arabesques adorned writing, pottery, and
  architecture.

173
Calligraphy

• The art of calligraphy was so important, Islamic
  calligraphers enjoyed a more exalted status than
  visual artists until the late Middle Ages.
• Elaborate calligraphy owed much to the religion
  because early on, literacy was scarce. The
  written word assumed a mysterious, almost magical
  aura.
• So elaborate scripts were created to beautify the
  sacred word.

174
Calligraphy

• However it was forbidden to draw, engrave, or
  paint any animate object (humans, animals, birds,
  etc) because according to Muhammad, only Allah
  can breathe life into such beings.
• The only way around this rule was to draw/paint
  etc without complete features (eyes, nose, etc).
  That way the artist wasnt imitating Allah.

175
Calligraphy
176
The Abbasid Caliphate

• In architecture, new styles were developed.
  Buildings were commonly centered around a patio
  area.
• Minarets, towers from which the faithful were
  called to prayer, topped or surrounded mosques.

177
The Abbasid Caliphate

• This is the minaret tower of the Great Mosque of
  Samarra (Iraq), built 847-851.
• It is 164 feet high.
• Samarra is 75 miles north of Baghdad and was for
  a short time the center of the caliphate.
• The mosque was the worlds largest until
  destroyed by the Mongols in 1278.

178
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Great pieces of poetry and literature, including
  The Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat, enriched
  Muslim culture.
• A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou besides
  me singing in the Wilderness

179
The Abbasid Caliphate

• The Persians introduced to the Abbasids (i.e.
  Islam) pastimes such as polo, backgammon, and
  chess.
• From the Far East they brought paper and
  porcelain their cooks created exotic new dishes
  and served them on tablesan innovation to Arabs
  accustomed to eating cross-legged on the floor.

180
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Baghdads tailors popularized trousers, in place
  of the traditional Arab robe.
• Persia also introduced several household items
  mattresses and cushions, kitchen utensils like
  frying pans and ovens even silks and linens.

181
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Because of all the international trade in Baghdad
  (and within the empire), a new professionbanking,
  emerged and would be well established by the
  Abbasids more than 300 years before reaching the
  West.
• The modern word check came from the Abbasid
  Arabic word sakk.
• They had central banks with branch officesit was
  possible for a check written on a bank in one
  part of the empire to be cashed in a distant
  city.

182
The Abbasid Caliphate

• Although responsible for much of the advancement
  of Islamic culture, the Abbasids found their vast
  empire increasingly hard to manage and
  effectively govern.
• The dynasty failed to address the problem of
  succession, and high taxes made the leaders less
  and less popular.

183
A Mans World

• Muslim society was a mans world. While his
  women stayed behind closed doors, the man of the
  house spent most of his non-working hours on the
  towngossiping, bathing, playing chess (which the
  Arabs introduced to the Europeans), meeting at a
  local tavern.

184
A Mans World

• Although Muhammad had forbidden the consumption
  of wine, the Prophet himself drank nabidh, a mild
  fermented beve