History Paper
Aanand
HISTlec6.pptRise & History of Islam
- Arose in Arabia, desert peninsula
East/West—Red Sea & Persian Gulf
North/South—desert north, settled south
Kingdoms as far back as 10th c. BCE (Yemen)
North—nomadic, semi-nomadic
Trade routes cross fringes of Arabian peninsula
Red Sea access to Indian Ocean (IO)
Hijaz: caravan routes thru W. Arabia
Open to influence from outside (Aramaic, Hellenistic, Christian, Roman, Persian)
Traded w/everyone, served as mercenaries too
Area of considerable activity, ferment
- Life of Muhammed (570-632 CE)
Born 570, “Year of the Elephant”
Ethiopian general invaded Arabia w/elephant
Mecca impt trading center (Hijaz)
Quraish tribe dominated
Muhammad orphaned at young age, adopted
Experience w/world beyond Arabia (Palestine/Syria)
Married wealthy widow (he served as her business front, agent)
Received his “call” at age 40 (circa 610 CE)
Mt. Hira near Mecca—solitary retreat, meditation
Two dreams, visions: God? No-the angel Gabriel
“Recite in the name of the Lord who created you…” from the Koran (oldest passage)
Greg K. Sutton (gks) - Muhammad on Mt. Hira, "Life of the Prophet Muhammad," Ottoman illustration 1595
Importance of nature of Koran
Literal word of God
Delivered to Muhammad by angel Gabriel
Very different from Jewish/Christian texts
Contain commandments, some words of God, but written by men
As Muhammad b/c head of community, passages get longer, address matters of organization
Revealed message to narrow group
Founding a new religion?
Given an Arabic version of older religion?
People of Mecca uninterested
But gathered followers, denounced local practices, aroused opposition from Quraish
Muhammad, followers leave Mecca
Mecca to Medina, September 622—Hijra, start of Muslim calendar
Medina, large Jewish population, social & political divisions
Muhammad invited to rule as charismatic leader
Significant moment in development of Islam
Head of a religious & political community
Fights series of wars vs. Quraish tribe in Mecca
Discovers Jews have no use for his message
Conscious he is teaching @thing new
What? Pure religion of patriarch Abraham
Abraham the 1st Muslim
Muhammad last in series of prophets
Prophets of Jews, t/patriarchs true prophets
Jesus of Nazareth true prophet, not God
All these prophets sent by God, messages true
But followers distorted message & fell away from true teachings
Gabriel to Muhammad, Muhammad seal of all prophecy
630 CE: Quraish defeated, Mecca captured, Islam spreads thru Arabia
632 CE: Muhammad died
Had founded one of t/great world historical religions, less than 25 years
Five Pillars of the Faith: core practices of Islam
1) Shahada: profession of faith…”There is no God but God and Muhammed is his Apostle.”
2) Salat: daily worship, facing to the east, ultimately fixed at five prayers daily
3) Sawm: fast of t/month of Ramadan (28 days, no food, drink, sexual activity, smoking from sunrise to sunset)
4) Zakat: giving alms to the poor
5) Hajj: every Muslim, if at all possible, should attempt to make pilgrimage to Mecca once in his/her life
Muhammed only vessel for transmission of words of God
Later developments of Islam
Sources of Truth for Muslims
1) Koran is “word of God,” so Koran is source of Truth
Koran, like all holy texts, not as transparent to human understanding as one would like, so…
2) So Muslims rely on Sunna, i.e., Tradition
With Muslim conquests after death of Muhammad new questions emerge? Whose tradition? Different people with different cultures converting to Islam
Tradition of the prophet Muhammed: how do you discover tradition of the prophet—research
Hadith: short narrative stories collected—example, Uqba ibn Amir (early companion of Muhammed), “Someone sent the Prophet a silk gown and he wore it during the prayers, but on withdrawing he pulled if off violently with a gesture of disgust and said, ‘This is unfitting for God fearing men.’”
“Hadith,” huge effort goes into collecting/validating truthfulness of sayings attributed to the prophet
3) Third source of Truth is Ijma, i.e., the “consensus of the community.”
Islam has no clergy to intervene b/t believer & God (takes great pride in that fact too)
Ulema (uremia): Muslim religious specialists (clerics) who are experts but don’t intervene b/t believer & God
Uremia religious experts concerned w/study of Koran & Sunna (tradition). In effect, consensus of ulema b/c the consensus of the community
Situation when Muhammed died (632 C.E.)
Prophet’s death created a problem: who was authorized to govern t/community?
Abu Bakr, companion of t/prophet, became Khalifa/Calipha: deputy in Arabic
No religious authority; stream of prophecy ended w/Muhammed
Took up political leadership of t/community
1st problem: Ridda, i.e., “apostasy,” rejection of faith already accepted by Bedouins (nomadic tribes in desert)
Bedouins had submitted to Muhammed’s authority but many not Muslim (yet); renounced allegiance after Muhammed’s death—claimed allegiance was personal
Bedouin uprising—major military undertaking—1/2 years to defeat
Large, restive armies w/nothing to do
Abu Bakr = launch military raids northward
Give armies something to do
Spectacular wars of conquest (to the surprise of @one)
North & East of Arabia: Byzantine & Sassanian Empires
Just finished long, violent, bloody war (Byzantine Empire victorious but barely)
Both empires exhausted, spent
Persia divided internally
Byzantine Empire religious controversy
Muslim victories: 636 CE control over Palestine/Syria; 637 C.E. control Iraq; 639-40 conquer Egypt; 642 defeat Persia & expand east next few years
Conquests create a problem: how to govern?
Lands t/belonged to t/state (Byzantine/Persian) confiscated, under control of Khalifa
Land of enemies of new regime confiscated
Landowners required to pay taxes to Muslim rulers
Muslim who owned land outside Arabia paid tax at lower rate
Non-Muslims (Christians/Jews) governed themselves, so long as they paid a tax assessed on all non-Muslims (the jizya)
New regime welcomed by many—tax burden lighter, also Muslims didn’t persecute (other religions had valid prophets sent by God): all were “People of the Book”
Included Jews, Christians, & after some fudging, Zoroastrianism (state religion of the Persian Empire)
Problems w/in the Islamic community
1) Bedouins still resentful at earlier treatment—found outlet in “Kharajite” movement: replace caliphate w/republican theocracy
2) Pace of conquests slow--armies received less pay; factional conflict flared (often along tribal lines in Arabia)
Historic division b/t Sunni & Shiite Islam
656 C.E. military uprising in Egypt; same time, 3rd caliph, Uthman, assassinated in Mecca
Mutineers offered caliph to Ali, Muhammed’s cousin, married to t/prophet’s daughter Fatima
Ali closest living male relative to prophet
At Muhammed’s death, some thought he should be the caliph (passed over a total of 3 times)
Accepted position of caliph—alienated many, result civil war
Supporters of Ali versus governor of Syria, Mu’awiya
661 C.E. Ali assassinated
Mu’awiya new caliph
Start of Ummayad dynasty
He dies in 680 C.E. & the “Shi’at Ali,” i.e., the “party of Ali,” want Ali’s son, Husain, named caliph
Husain killed in battle at Karbala in 683 C.E. His death regarded by Shiite Muslims as martyrdom, still commemorated today by Shiites (Ashura)
Ummayad Dynasty
Arab domination of state
Ummayad’s emphasized “Arab-ness” of t/ruling group, not their religious identity
Arab identity b/c @thing of a hereditary social caste (paid only religious taxes)
Made up caliphate armies; enrolled in the diwan al – jund, records in t/war ministry for pension
Armies separate from society, isolated military garrisons
Basis of Ummayad caliphate small group of Arabs, also Muslim, separate from society, ruled over non-Arab, non-Muslims majority
Ummayad dynasty transformed religious community into a state
Copied admin of Byzantine & Persian Empires. Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, etc., converted to Islam to serve in t/bureaucracy
Discontent in Arab world continued…
Arabs internally divided
Those who were religious—esp. groups in Mecca & Medina didn’t like worldliness of the Ummayads
Wanted a more religious, less authoritarian, patriarchal caliphate
Bedouins anarchists: wanted freedom from caliphate rule—wanted to be left alone
Feuds b/t Arab tribes: organized along north-south axis
Big problem, however, were recent converts, i.e., Mawali, (singular, Mawla): means “clients.”
700 C.E., Islam not an Arabs monopoly
Berbers (N. Africa) & Persians converted in large #s
Mawali treated as low-born inferiors by Arab Muslims
Separate mosques for Mawali & Arab Muslims
Inter-marriage discouraged; social ostracism part of life for Arabs who associated w/recent converts
Mawali paid extra taxes not levied on Arabs
Served in army but not in cavalry (hence received lower pay)
Discount grew…
Great revolt in 750 C.E., overthrew Ummayads
Revolt by descendants of Muhammad’s uncle Abbas
Abbasid dynasty established
Capital moved from Damascus, Syria to new city—Baghdad, Iraq
Abbasid dynasty “Persianized.”
Adoption of Persian dress & Persian festivals observed
Abbasid caliph came to resemble Persian “shahanshah,” secluded in his palace—hidden away from subjects
Imperial unity of Islamic world breaks down…
Rival caliphates in Spain, N. Africa, Egypt, etc.
Turks infiltrate Asia Minor
Mongols show up, still a caliph in Baghdad, but days of Muslim political unity long gone (never to be revived)
Serious religious divisions beginning to appear
Sunni & Shiite Islam
Shiite Islam went thru 3 stages of development
Back to discussion of the caliph Ali, 4th caliph
1) Shiites were at first followers of Ali (cousin of Muhammed married to his daughter Fatima)
Shiite Islam at first protest against giving caliph to men like first 3 (none of whom were related to Muhammed)
2) Influx of new converts (Persian). Claimed that not only did government belong to descendants of Ali; they (descendants of Ali) thought to be more than mere civil magistrates (i.e., political leaders)
What were they? Divinely guided, infallible leaders (i.e., imams) charged w/expounding the true faith (Islam)
Shiite Islam marked by apocalyptic beliefs (i.e., end of the world near at hand)
In 680s, Muhammed b. al- Hanafiya (one of t/sons of Ali) thought by followers to be the “Mahdi,” the “guided one,” who would usher in the millennium
Followers regarded his death as temporary: thought he was hidden by God in t/world, and would return at end of days
Origin of the idea of the “Hidden Imam”
Lots of different hidden imams in Shiite Islam (Shiite Islam divided into several different sects, each of which had its own hidden imam)
Shiite Islam like other dissident religious movements (re: Protestantism) which, b/c they are dissident, have no final source of authority able to enforce orthodox belief)
Which of Muhammed’s male descendants was the source of the right line of imams?
Shiite ideas gradually, increasingly diverged from that of mainline (i.e., Sunni Islam)
For Sunnis, source of truth is the Koran, Sunna, & Ijma
For Shiite Muslims, the imam tends to replace all these as ultimate source of truth; Imam b/c in many cases divine, the point of contact b/t man & God
Conclusion
Last part of lecture has focused on increasing disunity in early Islamic history (don’t be mislead, however)
For most Muslims Islam was a unifying force (especially Sunni Islam)
Arabic the language of religion, the language of God
Muslims had much higher rates of literacy (b/c @one is supposed to read word of God his/herself); Persian (Farsi), however, was language of government in large parts of Islamic world
Five Pillars of the Faith & 3 sources of Truth (Koran, Sunna, Ijma) foundation of t/faith—these ideas & rituals bound the faithful together
Muslims could feel “at home” almost anywhere
Example: 14th c. Islamic scholar & traveler Ibn Battuta (1304-1368); originally from Morocco; trained specialist in Shari' a, i.e., Islamic law
Traveled thru out Islamic world b/t 1325-1349—from Morocco to Egypt to Turkey to Arabia to Persia to Central Asia to China & back
@where Battuta went he found fellow Muslims, occasional employment as Islamic legal expert, & kindred spirits w/whom he could converse in Arabic
