The Rise of Islam and the Making of an Arab Empire WHAP/Napp

“Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was born in Mecca in AD 570. When he was young he lost both his father and mother. Arabs, being seafarers of the desert, sometimes sent their boys or young men as apprentices with the camel-caravans that traded in far-off cities; and Mohammed went in one such caravan. At night the orphan boy learned to identify many of the stars in the brilliant night sky, and to know the hour when the moon would rise above the desert edge: the new moon would be a symbol of his faith. Mohammed was highly intelligent and impressed his rich employer, a widow. They married when she was 40 and he was 25. She bore him two boys, who died as infants, and four daughters. It is curious to contemplate that the founder of a religion now singled out for its subjection of women owed so much to a woman. Mohammed probably could not have launched a new religion but for her financial backing at a time when he was buffeted by opponents. He grew up when Arabia was weak and politically fragmented. It was largely controlled by intruders, of which Byzantium and Persia and Abyssinia were the strongest. Arabia was close to the major civilizations but did not necessarily gain from them nor feel at home with them. In religion it had large numbers of Jews and Christians, but in the interior and in many towns most of its people were pagans who worshipped moon goods or local deities. For them Mecca was a holy place and those who could afford the journey visited it as pilgrims. In Mecca, at the shrine called Ka’ba, they reverently approached the black stone which, perhaps a thousand years previously, had fallen to earth as a meteorite. Mohammed as a trader and courier travelled to distant cities where he learned much about the ideas of that outside world. He inhaled ideas from Judaism and Christianity – not in one deep breath but in many short breaths. In 610 he experienced an intense religious awakening during which he received the message that there was only one god – an idea not supported by the tribal religions of his land.” ~ A Short History of the World 1- Identify significant facts about Mohammed. ______2- What did Mohammed learn as a child? ______3- Describe Mohammed’s wife (Khadija). ______4- How did Mohammed’s life change when he married his employer? ______5- Describe Arabia during Muhammad’s childhood. ______6- Why was Mecca significant in pre-Islamic times? ______7- How did diffusion impact Mohammed as a trader and courier? ______8- What happened to Mohammed in 610? ______Notes: I. The Birth of Islam A. Central region of the Arabian Peninsulainhabited by nomadic Arabs, known as Bedouinsfiercely independent B. Arabialocated on trade routesgave rise to commercial cities 1. Meccasite of Kaaba, most significant shrine in Arabia, housed representations of some 360 deities and destination of many pilgrims 2. Mecca’s dominant tribe, Quraysh, came to control access to Kaaba C. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570-632 CE) was born in Mecca 1. Orphaned, adopted by uncle, widely traveled trader, eventually married to a wealthy widow, Khadija, Muhammad changed world history 2. Deeply troubled by religious corruption and social inequalities 3. Had an overwhelming religious experience 4. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad’s revelations began in 610 and continued periodically over next twenty-two years 5. The Quran (the holy book of Islam), attracted many followers D. Muhammad’s Message 1. Radically monotheistic 2. Muhammad was the “Seal of the Prophets” or final prophet in a long line of prophets beginning with Abraham 3. Submission to Allah (“Muslim” means “one who submits to God”) 4. Quran demanded social justice and concern for the poor E. Five Pillars of the Faith 1. Absolute monotheism 2. Prayer, preferably five times a day facing Mecca 3. To give generously to maintain the community/help the needy (Charity) 4. A month of fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) 6. Further requirement, sometimes called sixth pillar, “struggle” or jihad a) Greater jihad”  personal effort against greed and selfishness b) The “lesser jihad”  of the sword F. Muhammad’s Flight 1. By 622, Muhammad and followers emigrated to the more welcoming town of Yathrib, soon to be called Medina, the city of the Prophet 2. Known as hijra marked the beginning of a new Islamic calendar G. The Umma or Community 1. Membershipmatter of belief not birth, allowing it to expand rapidly 2. All authority, both political and religious, was concentrated in Muhammad 3. In Medina, declared Islam’s independence from Judaism a) When some Jewish groups allied with his enemies, Muhammad acted harshly to suppress them, exiling some and enslaving or killing others b) Now Muslims redirected their prayer-from Jerusalem to Mecca H. Rise of Empire 1. Early military successes against Muhammad’s Meccan opponents convinced other Arab tribes that the Muslims and their God were on the rise a) In 630, Mecca surrendered and Muhammad purged Kaaba of idols 2. One law, known as the sharia, regulated every aspect of life a) The sharia (literally, a path to water, which is the source of life) evolved over several centuries following birth of Islam 3. Within a few years of Muhammad’s death in 632, Arab armies engaged the Byzantine and Persian Sassanid empires, the great powers of the region 4. An Islamic/Arab empire stretching from Spain to India and penetrating both Europe and China while governing most lands between them emerged I. Changes 1. Most enduring was the mass conversion of Middle Eastern peoples to Islam 2. Converts to Islam could avoid the jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims 3. But ideal of unified Muslim community, important to Muhammad, proved difficult to realize as conquest and conversion enlarged Islamic umma 4. A central problem was leadership and authority in absence of Muhammad 5. First four caliphs (successors to Muhammad), known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs (632-661)  close “companions of the Prophet” a) But third and fourth caliphs, Uthman and Ali, were both assassinated 6. By 656, less than twenty-five years after the death of Muhammad, civil war a) On one side were Sunni Muslims, who held that caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, selected by the Islamic community b) On the other side was Shia (an Arabic word meaning “party” or “faction”) branch of Islam 1. Shia felt strongly that leadership in the Islamic world should derive from the line of Ali and his son Husayn, blood relatives of Prophet 2. For Sunni Muslims, religious authority emerged from community, particularly from the religious scholars known as the ulama 3. Shia Muslims invested their leaders or imams with a religious authority that the caliphs lacked 4. Shia viewed Umayyad caliphs as illegitimate usurpers (661-750) Complete the graphic organizer below: Muhammad: Five Pillars and Beliefs:

Islam Early History: Division within Community: Questions:  In what ways did the early history of Islam reflect its Arabian origins?  How does the core message of Islam compare with those of Judaism and Christianity?  In what ways was the rise of Islam revolutionary, both in theory and in practice?  Why were Arabs able to construct such a huge empire so quickly?  What accounts for widespread conversion to Islam?  What's the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam? 1. Which of the following Arabic terms 5. Pre-Islamic Arab society is best refers to the “community of the characterized as faithful”? (A) Pastoral nomadic (A) Hijab (B) Sedentary agricultural (B) Hajj (C) Highly urbanized (C) Hadith (D) Maritime trade-based (D) Zakat (E) Hunter-gatherer (E) Umma 6. Which two Muslim cities retain the 2. Which religious schism stemmed greatest symbolic or religious from disputes over legitimate significance in Islam to this day? succession of leadership after the I. Baghdad death of its key or founding figure? II. Istanbul (A) Eastern Orthodox and Catholic III. Mecca (B) Catholic and Protestant IV. Timbuktu (C) Mahayana and Theravada V. Medina (D) Sunni and Shia (E) Mahayana and Zen (A) I and II (B) II and III 3. Upon whom did Muhammad depend (C) II and IV most directly for economic support? (D) III and V (A) Local chieftains (E) II and V (B) The urban poor (C) His wife, Khadija 7. Which choice does NOT belong in a (D) Roman imperial administrators list describing the status of Muslim (E) Byzantine merchants women in the early Islamic period? (A) Male adultery was condemned in 4. Which best qualifies as the largest the Koran. durable tricontinental civilization? (B) Female infanticide was (A) Roman forbidden. (B) Hellenistic (C) Females and males both were (C) Islamic allowed multiple spouses. (D) Han (D) Female inheritance rights were (E) Mongol strengthened. (E) Divorce rights for women existed. Thesis Statement: Comparative: Women in Western Christendom and the Islamic World ______