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Home , Amr ibn Hind, Arabs in Europe, Battle of Talas, Hassan ibn Thabit, Nabataean Kingdom

Mohammed Lamine Debaghin Setif II University Department of English Anglo-American Studies Islamic Foundations “Civilization” courses (Master II) Lecturer: Mr TABBI – B

CHAPTER ONE

Arab Civilization before

Contrary to some popular Western misconceptions propagated by many Western "experts" and "authorities" on the Arab world alleging that did not have any civilization before Islam, or that Arabs were nothing more than a collection of nomadic warring primitive tribes, confined solely to the , who spent most of their existence looking for food and water, the historical record proves otherwise. In fact, centuries before the birth of Islam, the Arabs had several civilizations, not only in the Arabian Peninsula itself, but also in the , some of which were highly advanced with elaborate development and culture. Although Arab civilization before Islam might not have had a noticeable impact on and Rome, it is nonetheless important to briefly mention here the following pre-Islamic Arab civilizations in order to dispel this wrong conventional Western notion that Arabs had no civilization before the birth of Islam, were nothing but wandering nomads, and were confined only to the Arabian Peninsula. Arab kingdoms “civilization”before Islam include:

1-The Kingdom of Saba (or Sheba)

One of the earliest and most important of all pre-Islamic Arab civilizations is the Qahtani Kingdom of Saba or Sheba (10th century BCE – 7th century CE), which had an elaborate civilization, legendary in its reputation of prosperity and wealth. The Kingdom of Saba was located in the southwestern mountainous rainy parts of the Arabian Peninsula in what is known today as the regions of Aseer and . Envious of its wealth, the Romans named it “” (fortunate or prosperous Arabia).

The Sabaean capital, Ma'rib, was located near San'a, today's capital of Yemen, which was reportedly founded by Noah's eldest son Shem (or "Sam" in ) from whose name the word "Sami" in Arabic or "Semitic" in English comes. In addition to their domains in the Arabian Penisula, the Sabaean kings controlled for a long time some parts of the East African coast across the where they established the Kingdom of Abyssinia, which is Eritrea today. It should be indicated here that the name “Abyssinia” comes from the Arabic word “Habashah”. One of the most famous rulers of the Sabaeans was Queen Balgais. This mystic Arab Queen of Sheba was well known for her beauty, grace, wealth, charm, and splendor. She reportedly had a famous impassioned encounter with the Hebrew King Solomon when she took a special trip to Jerusalem

The Sabaean Kingdom produced and traded in spices, Arabian , , and other Arabian aromatics. The Sabaeans excelled in agriculture and had a remarkable irrigation system with terraced mountains, incredible huge water tunnels in mountains and great dams including the legendary Ma'rib Dam, which was built around 2000 BCE. This Arab dam was considered to be one the greatest technological wonders of the ancient world. However, the tragic breaking of the Ma'rib Dam around 575, as indicated in the Qur'an, was an event of very traumatic proportions in the collective consciousness of all Arabs at the time and of later generations.

2-The Kingdom of Himyar The Arab Kingdom of Himyar (115 BCE to 525 CE), which was also located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, had a sizable number of and Arab Jews (not Hebrews). The most prominent Arab Jew of this kingdom was King Dhu al-Nuwas who persecuted his Arab Christian subjects. He reportedly incinerated some of them alive in retaliation for their persecution of Arab Jews in neighboring Arab Christian Najran.From their capital city, first at Zafar and later at San'a, the powerful Himyarite kings executed military plans which resulted in the expansion of their domains at times eastward as far as the Persian Gulf and northward into the . However, internal disorder and the changing of trade routes eventually caused the kingdom to suffer political and economic decline. In fact, after several unsuccessful attempts, the African Abyssinians finally invaded the Arab in 525. In 570, the year Prophet Mohammad was born, the Abyssinian governor sent an army of elephant-borne troops in an unsuccessful attempt to attack the city of Makkah () and destroy its Ka'bah. In 575 the Persians invaded Himyar and ended the Abyssinian presence in Himyar. But the Persians did not last long there either. Soon thereafter Islam swept the entire Arabian Peninsula.

3-The

The Arab Nabataean Kingdom was established in the 6th century BCE. It was located south of the and along the eastern shores of the Gulf of in the northern parts of the . The had their capital city in that was a flourishing center of commerce and civilization. The Nabataeans’ great achievements and culture are still echoed in the magnificent carved-in-the-mountains monuments they left behind. Thousands of tourists from all over the world are attracted every year to this Arab region to see these monuments not only at Petra in but also in 's Mada'in Salih (i.e., Prophet Salih who warned the Thamud Arab Kingdom to worship Allah before the birth of Prophet Mohammad). The small Arab neighboring Kingdoms of Ad, Thamud, and - all also with brilliant monuments and achievements mentioned in the Qu'ran - came under the Nabataean suzerainty for a while.

The Arab Nabataean Kingdom, which at its zenith ruled much of the Syrian interior including , later became a vassal Roman state and eventually fell victim to European colonialism when it was absorbed into the Roman as the "Provincia Arabia" in 195 CE. In fact, the Roman Emperor Philip, who ruled from 244 to 249, was ethnically an Arab from this Arab Nabataean region. Incidentally, this Roman Emperor who was known as "", was preceded to the Palatine Hill in Rome by a series of Arab empresses, half-Arab emperors, and the fully Arab Elagabulus of Emesa. It is also believed by some scholars that Philip the Arab was really the first Roman Christian emperor (244-249 CE) rather than Constantine I who ruled the (312-337 CE) 63 years after him.

4-The Kingdom of Tadmor (or )

Another important Arab civilization before Islam was the famous Kingdom of Palmyra (or Tadmor in Arabic), which is now Hims in . Although mentioned in some history books as early as the 9th century BCE, Tadmor became only prominent in the 3rd century BCE when it controlled the vital between and the Mediterranean. The Tadmorians had a great civilization and excelled in international trade. However, like the Nabataeans, they eventually came under the control of the expanding Roman imperialism by becoming another client Arab state of Rome.

In 265 the Tadmorian Arab King Udhayna (or Odenathus) was rewarded by the Romans to become a vice- emperor of the Roman Empire because of his assistance in their war against Persia. However, King Udhayna's widow Zainab (aka az-Zabba or ), the famous strong Arab queen wanted nothing less for Palmyra than a complete independence from Rome. She succeeded in temporarily driving the Roman invaders out of most of the Fertile Crescent and proclaimed her son Wahballat (or Athenodorus) to be the true emperor of a new independent Arab Palmyra. Queen Zainab's Arabian independent spirit, however, deeply angered the Romans and eventually resulted in the destruction of the Tadmorian Kingdom in 273 by a powerful force of the Roman imperial army. As part of the Roman victory celebration, queen Zainab was brutally taken to Rome in golden chains.

5-The Kingdom of

Kindat al-Muluk (or the Royal Kindah) was a famous Arab kingdom, which originated in the southern Arabian Peninsula near Yemen's Hadramawt region. Its capital city, al-Fau, was excavated northeast of Najran in Saudi Arabia in 1972 by Saudi archaeologists from King Saud University in Riyadh. The Kingdom of Kindah became prominent around the late 5th and early 6th centuries CE when it made one of the earliest and successful efforts to unite several Arab tribes under its new domain in Najd in central Arabia.

The traditional founder and ruler of Kindah was Hujr Akil al-Murar. However, the most renowned of all Kindah kings was al-Harith ibn Amr, Hujr's grandson, who extended his kingdom's domain north by invading and temporarily capturing al-Hirah, the capital city of the Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid. But in 529 al-Hirah was liberated by its Christian Arabs who killed King al-Harith along with 50 members of his family. After al-Harith's death, the Kindah Kingdom split up into four factions - Asad, , Kinanah, and Qays - each led by a prince. The famous pre-Islamic Arab poet Imru' al-Qays (who died around 540) was the prince of Qays. The continuing feuding between these Arab factions, however, eventually forced the Kindah princes by the middle of the 6th century to withdraw to their original place in southern Arabia next to Yemen. Nevertheless, after Islam was established throughout the Arabian Peninsula, many descendants of the Royal Kindah continued to hold powerful political positions within the Islamic state. In fact, one branch of the Royal Kindah was even successful in gaining great political influence in far away Arab Andalusia in the European .

6-The Kingdom of Lakhmid

The Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid, which originated in the 3rd century CE, reached the height of its power during the 6th century under King al-Munthir III (503-554). Its domain covered from the western shores of the Persian Gulf all the way north to Iraq where its capital city, al-Hira, was located on the Euphrates River near present day Kufah. Working in close cooperation with the Zoroastrian Persian to which the Lakhmid Kingdom was a vassal state, al-Munthir III raided and frequently challenged the pro- Byzantine Arab Kingdom of Ghassan in Syria. His son King Amr Ibn Hind was patron of the legendary Arab poet Tarfah Ibn al-Abd and other poets associated with the seven Mu'allaqat (the Suspended Odes") of pre- Islamic Arabia (see "The Jahiliyyah" below). The Lakhmid dynasty eventually disintegrated after the death of its great Arab Christian King an-Nu'man III in 602.

7-The Kingdom of Ghassan

As the Lakhmid Arab Kingdom was Christian so was its Arab neighbor to the west, the Kingdom of Ghassan, whose capital city was Damascus. This Syrian Ghassanid Kingdom was prominent in the 6th century and was an ally of the . It protected the vital spice trade route from the south of the Arabian Peninsula and also acted as a buffer against the desert .

The Ghassanid King al-Harith Ibn Jabalah (reigned 529-569), who was a Monophysite Christian, supported the Christian Byzantine Empire against the Zoroastrian Sasanian Persian Empire and successfully opposed the Arab Kingdom of , which sided with Persians. As a result, King al-Harith was given the title of “Patricius” by the Byzantine emperor Justinian.

Like the Lakhmids, the patronized the arts and many literary geniuses such as al-Nabighah al- Thubyani and Hassan Ibn Thabit. Great Arab poets like them were frequently entertained in the royal courts of the Ghassanid kings. After the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, most inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ghassan became Muslim. One of the most prominent poets of the Kingdom of Ghassan was Hassan Ibn Thabit. Ibn Thabit, who espoused Islam, wrote several famous and beautiful poems in praise of Prophet Mohammad. 8-The Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Arabia)

Even in the period of Jahiliyyah (or "the ignorance" of pre-Islamic Arabia 500-622) the Arabs also had a great cultural literary civilization. Its great classical belles letters could very easily be compared to the best literary treasures developed during the later golden age of the Arab/Islamic civilization of the Abbasids and Andalusia. The Jahiliyyah era witnessed a vibrant golden age of Arab poetry and odes. Among the top pre- Islamic Arab poets, whose poems are still studied in college and pre-college curricula throughout the Arab world, are the seven legendary poets of the Golden Odes, known as the Seven Mu'allaqat ("the Suspended Odes"). These seven pre-Islamic Arab poets who belonged to different Arab tribes included: Prince Imru' al- Qays of the Kindah Kingdom; Tarfah (by far the greatest pre-Islamic Arab poet); Zuhair; Labid (who became so overwhelmed by the power and elegance of the Qur'an that he refused to compose any poetry for the last thirty years of his life); Antar (the greatest cavalier warrior of pre-Islamic Arabia); Amru' Ibn Kalthoom; and al-Harith Ibn Hillizah. Each one of these seven great Arab poets wrote magnificent lengthy poems accentuated with passion, love, eloquence, courage, and sensuality. Their seven golden odes, considered to be the greatest literary treasure of pre-Islamic Arabia, were accorded the highest honor by the critics of the times in the annual poetry fair in Ukaz near Makkah. Their works were inscribed in gold letters and hung (or "suspended") on the door and walls of the Ka'bah for the public to read, enjoy, and appreciate. To these seven incomparable Jahiliyyah Arab poets one must add the following four geniuses in poetry: an-Nabighah al- Thubyani, Hassan Ibn Thabit, al-Hutay'ah, and al-Khansa' (a female). Although most of pre-Islamic Arabia during the Jahiliyyah period was largely nomadic and tribal where wars and conflicts were the norms among the disunited Arab tribes and where most people believed in pagan religions and superstitions, the two important cities of the Hejaz, Makkah and Ukaz, stood as shining spots in the entire Arabian Peninsula. In fact, Makkah was the religious, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural center of pre-Islamic Arabia. The Ka'bah in Makkah and Mount Arafat outside it (both of which were later incorporated in Islam) had been important religious sites for annual pilgrimage centuries before the coming of Islam.

CHAPTER TWO AND THREE

Introduction

Abbasid Dynasty, second of the two great Sunni dynasties of the Muslim Empire of the Caliphate of . It overthrew the Umayyads in AD 750 (132 AH), and reigned as the until destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, their general, sacked Baghdad. The Abbasid reign, and Muslim cultural heritage, recentered themselves in the Mamluk capital of Cairo in 1261. Though lacking in political power, the continued to claim authority in religious matters from their base in where the Mamluk Sultans maintained them as titular Caliph until after the Ottoman . In 1517, the last Abbasid is said to have ceded the title to the Ottoman Sultan. Traces of the Abbasid dynasty can still be found in modern day Iraq, , and in northern areas of Pakistan. The Abbasid claim to the caliphate was based on kinship with the Prophet Muḥammad through his youngest uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib of the Hāshimite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. From c. 718, members of his family worked to gain control of the empire, and by skillful propaganda won much support, especially from Shīʿī Arabs and Persians in Khorāsān. Open revolt in 747, under the leadership of Abū Muslim, led to the defeat of Marwān II, the last Umayyad caliph, at the Battle of the Great Zāb River (750) in Mesopotamia(Iraq) and to the proclamation of the first ʿAbbāsid caliph, Abū al-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ. The surviving members of the Umayyad family fled to al-Andalus, where they ruled the Islamic West for the next six centuries. The Abbasids flourished for two centuries, but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army they had created, the Mamluks. Under the Abbasids the caliphate entered a new phase. Instead of focussing, as the Umayyads had done, on the West—on North Africa, the Mediterranean, and southern —the caliphate now turned eastward. This eastward shift allowed some independent dynasties to form in the west, such as the Spanish Umayyad and later the Egyptian Fatimids. At first, the Abbasid caliphate centered its government in , but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur established a new city of Baghdad, north of the Sasanian capital city of Ctesiphon. The targeted choice of a capital so close to Persian empire reflected a growing reliance on Persian bureaucrats, most notably of the Barmakid family, to rule the territories conquered by Arab , as well as an increasing inclusion and assimilation of non-Arab Muslims of Persia, some Christians, most from Zoroastrianism, in the greater Islamic ummah. In fact, Abbasid culture would come to be dominated by the legacy of Persian civilization; the Abbasid court was heavily influenced by Persian customs, and members of the powerful Persian Barmakid family acted as the advisers of the caliphs and rivaled them in wealth and power. Despite of this initial cooperation, the Abbasids of the late had alienated both Arab mawali (foreigners who had converted to Islam; because, however, they were foreigners they could not be incorporated into the kinship-based society of Arabs and they were considered as second-class citizens even though they were Muslims. ), and Iranian bureaucrats, and were forced to cede authority over Al-Andalus and to the Umayyads, to the , to the , and Egypt to the Shi'ite Caliphate of the Fatimids. For the first time the caliphate was not coterminous with Islām; in Egypt, North Africa, , and elsewhere, local dynasties claimed caliphal status.

With the rise of the Abbasids the base for influence in the empire became international, emphasizing membership in the community of believers rather than Arab nationality. Since much support for the Abbasids came from Persian converts, it was natural for the ʿAbbāsids to take over much of the Persian (Sāsānian) tradition of government. Support by pious Muslims likewise led the Abbasids to acknowledge publicly the embryonic Islamic law and to profess to base their rule on the religion of Islam. Between 750 and 833 the Abbasids raised the prestige and power of the empire, promoting philosophy, commerce, industry, arts, and science, particularly during the reigns of al-Manṣūr, Hārūn ar-Rashīd, and al-Maʾmūn, in what was known as the Golden Age of Islam . Their temporal power, however, began to decline when al-Muʿtaṣim introduced non-Muslim Berber, Slaves, and especially Turkish mercenary forces into his personal army. Although these troops were converted to Islām, the base of imperial unity through religion was gone, and some of the new army officers quickly learned to control the caliphate through assassination of any caliph who would not accede to their demands. The power of the army officers had already weakened through internal rivalries when the Iranian Būyids entered Baghdad in 945, demanding of al-Mustakfī (944–946) that they be recognized as the sole rulers of the territory they controlled. This event initiated a century-long period in which much of the empire was ruled by local secular dynasties. In 1055 the ʿAbbāsids were overpowered by the Seljuq Turks, who took what temporal power may have been left to the caliph but respected his position as religious leader, restoring the authority of the caliphate, especially during the reigns of al-Mustarshid (1118–35), al-Muqtafī, and an-Nāṣir. Soon after, in 1258, the dynasty fell during a Mongol of Baghdad.

The and Revolt against the Umayyads(750–751)

The Abbasid Empire overthrew the preceding Umayyad Empire, which was based in Damascus, Syria. The Umayyads had become increasingly unpopular, especially in the eastern territories of the caliphate. The Umayyads favored Syrian Arabs over other Muslims and treated mawali, newly converted Muslims, as second- class citizens. The most numerous group of mawali were the Persians, who lived side- by-side with Arabs in the east who were angry at the favor shown to Syrian Arabs.Together, they were ripe for rebellion. Other Muslims were angry with the Umayyads for turning the caliphate into a hereditary empire. Some believed that a single family should not hold power, while Shiites believed that true authority belonged to the family of the Prophet through his son in- law Ali, and the Umayyads were not part of Muhammad’s family. Muhammad ibn 'Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II.

All these various groups who were angry with the Umayyads united under the Abbasids, who began a rebellion against the Umayyads in Persia. The Abbasids built a coalition of Persian mawali, Eastern Arabs, and Shiites. The Abbasids were able to gain Shiite support because they claimed descent from Muhammad through Muhammad’s uncle Abbas. Their descent from Muhammad was not through Ali, as Shiites would have preferred, but Shiites still considered the Abbasids better than the Umayyads. During the reign of Marwan II, tensions culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam, the fourth in descent from Abbas. Supported by the province of Khorasan, , even though the governor opposed them, and the Shi'i Arabs, he achieved considerable success, but was captured in the year 747 and died, possibly assassinated, in prison. On 9 June 747 (15 Ramadan AH 129), a Persian general successfully initiated revolts against Umayyads, which was carried out under the sign of the Black Standard. Nearly 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslim's command when tensions and hostilities officially began in . General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, Battle of Nahāvand and finally in the Battle of Karbala. His victories allowed Ibrahim's brother Abdallah, known by the name of Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah to enter the Shiite- dominated city of Kufa in 748 and declare himself caliph. In 750, the army of Abu Muslim and al-Saffah faced the Umayyad Caliph Marwan II at the Battle of the Zab near the Tigris River. Marwan II was defeated, fled, and was killed. As-Saffah captured Damascus and slaughtered the remaining members of the Umayyad family (except for one, Abd al-Rahman, who escaped to Spain and continued the Umayyad Empire there). The Abbasids were the new rulers of the caliphate. The Abbasids had led a revolution against the unpopular policies of the Umayyads, but those who expected major change were disappointed. Immediately after their triumph , As-Saffah sent his army to , where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of . , who were crucial in building Baghdad; introduced the world's first recorded mill in Baghdad, hence the beginning a new era of intellectual rebirth for Abbasids. Under the second Abbasid Caliph, al-Mansur (r. 754–775), it became clear that much of the Umayyad past would be continued. The Abbasids maintained the hereditary control of the caliphate, forming a new empire. The alliance with the Shiites was short lived.Even Abu Muslim, the brilliant Persian general who engineered the rise of the Abbasids, was deemed a threat and executed. However, the Abbasids did prove loyal to their Persian mawali allies.

Accusing the Umayyads of ruling the Islamic territory as emperors rather than as deputies of the Prophet of Islam, the Abbasids claimed religious legitimacy for their revolt and went into battle with the cry, “O Muhammad, helped of God.” They later wore Muhammad's mantle while leaving Friday prayers as a sign of their loyalty to his tradition. The Abbasids may have promised their supporters that they would restore the original process by which the “best among” the Muslims would be selected as Caliph and abolish the dynastic system. They may also have hoped to reconcile Sunni and Shi'a Islam by asserting that their family link to Muhammad through a male uncle was more legitimate than that of Ali's descendants, who traced themselves through Fatimah. The Abbasids rejected the rival claims of the Fatimids of Egypt on the basis that the Caliphate could not be transmitted through women. The revolt of the Abbasids against the Umayyads is one of only a few rebellions against a governing Caliph that has had majority support in Islam. Generally, Muslims have thought it better to obey even a corrupt Caliph provided that he is at least externally pious, for the sake of the unity of the community. Both selecting and removing a Caliph are matters of deep concern, though much of the literature focuses more on the qualities required of the Caliph than on the processes of appointing or dismissal.

The Abbasids’ Golden Age

Baghdad grew quickly with encouragement from the Abbasid state, and it was soon the largest city in the world. At Baghdad, the Persian culture that the Umayyads had attempted to suppress was now allowed to thrive. Art, poetry, and science flourished. The Abbasids learned from the Chinese (allegedly from Chinese soldiers captured in battle) the art of making paper. Cheap and durable, paper became an important material for spreading literature and knowledge. The fifth caliph of the Abbasid empire, Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), is remembered as one of history’s greatest patrons of the arts and sciences. Under his rule, Baghdad became the world’s most important center for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. The massive size of the caliphate meant that it had contact and shared borders with many distant , so scholars at Baghdad could collect, translate, and expand upon the knowledge of other civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. The successors of Harun al-Rashid, especially his son al-Ma’mun (r. 813–833), continued his policies of supporting artists, scientists, and scholars. Al-Ma’mun founded the Bayt al-Hikma, the , in Baghdad. A library, an institute for translators, and in many ways an early form of university, the House of Wisdom hosted Muslim and non-Muslim scholars who sought to translate and gather the cumulative knowledge of human history in one place, and in one language—Arabic. The reign of al-Rashid and his son were considered to be the apex of the Abbasids. At the House of Wisdom, important ideas from around the world came together. The introduction of Indian numerals, which have become standard in the Islamic and Western worlds, greatly aided in mathematic and scientific discovery. Scholars such as Al-Kindi revolutionized mathematics and synthesized Greek philosophy with Islamic thought. Al-Biruni and Abu Nasr Mansur—among many other scholars— made important contributions to geometry and astronomy. Al-Khwarizmi, expanding upon Greek mathematical concepts, developed Algebra (the word “algorithm” is a corruption of his name). Ibn al- Haytham made important contributions to the field of optics, and is generally held to have developed the concept of the scientific method. A number of very practical innovations took place, especially in the field of agriculture. Improved methods of irrigation allowed more land to be cultivated, and new types of mills and turbines were used to reduce the need for labor (though slavery was still very common in both the countryside and cities). Crops and farming techniques were adopted from far-flung neighboring cultures. Rice, cotton, and sugar were taken from , citrus fruits from , and sorghum from Africa. Thanks to Islamic famers, these crops eventually made their way to the West. Such Islamic innovation would continue, even as the Abbasid government fell into chaos. Due to several very capable caliphs and their advisers, the Abbasid Caliphate thrived through the early ninth century, despite the major challenges of ruling a massive and multiethnic empire. Besides being a great patron of the arts and sciences, Harun al-Rashid also brought the Abbasid Caliphate to its high point. Still, he had to deal with revolts in Persia and North Africa, and he removed from power the Persian Barmakid family, the source of many great advisers Al-Rashid’s son, Caliph al-Ma’mun not only continued his father’s patronage by establishing the House of Wisdom, but he made a number of important independent innovations.It is worthy to mention that after Rashid's death, the empire was split by a civil war between the caliph Al-Amin and his brother Al-Ma'mun who had the support of the rebels in Khorasan. This war ended with a two-year and the eventual death of Al-Amin in 813. Al-Ma'mun ruled for 20 years of relative calm interspersed with a rebellion supported by the Byzantines in Azerbaijan . After the caliphate of al-Ma’mun, Abbasid power began to noticeably decline. The cost of running a massive empire and maintaining a large bureaucracy required steady revenues, and as the authority of the caliphate diminished it was able to collect fewer taxes. In order to stabilize the state finances, the caliphs granted tax-farms to governors and military commanders. These governors, with their own troops and revenue bases, soon proved independent-minded and disloyal.

The caliph al-Mu`tasim (r. 833–842) furthered the gap between the caliph and his people. Expanding on al-Ma’mun’s new army, he created his own military force of slave soldiers called (later know as “Mamluks”). As the elite guard of the caliph, these slaves began acting superior to the people of Baghdad, which inspired anger and led to riots. Instead of trying to diffuse the situation, al- Mu’tasim simply moved the capital away from Baghdad and settled in Samarra, 60 miles to the north. Away from the bulk of their subjects who lived in Baghdad, the caliphs became insulated from the problems of their empire.

Caliph al-Nasir (r. 1180–1225) attempted to restore Abbasid power in Iraq. His long reign of forty seven years allowed him ample time to reconquer Mesopotamia and further develop Baghdad as a center of learning. His chief rival was the Sultanate of Khwarezm, which ruled Persia. Supposedly, al-Nasir appealed to the Mongols, an expanding central-Asian nomad empire, for help against Khwarezm. Under al-Nasir’s less competent successors, this backfired disastrously. The Mongols completely overran Khwarezm and then turned their attention to Baghdad. The Mongols seem to have wanted to rule, by holding real military power but allowing the Abbasid caliph symbolic authority.

Caliph al-Mu`tasim (r. 1242–1258), however, refused to acknowledge their authority. Faced with Mongol invasion, he did little to prepare, and the Mongol hordes soon surrounded Baghdad. They captured the city in 1258 and left Baghdad a smoldering ruin. This marks the end of the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad, and the abrupt end of the Islamic golden age. The Abbasid line was reestablished in 1261, in Egypt. The sultans of Egypt appointed an Abbasid caliph in Cairo, but these Egyptian caliphs were even more symbolic than the late caliphs had been in Baghdad, and were simply used to legitimize the power of the sultans. The authority of these caliphs extended strictly to religious matters. Still, the Egypt-based period of the Abbasid empire lasted over 250 years. In 1517, the conquered Egypt. The last Abbasid caliph, al- Mutawakkil III, was forced to surrender all his authority to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. This was the end of seven-and-a-half centuries of Abbasid history.

Mongol invasion (1206–1258)

Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad on February 10, 1258, causing great loss of life. As fear of God’s wrath, a precaution and in accordance with a Mongol taboo which forbade spilling royal blood of a direct descendant of Muhammad, Al-Musta'sim, the last reigning Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, was executed by wrapping him in a carpet and trampled to death by horses on 20 February, 1258. The Caliph's immediate family was totally executed, with the lone exceptions of his youngest son who was sent to Mongolia, and a daughter who was taken a slave in the harem of Hulagu.

The Mamluks and the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo (1261–1517)

Faced with these challenges from within, the Abbasids decided to create an army loyal only to their Caliphate, drawn mostly from Turkish slaves, known as Mamluks, with some Slavs and participating as well. This force, created in the reign of al-Ma'mun (813-833), and his brother and successor al-Mu'tasim (833-842), prevented the further disintegration of the empire.It also, however, led to the ultimate eclipse of Abbasid rule. The creation of this foreign army and al-Mu'tasim's transfer of the capital from Baghdad to Samarra created a division between the Caliphate and the peoples they claimed to rule. In addition, the power of the Mamluks steadily grew until al-Radi (934-941) was constrained to hand over most of the royal functions to Mahommed bin Raik. In the following years the Buyids, who were Shi'ites, seized power over Baghdad, ruling central Iraq for more than a century before being overthrown by the Seljuq Turks. In the same period, the Hamdanids, another Shi'ite dynasty, came to power in northern Iraq, leading to a tremendous expansion of Shi'a influence. In the process, the Abbasid caliphs became no more than figureheads. However, they continued to confer certificate of legitimacy, and titles, on the Sultans (whose power was in theory delegated to them by the Caliph) and the oath of loyalty to them was recited during Friday prayers. Copying from the practice of the Shahs of Persia, the Abbasids started to receive visitors behind a veil (hijab) and to surround their office with mystique. As their temporal authority declined, this mystique increased. The Mamluks eventually reigned in Egypt. In 1261, following the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols ‘invasion, the Mamluk rulers of Egypt re-established the Abbasid caliphate in Cairo. In this regard, the Abbasids still maintained a remnant of authority, confined to religious matters, in Egypt under the Mamluks, but the dynasty finally ended with Al-Mutawakkil III. He was carried away as a prisoner to Constantinople by Selim I who defeated the Mamluks and claimed that Al-Mutawakkil ceded him the title and dignity of Caliph.

CHAPTER FOUR AND FIVE

Muslims rule in Spain

The Iberian Peninsula, modern Spain and , has had a long and diverse history. At the far West of the Old World, it had come under the control of a number of peoples, from the Carthaginians of North Africa in the 6th century BCE, to the Romans after their victory in the Punic Wars, and after the fall of Rome in the 5th century CE, to two Germanic groups, the Vandals and then Visigoths, who soon converted to Christianity. However, the religion of Islam was growing in the East, and the expansion of the Muslim World would come to include Spain for the next 800 years. It was during this period, when the rest of Medieval Europe was in relative decline, that Spanish Muslims produced vast amounts of scholarship and numerous cultural achievements. While it was never a perfect harmony, this society is remembered as an example of uncommon tolerance in an otherwise intolerant period in Europe. Hispania was the name given to the whole Iberian Peninsula (covering the territories of present day Spain and Portugal), and after the decline of the Western Roman Empire (476) the Teutonic tribe of Visigoths ended up ruling the whole peninsula until the Islamic conquest.

Arab entrance into Europe began with an "invitation". The governor Count Julian of an outlying province “Ceuta” in the Iberian Peninsula sent his daughter to Toledo for schooling and education . She was supposedly under the protection of King Rodrick (one of the Germanic ruthless Visigoth occupying rulers in Spain) who instead of protecting her, violated and impregnated her. As a result, Julian appealed to Musa ibn Nusayr, the Umayyad Governor of N. Africa for assistance in avenging Roderic for his crime and injury, and hence take him out of rule. Musa did not commit to a full-scale invasion, but called upon his lieutenant to take charge. Because of the weakened Visigoth kingdom due to internal conflicts, and the Muslims' organization, the Muslim army easily defeated Roderic's army of over 90,000 men almost without resistance. On April 30, 711, the Berber commander Tariq ibn-Ziyad “Musa ibn Nusayr’s lieutenant” led a small force that landed at Gibraltar (so named after him from the Arabic words Jabal Tariq or "the Mountain of Tariq"), ostensibly to intervene in a Visigothic civil war. After a decisive victory over King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete on July 19, 711, Tariq ibn-Ziyad, joined by Arab governor Musa ibn Nusayr of Ifriqiya, brought most of the Visigothic Kingdom under Muslim occupation in a seven-year campaign. They also crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern , but were defeated by the Frankish Christian Charles Martel at the in 732, in which remains today one of the greatest victories for Christian Europe for bringing a halt to Islam's expansion.

While most Westerners of the Dark Ages lived in filth, poverty, and ignorance, the Arabs had a brilliant civilization in Andalusia, Europe's Iberian Peninsula. To be exact, the Arabs stayed in Europe 781 years during which they introduced to the West a wonderful civilization; religious tolerance; racial harmony; public baths; and the novel idea of cleanliness expressed in public and personal hygiene by washing the human body with water. Before the Arabs arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, the barbarian Germanic occupying Visigoths viciously persecuted Spanish and Portuguese Jews. The Arabs not only treated local Jews with kindness and respect, but also treated their fellow Christians with the same kindness and tolerance that Islam called for. In fact, the Iberian Jews welcomed the Arab conquering army as a liberating force and joined it against the Visigoths. The intolerant Germanic Visigoths also heavily taxed and ruthlessly treated the poor Iberian peasants, rendering them practically as slaves. The Arabs, on the other hand, humanely treated the local peasants and drastically reduced their taxation.

As early as the 10th century, the Arab Andalusian capital, Cordoba, was a magnificent metropolitan center of progress. The pride of the , Cordoba had a half million people living in it at a time when no European city could claim a population of even 10,000. Indeed, Arab Cordoba was the largest and most cultured city in all of Europe. Its jewelry, leather work, woven and elaborate brocades were highly prized throughout the world. Cordoba's Arab women copyists excelled far better than most European Christian monks in the production of religious works. A travelling German nun by the name of Hrosvitha, who died in 1002, was highly impressed by Arab Cordoba. She referred to it as "the jewel of the world". She wrote:

"In the western parts of the globe ... there shone forth a fair ornament ... a city well cultured ... rich and known by the famous name of Cordoba, illustrious because of its charms and also renowned for all resources, especially abounding in the seven streams of knowledge, and ever famous for continual victories."

Arab Cordoba was truly the jewel of the entire world. In contrast to the dust and mud which would remain familiar features of the streets of London and Paris for 7 centuries to come, Cordoba had miles of paved streets; street lights (even seven hundred years later there was not so much as one public lamp in London); 113,000 houses with lavatories and water drainage (even poor houses had them, something which was not found at the time in most other European cities); 700 mosques; 300 public baths; 70 public libraries; numerous bookstores; parks and palaces; and two major magnificent treasures unequal for their sophistication in the known civilized world.

The first treasure was the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the most extraordinary religious shrine, second in size only to the Great Mosque of Makkah. It was completed in 976 and took 200 years to build. This Great Mosque, which is still a major tourist attraction in Spain today, is a vast rectangle with a deep sanctuary divided into 19 aisles by a forest of 870 marble columns. The interior of this marvelous religious shrine was beautifully decorated with gold; silver; precious stones; mosaics; colored tiles; contrasting green and red marbles; carved plater; wall paintings; Qur'anic calligraphy; and 8,000 oil lamps, to provide light, hung from two hundred chandeliers. The scent of burning aloes and the perfumed oils in the lamps drifted through the arches of the long naves. The Mosque's spacious seven-sided mihrab (the prayer niche which directs worshipers toward Makkah) was lined with gold mosaics and marbles. Next to the mihrab stood the beautifully carved minbar (or pulpit) with its several straight steps for the Imam to climb up in order to give his Friday sermon. This wonderful unique pulpit, which took eight talented craftsmen seven years to make, was laced with rails of gold and silver and made of ivory, ebony, sandalwood, and citron wood. Unfortunately, this magnificent pulpit was cut into pieces when the Spanish Christians took over Cordoba in 1236. Today this great mosque is the Catholic Cathedral of Cordoba.

The second treasure in the Arab Andalusian capital city of Cordoba was the outstanding enormous public library. Completed around 970, this wonderful library alone had over 440,000 books, more than all of the books in all of France at the time. In addition to this gigantic public library, there were 69 other public libraries in Cordoba. These Arab libraries had been using paper for over 200 years at a time when the few Europeans, who could read or write, were still using animal skins for writing.

Just outside Cordoba, in the city of al-Zahra, the Arab ruler Abdul-Rahman III built his famous magnificent Palace of Madinat al-Zahra. One of the great wonders of this extraordinary Arab palace was the Room of the Caliphs, which had a gilded ceiling and walls of multi-colored marble blocks. On each side of the hall were eight splendid doors, which stood between columns of clear crystal and colored marble, decorated with gold and ebony and inlaid with precious stones. In the center of this beautiful room was a large pool filled with mercury, which produced dazzling reflections from the walls and ceiling every time the sunrays shone on it. When the surface of the pool was quivered, the whole room was shot through with rays of light, giving the impression that the room was floating away. All experts and writers at the time agreed that the magnificence of this Arab hall had never been equaled anywhere in the world.

After the fall of Cordoba to the Spanish Christians, the Arabs moved their capital city to Granada - in the south of the Iberian Peninsula - which also became famous as an Arab center of arts and learning. Arab Granada was also renowned for its wealth and trade especially in silk. To immortalize Grenada, its Andalusian Arab rulers built the magnificent Palace of al-Hamra ("the red") or Alhambra Palace. This unique palace has two splendid courts, the Court of the Lions and the Court of the Myrtles, considered to be the most magnificent and glorious of all Arab monuments in Spain. The Alhambra Palace, which was also an Arab fortress, took about 100 years to build and is today a major tourist attraction attesting to the beauty and genius of Arab architecture. In addition to Cordoba and Granada, Seville and Toledo also served as the greatest houses of Arab Andalusian knowledge. In fact, Toledo was the main center of scientific translation from Arabic to Latin.

The Andalusian Arabs also produced several exotic agricultural products (see “Agriculture” below) and developed many great manufactured products, which were all exported to Western Europe and the rest of the world. These industrial products include: textiles; paper; silk; baked tile; glazed cups, dishes, and jars which rivaled Chinese porcelain; pottery; sugar refining; gold; silver; ruby; silk; various crafted metals; marble; ceramics; and the much-admired Cordovan ("cordwain") leather-work.

The sciences that the Andalusian Arabs excelled in and were taught at their universities, which helped educate several generations of Western scholars and students from all over Europe, included: mathematics, geometry, astronomy, physics, chemistry, architecture, optics, meteorology, engineering, pharmacology, medicine, biology, botany, anatomy, zoology, and philosophy. It should also be mentioned here that Arab students in Andalusia were the first to use the cap and gown worn today by students all over the world during graduation ceremony.

Muslims entered Spain not as aggressors or oppressors, but as liberators. In this multicultural society, many Jews and Christians held government positions. Moreover, the Golden Age of Jewish history is in fact known as the period of Muslim rule in Spain. Islam allowed the Jews to flourish in Spain, with the example of the renowned philosopher Moses Maimonides, (Musa ibn Maymun) who wrote Guide to the Perplexed."Judaism probably welcomed the conquest of Spain by the Muslims in 711. With the Muslim conquest began a Golden Age of freedom and tolerance for Jews. They freely entered the fields of government, science, medicine, and literature." Spain was home to by far the largest and most brilliant Jewish community in Europe; elsewhere, the Jews were hounded and persecuted. Although non-Muslims paid more in taxes than the Muslims, it was by far less than any previous government had imposed upon them, especially Roderic's. In addition, it obviously wasn't much of a burden, however, since non-Muslims freely opted and longed to live under Muslim rule.

"Throughout the period of Islamic rule, Al-Andalus was a remarkable example and outstanding model of tolerance." We fail to remember that the tolerance the Muslims, in accordance to their faith, displayed towards the Jews and Christians enabled them all to live together in relative peace and harmony, an indication of the Greatness of Islam, without question. No where else has there been so long and so close of a relationship between the 3 Great faiths. All Jews and Christians were allowed to maintain their beliefs and live their lives as they desired as long as they respected their Muslim rulers. As a result of the compassion Islam displayed towards the non-Muslims inhabitants, many of them embraced Islam. Many accepted Islam simply because Islam provided a superior, healthier way of life at a time when the social system was in rapid decay. Unfortunately, religious tolerance was never a virtue in Christian Europe, as in the example of Charlemagne. And so, the peace exhibited under Muslim rule did not continue after the last of the Muslim rulers was defeated in 1492.