World History Post-Mid Term Notes – Islamic Empires
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WORLD HISTORY POST-MID TERM NOTES
ISLAMIC EMPIRES
Setting the stage
Mongol Empire: (yuAN) WAS IN DECLINE
In china Ming 7 Qing Dynasties
In Japan Tokugara Shogunate
In Europe Exploration and Expansion
In Russia the Czarists ruled
2. Background of Islam (pre slaved trade and Portuguese expansion)
3 main religions: Judaism (yaweii, ) subsect was Christianity (God and the trinity), and Islam (Allah)… all monotheistic religions
BC & AD
BCE & CE (politically correct)
The Prophet Muhammad lived from 570-632. Was orphaned and illiterate, but taken in by his Clan family in the city of Mecca.
Mecca was the prominent city, and was a religious center for all three religious sects. Housed the meteorite sent from heaven. The giant black rock was brought down from the mountain where it landed, by Abraham and his son Isaac. The center that Houses the rock is known as the Kabba.
At a very early age Muhammad becomes involved in the trade within Mecca, camel caravanning, etc…
Khadija was his first wife, who he met through his trade experience. She is a very successful business person, owning her own trading operation. They fall in love, although she is 15 yrs his senior. They get married. They have several children. As Muhammad transitioned to the management side of the caravanning, he began spending his idle time thinking about and reflecting on the several religions, moral beliefs, faiths, ideas, etc…
Muhammad has a revelation. He is visited by the Angel Gabriel. His vision tells Muhammad “you need to listen to me and remember what I say. This is the direct word of God I am passing on to you.” After sharing his visions with Khadija, he decided to believe what Gabriel was telling him and began to write down his visions, claiming it was the word of God. Being illiterate, he hired a slave who worked for him to scribe the word of God. The writings became a compilation of holy word, now known as the QURAN.
This affected the financial vitality of Mecca. If his religion was seen as the prevailing and only accepted religion in Mecca, it would deter thousands of other travelers and traders from coming to the city for fear of not being able to freely practice their differing religious beliefs. This would severely cripple and undermine the power and wealth of the Meccan Merchants, and they pushed back against Muhammad and his teachings.
Up the road from Mecca was the city of Medina, another wealthy trade city. It didn’t have the Kabba or the rock from heaven, but it had its own source of wealth. Medina was also affected by the stress in Mecca, and began to crumble beneath the weight of the strain in the neighboring city. The ruler of Medina sought an audience with Muhammad, and asked him to come to Medina to discuss the growing problem and possible solutions to save both of the cities. Muhammad traveled to Medina in 622, and within a few years he spreads his word and calms the turmoil. By this point the Islamic religion has become an influential movement. In 630-631 Muhammad is avidly converting travelers and traders to the Islamic religion in the Sahara and in both cities.
As it gains momentum, there is interest to move the center of the Islamic world back into Mecca. Muhammad, in addition to creating a religious following, has successfully created a militarized following as well, and his powerful army marches back to Mecca to reclaim the power. The fear in Mecca is that if he is successful in his conquest that he will unleash his wrath on all of the non-believers in Mecca. They fight back but Muhammad is successful. His supposed “reign of terror” never comes, as he is no tyrant. The only thing he does is clear the Kabba of all religious artifacts other than the “stone from heaven”. He allows all the people of Mecca to continue their free practicing religion, but establishes Islamic religion as the mainly practiced religious system in Mecca. Within a few months of his reclaiming of the city, he succumbs to old age and dies.
For 30 years after his death we see the period of “The Rightly Guided Caliphs”. There were four of them. The first one is a follower in Muhammad’s inner circle, but a non-relative of Muhammad, Abu Bakar. He is elderly, like Muhammad was. He only rules the Caliphate for a few years before dying of old age as well. He is followed by another leader from the Inner Circle, known as Umar. The two parties (believers that bloodline should rule, and believers that highly regarded supporters should rule) begin fighting over rule and Umar is killed. The next ruler is Utman, who is yet another follower but non-blood relative. Utman is assassinated as well. The final ruler is Muhammad’s grandson, Ali. Because he was a direct descendant, he was said to be the rightful ruler by the opposing party. He too is murdered. This results in a rift in the Islamic world, forming two separate Muslim parties: the Sunni and the Shiite. The Sunnis represent 85% of the billion plus Muslims in the world today. The Sunnis believe that the ruler of the Caliphate should be an avid and worthy follower, but need not be related to Muhammad by blood. The other partym the Shiites who form the remaining 15%, believe the ruler of the Caliphate should be a blood descendant of Muhammad. This Dissention has continued from the7th century to today.
There have been 2 movements (dynasties) in the Muslim history. The descendant believers formed a group which tried to avenge the death of Ali.
The 5 pillars of Islam form the foundation of Islamic religion.
All Muslims must make a statement of faith that Allah is God and Muhammad is his servant
Muslims are called to prayer 5 times every day, and it is a group experience because it symbolizes the Global Islamic community, connecting all Muslims by faith
Muslims must have charity, taking care of the disadvantaged. It is their responsibility to take care of the less fortunate in society.
Once a year Muslims observe Ramadan, a period of days where from sunlight to sunset they do not eat or drink. This self-denial of instinctual needs allows Muslims to become more sympathetic with the less fortunate in the world.