Chapter 11: Chapter Outline
The following annotated chapter outline will help you review the major topics covered in this chapter.
Instructions: Review the outline to recall events and their relationships as presented in the chapter. Return to skim any sections that seem unfamiliar.
I. Opening Vignette | ||||
A. By the start of the twenty-first century, Islam had acquired a significant presence in the United States . | ||||
1. more than 1,200 mosques | ||||
2. about 8 million Muslims (some 2 million are African Americans) | ||||
B. The second half of the twentieth century saw the growing international influence of Islam. | ||||
C. Islam had already been prominent in the world between 600 and 1600. | ||||
1. encompassed parts of Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Asia | ||||
2. enormously significant in world history | ||||
3. creation of a new and innovative civilization | ||||
4. was the largest and most influential of the third-wave civilizations | ||||
5. Islam’s reach generated major cultural encounters | ||||
D. In the year 2000, there were perhaps 1.2 billion Muslims in the world (22 percent of the world’s population). | ||||
II. The Birth of a New Religion | ||||
A. The Homeland of Islam | ||||
1. unlike most religious/cultural traditions, Islam emerged from a marginal region | ||||
2. Arabian Peninsula as home of nomadic Arabs (Bedouins) | ||||
a. fiercely independent clans and tribes | ||||
b. variety of gods | ||||
3. Arabia also had sedentary, agricultural areas | ||||
4. Arabia lay on important East–West trade routes | ||||
a. Mecca became important as a trade center | ||||
b. the Kaaba was the most prominent religious shrine | ||||
c. the Quraysh tribe controlled local trade and pilgrimage | ||||
5. Arabia was on the edge of the Byzantine and Sassanid empires | ||||
a. so Arabs knew some practices of these empires | ||||
b. Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism had spread among Arabs | ||||
B. The Messenger and the Message | ||||
1. the prophet of Islam was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570–632 c.e.) | ||||
a. orphaned at a young age | ||||
b. became a prosperous merchant thanks to marriage to Khadija | ||||
c. took to withdrawal and meditation | ||||
2. beginning of revelations from Allah in 610 c.e. | ||||
a. revelations recorded in the Quran | ||||
b. when heard in its original Arabic, believed to convey the presence of the divine | ||||
3. radically new teachings | ||||
a. monotheistic | ||||
b. Muhammad as “the seal of the prophets” | ||||
c. return to old, pure religion of Abraham | ||||
d. central tenet: submission to Allah (Muslim = “one who submits”) | ||||
e. need to create a new society of social justice, equality, and care for others (the umma) | ||||
4. core message summarized in the Five Pillars of Islam | ||||
a. first pillar is simple profession: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” | ||||
b. prayer five times a day at prescribed times | ||||
c. generous giving to help the community and the needy | ||||
d. fasting during the month of Ramadan | ||||
e. pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) | ||||
5. jihad (“struggle”) is sometimes called the “sixth pillar” | ||||
a. “greater jihad”: personal spiritual striving | ||||
b. “lesser jihad”/“jihad of the sword”: armed struggle against unbelief and evil | ||||
c. understanding of the concept has varied widely over time | ||||
C. The Transformation of Arabia | ||||
1. Muhammad attracted a small following, aroused opposition from Meccan elites | ||||
a. in 622, emigrated to Yathrib/Medina (the hijra) | ||||
b. created Islamic community (umma) in Medina | ||||
c. broke definitively from Judaism | ||||
2. rapid expansion throughout Arabia | ||||
a. military successes led to alliances | ||||
b. large-scale conversion | ||||
c. consolidation of Islamic control throughout Arabia by time of Muhammad’s death in 632 | ||||
3. fundamental differences between births of Islam and Christianity | ||||
a. Islam did not grow up as persecuted minority religion | ||||
b. Islam didn’t separate “church” and state | ||||
III. The Making of an Arab Empire | ||||
A. The Arab state grew to include all or part of Egyptian, Roman/Byzantine, Persian, Mesopotamian, and Indian civilizations. | ||||
1. many both in and out of Arab Empire converted to Islam | ||||
2. Arabic culture and language spread widely | ||||
3. Islam became a new third-wave civilization | ||||
B. War and Conquest | ||||
1. Arabic conquests were a continuation of long-term raiding pattern | ||||
2. new level of political organization allowed greater mobilization | ||||
3. Byzantine and Persian empires were weakened by long wars and internal revolts | ||||
4. limits of Arab expansion: | ||||
a. defeated Sassanid Empire in the 650s, took half of Byzantium | ||||
b. in early 700s, conquered most of Spain , attacked France | ||||
c. to the east, reached the Indus River | ||||
d. in 751, Arabs crushed a Chinese army at the Battle of Talas River | ||||
5. reasons for expansion: | ||||
a. economic: capture trade routes and agricultural regions | ||||
b. individual Arabs sought wealth and social promotion | ||||
c. communal: conquest helped hold the umma together | ||||
d. religious: bring righteous government to the conquered | ||||
6. conquest was not too destructive | ||||
a. Arab soldiers were restricted to garrison towns | ||||
b. local elites and bureaucracies were incorporated into empire | ||||
C. Conversion to Islam | ||||
1. initial conversion for many was “social conversion,” not deep spiritual change | ||||
2. Islam’s kinship to Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism made it attractive | ||||
3. Islam was associated from the beginning with a powerful state—suggested that Allah was a good god to have on your side | ||||
4. the state provided incentives for conversion | ||||
a. earliest converts included slaves and prisoners of war | ||||
b. converts didn’t have to pay the jizya | ||||
c. Islam favored commerce | ||||
d. social climbers were helped by conversion | ||||
5. resistance to conversion among Berbers of North Africa, some Spanish Christians, some Persian Zoroastrians | ||||
6. around 80 percent of the population of Persia converted between 750 and 900 | ||||
7. some areas ( Egypt , North Africa , Iraq ) also converted to Arabic culture and language | ||||
D. Divisions in the Islamic World | ||||
1. a central problem: who should serve as successor to Muhammad (caliph)? | ||||
2. first four caliphs (the Rightly Guided Caliphs, 632–661) were companions of Muhammad | ||||
a. had to put down Arab tribal rebellions and new prophets | ||||
b. Uthman and Ali were both assassinated | ||||
c. civil war by 656 | ||||
3. result was the Sunni/Shia split of Islam | ||||
a. Sunni Muslims: caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, chosen by the Islamic community | ||||
b. Shia Muslims: leaders should be blood relatives of Muhammad, descended from Ali and his son Husayn | ||||
c. started as a political conflict but became religious | ||||
d. Sunnis: religious authority derives from the larger community | ||||
e. Shias: imams have religious authority | ||||
f. Shias identified themselves as opponents of privilege | ||||
4. over time, caliphs became absolute monarchs | ||||
a. Umayyad dynasty (661–750) was a time of great expansion | ||||
b. Abbasid dynasty overthrew Umayyads in 750 | ||||
5. basic religious issue: what does it mean to be a Muslim? | ||||
a. Islamic law (the sharia) helped answer the question | ||||
b. reaction against the distraction of worldly success: Sufis | ||||
c. the ulama and Sufism weren’t entirely incompatible—e.g., al-Ghazali (1058–1111) | ||||
d. but there was often tension between the two approaches | ||||
E. Women and Men in Early Islam | ||||
1. what rise of Islam meant for women remains highly controversial | ||||
2. spiritual level: Quran stated explicitly that women and men were equals | ||||
3. social level: Quran viewed women as subordinate, especially in marriage | ||||
4. | Quran helped women in some ways (banned female infanticide, gave women control over their own property, granted limited rights of inheritance, required woman’s consent to a marriage, recognized a woman’s right to sexual satisfaction) | |||
5. social practices of lands where Islam spread were also important in defining women’s roles | ||||
a. early Islam: some women played public roles; prayed in mosques, weren’t veiled or secluded | ||||
b. growing restrictions on women (especially in upper classes) under Abbasids | ||||
c. veiling and seclusion became standard among upper, ruling classes | ||||
d. lower-class women didn’t have the “luxury” of seclusion | ||||
e. practices were determined by Middle Eastern traditions much more than by Quran | ||||
6. hadiths (traditions about Muhammad) developed more negative images of women | ||||
7. Islam offered new religious outlets for women, especially as Sufis | ||||
IV. Islam and Cultural Encounter: A Four-Way Comparison | ||||
A. The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated politically by the tenth century. | ||||
1. last Abbasid caliph killed when Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258 | ||||
2. but Islamic civilization continued to flourish and expand | ||||
B. The Case of India | ||||
1. Turkic-speaking invaders brought Islam to India | ||||
2. establishment of Turkic and Muslim regimes in India beginning ca. 1000 | ||||
a. at first, violent destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples | ||||
b. Sultanate of Delhi (founded 1206) became more systematic | ||||
3. emergence of Muslim communities in India | ||||
a. Buddhists and low-caste Hindus found Islam attractive | ||||
b. newly agrarian people also liked Islam | ||||
c. subjects of Muslim rulers converted to lighten tax burden | ||||
d. Sufis fit mold of Indian holy men, encouraged conversion | ||||
e. at height, 20–25 percent of Indian population converted to Islam | ||||
f. | sharp cultural divide between Islam and Hinduism: monotheism vs. polytheism; equality of believers vs. caste system; sexual modesty vs. open eroticism | |||
4. interaction of Hindus and Muslims | ||||
a. many Hindus served Muslim rulers | ||||
b. mystics blurred the line between the two religions | ||||
c. Sikhism founded in early sixteenth century by Guru Nanak (1469–1539); syncretic religion with elements of both Islam and Hinduism | ||||
d. Muslims remained as a distinctive minority | ||||
C. The Case of Anatolia | ||||
1. Turks invaded Anatolia about the same time as India | ||||
a. major destruction at early stages in both places | ||||
b. Sufi missionaries were important in both places | ||||
c. but in Anatolia by 1500, 90 percent of the population was Muslim, and most spoke Turkish | ||||
2. reasons for the different results in the two regions | ||||
a. Anatolia had a much smaller population (8 million vs. 48 million) | ||||
b. far more Turkic speakers settled in Anatolia | ||||
c. much deeper destruction of Byzantine society in Anatolia | ||||
d. active discrimination against Christians in Anatolia | ||||
e. India ’s decentralized politics and religion could absorb the shock of invasion better | ||||
f. Turkish rulers of Anatolia welcomed converts; fewer social barriers to conversion | ||||
g. Sufis replaced Christian institutions in Anatolia | ||||
3. by 1500, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful Islamic state | ||||
4. Turks of Anatolia retained much of their culture after conversion | ||||
D. The Case of West Africa | ||||
1. Islam came peacefully with traders, not by conquest | ||||
2. in West Africa , Islam spread mostly in urban centers | ||||
a. provided links to Muslim trading partners | ||||
b. provided literate officials and religious legitimacy to state | ||||
3. by the sixteenth century, several West African cities were Islamic centers | ||||
a. Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic schools and several centers of higher education | ||||
b. libraries had tens of thousands of books | ||||
c. rulers subsidized building of major mosques | ||||
d. Arabic became a language of religion, education, administration, trade | ||||
4. did not have significant Arab immigration | ||||
5. Sufis played little role until the eighteenth century | ||||
6. no significant spread into countryside until nineteenth century | ||||
E. The Case of Spain | ||||
1. Arab and Berber forces conquered most of Spain (called al-Andalus by Muslims) in the early eighth century | ||||
2. Islam did not overwhelm Christianity there | ||||
3. high degree of interaction between Muslims, Christians, and Jews | ||||
a. some Christians converted to Islam | ||||
b. Christian Mozarabs adopted Arabic culture but not religion | ||||
4. religious toleration started breaking down by late tenth century | ||||
a. increasing war with Christian states of northern Spain | ||||
b. more puritanical forms of Islam entered Spain from North Africa | ||||
c. in Muslim-ruled regions, increasing limitations placed on Christians | ||||
d. many Muslims were forced out of Christian-conquered regions or kept from public practice of their faith | ||||
e. completion of Christian reconquest in 1492 | ||||
V. The World of Islam as a New Civilization | ||||
A. By 1500, the Islamic world embraced at least parts of nearly every other Afro-Eurasian civilization. | ||||
B. Networks of Faith | ||||
1. Islamic civilization was held together by Islamic practices and beliefs | ||||
a. beliefs/practices transmitted by the ulama, who served as judges, interpreters, etc. | ||||
b. starting in eleventh century: formal colleges (madrassas) taught religion, law, and sometimes secular subjects | ||||
c. system of education with common texts, sharing of scholarship throughout Islamic world | ||||
2. Sufism: branches of Sufism gathered around particular teachers (shaykhs) by the tenth century | ||||
a. development of great Sufi orders by the twelfth/thirteenth centuries | ||||
b. Sufi devotional teachings, practices, writings spread widely | ||||
3. many thousands of Muslims made the hajj to Mecca each year | ||||
C. Networks of Exchange | ||||
1. Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of goods, technology, and ideas | ||||
a. great central location for trade | ||||
b. Islamic teaching valued commerce | ||||
c. urbanization spurred commerce | ||||
2. Muslim merchants were prominent on all the major Afro-Eurasian trade routes | ||||
3. exchange of agricultural products and practices between regions | ||||
4. diffusion of technology | ||||
a. spread ancient Persian water-drilling techniques | ||||
b. improvement of Chinese rockets | ||||
c. adoption of papermaking techniques from China in the eighth century | ||||
5. exchange of ideas | ||||
a. Persian bureaucratic practice, court ritual, poetry | ||||
b. ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Indian texts | ||||
c. developments in mathematics, astronomy, optics, medicine, pharmacology | ||||
VI. Reflections: Past and Present: Choosing Our History | ||||
A. Since history provides us perspective on the present, how might some grasp of early Islamic civilization help us understand the world today? | ||||
B. History reminds us that Islam played a central role in the Afro-Eurasian world from 600 c.e. to 1600 or later. | ||||
1. Muslim “fundamentalists” often view early Islamic community as model for present-day Islamic renewal | ||||
2. | Islamic modernizers see later achievements of Islamic science and technology as foundation for more open engagement with modern Western culture | |||
C. The great diversity and debate evident throughout the history of Islam reminds us that all Muslims cannot be tagged with a single label. | ||||
1. Sunni vs. Shia | ||||
2. advocates of the sharia vs. Sufism | ||||
3. political conflicts among groups and regions within larger Islamic world | ||||
D. Study of the many cultural encounters spawned by the spread of Islam reveals considerable variation in the interaction of Muslims and others. | ||||
1. conflict and violence have sometimes accompanied such encounters (the Crusades, Turkic invasions of India and Anatolia ) | ||||
2. but at other times Muslims and non-Muslims have coexisted peacefully in Spain , West Africa , India , and the Ottoman Empire |