Introduction to HumanitiesLecture 9b

The Rise of Islam

By David Kelsey

Early Islam

• Early Arabs were polytheistic

• There was a supreme God named Allah who ruled over the other Gods.

• They worshipped a massive black meteorite, called the black stone, which was placed in the city of Mecca in a shrine called the Ka’aba.

• Source of map: www.mmdtkw.org

Muhammad

• Muhammad:– 570-632– Orphaned at age 5 but eventually

married a rich widow– In his middle years he began to

experience visions that he believed were inspired by Allah

– Muhammad believed that although Allah had already revealed himself in part through Moses and Jesus, the final revelations were now being given to him.

– Out of these revelations came the Islamic book, the Qur’an, which contained the guidelines by which Muslims were to live.

• Source: en.wikipedia.org

Muhammad

• Muhammad:– After receiving the revelations, Muhammad set out to convince the people of Mecca...– The Meccans did not accept his message– In 622 Muhammad and some of his closest supporters left Mecca and moved north to

the city of Yathrib, later named Medina– The year of Muhammad’s journey to Medina, is now known as the Hegira or the

departure, and is year 1 in the official calendar of Islam…– Muhammad soon began to gain support and momentum from the people of Medina.

From his followers he formed the first Muslim community.– According to Muhammad, submission to the will of Allah meant submission to

Muhammad, the prophet.– Muhammad then becomes a religious and political leader.– He soon forms an army and returns to and conquers Mecca in 630, converting the

people to his faith…– Arab society was soon unified both politically and religiously…

Muhammad’s Islamic kingdom

• Source: en.wikipedia.org

Muhammad’s teachings

• Muhammad’s teachings:– Allah was the all powerful being, the only God, who had created the universe

and everything in it.– Humans must subject themselves to Allah if they wished to achieve

everlasting life– The Qur’an tells of a basic ethical code consisting of the 5 pillars of Islam:

1. Believe in Allah and Muhammad as his prophet

2. Prayer 5 times a day, Public prayer on Friday at midday to worship Allah

3. Observance of the holy month of Ramadan with fasting from dawn to sunset

4. Make a pilgrimage once in one’s life to Mecca (this was called the Hajj)

5. Must give alms to the poor and unfortunate

Shari’a

• Shari’a:– Pronounced Shah-REE-uh– After the death of Muhammad, Muslim followers/scholars drew up a law code called the

Shari’a– In addition to the 5 pillars, it consisted of a set of strict guidelines including:

• Muslims were forbidden from gambling, eating pork, drinking alcoholic beverages and engaging in dishonest behavior.

• Sexual practices were also strictly regulated• Marriages were arranged by parents• Males were permitted to have more than one wife

The Spread of Islam

• The Spread of Islam:– Muhammad did not name a successor and had no sons– After his death, Muhammad’s closest followers selected Abu Bakr (pronounced Ah-boo

BAHK-ur), Muhammad’s father-in-law, as Caliph (temporal leader) of the Islamic community

– Muhammad and the first Caliphs took up raids against their enemies• These acts were called a jihad, which means an act in the way of the lord to

achieve personal betterment• These raids were not conducted to convert their enemies since conversion to

Islam was voluntary• So those who didn’t convert were required to submit to Muslim rule and to pay

taxes• Muslim warriors were also promised a place in paradise if they died in battle…

Islamic expansion

• Islamic expansion:– At Yarmuk in 636 the Muslims defeated the Byzantine army– By 640 the Muslims had taken possession of the province of Syria– The Muslims had conquered the entire Persian empire by 650– Shortly after the Muslims conquer Egypt and north Africa– The Muslims crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and moved into Spain around 710

• The Muslims then conquer the Visigoths• By 725 most of Spain was a Muslim state with Cordoba as its capital

The Islamic Empire

• Expansion of the Islamic Empire ends:– In 732 a Muslim army in an attempt to take France is defeated at the battle of

Tours near Poitiers. Muslim expansion finally ends…– In 717 another naval force launches an attack on Constantinople that fails. In

718 the Byzantines destroy the Muslim fleet…– These events halted Islamic expansion into eastern and western Europe!!!

• The Umayyad dynasty now controlled an enormous empire– The conquered territories were organized into taxpaying provinces

The Islamic Empire

• Source of map of Islamic empire: business.baylor.edu

The Shi’ites and Sunnites

• The Shi’ites and Sunnites:– In 661 the caliph Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, was assassinated

• the governor of Syria, general Muawiya (pronounced moo-Ah-wee-yah), becomes Caliph

• Muawiya makes the caliphate hereditary in his own family, establishing the Umayyad dynasty

• The Umayyad’s move the capital of the Muslim empire to Damascus in Syria, from Medina..

– This creates a split in Islam:• The Shi’ites accepted only the descendants of Ali as the true rulers• The Sunnites accepted only the descendants of the Umayyads were the true

rulers

– This split still exists today…

The Shi’ites and Sunnites

• Source: infinitesimalperturbations.blogspot.com

The Abbasid dynasty

• The Abbasid dynasty:– In 750, Abu al-Abbas (pronounced uh-BOO al-uh-BUSS), a descendant of the uncle of

Muhammad, brought an end to the Umayyad dynasty– He established the Abbasid dynasty (pronounced AB-uh-sid)– The Abbasid dynasty lasted until 1258…

• Change as a result of the Abbasid dynasty:– All Muslims could now hold civil and military office– Many Arabs began to marry with the people’s they had conquered– In 762 the Abbasid’s built a new capital in Baghdad– Under the Abbasid’s, judges, merchants and government officials were viewed as the

ideal citizens…– Baghdad became the center of an enormous trade empire…

• The Islamic empire fractures:– In 756 Abd al-Rahman of the Umayyad dynasty flees to Spain and establishes control

there. In 929 Abd al-Rahman III proclaims himself caliph…– The Fatimid family established a dynasty in Egypt in 973

The Re-conquest of Spain

• Spain:– Much of Spain had been converted to Islam since the 8th century– Islamic Spain flourished in the middle ages (Cordoba became a major urban center)– Beginning in the 10th century, Muslim power begins to weaken and Christians begin to

re-conquer Spain until Muslims were finally expelled from Spain in the 15 th century.

• The Reconquista: – The sacred mission of Christians to re-conquer Spain for Christianity

• By the 11th century, a number of small Christian kingdoms to the North of Spain (Leon, Castile, Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia) take an offensive strategy against the Muslims.

– For example, in 1094 Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, aka El Cid, created the Christian kingdom of Valencia in 1094.

The Re-Conquest of Spain

• The re-conquest of Spain:– By 1179, the northern Christian kingdoms of Castile, Navarre, Aragon and Portugal

unify as a separate kingdom with the southern half of Spain remaining under the control of the Muslims.

– In the 13th century the Christian states make significant gains:• Castile conquers Andalusia to the south• Aragon re-conquers Valencia in 1212. • The Christian rulers followed a policy known as Repartimiento:

– Houses, lands and property were distributed to those who had made the conquests and to new Christian colonists…

– By the mid thirteenth century the Muslims hold only the kingdom of Granada to the southeast…

Map of the Spanish Re-Conquista

• Source: medieval.ucdavis.edu

Pope Gregory VII

• Pope Gregory VII:– Lived: 1020-1085– Served as Pope 1073-1085– Thought that he had been chosen by God to reform the church.– Claimed that he was God’s ‘vicar on Earth’ and that the pope’s authority extended

over all of Christendom– Took as his goal to free the church from the interference of kings and political

officials in church matters– If a ruler did not accept these ‘divine’ commands they could be deposed by the

Pope…– For many years German kings had appointed high ranking clerics. This, Pope

Gregory, wanted to stop.

Pope Gregory VII and reforming the church

• In 1075 Pope Gregory decrees:– “We decree that no one of the clergy shall

receive the investiture with a bishopric or abbey or church from the hand of an emperor or king or of any lay person.”

• The Concordat of Worms:– In 1122 an agreement is reached known as

the Concordat of Worms. – Under this agreement a bishop in Germany

was first elected by church officials.– After election, he then paid homage to the

king as secular lord, who in turn invested him with the symbols of temporal office.

– A representative of the church then invested the bishop with the symbols of the spiritual office.

• Source: worldslastchance.com

The Crusades

• The Crusades:– In the 12th and 13th centuries, heresy, the holding of religious doctrines different from

the orthodox teachings of the church as determined by church authorities, becomes a serious problem...

– Pope Innocent III appealed for a crusade, a military campaign in defense of Christendom, against heretics.

– In 1209 a crusade was lead against the Cathers in southern France.– The Cathers believed in a dualist system in which good and evil were distinct.

• Things of the spirit were good because they were created by God and things of the world were evil because they were created by Satan.

• Humans were dualistic: their souls created by God and their bodies created by Satan…

– The Crusade lasted 2 decades and thousands of heretics were killed.– The church also created the holy office, which was a formal court whose job it was to

find, try and convict heretics who were often tortured or killed…

Persecution of the Jews

• Persecution of the Jews:– In the 13th century, with the Catholic church evermore in search of Heretics, Jews were

persecuted more than ever…• Friars urged persecution against the ‘murderers of Christ’, urging that the traditional

Christian views of the Jews were responsible for his death…• Jews in cities such as Mainz, Worms, Lisbon and Cologne were driven away, their

property taken and their houses burned• Jewish books were publicly burned• The 4th Lateran Council decreed in 1215 that Jews must wear special clothing…

– European kings stripped the Jewish communities of their money and renounced their protection

– Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290– The French king expelled all Jews from France in 1306

• He readmitted the Jews in 1315 although they then left on their own in 1322…– As the persecution of the Jews spread throughout Europe, most northern European

Jews were forced to move into Poland…

The Seljuk Turks and the Byzantine Empire

• The Seljuk Turks:– A nomadic people from Central Asia who had been converted to Islam and flourished as

military mercenaries for the Abbasid caliphate– Took control of the Eastern provinces of Persia and Armenia in the 11th century– In 1055 they captured Baghdad and assumed command of the Abbasid empire– The Turks then began moving into the Byzantine empire– The Turks routed the Byzantine army in 1071 at Manzikert– The Byzantine emperor, Alexius I then asked Pope Urban II (1088-1099) for help with

the Seljuk Turks

The Empire of the Seljuk Turks

• Source of image of the empire of the Seljuk Turks: jspivey.wikispaces.com

Pope Urban II

• Pope Urban II and the crusades: • Upon Alexius I coming to Pope Urban II for help, the

pope takes this as an opportunity to provide papal leadership for a great cause:

– To rally the warriors of Europe for the liberation of Jerusalem…

• 1095: At the council of Clermont in southern France Urban challenges Christians to take up their weapons and join in a holy War to recover the Holy Land…

• The Pope promised remission of sins to those who fought:

– “All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.”

• Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Crusade of the Poor

• The Crusade of the Poor:– Peter the Hermit:

• 1050-1115• Preached his visions of the holy city of

Jerusalem• Convinced a large mob of peasants and poor

to undertake a Crusade to the East• So this crusade is known as the ‘Crusade of

the Poor’• The crusaders terrorized and looted the

natives• And they persecuted the Jews wherever they

were found• They reached Constantinople and Emperor

Alexius then shipped them to Asia minor where they were massacred by the Seljuk Turks

• Source of image of Peter the Hermit: royceferguson.blogspot.com

The First Crusade

• The First Crusade:– The warriors of western Europe,

France in particular, formed the first Crusade

– In 1096, 3 organized bands of noble warriors, most French, moved East toward Jerusalem

– The Crusading army numbered several thousand cavalry and 10,000 foot soldiers

– They captured Antioch in 1098– Reached Jerusalem in 1099, with

the city being taken after a 5 week siege

– The Crusaders organized 4 Crusader states: Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem

• Source: cannedhistorian.blogspot.com

The Second Crusade

• The Second Crusade:– In 1144 Edessa became the

first Crusader state to be recaptured by the Seljuk Turks

– Edessa’s fall led to the second crusade

– King Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany lead their armies separately across Europe

– Both armies marched into the Byzantine territory and were each then defeated by the Seljuk Turks…

• Source of map: ibdphistory-medieval.wikispaces.com

The Third Crusade

• The Third Crusade:– In 1169 Sunni Muslims took control of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt under the sultan

Saladin– The Sunni Muslims established control over both Syria and Egypt– In 1187 Saladin and his army invaded and conquered the kingdom of Jerusalem...– Three kings agreed to lead the 3rd Crusade: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of

Germany, King Richard I the Lionhearted of England (1189-1199) and Philip II Augustus, King of France.

– The Crusade encountered problems though:• They arrived in the middle East by 1189• But Frederick Barbarossa drowned in a local river and his army quickly fell apart• The English and French armies were both defeated• After defeat, the English King Richard the Lionhearted negotiated a settlement

with Saladin to allow Christian pilgrims free access to Jerusalem…

The Third Crusade

• Source: forum.paradoxplaza.com

The Fourth Crusade

• After the death of Saladin in 1193, Pope Innocent III initiated the fourth crusade.

– 1202-1204– The Crusaders intended to

conquer Jerusalem by first invading Egypt

– Instead in 1204 they sacked the great capital city of the Byzantine empire Constantinople and created a new Latin empire...

– The Byzantine empire recaptured it in 1261 though

• Source: www.platos-academy.com

Map of the first through fourth Crusades

• Source: mrbrunken.happykidsschool.com.tw

The fifth Crusade

• The Fifth Crusade:– 1219-1221– Organized by Pope Innocent III– The crusade was lead by King

Andrew II of Hungary and Duke Leopold VI of Austria

– Later, a German army lead by Oliver of Cologne joined the Crusaders…

– After occupying the Egyptian port of Damietta, the Crusaders marched south towards Cairo in July 1221 but were turned back after their dwindling supplies lead to a forced retreat…

• Source: imgarcade.com

After the fifth Crusade

• After the fifth crusade:– The sixth crusade was lead by

the German emperor Frederick II. He marched his forces into Jerusalem and took it without a fight.

– Once Frederick left though a group of Turks gained control of Jerusalem…

– Two more crusades were organized by the king of France, King Louis IX but failed miserably

– The remaining Christian territories in the middle east were soon retaken by the Muslims with the last being Acre which fell in 1291…

• Source of map: www.washburn.edu