UGC 111 1st Edition Exam 3 Study Guide Lectures 13 15 Lecture 13 April 1 After Mohammad died successors were chosen in his place called a caliph With this new tradition Islam blew up there was a large military expansion welfare programs established and trade was not taxed The Koran was compiled by 650 and in 680 a new Caliph was elected Houssein Ali who was related to Mohammad and was killed by a rival group a dynasty which moved and Baghdad became the capital of Islam The leadership became more lavish and royal which was much different than how it originally was In 680 was the Battle of Karbala which argued over how caliphs should be chosen and this separated Muslims into two separate groups Sunni who believed that caliphs should be chosen by the community and Shiites who believed that the caliph should be appointed by someone related to Mohammad The Koran and the Hadith were interpreted and the Shariah was compiled by the Uluma a body of religious scholars The Shariah covers religious ritual politics economics laws and many social issues It states that Muslims may not marry anyone that does not believe in God and Muslim men may marry Jews or Christians but women cannot Women were to cover themselves to protect from the gaze of others so they had to cover everything including their hair men had should cover themselves from waist to knees The Shariah was all encompassing it included virtually all actions that take place in someone s life what was accepted mandatory recommended and what was forbidden It also stated some legal principles such as the presumption of innocence all Muslims are judged equally before the law and it forbids that legal action be taken on the basis of race or religion At about 900 the Golden Age of Islam began where it spread its territory and established itself Cities like Baghdad were getting hospitals centers of learning libraries public baths and shops Texts were coming in and being translated from Greece Persia and India and they were becoming more interested in knowledge Muslims were coming in contact with the east Persia India China and trading goods for new products like spices porcelain cotton and fruits Islamic science was expanding in the fields of mathematics astronomy botany zoology medicine and engineering One in every four people in the world are Muslim and 14 are Shiite who use names not used by Sunnis pray differently pay more for charity have different festivals and ignore the rule that you cannot make pictures with figures in them There are two other sects that are important Taliban a conservative form of Islam in northern Afghanistan who strictly enforce the Shariah and education for women is forbidden and Wahhabism a very conservative form in Saudi Arabia which only believes in texts dating to the first 3 caliphs strictly enforces the Shariah and forbids music women driving cars and dancing Lecture 14 April 6 The Indus River civilization modern day Pakistan and India was the birthplace of Hinduism The people had a spoken language and more advanced cities containing an acropolis sewer systems planned and organized cities public baths citadels bricks and trade In the Vedic Period tribes began coming in from the north which may have caused the cities to be abandoned The tribes were semi nomadic warrior tribes and called themselves Aryans Their writings were the Rig Veda written in Sanskrit which were hymns meant to be sung to the gods concerning sacrifices society and prayer for rain protection long life etc Indra was the main god who was viewed as a weather god Dyaus was the father of the gods and has the same name as Zeus The Upanishads were philosophical writings describing a system of priesthood in a religion that was ascetic and it was responsible for communicating with the gods and preached a way of life that emphasized meditation and salvation There were four main concepts Maya idea that the sensory world is deceptive and temporary Brahman only thing that is real infinite power from which the world arises universal life force that exists beyond what the changing world can see infinite eternal reality Atman an individual s Brahman soul or spirit Samsara cycle of birth death rebirth can be reborn into a higher caste by having good Karma bad Karma will land you in a lower class Karma is the sum of all the deeds in your life good or bad There was a caste system which provided the social structure Brahmin was the highest and was made up of intellectuals and priests Kshatrivas were next and were warriors then Vaishyas who were merchants tradespeople and farmers and then Shudras at the bottom who were laborers and slaves The history of Hindu India Persian conquest Alexander the Great conquers the Indus Valley Mauryan Empire Ashoka converts to Buddhism and introduces it Gupta Empire period of centralization Mughal Empire Hindus pay a special tax and are confined to the south Taj Mahal built by a Mughal emperor for his late wife and was based on a description of Paradise in the Koran Lecture 15 April 8 Hinduism is the oldest practiced world religion It originated in India when the Aryans came down and settled in northern India The Vedas and Upanishads were important writings and they used a caste system The Aryans conquered indigenous people most were Shudras and formed kingdoms towns and cities Alexander the Great came in and brought Greek ideas and philosophy Hinduism split and there were two new sects but the only important one was Buddhism Buddhist practices include Dharma what is right living life correctly can be defined differently based on one s caste because it concerns social duties ex worship at the temple the food you eat who you marry etc Meditation yoga how you come into contact with your atman Bakhti one achieves harmony through devotion to one god any god must choose 1 and the god in turn gives liberation or release moksha The major gods were Devi Vishnu and Shiva Devi was a goddess with many names depending on what she was associated with She was the wife of Vishnu personifies desired female traits beauty wealth prosperity can have a war like side and represents fertility eroticism and sex Vishnu was the main god who keeps the world in order He was credited with the creation of the world and comes down to the human world as an avatar in times of crisis to save the day He is shown with a mace as a sign of his power a conch as a sign of his creativity and a weapon to symbolize destroying one s ego His job was to banish evil