HY 101 Dr James Mixson Rise of Islam Chapter 1 Abdallah servant of God in Arabic Revelations Qur an Muhammad ibn Abdallah Region that Islam is founded in o 1 Byzantine eastern Roman Empire Greek influence from Egypt Syria Christians o 2 Assassynid Empire based in what is now Iran Zoroastrianism Mazda god Assasynids invade Anatolia modern day Turkey Pre Islamic Arabia don t know much about the region because their accounts are written by Islamic scholars they have their own cultural lenses that they look through Hebrew was never the predominant language Arabia Syria Saudi Arabia Arabian Peninsula is center of Arabia no empires or huge civilizations Why o Because there was merely desert land no resources to provide from the land Culturally how did people express themselves o Poetry Values of Poetry o Physical prowess you had to be tough to withstand the desert land of ancient Arabia Muhammad o born in a tribe based outside of Mekkah modern day holy city he was a merchant 1st wife was named Kadisha daughter of Khalid 3 Abrahamic religions o Judaism o Christianity o Buddhism all build off one another Muhammad is last in the line of prophets o Muslims see Jesus as a temporary prophet in the eyes of Christianity The Hijara 622 divided Prophets career into Meccan Medinan periods violent response of the Quraysh to Muhammad s teachings Muhammad dies 632 Sunni Shia split Islam splits this nearly destroyed Islamic community crisis pitted the Muhayinun against the Medinan Muslims Chapter 2 The stress falls upon the religious as opposed to the social economic or political Gordon 16 Umma Muhammad s following in Medina indicates 1st Muslims constituted fullest expression of human religious life society was defined as its devotion to One God determination to do His will Ridda campaigns Wars of Apostasy were a series of military campaigns launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr against a rebel Arabian tribes during 632 and 633 AD just after Muhammad died There was a mix of diplomacy and force Abu Bakr s approach was to treat outlying tribes as subject to Medinan authority o Pg 25 27 goes into detail the tactics Abu Bakr took to rebel against Arabian tribes and how they compared to his successor Umar For example He forbade them from participating in the campaigns of expansion and to ensure their submission he held hostage members of each tribe His successor Umar Ibn al Khattab took a different tack reversing the overall policy soon after assuming office 634 He is reported to have freed the prisoners and to have invited their tribes to participate alongside those allied to Medina In military terms the step was momentous Medina was now assured of greater numbers of fighters This helps explain the conquest of the Near East the second and more significant achievement of the Rashidun caliphs Gordon 25 o Umar known in sources as al Faruq one who distinguishes truth Harsh leader demanding Opposed the Prophet before deciding to embrace his cause Supported Abu Bakr Credited for Arab Islamic conquests Sent Arab Islamic tribal forces against Byzantine and Sasanid Empires Leading these forces were two men Amur ibn al As 663 Khalid ibn al Walid 642 Both men had opposed Muhammad until sensing the tide had turned in the Prophet s favor they converted to Islam Rise of Arab Islamic naval strength was a blow to Byzantines Mid 7th Century Arab Islamic forces controlled regions stretching from Egypt across Syria Iraq into central Iran o Result radical redrawing of political map cultural religious transformation of Near East o Pp 27 29 go into detail about challenges of this new era Under Umar s reign o Was more feared than loved at first by the Muslims after Abu Bakr stepped down o Divided the empire of Arabia into two provinces Mecca and Medina o Disciplined those who became disordered appointed police forces to keep civil order etc o Mostly adopted the policy of avoiding wars and consolidating his power in the incorporated lands rather than expanding his empire through continuous warfare o Persia was obtained by Arab Islamic empire and in 644 Umar was assassinated by a Persian slave this led to internal upheaval that distracted the attention of Arab Islamic society from the conquests and state reform Gordon 30 After Umar s death o shura Muslim leadership search process small elite group worked together to find a worthy candidate to take Umar s place o Uthman ibn Affan was who the shura chose o Uthman gave more power to the Umayyad s and less to the Quraysh which eventually led to revolt and the assassination of Uthman in his own house A group of rebel Muslims believed he had altered the words of the Qur an o Civil war was struck Chapter 3 pg 32 Great Fitna trial temptation first period of civil war to beset the Islamic community brought on mainly by debate over Uthman s leadership Ali Talib o New caliph after Uthman who took support of the group of Muslims who opposed Uthman s reign including those who assassinated Uthman o This created a class difference because Uthman s supporters were still great in number and ready to seek vengeance because of their loyalty to their caliph o Muawiyah I wanted Ali to punish the rioters who had killed Uthman Muawiyah I was the leader of the tribe of loyal Uthman followers who left when Talib came to caliph power Syrian tribal armies constituted the other main support of Muawiya s state Gordon 37 o Ali Talib wanted to exert authority over Muawiyah mainly because he had been elected as the Caliph and all the authority should have been completely vested in him o Muawiyah raised the cry for vengeance for the blood of Uthman Muawiyah tribe pp 37 o Practiced traditional tribal based form of governance o Developed certain state offices o Controversially Muawiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor which was unpopular decision to many in Arab Islamic society because he ignored the process of shura candidates to the office were chosen through open debate Taking a pause Three broad movements pp 38 o Kharijis o Shi a Didn t stress family or tribal origins for leadership Former slaves could even run for office Shi at Ali the followers or partisans of Ali claimed that only members of the Prophet s family and specifically descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib could claim legitimate rule over Islamic society Ali Talib s death 661 led many Shi is to transfer allegiance to al Hasan or al Husayn both Talib s sons o Proto sunnis 90 of Muslims made up proto sunnis commitment of teachings of Muhammad and