HIST 277A 1st EditionExam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 – 11Lecture 0 (August 25)Class introductionLecture 1 (August 27)In the 5th – 6th Century, before the birth of Islam, the Arabian Gulf was an important regionfor trade. Mecca at the time was the center of trade in the region. Empires surrounding Mecca fought each other over territories in order to secure the trade route. They achieved it by creating proxy states. There were three proxy states: Ghassanids, controlled by the Christian Roman Byzantine; Lakhmids, controlled by the Zoroastrian Sasanian Empire; and Kinda, controlled by the Christian Ethiopians. The prophet, Muhammad, was born in Mecca. At the age of 25, he worked as a tradesmanunder the employment of Khadijah. Khadijah found Muhammad to be a man of good character and proposed marriage to him. In 610, Muhammad went to a cave to meditate and experienceda vision. Three years later he pronounced himself a prophet publicly. Khadijah was the first person to be Muslim, while Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, was the second Muslim. The declaration of Muhammad as a prophet caused many oppositions especially among the elites in Mecca. They were afraid that Muhammad was plotting to revolt against the elite and corrupting the minds of the Meccans. Moreover, they also disliked Muhammad’s teachings of justice and equality. Eventually, Muhammad migrated to a city 210 miles north of Mecca, called Medina, to avoid assassination plotted by the Meccans in 622. Muhammad stayed there for 10 years, until in 632, Muhammad won over Mecca and Mecca accepted Islam. Unfortunately, Muhammad passed away on that same year without appointing any successor. There was a debate going on over the succession of Muslim leader after Muhammad’s death. The first side of the story claimed Abu Bakr as the rightful leader. Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s father-in-law, who eventually became the third person to convert to Islam. Aisha was Muhammad’s wife and Abu Bakr’s daughter who was a prominent figure in the Muslim society. After Muhammad’s death, it was agreed that Abu Bakr was the rightful caliph and Umar immediately pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr. However, there was a discrepancy.During the meeting over succession, Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, was not present because he was with the prophet, cleaning his body. Ali felt that as a male relative of the prophet, he should be the rightful caliph. Thus, the agreement on electing Abu Bakr as a caliph was without Ali’s consent. Unfortunately, Abu Bakr was recognized to be the first official caliph. Lecture 2 (August 29) Abu Bakr was the first caliph to rule from 632 – 634 and known as the Caliph of the Prophet. He was credited for unifying the Arabian Peninsula through war. This war was calledthe Apostasy (Ridda) War. When Muhammad passed away, the treaty made between Medina and other territories died as well, because Muhammad was seen as a political leader. With this treaty gone, Medina was left in a vulnerable state because the territories no longer paid taxes toMedina. So Abu Bakr declared Ridda War over these territories in order to gain them back and have the revenues come flowing back in to Medina. With this unification of territories, Abu Bakralso created an army for Medina. Abu Bakr passed away after only leading for 2 years and appointed Umar (I) as his successor. Umar I ruled from 634 – 644 and was titled the Commander of the Faithful. He was credited for having the first waves of conquests outside the Arabian Peninsula. Umar I was known for many achievements during his reign. He established the first Muslim Calendar, called the Hijri calendar. He also established a pension fund that was not only for the Muslims but also for anyone under Muslim rule and Diwan, a register of the tribes. He created the salaries (ata) system to provide money for certain tribes and was the first caliph to appoint a woman market inspector. Umar I also created a taxation system (Jiziya) that was initially for those who didn’t want to be in the military. Unfortunately, this tax system caused much resentment amongst the tribes. Resentment also grew when Umar I was proven to favor Meccans or Muhajirun (immigrants) over other Muslims, especially in assigning political positions. Eventually, Umar I was assassinated. But before he passed away, he appointed 6 people from the shura to be the candidate of the next caliph. Amongst these 6 people were Ali, Zubayr, Talha, and Uthman. After Umar I’s death, Uthman became caliph from 644 – 656. He called himself Caliph of God. Uthman belonged to the Umayyan clan, who were late converts to Islam. Taking his role asa caliph, he followed the example of Umar in enteral policies but also created his own policy of centralization, where all revenues from every territory went immediately to Medina. There were, however, many complaints against Uthman. Several of them include nepotism, dismissal of and disrespect of early companions, and preference over Umayyan clans over others. Nevertheless, Uthman also was able to make good achievements during his rule. He expanded conquests to Khurasan, Fars (Iran), Africa (Tunisia), and Cyprus. He also began the codification ofthe Qur’an and developed Muslim naval power. Unfortunately, the resentment against him was too much and that led to his assassination. Lecture 3 (September 3)Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, became caliph from 656 – 661 after Uthman’s death. His title was Commander of the Faithful. He moved the capital from Medina to Kufa (Iraq) because that was where most of his loyalists were. Ali felt that by moving the capital to Kufa, he could achieve equality to all Muslims there. He also believed that the community should be the first priority. But Ali also had an opposition. That opposition came from Aisha, the prophet’s widow, who wanted to avenge for Uthman’s death even though she had no immediate relation with him. Ali refused to follow through Aisha’s plan because he felt that there was an ulterior motive.Aisha, in fact, wanted to place Ibn al-Zubayr (al-Zubayr’s son) to be caliph instead of Ali. So when Ali moved to Kufa, she followed him there. Thus, the first civil war battle began. The Battle of the Camel (656) was a battle fought between Ali and Aisha. Zubayr and Talha, Muhammad’s companion, were forced by Aisha to go against Ali and so they fought in thebattle. The battle ended with 8,000 – 10, 000 men died, including Talha and Zubayr. In the end,Aisha was