Chapter 11 The Rise of Islam. A New Faith 11-1 Arab Life A. The Arabian Peninsula, a wedge of land between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, is made.

Chapter 11

The Rise of Islam

A New Faith

11-1

Arab Life

• A.   The Arabian Peninsula, a wedge of land between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, is made up of two distinct regions: the southwestern area, with well-watered valleys, and the rest of the peninsula, consisting of arid plains and deserts.

1

• In what area of the Arabian peninsula are well-watered valleys found?

Arab Life

• B.   In ancient times many of the Arab were Bedouins, or nomads who herded sheep, camels, and goats.

2

• What are bedouins?

Arab Life

• C.   By the A.D. 500s, many tribes had settled around oases or in fertile valleys to pursue either farming or trade; prosperous market towns grew, the most of important of which was Makkah.

3

• What unique features do we find at an oasis?

Arab Life

• D. As business ties replaced tribal ties in the trading towns, the old tribal rules were not longer adequate; the Arabs needed a central government.

Arab Life

• E.   Religious ideas were also changing; introduced to the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity, many Arabs grew dissatisfied with their old beliefs.

Muhammad and His Message

• A.   The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was born in the city of Makkah around A.D. 570.

Muhammad and His Message

• B.   Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad experienced a revelation in A.D. 610—a voice called him to be the apostle of the one true deity, Allah.

4

• According to Moslems (followers of Islam) who is Allah?

Muhammad and His Message

• C.   In A.D. 613 Muhammad preached to the people of Makkah that there was only one God and that people everywhere must worship and obey him; he told the people of Makkah to live their lives in preparation for the day of judgment.

Muhammad and His Message

• D.   Muhammad made slow progress in winning converts, appealing mostly to Makkah’s poor.

Muhammad and His Message

• E.   Muhammad persisted in his preaching until threats against his life forced him to seek help outside the city; he found refuge in the small town of Yathrib to the north in A.D. 622, the first year of the Muslim calendar.

5

• Due to threats to his life, where does Muhammad flee? What is a Hegira?

The Islamic Community• A.   Most of Yathrib accepted

Muhammad as God’s prophet and their ruler, and the town became known as Madinah, “the city of the prophet.”

The Islamic Community• B.   Muhammad was a skilled political as

well as religious leader; in the Madinah Compact, Muhammad laid the foundations of an Islamic state.

The Islamic Community• C.   When Muhammad and his

followers entered Makkah in A.D. 630, they faced little resistance; Makkah became the spiritual capital of Islam, and Madinah remained its political capital.

Beliefs and Practices of Islam

• A.   For all Muslims, the Quran—compiled from divine messages revealed to Muhammad—is the final authority in matters of faith and lifestyle.

Beliefs and Practices of Islam

• B.   The basic moral values of Islam are similar to those of Judaism and Christianity; the Quran also lays down specific rules to guide Muslims.

Beliefs and Practices of Islam

• C.   Law cannot be separated from religion in Islamic society; generations of legal scholars have organized Islamic moral principles into body of law known as the shari’ah.

6

• What is the shari’ah?

Five Pillars of Islam• A.   The Quran presents the Five Pillars

of Islam: confession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and the pilgrimage to Makkah.

Five Pillars of Islam• B. The first pillar confirms the oneness

of an all-powerful, just, and merciful God.

Five Pillars of Islam• C.   To Muslims, Allah is the same god

as the God of the Jews and Christians; Muslims have a great respect for the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity.

Five Pillars of Islam• D.   Muslims express their devotion in

prayer five times each day; worshipers pray while facing Makkah.

Five Pillars of Islam• E.   Almsgiving is practiced privately

through contributions to the needy and publicly through a state tax.

Five Pillars of Islam• F.    Fasting occurs in the month of

Ramadan, during which Muhammad received his first revelation; during Ramadan, Muslims neither eat nor drink from sunrise to sunset.

Five Pillars of Islam• G.  Every able-bodied Muslim who can

afford the trip is expected to make the pilgrimage to Makkah at least once. 

7

• Please list the Five Pillars of Islam

Spread Of Islam

11-2

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• A.   The first four caliphs, “the Rightly Guided Caliphs,” sought to protect and spread Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• B.   Arab armies swept forth against the weakened Byzantine and Persian empires, eventually bringing most of the former and all of the latter under Muslim control.

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• C.   The Arab armies were successful for several reasons: they were united in the belief that they had a religious duty to spread Islam, continual warfare had weakened the other empires, and members of persecuted religions in the empires welcomed the more benevolent Muslim rule.

8

• Why were Moslem armies successful?

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• D.   When Ali, the fourth caliph, was murdered in A.D. 661, the Syrian governor Mu’awiyah became the first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty; Ali’s son Husayn fought against Umayyad rule and was killed in battle in A.D 680.

9

• What is a caliph?

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• E.   The murders of Ali and Husayn led to a significant division in the Islamic world: the Sunni believed that the caliph was a leader, not a religious authority, while the Shiite (followers of Ali and Husayn) believed that the caliphate was a spiritual position to be reserved for descendants of Muhammad.

10

• What are the two main branches of Islam? What are their differences?

“The Rightly Guided Caliphs”

• F.    The split between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims had a profound impact on Islam and has lasted into modern time; today, 90 percent of Muslims are Sunnis.

11

• Which branch of Islam is the largest?

The Islamic State• A.   During the Umayyad dynasty, which

ruled from A.D. 661 to 750, the capital was moved from Madinah to Damascus, Syria.

The Islamic State• B.   In the next century, Umayyad

warriors carried Islam east and west.

The Islamic State• C.   As time went by, the Umayyads

built a powerful Islamic state that they ruled over more like kings than like the earlier caliphs.

The Islamic State• D.   The Umayyads helped to unite the

lands they ruled by establishing a common language, currency, roads, and postal routes.

12

• What achievements did the Ummayads have during their rule?

The Islamic State• E.   Umayyad rule caused dissatisfaction

among non-Arab Muslims, particularly in Iraq and Persia; in A.D. 747 the anti-Umayyad Arabs and the non-Arab Muslims in Iraq and Persia joined forces and overwhelmed the Umayyads; the resulting Abbasid dynasty built a new city, Baghdad.

13

• What reasons are stated for the rise of the Abbasid dynasty?

The Islamic State• F.    The Abbasids, under Caliph Harun

al-Rashid, developed a sophisticated urban civilization based on the diversity of the empire’s peoples.

The Islamic State• G.  During the Abbasid period,

many of the lands that had been won by the Umayyads broke free from Baghdad. 

Daily Life and Culture

11-3

Family Life• A.   Early Islam stressed the equality of

all believers before God; however, a woman’s social position was subservient to male family members.

Family Life• B.   Islam did, however, improve the

social position of women through property rights and polygamy laws.

Family Life• C.   Muslim men, in addition to politics

and the army, worked at a variety of business and in the fields.

City and Country

• A.   Although most Arabs lived in rural or desert places, the state leadership came from the cities; Muslim cities, which often began as trading centers or military towns, were divided into distinct business and residential districts.

14

• In what location did most Arabs live?

City and Country

• B.   Muslim merchants dominated trade throughout the Middle East and North Africa until the A.D. 1400s.

City and Country

• C.   Growing food was difficult in many areas of the Islamic state because of the dry climate and scarcity of water sources; most productive land was held by large landowners who received grants from the government.

City and Country

• D.   After Arab irrigation methods were introduced into Spain, Muslims cultivated new produce.

Islamic Achievements

• A.   The use of Arabic not only promoted trade but also encouraged communication and the spread of knowledge among the different peoples in the Islamic state.

15

• Please write the following phrase in Arabic: Alexandria is full of beautiful beaches

Islamic Achievements

• B.   Muslim mathematicians developed the place-value system, in which a number’s value is determined by the position of its digits, invented algebra, and helped develop trigonometry.

16

• What mathematic innovations were developed by Muslim mathematicians?

Islamic Achievements

• C.   Astronomers described solar eclipses, proved that the moon affects the oceans, and improved on a Greek device that indicated the positions of the stars; geographers accurately measured the size and circumference of the earth and produced the first accurate maps of the Eastern Hemisphere. 

17

• What scientific achievements were advanced by Islam?