Work - mostly farmers + sailors

Allowed for by suitable climate + plenty of rainfall

Barrier - Deserts
Arabia - foragers
Camels - Important for caravans - trade
Replaced ox carts + horses
Went to Mesopotamia + Mediterranean - brought back goods from there
(manufactured products)
Cultural diffusion Between Sassanid + Byzantine
Religion - Christianity
Mecca - Between but distanced + isolated from Sassanids + Byzantine
Kaba - Pilgrimage site (attracted people)
Holiest Muslim site
Muhammad - 570 CE
Caravan trader
Meditating + believes he heard words of God from an angel
Revelations came until his death in 632 CW
Shared it with friends and family (Abu Bakr)
Shared revelations to public + people thought he could connect with
spiritual world and therefore was connected to God + brought resistance
and resentment
Major attraction factor
Believed Islam was a true version of Gods message
Shows acceptance of Christianity and Judaism
Believes Islam to be a less edited + more accurate
representation of Gods words and messages
Islam - submission to the will of God
Muslim - Follower of Islam - One who submits to Gods will
Focus of Revelations
Social reform + relations (kinship + friendship)
Criticism focuses on not neglecting lower class and
powerless
Others see verses as a symbol of power and beauty and place
less emphasis on the direct message
Meccas leaders feared accepting Muhammad would threaten
their power & prosperity
Fled to Medina + Medinan leaders agreed to provide
protection + acceptance of Islam
Umma - Community defined solely by acceptance of Islam
Revelations provided framework for regulating social and legal
affairs
Still focused on unbelieving city of Mecca

Had desert nomads attack city + sap its power

Made Meccan leaders believe that God favored
Muhammad and not them
Muhammad goes to Kaba unhindered
Expelled Jewish religious groups
People all over Arabia visited Muhammad to learn about Islam
Unchallenged religious leader
Despite kinship focus - main focus = faith in 1 God

Succession
Abu Bakr - chosen by Muhammad to head Muslim community
First caliph
Had no specific powers - no revelations
No specific instructions on succession of Islamic leaders
5 Pillars - Promoted + Conformed to them as a means to rule
1 god + Muhammad is messenger
Prayer five times a day
Fasting during lunar month of Ramadan
Paying alms (Charity)
Making pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during ones lifetime
Caliphate not appealing to everyone
Caused conflict which needed military intervention to maintain Caliphates
control
Some people followed different leaders they believed in
Organized all revelations into 1 religious book - Quran
Words of God not Muhammad
Not a human manifestation of God
Disagreement over succession
Civil War of Islam
Followed assassination of 3rd caliph - Uthman
Assassins nominated Ali - Shia belief of rightful caliph because
direct blood relation to Muhammad
(3) Uthman - Umayyad followed (2) Umar
Muawiya - Related to Uthman
Ali assassinated
Muawiya became caliph instead of Hasan (Alis son)
Passed power to Yazid (his son) - instituted Umayyad
Caliphate
Has Husayn + family (relatives of Ali) put to death
Receives sympathy and transforms Shiism from a
political movement into a religious sect
Shites have several variations (Smaller Group)
Commonly agreed the Ali was rightful successor and Imams must be
descendants of Ali - in Shiism

Sunni - considers caliphs to be imams - felt first 3 caliphs were rightful

successors of Muhammad
Kharijites - military form of Shiism
Disagreed that Ali should not have accepted arbitration
3rd - Extremely minor division
Caliphs - had no legitimized source of derived power unlike Christian leaders and
patriarchs (Divine Right of Kings)
The Islamic Conquests
Began with Umar (2nd caliph) - prompted by nomadic attacks
Defeated Byzantine and Sassanid Empires
Losing territory or parts defeated by Islamic Empire
Conquest spread to sub-Saharan Africa, Spain, India, Anatolia
(Turkey/Middle East)
Conquered territory not divided upon military service
Military individuals resided in camps
Conquered non Muslim non Arab people paid taxes supporting
government
Umayyad Caliphate
Capital - Damascus
Adopted and adapted the administrative practices of their Sassanid and
Byzantine predecessors
Introduced Arabic as the language government
Fell after unrest in 750
Shites & Kharijites attacked legitimacy
Inequality between Arabs and non Arabs
Umayyad and Abbasid were Sunni
Abbasid Caliphate- Sunni
Concern for Islam
Theology + religious law became preoccupations at court
Unify through common language - Arabic
Heavy emphasis on culture + diffusion of cultures from trade and travel in
Baghdad
Great conversion to Islam among conquered population (Golden Age)
Decline
Expansiveness made it hard to centralize govt. & tasks
Lack of communication - took weeks/months to communicate
events
Lack of control on provincial endeavors - could not know if
provincial governors forwarded proper amounts of tax to Baghdad
Provinces broke away - diminishing funds
Taxes cut off + funds starved
Mamluk slaves brought as as standing army
Couldnt be sustained so they took over

Caliphate fell under control of Buyid Shiite family

No respect for Sunni Caliph
Used him as a pawn for power
12th caliph disappeared supposedly to come back as messiah at the end
of the world
Could Not defer to any imam
Trade system between North and South established
Umayyad blended Jewish, roman, germanic traditions - more tolerant
Spain - most diverse and sophisticated agricultural economy in Europe
Samanids, Fatimids, Spanish Umayyads
Religious scholars - ulama