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Islamic Civilization Lecture
Course: World Civilizations (HIST 101)
35 Documents
Students shared 35 documents in this course
University: Salisbury University
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Islamic Civilization
Arabic peninsula UNIFIED by Islam.
“Clan” structure
oClan structures allow a society to protect itself in harsh conditions, but also keep it
fragmented. Islam brought that fractured society together.
The study of the Qur’an and its legal traditions became the intellectual backbone of
Islamic civilization
Islam is monotheistic but even more anti-idolatry than Judaism or Christianity—images
or objects depicting God are outlawed, and Jesus is seen as an ordinary prophet rather
than divine.
oChristians, who worshipped Jesus as the son of God and his equal, were “idolaters” to Muslims
despite their shared tradition.
As Muslim armies spread Islamic government around the now-predominately Christian
Mediterranean, they allowed Jews and Christians to practice their religion freely (sometimes only
having to pay a special tax) instead of forcing them to convert to Islam. This policy recognized
that Jews, Christians, and Muslims shared the same foundation: the stories of the Hebrew Bible.
They were all three called “people of the book.”
As Arabs converted to Islam, they formed an expanding political government that unified
the Arabian Peninsula and soon expanded into the Mediterranean and Middle East. But
the political leadership of Islam became complicated after Muhammed’s death.
four early leaders of Islam took over the job of leading the new converts (Muhammed’s son-in-law
Ali was the last of the four), but after the four initial leaders two dynasties would lead the Muslim
political forces:
othe Umayyad caliphate - centered on Arab leadership
othe Abbasid caliphate - brought in non-Arab Muslims (Persian, etc) into the government.
They would rule most of the Muslim world until the Mongol Empire.
Caliphs – the leaders of the dynasties. Muslim, but only secular leaders (no religious
affiliation)
Ulamas - local religious leaders who practiced Muslim law, preaching, and the study of
the Qur’an.
an early rift between Muslims centered on this very question of dynastic legitimacy
and secular/religious separation.
oSunni Muslims - saw the succession of caliphs and their secular function as
legitimate
oShia Muslims - rejected the caliphates and claimed that Ali, Muhammed’s son-in-law,
was his only appropriate successor. Shiites claimed leaders called imams, who were both
religious and secular leaders, should always be in charge.
By the year 1000, Islamic kingdoms had spread across the Middle East, North Africa, Persia, and even
the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Portugal and Spain). The Abbasid caliph, centered on Baghdad in
Mesopotamia, was the dominant leader of the Muslim world, but the Abbasids were surrounded by other
Muslim states in various levels of alliance with them – commonwealth – different states coexisting
around a shared religion and culture
Two other commonwealths are forming at the same time:
oCatholic Commonwealth (Western Europe)
oByzantine-centered Orthodox Commonwealth (Eastern Europe)
