Notes

what includes sayings of muhammad and is used by muslim scholars as a guide for interpretation of the quran? hadith
why was muhammad persecuted by ruling elites of mecca? threat to their authority and economic threat and religious threat
hijra = migration to medina
muh initially condemned idolatry promoted at ka'ba
umma = community of the faithful
muh accepted earlier jew/chr prophets, called himself a (final) prophet
jihad - struggle
1. combat evil
2. struggle against ignorance and unbelief by spreading islam
sharia tells people how to live in all aspects
dar al islam - land where islam is practiced
abu bakr - 1st caliph
what factor allowed muslim forces to seize byzantine syria and palestine and take most of mesopotamia from the sassanids? byzantine and sassanid empires were exhausted from conflicts with each other and they also faced internal uprisings by overtaxed peasants and oppressed ethnic/religions minorities
what brought stability to the islamic community after the assassination ali? umayyad dynasty
umayyad - jizya: tax against non-muslims
umayyad - tightly centralized rule, favored arabs, distributed wealth extracted among the elite, discrimination against non-arabs
abu al-abbas made abbasid dynasty
how did abbasid eliminate the remaining umayyads after shattering umayyad forces in a huge battle
abbasid more cosmopolitan than umayyad
battle of talas river allowed spread of islam to turks
abbasids hardly expanded empire by conquest
before muh, arabs had no govts lger than city-states, nor did the quran offer guidance for the administration of a huge empire
baghdad - central authority of abbasid (move from demascus)
ulama - ppl w rel. knowledge - developed public policy in accordance w quran and sharia
qadis- judges - heard cases at law and rendered decisions based on quran and sharia
harun al-rashid: high point of abbasid
decline: civil war bt harun's sons dmg'd authority, succession rights was a problem, mischevious provincial governors, uprisings -> mongols replaced them
imperial authority fell to seljuq turks - central asian nomads who began to convert to islam
sultan - seljuq ruler
so went from abbasid -> seljuq -> mongol
cotton was most impt crop for industrial use. became bassi for thriving textile industry. indigo and henna yielded dyes used by textile manufacturers
new industry during abbasid: paper manufacture -> dissemination of books
camels used for desert travel -> caravanserai
inherited road system facilitated overland trade
used chinese compass for maritime trade and indian sail
banks impt - sakk is root of check
enc'd entrepeneurs; used grp investments
merchants obtained slaves from east africa
al-andalus = prosperity of islamic spain
al-andalus: ceramics, painted tiles, lead crystal, and gold jewelry
women had relatively more rights. quran increased security of women. male dominance reinforced by quran however. veiling accentuated male authority
persian administrative techniques impt to islam
ibn rushd shaped islamic phil and western schools