Spread of Islam_WJenkins

Arabia Before Muhammad - Mecca

1 CE

• Religious center of Arabia and a significant trade stop
• The location of the Kaaba shrine
• Diverse consisting of Arabs, Christians, and Jews

Arabia Before Muhammad - Early Arabs

1 CE

• Arab means to move on or pass
• Significant amount of Arabia's first settlers are the Bedouins or nomadic Arabs
• In the Bible, Arabs are descendants of Noah's son (Semites)
• In the Qur'an, Arabs are descendants of Abraham's son, Ishmael
• Had no stable or consistent government
• Practiced animistic polytheism

Arabia Before Muhammad - Quraysh

1 CE

• Powerful local Arabian tribe
• Urged fellow tribes to place idols (items of worship) in the Kaaba, allowing protection with a fee

Muhammad's Call to Prophethood - Early Life/Family

570

• Born into a family of the Quraysh tribe around 570 CE and 580 CE
• His father died before his birth, and his mother died when he was six, to later be raised by his uncle, Abu Talib
• Gained a reputation of a seeker of solitude.

Life of Muhammad - Marraige

595

• Soon after being hired by Khadijah bint al-Khuwaylid, they married

Life of Muhammad - Suspecting Something is Wrong

610

• When Muhammad was about 40 year old, he suspected that there was something wrong with the way people lived in Mecca.
• This included wealthy people not sharing their wealth, and the constant war against rival tribes.

Life of Muhammad - His Visions & Teachings

612

• Being unsettled by the way people were living in Mecca, Muhammad retreated to the mountains. While there he found a cave and spent many days in there praying and fasting.
• After being on the mountain for 17 days, Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel, where he would reveal the sacred word of Allah.
• In 612 CE, Muhammad finally decided to share the word of Allah

Life of Muhammad - Facing Discrimination

617

• When Muhammad shared the word of Allah, he and his followers faced discrimination from the leaders in Mecca.
• Leaders stated that Muslims, Muhammad's converts, were to be boycotted, meaning no on was allowed to give or sell food to Muhammad or his followers
• During this time, his wife, Khadwaylid, and his uncle, Abu Talib, died.

Life of Muhammad - First Islamic Community

621

• Muhammad had a dream where he flew to Jerusalem and preached to the great biblical prophets and was taken on a tour of the heavens. But, when he woke up, he still saw that his followers were still being threatened by the rulers of Mecca
• A groups of tribes from Yathrib came to Muhammad and told them that they were tired of fighting with each other. After hearing his teachings, they converted to Islam and became the first Islamic Community.

Constitution of Medina

622

• When it was created to establish the first Islamic State, it assigned Jew and Christians certain responsibilities and rights
• Jews and Christians were given freedom of religion if they paid a special tax that was very important to the caliphate budget

Life of Muhammad - Leaving Mecca

622

• Knowing that the lives of him and his followers were still in danger in Mecca, they left and went to Yathrib in 622. This was the beginning of the Muslim era.
• Leaving Mecca and splitting off to create an independent tribe sparked rage within the Quraysh
• The settlement in Yathrib soon became the city of Medina

Life of Muhammad - Medina

630

• Muhammad's house served as the first place of a mosque
• Large and spacious
• Purpose to nurture community
• Allowed followers of all faiths to worship freely
• Made it sure that Muslims prayed to Mecca

Life of Muhammad - His Death and Impact

632

• Had reunited most of the region
• Islam continued to spread
• More than 1.5 billion Muslims

Arabia After Muhammad's Death

632

• His message has continued to spread and his power has continued to grow.
• At his death, the amount of Muslim Arabs was bout 100,000 -Many tribes started to be rivals and raids and feuds came back
• Many tribes refused to pay zakat and found new prophets to inspire them

Caliph Abu Bakr

633

• an original follower
• first successor of Muhammad
• forced the tribes to follow Islam
• revived tribes
• redirected infighting among smaller Arab tribes groups towards wars against each other- Abu's military campaigns
• Arab leaders refused to follow him (war was against the tribes of those leaders)
• Began to spread out of the Arabian Peninsula

Caliph Umar

634

• Laid the foundation of a Islamic states
• commissioned a committee to complete the standardization of the Qur'an (completed in 652)
• conquered Byzantine Empire, Mesopotamia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Jerusalem
• harsh ruler

Caliph Uthman

644

• did the same sort of things as Umar
• born into a noble family
• first to marry the entire Qur'an
• married two of Muhammad's daughters
• ordered all other versions of the Qur'an to be destroyed (not the standardization)
• expanded Islam to Iran, North Africa, and the Caucuses
• family members of high standing were leaders and this made people angry
• was assassinated

Caliph Ali

656

• First Shi'a imam (teacher)
• (Sunni) fourth Caliph, last ruler in the Rashidun Caliphate
• His rise set off the First Fitnah
• led to split between Shiites and Sunni Muslims
• Shiites believed that only the descendants should be the leader
• war set off a long-lasting tension
• he ends up being assassinated

Umayyad Dynasty

Period: 661 to 750

• Death of Muhammad was followed by a wave of military campaigns to expand Arab rule. This caused a 100-year period called the Arab expansion.
• Arab tribes conquered the Byzantines Empire, Sassanid Empire, extended to the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the east in China.
• Spreading Islam was not the main focus as conquered people who didn't resist the Arabs were not forced to convert to Islam.
• Spread to Spain, North Africa, and parts of Central Asia.
• Fell to rebel fighters in 750

Abbasid Dynasty

Period: 750 to 1258

• One of the two most important Muslin dynasties after the death of Muhammad
• This dynasty replaced the Umayyad Dynasty after it was conquered by rebels in 750
• Abbasid Dynasty was overthrown by Mongols in 1258
• Unlike the Umayyad Dynasty, Abbasid Dynasty chose to expand east. -Established capital named Baghdad
• After being weakened by internal rivalries, it eventually separated into nonreligious dynasties that later collapsed when the Mongols invaded Baghdad

The Crusades

1095

• a crusade is 'medieval military expedition'
• there were 9 crusades made to Israel
• some of the major fighting regions were on Jerusalem, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt
• Outcomes ~ Crusades did little to expand Christianity ~ Eastern Orthodox Jews and Christians were killed