Part 2
The classic regional empires that flourished had all fallen partly due to nomadic invaders. With their fall, the stability enjoyed by the regions under their influence was lost. People began to rely on decentralized politicalstructures.
The limited trade between the classic regional empires continued along the Silk Road and developed into the first interregional trade network. This interregional network spread ideas and religion of the classical period.
Invasions began this period and they also end it. Another nomadic group, the Mongolians, staged several invasions following the interregional trade network. Although these invasions were disruptive, they were only a temporarycondition. Civilizations continued to centralize and develop. The march of progress would not be stopped.
Chapter 7
In This Chapter
• The geography and culture of the Arabian Peninsula
• Muhammad and the origin of Islam
• Islamic empires
• Early African civilizations
• Africa and Islam
Of all the civilizations that have been described to this point, none truly could be called a global civilization. Arguably, though, that distinction could be given to the Islamic culture that rose out of the hot sands of the Arabian Peninsula.
Arabian Peninsula and the Bedouin
The Arabian Peninsula is 1 million square miles of arid desert and scarcely populated hot plains between the Red Sea on the West and the Persian Gulf on the East. The people who chose to live in this hostile climate on the peninsula were called the Bedouin. They were typically nomadic and herded sheep, camels, and goats from vegetated area to area. Like most nomadic cultures the Bedouin lived in tribes of related families led by a sheikh or chief. Their culture was simple in most respects but eventually it developedits own written language, Arabic, and also a trade network that spanned the peninsula.
Mecca
As the commerce network developed, connecting all of the points of the peninsula, the area became a crossroads for the trade of luxury goods between the western and the eastern trading settlements. As a result, the Bedouin towns grew in population and strength. Mecca (sometimes spelled Makkah) was such a town. It developed quickly in the 500s C.E. because it was a commercial crossroads.
Mecca was also a place of religious pilgrimage for the Bedouins and Arabs. A shrine had been constructed for the mysterious stone of Kaaba and other statues of Arabic gods. The Bedouin religion during this time had grown into an odd eclectic mix of polytheism and animism. As trade connections increased in Mecca so did contacts with monotheistic religions like Judaism and Christianity. This would arguably have a major influence on the Bedouin and Arabic religion.
definition
Animism is the conviction that life is produced by a spiritual force that is separate from matter. This belief sometimes includes the belief that spirits and demons may inhabit particular objects. For example, some people have traditionally “knocked on wood” to avoid bad luck. This tradition comes from European animist beliefs in which “knocking on wood” scared the evil spirit of the tree away.
Muhammad
It was within this cultural background that Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 C.E. His parents died early in his life and he was raised by his closest relative, an uncle. Muhammad was involved in the practice that made Mecca what it was: commerce.After trading for several years, Muhammad married a wealthy older widow, and, at the age of 25, he was financially set.
But the life of luxury did not suit Muhammad. In his spare time he walked the city of Mecca and saw many problems. He worried about the greed of people and the mistreatmentof the poor. He spent many hours alone in the desert pondering the meaning of life and suffering. Around 610 C.E. he heard a voice in his head instructing him to recite its words and warn the people. Muhammad came to the conclusion that it was Allah (the Arabic word for God) speaking to him, but not until 613 C.E., after reassurancesfrom a relative that he wasn’t crazy, did Muhammad share with others what Allah told him.
Muhammad’s Message
Like the Bedouin culture itself, Muhammad’s message was simple: there is only one God, Allah, and everyone is equal in his eyes, so everyone should be treated equally. (Not a bad message at any rate.)
Notable Quotable
"They stirred up against him [Muhammad] foolish men who called him a liar, insulted him, and accused him .... However, the Messenger continued to proclaim what God ordered him to proclaim.”
—The Life of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq
This message was not well received by the merchants of Mecca, who perceived economicinequalities as natural condition. In addition, Muhammad’s new religion, now called Islam, meaning “submit,” was a threat to the economic livelihood of the city, which came from the pilgrims who visited the Shrine of Kaaba. According to Muhammad, the stone was part of the pagan past. If Islam was accepted by the populationof Arabia, the revenues received from pilgrims might dry up. So in response, the merchants of Mecca persecuted Muhammad and his first followers, called Muslims.
Exile and Return
The persecutions did not stop Muhammad but inspired him to create an Islamic state. In 622 C.E., Muhammad left Mecca to travel to a nearby city that seemed more sympathetic to his message, Yathrib. His journey to Yathrib is known as the Hijrah and it now marks the first year of the Muslim calendar. In Yathrib, Muhammad formed an Islamic state named Medina (sometimes spelled Madinah).
In 630 C.E. he returned to Mecca with an army of followers to conquer the city for Islam. When he arrived at Mecca, however, the city gates swung open to him and he was accepted as the city’s rightful ruler. Very rapidly, Muhammad took his forces and his appeal to the Arabic people and consolidated the whole Arabian Peninsula under Islamic rule.
What in the World
The Middle East is the birthplace of three of the world’s major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of these has a holy site in Jerusalem: the Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock for Muslims. That has led to many conflicts that have lasted until modern times.
Islamic Teachings
During this period the practices of Islam solidified into what they are today. At the foundation of the Islam is the Quran (sometimes spelled Koran). The story has it that the angel Gabriel revealed the content of the Quran to Muhammad over a 22-year period. The text was written in Arabic and, according to tradition, should only be read in Arabic to understand the truth of its revelation. In the end Muhammad’s revelationsbecame the holy book of Islam and the final authority in matters of faith and lifestyle for the Islamic people.
The Five Pillars of Islam
The Five Pillars of Islam found in the Quran represent the core of the practices of Islam. According to the Quran a member of the Islamic faith must practice these five pillars.
• The first pillar is faith, professed in the recited creed, “There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is His prophet.”
• The second pillar is prayer five times daily, which is announced or called by the muezzin, or reciter.
• The third pillar is almsgiving, or zakat, which means simply giving to the poor.
• The fourth pillar is the required fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
• The fifth and final pillar is the undertaking, if possible, of a pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, once during one’s lifetime.
In addition to the practices found in the Quran, Islamic social teachings can be found in the Hadith, a collection of sayings and acts of Muhammad. There is also Sharia, or Islamic law, derived from both the Quran and Hadith.
The “People of the Book” and the “Seal of the Prophets”
Another fundamental belief of Islam is that Allah sent many other prophets, includingMoses in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible, to instruct the people. Because of that belief, Muslims accept Christians and Jews as people who worship the same God, sometimes referred to as “People of the Book.”
However, in the Islamic view, Muhammad was the last prophet, and through him the full and perfect religion was revealed. Muhammad was the “Seal of the Prophets,” so although there is some kinship with the “People of the Book,” there is also friction because they have not accepted the “Seal of the Prophets.”
After Muhammad
Muhammad passed away in 632 C.E., and leadership of the Islamic state passed to men called caliphs, meaning successor, who were elected for life. The first of these men was Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s best friend and right-hand man. He was followed by Umar and Uthman, two other early converts and close companions of Muhammad.
These men were named “The Rightly Guided Caliphs” because of their exceptional leadership abilities and religious devotion. During their rule, the Islamic state of the Arabian Peninsula expanded to the rest of the Middle East, including North Africa, Egypt, Persia, and Levant (part of Palestine). But after the “Rightly Guided Caliphs,” questions of succession of caliphs caused a major rift in the unity of Islam.
Division
When Uthman died in 656 C.E., a dispute over who would succeed him led to civil war between members of Muhammad’s family, including Muhammad’s son-in-law and wife. Finally after several years of struggle, another leader named Muawiyah, not related to Muhammad’s family, announced that he was the new caliph and established his rule of the expanded Islamic state.
A majority of the Muslims accepted his rule, which marked the beginning of the Umayyad dynasty. These Muslims refer to themselves as Sunni, or the “People of Tradition and Community.” Today this group makes up about 80 percent of the Islamic community. But there were members of the Islamic community who did not accept Muawiyah’s rule because he was not related to Muhammad. This group is known as the Shiites from Shi’at Ali, or “Party of Ali,” referring to their belief that Ali was Muhammad’s rightful successor.
The Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyad dynasty founded by Muawiyah did not retain power long, but it did spread the Islamic faith through conquest. The first major change initiated by the dynasty was that the capital was moved from Mecca to Damascus in present-day Syria. From this strategic vantage point, the Umayyad dynasty was able to add even more territory to the Islamic state, including all of North Africa and the Middle East.
What in the World
Most historians think that the defeat of the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732 C.E. marked a turning point in European history. As one historian put it, if Charles Martel had not won the battle, the Islamic call to pray would be heard in Oxford rather than church bells.
More important, Islamic faith spread to the continentof Europe through the conquest of Spain. Islamic forces were only stopped from entering and conquering the region of France by the Merovingian ruler Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. The Umayyad dynasty also harassed the borders of the Byzantine Empire. Only the high and thick walls of Constantinople protected eastern Europe from fallingto Islamic rule.
The underlying political philosophy of the Umayyad dynasty spelled its defeat. Unlike the “Rightly Guided Caliphs,” the dynasty’s government was politically based rather than religiously. This did not sit well with many Muslims. In addition, some felt that Muhammad’s original intent was to spread Islam through conversion. The Umayyads preferred to be religiously tolerant and accepting of other religions. Nonconverts in conquered territories were allowed to keep their legal systems and worship as they pleased. This policy made ruling conquered territories for the Umayyads much easier. However, oddly enough, converts to Islam were actually taxed in an effort to maintainthe old Islamic aristocracy. A change in rule was in the works.
The Rise of the Abbasids
By 747 C.E., Muslims and Muslim converts had become disenchanted with the Umayyad rule. These men, numbering 50,000, had started to settle in eastern Iran. The Abbasid family, whose ancestor had been a cousin of Muhammad, allied themselveswith this group to overthrow the Umayyad dynasty in 750 C.E. From there the capital of the Islamic state was moved to Baghdad, once the site of Babylon and a major cultural center of the old Persian Empire. This gave the Abbasid dynasty a distinctly cosmopolitan outlook during its reign, which lasted until 1258 C.E.
During the Abbasid dynasty, specifically during the rule of Harun al-Rashid (786-809 C.E.), Islamic culture experienced its Golden Age. The empire became a truly global civilization, incorporating a variety of religions and cultures within its large borders.
Islamic Culture
It almost goes without saying that the culture of both the Umayyad and Abbasid Islamic Empires was influenced heavily by the teachings of Islam. But, oddly, the Islamic culture retained much of its male-dominated nature despite the Quran’s teachings on the equality of women.
Muslim men could have up to four wives and many slave women with which to form a harem. In addition, women were property, meaning that they stayed at home and were not to be seen or heard. This of course also meant that women received little education. Muslim males, on the other hand, entered school at the age of seven. Once completing their required education, some continued their studies at madrasas, or theological schools, where they learned to become politicalor religious leaders in Islamic society.
What in the World
The Arab surgeon Abu al-Qasim(936-1013 C.E.) developed surgical techniques that he wrote down in the first illustrated surgical textbook. His textbook was used for hundreds of years in Europe and the Middle East.
Art
Despite the inequalities, the culture did flourish in the areas of art, literature, and philosophy. Calligraphy, the art of elegant handwriting, developed in response to the need for religious decoration, which did not involve human images. (The Islamic people were iconoclasts to the extreme, whose influence could be felt in the Christian Byzantine Empire!) So, too, they developed the art of arabesque, in which intricate geometric designs were created for religious decoration.
Philosophy and Literature
During the Abbasid period in which Islamic culture reached its zenith, many libraries were created and stocked across the empire. This expansion can be compared with the spread of libraries and learning during the Greek Hellenistic period. Because of this, there was much advancement in the areas of philosophy and literature.
Notable Quotable
"How beautiful is that which [Aristotle] said in this matter! We ought not to be ashamed of appreciating the truth and of acquiring it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us.”
—On First Philosophy, Al-Kindi
Muslim philosophers, most notably Ibn-Rushd, Ibn Sina, Al-Kindi, and Moses Maimonides, tried to combinethe teaching of the Quran with those of Greek philosophy, the teachings of Aristotle in particular. Others like Tabari, Ibn al-Athir, and Ibn Khaldun wrote histories in which events were arranged in the order that they occurred. Ibn Khaldun even went so far as to examine history scientifically by looking for cause and effect relationships in events. In literature Muslim writers produced many influential works, including the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam and A Thousand and One Arabian Nights.
Africa and Islam
The Islamic faith not only spread throughout the Middle East, it also spread deep into the continent of Africa. But to understand how that expansion occurred, we need to examine the geography of Africa and some of the earlier civilizations that emerged on the continent.
The Geography of Africa
The climate of Africa is divided into four zones. The desert zone is found in the region of North Africa and includes the area of the Sahara and Kalahari deserts. The mild zone has a Mediterranean climate and temperate weather and is located across the very northern tip of Africa. The rain forest zone stretches along the equator. Despite what most people imagine about African climate, this only makes up about 10 percent of Africa. And finally the savanna just north and south of the equator is made up of broad grasslands with small trees and shrubs.
In this land of geographic diversity, several early African civilizations developed before the Common Era and during the early centuries of the Common Era. The civilizations of Nubia, Kush, Axum, and the Nok all served as the basis for later civilizations that formed Islamic Africa.
The Middle East and East Africa.
The Kingdom of Nubia
One of the first civilizations to develop in Africa emerged in the southern Nile Valley around 3000 B.C.E. The Nubians were heavily influenced by Egyptian culture because of their close proximity to the land of the pharaohs. But archaeological evidence has shown that the influence also went the other way. The kingdom of Nubia existed for close to 1,000 years, but eventually fell into decline.
The Kingdom of Kush
Around 2000 B.C.E., the kingdom of Kush emerged from the ashes of the kingdom of Nubia, but they were dependent on the Egyptian kingdom. The kingdom of Kush did not attain cultural or political independence from their neighbor to the north until 1000 B.C.E. In an odd twist, the Kushites later conquered their one-time oppressors when in 724 B.C.E. King Piankhi led the kingdom in the conquest of Egypt.
Their control over the lands of the Nile did not last for long. The Assyrians drove the Kushites out of Egypt in 663 B.C.E. Although this was a setback, it did not spell decline for the kingdom of Kush, which continued to develop into a major trading empire. They engaged in commerce with some of the major civilizations of the classicalworld, including the Roman Empire, India, and Arabia. The city of Meröe became their major trading and population center, attracting goods from across the continent of Africa. The zenith of the kingdom of Kush was from 250 B.C.E. to 150 C.E., but during this peak of power and influence it was conquered by the civilization of Axum.
The Axum
The civilization of Axum started as an Arab trading colony along the Red Sea. It eventually came to dominate the region of East Africa for over 500 years. In part because of its geographic location, the Axum civilization combined the best of African and Arabic cultures.
Like the Kushites they had conquered, the Axum depended on trade and commerce for their power. The Axum civilization also had far-reaching trade connections with the Roman Empire, India, and Arabia. It was probably because of its trading connectionswith the Roman Empire that the Axum people gradually converted to the Christian religion. In 330 C.E., King Ezana made Christianity the official religion of the Axum. Christianity probably served as a cohesive force in Axum, but like all civilizations,they began a slow decline around 600 C.E.
The Nok
The last early civilization of Africa was the sub-Saharan civilization of the Nok. The Nok civilization emerged from the fertile river valleys of West Africa from 700 to 200 B.C.E. As the Nok population increased, food grew scarce and the civilization began a slow decline. The decline of the Nok caused a great migration to the east and south of Africa, sometimes referred to as the Bantu migrations after the Bantu language group to which the people of the migration belonged.
The Bantu Migrations
By 1000 C.E. as the Bantu migration progressed, different ethnic groups formed. These groups became close-knit communities that settled in small villages across eastern and southern Africa. Rather oddly, considering the track record of male dominationin previous civilizations, the villages traced their ancestry through the mother of the family, making the culture matrilineal rather than patrilineal.
During this Bantu period, religious beliefs also solidified. To most Africans there was a single supreme god who created the universe. This god also made marriage customs and all other laws and traditions that the society practiced. In addition, many of the Africans of the Bantu migrations believed that the spirits of the dead lived among the villages and served as guides for the people.
The early Africans of the Bantu migration period developed important cultural traditionsin the areas of art, music, and literature. They sculpted masks and figures to represent the spirits of the dead in the villages. The Africans created music for religious ceremonies and also for everyday work, using a variety of instruments includingdrums, harps, flutes, and horns. Finally the Africans of the Bantu migrations passed down from generation to generation an impressive oral literary tradition.
What in the World
The language of Swahili, spoken in Africa today, is a combination of the Bantu, Arabic, and Persian languages.
The Kingdoms of the Niger River Valley
Not all of the African people of the Niger River valley region migrated during the Bantu migrations. Three kingdoms later developed along the fertile banks of the Niger River. They are the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
The Kingdom of Ghana
The kingdom of Ghana was the first kingdom of the Niger River valley. It emerged on the banks of the river around 400 C.E. The name of the kingdom itself came from the word for the king, or Ghana, who ruled over the kingdom. As the kingdom developed,commerce focused on the export of iron and animal products and gold and salt mined at the Saharan salt mines.
This commercial activity led to the development of several trading centers, including the key city of Saleh. These trading centers eventually proved too rich and attractiveto outside groups including the Almoravids, a Muslim group that invaded from North Africa. These attacks led to the decline of the kingdom by 1200 C.E.
The Kingdom of Mali
The kingdom of Mali was the next kingdom to grow along the banks of the Niger River valley beginning around 1250 C.E. Like the kingdom of Ghana, it depended on trade for its wealth, including the trade of salt and gold. Timbuktu emerged as the largest city of the kingdom and the focus of cultural and political activity.
The kingdom of Mali holds the distinction of producing one of the most notable Islamic rulers of Africa, Mansa Musa, who was also its greatest king. He ruled the kingdom from 1312 to 1332 C.E. and doubled the size of the kingdom. In addition, he created a Muslim center of learning in Timbuktu that attracted students and scholars from across Africa and even the Mediterranean Sea basin. After his rule, the kingdom began a slow decline and by 1450 C.E. it was divided up into many different small states.
The Kingdom of Songhai
The final kingdom to originate in the Niger River valley was the kingdom of Songhai, which emerged in West Africa around 1000 C.E. with its key city located at Gao. Eventually with the decline of the kingdom of Mali and the conquest of the cities of Timbuktu and Jenne, Songhai gained control of the salt and gold trade of West Africa.
Under the Islamic king Askia Muhammad, who ruled from 1493 to 1528 C.E., the kingdom reached the height of its commercial and political power. To help standardizejustice, Askia introduced laws based on the Quran.
Sadly, the decline of the kingdom of Songhai started at the peak of its power and influence. Askia Muhammad’s son, who was dissatisfied with his father’s rule, staged a violent rebellion and in 1529 C.E. Askia Muhammad was overthrown. Shortly after the change in power, a Moroccan army attracted to the wealth of the region invaded the kingdom of Songhai and ended its reign of West Africa.
Coastal City-States and Central Empires
Beyond the fertile banks of the Niger River other powerful city-states and kingdomsrose to prominence in the regions of eastern and central Africa. In East Africa there were the Arabic coastal city-states, and in central Africa were the kingdom of Karanga and the Changamire and Monomotapa Empires.
The city-states of East Africa developed over a long period of time. As early as the 500s B.C.E. the coastal areas of East Africa traded with the Arabian Peninsula. This trade allowed for the slow emergence of Arabic influenced city-states along the shores of East Africa.
In the 900s C.E., as trade and commerce spanned across Eurasia, Arab and Persian merchants settled in the cities of East Africa in an effort to extend existing trade connections. By the 1200s C.E. the city-statesof Kilwa, Malindi, Mombassa, Sofala, and the island of Zanzibar surfaced as the most important trade centers of the region. During the 1300s C.E. these cities reached the height of their power and influence, which extended into the Arabian Peninsula and central Africa. But the city-states of East Africa did not dominate central Africa. That was reserved for the kingdomof Karanga and the Changamire and Monomotapa Empires.
What in the World
As early as the 1200s C.E., the city-states of East Africa had developed trade connectionswith India and China! They exported gold and ivory to Indian Ocean ports in India and China in exchange for cotton and porcelain.
The kingdom of Karanga grew up in the region of central Africa around 1000 C.E. To protect their territory, the people of Karanga built over 300 stone-wall fortresses. The largest and greatest of these fortresses was called the Great Zimbabwe. But despite its defensive measures, the kingdom of Karanga did not control central Africa long. Rival factions split the kingdom apart in the 1400s C.E. These rival factions eventually became the Changamire and Monomotapa Empires, both of which ruled the region for a short period before falling under Arabic and Portuguese spheres of influence by the 1800s C.E.
The Least You Need to Know
• The Islamic religion originated in the Arabian Peninsula.
• Muhammad and his followers, Muslims, established the beliefs and practices of the Islamic faith.
• At its height, the Islamic Empire encompassed all of the Middle East, North Africa, and modern-day Spain.
• During the seventh century, the Islamic faith split into two groups, the Shiite and the Sunni, over the issue of succession.
• Trade led to not only the exchange of goods but of cultural ideas that affected the way African civilizations developed.