1. Chapter 7
Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia

2. Mid-9th Century
Abbasids were losing control over their vast Muslim empire
Distance hampered efforts to move armies and control local administrators
Most subjects retained local loyalties
Shi’a dissenters were troublesome, while slave and peasants rising sapped the empires strength
Mongol invasions in the 13th century ended the very weakened state
Despite the political decline, Islam reached new cultural heights, and expanded widely in the Afro-Asian world through conquest and peaceful conversion

3. The Islamic Heartlands in the Middle and Late Abbasid Era
Abbasid empire disintegrated between the 9th and 13th centuries
Peasant revolts and slavery increased
Despite the artistic and intellectual creativity of the age, the position of women eroded
Caliph al-Mahdi ( ) failed to reconcile moderate Shi’a to Abbasid rule
Al-Mahdi surrounded his court with luxury
He failed to establish a succession system resolving disputes among many sons, leaving a lasting problem to future rulers

4. Imperial Extravagance and Succession Disputes
Harun al-Rashid became one of the most famous Abbasid caliphs
His court was immortalized in the The Thousand and One Nights
He became dependent on Persian advisors
Al-Rashid’s death led to the first civil war over succession
The sons of the winner, Al-Ma’mun, built personal retainer armies to protect their futures
The armies became power centers, removing and selecting caliphs ; uncontrolled excesses developed into a general focus for societal unrest

5. Imperial Breakdown and Agrarian Disorder
Continual civil violence drained the imperial treasury
Caliphs increased the strain by building new imperial centers
Peasants had imposing tax burdens
Agricultural villages were abandoned and irrigation works fell into disrepair
Bandits and vagabonds were everywhere; they participated in peasant rebellions often instigated by dissident religious groups

6. The Declining Position of Women in the Family and Society
Freedom and influence during the first centuries of Islam declined
Male-dominated Abbasid society imagined that women possessed incurable lust, therefore men needed to be segregated from all but the women in their family
The harem and the veil symbolized subjugation to men
Abbasid wealth generated large demand for concubines and male slaves
Poor women remained economically active, but the rich were kept home
Women married at puberty and spent their lives in domestic managing and childbearing

7. Nomadic Incursions and the Eclipse of Caliphal Power
Mid-10th century breakaway provinces began to challenge Abbasid rule
The Buyids of Persia captured Baghdad in 945
The caliphs become powerless puppets controlled by the Sultans
The Seljuk Turks defeated the Buyids in 1055 and ruled the remnants of the Abbasid empire for 200 yrs
The Seljuks were Sunni who purged the Shi’a
Egyptians and Byzantines were defeated
Byzantine defeat opened Anatolia, the nucleus of the Ottoman Empire, to settlement by Turkish nomads

8. The Impact of Christian Crusades
European Christian knights invaded Muslim territory in 1096 to capture the biblical holy land
They established small rival kingdoms
Most were recaptured by the close of the 12th century by Muslims reunited under Saladin
The crusades had an important effect on the Christian world through intensifying the existing European borrowing from the more sophisticated tech, architecture, medicine, mathematics, science and general culture of Muslim civilization
Greek learning was recovered
Italian merchants remained in Islamic centers after the crusader defeat and were far more important in carrying Islamic knowledge than warriors were

9. An age of Learning and Artistic Refinements
Great ages of human creativity in states from Spain to Persia
Employment opportunities for skilled individual remained abundant
Merchants amassed large fortunes through supplying urban needs
Artists and artisans created mosques, palaces and tapestries

10. Full Flowering of Persian Literature
Persian replaced Arabic as the primary written language of Abbasid court
Arabic was the language of religion, law an natural sciences
Persian became the language of “high culture”
It was used for literary expression, admin. And scholarship
Development of calligraphy made literature a visual art form

11. Achievements in the Sciences
Muslim society for several centuries surpassed all others in scientific and technological discoveries
In mathematics thinkers made major corrections in theories learned from the ancient Greeks
Chemistry, they created the objective experiment
Al-Razi classified all material substances into 3 categories : animal, vegetable and mineral
Al-Buruni calculated the exact specific weight of 18 major minerals
Improved astronomical instruments, such as the astrolabe, were used for mapping the heavens
Traders and craftsman introduced machines and techniques originating in China for papermaking, silk weaving and ceramic firing

12. Religious Trends Sufis developed vibrant mysticism
Sufis reacted against the arid teachings of the Ulama
Sufis sought personal union with Allah through asceticism, meditation, songs, dance and drugs
The Ulama (religious scholars) became more suspicious of non-Muslim influences and scientific
Suspicious of Greek rationalism and insisted that the Qur’an was the all-embracing source of knowledge
Al-Ghazali struggled to fuse Greek and Qur’anic tradition

13. New Waves
Central Asian nomadic invaders, the Mongols, threatened Islamic lands
Chinggis Khan destroyed the Turkic-Perisan kingdoms of east Baghdad
Hulegu (Chinggis grandson) continued the assault
The last Abassid ruler was killed when Baghdad fell in 1258

14. The Coming of Islam to South Asia
Muslim invasions from the 7th century added to the complexity of Indian civ.
Muslim had a sophisticated but very different culture, that became a new factor
Hindu religion was based on social dominated castes whereas Islam was doctrinaire, monotheistic and evangelical
In the earlier period of contact, conflict predominated but as time passed peaceful commercial and religious exchange occurred in society