Islam Expands

Muhammad’s Successors Spread Islam  Muhammad dies in 634  4 “Rightly Guided Caliphs  Abu Bakr  Umar  Uthman  Ali

Expansion  By 634 with Abu Bakr’s death Muslim armies conquered Syria and Lower Egypt.  Umar and Uthman continue to expand and by 750 Islamic Empire reachs 6,000 miles from Atlantic Ocean to Indus River.

Reasons for Success  Muslims see the military success as a sign from God to continue to expand.  Byzantine and Sassanid empire had been fights and were exhausted militarily.  Persecuted people under the Byzantine and Sassanid rule welcomed the invaders and chose to accept Islam.

Treatment of Conquered Peoples  Qur’an bans forced conversion and allowed “People of the Book to follow their own religion.  Christians and Jews could not spread their religion but they could live peacefully and work as scholars, officials and bureaucrats.

Internal Conflict Creates a Crisis  656 Uthman is murdered and this starts a civil war.  Ali becomes Caliph but Muawiya challenges him and Ali was assassinated.  Ummayads come to power and move the capital to Damascus.  Easier to control empire from Damascus.

Sunni-Shi’a Split  Shi’a resist the rule of the Ummayads.  Shi’a called for a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad to be Caliph.  Sunni did not resist the rule of the Ummayads.  Sufi reject the luxury of life and pursue a life of poverty and devotion to a spiritual life.  Ummayads overthrown in 750 and the Abbasids take over.

Control Extends Over Three Continents  Abbasids tried to wipe out the Ummayads, but one fled to Spain and set up an Ummayad Caliphate.  North African Muslims (Berbers) had settled in Spain in the early 700s.  Abbasids move their capital to Baghdad.

Rival Groups Divide Muslim Lands  Abbasids last from 750 to 1258  Independent Muslim states started, like the Fatimid  Fatimid Empire formed by Shi’a Muslims descended from Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima.  Spread across North Africa into W. Arabia and Syria.

Muslim Trade Network  Two trade networks  Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.  Engages in sea trade with the rest of the world.  Connects the Silk Roads of China and India with Europe and Africa.

Muslim Trade  Muslim’s set up banks throughout their empire.  Offered sakks (checks) to merchants.  Cordoba in Spain had over 200,000 people and became a leading city for poets, philosophers and scientists.  Leaders in the arts and sciences.