1. The Spread of Islam: Where? How? Why?

2. The Spread of Islam: Where? How? Why?
Reasons for the Spread of Islam
Common Language (Arabic) spoken throughout the Middle East
Strong Military
Weakened state of Byzantine and Persian Empires allowed for Muslims to conquer these territories

3. The Spread of Islam: Where? How? Why?
Treatment of conquered people
Allowed others to practice their own faith, but you had to pay a special tax
Qur’an forbids forced conversion
If you freely converted you were exempt from a higher tax rate
Possibility of social mobility
People all are creations of Allah, so they are all equal

4. Taxation under the Umayyads

5. The Spread of Islam: Where? How? Why?
Trade Cultural Diffusion
People exposed to Islamic beliefs and embrace Islam’s message
Regions
Middle East by end of 600s via conquest
North Africa by late 600s via trade & conquest
Spain and Sicily by 700s via conquest
India by 700s via trade & conquest
Southeast Asia by the 1200s via trade
Bedouins  Middle Eastern desert dwelling nomads who helped spread Islam through their camel-raising trade

6. Why Not Western Europe? The Battle of Tours (732 A.D.)
Christian Franks under Charles Martel were able to repel Muslim forces in France.
Preserved Christianity as the religion of Western Europe

7. The Abbasids
Non-Muslims had grown dissatisfied with the Umayyads for the following
Paying higher taxes than Muslims
Social discrimination
Lower wages in the army & government
Anti-Umayyad forces overthrow the empire
Abbasid Empire established under Caliph Abu’l-Abbas

8. Abbasids Empire reaches it’s height under Harun al-Rashid
Life in the Abbasid Islamic state
Sophisticated urban civilization develops
Capital moved to Baghdad
Better treatment of non-Muslims
Leads to Islamic golden age

9. Abbasids Fall of the Abbasids
Conquered by Seljuk Turks (recently converted Muslims)
Allowed Abbassids to still oversee the religion, but Seljuks controlled state affairs.
Abbassids aren’t completely defeated until Chinggis Khan captures Baghdad in