Remainder+of+the+Middle+East

Islam and the Middle East:

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 * **How did Islam spread?**
 * 1) ** Muhammad: ** Began Islam and created a place to start - the Arabian Peninsula. Islam appealed to the public because of its commitment to social justice (alleviation of suffering for the Bedouin masses that were subordinated by inter-tribal inequality), the spiritual community that transcended tribal bonds, **umma**, and the sense of unity promoted by ethics and laws, such as the **Five Pillars**.
 * The birthplace of Islam was the Middle East, in the trading center of Mecca. **Muhammad**, the prophet, was born c. 570 A.D. and through merchanting, he was exposed to various cultures and religions. Muhammad meditated daily and in 610, he received his revelations from Gabriel and began preaching them by 613. However, the preachings of Muhammad threatened to undermine the **Umayyad** dominance in Mecca as well the **Bedouin**'s pagan beliefs. As a result, Muhammad was placed on the hit lists of the clans, only to be stopped by the Muhammad's protector, his uncle **Abu Talib**, leader of the Banu Hashim clan. Once he died, Muhammad and his followers went on their exodus, the **//hijra//**, to Yathrib, renamed Medina in Muhammad's honor. In Medina, Muhammad and his followers found sanctuary and grew in numbers. Eventually, Medina rivaled Mecca in power and the **Quraysh tribe** decided to attack Medina. In the **Muslim-Meccan war** that lasted from 624-627, the Muslims repelled the attacks and won the support of many Bedouin tribes. With the Muslim-Meccan truce in 628, Muhammad secured Mecca as the foundation for Islam.
 * 1) ** Rashidun: ** Means "Rightfully guided." They were the first four caliphs and they spread Islam throughout the Middle East. They introduced the **jihad**, or religious war, that were designed to gain wealth through taxes like the **zakat, jizya,** and **kharaj**. They **were not** designed to convert the masses.
 * 2) **Abu Bakr**:
 * When Muhammad died in 632, Islam faced many challenges. Muhammad left without choosing a successor or a method to choose a successor and many of the Bedouins under the Islamic banner became disillusioned and forsook the faith. Under Abu Bakr who ruled from 632-634, the Muslims reunited the Arabian Peninsula under the Islamic faith during the Ridda Wars. It was also during this time that Bakr began conquests of the Byzantium and Sasanian empires.
 * 1) **Umar**:
 * It was under Umar who ruled from 634-644 did the Islamic conquests reach full momentum. Building off the exploratory raids of his predecessor, Umar lead conquests against the Byzantines, who had been weakened considerably by the wars against the Sasanian Empire during 597-626. Major Muslim conquests of Byzantine provinces began in 636 as Muslims defeated the Byzantium armies of Emperor Heraclius at the Battle of Yarmouk. 1 By 638, the Levant's capture was secured with the defeat of Damascus (635), the capital and soon-to-be Islamic center of the world. 2 After Syria, the rest of the Levant, Palestine and modern-day Western Iraq, fell. The Levant fell because of the weakened Byzantine armies and also because of internal dissidence. The oppressive taxes towards the peasantry and the lack of tolerance for unorthodox Christianity compelled the masses to turn to Islam. Muslims promised lower taxes and tolerance for Christian sects like the Nestorians.
 * To continue the jihads against Byzantine, practically all of Egypt was conquered by 640. The Byzantines attempted to repel the Muslims in 640, but failed and their armies were nearly decimated. In 641, Egypt's capital, Alexandria, fell and was unable to be retaken in 642 by the Byzantines. Like the Levant, Egypt's fall can be attributed to oppressive taxes, intolerance to sects like the Copts, and the appeal of Islam.
 * Syria became the doorway to the Persian Empire. Muslim jihads conquered Ctesiphon in 637 and Babylon by 641. However, the Sasanian conquests would have to be continued by Uthman; Umar was assassinated before he could finish. [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/626Byzantium.JPG width="640" height="296" caption="Byzantium PRIOR Arab conquests"]][[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Byzantiumby650AD.JPG width="640" height="296" caption="Byzantium AFTER Arab conquests"]]
 * 1) ** Uthman **
 * To continue what Umar did, Uthman repelled any attempts to recapture Alexandria and expanded the empire to the easternmost border of the Persian Empire by 653. In 655, the last Sasanian emperor was killed. The Sasanid empire fell because of the defections of the oppressed masses, a lack of political centrality -- a puppet emperor controlled by the aristocracy -- and lack of social cement -- the religion of the empire, **Zoroastrianism** was not widely popular.
 * Under Uthman, the Islamic navy also came to power. These ships constituted a fleet the rivaled the Byzantine navy and surpassed it. The Greek islands, like Cyprus, fell to the Muslim naval power and monopolization of the Mediterranean was conquered.
 * 1) ** Ali: **
 * He was the successor of Uthman and a combatant of a civil war that established the Umayyad caliphate. At the ** Battle of the Camel ** in 656, Ali prevailed and forced the Umayyads into a corner. In the ** Battle of Siffin **, Al, though winning, submitted to a plea for mediation in 657. The acceptance enraged supporters, and a dissident group, the ** Kharijites ** , broke off to form a third faction. In 660, ** Mu''awiya ** declared himself the caliph of Jerusalem, and supported by the Egyptians, Syrians, Umayyads, and Kharijites, Ali was defeated. After ** Husayn's ** , his son's, death at ** Karbala ** in 680, the Umayyad caliphate was consolidated with Mu'awiya as the first caliph and the Islamic world divided between ** Sunnis, ** the victors, and ** Shi'ites. **
 * 1) ** Spread of Islam under Muhammad, 613-632. **
 * 2) ﻿** ﻿Spread of Islam under the Rashidun caliphs: Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, 632-661. **
 * 3) **﻿Spread of Islam under the Umayyad caliphate; 661-750;**


 * **Growth of Trade within the Islamic world**
 * Prior the Islamic world, the Bedouin tribes of Arabia maintained overland caravan routes spreading from Anatolia, throughout the peninsula, and to the Persian Empire. With the expansion of the empire, these routes were expanded to encompass the new territories. Under Uthman, the Islamic navy wrestled away Mediterranean dominance from the Byzantines and his policies for loaning permitted the construction industry and public works to proliferate.


 * **Urbanization and Islam**
 * Under Umar, the Islamic empire went through a political reform. He introduced a centralized bureaucracy, created an Islamic law code, and started the ** hijri ** calendar system. He also faciliated the development of Iraqi cities centers like **Kufa**.
 * Under Uthman, the bureaucracy was strengthened. It was split into twelve provinces with an hierarchy of power. Due to the economic successes of Uthman's policy to allow interest free treasury loans, construction thrived throughout the empire. Mosques upward 5000 were constructed, the great mosques in Mecca and Medina were expanded, and public works served to provide resources throughout the land.


 * **Architecture throughout the Islamic world**
 * During Umar and Uthman's reigns, many mosques were built. These grandiose structures can be seen in cities like **Kufa, Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya**, and **Najaf**. The great mosques reflect the architecture of the time -- no set form, but a myriad of styles.

>>> >>> According to a primary source: Some one suggested that the Roman calendar should be adopted ... It was next considered whether the Persian calendar might be adopted. ... The general opinion was that instead of adopting any alien calendar, the Muslims should have a calendar of their own. This was agreed to, and the point next considered was from when should such an era begin? Some one suggested that the era should begin from the date of birth of the Holy Prophet. Some suggested that it should begin from the death of the Holy Prophet. Ali suggested that it should begin from the date the Muslims migrated from Mecca to Madina. After discussion, Ali's suggestion was agreed to.The Holy Prophet had migrated in the month of Rabi-ulAwwal, when the year had already run two months and eight days. Next the question arose from which month should the new era start. Some one suggested that the calendar should start with the month of Rajab as in the pre-Islamic period this month was held sacred. Some one proposed that the first month should be Ramzan as that is a sacred month for the Muslims. Another proposal was that the first month should be 'Zul Hajj' as that is the month of the pilgrimage.Usman suggested that as in Arabia the year started with Muharram the new era should also start with Muharram. This suggestion was accepted. The date was accordingly pushed back by two months and eight days, and the new Hijri calendar began with the first day of Muharram in the year of migration rather than from the actual date of migration.
 * **Examples of Syncretism and Islam**
 * The Hijri calendar:
 * After conquering areas of Byzantine and the Persian empire itself, Uthman decided to adopt a numeric calendar system that had been absent preceding him.


 * The above highlighted shows the syncretism. After conquering neighboring forces, Muslims decided, out of necessity, to create a numeric calendar system instead of a zodiac or symbolic system. In regards to the Levant, Muslims played with the idea of the Roman/Julian calendar. In regards to conquered Persians, they considered the Persian's calendar. Both of these ideas were not suppressed by Muslim thoughts. Ideas and cultures of the **dhimmi** and **mawali** were left intact as long as they paid taxes like the jizya and kharaj. Pushing back the date also is an example of syncretism since that aligns itself with the lunar calendar of pre-Islamic Arabia.


 * **Reactions to Islam**
 * When Islam was first introduced, some Bedouin tribes, notably the **Quraysh**, opposed it because it threatened their power and the ancestral beliefs. The hijra was a result of the animosity and the Muslim-Meccan war.
 * The Ridda Wars were another reaction to the Islamic faith. With the death of Muhammad, many followers defected and converged under the banner of the false prophet **Musaylimah** since they believed without their spearhead, the Muslims lost their power and reason.
 * When the Arabs conquered the Sasanian empire, they saw Muslims as inferior to their own religion of Zoroastrianism. This contempt led to the early defeats of the Sasanians as they sent inadequate forces to repel the Muslims.
 * To the majority of the world populations -- oppressed, impoverished peasants -- Islam's messages of social justice and spiritual equality greatly appealed to them.

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Footnotes:
 * 1) Yarmouk is a river in the Levant, a bordering Anatolia (Asia Minor, Modern day Turkey) and Palestine.[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/The_Levant_3.png/558px-The_Levant_3.png caption="Syria is an area of Northern Levant"]]