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Project Report On Central Islamic Land

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31 views10 pages

Project Report On Central Islamic Land

project report on central islamic land
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Timeline

595 Muhammad marries Khadija, a wealthy Meccan trader who later supports Islam

610-12 Muhammad has first revelation; first public preaching of Islam (612)

621 First agreement at Aqaba with Medinan converts

Migration from Mecca to Medina. Arab tribes of Medina (ansar) shelter Meccan
622
migrants (muhajir)

632-61 Early caliphate; conquests of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Egypt; civil wars

661-750 Umayyad rule; Damascus becomes the capital

750-945 Abbasid rule; Baghdad becomes the capital

945 Buyids capture Baghdad; literary and cultural efflorescence

Rule of Nizamul mulk, the powerful Saljuq wazir who established a string of madrasas c
1063-1092
alled Nizamiyya; killed by Hashishayn (Assassins)

1095-1291 Crusades; contacts between Muslims and Christians


1111 Death of Ghazali, the influential Iranian scholar who opposed rationalism

1258 Mongols capture Baghdad

INTRODUCTION

ISLAM TODAY:
Islam remains a powerful force in the world today. It’s believers encompass the most highly
educated scholars and unschooled peasants.There are over I billion Muslims living in the
world presently, who speak different language, belong to different nation
ISLAM DEFINED
Islam the religion of Muslim people means “submission to the will of God”; Muslims are
Adherents of Islam The fundamental belief of Islam is “There is only one God, and
Muhammad is His Prophet

ISLAMIC ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT


The origins and meteoric development of Islam - both the religion and the community is
marked in the year 610 following the first revelation to the Prophet Muhammad at the age of
40.
Muhammad and his followers spread the teachings of Islam throughout the Arabian
peninsula. The great power of Muhammad's teachings enabled the creative but fragmented
Arab tribes to unify and expand across three continents in an astoundingly brief period of
600-1200
The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic and cultural developments of
Islamic’ civilization in the middle east which affect all world. Most historians believe that
Islam originated in Mecca and Medina. Hijri Era is known as Islamic Calendar
Time line: PHOTO OF ISLAMIC CALENDAR
Sources about central Islamic land:
 Semi historical works :
 Biographies (sira),
 Hadith -records of the sayings and doings of the Prophet
 Tafsir -commentaries on the Quran.
 Eyewitness reports:
Akhbar -transmitted over a period of time either orally or on paper.
 Chronicles:
 Christian chronicles written in Syriac
 Persian chronicles and Arabic chronicles like Tarikh of Tabari
 Literary works :
 Quran
 Legal texts, geographies, travelogues
 Stories and poems.
 Fragmentary pieces of writing :
 Official orders or private correspondence mainly available from Greek,
 Arabic papyri and the Geniza records.
 Archaeological evidences :
 Excavations at desert, palaces, numismatic
 Epigraphics sources- for economic and art history names and dates.
PHOTOS:
RISE OF ISLAM :

Before Prophet Muhammad :


 Early Arabs were divide into tribes (many nomadic Bedouins) each led by a chief
Whowas.
 Each tribe had its own God or Goddess worshipped as an idol (Sanam) in a shrine

During Prophet Muhammad – Birth and expansion of Islam


 Muhammad (Quraysh tribe)meditated in a cave in 610 AD on Mount Hira, recited
words of God and declared himself to be the messenger (Rasul) of God and preached
that Allah alone should be worshipped
 Founded a community of believers (Umma) and controlled the,shrine Kaba,
 He was forced to migrate with his followers to Medina in 622 AD due to considerable
opposition from affluent Mecccans.
 The year of his arrival in Medina (Hijra) marked the beginning of the Islamic
calendar.
 Umma was converted into a wider community by including polytheists and the
Jews of Medina.
 Conquered Mecca. His reputation spread as a religious preacher and political leader.
Bedouins joined Islam.
 Medina became the administrative capital with Mecca as its religious centre.
 In a short space of time,he was able to unite a large part of Arabia under Islam.
After Prophet Muhammad :
 After Muhammad’s death in 632 , no legitimate claim of next prophet of Islam.
 Transfer of Political authority to the elder muslims with no established principle of
succession.
 Creation of the institution of caliphate- leader was deputy or Khalifa of the Prophet.

The Caliphate and their contributions


First four Caliphas justified their power on the basis of close relation with Prophet and work
according his principle.
Their main objectives were as-
§ To retain control over the tribes
§ To raise resources for the state.
THE FIRST FOUR CALIPHS (632-661)
Ø ABU BAKR (632-634)- The first caliph
§ Established the Caliphate as the ruling force in the region.
§ He put down the rebellions by Arabs tribes
Ø UMAR (634-44)- The second caliph
§ Shaped the umma's policy of expansion.
§ Calipha raided nearby empire, Byzantinein and Sasanian and adopted its
administrative structure.
§ In 637-642 Arabs brought Syria, Iraq, Iran and Egypt under the control of Medina.
Ø UTHMAN (644-56)- The third caliph
§ Packed the administration with his own tribes, Quraysh. It led to conflict with
other tribes in Medina, Egypt and Iraq. Killed in 656.
Ø ALI (656-661)- The fourth caliph (son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad)

§ In his time the rift between two groups of Muslims become more acute.
§ He established himself in Kufa and fought two wars. (Battle of the Camel-657) he
defeated an army led by Muhammad’s wife, Aisha. But he could not defeat the
army of Muawiya, a kinsman of Uthman and the governor of Syria in Iraq.
§ This war divided his followers into two groups. Those who become against him
were called as Kharjis. Finally, he was killed by a Kharjis in Kufa in 661.
§ After that his followers make his son, Hussain as Khalipha but Muawiya made
himself the next caliph in 661 and founded Umayyad dynasty.
§ It was in his time that Muslims broke in to Shias and Sunnis.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF CALIPHS


imposed new administrative structure in conquered areas under governors (amirs) and tribal
chieftains (ashraf).
Ø The central treasury(bait-al-mal) obtained its revenue from taxes paid by Muslims as well as
its share of booty from raids.
Ø The caliph’s soldiers, mostly Bedouins, settled in camp cities at the edge of the desert, such as
Kufa and Basra.
Ø The ruling class and soldiers received shares from booty and monthly payment(ata).
Ø The non-muslim population retained their rights on property and religious practices on
payment of taxes, as kharaj and jiziya.
Ø Jews and Christians were declared as protected subjects of the state (dammis) and were given a
measure of autonomy in the conduct of their communal affairs.
THE UMAYYADS AND THE CENTRALISATION OF POLITY
Ø Muawiya was the first Umayyad caliph established the imperial power, in 661 C.E. They were
the clan of Qurayshi tribe.
Ø They implemented a series of political measures to consolidate the power
§ Established their leadership within umma.
§ Muawiya, first Umayyad caliph moved his capital to Damascus.
§ He also adopted the court ceremonies and administrative institutions of Byzantine
Empire.
§ He also introduced hereditary succession and persuaded the leading Muslims to
accept his son as his heir.
§ Although there were Christian and Zoroastrian in the administration but Islam
religion legitimacy their rule.
§ They were not based directly on Islam but on statecraft and army of Syria. They
appealed for unity and suppressed rebellions in the name of Islam.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ABDA MALIK (685-705)


Ø It was in his time that Arab and Islamic identity was emphasized.
Ø Arabic was adapted as language and administration and Islamic coinage was introduced.
Ø He built the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem which is an Arab-Islamic identity.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COINS


Other coins Islamic coins
Gold Dinar and silver Dirham were in Gold Dinar coins were introduced.
circulation in the Caliphate.
They had symbols of crosses These symbols were removed. These
and fire altars carries the kalima.
Greek and Pahlavi (the language of Iran) Islamic coins have Arabic inscriptions.
inscription on them

THE ABBASID REVOLUTION AND CHANGES INTRODUCED

 The Umayyads were replaced in 750 AD by Abbasids (descendants of Abbas, the


Prophet’s uncle), another family of Mecca through a movement called dawa.
 They portrayed the Umayyad regime as evil and promised a restoration of the
original Islam of the Prophet.
 The Abbasid uprising broke out in the distant region of Khurasan which had a mixed
Arab-Iranian population which could be mobilised for various reasons such as for
having made promises of tax concessions and privileges which were never fulfilled.

Administrative changes introduced by Abbasids

 Arab influence declined, while the importance of Iranian culture increased.


 The capital changed from Damascus to Baghdad.
 The army and bureaucracy were reorganised on a non-tribal basis to ensure
greater participation by people of Iraq and Khurasan.
 Strengthened the religious status and functions of the caliphate and patronised
Islamic institutions and scholars.
 They maintained the magnificent imperial architecture and elaborate court
ceremonials of the Umayyads.
Causes for the Break-up of the Caliphate
 From 9th century, the Abbasids state became weaker due to decline of
Baghdad's control over distant provinces and continuous struggle between
pro-Arab and pro- Iranian groups in the army and bureaucracy.

The Rise of Sultanates

 The Ghaznavid sultanate was established by Alptegin (961) and it was


consolidated by Mahmud of Ghazni. Ghaznavids were a military dynasty with a
professional army of Turks and Indians.
 The Abbasid caliphs were not rivals but a source of legitimacy for Ghaznavids.
Mahmud of Ghazni was conscious of being the son of a slave and was especially
eager to receive the title of Sultan from the caliph.
 The caliph was willing to support the Sunni Ghaznavid as a counterweight to
Shiite power. The Saljuq Turks entered Turan as soldiers in the armies of the
Samanids and Qarakhanids. They later established themselves as a powerful
group under the leadership of two brothers, Tughril and Chaghri Beg.
 Taking advantage of the chaos following the death of Mahmud of Ghazni, the Saljuq
 Turks conquered Khurasan in 1037 and made Nishapur their first capital. The
Saljuqs next turned their attention to western Persia and Iraq (ruled by the
Buyids) and in 1055, restored Baghdad to Sunni rule.
 The caliph, al-Qaim, conferred on Tughril Beg the title of Sultan in a move that
marked the separation of religious and political authority. The two Saljuq
brothers ruled together in accordance with the tribal notion of rule by the
family as a whole.
THE CRUSADES
Ø Crusades were the wars fought by Christians against Muslims to free the Holy Land of
Palestine.
Ø Though the Holy land of Palestine was captured by Arabs in 638 but it for Christian it was the
place of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It makes the Muslims as their enemy.
Ø Several wars were fought between western Christians and Muslim cities (between 1095 and
1291) on the coastal plains of the eastern Mediterranean. These wars were later known as
Crusades.
CRUSADES -I (1098-99)
Ø In the first crusade (1098-99), soldiers of France and Italy captured Antioch in Syria, and
claimed Jerusalem.
Ø Their victory was accompanied by the slaughter of Muslims and Jews in the city.
Ø The Franks quickly established four crusader states in the region of Syria-Palestine.
Collectively, these territories were known as Outremer (crusader states)
CRUSADES -II (1145-49)
Ø Second crusade (1145-49) started when Turks captured Edessa in 1144.
Ø A combined German and French army made an attempt to capture Damascus but they were
defeated.
Ø After this, there was a gradual erosion of the strength of crusader states.
CRUSADES -III (1189)
Ø In 1187 when Arab ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) declare jihad or holy war against the
Christians and defeated them in 1187. He regained Jerusalem, nearly a century after the first
crusade.
Ø It led the third crusade in 1189. But the crusaders gained little victory in Palestine and got free
access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.
Ø The Mamluks, the rulers of Egypt, finally expelled the crusading Christians from all of
Palestine in1291.
THE EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES
Ø The Muslim state adopted a harsher attitude towards its Christian subjects.
Ø There was increased in the influence of Italian mercantile communities in the trade between
the East and the West.

Economic factors –
a) Agriculture
 The principal occupation of the settled populations in the newly
conquered territories
 The lands conquered by the Arabs that remained in the hands of the
owners were subject to a tax (kharaj), which varied from half to a
fifth of the produce, according to the conditions of cultivation.
 To address the shortfall in revenue, the caliphs first discouraged
conversions and later adopted a uniform policy of taxation.
 Agricultural prosperity went hand in hand with political stability
 Islamic law gave tax concessions to people who brought land under
cultivation.
b) Urbanisation
 Islamic civilisation flourished as the number of cities grew
phenomenally.
 Among this class of garrison-cities, called Misr (the Arabic name for
Egypt), were Kufa and Basra in Iraq, and Fustat and Cairo in Egypt.
 Their size and population surged, supported by an expansion in the
production of foodgrains and raw materials such as cotton and
sugar for urban manufactures
 A vast urban network developed, linking one town with another and
forming a circuit.
c) Commerce
 Political unification and urban demand for foodstuffs and luxuries
enlarged the circuit of exchange.
 Geography favoured the Muslim empire, which spread between the
trading zones of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean
 For five centuries, Arab and Iranian traders monopolised the
maritime trade between China, India and Europe.
 This trade passed through two major routes, namely, the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf.
 High-value goods suitable for long-distance trade, such as spices,
textile, porcelain and gunpowder, were shipped from India and China
to the Red Sea ports of Aden and Aydhab and the Gulf ports of Siraf and
Basra.
The Legend of Learning and Culture
a) Development of various literary forms, literature & litterateurs
 For religious scholars (ulama), knowledge (ilm) derived from the
Quran and the model behaviour of the Prophet (sunna) was the only
way to know the will of God and provide guidance in this
world. Before it took its final form, the sharia was adjusted to take
into account the customary laws (urf) of the various regions as well
as the laws of the state on political and social order (siyasa sharia).
 A group of religious-minded people in medieval Islam, known
as Sufis, sought a deeper and more personal knowledge of God
through asceticism (rahbaniya) and mysticism. The Sufis were
liberal in their thought and they dedicated their lives for the service
of humanity and propagation of Islam.
 In the eighth and ninth centuries, ascetic inclinations were elevated
to the higher stage of mysticism (tasawwuf) by the ideas
of pantheism and love.
Pantheism is the idea of oneness of God and His creation which
implies that the human soul must be united with its Maker. Unity
with God can be achieved through an intense love for God (ishq),
which the woman-saint Rabia of Basra (d. 891) preached in her
poems.
ayazid Bistami (d. 874), an Iranian Sufi, was the first to teach the
importance of submerging the self (fana) in God. Sufis used musical
concerts (sama) to induce ecstasy and stimulate emotions of love
and passion.
 Scholars with a theological bent of mind, such as the group known
as Mutazila, used Greek logic and methods of reasoning (kalam) to
defend Islamic beliefs. Philosophers (falasifa) posed wider questions
and provided fresh answers. Ibn Sina (980-1037), a doctor by
profession and a philosopher, did not believe in the resurrection of
the body on the Day of Judgment.
 Adab (a term which implied literary and cultural refinement) forms
of expressions included poetry (nazm or orderly arrangement) and
prose (nathr or scattered words) which were meant to be
memorised and used when the occasion arose. Geography and
travel (rihla) constituted a special branch of adab.
 The Samanid court poet Rudaki (d. 940) was considered the father
of New Persian poetry, which included new forms such as the short
lyrical poem (ghazal) and the quatrain (rubai, plural rubaiyyat).
The rubai is a four-line stanza in which the first two lines set the
stage, the third is finely poised, and the fourth delivers the
point. The rubai reached its zenith in the hands of Umar
Khayyam (1048-1131), also an astronomer and mathematician,
who lived at various times in Bukhara, Samarqand and Isfahan.
 Mahmud of Ghazni gathered around him a group of poets who
composed anthologies (diwans) and epic poetry (mathnavi). The
most outstanding was Firdausi (d. 1020), who took 30 years to
complete the Shahnama (Book of Kings), an epic of 50,000
couplets which has become a masterpiece of Islamic literature. The
Shahnama is a collection of traditions and legends (the most
popular being that of Rustam).
b) Books of moral lessons and amusement
 A collection of animal fables called Kalila wa Dimna - the Arabic
translation of a Pahlavi version of the Panchtantra.
 The stories of hero-adventurers such as Alexander (al-Iskandar)
and Sindbad, or those of unhappy lovers such as Qays (known as
Majnun or the Madman).
 In his Kitab al-Bukhala (Book of Misers), Jahiz of Basra (d. 868)
collected amusing anecdotes about misers
 The scope of adab was expanded to include biographies, manuals
of ethics (akhlaq), Mirrors for Princes (books on statecraft) and,
above all, history (tarikh) and geography.
c) Developments by 10th Century
 By the tenth century, an Islamic world had emerged which was
easily recognisable by travellers.
 Religious buildings were the greatest external symbols of this world.
Mosques, shrines and tombs from Spain to Central Asia showed the
same basic design – arches, domes, minarets and open courtyards –
and expressed the spiritual and practical needs of Muslims.
 In the first Islamic century, the mosque acquired a distinct
architectural form (roof supported by pillars) which transcended
regional variations.
d) Desert – Palaces developed
 The Umayyads built ‘desert palaces’ in oases, such as Khirbat al-
Mafjar in Palestine and Qusayr Amra in Jordan, which served as
luxurious residences and retreats for hunting and pleasure.
 The palaces, modelled on Roman and Sasanian architecture, were
lavishly decorated with sculptures, mosaics and paintings of people.
c) Art Forms
 promoted two art forms: calligraphy (khattati or the art of beautiful
writing) and arabesque (geometric and vegetal designs).
9. Development of Three aspects of human civilisation
 The history of the central Islamic lands brings together three
important aspects of human civilisation: religion, community and
politics.

Conclusion:
In this chapter, we have examined the origins and meteoric development of
Islam - both the religion and the community. The great power of Muhammad's
teachings enabled the creative but fragmented Arab tribes to unify and expand
across three continents in an astoundingly brief period.
During the reigns of the first four caliphs and the century of the
Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), great strides were made in annexing new territories
and peoples. But the Umayyad Dynasty was based on a ruling hierarchy of Arabs,
and the resentment that set the Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258) on a new throne in
Baghdad.

During the early Abbasid period Islam reached the high point of its
geographical expansion and cultural achievements, extending from Spain across
three continents to east Asia. Unparalleled prosperity evolved from a
combination of successful trade, industry, and agriculture. But the Muslims
were not able to maintain an integrated empire; despite a religious unity -
which still exists - politically the empire broke up into smaller Muslim
states.

The Muslims were especially gifted in science, literature, and


philosophy. Muslim intellectual life was in large part the product of a genius
for synthesizing varying cultures, and the diffusion of this knowledge was a
tremendous factor in the revival of classical learning and the coming of the
Renaissance in Europe.

Ironically, while the arts and learning were beginning to thrive in the
West, Islamic civilization itself declined. Various reasons have been advanced
for this phenomenon, including the influx of semibarbarous peoples into
Islamic lands, intellectual inflexibility resulting from rigid adherence to
the Koran's sacred law, and the despotic and eventually corrupt rule of such
Muslim dynasties as the Ottomans in Turkey, who destroyed most progressive
political and economic movements.
.

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