Midterm Exam

I have just submitted my exam paper - four hours of writing, with no time to edit! And I've missed out on the fun of trick or treat. Sigh. Well, it's time to pack this up, and move on. Here are the results of the first part of the course. The question I did NOT answer, by the way, is the one about the Abbasid period, the Golden Age of Islam Instead, I chose to answer these two questions, about the spread of Islam, and the impact of the Mongols. Let me know what you think!

1. Why did Islam spread so easily through the Middle East? What were the major tenets of Islam, and why was the faith so readily accepted by the peoples living in Mecca and Medina?

This is probably one of the most important questions of all. It's the question people often ask, and how one answers it makes a big difference. The question matters a lot, because the answer colors one's view of the Middle East, the Islamic religion, and the Arabic peoples. And how one views this part of the world makes a big difference in how one understands one's place in the world, and in how comfortable one feels IN the world.

The question that was NOT asked, yet well might be, is this: Is it true that the Muslim religion is a religion of conquest, one of war and violence and destruction? THIS question is the one the Pope recently raised, inadvertently (he says). And it is the question so many Americans have pondered, as they read about Muslim militants and Arabic terrorists. But I will leave this question aside, and answer the original one - Why did Islam spread so easily? That question is big enough and important enough, and I suspect the answer to it will answer, and even obviate the need to ask, the unasked, unconscious, or implied question.

So - where to begin? Firstly, how fast did the Islam faith spread, and how far? Or shall we just take that as a given? Let me let another answer this question and I'll continue from there. The Wikipedia wisdom on Muslim conquests (reference #2) is this: "The initial Muslim conquests (632-732) began after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and were marked by a century of rapid Arab expansion beyond the Arabian peninsula under the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, ending with the Battle of Tours— resulting in a vast Muslim empire and area of influence that stretched from India, across the Middle East and North Africa, to the Pyrenees." Quoting Edward Gibbon in Chapter 51 of History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the article goes on to say "Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabian empire extended two hundred days’ journey from east to west" and "spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the march of a caravan." That's quite an accomplishment, in just one century.

But that still doesn’t answer the question of HOW this fast-moving faith reached so far and wide. Is it the religion that is so persuasive? Or is there something more to the story? For this, we have to go back to the beginning of the story, in the towns of Medina and Mecca. Why, for instance, did the Meccans adopt so readily and fastly the faith of one whom they actually threw out of town? And why, even earlier, did the townspeople of Medina welcome the man Muhammad, who fled for his life? This is a story Bernard Lewis tells so easily and so well.

The story actually begins even further back in history. For what took place in Arabia, over centuries, was a constant battle for the territory, the wealth, and the allegiance of the population. Mecca was on the crossroads of the caravan routes across the dry lands of Arabia. And it was a magnate for the attentions of such antagonistic combatants as Rome, and later Byzantium, on the west, and the various Persian empires on the east. The marauding armies of these nations would invade, conquer, and/or seduce the nomadic tribes living in Arabia into taking part in these colossal war games that never ended.

Lewis writes, on pages 42-47 (reference #50), that the Arabian Peninsula sank into a dark age during the 4th through the 6th centuries. During this time, nomadism and bedouinization added to the era of impoverishment following the relative quiescence of the Byzantine and Persian armies. In particular, during the time from 384-502, there was a relative peace. However, the invaders soon returned, but with it they also brought back the trade.

Yet the people of Arabia did learn something from these invaders. Materially, Lewis says, “They learned the use of arms and armour, and the military tactics of the time – a valuable lesson for the events that were to follow.” Also, he says, “They acquired some of the tastes of the more advanced societies, as the traders brought them commodities which they had not previously known, but which they rapidly learned to enjoy.” And that wasn’t all. “There was also a certain intellectual and even spiritual response, as the Arabians began to learn something of the religion and culture of their more sophisticated neighbours.” And finally, he adds, they learned something else: “…they began to be dissatisfied with their religion, with the primitive paganism which most of them had followed up to that poin, and to seek for something better.” (Reference #50, p. 46)

It was into this environment that Mohammed was born in 571 (50-Lewis, p. 52). In fact, he was a trader. He married a widow of a caravan driver, and actively engaged in this pursuit. However, around the age of 40, it is said that Mohammed used to go the caves in the nearby hills of Mecca, where he lived. And there, beginning in around 610, Mohammed began receiving revelations from the angel Gabriel. As he shared this news with his wife and his family, they too came to believe, like he did, that the revelations were really the word of God. They came to believe, as Mohammed was told by Gabriel, that he was the Prophet, and the Messenger of God.

The Meccan tribal society, however, was NOT ready to hear about this new god. At the time, it’s true that Mecca had had experience with many people, and knew of the many gods they believed in. They were even aware of monotheistic religions, for they had Jews and Christians in their midst, as well as various other faiths such as the Zoroastrians. “In time, these new ideas and the new movement inspired by them aroused suspicion and opposition among the leading families of Mecca, who saw the Prophet and his teaching as a threat to the existing order, both religious and material, and to their own pre-eminence.” (50-Lewis, p. 52).

Seeking refuge elsewhere, Mohammad and his followers moved to Medina, where he was welcomed. In fact, Muhammad’s skills as a mediator were actually sought, for he was able to settle disputes, and even drafted the Constitution of Medina in 622. This bit of negotiation, also known as the Charter of Medina, “concerns the rights and responsibilities of the Muslim, Jewish and other Arab and tribal communities of Medina during the war between that city and its neighbours.” (Reference #34) One wonders what would have happened to the Islamic religion had not Muhammad had these political and social skills to back up his religious revelations.

In any case, the community of Medina survived, and the Muslims amongst them prospered, such that the Meccans came after them. The first engagement, I believe, was a win for the Meccans, but the next encounter was all to the favor of the people from Medina. Over a period of 8 years, the battles ensued, but finally Mohammad was welcomed once more to the town of Mecca. Another telling part of the story occurred at this point. The Meccans were persuaded to allow this prophet of a monotheistic religion take over the Kaaba, which
Pre-Islamic Meccans used as a central shrine for their idols (Reference #53). Muhammad allowed this religious shrine to remain, but made it the center piece of worship within the new religion. In this way, Muhammad incorporated the habits and needs of the local people, but turned them in a new direction. From then on, Muslims began facing the Kaaba in Mecca, whenever they prayed to their god.

So – what were the central beliefs of this new religion? Basically, it boils down to the Five Pillars of Islam: (Reference #30)
1) Shahada - the belief in one God and that Mohammad is his Messenger;
2) Salat – the prayer that’s performed five times a day, according to strict rules (including the injunctions to face the Kaaba in Mecca)
3) Zakat – the giving of alms to the poor and needy;
4) Sawm – the fast during the month of Ramadan;
5) Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca during one’s lifetime (if one is in good health and has sufficient wealth to do so).

Perhaps the simplicity of the religion can help explain the early acceptance by so many. Yet that is not enough. Bernard Lewis has an excellent analysis of the many factors, besides the man and the place and the religion that made the spread of Islam so extensive. For one thing, the fact that the Muslims were a nomadic desert people meant that they were at ease in, and knowledgeable about, the desert. When they advanced to an area, they always set up their camps on the outskirts of the territory. If danger came after them, they could easily escape. And, the ones who followed them could not so easily survive as they. Another thing: the Arabs set up separate quarters for the military. They allowed the townspeople to continue to function, and they kept fraternization down and cohesion amongst the Arabs up. Over time, it was this aspect that broke down. More and more, the Muslim population expanded and added so many non-Arab converts to its community, that the separation between the Arabs and the locals became amorphous.

This brings up another key contribution of the Islamic faith to the times in which it was spreading: The Qur’an was noted for being far more equalitarian than the previous religions – if you were Muslim you were equal before God, and welcomed into the community of believers. This was not the attitude prevailing in the tribal culture that predominated in Arabia at this time. Men and women had equal rights and responsibilities, though the differences still separated the sexes. Nevertheless, the religion was seen as fairer as and friendlier than what existed before.

4. The rise and spread of the Mongols was devastating to the Middle East and Europe. What impact did the Mongols have, and why were they an important element in the development of the Middle East?

Our text, The Middle East - a Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years, by Bernard Lewis, states quite clearly: "It is now agreed that the destructive effects of the Mongol conquests were neither as great, as lasting, nor even as extensive, as was once thought."(#50-Lewis, page 97) However, that is not to say that they were not devastating! Rather, Lewis simply argues that the historical evidence regarding the role the Mongols have played in history has, if truth be told, had a history of its own. Once blamed for all the ills of a submerged society, the impact of the Mongols is now seen in better perspective. It is now recognized that the fall of the Islamic Empire, if one can describe it as such, was written within its own annals. The faults were as much a part of Islam, and of its Empire, as they were precipitated by the Mongols, and their successive invasions. So, now that I've stated my conclusion, let me build a case for it...

Let’s start with the caliphate, that institution of religious authority and leadership so prominent in the early years of Muslim history. Following the rule of the Rightly Guided Ones (632-661), and the Umayyad dynasty (661-750), the Abbasid dynasty (750-1517) had long ceased to have a strong structure of the caliphate (for dates, see References #19, 21, 22, and 25). The separation between the ones who held the power, and the ones who sanctioned the power, had taken place long ago. “To the real organs of political and military power, the disappearance of the caliphate made very little difference. In all Islamic states, the sultanate had acquired the recognition of the jurists and of the religious institution, and sultans began to arrogate to themselves religious titles and prerogatives formerly reserved to the caliphs.” (#50-Lewis, ibid)

The immediate effect of the Mongols was, indeed, devastating. It was an invasion, after all, and “whole areas were crushed, depopulated and destroyed.” (#50-Lewis, ibid) Lewis goes on to enumerate each area of the map that was affected by the Mongols, and describes how lasting the effect was felt. Egypt was not conquered by the Mongols at all. Syria only suffered raids, and in fact became incorporated into the Egyptian sultanate such that they were protected from further attack. Anatolia had long ago been “overshadowed and in many ways reshaped by the Mongol presence in Iran” – yet it was “still able to cradle the last and greatest of all Islamic empires” (#50-Lewis, p. 98) – that of the Ottoman Empire.

Iran was the hardest hit of all the countries, yet entire areas of it were not affected. In fact, those local dynasties that “voluntarily submitted” to the Mongols were allowed to survive. Their cities were not looted, and they continued to flourish. Some cities even came into new prominence – Fars became a center of Persian national life, and Shiraz “saw a rich flowering of Persian culture in the post-Mongol period.” (ibid) Furthermore, in those parts of Iran that WERE overrun, the recovery was rapid. “After the initial shock of the conquest, the Mongol khans gave Iran a period of relative political stability, encouraged the reconstruction of town life, industry and trade, fostered what they considered useful sciences, and, after their conversion to Islam in 1295 even Islamic literature and learning.” (ibid) Taking this one step further, Lewis says that “In one respect the Mongol conquests actually helped to infuse new life into the faltering civilization of the Middle East. Just as the first Arab conquerors, by uniting for the first time in one state the civilization of the eastern Mediterranean and of Iran, inaugurated a new era of fruitful social and cultural cotact, so now the Mongols united, for the first time under one dynasty, the civilizations of the Middle East and of the Far East. At the same time they opened the door to new and mutually advantageous contacts with Europe…”

The one area in which the Mongols left permanent damage was this: Baghdad and Iraq “never again recovered their central position in the Islamic world.” (#50-Lewis, p. 99) The immediate effect - ironically, just like now - was the breakdown of civilian government. The consequent effect, however, was not the oil pipelines, but the elaborate irrigation which had allowed Iraq to flourish in an area surrounded by desert. Whereas the Iran experienced order and prosperity once again once the Mongolian regime was in control, Iraq never again reached the heights to which it had one enjoyed. Its ruin was unchecked, as Lewis says, and it became an open invitation for the return of the nomadic Bedouins, who, unlike the Mongolians in Iran, stayed. Instead of being the center of a great empire, Iraq became an “outlying frontier province”, one that “could no longer serve as a channel for East-West trade, which moved northwards and eastwards to Anatolia and Iran, westwards and southwards to Egypt and the Red Sea, leaving Iraq and the fallen city of the caliphs to centuries of stagnation and neglect”.

As the destruction of the caliphate became permanent, and with the removal of Iraq as a central player, the Middle East became divided into two zones: the northern zone of Persian influence, and the southern zone of Arabic influence. In the north, “Literary and artistic life was dominated by the traditions of Muslim Iran, which had begun during the ‘Iranian Intermezzo’, continued under the Turkish dynasties, and achieved a new renaissance under the Mongols and their successors.” (ibid) Persian continued to be spoken in Iran itself, but to the east and west of it, in central Asia and Anatolia, new languages and literatures appeared.

South of the Iranian zone was Iraq, the old center of the Arabic-speaking world and now a derelict frontier province, and Egypt, which extended its influence into North Africa, both west and south of itself. In these areas, some Persian influence was also prevalent, but “Politically, the Turk and the Mongol were everywhere dominant.” (#50-Lewis, p. 100)

Into this world of mixed races and religions, of ancient heritages and renascent traditions, the Muslim faith found new, fertile ground. Whereas once the religion was the carrier of culture – the culture of the Arabs, out of which it originated, now it became the creator of culture. “In this age of growing cultural diversity and political conflict between the two zones, the chief unifying factor was religion, especially in the new Sufi form that had been spreading since the great compromise between mysticism and orthodoxy achieved by al-Ghazälï in Seljuk times.” (ibid) Whereas the Islamic faith had once divided the people into believers or non-believers, it now served to unify people who were divided by their languages, ethnicities, and nationalities into a community of one.

Raup, HIST 18 Mid-term Exam –Resources Read, 10/31/06

01-Turkic Peoples-http://www.answers.com/topic/turkic, Accessed 10/30/06
02-Muslim Conquests-http://www.answers.com/topic/muslim-conquests, Accessed 10/30/06
03-Sunni-http://www.answers.com/topic/sunni, Accessed 10/24/06
04-Mongol Empire-http://www.answers.com/topic/mongol-empire, Accessed 10/30/06
05-Bedouin-http://www.answers.com/topic/bedouin, Accessed 10/30/06
06-Umayyad conquest of North Africa-http://www.answers.com/topic/umayyad-conquest-of-north-africa, Accessed 10/30/06
07-Arabs-http://www.answers.com/topic/arab, Accessed 10/30/06
08-Seljuq dynasty-http://www.answers.com/topic/seljuq-dynasty-1, Accessed 10/30/06
09-Sultanate of Rä’m-http://www.answers.com/topic/sultanate-of-r-m, Accessed 10/30/06
10-Mamluk dynasty-http://www.answers.com/topic/mamluk-dynasty, Accessed 10/30/06
11-Ayyubid dynasty-http://www.answers.com/topic/ayyubid-dynasty, Accessed 10/30/06
12-Fatimid dynasty-http://www.answers.com/topic/fatimid-dynasty, Accessed 10/30/06
13-Assasins-http://www.answers.com/topic/assassin-1, Accessed 10/30/06
14-Persia - http://www.answers.com/topic/persia, Accessed 10/30/06
15-Byzantium & the Middle East-http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/h1612l17a.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
16-Early Arab Conquest-http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/h1612l9.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
17-Islamic Civilization and Culture - http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/h1612l31.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
18-The High Caliphate-http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/h1612l10.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
19-Abbasids (750—1517)- http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/abbasids.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
20-Islam: the Abbasid (spelled Abassid) Dynasty-http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ISLAM/ABASSID.HTM, Accessed 10/27/06
21-The four Righteous Caliphs-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/right.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
22-Umayyad-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/umayyad.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
23-My’awiyya I-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/muawiyya1.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
24-Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty (661-750)-Hooker-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/umayyads.htm, Accessed 01/17/06
25-Islam: Civil War and the Umayyads – Hooker-http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ISLAM/UMAY.HTM, Accessed 10/27/06
26-Muawiya B. Abi Sufyan (c.602-680)- http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/muawiya.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
27-Ali-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/ali.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
28-Aqidah- http://www.answers.com/topic/aqidah, Accessed 10/30/06
29-Caliph-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/caliph.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
30-Islam-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/islam.htm, Accessed 10/31/06
31-Islam- http://www.answers.com/topic/islam, Accessed 10/30/06
32-Kuraish-http://www.answers.com/topic/kuraish, Accessed 10/30/06
33-Mecca-http://www.answers.com/topic/mecca, Accessed 10/30/06
34-Constitution of Medina- http://www.answers.com/topic/constitution-of-medina, Accessed 10/30/06
35-Mesopotamia- http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/mesopotamia.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
36-Middle East- http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/middle_east.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
37-Quraysh-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/quraysh.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
38-Sharia- http://www.answers.com/topic/sharia, Accessed 10/30/06
39-Zoroastrianism-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/zoroastr.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
40-The Mongols in the Middle East-http://www.answers.com/topic/mongol-empire, Accessed 10/30/06
41-The Mongol Horde-http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/h1612l26.htm, Accessed 10/30/06
42-Age of Caliphs Map-http://www.answers.com/topic/age-of-caliphs-gif, Accessed 10/30/06
43-Imam-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/imam.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
44-Kharijism-http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/kharijis.htm, Accessed 10/27/06
45-Hassan-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/hassan.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
46-Husayn-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/husayn.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
47-Babylon-http://www.lexicorient.com/e.o/babylon.htm, Accessed 10/03/06
48-Europe and the Middle East Map-http://members.aol.com/wrldhist/hist1612/t1map.jpg, Accessed 10/30/06
49-The Middle East-a Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years, by Bernard Lewis, Scribner, New York, NY, 1995, pp. 3-285.
50- Iran-History-The “Iranian Intermezzo” (821-1055) - http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-32163/Iran, Accessed 10/31/06
51-Rulers and Dynasties of Persia (Iran) – History of Iran-http://www.farsinet.com/iran/persian_dynasties.html, Accessed 10/31/06
52-Islamic Golden Age, http://www.answers.com/topic/islamic-golden-age, Accessed 10/31/06
53-Kaaba, http://www.answers.com/kaaba, Accessed 10/31/06