Home > Preview
The flashcards below were created by user
on FreezingBlue Flashcards.
Explain the Arabian Penninsula
- where islam developed
- 80% desert
- southwest corner extremely fertile
- northern parts not as fertile as they used to be
- major industdy was agriculture
What was sold in the agriculture and how does it relate to catholic faith?
- spices like frankincense, myrrh, cinnomon
- relation: one of the three kimgs gifts to jesus was frankincense
- most people who lived in the arabian
- where there was no water, people were shepherds
What are Bedouins?
- nomadic people who lived in tents always on the move looking for food for their animals
- they would end up fighting eachother for water
What were the fighting and conquering traditions of bedouins?
in a battle for land, water, etc if clan 1 destroys clan 2 and there are clan 2 survivors, those survivors become slaves to clan one, however they can move up on the social scale. if clan one destroys clan 3 and there are clan 3 survivors, those survivors become slaves and the clan 2 slaves become citizens of clan 1
What is an oasis?
- a shady area with a water source such as a well
- some bedouins settled here
What were the Major Towns?
Yathrib and Mecca
- A town developed to meet the needs of the traders and nomads that came through
- an oasis
- muhammad later moved there and changed the name to medina
- intersection of 2 major trade routes
- not an oasis, but did have a well
- charged people for water
- focused on and made most money on people comming and going from sacred sites
- traders herders and religious fanatics passed through here
How were slaves treated in Mecca?
- treated very well
- were not slaves for life- could move up in social status
- citizens liked having slaves to breed with to make a bigger family
How was society organized?
- organized into clans with extended family and tribes
- male dominated society
What is a Sheikh?
- leader of the tribe who has proved himself worthy by fighting, having good ideas, etc
- the Sheikh took advice from other male advisors in the clan
What was women's role in society?
- women could own property
- could inherit
- main role was mother
Most clans were...
friendly and hospitable, but land ownership and money caused fights
It was insulting to Muslims if...
they offered you water comming into a town and you do not accept
Describe the background of Muhammad
- his parents died when he was young and because of the clan system his grandparents and uncle raised him in a tent in Mecca
- at 10/11 years old, he was put to work full time, bc the lifespan was shorter then
- Managed a caravan buisness for a rich widow- whom he later married and had four kids with
- -->only one child, Fatimah survived (death rate of children was 90%)
- His wife died out of complications of delivering Fatimah
Explain Muhammad and his Caravan buisness
- Muhammad was very persuasive and an EXCELLENT salesman-he was very charismatic
- He operated the caravan buisness out of Mecca
- --> Mecca was the home of Kabah- a religious shrine for Jews and Christians
- Muhammad was introduced to both Jewish and Christian customs
- He would dress and act like a Christian when they passed through to make them feel like he understood their religion so he would do buisness with him
- --> he did the same thing for Jews to get buisness from him
- --> he learned a lot about both religions from doing this
What happened to Muhammad when he was meditating in the hills?
- he went to the hills to meditate because he was upset that a competing caravan buisness had been opened.
- he had a "life changing moment"
- Gabriel, an angel, spoke to him, and told him to pray on the hill everyday, and Muhammad did
- over the next 22 years Muhammad had many visits from Gabriel and he wrote them all down in a book that later became the Qur'an
What was the Kabah
a religious shrine for Jews and Christians
What was the Qur'an?
- book written by Muhammad about his religious experiences
- the holy book of islam
- the third edition of the holy book
What are the Editions of the Holy Book?
- 1st: Thora
- 2nd: Bible- spoken to mary, Jesus, etc
- 3rd: Qur'an
- ^ another similarity between Christianity Jewdaism and Islam, holy books are similar
- the Qur'an is the best and most accurate edition because Muhammad wrote in a book, not stone like Moses did
What is monotheism?
the theory that there is only one God and you only worship one God
What were Muhammad's beliefs?
- felt there was only one God and everyone should obey his message
- all people should prtect the needy and the week as well as eachother
- Believed in Allah
Who was Allah?
God. Was the same god ad the Christians and Jews, just called a different name (another similarity)
What did Muhammad consider himself?
- just another prophet, like Abraham, Moses, and Jesus
- he was just spreading "the word"
What was the negative aspects of Muhammad's teachings?
- made clans mad, his "connection with God" threatened authority
- he created a debate because his teachings made people question if a God or a human ruler was the highest power and the power they should listen to
- main question was "Who was the leader of men? God? Which one?"
- Jews and Christians now wouldn't go through Mecca, bc they thought Muhammad was a fraud
- -->Muhammad and the people of Mecca suffered the consequinces of this because the religious people passing through Mecca were their best way to make money
What is a Hijrah?
- a trip
- in this case the flight or migration from Mecca to Yathrib for Muhammad who moved
Why did Muhammad move from Mecca to Yathrib?
he and his followers left to act as peace keepers
What did the people of Yathrib think of Muhammad?
- they knew him from his caravan buisness and they let him move there without a fight, even though he had 200 followers!
- --> this was one of the first documented movements without a fight
What happened to Muhammad in Yathrib?
- he became the spiritual and political leader of the town
- unlike the people in Mecca (besides his followers), the people of Yathrib liked his beliefs and teachings
- Yathrib changed its name to Medina- meaning the city of the prophet
- Muhammad's first year in Yathrib became the first year of the Muslim calander
What adjectives could be used to describe Muhammad?
- the ray of sunshine in a bad area
What is a vizeir?
an advisor to the sultan
What is a muslim?
a person of the Islamic faith
Explain how Jews and Christians treated Muhammad
- they decided to rebel against Muhammad- they call him a con artist, scammer, trash his reputation
- --> this irritates Muhammad because he never trashed them, he embraced and learned their religions
- --> because they didn't recognize him as a prophet, he moved away from any of their teachings
After deciding to move away from any Jew or Christian teachings, what does Muhammad tell his people to do?
- he tells them to pray facing Mecca, or facing East, the first place he talked to God.
- He literally turned his back of the Catholics and Jews
What did Muhammad and his tribe do?
- they converted most of the people in the desert.
- after this he decides to build an army to attack Mecca- Muhammad being recognized as the leader and his religion the only in Arabia
- he was able to take over mecca, and took over trading systems. He baisically controlled the Arabian Penninsula
What happened when Muhammad died?
- a power vaccuum was created because he had not chosen a successor
- --> everyone wanted to rule
- Most tribes had began following the Islam religion because they liked Muhammad and his teachings, when Muhammad died, many people moved away from the Islam faith
- --> to have any chance of those people comming back, the new leader needed to be liked
Who were the options for successors?
- Ali: cousin of Muhammad and married to his daughter, Fatima
- Abu Bakr: Muhammad's first convert and oldest friend. Abu Bakr was the first man that actually believed that Muhammad was connected to God in some way
- --> most followers trusted Abu Bakr due to his allegiance to Muhammad. He was chosen by other leaders
What did Abu Bakr consider himself?
- he was Muhammad's successor
- Muhammad was the last prophet, he said. He called himself a Caliph- successor to the Prophet
- Abu wasn't a prophet, he just promoted Muhammad's teachings
What is a Caliph?
leader but not a prophet
What does Abu do when he becomes Caliph?
- he told people that he was in control and that he was Muhammad's right hand man. He was able to convert tribes back that had broken away from Islam
- --> this was possible for Abu because he was as charismatic and smart as Muhammad was
What does Abu Bakr create?
- he creates an army by taking the 5 strongest people from each tribe.
- -->this ensured that they would have an extremely strong army, the tribes wouldn't fight eachother because nobody wants to attack their own tribe and they would be working together, and it would make the other tribes weaker because each tribe's five strongest men were in Abu's army
- the army began attacking north (modern day Iraq and Syria)- the Persians and Byzantines- the army won, expanding Islam
What happened when Abu Bakr died?
- his death left his second in line long term follower, Umar, to take over. He had some blood connection to Muhammad
- Ali isn't that happy that Umar is chosen, but blows it over and doesnt make a big deal.
What did Umar allow the army to do?
- he allowed the military to keep some of the gold, money, etc that they conquered during war
- --> Umar believed that the soldiers would fight harder if they were given gold and things for it
- --> This made more people want to join, because they could get wealthier
- the military was created to spread the holy word, but it just became a money source that people were looking to join to make money
After Umar allows this, what happens to the Military?
- it gets bigger and stronger because of new recruits
- the military took over all of the Arabian Penninsula and some of the Nile River Valley
- the government and military are getting rich, and money causes problems
What happened to conquered Christians and Jews?
- they became slaves and such but were not forced to convert
- --> they werent forced to convert because they were considered people of the book, people who followed a holy book similar to the Qur'an (another similarity)
How did Umar die?
- he was killed by a slave that felt he wasn't treated properly (Umar was somewhat abusive to slaves)
- --> slaves punishment for killing Umar would be death
Who is Umar's successor?
Uthman: another early convert that was chosen over Ali who was Muhammad's own cousin!
How does Ali feel about Uthman being chosen?
- this is where Ali begins to get aggrivated.
- he begins to question leadership for the first time
How is Uthman as a leader and what happens to him?
- Uthman is a horrible leader. he was corrupt and favored people in his own clan by giving them better jobs and stuff like that.
- Uthman was eventually killed by someone from Ali's clan who was mad that Ali wasn't picked as successor
After Uthman's death, who was chosen as successor? What problem did this cause?
- Ali was chosen... finally
- the problem was that Ali was immediately challenged by Muawiaya- the next in line for rule in Uthman's clan
What did Muawiaya claim?
that Ali had something to do with the murder of Uthman
The killers of Uthman weren't given up soon en ough and what happened?
- Ali was assasinated
- Muawiaya took over as Caliph
After Ali's assassination, what happened?
there was a split in the beliefs
What two major clans was Islam split into?
Sunnis and Shiahs
Who were the Sunnis?
- people who followed Muawiaya as Caliph. More strict of the Qur'an. Believed in way of the prophets, they followed the Caliphs
- they tried to follow Muhammad;s example in problem solving
- the Caliphs made the ultimate decisions
Who were the Shiah?
- a more loose clan. they felt superior to the Caliphs and blessed by God because they were in the bloodline of Muhammad
- they were followers of Ali
- they did not have Caliphs, they had Imams
What were Imams?
- Ali's successors
- religious scholars who studied and interpreted the Qur'an
- pros at the Muslim faith
- typically had some sort of bloodline to Muhammad
- there were imams in each region
How did the two different groups cause Islam to grow?
people liked that they had a choice of which way to go
Where did the muslims build their capital city?
Who was Umayyad?
- a sunni leader who lead their army
- conquered land in Asia, North Africa, Spain, southern France, and even near constantinople
What happened to every person conquered by Umayyad's army?
- they became a "client" or second class citizen
- they werent forced to convert, but they wouldn't get as good jobs and such as the Muslims
Who were Abbasids?
- new leaders build that built the new capital in Baghdad
- tried to expand even more
What are the 5 pillars of Islam?
- similar to 10 commandments (another similarity)
- the duties expected of all muslims (sunnis and shiahs)
- they were explained by Muhammad
- 1.) say the confession of faith: claiming that there is only one god. this is how they started each day
- 2.) Pray 5 times a day, facing Mecca
- 3.) Donate money to church to help poor members of society- this was called a payment of alms (happens in every major church) (similarity)
- 4.)Fast during the holy month of Ramadan- calander is different than ours so it rotates over different times of the year. (they can only eat between sunset and sunrise during Ramadan)
- 5.) Make the hajj, the pilgramage or trip, to Mecca once in your life if possible