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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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What plagued the Abbasid dynasty? |
Shi'a revolts and assassination attempts |
"Al-Mahdi's efforts to reconcile the moderates among the Shi'a opposition to Abbasid rule ended in failure ended in failure. This meant that Shi'a revolts and assassination attempts against Abbasid officials would plague the dynasty to the end of its days." |
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What did al-Mahdi fail to establish? |
The problem of succession |
"Perhaps most critically, al-Mahdi failed to solve the vexing problem of succession. Not only did he waver between which of his older sons would succeed him, but he allowed his wives and concubines, the mothers of different candidates, to become involved in the palace intrigues that became a standard feature of the transfer of power from one caliph to the next." |
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What displayed the luxury and intrigue of Harun's court? |
The Thousand and One Nights |
"The luxury and intrigue of Harun's court have also been immortalized by the tales of The Thousand and One Nights, set in the Baghdad of his day." |
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What convinced the sons of al-Ma'mun to build up personal armies? |
The first civil war over succession |
"Harun al-Rashid's death prompted the first of several full-scale civil wars over succession. In itself, the precedent set by the struggle for the throne was deeply damaging. But it had an additional consequence that would all but end the real power of the caliphs. The first civil war convinced the sons of al-Ma'mun (813-833), the winner, to build personal armies in anticipation of the fight for the throne that would break out when their father died." |
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What drained the treasury of the Abbasids? |
The slave armies constant civil violence. |
"In the last decades of the 9th century, the dynasty brought the slave armies under control for a time, but at a great cost. Constant civil violence drained the treasury and alienated the subjects of the Abbasids." |
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What did the Abbasids invent that showed the seclusion of women? |
The harem. |
"Although the seclusion of women had been practiced by some Middle Eastern peoples since ancient times, the harem was a creation of the Abbasid court." |
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What Persian society took over Baghdad and the Abbasid empire? |
The Buyids |
"In 945, the armies of one of these regional splinter dynasties, the Buyids of Persia, invaded the heartlands of the Abbasid empire and captured Baghdad. From this point onward, the caliphs were little more than puppets controlled by families such as the Buyids." |
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What group took over the Buyids? |
The Seljuk Turks |
"In just over a century, the Buyids' control over the caliphate was broken, and they were supplanted in 1055 by another group of nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia, the Seljuk Turks." |
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What made the first crusade successful? |
The Muslim political divisions and the element of surprise. |
"Muslim political divisions and the element of surprise made the first of the crusaders' assaults, between 1096 and 1099, by far the most successful. Much of the Holy Land was captured and divided into Christian kingdoms." |
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What Muslim leader gained most of the crusader's outposts back? |
Saladin |
"When united under a strong leader, as they were under Salah-ud-Din (known as Saladin in Christian Europe) in the last decades of the 12th century, the Muslims rapidly reconquered most of the crusader outposts." |
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What affected western Europe during this period? |
Muslim influences |
"Muslim influences affected both the elite and popular cultures of much of western Europe in this period. These included Persian and Arabic words, games such as chess, chivalric ideals and troubadour ballads, as well as foods such as dates, coffee, and yogurt." |
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What continued as town life became more dangerous? |
Rapid growth and increasing prosperity. |
"Although town life became more dangerous, the rapid growth and increasing prosperity that characterized the first centuries of Muslim expansion continued until late in the Abbasid era. Despite the declining revenue base of the caliphate and deteriorating conditions in the countryside, there was a great expansion of the professional classes, particularly doctors, scholars, and legal and religious experts." |
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What language started to replace Arabic? |
Persian |
"As Persian wives, concubines, advisors, bureaucrats, and (after the mid-10th century) Persian caliphs came to play central roles in imperial politics, Persian gradually replaced Arabic as the primary written language at the Abbasid court." |
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What work relates the history of Persia from creation to the Islamic conquests? |
Shah-Nama by Firdawsi |
"Perhaps the single most important work was the lengthy epic poem Shah-Nama (Book of Kings), written by Firdawsi in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The work relates the history of Persia from the befinnings of time to the Islamic conquests, and it abounds in dramatic details of battles, intrigues, and illicit love affairs." |
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What did the Islamic civilization outstrip others in? |
Scientific discoveries and new technologies |
"For several centuries, which spanned much of the period of Abbasid rule, Islamic civilization outstripped all others in scientific discoveries, new techniques of investigation, and new technologies." |
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What did a lot of Muslim work have? |
Practical applications |
"As these breakthroughs suggest, much of the Muslims' work in scientific investigation had very practical applications." |
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What did the ulama press for? |
A more conservative and restrictive theology |
"Many orthodox scholars suspected that the questioning that characterized the Greek tradition would undermine the absolute authority of the Qur'an. They insisted that the Qur'an was the final, perfect, and complete revelation of an all-knowing divinity." (Answer specifically from ulama definition) |
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What did the Sufis insist on? |
A clear distinction between Allah and humans |
"True to the strict monotheism of Islam, most Sufis insisted on a clear distinction between Allah and humans. But in some Sufist teachings, Allah permeated the universe in ways that appeared to compromise his transcendent status." |
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What was a central factor in continuing the expansion of the Muslim religion? |
The Sufi movement |
"The more accomplished Sufis built up a sizable following, and the movement as a whole was a central factor in the continuing expansion of the Muslim religion and Islamic civilization in the later centuries of the Abbasid caliphate." |
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Who finished off the last Abbasid caliph? |
The Mongols |
"In 1258, the Abbasid capital at Baghdad was taken by the Mongols, and much of it was sacked. The 37th and last Abbasid caliph was put to death by the Mongols." |
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What stood out from the Muslims in India? |
They were large-scale and had a very different religion. |
"While the coming of the Muslims, the peoples of India encountered for the first time a large-scale influx of bearers of an outside civilization as sophisticated, if not as ancient, as their own. They were also confronted by a religious system that was in many ways the very opposite of the ones they had nurtured." |
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What was a main difference between Hindu and Islam? |
In Islam, all believers are equal, while Hindu supports the Caste System. |
"Socially, Islam was highly egalitarian, proclaiming all believers equal in the sight of God. In sharp contrast, Hindu beliefs validated the caste hierarchy. The latter rested on the acceptance of inborn differences between individuals and groups and the widely varying levels of material wealth, status, and religious purity these differences was believed to produce." |
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Who avenged the assault on Arab shipping? |
Muhammad ibn Qasim |
"An able Arab general, Muhammad ibn Qasim who was only 17 years old when the campaign began, led more than 10,000 horse- and camel-mounted warriors into Sind to avenge the assault on Arab shipping. After victories in several fiercely fought battles, Muhammad ibn Qasim declared the region, as well as the Indus valley to the northeast, provinces of the Umayyad empire." |
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What did the Arab overlords refer to as the Hindus and Buddhists? |
The "people of the book" |
"The Arab overlords decided to treat both Hindus and Buddhists as protected "people of the book," despite the fact that their faiths had no connection to the Bible, the book in question." |
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What did Arab scholars begin to use in mathematics? |
Numerals from Hindu scholars |
"Most critically, Arab thinkers in all fields began to use the numerals that Hindu scholars had devised centuries earlier. Because these numbers were passed on to the Europeans through contacts with the Arabs in the early Middle Ages, we call them Arabic numerals today, but they originated in India." |
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Who is credited with sacking one of the wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India? |
Mahmud of Ghazni |
"The third ruler of this dynasty, Mahmud of Ghazni, led a series of expeditions that began nearly two centuries of Muslim raiding and conquest in northern India. Drawn by the legendary wealth of teh subcontinent and a zeal to spread the Muslim faith, Mahmud repeatedly raided northwest India in the first decades of the 11th century." |
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Who began the process of conquest to establish political control of northern India? |
Muhammad of Ghur |
"After barely surviving several severe defeats at the hands of Hindu rulers, Muhammad put together a string of military victories that brought the Indus valley and much of north central India under his control." |
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What was the capital of the new Muslim empire? |
Delhi |
"Significantly, the capital of the new Muslim empire was at Delhi along the Jumna River on the Gangetic plain." |
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Where were most Indians that converted to Islam from? |
Buddhist or low-case groups |
"Surprisingly small numbers of converts were found in the Indo-Gangetic centers of Muslim political power, a fact that suggests the very limited importance of forced conversion. Most Indians who converted to Islam were from Buddhist or low-caste groups." |
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What did Hindus in the Islamic territory strive for? |
Independence from the Islamic society. |
"Many Hindus were willing to take positions as administrators in the bureaucracies of Muslim overlords or as soldiers in their armies and to trade with Muslim merchants. But they remained socially aloof from their conquerors." |
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How were the Muslim communities divided? |
Caste lines. |
"More broadly, Muslim communities became socially divided along caste lines, Recently arrived Muslims generally were on top of the hierarchies that developed, and even they were divided depending on whether they were Arab, Turk, or Persian." |
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What did bhaktic cults stress? |
The importance of strong emotional bonds with the god or goddess who was the object of their veneration. |
"Bhakti mystics and gurus stressed the importance of a strong emotional bond between the devotee and the god or goddess who was the object of veneration." |
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What area was generally a middle ground? |
Southeast Asia |
"From a world history perspective, island southeast Asia had long been mainly a middle ground." |
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What empire's fall opened the door to southeastern Asia to Muslim conversion? |
Shrivijaya |
"But only in the 13th century, after the collapse of the far-flung trading empire of Shrivijaya, centered on the Strait of Malacca between Malaya and the northeast of Sumatra, was the way open for the widespread introduction of Islam." |
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What paved the way for conversion? |
Trading contacts |
"Throughout the islands of the region, trading contacts paved the way for conversion." |
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What were the two strong trading cities after the fall of Shrivijaya that served as a conversion point for Islam? |
Malacca and Demak |
"On the mainland, the key to widespread conversion was the powerful trading city of Malacca, whos smaller trading empire had replaced the fallen Shrivijaya. From Malacca, Islam spread along the coasts of Malaya to east Sumatra and to the trading center of Demak on the north coast of Java." |
