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75 Cards in this Set
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What was the Ahkam al-Sutlaniyya? How important was it?
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"Ordinances of Government," developed in the early 11th cent, by al-Mawardi, a judge in the Iraqi town of Basra. It described the operation of the Muslim community government.
It was a thorough illustration of what "should be" and not necessarily of that which corresponded realistically to the times. The Abbasid caliphate had become hereditary and caliphs had ceased personal presence for command of the armies that confronted the Byzantines. Jihad was led to the surface for air only by the Arab and Turkish tribesmen and volunteers in the marshlands. Even then, there was little unity. |
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What happened to the caliphs in the territories formally loyal to the Abbasid caliphate in the early 11th cent?
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They had become puppets to the Buyid warlords from the Caspian shore, who were shia but did not impose their beliefs in the people of Baghdad.
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What occured for the Buyids during the time of the 11th cent when they had control over the caliphs in their region?
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Their control over Khurasan was challenged by the Ghaznawids, a dynasty of mamaluk (slave soldier) origin (977-1186). Their capital was Ghazna, in E Afghanistan. On the borders of Iran and Iraq the Buyids were also forced to surrender their power to local regimes.
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Firdawsi's Shahnama
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Dedicated and presented to Mahmud of Ghazna (r. 998-1030), which drew on pre-Islamic Sasanian political traditions. It was a more realistic work than the Ahkam al-Sultaniyya, presenting kings as fallible and monarchy as a necessary evil. His writing helped to influence the ideology and rituals of medieval Islamic monarchs.
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'Prophecy and the caliphate belong to the Arabs, but kingship belongs to the Persians''
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The Mahdi
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A man from the family of Muhammad who at the end of the world will provide justice and support for the faith.
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How were the early Fatimid caliphs in the 10-11 century regarded by their followers in N. Africa?
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As divinely guided, destined to bring Islamic justice on the world.
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Fatimid caliph al-Hakim
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Ruled 996-1021 in Egypt, highly "pious" in his beliefs and imposed them on his subjects. Jews and Christians were persecuted,lifestyles and business were put under strict control, and the dignity of women crushed (women's shoes prevented from being made, bathhouses banned).
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How far did the territories and rule of the Fatimids expand?
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Egypt, Cyrenaica, the Jijaz, and Syria (as far north as Damascus). The governors of Tripolitania and Tunisia declared themselves as subjects of the caliph, as well as the Arab rulers of Sicily.
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What are two examples of the triumph of Shiism in the Middle Ages, concerning the influence/support the Fatimids had over other regional powers?
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1. The governor of Kufa rebelled against Baghdad in 1010 in support of the Fatimid caliphate.
2. Al-Basasiri, a Turkish general, forced Baghdad and the Abbasid caliph to acknowledge the supremacy of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir (r.1036-94) in 1058. |
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The Fatimids were more interested in sending dais(missionaries) to subvert the Abbasid people than converting their own. Was this a successful approach?
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No, Shiism was outnumbered by the Sunni, Coptic Christians, and Jews in their own territory, while in the late 11th century Oghuz Turks (converted to Sunni Islam in their past) arrived to the N. East from Transoxania. Sicily was brought under the Normans and much of coastal Syria under the Byzantines before the crusaders.
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Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun
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1332-1406; one of the most important Arabic historians and influential philosophers of history. Wrote the world history Kitab al-lbar and a theoretical introduction to it, the Muqaddima (begun in Algeria 1375-Cairo 1382).
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Morocco was not part of the Fatimid empire. How was its region divided during the early 11th century?
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Among three Berber tribal confederacies: the Zanata, the Masmuda, and the Sanhaja.
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Ibn Yasin (d.1059)
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A Sanhaja who had studied Maliki Islamic Law in Cordoba. He was invited by a Sanhaja chief to teach his idolotrous tribesmen about their false beliefs. He and his Almoravid followers obliged, by the sword.
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asabiyya
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"group feeling"
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al-murabitun
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Volunteers for holy war, who were lodged in ribats (fortified monasteries).
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Who did the Muslim princes in Spain turn to for help against the Christian reconquista?
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The Almoravids
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What happened after rebel Berbers sacked Cordoba in 1013?
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Puppet caliphs lingered then were cast out after the death of Hisham III (1013) and the taifa (faction of 'party' kings) were the rulers, regional dynasties in Seville, Granada, Saragossa, etc, who were continuously at war with one another.
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As a consequence to weak strategy and resources, the taifa were declining under Christian attack. Who was al-Mutamid and how did he react to this situation?
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He called upon the Almoravid general Yusuf ibn Tashfin, begging them for assistance.
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How did the Almoravids respond to al-Mutamid's cry for help?
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Though in 1086, after Alfonso had taken Toledo, an Almoravid army did defeat the Christians at the battle of Zallaqa, the response was belated and over time, less enthusiastic than before. Their intrests layed more in expanding dynastic rule over Spain and N. Africa.
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The Almohads
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A dynasty that in the 12th century replaced the Almoravids. They had derived their powers of spiritual renewal and followers mainly from the Masmuda Berbers of N. Africa.
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Ibn Tumart
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The founder of Almohads movement, who was a follower of the mystics of al-Ghazzali (1056-1111). He was credited with vaious magical powers and in 1125 declared himself the mahdi.
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Under who militarily did the Almohads proceed to conquer the world? Name two successful bouts and one major unsuccessful attempt.
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Under Ibn Tumart's lieutenant, Abd al-Mumin, they triumphed in Morocco in 1151 over the Almoravids and in 1157 crossed into Spain to occupy Almeria and Granada. In 1212 they were defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and withdrew, their possessions eventually taken over by the Marinids, a dynasty of Zanata Berbers.
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By the mid-11th century, the Seljuq clan, who shared leadership of the Turkish tribesmen amongst themselves, had conquered what which three Ghaznawid lands?
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Transoxania, Khurasan, and Iran.
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Who was the first Muslim fuler to regularly use the title of Sultan?
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Tughril Beg in 1050, title of Sultan received from the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
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In 1055 Sultan Tughril Beg drove the Shia Buyids from Bahdad but the caliphs preferred to govern from other places such as?
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Nishapur, Isfahan, and often from an army camp on the move.
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The Seljuqs had converted to Sunni Islam towards the end of the 10th century, probably through wandering sufi missionaries. What was most important to the Seljuqs' self-image?
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Their belief that they were destined to rule the world as a master race.
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Nizam al-Mulk
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1018-92; Persian minister, vizier to the Turkish sultans Alp Arslan and Malik Shah. He wrote the Siyasat-nama (book of government). He also founded in 1067 the first madrasa in Baghdad.
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What was especially interesting about Nizam al-Mulk's Siyasat-nama and the Ulama?
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While he does not allot in his descriptions any role to the ulama as guardians of orthodoxy and Islamic law, the sultans in general offered the ulama patronage rather than power, who then offered the sultans legitimacy.
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Madrasa
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colleges teaching the study and propagation of the Sunni Islamic law, which seems to have first appeared in Ghaznawid Khurasan.
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Khatibs
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Preached sermons
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Muqris
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Read the Quran
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Muftis
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Issued legal amendments
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The increase in madrasas under the Seljuqs from the 11th century on had what effect?
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An enlargment of Islam's clergy, as professors, repetiteurs, and librarians who joined 'the Men of the Turban.' The prestige of the ulama grew as well.
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What was the problem that religious lawyers saw with the ulama who accepted employment at madrasas?
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Since most madrasas were founded by sultans, emirs, and other politicians, they could be viewed as having comprimised themselves.
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How were the sufi brotherhoods, khanqas, so important socially and culturally?
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They were as missionaries and from the 13th century played the leading role in advancing the Islamic frontier in Bengal. The loosely affiliated brotherhood of wandering dervishes known as the Yasaviyya were vital in converting pagan Turks and Mongols in Central Asia to Islam and also served as spiritual and political advisers to some of the Ottoman sultans. Their popularity assited the Sunni revival.
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Who were the 14th centuary Safawid shaykhs?
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They were Sunni sufis and guardians of a shrine in Ardabil, who in the 15th century became the first leaders of a jihad against Christians in the Caucasus and then the militant and mahdist leaders of a Shiite movement.
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Ibn Taymiyya
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Of the strict Hanbali school of religious law and ulama, who campaigned against most forms of sufism (though he was a part of the Qadiri brotherhood) and their exalted claims made for them.
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Ghazi
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A Muslim volunteer in military raids (ghazawat) against pagans or Christians who expected to gain either booty or a martyr's death.
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What was one of the most important demographic and cultural changes to take place in the Middle Ages?
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The Turkification of Anotolia and the corresponding decline of Hellenism.
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What led to the First Crusade?
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The Turkish advance towards the Bosphorus.
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Pope Urban II and the other leaders of the First Crusade (Empire of the Franks) who arrived in Constantinople paid no heed to the requests for assistance from Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus (1081-118). What were their higher motiviations? What happened ultimately?
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Their ambitions were directed towards obtaining Jerusalem through Syria, after triumphs against the Seljuqs and the Danishmendids.
After taking Antioch in 1097, the crusaders entered Palestine and captured Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099. |
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What were the reactions by the Abbasid caliphs and Seljuq sultans to the crusaders?
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Little interest was taken in the matter and it was not until the 1140s that prosecution of a jihad was under way, by the Zengid rulers of Mosul and Aleppo.
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Saladin
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A Kurd (1137-93)from the Ayyubid clan who suppressed the Fatamid caliphate in 1171. When Nur al-Din (Turk ruler of Damascus and Aleppo, Zengi's son) died in 1174, he moved out of Egypt and occupied Damascus and and other Syrian towns, also prosecuting the jihad against the crusader states. A sultan admired by Frankish enemies and by Muslims, for his zeal.
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What was the Battle of Hattin?
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1187; Saladin defeated the Kingdom of Jerusalem and went on to retake Jerusalem from the Christians.
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What was largely responsible for the destruction of the Seljuq Turkish regime from the mid-12th century?
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Khurasan government (Seljuq)was unable to stem the flow of immigration by Oghuz tribesmen, who were unruly and found military employment with the Zengids.
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What was the vastest Seljuq successor state?
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The empire of the Khwarazm-shahs. In 1148, the Khwarazmian Turkish general Atsiz gained independence from the Seljuqs in Transoxania, and from 1193 the Khawarazmians set about conquering Khurasan, with their army of horse archers recruited from a different Turkish tribal group, the Kipchaks.
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Ala al-Din Muhammad
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r.1200-20; A Khawarazm-shah who ruled an empire extending from the edge of Iraq to Turkistan and over Ghazna and part of India as well.
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In spite of their grandor, the Khwarazmian empire was unstable and not popular to its subjects. Who did it fall to?
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The Mongols
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Of what faith were most Mongols?
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Shamanist
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The founder of the Mongol empire?
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Temujin, born around 1167. He was a ruthless warrior and diplomat, beginning small but by 1206 stood over all of the Mongol tribes of the steppe, united under him. A grand council nominated him Chingiz Khan.
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The sack of Nishapur in 1221
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An especially bloody bout by the Mongols, who made pyramids of the heads of men, women, and children and desecrated mosques and Qurans. Nishapur had been a creat centre of Muslim orthodoxy and learning but the Mongols were treacherous in every aspect pointed in war.
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Hulagu and the Great Khan Mongke
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Mongol brothers who: destroyed Alamut (the headquarters for the Ismaili Assassins)in 1256, the last Grand Master murdered and thus along with him the core of Ismaili Shiism in the Middle East; went against Baghdad (the capital of Sunnism), its last caliph executed in 1258.
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Some claims to territory were contested, so Hulagu had to fight in the Caucasus against the Mongol khans of the Golden Horde in S. Russia. Of what people did he and his successor have to rely on for help running the empire behind the war scenes?
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Chinese,Uighur, and Persian bureaucrats and scholars.
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What major instances of conversion of Mongol figures to Islam were there in the medieval times?
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Hulagu's son Teguder Ahmed (ilkhan, representative of the supreme Mongol khan in China from 1282-1284); Berke the khan of the Golden Horde in the 1260s; some leading Chagatay Mongols in Transoxania.
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When did conversions begin to increase for the Mongols? Who were an important contribution to this?
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When enforced by the khan Uzbak in the early 14th century. Yasavi dervishes were significant to the conversions of the Mongols and their Turkish auxiliaries to Islam.
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The Battle of Ayn Jalut
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1260 in N. Palestine; first Mamluk conquering over the Mongols, which marked the beginning of a 50 yr long frontier along the Euphrates against them.
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In addition to the wars fought against the Mongols, who did the Mamluks war with successfully?
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The crusaders. The French crusade against Egypt in 1249 caused Mamluk officers to murder one of the last Ayyubid sultans, Turanshah, and take over in Egypt, as well as Syria from 1260 on.
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In what way did the Mamluks prepare their Turkish slaves and army?
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They were educated in Islam, warfare, reading and writing Arabic, and government.
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In 1261 Baybars appointed as caliph in Cairo a relative of the last Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, but the centre of Islam was really considered to be where?
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Delhi; Muslim-held territory greatly increased under the Delhi sultans by 1335.
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After the Mongol conquest of 1252-79, the Muslims were brought close and under the prestige (especially culturally) of what nation?
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China
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Timur
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Turkish Chaghatay conqueror (c.1336-1405) devoted to the Mongol idea who rose from the status of sheep-stealer to having command of expeditions to Turkistan, Russia, Iran, the Caucasus, and Iraq. By his death in 1405, he had reconsitituted much of the 13th century Mongol empire. Ruthless to his enemies and supported by both ulama and sufis.
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In spite of Timur's glory, the empire he left behind to his four sons failed in what way?
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They preferred to deepen their knowledge of Islam that to perptuate the Turco-Mongol warrior culture.
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The Alhambra
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Considered to be the most remarkable remnant of the blossoming of Islamic culture in Granada, several palaces within a single enclosure encircling the crest of the Sabika Hill; the place where the 14th century Nasirid rulers of Granada resided.
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The origins of the Ottoman beylicate are obscure but the Turkish tribal group, of which the family of Osman was the main clan, appeared when and as who?
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At the benning of the 14th century as pastoralists and raiders around Bursa in NE Asia Minor. It seems that the Ottomans may have been at first subjects or clients of Mongol overlords.
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The Ottomans took Bursa in 1326 and Nicaea in 1331 and other circumstances allowed for them to continue conquering, expanding into the Balkans. When and who took Constantinople?
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1453, Mehmed II (r.1451-81); renamed Islambol/Istanbul.
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Istanbul was symbolic for what aspects of Islam and for Mehmed II and his successors?
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The new capital was seen as the fulfilment of apocalyptic prophecies since the 7th century (Arabs had first besieged it in 668); sitting between Europe and Asia, could be seen as the sultan's mark of ambition in both those continents; encouraged Mehmed II to regard themselves as descendants of ghazis and in a way the heirs of Alexander and the Caesars.
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Mehmed II
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Emperor of the Ottoman empire (r.1451-81) and noted legislator (with little regard, typical by Ottomans, for Islamic law).
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What are two major examples of the Ottoman disregard for traditional Islamic law, in spite of the power Ottoman qadis had to investigate and prosecute that which were not traditionally sanctioned?
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1. Their Law of Fratricide sanctioned the killing by the heir to the throne of Mehmed II's brothers to secure the succession.
2. The devshirme, a levy of Christian boys forced to convert before service in the Palace or Janissary reigment, breached the traditionally protected status given Christians. |
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The Ottoman conquest of Gallipoli and Constantinople included important dockyards and so allowed what for the first time since the decline of the Fatimids?
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Domination of Muslim fleets in the E. Mediterranean.
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The brief history of Granada with regards to the Nasirids?
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Ruled by the Nasirids from 1230, had survived as a tributary of the Christian kingdom of Castille and was unified with Aragon in 1469. In 1492 Boabdil, the last Nasirid ruler, surrendered the city to Ferdinand and Isabella.
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What seems to have been responsible for much of the spread of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa?
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Berber traders
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Timbuktu
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Founded in c.1100, as a staging post between the Maghrib and Black Africa, as well as a religious and scholarly centre with its own madrasa. 16th century Leo Africanus noted the books and manuscripts so valuable and sold there.
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True or False: In most sub-Saharan kingdoms Islam remained as the religion of an elite. Pagan elements often lingered, even in the rulers.
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True
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The well-known and travelled books of Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's (1445-1505) history of Egypt displays the interconnection of the prestige of Mamluk Egypt's scholars and Islamic world intellect but what was his main view?
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That the 15th century Islamic world was in crisis and in need of spiritual and intellectual renewal. Economically and socially, however, al-Suyuti was neglectful of troubles.
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Sunni Ali
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1464-92, Muslim ruler of the W. African Songhay, who's persecutions of pious Muslims was comparable to Timur's. His lingering pagan beliefs were fatal to those criticizing Timbuktu ulama.
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