AP World Stearns Ch 7

1. Chapter 7: Abbasid Decline and
the Spread of Islamic Civilization
to South and Southeast Asia

2. Harun al-Rashid
• Shi’a revolts and assassination
attempts begin with the third caliph
(al-Mahdi)
• Eldest son poisoned
• Harun al-Rashid ascends to the
throne
• Contact with Charlemagne’s
emissaries and Christians
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Wilayah_Abbasiyyah_semasa_khalifah_
Harun_al-Rashid.jpg – Presents of an elephant and an
intricate water clock
Bronze Chess Piece of the – Christians are dazzled by
Caliph Harun al-Rashid - Baghdad
AM.0098 • The Thousand and One Nights
Origin: Central Asia – Set in Baghdad
Circa: 780 AD to 850 AD – Stories reveal sources of
Dimensions: 3.4" (8.6cm) dynastic weakness
high • Relied on Persian advisors
Collection: Near Eastern
Medium: Bronze http://miniaturesinancientart.com/BronzeChessPieceCaliphHarunalRashidAM0098.html

3. A painting made byJulius Köckert of Harun al-Rashid
receiving the delegation of the leader of the Franks
Charlemagne.
http://www.muslims.eu/The_Islamic_Golden_Age.html

4. • Harun al-Rashid dies, civil war breaks out
• Ma’mun becomes the caliph (813-833)
– His sons anticipate the civil war that would
erupt when their dad dies
• Work on creating personal armies
– When the son wins the next round
• Recruits body guards to maintain his status
– 4000 Turkish speaking slaves (had been nomads)
– Once caliph, has mercenary force of over 70,000

5. Slave mercenaries
• 846 slave mercenaries murder the
reigning caliph
– Decade of four caliph assassinations and
poisonings
• From this time onward leaders of the slave
mercenary armies were often the real
power behind the Abbasid throne
– Also a major source of unrest

6. Not Good.
• Taxation steadily increases
• Food riots
• Pillaging, disarray, rebellion, etc.
• Irrigation works of the Tigris-Euphrates
falling apart
• Flood, famine,

7. The harem and veil
• Harem – tradition emerges during Abbasid era
– Wives and concubines in Abb. Court were restricted to forbidden
quarters of the imperial palace
– Concubines could earn freedom by bearing healthy sons
• Veil
• Lower class women farmed, wove clothes or rugs, raised
silkworms
• Rich women were not allowed careers
• Slave women often have more freedom – can go to the
market, don’t have to wear the veil and robes
• Marriage at puberty – legal set age: 9
– Devote lives to running the household and serving the husband
• Women’s freedom? Constrained.

8. Slaves, Concubines, and
Eunuchs
• Female and male slaves existed by the
tens of thousands in Baghdad
• 11,000 eunuchs
• 4,000 concubines…
• Slaves were captured or purchased from
Balkans, central Asia, and Sudanic Africa
(non-Muslim areas)
• Sold in slave markets – beauty and
intelligence

9. Buyids
• 945
• Buyids of Persia
– army that invades Abbasid Empire
– capture Baghdad
– appoint themselves sultan (“victorious”)
– Control the caliph and the court

10. Seljuk Turks
• 1055
• Nomadic invaders from
central Asia enter through
Persia
• About 200 yrs
• Turkish military leaders rule
Abbasid Empire in the name
of caliphs (usually Persian or
Arab)
http://www.generationaldynamics.com/ww2010/seljuk.jpg
• Staunch Sunnis, purge the
Shi’a officials
• Begin harassing the
Byzantines
http://library.thinkquest.org/29369/Scholio/Turk.
gif

11. • Christian crusaders (knights from W.
The Europe) determined to capture the Holy
Land launch a surprise attack between
Crusades •
1096-1099
Very successful, capture and divide up
much of the land into Christian kingdoms
• Jerusalem is taken – Muslim and Jewish
inhabitants are massacred
http://www.history.org.uk/resources/primary_guide_1140,1162_53.html

13. Eight Crusades
• Success of each
Crusade widely
varies
• 12th century
• Muslims, led by
Salah-uh-Din rapidly
reconquered most of
the crusader
outposts
• Saladin
• Salah-uh-Din

14. Impact of Crusades
• Far greater impact on Christians because they launched the Crusades
(Muslims were just defending themselves)
• Difficult to determine which aspects of cultural diffusion that occurred
between the Muslims and Europe as a result of the Crusades, because they
were interacting for so many different reasons and in many different ways
(trade!)
– Muslim weapons (really cool damascene swords)
– Muslim techniques for fortifications (castes build in the 11th and 12th centuries
around William the Conqueror reflect this)
– Muslim records of classical learning were found
– Arabic numerals (originally from the Indians)
– Oriental rugs and tapestries
– Cloth (taffeta, muslin, damask, fustian)
– Persian and Arabic words
– The game of chess (from India)
– Some of the troubadours songs
– Muslims take little from the Europeans

15. Things the Muslims impart on
others
• Windmills and water pumps
• Muslim science, law and philosophy
• Islamic art and architecture

16. • Art
• Persian Literature
– Persian slowly replaces Arabic in the court, becomes
the chief language of high culture
– Epic poem of the history of Persia from the
beginnings of time to the Islamic conquests with
details of battles, intrigues, and illicit love affairs
“Shah-Nama”
– Everyday life
• Sciences
– Sine, cosine, tangent
– Animal, vegetable, mineral
– Muslim traders bring papermaking from China

17. Attacks
• Mongols 1220s, 1250s
– Chinggis Khan
– 1258 Baghdad is captured and sacked by the
Mongols
– 37th and last Abbasid caliph put to death
• Mamluks – Turkish rulers of Egypt who stop the
invasion
• Baghdad never recovers, especially after 1401’s
Tamerlane attacks

18. Onto South Asia
• India continually infiltrated by migrant
groups and aggressors
• Muslims are the first group of people who
bring in their own sophisticated civilization

19. Dhows
• Great for speed, dexterity, and exploration
• Poor for warfare – too small to hold
cannons or lots of soldiers

20. Dar-al-Islam
• “Abode of Islam”
• Exists after the empire crumbles
• Term used to refer to all areas of the
Muslim peoples

21. Delhi Sultanate
• After the Gupta empire, India was
fragmented into local kingdoms with
rival princes vying for control
• Hindu and Buddhist rulers spent huge
sums building and decorating
magnificent temples
• Trade continued to link to the ME, SE
Asia, and China
• Arabs conquer the Indus Valley in 711
• ~1000 CE Muslim Turks and Afghans
push into India, by 1100 they stop
pillaging and fooling around and settle
down a bit
• Sultan of Ghur defeated Hindu armies
in the N and made Delhi his capital,
successors organized a sultanate
(land ruled by sultan)
• Delhi Sultanate 1206-1526 – marked
the start of Muslim rule in N. India

22. • Muslims used archers against the war
elephants
• Hindu princes wasted resources battling
each other instead of uniting against a
common enemy

23. Muslim Rule
• Sultans introduce Muslim traditions of
government
• Turks Persians and Arabs migrate to India
to serve as soldiers and officials
• Trade b/n India and Muslim world
increases
• During Mongol raids many scholars fled
from Baghdad to Delhi, bringing Persian
art and architecture

24. Muslims and Hindus
• Muslims conquest of N. India = disaster for Hindus and Buddhists
• Destroyed many Buddhist monasteries
– Contributed to decline of Buddhism as a major religion in India
• Violently attack Hindus
• Some convert to escape death
• Hinduism – ancient religion that evolved for thousands of years,
many sacred texts, prayers before statues representing many gods
and goddesses
• Islam – new faith, single sacred text, devout monotheists, -- statues
of gods are offensive to the one true God.
• Hindus – accepted caste status, honored Brahmans as a priestly
castes
• Muslims – equality of all believers before God and no religious
hierarchy
• Hindus – celebrate religious occasions with music and dance
• Muslims – strictly condemn this practice

25. Improvements
• Dehli sultans slowly grow more tolerant of their subject
population
• Some Muslim scholars acknowledge that behind the
many Hindu gods and goddesses there was a single god
and accepted Hinduism as a monotheistic religion
• Hindus remain second-class citizens, but as long as they
pay a non-Muslim tax they can practice their own religion
• Some sultans even leave Hindu rajahs in place
• Many Hindus convert to Islam
– Some lower-caste Hindus prefer Islam because it rejected the
caste system
– Some convert to be able to serve in the Muslim government
• Indian merchants were attracted to Islam because of the
strong trade network across Muslim lands

26. Blending of Cultures
• Indian Muslims absorb elements of Hindu
culture
– Marriage customs
– Caste ideas
• Urdu – a language of Persian, Arabic, and
Hindi emerges
• Persian and Indian art blends
• Indian music and dance brought into the
sultans courts

27. Islam also spread through
Southeast Asia

28. • Islam spread onward to Sumatra and
Malaya and Borneo
• SE Asian products began to be exported
to China, India, and the Mediterranean
– Aromatic woods from the rainforests of
Borneo and Sumatra
– Spices – cloves, nutmeg and mace

29. • Shrivijaya – far reaching trading
empire between Malay and
Sumatra
– When Shrivijaya empire is in place
there are few converts to Islam
• Shrivijaya officials were devout
Buddhists,
• but after their decline, Muslims gain
influence
– Trading contacts pave the way for
conversion
– Islam spreads gradually – all the
way to the Philippines
http://misterdeejay.net/indonesia/colonialism/before/Eempire.jpg
– Java – slow progress, strong
Hindu-Buddhist leadership
• But H-B had sometimes been limited to
upper class, so Islam is well received
– Bali is one of the only regions that
remains relatively impervious
(extremely Hindu)
– Muslim converts blend many of
their cultural traditions in with their

30. • Islamic world served as an avenue for the
exchange of ideas, plants and medicines,
commercial goods, and inventions both
between centers of urban and agrarian life
• Muslim Merchants continually influenced
the people they came in contact with along
their vast trade network and continually
gathered and shared more ideas