RSG: Ch.6 (The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam) 121-145
INTRODUCTION:
1.) How and where did Islam spread?
2.) What role did Muslim merchants and other groups play from the 7th century on?
3.) What did the many traders and conquerors spread?
4.) What did Muslim scholars do?
DESERT AND TOWN
5.) Describe the differences between the coastal region vs the interior of the Arabian Peninsula.
CLAN IDENTITY
6.) What shaped Arab social organization?
7.) On what, and for what, did Bedouin life depend?
8.) What acted as reinforcement of clan cohesion?
TOWNS and LONG DISTANCE TRADE
9.) Which group controlled Mecca?
10.) What did Mecca serve as, and what distinguished Mecca from other cities like her?
MARRIAGE and FAMILY
11.) Contrast the status of women among Bedouin culture with those in cities like Mecca.
POETS and NEGLECTED GODS
12.) If not religion, then from where did Arab ethics and morals come?
THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD
13.) Who was Abu Talib and how did he influence Muhammad?
14.) Who was Khadijah?
15.) What ideas exactly were going about the Arabian Peninsula in Muhammad’s time?
16.) What happened in 610 CE to Muhammad?
PERSECUTION, FLIGHT and VICTORY
17.) How did the Umayyad elite see Muhammad and why?
18.) Where did Muhammad flee and under what pretext (reason)?
19.) What is this flight referred as and what does it signify for Muslims?
20.) What immediately led to Muhammad returning to Mecca in 629?
21.) What did Muhammad do upon returning to Mecca?
ARABS and ISLAM
22.) What was an uncompromising aspect of Islam and what did it offer to the people who lived in the peninsula?
23.) Describe the ethical system provided by Islam.
UNIVERSAL ELEMENTS
24.) Describe the Five Pillars.
CONSOLIDATION and DIVISION
25.) What happened within Islam after Muhammad’s death and what contributed to the problem?
MOTIVES for ARAB CONQUESTS
26.) In reality what were the motives that drove Arab conquests?
WEAKNESSES of the ADVERSARY
27.) Which empires did Muslim armies overcome?
28.) Why did non-Muslims support the Muslim invasion in places like Syria?
THE PROBLEM OF SUCCESSION
29.) What was the core issue that divided Muslims, and into what two groups were they called?
THE UMAYYAD IMPERIUM
30.) What was the extent of the Muslim conquest by the end of the 7th century?
31.) Where had the Umayyad elite settled and who were the majority of the population outside the Peninsula?
32.) Why did the Umayyads segregate the soldiery from the local populace?
CONVERTS and PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
33.) Why were there so few conversions under the Umayyad?
34.) Why did the “dhimmi” generally accept their Muslim overlords?
FAMILY and GENDER ROLES
35.) How was the position of women in early Islam an improvement compared to that in pre-Islamic Arabia?
36.) What evidence is there that women contributed to Islamic scholarship and learning?
UMAYYAD DECLINE
37.) What aspects turned away the populace from support of the Umayyad?
38.) Why had warrior settlers turned against the Umayyad appointed governors and what group did they form?
39.) Which religious group did they significantly manage to attract to their cause?
CIVILIZATION and GENDER
40.) What were some common beliefs among Christians and Muslims in regard to women?
41.) What was a common effect of centralized politics in regard to women in various cultures?
42.) Where was this most acute: cities or rural areas? Among the wealthy or the poor? Why?
FROM ARAB TO ISLAMIC EMPIRE
43.) To where did the Abbasid rulers move and what happened to their alliances previously made?
44.) What does the constant presence of the Royal Executioner at public gatherings say of Abbasid tolerance?
ISLAMIC CONVERSION
45.) What was a major difference among the Abbasid compared to the Umayyad regarding “Mawali” and conversion?
46.) What were the perks of converting to Islam under the Abassid?
TOWN and COUNTRY
47.) Which classes benefitted under the Abbasid?
48.) Into what areas did the profits from trade go?
THE FIRST FLOWERING
49.) The Arabs were the younger of the cultures, which cultures did they draw influence from?
50.) What did early Muslim scholars contribute to scholasticism?
51.) What was the original model for mosques?
52.) What about Islam made it the first global civilization?