Sasanid Empire and Rise of Islam, 200-1200

Early in the history of the Islamic faith, a schism occurred that ultimately lasted until modern times. One group believed that the caliph or leaders of the Islamic faith should be descendents of Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law/cousin; this group was distinguished as the Shi’ites which translates to “Partly of Ali.” The second group believed that leaders should be selected from the Muslim community at large and were called the Sunni. The Sunni is the dominant of the two groups due to larger numbers.

The Sasanid Empire, 224-651

The Sasanids were described as the guardians of the Silk Road and enemy of the Byzantine Empire due to trade and religion. Both empires linked religion and politics and established the precedence for the later rise and domination of the Islamic faith.

Politics and Society: the Sasanid Empire was established after the fall of the Parthians at Ardashir’s hand. To protect lands they subsidized the chiefs of local nomadic groups, usually of Arabic descent. The Sasanid and Byzantine Empires struggled for dominance in the region, but during times of peace both communities thrived due to trade and commerce.

Although small principalities emerged along the Silk Road, the government remained a powerful central authority. They dominated political life, military power, and silver and gold coinage respectively. Growth of the Silk Road allowed for new plants, animals, and ideas to enter the region.

Religion and Empire: the original inhabitants of this land, the Parthians, had little focus on establishing a centralized religion; however, the more complex Sasanid Empire adopted and advocated Zoroastrianism. Although they declared a national religion, they did practice religious toleration and large groups of Christians and Jewish communities thrived. The upper classes of the empire favored Greek mythology.

The idea that government controlled and regulated religion allowed for the rise and success of the Muslims. The wars between the Byzantine and Sasanid Empires were caused by a power struggle along with religious opposition. Manichaeism was founded by Mani and was merely a derivative of the Zoro faith. In the past, language, ethniticity, and citizenship aligned allegiances, but during this period, religion penetrated all realms of life and society.

Origins of Islam

Islam spread through the interior of the Arabian Peninsula quickly due to its seclusion from rival religions like Christianity and Judaism. These lands were too far away from the mighty Byzantine and Sasanids Empires and therefore, were free to establish a religion deeply rooted in the cultural composition of the Arabian societies.

Arabian Peninsula Prior to Muhammad: the interior of the Arabian Peninsula is protected from outside influences because of the “Empty Quarter;” those living in the interior were settled groups and were deeply impacted by culture brought to them from the trans-Arabian caravan routes. These Semitic speaking, polytheistic peoples created a powerful trading city called Mecca. Quickly Mecca gained strength due to its isolation from greater trading posts. Ka’ba, a shrine erected for the worship of Pagan gods, was built in the city of Mecca, and this shrine would later play a major role in the Islamic religion.

Muhammad in Mecca: in 570 Muhammad was born in Mecca; he was orphaned and raised by his uncle’s family during a great time of famine throughout the region. When he was about forty years old, he began participating in meditation and soon experienced his “Night of Power and Excellence.” Per his story, the angel Gabriel came to him and gave him the teachings of Allah.

When Muhammad began public recitation of his beliefs, the public claimed him divinely inspired. He taught that upon death the soul would be judged and either continue into Paradise or feel “hell fire.” Muslims believe Muhammad was the last and greatest prophet—many claim that Muhammad’s god is the same god referred to by Christian and Jews.

Modern historians attribute the great success of Muhammad to the historical context of his teachings. He was preaching to a group of predominately poor individuals that rejected the idea of power being held in wealth. He taught that pride was sinful and many clung to these teachings as a source of hope and strength.

The Formation of the Umma: leaders in Mecca worked against the spread of Islam because it threatened political power; Medina however, welcomed Muhammad and his people because they saw it as an opportunity to untie their broken city under one cultural concept: religion. Muslims living in Medina and those that left Mecca solidified and originated the Umma—or community defined by the acceptance of the Islamic faith.

Muhammad’s later revelations gave political and social guidance and advised Muslims to fight against non-believers. Problems with raiding nomadic groups hindered the success of Mecca and Muslims attributed this to the blessings of God/Allah to Muhammad and consequently converted. In 630, Mecca conceded and the followers came into Mecca unharmed; thus beginning the tradition of the ha’aj into Mecca.

After this, Muhammad never again returned to Mecca; the Islamic city of Medina had become a political and religious center for surrounding Muslims and expelled all Jewish people from the city. Muhammad spread Islam through missionary works and ultimately united the Medinan state, not by kinship ties but rather by devotion to a single religious figure.

In 632, Muhammad died quickly suffering from weakness and head pain, and his followers decided his father-in-law Abu Bakr should continue the faith and become the first Caliph. Abu Bakr made three major contributions to the Muslim faith:

Five Pillars of Islam
Allah is the one and only true God, and Muhammad is his last and greatest prophet.
Prayer five times daily
Fasting during Ramadan
Almsgiving
Ha’aj or pilgrimage to Mecca
Re-establish and expand Muslim faith for Muhammad—spread religion through conquest.
Quran—Bakr commissioned secretaries of the late Muhammad to compose a book of his revelations to distribute to followers of the faith. Muslims don’t see the Quran as Muhammad’s teachings but rather the direct, unalterable word of Allah.

The caliphate was ultimately the source of major disagreement between the Islams—it brought about the Sunni and Shi’ite groups. During the third caliph, the time of Uthman, supporters of Muhammad’s cousin/son-in-law, Ali, planned to have the serving caliph assassinated. Their plans succeeded and they next elected Ali to the caliph; Ali’s acceptance brought about great problems for the Muslims. Muhammad’s “favorite wife” A’isha challenged Ali and brought about the Battle of the Camel. The end result is a divided Islamic Umma and blood shed within the followers of Muhammad.

The Rise and Fall of the Caliphate, 632-1258

The Islamic Empire did not spread and dominate until after Muhammad’s death. The giant realm lost power and was never able to achieve the solidarity of the Catholic faith; however, they remained loyal to the constantly declining caliph.

Islamic Conquests, 634-711: the second caliph, Umar, began spreading the faith through conquest and dominated Syria and Egypt bringing Islam into Africa; other areas of Africa spread the religion through peaceful means of trade and diffusion.

Historians find it difficult to explain the expansion and fervor the Arabs spread their religion with; some cite greed as the driving force while others believe religious fervor to be the dominating factor. In any case, the religion spread quickly and with little reverence for the conquered peoples in its path. Umar’s decision to not allow pastoral nomads to live in the conquered lands and instead giving the conquered lands over to the military groups and using them as barracks and training areas. The Byzantine Empire managed to fight off the Muslim conquests for four decades before the Muslim Expansion attempts finally halted.

The Umayyad and Early Abbasid Caliphates, 661-850: by 661, the Caliph’s rule over an ethnically defined empire; they descended from a powerful Meccan family, their military was composed almost entirely of Arab Muslims, and eventually all government officials were converted to Islam. The official language became Arabic and the solidarity of the empire had reached higher levels than ever before.

The Umayyad Caliph fell in 750 after a slow decline due to internal decay; one member of the family escaped to Spain where he established another sect of the Umayyad Caliph and converted significant numbers of Spanish citizens to Islam. The group which planned and orchestrated the turnover in power established the Abbasid Caliphate, they maintained control of the caliph until 1258 when the Mongols invaded and killed them off.

Initially, the Abbasid Caliph supported Islam greatly, but slowly they shifted their leadership to other goals like translating great works into Arabic, theology, law, and other avenues to create a stronger culture. Arabian Knights depicts this period within the Caliph very well displaying the splendor of the courts and the intelligence of the citizens. Some historians refer to this period as Islam’s “Golden Age.” However, the further away from the imperial center civilizations spread the less control the government and Islam had over them. This constant power struggle led to the unity of the Islamic people because they clung together to protect their religion from outside sources.

The conversions of people to Islam didn’t increase until the 9th C. and the concept of a “mass, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society” with only minorities deviating from the Muslim religion, but this did not appear until the end of the 10th C. By then, the power of the Caliph had all but disappeared.

Political Fragmentation, 850-1050: the size of the Abbasid Empire made ruling exceedingly difficult—communication, military response, and political information moved excessively slowly through the empire. Plus, the absence of a non-Muslim threat gave rise to internal dissension; resentment grew due to an extremely wealthy center and impoverished provinces.

Money ran low for the centralized government as the outer regions of the empire began paying taxes to local government and the caliph began losing faith in the generals and troops. In response, they bought Turkish slaves and created standing armies in the provinces; this back fired because the Turks revolted when they weren’t paid and removed caliphs as they pleased. The new capital of Samara also lending towards the loss of power of the Caliph by using huge amounts of money to construct and leaving the caliph poor and with little money coming in to the government.

Finally, a Shi’ite family named Buyid came in and conquered western Iran; this ended power in Baghdad. They retained the caliph only for control over Sunni subjects. A declining caliph also allowed for cultural growth in outlying regions. This family brought a strong influx of Persian pros and poetry which led to the sharp distinction between Iran and other Arabian centers.

Another ruler rose from Egypt and the center of Cairo became a major cultural, intellectual and political center of Islam. The sixty year struggle between the Buyid and Fatimid families resulted in the building of a new mosque, al-Azhar, which remains a very influential center of the Muslim faith. The Fatimid did not convert many Sunni Muslims to their cause; however, their wealth in gold made them a major political rival.

The Umayyad sect that established itself in Spain developed independently and harvested very individual characteristics from other Muslim groups. While in Spain, they established successful cities that grew in numbers and wealth much faster than those that appeared in France. The numbers of converts to Islam astonish historians, but the emergence of crops and animals to the west gave Spain the most successful and diverse agricultural economy in Europe. Although they established the al-Andalus, they didn’t take the title of caliph until 929 when Abd al-Rahman III claimed the caliph from Cordoba. The establishment of the settlements in Spain quickly faded, but the cultural effects were very beneficial to both parties. Islam maintained unity as it expanded because its people adhered to the ulama, people with religious knowledge.

Assault from Within and Without, 1050-1258: various leaders established new kingdoms under the Muslim banner, but the ultimate goal was winning against their enemies and leaders often employed harsh and intolerant measures. Arabs in southern Africa slowly traveled northward and greatly diminished the success of the northern Africa agriculture. Although, historians may exaggerate this effect, changes are clear; as the Arabs moved north, trading that once took place with sub-Saharan African trading centers dwindled and they began to look across the Mediterranean as they once had.

While all these events were taking place, another nomadic people were gaining power in the lands north and east of the Caspian, Black, and AralSeas. The Turkish mamluks were ferocious warriors with little interest in religion or urban society; they established their first Turk-Muslim center in 1055 and defeating the Byzantine at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Byzantine Christians retreated into Constantinople leaving Anatolia, modern day Turkey, open to the Turkish invasion.

Turkish invasion caused agriculture and irrigation systems to shrink and tax revenues fell as pastoralists surged the region and pushed sedentary society out. Turk’s lack of interest in religion led to the further problems between the Shi’ites and Sunni groups. Mesopotamia went through a long period of population loss; strained food resources, political fragmentation, and constant warfare resulted in the loss of advancement in the region.

The Crusades ravaged the region as Christians and Muslims faced off in a Holy War (jihad). Then the Mongol Invasion devastated the Muslim world by destroying cities and destroying their culture.

Islamic Civilization

The Islamic expansion was continually fragmented and never cohesive, but they underwent an impressive evolution of law, social structure, and religious expression of their faith. Their expansion of cities and urban development coupled with religious conversion created a distinct religious culture.

Law and Dogma: the Quran gives little advice on political or legal systems accepted by the Islamic faith because Muhammad was dead before there was ever a political system in place. The Shari’a, the law of Islam, is the foundation of Islam civilization, but still gives little information about political decisions. After Muhammad’s death, the Umma attempted to live by his example but as those that knew him died off and people spread to far off lands, it became increasingly difficult.

Many Muslims looked towards the opinion of a mature, well educated man to guide resolve issues not mentioned in Quranic texts. Thus the Hadith was created and it gradually became a document looked to for advice in events that were not covered in the Quran. Although the Hadith provided information and anecdotal qualities of Muhammad there was also much of the document that was fabricated by later Muslims desperate for answers. Sunni Muslims adhere to four books of the Hadith that were edited and weak or fictional anecdotes were discarded. Shi’ite groups adhere to six books, but much of the original text was discarded by Muslim specialists.

Shari’a was built up and evolved over the centuries and embodies a vision of the Umma in which all Muslims are brothers and sisters united to the same moral values. Their legal text unites them across ethnic and political lines and lends cohesion to the Muslim faith.

Converts and Cities: large garrisons to house warriors led to the increase of urbanization within Muslim groups, and many converted to Islam after they heard the information brought forth from their new kings/caliphs, and not to escape taxation. Interestingly, many of the converts knew very little of the religion they were joining, they didn’t speak Arabic and were illiterate therefore, could not read the Quran.

Most converts merely mimicked the behavior of local Muslims, and those who adhered to their pre-Muslim religions experienced discrimination. Cities that were predominately Christian like Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria all stagnated and loss power and money.