Islam in the Middle East and Africa

Question 1

post-Abbasid Middle East

Answer 1

the Islamic golden era was under the Abbasid, mainly from 900 to 1000; from 1000 until 1258, while the Middle East was in theory controlled by the Abbasid, it had descended into chaos and political decline; from 1000 until the 1400s, many Islamic states rose and fell, and other Middle Eastern peoples such as Persians and Turks rivaled the Arabs as forces in the Islamic community; outside enemies and invaders added to the chaos; finally, by the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th, the Middle East and North Africa were reconsolidated under the Ottoman Turks; nevertheless, they were never again as united as they had been under the Abbasids

Question 2

characters of early Islam

Answer 2

Jibril = Gabriel (to Jews and Christians)
Ali = Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law
Aisha = Muhammad’s favorite wife
Abu Bakr = Aisha’s father (Muhammad’s father-in-law)

Question 3

the caliphate

Answer 3

from the 600s to the 1200s under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, the former Persian Empire, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, most of North Africa, present-day Pakistan, Spain, and parts of Italy were ruled by this

Question 4

reasons for Abbasid decline

Answer 4

-geographic overextension
-the difficulty of ruling millions of people of diverse ethnicities
-the Sunni-Shiite split
-nomadic movements in North Africa, Syria, and Iraq, as well as the Crusades
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Question 5

the Samanid

Answer 5

a non-Arabic dynasty that ruled Persia and Central Asia as early as 875

Question 6

Fatimid

Answer 6

in 909, this Shiite caliphate rose up in Egypt and ruled there till 1171