Middle East Flashcards
Timeline of the Mongols
Rise of the Empire
Early 1200s: Genghis Khan conquers N. China, Central Asia and E. Europe
1230s-50s: His successors continue expansion into Persia and the Middle East;
1258: Sack of Baghdad
1260: Mamluks turn Mongols back
Split into four empires
Succession battle and civil war allows four empires to emerge:
N. China: Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan
E. Europe: Golden Horde
Persia: Ilkhanate
Central Asia: Chagatai Khanate
Decline
Each empire declines in the 1300s
Who was Mohammed’s first wife?
Khadija
Who was Abu Bakr?
Mohammed’s closest companion, and the father of Aisha (M’s third wife)
He’d become first caliph
Who was Abu Talib?
Mohammed’s uncle.
He protected him in Mecca, but didn’t convert to Islam.
Also the father of Ali, who married M’s daughter Fatima (his own cousin)
Who were the two most prominent groups of early Sahaba (“companions”)?
- Muhajirun (“emigrants”) - those who came from Mecca to Medina
- Ansar (“helpers”) - Medinans who converted to Islam
What was the first major military victory for Mohammed and the Sabaha?
Battle of Badr (624)
Defeat of the Quraysh (Meccans)
What are the two accounts of what happened upon Mohammed’s death?
- M appointed no successor. The elders gathered and appointed Abu Bakr.
- M did appoint a successor - Ali - and wanted leadership to remain within his family.
Who were the first four caliphs (the Rashidun)?
- Abu Bakr (2 years)
- Umar (10 years)
- Uthman (11 years)
- Ali (5 years)
Dates of the Rashidun Caliphate:
632 - 661
What was the Battle of the Camel?
A rebellion against Ali upon him being appointed fourth caliph - supposedly stirred up by Aisha
What happened in the First Fitna (656 - 661)?
- Aisha leads a rebellion against Ali, which Ali defeats
- Mu’awyia also leads a rebellion against Ali, when Ali refuses to confirm him as general (as Uthman had appointed him)
- This results in a negotiated settlement, but Ali’s supporters are disillusioned by the compromise and kill him
- Ali’s son Hasan is elected caliph but Mu’awiya defeats him
What happened in the Second Fitna (680 - 692)?
- Ali’s second son Husayn leads a challenge to Mu’awiya’s son Yazd, but he and his supporters are massacred at Karbala
- Other challengers to the Umayyads emerge, including Abu Bakr’s grandson, but they are defeated
Where was the Umayyad capital?
Damascus
What are the Sunni Islamic law schools, and their key characteristics?
- Hanafi: Emphasis on reasoning and analogy
- Maliki: Emphasis on practice of Medinan community, and community consensus
- Shafi’i: Emphasis on original texts (Qur’an and hadiths), with some role of reasoning
- Hanbali: Emphasis on formalist, literal interpretation of Qur’an and hadiths and minimal role for reasoning, analogy or discretion
For each Sunni Islamic law school, where is it most widely followed?
- Hanafi: Pakistan & India, Turkey, Central Asia, Syria
- Maliki: North and West Africa
- Shafi’i: East Africa, Indonesia, parts of Arabia, Lebanon and Palestine
- Hanbali: Saudi Arabia, Qatar
Who was Ibn Hanbal?
- He lived during the mihna (830s-850s)
- He resisted the idea that the Qur’an was created, not eternal
- He was tortured for this belief
- He became a symbol for resistance to state interference with reglious belief, and literal interpretation of the Qur’an and hadith
What was central to the debate between Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd (Averroes)?
They disagreed on the role of philosophy and reason
- Al-Ghazali wrote The Incoherence of the Philosophers, arguing philosophy couldn’t tell us much about things like God, the afterlife and creation
- But Averroes wrote The Incoherence of the Incoherence, disagreeing with this
What date did the Mongols sack Baghdad?
1258
Who was Ibn Tamiyyah?
He lived during the time of Mongol invasions of the Middle East (second half of 1200s)
His jurisprudence sought to rally the Muslims to fight them
He drew on the “Verse of the Sword”
In what year did Al-Banna found the Muslim Brotherhood?
1928
Which aspect of jihad did Sayyid Qutb’s Milestones seek to re-write the rules on?
Governmental control over jihad: Qutb turned it into a personal choice
What are the three types of penalty in Sharia law?
- Hudood (set out in Qur’an)
- Revenge or compensation
- Ta’zir (imposed by government)
What are the four crimes for which punishment is set out in the Qur’an (hudood)?
- Murder
- Adultery
- False accusations of adultery
- Theft
