The Birth of Islam and the Unifying of Arabia Flashcards
1
Q
dates of Muhammad’s life
A
c.570-632
2
Q
what tribe was Muhammad a member of?
A
the Quraysh
3
Q
when did Muhammad’s moth Amina die?
A
when he was 6 years old
4
Q
where did Muhammad spend the first 4 years of his life?
A
living with a Bedouin community on the fringes of Mecca
5
Q
when did Muhammad’s father Abdullah die?
A
before Muhammad was born
6
Q
what was the name of Muhammad’s uncle who took him in?
A
Abu Talib
7
Q
what was Muhammad’s job?
A
merchant (traded luxuries in return for food stuffs and other necessities)
8
Q
what nickname was Muhammad given when he turned 21?
A
Al Amin (the honest)
9
Q
what was the significance of Muhammad’s job as a merchant?
A
brought him into contact with the Byzantine world, meaning he experienced monotheism from Christianity
10
Q
who was Muhammad’s first wife?
A
a wealthy and well respected widow fifteen years his senior names Khadija
11
Q
when did Muhammad receive the first revelation of the Qur’an?
A
610 (aged 40)
12
Q
what word did the Angel Gabriel repeat to Muhammad?
A
Iqra (read)
13
Q
why did the Quraysh view Muhammad as a threat to their livlihood?
A
their income depended on polytheism (offerings to the Ka’aba)
14
Q
what did the Quraysh do to persecute Muhammad and his followers whilst they lived in Mecca?
A
instituted a total boycott against them, refusing any social or economic dealings with them
15
Q
when was the Abyssinian Hijra?
A
615
16
Q
when was the Year of Sorrow?
A
619
17
Q
what happened in the Year of Sorrow?
A
death of both his wife, Khadija, and uncle, Abu Talib
18
Q
when was the Night Journey?
A
620/621
19
Q
what happened in the Night Journey?
A
1) Al Buraq (a winged horse) delivered Muhammad to the al-Aqsa (further place = Jerusalem)
2) ascended to heaven from the rock around which the Dome of the Rock is built
3) communed with all prophets that had ever been in heaven
20
Q
what is the importance of Jerusalem to Christians?
A
where central miracle occurred (Jesus died and came back to life)
21
Q
what is the importance of Jerusalem to Jews?
A
where the matter of human kind is thinnest so closest to God (Wailing Wall = remains of temple)
22
Q
what is Islam in terms of other faiths?
A
the most perfect fulfilment of what’s been going on for thousands of years (rooted in Abrahamic faiths so not entirely novel)
23
Q
when was the Hijra?
A
622
24
Q
what happened in the Hijra?
A
Muhammad and his followers fled from Mecca to Yathrib after Muhammad was invited there to act as a mediator between the different groups
25
what was Medina called before the Prophet arrived?
Yathrib
26
what did Yathrib come to be called when Muhammad presided there?
Medinat al-Nabi (town of the prophet)
27
when is the start of the Muslim calendar?
622 (when Hijra happened)
28
what is the significance of the Muslim calendar starting in 622?
Establishment of Islamic community as opposed to revelation of the word of God taken to be start
29
what were the Muslims of Yathrib known as?
the ansar (helpers)
30
what were the Muslims who fled from Mecca known as?
the muhajirun (emigrants)
31
what was the joining of the ansar and the muhajirun called?
the sataba
32
when was the constitution of Medina made?
622
33
what did the constitution of Medina do?
prescribed relations between the Yathrib, the muhajirun, the ansar and a number of kinship groups
34
what was the Islamic community known as?
the Umma
35
what did the constitution of Medina do that was unusual?
Replaced model of tribal allegiance with group connected through ideology (Umma = community of the faithful)
36
what was the earliest known model of government in the Islamic world?
the Constitution of Medina
37
what was unusual about the writing down of the Constitution of Medina?
marked a departure from the Arabic oral tradition (gave official status?)
38
what were the recurring themes of the Constitution of Medina?
1) inter-religious coexistence and cooperation as opposed to force conversion
2) entanglement of religious belief and political loyalty (‘whatever you differ about should be brought before God and Muhammad)
39
how did the Prophet carry out his role as mediator?
tribes judged by Prophet but according to their own laws
40
what was the Battle of Badr?
624
41
what happened in the Battle of Badr?
Muhammad took the fight to the Meccans, targeting trade caravans in Badr and secured victory (vindication of faith)
42
why did Muhammad target Mecca?
not because it was his home but rather as it was the epicentre of Arabian polytheism
43
what was the name given to holy war?
jihad
44
how many Meccans did Ali kill at the Battle of Badr?
22
45
what happened in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Badr?
the direction of prayer is switched from Jerusalem to Mecca (Mecca became target)
46
what was the Battle of Uhud?
525
47
what happened in the Battle of Uhud?
Meccan force of 3,000 horsemen killed 70 muslims
48
when was the Battle of the Trench?
627
49
what happened in the Battle of the Trench?
Meccans seiged Medina for 2 months but Medina did not fall
50
why is the Battle of the Trench named so?
the Medinans dug a trench around Medina in defence
51
which Jewish tribe betrayed Muhammad during the Battle of the Trench and how did Muhammad respond?
Banu Quraiza - Muhammad responded by killing all of them
52
when was the truce of Hudaibiya?
628
53
what did the truce of Hudaibiya agree?
truce between Mecca and Medina for 10 years and allowed right to pilgrimage to Mecca
54
when was the first pilgrimage from Mecca to Medina held?
629
55
what happened when a Meccan ally broke the truce of Hudaibiya in 630?
Muhammad advanced on Mecca but the Meccan leaders surrendered and accepted Islam in a bloodless capitulation
56
what had Muhammad achieved by the time of his death in 632?
the whole Arabian peninsula had accepted Islam and all the tribes were united in one state under one statehead
57
what does 'Qur'an' mean?
that which is recited (intended to be heard as opposed to read)
58
what are verses in the Qur'an called?
suras
59
what is the difference between the 'Meccan' and 'Medinan' suras?
Meccan = about nature of God (ideological) and Medinan = more practical
60
what was the Byzantine-Sassanian war just before the Islamic invasions?
602-628
61
how did the Byzantine-Sassanian War of 602-628 weaken both empires?
1) One third of both empire’s incomes was diverted to it
| 2) 624-628 no harvest for either state
62
why was the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula ignored by both the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires?
1) Next to the border between Byzantium and Persia (if either empire was to divert troops to combat Islam they would make themselves vulnerable to the existential threat of the other)
2) cult of prophets was not unprecedented
3) used to ignoring inter-tribal fighting
63
why was Byzantium weak when Islam invaded?
1) Justinian's restoration of the old empire had come at a huge cost, bankrupting the treasury
2) the province of Syria was only brought back under control in the 620s, which sis not leave enough time to reimpose centralised control and reorganise defences before invasion
64
why was the Sassanian Empire weak when Islam invaded?
1) overextended itself by expanding into all of West Asia (unable to control its own empire, which had outgrown its administration)
2) tensions between the centralised gov. and people of Iraq
3) Political instability as after the execution of Khosrow II in 628 by his son Kavad, 10 claimants tried to seize the imperial throne between 628 and 632
4) Abolition of the Lakhmid Arab principality in Iraq left the ill-equipped Sassanians to take over the defence of the desert frontier themselves
65
why were there tensions between the Sassanian gov. and people of Iraq?
1) Zoroastrianism not popular and Judaism and Christianity favoured by local pop.
2) Iraqis mainly spoke Aramaic whereas the ruling classes spoke Arabic
66
what did Hillenbrand say the people of Iraw were?
'estranged religiously and ethnically from their Sasanian masters and they would not be highly motivated towards defending the ancient regime'
67
what was the first Sassanian province to be subjected to the Arab military onslaught?
Iraq
68
what is the time before Islam called?
Jahiliyya (age of ignorance)
69
what structure did Jahili society operate on?
tribal structure (tribe served as the most important unit with Arab society)
70
what did 'tribe' mean to the Arabs before Islam?
not just family but a broader network of all those on whom your life depended
71
how did the justice system operate in pre-Islamic Arabia?
no administration so instead operated on a 'shame culture' in which trust and honour were the fundamental basis as opposed to evidence
72
what was the notion of tribe antithetical to?
the central concept of Islam (tawhud = oneness) as by nature isolationist and did not mix
73
what did Max Gluckman say about feuds?
'the peace in the feud'
74
what did Max Gluckman mean when he talked of the 'peace in the feud'?
state of feud keeps lid on wider war, acting as a pressure valve
75
example of how feud reduced scale of conflict
in 615 feud between the Kind and Sulayh expressed through battle between 5 men from each tribe
76
what did Maxime Rodinson say about feuds in pre-Islamic Arabia?
'Blood for blood and a life for a life. The vendetta, tha’r in Arabic, is one of the pillars of Bedouin society’
77
what was Mecca a centre of in pre-Islamic Arabia?
trade, peace and worship
78
what did Kennedy say trade was for Mecca?
'no luxury'
79
what did R. Bodley was of the participation in trade in Mecca?
'Almost everyone in Mecca had some kind of investment in the fortunes of the thousands of camels, the hundreds of men…’
80
how many idols were there in the Ka'aba?
160
81
who owned the Ka'aba?
the Quraysh
82
why did tribes come to Mecca to settle disputes?
it was a place where tribal laws no longer worked (e.g. weapons must be left outside)
83
what was Mecca a byword for in pre-Islamic Arabia?
peace
84
what was the nature of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia?
polytheistic (Varied and animistic - worshipped stones, trees, and idols)
85
who built the Ka'aba and when?
Abraham in c.1800 BC
86
what experience did pre-Islamic Arabia have with monotheism?
1) Abraham had introduced it to them in c.1800 BC
| 2) trade routes meant came into contact with Christianity in Byzantium
87
what gods did Arabs in jahili society worship?
1) accepted the ultimate authority of Allah
| 2) but elevated three goddesses to the title of 'daughters of Allah' (Allat, al-'Uzza and Manat)
88
what were the names of 'the daughters of Allah' in pre-Islamic Arabia?
1) Allat
2) al-'Uzza
3) Manat
89
what was the message of Islam?
'there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messanger'
90
what did the simplistic message of Islam so in pre-Islamic Arabia?
instilled a sense of original purity of faith that had been lost over the centuries
91
what was the Arabian Peninsula known as to the Arabs?
Jazirat al-Arab (the Island of the Arabs)
92
what was the greek name for the Arabian Peninsula?
Agnosioun (that which needs not be known)
93
what did Arabian isolation and the decentralised nature of Arab politics allow?
allowed the Prophet to preach without having to deal with strong political authority or repression from the empires
94
what did Herbert Muller say of the nature of settlement in pre-Islamic Arabia?
'In Muhammad’s Arabia there was no state – there were only scattered independent tribes and towns’
95
what does Franceso Gabrieli say to support the idea that there was a yearning for centralised rule in Arabia?
'looking at Byzantium, at Ctesiphon and even at Axum as distant beacons of civilisation completely out of their reach’
96
what was the highest form of artistic expression in jahili society?
poetry
97
what language was used in jahili poetry?
a high form of Arabic, which served as a lingua franca
98
what does Carole Hillenbrand say the high form of Arabic used in jahili poetry did?
'gave them a sense of shared identity and common heritage’
99
what does Carole Hillenbrand say was present in pre-Islamic Arabia which facilitated the spread of Islam?
'if only in embryonic form, the Arabs possessed the linguistic and ethnic foundations on which Muhammad would be able to build his supra-tribal community’
100
what would happen to the most highly regarded poetry in jahili society?
written onto bits of cloth and hung on the Ka'aba (divine affiliation of poetry)
101
who wrote the Mu'allaqat?
Imra' al-Qays
102
what work of poetry did Imra al-Qays write?
the Mu'allaqat (that which hangs)
103
what form of poetry was the Mu'allaqat written in?
Qasida (starts with lost love)
104
what does sura 26 say?
warns against listening to poets ('you could bring warning in a clear Arabic tongue')
105
what deficiency does the Mu'allaqat provide an insight into?
the moral deficiency of pre-Islamic Arabia as revealed what was idealised by the mainstream view (hung on Ka'aba)
106
when did Imra' al-Qays die?
544 AD
107
what tension in jahili society did the Mu'allaqat expose?
tension between acceptable behaviour in rural and urban society
108
what was the name of the protagonist in the Mu'allaqat?
Imru'
109
what was the name of one of the unaccompanied wives on trade caravans that Imru' took advantage of?
Umm al-Rabat
110
with which names does Imru' refer to his sexual conquests and what does this imply?
uses their kinya names, the impersonality of which suggests he had a multitude of lovers
111
how did the Mu'allaqat serve as a convenient tool for Arab leaders to promote mercantile prosperity?
implicitly urged men to join their wives on trade caravans to prevent men such as ‘Imru from taking advantage of them
112
how does the Mu'allaqat reveal the fragility of diplomacy in pre-Islamic Arabia?
‘Imru ‘slipping past the watchmen to reach her, with a whole tribe hammering after my blood’ (pretext for blood feud as blood lines considered to be of the highest importance)
113
why was the mid-set of pre-Islamic Arabia (obsessed with the beauty of poetry) so receptive to Islam?
For the Arabs there was no doubting the divine nature of the holy book as Qur’an far superior to any poetic ability of any human
114
how did Muhammad deliver the message in a politically astute way?
presented himself as the object rather than subject of the message he preached (reluctant messenger)
115
what were the 5 pillars of Islam?
1) the unity of God
2) the duty of prayer
3) fasting during the month of Ramadan
4) paying a zakat tax to support the needy
5) making the Hajj or pilgrimage to the Ka’aba in Mecca
116
how many prayers per day do Muslims have to do?
5
117
what was the Arabic name for the people of the book (Abrahamic faiths)?
Ahl al-Kitab
118
how were the people of the book treated?
Granted protection of the Islamic state, as well as freedom of worship, in return for payment of the poll tax (jizya)
119
what was the model for the treatment of conquered people?
Jewish oasis of Khaybar
120
who was the first muezzin (person who gives the call to prayers)
a black African slave named Bilal
121
why was Islam more accessible than other monotheistic religions?
Absence of priesthood meant didn’t require the baggage of an established church allowing it to be a community based faith
122
what is the meaning of 'Rashidun Caliph'?
1) 'Rashidun' meant 'rightly guided'
| 2) 'Caliph' meant 'deputy of God on his earth' or 'successor of the Messanger of God'
123
reasons for the lack of clarity in terms of Muhammad's successors?
1) If Muhammad was to intervene in the secular world he would be acting independently as opposed to through God
2) Inadequacy of his male heirs (cousin and son in law ‘Ali and his uncle ‘Abbas)
3) Leadership marked a potential line of fragmentation
4) Muhammad’s impending sense of the end (completed his prophetic task and put in place a mortal order that would hold until the soon-to-come Day of Judgement)
124
what is the inscription on Muhammad's tomb?
‘seek nothing here because this is just a man’
125
how many of the 4 Rashidun Caliphs were assassinated?
3 (only Abu Bakr not assassinated)
126
what problems did the Rashidun Caliphs face?
1) Changes in circumstances necessitated that the Caliphs did very different things to Muhammad during their rule but still claimed to be his successor
2) can't claim divine authority to their rule
3) empires posed danger
4) needed to establish the internal structures needed to control their territories (needed to impose social rules that went beyond what the Qur'an said)
127
when was Abu Bakr Caliph for?
632-634
128
why is the appointment of Abu Bakr viewed as a coup d'etat by some?
at the time when everyone swore allegiance to Abu Bakr, the immediate family of Muhammad was busy as custom demanded, in washing the body prior to burial and hence 'Ali was excluded from the agreement
129
what were the dates of the Ridda Wars?
623-33
130
why did the Ridda Wars occur?
Tribes rejected the agreements they had made with Muhammad arguing that they had pledged allegiance to Muhammad in person, not his successors so Abu Bakr needed to bring them back under control
131
what informal title did Abu Bakr acquire among writers and poets of the Umayyad?
Siddiq (the Truthful or the Trustworthy)
132
when was 'Umar caliph for?
634-644
133
why is 'Umar portrayed as having been do humble and pious?
1) much about his reign that was morally questionable as it was so bloody so needed to justify this
2) preserved as paradigm of Islamic monarchy in a clear rebuke to the extravagance of later rulers
134
what did Edward Gibbon say 'Umar was like?
1) ‘his food consisted of barley bread or dates; his drink was water; he preached in a gown that was so torn or tattered in twelve places’
2) ‘a Persian satrap…found him asleep among beggars on the steps of the mosque of Medina’
135
within 1 year of 'Umar's rule how much had Islamic territory increased by?
tripled
136
what was the diwan implemented by 'Umar?
financial system which pays military stipends
137
when was the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem?
638 (peaceful surrender)
138
what was the only campaign that 'Umar left Medina for?
Jerusalem
139
why did 'Umar refuse to pray in the Holy Sepulchre?
cause if he did so Muslims would claim it for their own (showed that he respected the Christian faith)
140
when was the pact of 'Umar?
638
141
what did the pact of 'Umar say which showed the religious tolerance of Islam?
1) ‘No constraint can be exercised against them in religion’
2) ‘safe conduct for their persons, their property, their churches, their crosses, their sound and their sick, and the rest of their worship'
142
give examples of the restrictions placed on non-muslims by the pact of 'Umar
prohibition of...
1) the building of new churches
2) public religious processions
3) expressing criticism of Islam
4) bearing weapons
143
when was the Islamic conquest of Egypt?
639-641
144
why was Egypt's military strength relatively weak?
expected to face only minor military threats so defence mainly from a locally recruited Coptic force
145
why was the aquisition of Egypt crucial for ensuring the prosperity of Islam?
1) The Hijaz region (political and cultural heartland of the Islamic empire) was prone to droughts (e.g. 639)
2) Egypt was the granary of the Byzantine Empire so guaranteed a food supply to Islamic territories in times of drought, when famines were possible
146
when was the last great Sassanian army defeated by Islamic forces?
in 642 at the battle of Nihawand
147
what did Islamic victory against the Persians in the battle of Nihawand in 642 become known as?
'The Victory of Victories'
148
after Islamic victory in the battle of Nihawand in 642 what happened?
1) Sassanian armies adopted a defensive start and ultimate subjugation became inevitable/imminent
2) ‘Umar lifted his ban on further eastern conquests as crumbling Sassanian authority became clear
149
how did Umar die?
killed by a persian slave
150
what did the Uthmanic codex do?
compiled fragments of the Qur'an into a book
151
how did Uthman prevent the codification of the scriptures reducing the authority of the caliphs?
distribution of the text was controlled by Uthman
152
when did Islamic military expansion come to a halt under Uthman?
651
153
what did discontent against Uthamn culminate in?
revolts in both Iraq and Egypt in 656
154
how did the revolts in Iraq and Egypt lead to Uthman's death in 656?
1) Armed groups travelled to Medina to make their demand forcefully
2) Murdered Uthman as he sat alone in his house reading the Qur’an
155
what are the conflicting views on the murder of 'Uthman?
1) Crime against God and man alike as caliph of God (Sunni)
2) Uthman was unfit to rule he community and as such it was the duty of pious men to remove and punish him and replace him with someone who could lead the community correctly (Shia)
156
what does fitna mean?
chaos and disaster (in Islamic sense religious dislocation leading to political collapse)
157
what was Ali's connectioin to Muhammad?
1) son of Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib
| 2) married to Muhammad's daughter, Fatima
158
what did Muhammad say in his 632 farewell pilgrimage?
‘of whom I am master, ‘Ali is master’
159
who was Ali murdered by and when?
a former supporter in 661
160
what is at the heart of the Sunni Shia split?
the fact that it is impossible to reconcile the idea that the Prophet was just a man and yet he from all the people on earth was chosen by God to deliver the message
