Midterm Review Notes

Hist 55 Midterm Review Structure of Exam IDs (four or five with choice out of 8): emphasis on significance of event/person/institution 1 essay (choice out of 2) that will reflect on a key shift or transition and require you to bring in three sources to explore changes over time in the emergence of a Muslim communal identity. One primary source identification (out of 2): the significance of the source for broader themes explored in the class Review Terms 6th Century Regional Dynamics Imperial Rivalries between Byzantines and Sassanians Arab Christian Client States Sasanians – Lakhmids (southern Iraq, Hira as capital) Byzantines – Ghassanids (Syria-Palestine) Kingdom of Axum Kingdom of Himyar Palmyra Mazdak, Zoroastrianism Nestorian Christians Rise of the Quraysh and Mecca the Quraysh tribe: reorganized Meccan pilgrimage ca. 430 ka‘ba (black rock) grandsons of Qusayy-founded clans of Quraysh: Hashim, ‘Abd al-Shams, al-Mutallib, Nawfal pre-Islamic Arabia – jahiliyya – age of ignorance hanifs: Arabian monotheists who preached in the name of al-Rahman kahins: soothsayers hilm: strategy and diplomacy (qualities of leadership in the Peninsula) Prophet and Early Community first revelation, 610 public preaching, 613 first converts… wives of the Prophet (Khadijah, Sawdah, A’isha, Safiyya, Mariya—as key examples) The Hijra (622) feud of Aws and Khazraj tribes in town of Yathrib muhajirun: emigrants ansar: supporters of Muhammad umma: the Muslim community as it forms in Medina/umma document munafiqun: the waverers Jewish Tribes and the Constitution of Medina clients of the Aws and Khazraj 1. Banu Qaynuqa 2. Banu Nadir 3. Banu Qurayza Nakhlah Oasis Battle of Badr Battle of Uhud Battle of the Trench Treaty of Hudaybiya role of the Umayyad clan and Abu Sufyan Creation of the New Systems for Political Authority al-sahaba – companions of the prophet shura (consultation) – Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman, ‘Ali caliph = khalifat rasul Allah (successor to the messenger of God) Amir al-Mu’minin – Commander of the Faithful Amir al-Umera‘ ridda (apostasy) wars Who were the first Four Caliphs (historiographic issues of the Rashidun) Civil Wars/fitna (issues of succession, chronology and significance) assassination of ‘Uthman Battle of the Camel Battle of Sifin (657) arudh: arbitration Ritualization of Islam (the so-called Five Pillars) salat: prayer zakat: alms giving sawm Ramadan: fast haj: pilgrimage to Mecca shahada: bearing witness to the one God and to Muhammad as his prophet ‘Ummayad’s Creating an Empire from Damascus Mu’awiyya (661-680) ‘Abd al-Malik (685/nominally 692/materially – 705) diwan misr/amsar: garrison cities Basra (at the head of the Persian Gulf, 635) Kufa (near Hira on the Euphrates, 638) Fustat (just below the Nile Delta, 641) Merv (670) Wasit (692) Principles of divison between Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim diwan: roll call then central treasury jizya: poll tax on non-Muslims kharaj: tax on land use zakat: “alms” owed the central treasury by Muslims sadaqa: tax on nomadic populations dhimmi: system of administering “protected peoples” Umayyad Caliphs: 661-750 Reign of Mu’awiyya: 661-680 Second Civil War: 683-692 Reign of ‘Abd al-Malik: 685-705 al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf and the bombardment of Mecca in 692 under ‘Abd al-Malik Wasit: new garrison city between Kufa and Basra Reign of ‘Umar 11: 617-620 (why important?) Third Civil War: 744-750 (‘Abbasid takeover) jamā‘a: the Muslim collectivity mulk/muluk/malik: kingdom/s/king mahdi: messiah-like figure emanating from Shi’i hopes for political and religious power [Mukhtar’s mahdi revolt in Kufa, 684-687—we didn’t cover, but indicates significance of Kufa] ulema: emerging group of religious scholars and functionaries inserting themselves between the state and the community ‘Abbasid Social Revolution Ibrahim (Abu Hashim’s son): organizes the Kuffan-Merv connection Abu Muslim in Khurasan Abu Salamah in Kufa Battle of the Great Zab Abu al-‘Abbas ‘Abdullah al-Saffah (749-54) al-Saffah (the slaughterer) invites the remaining ‘Umayyads to a “last supper” executes Abu Salamah engineered with the help of Abu Muslim Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur (754-75) executes Abu Muslim dihqan malawi Imam vs. Khalifa ‘Abbasid Consolidation Medinat al-Salam (symbol and structure)—City of Baghdad al-Saffah al-Mansur Harun al-Rashid (786-809) Muhammad al-Amin (809-13), Baghdad ‘Abd Allah al-Ma’mun (813-33), Khurasan Abu Ishaq al-Mu‘tasim (833-42)—moves to Samarra to avoid Syrian divisions Bureaucracy diwan: now references distinct offices and administrative functions wazir/vizier: by the 9th century head official in the empire Bardak family: dynasty of wazirs, originally Buddhist barid: network of spies as attempt to maintain central control Mamluk: term for slaves, came to constitute a key strategy for military loyalty Sectarian Rivalries Kharijis Zanj (869-883): revolt of slaves who tilled the Sawad (Iraq) mobilized by Khariji egalitarianism and Shi’i revolutionary sentiments Ja’far al-Sadiq (d. 765) Divided upon his death by two sons (one who had died before him): Musa and the Twelvers/Imamis Isma’il and the Isma’ilis/Seveners Orthodoxies and Speculative Inquiry Schools of Law: Hanifi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali usul al-fiqh: sources for determining legal implementation of Qur’anic principles hadith ijma’: consensus of the community ijtihad: effort necessary to ensure correct/pure interpretive intervention qiyas: reasoning through analogy ‘ibadat: duties toward God mu‘amalat – laws of personal status mahr – bridal gift that becomes permanent property of the woman ‘iddah – 3 month waiting period after divorce kalam: dialectical theology Mu‘tazalite Doctrine mihna, ibn Hanbal faylasuf: al-Farabi, ibn Sina

Key Themes To Look Out For! 1. Social Norms Before and After Islam 2. Monotheistic Traditions/Inspirations 3. Emergence of Communal Boundaries 4. Shifts of Power: Byzantine/Sassanian – Muhammad – Succession Crises – Umayyads – Abbasids 5. Questions of Legitimate Leadership and Factionalism 6. Variant meanings of “Islam” 7. Evolving Social Hierarchy/Systems 8. Arab vs Non-Arab 9. Gender Equality 10. Significance of Architecture, Monument Building, Material Culture and General Questions of Sources (we didn’t discuss this in our review session, but should pay attention to this as well, the Ka’ba, Dome of the Rock, significance of coins, creation of Baghdad as a circular city, etc.) Review of points made in class: Two levels of meaning attached to terminology used for successors to the Prophet Muhammad, and thus a clarification of questions concerning succession, and the use of titles such as caliph, imam, Sunni, Shi’i. First level: diversity/plethora of terms a general indication of debate/factionalism concerning succession to the Prophet Muhammad so the terminology is one way of entering this issue (and an alternative to focusing on the civil war approach). Second level: khalifa/caliph simply means "successor" in Arabic. But by the 9th century the "Caliphate" had become a Sunni-inspired mechanism for interpreting succession AND legitimizing their own genealogy of leaders and authority figures. It thereby becomes an institution in and of itself, and the source of continuing debate up until the present--calls for the reassertion of a caliphate in the Middle East by some Islamist thinkers and by ISIS, for example. So, the terms are slippery but this is a generally agreed upon chronology. Abu Bakr and the other initial three caliphs including Ali (within Sunni doctrine) had several interchanging terms. Khalifa Rasul Allah (successor to the Prophet of Allah) is the primary one. But also Amir al-'Umera (commander in chief) as the military leadership of Abu Bakr and others was primary (shift away from emphasis on spirituality). The commander in chief model remains a significant title through the Umayyads, but the 'Abbasids also add Amir al-Muslimin to the repertory as a way 1) of highlighting their role as leaders of an expanding community of Muslims; and 2) retaining a certain ambivalence in their sense of authority/combining political and spiritual leadership for a time as a nod to originial Shi'i supporters). The Shi'i use "Imam" as the term for successor/leader and argue that "Caliph" has too much of the tainted history associated both with the usurpation of Ali's role in the early history and with Sassanian and Byzantine models of rule/kingship/monarchical power. Essentially, these terms indicate a history of how an Arabic word for succession (khalifa) becomes "overdetermined" and moves from describing a process (succession) to defining an institution (Sunni notions of power).