The decomposition of the primitive communal system of the Arabs in the VI-VII centuries.
Since ancient times, Arab tribes have inhabited the Arabian Peninsula, whose area is equal to the surface of Europe. The nature of Arabia is not very welcoming. Only in the southwest of the peninsula in the 6th-7th centuries was there a “happy country” (as the Arabs call it) with excellent soils and rich vegetation. Here, already in ancient times, highly cultured slave states existed.
The central part of the peninsula is occupied by arid steppes and deserts. Only here and there are oases with groves of date palms. A settled population lived near the oases. Most of the country was inhabited by nomadic Arabs - Bedouins. They were engaged in breeding sheep and especially camels. For a Bedouin, a camel is a source of life. A Bedouin quenches his thirst with camel milk and his hunger with camel meat. The Bedouin makes clothes from camel wool, shoes from leather, and the walls of a tent from skins. And even camel dung is used as fuel.
The nomadic population of Central Arabia at that time lived in a primitive communal system. The clans were united into tribes, and the clans and tribes were headed by elders - sheikhs. Separate clans were terribly at enmity with each other. Due to the custom of blood feud, entire tribes perished during incessant civil strife.
In the VI-VII centuries, the primitive communal system of the Bedouins began to disintegrate. The nobility, who owned huge herds of camels, captured the best pastures, watering places, and the most fertile lands near the oases. On these lands she started herds of horses - the famous Arabian horses. The bulk of the Bedouins and settled farmers eked out a half-starved existence. Many Bedouins did not have camels at all and, if they could not find work with nobles, they ate randomly killed wild animals, as well as lizards, locusts and wild dates.
History of the development of Islam after the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: The Righteous Caliphate
The emergence of Islam radically changed the entire political, social, economic, and everyday life of many peoples from Spain to the shores of Indonesia.
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the first Muslim state of the Caliphate was formed, in which power, both secular and spiritual, was concentrated in the hands of the caliph. The first caliphs of the state were Abu Bakr, and then Umar, Usman, Ali, after them the Umayyad dynasty came to power, and then they were replaced by the Abbasid dynasty. As a result of the Caliphate's wars of conquest during the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam spread to Central and Western Asia, as well as North Africa, Transcaucasia, India, and then to the Balkan Peninsula through Turkey.
Reign of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, when the question arose that a caliph, that is, his “deputy,” should be elected, Abu Bakr was elected to this position. He managed to remain in power for only two years, after which he died, but even during these two years he managed to convince the tribes that had turned away from Islam to return to the religion.
The history of Islam says that Abu Bakr did a lot to spread Islam: he managed to begin military operations against Persia and Byzantium, which were the most powerful empires at that time. On the eve of his death, Abu Bakr appointed Umar (Omar) as his successor.
Reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Omar (Umar) became the second caliph of the Islamic state, and he continued military campaigns against Byzantium, recaptured Syria, and also captured Egypt, Palestine, and part of the Maghreb, which was located in North Africa.
Under Caliph Umar, Muslims also carried out military operations against the Sisanid dynasty, which ruled the Persian Empire: in the battle of Qadisiya and Nihavend, they inflicted heavy defeats on the Iranian army, and soon occupied the capital of the Sisanid state, Ctesiphon, which was located near Baghdad. The Muslims also occupied Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Mazandaran, Khuzestan and part of Fars, which constituted the main territories of Iran.
During the reign of Omar, reforms were carried out that laid the foundations of Muslim statehood: the taxation procedure was determined and laws were established. In the conquered territories, Caliph Omar adhered to a policy of religious tolerance; Christians and Jews were given protection and free practice of their religion.
Expansion of the Caliphate during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs
Reign of Uthman ibn Afwan
Osman (Uthman) was elected the next caliph; at that time, Usman was the most worthy person for the title of caliph, and the choice of council members was correct and fair.
Under him, all the key positions in the state were occupied by his relatives, the Umayyads, for this reason a lot of criticism came towards Uthman (Othman), as a result of which a riot arose, during which the rebels killed the caliph. Osman took an important step in the further development of Islam and the creation of the foundations of the religion - during his reign the complete canonical text of the Holy Book of the Koran was compiled. Until this moment, the text of the Koran existed only in the memory of the hafiz - people who memorized the text of the Holy Book of the Koran at the moment when each verse appeared, having been revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Osman gave the order to collect the entire Koran and write it down when seventy hafiz died in one of the military battles.
Reign of Ali ibn Abu Talib
The next caliph was Ali ibn Abu Talib, who became famous as a courageous, fair caliph who made a huge contribution to the development of Islam and whose services to Islam are enormous. During the reign of Caliph Ali, the fight against corruption was launched; the Caliph sought to distribute government revenues so that the gap between rich and poor citizens of the state was reduced as much as possible.
The first four caliphs entered the history of Islam as the Righteous Caliphs, and the state they headed was called the Righteous Caliphate.
Development of the Caliphate
The first three centuries of the existence of Islam, when it arose and spread, went down in history as the golden period of Arab culture - the first Muslim religious schools were formed, ethical, philosophical and legal provisions were formulated, as well as the rules of the Arabic language were formed, the foundation was laid for such sciences as literature, chemistry, geography and medicine.
The history of Islam continued in the feudal state that became the successor to the Righteous Caliphate - the Umayyad Caliphate or Damascus Caliphate, headed by the Umayyad dynasty. During the existence of this state, the Islamic world spread to North Africa, partly the Iberian Peninsula - Andalusia, as well as Tabaristan, Sindh, Jurjan, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia.
Islam in the modern world plays a large and important role in the lives of believers: it is not only a religious ideology that has come down from the time of the emergence of Islam to the present day, but also an ideology that determines the secular life of Muslims, a measure of their civil behavior and value system. The Islamic religion, Islam, has a great influence on all spheres of life of Muslims.
The history of the Islamic world is a separate area for many historians and researchers, covering more than 14 centuries of human life. It is thanks to Muslim scientists that it was possible to preserve the scientific heritage of previous civilizations and develop new directions in science, culture and art.
Mecca.
The western coast of Arabia is a mountainous country rich in minerals. There were mines here, crafts developed, and cities grew. The main trading center of Arabia, the city of Mecca, was also located here. Every spring, the Bedouins gathered in Mecca for a fair. They sold livestock, leather, wool and bought barley bread and local handicrafts. During the spring fairs, hostility subsided, inter-tribal massacres stopped, and it was possible to travel freely on all roads.
Business in Mecca was run by nobles, priests, merchants and moneylenders. Many Bedouin tribes and Meccan poor were in debt bondage to these rich men.
In Mecca there was the main Arab temple, the Kaaba - a stone building in the shape of a cube (the word “cube” itself comes from the word “Kaaba”). A black stone was embedded in its wall - a meteorite that fell from the sky in time immemorial. This stone is the most sacred object for the Arabs . Every Arab considers it his duty to visit Mecca at least once in his life, drink “holy water” from a spring near the Kaaba and kiss the black stone seven times. For this he hoped to go to heaven. Meccan priests received large incomes from pilgrims who came to worship the Kaaba. But, besides the Kaaba, each tribe also had its own special deity.
Slaves, poor urban people, and surrounding Bedouin tribes hated the greedy Meccan merchants and moneylenders, and the greedy sheikhs. The poor rebelled against the nobility.
To make it easier to keep the common people in obedience, the nobility sought to unite the Arabs and direct them to conquer neighboring countries.
Opposition to the spread of Islam
But the Meccan nobility did not support the ideas of Mohammed ﷺ and met his prophetic preaching activities with hostility. The history of the emergence of Islam tells about the difficult trials that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ experienced at first, because very few people accepted the new faith from the very beginning: only the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ himself and his wife Khadija accepted Islam, as well as his cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib , whom he adopted at the age of 9 years. Also among the first Muslims joined Abu Bakr, who was a rich merchant, as well as forty more people, among whom were rich and poor people, mainly at a young age, who later became the first companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
From the persecution of his compatriots, the polytheists, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was forced to flee, accompanied by his followers.
The emergence of Islam.
But how to unite the Bedouin tribes, separated by blood feuds? The means to unite the Arabs was a new religion - Islam. In Arabic, this word means “submission,” and those who profess Islam are called Muslims, that is, “submissive to God.” Around 610, the Meccan merchant Muhammad, or otherwise Mohammed, began to preach Islam (this is why Muslims are also called Mohammedans). Muhammad's sermons after his death were recorded in a book called the Qur'an (meaning "reading"). This book is considered sacred by Muslims.
Muhammad said that all slaves have one god - Allah, and he, Muhammad, prophesies and teaches people in the name of Allah. Like the Christian priests, Muhammad taught that Muslims should be submissive and patient. For this, eternal bliss in paradise awaits them. To win over the poor, Muhammad condemned moneylenders.
Muhammad called on the Arabs to stop civil strife and turn their weapons against those who do not believe in Allah.
The nobles and priests of Mecca were initially hostile to Muhammad and his teachings. They were afraid that with the adoption of a new religion the role of the Kaaba would fall. But soon the Meccan nobility realized that Muhammad was not her enemy, but her protector. Noble Meccans began to convert to Islam, and the black stone in the Kaaba temple was declared the main Muslim shrine.
With the adoption of a common religion, the Arabs began to quickly unite.
Summary of a history lesson on the topic “The Emergence of Islam. Arab conquests"
Topic 4.2. The emergence of Islam. Arab conquests
Goals:
- Consider the features of the life of Arab tribes and trace the path to the emergence of the state among the Arabs.
- To form in students an idea of the new world religion that arose in the 7th century - Islam, to consider Islam as one of the world religions.
- To introduce students to a wide range of “Islamic terminology”, which is actively used in the modern lexicon and classical literature.
- To promote the development of chronological and cartographic skills of students.
1.History of the emergence of the Arab state
The Arabs, as a group of tribes, appeared long before the beginning of the Middle Ages. Back in the 1st millennium BC. The first states emerge on the territory of the modern Arabian Peninsula. But tribal associations existed here before.
The main activity for the Arab tribes of this era was intermediary trade
.
It was this factor that predetermined the rise of the states located on the territory of modern Yemen. For example, the Himyarite kingdom .
The Arabs at this time were engaged in trade between Ethiopia, India and the territories of the Middle East.
This allowed for the accumulation of significant wealth, but at the same time led to the fact that three very developed regions of the Ancient East exerted their influence on the emerging Arab world. For example, at the beginning of the 1st century AD. Christianity appears on the territory of Ethiopia. The Middle East influenced the Arab world through the significant movement of Judaism
.
As for Indian influence, it came from science and philosophy. This is what has led to the fact that in the Arab region various religious teachings come into contact and collide with each other. All this was complemented by the religious teachings of the Arabs themselves, which also played a significant role.
A single state that would cover the entire Arabian Peninsula did not emerge at that time. The states were not very numerous, and they had no reason to unite. On the contrary, they competed with each other for trade routes. At the turn of the era, many of these states were experiencing a period of decline associated with climate change.
In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. of Hejaz rises
- an area in the west of the Arabian Peninsula adjacent to the Red Sea.
Cities in this region also engaged in intermediary trade. Such sectors of the economy as cattle breeding and crafts also played a major role there .
Agriculture in the Hijaz was not always possible. In the area of the city of Mecca there was no agriculture at all. There was simply no fertile land there; the land was unsuitable for growing any cereals. However, this particular region played a huge role both in the history of the Arab world and in the history of mankind.
Islam as a factor that united the Arabs
The fragmentation and separation of all territories, constant conflicts with each other led to the fact that many people in Arabia at that time realized the need for unification. Such a union was possible on religious grounds
.
From 570 to 632, a man lived in the city of Mecca who received the name Muhammad ( Fig
It is he who is called the founder of not only the Arab religion, but also the Arab civilization.
Thus, Muhammad became the founder of a new religion - Islam .
It was Islam that at the beginning of the 7th century developed a new religious and philosophical doctrine, based both on pre-Islamic teachings and traditions of Arab tribes, and on Christian and Jewish traditions. One can trace the relationship between Islam and Christianity: for example, Islamic texts mention biblical prophets under Arabized names, considering them the predecessors of Islam.
It was this syncretic understanding of religion that became the key to the success of Islam in western Arabia, and then the entire future of the Arab world. However, the struggle between Muhammad and his vision of religion and those people who inhabited Arabia at this time could not take place peacefully. Muhammad even had to flee his hometown of Mecca in 622. This exact date is 622
- is the moment from which the history of Islamic civilization and Islamic culture begins. This year is also called “Hijra”, that is, “flight”, it became the starting point in the Islamic calendar. Events in the Islamic world to this day are dated not by the years after the birth of Christ, but by the years of the Hijra.
From Mecca, Muhammad and his supporters moved to the city of Yathrib
.
This city became known as Medina
city of the prophet”).
The Meccans realized that the supporters of Muhammad who flocked to Medina might as well flock to Mecca. In 630, Muhammad was invited back. He returned to his hometown, but insisted that Islam be recognized as the official religion not only in Mecca, but also in those territories over which this city extended its influence .
It is in 630, when Muhammad returns to Mecca, that the countdown begins for the existence of a common Arab state.
This state had the form of an imamate (
secular and religious power were combined in the same hands).
The Imamate is a form of Islamic theocracy. After the death of Muhammad in 632, his heirs or deputies, the caliphs, came to power .
The first four caliphs, the so-called Rightly Guided Caliphs, ruled at a time when the Arab world was rapidly expanding its borders. The caliphs Abu Bakr, Oman Osman and Ali, who ruled until 661, made a huge contribution to the spread of the religion of Islam not only in Asia and North Africa, but also in the adjacent territories of Europe. Islam turned out to be a very popular religion due to the fact that the Islamic state was gaining strength very quickly (Fig. 2).
Even the civil war
, which began in the caliphate in the 650s. The last two rightly guided caliphs (Othman and Ali) were killed during civil strife in 656 and 661. All this did not prevent the expansion of the territory of the Arab state. The entire territory of Arabia came under the leadership of Mecca and the caliphs, and then new lands were conquered.
Conquests of the Arabs in the 7th century:
v 640 - conquest of Palestine and Syria,
v 642 - completion of the conquest of Egypt,
v 649 - conquest of Carthage,
v 651 – expansion of power in the territory of modern Iran
The state system of the Arab Caliphate under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties
Conquests continued under the new Umayyad dynasty.
, who began to rule in 661.
During their time in power until 750, the Arabs spread their influence over vast territories, including even the territory of modern Spain. This is how the Arab
. Officially, it existed until 1258, and the era of the Umayyad dynasty is considered to be the time of its maximum prosperity: 661–750. In 750, the Arab conquests were stopped. After this, changes in borders did not occur in favor of Arab civilization.
New Abbasid
(750–1258) also left its mark on the history of the Arab world.
Their tasks no longer included conquest. The activities of the Abbasids were aimed at preserving the unity of the lands under their subordination. It was at this time that the united Arab state gradually began to disintegrate. The territories subjugated by the Arabs in Spain, and then the states formed in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) gained independence. The Abbasids continued to retain the title of caliph. They combined secular and spiritual power in their hands. Over time, they gradually lose secular power. It is concentrated in the hands of their deputies - viziers .
A special judicial apparatus also appeared, which exerted its influence on the internal politics of the state.
In addition, the institution
emirs) appears .
In 762, the Abbasids moved the capital to Baghdad, since it was more convenient to govern such a large state from there. As a result, the emirs received local power, and gradually this power became hereditary. The governors of the Arab Caliphate begin to gradually form their own dynasties and transfer power to their sons and grandchildren, without even asking for formal consent from Baghdad. Thus, dynasties transform their territories into separate states. As a result, by the 13th century, the Abbasids almost completely lost control of the country. This predetermined the collapse of the Arab state.
Features of the foreign policy of the Arab Caliphate
Regarding foreign policy
, then the decisive role was played by the leaders of the mercenary army, which consisted of
ghulams -
recent slaves who went to serve in the Arab Caliphate and converted to Islam. Ghulams, despite their low official status, sometimes even dictated to the caliphs the conditions under which they agreed to take part in certain political affairs. The use of such recent slaves as mercenaries was a feature not only of the Arab world, but also subsequently of the Ottoman Empire.
Reasons for the spread of Islam
What caused such a rapid spread of Arab culture to other territories? Islam in the initial stages of its existence was not a compulsory religion. In the first centuries of the Arab Caliphate, a policy of religious tolerance
. The Arabs, coming to new territories, did not change the previously existing orders there. They encouraged all religions, not just Islam.
But in the VIII–IX centuries. this policy is gradually beginning to change. Unfavorable conditions began to be created for non-Muslims. For example, they had to pay the Kharaj
, the size of which was constantly increasing.
If a person converted to Islam, then he still continued to pay kharaj. Also in the Arab Caliphate there was a jizya
a poll tax from non-believers in Muslim states. Women, old people, disabled people, beggars, slaves, monks (until the beginning of the 8th century) and Christians who fought in the Muslim army were exempt from paying taxes.
Thus, the conversion of people to Islam was associated not only with the ideological processing of consciousness, but also with the fact that there were quite obvious economic levers.
Achievements of Arab science and culture
On the other hand, the early Arab world was tolerant and tolerant. The contribution of Arab culture was that it preserved the ancient heritage for us. The works of some ancient authors have come down to us not in the original, but in their Arabic translations. The Arabs of the early Middle Ages treated the ancient heritage with care.
The spread of Arabic education and Arabic science meant more than just the study of the Koran. In most large cities, not only schools, but also madrassas
- unique universities that arose long before the emergence of the most famous European universities: Bologna, Oxford or Cambridge.
The Arabs made enormous contributions to the development of sciences such as mathematics, physics, astronomy and history. The Arabs relied not only on the ancient heritage, but also created their own system of knowledge. For example, the House of Wisdom was created in Baghdad ( Fig
In the city of Basra there was a special religious and philosophical circle, the “Pure Brothers,” which disseminated ideas that echoed the ideas expressed by Plato and Aristotle.
If we talk about Arab mathematicians
, then the scientist Al
5).
He was the founder of algebra. It was he who proposed the term “algebra” itself, which is translated from Arabic as “replenishment”. Al-Khwarizmi also wrote a book on Indian counting. This treatise is considered the first document from which modern Arabic
6).
If we talk about astronomy
, then we can recall modern star charts. Many stars still have Arabic names to this day. Astronomy was important to the Arabs for the numerous voyages that the Arabs made across all the waters available to them. The Arabs were famous travelers of the Middle Ages. It is to them that great credit belongs to the development of new territories on the globe by mankind.
If we talk about Arabic medicine
, then you need to remember the name Abu Ali ibn Sina (
Avicenna) (
Fig. 7).
His treatises contain descriptions, characteristics and classifications of a huge number of diseases. His most famous work is “The Canon of Medical Science”
(Fig.
contains descriptions of 2600 medicines.
If we talk about the humanities
, then the Arabs made their contribution here too.
General
.
The descriptions of Arab historians contain a huge amount of information that has not been mastered by European scientists until today. Famous Arab historians were At-Tabari ( Fig
Al-Masudi The Arab
It was thanks to the actions of the Arabs that medieval Europe received such inventions by Chinese scientists as paper, compass and gunpowder. Thus, the influence of the Arab world on world scientific development was enormous and purely positive.
Communication between the Western and Arab worlds was not always conflict-free. The time when these two civilizations enjoyed a period of peaceful existence was relatively short. Conflicts between the Arabs and the Byzantines gradually strained relations between Constantinople and the centers of Arab civilization. The Western world and the Arab world also collided during the era of the Crusades.
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