Ch 9 The Worlds of Islam

CHAPTER 9

THE WORLDS OF ISLAM: AFRO-EURASIAN CONNECTIONS

Birth of a New Religion

• emerged from marginal region
• founder
• Muhammad Ibn Abdullah
• beginning revelations from Allah in 610 CE
• these revelations recorded in Quran
• core message is the 5 Pillars of Islam
• Started with a small following and quickly expanded throughout Arabia
• doesn't separate church and state
• did not start out as prosecuted minority 

The Making of an Arab Empire

• Arabic conquests were a continuation of log-term raiding pattern
• conquest wasn't that destructive 
• initial conversion for many was "social conversion"
• not deep spiritual change
• state provided incentives for conversion 
• central problem: who should serve as successor to Muhammad?
• split because of central problem, has differences
• sunni
• shia
• Islamic law- the sharia
• Quran viewed men and women as equals
• Islam gave new religious outlets for women

Islam & Cultural Encounter: A Four-Way Comparison

• The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated politically by 10th century
• Emergence of Muslim communities in India
• buddhists and low-caste Hindus found Islam attractive
• by 16th century several West African cities were Islamic centers 
• religious toleration started breaking down by late 10th century

The World of Islam as a New Civilization

• By 1500 Islamic world embraced at least parts of nearly every other Afro-Eurasian civilization
• Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of goods, technology, and ideas

(MY THOUGHTS...) This chapter does not really relate to me at all. I have never been a very religious person, but I do find learning about religion really cool. I feel like as we are today we have to keep ourselves educated. There are people out there that know nothing about Islam yet speak as if they do. I have studied Islam before in my World Religions course here at NDNU and I find it really interesting. Especially since I took it during Trump's Travel Ban. The actions of few do not make up the actions of a whole community. I find it crazy that people still don't see that.