IES FRAY PEDRO DE URBINA. GEO.

AND HISTORY DEPARTMENT

ISLAM

Islam is a religion that arose in the seventh century in Arabia.

Its founder was Muhammad. He was born in Mecca in 570. When he was 40
years old, he said archangel Gabriel appeared and revealed to him the
commandments of Allah. Islam is a monotheistic religion: "There is only one
god, Allah, and Muhammad is the last of the prophets. Men should submit
to the wishes of Allah (Islam = submission).
When he began to preach the new religion in Mecca many of his countrymen
persecuted him. So, in 622 he fled from Mecca and took refuge in Medina.
This flight is called the Hijra and is the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
From Medina he started a war and conquered Mecca. On his death (632)
the entire Arabian Peninsula was under the rule of Muslims.
Allah's revelations to Muhammad and his speeches were collected in a book
called the Quran, which is the holy book of Muslims.
When Muhammad died without sons, earliest disciples succeeded him as
"caliphs".
1. - THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM. BELIEFS.
Islam is a simple religion. There is only one dogma: "There is only one god,
Allah, the Creator of all things, and Muhammad is his last and most
important prophet".
Every good Muslim must fulfill five pillars of his faith: profession of faith,
praying five times a day toward Mecca, giving alms to the poor, fasting
during the month of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca once in life.
Islam has no priests. There are directors of prayer (imams) and doctors in
the Quran (ulemas).
In the eighth century the Muslims were divided into Sunnis and Shiites.
The Sunnis base their actions in the Quran and the example of
Muhammad's life (sunnah).
The Shia claim that Muhammad's successors should direct the Muslim
community in the religious and political spheres. They advocate a theocracy
led by the Ayatollahs (high clerics expert in Islam).

2. - EXPANSION OF ISLAM: PHASES.

a) On the death of Muhammad in 632 the Muslims had conquered Arabia.
b) The elected or orthodox caliphs (632-661) conquered the Near East,
Egypt, Persia and central Asia and threatened Byzantium.
c) The Umayyads (661-750) founded the first Muslim dynasty. They
established their capital in Damascus. They conquered all of North Africa,
the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean islands and extended their
influence by Pakistan and India. They tried to conquer Europe, but were
defeated at Poitiers (732).
d) The Abbasids (750-1258) were a new dynasty that moved its capital to
Baghdad. They extended their influence by the Aral Sea and eastern
Europe. It is the period of greatest economic and cultural splendor of
Islam. Some areas (Al-Andalus, Tunisia, Afghanistan...) proclaimed
independence.

This so rapid and permanent territorial expansion is due to several causes:

Religious tolerance to Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. The Quran
states that the "peoples of the book" must be protected. They kept
their religion, their churches or synagogues, their authorities and in
some cases their laws and judges. Their only obligation was to pay a
poll tax to the caliph.
The development of trade by land and sea. The great conquests
allowed to communicate India with the Mediterranean, central Asia
to Africa.
Muslims respected most of the properties of the land in exchange for
payment of taxes and developed irrigation introducing eastern products
(rice, citrus, fruit trees, mulberry, sugar cane ...).
Many dominated people soon became followers of Muslim fashions and
customs and most of them ended up converting to Islam.

3. - IBERIAN PENINSULA UNDER ISLAM. Al-Andalus.

Muslims came to the peninsula in 711 during Umayyad Caliphate and
remained until 1492 when the Catholic Kings conquered Granada.

a) Conquest (711-718).
In 711 a small Muslim army led by Tariq landed on the peninsula and
participated in the Battle of Guadalete, where he was defeated and killed
the last Visigoth king named Rodrigo. Very soon Muslims conquered most of
the peninsula because many cities and many Visigoths nobles preferred to
agree particular negotiated treaties. The governor of Tunisia, Muzza,
landed with a larger army and soon dominated all cities and penetrated in
southern Gaul.
On the peninsula there were mountainous northern areas (Lugo, Asturias,
Cantabria, Basque Country, northern Navarre and the Pyrenees) who
resisted Islamic domination.
b) Dependent Emirate of Damascus (718-756).
After the conquest of Damascus the Umayyad caliph appointed the
governors (emirs) who ran Al- Andalus. During this period it took place the
legendary Battle of Covadonga (718 or 724) that marks the beginning of
the Christian reconquest of the peninsula. The emir of Cordoba troops
began their conquest of France, but were defeated by the Franks at
Poitiers (732).
c) Independent Emirate of Cordoba (756-920).
In 750 the last Umayyad caliph was defeated and died. Abul Abbas will be
the new caliph, the whole Umayyad family was murdered except for Abd-alRahman and his mother. They fled from Middle East and took refuge in AlAndalus. He dominated all cities and proclaimed Independent Emir of
Cordoba breaking all political ties with the new Abbasid dynasty.
He created a powerful permanent mercenary army, organized a centralized
administration in Cordoba, founded the mint and set up a ministry of
finance for the collection of taxes.
During the emirate irrigation was developed in the area of Andalusia,
Levante and the Ebro Valley, he also created a powerful merchant fleet
based in Algeciras, promoted the development of luxury handicrafts to be
exported and domestic trade flourished.
Most of the population converted to Islam (mulades), but in the cities it
continued to exist a large group of Christians (Mozarabic) who adopted
Muslim customs and fashions. The Jews kept their own neighborhoods and
synagogues and achieved great social importance due to the development of
medicine and banking.
The Independent Emirate was politically a turbulent period, there were
frequent uprisings of cities, religious minorities, rulers and nobles.

d) The Caliphate of Cordoba (929-1035).

Abd-al-Rahman III ben Umayyad succeeded his grandfather in 912. The
uprisings of cities, nobles, Mozarabic and mulades had wrested power from
the emir, who ruled only Cordoba. The new emir reorganized the army and
defeated all his enemies inside the emirate and drove the northern
Christian kingdoms to withdraw. When he felt strong he dominated North
Africa and thereafter trade between East and Europe and between Africa
and Europe passed through Al-Andalus.
In 929 he proclaimed caliph himself. Cordoba became the largest (it is
believed that 200,000 inhabitants), richest and most influential city
in Europe. Libraries, universities, medical schools, schools of translators
were created, so that all European scholars came to Crdoba.
The mint minted gold coins (dinars) and silver (dirhams) which were
accepted in all European countries and even imitated to this day.
He introduced improvements in crafts hiring the best craftsmen in the
world and ordering them to serve as teachers (silk in Granada, leather in
Cordoba, glass in Seville, tiles in Zaragoza).
The Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman (Germanic) Empire, the Abbasid
Caliphate and the Pope had permanent ambassadors in Cordoba .
In art, Abd-al-Rahman III extended the Cordoba mosque and built the city
-palace of Medina Zahara.
Alhaken II succeeded his father. He was a cultured caliph, also religious
and in favor of negotiating before war. He maintained and even expanded
the economic and cultural power. He built the most beautiful part of the
Mosque of Cordoba.
His son Hisham II succeeded his father being 11 years old. So, his tutor
Abu Amir, known by Christians as Almanzor, ruled in his name. Almanzor,
religious and militarist fanatic, promoted the creation of a large army of
mercenaries Berbers and Slavs (Europeans) who defeated the Christian
kingdoms of the peninsula and North African enemies. Military spending and
religious intolerance will be the cause of the economic decline of the
caliphate. Almanzor died on campaign in 1002. Both his sons as the caliph
himself were unable to maintain the unity of the caliphate. In 1031 the
caliphate was divided into numerous fiefdoms.

e) Taifa Kingdoms (1031-1248).

The Taifa kingdoms continued to maintain economic prosperity especially
for the great craftsmanship and irrigated agriculture, but were unable to
stop the advance of the armies of the Christian kingdoms of the north.
Two North African empires assisted Taifa kingdoms in trying to halt the
advance of the Christians: the Almoravids (XI century) and the Almohads
(XII century). The defeat of the latter in Las Navas de Tolosa (1212)
allowed Christians to conquer all Muslim territories except Granada.
f) Moorish Kingdom of Granada (1238-1492).
Mohammed ibn Nasr founded the Muslim kingdom of Granada, which
included the provinces of Granada, Malaga, Almeria and most part of Jaen
and Cadiz. He pleaded vassal of the king of Castile, whom he had to pay
heavy taxes and help in case of war.
Granada became the last refuge of Muslims. Its cities thrived by mastering
the Strait of Gibraltar and trade with North Africa.
The Nasrid built one of the jewels of humanity: the Alhambra in Granada.
The last Moorish Sultan was called Boabdil "The Little".

4. - MUSLIM ART IN THE WORLD AND IN Al-Andalus.

Muslims lacked an architectural tradition themselves and therefore took
advantage of existing artistic styles in the conquered areas, adapting them
to new needs. The most important monuments are Islamic mosques,
fortresses and palaces.
The mosque always consists of: a courtyard with fountains for ablutions
where worshipers wash before prayers.
Inside, a prayer room that ends in a wall, the qibla, facing Mecca .
In the center of the qibla it is usually a small chapel, the mihrab, facing
where the imams directed the prayer.
The patio is usually surrounded by a wall and has a tower, the minaret,
where the muezzin call to prayer.
The fortresses were military fortifications. Some of them were converted
into residential palaces and cities (Aljaferia of Zaragoza, Alcazar of
Cordoba and Alhambra in Granada) .
The arch preferred by peninsular Muslims is the horseshoe. Later, they will
be more decorated, as polilobe or crosslinked.
The buildings are usually lintels even if they make small nerve domes.
The Qur'an prohibits any naturalistic sculpture or painting to avoid falling
into idolatry. As a result, they used a schematic or geometric decoration,

with stucco and plaster covering walls, vaulted and ceilings. They also used
the Arabic script (Kufic) to decorate capitals and friezes.
On the peninsula important monuments stand out as the Mosque of
Cordoba, the Giralda and the Torre del Oro in Seville, the citadel palace of
Aljaferia in Zaragoza and the Alhambra in Granada.
The Alhambra in Granada is a set consisting of a fortress and several
palaces built along 14th and 15th centuries. It is a complex of buildings where
the courtyards, gardens and fountains are combined with the most
elaborated and profuse decoration of the entire Muslim art.

ACTIVITIES.
Coloring the map of the spread of Islam in its different phases.
Coloring a map of Al- Andalus during the caliphate and another one during
the eleventh century.
Define concepts :
Muslim
Sharia
caliph
emir
Patio of ablutions
muezzin
crusade
Make biographies of Abdal-Rahman III and Boabdil "El Chico".
Make a summary of the Muhammads life comic.
Comment an Andalusian artwork.