Unit VI: Byzantine Empire (SOL 8) Your Name: Date: DBQ 4: Spread of Islam Big Idea According to the holy texts of the Muslims, in 610 CE a local merchant named Mohammad retreated to a cave outside the city of Mecca in Arabia to meditate. There, the archangel Gabriel appeared and gave Muhammad words to recite. These words were to give birth to a religion called Islam. Within 140 years, followers of Islam had created an empire that ruled the Middle East and stretched across North Africa into Europe. This DBQ explores why this new religion was able to spread so quickly. Task With a partner, you will analyze primary sources and begin the process of writing a DBQ (Document- Based Question). Why Islam spread so quickly, what 3 practices or methods did were used to spread the religion? Directions 1. Read each document carefully, underlining key phrases and words that address the document-based question. Answer the questions that follow each document before moving on to the next document. Document 1 Desmond Stewart and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Great Ages of Man: Early Islam, Time-life Books, 1967. By the middle of the sixth century Mecca was prosperous and important. First, it was at the crossroads of the lucrative caravan trade. Vast camel trains, bearing spices, perfumes, precious metals, ivory and silk, filed through the town, headed north on the way from Yemen to the markets of Syria, and headed east from the Red Sea across the desert to Iraq. Adding to the profits from caravans was a brisk pilgrimage trade, for Mecca was the site of Arabia s holiest pagan shrine [Ka ba].
Question 1: What year is shown on this map? How does this relate to the history of Islam and when it was founded? (Hint: Read the Big Idea summary) Question 2: Name three cities that were easy to reach by trade routes from Mecca? Question 3: Judging from both the map and the quotation above the map, why was Mecca a trade center of the Arabian Peninsula? Question 4: How does this document explain why Islam might have spread so quickly? Document 2 Historian writer Kallie Szcepanski, The Spread of Islam in Asia, 632 CE to present. [Islam] spread across Central Asia and into China via the Silk Road, as well as to what is now Malaysia, Indonesia, and the southern Philippines via the Indian Ocean trade routes. Arab and Persian traders were very successful in expanding Islam, due in part to their trade practices. Muslim merchants and suppliers gave one another better prices than they did for non-believers. Perhaps most importantly, they had an early international banking and credit system so that a Muslim in Spain could issue a statement of credit, similar to a personal check that a Muslim in Indonesia would honor. The commercial advantages of conversion made it an easy choice for many Asian merchants. Question 1: According to this writer why did Islam spread? Document 3 Verses from the Quran. Permission to take up arms is hereby given to those who are attacked, because they have been wronged. God has power to grant them victory. (22.39) Question 1: According to verse 22.99, when are Muslims allowed to fight? How would this verse help Islam spread? Document 4 This description of the Battle of Tours in 732, from Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Sir Edward Crecy ( E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.), provides a perspective on the Muslim fighting style. The Moslems struck their enemies and laid waste to the country and took captives without number everything gave way to their [swords] All the nation of the Franks trembled as that terrible army attacked Tours and the fury and cruelty of the Muslims towards the inhabitants of the city were like the fury and cruelty of raging tigers. Question 1: How does this writer describe the methods and conquests of the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours? Question 2: How can Document 2 and 4 be linked together? Question 3: According to this document what methods were used to spread Islam?
Document 5 Source: Abu al-hasan Al-Mawardi, The Ordinance of the Government, circa 975 CE. Note: In 632, following the death of Muhammad, the first caliph ( a spiritual ruler, sometimes called an imam) was selected to lead the Muslim community. Over the next three centuries, the duties of the caliph were firmly established, with the understanding that the caliph would not delegate these duties to others. The excerpt below, from the book of Islamic law written by an Arab judge in the 10th century outlines one of the ten public duties of the caliph. The Ordinance of Government 2. To execute judgments between litigants [people involved in lawsuits] and to settle disputes between contestants so that justice may prevail and so that none commit or suffer injustice. 3. To defend the lands of Islam and to protect them from intrusion so that people may earn their livelihood and travel at will without danger to life or property. 6. To wage jihad [holy war] against those who, after having been invited to accept Islam, persist in rejecting it, until they either become Muslim or enter the Pact* so that God s truth may prevail over every religion. * The Pact was an arrangement often made by Muslim rulers that permitted conquered Christians, Jews, and other non-muslims to continue to practice their religion if they paid a special tax called the jizyah and obeyed Islamic law. Question 1: What does the Islamic political system offer the citizens living under their rule? Question 2: How can this document be used to explain the spread of Islam? Document 6 Source: Ahmad ibn-jabir al-baladhuri, The Origins of the Islamic State, circa 850 CE. Note: IN the year 636, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius ( hair-uh-kli-us ) gathered an army at the Yarmuk River in Syria to resist the expansion of Islam. The people of Hims are the Syrians, non-muslims who had been under Byzantine rule. They had been taken over by the Muslims, but the Muslims realized that they might lose Syria to the Byzantine army during the battle. This account was written by the Arabic Muslim historian al- Baladhuri about 200 years after the battle. When Heraclius massed his troops against the Muslims and the Muslims heard that they were coming to meet them at al-yarmuk, the Muslims refunded to inhabitants of Hims the [land tax] they had taken from them saying, We are too busy to support and protect you. Take care of yourselves. But the people of Hims replied, We like your rule and justice better than the state of oppression and tyranny in which we were. The army of Heraclius we shall indeed repulse from the city. Saying this, they closed the gates of the city and guarded them When by Allah s help the unbelievers were defeated and the Muslims won, they opened the gates and their cities, went out with the singers and music, players. Question 1: How did the Hims (Syrians) respond when the Muslims said they could not protect them? Question 2: How are documents 5 and 6 related? Question 3: How does this document help explain why Islam spread so quickly?
2. Create 3 categories for the methods Islam used to spread across three continents. Place the documents into those categories and give a short summary of the documents in the table provided. a. Example? Document 10: Justinian copied Rome by.. 1. Category Document # s 2.?? 3. 3. After you have read the documents, reread the document-based question. Then, formulate a thesis that directly answers the question, based on your own knowledge and on the information in the documents. Dos and Don ts of the Thesis Statement DO: Make sure it directly answers the question. Be specific mention the 3 ways Islam spread. Good vs Bad Thesis Statement: BAD THESIS: Rome fell due to economic, political, and social reasons GOOD THESIS: Rome fell due to internal conflict, increase in slavery which led to unemployment, and the introduction of Christianity which created a welfare system. Thesis Statement: