600 CE 800 CE Name: Due Date: Unit III: The Postclassical Period, 500-1450: New Faith and New Commerce & Chapter 6 Reading Guide The First Global Civilization: The Rise of Spread of Islam THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE POST-CLASSICAL PERIOD (P. 108) 1. What did the end of the classical era and the end of the post-classical era have in common? 2. The Classical Period was characterized by empire building/political boundaries of increasing size. The Postclassical period will be characterized by what 4 things? 3. How were religion and trade tied together? 4. What 4 world religions will spread during this period? 5. What Chinese invention spread along trade routes during the post-classical era? 6. What Indian intellectual achievement spread westward to the Middle East? 7. What else spread westward via trade routes leading to massive social disruption in the 1300s? 8. What stayed the same about social structures in various civilizations? TIMELINE Insert the following events into the timeline. Pick up on the dates as you read them in the text or use page 118. A. assassination of Uthman B. end of Umayyad caliphate C. Muhammad flees from Mecca to Medina D. Abbasid caliphate begins E. Muhammad receives first revelations F. Umayyad caliphate begi
Using the map on page 119, show the expansion of Islam from 622-750. Use colored pencils, markers, or pencil shadings/symbols but you must include a key. Label the following: Mecca Medina Damascus Baghdad (NOTE: Baghdad located near the old Persian city Ctesiphon ) Cordoba Rome Alexandria Constantinople Jerusalem Starting with Mecca, draw an arrow to each of the succeeding capitals of Islam. (They are listed in order above.) 9. In what direction was the center of Islam moving? 10. How was this related to the areas of civilization?
Geometric designs used for decoration instead of forbidden human or animal pictures. VISUALIZING THE PAST: THE MOSQUE AS A SYMBOL OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 11. Read the article on page 140-141 and then identify the structure above. 12. Annotate the picture above with common features of Muslim architecture. (read!) I ve done one for you. (NOTE: there are no minarets/thin towers on this structure but you can see them on the mosque on page 140.
INTRODUCTION P. 117 NO QUESTIONS DESERT AND TOWN: THE ARABIAN WORLD AND THE BIRTH OF Islam P. 119 13. This section begins with the claim that Arabia once had great trading cities but they had fallen on hard times. It does not say what exactly happened but you know one reason. What is it? (HINT: look at the map and note where Arabia is and then remember we are starting a new period of time, the Postclassical, around 500 CE. What separates this period from the last?). 14. What people made this place their home? 15. What type of animals did they domesticate? 16. What was the importance of towns located near the water or ocean? 17. What two towns owed their existence to the bedouins? CLAN IDENTITY, CLAN RIVALRIES, AND THE CYCLE OF VENGENCE 18. What was a shaykh? 19. How did one become a shaykh? 20. If the shaykh was at the top of the social structure who was below him and who was at the bottom? 21. Identify several causes of conflict between clans in Arabia starting with the two most important. 22. How did the bedouins code of honor hurt them in the long run? TOWNS AND LONG-DISTANCE TRADE 23. What purpose did Mecca serve? 24. Who founded and dominated Mecca? 25. Identify this structure:
26. How did the structure shown in question 25 contribute to trade? 27. What did the town of Yathrib come to be known as later and who fought over it? MARRIAGE AND FAMILY IN PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA 28. Compare the status of women in pre-islamic Arabian bedouin culture to women elsewhere. 29. What was unusual about their marriage practices compared to other societies we ve studied this year? 30. What did elite women wear in Syria and Persia that women in bedouin society did not? 31. Identify several examples of how bedouin society was still patriarchal despite the facts you listed above. 32. How did town life change the status of women? POETS AND NEGLECTED GODS 33. What was the primary source of cultural creativity in bedouin society? 34. How was the bedouin religion similar to the early Greek s religion? Cite two similarities. THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD AND THE GENSIS OF Islam P. 123 35. Look back at the map on page 122 and provide a more common name for the Sasanian Empire. 36. How did the concept of monotheism come to Arabia? 37. Identify Muhammad 38. In what trade was Muhammad trained? 39. Now think back to what you know of the Mauryan dynasty and the status of merchants in India (p. 63). Make a prediction on the status of merchants in the Arab/Muslim world. 40. How does your prediction compare/contrast with what you know about how early Christian and Buddhists views on wealth? 41. Now predict who will come to dominate trade in central Afro-Eurasia during the Postclassical period.
42. Cultural diffusion is the spread of ideas from one culture to another. Monotheism coming to Arabia is one example. A related word is when ideas from one culture are blended with another to create something new. What is this word and how did Muhammad represent this? (HINT: we ve used this word a number of times I described it as a fusion of ideas). 43. Identify Qur an (also spelled Quran or Koran) 44. The Qur an, the Bible, the Torah (Hebrew Bible), the Vedas (as in Rig-Veda), The Analects: what do they have in common? PERSECUTION, FLIGHT, AND VICTORY 45. Who saw Muhammad as a threat and what about him (or his ideas) scared them? Why? 46. Where did Muhammad flee to and gain support? ARABS AND ISLAM 47. How was Islam a unifying force? 48. Identify a key difference between Christianity and Judaism with Islam. 49. Identify umma - 50. What else did it provide that their previous polytheistic beliefs didn t? 51. Compare and contrast Islam to Confucianism regarding society or social structure. Cite one similarity and one difference. 52. Identify zakat 53. What religious ideas do Christians and Muslims share other than a single God? UNIVERSAL ELEMENTS IN ISLAM 54. Who originally embraced Islam? 55. What helped it win support? 56. How were all 3 major monotheistic religions related to each other? 57. List the 5 Pillars. (summarize these don t copy word for word) THE ARAB EMPIRE OF THE UMAYYADS P. 127 58. What led to the spread of Islam?
59. What is ironic about who ruled this new Arab empire? CONSOLIDATION AND DIVISION IN THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY 60. What was the first major crisis of Islam? 61. Identify caliph 62. Remember what you learned about Thomas Jefferson and his ideas on separation of church and state back in 8 th grade that have influenced the U.S. and the West to this day. How does a caliph represent opposition to that concept and provide one of many sources of contention between the Christian dominated West and Islam today? 63. Identify Abu Bakr MOTIVES FOR ARAB CONQUESTS 64. What united the Arab warriors? 65. How were the Arabs like the Huns and Germans? 66. Who had to pay taxes? 67. Why did the early Arabs not want to spread their new religion? WEAKNESSES OF THE ADVERSARY EMPIRES 68. How did the treatment of peasants play a role in the fall of the Sasanian Empire. 69. Why did the Copt and Nestorian Christians support the Aram Muslims over the fellow Christian Byzantine Empire? 70. What was the most important loss of territory to the Muslims that the Byzantines suffered? THE PROBLEM OF SUCCESSION AND THE SUNNI-SHI I SPLIT 71. Identify Uthman (include his fate and why he was unpopular) 72. Identify Ali (flip back to p. 125, left column, 1 st paragraph for PART of the info. Include his connection to Muhammad, why the Umayyads didn t support him for caliph after he was older, and his fate) 73. Which grouped backed the Umayyads? 74. Which group backed Ali? THE UMAYYAD IMPERIUM 75. What stopped the Muslims from taking over all of Europe? How far did they get?
76. Where was the capital of Islam moved to under the Umayyads? 77. Who were first-class citizens under the Umayyads and what jobs did they hold? 78. Why were Muslim soldiers discouraged from marrying into non-muslim communities? CONVERTS AND PEOPLE OF THE BOOK 79. Identify mawali 80. Identify jizya 81. Identify dhimmi - 82. Although Islam spread across a vast territory under the Umayyads, there were not very many who converted compared to the population as a whole. Why? 83. How were the people of the book treated by the Muslim conquerors? FAMILY AND GENDER ROLES IN THE UMAYYAD AGE 84. How did Islam improve the status of women and marriage in the Middle East? 85. What roles were women allowed? 86. Examine the picture below of a traditional burqa garment worn by many women today in the Muslim world. Where did this practice first appear (see p. 133, In Depth ) and was it common under early Islam? IN DEPTH: CIVILIZATION AND GENDER RELATIONSHIPS 87. About how long did women enjoy more freedom under Islamic practices? 88. How were women still inferior to men legally? 89. Make the connection between the word assimilate and the Arab nomadic peoples as they moved into the old Classical civilizations territories. (look it up and then explain this is an important pattern that occurs with nearly all nomadic invaders). 90. Identify harem (Do NOT just write forbidden area! Explain what it is and why a single guy best not be caught there.)
91. Identify concubine (Google it-you ll be seeing this again so know what it is) 92. Identify eunuch (writing the word ouch is not good enough guys) 93. How were lower class women in Islamic society similar to lower class women in other civilizations such as China? (HINT: p. 46) 94. Why were women more educated in Islamic society? UMAYYAD DECLINE AND FALL 95. What were some of the internal symptoms of decline in the Umayyad dynasty? 96. What group) led the opposition to the Umayyads? 97. Which sect (religious denomination) and other group backed them? 98. Why would the mawali back them? 99. The picture below represents Muslim architecture, particularly the arches, and is found in Spain. How did Muslim architecture come to be in Spain? FROM ARAB TO ISLAMIC EMPIRE: THE EARLY ABBASID ERA P. 135 100. Which sect was supported by the Abbasid and which was persecuted? 101. Where did the Abbasids move the capital of Islam? ISLAMIC CONVERSION AND MAWALI ACCEPTANCE 102. How did Arabs view of conversion change? 103. List advantages of converting to Islam.
COMMERCIAL BOOM AND URBAN GROWTH/TOWN AND COUNTRY: 104. Cite evidence found here to either prove or disprove your prediction in question 41 above. 105. Identify dhows - 106. What area of science did the Muslim world excel in? 107. Why did towns grow? 108. Which slaves had the worst life and where did most come from? THE FIRST FLOWERING OF ISLAMIC LEARNING 109. What was the focus of Muslim scholars? 110. What did they preserve? 111. What did Muslim invaders in India discover that eventually made its way to Europe and later contributed to the Scientific Revolution?