Byzantium and Islam

This is Unit Nine of Western Civilization One, part two of two: Islam from the five pillars to the Mongols in twelve fifty-eight, the five procedures the exam tests on this period, and the two heirs of Rome compared. Part one ended with Muhammad dead in six thirty-two and no successor named. Carry the same idea through this part. Byzantium inherited the Roman state; Islam inherited the Greek learning and the Persian administration. The first caliphs took Persia, Syria and Egypt in twenty years because both empires were exhausted and their subjects preferred lower taxes. The Umayyads added Africa and Spain, ruled as a minority through borrowed bureaucracies, taxed dhimmis instead of converting them, and split over succession into Sunni and Shia. The Abbasids opened the House of Wisdom and advanced what Byzantium kept but did not use. Europe, barter-poor and small-citied, got the ancient world back through Cordoba and Sicily. By the end you will be able to name the pillars and tell the conquests. To explain Sunni and Shia and the Umayyads. To state the dhimma in both halves. To tell the Abbasids to twelve fifty-eight. To sequence, map, classify, compare and read a charter. And to state the two inheritances.

Three entries on the faith and the conquests: the five pillars and what jihad means, the first caliphs taking the Middle East in twenty years, and why their armies won.

Five pillars, one community, and a contested word.

WC1 0823 The Five Pillars, the Ummah, and What Jihad Means

The five pillars are the creed, five daily prayers toward Mecca, the Ramadan fast, charity, and the Hajj to Mecca. The ummah is the community of believers. Jihad means struggle, including the jihad of the heart, and the anchor says it means holy war in some cases and not in most. The exam may test the word; use the anchor's meaning, struggle, sometimes war.

Successor, and conqueror for the first time.

WC1 0824 The First Caliphs and the Conquests, 632 to 650

Abu Bakr became the first caliph, successor, spiritual and political head together, in six thirty-two, then Umar and Uthman. Expansion held the tribes together: Persia fell at Qadisiyya in six thirty-seven, a witness name, Syria followed, Egypt by six forty-two, and within twenty years the Middle East's heartland was Arab, the Arabs as conquerors for the first time.

Exhausted empires, fast armies, lower taxes.

WC1 0825 Why the Arab Armies Won

Byzantium and Persia were exhausted from their war, Arab veterans had fought for both, and armies of the anchor's twenty to thirty thousand moved fast on horses and camels, paid in booty. Byzantine subjects welcomed lower taxes and indifference to their Christian sects, and there was little conversion pressure for generations. Bloodshed is acknowledged; the anchor's judgment that long-term rule was no more oppressive is attributed.

Three entries on succession and the Umayyads: the split over who may lead, a hereditary caliphate from Damascus stopped at three limits, and rule by an Arab minority.

Who may lead: the Prophet's line, or any righteous man.

WC1 0826 Sunni and Shia: Ali, Mu'awiya, Karbala

When Uthman was killed about six fifty-six, Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, became caliph, and Mu'awiya of the Umayyads fought him. Ali was murdered in six sixty-one, and Hussein was killed at Karbala in six eighty, a witness name. Shia hold that only Muhammad's line may lead; Sunnis accept any righteous leader. Shia are about ten percent then and now, the anchor says.

Damascus to Spain, stopped at three places.

WC1 0827 The Umayyads: Damascus, Spain, Tours, Talas

The Umayyads ruled from Damascus about a century as hereditary caliphs. North Africa fell by seven hundred, Spain in seven eleven; Charles Martel stopped them at Tours, also called Poitiers, in seven thirty-two; Constantinople held in seven eighteen; and a Tang army was beaten at Talas in seven fifty-one, a witness name. Where the anchor places Talas outside Samarkand, it lies far northeast.

A minority ruling through borrowed bureaucracies.

WC1 0828 Umayyad Government: Arabic, the Mosque, the Army

Arabs ruled as a minority through adopted Byzantine and Persian bureaucracies, salaried every Arab soldier, and taxed even Arabs to fund a standing army. Arabic replaced the vernaculars except Persian. Garrison and grid cities grew around the mosque, worship, court, bank and school, Cairo's seed among them. Commercial law sat inside Sharia, from a merchant prophet, and trade spread the faith by sea.

Two entries on minorities under Islam: the dhimma with its head tax and its limits, and the different fates of Berbers, Zoroastrians and Jews.

Protected, taxed, and secondary.

WC1 0829 Dhimmis: The Head Tax and Tolerance Within Limits

The Koran forbids forcible conversion of Jews and Christians. As dhimmis they paid a head tax, the jizya, and held no share in government or spoils, and many preferred Arab rule to Byzantine persecution of sects; only about ten percent of subjects were Muslim under the Umayyads. The exam's eighth sample question asks for the rules for religious minorities. Tolerance within a secondary status: state both halves.

Three peoples, three outcomes.

WC1 0830 Berbers, Zoroastrians, Jews: Three Fates Under Islam

Berber polytheists were forced to convert or die, then served as auxiliaries, which explains Spain's easy conquest. Zoroastrians were accepted as People of the Book, then not, and Parsees reached India. Jews prospered under Muslim rule while Christian kingdoms hardened, and Christian sects survived under Islam against rigid Christian states. Forced conversion of the Berbers is the record beside the dhimma.

Four entries on the Abbasids: the revolution of seven fifty and Baghdad, the House of Wisdom, the caliph made a figurehead and then killed, and the bridges to Europe.

Muslim universalism over Arab privilege.

WC1 0831 The Abbasid Revolution, 750, Baghdad, and Harun al-Rashid

In seven fifty a clan from Muhammad's uncle, backed by non-Arab Muslims, the mawali, massacred the Umayyads, and one survivor founded Cordoba's line: Muslim universalism over Arab privilege, the anchor's phrase. The Abbasids moved the capital to Baghdad, and Harun al-Rashid, seven eighty-six to eight oh nine, exchanged gifts with Charlemagne. Enlightened despotism is the anchor's characterization, attributed.

Translated, then advanced.

WC1 0832 The House of Wisdom: What Abbasid Science Gave

Baghdad's House of Wisdom translated Aristotle and the Greeks and advanced medicine, optics, where the eye was shown to receive light, chemistry with distillation, mathematics with Arabic numerals from India and algebra, geography with the astrolabe, and banking with cheques, in a literacy the anchor calls higher than anywhere else. The anchor's early telescopes are unsupported and not voiced; the rest is the record.

A caliphate that outlived its power.

WC1 0833 Fragmentation: Cordoba, the Fatimids, 945, 1055, 1258

Cordoba claimed its own caliphate and the Shia Fatimids took Egypt. In nine forty-five the Buyids, a witness name, made the caliph a figurehead, and the Seljuks did the same in ten fifty-five, two centuries of spiritual deference without power. In twelve fifty-eight the Mongols killed the last caliph. The caliphate outlived its power by three centuries.

Lit streets and plumbing, against barter.

WC1 0834 Cordoba and Sicily: The Bridges

Arab Spain and Sicily carried learning into Europe. Cordoba, the anchor's one hundred thousand people with paved lit streets and plumbing, was second only to Baghdad, while no European city passed fifteen thousand from the eighth to the eleventh century: barter Europe against a currency economy under commercial law. The contrast is the anchor's framing, and unit eleven shows Europe catching up.

Five procedures: two spines with three shared dates, three rings on the conquest map, two questions for a Christian church, four features for the comparison, and three questions for a dhimmi charter.

Two spines, three shared dates.

WC1 0835 Sequencing Byzantium and Islam, 527 to 1258

Build two spines. Byzantine: Justinian five twenty-seven, Heraclius six ten, iconoclasm seven twenty-six, the Schism ten fifty-four, Manzikert ten seventy-one, twelve oh four. Islamic: the Hijra six twenty-two, Ali's death six sixty-one, Spain seven eleven, the Abbasids seven fifty, the Buyids nine forty-five, the Mongols twelve fifty-eight. Merge them. Justinian and the plague come before the Hijra. Heraclius's victory in six twenty-eight comes after the Hijra and before the conquests of the six thirties. Tours in seven thirty-two falls after iconoclasm begins and before the Abbasids. Cyril and the Bulgars in the eight sixties come after Harun al-Rashid. The Schism falls one year before the Seljuks take Baghdad and seventeen before Manzikert. Two traps: Heraclius fought Persia, not the Arabs, and the Seljuks appear on both spines, the same people from two directions.

Three rings, four limits.

WC1 0836 Reading a Map of the Arab Conquests

Read the conquest map by three dated rings: Arabia and the Middle East heartland by six fifty, North Africa and Spain by seven eleven, the Central Asian frontier by seven fifty-one. Beyond lie four limits: Constantinople in seven eighteen, Tours in seven thirty-two, Nubia by treaty, and Talas. Syria, Persia and Egypt shaded without Africa west of Egypt is the first ring, before seven hundred. Spain shaded is after seven eleven. A line across central France where shading stops is Tours. A marked city that held twice against sieges from the sea is Constantinople. Cordoba in one color and Baghdad in another is after seven fifty, and Egypt in a third is after the Fatimids. The colors show political division, not religious: a shaded province was ruled by Muslims, not populated by them, for generations.

Who is its head, and what does it say about Christ.

WC1 0837 Classifying a Christian Church: Catholic, Orthodox, Monophysite, Arian

Ask two questions: who is the church's head, and what does it say about Christ. Catholic: the pope, Christ fully God and fully man. Orthodox: emperor and patriarch, the same doctrine, Greek liturgy. Monophysite: its own bishops in Syria and Egypt, Christ of one divine nature. Arian: Germanic kings' bishops, Christ created and lesser. A Syrian Christian woman under Arab rule whose kin fight for the caliph and who is unwelcome in Constantinople is Monophysite, the anchor's example. A Visigothic court before seven eleven is Arian. A church in Kiev with Slavonic liturgy is Orthodox. A Frankish court after Clovis is Catholic. A bishop in Italy excommunicating the emperor over icons is the pope. Before ten fifty-four the Latin and Greek churches were one in doctrine and divided in politics, so answer a question dated before the Schism with Latin or Greek. One name per period.

Ruler, law, learning, trade.

WC1 0838 Byzantium and the Caliphate Compared: Ruler, Law, Learning, Trade

Compare Byzantium with the caliphate on four paired features. The ruler: the emperor absolute over church and state, beloved of Christ, against the caliph as the Prophet's successor over religion and state, until the Buyids made him a figurehead. The law: the Corpus Juris Civilis, Roman law purged of contradiction, against Sharia built from Koran and Hadith with commercial law inside. Learning: Greek texts kept by a small elite with innovation suspect, against the House of Wisdom translating and advancing them. Trade: a guild-regulated silk monopoly and trusted coin, against a currency economy from Spain to China with cheques and merchant scholars. A scholar-merchant is the caliphate; a law code inherited from the ancient world is Byzantium; a religious figurehead while soldiers hold power is the caliphate after nine forty-five; an emperor closing a philosophical school is Byzantium. Both were heirs of Rome and traded in wartime; the anchor's judgment on learning and its city figures are attributed.

Who grants, who receives, what each side gives.

WC1 0839 Reading a Primary Source: A Dhimmi Charter's Provisions

Sample questions seven and eight both turn on how conquerors regulated religious communities. For a charter, ask who grants, who receives, and what each side gives. The Pact of Umar, a charter for Christians under early Muslim rule, read in translation from Fordham's Medieval Sourcebook, is the case. The caliph or his governor grants, in the community's name. The Christians of a conquered city receive, as a community. They give the head tax, no new churches, no public display of rites, deference in dress and conduct, no arms. They get protection, their own worship, their own law in their own affairs. What the charter assumes is that the population is organized by religion, that the ruling faith holds a superior status, and that a conquered community keeps its identity in exchange for tax and subordination. That is the dhimma. The text is later and attributed to Umar, its provisions vary by copy, and it is neither uniform practice nor persecution: a legal status, secondary and protected at once.

One capstone entry: the two heirs of Rome, what each inherited, and how Europe got the ancient world back.

The Roman state, the Greek learning, and Europe's return.

WC1 0840 Two Heirs of Rome: How Byzantium and Islam Each Carried the Ancient World

The exam files Byzantium and Islam together, and the anchor's two chapters explain why: each inherited a piece of the ancient world and carried it while the West lost its own. Byzantium inherited the Roman state. It kept the emperor, Constantinople, the coin and the law, and Justinian's code purged Roman law into the form most of Europe would adopt. It survived by four reasons, city, gold, identity and luck, and when Persia and the Arabs took its southern half, Heraclius and the themes rebuilt it as a Greek kingdom of self-armed farmers. It converted the Bulgars and the Rus, gave them Cyril's alphabet, and quarreled with Rome over icons and pre-eminence until ten fifty-four made two churches. Then it declined for four centuries, Manzikert, twelve oh four, fourteen fifty-three, which the anchor calls the end of the last vestige of Rome. Islam inherited the Greek learning and the Persian administration. Muhammad united Arabia by six thirty-two; the first caliphs took Persia, Syria and Egypt in twenty years because both empires were exhausted and their subjects preferred lower taxes; the Umayyads added Africa and Spain and were stopped at Constantinople, Tours and Talas. They ruled as a minority through borrowed bureaucracies, taxed dhimmis instead of converting them, and split into Sunni and Shia. The Abbasids opened the House of Wisdom and advanced what Byzantium kept but did not use, until the Buyids, the Seljuks and the Mongols took the power and then the city. The two heirs traded in wartime, and Europe received the ancient world back through Cordoba and Sicily. The exam does not ask which heir did better, and the course does not say; it asks what the theme was, what the code did, what iconoclasm was, when the Schism came, what the pillars are, who the dhimmis were, what Sunni and Shia dispute, what the House of Wisdom did. The anchor's largest claims, the Italy thesis, Islam as Western, the world's highest literacy, are attributed, and its errors are corrected on the witness: twelve oh four, two twenty-four, Talas in Central Asia, no telescopes.

Look at what you can now do. You can name the five pillars, define jihad as struggle and sometimes war, tell the first caliphs taking the heartland in twenty years, and explain why: exhausted empires, fast armies, lower taxes. You can explain that Shia hold to the Prophet's line and Sunnis to any righteous leader, and describe the Umayyads from Damascus to Spain, stopped at Constantinople, Tours and Talas, ruling as a minority through borrowed bureaucracies. You can state the dhimma in both halves, protected and secondary, and give three fates: Berbers forced, Zoroastrians dropped, Jews prospering. You can tell the Abbasids from seven fifty through the House of Wisdom to the Buyids, Seljuks and Mongols, and the bridges at Cordoba and Sicily. You can merge two spines, read three rings, name a church by head and Christ, compare on ruler, law, learning and trade, and read a charter by who grants, who receives and what each gives. And you can state the two inheritances, the Roman state and the Greek learning, which is this unit's one idea. Unit ten opens on the West those heirs left behind: the Franks, Charlemagne, the Vikings, and feudal Europe.