Chapter 5: The Age of Islamic Expressionism

• Sufi


  Pious Muslims dedicated to full devotion to Allah. Sufi mystics preached their message all over the Middle East and South/Southeast Asia.
• Buyids


  Persian Dynasty that captured Bagdad. They ruled the Abbasid and made the rulers figureheads
• Seljuk Turks


  Nomadic invaders from Persia that were staunch Sunnis. They ruled the Abbasid empire after invading
• Crusades


  Military campaigns launched by Western Christians to reclaim land from Muslims. Big deal for West, but not for Muslims and they destroyed them
• Saladin


  The last decades of the 12th century's leader. Reconquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam
• Ibn Khaldun


  A Muslim historian from 1332-1406. Created the idea of cycle of 3 generations: strong, weak, dissolute
• Hulegu


  Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled Ilkhanate Khanate. Captured and destroyed Baghdad.
• Mamluks


  Muslim slave warriors who established a dynasty in Egypt. They defeated the Mongols in 1260
• Shah-Nama


  A poem by Firdausi in late tenth and early eleventh century. Reveals a lot of history of Persia from creation to the Islamic conquests
• ulama


  The religious scholars within Islam. They wanted more conservative and restrictive theology and opposed to non-Islamic ideas
• al-Ghazali


  An Islamic theologian that struggled to fuse Greek and Qur'anic tradition. The ulama did not fully accept him
• Muhammad ibn Qasim


  Arab general who conquered Sind in India. He added land to the Umayyad dynasty
• Mahmud of Ghazni


  The 3rd ruler of the Turkish slave dynasty. Invaded Northern India and gave Muslims an intolerant and aggressive reputation
• Muhammad of Ghur


  The military commander of Persia and ruler of an Afghanistan small mountain kingdom. Established Muslim political control of Northern India
• Qutb-ud-din Aibak


  Muhammad of Ghur's lieutenant who betrayed him and took power. Proclaim himself Sultan of India
• Bhaktic cults


  Religious Hindu groups who dedicated themselves to gods and goddesses. They were open to all people, like women and the lower caste, which was competition for Islam.
• Mira Bai


  Hindu writer that wrote religious poetry. Demonstrated the openness of bhaktic cults to women
• Kabir


  A Muslim mystic that showed how Hinduism and Islam were similar. His writing was accessible to common people
• Shrivijaya


  Trading empire on Malacca straits that controlled trade of the empire. Most converted to Muslim from Buddhism for trade
• Malacca 


  Port city on Malayan peninsula. Trade center among Southeast Asian islands.
• Demak


  Powerful trading state on the North coast of Java. Point of dissemination of Islam to other ports.
• Too much struggle for power in the government of the Abbasid dynasty lead to the peasants needs not being met. Rebellion. Shi'a took control, then the Seljuk Turks defeated Christian crusaders. Though when the Mongols attacked, they were unable to defend themselves.
• The major advances in the arts where the mosques and palaces, fiber arts like Persian rugs, and ceramics. Sine, Cosine, and tangent, 3 classification of animals, and better hospitals and medicine improved the lives of those living in the Abbasid Empire. The ulama were hostile toward non-Islamic thinking and Sufi and Sunni had different ideals.
• Islam believed all people are equal, in contrast to the Hindu caste system in India. They also only worshipped one God (monotheistic) while Hinduism had many Gods. This made them less accepting compared to the religions in the Indian subcontinent.
• Hindu religious leaders/organizations formed the bhaktic cults that similar to Islam, accepted anyone in the caste and women. Indian math, numeral system, and medicine all inspired Arab scholars.
• Besides the Sufis, Muslim merchants and sailors spread their faith across islands. If they wanted a better trade, converting to Islam allowed them to have it. Pre-Islamic beliefs were also not shut down, allowing for a bit of freedom for women and allowed Islam to be modified to better suit the people living there