1.2 - Developments in Dar-Al-Islam

• Major religions that interacted during this period


  • Judaism
  • Christianity
  • Islam
• Judaism


  The ethnic religion of the Jews, originated in the Middle East, monotheistic
• Christianity


  Established by the Jewish prophet Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Messiah, followers spread his message of salvation by grace
• Islam


  Founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, Muhammad claimed to be the final prophet, salvation found in righteous actions like alms giving, prayer, and fasting
• After Muhammad's death in 632, Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and South Asia
• Dar al-Islam


  The "house of Islam", the regions where Islam was the majority religion
• Islam deeply affected the societies where it was practiced, including facilitating trading connections between various places
• Before becoming a prophet, Muhammad was a merchant, so he and his followers were focused on trade, unlike Jesus' teachings on not accumulating wealth
• Islamic states became more prosperous than Christian states prior to 1200
• The Abbasid caliphate was founded in the 8th century and experienced a "Golden Age of Islam" with many innovations and advancements
• By 1200, the Abbasid Empire was fragmenting and losing its position as the center of the Islamic world
• Several new Islamic empires began to rise, largely made up of Turkic peoples, not Arabs
• New Turkic Muslim empires that arose


  • Seljuk Empire
  • Mamluk Sultanate
  • Delhi Sultanate
• The Seljuk Empire was established in the 11th century in Central Asia by Turkic warriors brought in by the Abbasids
• The Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt was established by enslaved Turkic warriors who seized power from the previous Ayyubid Sultanate
• The Delhi Sultanate in South Asia was established by invading Turks who ruled over the Indian population for about 300 years
• These new Turkic Muslim empires resembled the former Arab empires in implementing Sharia law and having the military in charge of administration
• Ways Islam expanded during this period

  • Military expansion
  • Merchant activity and trade
  • Efforts of Muslim missionaries, including Sufism
• Sufism was a new and emerging form of Islam that emphasized mystical experience and spiritual experiences being available to anyone regardless of class or gender
• During the "Golden Age of Islam" under the Abbasids, there were many innovations in mathematics, including the invention of trigonometry by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
• The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was a famous library where scholars from around the world came to study and preserve the works of Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, which were later transferred to Europe and contributed to the Renaissance