CHAPTER 6
SOCRATIC QUESTIC
- COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM DURING THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD AND THE ABBASID EMPIRE.
PRE-ISLAMIC: women played key economic roles including milking camels, weaving cloth and raising children, were not secluded, some tribes women could have multiple marriage partners, women did not wear veils, decent was traced matrilineal, enjoyed greater freedom and higher status than neighboring areas, advise was highly regarded in clan and tribal councils, women could not be warriors, status depended on the custom of individual clans and tribes rather than legal codes, could not gain glory as warriors, women were not considered equal to men, often wrote poems that were the focus of Bedouin cultural life, to seal a marriage contract the men had to pay the brides family, women were expected to monogamous, customary practices of property control inheritance and divorce heavily favored men, in urban environment of trading centers such as Mecca the rise of mercantile elite and social stratification appeared to have set back the position of women, status varied from tribe to tribe.
Abbasid: encouraged marriage, the harem and the veil became the twin became the twin emblem of women’s increasing subjection to men, women were not allowed to lead prayers, were raised to running a household and serving their husbands, wives and concubines of the Caliphs were restricted to the forbidden corners of the palace, played an active role in the politics of the early community, married at age 9, women appeared to have wide range of occupation, women were some of Mohammad’s earliest and bravest followers, rich women were allowed almost no career outlets beyond the home, slaves and servants had more liberties than freeborn wives, men could have up to four wives only if they could support all of them in the same manner, slave women could go to the market and did not have to wear robes and veils, some of the best educated women were slaves, lower class women farm, weave clothing and rugs or raise silk worms to support their families, women could not take more than one husband, free women had to wear veils and robes in public places, slave women win their freedom by bearing healthy sons for the ruler, at the highest level of society wives and concubines cajoled their husbands and plotted with eunuchs and royal advisors to advance the interest of their sons and win for them the rulers backing for succession to the throne, women from poorer families had to work to survive, female and male slaves were prized for their beauty and intelligence, they treated their women like Mohammad, continued to be educated, high officials often spent more time with their slave concubines than with their wives, upper class women were carried in chairs by servants, upper class women were watched by the eunuchs.
- DESCRIBE THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE ARABS PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF ISLAM.
Consisted of Nomadic (beoduin) culture, main focus of Bedouin culture was poetry, kin related clans grouped with other clan to make tribes, cultures based on camel and goat herding, fierce clan rivalry, leaders of the tribes and clan shaykhs, centered around the oases, survival depended on cooperation with and support from kin, town dwellers social organization which focused on clan and family as well as their culture included language and religion, life was regulated by clan councils, population were linked by kinship to Bedouin peoples, camel nomads were dominant, cities had developed farther north as links in the transcontinental trading system, there could be wide disparities of wealth and status within clan groups, they were very territorial so they had many wars, there was strong loyalty towards ones family and clan, Chivalry was quite common in early cultures, weakened by constant infighting.
- WHY WAS ISLAM ABLE TO APPEAL TO PEOPLE OF SO MANY DIFFERENT CULTURES?
It had highly developed legal codes, most attributes came from other religions such Judaism and Christianity, contained belief that appealed to all people in all stages of social development, it had a strong sense of community, offered the possibility of an end to the vendettas and feuds that had so long divided the people of Arabia, belonged to no single tribe, provided and ethical system healed the deep social rifts within Arabian society, excepted the validity of the earlier divine revelations that had given rise to Jewish and Christian faiths, allowed no intermediaries, Islam stress the dignity of all believers and their equality in the eyes of Allah, had social equality, had the Five Pillars which are – Pillar 1 is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet, Pillar 2 – pray facing the holy city of Mecca 5 times a day, Pillar 3 – to fast during the month of Ramadan enhanced community solidarity and allowed the faithful to demonstrate their fervor, Pillar 4- zagkat or tithe for charity and also strengthened community cohesion, Pillar 5 – Hajj or pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, provided a single and supernaturally sanctioned source of authority and discipline, promoted a moral code for people, stressed social responsibility and the unity of all believers, stressed the dignity of all believers and their equality in the eyes of Allah, Christianity anticipated most of Islam’s attributes, lived in manner that would prepare them for the last judgment, known as a portable religion,.
- WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ABBASID EMPIRE AND THE UMAYYAD EMPIRE?
UMAYYAD- Viewed Muhammad as a threat, increasing of the royal harem was one manifestation of the caliphs, political center in Damascus, founded Mecca, alienated the Muslim faithful as they became more aloof in the 8th century, Muslim Arabs were 1st class citizens, women were allowed to play and active role in politics, women were not allowed to lead prayers, women recorded the traditions of the profit, women pursued a wide range of occupations, they tried to stop interaction between the warriors and the non-Muslims but they did not succeed, Uthman was the first caliph, profits teachings proclaimed the equality of men and women, defeat of rival profits and larger clans were known as the Ridda wars, men were allowed to marry up to 4 wives, abandoned the simple frugal lifestyle followed by Muhammad, were backed the Sunnis, Muslim Arabs made up the core of the Army and imperial administration and only they received the share of the money from the on going conquest, ruled an empire from Spain to Central East Asia, women could not take more than one husband, Muslim Arabs could only be taxed for charity, the empire was vulnerable to the Byzantine and Persian empires, conversions during the era was low, bride price paid by the husband family was to be given to the bride and not the father, in the 740 officials tried to introduce new troops to the Merv area which resulted into a revolt, the Mawali, the non Arab converts were higher taxes, struggled to build a bureaucracy, most of the warriors settled in towns and married the local women, religion of Dhimmi was tolerated but they had to pay commercial and property taxes to worship.
ABBASID – built their capital in Baghdad in Iraq, rejected old allies, saw full integration of new converts both Arab and non-Arab into the Islamic community, built a centralized absolutists imperial order, the victory opened the way to the conquest of Syria and the capture of the Umayyad capital, Arab dhows carried the goods of one civilized core to be exchanged with others, traced their decent from Muhammad’s uncle, their wealth was spent on Mosques, religious schools, baths and rest houses, the victory of the Abbasids led to Bureaucracy expansion, rise of the Mawalli was parallel by the growth in wealth and social status of the merchant and the land lord classes, mass conversions were encouraged for all people of the empire, the growth was fed by an increase in handicraft production, much of the labor was done by slaves, this age was the time of urban expansion, caliphs were perched on jewel encrusted thrones, started to accept the Mawalli as equals, Muslim merchants grew rich by supplying the cities with provisions, artisans were poorly paid, converts were exempt from paying head tax and they had bigger opportunities to get advanced schooling and launch careers, rulers became less interested in affairs of the state, cleaver and ambitious slaves could be freed or buy their way out, the main tasks were recovering and preserving the learning of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, in the countryside a wealthy and deeply entrenched landed elite called the Ayan emerged in the early decades of their rule, was great focus on the Mosque, the most skilled artisans formed guild like organizations, Tang and Song empires became a pivot of the revived commercial system, most peasants did not own the land that they worked, revived the Afro-Eurasian trading network, most slaves were forced in to labor were non-Muslims that were captured, for more than a century they were effective at collecting revenue from their subjects and preserving law and order over much over the empire, the upper class went to baths, Muslim and Jewish scholars saved the priceless writing of the Greeks on key subjects, profits from trade were re-invested in commercial enterprises, artistic expression was focused on great Mosques and Palaces, scholars transmitted ideas that parallel the rise of traders and merchants as the carriers of goods and inventions, effective royal command were hard to carry across the vast empire.
- WHAT WAS THE ESSENTIAL DISPUTE WITHIN ISLAM OVER THE SUCCESSION TO THE PROPHET?
Several prophets had arisen claiming a new faith, the spark that began the conflict was the murder of the 3rd caliph Uthman, many choices for the caliphs, felt threatened by Muhammad and the new religion, was likely that their would be a deadlock, Ali was proclaimed the caliph after the death of Uthman, Ali’s claims were rejected and swore revenge when her failed to punish Uthman’s assains, generated deep divisions in the Muslim community, threatened the Gods of the Kabba, Mu’awiya was the new leader was proclaimed the caliph in Jerusalem challenging Ali’s position, Islam was threatened that Medina was becoming a strong competitor with Mecca, year after Ali was killed pressured Hasan to renounce his claims to the caliph, hostilities between the 2 branches of the Islamic faithful was heightened in the years after Ali’s death by the struggle Umayyad and Ali’s 2nd son, Ali’s second son and small party was overwhelmed and killed at Karbala in 680 CE, prophets teaching were incorporated into an extensive body of law.