A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the causes and effects of the rise of Islamic states over time.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

K.C.-3.2.I.--As the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented, new Islamic political entities emerged, most of which were dominated by Turkic peoples. These states demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity.

K.C.3.1.III.A.--Muslim rule continued to expand to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants, missionaries, and Sufis.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

New Islamic political entities:

§ Seljuk Empire

§ Mamluk sultanate of Egypt

§ Delhi sultanates

Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the effects of intellectual innovation in Dar al-Islam.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

K.C.-3.2.II.A.i.--Muslim states and empires encouraged significant intellectual innovations and transfers.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Innovations:

§ Advances in mathematics (Nasir al-Din al-Tusi)

§ Advances in literature ('A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah)

§ Advances in medicine

The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain how systems of belief and their practices affected society in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

K.C.3.1.III.D.iii.--Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions continued to shape societies in Africa and Asia.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Transfers:

§ Preservation and commentaries on Greek moral and natural philosophy

§ House of Wisdom in Abbasid Baghdad

§ Scholarly and cultural transfers in Muslim and Christian Spain

§ Seljuk Empire

• initially the Seljuks united the fractured political landscape of the eastern, but furthered this process of decentralization within a generation

• Battle of Manzikert in 1071 -- one of the reasons for the First Crusade (1095-1099)

• Turkification of Islam -- initiated this process that would continue for hundreds of years

§ Mamluk sultanate of Egypt

• Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Turkish Mamluk generals (slave army) rose to prominence

• in 1249 a struggle for the Ayyubid throne ensued, in the course of which the Mamluk generals murdered the Ayyubid heir and eventually succeeded in establishing one of their own number as sultan.

• Mongols -- following the sack of Baghdad in 1258, Mamluk forces stopped the Mongol advance in 1260.

• Mamluks were decisively defeated by the Ottomans both in Syria and in Egypt in 1517

§ Delhi sultanates

• Five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526)

• The Delhi sultanate made no break with the political traditions of the later Hindu period—namely, that rulers sought paramountcy rather than sovereignty.

• It never reduced Hindu chiefs to unarmed impotence or established an exclusive claim to allegiance.

• The sultan was served by a heterogeneous elite of Turks, Afghans, Khaljīs, and Hindu converts; he readily accepted Hindu officials and Hindu vassals.

• Threatened for long periods with Mongol invasion from the northwest and hampered by indifferent communications,

• Decentralized -- the Delhi sultans left a large discretion to their local governors and officials.

• based their laws on the Qur'an and Sharia

• permitted non-Muslim subjects to practice their religion only if they paid jizya or head tax.

• The Sultans ruled from urban centers—while military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei for towns that sprang up in the countryside.

• Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Sultanate was its temporary success in insulating the subcontinent from the potential devastation of the Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the thirteenth century.

  • • The Sultanate suffered from the sacking of Delhi in 1398 by Timur (Tamerlane)

    • The Sultanate provided the foundation for the Mughal Empire

• The Sultanate ushered in a period of Indian cultural renaissance. The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion left lasting monuments in architecture, music, literature, and religion.

§ Advances in mathematics (Nasir al-Din al-Tusi)

• Al-Khwarazmi used Guptain (Indian) knowledge to introduce the number zero, and numerals (1, 2, 3, 4) used in the Arab world were much easier to use than Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV).

• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 (Iran)-1274 (Iraq)) edited the definitive Arabic versions of the works of Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, Autoycus, and Theodosius.

  • • Astronomy-- reformed the Ptolemaic planetary model producing a system in which all orbits are described by uniform circular motion and is believed to have provided Nicolause Copernicus (1473-1543) with inspiration for his astronomical models.

    • Mathematics--pioneered spherical trigonometry and treated trigonometry as a new mathematical discipline. He developed six fundamental formulas for the solution of spherical right-angled triangles. He wrote on binomial coefficients, which Blaise Pascal later introduced.

§ Advances in literature ('A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah)

• 'A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah of Damascus was one of the great women scholars in Islamic history. A mystic and prolific poet and writer, 'A'ishah composed more works in Arabic than any other woman before the twentieth century.

• She recounts the fundamental stages and states of the spiritual novice’s transformative journey, emphasizing the importance of embracing both human limitations and God’s limitless love. Drawing on lessons and readings from centuries-old Sufi tradition, 'A'ishah advises the seeker to repent of selfishness and turn to a sincere life of love.

§ Advances in medicine

• The Islamic world housed some of the first and most advanced hospitals from the 8th century, notably in Baghdad and Cairo. Built in 805, the Baghdad hospital housed a medical school and a library. Unlike medieval Christian hospitals, its aim was to treat patients, not just to care for them.

• Muslim doctors were skilled and knowledgeable; they had to pass an examination.

• There were female doctors and nurses.

• Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) -- translated the texts of Greek and Roman doctors.

  • • Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) wrote a huge medical encyclopedia known as the “Canon of Medicine”. It collected the knowledge of ancient Greek and the Islamic world, and was used as the standard medical textbook for European doctors until the seventeenth century.

  • Al-Razi (Rhazes) -- ran the Baghdad hospital in the late 800s and early 900s, was the first author known to have written a book about children’s diseases. He also explained the difference between smallpox and measles: this helped doctors diagnose the diseases.

  • Ibn Nafis -- wrote about the circulation of blood round the body in the thirteenth century

  • Muslims made important advances in surgery. They anaesthetised patients with cannabis and opium, used mercury and alcohol as antiseptics, and had rules about hygiene.

  • Al-Zaharwi (Albucasis) -- wrote an encyclopedia called “al-Tasirif” including a volume called “On surgery”, which was the first medical book to contain pictures of surgical tools, providing clear information on how they were to be used. His book also gave practical guidance.

§ Preservation and commentaries on Greek moral and natural philosophy

• Baghdad became an intellectual epicentre under the ʿAbbāṣid regime in the 9th–10th centuries. There, caliphs such as al-Maʾmūn (r. 813–833) sponsored the translation of texts like Aristotle’s Topics into Arabic to learn the methods for constructing logical arguments against political and religious rivals (both Christian and Muslim).

• Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 873/877), a Christian physician from south-central Iraq, produced precise Arabic versions of Galenic, Aristotelian, and Neoplatonic writings. Ḥunayn often worked directly from Greek manuscripts that were acquired from the neighbouring Byzantine Empire. Sometimes lacking a Greek manuscript, Ḥunayn utilised earlier Syriac translations by Sergius of Reshaina to make his own Arabic versions.

§ House of Wisdom in Abbasid Baghdad

• Centers of Learning:

• The Bayt al-Ḥikmah (“House of Wisdom”), founded in AD 830 in Baghdad, contained a public library with a large collection of materials on a wide range of subjects

• The Fāṭimid caliph al-Ḥākim set up a dār al-ḥikmah (“hall of wisdom”) in Cairo in the 10th–11th centuries

• 10th-century library of Caliph al-Ḥakam in Cordova, Spain, boasted more than 400,000 books.

§ Scholarly and cultural transfers in Muslim and Christian Spain

• During the 12th and 13th centuries, Toledo became renowned for this Arabic–Latin translation activity, partly because it housed several libraries with rich stores of manuscripts. Prior to the Christian conquest of Toledo (1085), the Caliphate of Córdoba had established Toledo as a provincial capital.

• Gerard of Cremona (1114–1187) traveled to Toledo where he learned Arabic from Jews and Muslims, who appear to have assisted him in the translation of Arabic books into Latin.