Chapter Eight:

Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic

Civilization to South and Southeast Asia
Spread of Islam: Early History
 Islamic Heartlands in the Middle
and Late Abbasid Eras
By mid 9th century, Abbasid dynasty had begun to
lose control over empire (gradual disintegration)

Sumptuous living, civil wars drain treasury

Shi’a revolts, assassination attempts against

Abbasid officials

Peasant revolts about increasing taxes

Al-Mahdi (3rd Abbasid caliph) financially drained

the empire, luxurious living
•
The Late Abbasid Era
As early as the third Abbasid Caliph, al-Mahdi
(775-785), issues related to the decline of the
Abbasid Caliphate were apparent.
• Somewhat typical pattern:
• Caliph abandons frugal ways of
predecessors
• Caliph does NOT establish clear pattern of
succession
• In many cases, wives/concubines became
involved in the various palace intrigues
associated with the succession crises.
Islamic Heartlands in the Middle
and Late Abbasid Eras

Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE): most famous

and longest lasting Abbasid caliph.

Highly dependent on his advisors

Reign full of excess and sumptuous living

After his death, there were several civil wars

over succession.
 The Late Abbasid Era
• Harun al-Rashid (786-809)
ascended to the throne after the
death of al-Mahdi (and the
poisoning of his eldest son)

• Harun al-Rashid enjoyed the

sumptuous palace living

• Emissaries sent in the 9th

century were dazzled with the
splendor of Baghdad
 Harun al-Rashid
• Power of Royal Advisors grew throughout the
rule of Harun al-Rashid.
• Caliphs became pawns in the factional royal
court battles…
• Upon al-Rashid’s death, full-scale civil war
broke out amongst those vying for power.
• While al-Ma’mum (813-833) was the victor…
what he did next truly changed the nature of the
Caliphate…
 Slave Armies
• Al-Ma’mum was convinced to conscript
thousands of mostly Turkic-speaking slaves as
his personal bodyguards.
• As the number eclipsed 70,000 the slave
regiment became a power center, in its own
right.
• By 846, they had murdered the reigning caliph,
and in the coming decades would murder at
least four more
Islamic Heartlands in the Middle
and Late Abbasid Eras

Increase in mercenary armies.

Aggressive; create social unrest

Power supporting Abbasids.

Money also lost on:

Caliphs attempted to build new capitals near

Baghdad

Agricultural villages, irrigation abandoned

 Abbasid Decline
• Caliphs struggle to control the Slave Regiments
• Some Caliphs want to move capital away from
Baghdad turmoil
• Increased spending
• New irrigation…
• Old irrigation and public works fall into
disrepair
• Spiraling taxation/pillaging, etc…
• Abandonment of some of the earlier provinces
of the empire.
Islamic Heartlands in the Middle
and Late Abbasid Eras

Freedom and influence of women declined.

Abbasid society was male dominated.

Women began to be veiled.

Poor women worked but rich women did

not.

Abbasid wealth generated large demand for

concubines and male slaves.
 Late Abbasid Decline…
women
• The Harem and the Veil are
the twin emblems of
women’s increasing
subjugation to men and
confinement.

• The Abbasid court created

the concept of the Harem for
the Caliphate.
 Further Abbasid Decline
• In 945, the Buyids of Persia
• The Abbasids were losing invade and capture
territory quickly… Baghdad.

• Egypt and Syria break away • Caliphs became puppets

from Abbasid rule controlled by families, like
the Buyids.
• In once-provincial areas of
the Islamic Caliphate, • Buyid leaders took the title
independent kingdoms had of “sultan” meaning
arose to challenge the “victorious” in Arabic,
Abbasids which will designate
Muslim rulers.
 Divisions within the Empire

Loss of territory and loss of control in outer reaches of

empire

Independent kingdoms form in areas that were once

provinces, aim to supplant Abbasids

The Buyids of Persia captured Baghdad in 945 CE.

Originate as province turned kingdom

Abbasid caliphs / court became powerless

Controlled by sultans (Buyid leaders, “victorious”)

 Divisions within the Empire

In one century, Buyid control is broken

The Seljuk Turks defeated the Buyids in 1055 CE.

Seljuks were nomadic invaders from Central Asia

Sunnis who eliminated the Shi’a officials in the

Buyids and any Shi’a influence the Buyids
promoted

Rival Shi’a Egyptians and Byzantines were defeated

by Seljuks
 The Seljuks
• By 1055, the Buyid control
over the Caliphate was
broken

• In 1055, Central Asian

Nomadic warriors known as
the Seljuk Turks ruled over
the Abbasid lands.

• Staunch Sunnis…kick Shia’s

out of governmental positions

• Resisted the Byzantines who

were taking advantage of
Muslim disunity
Seljuk Turks

• Defeat of the Byzantines led

to the settlement of Asia
Minor which would
eventually become the seat
of the Ottoman Empire
 Divisions within the Empire
1096 CE- West European Christian crusaders invaded Muslim
territory

Chaos from Buyids and Seljuks in empire makes crusader

invasion easy

Goal is to capture the biblical Holy Land and Jerusalem (June

1099)

Established small, rival warrior kingdoms

Most were recaptured (Acre, last to fall in 1291 CE)

Europeans borrowed heavily from Muslim civilizations

Europeans recovered lost Greek learning

Muslim peoples were not very interested in European civilization.

The Crusades
 The Crusades
• Knights from Western Europe launched
crusades to capture portions of the Islamic
world that made up the Holy Land of Biblical
times.
• Muslim divisions and the element of surprise
made the first Crusade a Christian success.
• 1099: Christian knights took Jerusalem.
• Muslim and Jewish inhabitants were
massacred
First Crusade
First Crusade
 The Crusades
• For the next two centuries, Europeans would
mount in excess of 8 crusades.
• Varying degrees of success
• When Muslim were united under powerful rule
like Salah-ud-Din (Saladin) they re-conquer
most of the lands they lost.
• The last crusader kingdom fell in Acre in 1291
Third Crusade gets Acre, but then the
Europeans lose it!
 Impact of Crusades

• The Crusaders’ experiences in the Eastern

Mediterranean intensified European
“borrowing” from the Muslim world.
• Through increased cultural contacts, Europeans
began to recover much of the Greek learning
lost during the waves of nomadic invasions after
the fall of the Roman Empire
An Age of Learning and Artistic
Refinement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUkyOjl4YJ
4

Political decline and social turmoil were offset

for many by the urban affluence, inventiveness,
and artistic creativity of the Abbasid Age

Increase in trade and intellectual creativity

 An Age of Learning and Artistic
Refinement

Rapid urban growth and prosperity

Prosperity persisted until late in the Abbasid era

Employment opportunities for skilled individuals

remained abundant

Merchants remained wealthy; Long-distance trade

Artists and artisans created mosques, palaces, tapestries,

rugs, bronzes, jewelry, and ceramics.
An Age of Learning and Artistic
Refinement
Persian replaced Arabic as the written
language of the Abbasid court.

Arabic becomes the language of religion, law

and the natural sciences

Persian became the language of “high

culture”

Great literary tradition emerges in this period

Firdawsi’s epic poem, Shah-Nama, a history

of Persia from creation to Islamic conquest
 An Age of Learning and Artistic
Refinement
Important advancements in science and math

Math= major corrections to theories from ancient Greeks

• Major corrections to algebraic and geometric theories

• Advances in trigonometry

Al-Biruini calculated the exact weight of 18 major

minerals

Improved astronomical instruments, medicine, hospitals

Papermaking, silk weaving, ceramic firing

Scholars made some of the world’s best maps

 An Age of Learning and Artistic
Refinement
Ulama (religious scholars) became more conservative
and suspicious of non-Muslim influences and
scientific thought

Disliked Muslims utilizing Greco-Roman

knowledge; associated it with the aggressive
Crusader culture

Sufis are interested in mysticism, sought personal

union with Allah through asceticism, meditation,
songs, dancing or drugs.

Gained reputations as healers and miracle workers.

•
Muslim Learning and Refinement
Even though the caliphate was steeped in political
turmoil, the Muslim Empire still experienced growth
and prosperity until late in the Abbasid era.
• Declining Revenue
• Deteriorating conditions in the countryside/town
life
• Expansion of the professional classes
• Muslim/Jewish/Christian entrepreneurs amass great
fortunes supplying cities with staples (grain/barley),
essentials (cotton, woolen textiles for clothing), and
luxury items.
•
 Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Artists and Artisans benefit
• Mosques and palaces became more ornate.
• Tapestries and rugs from Persia were in great demand
from Europe to China.
• Persian becomes the language of “high culture.”
• Arabic remains language of religion, law, and natural
sciences
• Persian was language of literary expression,
administration, and scholarship.
Age of Muslim Learning and Refinement
• Great advances in chemistry
and astronomy.

• Cairo: best hospitals in the

world

• Muslim traders introduce

techniques like papermaking
and silk-weaving that was
developed in China.

• Development of cartography
New Waves of Nomadic Invasions and
the End of the Caliphate
Mongols were a threat to Islamic lands

Central Asian nomadic invaders

Chinggis Khan (Ghengis Khan) destroyed the

Turkish Persian kingdoms east to Baghdad in
1220s

His grandson, Hulegu, continued the assault

in 1250s on center of Islamic civilization

1258 CE- Last Abbasid ruler (37th) was killed

when Baghdad fell
 The End of the
•
Caliphate
By the 10th and 11th centuries,
the Abbasid Caliphate was
compromised by many different
factions

• In the early 13th century, the

Mongols, united under
Chinggis Khan became a
powerful force in Asia,
smashing through Turko-
Persian kingdoms to the east of
Baghdad by 1220 CE.
The End of the
Caliphate
• Genghis dies before
conquest of the Islamic
Heartlands, but his
grandson, Hulegu renewed
the assault on the Islamic
lands in the 1250s.

• By 1258, the Abbasid capital

of Baghdad was taken by
the Mongols
The End of the Caliphate

• In 1401, Baghdad suffers

• The 37 and last Abbasid
th
from another capture and
Caliph was put to death by
round of pillaging by the
the Mongols.
forces of Tamerlane.
• The Mongol advance was • Baghdad’s glory becomes
stopped by the Mamluks, or
supplanted by Cairo to the
Turkic Slaves who ruled
west and Istanbul to the
Egypt.
North
The Coming of Islam to South Asia
7th c. - Muslim invasions, traders, and migrants carry Islam
and Islamic civilization to south Asia

Islam added to the complexity of Indian civilization

Hinduism= open, tolerant, and inclusive of widely varying

forms of religion, caste hierarchy

Islam= unflinchingly monotheistic, proselytizing, egalitarian

(all equal under God)

Society where Muslim rulers governed Hindu subjects,

employ Hindus to govern

Peaceful commercial and religious exchange, for the most

part, periodic tensions and initial violent conflict
 Move towards Empire…
• Early interactions did little to add territory to the
Muslim Empire, and in some cases, lost territory
• BUT, in 962 CE, a Turkish slave dynasty seized power
in Afghanistan.
• Their third ruler, Mahmud of Ghazni, began two
CENTURIES of Muslim raiding and conquest in
Northern India
• Throughout the 11th century, Mahmud defeated one
confederation of Hindu princes after another in the
name of Islam.
• The efforts of Mahmud of
Ghazni were continued by
Muhammad of Ghur

• Assassinated in 1206

• A slave lieutenant seizes

power…Qutb-ud-din Aibak
 The Delhi Sultanate
• A new Muslim empire was
proclaimed with the capital at
Delhi, along the Jumna river on
the Gengetic Plain.

• For the next 300 years, a

succession of dynasties known
as the Delhi Sultante (literally,
princes of the heartland) ruled
North and Central India
 The Delhi Sultanate

• This was a period of

clashing control between the
sultanate princes
themselves, as well as
Mongol and Turkic
invaders.
 The Hindu/Islam mix
• Early centuries were characterized by violent conflict.
• However, a good deal of trade and religious
interchange.
• In time, peaceful interactions became the norm
• There were contacts via traders in the Indian Ocean
Trade network as early as 711 CE
• Indian overlords who took over land in South Asia
brought little change to most inhabitants of the Indian
Subcontinent.
• Many people welcomed the Arabs because they
promised lighter taxation and religious tolerance
Early Muslim encounters
in India
• Muslim leaders decided to treat Hindus and
Buddhists as the dhimmi, or “people of the
book” even though they had no connection to
the Bible.
• This meant that Hindus and Buddhists had to
pay the tax on non-believers, they enjoyed the
freedom to worship as they pleased.
• Little effort was put towards conversion, so
most people remained Hindu or Buddhist.
 Conversion
• Carriers of the new faith on the subcontinent were often
merchants and Sufi mystics
• Sufis shared many characteristics with Indian gurus
and wandering ascetics.
• Belief in magical healing powers
• Accepted lower-caste and outcaste groups into Islamic
faith
• Most Muslims were NOT from the Indo-Gangetic centers
of the Delhi Sultanate, indicating low forced conversions
 Conversion
• Most conversions came from low-caste or
Buddhist groups.
• Buddhism became largely debased as a result
of corrupt practices
• Buddhist temples and monasteries became
lucrative targets for raids, etc.
• Many lower-caste, untouchables, animistic
tribes, and Buddhists were attracted to the
egalitarian nature of Islam
•
Accommodation
Hindus were convinced that Muslims would
soon be absorbed by the superior religions and
more sophisticated cultures of India
• Many things pointed that way!
• Muslim princes adopted regal styles
• Muslim rulers claim divine descent
• Muslim rulers mint coins with Hindu
images
• Muslim communities also became socially
divided along Caste lines
Islam in South Asia at the end
of the Sultanate
• Attempts to fuse Hinduism and Islam soon were
recognized as impossible.
• Brahmans soon denounce Muslim leaders, etc.
• Muslims respond by strengthening their unity
within the Indian Muslim community
• After centuries of political domination though, South
Asia remained one of the least converted and
integrated of all the areas Islam reached.
The Coming of Islam to
South Asia
Islamic civilization was enriched by Indian
culture.

Indian achievements were passed to Arabs

Colonies of Arabs settled along India’s coasts,

adopted local customs

Provided staging points for Islamic expansion

•
Religious contradictions
Orthodox religious scholars felt that the revival of Greco-
Roman philosophical traditions would erode the absolute
authority of the Qur’an
• Sufi movement…
• Sufis are wandering mystics who sought a personal union
with Allah
• A reaction against the abstract divinity of the Qur’an
• Sufis gain reputations as healers and miracle workers…
gain sizeable followings
• Some led militant bands that spread Islam to
nonbelievers
 Indian/Muslim cultural
diffusion
• Muslims inherit the Indian scientific learning, which
rivaled the Greeks as the most advanced in the world.
• Arabic numerals originated in India
• Indian learning was transferred to Baghdad in the age of
the Abbasids.
• Indian doctors, scientists, etc.
• Muslims adopt Indian styles of dress, food, and ride on
elephants as the Hindu rajas (kings) did.
• Muslims also adopt and infuse Indian architectural styles
The Spread of Islam to
Southeast Asia
Easy to continue spreading east once Islam is
in India

7th and 8th centuries= Southeast Asian sailors

and ships were active in trade, interact with
Islamic trader.

8th century= Muslims gained control of Indian

commerce

Islamic culture reached Southeast Asia

The Spread of Islam to
Southeast Asia
The first conversions occurred in small northern
Sumatran ports, Islam enters largely due to trade

Islam spread into many islands in southeastern

Asia.

Coastal cities were most receptive to Islam; most

exposed to a variety of things due to interactions
with other cultures through trade.
The Spread of Islam to
Southeast Asia
Sufis were tolerant of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs.

Conversions are generally peaceful

New believers combine Islamic teaching/rituals

with elements of local religion

Islamic law ruled legal transactions.

Women have a stronger familial and societal

position than they had in the Middle East or India
(lineage and inheritance through female line)
Southeast
Asia
 SE ASIA

• As a result, elements of
Islam began to filter into the
southeast Asian region

• The collapse of the

Shrivijaya trading empire
(Buddhist) in the 13th
century opened the door for
the widespread introduction
of Islam
 Importance

• Southeast Asia was

CRITICAL to the connection
of trade from Chinese ports
to Indian vessels along the
Indian Ocean Trade
network
 Southeast Asian
contribution
• Aromatic woods from
rainforests of Borneo and
Sumatra

• Spices: cloves, nutmeg from

Indonesia

• From 8th Century onward,

coastal trade in India
became dominated by
Muslims
 SE ASIA
• Trading contacts paved the
way for conversion

• NOT conquest and force

• Muslim ships also carry

Sufis to the various parts of
SE Asia

• Conversion begins in
Sumatra, then across the
Strait of Malacca to Malaya
•
SE ASIA
Muslims impressed SE Asians by telling them how much of the world had
already been converted
Malacca
• Mainland conversion was
centered on Malacca, a powerful
trading city

• Spreads to east Sumatra and to

DEMAK on the north coast of
Java

• From there, spread to the

Celebes and then the Spice
Islands, then to Mindanao and
Southern Philippines
Conversion
• Trading was the key to
conversion.

• Regulation of commonality in
Muslim laws was good to
regulate business.

• Conversion linked centers

culturally, and economically to
Indian merchants and ports in
India, the Middle East, and the
Mediterranean
 SE Asian Islam
• Some areas (like Central • Because it was spread
Java) saw conversion take primarily by Sufis, SE Asian
longer than others Islam was more dynamic
than orthodox Islam
• Hindu-Buddhist dynasties
contested its spread • Infused with mythical strains

• Mainland Southeast Asia • Tolerated animist, Hindu, and

did NOT see wholesale Buddhist beliefs and rituals.
conversion, and remained
• Magical powers
largely Buddhist
 Women in SE Asian
Islamic Society
• Women retained a strong position in the family
and the community
• Trading in local and regional markets was
dominated by small-scale female merchants
• As in Western Sumatra, lineage and
inheritance was traced through female lines
• Many cultural elements were blended from SE
Asian Culture with Muslim Culture.
 Global Connections:
Islam
Despite the political instability of the Abbasids, Islam’s
central position in global history was solidified.

Social strife and political divisions VS. expanding trade

and intellectual creativity

Islam was the civilizer of nomadic peoples in Asia and

Africa.

The spread of Islam helps to create trade connections

Cultural contributions = great cities to universities