Topic: Byzantine Empire and the Rise and Expansion of Islam

Weekly Schedule
Due Date	Activity
July 11	Read & examine this week's module Textbook: Chapters 10-12 Watch: All Videos
July 11	Homework: Byzantine Empire and Islam
July 12	Discussion Iconoclasm
July 12	Review Quizzes and Map Assignment

Image: Scholars and Alchemists

Summary:

The Roman Empire underwent a major transition as it lost the ability to maintain peace within its borders. The Empire fragmented into three culturally distinct parts in which language, religion, and loyalties separated people. In the west, Germanic invaders established new kingdoms, converted to Christianity and blended their own culture with that of Romans now living under their rule. In the east, the Roman Empire persisted for approximately another thousand years, but Byzantium was centered upon Constantinople and began to develop different characteristics with time. The language changed to Greek, while Slavic tribes in the north and Latins in the west influenced the development of a new empire. Finally, in the desert of Arabia, a prophet founded a new religion, which would soon spread rapidly, conquering the eastern and western shores of the Mediterranean and most of the Iberian peninsula. These three civilizations coexisted uneasily, and their differences and conflicts would destroy Roman unity and shape Europe's future.

After the disruptions of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, western Europeans struggled to restore order to their societies. A new social order emerged, in which all members of society were tied to one another through mutual obligations. The basis for the new culture that accompanied this social system was a mixture of Germanic, Christian, and Roman traditions. Early Germanic kings struggled to bring stability to their lands with the use of written law codes. Kings also encouraged intellectual activities which flourished with their patronage and participation. In Anglo-Saxon England, the blending of customary law with the other traditions planted the seeds of a constitutional government. On the continent, under Frankish rulers, this blending of traditions met with the most success. Cooperation between church and state gave Charlemagne's dynasty great legitimacy. The peace and prosperity of these newly consolidated and centralized kingdoms was short-lived, however, as invasions of new peoples in the tenth century undermined the achievements of the preceding centuries.

Rise of Islam

Despite its proximity to the eastern Mediterranean basin, Arabia in the centuries before Islam was relatively isolated and turned more towards the Arabian Sea. By 400 B.C.E., southern Arab city-states had used camels and ships to create a commercial network over land and by sea. The rise of alternative trade routes weakened the city-states of southern Arabia. As this happened, regional powers engaged in a military, commercial, and religious contest for Arabia. It was in this context that monotheistic beliefs gained prominence in Arabia. The decline of the southern Arabian states was also important because their destruction paved the way for the rise of Mecca.

Born around 570 in Mecca, Muhammad grew up in a family of merchants. In 610 he experienced a series of revelations through the Archangel Gabriel, which were written down in the Qur’an. Muhammad claimed they came directly from Allah, the one and only God. Muhammad’s definition of God and of worshippers’ relations to him paralleled those of other monotheistic religions. Muhammad believed that, as the last and greatest of God’s prophets, it was his mission to bring the peoples of Arabia to the new faith. When he began to preach publicly, he encountered opposition and was forced to flee Mecca and travel to Medina. Muhammad built the first umma, or Islamic community, in Medina.

Islam’s second generation spread the new religion beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Their advance startled the rulers of the long-established empires of Persia and Byzantium, who had not anticipated either a military or political challenge from Arabia. Barely three decades after the death of the Prophet, Islamic forces were masters of an extensive empire of their own. In the mid-seventh century, succession conflicts led to the creation of the Umayyad Caliphate and the division within Islam between Sunnis and Shi’ites.

Preaching total submission to the will of God, Islam changed all the societies and cultures it conquered, blending with them to produce an entirely new Islamic society and culture. Among the distinctive creations of Islamic culture was the mosque. The God-centric nature of Muslim society was probably most completely expressed in Islamic law. Islamic law, or Shari`ah, is essentially moral and spiritual, offering a foundation for personal conduct and daily life. Large sections are concerned with family life and gender relations. Tolerance of other creeds was characteristic of most Islamic societies, but this did not prevent non-Muslims from resisting Islamic conquest.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this week's module, students will be able to:

Examine the major historical events that led to the disintegration of Roman unity
Explain the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire)
Examine the major historical events that led to rise of Islam
Analyze the factors that led to the expansion of the Islamic Empire
Explain how Islam connected the Mediterranean world to Asia