Year 9

Unit 5 - The Early Middle Ages

Lesson 5 - Muhammed and Islam

History is written by the victors

​At the beginning of this unit I wrote that: 'For people of the Renaissance, the Middle Ages had been the 'Dark Ages' of barbarism, superstition and war, a time when humanity hadn't progressed but had actually gone backwards.' Nothing illustrates how wrong the people of the Renaissance were, than a quick look at the achievement of Islam in the early 'Middle Ages'. Whilst it is true that in much of Western Europe the collapse of the Roman Empire produced conditions in which the great achievements of Roman 'civilisation' were 'lost', in other parts of the Mediterranean and southern Europe an astonishingly rich culture of science and art was being established. 

But because Islam was a rival to Christianity and because wars or 'crusades' were fought between Christian Europeans and Muslim Arabs, Western history, history written by white Europeans has tended to ignore the achievements of Arabic civilisation (and other non-white, non-Christian cultures - see Black Lives Matter 2020). In this lesson we are going to redress the balance.  To begin watch the film '1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets', which begins by explaining how the 'middle ages' are often perceived, even in school. 1001 Inventions is an award-winning international science and cultural heritage organisation that raises awareness of the golden age of Arabic science.  

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Muhammad

Seventy years after Justinian’s death Byzantium was attacked from an unexpected direction. Thousands of armed nomadic Bedouins from Arabia advanced upon its fertile lands.  In the seventh century the Bedouins reached much further afield than usual. This was because they were inspired by the religious teachings of a new prophet, his name was Muhammad, and he was born about 570 in the dusty trading town of Mecca.  Mecca was busy with camel caravans. It was also the centre of Arab religion which like ancient Greece and Rome was polytheistic. In its cube-shaped place of worship, called the Kaaba, stood statues of several hundred gods - spirits of the stars, rocks, winds and oases. 

Muhammad was troubled by this worshipping of gods and idols. Like a monk he began to retreat to a quiet mountain cave, to think, fast and pray for long periods. He said that it was there that the Angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision and revealed that there was only one god, Allah, and Muhammad was to be His Prophet. Allah was the same God as the God of the Jews and the Christians. But Muhammad said that the Angel told him he was to be the last in a long line of prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ. ​

Muhammad started preaching, but his attacks on the Arabs’ false gods angered the rulers of Mecca who threatened to silence him. Fortunately the Prophet’s fame had spread to Medina, 250 miles (400 km) away. There many Jews and Arabs were attracted by his teachings. So in 622 Muhammad and a few faithful followers moved to Medina. This event, known as the Hegira (breaking of old ties), proved such a turning point that it became Year 1 in the Muslim calendar - just as Christ’s birth marks the start of the Christian calendar.

The Meccans attacked Medina several times, and fierce battles were fought, during which Muhammad himself to be an able military commander. When the Prophet finally captured Mecca in 630 he destroyed the idols in the Kaaba, but not the building itself. He pardoned many of his enemies and as a result many of them became followers of his faith. When Muhammad died, two years later, most Arabs had accepted the new religion of Islam - meaning ‘obedience to the will of God’. Those who ‘obey’ are called Muslims.

The Quran (Koran)

The revelations that came to Muhammad were memorised and written down by his followers. They were put in order under his instructions, and compiled in their final form - in a book called the Quran - less than ten years after the Prophet’s death. The text of the Quran is the same now as it was then. Nothing has been changed.

The Quran is the Holy Book of Muslims. It contains instructions on how a true Muslim should live and worship God. There are five basic ‘Pillars’ (rules) of Islam, which Muslims still follow:

1. The confession of faith: ‘There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet.’
2. Prayer: five times a day Muslims pray, facing the Kaaba (House of God) in Mecca.
3. Fasting: as an act of self-discipline all believers fast from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim
4. Charity: a certain part of a Muslim's income is give to the poor and homeless, and other Islamic causes.
5. Pilgrimage: if possible, all Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once during their lifetime.

The Quran gave guidance to Muslims in their everyday lives. For instance, pork was declared unclean and forbidden; gambling and alcoholic drinks were also forbidden. Instructions were given for the treatment of slaves and the care of wives.  Muhammad promised to the faithful a Paradise where they might expect to dwell at ease in a ‘cool garden of spreading shade, and water gushing, and fruit in plenty’. On the other hand, the ‘evil and unbelieving’ would go to hell, a place of ‘scorching wind and scalding water and shadow of black smoke’. ​

The spread of Islam

United by faith as never before, the Arabs swept northwards conquering the lands of the Byzantine Empire, spreading Islam as they went. Muhammad had promised rewards in paradise for those who showed faith and courage:
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'The sword is the key of heaven and hell; all who draw it in the cause of the faith will be rewarded .... If they fall in battle . . . they will be transported to paradise, there to revel in eternal pleasure.'

Only six years after Muhammad’s death (638) the Arabs had conquered Syria and thousands were making new homes there. Then, turning east, the swift Arab horsemen overran the Persian Empire with astonishing ease (637-44). Before long Muslims were crossing the frontiers of India and China. Meanwhile, Egypt was conquered (642) and the Arabs began moving westwards along the North African coast. By 711 Muslim forces were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar into Spain. ​​

Not until 717 were the armies of Islam seriously checked. Advancing through Asia Minor (now Turkey) they attacked Constantinople by land and sea. But after a bitter struggle the Byzantines forced them back and recovered most of Asia Minor. But Islamic influence over the lands stretching from the Atlantic to the Himalayas remained. The Jewish and Christian populations had to pay taxes, although they were free to practise their religions. Most of the conquered peoples, however, became Muslims. Apart from Spain, these lands are still largely Muslim today.

Merchants and scholars

By breaking down frontiers, Muslims encouraged trade across three continents. In the crowded bazaars (markets) of cities such as Baghdad the rich could buy all kinds of luxury goods. There were jewels, silks, perfumes and spices from China and the Far East; decorated leather and glassware from North Africa and Egypt; furs from central Asia, and magnificent Persian carpets, tapestries and brocades. Arab traders even brought gold, ivory and ostrich feathers from tropical Africa, making the first real contacts between African people and the rest of the world. Helped by the common language of Arabic, ideas travelled as easily as goods throughout Islam. The Arabs were quick to learn from the peoples they had conquered. 

Islamic Golden Age

​Great writings from far and wide, especially those of ancient Greece, were translated and stored in vast libraries. The Renaissance was largely made possible because Arab scholars had saved and translated many of the classical works by authors such as Plato and Aristotle. Through trading with the Far East, Arabs learned about paper-making, the windmill, spinning wheel and magnetic compass.

​These inventions later reached Europe, through Spain and Sicily. So did the nine ‘Arabic’ numerals that we still use today (they originally came from India). The zero, which allows numerals to be arranged in columns representing tens, hundreds and so on, possibly came first from the Chinese. However it was a ninth century Muslim, Al-Khawarizmi, who first described it in a book that has come down to us. He was also one of the inventors of algebra (al-jabr in Arabic).

Not only in mathematics but also in medical science Muslim scholars were far in advance of Europeans in the Middle Ages. They made important discoveries in the treatment of eye disorders, so common in the East. Al-Razi from Baghdad (865-925) wrote about 140 books on medicine, including the first scientific account of smallpox. Avicenna, who lived a century later, wrote a medical encyclopaedia which was the most complete collection of medical knowledge made anywhere in the Middle Ages.

Islamic art is also impressive. Islamic religious art differs from Christian religious art in that it is non-figural because many Muslims believe that the depiction of the human form is idolatry , and thereby a sin against God, forbidden in the Quran. Calligraphy (writing) and mathematical pattern are important in Islamic art. The following set of videos show how geometrical patterns helped create the art of the Alhambra Palace in Grenada, Spain.

Activities

1. Explain the relationship between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Look at the 'Five Pillars of Islam'. What similarities with Christianity can you identify?
2. Why were Arabic traders and merchants so important? 
​3. Do some research on three significant innovations of Islam's golden age.  This website is a good place to start. Try to illustrate your answer with appropriate images.