The Abbasid Empire

@750 - 1200 CE

The Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258 CE) Abu al-Abbas Sunni Arab,

allied with Shia, non-Arab Muslims

Seizes control of Persia and Mesopotamia

Defeats Umayyad army in 750– Invited Umayyads to

banquet, then massacred them

– Only Spain remains Umayyad

– North Africa is disputed territory, ultimately Fatamid

Mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi in Alexandria

Nature of the Abbasid Dynasty

Diverse nature of administration (i.e. not exclusively Arab)

Militarily competent, but not bent on imperial expansion

Dar al-Islam Growth through military

activity of autonomous Islamic forces

Victories

Syria: 635 A.D. Palestine: 636 A.D. Persia: captured in one battle

– expansion into India– expansion to the borders of China

Egypt: help by local Christians North Africa: the Berbers Spain 711-720 A.D. Battle of Tours: October 732 A.D.

– Charles Martel Siege of Constantinople: 717-718 A.D.

– Leo III– Greek fire

beginnings of Christian re-conquest of former Roman/Christian territory

Abbasid Decline

Civil war between sons of Harun al-Rashid

Provincial governors assert regional independence

Dissenting sects, heretical movements

Imperial Breakdown

Problems with rural population

Declining position of women

Nomadic Incursion Impact of Christian

Crusades

Reasons for Islam’s success

exhaustion of Rome and Persia– End of a 400 year war

nationalist sentiments in Egypt and Syria arguments among Christian factions speed and size of Muslim armies simplicity and uncomplicated nature of Islam acceptance of the Old and New Testament

– People of the Book

Consequences of Islamic Expansion loss of the oldest and most central lands of

Christendom aided the ascendancy of the bishop of Rome virtual collapse of Zoroastrianism as a major religion radically altered the balance of power between the

Roman Empire and the East disruption of the Mediterranean economic community

Re-centering of Islam

No religious center Madrasses Sufi brotherhoods

– Asceticism, mysticism– Some tension with

orthodox Islamic theologians

– Wide popularity