Hist 55 Midterm Review

Structure of Exam

IDs (four or five with choice out of 8): emphasis on significance of event/person/institution
1 essay (choice out of 2) that will reflect on a key shift or transition and require you to bring in three sources to explore changes over time in the emergence of a Muslim communal identity.
One primary source identification (out of 2): the significance of the source for broader themes explored in the class

Review Terms

6th Century Regional Dynamics

Imperial Rivalries between Byzantines and Sassanians

Arab Christian Client States

Sasanians – Lakhmids (southern Iraq, Hira as capital)

Byzantines – Ghassanids (Syria-Palestine)

Kingdom of Axum

Kingdom of Himyar

Palmyra

Mazdak, Zoroastrianism

Nestorian Christians

Rise of the Quraysh and Mecca

the Quraysh tribe: reorganized Meccan pilgrimage ca. 430

ka‘ba (black rock)

grandsons of Qusayy-founded clans of Quraysh: Hashim, ‘Abd al-Shams, al-Mutallib, Nawfal

pre-Islamic Arabia – jahiliyya – age of ignorance

hanifs: Arabian monotheists who preached in the name of al-Rahman

kahins: soothsayers

hilm: strategy and diplomacy (qualities of leadership in the Peninsula)

Prophet and Early Community

first revelation, 610

public preaching, 613

first converts…

wives of the Prophet (Khadijah, Sawdah, A’isha, Safiyya, Mariya—as key examples)

The Hijra (622)

feud of Aws and Khazraj tribes in town of Yathrib

muhajirun: emigrants

ansar: supporters of Muhammad

umma: the Muslim community as it forms in Medina/umma document

munafiqun: the waverers

Jewish Tribes and the Constitution of Medina

clients of the Aws and Khazraj

1. Banu Qaynuqa

2. Banu Nadir

3. Banu Qurayza

Nakhlah Oasis

Battle of Badr

Battle of Uhud

Battle of the Trench

Treaty of Hudaybiya

role of the Umayyad clan and Abu Sufyan

Creation of the New Systems for Political Authority

al-sahaba – companions of the prophet

shura (consultation) – Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman, ‘Ali

caliph = khalifat rasul Allah (successor to the messenger of God)

Amir al-Mu’minin – Commander of the Faithful

Amir al-Umera‘

ridda (apostasy) wars

Who were the first Four Caliphs (historiographic issues of the Rashidun)

Civil Wars/fitna (issues of succession, chronology and significance)

assassination of ‘Uthman

Battle of the Camel

Battle of Sifin (657)

arudh: arbitration

Ritualization of Islam (the so-called Five Pillars)

salat: prayer

zakat: alms giving

sawm Ramadan: fast

haj: pilgrimage to Mecca

shahada: bearing witness to the one God and to Muhammad as his prophet

‘Ummayad’s Creating an Empire from Damascus

Mu’awiyya (661-680)

‘Abd al-Malik (685/nominally 692/materially – 705)

diwan

misr/amsar: garrison cities

Basra (at the head of the Persian Gulf, 635)

Kufa (near Hira on the Euphrates, 638)

Fustat (just below the Nile Delta, 641)

Merv (670)

Wasit (692)

Principles of divison between Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim

diwan: roll call then central treasury

jizya: poll tax on non-Muslims

kharaj: tax on land use

zakat: “alms” owed the central treasury by Muslims

sadaqa: tax on nomadic populations

dhimmi: system of administering “protected peoples”

Umayyad Caliphs: 661-750

Reign of Mu’awiyya: 661-680

Second Civil War: 683-692

Reign of ‘Abd al-Malik: 685-705

al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf and the bombardment of Mecca in 692 under ‘Abd al-Malik

Wasit: new garrison city between Kufa and Basra

Reign of ‘Umar 11: 617-620 (why important?)

Third Civil War: 744-750 (‘Abbasid takeover)

jamā‘a: the Muslim collectivity

mulk/muluk/malik: kingdom/s/king

mahdi: messiah-like figure emanating from Shi’i hopes for political and religious power

[Mukhtar’s mahdi revolt in Kufa, 684-687—we didn’t cover, but indicates significance of Kufa]

ulema: emerging group of religious scholars and functionaries inserting themselves between the state and the community

‘Abbasid Social Revolution

Ibrahim (Abu Hashim’s son): organizes the Kuffan-Merv connection

Abu Muslim in Khurasan

Abu Salamah in Kufa

Battle of the Great Zab

Abu al-‘Abbas ‘Abdullah al-Saffah (749-54)

al-Saffah (the slaughterer)

invites the remaining ‘Umayyads to a “last supper”

executes Abu Salamah engineered with the help of Abu Muslim

Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur (754-75)

executes Abu Muslim

dihqan

malawi

Imam vs. Khalifa

‘Abbasid Consolidation

Medinat al-Salam (symbol and structure)—City of Baghdad

al-Saffah

al-Mansur

Harun al-Rashid (786-809)

Muhammad al-Amin (809-13), Baghdad

‘Abd Allah al-Ma’mun (813-33), Khurasan

Abu Ishaq al-Mu‘tasim (833-42)—moves to Samarra to avoid Syrian divisions

Bureaucracy

diwan: now references distinct offices and administrative functions

wazir/vizier: by the 9th century head official in the empire

Bardak family: dynasty of wazirs, originally Buddhist

barid: network of spies as attempt to maintain central control

Mamluk: term for slaves, came to constitute a key strategy for military loyalty

Sectarian Rivalries

Kharijis

Zanj (869-883): revolt of slaves who tilled the Sawad (Iraq) mobilized by Khariji egalitarianism and Shi’i revolutionary sentiments

Ja’far al-Sadiq (d. 765)

Divided upon his death by two sons (one who had died before him):

Musa and the Twelvers/Imamis

Isma’il and the Isma’ilis/Seveners

Orthodoxies and Speculative Inquiry

Schools of Law: Hanifi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali

usul al-fiqh: sources for determining legal implementation of Qur’anic principles

hadith

ijma’: consensus of the community

ijtihad: effort necessary to ensure correct/pure interpretive intervention

qiyas: reasoning through analogy

‘ibadat: duties toward God

mu‘amalat – laws of personal status

mahr – bridal gift that becomes permanent property of the woman

‘iddah – 3 month waiting period after divorce

kalam: dialectical theology

Mu‘tazalite Doctrine

mihna, ibn Hanbal

faylasuf: al-Farabi, ibn Sina

	Created by Marcus Agard about 10 years ago

History 55 Midterm Review materials