Summary
Highlights
Dar al-Islam, meaning 'the house of Islam', was a vast region where Islam was the majority religion around 1200 CE. This period saw significant interactions between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Judaism, an ethnic, monotheistic religion originating in the Middle East, was crucial as it preceded the others. Christianity emerged from Judaism with Jesus Christ as its prophet, later becoming adopted by the Roman Empire and influencing the organization of states. Islam was founded by Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, emphasizing salvation through righteous actions like almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. After Muhammad's death, Islam spread rapidly, especially through trading connections facilitated by Muhammad's merchant background, leading to more prosperous Islamic states compared to Christian ones pre-1200.
The Islamic faith facilitated not only trade but also the rise of powerful empires, such as the Abbasid Caliphate, founded in the 8th century. The Abbasids, ethnically Arab, presided over the Golden Age of Islam, characterized by advancements in science, mathematics, literature, and technology. However, by 1200 CE, the Abbasid Empire began to fragment and lose its ascendancy. The Abbasids had replaced the Umayyad caliphate through a brutal power struggle, ending with the massacre of Umayyad court members.
As the Arab-led Abbasid Caliphate waned, new Islamic empires, largely led by Turkic peoples rather than Arabs, began to rise. This was a significant shift. Three prominent examples include the Seljuk Empire, established in the 11th century. The Seljuks, a pastoral people from Central Asia, were ironically brought in by the Abbasids as a military force but eventually gained political power, leaving the Abbasid caliphs with only nominal authority. Another was the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt, whose Mamluk warriors, originally enslaved by Saladin, seized power due to the incompetence of Saladin's successors. Lastly, the Delhi Sultanate in South Asia saw invading Turks establish a Muslim state ruling over the Indian population for about 300 years. The lesson from this period is that hiring Turkic warriors often led to them taking over the empire itself.
These new Turkic Muslim states shared similarities with their Arab predecessors, including military-dominated administration and the implementation of Sharia law. Islam continued to expand across Afro-Eurasia through three main pathways: military expansion (as seen with the Delhi Sultanate), merchant activity (exemplified by boosted trade in North Africa and the conversion of the Mali Empire), and the efforts of Muslim missionaries, particularly the Sufis. Sufism, a new form of Islam, emphasized mystical experiences accessible to all, regardless of class or gender, contributing significantly to the spread of Islam despite initial disapproval from the Islamic scholarly class.
Dar al-Islam was also a hub of intellectual activity. Notable advancements included innovations in mathematics, such as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's invention of trigonometry for astronomical observations. Al-Tusi's work later influenced Nicholas Copernicus's heliocentric theory. During the Abbasid Caliphate's Golden Age, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad served as a renowned library and academic center. Scholars there preserved and translated crucial Greek philosophical texts by figures like Plato and Aristotle into Arabic. These efforts were vital in preventing the loss of these works, which were later transferred to Europe and became foundational for the Renaissance.