- Students will define words relevant to this unit: Islam, Muslim, Qur'an, shari'a, mosque, hajj, centralized government, caliph, Sunni, Shi'a, hijrah, calligraphy.
- This station is worth 12 points.
- The directions for this station are on the website and your work may be submitted on paper, emailed, or shared through Google Drive.
THERE IS A DOCUMENT IN THE CRATE AT THE BACK OF THE ROOM WHICH YOU MUST COMPLETE FOR THIS STATION.
THE MIDDLE EAST AND MECCA [LEARNING TARGETS #1 and #2] The Middle East was a land of few resources. Vast deserts meant lots of sand and not a lot of water. But the Middle East was home to an incredibly resourceful people. The Arab peoples were masters of their land who relied on a nomadic lifestyle, disciplined water and food preservation strategies, and useful animals like the camel. There was a great deal of conflict between groups struggling to control the scarce resources of the land. Truces were declared once a year so the various tribes and family clans belonging to each tribe could come together at shrines to settle disputes, trade, and worship. The Arab peoples of the Middle East also thrived as the best guides and guards available for traders passing along the Silk Road from Asia to Europe and Africa. The markets of the Middle East were places where great wealth was collected and ideas were exchanged freely. One such market was found in the city of Mecca.
THE MESSAGE OF MUHAMMAD [LEARNING TARGETS #1 AND #2] Muhammad was born in the year 570 in the city of Mecca. He belonged to the Quraysh tribe that maintained the Kaaba and his family clan was called Banu Hashim. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was a child so Muhammad was taken in by his uncle, Abu Talib, who was leader of the family clan. As he grew older, Muhammad became a respected member of the Meccan community. He was taught the ways of trade and led caravans through the desert that brought more wealth to Mecca and his clan. He was known for settling disputes and once offered a solution for fixing a sacred part of the Kaaba called the Black Stone that involved all the major clans contributing to its repair. And Muhammad was happily married to a woman named Khadija by the time he was twenty-five. The nearby mountains were a place where Muhammad would often go for private prayer and meditation. In the year 610, Muhammad claimed that an angel had been sent to reveal to him the word of God. The angel instructed Muhammad to recite the ideas and rules revealed to him. The Arabic word for “recitation” is Qur’an and this would become the name of the Islamic holy book describing the beliefs and practices for Muslims that were revealed to Muhammad by the angels. For three years, Muhammad only discussed his visions with close friends and family but he soon began preaching openly. He spoke of Abraham, the legendary founder of Judaism and Christianity, as one of the first prophets and explained a tradition in which Abraham’s son Ishmael had built the Kaaba and Mecca. He expressed his belief that there was only one god and that humanity had repeatedly been given messages from this god (like the Torah and Bible) but they had been corrupted or ignored. Muhammad’s message made him unpopular with the powerful figures of Mecca. His new faith attracted many but especially those who were under-privileged. With time Muhammad also became more bold in proclaiming that the belief in many gods (polytheism) of other Arabs was sinful and that the Kaaba should once again be a mosque to Allah rather than a shrine to many different gods. Despite the criticism of his message, Muhammad was protected by his uncle and the growing community of Muslims. THE FIRST MUSLIM COMMUNITIES [LEARNING TARGETS #1 AND #2] The followers of Muhammad and his Islamic teachings were persecuted very early on. Just a few years after Muhammad began his sermons some of the Muslim community had already been forced to leave Mecca and start a new home in Africa where they were greeted by the Christian king of Ethiopia as fellow monotheists. The Muslim community in Mecca was protected by Muhammad’s clan until the “year of sorrow” in 619. In that year Muhammad’s uncle, Abu Talib, and his wife, Khadija, both passed away. Both deaths were devastating to the Muslim community but the loss of Muhammad’s uncle also meant no more protection from the family clan. This meant more persecution of the Muslim community by Meccans who distrusted Muhammad’s new religion and its message. Fearing for the Prophet’s safety, the Muslim community began looking for a new home. Some of the cities considered by Muhammad feared that involvement with his community might draw them into conflict with Mecca and rejected him. Eventually, a city called Yathrib welcomed Muhammad to help negotiate conflicts between different groups in the city as its new political leader. In the year 622, Muhammad and the Muslim community fled Mecca for Yathrib. This event is called the hijrah and it marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Muhammad and his followers from Mecca worked alongside the peoples of Yathrib and soon the city became known as Medina, the “city of the Prophet”. Many clans from the desert and Medina converted to Islam during this time and joined the Muslim community.
MEDINA (CITY OF THE PROPHET) VS. MECCA (CITY OF THE KAABA) Despite leaving BLANK #1 during the hijrah to Medina in 622, tension continued to develop between the Muslim community led by BLANK #2 and the Meccans. In 623, Muslims began attacking caravans of traders and their goods from Mecca. In Middle Eastern society at that time this would normally be considered appropriate given the weaker position the Muslims were in and what the Muslims had lost when they fled Mecca. The Meccans obviously saw things quite differently. Especially after a Meccan was killed during a raid. After several battles and many lives lost, the Muslims and Meccans negotiated a treaty in 628. The treaty allowed the Muslims to complete a BLANK #3 (hajj) the next year and established peace between Mecca and Medina. In 629, Muhammad and his followers completed the hajj and their worship rituals at the BLANK #4 in Mecca. But in that same year a Meccan attacked an ally of Muhammad. The Muslims saw this as the treaty being broken and prepared to attack Mecca. The conquest of Mecca was not much of a challenge for the Meccans. Muhammad was merciful and spared the Meccans rather than doing them further harm. Instead, he focused his wrath on the idols and shrines in the Kaaba. The black cube that Muhammad said Abraham had built was once again dedicated to the one god of Judaism. Christianity, and BLANK #5. Even after the conquest of Mecca, the Muslims faced challenges from others who disagreed with Muhammad’s message of one god. Muhammad led his armies against opponents throughout the BLANK #6. This significantly expanded the lands controlled by the Muslim community and increased the number of converts. AFTER MUHAMMAD In the year 632, Muhammad completed a hajj to BLANK #7 and gave what he called his final sermon to the people. The BLANK #8 of Islam advised his people to be good to each other and respect all peoples regardless of race or religion. A few months after this event, Muhammad became sick and died. The BLANK #9 community had many questions about what came next. Muhammad had not appointed someone to succeed him as leader of the Muslims and their growing civilization. This was a very serious issue for a variety of reasons. Muhammad had been the connection between the Muslim people and their god. Although he had told them that he was the last prophet, many Muslims hoped for another religious figure to lead them. There was also concern about who could lead the Arab peoples, who had been a decentralized society, now that they had a BLANK #10 and were united in the religion of Islam. The Arabic word for “successor” is caliph and the most influential Muslims had to decide quickly who would fill this role and lead after Muhammad’s death. There were two favored candidates to be the first caliph. Abu Bakr was the father of Muhammad’s wife Aisha and one of his oldest friends. Ali was the son-in-law of Muhammad and also one of the earliest converts to Islam. Abu Bakr was nominated first and favored by many but others argued that Muhammad had chosen Ali as BLANK #11 during his last pilgrimage to Mecca. Ultimately, Abu Bakr was chosen and this would have very serious consequences for Islam. His first task was to put down a rebellion of tribes that felt they owed no allegiance to the new Muslim government after Muhammad’s death. After his success against the rebel tribes, Abu Bakr took a big risk and attacked the two large empires to the northwest and the northeast of the BLANK #12. The gamble paid off and Abu Bakr had successfully invaded, despite not conquering entirely, the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Sassanid Empire. After only two years as caliph, Abu Bakr passed away from illness. In his time as leader he had established what is called the Rashidun Caliphate. “Rashidun” means righteous and refers to the first four caliphs to follow Muhammad. THE RASHIDUN CALIPHATE AND BEYONDAbu Bakr was succeeded by a man named Umar. He is best known for expanding the empire considerably and finished what Abu Bakr had started by conquering the Persian Sassanid Empire and most of the Byzantine Empire. Under Umar, the BLANK #13 of the Rashidun Caliphate was improved by his reforms to the administrative system. He is also known for being assassinated by Persians who were bitter about his conquest of their homelands.
The BLANK #14 who succeeded Umar was named Uthman. His greatest achievement was collecting the BLANK #15 in order to produce one official text for all Muslims to study. This was significant given that new peoples were being introduced to Islam at a rapid rate and needed this guidance in their new faith. Uthman also focused on increasing the economic prosperity of the Muslim peoples. Uthman was assassinated by rebels in the year 656. Although he was a good leader, Uthman did not command the massive empire in a way that created loyalty or prevented feuds between the many groups under his rule. His successor was Ali; the same Ali who many felt should have been the first caliph. Unfortunately, Ali’s rule was marked by strife and civil war between Muslims. This was not entirely Ali’s fault as he had to clean up the mess created by Uthman’s assassination. As caliph, Ali took steps to surround himself with loyal advisors and administrators. A relative of Uthman’s by the name of Muawiya was one of several whom Ali removed from their position of power. Muawiya had been governor of Syria and chose to lead the Syrian people in rebellion against Ali. A group of Muslims who would become known as the Kharijites did not support Muawiya’s rebellion nor Ali for attempting to negotiate with the Syrians. Ali was assassinated by these Kharijites while praying at a BLANK #16 in modern day Iraq. After his death, Muawiya would found a new Muslim empire called the Umayyad Caliphate. From this point on, several great civilizations would rise and fall with Islam as their guiding force including the Abbasids in Iran, Fatimids in North Africa, Mamluks in Egypt and India, as well as the Ottomans in Turkey. Islam spread rapidly through the world thanks to the growth and influence of the Muslim empires and the movement of ideas with Muslim traders. Today almost 25% of the world’s population are Muslims. The two largest groups are Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. 80-90% of the Muslims in the world are Sunnis and 10-20% are Shi’a. The biggest difference between these two groups, and the reason for their conflict with each other, can be traced all the way back to what happened after Muhammad’s death. Shi’a Muslims believe that Ali should have been the successor of Muhammad. BLANK #17 Muslims have no problem with Abu Bakr being chosen as the first caliph. Shi’a believers see Ali as what is called an imam. This means that he had the power to interpret and enforce Islamic law, or BLANK #18, in ways that no caliph could. The Shi’a sect believes Ali and the imams who have followed him were divinely chosen to lead the Muslim community.
Our ability to relate what we learn in World History to what is happening in the world today is kind of the whole point of this class. For this station, you are being asked to find articles that discuss news related to what we have been studying or analyze issues surrounding what we have been studying. In many ways, this is similar to the Current Events assignment you have already completed several times. Please take a look at the topics suggested below and feel free to ask Mr. Brock for suggestions about specific articles he knows of or has already read.
Topics you could consider and search for:
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Unit #7
Stations Are Due On... Thursday June 27th Categories
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Remember, your next Current Event is due by Thursday July 25th!
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