Showing posts with label islamic civilization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islamic civilization. Show all posts
Before Muhammad, the
Arabs were mostly nomadic farmers or traders. They had little art of their own.
But as Arab rule expanded, they settled down among Greeks and Syrians in the
north, Persians in the east and Egyptians and Berbers in the west. They therefore
discovered the art of all these people. As they built their new towns, mosques
and palaces, they used the best local craftsmen to help them. But the Arabs
didn’t just take the art of other people. They influenced the work they had
done. So a new, typically Islamic, style of art arose. It can be seen in the
years 600-1000 all around the Muslim world-local styles with a clear Arab
influence.
For example, the Arabs
learned about mosaics from the Byzantines. These are pictures on walls or
floors made of small pieces of tile, stone or glass. The Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem and the Great Mosque in Damascus have large mosaics. Following Arab
tastes, scenes from nature are common. But so are shapes and pattern. The Arabs
liked work in stucco, fine plaster to decorate walls and columns. Patterns can
also be seen in window grills, carved from stone or marble or made of metal. Early
Muslims also made patterns on gold and silver and on ornaments carved from
ivory, wood and rock crystal. The most famous pattern is called arabesque (a
design of flowing lines, often with leaves and flowers). There were probably
many wall painting in the Umayyad mosques and palaces. But there is a problem
with these. Many early mosques and palaces were made from brick, not stone. Brick
is soft and does not last well. Some buildings were also destroyed later by
invaders.
The Arabs also
developed new ways of decorating pottery. One was a new shiny look called lusterware,
which was also used on tiles. There were also splendid carpets, sometimes woven
from silk. But no carpets survive from this period. Everyday articles such as
pots and carpets were used and thrown away by their owners. They didn’t make an
effort to save them for us!
Early Arabic writing,
known as Kufic, looks very simple. But the Koran was written in Arabic. So Muslims
developed more and more attractive forms of writing, until it became an art
form. This art of beautiful writing is called calligraphy and can be seen on
Islamic books, paintings, pottery, mosaics and carpets. It is the most common
feature of Islamic art.
Even before Ali died,
Muawiya claimed to be the true caliph. His family, the Umayyads, provided the
next fourteen caliphs. They ruled until 750. Muawiya moved the capital of Islam
from the holy city of Medina to Damascus, capital of Syria. He had been
governor of Syria for Uthman. His supporters and his army were there. Each
Umayyad caliph named a relative to be his successor before he died. This was to
avoid arguments. But it meant that a ruling family was being created.
The Umayyad ruled well
for a while. Under them, Arab rule grew to the borders of modern-day France in
the west and India in the east. They built fabulous mosques like the Dome of
the Rock in Jerusalem. They allowed their people to bring their problems to
them and consulted advisers about their policies. They were just like the Arab
sheiks of the desert. They kept many of the efficient Christian clerks of the
Byzantine Empire, but put Arabs in the top jobs. They had a postal system using
riders on horseback to reach all parts of their lands. Arabic replaced Greek
and Persian as the language of the captured territory. They started the first
Arab coinage, the gold dinar and the silver dirham. Before this, the Arabs had
used the coins of other countries. All of this meant the Umayyads had firmer
control than any caliphs before.
But they started to
neglect the rules of Islam. They did not base their laws on the Koran. They
were not good Muslims like earlier caliphs. They built lavish palaces outside
the towns, where they spent their time hunting or drinking and dancing.
Surrounded by beautiful women, poets and musicians. Their subjects became
unhappy with the Umayyads. Many Muslims, especially the Shi’ites, thought that
the beliefs of Islam were being forgotten. The Christians and Jews under Arab
control became restless too. They didn’t like having to pay more taxes than
Muslims. The Persians were also restless. They had a glorious history and
didn’t like the way the Arabs looked down upon them. The Bedouin soldiers, who
had fought for the land the Umayyads ruled, began the settle down and live as
farmers. Many of them didn’t want to fight for Umayyads any longer.
A group of Arabs began
to use this discontent to stir up trouble against the Umayyads. They had
settled in the lands aptured from the Persian Empire but they were Arab
descendants of one of Muhammad’s uncles, al-Abbas. They called themselves the
Abbasids. They started a propaganda campaign against the Umayyads. Then they
raised n army from their supporters. At the Battle of the Great Zab in750, they
defeated and killed the caliph. Umayyad control of Islam thus ended.
When Muhammad died,
Muslims controlled most of Arabia. Soon they started expanding much further.
Why did they do this? Some Arabs were eager to spread Islam. The Koran promised
that any Muslims who died in battle for his religion would go to Heaven. It
also said that Allah supported the use of war to defend Muslims against enemies
of Islam. Other joined the attacks for the riches they brought. They wanted to
expand into the fertile land of the Persian Empire and the Byzantine Empire
(the remains of the Roman Empire).
The success of the
Arabs was amazing. By 640, moving north, they had captured Jerusalem and
Damascus and controlled Syria. Soon after, they conquered Persia, Arab armies
also headed west. By 642 these armies captured Cairo and took control of Egypt.
A navy was created and Cyprus was captured in 649. By 670 the Arabs had
occupied Tunisia and in 708 they reached the Atlantic Ocean. Striking east,
they had reached Samarkand by 676 and the borders of India by 707. Victory at
the Battle of Talas in 751 against the Chinese secured central Asia. From such
a humble start, how had they done it? The sources in this unit give some clues.
The Arab tactics were
simple. They would charge the enemy and cast a shower of javelins. They would
repeat this until the enemy showed signs of breaking and then start hand to
hand combat. They were usually outnumbered and the superiority of their enemies
should have been overwhelming. The Arabs had no siege equipment (to help them
break down the defenses of a city of fortress).
Within a few years,
they had destroyed the Persian Empire, which had already been weakened by the
Byzantium, their task was easier because the people were tired of heavy taxes. They
had been persecuted because of differences of opinion about some points of the
Christian religion. They expected better treatment from the Muslims. In North
Africa the fierce Berbers became Muslims and added new strength to the Arab
armies.
The Arabs were tough
men. They knew that if they were killed in this holy war, Allah would reward
them in paradise. They believed that Allah had decided that Islam would
triumph.
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