Islam Grows
New Leader
- After Muhammad died in 632, the Muslim community needed to make the decision on who would be their next religious leader.
- They selected one of Muhammad's good friends named Abu-Bakr to become the first caliph-meaning successor
Issues
- not everyone was welcoming of the caliph
- some tribes around the arabian peninsula abandoned islam completely
- others wouldn't pay taxes
- some individuals even declared themselves to be prophets.
Attempts to Resolve
- Abu-Bakr declared a jihadwhich has two meanings
1. An inner struggle with evil and 2. An armed struggle against non-believers
Expansion by Military
- the Muslim community began to expand under Abu-Bakr as well
- The next 3 caliphers after Abu-Bakr expanded into the Sassanid and Byzantine empires
Reasons for Success
- Did very well in comquests between these empires because they had been fighting each other
- well disciplined
- great leaders
- the 2 empires were not tolerant of the religions in their conquered area so their muslims in the empires would often help the other muslims that invade the empires.
Treatment of Conquered People
- The Qur'an does not allow for muslims to force others to convert to this religion
- muslims allowed the Christians and Jews to practice their religions but they could not spread it.
- They made the Christians and Jews pay a tax however because they did not fight for the islam military groups
Research:
Rhiana Chickering
Cari Peters
Taylor Freund
When was the major split?
The major split happened soon after the death of Muhammad in 632. Muhammad’s followers wanted the all Muslims to decide who would succeed him. The split of Islam is one of the most important events in modern religion. The breaking point of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide was forty-eight years after Muhammad’s death. At this time, Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, was killed at Karbala. This masacre sent shock throughout the entire Muslim empire. Therefore, the history for Sunnis suddenly became sacred for Shi’ites.
Why it happened:
Islam split into Sunni and Shi’a. The reason Islam split is because of religious tensions. Not everyone in Islam accepted Islam and had to pretend to be Muslim.Sunnis are the largest Islamic group. The second largest is Shi’a. They split when Muhammad died in 632. The people of Islam had a huge argument about the succession of Muhammad.
The Sunnis believed that Abu-Bakr was the father of Muhammad's wife. The Sunni’s believed since Aisha is Muhammad's wife that she should be the successor. The Shiites didn’t agree with the Sunni’s. They believed that Muhammad's cousin Ali was to be the next successor. Sufi was a Muslim ascetic and mystic.
Who are the key players:
The key players (groups) in the split of Islam are the Sunnite Muslims,Shiite Muslims, Abbasid, and the Umayyad. The largest one of the groups would be the Sunnites. The Sunnites believe that leadership passes down to caliphs chosen by the prophet Muhammad’s tribe. The other group, the Shiites, believe the real leaders of Islam must go down from the family of Ali, who is Muhammad's cousin. Both groups though uphold the Five Pillars of Faith. Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Islamic caliphates created after the death of Muhammad. The Abbasid Caliphate is the third of the four major Islamic caliphates made. The Abbasid was founded by the descendants of Muhammad’s uncle.
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