Abbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast Asia

1. Introduction

By the middle of the ninth century C.E., the Abbasid dynasty had begun to lose control over its empire. Rebellious states, military regimes, and religious dissenters broke apart the political unity of Islam. Mongol armies finally conquered the steadily diminishing Abbasid heartland in the thirteenth century. Although the political unity of Islam was forever shattered, the last centuries of Abbasid rule witnessed a period of cultural creativity and the expansion of Islam into South and Southeast Asia and Africa.

2. The Islamic Heartlands in the Middle and Late Abbasid Era



1. Introduction

Political divisions and religious diversity were already apparent by the reign of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi. Shi'i rebellions against Abbasid rule continued to trouble the dynasty until the thirteenth century. Problems in determining the succession also arose in the reign of al- Mahdi. One of the most famous of the Abbasid caliphs, Harun al- Rashid, succeeded to the throne after the assassination of his older brother.

2. Imperial Extravagance and Succession Disputes

Under Harun, the Abbasid court continued its reputation for luxurious living. Beginning with al-Rashid and continuing in subsequent reigns, powerful ministers began to usurp the authority of the caliphs. After the middle of the ninth century, the Abbasid rulers were often merely figureheads. After Harun's death, a civil war among his sons determined the succession.

Thereafter, potential heirs to the Abbasid throne began the practice of recruiting private armies. These private armies came to be dominated by slaves, often drawn from the Turkic populations of central Asia. The mercenary armies of former slaves often acted independently to determine the succession. Turkish generals vied for power over figurehead rulers. Mercenary armies became uncontrollable elements within the Baghdad population.

3. Imperial Breakdown and Agrarian Disorder

Increasing military costs and the construction of new capitals increased the burden of taxation on the rural population. In order to rid themselves of potential revolutionaries and ease the administrative problems of raising revenue, Turkish commanders received whole regions of the Abbasid Empire for direct government. Although there were cases of careful management, many commanders attempted to wring as much revenue as possible from the peasantry. Heavy taxation and military intervention led to abandonment of fields and disruption of the critical irrigation works of Mesopotamia. Peasants who left the land turned to banditry to support themselves.

4. The Declining Position of Women in the Family and Society

During the Abbasid period, Muslim women were increasingly confined to the household and totally subjected to patriarchal authority. The Abbasid caliphs maintained harems, in which both wives and concubines were secluded in the imperial chambers. The prosperity of the later Abbasid period allowed the Muslim elite to obtain numerous slaves, many of which were taken or purchased from the non-Islamic regions that surrounded the empire. Female slaves were not secluded and may have had greater freedom than Muslim wives. Another custom calculated to preserve the purity of Muslim males was the veiling of free females. Elite women were cut off from any occupation other than running a household.

5. Nomadic Incursions and the Eclipse of Caliphal Power

After the ninth century, the process of political fragmentation within the Abbasid Empire accelerated. In 945 the Buyids of Persia captured Baghdad and reduced the Abbasid rulers to puppets, while actual administration was in the hands of Buyid sultans. In 1045 the Seljuk Turks replaced the Buyids as masters of Baghdad. Staunch Sunnis, the Seljuks moved to eliminate Shi'ite influence within the empire. The Seljuks temporarily reversed the momentum of territorial loss and managed to defeat the forces of the Byzantine Empire. Seljuk victories opened the way for conquest of Asia Minor.

6. The Impact of the Christian Crusades

The Christian Crusades sought to recapture the Holy Land for the West. The first Crusade (1096-1099) resulted in the division of Palestine and Syria into a chain of Crusader kingdoms. Later Crusades were less successful and posed little threat to Muslim rulers. Under Saladin, most of the Holy Land was recaptured for Islam at the end of the twelfth century. Muslim forces eliminated all of the Christian kingdoms by 1291. The Crusades served to intensify the European exposure to Islamic culture and civilization. Most importantly, the West was able to obtain from the Muslim world much of Greek learning. Westerners also benefited from Muslim advances in science and medicine. Luxury cloths produced in the Middle East made their way into European markets. For their part, the Muslims demonstrated little interest in Western culture.

3. An Age of Learning and Artistic Refinement



1. Introduction

Despite political disorder, Muslim civilization enjoyed a period of great creativity under the Abbasids. Urbanization continued, even though the rural countryside experienced economic decline. Cities both provided a market and created a conduit for the long-distance commerce that allowed merchants to prosper. Opportunities abounded for craftsmen and artists working in the urban centers.

2. The Full Flowering of Persian Literature

Persian gradually replaced Arabic as the primary language of the Abbasid court, particularly in terms of literary expression. In the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, Firdawsi produced the classic epic poem, Shah-Nama, a stylized history of Persia. Other authors concentrated on different literary genres, but Persian was the language in which Abbasid high culture was expressed.

3. Achievements in the Sciences

Islamic civilization during the Abbasid period produced numerous scientific discoveries and made major advances in mathematics. Muslim scientists developed objective experimentation, improved scientific devices for measuring, and created the most accurate astronomical charts available to that date. Much of Arabic science was practical. Muslim medical advances found their way into practicing hospitals. Muslim craftsmen developed and improved many techniques for paper-making, ceramics, and silk-weaving that had originated much earlier in China.

4. Religious Trends and the New Impetus for Expansion

There were contradictory trends in Islamic religious tradition. Sufi mystics gave impetus to Islamic expansion, but the traditional ulama scholars began to reject non- Islamic ideas and technology. The ulama scholars became increasingly opposed to the combination of Greek and Islamic ideas typical of theologians such as al-Ghazali. Sufis injected a mystical tradition into Islam and sought a more personal relationship with Allah. Because of the growing popularity of Sufism, the movement was responsible for the expansion of Islam to new regions.

5. New Waves of Nomadic Invasions and the End of the Caliphate

The Mongols under Chinggis Khan smashed the Islamic kingdoms on the eastern borders of the Islamic world in the first decades of the thirteenth century. Under Hulegu Khan, the Mongol hordes destroyed the center of Islamic civilization and captured Baghdad in 1258. The Mongols murdered the last Abbasid caliph. The Mameluk armies of Egypt finally halted the westward advance of the Mongols, but Baghdad was never able to reestablish itself as the capital of the Islamic world.

4. The Coming of Islam to South Asia



1. Introduction

The process of converting some of the peoples of India to Islam began in the seventh century. By the thirteenth century, Islamic dynasties ruled much of northern India. Islam was never able to replace Hinduism entirely, however, and the two religions remained in uneasy equilibrium in South Asia. Until the seventh century, the invaders of India had been absorbed into Indian civilization and converted to Hinduism or Buddhism. Islamic missionaries to India represented a challenge to traditional Indian society and religion. Islam stressed monotheistic exclusivity and social equality before Allah ideas that were totally foreign to Indian concepts of caste and tolerance. In the first stages of Muslim entry into India, conflict between religious beliefs was most common, but over time peaceful interaction between Hindus and Muslims became more normal. Muslims continued to make use of the Hindu administrative elite and were unable to eliminate Hindu places of worship.

2. North India on the Eve of the Muslim Invasions

Following the collapse of the Gupta dynasty, India remained decentralized until the reign of Harsha in the early seventh century. At its greatest extent, Harsha's empire included much of the central and eastern Ganges plain, but fell far short of the territorial acquisitions of the Gupta. Harsha's reign was generally peaceful, the ruler was able to concentrate on the construction of roads, hospitals, temples, and monasteries. The era was economically prosperous and resulted in extraordinary cultural creativity. Harsha was generally tolerant of both Hinduism and Buddhism, although in his later life he may have preferred the latter religion.

3. Political Divisions and the First Muslim Invasions

After Harsha's death in 646, his empire quickly fragmented into numerous smaller kingdoms. Political disintegration prepared the way for Muslim incursions. The first Muslim military attack on an Indian kingdom was in response to attacks on Muslim sea traders which began in 711. An army under Muhammad ibn Qasim conquered the kingdom of Sind on the western coast of India. The kingdom was temporarily added to the Umayyad Empire. Populations of conquered territories were treated as people of the book and granted religious toleration of their Hindu beliefs in return for payment of the poll tax on non- believers. Most of the administrative elite of conquered territories continued to serve new Muslim masters. The Muslims continued to recognize the Brahmin caste system. Little conversion of conquered populations was attempted.

4. Indian Influences on Islamic Civilization

Through the conquest of Sind, Indian scientific advances were disseminated to the Islamic world. Of great importance was the adoption of mathematical numerals, which spread from the Islamic world to the West. Arabs who migrated to the kingdom of Sind and other Islamic regions of India rapidly assimilated Indian lifestyles. From their enclave in Sind, Muslim traders extended their influence to trading enclaves in Malabar and Bengal.

5. From Booty to Empire: The Second Wave of Muslim Invasions

Mahmud of Ghazni, a Turkish ruler of Afghanistan, initiated the second stage of Muslim conquest in South Asia. In the eleventh century, Mahmud raided the various kingdoms and principalities of northern India. Mahmud's raids were intended to seize the legendary wealth of the Hindu princes and temples, but Muhammad of Ghur was able to subject much of north-central India to his political control. One of Muhammad's successors established a Muslim capital in India at Delhi on the Ganges. A succession of Muslim rulers of various ethnic extraction ruled much of northern India as the sultans of Delhi. All of these rulers based their power on extensive military organization. The support of large armies and an opulent court was the primary function of the Delhi sultanate. Public works and social welfare were secondary interests. The Delhi sultanate continued to be dependent on the Hindu elite for local administration of their territories.

6. Patterns of Conversion

Under the Delhi sultanate, large Muslim enclaves were established in northern India. Sufi mystics and traders carried the new religion to other areas of India. Most of the Indian converts to Islam came from Buddhist groups, who saw some similarities in the religious practices of the Sufi, and from low-caste groups. The decline of monasteries as centers of Buddhist instruction and belief accelerated the conversion to Islam. Low-caste social groups, including untouchables, were drawn to Islam by the promise of social equality. Some converts may have sought to escape the Islamic tax on non-believers. Little progress was made in converting the masses of the Hindu population, who continued to regard Muslims as foreign out-castes.

7. Pattern of Accommodation

Hindus remained socially separate from the Islamic overlords and the few converts to the new religion. Many Hindus assumed that, like previous conquerors of India, the Muslims would be assimilated into Hindu culture and social stratification. Muslims did tend to be separated along Hindu caste lines into new social divisions. Muslims simply placed themselves at the top of the social hierarchy. Muslim-Hindu cultural interaction served to depress the social condition of Islamic women residing in India.

8. Islamic Challenge and Hindu Revival

Hindus found that Islam could not be assimilated into traditional Indian religious practices and that Muslims actively sought to convert the indigenous peoples of South Asia. In response, Hinduism became more actively devotional, emphasizing cults of gods and goddesses. Bhaktic cults were open to men and women of all castes. New religious ceremonies stressed emotional connections between the worshipers and the deities. The most popular cults were those of Shiva and Vishnu. The creation of bhaktic cults tended to slow conversion of Indians to Islam.

9. Stand-Off: The Muslim Presence in India at the End of the Sultanate Period

Attempts to compromise the religious differences between Islam and Hinduism met with resistance from both religions. Hindus became increasingly intolerant of Muslim practices, while the Islamic ulama stressed the differences between Muslims and Hindus. Despite the creation of a sizable Muslim population in India, Hindus retained an overwhelming majority within the population of South Asia. Most Indians demonstrated little interest in conversion to Islam.

5. The Spread of Islam to Southeast Asia



1. Introduction

From India, Islam spread along trade routes to Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia was a transfer point for goods moving from Chinese civilization to Islam. Muslim traders from India carried Islamic culture into the islands and trading centers of Southeast Asia. With the collapse of the Buddhist trading empire of Shrivijaya on the Strait of Malacca during the thirteenth century, the way was opened for more direct Islamic penetration of the region.

2. Trading Contacts and Conversion

Trading contacts, not conquest, provided the means for the expansion of Islam into Southeast Asia. The first areas to be converted were ports on the northern coast of Sumatra from which the religion spread to Malaya. The trading center of Malacca, which controlled a trade network that extended into the mainland, was the key to Islamic expansion. From Malacca, Islamic traders carried the religion to Demak on the island of Java. From Demak, Muslims penetrated the interior of Java and spread to nearby island systems. Populations of port cities tended to convert to retain trading relationships with other ports in the commercial network of Southeast Asia.

3. Sufi Mystics and the Nature of Southeast Asian Islam

Because Islam came to Southeast Asia from India and because Sufis were the primary evangelists, the Islamic religion of the Southeast trading ports was suffused with mysticism and tended to be more tolerant of indigenous animist religions. Pre-Islamic law continued to govern the indigenous populations, while Islamic law was restricted to specific religious issues. Women remained important in the economic structure of the region. Some indigenous religious practices were incorporated into Islamic worship.

6. Conclusion: The Legacy of the Abbasid Age

Although political centralization ended during the Abbasid period, Islam continued to serve a significant role as the connective link between the civilized cores of Eurasia. Islam also facilitated the civilization of nomadic peoples of central Asia and Africa. Some developments pointed to weaknesses that later proved serious detriments in the contest with European civilization. Political divisions granted opportunities for European expansion in the Middle East. The growing conservatism of the ulama made the Islamic world less receptive to technological and scientific advances in other civilizations. Entrepreneurial activities within the Islamic commercial network were increasingly dominated by non-Muslims.