Kat Cendana – Page 29 – Amazing Bible Timeline with World History

Posted on October 18, 2016September 16, 2016 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Arabs Fail in the Second Siege of Constantinople

First Siege of Constantinople

Between 674 and 678 AD, the Arab armies under the Umayyad Caliphate besieged the city of Constantinople but failed in their first attempt in conquering the city. One of the Byzantines’ most effective weapon against them was the Greek fire, a medieval flamethrower which protected the Byzantine Empire against Arab invasion for many years. It was such a closely guarded secret that up until today, the weapon’s exact chemical composition remains a mystery. The failed siege of Constantinople is recorded on the Biblical Timeline with World History at 715 AD.

The first siege of Constantinople ended with a peace treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate. The Arab forces withdrew from Constantinople and set their sights elsewhere in North Africa and southern Spain; Constantinople, however, was a treasure the Umayyad caliphate could not resist. In 715 AD, a man named Suleiman rose as the ruler of the Muslims after the death of his older brother, the caliph Walid I. He wasted no time and resumed the offensive against the city of Constantinople which was now ruled by the Emperor Leo III.

Arabs_Fail_in_seige_against_Constantinople — “Greek fire in use against another ship”

The Second Siege

Emperor Leo knew about and had prepared for an Arab invasion for many months until the fleet commanded by Suleiman sailed past the Dardanelles. The Arab navy (which consisted of 1,800-strong war galleys) was reinforced by an army of 80,000 men (led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik) that passed through Asia Minor. Both forces closed in on Constantinople almost at the same time.

Luck was not on Suleiman’s side. A lot of his war galleys were destroyed when his fleet met Emperor Leo’s Navy who used the Greek fire to its greatest extent. It did not help Suleiman and the Arabs that the wind conditions were favorable to Leo’s navy, so many of the Umayyad ships either sank or burned during the battle. The fighting grew more intense, but Suleiman was not meant to see the end of it. During a break in 717 AD, Suleiman suddenly died of an illness while his navy suffered through a very harsh winter as they waited to attack Constantinople again.

His cousin Umar II was declared as caliph after Suleiman’s death. He sent troops from Egypt to reinforce the army that waited just beyond Constantinople. Emperor’s Leo’s troops were also replenished with a large Bulgarian army led by Constantinople’s ally, King Terval of Bulgaria. More than 20,000 Arab died during the siege and a significant number of Byzantine men also perished during the war. The new caliph Umar II decided to withdraw his troops from Constantinople on August 15, 718 AD and the city (as well as the Eastern side of Europe) remained out of the caliphate’s reach for hundreds of years until its fall to the Ottoman Empire.

References:
Picture By Unknown – Codex Skylitzes Matritensis, Bibliteca Nacional de Madrid, Vitr. 26-2, Bild-Nr. 77, f 34 v. b. (taken from Pászthory, p. 31), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=302463
Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
“Siege of Constantinople (717-718).” Siege of Constantinople (717-718). Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/constantinoplesiege.html.
Treadgold, Warren T. Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.

Posted on October 17, 2016August 23, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Persia, Syria and North Africa Become Mohammedan

Islam was one of the religious movements which spread quickly at the onset because of the Muslim active conquests during the seventh century. Unlike Christianity which took hundreds of years before it became the state religion of the Roman Empire (through the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD), Mohammed lived to see the day when various Arab tribes were united under the banner of Islam. Mohammed did not name an heir to his role as Prophet and leader of the ummah (community) before he died, but the Rashidun caliphate that succeeded him ensured that his legacy would continue even beyond the Arab world. Persia, Syria and North Africa became Mohammedan between 630 – 711 AD according to the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History.

Out of Arabia

The first trickle of Islamic conquest started in the Battle of Mu’tah (in Kerak, modern Jordan) led by Mohammed himself against the Byzantine Empire. For Abu Bakr, the man who replaced Mohammed as leader of the ummah (Muslim community), there was no time to waste after Mohammed’s death in 632 AD. In 633, he sent General Khalid and his forces to attack the Persian king Yazdegerd III. Four other generals were ordered to march north along with their troops to conquer the Byzantine provinces of Syria and Palestine.

Byzantine, at that time, was ruled by the emperor Heraclius. The empire was weakened after years of battles with the Persians. The Byzantines put up a great fight and proved too much for the four generals that were initially sent to go against them. Abu Bakr recalled Khalid from the Persian front (to Yazdegerd’s relief) and reinforced the troops that fought in the Syrian-Palestinian front. The Byzantines were soundly defeated, and the Muslim troops captured the city of Damascus.

Abu Bakr would not be credited as the one who captured the Byzantine provinces of Syria and Palestine as he died two years into his short reign. He was replaced by his son-in-law, Omar, who led an even greater offensive against the Byzantines and captured Syria as well as Palestine. Jerusalem was captured in 638 AD. Khalid returned to the Persian front to finish what he had started back when Abu Bakr was alive. He besieged Ctesiphon, the Persian capital, in the same year and deposed Yazdegerd III, who then fled east with his court.

To emperor Heraclius’ dismay, the Arabs stormed all the way to Egypt in 639 and wrested the province from Byzantine. He had to console himself that at least Alexandria was still under Byzantine rule, but it was not enough. After years of fighting, he died of a stroke in 641 with most of the empire’s territories now in Muslim control. Alexandria held out long enough until it also fell to the Arab armies in 642 AD. Omar sent a military expedition east into the farthest reaches of Persia until the army reached the hostile desert of Makran. This daring expedition went on until they reached the gateway to India, the Indus River itself.

The Arabs in Egypt were also busy with their transformation of the province into a Muslim stronghold. They built a new capital which they named Fostat (modern Cairo) and continued westward to the former Roman province of North Africa. The Muslims captured Carthage and called the North African inhabitants Berbers who were quickly recruited as part of their army.

Syria_Persia_and_North_Africa_Mohammedan — “The Rashidun Empire reached its greatest extent under Caliph Uthman, in 654.”

The Persian king Yazdegerd was still on the run and wandered around some parts of his former empire to elude the Arab army at his heels. He and his whole court went to Khorasan to seek refuge, but he was murdered by a stonecutter after he fled assassins sent by the governor of Khorasan. His death officially ended the rule of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia and started the rule of the Rashidun caliphate in Persia.

By 644 AD, the assassination of Omar left the position of the Caliph vacant. Uthman, one of the Prophet’s companions, took over as Caliph, but his government was so mired in corruption that he earned the resentment of the people. He was so hated that when he was brutally assassinated by the people of Medina, his body was left to rot in the courtyard for three days; they also refused to have him buried in a Muslim cemetery. He was buried instead in a Jewish cemetery. Ali, Mohammed’s son-in-law, replaced Uthman, but his rule was met with hostility by the Banu Ummaya clan led by one of the Prophet’s wives, Aisha. This struggle for power ended with Ali’s assassination, and he was replaced by Muawiyah, a member of the Banu Ummaya clan as caliph.

Most of North Africa had converted to Islam by the early 700 AD, and the caliph Al-Malik ordered the new converts, the Berbers, to learn and speak Arabic. The new religion and language cemented Arabs and Berbers together. The Berbers would later serve in the Muslim army during the conquest of Hispania.

References:
Picture By Mohammad adil at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5031572
Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. New York: W.W. Norton 2010.
Kaegi, Walter Emil. Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Posted on October 13, 2016September 16, 2016 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Arabs in Spain (711-722)

End of the Visigoth Rule in Hispania

In 711 AD, a large group of Arabs and Berbers led by their Berber commander Tariq ibn Ziyad landed where Europe and Africa met in Gibraltar. Hispania was ruled at that time by a Visigothic elite who wrested the power from the weakened Roman empire less than 200 years earlier. The Hispania that the Visigoth King Ruderic ruled was wracked with civil wars and on the verge of disintegration when the Muslims landed in Gibraltar. The Muslims took the residents by surprise when they launched the first coastal raids, but they quickly turned this into a large-scale invasion after they took advantage of the cracks in the Visigoths’ rule. Their initial entry into Spain was also aided by Ruderic’s rival, the Count Julian, who held a personal grudge against the king. This event is recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History between 711 – 722 AD.

Ruderic mustered all the men he could find to defend his territory, but he was killed during the Battle of Guadalete on July 19, 711 AD. The Visigoths’ defeat was devastating—the battle not only killed Ruderic, but also wiped out almost all of the noblemen who might rule Spain after his death. With no else strong enough to put up any resistance against the invasion, the Arabs, along with their Berber allies, rapidly advanced north and conquered most of the southern and central Spain within seven years. It became the province of Al-Andalus and administered by the North African governor.

Arabs_in_Spain — “The battle of Guadalete”

Tariq was recalled by the caliph Sulayman to Syria in the year 714. This left the Arab commander Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa ibn Nusayr as governor of Al-Andalus, who then established the city of Seville as the capital of the province. He married Ruderic’s widow, Egilona, in 718 and she converted to Islam in the same year. He was later assassinated after rumors that he converted to Christianity reached the caliph.

Byzantine Resistance

When it looked like that the Islamic expansion was unstoppable, the Byzantines in Asia Minor proved to be more resilient than their western Mediterranean neighbor. They held out for a little longer with the help of the strategic defence and capable leadership under Emperor Leo III during a naval battle in the Arabs’ Siege of Constantinople. His forces were also reinforced by the Bulgarian allies. The Byzantines successfully defended the city until the death of Sulayman in 717.

The Kingdom of Asturias

It seemed the Visigoth resistance did not die out with its last king Ruderic. In 718 AD, a Visigoth named Pelagius (Pelayo) retreated north to Asturias and established a kingdom on the northern remnants of Christian Spain. Asturias’ rugged mountainous terrain made it difficult for the Arabs and Berbers to successfully conquer all of the Iberian peninsula, and the region became the last bastion of Christianity in Spain. The Arabs and Berbers managed to slip through Southern France and arrived at the Duchy of Aquitaine. They were defeated by the Frankish duke Odo, who killed the governor of Al-Andalus in the Battle of Toulouse (721 AD). The dead governor was replaced with a man named Al-Ghafiqi, and the Asturian King Pelagius led a successful rebellion against the Muslims in 722 AD.

References:
Picture By Salvador Martínez Cubells – [www.artflakes.com], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18373367
Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.
Esposito, John L. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Watt, William Montgomery., and Pierre Cachia. A History of Islamic Spain. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2008.

Posted on October 12, 2016August 22, 2016 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Arabs Defeated by Charles Martel

Charles Martel

Charles Martel’s reign seemed off to a bad start. Although he was the man, who would eventually defeat the Arabs and halt their advance into Europe, which is recorded on the Bible Timeline with World History before 750 AD. He was his father’s (Pepin II of Herstal) son by his second wife (it was rumored that she was his mistress, which made Charles illegitimate). Pepin bypassed Charles as heir to the title of Mayor of the Palace before his death in 714 AD and named his grandson, Theudoald, as the new ruler of Austrasia instead. To top it all off, his father’s first wife, Plectrude, had Charles imprisoned in Cologne to secure Theudoald’s succession to the throne. Charles, however, escaped from imprisonment almost immediately and came back to Neustrasia. The civil war that ensued between him and Plectrude lasted for two years until he prevailed and proclaimed himself the Mayor of the Palace in 717.

Muslim Invasion of Western Europe

Arabs_Defeat_Charles — “Statue Charles Martel”

Back in 711 AD, Arabs and Berbers led by Tariq ibn Ziyad started their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and steadily advanced north to the Pyrenees for the next 7 years. The fragmented Visigoths had been helpless to stop them in Spain. Their northern advance was halted only when they reached Aquitaine. Odo the Great, the Duke of Aquitaine, led his small army into battle and managed to defeat the Muslims in the Battle of Toulouse in 721 AD. For Odo, this was his major victory against the Muslims as he also killed the Arab governor of Al-Andalus who was hastily replaced by the caliph with a high-ranking official called Al-Ghafiqi. Both men and their troops met in the Battle of the River Garonne in 732 AD, but this time, the odds were not in the Duke’s favor. His troops were defeated, and the Muslim army went as far as Poitiers where they looted and killed people along the way.

Odo did not initially offer an alliance to Charles Martel for fear that his Austrasian neighbor would interfere with Aquitaine’s independence, but now he needed an ally who would reinforce his small army to fight the Muslim army. He turned to Charles Martel for help and swore his loyalty. Charles immediately marched with his army south to Aquitaine to help the Duke. The Franks led by Charles Martel and the army led by Al-Ghafiqi met somewhere between Tours and Poitiers (it was called the Battle of Tours, but sometimes called the Battle of Poitiers) in October, 732 AD. It lasted for more than a week until the death of Al-Ghafiqi and the retreat of the Muslims troops to Al-Andalus. According to the Chronicle of Fredegar, Charles, along with his troops followed them as they retreated and destroyed them further (but the remaining Arab and Berber troops also plundered and burned properties along the way). Charles Martel was given the title “The Hammer” after this victory against the Muslims in the Battle of Tours. This victory marked the last time the Muslim troops of Al-Andalus would ever set foot north of Spain.

References:
Picture By Arnaud 25 – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11029837
Esposito, John L. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Watt, William Montgomery., and Pierre Cachia. A History of Islamic Spain. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2008.

Posted on October 11, 2016February 18, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Mohammedan Chronology

The Hegira was a fresh start for the Muslim community in Medina. The members of this new movement left the city of Mecca behind, but the migration meant they would need to start all over again. Their wealth and affluence were gone (for the rich ones, at least), but they were now stripped of their dependence on their clan or their tribe’s protection. With freedom, however, came new realities and they needed to use their wits with them if they were to survive in the new city of Medina. (The Mohammedan Chronology began in 622 AD as listed on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History.)

Mohammed and his followers spent the first two years in the new city in poverty. The few acres of farmland the oasis provided were not enough to support the original inhabitants of Medina which made it harder for the newcomers to earn a living. It was not until 623 AD when Mohammed and the Muslims carried out a series of Caravan Raids against Mecca. Partly as revenge for the persecution they suffered at the hands of the leaders of the city and as a way to support themselves. These Caravan Raids, as dictated by the codes of the tribes, were for materials possessions only and strictly forbade bloodshed.

624 AD was a crucial year for the community as this marked the Nakhla Raid when large amounts of booty were taken by the Muslims from unsuspecting Meccans. This raid was not approved by Mohammed as it happened during the pilgrimage month, a time when hostilities were temporarily forbidden. A Meccan was also killed during the raid, an act that further enraged the leaders of the Quraysh tribe. The tribal leaders sent a large army as revenge, and though they were outnumbered by the Quraysh, Mohammed’s followers defeated the forces of Mecca in the Battle of Badr in the same year. This was also the year when members of the Jewish Banu Qaynuqa were expelled from Medina after an alleged violation by the tribe.

“Muhammad’s entry into Mecca and the destruction of idols.”

The Quraysh of Mecca had not forgotten their humiliation at the hands of the Muslims. So they assembled a large force to punish the emigrants. They met in the Battle of Uhud where the Muslims were soundly defeated at the last moment, and the Meccans went home victorious. In addition, 625 AD was the year when the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir was expelled from Medina after the tribal leaders refused to contribute the blood money Mohammed asked from them. The blood money was payment after a man was killed during a quarrel with some people, which included Muslims. It was also alleged that the Banu Nadir challenged the leadership of Mohammed. Because of this, the members were besieged by Muslims for fourteen days. They were forced to leave Medina when it appeared that Mohammed and the Muslims would prevail. Some of the exiles went north of Medina to settle in Khaybar, while others continued to Syria.

In 627 AD, the Quraysh once again tried to get rid of the Muslims with the help of the ousted Banu Nadir and Banu Qaynuqa tribes. The Muslims in Medina were further outnumbered when other tribes joined the Quraysh-Banu Nadir-Banu Qaynuqa alliance. Mohammed decided to act quickly and enlisted the help of Salman the Persian who suggested that trenches be dug around Medina to prevent the Meccan alliance from reaching the city. The strategy was very effective, but the results were unclear as cold weather set in and the Medina alliance went home. But the greatest casualties of the Battle of the Trench (as it was called) were the men, women, and children of the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe. It was the only significant Jewish tribe that remained in Medina after the first two were driven out and in the chaos of war, Mohammed accused them of betrayal during the Battle of the Trench. They were given two choices: convert to Islam or die and be enslaved. The Banu Qurayza chose the second, and as much as 700 men were killed because of this choice, while the tribe’s women and children were enslaved.

In 628 AD, Mohammed decided it was time to put an end to the hostilities with Mecca so he organized a pilgrimage to the Kaaba as a sign that the Muslims came in peace. He discouraged the pilgrims from bringing weapons. This was positively met by the leaders of the Quraysh. The Treaty of Hudaybiyya was affirmed by the leaders of Mecca and Medina, and peace between the two was achieved for the first time in many years. In 629 AD, the Muslims launched a final conquest against the Banu Nadir, who went into exile to the oasis of Khaybar. The Jewish tribe was defeated, and they were allowed to remain in Khaybar, but they were ruled by Muslims in the area from then on.

By 630 AD, tribal allies of the city of Mecca violated the peace Treaty of Hudaybiyya and attacked one of Mohammed’s allies which started the final conquest of the holy city. Mohammed mustered an army to attack the city, but Mecca was exhausted with the years of hostilities with the Muslims and chose instead to make another peace treaty. Mohammed entered the city without bloodshed, and he removed idols from the Kaaba as part of the agreement. Many Meccans also converted to Islam and in the same year, Mohammed became the ruler of a greater part of Arabia.

In 631 AD, the Arabs of Mecca, Medina, and neighboring cities were unified under Mohammed as a prophet, but he was never given the title of nor considered king. He was credited as the one who brought peace to its various tribes in the hostile peninsula and in the same year, most Arab tribes had converted to Islam. In October of the same year, Mohammed led the Muslims in an offensive against the Byzantines and successfully captured the city of Tabouk (the Byzantine rulers were not in the city itself).

Mohammed, aged 63 years old, made his Farewell Pilgrimage to Kaaba in 632 AD. He died after an illness on 8 June 632 AD and was buried in the house of his wife, Aisha.

References:
Picture By Unknown – Histoire Geographie 5ieme Nathan, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12047214
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
Esposito, John L. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad: Prophet of Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.

Posted on October 10, 2016November 6, 2019 by Kat Cendana — 1 Comment

Mohammed was Born in Mecca

The Early Years

Mohammed (also spelled as Muhammad) ibn Abdallah, was born in the western Arabian city of Mecca around 570 AD (He is listed on the Bible Timeline Poster with World history at 571 AD). The family belonged to the prominent Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. His father passed away before he was born who was soon followed by his mother when the boy was six. The young boy was cared for by his grandfather until his death two years later. His uncle took the young orphan in after that.

“An overview of the major schools and branches of Islam.”

Mecca was a significant stop on the caravan trade that ran through the Arabian peninsula and beyond. Luxury items such as myrrh, frankincense, and gold passed through or were traded in this city. Pilgrims also flocked to the Kaaba to worship the Arabian gods. It was not an isolated city, and it boasted a cosmopolitan population because of trade. However, it was not equal to Rome, Constantinople or Damascus during this period. In Mecca, the young Mohammed learned the ropes on how to manage a trade caravan under the guidance of his uncle.

Mohammed joined his uncle in his teenage years to a caravan trade in Syria where he met the Christian monk Bahira who, according to legend, predicted that Mohammed would be a prophet of God. They came back to Mecca, and Mohammed later became a successful merchant with a reputation for trustworthiness and truthfulness. He was so popular that he earned the titles “al-Sadiq” (truthful) as well as “al-Amin” (trustworthy). These traits did not escape the notice of a wealthy widow named Khadija, who also happened to be a businesswoman involved in the caravan trade herself. She proposed marriage to the younger man (Khadija was fifteen years older than Mohammed) in 595 AD. Mohammed accepted her proposal in the same year. The union between Khadija and Mohammed was a happy one which produced five daughters. It was not until fifteen years later when Mohammed received a visit from the angel Gabriel in a cave named Hira that the history of Islam took off from its origins in this Arabian city and into world history.

References:
Picture By Angelpeream, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12871191
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad: Prophet of Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.
Rogerson, Barnaby. The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography. Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring, 2003.

Posted on October 6, 2016February 18, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Hegira

Hegira: is the resettlement of Muhammad and those that followed him to Yathrib (Medina).

From Mecca to Medina

The oasis of Yathrib (later called Medina), located more than 200 miles north of Mecca, presented a solution to Mohammed’s problem. The Yathrib community’s chieftains were desperate to settle old feuds that made it a violent place. They approached Mohammed to solve this problem in 620 AD. The start of Hegira is recorded on the Bible Timeline Poster with World History at the beginning of the 6th century AD. Two years later, the Chieftains made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca to worship at the Kaaba. They also came with a mission: to pledge allegiance to Mohammed and become new converts to Islam. In return, Mohammed, along with his followers from Mecca, would join them in Yathrib to mediate between the warring people in their community and defend each other from common enemies. This offer made a lot of sense for Mohammed. Persecution from the Quraysh authorities had intensified in recent years since Mohammed first preached about Islam. This was not the first time he was forced to send the first converts away from Mecca. The first migration was in 615 AD when Mohammed sent his followers to the court of the Christian king of Ethiopia, Ashama ibn-Abjar, for protection from the Quraysh leaders.

That was the first Hegira (also called Hijrah) in Islam’s history, but the migration the Muslims made from Mecca to Medina was the most significant for the community. Quietly, over a period of two months in 622 AD, the Muslims of Mecca slipped out in small numbers from under the watchful eyes of the Quraysh leaders. When all of his followers reached safety in Medina, Mohammed made plans to escape along with his friend, Abu Bakr (his cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, stayed behind).

Assassins were sent to Mohammed’s house on the night of their escape, but they safely made their way out of the city and spent the night inside a cave to escape the assassins. The search continued in Mecca, and the assassins followed them outside the city until they reached the mouth of the cave where the two stayed, but they failed to find them inside the cave. The two runaways eventually reached Quba after several days’ journey in the Arabian desert and Mohammed oversaw the construction of a mosque in the area for two weeks before he continued to the city of Medina itself.

“The Hijrah and other earlier Muslim migrations”

New City, Old Realities

The Arabian peninsula was a harsh land to live in, and it was no different in the city of Medina. There were few sources of food in the Oasis and the mad scramble for resources sometimes turned bloody. In this unforgiving environment, petty quarrels sometimes turned into blood feuds and people needed their tribe to protect them and help them survive. The tribalism that dominated the people of Mecca obviously did not work, so Hegira became a way for them to unite beyond their tribes.

From the old tribal ways and worship of pagan gods of Mecca, the Muslims could now start fresh in Medina. Their new community was made up of women and men from the poorest up to the richest, as well as Jews and pagans. For them, early Islam was more than just a new religion. It offered an inclusive community where Muslims, pagans, Christians, Jews, and people from different social classes could live with each other and help one another survive in this harsh land.

But all was not well in Medina and for the next two years, the former Meccans remained poor as the city could only support so many people. Apart from the original pagan inhabitants plus the new Muslims, there were also a significant number of Jews who lived in the city. They reached such prominence and wealth that their clans were also considered important in Medina. The new city had few acres of land suitable for farming, and this meant Mohammed would have to find a way to keep his new followers from starvation. For Mohammed, there was only one viable solution: they raided the rich Meccan caravans that passed through the area and returned home to Medina with the loot. This would be their source of income for several years after the Hegira.

References:
Picture By ExploreTheMed – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15509707
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegira
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
Esposito, John L. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad: Prophet of Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.

Posted on October 5, 2016February 18, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Jerusalem of Omar

Background

Omar ibn Al-Khattab was born in Mecca sometime between 579 and 583 AD and was a member of the prominent Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe. He was initially hostile to Mohammed and Islam and even took part in the persecution of Muslims before the first migration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). He then converted to Islam in 616 AD and joined the Hegira (migration) from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Eventually, this would lead to the fall of Jerusalem in 638 AD according to the Biblical Timeline with World History.

As Rashidun Caliph

A succession issue rose between his father-in-law Abu Bakr and son-in-law Ali (as well their supporters) upon the death of Mohammed. Abu Bakr, however, prevailed as Mohammed’s successor and leader of the ummah (Muslim community). Even without Islam’s first and most revered Prophet, Abu Bakr managed to bind together the Muslims during his short two-year rule and expand their territory first by going against the weakened Persian empire. The Byzantine Empire, once a powerful force in the Near East and Asia Minor, was also weakened by internal strife. This made the Byzantine provinces of Syria and Palestine (where Jerusalem was a part of) vulnerable to attacks by the newly-unified and stronger Muslim community. Damascus was first captured by Abu Bakr and his general Khalid, and they soon looked beyond the borders of Syria to conquer Palestine.

Omar_In_jerusalem — “Umar Mosque in Jerusalem.”

Abu Bakr, however, died at the height of his power as Caliph of the united ummah. He was sixty-one and unlike Mohammed before him, he had named his son-in-law Omar (also spelled Umar) as his successor. The new caliph realized that the practice of caravan raids could not sustain the community any longer now that Islam was embraced by most of the Arab tribes, so he looked for Christian and Persian territories to plunder as another way to sustain the ummah. This was also done to harness the energies of the community into one common goal and prevent the tribes from falling back into old blood feuds. It was under Omar’s leadership when the Muslims wrested large parts of Syria and Palestine from the Byzantine empire, while Jerusalem soon fell to the Muslims in 638 AD. With the fall of Syria and Palestine, much of the Middle East was now under Muslim rule.

Omar in Jerusalem

In spring of 638 AD, Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem officially surrendered the city to Omar. According to the treaty signed by both sides, Christians were allowed to live in the city and practice their religion but were compelled to pay jizya (tax for non-Muslims) to the Muslim conquerors. For the first time in hundreds of years, the Jews were also allowed to return and live in Jerusalem. Omar himself was invited by Patriarch Sophronius to come inside a Christian church, but he declined to prevent future Muslims from converting the church into a mosque. The caliph went home to Medina after he stayed ten days in Jerusalem.

References:
Picture By Usmanreddy at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6063644
Armstrong, Karen. Islam: A Short History. New York: Modern Library, 2000.
Gil, Moshe. A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Posted on October 4, 2016September 7, 2016 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Mohammed Flees from Mecca to Medina

Mecca, the city near the Red Sea, became prosperous through trade. As in ancient Sumer and well into modern times. Prosperity ushered in an inequity between its citizens made up of richer merchant families who held authority over the city and the poorer people who lived on the fringes of Mecca. In 610 AD, a successful Arab merchant named Mohammed ibn Abdallah went inside the Hira cave located north of the city of Mecca to pray and came out a transformed man. On the 17th day of the month of Ramadan, Mohammed woke up to a presence that squeezed him until he felt completely overpowered and unable to breathe. The presence spoke the first scriptures of the Quran and years later, he used the experience to get rid of the inequity in Meccan society and transform the Arab world. This eventually led him to flee Mecca in 622 AD according to the Bible Timeline with World History.

Mohammed was so shaken after this experience and he kept it to himself for the first two years. He gradually told his wife Khadija, then her cousin, the Christian named Waraqa ibn Nawfal. His two new confidantes convinced him that the presence was sent by God himself, and encouraged him to preach to his closest friends and family members in 612 AD. Khadija was often credited as the first Muslim convert and other people soon followed. Such as Mohammed’s friend Abu Bakr (who later became his father-in-law), his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib (later son-in-law), and one of the members of the prominent Umayyad family, Uthman ibn Affan. The rest of the Umayyad family, however, resisted and did not convert until 627 AD.

Muhammad_Flees_Mecca — “Jabal al-Nour is where Muhammad is believed to have received the first revelation”

“Jabal al-Nour is where Muhammad is believed to have received the first revelation”

Many people beyond Mohammed’s immediate family and friends soon converted to this new religion, such as people who were dismayed with the inequity in Mecca and the women from the poorer clans of the Quraysh. There was nothing new to Mohammed’s initial message. Its basic doctrines (creation, heaven and hell, last judgment) drew from or were similar to other religions in the Near East, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. He also addressed the injustice and the wide gap between the rich and the poor that plagued Meccan society at that time. The movement was eventually called Islam (‘to surrender’) and Mohammed issued five tenets (pillars) the new believers should live by, including the declaration of faith (Shahada), ritual prayer (Salat), charity (Zakat), ritual fasting (Sawm) especially during the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). The new believers of Islam were called Muslims. They were required to nurture a sense of community (ummah) that went beyond family relations and tribes.

This new movement for equity and community did not seem to sit well with the rich men of Mecca. They were comfortable with their elevated status, as well as the profit from the pilgrims who worshiped the pagan gods at Kaaba. Mohammed himself was careful not to directly oppose the influential people of Mecca. He allowed the Muslims to follow some traditions, such as the worship of pagan gods at Kaaba. They also respected the Christians and Jews who lived in the city. Mohammed allowed the Muslims to face the holy city of Jerusalem during prayers. As he gained many followers, however, the suspicion and jealousy of the authorities who felt that their interests were threatened by Mohammed’s new movement also grew. The opposition against Islam in its early days in Mecca was led by three men: Suhayl ibn Amir, Abu al-Hakam, and Abu Sufyan.

This intensified as months passed. One of the people who led this was a prominent Quraysh clan leader named Amr ibn Hisham. He forbade other members of the Quraysh tribe to marry Muslims and prevented merchants from selling them food. Mohammed’s wife, Khadija, died during the worst of the persecution years and her death was followed by the passing of Mohammed’s uncle and guardian, Abu Talib. The loss of his protector meant that it was open season for anyone who wanted to kill Mohammed and from the start. It was clear to him that the leaders of Mecca did not want him in their city. It was time to leave Mecca.

References:
Picture By Adiput (talk) – I (Adiput (talk)) created this work entirely by myself using Olympus., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10708144
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
Esposito, John L. The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad: Prophet of Islam. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.

Posted on October 3, 2016September 7, 2016 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Pueblo in Arizona, First Above-Ground Homes of the Ancestral

The Pueblo I period marked the transition of the Ancestral Pueblo (also known as the Anasazi by the Navajo) from living in deep pit-houses in the Basketmaker III era (500-750 AD) to above-ground homes. These free-standing homes were constructed from stones on an even surface and initially used for storage, while the Ancestral Pueblo continued to live in their pit-houses. As years passed, the preference for the pueblo structures became more popular among the people and these houses were eventually used not only for storage but also for other activities. The pit-houses, however, were never abandoned but were gradually converted to ceremonial chambers, as well as gathering places for religious ceremonies (kivas). Above ground homes of the Ancestral Pueblo in Arizona is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History between 700 – 900 AD.

“Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the Chacoan Great Houses, stands at the foot of Chaco Canyon’s northern rim.”

These flat-roofed, above-ground homes were constructed with basic adjoining rooms and eventually became bigger with as much as six to eight connected rooms. The Ancestral Pueblo made them bigger with six connected rooms and added the old pit-houses or kivas as important extensions to the houses. These blocks of houses were usually shaped in a simple straight line or crescent to accommodate groups of extended families which usually made up the Ancestral Pueblo village. One of the most remarkable of these Ancient Pueblo villages was Alkali Ridge in Utah which had as much as 185 above-ground rooms (divided into four groups), around 14 pit-houses, and at least 2 kivas.

References:
Picture By Bob Adams, Albuquerque, NM – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8835849
Cremin, Aedeen, ed. The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2007.
Morgan, William N. Ancient Architecture of the Southwest. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.
Warrior, Robert Allen., ed. The World of Indigenous North America. Routledge, 2014.