The Rise of Islam and Byzantium Besieged

I. Islam: A New Religion and a New Empire

A. Nomads and City Dwellers

1. Sedentary Peoples and Bedouins — The majority of the population of the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century was sedentary, made up of either farmers or communities of artisans and merchants centered around Oases. Nomadic Bedouins formed few cities and had little political organization. Accustomed to desert life, they herded sheep or camels and traded or raided for other goods. This tribal, nomadic way of life produced a profound oral culture.

2. Mecca — Mecca, a major desert oasis near the Red Sea, played an important religious role because it contained a shrine of many idols, the Ka’ba. The Ka’ba was controlled by the Quraysh tribe, who turned Mecca into a center for tourism and pilgrimage.

B. The Prophet Muhammad and the Faith of Islam

1. Muhammad and His Call — Born in Mecca, Muhammad was raised by an uncle who was a leader of the Quraysh tribe. He married and raised a family, but in 610 a vision led him to begin worshipping Allah, the God of the Jews and Christians. He received what he understood to be messages of divine revelation, which were compiled after Muhammad’s death as the Qur’an. The messages came in verse, and the Qur’an contained prayers, accounts of history, prophecy, and legal and moral codes.

2. The Qur’an and the Practice of Islam — Islam was rooted in the message of the Qur’an, which urged individual faith in God and the importance of the nuclear family and the ummah, or community of believers. Islam had no priests or sacraments, but did develop authoritative religious teachers.

C. Growth of Islam, c. 610–632

1. Hijra: Muhammad’s Journey from Mecca to Medina — Muhammad’s first converts were his wife and immediate family members. Other Meccans joined the new faith, but Muhammad’s insistence that converts abandon other gods led to conflict within the tribe, as some who kept the Ka’ba were unwilling to give up prestige and wealth. Muhammad was invited by converts to move to Medina, and undertook his relocation (Hijra) in part because he hoped Jewish residents would accept the new faith. Muhammad found many converts in Medina (although not among its Jewish population) and assumed a position of responsibility and influence in the community, in part by raiding Mecca, generating booty, and establishing an Islamic model of close connection between political and religious authority.

2. Defining the Faith — Muhammad developed specific practices that came to define Islam, including zakat, a religious tax to be used for charity; fasting at Ramadan; the hajj, an annual pilgrimage to Mecca; and salat, formal worship three times a day. Using force and negotiation, Muhammad was able to convert and unite many Arabic-speaking tribes before his death in 632. Islam brought social change over time, including worship segregated by gender, multiple wives, the extension of inheritance rights to women, and a prohibition on infanticide. The Islamic community functioned in many ways as a “supertribe,” obligated to fight common enemies, share plunder, and resolve internal debates peacefully. Bedouin tribesmen adapted their warrior culture to Islam and waged jihad against unbelievers.

D. The Caliphs, Muhammad’s Successors, 632–750

1. War and Conquest — Muhammad’s reorganization of Arab society resulted in a formidable military force, which his successors, the caliphs, used to attack the Roman and Persian worlds. After Muhammad’s death, Islam spread north and west, to Syria and Egypt, as well as through Persia, where the Sasanids were conquered by 651. From the seventh to the eighth century, Islamic warriors spread the faith from Spain to Egypt. Islam overcame weakened empires, and the Islamic Pact of Umar laid out provisions for allowing the continued practice of Judaism and Christianity. The Arab tribal and warrior traditions aided in Islam’s spread, as Arab tribes resettled in garrison cities and fostered conquest and conversion.

2. The Politics of Succession — Muhammad’s first two successors as caliph were from the Umayyad family, and they ruled peacefully. However, the third, Uthman (r. 644–656), was opposed by Ali, a member of Muhammad’s Hashim clan and the husband of his only surviving child, Fatimah. After a group of soldiers murdered Uthman, civil war broke out between the two factions. Ali was killed by a former supporter and the caliphate remained in Umayyad hands from 661–750. However, many saw Ali as a martyr and a symbol of justice. Shi’at Ali (Ali’s faction) continued to shun the caliphs, and awaited a true leader who would come from the house of Ali.

E. Peace and Prosperity in Islamic Lands

1. The Umayyad Caliphate — Under the Ummayad caliphate, which lasted from 661 to 750, the Muslim world became a state, with its capital at Damascus in Syria. The state, which was united by the Arabic language and Islam, borrowed freely from Persian and Byzantine imperial practices.

2. Arabic Literature — A thriving economy produced a literary and cultural flowering, including hadith literature (narratives about Muhammad) as well as Arabic prose and love poetry. Arab calligraphy became an art, and a literate class created new forms of prose writing (including official documents) in Arabic on subjects from hunting to ruling. The caliphs found written poetry an important medium for propaganda, and their patronage helped poets reach a wider audience.

II. Byzantium Besieged

A. Wars on the Frontiers, c. 570–750 

1. Invasions from Persia — Wars against invaders were a dominant experience for the Byzantines in this period. Conflict with the aggressive Sasanid Empire of Persia led to the shocking loss of Syria, Jerusalem, and Egypt between 611 and 620. By 627, Emperor Heraclius had regained the territory, but Byzantine control was weakened.

2. Attack on All Fronts: Lombards, Slavs, and Bulgars — Byzantium also faced invasions by the migrating Germanic Lombards, who conquered much of Italy by 572, and Slav invaders who raided the Balkans and Byzantine cities. The Bulgar defeat of the Byzantine army in 681 forced the emperor to recognize an independent Bulgar state in the Balkans. Byzantine control was also weakened by peaceful migrations and the spread of other cultures into their territory.

3. Consequences of Constant Warfare — The Byzantine Empire became smaller and less connected to Europe after the loss of much of the Balkans. Latin was less used, and the two halves of the empire became increasingly separate, while conflict with the Sasanids weakened both empires and left them vulnerable to Arab conquest. Although Constantinople remained a vibrant city, the empire became increasingly rural.

B. From an Urban to a Rural Way of Life

1. Urban Decay — Byzantine urban centers shrank under pressure from invaders and became less important as resources for new construction and rebuilding diminished. Towns that once served as bustling trade hubs or centers of imperial administration vanished or were transformed. Warfare reduced some cities to rubble, and, once cities were rebuilt, the limited resources available went to constructing defensive city walls or large churches rather than to the public baths or marketplaces that formerly served as centers of public life. The focus of daily life shifted to the church and the home, and agriculture became the main focus of economic and social life.

2. Rural Life in Byzantium — Unlike in the west, where a rich and powerful elite controlled the agricultural economy, in the east free and semi-free peasants dominated, growing food, herding cattle, tending to small vineyards, and interacting primarily with their families or nearby monasteries. Emperors increasingly promoted local domestic life, and new laws strengthened the nuclear family by limiting divorce and punishing infidelity

C. New Military and Cultural Forms

1. Byzantine Military Resiliency — Military, political, and cultural changes accompanied the transformation of the countryside. The Byzantine navy used a weapon known as “Greek fire” to dominate its opponents, while a system of well-organized military districts called themes protected the imperial frontiers. Promises of land and low taxes attracted men without property to serve in the military, where they fought side by side with landowning farmers who provided their own weapons and horses.

2. The New Education — Religious education came to be preferred over classical learning, with the Book of Psalms used as a common primer. Secular, classical learning remained out of favor throughout the seventh and eighth centuries

C.  Religion, Politics, and Iconoclasm

1. Bishops and Monks Jostling for Power — Bishops served the state as administrators. Patriarch bishops in Constantinople had regional authority to appoint metropolitan bishops, who in term appointed local bishops. Bishops and clergy formed an important upper class, and the spiritual and secular realms were joined. Although in theory monasteries were under the control of the local bishop, they often acted independently and even defied emperors. Monks enjoyed immense prestige and influenced important doctrinal decisions.

2. Conflict over Icons — The church was deeply divided over the use of icons, or holy images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. While for many these were a focus of intense religious devotion, for others they represented a disregard of the biblical command to avoid graven images. Icons were widely opposed by the military, who pointed to the Islamic prohibition of such images as one of the reasons for the Arabs’ military success. Emperor Leo III (r. 717–741) attempted to ban all icons, beginning a period of iconoclasm (literally, “icon-smashing”). Many opposed the ban, which produced much conflict.