A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Outline of Universal History

G >> George Park Fisher >> Outline of Universal History




THE SLAVONIC TRIBES.--In the sixth century the _Slavonian_ tribes
come into view. The _Avars_ stirred up such a commotion among
those tribes as the Huns had created among the Germans. The
_Slaves_ were driven to the _northwest_, where later they
came into relations with Germany; and to the _southwest_, where,
as conquerors and as learners, they stood, in some degree, in relation
to the Eastern Empire, in the same position as that of the Germans in
reference to the Western. North and East of the Adriatic arose
Slavonian States, as _Servia, Croatia, Carinthia. Istria_ and
_Dalmatia_, except the cities on the coast, became Slavonic. The
Slaves displaced the old _Illyrian_ race. In the seventh and
eighth centuries, _Macedonia_ and _Greece_ were largely
occupied by Slavonians. The _Bulgarians_ were a Turanian people,
who mixed with the Slavonians, and adopted their language. In 895 the
_Magyars_, a Turanian people, crowded into _Dacia_ and
_Pannonia_; and thus the _Bulgarians_ were confined to the
lands south of the Danube. The _Magyars_ formed the kingdom of
_Hungary_. The Slavonian _Russians_ were cut off from the
Southern tribes of the same race.




CHAPTER IV. MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE ARABIC CONQUESTS.


CONDITION OF ARABIA.--In the sixth century the influence of the Greek
and of the Persian Empires, especially of the Persian, was prevalent
in Arabia. It was then inhabited mostly by tribes either distinct or
loosely bound together, and contained no independent state of any
considerable importance. The Arabs of that day had "all the virtues
and vices of the half-savage state, its revenge and its rapacity, its
hospitality and its bounty." In the _Hejaz_ district--situated
between fertile and more civilized _Yemen_, or Arabia Felix, in
the south-west of the peninsula and the Sinaitic region,--and in
_Nejd_ to the east of Hejaz, which were the two districts in
which Islam and the Arabian Empire took their rise, dwelt tribes whose
common sanctuary was the _Kaaba_ at _Mecca_, in the wall of
which was the quadrangular black stone kissed by all devotees, and
supposed to have been received from the angel Gabriel. The religion of
the Arabs was polytheism in many different forms, in which
idol-worship was prominent; but all agreed in acknowledging one
supreme God, _Allah_, in whose name solemn oaths were taken. Once
in the year the tribes gathered in Mecca for their devotions; and a
great fair in the vicinity, attended by a poetical contest, made the
city prosperous. The town was made up of separate _Septs_, or
patriarchal families, each under its own head, of which septs the
_Omayyads_ were of principal importance, and had charge of the
_Kaaba_. _Mohammed_ belonged to the _Hashimites_,
another and poorer branch of the leading tribe of _Koreish_. The
_Koreishites_, by their trading-journeys to Syria, had acquired
more culture then others, whether Bedouins, or residents of
_Medina_. At the time when _Mohammed_ was born, which was
probably in 572, the religion of the Arabs had sunk into idolatry or
indifference. There were three hundred and sixty images in the
Kaaba. But there were some who were called _hanifs_, who were
serious and earnest, and turned away from idolatrous worship. Besides
the _Sabian_ religion of the Persian sun-worshipers, the leading
tenets and rites of Christianity and of Judaism, both in the
degenerate types which they assumed on the Syrian borders, were not
unfamiliar to Arabs dwelling in the caravan routes on the borders of
the Red Sea.

CAREER OF MOHAMMED.--_Mohammed_ was early left an orphan under
the care of his uncle _Abu Talib_. In his youth he tended sheep,
and gathered wild berries in the desert. In his twenty-fifth year he
became the commercial agent of a wealthy widow, _Khadija_, made
journeys for her into Palestine and Syria,--where he may have received
religious knowledge and impressions from Christian monks and Jewish
rabbis,--and, after a time, married her. He is described as having a
commanding presence, with piercing eyes, fluent in speech, and with
pleasing ways. Eventually he came into close contact with the
_hanifs_. He followed the custom of retiring for meditation and
prayer to the lonely and desolate _Mount Hira._ A vivid sense of
the being of one Almighty God and of his own responsibility to God,
entered into his soul. A tendency to hysteria in the East a disease of
men as well as of women--and to epilepsy helps to account for
extraordinary states of body and mind of which he was the subject. At
first he ascribed his strange ecstasies, or hallucinations, to evil
spirits, especially on the occasion when an angel directed him to
begin the work of prophesying. But he was persuaded by _Khadija_
that their source was from above. He became convinced that he was a
prophet inspired with a holy truth and charged with a sacred
commission. His wife was his first convert. His faith he called
_Islam_, which signifies "resignation to the divine will." His
cousin _Ali_, his friend _Abubekr_, and a few others,
believed in him. There is no doubt that the materials of Mohammed's
creed were drawn from Jewish and Christian sources: _Abraham_ was
the _hanif_, whose pure monotheism he claimed to re-assert; but
the animating spirit was from within. The sum of his doctrine was,
that there is only one God, and that Mohammed is the apostle of God.

AFTER THE HEGIRA.--The _Koreishites_, the rulers and the elders,
persecuted him. They flung out the reproach, that his adherents were
from the poor or from the rank of slaves. This provoked him to
denounce them, and to threaten them with the Divine judgment and with
perdition. He lost his uncle in 619: his wife had died before. He had
found sympathy with his claims from pious men from _Medina_. They
offered him an asylum. Thither he went in 622, the date of his
_Hijira_, or flight from Mecca, from which the Mohammedan
calendar is reckoned. At Medina he won influence: he was frequently
resorted to as an adviser, and as a judge to settle disputes. His
activity in this direction was beneficent. His injunctions respecting
the rights of property, and the protection due to women, were, in the
main, discreet and wholesome. Naturally and speedily he became a
political leader as well as a religious reformer. This new course on
which he entered made a breach between him and the _Jews_, whom
he had hoped to conciliate. He drew off from fellowship with them,
made _Friday_ the principal day of public worship, and Mecca its
principal seat. For the Jewish fast he substituted the month of
_Ramadan_. His plan was to cement together the Arab tribes,
superseding the old tie of blood by the new bond of fellowship in
adherence to him. The project of a holy war to conquer and to crush
the idolaters, and to establish his own authority, was the means to
this end. _Mecca_ was the first object of assault. He attacked
and plundered a Meccan caravan in 623. The next year he defeated the
_Koreishites_ in the battle of _Bedr_. In the battle of
_Ohod_ (625) his followers were worsted. Other conflicts ensued,
with attacks on the _Jews_ in the intervals, until, in 630, he
entered _Mecca_ at the head of ten thousand men, and destroyed
all the idols. This event secured the adhesion of the Arabian tribes,
together with the chiefs of _Yemen_ and of the other more
civilized districts. Hearing that the Emperor _Heraclius_ was
proposing to attack him, he went forth to meet him, but found that the
rumor was false. He was preparing a new expedition against the
_Greeks_ when he died, in 632.

CHARACTER OF MOHAMMED.--From the time of the flight of Mohammed to
Medina, the prophet turned more and more into the politician. Under
the circumstances, this was, perhaps, an almost inevitable change. But
one consequence was the bringing out of his natural vindictiveness,
and the transformation of the enthusiast into the fanatic. Beginning
as the prophet of Arabia, he came to think that he was the prophet of
the whole world. There was a call to a wider warfare against
idolatry. A crusade, partly political and partly religious, involved a
mixture of craft and cruelty which exhibit his character in a new
light. Yet it is probable that he always sincerely felt that his work
in general was one to which he was called of God. Even the prosaic
regulations and "orders of the day," which are placed in the
_Koran_, if not the reproduction, in cataleptic visions, of his
previous thoughts, may have been regarded by him as having a divine
sanction. The extent of possible self-deception in so extraordinary a
combination of qualities, it is not easy to define. His conduct was,
for the most part, on a level with his precepts. There was one
exception; he allowed not more than four wives to a disciple: he
himself, at one time, had eleven. While _Khadija_ lived he was
wedded to her alone.

THE KORAN.--The Koran is regarded as the word of God by a hundred
millions of disciples. It is very unequal in style. In parts it is
vigorous, and here and there imaginative, but generally its tone is
prosaic. Its narrative portions are chiefly about scriptural persons,
especially those of the Old Testament. Mohammed's acquaintance with
these must have been indirect, from rabbinical and apocryphal
sources. _Adam_, _Noah_, _Abraham_, _Moses_, and
_Christ_ are acknowledged as prophets. The deity of Christ and
the doctrine of the Trinity are repudiated. The miracles of Jesus are
acknowledged. Mohammed does not claim for himself miraculous
power. Predestination is taught, but this became a conspicuous tenet
of Moslems after the death of the founder. The immortality of the soul
is admitted, the pains of hell are threatened to the wicked and to
"infidels;" and a sensual paradise is promised to the faithful,
although it is declared that higher spiritual joys are the lot of the
most favored. The faith of Mohammed was, in substance, Judaism, the
religion of the Old Testament; power being set before holiness,
however, in the conception of God, and the supernatural mission of
_Mohammed_ substituted for the future Messianic reign of
righteousness and peace, and coupled with the emphatic proclamation of
the last judgment. The law in the Koran is a civil as well as a moral
code. Notwithstanding his countenance of sensuality by his own
practice, as well as by his legalizing of polygamy, and his notion of
paradise, Mohammed elevated the condition of woman among the
Arabs. Before there was unbridled profligacy: now there was a
regulated polygamy. Severe prohibitions are uttered against thieving,
usury, fraud, false witness; and alms-giving is emphatically
enjoined. Strong drink and gambling were prohibited.

The gem of the Koran is "The Lord's Prayer of the Moslems:" "In the
name of God, the compassionate Compassioner, the Sovereign of the day
of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg
assistance. Direct us in the right way; in the way of those to whom
Thou hast been gracious, in whom there is no wrath, and who go not
astray."

THE ARABIC CONQUESTS: SYRIA, PERSIA, EGYPT.--Mohammed made no
provision for the succession. The _Caliphs_, or "successors,"
combined in themselves civil, military and religious authority. They
united the functions of emperor and pope. _Ali_, the husband of
_Fatima_, Mohammed's favorite daughter, had hoped to succeed
him. But, by the older companions of the prophet, _Abubekr,_
Mohammed's father-in-law was appointed. The _Shiites_ were
supporters of Ali, while the _Sunnites_, who adhered to "the
traditions of the elders," were against him. These two parties have
continued until the present day; the _Persians_ being
_Shiites_, and the _Turks, Sunnites_. Mohammed, before he
died, was inflamed with the spirit of conquest. Full of the fire of
fanaticism, mingled with a thirst for dominion and plunder, the
Arabians rapidly extended their sway. These warriors, to their credit
be it said, if terrible in attack, were mild in victory. Their two
principal adversaries were the _Eastern Empire_ and
_Persia_. Mohammedanism snatched from the empire those provinces
in which the Greek civilization had not taken deep root, and it made
its way into Europe. It conquered _Persia_, and became the
principal religion of those Asiatic nations with which history mainly
has to do. Mohammed had made a difference in his injunctions between
heathen, apostates, and schismatics, all of whom were to embrace Islam
or to perish, and Jews and Christians, to both of whom was given the
choice of the Koran, tribute, or death. They must buy the right to
exercise their religion, if they refused to say that "Allah is God,
and Mohammed is His prophet." _Omar_ (634-644), the next caliph
after _Abubekr_, and a leader distinguished alike for his
military energy and his simplicity of manners and life, first brought
all Arabia, which was impelled as much by a craving for booty as by
religious zeal, into a cordial union under his banner. Then he carried
the war beyond the Arabian borders. _Palestine_ and _Syria_
were wrested from the Greek Empire; the old cities of _Jerusalem,
Antioch_, and _Damascus_ fell into the hands of the impetuous
Saracens. A mosque was erected on the site of Solomon's Temple. The
_Persian Empire_ was invaded, and, after a series of sanguinary
battles, especially the battle of _Cadesia_ (636), followed by
the battle of _Nehavend_ (641), was destroyed. _Ctesiphon_,
with all its riches, was captured, and _Persepolis_ was
sacked. The last king of the line of _Sassanids_, _Yezdegerd
III_., having lived for many years as a fugitive, perished by the
hand of an assassin (652). Meantime _Egypt_ had submitted to the
irresistible invaders under _Amr_, who was aided by the Christian
sect of the _Copts_, out of hostility to the Greek Orthodox
Church. After a siege of fourteen months, _Alexandria_ was taken;
but it is probably not true that the library was burned by
_Omar's_ order. In the disorders of the times, the great
collections of books had probably, for the most part, been dispersed
and destroyed. Six friends of Mohammed, selected by _Omar_, chose
_Othman_ (644-656) for his successor, who stirred up enmity by
his pride and avarice. Under him the Christian _Berbers_ in
Africa were won over to the faith of Islam, and paved the way for its
further advance.

THE OMAYYADS: CONQUEST OF AFRICA AND SPAIN.--_Othman_ was
assassinated by three fanatics, and _Ali_ was then raised to the
caliphate; but _Muawiyah_, representing the family of the
_Omayyads_, made himself the head of an opposing party, and,
after the assassination of _Ali_, became sole caliph (661). He
removed the seat of the caliphate to _Damascus_. He carried the
Arabian conquests as far as the _Indus_ and _Bokhara_. He
created a fleet on the Mediterranean, under an "Admiral," that is, a
commander on the sea. In seven successive years he menaced
Constantinople with his navy. At a later time, in 717, under the
caliph _Soliman_, another great attempt was made on the capital
of the Greek Empire. With an army of a hundred and twenty thousand
men, he traversed Asia Minor and the Hellespont, and was supported in
his attack by a fleet of eighteen hundred sail. But the energetic
defense, which was aided by the use of "the Greek fire,"--an
artificial compound which exploded and burned with an unquenchable
flame,--caused the grand expedition to fail; and the Eastern Empire
had another long lease of life. The successors of _Muawiyah_
accomplished the subjugation of Africa. They were invited by the
native inhabitants, who groaned under the burdens of taxation laid on
them by the Greek emperors. About A.D. 700 the Arab governor,
_Musa_, completed the conquest of the African dominion of the
Greeks as far as the Atlantic. The amalgamation of the _Berbers_
with the other inhabitants of that region, and with the _Arabs_,
resulted in the race called _Moors_. At this time the Spanish
Visigothic kingdom, which had become Catholic (586-601), was much
enfeebled, and a prey to discord. Under _Tarik_--from whom
_Gibraltar_, or the mountain of _Tarik_ near which he
landed, is named--the Arabs crossed into Spain, and for the first time
found themselves face to face with the barbarians of the North. In the
great battle of _Xeres de la Frontera_, near the
_Guadalquivir_, in 711, which lasted for three days, the fate of
the Visigothic kingdom was decided. Eight years were occupied in
conquering Spain. In 720 the Saracens occupied _Septimania_ north
of the Pyrenees, a dependency of the Gothic kingdom. Gaul now lay open
before them. The Mohammedan power threatened to encircle Christendom,
and to destroy the Church and Christianity itself. In the plains
between _Tours_ and _Poitiers_, the Saracens were met by the
Austrasian Franks under _Charles Martel_ (732). The impetuous
charges of the Saracen cavalry were met and beaten back by the
infantry of the _Franks_, which confronted them like an iron
wall. The Mohammedan defeat saved Christian Europe from being trampled
under foot by the Mussulman; it saved the Christian people of the
_Aryan_ nations from being subjugated by the _Semitic_
disciples of the Koran. At the same time that Spain was overrun, the
Turkish lands on the east of the Caspian were subdued. The old
antipathy between the Iranians and Turanians, the Schiite Persians and
the Sunnite Turks, was afterwards carried into Europe by the Ottoman
Moslems.

THE ABBASSIDES: BAGDAD.--Misgovernment embittered the faithful against
the rule of the _Omayyads_ in _Damascus_, although Syria had
become a source of higher culture for the Arabians: there they became
acquainted with Greek learning. The adherents of _Ali_ found
vigorous champions in the _Abbassides_, who, as
_Hashimites_, laid claim to the caliphate. One of them, _Abul
Abbas_, was made caliph by the soldiers in 750. The fierce cruelty
of his party against the _Omayyads_ led to the murder of all of
them except _Abderrahman_, who fled to Africa, and, in 755,
founded an independent caliphate at _Cordova_. The
_Abbassides_ attached themselves to the _Sunnite_
creed. Under _Almansor_, the brother and successor of _Abbas,
Bagdad_, a city founded by _Almansor_ (754-775) on the banks
of the Tigris, was made the seat of the caliphate, and so continued
until the great Mongolian invasion in 1258. Bagdad was built on the
west bank of the Tigris, but, by means of bridges, stretched over to
the other shore. It was protected by strong, double walls. It was not
only the proud capital of the caliphate: it was, besides, the great
market for the trade of the East, the meeting-place of many nations,
where caravans from China and Thibet, from India, and from Ferghana in
the modern Turkestan, met throngs of merchants from Armenia and
Constantinople, from Egypt and Arabia. There trading-fleets gathered
which carried the products of the North and West down the great rivers
to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. _Bagdad_ was to the
caliphs what _Byzantium_ was to Constantine, or _Alexandria_
to the Ptolemies. It became the grandest city in the world. Canals to
the number of six hundred ran through it, and a hundred and five
bridges bound its two parts together. It was furnished with many
thousand mosques and as many baths. The palace of the caliphs
comprised in itself all the splendor which Asiatic taste and
extravagance could collect and combine in one edifice.

THE EASTERN CALIPHATE.--Deprived of the western extremity of their
empire, the _Abbassides_ still ruled over _Asia_ and
_Africa_. In their luxurious and splendid court, the caliphs,
served by a vast retinue of officers with the _Vizier_ at their
head, copied the magnificence of the ancient Persians. The most famous
of the caliphs of Bagdad is _Harun-al-Rashid_, or "Aaron the
Just" (786-809). His name is familiar even to children as the
wonderful hero of the "Arabian Nights." His reign, like that of
_Solomon_ in ancient Judæa, was considered in after times the
golden age of the caliph dominion. As in the case of
_Charlemagne_, poetry and romance invested his character and
reign with all that can give glory and honor to a king and a
sage. Brilliant pictures were drawn of the boundless wealth and luxury
of his court, and of his admirable piety and wisdom. About him there
was assembled a host of jurists, linguists, and poets. Three hundred
scholars traveled at his expense through different lands. Righteous
judgments were ascribed to him, and oracular sayings. He was made the
ideal ruler of Oriental fancy. His real character fell much below the
later popular conception. He behaved like an Eastern despot towards
all his kindred who stood in his way. The Persian family of
_Barmecides_ he exterminated, when his passionate attachment to
one of them turned to hatred on account of an obscure affair connected
with the harem. Stories told by Western chroniclers of his relations
with _Charlemagne_ require to be sifted. The Greek emperor
_Nicephorus_, who had rashly defied him, he addressed as the
"Roman dog." Nine times _Harun_ invaded the Greek Empire, left
its provinces wasted as by a hurricane, and extorted from it a tribute
which he obliged the emperors, who repented of their daring, to pay in
coin stamped with his image. His best distinction is in the liberal
patronage which he, no doubt, extended to learning. In this he was
imitated by his son _Al Mamun_ (813-833), who founded numerous
schools, and expended vast sums in behalf of science and letters. The
caliphate was weakened by the introduction of the _Turks_,
somewhat as the Roman Empire fared from its relations with the
Germans. _Motasem_ (833-842), the eighth of the Abbassides,
brought in a Turkish guard of forty thousand slaves, purchased in
_Tartary_. These soldiers, instead of remaining servants, became
lawless masters, and disposed of the throne as the prætorians at Rome
had done. The palace of the caliphs was filled with
violence. Revolution and anarchy, kept up during two centuries, broke
the caliphate into fragments. Conspiracies and insurrections were the
order of the day. _Africa_ had detached itself in the time of
_Harun-al-Rashid_. In _Asia_ various independent dynasties
arose, formed mostly by Turkish governors of provinces.

THE TURKISH EMIRS.--In the eleventh century, the _Seljukian
Turks_ despoiled the Arabs of their sovereignty in the East. The
caliph at _Bagdad_ gave up all his temporal power to _Togrul
Bey_ (1058), and retained simply the spiritual headship over
orthodox Mussulmans. To the Turk who bore the title _Emir al
Omra_, was given the military command. He was what the Mayor of the
Palace had been among the Franks. In 1072 his son, _Malek Shah_,
made _Ispahan_ his capital, and governed Asia from China to the
vicinity of Constantinople.

THE FATIMITE CALIPHATE.--In the ninth and tenth centuries the
_Aglabites_ (800-909), whose capital was _Cairoan_ (in
Tunis), were dominant in the Western Mediterranean, established
themselves, in their marauding expeditions, in _Corsica,
Sardinia_, and _Sicily_, and several times attacked Italy. In
909 they, with the _Edrisites_, adherents of _Ali_, in
_Fez_, formed, under a Fatimite chief, _Moez_, with Egypt,
the African Caliphate, the seat of which was at _Cairo_
(968). The Fatimite caliphs extended their power over Syria. The most
famous of the caliphs of _Cairo_ was _Hakem_ (996-1020), a
monster of cruelty, who claimed to be the incarnation of Deity. These
caliphs claimed to be the descendants of _Ali_ and of
_Fatima_. Their dynasty was extinguished by _Saladin_ in
1171.

THE CALIPHS OF CORDOVA.--In Spain the caliphs of _Cordova_
allowed to the Christians freedom of worship and their own laws and
judges. The mingling of the conquerors with the conquered gave rise to
a mixed _Mozarabic_ population. The _Franks_ conquered the
country as far as the _Ebro_ (812). Under _Mohammed
I_. (852), the Saracen governors of the provinces sought to make
themselves independent; but the most brilliant period of the caliphate
of Cordova followed, under _Abderrahman III_. (912-961). In the
eleventh century there was anarchy, produced by the African guard of
the caliphs, which played a part like that of the Turkish guard at
_Bagdad_, and by reason of the rebellion of the governors. In
1031 the last descendant of the _Omayyads_ was deposed, and in
1060 the very title of caliph vanished. The caliphate gave place to
numerous petty Moslem kingdoms. The African Mussulmans came to their
help, and thus gave the name of _Moors_ to the Spanish
Mohammedans. Their language and culture, however, remained Arabic. The
Arabian conquests had moved like a deluge to the _Indus_, to the
borders of _Asia Minor_, and to the _Pyrenees_. In Syria
they were not generally resisted by the people. Egypt, for the same
reason, was an easy conquest. It took the Moslems sixty years to
conquer _Africa_. In three years nearly all Spain was theirs; and
it was not until seven hundred years after this time that they were
utterly driven out of that country.

THE MOSLEM GOVERNMENT--The Moslem civilization rested on the
Koran. Grammar, lexicography, theology, and law stood connected at
first with the study and understanding of the Sacred Book. The
_Caliph_ was the fountain of authority. There was a fixed system
of taxation, the poll-tax and land-tax being imposed only on
non-Moslem subjects. All Moslems received a yearly pension, a definite
sum determined by their rank. The empire was divided into provinces,
each governed by a _Prefect_, who was a petty sovereign, subject
only to the _Caliph_. The _Generals_ were appointed by the
caliph, by the prefects, or by the _Vizier_, who was the prime
minister. The _Judges (cadis)_ were appointed by the same
officers. There was a court of appeal over which the caliph
presided. There were inspectors of the markets, who were also censors
of morals. The _Imam_ had for his function to recite the public
prayers in the mosque. The leader of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca
was an officer of the highest dignity.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.