Chapter 7Decline of Abbasid

Decline• Abbasid dynasty – Control over empire begins to

slide in 9th century– Reasons for decline• Difficulty in communication and

moving armies across the large empire• Local administrators not always

obeying• Excess of court• Regions of empire maintaining their

local identites• Disputes over succession• Rise of mercenary armies became

virtually independent• Failure of agricultural economy

• Al-Mahdi– 3rd Abbasid caliph• Try to reconcile the moderates among

the Shi’ i opposition– Failed which meant Shi'as revolts and

assassinations would continue to end of the dynasty

• Love the good life- excess of luxury– Habit passed on to later caliphs– Financial drain

• Fail to solve problem of succession– Waiver between which son to succeed– Civil war was avoided but his successor

was poisoned within year.

• Harun al-Rashid– One of most famous and enduring

Abbasid caliph– Reputation for living the luxurious

life– One Thousand and One Nights

based on his court– Dependent on Persian royal advisors• Young when he took the throne. Only

23• Will eventually resist their influence-

reliance will become a trend – Mid 9th century caliphs were pawns in

court power struggles

• Harun al Rashid death will cause several full-scale civil wars over succession– Precedent set by struggle for throne deeply

damaging– Also end the real power of the Caliphs– Convince candidates for the throne that they need

a personal army• Often slave soldiers

– Turkic speaking nomads from central Asia

• Mercenary Armies– Leaders of slave mercenary armies will be the real power

behind the Abbasid throne• 4 caliphs will be murder or poison by the mercenary forces

– A disruptive force in life of Baghdad and other cities• Bully• Catalyst for food riots

– Be major players in the contest for control of the Capital and empire

– Consist largely of slave troops– Help bring about the decline of the empire

Imperial Breakdown

• Constant civil wars drain the treasury– Alienated the people

• Caliphs wanting to escape turmoil of Baghdad established new – capitals– Add to already high cost of government

• Cost of maintaining the mercenary armies• Spiraling taxation falling to peasants- least

able to pay

• Agricultural economy will be disrupted by– Spiraling taxation– Destruction of irrigation– Mercenaries pillaging villages• Often led to abandonment of the villages

Decline in Position of Women

• Women increasingly under complete control of men– Harems• seclusion of wives and

concubines– Concubines- slaves who

sometimes could win freedom and gain power by having rulers sons

• Restricted to forbidden parts of imperial palace

– veiling• Why?

– Men unable to resist the lures and temptations of women

– Segregation except in family household

• Abbasid elite will have a great demand for slaves– Both male and female– Most captured or purchased

from non-Muslim regions– Prized for beauty and

intelligence.

• Busy with struggles at home and in the central provinces, caliphs were powerless to prevent loss of outer territorties– Egypt– Syria– Buyids• Persian Shi’ ites

• Buyids– 945 CE • A regional splinter dynasty

– Captured Baghdad• Caliph- puppet government• Buyids even took the title of Sultans

– Arabic for victorious– Muslim rulers

– Control the court but could not stop the disintegration of empire

• 1055 Seljuk Turks– Nomadic invaders from central Asia

via Persia– Brought down the Buyids

• Two centuries Turk military leaders rule the Abbasid Empire in name of caliphs

• Staunch Sunnis– Purge Shi’ i officials – Rid empire of Shi’ I influence

• Military machine will be successful for a while– End threat of Shi’ i dynasty in Egypt– Defeat Byzantine attempt to regain long last land• Important because it open the way to settlement of

Asia Minor– Later home to Ottoman Empire– now Turkey

• Seljuks faced challenge by Christian Crusaders– Knights from western Europe who wanted to

control the holy lands• Christian crusaders were successful between

1069-1099 due to– Muslim political divisions– Element of surprise

• 1099 Jerusalem the main objective of the Christian Crusaders was capture

• 8 Crusades over two centuries

• Seljuk Turks– United by Saladin– Reconquered lost

territory• Last crusader

kingdom was lost with the fall of Acre in 1291

• Impact on– Greater on Christians than

Muslims– Intensified European

borrowing from the Muslims• Weapons• Building fortifications• Words• Games

– Chess• Scientific learning• Arabic numbers & decimal

system• Greek learning

• Of greater significance was the “exchange” was largely one way

• Muslims show little interest in learning or institutions of the West

Persian influence

• Persian language – replaced Arabic as primary written language at

Abbasid court– Arabic remain language of religion, law and

natural sciences– Persian was chief language of “high culture”

• Shah-Nama– Book of Kings– Written by Firdawsi– History of Persia

from beginnings of time to Islamic conquest

Science

• Islamic civilization ahead of others in scientific discoveries and technologies