Chpt. 7, Abbasid and Southeast asia

Question 1

lateen sails

Answer 1

triangular sails attached to the masts of dhows by long booms, or yard arms, which extended diagonally high across the fore and aft of the ship

Question 2

al-Mahdi

Answer 2

the third of the Abbasid caliphs; attempted but failed to reconcile moderates among the Shi’a to the Abbasid dynasty; failed to resolve the problem of succession

Question 3

Harun al-Rashid

Answer 3

one of the great Islamic rulers of the Abbasid era; during his rule, courtly excesses grew even greater; nonetheless, his rule was decadent

Question 4

Buyids

Answer 4

a regional splinter dynasty of the mid-10th century; invaded and captured Baghdad; ruled the Abbasid Empire under the title of sultan (“victorious”); retained the Abbasids as figurehead rulers, while they held real control

Question 5

Seljuk Turks

Answer 5

nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis; ruled in the name of the Abbasid caliphs from the mid-11th century forward (took over from the Buyids)

Question 6

Crusades

Answer 6

a series of military adventures launched by western Christians initially intended to free the Holy Land from the Muslims; temporarily succeeded in capturing Jerusalem and establishing Christian kingdoms; later were used for other purposes such as commercial wars and extermination of heresy

Question 7

Saladin

Answer 7

a Muslim leader in the last decades of the 12th century; re-conquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam

Question 8

Ibn Khaldun

Answer 8

a Muslim historian; developed the concept of dynasties of nomadic conquerors, theorizing that they had a cycle of three generations, each one farther removed from the warrior/desert roots; in this theory, the first ruler was strong (1st-generation), the 2nd weak (2nd generation, but still has memory from father), the 3rd dissolute (unconcerned with ruling, doesn’t command authority)

Question 9

Sha-Nama

Answer 9

written by Firdawsi in the late 10th and early 11th centuries; relates the history of Persia from its creation to the Islamic conquests

Question 10

ulama

Answer 10

Orthodox religious scholars within Islam; pressed for a more conservative and restrictive theology; increasingly opposed to non-Islamic ideas and scientific thinking

Question 11

al-Ghazali

Answer 11

brilliant Islamic theologian; struggled to fuse Greek and Qur’anic traditions; not entirely accepted by the ulama (like Peter Abelard in that they both tried to reconcile rationalism and religion, and were both at least partly shunned)

Question 12

Mongols

Answer 12

central Asian nomadic peoples; smashed Turko-Persian kingdoms; captured Baghdad in 1258 and killed the last Abbasid caliph

Question 13

Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan)

Answer 13

born in the 1170s in the decades following the death of Kabul Khan; was elected khagan of all Mongol tribes in 1206; responsible for the conquest of northern kingdoms of China, as well as territories as far west as the Abbasid regions; died in 1227, prior to conquest of most of the Islamic world

Question 14

Hulegu

Answer 14

ruler of the Ilkhan khanate; grandson of Chinggis Khan; responsible for the capture and destruction of Baghdad in 1258

Question 15

Mamluks (or Mamluk Turks)

Answer 15

Muslim slave warriors; established a dynasty in Egypt; defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 and halted the Mongol advance

Question 16

Muhammad Ibn Qasim

Answer 16

an Arab general; conquered Sind in India; declared the region and the Indus valley to be part of the Umayyad Empire

Question 17

Mahmud of Ghazni

Answer 17

the third ruler of the Turkish slave dynasty in Afghanistan; led invasions of northern India; credited with sacking one of the wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India; gave Muslims a reputation for intolerance and aggression

Question 18

Muhammad of Ghur

Answer 18

a military commander of Persian extraction who ruled a small mountain kingdom in Afghanistan; began process of conquest to establish Muslim political control of northern India; brought much of the Indus valley, Sind, and northwestern India under his control

Question 19

Qutb-ud-din Aibak

Answer 19

lieutenant of Muhammad of Ghur; established a kingdom in India with its capital at Delphi; proclaimed himself Sultan of India

Question 20

bhaktic cults

Answer 20

Hindu groups dedicated to gods and goddesses; stressed the importance of strong emotional bonds between devotees and the god or goddess who was the object of their veneration; the most widely worshipped gods were Shiva and Vishnu

Question 21

Mira Bai

Answer 21

a celebrated Hindu writer of religious poetry; reflected the openness of bhaktic cults to women

Question 22

Kabir

Answer 22

a Muslim mystic; played down the importance of ritual differences between Hinduism and Islam

Question 23

Srivijaya Empire

Answer 23

a trading empire centered on the Malacca Straits between Malaya and Sumatra; controlled the trade of the empire; it’s Buddhist government was resistant to Muslim missionaries, and only after it fell did southeastern Asia open up to Muslim conversions

Question 24

Malacca

Answer 24

a Portuguese factory (fortified trade town) located on the tip of the Malayan peninsula; traditionally a center for trade among the southeastern Asian islands

Question 25

Demak

Answer 25

the most powerful of the trading states on the north coast of Java; converted to Islam and served as a point of dissemination to other ports