BCS Islamic History & Culture cheat sheet

Pre-Islamic Arabia (the jahiliyya) was organized around tribal kinship ('asabiyya); the tribe, not the state, enforced law and provided protection.

The Ka'ba at Mecca was a pre-Islamic sanctuary and pilgrimage center; the Quraysh tribe, as its custodians, gained commercial and religious prestige.

Mecca's economy rested on the caravan trade and the annual pilgrimage season, during which fighting was traditionally suspended in the sacred months.

The Hanifs were pre-Islamic monotheists who rejected idolatry without adopting Judaism or Christianity; the Qur'an refers to Ibrahim as a hanif.

Jewish communities existed at Yathrib (Medina), Khaybar, and elsewhere in Arabia; Christian communities existed in Najran and among Ghassanid and Lakhmid client tribes.

The Year of the Elephant (c. 570 CE) refers to Abraha's failed expedition against Mecca; the Prophet Muhammad is said to have been born in that year.

The Prophet received the first revelation at the cave of Hira around 610 CE at about age forty; the first revealed verses are those of Surat al-'Alaq.

The Hijra (622 CE) from Mecca to Medina marks year one of the Islamic calendar, established later by Caliph Umar.

The Prophet's public preaching began around 613 CE; persecution led to the migration of some followers to Abyssinia before the Hijra of 622 CE.

The Constitution of Medina was an agreement regulating relations among the Muhajirun, the Ansar, and the Jewish tribes of Medina.

Major battles include Badr (2 AH/624), Uhud (3 AH/625), the Trench (5 AH/627), and Khaybar (7 AH/628); the Treaty of Hudaybiyya was concluded in 6 AH.

The Farewell Pilgrimage and Sermon occurred in 10 AH/632 CE; the Prophet died in Medina in 11 AH/632 CE.

Abu Bakr (r. 632-634) suppressed the Ridda (apostasy) wars and ordered the collection of the Qur'an into a single codex.

Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634-644) oversaw the conquests of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq and instituted the diwan (register of stipends) and the Hijri calendar.

Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644-656) standardized the Qur'anic text using a single consonantal exemplar and was assassinated in 656 CE.

Ali ibn Abi Talib (r. 656-661) faced the Battle of the Camel (656) and the Battle of Siffin (657); the First Fitna ended with the Umayyad rise in 661.

The Umayyad Caliphate (661-750) was founded by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan and ruled from Damascus; its capital was later moved to Harran by Marwan II.

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685-705) introduced the first Islamic coinage and made Arabic the language of administration.

The Umayyad expansion reached the Iberian Peninsula (711) and the Indus valley (Sindh, 711-712); the advance into France was halted at Tours/Poitiers in 732.

The Abbasid Revolution (750) overthrew the Umayyads; the Abbasids ruled from Baghdad, founded by al-Mansur in 762.

Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809) and al-Ma'mun (r. 813-833) are associated with the peak of Abbasid cultural patronage and the House of Wisdom.

The Umayyad emirate and later caliphate of Cordoba (756-1031) survived in al-Andalus after the Abbasid takeover.

The Tahirids, Samanids, Buyids, and Seljuks emerged as autonomous or protector dynasties within the Abbasid sphere; the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258.

The term 'caliph' (khalifa) denotes successor to the Prophet in political leadership; the title 'amir al-mu'minin' was first used by Umar.

The madrasa as a formal institution of higher learning crystallized in the 11th century; the Nizamiyya madrasa was founded in Baghdad in 1067.

The waqf (endowment) provided the legal-financial basis for mosques, madrasas, hospitals (bimaristans), and libraries across the Islamic world.

The shari'a developed through four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali); fiqh denotes jurisprudence while shari'a denotes the broader normative path.

The diwan al-kharaj handled land taxation; kharaj (land tax), jizya (poll tax on non-Muslims), and zakat (alms) formed core fiscal categories.

The muhtasib supervised markets and public morals; the qadi adjudicated legal disputes, and the mazalim courts heard grievances against officials.

Arabic became the lingua franca of scholarship; translation movements under the Abbasids rendered Greek, Persian, and Indian works into Arabic.

Paper manufacture spread from China via Samarkand to Baghdad around 794-795 and replaced parchment in administrative and scholarly use.

Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima formulated an early theory of social cohesion ('asabiyya) and cyclical dynastic rise and decline.

Muhammad ibn Qasim conquered Sindh in 711-712 CE and established Muslim rule centered on Mansura; Multan followed as a key center.

The Ghaznavid Mahmud of Ghazni raided the subcontinent repeatedly between 1000 and 1027 CE; his court patronized al-Biruni, who studied Indian sciences.

The Ghurids under Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithviraj Chauhan at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192, opening the Delhi Sultanate.

The Delhi Sultanate comprised five dynasties: Mamluk (Slave), Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, and Lodi, lasting from 1206 to 1526.

The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur after the First Battle of Panipat in 1526; Akbar (r. 1556-1605) promoted sulh-i kul (universal tolerance) and the Din-i Ilahi.

Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) commissioned the Taj Mahal; Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent.

The Bhakti and Sufi movements interacted across the subcontinent; the Chishti order became especially influential at Ajmer and Delhi.

The 1857 uprising ended Mughal rule; the British Crown assumed direct governance in 1858.

The hypostyle mosque plan uses a courtyard surrounded by arcades; the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Mosque of Kairouan exemplify it.

The four-iwan plan, with vaulted halls facing a central courtyard, became standard for madrasas and congregational mosques from the 11th century.

The Dome of the Rock (completed 691-692 CE) is an octagonal centralized structure and among the earliest surviving Islamic monuments.

Minarets evolved from square (Syria, North Africa) to cylindrical (Ottoman) and regional forms; the spiral Malwiya at Samarra is distinctive.

Aniconism in religious settings encouraged calligraphy, geometric arabesque, and vegetal ornament as principal decorative modes.

Kufic and naskh are major Arabic scripts; thuluth and nasta'liq served monumental and literary purposes respectively.

Tilework (hazar-baf), muqarnas vaulting, and jali screens are characteristic features of Indo-Islamic and Persian architecture.

The Taj Mahal (completed c. 1648) combines a char-bagh garden, a domed mausoleum, and a pishtaq portal in a symmetrical composition.

Sufism (tasawwuf) emphasizes inward purification; the term derives from suf (wool), and early ascetics practiced zuhd (renunciation).

The tariqa (path or order) system crystallized from the 12th century; major orders include Qadiriyya, Chishtiyya, Naqshbandiyya, and Suhrawardiyya.

Al-Ghazali's Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din reconciled Sufi practice with Sunni jurisprudence and Ash'ari theology.

Ibn Arabi articulated wahdat al-wujud (unity of being); later critics such as Ibn Taymiyya contested several Sufi doctrines and practices.

The Chishti order in India, associated with Mu'in al-Din Chishti of Ajmer and Nizam al-Din Auliya of Delhi, stressed music (sama') and openness.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792) advocated return to Qur'an and Sunna and opposed tomb veneration; his movement allied with the Sa'ud family.

Modern reformers include Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh (rationalist revival), and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (education and reinterpretation).

Shah Waliullah of Delhi (d. 1762) called for hadith-based renewal and reconciliation among legal schools.

Muslim rule in Bengal began with Bakhtiyar Khalji's conquest of Nadia around 1204 CE, followed by the establishment of the Bengal Sultanate.

The Bengal Sultanate (c. 1342-1576) issued its own coinage and patronized vernacular and Persian literature; the Ilyas Shahi dynasty was prominent.

The Mughals annexed Bengal after the Battle of Rajmahal in 1576; Dhaka became a Mughal provincial capital in 1610 under Islam Khan Chishti.

The Baro-Bhuyan confederacy, associated with Isa Khan, resisted Mughal expansion in eastern Bengal in the late 16th century.

Murshid Quli Khan (d. 1727) founded the semi-independent Nawabi rule of Bengal centered at Murshidabad.

The Battle of Plassey (1757) and the grant of the diwani (1765) transferred effective revenue control of Bengal to the British East India Company.

Bengali Muslim literary culture includes the puthi tradition and the works of Alaol, a 17th-century court poet of Arakan.

The Faraizi movement under Haji Shariatullah and Dudu Miyan, and the Tariqah-i Muhammadiyah, were major 19th-century reform movements in Bengal.

Al-Khwarizmi's algebra (al-jabr) and his work on Indian numerals transmitted the decimal place-value system to the Islamic world and Europe.

Ibn al-Haytham's Kitab al-Manazir advanced optics through experimental method and a theory of vision based on light rays.

Al-Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) produced major medical encyclopedias; Ibn Sina's al-Qanun fi al-Tibb remained a standard text for centuries.

Al-Biruni's Tahqiq ma li-l-Hind is a landmark comparative study of Indian religion, science, and society.

Jabir ibn Hayyan is associated with early chemistry (al-kimiya); al-Kindi advanced cryptanalysis and the frequency analysis of letters.

Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) interpreted Aristotle; Ibn Rushd's commentaries shaped Latin scholasticism.

Al-Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan contains early observations on animal behavior and adaptation; al-Idrisi produced a celebrated world map and geography.

Literary landmarks include the Mu'allaqat (pre-Islamic odes), the Maqamat of al-Hariri, the Shahnameh of Firdawsi, and the Thousand and One Nights.