Across
- 2. Harun al-Rashid sent an Indian _____________ named Abul-Abbas ("father of intelligence" in Arabic) as a gift to Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Carolingian Empire, in 802 / while Charlemagne was on campaign in Denmark, it most likely died from pneumonia after crossing the Rhine
- 4. (384-322 BCE) widely considered the "First Teacher" in the Islamic tradition / his purely rational understanding of the world influenced Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), an Andalusian polymath whose ideas profoundly influenced the development of scholasticism - the effort of medieval European philosophers to harmonize Christianity with this Greek philosopher's work / Muslim scholars used his ideas as a foundation for their own philosophical inquiries across various fields
- 6. Islamic banks established multiple branches that honored letters of credit known as _____________ - the root of the modern word check - drawn on the parent bank / merchants could draw letters of credits in one city and cash them in another
- 7. (750-1258 CE) third caliphate founded by a dynasty descended from the Prophet's uncle, Abbas, from whom it takes its name / overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 CE in a revolution that united diverse groups, including Persians and Shia, under the banner of restoring rule to the Prophet's family / presided over the Islamic Golden Age from the 8th century to the 13th century
- 9. a record of the sayings or deeds of the Prophet and his companions
- 11. the _____________ Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes on the Eurasian Steppe under the leadership of Temujin, aka Ghengis Khan, in 1206 / Hulegu, Ghengis Khan's grandson, sacked Baghdad and extinguished the Abbasid dynasty in 1258
- 12. dominant ethnic group during the Umayyad Caliphate that held privileged positions in government and military / the exclusion of Muslims from other ethnic groups, particularly Persians, contributed to the Abbasid Revolution, as the movement promised a more inclusive government
- 14. a collection of Middle Eastern folktales that include "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"
- 18. a special head tax levied on those who did not convert to Islam
- 19. this ancient Persian (Iranian) religion influenced the hadith and many beliefs and practices in Islam
- 21. (1058-1111) the most important of the early Sufi theologians / argued that human reason was too frail to understand the nature of Allah and hence could not explain the mysteries of the world / preached that only through devotion and guidance from the Quran could human beings begin to appreciate the uniqueness and power of Allah / held that philosophy and human reasoning were vain pursuits
- 22. the Arabs took this region from the Byzantine Empire during the invasion of 634-636 CE / the main power base of the Umayyads / Damascus is the capital of modern _____________
- 23. a profession held in high esteem by the Prophet since he himself was one
- 25. _____________ numerals were later called "Arabic" numerals by Europeans / enabled Muslim scholars to develop an impressive tradition of advanced mathematics and greatly aided in scientific discovery / Indian knowledge absorbed into Islamic scholarship
- 26. Baghdad is the capital of modern _____________, a country you should associate with ancient Mesopotamia - the "land btw. rivers' - and the "Cradle of Civilization"
- 30. (766-809 CE) fifth Abbasid caliph whose reign is regarded to be the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age / established the House of Wisdom - an intellectual center and one of the world's largest public libraries - in Baghdad / a central character in One Thousand and One Nights, where he is portrayed as a just and learned ruler
Down
- 1. historical region conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate between 632 and 654 CE when it defeated the Sasanian Empire, an Iranian empire that had ruled for just over four centuries after the Parthians / significantly influenced administrative practices of the Abbasid bureaucracy / where the Abbasid Revolution originated due to widespread discontent with Umayyad rule
- 3. "community of the faithful"
- 5. (632-661 CE) consisted of the first four successive caliphs / led the Muslim community from the death of the Prophet in 632 CE to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 CE / characterized by rapid military expansion / unlike later caliphs, they were chosen by consensus among the Prophet's closest companions / 3/4 assassinated
- 6. the final prophet through whom Allah would reveal his message to mankind - Muhammad accepted the authority of the earlier Jewish and Christian prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus
- 8. ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa / they made up the majority of the Muslim army that conquered the Iberian Peninsula by the 720s
- 10. traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century / began during the reign of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom, which saw scholars from all over the Muslim world flock to Baghdad to translate the world's classical knowledge into Arabic and Persian
- 13. (661-750 CE) second caliphate and also the first great Muslim dynasty / ruled over a vast multiethnic and multicultural population, though Christians still constituted a majority / constructed grand mosques and palaces from established Byzantine and Sasanian architectural traditions / continued the Muslim conquests before being toppled by the Abbasids in 750
- 15. developed by the 9th-century Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (often referred to as the "father of _____________"), while he was working at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
- 16. the most effective Islamic missionaries and practitioners of mystical Islam / most led pious and aesthetic lives / some devoted themselves to helping the poor / became increasingly popular after the ninth century because of their piety, devotion, and eagerness to minister
- 17. institutions of higher education that had become established in the major cities of the Islamic world by the twelfth century / Arabic word for "schools"
- 20. Islamic holy law that emerged centuries after Muhammad / offered detailed guidance on proper behavior in almost every aspect of life
- 24. dominant religion in regions like Egypt, Syria, and parts of North Africa before the Muslim conquests
- 27. capital of the Umayyad Caliphate and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world
- 28. Abbasid capital built from scratch in 762 CE along the Tigris / city evolved into a cultural and intellectual center of the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age / built around two large semicircles and known as the 'Round City', it was the largest city in the world during the 9th and 10th centuries / largely destroyed by the Mongols in 1258
- 29. Islamic Spain / its governors were Umayyads who refused to recognize the Abbasid dynasty - they ruled independent kingdoms called taifas / actively participated in the commercial life of the larger Islamic world / resisted European forces for centuries before the Reconquista, when Christian kingdoms gradually reclaimed territory on the Iberian Peninsula