WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:04.603 PAUL FREEDMAN: OK, so Islam, Part Two. 00:06.833 --> 00:12.673 I know there's a lot of new terminology, new narratives. 00:12.667 --> 00:18.397 The things that I want you to keep in mind are what we're 00:18.400 --> 00:23.030 really going to focus on today and that is the Islamic 00:23.033 --> 00:28.173 conquests, which certainly take place partly because of 00:28.167 --> 00:32.967 religious motivation, but nevertheless are not 00:32.967 --> 00:38.197 accompanied by some fanatical desire to convert the world. 00:38.200 --> 00:41.330 The Muslim conquests have to be understood in terms of 00:41.333 --> 00:45.473 religious motivation but not in terms of a determination to 00:45.467 --> 00:48.467 wipe out Judaism and Christianity. 00:48.467 --> 00:55.127 What appears to be a paradox makes this era a little hard 00:55.133 --> 00:56.133 to understand. 00:56.133 --> 01:00.073 Namely, the paradox being that you would have such a rapid 01:00.067 --> 01:03.667 expansion of the Arabs and the religion that they carried, 01:03.667 --> 01:08.697 which eventually would extend from Spain to India. 01:11.333 --> 01:17.533 And at the same time that the Islamic population would be a 01:17.533 --> 01:20.133 minority in most of those 01:20.133 --> 01:23.273 conquered regions for centuries. 01:23.267 --> 01:29.167 There is not a demand for the conversion of the population 01:29.167 --> 01:32.667 to Islam, and that although the conversion does take 01:32.667 --> 01:38.527 place, in many, in most parts of this imperial caliphate. 01:38.533 --> 01:40.373 It doesn't take place immediately and it doesn't 01:40.367 --> 01:42.667 take place under great pressure. 01:42.667 --> 01:46.167 I say apparent paradox because, in fact, the two 01:46.167 --> 01:47.627 things are different. 01:47.633 --> 01:53.303 The motivation provided by the religion to conquer does not 01:53.300 --> 01:55.800 necessarily mean that you require that everybody that 01:55.800 --> 01:58.170 you conquer embrace the religion. 01:58.167 --> 02:03.127 Indeed, in part, this is because, as Berkey emphasizes, 02:03.133 --> 02:10.133 the distinctiveness of the religion was worked out over 02:10.133 --> 02:12.633 the course of its first century, beginning as we said 02:12.633 --> 02:16.733 last time in Medina but not fully articulated until the 02:16.733 --> 02:22.603 change of dynasty in 750 from the Umayyad to the Abbasids. 02:22.600 --> 02:25.400 But the other reason is that there's no logical connection 02:25.400 --> 02:26.930 between conquest and conversion. 02:26.933 --> 02:32.933 It's perfectly possible to be a motivated conqueror and not 02:32.933 --> 02:35.903 to require that other people embrace your religion and this 02:35.900 --> 02:37.930 is for reasons that we'll see. 02:37.933 --> 02:42.273 The other apparent paradox, and here I think there really 02:42.267 --> 02:45.367 is a paradox, is that the Islamic conquests are 02:45.367 --> 02:47.267 accompanied by internal division within 02:47.267 --> 02:53.297 Islam from 650 AD. 02:53.300 --> 02:56.800 By the time of the Abbasid succession, it is a century 02:56.800 --> 02:59.670 later these two parties can be identified 02:59.667 --> 03:00.897 as Sunni and Shiite. 03:00.900 --> 03:03.300 And you've read that and you're aware that this 03:03.300 --> 03:07.730 continues to be a division that defines an awful lot of 03:07.733 --> 03:09.203 the Islamic world today. 03:09.200 --> 03:13.030 It is particularly a problem in those countries such as 03:13.033 --> 03:17.073 Iraq, for example, that have both Sunni and Shiite 03:17.067 --> 03:18.167 populations. 03:18.167 --> 03:24.727 It's not a problem in Morocco where everybody is Sunni. 03:24.733 --> 03:30.773 And it is less of a problem in contemporary Iran where a very 03:30.767 --> 03:33.167 large majority is Shiite. 03:33.167 --> 03:40.867 But it is a problem that defines both Islam as a 03:40.867 --> 03:44.297 religion and the politics of many countries to this day. 03:44.300 --> 03:46.970 And so one of the things we have to talk about in a 03:46.967 --> 03:50.467 lecture entitled "Islamic Conquest and Civil War" is the 03:50.467 --> 03:52.827 origins of the split within Islam. 03:52.833 --> 03:56.973 The paradox is that the conquests keep on going even 03:56.967 --> 03:59.167 while it would seem that religious 03:59.167 --> 04:00.467 unity is falling apart. 04:04.667 --> 04:10.397 Now as you remember, I hope, after Mohammed's death, there 04:10.400 --> 04:12.230 was no clear succession. 04:12.233 --> 04:15.603 He didn't have a son, and it wasn't clear what anyone would 04:15.600 --> 04:17.330 succeed to. 04:17.333 --> 04:19.803 If he was the seal of the prophets, then you couldn't 04:19.800 --> 04:21.230 succeed to prophecy. 04:24.533 --> 04:27.933 Was he a religious ruler, was he a military ruler, was he a 04:27.933 --> 04:29.173 judicial arbitrator? 04:31.433 --> 04:35.003 His father-in-law, Abu Bakr, who we saw was one of the 04:35.000 --> 04:41.870 first of his followers, was elected caliph--, caliph 04:41.867 --> 04:43.197 meaning "successor," simply. 04:46.567 --> 04:49.967 Succeeding to what was not defined, but to some kind of 04:49.967 --> 04:54.027 combination of religious and secular rule. 04:54.033 --> 04:57.473 As we said last time, religious and secular rule 04:57.467 --> 05:01.897 are, in a fundamental way, not separated in Islam, although 05:01.900 --> 05:05.670 as we're going to start to see and as you've read, there are 05:05.667 --> 05:09.027 some ways in which they do start to separate out, 05:09.033 --> 05:15.133 particularly in the later Abbasid period. 05:15.133 --> 05:18.833 Abu Bakr was elected, that is the followers of Mohammed, the 05:18.833 --> 05:24.233 people who were thought to have some sort of original 05:24.233 --> 05:26.103 religious authority, elected him. 05:26.100 --> 05:31.930 His rival was Ali, the cousin of Mohammed and the 05:31.933 --> 05:34.503 son-in-law, at the same time of Mohammed. 05:34.500 --> 05:37.630 Ali had married Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. 05:40.733 --> 05:43.273 But this election was not recognized by many of the 05:43.267 --> 05:48.197 tribes that had regarded their loyalty to Mohammed as 05:48.200 --> 05:53.500 personal loyalty to Mohammed, not to some institution and 05:53.500 --> 06:00.170 not to some permanent coterie of caliphs or successors. 06:00.167 --> 06:04.697 So they refused to recognize Abu Bakr's authority and there 06:04.700 --> 06:09.470 ensued what's called the ridda, R-I-D-D-A, or apostasy 06:09.467 --> 06:15.467 , where the tribes rejected the authority of Abu Bakr and 06:15.467 --> 06:20.927 Abu Bakr militarily compelled them back into submission or 06:20.933 --> 06:23.233 recognition of his authority. 06:23.233 --> 06:27.873 Abu Bakr ruled for less than two years, but he had already 06:27.867 --> 06:35.097 started on a key aspect of the ridda, the apostasy , and, 06:35.100 --> 06:38.030 that is, turning the resistance to the apostasy 06:38.033 --> 06:41.533 into a war against external enemies. 06:41.533 --> 06:45.933 In other words, the military energy that had to be devoted 06:45.933 --> 06:49.133 to bringing these tribes back in, once they were brought in, 06:49.133 --> 06:53.673 was continued to turn their military energies outward. 06:53.667 --> 06:59.097 And outward means to the north, out of the Arabian 06:59.100 --> 07:03.730 desert and to the direct north and slightly northeast, 07:03.733 --> 07:06.703 meaning Persia, to the northwest meaning the 07:06.700 --> 07:09.070 Byzantine Empire. 07:09.067 --> 07:15.127 And already under Abu Bakr , it was discovered that the 07:15.133 --> 07:18.273 Byzantine Empire and the Persian Empire were hollowed 07:18.267 --> 07:22.267 out and that what began as raids to keep these 07:22.267 --> 07:28.127 discontented tribes happy with a spot of plunder turned into 07:28.133 --> 07:32.073 a conquest. And as success breeds success,-- 07:32.067 --> 07:34.997 and I don't think there's anymore dramatic lesson of 07:35.000 --> 07:36.430 that cliche,-- 07:36.433 --> 07:40.003 the ambitions of the conquerors changed very 07:40.000 --> 07:42.830 quickly; well the ambitions of the raiders changed very 07:42.833 --> 07:49.533 quickly, from booty to conquest, from plunder to an 07:49.533 --> 07:50.773 expansion of territory. 07:54.633 --> 07:58.833 Remember that the Persians and the Byzantines had fought each 07:58.833 --> 08:03.773 other, that in 626 Persia besieged Constantinople 08:03.767 --> 08:05.427 unsuccessfully-- 08:05.433 --> 08:08.533 626, four years after the Hegira. 08:08.533 --> 08:11.803 So from the Islamic/ Muslim/ Arab point of view, 08:11.800 --> 08:13.170 the timing was great. 08:13.167 --> 08:16.067 These two great empires had exhausted each other 08:16.067 --> 08:19.397 militarily and to some extent spiritually as well. 08:22.600 --> 08:27.830 In 634, in other words two years after the death of 08:27.833 --> 08:32.633 Mohammed, the city of Damascus fell to the Arabs. 08:32.633 --> 08:37.973 Damascus, the capital of Byzantine Syria, indeed one of 08:37.967 --> 08:40.997 the oldest cities in the world, mentioned in the Old 08:41.000 --> 08:47.900 Testament of the Bible, an extremely important center of 08:47.900 --> 08:54.330 government, commerce, and religion fell. 08:54.333 --> 08:57.503 The Byzantine Empire was defeated near Jerusalem. 09:00.733 --> 09:05.473 Abu Bakr died in 634 and again Ali was passed over in another 09:05.467 --> 09:10.627 election in favor of another companion of Mohammed, Umar, 09:10.633 --> 09:16.033 another one of those original followers that we mentioned in 09:16.033 --> 09:17.773 the last lecture. 09:17.767 --> 09:20.397 Umar would rule from 634 to 644. 09:20.400 --> 09:23.970 He was a startlingly effective ruler. 09:23.967 --> 09:28.167 In the ten years of his caliphate, the Arabs conquered 09:28.167 --> 09:31.197 the Persian Empire entirely. 09:31.200 --> 09:36.230 An empire that had lasted for centuries, that had been one 09:36.233 --> 09:45.673 of the great world empires, collapsed and was taken over 09:45.667 --> 09:47.827 by Islam, by the Arabs. 09:50.533 --> 09:53.433 The Byzantine Empire didn't completely collapse, but in 09:53.433 --> 09:57.833 this period it lost Syria, Palestine, and then its 09:57.833 --> 10:02.773 richest agricultural province, Egypt. 10:02.767 --> 10:05.967 Alexandria, capitol of Egypt at the time, 10:05.967 --> 10:10.527 surrendered in 642. 10:10.533 --> 10:15.033 We can list the factors that favor the Arab conquest, 10:15.033 --> 10:19.533 though they're mostly sort of favorable soil, as it were, 10:19.533 --> 10:22.133 not the plant itself. 10:22.133 --> 10:23.573 Weakness of Persia and Byzantium, 10:23.567 --> 10:25.597 I've already mentioned. 10:25.600 --> 10:29.230 A mastery of desert warfare. 10:29.233 --> 10:32.233 We'll see this with the Vikings at 10:32.233 --> 10:33.273 the end of the course. 10:33.267 --> 10:36.427 There are peoples who have been able to take advantage of 10:36.433 --> 10:39.803 an adverse environment that they are able easily to swim 10:39.800 --> 10:48.600 through, travel through, and that a less mobile adversary 10:48.600 --> 10:50.170 cannot deal with. 10:50.167 --> 10:55.267 So the similarity between the sea and the rivers of Europe 10:55.267 --> 11:00.527 and the desert of the Near East is that you can pick and 11:00.533 --> 11:01.973 choose your battles. 11:01.967 --> 11:04.467 You appear off the coast. "Uh oh. 11:04.467 --> 11:05.567 There's an army there. 11:05.567 --> 11:08.627 We'll just go back and then we'll raid somewhere else." 11:08.633 --> 11:10.103 The same is true of the desert. 11:10.100 --> 11:12.970 You appear out of the desert where the urban dwellers 11:12.967 --> 11:16.497 cannot easily field an army. 11:16.500 --> 11:19.000 And you discover that there's nobody defending the city and 11:19.000 --> 11:19.570 you take it. 11:19.567 --> 11:22.127 Or you discover there is somebody defending the city. 11:22.133 --> 11:23.173 You go right back into the 11:23.167 --> 11:25.027 desert; they can't pursue you there and you 11:25.033 --> 11:26.533 pick somewhere else. 11:26.533 --> 11:29.803 So the mastery of desert warfare is in part a question 11:29.800 --> 11:36.130 of mobility and the ability to move in the 11:36.133 --> 11:39.833 desert freely, easily. 11:39.833 --> 11:44.273 Another aspect of the weakness of Persia and Byzantium is the 11:44.267 --> 11:47.397 discontent of their religious minorities. 11:47.400 --> 11:50.030 Persia was ruled by a Zoroastrian elite and had 11:50.033 --> 11:54.503 other religious groups that felt, if not persecuted, at 11:54.500 --> 11:57.470 least discriminated against. And as we've seen, the 11:57.467 --> 11:59.867 Byzantine Empire had a substantial Monophysite 11:59.867 --> 12:04.967 population that was persecuted by the orthodox. 12:04.967 --> 12:10.627 These people might not exactly fight for the invader but they 12:10.633 --> 12:14.403 certainly weren't unhappy when the invader showed up. 12:14.400 --> 12:18.530 Indeed, remember that I said that in 655, 12:18.533 --> 12:21.733 there was a naval battle. 12:21.733 --> 12:26.333 How could the Arabs have sailors if they hadn't seen a 12:26.333 --> 12:32.703 year-round river until a few years before this battle? 12:32.700 --> 12:37.400 Their sailors were, most of them, from Monophysite 12:37.400 --> 12:39.530 populations of Egypt and Syria. 12:39.533 --> 12:42.203 They were able to recruit people who would fight for 12:42.200 --> 12:45.930 them who were not Muslim. 12:45.933 --> 12:50.673 The third is the channeling of a war-like society towards 12:50.667 --> 12:51.897 external fighting. 12:54.700 --> 12:59.470 This is like a problem of conservation of energy. 12:59.467 --> 13:03.697 You have a certain amount of energy that is being expended 13:03.700 --> 13:05.270 in external fighting. 13:05.267 --> 13:08.997 If you can turn all those electrons or whatever in the 13:09.000 --> 13:13.770 same direction and make them go outward, they will be 13:13.767 --> 13:15.367 extremely powerful. 13:15.367 --> 13:19.197 Limits of my scientific knowledge, unfortunately, you 13:19.200 --> 13:21.030 see displayed. 13:21.033 --> 13:22.333 But you understand what I'm talking about. 13:22.333 --> 13:25.673 That is, the internecine warfare is now turned outside 13:25.667 --> 13:28.267 because the plunder is better, the motivation is better. 13:28.267 --> 13:32.467 And then motivation is a fourth reason. 13:32.467 --> 13:37.527 Religious motivation is this thing that is called jihad. 13:37.533 --> 13:39.473 Everybody knows what this means. 13:39.467 --> 13:43.597 And we're going to have to grapple with it because our 13:43.600 --> 13:49.430 understanding of it is perhaps partial and distorted. 13:49.433 --> 13:52.403 Jihad means struggle. 13:52.400 --> 13:58.330 It is a struggle against other religions or against other 13:58.333 --> 14:00.133 tendencies within Islam. 14:00.133 --> 14:05.733 There's plenty of energy, as we will see, devoted to fights 14:05.733 --> 14:07.133 within Islam. 14:07.133 --> 14:13.333 Internecine religious fighting if not tribal feuding. 14:13.333 --> 14:17.033 So we use the term jihad with some reservations. 14:17.033 --> 14:23.103 It is wrong to think of the Arab conquest as an expression 14:23.100 --> 14:27.130 of jihad in the sense that guys with knives in their 14:27.133 --> 14:33.703 teeth ride out and offer a terrorized population the 14:33.700 --> 14:36.930 choice of death or conversion. 14:36.933 --> 14:43.033 Once again, it is possible to have a religious motivation 14:43.033 --> 14:48.433 and yet not necessarily want to kill or convert the 14:48.433 --> 14:49.903 conquered people. 14:49.900 --> 14:54.700 The Quran itself has plenty of information about the jihad 14:54.700 --> 14:58.470 but it is not completely consistent. 14:58.467 --> 15:01.967 Certainly there is a sense that the 15:01.967 --> 15:05.167 unbelievers must be combated. 15:05.167 --> 15:09.467 A sense of martyrdom even-- that those who died in the 15:09.467 --> 15:11.927 struggle to advance the religion will 15:11.933 --> 15:15.673 receive special favor. 15:15.667 --> 15:20.697 But there is also a respect accorded to people of other 15:20.700 --> 15:24.300 religions, in particular, Jews and Christians. 15:27.233 --> 15:30.373 And if you think about it, it is psychologically possible to 15:30.367 --> 15:34.667 be convinced that God is following you. 15:34.667 --> 15:35.927 God must be following you. 15:35.933 --> 15:39.273 After all, you just conquered Jerusalem, you just conquered 15:39.267 --> 15:44.567 Alexandria, you just came out of the desert and have started 15:44.567 --> 15:48.397 to a roll like a tsunami- an image I don't think is really 15:48.400 --> 15:49.270 in the Quran.-- 15:49.267 --> 15:53.567 Well, let's say roll like the sands of the desert over 15:53.567 --> 15:54.567 ancient civilization. 15:54.567 --> 15:57.427 So God must be with you. 15:57.433 --> 15:59.773 But the fact that God is with you may indicate that you're 15:59.767 --> 16:03.297 an elite and that the people that you conquered are simply 16:03.300 --> 16:04.370 going to stay that way. 16:04.367 --> 16:07.327 Or that if they want to become Muslim, that makes sense. 16:07.333 --> 16:10.073 Obviously Got favors Islam. 16:10.067 --> 16:13.567 If they don't want to become Muslim, that's their lookout. 16:13.567 --> 16:15.827 So it does not mean that you have a 16:15.833 --> 16:18.333 hostile conquest policy. 16:18.333 --> 16:23.703 Jihad is, in this context, not incompatible with tolerance. 16:23.700 --> 16:28.230 "Tolerance" is a word I use with caution as well. 16:28.233 --> 16:30.833 Because it's not as if they have a modern ideal of 16:30.833 --> 16:34.333 tolerance, of individuality, of "You have your religion, I 16:34.333 --> 16:42.803 have my religion." It is more that they are not bothered by 16:42.800 --> 16:48.200 the presence of people of other religions. 16:48.200 --> 16:50.930 And we'll see some of why that is. 16:50.933 --> 16:54.473 So, number five, a policy of allowing conquered people to 16:54.467 --> 16:57.227 maintain their religion, livelihood, and private lives. 17:02.500 --> 17:04.900 So there are other rapid conquests in world history, 17:04.900 --> 17:07.970 and there are other rapid conquests by people who are 17:07.967 --> 17:12.097 technologically or culturally or certainly economically 17:12.100 --> 17:15.500 behind the people that they conquer. 17:15.500 --> 17:20.730 The Mongols conquer an incredible territory. 17:20.733 --> 17:24.473 The Vikings, which we will end the course with, are certainly 17:24.467 --> 17:29.467 less developed, economically, less civilized, than the 17:29.467 --> 17:32.497 Carolingian Empire that they plunder. 17:32.500 --> 17:36.400 What is unusual about Islam, and I reiterate something that 17:36.400 --> 17:39.770 I've said already, perhaps more than once is that it has 17:39.767 --> 17:41.167 a permanent effect. 17:41.167 --> 17:45.567 Rather than disappearing back into their yurts, like the 17:45.567 --> 17:51.427 Mongols, or disappearing back into the tundra- well that's 17:51.433 --> 17:53.833 an unfair description of Scandinavia- but disappearing 17:53.833 --> 18:00.773 back into the north like the Vikings, the Islamic powers 18:00.767 --> 18:07.397 not only stay as occupiers but become, themselves, a 18:07.400 --> 18:13.430 cultivated, wealthy, highly civilized empire. 18:13.433 --> 18:16.573 What is unusual about the Arabs, then, is their ability 18:16.567 --> 18:21.997 to consolidate and to hold onto their conquests. 18:22.000 --> 18:24.370 OK, I think I said before there are three startling 18:24.367 --> 18:28.427 things about Islam: the career of Mohammed, the rapidity and 18:28.433 --> 18:31.173 extent of the conquests, and this business of the cultural 18:31.167 --> 18:33.827 adaptability, consolidation, of the Arab conquerors. 18:37.200 --> 18:39.970 Questions so far? 18:39.967 --> 18:43.267 I think that the conquest part of this is clearer than the 18:43.267 --> 18:45.597 internal divisions. 18:45.600 --> 18:50.900 So let's proceed with the conquests rapidly. 18:53.533 --> 18:57.003 There's no single regime, there's no rule issued by the 18:57.000 --> 18:59.430 Caliphate for conquest policy. 18:59.433 --> 19:04.933 In general, if the population surrendered on terms the way 19:04.933 --> 19:08.503 Alexandria had in 642, that was fine. 19:08.500 --> 19:15.030 Then the people were allowed to keep their local customs. 19:15.033 --> 19:17.833 In other words, they were allowed to keep their houses, 19:17.833 --> 19:21.573 their jobs, their religion, their property. 19:24.533 --> 19:27.903 The Arabs were intent on plunder, however. 19:27.900 --> 19:30.000 Why didn't they just pillage these people? 19:32.533 --> 19:36.433 Some of it is just wisdom. 19:36.433 --> 19:37.933 They are thinking they're going to have to govern these 19:37.933 --> 19:41.533 places and that they might as well harness the industry and 19:41.533 --> 19:44.733 enterprise of the population rather than kill them or 19:44.733 --> 19:46.773 disperse them. 19:46.767 --> 19:50.697 Some of it was, I think, that they had so much plunder 19:50.700 --> 19:53.530 available to them from other sources that they didn't have 19:53.533 --> 19:59.873 to bother with some middle-class artisan's wealth. 19:59.867 --> 20:01.567 They could plunder churches. 20:01.567 --> 20:03.427 They could seize Church lands. 20:03.433 --> 20:06.103 They could take the state treasury. 20:06.100 --> 20:11.330 Between them, the state and the Church held so much wealth 20:11.333 --> 20:15.703 that the Arab conquerors didn't really want to bother 20:15.700 --> 20:18.070 with mere private property. 20:22.600 --> 20:24.530 The leading nobles tended to flee. 20:24.533 --> 20:26.833 They allied their interests with the state. 20:26.833 --> 20:29.733 They were very large property owners; that land could be 20:29.733 --> 20:32.673 confiscated. 20:32.667 --> 20:36.297 And the reward to the conquerors was to be settled 20:36.300 --> 20:39.330 on lands of their own, with tenants of their own, and 20:39.333 --> 20:44.073 these lands tended to have belonged to the state or to 20:44.067 --> 20:46.167 the Church. 20:46.167 --> 20:51.027 They received long leases for these lands from the Caliphate 20:51.033 --> 20:55.703 and they paid a religious tax, a kind of tithe, as members of 20:55.700 --> 21:00.430 the umma, the religious community. 21:00.433 --> 21:04.033 Non-Muslims were allowed to keep their property, their 21:04.033 --> 21:08.833 land and other property, but they had to pay two taxes that 21:08.833 --> 21:10.133 Muslims did not. 21:10.133 --> 21:14.333 They had to pay what is called in the English-speaking world 21:14.333 --> 21:18.233 a poll tax, which is basically just a head tax. 21:18.233 --> 21:23.033 Every person or every household pays a certain 21:23.033 --> 21:23.733 amount of money. 21:23.733 --> 21:27.303 It's actually kind of like a flat tax, but it has nothing 21:27.300 --> 21:29.230 to do with income. 21:29.233 --> 21:33.833 It is simply that you as a person living in this polity 21:33.833 --> 21:36.803 pay this as a tax. 21:36.800 --> 21:38.970 And then a land tax. 21:38.967 --> 21:42.467 Land tax obviously more variable depending on how much 21:42.467 --> 21:43.267 land you own. 21:43.267 --> 21:46.327 If you own x amount of land, you pay a tax. 21:46.333 --> 21:50.173 If you own 8x amount of land, you pay eight times that tax, 21:50.167 --> 21:51.427 at least that is the theory. 21:53.900 --> 21:58.100 And given that, as we said, as far back as Diocletian, you 21:58.100 --> 22:03.600 need to have very good records to keep track of taxes, then 22:03.600 --> 22:07.000 they kept on the old officials who had those records. 22:07.000 --> 22:10.070 So the language of administration in Syria 22:10.067 --> 22:13.397 remains Greek for quite a while; in Egypt, it remains 22:13.400 --> 22:16.570 Greek; in Persia, it remains Persian, because the guys that 22:16.567 --> 22:19.327 are running it are basically the same guys who are running 22:19.333 --> 22:21.373 it under the old empire. 22:21.367 --> 22:23.627 Why would the Arabs want to get rid of them? 22:23.633 --> 22:26.633 They would want to get rid of the high officials, the 22:26.633 --> 22:33.703 nobles, but the functionaries, the bureaucrats, stayed on. 22:33.700 --> 22:38.800 Most people who were Christians or Jews paid no 22:38.800 --> 22:43.000 more tax to the conquerors than they had to the Byzantine 22:43.000 --> 22:44.500 or Persian Empire. 22:44.500 --> 22:47.800 In other words, they were conquered, their lives did not 22:47.800 --> 22:53.000 radically change, their taxes did not go up. 22:53.000 --> 22:55.330 They didn't really miss the Persian or 22:55.333 --> 22:58.703 Byzantine imperial regimes. 22:58.700 --> 23:01.700 The question, however, is why are the Arabs so tolerant? 23:01.700 --> 23:05.530 And this surprises people who assume that Islam has always 23:05.533 --> 23:09.373 been spread with a kind of totalizing militancy. 23:12.000 --> 23:16.100 In fact, for a time, the conquerors didn't encourage 23:16.100 --> 23:19.730 conversion because you can see the consequences of conversion 23:19.733 --> 23:22.233 for taxation. 23:22.233 --> 23:24.603 If eighty percent percent of the population is Jewish and 23:24.600 --> 23:27.170 Christian, then eighty percent of the population is in a high 23:27.167 --> 23:28.867 tax bracket. 23:28.867 --> 23:32.167 If you are running things, it's to your interests that 23:32.167 --> 23:35.727 they not convert to that very low ten percent tax bracket or 23:35.733 --> 23:40.233 whatever the zakat, the religious tax is. 23:40.233 --> 23:43.173 "Go ahead and have fun. 23:43.167 --> 23:47.327 It's Sunday go to church, don't bother me, pay your 23:47.333 --> 23:52.803 taxes," would be a fairly common attitude on the part of 23:52.800 --> 23:54.070 the conquerors. 23:56.567 --> 23:59.327 And of course there's a respect for Christianity and 23:59.333 --> 24:02.833 Judaism that I've already mentioned. 24:02.833 --> 24:05.603 Some of it is confidence eventually people are just 24:05.600 --> 24:09.630 going to see that Islam is more successful. 24:16.000 --> 24:20.970 Up until the Abbasid regime, 750, a vast majority of the 24:20.967 --> 24:24.767 conquered territory remained in the religion that it had 24:24.767 --> 24:29.227 had before the conquest. In other words, in Egypt in 750, 24:29.233 --> 24:32.233 a majority of the population were Christian. 24:32.233 --> 24:35.573 And indeed in Egypt, to this day, ten percent of the 24:35.567 --> 24:36.927 population is Christian. 24:39.433 --> 24:41.733 Certainly, Islam would gain. 24:44.333 --> 24:49.703 And certainly now, ironically, much more than in 800 AD or 24:49.700 --> 24:56.530 1200 AD or 1500 AD or 1900 AD, it's tough to be a 24:56.533 --> 24:58.203 Christian in Egypt. 24:58.200 --> 25:04.130 This is a problem of modernity, not of the period 25:04.133 --> 25:07.533 we are dealing with. 25:07.533 --> 25:10.173 So the process of conquest is very rapid. 25:10.167 --> 25:12.727 The process of Islamization is not. 25:12.733 --> 25:14.003 They are not to be confused. 25:20.467 --> 25:23.597 Amidst all these triumphs, the caliph experiences divisions 25:23.600 --> 25:32.770 that culminated in a civil war between 656 and 661. 25:32.767 --> 25:37.627 And the origins of it seems to be the murder of 25:37.633 --> 25:41.403 Caliph Umar in 644. 25:41.400 --> 25:43.670 He was murdered by a Persian Christian. 25:46.533 --> 25:51.773 So it's not a Muslim assassination. 25:51.767 --> 25:55.367 But it ushered in another disputed election. 25:55.367 --> 26:01.227 And Ali, poor guy, presented himself yet again as the 26:01.233 --> 26:03.633 successor of Mohammed. 26:03.633 --> 26:09.703 And again he was defeated, this time by Uthman. 26:09.700 --> 26:16.030 Uthman, along with Abu Bakr and Umar, we mentioned him as 26:16.033 --> 26:22.533 one of the original followers of Mohammed. 26:22.533 --> 26:36.173 Uthman was a member of a prominent clan, the Umayyads, 26:36.167 --> 26:39.197 a high status Mecca family. 26:42.767 --> 26:46.027 High status, but the Umayyads had opposed Mohammed. 26:46.033 --> 26:50.973 Uthman was an exception but his family were among those 26:50.967 --> 26:56.127 people of Mecca who had been the most steadfast in opposing 26:56.133 --> 26:58.233 this upstart guy. 27:05.067 --> 27:10.997 So to some, especially the followers of Ali, Uthman 27:11.000 --> 27:18.470 appeared to be a representative of a not really 27:18.467 --> 27:20.727 staunch Islamic family. 27:23.867 --> 27:25.827 They were not fervent new followers. 27:28.967 --> 27:31.367 Why was Ali passed over so many times? 27:31.367 --> 27:32.767 It's not clear. 27:32.767 --> 27:38.567 Here again, we are in a very controversial area in which a 27:38.567 --> 27:41.897 lot of later tradition elaborates reasons for things 27:41.900 --> 27:43.530 that may not have anything to do with what the 27:43.533 --> 27:50.133 reality was in 644. 27:50.133 --> 27:57.173 You start to have pro-Ali parties or traditions. 27:57.167 --> 28:03.767 This is what would become the Shiite party and pro-Umayyad 28:03.767 --> 28:08.297 or pro-Caliphate traditions, that of the Sunnis. 28:08.300 --> 28:11.430 Neither of which is completely to be relied on because 28:11.433 --> 28:13.103 obviously they are biased. 28:17.100 --> 28:21.230 Under Uthman, the pace of conquest continues. 28:26.433 --> 28:29.073 This naval battle in 655 took place,-- the 28:29.067 --> 28:30.197 Battle of the Masts,-- 28:30.200 --> 28:34.830 in which the Byzantine navy was defeated by the Arab navy. 28:34.833 --> 28:39.073 This meant that islands in the Mediterranean start 28:39.067 --> 28:41.297 to fall to the Arabs. 28:41.300 --> 28:47.470 Cyprus was conquered in 649, Rhodes in 654. 28:47.467 --> 28:51.027 Meanwhile, in the former Persian Empire, the eastern 28:51.033 --> 28:57.573 part of Iraq, tending over towards Persia, was conquered 28:57.567 --> 29:00.367 in 651 - 653. 29:00.367 --> 29:06.427 Armenia, north and west of Persia, east of Anatolia, the 29:06.433 --> 29:09.933 area where the earthquake was recently, was 29:09.933 --> 29:14.873 conquered in 653 - 655. 29:14.867 --> 29:19.627 But Uthman was particularly disliked by much of the 29:19.633 --> 29:20.773 population. 29:20.767 --> 29:26.627 Unlike Umar, unlike the early caliphs, he was regarded as 29:26.633 --> 29:32.573 lethargic and as a sensualist let's say. 29:32.567 --> 29:38.327 Lethargic and profligate, a lover of luxury, a monarch 29:38.333 --> 29:42.503 rather than a leader, a corrupt ruler. 29:49.100 --> 29:56.700 And he was murdered by a Muslim in 656. 29:56.700 --> 29:59.400 Here we have the first assassination of a caliph by 29:59.400 --> 30:01.600 another member of the faithful. 30:06.433 --> 30:08.673 And Ali was proclaimed as caliph. 30:13.133 --> 30:17.433 The problem here is that Ali was proclaimed caliph by the 30:17.433 --> 30:19.573 people who had assassinated Uthman. 30:19.567 --> 30:24.967 Or at least he was perceived as taking the title from the 30:24.967 --> 30:28.297 bloodied hands of assassins. 30:28.300 --> 30:30.830 Whether he knew in advance of the plot 30:30.833 --> 30:34.073 against Uthman is doubtful. 30:36.667 --> 30:38.497 But he starts off in a somewhat 30:38.500 --> 30:42.000 false position as caliph. 30:42.000 --> 30:45.670 He is opposed bitterly by the Umayyad family. 30:45.667 --> 30:48.797 But more than that, his claim to the caliph is tarnished by 30:48.800 --> 30:53.030 the circumstances under which he came into it. 30:53.033 --> 31:00.633 And an Umayyad rose up against him and starts the first civil 31:00.633 --> 31:02.733 war of Islam. 31:02.733 --> 31:12.533 This is Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria who revolts in 31:12.533 --> 31:18.833 Damascus and leads a party against Caliph Ali. 31:21.833 --> 31:25.733 In fact, this gives rise to a militant group of people who 31:25.733 --> 31:28.973 hate both claimants. 31:28.967 --> 31:33.067 Ali is assassinated, and Mu'awiya is wounded. 31:33.067 --> 31:38.427 Now Mu'awiya survives but the tendency within Islam to 31:38.433 --> 31:44.473 dispose of enemies by violent means has been sanctioned by 31:44.467 --> 31:45.767 the events of this period. 31:49.233 --> 31:52.073 So 661, the civil war is over. 31:52.067 --> 31:57.767 Mu'awiya moves the capital from Medina to Damascus. 31:57.767 --> 32:02.267 He establishes the Umayyads as a dynasty, and they would rule 32:02.267 --> 32:06.527 as caliphs until 750. 32:06.533 --> 32:09.503 What does this move from Medina to Damascus mean? 32:14.367 --> 32:20.267 It certainly is a part of the de-Arabization of the 32:20.267 --> 32:22.227 definition of the caliphate. 32:22.233 --> 32:26.373 Damascus is not an Arab city, at least in its origin. 32:26.367 --> 32:30.627 It was part of the Byzantine Empire. 32:30.633 --> 32:34.633 It is more centrally located than Medina in terms of 32:34.633 --> 32:36.233 administering the Empire. 32:36.233 --> 32:38.703 It's also more cosmopolitan. 32:38.700 --> 32:40.930 It has a lot of different kinds of people. 32:45.300 --> 32:50.570 So the move is away from the Arab heartland to a place 32:50.567 --> 32:58.127 where the population is not necessarily Arab. 32:58.133 --> 33:02.973 It is part of the transformation of the caliph 33:02.967 --> 33:08.167 from what we would call religious leadership to that 33:08.167 --> 33:13.827 of a kind of monarch, king. 33:13.833 --> 33:15.173 The caliph lives in a city. 33:15.167 --> 33:16.997 He lives in a palace. 33:17.000 --> 33:20.230 He has an immense entourage. 33:20.233 --> 33:26.003 The days of the tents in Arabia or of quasi-nomadic 33:26.000 --> 33:29.770 followers of Mohammed are definitively over with the 33:29.767 --> 33:32.097 defeat of Ali. 33:32.100 --> 33:35.370 Defeat, but it's not a complete defeat. 33:38.733 --> 33:44.233 Sh'ia means party or to its opponents faction. 33:48.367 --> 33:53.567 And for a long time, the Shiites are like the perpetual 33:53.567 --> 33:58.967 losers who cannot at the same time be eliminated. 33:58.967 --> 34:03.127 They are a minority within Islam. 34:03.133 --> 34:09.273 They are, at various times, seemingly overwhelmed by the 34:09.267 --> 34:13.097 wealth, armies power of the caliphs. 34:13.100 --> 34:17.130 But they never go away and they never abandon their 34:17.133 --> 34:21.903 claims. They form, thus, a permanent dissenting group 34:21.900 --> 34:23.170 within Islam. 34:25.700 --> 34:29.800 What is the nature of that dissent? 34:29.800 --> 34:33.030 What don't they like about Islam as it's 34:33.033 --> 34:37.133 practiced by the majority? 34:40.467 --> 34:45.527 Any sense of that from this admittedly busy reading? 34:48.167 --> 34:53.097 It's key that you understand what Shiism is and what its 34:53.100 --> 34:54.130 grievances are. 34:54.133 --> 35:00.103 STUDENT: Do they reject the caliph as a religious figure? 35:00.100 --> 35:01.570 PROFESSOR: They reject the caliph as a 35:01.567 --> 35:02.227 religious figure. 35:02.233 --> 35:04.433 Do they reject him because he's not the 35:04.433 --> 35:05.673 descendant of Ali? 35:08.400 --> 35:09.530 Partly. 35:09.533 --> 35:12.133 Part of this is a succession question. 35:12.133 --> 35:15.033 They reject the caliph because he's illegitimate. 35:15.033 --> 35:17.733 So it's kind of like a dynastic question. 35:17.733 --> 35:20.273 The only real caliphs-- 35:20.267 --> 35:22.127 and they don't use the term caliph. 35:22.133 --> 35:27.073 They start to use the term "imam" as you've read. 35:27.067 --> 35:31.127 The only real religious leader is not the guy sitting in 35:31.133 --> 35:36.033 Damascus in his palace with the splish-splashing fountains 35:36.033 --> 35:38.403 and scented perfumes everywhere. 35:42.800 --> 35:48.000 But to what extent do they reject the caliphate as such 35:48.000 --> 35:51.000 apart from the dynastic question? 35:51.000 --> 35:54.100 How would you describe Shiite political theory? 35:57.667 --> 36:04.067 If the Sunnis are monarchical, if they are comfortable with a 36:04.067 --> 36:08.767 caliph who rules over an Empire of unbelievable extent, 36:08.767 --> 36:11.197 what might the Shiites prefer to see? 36:11.200 --> 36:12.000 OK, Spencer? 36:12.000 --> 36:12.330 STUDENT: The government of the consensus of the umma, the 36:12.333 --> 36:13.603 community of the faithful. 36:18.333 --> 36:20.433 PROFESSOR: And something more informal. 36:20.433 --> 36:24.433 Indeed, although I hesitate to use this term, they are 36:24.433 --> 36:26.933 republican. 36:26.933 --> 36:31.703 Republican, not in the twenty-first or twentieth 36:31.700 --> 36:32.900 century American sense. 36:32.900 --> 36:34.870 What does republican mean in this context? 36:37.767 --> 36:43.267 STUDENT: Choosing representatives to then carry 36:43.267 --> 36:44.697 out the will of the people. 36:44.700 --> 36:48.030 PROFESSOR: Yes, anti-monarchical. 36:48.033 --> 36:52.203 They regard the caliph as a sort of George III of the 36:52.200 --> 36:53.200 Muslim world. 36:53.200 --> 36:58.730 They don't want to have a single ruler who is a 36:58.733 --> 37:00.203 political ruler. 37:00.200 --> 37:03.730 They're comfortable with rulership in 37:03.733 --> 37:05.903 at least some sense. 37:05.900 --> 37:10.400 But the rulership should be either elected or inspired. 37:15.967 --> 37:20.927 They are radicals, in part because they're dissenters. 37:20.933 --> 37:22.703 They're on the out. 37:22.700 --> 37:28.330 In part because they are really angry and they 37:28.333 --> 37:33.333 countenance violent tactics of opposition. 37:33.333 --> 37:37.773 They are egalitarian and that's sort of what I mean by 37:37.767 --> 37:38.967 republican. 37:38.967 --> 37:41.297 It's not so much that they necessarily believe in a 37:41.300 --> 37:47.170 representative system as that they believe in a system in 37:47.167 --> 37:53.527 which one class of believers is not exalted over another. 37:53.533 --> 38:00.533 And one person is not ruling merely because he comes from a 38:00.533 --> 38:02.133 certain background. 38:07.533 --> 38:10.773 Now what happens when religious movements are 38:10.767 --> 38:12.227 frustrated? 38:12.233 --> 38:16.833 That is, when they are objects of repression? 38:16.833 --> 38:20.703 Because indeed the Shiites were not particularly 38:20.700 --> 38:24.870 tolerated by the caliph. 38:24.867 --> 38:30.327 Often, such religious groups become fixated on a future in 38:30.333 --> 38:31.873 which their claims will be vindicated. 38:34.933 --> 38:36.203 This certainly makes sense. 38:36.200 --> 38:41.170 The Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire wrote 38:41.167 --> 38:45.527 the granddaddy of all prophetic texts, prophetic of 38:45.533 --> 38:47.473 the destruction of your enemies, the Book of 38:47.467 --> 38:48.997 Revelations. 38:49.000 --> 38:52.570 I suggest that you take a look at that anyway as it's always 38:52.567 --> 38:54.497 interesting reading. 38:54.500 --> 38:58.070 And it is the book of the Bible that has the most 38:58.067 --> 39:03.127 relevance, for better or worse, to the current world we 39:03.133 --> 39:07.133 live in because it's the one that talks constantly about 39:07.133 --> 39:10.133 the future and what's going to happen. 39:10.133 --> 39:15.333 Is that future the Apple computer future where 39:15.333 --> 39:19.133 everybody's wonderfully connected and we all can just 39:19.133 --> 39:24.873 float in some kind of great brain that we participate in? 39:24.867 --> 39:28.727 Or is the future some terrible ecological disaster in which 39:28.733 --> 39:32.733 we'll be cannibals and stuff? 39:32.733 --> 39:37.503 Or is the future the visitation of those angels, 39:37.500 --> 39:42.300 those candlesticks, those flowing rivers of molten metal 39:42.300 --> 39:44.500 as in the book of Revelations? 39:44.500 --> 39:46.230 Trumpets all over the place. 39:46.233 --> 39:49.903 Will one-third of the population be wiped out one 39:49.900 --> 39:52.970 day and then another third the next day? 39:52.967 --> 39:56.397 The narrator of the Book of Revelations cannot wait for 39:56.400 --> 39:57.600 this to happen. 39:57.600 --> 40:01.530 It is in the nature of apocalyptic thinking that it 40:01.533 --> 40:05.873 is violent because your enemies, who are right now 40:05.867 --> 40:08.167 persecuting you, are going to be confounded. 40:08.167 --> 40:10.497 And they're not going to be confounded in the, "Oh gee, 40:10.500 --> 40:13.370 I'm really sorry I persecuted you," sense. 40:13.367 --> 40:18.067 They are going to be split apart and pulverized. 40:18.067 --> 40:20.067 And you're going to be watching and you're going to 40:20.067 --> 40:22.267 be applauding while they're split apart and 40:22.267 --> 40:24.027 pulverized and tortured. 40:24.033 --> 40:26.503 That's the nature of 40:26.500 --> 40:29.470 messianic, apocalyptic thinking. 40:29.467 --> 40:32.197 Apocalyptic meaning the end of the world in some kind of 40:32.200 --> 40:34.830 conflagration, messianic meaning the 40:34.833 --> 40:36.103 presence of a savior. 40:38.500 --> 40:41.400 The two are not the same thing, but they tend to go 40:41.400 --> 40:43.630 together because there's going to be somebody who's going to 40:43.633 --> 40:49.333 come and, amidst the bloodshed and the fire, usher in a 40:49.333 --> 40:51.173 millennial world. 40:51.167 --> 40:53.367 That is to say, a world in which bad 40:53.367 --> 40:55.467 things have been purged. 40:55.467 --> 41:01.227 And that messiah may be Jesus Christ at the second coming. 41:01.233 --> 41:03.973 It may be the messiah of Jewish tradition. 41:03.967 --> 41:10.127 Or in Shiite Islam, it may be the imam, the 41:10.133 --> 41:12.903 rightly guided imam. 41:12.900 --> 41:15.270 The Shiites have a leader. 41:15.267 --> 41:17.697 I just said that they are republican and egalitarian, 41:17.700 --> 41:23.370 but they're not some kind of Occupy Wall Street, we don't 41:23.367 --> 41:26.367 have any leaders, anarchic group. 41:26.367 --> 41:32.267 They have leaders but they are leaders who are inspired not 41:32.267 --> 41:35.597 merely administrators of a huge bureaucracy. 41:35.600 --> 41:39.500 And these imams succeed each other and are recognized by 41:39.500 --> 41:48.000 the Shiite faction until the death of the eleventh imam-- 41:48.000 --> 41:51.730 the death of the eleventh imam without any obvious successor. 41:51.733 --> 41:53.373 Who is the twelfth imam? 41:53.367 --> 41:56.797 And we enter into this period of what the book calls 41:56.800 --> 42:05.400 "occultation." Not a word that you find used. 42:05.400 --> 42:10.470 Well, it's got some sort of medical meaning too. 42:10.467 --> 42:11.727 Occultation, meaning what? 42:15.800 --> 42:18.570 Come on, this is in the reading. 42:18.567 --> 42:20.427 He's gone into hiding. 42:20.433 --> 42:23.733 Occult means hidden. 42:23.733 --> 42:24.773 There is a twelfth imam. 42:24.767 --> 42:25.967 We just don't know where he is. 42:25.967 --> 42:29.027 He's in a cave somewhere. 42:29.033 --> 42:33.773 And there are imams and imams after him. 42:33.767 --> 42:37.597 Either he is deathless or there are other imams. But 42:37.600 --> 42:41.470 they're all hidden because they're not ready yet. 42:41.467 --> 42:45.867 But when they are ready, centuries of grievance are 42:45.867 --> 42:48.067 going to be revenged. 42:51.667 --> 42:55.127 So there's a notion of a corrupt and misguided Islamic 42:55.133 --> 43:08.403 establishment and of a true subterranean occult, righteous 43:08.400 --> 43:18.430 level of the practice of the religion. 43:18.433 --> 43:25.033 So Shiism tends to apocalyptic thinking, to prophecy. 43:25.033 --> 43:29.533 It exalts Ali and his followers. 43:29.533 --> 43:32.433 And it feels that it is in touch with the original 43:32.433 --> 43:36.233 desert, austere, egalitarian roots of Islam that have been 43:36.233 --> 43:42.233 corrupted by the monarchical, suspect purity 43:42.233 --> 43:46.133 of the Sunni caliphate. 43:46.133 --> 43:47.373 Who becomes a Shiite? 43:50.133 --> 43:53.873 This is a hard question to answer because it is more than 43:53.867 --> 43:55.097 just a party or faction. 43:55.100 --> 43:57.800 If it was just a party or faction, it could not have 43:57.800 --> 44:01.100 lasted into the contemporary world with the 44:01.100 --> 44:02.330 force that it has. 44:05.333 --> 44:10.303 Who is discontent under Islam? 44:10.300 --> 44:14.730 It would seem logical that the people who would be discontent 44:14.733 --> 44:21.973 would be non-Arabs because there is increasingly, as the 44:21.967 --> 44:28.427 Islamic world takes shape, a population of people who do 44:28.433 --> 44:32.503 convert to Islam who were not Arabs. 44:32.500 --> 44:36.300 We've said that the pace of Islamization was slow but, 44:36.300 --> 44:41.330 nevertheless, it was persistent and logical. 44:41.333 --> 44:43.703 It's logical that people should have converted to 44:43.700 --> 44:47.330 Islam, not only because it is a religion that to this day 44:47.333 --> 44:51.633 attracts lots of converts because it has a religious 44:51.633 --> 44:59.273 appeal and, as I have argued, it's a doable religion. 44:59.267 --> 45:01.467 It's a religion that does not have a huge number of 45:01.467 --> 45:03.667 self-mortifying precepts. 45:03.667 --> 45:08.327 It is a way of living a righteous life in the world 45:08.333 --> 45:12.573 and performing certain duties that are not tremendously 45:12.567 --> 45:17.627 onerous or very subtle and involve a lot of mental 45:17.633 --> 45:20.903 internal dialogue. 45:20.900 --> 45:23.230 So people are converting to Islam. 45:23.233 --> 45:30.673 These people are known collectively as mawali, 45:30.667 --> 45:31.927 singular, mawal. 45:35.000 --> 45:39.600 A mawal is a non-Arab Muslim. 45:39.600 --> 45:44.570 In the early years, by definition, a convert. 45:44.567 --> 45:49.267 The day that Damascus fell, there were no Muslims in 45:49.267 --> 45:51.527 Damascus except maybe for some Arab traders. 45:54.033 --> 45:59.773 As of the death of Mohammed, all Muslims were Arabs. 45:59.767 --> 46:03.867 But within decades of this, with the conquests and 46:03.867 --> 46:09.197 conversion, there are lots of non-Arab Muslims. They may 46:09.200 --> 46:13.070 need to learn Arabic to understand the Koran. 46:13.067 --> 46:15.797 They're supposed to go to Mecca and so forth. 46:15.800 --> 46:17.970 But they are not Arabs. 46:21.133 --> 46:23.273 Are they equal to Arabs? 46:23.267 --> 46:25.597 Well, Arabs are always, to this day, going to feel 46:25.600 --> 46:29.870 themselves to have a special relationship, a special status 46:29.867 --> 46:33.097 should we say, because Mohammed was an Arab and the 46:33.100 --> 46:35.670 movement starts in Arabia. 46:35.667 --> 46:39.997 But as I'm sure you know, the largest countries from the 46:40.000 --> 46:44.270 point of view of population that are Islamic are not 46:44.267 --> 46:46.727 Arabic, almost at all. 46:46.733 --> 46:50.673 Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. 46:50.667 --> 46:54.797 India is the second largest Muslim country in the world 46:54.800 --> 46:57.930 even though its population is so large that Islam is a 46:57.933 --> 46:58.703 minority there. 46:58.700 --> 47:02.030 Pakistan is the third largest, I think. 47:02.033 --> 47:06.433 These all are countries without Arabs. 47:06.433 --> 47:08.933 Iran is not Arabic. 47:08.933 --> 47:15.033 It is, as we all know, an Islamic republic. 47:15.033 --> 47:18.203 The world of Arabs is very numerous but the world of 47:18.200 --> 47:20.670 non-Arab Muslims is more so. 47:20.667 --> 47:24.427 And it is starting to become that way in the period that 47:24.433 --> 47:26.103 we're talking about. 47:26.100 --> 47:29.530 The Arabs are simply a small number of conquerors. 47:29.533 --> 47:33.933 And particularly in Persia, where the pace of conversion 47:33.933 --> 47:37.333 is faster than that of say Egypt or Syria, there are a 47:37.333 --> 47:38.573 lot of mawali. 47:40.633 --> 47:44.433 At some point, some of the benefits of conversion, the 47:44.433 --> 47:50.533 fiscal benefits of conversion, are eliminated because the 47:50.533 --> 47:54.573 state, the Caliphate can't afford to have a population 47:54.567 --> 47:58.197 that is only paying the low religious tax. 47:58.200 --> 48:02.930 So it would seem that the moment at which you say, "OK, 48:02.933 --> 48:05.303 we're happy that you're becoming a Muslim. 48:05.300 --> 48:09.430 You're still paying land and poll taxes because we can't 48:09.433 --> 48:12.633 actually aspire to make all Muslims equal from a fiscal 48:12.633 --> 48:15.533 point of view." At that point you would have some angry 48:15.533 --> 48:17.903 malawi, at least so one would think. 48:17.900 --> 48:22.570 And so, one would think, these would be proto-Shiites or 48:22.567 --> 48:26.567 Shiite recruiting grounds. 48:26.567 --> 48:28.467 There's a lot of debate about this. 48:28.467 --> 48:32.127 Berkey kind of skirts over this issue. 48:32.133 --> 48:35.073 Other scholars doubt that this is the case. 48:35.067 --> 48:37.667 They don't actually think there's such a close 48:37.667 --> 48:43.827 connection between the Shiite party and discontented people. 48:43.833 --> 48:46.173 Or at least there is a connection between the Shiite 48:46.167 --> 48:48.567 party and discontented people, but the discontented people 48:48.567 --> 48:51.067 are not discontent because of their tax position. 48:54.500 --> 48:58.900 The presence of discontent within Islam is a constant. 48:58.900 --> 49:03.700 The presence of prophecy within Islam is a constant, 49:03.700 --> 49:08.230 even though the teaching of the religion has been that 49:08.233 --> 49:10.873 Mohammed is the last prophet. 49:10.867 --> 49:16.997 It's very hard to put a stop to prophecy in the Christian 49:17.000 --> 49:19.800 religion, in the Jewish religion, 49:19.800 --> 49:20.830 in the Muslim religion. 49:20.833 --> 49:23.733 Once you have started to talk about inspired religious 49:23.733 --> 49:29.373 leaders, they're going to crop up even after you've declared 49:29.367 --> 49:32.867 an end of religious charisma. 49:32.867 --> 49:35.767 And the consequences of that and the splendor, 49:35.767 --> 49:39.827 nevertheless, of the Abbasid Empire will form our subject 49:39.833 --> 49:41.803 for the next lecture.