The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600-1000

Posted on Aug 16, 2024 in Religion

The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600–1000

By the start of the twenty-first century, Islam had acquired a significant presence in the United States. About 8 million Muslims (some 2 million are African Americans).

The second half of the twentieth century saw the growing international influence of Islam. Islam had already been prominent in the world between 600 and 1600. It encompassed parts of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It was enormously significant in world history. It was the creation of a new and innovative civilization. It was the largest and most influential of the third-wave civilizations. Islam’s reach generated major cultural encounters.

In the year 2000, there were perhaps 1.2 billion Muslims in the world (22 percent of the world’s population).

The Rise of Islam

Unlike most religious/cultural traditions, Islam emerged from a marginal region.

Fiercely independent clans and tribes
Variety of gods

Arabia also had sedentary, agricultural areas. Arabia lay on important East–West trade routes. Mecca became important as a trade center.

The Kaaba was the most prominent religious shrine.
The Quraysh tribe controlled local trade and pilgrimage.

Arabs had contact with other empires.

So Arabs knew some practices of these empires.
By 600 C.E., most settled Arabs acknowledged a supreme god (Allah).

Muhammad and the Origins of Islam

The prophet of Islam was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570–632 C.E.).
Beginning of revelations from Allah in 610 C.E.
Radically new teachings.
Core message summarized in the Five Pillars of Islam.
Jihad (“struggle”) is sometimes called the “sixth pillar.”

Muhammad was a prosperous merchant.

Orphaned at a young age.
Became a prosperous merchant thanks to marriage to Khadija.

The Quran was believed to convey the presence of the divine.

When heard in its original Arabic, believed to convey the presence of the divine.
Muhammad as “the seal of the prophets.”
Return to old, pure religion of Abraham.
Central tenet: submission to Allah (Muslim = “one who submits”).
Need to create a new society of social justice, equality, and care for others (the umma).

The Five Pillars of Islam

First pillar is simple profession: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
Prayer five times a day at prescribed times.
Generous giving to help the community and the needy.
Fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

Jihad

“Greater jihad”: personal spiritual striving.
“Lesser jihad”/“jihad of the sword”: armed struggle against unbelief and evil.
Understanding of the concept has varied widely over time.

The Spread of Islam

Muhammad attracted a small following, aroused opposition from Meccan elites.

Rapid expansion throughout Arabia.
In 622, emigrated to Yathrib/Medina (the hijra).
Created Islamic community (umma) in Medina.
Military successes led to alliances.
Consolidation of Islamic control throughout Arabia by the time of Muhammad’s death in 632.

Islam did not grow up as a persecuted minority religion.

Islam didn’t separate “church” and state.
Muhammad was a religious, political, and military leader.
No separate religious organization.
No distinction between religious and civil law.

The Arab Empire

The Arab state grew to include all or part of Egyptian, Roman/Byzantine, Persian, Mesopotamian, and Indian civilizations. Arabic culture and language spread widely. Islam became a new third-wave civilization.

The Arab Conquests

Arab conquests were a continuation of a long-term raiding pattern.

New level of political organization allowed greater mobilization.
Byzantine and Persian empires were weakened by long wars and internal revolts.
Defeated Sassanid Empire in the 650s, took half of Byzantium.
In early 700s, conquered most of Spain, attacked France.
Ended Chinese westward expansion.
Enabled conversion of Turkic peoples to Islam.

Conquests were motivated by economic, social, and religious factors.

Economic: capture trade routes and agricultural regions.
Individual Arabs sought wealth and social promotion.
Communal: conquest helped hold the umma together.
Religious: bring righteous government to the conquered.

In the early period, Arabs thought Islam was their religion.

By the mid-eighth century, began seeking converts.
Still protected “people of the Book”—Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians (dhimmis).
Non-Muslims paid a special tax (the jizya) but could practice their own religion.

The Conversion to Islam

Arab soldiers were restricted to garrison towns.

Local elites and bureaucracies were incorporated into the empire.

Initial conversion for many was “social conversion,” not deep spiritual change.

Islam’s kinship to Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism made it attractive.
Islam was associated from the beginning with a powerful state—suggested that Allah was a good god to have on your side.
The state provided incentives for conversion.
Earliest converts included slaves and prisoners of war.
Converts didn’t have to pay the jizya.
Islam favored commerce.
Social climbers were helped by conversion.
Resistance to conversion among Berbers of North Africa, some Spanish Christians, some Persian Zoroastrians.
Around 80 percent of the population of Persia converted between 750 and 900.
Some areas (Egypt, North Africa, Iraq) also converted to Arabic culture and language.

The Development of Islamic Institutions

A central problem: who should serve as successor to Muhammad (caliph)?

First four caliphs (the Rightly Guided Caliphs, 632–661) were companions of Muhammad.
Had to put down Arab tribal rebellions and new prophets.
Civil war by 656.

Sunni and Shia Islam

Sunni Muslims: caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, chosen by the Islamic community.
Over time, caliphs became absolute monarchs.
Basic religious issue: what does it mean to be a Muslim?
Shia Muslims: leaders should be blood relatives of Muhammad, descended from Ali and his son Husayn.
Started as a political conflict but became religious.

Sunnis and Shias differed on religious authority.

Sunnis: religious authority comes from the community, especially from religious scholars (ulama).
Shias: imams have religious authority.
Shias identified themselves as opponents of privilege.
Development of the idea that defeated leaders are not dead but in hiding—will return as messiah figures.

The Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasties

Umayyad dynasty (661–750) was a time of great expansion.
Caliphs became hereditary rulers.
Arab military aristocracy ruled.
Decadent rulers and unequal treatment of non-Arab Muslims caused unrest.
Abbasid dynasty overthrew Umayyads in 750.
Founded new capital at Baghdad.
Gave much larger role to non-Arabs.
Began steep decline in the mid-ninth century.
Caliph gradually became a figurehead to a number of de facto independent states (sultanates).

Islamic Law

Islamic law (the sharia) helped answer the question.
Addressed most aspects of religious and social life.
Concern was with correct behavior.
Creation of four Sunni schools of law, even more Shia ones.

Sufis

Reaction against the distraction of worldly success: Sufis.
Sufis were mystics, seeking direct experience of the divine.
Renounced the material world.
Spiritual union often expressed in terms of drunkenness or sexual experience.
Became widely popular by the ninth/tenth centuries.
Sufis were critical of the sharia and even of reading the Quran.
Members of the ulama often thought Sufis were heretics.
The ulama and Sufism weren’t entirely incompatible—e.g., al-Ghazali (1058–1111).

Women in Islamic Society

What the rise of Islam meant for women remains highly controversial.

Spiritual level: Quran stated explicitly that women and men were equals.
Social level: Quran viewed women as subordinate, especially in marriage.
Quran helped women in some ways (banned female infanticide, gave women control over their own property, granted limited rights of inheritance, required woman’s consent to a marriage, recognized a woman’s right to sexual satisfaction).
Social practices of lands where Islam spread were also important in defining women’s roles.
Hadiths (traditions about Muhammad) developed more negative images of women.

Early Islam: some women played public roles.

Prayed in mosques, weren’t veiled or secluded.

Growing restrictions on women (especially in upper classes) under Abbasids.

Veiling and seclusion became standard among upper, ruling classes.
Lower-class women didn’t have the “luxury” of seclusion.
Muslim scholars soon added religious rationale.
Unlike the Quran, hadiths blamed Eve for the fall of humankind.

Islam gave new religious outlets for women, especially as Sufis.

The Expansion of Islamic Civilization

The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated politically by the tenth century.

Last Abbasid caliph killed when Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258.

But Islamic civilization continued to flourish and expand.

Islam in India

Establishment of Turkic and Muslim regimes in India beginning ca. 1000.

At first, violent destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples.
Sultanate of Delhi (founded 1206) became more systematic.

Buddhists and low-caste Hindus found Islam attractive.

Newly agrarian people also liked Islam.
Subjects of Muslim rulers converted to lighten tax burden.
Sufis fit the mold of Indian holy men, encouraged conversion.
At its height, 20–25 percent of the Indian population converted to Islam.
Muslim communities concentrated in northwest and eastern India.
Mystics blurred the line between the two religions.
Sikhism developed in the early sixteenth century; syncretic religion with elements of both Islam and Hinduism.
Muslims remained as a distinctive minority.

Islam in Anatolia

Major destruction at early stages in both places.

Sufi missionaries were important in both places.
But in Anatolia by 1500, 90 percent of the population was Muslim, and most spoke Turkish.

Anatolia had a much smaller population (8 million vs. 48 million).

Far more Turkic speakers settled in Anatolia.
Much deeper destruction of Byzantine society in Anatolia.
Active discrimination against Christians in Anatolia.
India’s decentralized politics and religion could absorb the shock of invasion better.
Turkish rulers of Anatolia welcomed converts; fewer social barriers to conversion.
Sufis replaced Christian institutions in Anatolia.
By 1500, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful Islamic state.
Turks of Anatolia retained much of their culture after conversion.
Freer life for women persisted.

Islam in West Africa

Islam came peacefully with traders, not by conquest.

In West Africa, Islam spread mostly in urban centers.
Provided links to Muslim trading partners.
Provided literate officials and religious legitimacy to the state.
By the sixteenth century, several West African cities were Islamic centers.
Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic schools and several centers of higher education.
Libraries had tens of thousands of books.
Rulers subsidized the building of major mosques.
Arabic became a language of religion, education, administration, trade.
Did not have significant Arab immigration.
Sufis played little role until the eighteenth century.
No significant spread into the countryside until the nineteenth century.
Rulers made little effort to impose Islam or rule by Islamic law.

Islam in al-Andalus

Arab and Berber forces conquered most of Spain (called al-Andalus by Muslims) in the early eighth century.

High degree of interaction between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
Christian Mozarabs adopted Arabic culture but not religion.
Religious toleration started breaking down by the late tenth century.
Increasing war with Christian states of northern Spain.
More puritanical forms of Islam entered Spain from North Africa.
In Muslim-ruled regions, increasing limitations placed on Christians.
Many Muslims were forced out of Christian-conquered regions or kept from public practice of their faith.
Completion of Christian reconquest in 1492.

The Islamic World as a Global Civilization

By 1500, the Islamic world embraced at least parts of nearly every other Afro-Eurasian civilization. It was history’s first “global civilization.”

The Unity of Islamic Civilization

Islamic civilization was held together by Islamic practices and beliefs.

Beliefs/practices transmitted by the ulama, who served as judges, interpreters, etc.
Starting in the eleventh century: formal colleges (madrassas) taught religion, law, and sometimes secular subjects.
System of education with common texts, sharing of scholarship throughout the Islamic world.

Sufis

Sufism: branches of Sufism gathered around particular teachers (shaykhs) by the tenth century.
Development of great Sufi orders by the twelfth/thirteenth centuries.
Sufi devotional teachings, practices, writings spread widely.

The Hajj

Many thousands of Muslims made the hajj to Mecca each year.

Exchange and Interaction

The Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of goods, technology, and ideas.

Great central location for trade.
Islamic teaching valued commerce.
Urbanization spurred commerce.

Muslim Merchants

Muslim merchants were prominent on all the major Afro-Eurasian trade routes.
Aided by banking, partnerships, business contracts, credit instruments.

Agricultural Exchange

Exchange of agricultural products and practices between regions.
Muslim conquest of northwestern India introduced rice, sugarcane, sorghum, hard wheat, cotton, and many fruits and vegetables to the Middle East.

Technology and Ideas

Spread ancient Persian water-drilling techniques.
Adoption of papermaking techniques from China in the eighth century.
Persian bureaucratic practice, court ritual, poetry.
Developments in mathematics, astronomy, optics, medicine, pharmacology.

Outsider Accounts

“Outsider” accounts can be very useful in understanding a culture.

Ibn Battuta (1304–1368) traveled nearly 75,000 miles around the Islamic world.
Marco Polo (1254–1324) traveled from Italy to China, where he served at the court of Khubilai Khan.

Ibn Battuta often criticized the quality of Muslim observance outside of core lands.

Appalled by freedoms given to women in outlying lands.
Found only China to be completely foreign.

Unlike Ibn Battuta, Polo found himself an outsider everywhere he went.

Did not show as much disapproval of strange behaviors.

The writings of the two show that Islam was the “central fact” of the Afro-Eurasian world in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The Conference of the Birds

On the Sufi Way and the stations that a disciple must pass through on the journey toward self-annihilation.

The Birds Gather

By the 12th century Iranian perfumer and alchemist, Farid ad-Din Attar (d. 1230).

The birds of the world have gathered around the hoopoe, who will guide them on a journey to see the Simorgh.

The Birds’ Quest

The birds have decided that they are missing something: a leader or at least a relationship with a leader.

The Oath of Obedience

Before they begin their journey, the birds must first declare their absolute obedience to the hoopoe.

The oath is necessary: the journey will be perilous and fraught with adversity, and only he knows the Way.

The Seven Valleys

To reach the Simorgh, the birds will have to traverse seven treacherous valleys, each a station along the Way.

Valley of the Quest, in which the birds must “renounce the world” and repent of their sins.
Valley of Love, where each bird will be plunged into seas of fire “until his very being is inflamed.”
Valley of Knowledge, where the birds must “seek knowledge of the divine” and “learn to distinguish between truth and falsehood.”
Valley of Detachment, “all claims, all lust for meaning disappear.”
Valley of Unity, the many are merged into one: “The oneness of diversity / Not oneness locked in singularity.”
Valley of Bewilderment, the birds—weary and perplexed—break through the veil of traditional dualities and are suddenly confronted with the emptiness of their being: “I have no certain knowledge anymore.”
Valley of Nothingness, in which, stripped of their egos, they “put on the cloak that signifies oblivion” and become consumed by the spirit of the universe.

Only when all seven valleys have been traversed, when the birds have learned to “destroy the mountain of the Self” and “give up the intellect for love,” are they allowed to continue to the throne of Simorgh.

The Birds Encounter the Simorgh

Of the thousands of birds who began the journey with the hoopoe, only thirty make it to the end.

Yet when they finally set their eyes upon him, they are astonished to see themselves.

At the end of the Way, the birds are confronted with the reality that although they have “struggled, wandered, traveled far,” it is “themselves they sought” and “themselves they are.” “I am the mirror set before your eyes,” the Simorgh says.

“And all who come before my splendor see / Themselves, their own unique reality.”

See, generally, “This is the end of the world.”

Chapter 5 from Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century Unit Nine: Ways of the WorldChapter 16: “The Early Modern World: Religion and Science, 14501750” I.
The current evolution vs.
“intelligent design” debate has its roots in the early modern period.
The early modern period was a time of cultural transformation.
Christianity achieved a global presence for the first time 2.
the Scientific Revolution fostered a different approach to the world 3.
there is continuing tension between religion and science in the Western world 1.
both Christianity and scientific thought connected distant peoples 2.
Scientific Revolution also caused new cultural encounter, between science and religion a.
science was a new worldview, almost a new religion for some 3.
science became part of the definition of global modernity C.
Europeans were central players, but they did not act alone.
In 1500, Christianity was mostly limited to Europe.
small communities in Egypt, Ethiopia, southern India, and Central Asia 2.
serious divisions within Christianity (Roman Catholic vs.
loss of the Holy Land by 1300 b.
fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 c.
Martin Luther posted the Ninetyfive Theses, asking for debate about ecclesiastical abuses b.
Luther’s protest was more deeply grounded in theological difference i.
argued a new understanding of salvation—through faith alone rather than through good works ii.
the Bible, not Church teaching, is the ultimate authority iii.
gave large role to individual conscience d.
questioned the special role of the clerical hierarchy (including the pope) e.
Only the Pope can interpret and confirm scripture c).
Only the Pope can convene an ecumenical council 2.
Luther’s ideas provoked a massive schism in Catholic Christendom a.
fed on political, economic, and social tension, not just religious differences b.
some monarchs used Luther to justify independence from the papacy c.
gave a new religious legitimacy to the middle class d.
commoners were attracted to the new religious ideas as a tool for protest against the whole social order i.
German peasant revolts in the 1520s 3.
many women were attracted to Protestantism, but the Reformation didn’t give them a greater role in church or society a.
Protestants ended veneration of Mary and other female saints i.
male Christ figure was left as sole object of worship b.
Protestants closed convents, which had given some women an alternative to marriage c.
only Quakers among the Protestants gave women an official role in their churches d.
some increase in the education of women, because of emphasis on Bible reading i.
but there was little use for education beyond the family a.
Luther issued many pamphlets and a German translation of the New Testament 4.
the recently invented printing press helped Reformation thought spread rapidly 5.
as the Reformation spread, it splintered into an array of competing Protestant churches 6.
religious difference made Europe’s fractured political system even more volatile 7.
the Reformation encouraged skepticism toward authority and tradition a.
August 24, 1572: massacre of thousands of Huguenots ii.
Edict of Nantes issued by Henry IV in 1598: granted considerable religious toleration to Protestants b.
killed off 15–30 percent of the German population iv.
Peace of Westphalia (1648): each state is sovereign and can decide its own religious affairs a.
Council of Trent (1545–1563) clarified Catholic doctrines and practices b.
corrected the abuses and corruption that the Protestants had protested c.
new emphasis on education and supervision of priests d.
new attention given to individual spirituality and piety f.
new religious orders (e.g., the Society of Jesus [Jesuits]) were committed to renewal and expansion a.
fostered religious individualism b.
in the following centuries, the Protestant habit of independent thinking led to skepticism about all revealed religion C.
Christianity motivated and benefited from European expansion 2.
imperialism made the globalization of Christianity possible a.
Spaniards and Portuguese saw overseas expansion as a continuation of the crusading tradition b.
explorers combined religious and material interests a.
settlers and traders brought their religion with them b.
missionaries, mostly Catholic, actively spread Christianity i.
European success encouraged belief that the old gods had been defeated ii.
Christians didn’t confront a literate world religion there iii.
process of population collapse, conquest, and resettlement made Native Americans receptive to the conquering religion a.
vast majority were baptized by 1700 2.
Europeans claimed exclusive religious truth, tried to destroy traditional religions instead of accommodating them a.
occasional campaigns of destruction against the old religions b.
some overt resistance movements 3.
blending of two religious traditions was more common a.
local gods (huacas) remained influential b.
immigrant Christianity took on patterns of preChristian life c.
Christian saints took on functions of precolonial gods d.
leader of the church staff (fiscal) was a prestigious native who carried on the role of earlier religious specialists e.
many rituals survived, often with some Christian influence 1.
Christianity reached China in the powerful, prosperous Ming and Qing dynasties a.
needed government permission for operation b.
Jesuits especially targeted the official Chinese elite i.
e.g., Taki Onqoy (“dancing sickness”) in central Peru (1560s) E.
like Matteo Ricci (in China 1582–1610), they dressed like Chinese scholars, emphasized exchange of ideas ii.
were respectful of Chinese culture, tried to accommodate it 2.
some scholars and officials converted b.
Jesuits were appreciated for mathematical, astronomical, technological, and cartographical skills c.
missionary efforts gained 200,000–300,000 converts in 250 years 3.
Christianity was unappealing as an “all or nothing” religion that would call for rejection of much Chinese culture b.
early eighteenth century: papacy and other missionary orders opposed Jesuit accommodation policy i.
was regarded as an affront to Chinese culture and the emperor’s authority III.
The Scientific Revolution was an intellectual and cultural transformation that occurred between the midsixteenth century and the early eighteenth century.
was based on careful observations, controlled experiments, and formulation of general laws to explain the world 2.
creators of the movement saw themselves as making a radical departure a.
sense that they were “moderns” combating “ancients” 3.
fundamentally altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmos b.
challenged the teachings and authority of the Church c.
challenged ancient social hierarchies and political systems d.
also used to legitimize racial and gender inequality e.
by the twentieth century, science had become the chief symbol of modernity around the world 1.
the Islamic world was the most scientifically advanced realm in period 800–1400 2.
China’s technological accomplishments and economic growth were unmatched for several centuries after the millennium 3.
but European conditions were uniquely favorable to rise of science 4.
in the Islamic world, science remained mostly outside of the system of higher education 5.
Chinese authorities did not permit independent institutions of higher learning 6.
Western Europe could draw on the knowledge of other cultures 7.
sixteenth–eighteenth centuries: Europeans were at the center of a massive new information exchange a.
evolution of a legal system that guaranteed some independence for a variety of institutions by twelfth/thirteenth centuries b.
idea of the “corporation”—collective group treated as a legal unit with certain rights c.
autonomy of emerging universities i.
University of Paris recognized as a corporation by 1215 ii.
universities became zones of intellectual autonomy iii.
study of natural order began to separate from philosophy and theology a.
in madrassas (colleges), growing disdain for scientific and philosophical inquiry a.
Chinese education focused on preparing for civil service exams b.
emphasis was on classical Confucian texts a.
Arab texts were important in the development of European science between 1000 and 1500 a.
tidal wave of knowledge shook up old ways of thinking b.
explosion of uncertainty and skepticism allowed modern science to emerge C.
dominant educatedEuropean view of the world before the Scientific Revolution: 2.
other scientists built on Copernicus’s insight 4.
by Newton’s death, educated Europeans had a fundamentally different view of the physical universe 6.
the human body also became less mysterious 7.
earth is stationary, at the center of the universe c.
promoted the view that the earth and the planets revolved around the sun a.
some argued that there were other inhabited worlds b.
Johannes Kepler demonstrated elliptical orbits of the planets c.
questioned the perfection of heavenly bodies ii.
discovered the moons of Jupiter and new stars iii.
provoked ideas of an infinite universe a.
formulated laws of motion and mechanics b.
central concept: universal gravitation c.
natural laws govern both the micro and the macrocosm a.
not propelled by angels and spirits but functioned according to mathematical principles b.
the “machine of the universe” is selfregulating c.
knowledge of the universe can be obtained through reason a.
the heart as a pump rather than as mysterious center of the body’s passions, etc.
burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 for proclaiming an infinite universe b.
Galileo forced to renounce his belief that earth moved around an orbit and rotated on its axis c.
the Scientific Revolution gradually reached a wider European audience 2.
scientific approach to knowledge was applied to human affairs a.
development of a popular press and scientific societies E.
Adam Smith (1723–1790) formulated economic laws b.
people believed that scientific development would bring “enlightenment” to humankind 3.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) defined Enlightenment as a “daring to know” 4.
Enlightenment thinkers believed that knowledge could transform human society a.
tended to be satirical, critical, and hostile to established authorities b.
attacked arbitrary government, divine right, and aristocratic privilege c.
John Locke (1632–1704) articulated ideas of constitutional government d.
many writers advocated education for women 5.
much Enlightenment thought attacked established religion a.
in his Treatise on Toleration, Voltaire (1694–1778) attacked the narrow particularism of organized religion b.
many thinkers were deists—belief in a remote deity who created the world but doesn’t intervene c.
some even regarded religion as a fraud 6.
Enlightenment thought was influenced by growing global awareness 7.
central theme of Enlightenment: the idea of progress 8.
some thinkers reacted against too much reliance on human reason a.
JeanJacques Rousseau (1712–1778) argued for immersion in nature rather than book learning b.
the Romantic movement appealed to emotion and imagination c.
religious awakenings made an immense emotional appeal 1.
modern science was cumulative and selfcritical 2.
in the nineteenth century, science was applied to new sorts of inquiry;
in some ways, it undermined Enlightenment assumptions 3.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) argued that all of life was in flux a.
The Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) were shattering to traditional religious views 4.
Karl Marx (1818–1883) presented human history as a process of change and struggle a.
individualism lost ground to view of all species caught in systems of conflict 5.
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) cast doubt on human rationality 1.
science became the most widely desired product of European culture a.
but early modern Asia was only modestly interested 2.
Chinese had selective interest in Jesuits’ teaching a.
most interested in astronomy and mathematics b.
European science had substantial impact on the Chinese kaozheng movement 3.
Japan kept up some European contact via trade with the Dutch a.
import of Western books allowed, starting in 1720 b.
a small group of Japanese scholars was interested in Western texts, anatomical studies in particular 4.
Ottoman Empire chose not to translate major European scientific works a.
Ottoman scholars were only interested in ideas of practical utility (e.g., maps, calendars) b.
Islamic educational system was conservative, made it hard for theoretical science to do well IV.
Ideas shape peoples’ mental or cultural worlds and influence behavior.
The development of early modern ideas took place in an environment of great cultural borrowing.
many early modern ideas are still highly significant 1.
borrowing was selective 2.
borrowing sometimes caused serious conflict a.
efforts to stop cultural influence b.
efforts to suppress the original culture 3.

The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections 600-1000