Test Questions for Tomorrow?

Hey folks! I hope you all had a productive day. I'm still here watching financial markets, but it doesn't look like we'll get anything new until Thursday at the earliest. Also on your minds is likely the test for tomorrow. I'm going to open the blog right now for you to begin studying collectively as a group. I won't be around my computer from 7pm until between 9:30 and 10pm, but feel free to use the blog to study together, and then I'll answer any final questions you may have.

We Don't Have a Deal! House Votes NO on Bailout Bill

Folks, I don't even know what to say. Let's hope we can extinguish this fire that's burning.

Click here for the latest story from the BBC.

We Have a Deal!

Folks, a deal has been reached between both houses of Congress, both parties, and the executive branch is on board too! The question is now, will it pass a vote? If it does, will it work? You can read the latest news on this by clicking here. Also, click here for a very insightful list of FAQs from the BBC that you all may have currently on the crisis. Also, details have been hard to come across in terms of what the bailout bill actually looks like. Well, folks, the other bit of good news is, we finally have details. Click here for the full text of the bailout bill, thanks to the Los Angeles Times (WARNING: it's 106 pages. Hey, don't complain, you said you wanted details, so your wish has been granted).

Islam and Hindu Civilization: Cultures in Conflict

At the end of the tenth century, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazana, who proudly bore the titles the Sword of Islam and the Image Breaker, began a series of seventeen raids through the Khyber Pass and into India from his base just south of Kabul in modern Afghanistan. This Turkish lord made no serious attempt at conquering all of India, but he incorporated into his lands part of the subcontinent's northwestern region of Punjab (an area that today is part of the Islamic state of Pakistan). For a century and a half after Mahmud's death, Islam penetrated no farther into India, but the precedent had been established.

The riches that Mahmud accumulated from his plunder and destruction of Hindu temples (he is reputed to have carried off six and one-half tons of gold from one expedition alone) enabled him to turn his otherwise remote, mountain-ringed capital of Ghazana into a major center of Islamic culture. Scholars and artists from all over Southwest Asia gathered at Mahmud's court. Many came willingly; others were forced to come. In 1017, Mahmud conquered the Central Asian Islamic state of Khwarazm, located west of Ghazana and just south of the Aral Sea. The conqueror brought back many of Khwarazm's intellectuals and artisans to his capital, including the Iranian scholar Abul Raiban al-Biruni.

Known to subsequent generations as al-Ustadh (the Master), al-Biruni was primarily an astronomer, mathematician, and linguist, but his wide-ranging interests and intellect involved him in many other fields of inquiry. For thirteen years following his capture, al-Biruni served Mahmud, probably as court astrologer, and traveled with him into India's Punjab region. Shortly after his lord's death in 1030, al-Biruni completed his Description of India, an encyclopedic account of Indian civilization, especially Hindu science. The following excerpts that I would like you to read come from the book's opening pages, in which the author deals with the essential differences that separate Hindus from Muslims. Please click on the following link to read the document (Description of India). When you are finished reading, please think about and discuss the following: According to al-Biruni, what separates Muslims from Hindus? What impact did eighth-century Islam have on India? What impact did Mahmud and his father have on India? Al-Biruni presents a critique of Hindu science and compares it with Greek science (and implicitly with Islamic science). In so doing, he faults Hindu scientists for certain basic failings. What are they? What basic Hindu vision of reality might have influenced a scientific tradition that followed a path different from that of the Greeks and the Muslims? What is the general tone of this entire document, and what do you infer from it? Your thoughts...

Deal or No Deal?

Here's an update on the financial crisis... the day started out with optimism, it looked like congress was about to close in on a deal, and then the meeting at 4pm at the White House ended in tempers flaring and general disarray. So are we even further from a plan now than we were 24 hours ago? Click here for NPR's update on the situation.

No Reading for a Quiz Tonight

Folks, just a reminder: no reading for a quiz tonight. Arabic vocab quiz and inner/outer circle discussion Monday.

Ibn Khaldun on the Rise and Fall of Empires

Ok ladies gentlemen, you are about to read a masterpiece of political theory here. We will refer to this document you are about to read literally ALL THE TIME FOR THE REST OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. Although he lived in the century after the Abbasid Caliphate was destroyed in 1258, Ibn Khaldun was very much a product of the far-flung Islamic civilization that the Abbasids had consolidated and expanded. He was also one of the greatest historians and social commentators of all time. After extensive travel in the Islamic world, he served as a political advisor at several of the courts of Muslim rulers in north Africa. With the support of a royal patron, Ibn Khaldun wrote a universal history that began with a very long philosophical preface called The Muqaddimah. Among the subjects he treated at length were the causes of the rise and fall of dynasties. The shifting fortunes of the dynasties he knew well in his native north Africa, as well as the fate of the Abbasids and earlier Muslim regimes, informed his attempts to find persistent patterns in the confusing political history of the Islamic world. The following passages are from one of the most celebrated sections of The Muqaddimah on the natural life span of political regimes. Please click on the following link (The Muqaddimah) in order to read this extremely important document.

When you have finished reading, I need for ALL OF YOU to discuss the following: What does this passage reveal about Ibn Khaldun's views of the contrasts between nomads and urban dwellers? Why does he see the former as a source of military power and political strength? What forces undermine dynasties in later generations? How well do these patterns correspond to the history of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties we have been studying? How well do they work for other civilizations we have examined? Can elements of Ibn Khaldun's theory be applied to today's political systems? If so, which and how? If not, why not? Does the United States fit into this theory, and if so, what generation do you believe we are in? What was the author's point of view? What do you think was the intent or purpose of this document? Who was the intended audience in your opinion? Can any government escape "the curse of the Khaldun"? Your thoughts...

A Solution to the Financial Crisis?

Well ladies and gentlemen, the worst fears of economists are becoming the reality: the United States is officially in it's worst financial state affairs since the Great Depression, and nobody is denying it anymore. The solution proposed to the problem? A $700,000,000,000 bail-out by the government to keep the economy from completely collapsing on itself. We did talk a bit about the problem last week, so hopefully you all tuned in to President Bush's address to the nation stressing to all of us the seriousness of this crisis. Click on the following link (Bail-Out "Vital to Easing Crisis") in order to read the BBC's coverage of this story that explains things rather clearly (you can also watch Bush's address to the nation here if you didn't catch it). Also, as I've mentioned before, the BBC is great because on big news stories like this, they provide background history, time lines, etc to help you research the topic for real understanding. Click here for more in-depth background information on the Global Financial Crisis, and click here for a timeline of the situation (so many people for some reason think this just happened out of nowhere, but like anything else it's been a long time in the making and the general public has simply ignored it). So what are your thoughts on all of this?

Islam and Unbelievers: A Look at the Reality of Tolerance in the Post-Classical Muslim World

Unfortunately, the media has created a very misleading and one-sided image of the Islamic world today. Not surprisingly, most students adopt the simplistic view of the prevalence of Islamic fundamentalism. The reality is that there is generally a great deal of toleration usually associated with Islam. This tolerance can be demonstrated in Muhammad’s philosophy and in the Quran. The notion of Jews and Christians as “peoples of the book” is a key concept. Even Muhammad’s role as the “final prophet” pays homage to the role played by earlier prophets such as Moses and Jesus. The decision by the early caliphs of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasty to allow conquered peoples to practice their own religions is representative of a general tolerance that runs throughout Islamic history. Even the institution of the jizya pales in comparison to the treatment usually allotted to members of differing religious groups.

Contrary to one popular image, the Muslim conquerors of the seventh and eighth centuries did not, as a matter of general policy, force their new, non-Arab subjects to convert to Islam (although there is evidence of some forced conversions and even massacres of non-Muslim populations during this first age of expansion, but nothing as dramatic as what the Christian world is later responsible for during the Crusades, Inquisition, contact with the Americas, etc.). Indeed, the Quran expressly forbids forced conversion, and the Prophet's own actions underscored that prohibition. In 628, Muhammad entered into a contract, or dhimma, with an Arabic Jewish tribe at the oasis of Khaybar, whereby he guaranteed to defend them and to respect their religious practices in return for their submission, assistance, and payment of tribute. This contract of protection became the model for Islam's generals and statesmen as Arab armies exploded out of the peninsula, but the manner in which Muslims understood and applied the dhimma differed from age to age, place to place, and ruler to ruler. The following two documents that I would like you to read show us two varieties of the dhimma and also reflect some of the ways that the pact tended to change over time.

The first document (that you can read by clicking here [just the very short passage from the bottom of page 162 to the middle of 163, under the heading "Peace Treaty Between Habib b. Muslama and the Christians of Tiflis"]) records a pact of peace offered to the Christian inhabitants of the city of Tiflis (modern Tbilisi, Georgia) around 653 by Habib ibn Muslama, the military commander responsible for the conquest of Christian Armenia and Georgia in the region between the Black and Caspian seas south of the Caucasus Mountains. Ibn Muslama's pact with the Christians of Tiflis is a good example of the earliest form of the dhimma.

The second document (that you can read by clicking here) purports to be the pact of peace offered by Caliph Umar I to the Christians of Syria around 637, but scholars generally agree it is a later creation--crafted probably in the early ninth century when the new Abbasid Dynasty of caliphs was occupied with crushing local revolts and need historical support for policies that were more repressive than those of the earlier Umayyad caliphs.

After reading the documents I would like you all to read and discuss the following: Exactly what does Ibn Muslama's pact guarantee the Christians, and what obligations does it place on them? What hints are there in Ibn Muslam's pact that strongly suggest it was crafted during the first generation of Islamic expansion? How does the Pact of Umar differ from Ibn Muslama's pact? [PLEASE BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR DISCUSSION OF THIS] What do the differences that you discovered in the two documents suggest about the realities of the era of the Early Abbasids? Large numbers of people living in regions conquered by Islam ultimately converted to that faith. Do these pacts suggest to you any possible reasons for some of those conversions? Again, PLEASE BE SPECIFIC.

The Islamic Religion

Supplementing the Koran as a source for Islamic religious, social, and legal precepts is the Hadith (which means a story, tale, or report). These are collections of traditions attributed to Muhammad, his companions, and early caliphs. Consisting of rules and practical social norms (sunnah) formulated by the prophet and enforced by early leaders in the Islamic community, the Hadith contains prescribed rules and behaviors not offered in the Koran that guide Muslims. Proclaimed in sermons or informally before witnesses, the apostolic traditions remained unwritten until the beginning of the seventh century. In response to Caliph Oman II's orders for a formal collection of extant tradtions, an Iranian savant, Abu Abdallah Muhammad, traveled throughout the Islamic World, where he uncovered more than 600,000. Joined by other collectors, al-Bukhari devised a critical scientific method to separate authentic traditions from the spurious. From this, he produced an authoritative Hadith consisting of 7397 authentic traditions. His collection, along with those by Abul Husain Muslim and four less reliable collectors, acquired canonical status among the orthodox Sunnis and is known as the Sahih ("The Genuine").

In the Hadith selections that I would like you to read, you can get a sense of what the main religious duties of a Muslim are and how the individual relates to Allah. As you're reading the document ask yourself: What is distinctive about Muslim religious life? Why do so many people find Islam such a satisfactory religion, often converting to it from other faiths? Please click on the following link in order to read the selections (The Hadith). When you have read this, please think about and discuss the following... What are some of the main religious obligations of Muslims, according to these passages? What were the goals of a proper religious life? How do the gender values in these passages compare with the previous selections from the Koran? What might account for any differences? What was the Islamic approach to social and economic inequality? To slavery? How did this approach compare with the social theories of the classical Mediterranean period? What were some of the major offenses against Islamic rules? Finally, do these passages suggest some of the reasons for Islam's striking success as a world religion?

The Koran and the Family

Well ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you enjoyed the first part of the Season 2 premiere today. Now, time to dive back into some document sources. The canonical source of Islam (al-Islam, meaning "surrender" or "submission") is the Koran [Qur'an], which contains revelations from Allah (simply "God" in Arabic), "the God of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes [of Israel]... and Jesus," to the Prophet Muhammad. Transmitted through the intermediary of the angel Gabriel (yes, the same Gabriel from the New Testament of the Bible that informed Mary that she was to have a son, and his name will be Jesus) during the 20 years of Muhammad's apostolate, these full and complete revelations embodied Allah's "eternal knowledge and judgement of all things" and a perfection of all previous religions. As the ultimate authority in Islam and the "supreme self-manifestation of God to His creatures," the Koran was early reduced to writing. Yet an official, authoritative edition did not appear until after the Prophet's death in 632 C.E. Divided into 114 chapters (suras) and containing 77,639 words, the text of the Koran is arranged in order of decreasing length with complete disregard for chronology. Internally each sura consists of verses [ayat', meaning "signs" or "tokens"] with post-Muhammad headings derived from key terms in the text. Written in classical Arabic, the Koran adheres to a metrical style and was designed to be heard. The passages I would like you to read from the Koran are from Sura IV ("Women"), and the focus is on women, children, orphans, and inheritances, with injunctions to males in the Islamic patriarchal society regarding them.

The following passages obviously invite judgements about what kind of family life and gender relations were urged in Islamic society. We can compare these with other versions of a patriarchal system in classical India and China. These passages also show how Islamic religion developed specific regulations, not just general ethics, for personal and family behavior, harking back to older Middle Eastern traditions in this area. Finally, the passages also show something of the Islamic view of God, in whose name men and women were to regulate their relationships.

Please click on the following link (The Koran, Sura IV) in order to read these passages ( you only have to read pages 72-78 [4:2-4:32 and 4:36-4:39] and page 91 [4:128-4:129] ). After reading those excerpts, I would like for you all to think about and discuss the following... Did Islam enforce a patriarchal gender system? What were the key protections for women, and how did they compare with protective features in the earlier classical and river-valley civilizations? Were women spiritually equal to men in Islam? How was this reconciled with patriarchal traditions? What kinds of concerns did Islam emphasize concerning sexuality? Your thoughts...

The Season 2 Preview

Season 2 (also known as the Post-Classical Period [600-1450]) is, quite frankly, the season of the nomads. For the most part, the great settled societies of the classical world have fallen, been destroyed, and wiped off the map. But not wiped from memory. Could settled societies rise again? Or will this be the beginning of an everlasting nomadic era? In reality, after the collapse of key classical dynasties or empires, new influences will arise in many older centers--particularly with the rise of Islam and the spread of Buddhism. Civilization, instead of shrinking back, actually will expand from older centers-- thus the rise of a Japanese form of East Asian culture and the development of civilization in northwestern Europe and in Russia, with links, however, to the earlier Mediterranean forms. Civilizations will also expand in portions of the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa.

During most of season 2, Islamic civilization, centered in the Middle East and North Africa, will become the leading force. Other themes will include the sheer spread of major religions--particularly Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism--and the resultant impact on the arts and politics. International trade will expand rapidly, as will imitation of older centers by regions solidifying their forms of civilization for the first time, such as northern Europe and Japan. The expansion of trade will lead to new kinds of questions about merchants and merchants' motives, although different societies will offer different resolutions. Toward the end of season 2, Mongol conquests and a brief flurry of Chinese trading expeditions will intensify international contacts, including technology exchange from Asia and the spread of epidemic disease.

So why is season 2 the season of the nomads you ask? Because nothing that I have mentioned would be possible without the movements of 5 nomadic groups that are the true stars of season 2-- the Arabs, Vikings, Aztecs, Turks, and the MONGOLS! It is these 5 nomadic groups that will not only be the stars of season 2, but these 5 nomadic groups will forever change the world! Just like season 1, season 2 is full of modern day relevance. Season 2 is especially important because it is in this season that we will come to an understanding of the real Islamic world, not the mythological half-truths that you hear everyday from Fox News and other major media outlets. It is imperative that we come to a true understanding of this immensely important society in our quest for not only for truth about the past but truth about the present. So ladies and gentlemen, BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS FOR SEASON 2. IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE!

3rd Annual Season One Whapey Awards Announced!

Best Government (Classical): Persia

Best Government (River-Valley): Harrappa

Most Influential Society: Rome

Most Influential Person: Confucius (by the way, Confucius beat Jesus by exactly ONE VOTE)

Best Leader: Cyrus

Worst Leader: Xerxes

Best Conflict: Rome vs. Nomads

Best Social System: Persia

Most Influential Belief System: Christianity

Best Economic System: Persia

Best Invention: road systems

Worst Invention: agriculture (seriously, only in AP world)

Best Cultural Contribution: bread & circuses

Best Film Set in Season 1: Gladiator

So folks, with 6 wins, Persia pulls off another sweep of the Season One Whapeys, including winning the top award. Thanks for all the votes, this was an excellent year in terms voter turnout. So now my AP world family, get geared up for...

The Season Two Premiere

Monday, September 22nd

Whapey Awards Voting Has Officially Closed

Well ladies and gentlemen, it is now noon on Friday, so this completes our season 1 voting for the 3rd annual Whapey Awards. Thank you for all of your votes, thank you for your campaigning, and thanks in advance to those of you that will be helping in counting the votes for us today. Winners will be announced tomorrow afternoon. Have a good weekend!

BE READY FOR THE SEASON 2 PREMIERE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND!

Any Questions On Tomorrow's Test?

I'm opening the blog this evening for any questions that you may have, so feel free to use this to work with each other in helping each other out. I will be away from my computer for a little bit today, so opening leaving it open without moderation, so as always... PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL COMMENTS THAT ARE MADE ARE APPROPRIATE! Thanks!

For Your Consideration...

For Your Consideration

Best Conflict- The Persian Wars

For Your Consideration...

For Your Consideration

Best Film Set During Season 1- Gladiator

For Your Consideration...

For Your Consideration

Best Leader- Qin Shihuangdi

For Your Consideration...

For Your Consideration

Best Leader- Cyrus

For Your Consideration...

For Your Consideration

Most Influential- Confucius