| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Sultan | the sovereign of an Islamic community |
| Seljuk Turks | Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia; staunch Sunnis; ruled in name of Abbasid caliphs from mid-11th century |
| Crusades | Series of military adventures initially launched by Western Christians to free Holy Land from Muslims; temporarily succeeded in capturing Jerusalem and capturing Christian kingdoms; later used for other purposes such as commercial wars and extermination of heresy |
| Ulama | Orthodox religious scholars within Islam; pressed for a more conservative and restrictive theology; increasingly opposed to non-Islamic ideas and scientific thinking |
| Sufis | Mystics within Islam; responsible for expansion of Islam to southeastern Asia and other regions |
| Mongols | Central Asian nomadic peoples; smashed Turko-Persian Kingdoms; captured Baghdad in 1258 and killed last Abbasid caliph |
| Mameluks | Muslim slave warriors; established a dynasty in Egypt; defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 and halted Mongol advance |
| Rajas | one of the the three gunas (qualities of nature) in Hindu philosophy |
| Sati | Ritual in india of immolating surviving widows with the bodies of their deceased husbands |
| Bhakti | a popular religious movement centered around the personal worship of gods |
| al-Mahdi | Third of the Abbasid caliphs; attempted to reconcile moderates among Shi'a to Abbasid dynasty; failed to resolve problem of succession |
| Harun al-Rashid | Most famous of Abbasid caliphs; renowned for sumptuous and costly living; dependent on Persian advisors early in reign; death led to civil wars over succession |
| Buyids | Regional splinter dynasty of the mid-10th century; invaded and captured Baghdad; ruled Abbasid empire under title of Sultan; retained Abbasids as figureheads |
| Saladin | Muslim leader in the last decades of the 12th century; reconquered most of the crusader outposts for Islam |
| Ibn Khaldun | A Muslim historian; developed concept that dynasties of nomadic conquerors has a cycle of three generations; strong, weak, dissolute |
| Rubiyat | composed of four lines; Persian poetry; famous |
| Shah-Nama | Written by Firdawsi in late 10th and early 11th centuries; relates history of Persia from creation to the Islamic conquests |
| Sa'di | one of the major Persian poets in the medieval period; known for depth of social thought as well as quality of writing |
| al-Razi | alchemist, physician, chemist, scholar, and philosopher. known for experimental medicine, pediatrics, neurosurgery and opthalmology |
| al-Biruni | first Muslim scholar to study india and Brahman tradition; anthropologist and scientific method |
| al-Ghazali | pioneer of methods of doubt and skepticism; changed course of early Muslim philosophy to one based on cause and effect by God and intermediate angels, known today as occasionalism |
| Muhammad ibn Qasim | Arab general; conquered Sind in India; declared the region and the Indus valley to be part of Umayyad Empire |
| arabic numerals | characters 0-9 read as a number |
| Harsha | Indian emperor who ruled over Northern India for 40 years; established first diplomatic relations between China and India; BUDDHIST |
| Mahmud of Ghazni | Third ruler of Turkish slave dynasty in Afghanistan; led invasions of northern India; credited with sacking one of the wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India; gave Muslims reputation of intolerance and aggressionN |
| Mahmud of Ghur | Military commander of Persian extraction who ruled small mountain kingdom in Afghanistan; began process of conquest to establish Muslim political control of northern India; brought much of Indus valley, Sind, and northwestern India under his control |
| Qutb-ud-din Aibak | Lieutenant of Mahmud of Ghur; established kingdom in India with capital at Delphi; proclaimed himself Sultan of india |
| Mir Bai | Celebrated Hindu writer of religious poetry; reflected openness of bhaktic cults to women |
| Kabir | Muslim mystic during 15th century; played down the importance of ritual differences between Hinduism and Islam |
| Shrivijaya | Trading empire centered on Malacca Straits between Malaya and Sumatra; controlled trade of empire; Buddhist government resistant to Muslim missionaries; fall opened up southeastern Asia to Muslim conversion |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!