Saudi Arabia

                             

Origin of Name

• The name of the country comes from the ruling royal family

• AL-Saud

• It is the world’s only country named after its ruling family

Past

Abu Bakr

• Chosen to be successor to Muhammad – 1st caliph

• Series of battles to unite Arabia

• 634 unified Muslim state

• Defeated Persian & Byzantine empires

• No forced conversion to Islam

Growth

• Many early caliphs came from 1 family: Umayyad

• They moved to Damascus, Syria to expand empire

• Conquered parts of North Africa & trade in eastern Mediterranean

Berbers

• Native people of North Africa

• Resisted Muslim [Moor] rule initially

• Many started to convert

• 711 a combined army invaded Spain

• They were stopped in France by a Christan army

Abbasids

• New Islamic dynasty came to power in 749

• Reorganized government to make it easier to rule over a large region

Cultural Achievements

• Astronomy (astrolabe-calculate location on earth)

• Geography (Ibn Battutah explored Africa, India, China, & Spain-accurate maps)

• Philosophy (Sufism: people could find God’s love by having a personal relationship with God)

Other Achievements

• Math (algebra)

• Medicine (1st pharmacy school, learned to cure smallpox, medical encyclopedia)

• Literature (Sufi poetry, Omar Khayyam & One Thousand and One Nights)

• Visual Arts (mosques, calligraphy, geometric patterns)

Geography

• The southern part is sometimes called the Empty Quarter

• Area where Rub al Khali desert is located

• Devoid of population

• World’s largest oil reserves

Current• The largest country in the Arabian

Peninsula

• Major religious and cultural center

• One of the region’s strongest economies

Government and Economy• Saudi Arabia is a monarchy (run by a King).

• Only men are allowed to vote

• Saudi Arabian Economy is based on oil

• Oil was discovered in the 1930’s. This made Saudi Arabia a very rich country.

• Has ¼ of the world’s oil supply (about 250 billion barrels).

Government and Economy

• Saudi Arabia feels that they depend too much on oil

• Trying to find new ways to make money – diversify

Government and Economy

• Roads

• Electricity

• Telephones

• Good school systems

People & Customs

• Arabs that speak Arabic

• 85% are Sunni

• Islamic law restricts women’s activities

• Islam also influences clothing that men & women wear

Sunni & Shia Muslims

Sunni & Shia Muslims• As the Ottoman Empire reached its

height, a group of Persian Muslims, the Safavids was gaining power to the east in present day Iran.

• The Safavids came into conflict with the Ottomans and other Muslims.

• The conflict arose from an old dispute among Muslims about who should be caliph, the title used for the highest ranking leader of Islam.

Sunni & Shia Muslims

• In the mid-600s, Islam had split into two groups the Shia and the Sunni.

• Shia Muslims thought only Muhammad’s descendants could become caliph. This branch of Islam is found mainly in Iran and parts of Iraq today.

Sunni & Shia Muslims

• Sunni Muslims did not think caliphs had to be related to Muhammad. This is the major branch of Islam today representing about 90 percent of the world’s Muslims.

Division of Islam

• Shia Muslim – believe only Muhammad’s descendant could be caliph

• Primarily in Iran and part of Iraq today

• Sunni Muslim – believe caliph did not have to be a descendant of Muhammad

• About 85% of Muslims today are Sunni

• Shia

• Believe that true Islamic teaching can only come from certain political and religious leaders.

• Sunni

• Believe that teaching and learning of Islam can come from community.