Table of Contents for Middle East 101

Contents

Foreword by General Stanley A. McChrystal, USA (Ret.)

xv

Preface

xix

Acknowledgments

xxi

Chapter 1: The Physical and Human Geography of the Middle East 1. What religious, historical, political, economic, and strategic factors have made the Middle East so important to the people of the United States?

1 1

2. What is the origin of the term “Middle East”?

3

3. Which countries make up the core Middle East?

4

4. What are the differences among the terms “Middle East,” “Arab world,” and “Muslim world”?

5

5. What are the major urban centers of the Middle East, and how has rapid urbanization affected the region?

6

6. What are important physical features of the Middle East, including mountain ranges and plateaus, rivers and valleys, deserts and arid areas, and waterways?

8

7. What are the major ethnolinguistic groups of the Middle East?

11

8. What are the major religious denominations of the Middle East?

13

9. What are the differences between the Sunni and Shi’a branches of Islam?

17

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Chapter 2: The Ancient Middle East

10. What are some essential legacies of the ancient civilizations of the Middle East?

19 19

11. What were the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of the two major powers in the Middle East at the advent of Islam: the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire?

23

12. What were the social institutions and practices of pre-Islamic Arabia?

26

Chapter 3: The Prophet Muhammad and the Emergence of Islam

30

13. Why are the life, career, and character of the Prophet Muhammad so crucial to understanding the rise and spread of Islam?

30

14. What are the fundamental tenets of Islam?

39

15. What are the different meanings of jihad?

46

16. How is the Qur’an organized, what are some of its essential teachings, and how does it compare to the Old and New Testaments?

46

Chapter 4: The High Caliphate

54

17. How were the first caliphs—the temporal successors to the Prophet Muhammad—chosen?

54

18. What factors contributed to the success of the Arab conquest in the seventh and eighth centuries?

56

19. How did the Rashidun caliphs govern the Muslim empire, what were their major accomplishments, and what were the causes of their downfall?

58

20. How did the Umayyad caliphs govern the Muslim empire, what were their major accomplishments, and what were the causes of their downfall?

61

21. How did the ‘Abbasid caliphs govern the Muslim empire, what were their major accomplishments, and what were the causes of their downfall?

64

22. What distinguishes the three main Shi’a sects: the Zaydis, Isma’ilis, and Twelve-Imam Shi’a?

67

23. How did non-Arab, non-Sunni groups—mainly the Shi’a, Persians, and Turks—achieve ascendancy in the umma? 70

Contents Chapter 5: Islamic Law and Medieval Muslim Civilization

24. What is the nature of the political-religious (“mosque-state”) dichotomy in the Muslim world?

25. What are the sources of Islamic law (Shari’a)?

ix

74 74 77

26. What are the differences among the schools of Sunni jurisprudence? 79 27. How does Islam affect men and women in traditional Muslim society?

81

28. What are essential characteristics and institutions of medieval Muslim urban and rural societies?

84

29. What are significant works and accomplishments of medieval Muslim scholars, scientists, theologians, artists, and architects?

86

Chapter 6: Invaders, Conquerors, and Warriors

93

30. What were the political, economic, social, and religious factors that contributed to the First Crusade?

93

31. What factors account for the crusader victory at Jerusalem in 1099?

95

32. How did the Muslim world react to the Crusades and ultimately drive the crusaders from the region?

98

33. What is the legacy of the Crusades from Christian and Muslim points of view?

103

34. How did the Mongols establish a vast empire, and what were their governing institutions and religious practices?

104

35. What is the legacy of the Mongols in the Middle East?

107

36. Who were the Mamluks of Egypt, what were their accomplishments, and what factors led to their downfall?

108

37. What is the legacy of Tamerlane and his descendants in the Middle East?

110

Chapter 7: The Rise of the Ottoman and Safavid Dynasties

113

38. What accounted for the rise and expansion of the Ottoman Empire under the first ten sultans?

113

39. What were the major institutions of the Ottoman government? 118 40. What accounted for the rise and development of the Safavid state?

121

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41. What contributed to the decline and collapse of the Safavid state?

124

42. What initiated the decline of the Ottoman Empire?

126

43. What were significant cultural achievements of the Ottoman and Safavid states?

131

Chapter 8: The Rise of Western Influence in the Middle East

133

44. What interests did the Great Powers of Europe have in the Ottoman Empire?

133

45. How did the Ottomans and the European powers deal with the threat posed by Russia to the Ottoman Empire, an issue known as the Eastern Question?

136

46. What is the general nature of reform in the Middle East?

137

47. Why did Napoleon Bonaparte invade Egypt, and what is the legacy of the French occupation?

138

48. How successful were the modernizing reforms of Egypt’s Mehmet ‘Ali in the nineteenth century, and how did he represent a threat to the Ottoman sultan?

141

49. How successful were the Ottoman rulers Selim III, Mahmud II, and ‘Abdulmejid I in reforming the Ottoman Empire in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?

144

Chapter 9: The Emergence of Nationalism in the Middle East

149

50. What is nationalism, and what factors gave rise to nationalist movements in the Middle East?

149

51. How did the British gain control of Egypt in the early 1880s?

151

52. What were the characteristics and accomplishments of British rule in Egypt?

154

53. Why did Ottomanism, the Constitution of 1876, the Young Turk Revolt, Pan-Turanism, and Pan-Turkism fail to reverse the decline of the Ottoman Empire?

156

54. What difficulties did the Qajar shahs of Persia have in establishing and maintaining effective central authority and resisting outside interference?

160

55. Why is Arab nationalism such a complicated and challenging concept to define?

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56. How did the Hussein-McMahon correspondence, Sykes-Picot Agreement, and Balfour Declaration define the imperial goals of the Great Powers in the Middle East during World War I and sow the seeds of future conflict?

168

57. What were the causes and outcome of the Arab Revolt during World War I?

173

58. How successful were the nationalist movements in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and the Arab world before and during World War I?

174

Chapter 10: The Middle East between the World Wars

177

59. What were critical political developments in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Transjordan in the decades following World War I?

177

60. How did the Republic of Turkey come into being following World War I?

183

61. What were the significant reforms of Mustapha Kemal Atatürk?

187

62. How did Reza Shah come to power in Persia, and what were his major reforms?

190

63. How did ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn Sa’ud establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

193

Chapter 11: Egyptian Independence, the Zionist Movement,

and the Creation of Israel

64. What were the significant events and developments in Egypt from 1919 to 1956 that resulted in full independence from Great Britain?

199 199

65. What is Zionism, and how does it differ from political Zionism and other forms of the ideology?

206

66. What role did Zionism play in the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine?

208

67. What were major events and developments during the British mandate in Palestine (1920–48)?

211

68. What were key events and the outcome of the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War?

215

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Contents

Chapter 12: Turkey after Atatürk, Iran under

Mohammed Reza Shah, and the Arab World after World War II

69. What were significant political, economic, and social developments in Turkey following the passing of Atatürk?

219 219

70. What were critical elements of Mohammed Reza Shah’s White Revolution, and why did his reforms generate domestic opposition?

228

71. What are the principal beliefs of Ba’thism and Nasserism?

235

72. What were the significant political developments in the Arab world from 1949 to 1967?

238

Chapter 13: The Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967–73

247

73. What were the causes and outcome of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War?

247

74. What are the contents of UN Security Council Resolution 242, which outlined the principles for a Middle East peace settlement?

253

75. What accounts for the emergence of a viable Palestinian nationalist movement after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War?

254

76. What were the causes and outcome of the 1970 Jordanian–Palestine Liberation Organization civil war?

256

77. What were the causes, events, and consequences of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War?

258

Chapter 14: Revolutionary Iran

268

78. What accounts for the emergence of Islam as a political strategy in the Middle East?

268

79. What were the circumstances leading to the Iranian Revolution of 1978–79 and the overthrow of Mohammed Reza Shah?

271

80. What were the steps in establishing the Islamic Republic of Iran?

274

81. How does the system of checks and balances function in the Iranian government?

277

82. What were the causes, events and developments, and outcome of the Iran-Iraq War?

280

Contents Chapter 15: Developments in Egypt since 1973

83. What were major political, economic, and social developments in Egypt from the end of the October 1973 war to the outbreak of the revolution in January 2011?

xiii

284

284

84. What were the causes and outcome of the 25 January (2011) Revolution?

293

85. Why has Islam proved to be a successful strategy for challenging secular authority in the Middle East?

299

Chapter 16: National Tragedies in Lebanon and Syria

302

86. How did the Lebanese National Pact of 1943 maintain the political balance of power in Lebanon until the early 1970s?

302

87. What were the causes, significant developments, and outcome of the Lebanese civil war (1975–90)?

305

88. How does the al-Asad family maintain power in Syria, and what are its strategies for holding on to that power during the civil war that erupted in 2011?

314

Chapter 17: Iraq from the Rise of Saddam to the

Fragile Beginnings of Democracy

89. How did Saddam Hussein take control of the Ba’thist regime in Iraq and retain power for nearly a quarter century?

318 318

90. What were Saddam Hussein’s motives for invading Kuwait in August 1990 and attacking Iraqi Kurds and Shi’a?

322

91. What were the phases of the 1990–91 Persian Gulf crisis, the outcome of the war, and the conflict’s impact on the Middle East?

324

92. How did U.S. policy toward Iraq evolve from the end of the 1991 Gulf War to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001?

327

93. What were the factors leading to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and what are the prospects for post-Saddam Iraq?

329

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Contents

Chapter 18: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and

Peace Process since the Late 1980s

94. What were important developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab-Israeli peace process from the outbreak of the first intifada in 1987 to the collapse of the Camp David talks of 2000?

95. What are the prospects for a peace settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians?

Chapter 19: Understanding Islamist Extremism

in the Twenty-First Century

96. What accounts for the rise of militant jihadist movements in the world today?

338

338 346

352 352

97. What are the origins and goals of the militant jihadist organization al-Qa’ida?

356

98. How does Usama Bin Ladin’s concept of jihad differ from others?

358

99. What are the origins and goals of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)?

360

Chapter 20: Combatting Islamist Extremism

in the Twenty-First Century

100. What are effective strategies for combatting militant Islamist organizations?

101. Can a liberal Islamic reform movement succeed in the world today?

366 366 370

Notes 379 Selected Bibliography

389

Index 407