Essay on Dbq Islam and Christianity

Since this question is about attitudes about trade it would be more complete with documents portraying the views of more groups. For example, letters from Muslim merchants would allow us to examine that group’s view about trade. Documents from Orthodox Christians would give a more complete picture of the attitudes of Christianity. Collection records from Muslim mosques or Christian churches would allow us to compare how each benefited from merchants and so be able to

The rise of Christianity and Islam happened during a turbulent time in history, when major civilizations like the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire were in decline due to political infighting, disease, and outside barbarians constantly applying pressure. Christianity was adopted in the heart of the Roman Empire, as a way to continue the influence of Rome, while not being able to control all of Europe militarily. (Rise of Christianity, 2012) Therefore, early Christianity, as adopted by Rome, was about maintaining influence in the continent through the use of priests and monarchs under a feudalist system of control. The main benefit of Christianity came from its use of Latin and the Bible, a common language across the old Roman Empire, as well as a new technology in books that enabled priests to record extremely deep and convincing stories in an easily index able format. The Roman pagan religion used tablets for its mode of communication, tablets which could not hold very much information at all, and that lost legitimacy compared to the life of Jesus and the depth of the biblical writing style. Christianity rose during an age of danger in Europe, and the feudal system with knights and castles was simply the most beneficial system of governance that humanity had. (Stark, 1996)

The changes that took place regarding trade between 300-1450 impact other parts of history. One effect of the occurrence of trade in this region was the

Trade was a large part in why Islam spread so quickly. Mecca had several trading routes. “By the middle of the sixth century… Mecca was … prosperous and important (Doc A).” They were trading through the two main empires: Byzantine and Persian. East Africa, Spain, India, and China also traded with them. Mecca being at the center of the trading system, they brought in many tourists to see the famous holy shrine. With the help of communication people interested in Islam were also drawn because goods were not just traded, but the Islamic culture as well.

When thinking about the history of the world, one must always consider that merchants as well as trade have played an immerse role in shaping the world as it is today. They are responsible for many of the cross-cultural interactions that we have had in the past. Christianity and Islam, the two predominant religions of the world today, have both grown and spread through merchants and trade also. These two chief religions both have attitudes towards merchants and trade that have either developed or decreased overtime. According to these documents, from up to the year 1500, Christianity went from a negative view of merchants and trade to a positive view while Islam went from a positive view to a negative view, but both sides

Using the Documents, compare and contrast the differences of Christian and Islamic attitudes towards merchants until about 1500.

Christianity and Islam had the same ethics towards trade. In both sources ethics are discussed and how trade should be treated. The Qur’an states that a transaction will be blessed unless

Merchants purchase goods and then trade them for other goods or money and turn a profit. Christianity views merchants and their trade as unlawful at first. Overtime these views change; eventually Christians learn to tolerate trade assuming it is carried out in a righteous fashion. On the other hand, Muslims always went against the merchant’s way of life and always accepted fair trade since the beginnings of their religion.

Christianity and Islam are two of history’s most influential and powerful religions in the post-classical and early modern era. As different regions began to communicate, products, ideas, and services were exchanged across vast distances. Civilizations became less isolated and depended on other regions to sustain stable economies. The role of the merchant increased as trade arose with other regions. Initially, Christianity despised trade, but as time progressed, merchant activity became more widely accepted. On the other hand, Islam initially accepted trade, but became less tolerant of the activity as time progressed. From the origin of the two major religions to about 1500, Christian and Muslim thoughts concerning merchant activity gradually trended in opposite directions. According to the documents, Christianity initially despised trade while Islam accepted merchant activity, but the two religions’ attitudes reversed by about 1500.

In their origins, Islam and christianity had different views on merchants when it came to honesty, and heaven. For example christianity insisted that merchants will never reach salvation (Document 1

Islam and Medieval Christianity have had a combative attitude towards each other. Islam considers Jesus as a continuation of the line of the Prophets, while Christians consider Jesus as the Son of God who came to redeem the world from its fallen nature. These two religions are one two of the largest religions across the world and impact billions of people. Some individuals in both religions view each other as infidels and the only recourse is to remove them from the society at large. The warring nature of these two Abrahamic religions allowed for them to develop in differing ways in Western and Eastern Europe. The growth of Islamic during the 600s to the 1500s made changes to Christianity by making the Pope a powerful

481 years ago change was stirring in the court of King Henry the Eighth and The Roman Catholic Church, this was no ordinary change though this kind of change is the kind that changed religious history.

practices. I must stress that this was not a formal or universal change in religion but a

First, McCormick speculates the reason merchants, and specifically merchants mentioned by name, disappear from record books during the seventh century is not because there simply were no merchants, but because the chroniclers would not have deigned to waste their time recording such information. However, McCormick points out that just because merchants are quiet in the record books does not mean they did not exist. He counters that what we are left with is communications. Using the movements of people, coinage, goods, and slaves, McCormick deftly adds another element to Pirenne’s

Once upon a time a group of wise, sober, and honest traders lived in Syria. They exported spices, gold, satins, etc far and wide. It so happened that the leading traders of this prosperous group made up their minds to go to Rome for business purposes. (141)