Piety And Its Role As Powerful Positions During The Period Of Early Arab Conquests

Pre-Islamic Arabia was a culture knit together by kinship. In this society there was no emperor or ruling elite. The people of pre-Islamic Arabia were bound together by nomadic tribes who made profit by trading and most importantly “raiding”. These raids were often described as small-scale warfare and were instrumented by tribal leaders in order to increase the wealth and power of the tribe (Gordon 5). This was the society in which Islam came to power. Warfare and raiding were essential in order to be successful in pre-Islamic Arabia. The integration of warfare into the Islamic religion created a similarity among Muslims, those who follow Islam, and non-Islamic Arabian people. This relationship and common interest established by the prophet Muhammad helped in the rise of Islam among non-Islamic

The early centuries following the emergence of Islam were shrouded with numerous internal conflicts and Fitnas, particularly during the Umayyad Caliphate. With the expansion of Islam so successful, why would there be such strife among the Muslims? Possible answers lie with divisions among groups on who should rule, how he should rule and how religious doctrine was to be upheld by the amir al-muminin or “commander of the faithful.” These were prominent among all other problems of the period. The seventh and eighth centuries contain evidence demonstrating that the Muslims fought each other due to matters of revenge, caliphate succession and opposition to policy; they used tribal ethics, religious association to the prophet Muhammad and Quranic doctrine to justify such actions.

Piety is a word that brings up religious images like pious acts of devotion to a religious faith. Piety comes from the Latin pietas meaning dutiful conduct. In ancient Greece piety was more commonly known as Eusebia. Eusebia did not mean either of the above things, but meant more. Eusebia was how one spoke to their slaves or how a seller would be spoken to as well as how one would conduct themselves with the gods in mind.

The prominent effect Islam had on Muslims everyday thoughts and actions, portrays how essential the impact of God was in social and governmental relations. Muslim religion was influenced by both the Christians and Jews. Under the guidance of Muhammad the Prophet, Islam became both a meaningful faith and way of life. Unlike just simply “adding” a church like the Christian religion, Islam society was expected to be governed. Their political and religious views and decisions had to be intertwined as one, proving the effect Islam had on everyday lives. For example, the history book The Making of The West, had written, “Arabs had long been used to

Imagine being one of the most powerful and richest ever in the entire world, that was the case for Mansa Musa. Additionally, Musa was an emperor of the wealthy West African Mali Empire in which he was and still is, the richest man in the world with an estimated four-hundred billion. Moreover, he was devoted to the religion Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca from West Africa to worship. Therefore, Mansa Musa’s had reasons that demonstrated his devotion to Islam, which are his pilgrimage to Mecca, his elected religion while though his empire, it was populated by a mixture of people with different religions, and with money since he did not need to have a religion or follow one with power and money like he had, yet he believed in it and stayed with it until death.

In this letter, the author seeks to address the position and status of the women in the Ottoman Empire. In the letter, he addresses how the women in the Ottoman society are marginalized and viewed as objects to their husbands. The context surrounding Bushbecq 's letter was because the issue surrounding the women status in the Islamic legal structures was very complicated in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a vast political entity that existed for more than five hundred years, making it impossible to question how the women in the whole Ottoman legal structure ought to be treated. In the Islamic Empires, all the women were treated based on the Islamic law; therefore, questioning these meant questioning the Islamic laws which was a taboo. Women as a legal subject forms a very diverse topic which can be looked at in terms of marriage law, adultery laws, property laws, among others. Therefore, Bushceq 's letter was only an informative document and not one that took any side as he was not meant to question the set Islamic Laws.

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

One main similarity between the Byzantine empire and Islamic caliphate was how closely the empires were tied with the religions that they followed. In the Byzantine empire, emperors were seen as caesaropapist, or leaders of both church and government. Because of this, the church was considered a branch of government, with very high officials that had authority over not only church but state as well. In the Islamic caliphate, the ones who were successors of Muhamad were tasked with upholding the pure words of Allah and shaping Arabic civilization. Many in Islamic society believed that only the direct decedents of Muhamad were fit to lead them. Here, it is shown that both societies rely heavily on religious officials, and they both are led by a main ruler who was in charge of both government matters and religious matters. The rulers were looked upon as if they were selected by the very god they worship, and this alone truly shows how close the church and the government were tied in these times.

Using specific illustrations from Maryse Conde's novel Segu, this is an essay that discusses how the coming of Islam to Bambar society affected that people's traditional, political, social and economic practices as well as challenging the Bambaras' religious beliefs.

As a political tactic, rulers often portray themselves in a certain way in order to stabilize their reign and rule more effectively. Some take the approach of uniqueness by setting themselves apart from their subject population while others take the approach of sameness by emphasizing the similarities in which they share with the people. Not exclusively limited to apartness or sameness, some rulers have shown to employ a mix of both ruling styles. It is these versatile rulers who have experienced more successes in their reign because they are not compelled to only one ruling style, allowing them to better adapt to the needs of their ruling population. The apartness ruling style is best seen in the Safavid Empire under the rule of Shah Ismail. Shah Ismail uses religion as a political tool to control his state and does so by declaring Shi’ism, a smaller branch of Islam, as the state religion (#). After separating himself & his people from those who are not willing to abide to his ideologies, Shah Ismail can now demand the absolute loyalties from his subjects and persecute those who are deviant. This radical act further creates a deep chasm between Shi’ite Muslims and nearby Sunni Muslims neighbors. As a result, cultural flow and the exchange of beliefs between Sunni & Shi’ite states are essentially hindered. Ismail’s apartness ruling approach is taken to the extreme with social, religious, and legal systems being strictly confined to Shi’ite doctrines (@). It is noted that

The role of Prophet Muhammad, as both a temporal and religious leader was undeniably an important factor in the success of the Arab conquests. These events took place between 622 and 750, first involving the establishment of a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula, then leading to a Muslim Empire which stretched from central Asia to North Africa and was one of the largest the world has ever seen. This overwhelming success merits explanation, yet this is difficult to establish with certainty, due to the small number and poor quality of surviving sources. Muhammad’s main role was to provide a unifying influence, both during his lifetime when he united a

When we look at the similarities between middle eastern world of today and of the Middle Ages/Renaissance we realized that the similarities are immense. The ways people of both era think and the way with which both societies work are alike. The commonalities among the two lie at every sphere of living such as religion, art and politics. According to Miri Rubin, “The Middle Ages is always with us—in the design of our cities, in the treasures of our museums, in music, fantasy games, literature, landscape. (Rubin,9). Therefore, these commonalities plays an important role shaping the moral norm among any society in particular the middle eastern when it comes to the status of women, intellectual achievements and religious institutions.

The Rashidun Caliphate was the first of the Islamic caliphates established after Muhammad’s death. After his death, the early Islamic community was almost torn apart due to a crisis of control. The Rashidun caliphate had the important job of keeping the community together and growing without the Prophet. Because of the Arab-Islamic conquests, the Muslims gained large amounts of territory; however, the Arab-Muslim leaders did not have the experience that was needed to rule an empire. In The Rise of Islam, Matthew Gordon writes, “a fundamental challenge for the caliphs, their governors, and the Arab military elite was to understand how large-scale agrarian economies functioned” (28). In order to rule an empire, the authority of the Rashidun caliphs had to be legitimized.

Religious affiliation was held in higher esteem than degrees and experience. In The Golden Cage, Ali, one of Khomeini’s supporters, became a judicial investigator without a law degree. The Revolution created a social pyramid with religious people on the top. Shrini Ebadi said, that in post-Revolution Iran, “the mullahs were walking with a self-assuredness that bordered on haughtiness.”5 The religious leaders had privilege in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The moral code of a society is established by many different factors. A large amount of different social guidelines are derived from religious doctrines. Due to the evolution of religion, social guidelines lack an absolute. The absolute of piety is what Socrates seemed to be searching for. His questioning of Euthyphro may have been due to his innocent curiosity. It is also probable to assume that Socrates knew that there was no true definition of Piety, and that his overall quest to find the universal of piety was used more as an example. He may have been expressing critical thought and encouraging society to understand the variation of individual perception, and the distinction of human existence. In my opinion, piety cannot have a