Post-Classical History: The Rise Of Islam

Islam’s spread throughout 630-1600 CE was extremely rapid and sudden; however, it led to many favorable aspects. Over the span of 630-1600 CE, Islam managed to spread throughout Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, North Africa, Spain, and parts of Central Asia. Women and education were on a rise, socially. Also, flourishing trade contributed to Islam’s economic wealth. Furthermore, political and legal reforms were also established during its spread. Overall, the spread of Islam brought forth many positive social, political, and economic impacts.

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

During the Post-Classical Era, the leadership of Prophet Muhammad aided in the creation of the religion of Islam. Unlike any other religion, Islam spread exponentially through trade routes, appealing to the needy and conquest of new areas. As the religion began to gain massive coverage across Afro-Eurasia, it impacted the Post- Classical World both politically and culturally. During the Post-Classical Era, the spread of Islam led to significant political effects such as rise of caliphates, sultanates and empires that expanded to new areas. Furthermore, the spread of Islam had various cultural contributions such as spread of new traditions and arts.

The rise of the Islamic religion and the growth of Islam’s territory happened rather quickly. During the life of their prophet and Islam’s originator, Muhammad, and interestly it even increased after his death, but how? Islam spread so fast after it was originated because of three things: trade, military conquest, and the appeal of its government.

The spread of Islam throughout the world was among the most significant worldwide movements in history. Beginning as the faith of a small community of believers in Arabia in the seventh century, Islam rapidly became one of the major world religions. The core beliefs and culture of this faith is the belief that Muhammad (570-632), a respected businessman in Mecca, a commercial and religious center in western Arabia, received revelations from God that have been preserved in the Qur'an. The core of Islam remains the same today after 1396 years. Islam still translates to “submission” and Muslims still live by the Qur’an and follow the 5 Pillars of Islam. However, throughout the Pre-Islamic, Umayyad, and Abbasid

The history of the Islamic world has been one of weak state institutions and state underperformance, coupled with a high prevalence of violence, both by the state and by individuals. A major reason for these negative trends has been the role of political Islam in privileging homogeneity over diversity, in stifling dissent in public and private life, and the societal stagnation that follows such rigid controls. Malaysia and Indonesia have been notable exceptions to the underperformance of Islamic cultures.

Ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the world. At the top of Mount Hira in the year 610, Allah spoke to a humble merchant named Muhammad Ibn Abdallah, stating that He, Allah, was the one and only God. Within a hundred years of Muhammad’s death in 632, Islam, a religion that taught the importance of charity and “submitting to the will of Allah”, had sparked a new empire. The empire originated in the Middle East and quickly expanded across North Africa and into Europe (Background Essay). For an era that did not have the modern technology that made it easy to spread new ideas and beliefs, Islam dispersed rapidly due to active trade, the clear laws presented in the Qur’an and other religious texts, and an active army that allowed

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.

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

The importance of school of Islamic thoughts of Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, including Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali and ShafiʿI, as well as other Sufism to better understanding totalitarian Islamists' doctrine, is essential. It also helped me to understand the background and context, the political importance of Islam in the contemporary Islamic world.

The rise and expansion of Islam has had a significant impact on the role and rights of women throughout history. Since its origin in the seventh century until modern times, the Muslim faith has somewhat broadened, but has mostly restricted women’s rights in numerous Islamic communities. The history of Muslim women is complex, as it involves many advances and declines in numerous locations, such as Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, concerning several subjects, including both civil and social rights. Thus, in general, the rights of Islamic women did not improve significantly over time, instead, conditions remained the same or became worse for women as Islam evolved and spread as a world religion.

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

As history continues, many religions have had an over powering effect on western civilization. When the 5th century arose, the religion, Islam, had an extremely important impact on the civilization. Muhammad, an Arabic prophet founded Islam and began to introduce it the people of his time. Diplomacy, violence, warfare, public laws, and Arabic tradition played a crucial role in the building of the Islamic religion. These important aspects helped shape and build the Islam religion that is now one of the world’s most widely practiced religions.

And in Article 2, the repugnancy clause is enshrined so that no laws can be contrary to the religion of Islam and its interpretation in the Shia faith" (Video_5.3_36:18). Successful incorporation of Islamic principles into the Constitution embodies the principles of religious reformism explicitly underpinning the profound formative role of Islam defining the legal identity of the country.

The world’s fastest growing religion that originated in the Middle East may have a lot more in common with a philosopher from Ancient Greece than many may think. Although Islam came many years after Plato, and originated in a completely different part of the world, they have major key similarities. Some of these similarities include both of their views on the soul, Plato’s philosophy and Sharia (Islamic Law), and their view on the concept of moral absolutism. The astounding similarities will be discussed further in the following paragraphs.