What Was the Importance of Muhammad for the Arab Conquests? Essay

    Around the years of 632-750 C.E., Islamic followers created an empire that reached across North Africa into Europe and dominated the Middle East. Due to several aspects leading up to expansion such as war, geography, and establishing an organized impressionable government, the Islamic empire grew rapidly.

In the 7th and 8th centuries, Islam spread from its beginnings in Arabia to cover the entire Middle East and parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. As (Document 8) shows, by the year 750, Islam stretched from Eastern Persia in the Middle East, all the way to the westernmost edges of Spain and North Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Islam expanded so rapidly because of its techniques on conquering unstable areas and converting people to Islam, preventing setbacks and obstructions. Islam had three main reasons for its eminent prosperity. The way that Muslims treated the conquered people allowed for peace throughout the empire. Tolerance, combined with the military power, a disciplined army, and an overall appealing religion of Islam, provided the template that allowed the empire to expand to encompass an enormous amount of area.

To begin with, the main reason why Islam was able to spread so fast was because of treaties, taxes, and toleration. On document c, Abd al- Aziz and Theodemir state “He and [each of] his men shall pay one dinar every year, together with four measures of concentrated fruit juice, four liquid measures of vinegar, four of honey, and four of olive oil.” In other words, the conquered people must either pay their taxes to keep their religion, convert to Islam, or leave to another empire or civilization. This supports my argument because there had to be a lot of conquered people who wanted to keep their religion, so in exchange for their religion, they would have to pay their taxes which help increase Islam’s stability, prosperity, and food surplus. Just as

The spread of the Islamic faith throughout the Middle East is through the presence of these Muslim cities. As discussed in Document 4, the establishment of Medina contributed to the spread of Islam. This was where it started. Muhammad and his followers fled to Medina when the ruling class of Mecca started to persecute them. There, Muhammad was able to help the people accept the Islamic faith which helped the overall spread of Islam. Muslim cities are scatted throughout the Middle East (Document 9). The location of these holy cities allowed for a proper diffusion of the faith and is significant because, without these establishments, the spread of Islam would have come to an abrupt halt. Muslim cities are the driving force in the diffusion of Islam, and because of them, the Islamic faith has grown to become a worldwide leader in religious affairs.

The Islamic civilization grew to become such a large empire by making smart decisions and being peaceful and not violet. The civilization thrived and gained more land to expand their empire.

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.

This document teaches historians about the Islamic Empire under the rule of the Abbasid Empire and how, during al-Ya’qubi’s time, Baghdad was the heart of the huge network the Islamic Empire had created. Al-Ya’qubi lived during the ninth century and his observations on Baghdad in “A New Islamic Dynasty” gave historians more insight into the Islamic World regarding: a) the central role that Baghdad played in the Islamic State during his time, b) Baghdad’s transformation from village to powerful city and c) perceiving how al-Yaqubi’s personal ties to Baghdad affected his observations. Although al-Ya’qubi may have exaggerated when describing some people or events, he certainly highlighted the historical period and society where he lived by mentioning how central and pivotal Baghdad as a city was to the Islamic World both during his time – and, to an extent, for world history as a

The expansion began with Muhammad’s ten year reign from 622 to 632, accumulating the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. Through military campaigns, the first four Caliphs that ruled for twenty-nine years after Muhammad’s death gained territory in northwestern Africa, all of the Arabian Peninsula, and areas that cover modern-day Iran and Iraq. By the year 750, the Umayyid Caliphs added territory in Spain, northwestern Africa, and modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, allowing the Islamic Empire to span across the western world (Document C). Despite being known as a peaceful religion and civilization, Islam had a strong army that defended its territory. In the year 636, the Muslims formed an alliance with the Hims to defeat the Byzantine Empire’s army, who resisted Islam’s expansion. In al-Baladhuri’s account of the Battle of Yarmuk, he claimed that, “By Allah’s help, some 70,000 of them [the Byzantine army] were put to death” (Document F). The Muslims fought and conquered, all while keeping faith in God, and gained a larger population, increasing the amount of

When Muhammad died, Muslims faced the challenge of creating institutions to preserve the community. This is the Middle period of Islam. Muslims believe that the revelation was completed with the work of Muhammad, who is described as the seal of the prophets. The leaders after Muhammad were described only as caliphs, or successors to the Prophet, and not as prophets themselves. The first four caliphs were companions of the Prophet and their period of rule (632-661) is described by the majority of Muslims as the age of the Rightly Guided Caliphate. This was an era of expansion during which Muslims conquered the Sasanid (Persian) Empire and took control of the North African and Syrian territories of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The Muslim community was transformed from a small city-state controlling much of the Arabian Peninsula into a major world empire, in this case the Umayyad empire, extending from northwest Africa to central Asia. The emphasis

It’s down to the deeds of one man – Prophet Muhammad – that the Muslim world has been founded, expanded, and influenced the rest of the world for generations. Before Muhammad’s message, the Arab world was consisted of Bedouin tribes, fighting among each other, and of first-class traders who controlled the city of Mecca. Using his teachings, and sometimes force, Muhammad inspired million of people to follow Islam and become Muslims, and the rapid spread of the new religion to the Arabs remained a mystery that wasn’t fully explained by historians. Muhammad’s death changed the Muslim’s empire visions toward expansion and spreading the new religion.

It was very different from other religions, and some things really caught people’s attention. The values of the Qur’an were absolutely fair to all people, which was something to like about the religion. In the Qur’an, it shows that all lives matter because it says saving one life is equal to saving the whole human race. It is an undeniable fact that the Qur'an is a living book that has influenced millions of people through its beauty and style. The Qur’an is a great source of Islamic faith. Many early Muslims had a great deal of faith. Due to the complete honesty and the influence of the appealing personality of Muhammad, the faith of his supporters were unusually strong. It was based on their first-hand acquaintance with his exemplary life. After hearing about ‘The Origins of the Islamic State’, the Hims adopted the religion. Since the religion was adopted, it spread all over

The information provided by Hutchinson from Islamic Empire (2016) in Age of Conquests says that the history of Islamic conquest begins with the rise of Muhammad in Mecca where he shared his experiences with others which gained him followers of this new faith, while being persecuted by Meccans, therefore he had to flee to the Arabian City of Medina. While in Medina, Muhammad gained more followers and established an army that he led against Mecca. This battle began with raiding each other’s camps, or ghawz, until Muhammad’s forces outnumbered the Meccans, defeating them in 624. Afterwards, Muhammad rose in power in Mecca as leader and converted most of the citizens into Muslims. As the leader of Mecca, Muhammad was aided by tribes of Bedouin against Meccans who had not converted and Arab tribes until 630, when Mecca surrendered to Muhammad thus many Meccans converted. After the death of Muhammad in 632, the Muslims were prepared for a rapid territorial expansion and spread of

The core religious allegory of Islam starts with Muhammad’s revelations in the caves and ends with the death of 4th successor Ali, almost 40 years later. It is analogous to the Last Suppers, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christianity. In the lifetime of Muhammad, his community gained control over the Arabian Peninsula. And though he passed away in 632 AD the religious story doesn’t end there. But it is continued through his four closest followers, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, together they formed the Rashidun, which means the Rightly Guided One’s. Together they established the first Islamic state, the Caliphate. In just 30 years the Rashidun Caliphate had conquered all of Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Levant and

Muhammad, who was a merchant in the trading city of Mecca, had begun to preach his beliefs in the cities. This set of beliefs had not only tied in the roots of both Judaism and Christianity, but also cultural qualities of the Arabic people at the time. The syncretism of these religions made this new set of beliefs very appealing. Muhammad had taken good aspects of each culture and blended them together in such a way that it was supported by a number of people. Many eagerly followed Muhammad, eventually forming a bond between nomads under the same religion. They did not know it at the time, but this group of united nomads would soon start a very successful conquest throughout the Middle East and parts of Africa.

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.