what factors led to the rapid expansion of islam? quizlet
The Origins of Islam
Islam was a organized religion founded in the 7th Century Advert by Muhammad, an Arabian merchant from the metropolis of Mecca. In the centuries leading up to the birth of Muhammad, Christianity had go the dominant faith of the Mediterranean and it's message was quickly spreading to other regions of the world via the major trade routes of the era. Mecca was a city along these trade routes, and may have played a function in the flow of goods and ideas between the trade systems of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean*. It should therefore come up as no surprise that Islam would be heavily influenced by the traditions of Christianity and Judaism. For example, Muhammad claimed that he was visited by an invisible angel called Gabriel, who passed on letters to him from God, the same character appears in the stories of Christians and Jews. Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are all considered important prophets in Islam, Muslims even claim that Abraham visited Mecca and established the Kaaba there, although there is no mention of this event in Christian and Judaic sources.
Islam during the Life of Muhammad
In 613 Advertizement, Muhammad began declaring that he was receiving messages from God, and that he was a prophet in the same line of prophets as Jesus and Moses. At starting time the Pagan Arabs were tolerant and even curious about this new "prophet", they had a 18-carat interest in the monotheistic beliefs of the Jews and Christians and were willing to brand room for another religious conventionalities system in their lodge. Information technology was not until Muhammad began insulting the traditional Pagan deities and insisting that the Infidel Arabs and their ancestors will burn down in hell for eternity for worshiping false gods that they began to regard Muhammad and his followers with disdain. (Ibn Ishaq pg. 167) The Heathen Arabs placed a trade embargo on them, ridiculed Muhammad in public, and some of the slaves that had begun to follow Muhammad were beaten past their Pagan masters. To escape this persecution, Muhammad and his followers fled from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD, where they were welcomed by the local Infidel and Jewish tribes there.
From his new base of operations in Medina, Muhammad sent his followers out to raid the merchant caravans of the Pagan Arabs. In response, the Pagans began guarding their caravans with armed soldiers. In 624 AD the Muslims attacked and defeated a heavily guarded merchant caravan and took many of the pagans convict, this incident is known every bit the Battle of Badr and was the first major battle in the Muslim conquest of Arabia. ( Run across map 1 – 624 Advertisement ).
Over the next few years Muhammad expanded his territorial command over the area to the north of Medina and waged war with a number of both Heathen and Jewish Arab tribes. ( Meet map 2 – 628 Ad ) Muhammad promised his followers eternal paradise in the afterlife if they fought for his cause.(Quran 4:74) As Muhammad'southward power and influence grew, relations with the three Jewish tribes of Medina began to deteriorate, Muhammad solved this by expelling the first two tribes from Medina (the Banu Qaynuqa in 624 Advert and the Banu Nadir in 625 AD) and then massacring the concluding tribe (the Banu Qurayza in 627 Advertizing). In 630 Advertizement, Muhammad conquered his dwelling town of Mecca and over the next two years he sent his armies all over Western Arabia to conquer the remaining Pagan tribes. Muhammad demolished the Infidel temples of his defeated enemies (Sahih Bukhari Book 59, #641) and refused to accept their surrender until they agreed to convert to his new religion. (Husayn, pg. 281) ( see map 3 - 632 Advertisement ) For a more than detailed interactive map of Muhammad'southward conquest of Arabia click here.
The Rashidun Caliphate
Muhammad died in 632 AD**. Later his death, the Muslims were led by a series of Caliphs (Islamic leaders) know equally the Rashidun (rightly guided) Caliphs. These men were the closest of Muhammad'due south companions. The policy of the Rashidun Caliphs was to continue Muhammad'southward ambitious territorial expansion. The first of these companions to be appointed Caliph was Abu Bakr, he was one of Muhammad's father in laws and had been the commencement homo after Muhammad to convert to Islam. Abu Bakr's first chore was to suppress a rebellion in Arabia that had been started past various Arab tribes that had renounced their conversion to Islam after the death of Muhammad, the suppression of these rebellions are known equally the Wars of Apostasy. One time these wars were completed, Abu-Bakr began the invasion of the two major super powers of the region, the Byzantine Empire of the Mediterranean, and the Sassanid Empire of Persia. Both of these empires were in a weak land having been in almost continuous war with each other for an entire century and were unable to mount much effective resistance.
However Abu Bakr died in 634 Ad, and leadership passed to the side by side Caliph: Umar, some other early catechumen to Islam who had spent 17 years at Muhammad'due south side. During the Caliphate of Umar, Muslim armies conquered about the entire Center East, including the Levant, Egypt, and much of Persia, the remainder of Persia was conquered under the reigns of the 2 subsequent Rashidun Caliphs (Uttman & Ali).( come across map iv - 661 Advertizing )
One of the strangest peculiarities in the traditional business relationship of the Rise of Islam is that none of the so-called "Rashidun" (rightly-guided) Caliphs e'er mentioned the name of Muhammad or anything to do with Islam on any of their inscriptions or coinage. This has led scholars to suggest that the first Arab Caliphs were not nearly as pious as subsequently Islamic historians made them out to be. Some scholars go so far as to suggest that much of Islamic belief may take been constructed in later periods. Another plausible explanation for the lack of Islamic messages in the inscriptions and coinage was that it was an attempt past the early Islamic rulers to preserve political and economic stability in the conquered territories.
The Rashidun Caliphate came to an stop in a ceremonious state of war, from 661 Advertizement a new dynasty emerged from this civil war known equally the Umayyad Caliphate. None of these men had ever been close companions of Muhammad.
The Conquest of the Maghreb
During the Umayyad Caliphate, the pace of conquests began to tedious downwards. When the Muslim armies reached the Maghreb, what Arabs call Northwest Africa, they were met with strong resistance. At this time, control of Northwest Africa was divided amongst the Byzantines, who controlled the coastal area around the city of Carthage, and the native Berber peoples, who controlled the interior and the coastal area of Morocco. ( See map v - 670 Advertizement ) The City of Carthage barbarous quite easily to the Muslims, who then moved on to wage state of war confronting the Berbers. Berber resistance to the Muslim conquest focused effectually a Berber Queen named Kahina, she led the Berbers in a number of successful battles against the Muslims. In the meantime, the Byzantine Emperor Leontius sent his navy to recapture Carthage from the Muslims in a stunning surprise attack. The Muslims were forced to retreat to Kairouan and regroup, in 698 Advert they besieged Carthage for a second fourth dimension and captured the urban center. As punishment for the city's stiff resistance, the Muslims destroyed Carthage for the second time in it's history, but every bit the Romans had done in 146 BC. With Carthage finally destroyed, the Muslims were able to turn their attention dorsum to the Berber resistance, in 702 Advertisement, the Muslims defeated Kahina one time and for all at the Boxing of Tabarka. ( Come across map 6 - 710 Advertising )
The Invasion of Europe
One time all of North Africa was under the dominion of the Islamic Caliphate, the Muslim Arabs wasted no time in crossing the Straits of Gibraltar and invading Europe. Visigothic Kingdom of spain was easily overrun in but a few years, but the Arabs were stopped by the Franks at the battle of Tours in 733 Advertising. Thus about of Europe was saved from Muslim rule and would to this solar day remain Christian. ( See map seven - 733 AD )
Aftermath
Nonetheless, the expansion of Islam was astounding. In just 100 years since Muhammad starting time claimed prophethood, Islam had past force of arms, conquered all of Arabia then expanded out and conquered as far west every bit Spain and every bit far east equally Afghanistan. The Islamic Caliphate had become the largest empire the earth had yet known, controlling some of the most important centers of civilization. Of the 5 Christian Patriarchates (the five great urban centers of Christianity in the 6th-seventh centuries Ad), 3 of them now roughshod under Islamic rule (Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch), with only Rome and Constantinople nonetheless under Christian rule. From this betoken on, much of Mediterranean history would be characterized by the struggles betwixt the Christian and Islamic faiths, the Christians holding the northward side of the Mediterranean and the Muslims the southward side. The battlegrounds were to be Spain, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and the islands defenseless in the centre.
Comparing the Ascension of Islam to the Ascension of Christianity
It is tempting to compare the astounding spread of Christianity with that of Islam. Both faiths began as the teachings of a single man and both witnessed exponential, nigh miraculous growth in just a few centuries. However the method by which the ii faiths spread could non have been more different. For the outset 3 centuries Advert, Christianity had spread by peaceful conversion. Then one time it became adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century Advert, Christians had sufficient ability to dominate, intimidate, and supress other religions. The followers of Islam on the other mitt used military force from the very beginning of their history, even during the life of Muhammad himself. Towns were brought under Islamic rule by conquest, and their main churches and temples were usually converted to mosques. Christians and Jews were treated a niggling fairer than followers of other religions equally they were considered Abrahamic Faiths and would be tolerated as long as they paid the Jizya, a special tax that Jews and Christians had to pay the Islamic state in order to practice their religion. In the first few centuries of Islamic rule, there is no evidence of forced conversion of Christians or Jews, notwithstanding there were considerable economic and social pressures to convert to the ruling religion.
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*Some scholars question how of import Mecca could take been during the Ascent of Islam. Mecca is located in a barren valley devoid of agriculture and not on any plausible ancient trade route because most trade between India and the Mediterranean was conducted by sea. Furthermore, in that location are no clear references to a city called Mecca in whatever ancient writings prior to Islam. Meet P. Crone - Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam.
**Though there is an older tradition that mentions that Muhammad was still alive during the Muslim Invasion of Palestine. For a comprehensive analysis of this tradition, encounter S.J. Shoemaker - Death of a Prophet
Source: http://explorethemed.com/RiseIslam.asp
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