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 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 eras, the political structure that governed the societies that followed Islam differed over the years with some minor continuity.
The pre-Islamic era lasted from 400 B.C until the revelation of the Prophet Mohammad in 610 C.E. The lack of Islam evidently created a lack of true unity. The basic social unit of the Bedouin was the kin-related clan. The struggle to survive in the unrelenting Arabian environment led to strong dependence in one’s family and clan. Clans could never rest to maintain everyday lives with their necessities met. Clans were also linked to larger tribal groupings, however these tribal units seldom met together. Additionally, clans would often feud over water rights, animals, or even perceived sights to clan members’ honor, all of which often led to violence. The base religion of the pre-Islamic era was polytheistic, which may have led to the segregation and rivalry between cans. Occasionally, clans would meet as tribes during times of war or severe crisis. On a more local level, clan councils were groups legislatures that determined the distribution and use of water resources, maintaining watering places and maintaining grazing lands, all of which was essential to maintaining the herds on which Bedouin life depended. Clan councils traditionally were led by family leaders, or shaykhs. Though normally elected by councils of elder advisors, the shaykhs were almost always men with large herds, several wives, many children, and many retainers. The political structure was very loose and was subject to change instantaneously to reflect the current situations of the area.
The Essay on Spread Of Islam 3
Islam is not only one of the three major monotheistic religions in the world today, it is also it is the fastest growing. Additionally, political conflict between Islamic groups and the West play out on the international stage like the latest of the Crusades. The message of the Prophet Mohammad has been distorted and misunderstood by those outside of Islam who see only a religion of hatred. Islam ...
In Muslim tradition, the sociopolitical community that was created in Medina during the time of the Muhammad-Umayyad era provides the model for what a truly Islamic state and society should be. In contrast to tribal groups, the new community, or ummah, was open to anyone who made the basic affirmation of faith, and loyalty to the ummah was to supersede any other loyalty, whether to clan, family, or commercial partnership. The political structure of the new community was rather informal. In this early era, the characteristically Islamic sense of the community of believers, rather than a concept of church or state, was firmly established as the central institutional identification for Muslims. In this way, Islam can be described as a way of life rather than as a religion separate from politics or other dimensions of society. Because of his role as the messenger of God, Muhammad’s own personal actions and words had special prestige. Although Muhammad had great authority as the messenger of God, he could not assume a position as a sovereign monarch because he was only human and only a messenger though. For instance, in Medina, Muhammad provided leadership in all matters of life, but Muslims carefully distinguished the teachings that are the record of the revelation and recorded in the Qur’an from the guidance Muhammad provided as a person.
When Muhammad died, Muslims faced the challenge of creating institutions to preserve the community. 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 on the sole sovereignty of God provides an important foundation for Islamic political thinking throughout the centuries, challenging both theories of monarchy and absolutism, as well as later theories of popular sovereignty.
The Essay on Islamic World Volume 3 New York Oxford Muhammad Prophet Mecca
The Nature and Role of Muhammad the Prophet in Islam Born in approximately 571 AD, Muhammad is the most important and influential leader of the Islamic religion. His ability to influence people into believing his experiences helped the Islamic faith become what it is today. There are millions of people in this world whose lives have some how been effected by this man in one way or another. He has ...
When the Umayyads were overthrown in the civil war of 744-750, the organizers of the revolution were supporters of the Abbasids, the family of Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet. The world of Islam continued to expand, even during periods of civil war. By the mid-eighth century, Muslim conquests extended from the Iberian Peninsula to the inner Asian frontiers of China. The new Muslim state was, in many ways, the successor to the imperial systems of Persia and Rome, but the caliphates were clearly identified with Islam. The boundaries of the state and the Muslim community were basically the same, and the rulers, even when they were not known for piety, were still viewed by the majority as the successors to the Prophet. By the middle of the tenth century, the effective political and military power of the Abbasid caliphs had been greatly reduced. Power shifted to the military commanders who frequently took the title of sultan, meaning authority or power. The Abbasid caliphs continued to reside in Baghdad and provided formal recognition to sultans. Increasingly, military leadership was Turkish. Turks had come to the Middle East from Central Asia as slaves and mercenaries, but by the eleventh century there was a significant migration of Turkish peoples into the region. In 1055 Turks, under the leadership of the Seljuqs, took control of Baghdad and established a major sultanate in cooperation with the Abbasid caliphs. In political terms, the Abbasid Caliphs became puppets in the hands of the Turkish military troops. This caliph-based sultanate system came to an end when the Mongols invaded the Middle East and conquered Baghdad in 1258, consequently ending the Abbasid Empire.
The Essay on Islam And Muslims Prophet Muhammad
The Arabic word "Islam" means peace, submission, and obedience. The religion of Islam is the complete acceptance of the teaching and guidance of Allah as revealed to his prophet Muhammad peace be upon him (p. b. u. h). A Muslim is on whom believes in one god Allah and strives for total reorganization of his life according to his revealed guidance and the saying of Prophet Muhammad (p. b. u. h). He ...
The Islamic experience over the centuries provides a rich collection out of which political systems can be created, and Muslim societies in the modern era vary in their interpretations of that repertoire. Even specific movements like Islamist renewals are not monolithic or identical. The Pre-Islamic era involved tribal units that were made up of kinship clans with loose regulations but high rivalry and tension between clans. The Muhammad-Umayyad era brought standardized government to Arabia with the coming of Islam. Muhammad took up leadership as the prophet of God but could not proclaim himself a divine monarch because he was merely a person and was open to interpretation. With the start of the Umayyad Empire, the leaders after Muhammad were described only as caliphs, or successors to the Prophet, and not as prophets themselves. These caliphs became the political rulers in Arabia for the time. During the reign of the Abbasid Empire, the basic political structure remained the same, but much of the political influence was from Turkish military powers that had migrated to Arabia. Despite these differences, all Muslims continued to affirm the basic core of the faith in monotheism as defined by the revelation to Muhammad and preserved in the Qur’an.
