Arabs were nomads who were moving constantly in the harsh Arabian desert. Arabs were organized into tribes. Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh, who was chosen from one of the leading families by a council of elders. Arabs started out supporting themselves by sheepherding or raiding the trading caravans that passed through the desert. But after the camel was domesticated they started to take part in the caravan trade. Early Arabs were polytheistic. There was, however, a supreme god named Allah who ruled over the other gods. All members of the tribe were involved in the practice of the faith.
Each tribe worshiped a bib black meteorite, the Black Stone, which had been placed in a central shrine called the Ka’bah. 2. Shortly after Muhammad’s death, some of his closest followers chose Abu Bakr, a wealthy merchant and Muhammad’s father-in-law. He was named caliph, the secular leader of the Islamic community. The caliph was a political and religious leader. Under Abu Bakr the Islamic movement began to grow. The caliph had the Arabs more unified. Through conquest the “rightly guided” caliphs were able to spread Islam. 3. During the 600-1400 time period, Islam emerged in the Umayyad Dynasty and expanded greatly into the Abbasid Dynasty.
While the Umayyads and Abbasid have some similarities, such as their faith in Islam, they have many differences, for instance the Umayyad dynasty favored Arabs but the Abbasid didn’t favor anyone. Another difference is the Abbasids don’t expand the empire and are content on what they inherited unlike the Umayyads. All in all the Umayyads spread farther had more regional diversity, and a larger bureaucracy than the Abbasids. 4. After Muhammad died Muslim scholars drew up a law code known as the Shari’ah. It is a set of practical laws to regulate their daily lives. Much of it was taken from the Quran.
The Essay on How and why Muhammad was opposed in Makkah
The prophet Muhammad preached in Makkah to bring people in the right path and to believe in one god. However, he was opposed in many ways possible by many people mainly the Quraish. There were many reasons why people opposed the prophet Muhammad in Makkah and many were due to selfish needs such as wealth and power. The prophet Muhammad was opposed in many ways such as verbal and physical abuse. ...
The Shari’ah is different than other religious codes in a few ways. For one they are forbidden to gamble, eat pork, and drink alcohol. Most religious codes of other civilizations allow all of these things. 5. Trade and industry both flourished and this led to a prosperous period. There was extensive trade, between China, the Byzantine Empire, India, and Southeast Asia. With thriving trade came prosperous cities. A lower class, including peasants who wandered in from the surrounding countryside, joined officials, scholars, and students in making up the rest of the urban population.
People in the cities were also divided up by religion. Jews and Christians had to pay a special tax to the government and lived in separate areas. This special tax also helped the prosperity of the empire. All in all, widespread trade was the biggest reason of the prosperity in the Muslim World. 6. A. Ka’bah – Allah was symbolized by a sacred stone. Each tribe had their own stone but all tribes worshiped the Black Stone, which was a massive black meteorite. The Black Stone was placed in a central shrine called the Ka’bah in the city of Mecca. B.
Hijrah – In 622 Muhammad and some of his closest supporters moved north to the rival city of Yathrib, a city later named Medina. This journey to Medina is known in history as the Hijrah. While in Medina Muhammad began to win support from people there and eventually he formed the first Muslim community. C. Jihad – Muhammad used the Arabic tribal custom of making raids on one’s enemies. Muhammad’s successor also used this custom to expand the movement. The Quaran called this activity “struggle in the way of God” or jihad. This word is sometimes translated as holy war, but that is not accurate according to the Arabic tradition.
