Remainder+of+the+Middle+Easty

media type="custom" key="7389507" Islam was given life in Mecca, in Medina, the two main cities of the holy scripture from Allah. There the spread of religion quickly spread through the Middle-East, where the monotheistic nature of the Religion itself.


 * 1) How did Islam spread?
 * 2) Islam started out in **Mecca**, the "Holy City" the region in which the sacred "**Ka'ba**" was located. Worship of Animistic gods, and Idols were common amongst these parts during pre-Islamic times, but once the Spread of Islam during the Umayyad period started, there was no turning back. Mecca became the worship ground of the Largest Religion at the time, but the question is How?
 * 3) Muhammad started out as a merchant, then turned into a prophet at the age of 40 when the Angel Gabriel transmitted the holy scripture, known then forth to be, the **Qur'an**, to him. He then spread that scripture, the message of God, of Allah to all people, and pointed out to them that this was his miracle.
 * 4) But just this script, this **Qur'an,** wasn't enough to entice those around Muhammad. Many feared the new worship, many disapproved of the idea of having no afterlife. But also many saw the new religion as a sign of change. They saw the religion as a new way to interact with the spiritual life. They saw the religion as a way to end strife and poverty and especially the constant tribal warfare of the **Bedouin tribes**. People were tired of the constant put-down, and the religion of Islam sought to end that.
 * 5) Throughout the Umayyad era, Muhammad lead the spread of Islam across Arabia, starting in Mecca and travelling to the Sasanian empire and then the Byzantine Empire. Muhammad's army launched **Jihads,** also known as the holy wars across the several empires, and forcibly spread the new religion through violence and blood shed. Sorry, the above statement is a lie; although Jihads are essentially holy __wars__, Muhammad and his allies were more often than not peaceful, once they conquered a region that would be it, no sacking, no looting, no unnecessary killing. And through this method, this new and more appealing method, Islam was able to spread as a religion of tolerance, and of equality. The religion of Islam was also tolerant of most other religions, which attracted again to the tolerant atmosphere that enticed others, especially non-Muslims to look reflect upon the better religion.
 * 6) Islam was a religion of unity, a community of similiar connections, of developed law codes, which gave a sense of justice and equality to all, and it was monotheistic, able to spread in one direction without interfernce or maintanence of other values. Plus polythesistic religion was scattered and depended on the region, as while Islam only had Allah and one God. The 5 pillars of Islam emphasized this community and Religion that was often associated with the culture and prominence.
 * 7) Most of the Islamic empire spread throughout the rest of the Middle-East through wars and jihads with the neighboring empires, the Byzantine and the Sasanian.
 * 8) At the death of Muhammad in 632, **The Ridda Wars** lead by tribal leaders attempted to prove one's significance and strength in battle to assume the role of Caliph. Raids aimed at Iraq, Syria, and Egpyt had all occurred and that itself had spread the Islam faith outward in the Middle East.
 * 9) Conquest of the Sasnian Empire, the more vunerable of the two had been totally conquered in 651 CE. Byzantine fell as well, with the aid of the **Copt and Nestorians** who rallied along side the Muslim invaders to take back Byzantium.
 * 10) Urbanization and Islam
 * 11) Islam was able to conjur up mysticism in the faith through several powers, and they mostly appealed the the non-arab or non-muslim who would be put into "awe" of the culturally rich enviroment, the community, and the infrastructure of the great Mosques.
 * 12) To the People of the Dhimmi, and the Mawali, the Muslim nations taxed the poor people and required a tax on property to those who weren't within faith. This appealed to the poor and impoverished, but some were also unable to pay for the convert tax. That wasn't all there was to appeal towards urbanizing the faith though. Sure it's a forceful way to push people in, but what really got the people of the Middle East to convert, was as stated above in the Spread of Islam, the idea of being monotheistic, of having the 5 pillars, and being seen as a community and not as the animistic idol-praying warfaring tribal nation that the Middle-East once was.
 * 13) Plus Muhammad already proved the prowress of the religion, having defended Medina from the Umayyads and having conquered the Meccaians and the Syrians and the Byzantiums, were all proof of the strength of the Muslims, and the Muslim God.
 * 14) 4 cities became the pivotal point in the Middle-Eastern culture, all being represented below.
 * 15) Examples of Syncretism and Islam
 * 16) Islam was given birth here, it was given it's name, it's God, it's prophets, it's rules, revelations, code, pillars, everything. Islam remained "pure" (used loosely) and had influences from Christianity and Judaism, by adopting the same God, and the same prophets and similar revelations from the same angels. As Islam spread towards outer regions of Mecca into Syria or Byzantium there was weaker control of the Islam empire, and were based with outer cultures and spread.
 * 17) There was the Sunni-Shi'a Split, in which two politically diverse faiths had opposing views on judging caliphs and their rights. The Sunni and Shi'a clans split in opposing views.
 * 18) Reactions to Islam.
 * 19) Reactions to the spread of Islam was varied. For some, they accepted it, for others they rejected it. To the Bedouin tribes of the Middle-East, many rejected it, especially the Umayyad Clan. In fact it was their tribe that drove Muhammad and his family's tribe back into Medina, the birthplace of Muhammad. The Umayyads and other tribes thought the new religion was fake and interjected with the often violent customs that had been placated in the Region's culture and habits.
 * 20) Others though, sought the spread of Islam. They saw the monotheistic, salvaging, and piteous religion to be a strong force in the community, in unity, and to distract from the impoverished life style that the people were living as at the time.
 * 21) But the Dhimmi, the people of the book, and the Mawali were all excluded out of the religion. Sure Islam was tolerant of others, Christians, Jews, Hindus, but they also wanted to attract others to the religion, so they taxed those who weren't Muslim and non-Arabs.
 * 22) There was plenty of tribal warfare in the region it self, referring to past Bedouin culture, and that lead to the decline of dynasties in the Umayyad and Abbasid period.
 * 23) Also others saw the political tension from the Sunnis and the Shi'a clans as hostile and ultimately could determine the faith of one's religious life.

Also known as the birthplace of Islam, and Muhammad, Medina became one of the holiest cities in the Middle East, home of the second holiest mosque in the world. But due to the already popular belief that Medina was the most holiest city int he Middle East, many flock to the city, providing cultural points of Views and cultural influence to the already semi-diverse religion in the 7th century. There was no need for the idealization of the formidable intake of cultural diversities, and the mass appeal to the great mosques, both in architectural value and of aesthetical value. In history, the mosque below represents the Quraysh tribe in which Muhhammad had grew up it; also it's supposed to be the home of the prophets as well, making it more mystical than fact recalls.
 * Medina:**


 * Mecca:**

Ever since the start of the Arabian nations, Mecca had been the holiest city ever in the existance of the Islamic Empire. Home of the holy "rock of the sky", the Ka'ba is the most holiest structure in the Islamic faith. Every Muslim is to take a journey to the city of Mecca during the Hajj season and pray towards it where ever they face or are. It's unique holy and natural appeal cause the influx of thousands into the city during the Islamic era. Many come to be "safe" from war under the protection of the unique gods during the pre-Islamic time periods, but ever since Muhammad the shrine was used to encave the holiest structure and through the Hajj, through the city transport and the trade routes all aimed into the vast and rich Mecca, Mecca became the greatest asset in Islamic history. The culturally unique sphere of influence in Mecca had appealed to thousands to travel into it thus Mecca gained valuable cultural experiences and trade networks from Spain to India to the Persian and Byzantium.

Baghdad was the capital of the knowledge. Scholars from all over went into Baghdad for the resources, from the knowledge garnered from generations of books and scriptures. Astronomy and Anatomy, Math and Sciences, Philosophy and Theology, all were intellectual topics of the time. People from all over the world gathered cultures and trading cultures and knowledge. Especially during the Abbasid Era, where the Islamic Kingdom was expanding the region towards more international routes and expanding in the Sasanian Empire.
 * Baghdad:**





Other Mosques around the Middle East emphasized the importance of community in the Hajj, the Shahahada, and that appealed to other populations to asimulate, because everyone was doing becoming Islam, and everyone was conforming to this new more prosperous religion as opposed to the strict structure of the Christian empire or even the flexible and multiversed gods of the Hindus in India. Islam was polytheistic, therefore it created a popular sense of urbanizing culture throughout the entire Islamic empire.

media type="custom" key="7390243"