Islam fundamentally changed the power dynamics, organization,
and ethnic composition of the Middle East.
In Usr al-Jahiliya (or the Age of Ignorance [before Islam]), the
Arab tribes quarreled and fought with each other for control of
cities and trade routes. The amount of disunity and polemics in
those communities made them far from interesting in Civilized Eyes.
The Levant, Egypt, and Anatolia were controlled by the declining
Byzantine Empire at the time and Persia and Iraq were controlled by
the Sassanids (who were also in decline).
Islam unified the Arab tribes and allowed them to take the
Levant and half of Anatolia from the Byzantines and completely
absorb the Sassanid Empire. Arabs moved from what is today Saudi
Arabia into the Levant, Iraq, and Egypt and began to ethnically mix
with the indigenous inhabitants. This produced a flowering of
technology and the arts, civilizing the native inhabitants. It also
led to the establishment the world's first universities and
libraries with endless books in medicine, astronomy, law,
philosophy, mathematics, and science.