History of Islam

Islam spread in India through the religious scholars and saints (Sufis) who entered India along with the Pathan and Mughal invaders.

The Muslim empire spread under the leadership of the Umayyad dynasty through the power of the Syrian army, which was the dynasty's foundation; this allowed the Umayyads to assume greater control of conquered provinces and and of Arab tribal rivalries.

Before the spread of Islam in the 7th Century CE,\, there were two forces that controlled Middle East and Europe. These lands were ruled by Romans and Persians. During the time of rise of Islam these two empires were engaged in heavy warfare, and both lands especially the Persian Empire was devastated and left in ruins. It wasn't too difficult for the new Muslim army to defeat this tired and devastated empire.

Once Muslims conquered the Persian Empire, the Muslim religion spread rather quickly. The reasons for this could be many, but here are two logical ones.

1) Before the fall of the Sassanian Persian Empire, the Zoroastrian priests had much power in the state and they had become very corrupt. The people of the land were tired of these corrupt priests and were ready to embrace a new religion.

2) The tax imposed on non-muslims by the Muslim rulers were heavy, therefore it was to the benefit of the people to embrace the new religion in order to not pay the taxes. Many of the local elites also saw this as a way to gain power in the new empire.

The SASSANID EMPIRE was defeated at the Battle of Nahavand and all of their territories were annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate.

In terms of religious significance, the key Muslim holy site in Israel/Palestine is the Dome of the Rock Shrine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. The holiness of this place is due to being the spot where Mohammed ascended to the sky and talked to God and the previous Prophets.

However, there are also minor Muslim holy sites scattered throughout the area such as the Cave of the Patriarchs (where Abraham is buried), the Tomb of Jethro (which is more a Druze holy site now than a Muslim holy site, but still important), and several other minor places. However, Israel as a contiguous plot of land has no Muslim religious significance that parallels the Jewish idea that Israel as a contiguous plot of land was their assignment. In fact, the Qur'an actually argues in 5:20-5:21 that the Jewish claim to Israel is the correct one.

However, for Palestinians, most of whom are Muslims, there is a strong attachment to the land due a personal and ancestral connection to the land. In many cases, their ancestors had lived in that territory for centuries as Levantine or Shamite Arabs under Turkish Occupation. Israel is important to them because it was where they, their parents, or their grandparents used to live and now no longer do. In solidarity with the Palestinians, Muslims around the world argue on behalf of the Palestinians and concern themselves with finding a solution acceptable to Palestinian sensibilities. This protesting and advocacy is condoned by the governments of almost all Muslim-majority countries since it prevents those people from focusing that same spirit of advocacy towards the myriad of domestic problems that those governments have no intent of solving.

Muslims increased cotton production

It was a golden age for al-Andalus because the scholars made important contributions to the study of mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine and philosophy. Also because the Jews had freedom there and they contributed important stuff too.

This is patently false. Muslims in Morocco, Western Sahara, and the Philippines (minority in Mindinao) all came under Spanish colonization. As for why the Spanish Empire was much larger outside of the Islamic World, this is because the technological disparity between the Spaniards and the Indigenous American population was far greater than the technological advantage over the Islamic Empires of the time, especially the Ottoman Empire. As a result, it was far easier for Spaniards to conquer territories in the Americas than in the Islamic World. Spain would only acquire more territories in the Islamic World when the technological disparity once again favored Spain in the mid-1800s.

The Ottoman Empire was officially a SUNNI ISLAMIC STATE, and the place where the Caliph, the head of the Sunni Islamic World, resided. Shiite Islam suffered repression, sometimes quite severe, under Ottoman rule.

Al-Zahra Palace, Masjid-i-Qurtaba, Al-Zahra University, thousands of libraries, book shops and educational institutions

They hold him in high reverence for his piety, his strategy, his humility, and his honesty (not to mention his victories).

The Muslim ruler, Akbar, mandated religious and cultural toleration.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mini Van, Turban, etc

The crusades in general had a massive effect - they created a massive rift between Christian's and Muslims, marked the rise of anti-Semitism and other religious persecution and made religious war a fact of life yet also made made many countries rich through increased change and made the western world more cultured because of the Arabian influence on architecture and mathematics. Saladin himself inspired new military tactics and inspired many people, not only Muslims, because of his strength of faith and chivalry.

Spain, a part of syria, Persia, north Africa, island in the mediterranean sea and a littli bit of Europe

Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire held the Muslims at bay in the southeast (Balkans) until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 1300s and 1400s. In Western Europe, the Frankish Victory by Charles Martel in 732 C.E. at the Battle of Tours (called by the French as the Battle of Poitiers) against the Amazigh and Arab Islamic Forces from Spain, prevented Islam from reaching western and central Europe from the southwest (Iberia).

1. advancement of mathematics and science

October 7,2001

The largest Shiite communities are in Iran, Azerbaijan, southern Iraq, Bahrain, and northern Yemen. The Sunni communities are spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Europe, South Asia, and Indonesia. There are, of course, minorities of Sunni and Shiite Muslims throughout the world.

Being Muslim or not did not really change the lifestyle of desert nomads. They generally lived as pastoralists in small communities. They would spend much of their time cooking what food they had, building tents, and engaging in long-distance commerce.

Saladin was an excellent leader, and he had an excellent understanding of military matters. He was also willing to negotiate with the enemy.

The Taliban started in 1994 when Pakistan gave them the Pakistan government. From there, they got out of hand and was eventually taken out of power when Pakistan decided to have a voting system and scheduled voting in Spring '05.

Islam spread to East Africa through peaceful means of commerce and education whereby non-Muslims learned of the faith and adopted as their own amidst business dealings with Muslims. This happened especially in maritime cities like Zanzibar whose primary source of wealth was trading with Muslims. However, once Islam established a beachhead in East Africa through commerce and peaceful religious acquisition, indigenous Islamic sultanates like the Zanzibar Sultanate and several Somali ones like Ajuuran State and the Warsangali Sultanate as well as the Omani Empire created armies and spread Islam through the conquest of neighboring regions. However, due to the difficulty of penetrating beyond the African coast, most places in East Africa south of Somalia remain majority Non-Muslim save along the coast.

After the authority of the caliphate declined, landlords seized power over peasants. This caused suffering in agricultural productivity. Tax revenues declined, and Arab and other Middle Eastern traders began to lose ground. European merchants began to challenge the Arabs in other parts of the Mediterranean.

Of course, the Western and Chinese expansion kinda screwed the Muslims, too.