Islam

A moral code is only important in the absence of law

Answer

Moral codes are always important to live by. Laws became laws because people had no morals and did whatever they wanted to - and still do sometimes.

Answer 1

Preserving Religious Plurality: Abu Sufyan and the Meccan Leaders opposed Mohammed because the religious plurality permitted in Mecca was critical for maintaining Mecca's important position along the Arabian trade routes. It was on account of the fact that Mecca was holy site for all Arabian faiths that spared it from internal conflict and allowed the flourishing of commerce in the city. Mohammed made clear that he intended to purge the idols from the Kaaba which would cause mass uproar and ended Mecca's position as a holy site for all Arabians.

Of course, what Abu Sufyan and the Meccan Leaders did not take into account is that nearly all Arabians would convert to Islam after the fall of Mecca.

Keeping His Own Power: Abu Sufyan was one of the Chief Leaders of the Qoreish Tribe and one of the most powerful men in all of Arabia. Should Mecca fall to the Muslims, he would certainly lose substantial power. Many Muslims hold that he was corrupt as well, meaning that he stood to face criminal acts if he were subject to Mohammed's authority.

Protecting Commerce: During Mohammed's Medinan Period, Mohammed organized and executed numerous raids on caravans heading to and leaving from Mecca, causing disruption to Arabian trade routes. Since Abu Sufyan and the Meccan Leaders were in charge of Mecca, this was something they would be expected to ameliorate.

Polytheism: It was likely that Abu Sufyan and the Meccan Leaders were fighting in defense of Arabian henotheist religions to which they ascribed against Mohammed who would demand that he abandon all gods but Allah.

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Answer 3 (comment on Answer 2)

Mecca was actually a holy site for most of the polytheistic and henotheistic religions of the Arabian Peninsula. This is why all of the idols were placed inside of the Ka'aba. In fact, this status as a holy city was the reason why Mecca was able to establish itself as a non-violent commercial center; Arabs would not fight on holy ground.

"In a few short years, Qusayy's system had made him, and those ruling clans of Quraysh who had managed to connect their fortunes with his, enormously wealthy. But there remained even more profit to be made in Mecca. Like all Semitic sanctuaries, the Ka'ba transformed the entire area into sacred ground, making the city of Mecca a neutral zone where fighting among tribes was prohibited and weapons were not allowed." -- Page 26, "No God But God" by Reza Aslan.

Iranians in general were opposed to the Shah and opposed him from nearly every political perspective. These include:

• Some said that the Shah was not religious enough
• Some believed that the Shah's policies were too oppressive
• Some believed that the Shah was modernizing without preserving Iran's cultural heritage and others were angry that he was moving too slowly
• Some believed that the Shah was a sellout to foreign interests and others believed his foreign focuses were too narrow.
• Some believed that the Shah did not grant women enough rights and others thought that women had too many rights.
• Some believed that the Shah should have encouraged more middle class growth and others believe he should have put more capital into industry.
• Some wanted more privatization and others wanted more nationalization.

As concerns the specific reasons for the Iranian protests and the eventual revolution, they were numerous:

Wealth & Employment Issues: Most importantly was the wealth inequality between the Shah and the nobility and common Iranian citizen. There was immense poverty throughout the country and high unemployment, underemployment, low wages, and few protections for laborers.

Religious Conservatism: Most Iranians were religiously conservative (similar to the American Bible-belt as opposed to the Fundamentalists) and resisted the Shah's Westernization and Secularization movements in Iran. The Shah made clear that religion was not important to him as a ruler, whereas it was a concern among the people.

Puppet to Foreigners: The Shah was also seen as a Western puppet, especially when the CIA overthrew the Iranian President Mossadegh in 1953 to re-install the Shah of Iran and considering how Iran profited very little from its own petroleum.

Brutal Secret Police: The Shah had a notorious secret police called the SAVAK which harassed people and killed scores of others.

Authoritarianism: Iranians wanted to be in control of their own affairs. Iranians wanted some form of self-government or democracy. The Shah was an authoritarian who prevented people from expressing their own opinions.

Issue for Fundamentalists: Particularly in the fundamentalist camp, the fundamentalists in Iran felt that the Shah epitomized a Western culture of greed and materialism, because he tried to establish a more secular government. As with many rulers, he accumulated vast personal wealth. He also employed various means to suppress political dissent. It was ultimately the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini who in 1979 succeeded the Shah and established an Islamic religious government.

Note: The fact that these grievances existed does not mean that the Islamic Republic of Iran afterwards "fixed" these problems.

Answer 2

The main reason was that majority of Iranians are Shia Muslims and wanted a Islamic government of jurist and Shah was in fact an anti-Islam dictator.

There is no accurate count of the number of Muslims in the US. Estimates range from 1.1 million to 7 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_States#Demographics

Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States today.

HILLARY RODMAN CLINTON, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1996, p.3

"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America, a guide and pillar of

stability for many of our people."

there is about 208 million Muslim in amercia. Majority of the Muslim in the states are Africian Amercian, White and Native Amercia

Answer 1

This is a great question ... !!!

Islam was spread by faith in 1 God and by love and spreading Allah's words (the Holy Quran) to all human beings.

Spread of Islam was mostly by the invitations coming from the oppressed unitarians (the true followers of the prophet Jesus, prayers be upon him) after the invention of the Trinity in original Christianity. The Roman Empire and Emperor wanted from the misguided priests to create a religion to unite all his empire under o religion, so they invented the Trinity in a try to make Christianity superior upon all the religions. By doing this, they changes the words of Allah, the ONE God and all the thanks due to Allah for sending the final messenger to correct the humanity faith into worshiping 1 God.

As those unitarians were believing in 1 God, Allah, and in Jesus (pbuh) as a human prophet sent a message from Allah to deliver to his people to worship Allah as 1 God. When those unitarians knew about the new revelation of the Islam and the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as the final messenger and the seal of prophets sent for all mankind, as Jesus (pbuh) told them and according to the real Christianity rules (), they start to seek the prophet Muhammad's help (pbuh) and sent invitations and a help messages to him as the trinitarians were slaughtering them and killing them to eradicate them from the earth. That is why most of the countries were opened for Islam without blood shedding.

For more details about this click below on the Sabbatarian Network.

Islam created a great civilization ruled the world and leaded the whole world in all life aspects.

Please, see the links below for more information.

Answer 2

The early Caliphates (or Islamic Empires) expanded due to a number of factors. It is notable that although there are a few occurrences of Muslims carrying out the "Convert or Die" scenario, this is not the most common reason for Islam's expansion exclusively in terms of territory.

1) Arabia - What's that?: Prior to Mohammed, Arabia had been seen as a cultural and political backwater barely worth notice and therefore Mohammed's consolidation of the Arab Tribes was not seriously considered by the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires. This lead to a very porous southern defense and miscalculation of the Islamic Armies.

2) Byzantine-Sassanian Wars: Since the Byzantines and Sassanians considered each other the only real civilizations in the region, they fought each other numerous times in the early 600s C.E. over control of what is today East Turkey and Iraq. These were intense religious wars (Christian vs. Zoroastrian) and greatly weakened both empires at just the wrong time.

3) Tribal Command Structure: Arab Tribes and warriors owed their loyalty to their Sheikhs and leaders without fault because the Sheikh provided each person with all of the amenities and protection necessary to live a full life. Whenever the Arabs went to war, the Sheikhs could count on the ability to muster their tribesmen as soldiers without issue.

4) Support of the Locals: Since the Byzantine Empire and Sassanian Empire were engaged in religious zealotry, it stands to reason that they did not tolerate their religious minorities very well. The Muslims professed to (and did) treat minorities far better than either of these Empires. This led to religious minorities (especially Jews) from within the conquered territories helping Muslims to secure outposts and positions, freeing the Muslims to continue to spread the religion.

5) Citizenship by Conversion: The Islamic Empire was interesting in that being the leader or a person of import in the Empire was not contingent on ethnicity or place of birth as was the case of most prior empires. All a person had to do to gain power and prestige was to convert to Islam. This simple integration mechanism resulted in massive number of Persians, Berbers, and Turks converting to Islam. In fact, the furthest expansions of Islam (Spain, India, West China, South Russia, the Balkans) were all accomplished by non-Arabs (respectively Berbers, Persians/Mughals, Turkmen, Azeris, and Ottomans).

6) Warfare: The leaders charged with expanding the influence of Islam were thoughtful and diligent military leaders. Caliph 'Omar, who conquered much of the Levant, Egypt, Persia, and Iraq was well-known as a strategist and a fighter. It was this knowledge of warfare that allowed Muslim forces to expand the territory's influence.

7) Universality: Islam, as a religion, claims salvation for all people in all places, making the religion very attractive, especially to people born into low castes and bad economic positions.