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The Rise of Islamic Empires

Ariel Cummer

World History to 1500

Patricia Harms

November 16, 2020

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In 610 CE is when we see the rise and beginning of a new empire, the rise of Islamic.

Looking back in history we see of the many things that contributed to the rise of this new empire.

Things like the Arabs, missionaries, pilgrims, politics, etc. There are many things that had a

factor in the beginning of Islam. I am going to focus on the main topic throughout this essay of

specifically just the rise of Islamic empire and states.

The start of Islam was when Muhammad traveled from Mecca to Medina with his

supporters. Islam began with the Prophet Muhammad. Islam means "surrender" and its central

idea is a surrendering to the will of God. Its main idea of faith is that there is no god but God and

Muhammad is his messenger. This specific journey is very well known as the Hijra which is

what marks the very start of the Islamic calendar. Islam spread from its place of origin in the

Arabian Peninsula all the way to modern Spain in the west and northern India in the east.

“Islam’s whirlwind rise generated internal tensions form the start”1 There were tensions between

the cultures because they saw Islam start to make a go of it while their cultures were failing.

Islam was an example of an empire that was dead and most of the others could not find a way to

rise again, but Islam found a way to come back again.

The people and designers of the new Islamic really want to focus their ideas of rebuilding

the empire on what made the original Islam state great. The new Islamic is known to of been

different than the traditional, they learnt from their mistakes the first time around. The good old

saying is there is no turning back the clock in history, life, anything. The Islamists aims are both

religious and worldly they seek to follow their Gods. The rise of Islam rose from many different

areas in their culture.

1
Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Xinru Liu, Holly Pittman,
Brent Shaw. Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 5th Ed. (New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company,
2018) 328
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Islam initially spread through the military overpowering of Arab Muslims. This military

conquest was mostly focused on religion, it was also motivated somewhat by politics. This

conquest in the end is what shaped and drove Islamic and Arabs into a fast growing religious and

political outlook. “Growing diversity led to a problem. Islam’s political structures could not hold

its widely dispersed believers under a single government”2 As Islam rises its also through

merchants, missionaries, and pilgrims. These exact exchanges really affected native populations,

they led to more transformations of Islam. As the Islamic ideas traveled and made their way

around, they mingled with local cultures and transformed into new versions and insights of the

religion. Another thing that really played a big role in the rise and empire were of course politics,

it certainly hasn’t changed even in todays society. Politics seem to be the big and bold topic of

life in general. “Islam was a vibrant faith, but its political systems were splintered”3

Islam is a large and powerful worldwide religion up to this day. Although the religion of

Islam has spread throughout the world, Indonesia is the country which has the largest population

of people who are followers of the Islamic ways. Today Islam persists to grow not just in Africa,

but also in Europe and America where Muslims now are a well-known minority of people.

Today, Muslims and Islamic followers face many new challenges. One of the biggest problems

Muslims and Islamic believers face is the fact that other people have ignorance towards Islam.

This ignorance has begun to lead to stereotyping, fear, and distrust towards the Islamic people.

Muslims are given a bad name and therefore an easy target for prejudice and racism.

2
Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Xinru Liu, Holly Pittman,
Brent Shaw. Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 5th Ed. (New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company,
2018) 326
3
Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Xinru Liu, Holly Pittman,
Brent Shaw. Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 5th Ed. (New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company,
2018) 363
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Religion played a major role in the spread of Islam in the Arabs and the surrounding

empires. At the beginning of Islam, the civilized areas of the Middle East were ruled by one of

the two competing empires, the western Roman-Byzantine Empire, or the eastern Sasanian

Empire of Iran. Both empires had a great impact on the rise of Islam from the development of

Islamic governing practices to the creation of a religious doctrine. The growth of Islam was

influenced by the tradition of the Sasanians, the legacy of the Byzantine, and by the concepts of

the emperor that had developed in the courts. “The sharia stands as the crucial foundation of

Islam. It covers all aspects of practical and spiritual life.”4

In conclusion the rise of the Islamic empires and states had many different factors that

played a role. The start of the empire was when Muhammed traveled to Mecca and Medina with

his supporters. Some of the other things that were looked at that played a factor in the rise of the

empire was through military conquest of Arab Muslims. It was also because of merchants,

missionaries, and pilgrims. Another factor that was looked at was politics and religion, these two

had a very big impact. This group of people really focused on religion and made it apart of their

day to day life. If you have religion in your life and society you will most likely succeed. “The

Islamic worlds achievement is truly one of the most remarkable”. 5

Bibliography
Robert Tignor, J. A. (2018). Worlds Together Worlds Apart. New York: W.W Norton &
Company.
Hoyland, Robert G. (2015) In God's Path: the Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic
Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4
Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Xinru Liu, Holly Pittman,
Brent Shaw. Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 5th Ed. (New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company,
2018) 323
5
Robert Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Peter Brown, Benjamin Elman, Xinru Liu, Holly Pittman,
Brent Shaw. Worlds Together Worlds Apart, 5th Ed. (New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company,
2018) 364
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