The classical and post-classical periods are characterized by the development and expansion of the world’s universalizing religions which filed the vacuum left by collapsed empires. Two of these religions, Christianity, founded during the classical period, and Islam, founded during the post-classical age, grew across large territories in Afro-Eurasia and gained a substantial number of converts. Although Christianity and Islam had similar factors such as their active missionary work and their ability to allow some syncretism to explain their spread, they differed in the role the military played in their early expansion. Both Christianity and Islam utilized missionaries for the spread of their religions. The role the military played in the expansion of Christianity differed from that of Islam.
The spread of Christianity and Islam Differed in their dispersal through political control, but were similar through the ways that these religions were spread through rapid economical trade and societal infrastructure in society. Christianity and Islam diverged in their spread through political conquest and control throughout communities and societies. Christianity was disseminated throughout Europe in a generally calm manner. For example, many missionaries would take pilgrimages to foreign lands and communities to share the ideas and teachings of Christianity. On the other hand, the spread of islam typically took its roots in the middle east and Africa and was brutally violent and aggressive.
Through conquest and expansion, Muslims created a powerful Islamic Empire which greatly contributed to and deeply impacted the development of Western Civilization. The expansion of Islam from Mecca to Medina began with the Prophet Muhammad. “Muhammad taught that his religion was the pure monotheism of the prophets which would replace Judaism and Christianity. Using force and negotiation, Muhammad drew many Arab tribes into his religious community” (Armstrong, 19). Muhammad created a controlled community that was inspired by his teachings.
As the Arab empire expanded, the Islamic religious and legal traditions became prominent in Central Asia and the Middle East (Esposito, 57-61). The Islamic legal system is based primarily on religious principles of human conduct and law is derived from principle sources such as the Qur’an, the Sunna, judicial consensus, and analogical reasoning (79-82). Both the Islamic law and the civil law systems constitute good faith doctrines, but civil law uses civil codes and consideration on the particularities on each case to make a judgment (78-84). 2. Do you think it’s easier to instill Christian morals or Islamic law into the political system of a county?
The tithe necessity imposed an excellent sense of responsibility unlike the mass contribution among the Christians. Unlike Christian religion, in the Middle East, the Islam came up from monotheistic custom thus inherited sturdy dispositions to spiritual maintenance boundary. They were too flexible in integrating people’s practices, as well as, beliefs among Muslim populace, though it was compared slightly with the religions in Eastern. Their dominant groups consistently rejected the Judaic practices also beliefs. Unlike religions in the Eastern, which peacefully coexisted with supplementary religions, Muslims were monopolistic.
In many ways, Christianity and Islam were radical for their times, often preaching tolerance, respect, and equality between different races and classes, despite rigid monotheism. This initial progressive nature resulted in considerable persecution but ultimately did not stop the development, evolution, or expansion of either religion. Ultimately, early Christianity and Islam were spread by exploration, trade, missions, warfare, and colonization. Beliefs and practices among Christians and Muslims vary greatly across the
A primary cause of the Crusades was religious differences between the Muslims and the Christians. Christians made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and when they saw that their Holy Land was owned by Muslims, they felt that they had a religious obligation to take back this land. Muslims felt that the land belonged to them, and that what the Christians were trying to do was unmerited. This is an example of the external pressures both cultures experienced in relation to the ownership of their Holy Land. Christians were promised that if they joined the war, they would be forgiven of sins and guaranteed a place in heaven, which was irresistible to many people.
Jews and Christians in the Middle East were historically referred by Muslims as “ahl al-kitab” or “People of The Book.” As the early Islamic Empire conquered the land and expanded, they became very tolerant of these people, and adopted different laws and regulations to include them in their civilization. Those willing to live under a Muslim rule were coined Dhimmis. In this essay I will respond to question #2. I will discuss some of these rights, obligations and restrictions placed on these Dhimmis. I will also analyze whether the Islamic Empire created a utopia of different creeds working for a common civilization, or was the reality of Islamic tolerance in practice different than in theory.
Thus separation of church and state came into play, with hopes of keeping public morality and avoiding corrupting embrace from the government. Throughout the new nation people had started disestablishing their churches that had deprived peoples from public funding and special legal privileges. The revolution enhanced the different types of American Christianity and widely expanded the idea of religious liberty. This gave people of different beliefs a safe and nonjudgmental environment to express their religion but also threatened the rights of those who undermined church
As with many religious movements in the past, the Islamization of West Africa was did not occur simply because of pure religious devotion, but it was rather carried out by a variety of groups with multifaceted causes. Islam came at an instrumental time in African history, where great centers of civilization were becoming more prevalent and the increased mobility of the region caused individuals to step outside of their beliefs and encounter others. Along these newly formed paths were traders from the Arabic world, who had become strong in their devotion to the prophet Muhammad and all his revelations from the Divine. As they became a regular sight in population centers near the Sahel, the introduction of the locals to the religion of the Arab World became a more integrated part of trader society. Muslim traders, as catalysts for interaction between believers and non-believers of Islam, were instrumental in the spread of Islam in West Africa.