The history about Islam has always been linked to the Islamic empire’s existence. From the beginning, Islam existed and spread in the form of a community whereby Islam was both a cult and a political order (Courbage et al. 344). Egypt, Persia and Levant were all involved in the transformation of Islam to the present state it is in today by the power of the Arabs. There have been differing views on how to deal with the history of Islam even though there are evident sources of how and why Islam was transformed from a cult to an acceptable religion. This critical thinking paper aims at critically exploring how and why the Arab conquests of Egypt, Persia and Levant transformed Islam from an Arab cult to a Universal religion. Further, this paper will separate the two issues to be discussed in sections, and the reasons of transformation will first be discussed then how the transformation of Islam occurred will later be discussed.
There are several reasons to answer why the Arab conquests transform Islam to a universal religion from an Arab cult. The Islam transformation came due to a notable number of factors. First, there was existence of Arabia. Arabia was seen as a cultural and political weak nation thus Arabia was barely worth notice. Mohammed’s consolidation of the tribes of Arab was not even considered to be serious by several empires including the Sassanian and Byzantine empires. Lack of consideration of the Arabic tribe led to a Southern defense and a porous miscalculation of the Islamic armies making Islam get transformed from an Arabic culture to a universal religion.
Secondly, Byzantine-Sasanian wars made Islam transform from an Arabic culture to a universal religion. The Sassanians and the Byzantines had considered themselves the only real civilizations by then. The two groups later fought each other numerous times over control of Turkey and Iraq and further engaged in religious wars that weakened them all and Islam was taken over universally. Third reason comes with the tribal command structure whereby Arab tribes including the warriors owed their loyalty to their leaders without questioning. The leaders (Sheikh) provided all amenities and protection to everyone thus when the Arabs went to war, and Sheiks decided to make Islam universal and Arabs could not question at all.
The fourth reason for the universality of Islam is the citizenship by conversion issue. The Islamic empire was importing ethnicity and when everyone was able to access the goodness that came with being imported; several individuals became Muslims in order to gain( Elfenbein et al. 875). Later, Islam was snatched from Arabs and became universal to everyone. Fifth, warfare also made Islam spread from the Arabs to the entire world. Diligent and military leaders used warfare and strategic fighting to expand the influence of Islam, and the leaders conquered much of Levant, Egypt, Persia and Iraq. Other answers to how Islam was transformed from an Arab cult to a universal religion are because of the universality whereby Islam was practiced in most places and commerce whereby Islam was spread through trading worldwide.
How the Arab conquests of Egypt, Persia and Levant transformed Islam from an Arab cult to a universal religion came about with conquests. The Arab conquest of Roman Syria in the Levant involved invasion by the Rashidun army. The Arabian tribes were later dismissed economically and culturally making Islam (their cult) transform into a universal religion. The Arab conquest of Egypt and Cyrenaica made the Arabs loose Egypt to Syria (Lassner et al. 65). Later, Syria being an Islamic state Egypt was converted and as the wars continued more and more of nations were converted to Islam. Attacks against Byzantine holdings in Africa made Muawiyah defeat Arabs and by 670 AD, the Muslim fleet had penetrated into almost all holdings of Africa. Instead of Islam being an Arabic cult, it then became a universal religion.
Finally, what strikes most about the early expansion and transformation of Islam is its rapidity and success. The Western scholars have marveled at the transformation if Islam and The Muslim tradition views the conquests as miraculous. The momentum of early victories in transforming Islam from an Arab cult to a Universal religion is extended to a series of brilliant battles under great generals. Today, Islam is practiced all over the world just like other religions including Christianity.
Works Cited
Courbage, Youssef, Emmanuel Todd, and George Holoch. A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. Print.
Elfenbein, Caleb H. I. Differentiating Islam: Colonialism, Sayyid Qutb, and Religious Transformation in Modern Egypt. Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California, Santa Barbara, 2008. Internet resource.
Lassner, Jacob, and Michael D. Bonner. Islam in the Middle Ages: The Origins and Shaping of Classical Islamic Civilization. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2010. Print.
Lyons, Jonathan. The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010. Print.
