The Rise of Islam and Crusades - Research Paper Example

? Contemporary Comparison al Affiliation: The rise of Islam and crusades The 17th century saw the rise of Islamic religion. All thisbegan with Prophet Mohammed as the main head of the religion in the Middle East and after a while the influence of the Islamic religious beliefs spread to northern parts of Africa, Europe and Asia. During its onset it did not force anyone to believe in its ideologies in as far as spiritual matters were concerned. Instead it gave people a new appeal and perspective to view spirituality. This was mainly to those who did not find total satisfaction in the already existing religions at the time such as Christianity. The onset of Islam as a religion led to many getting and understanding its vision of establishing itself as a formidable spiritual ground alongside other religions. This began with the creation of Islamic based civilization in the Middle East, the Persian states and later in the Turkish states. The 13th century saw the joining of Africa and Asia as major forces of Islamic traditions. Unlike many other religions, Islam came up and provided a neutral ground for its followers. It did not discriminate in terms of race or color. This led to the creation of a strong, unshakable and one minded group of followers. It also gave all its believers the chance to further their knowledge in any field whatsoever just as long as this knowledge did not in any way interfere with the spiritual standpoint of Islam. It also allowed for those not incorporated into the Islamic religion to participate in any intellectual exercise so long as it benefited the whole community. Those who embraced Islam had a chance to further their civilization after the rise of Islam. Such groups such as the Persians who were advanced in their ways of living and trade advanced further after they embraced Islam. After the death of its founder Prophet Mohammed, Abu Bakr became the first caliph. He was the leader of Islamic religion for two years then Umar took over. Umar enabled Islamic religion to capture more grounds and get more followers in the east as well as the west therefore bringing the Persian region, Egypt and Syria under its fold. He advocated for the other religions as well. This was evident when he led the march of Muslim followers into Jerusalem to demand the security of Christian strongholds. He also saw the creation of a financial set up to cater of Muslims finances. Afterwards Uthman took over leadership and is highly credited to have made copies of the Holy Quran and distributed them across the world where Muslims were. During the Umayyad caliphate the capital of Islam was in Damascus but this was moved to Baghdad by the Abbasids. This saw the transformation of Baghdad into a strong political stronghold of the entire world. The Abbasids were in a leadership position for a little over 500 years whereby afterwards they began loosing the sense of authority they wielded thus remaining with only symbolic influence. The sultans wielded the military authority. During the reign of Abbasids several empires came into existence for instance the Fatimid’s and the Mamluks who had vast authority in Egypt and the Palestine. This reign saw the many crusades that the Pope advocated for and that got vast support from leaders in Europe. The Pope’s greatest motivation for such crusades was majorly to reclaim the holy land of Jerusalem that had transformed from a Christianity stronghold to an Islamic stronghold. This was possible in the beginning and some parts that had shifted to Islam were transformed to Christianity such as some regions in Syria, although this did not last under the reign of the decorated Muslim ruler Saladin who reclaimed these regions and saw to the downfall of the crusaders. During the time when the Abbasids came to power, one prince who belonged to the former leadership of Umayyad made a get away and went to Spain where he established Umayyad leadership. This became the onset of Islam in Spain for the next two centuries until the downfall of the Umayyad rule. According to Feldman (2010) the Mongols were a great stumbling block to Islam in the eastern region and claimed authority over the desert of Sinai all the way to India. This however changed when they converted to Islam and later on changed their name to II-Khanids. Timur took over power from them and established Samarqand as his operations headquarters for almost two decades. Islam got into India from the east side through the Indus River. The 13th century saw the slow progress in authority of Muslims in India until Babur captured a vast region of India in 1526.His Empire brought about the existence of great leaders such as Akbar and Shah Jahan who ruled despite the British reign over India. In the lands of Malaysia Islam spread during the 12th century beginning with the regions of Sumatra until it reached the innermost parts of Malaysia. Even after Malaysia succumbed to colonialism, Islam continued to spread and brought under its reigns the Philippines and Thailand regions. In the African region, Islam came through the coastal region, confining its dominance to those regions for a while. However regions such as the Somaliland transformed into fully fledged Islam countries. Traders from North Africa during their trade expeditions took Islam to the Western parts of Africa. At the end of the 14th century, the existence of Muslim sultans was in place in such areas such as Mali. In America, Islam came into being with the slave trade. Most of these workers were from the Muslim states as stated by Margoliouth (2010). They however lost their faith and beliefs after a while because they lost touch with their cultures and families. The 19th century saw the Islamic rush in America brought about by Arabic traders who settled and invested in the industries thus the subsequent establishment of the first mosque in America at Maine in 1915.During President Truman’s reign, the Washington Islamic Centre was established followed by numerous Muslim organization. To date about 5 million Islamic followers exist in America. Apart from political sovereignty, Muslim leaders championed for independent spiritual as well as cultural individuality. Great reformers such s Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdal al-Wahhab fought for such individuality and rights of beliefs and with much resilience and they tried to assert such beliefs worldwide despite much resistance. During colonization many states that were of Islamic background faced a threat of erosion in their beliefs by those of the west therefore this saw the establishment of organizations to instill more Islamic ideologies to the Muslims so as to avoid the religious erosion that was likely to happen and was taking shape. Such organizations included the Muslim Brotherhood that has its origin in Egypt with many branches worldwide. The erosion has however had a great impact today to the disappointment of many Muslim leaders leaving them with no choice but to introduce the Shariah law that stipulated strongly what was acceptable in an Islamic state and the repercussion if the followers of Islam went against Islamic teachings. Western and Mideast Tension This drift between the Middle East and the west began during the onset of Islam and the crusade sanctioned by the Pope to reclaim the holy lands. However now there are multiple causes for the tension between the two blocks. The main reason has been the view from the west that the states in the Middle East are cradles of terrorism and radical ideologies. This has been especially catalyzed after the September 11 attack in the United States. After the attack America championed the oppression and destruction of regimes thought to be under dictators in the Middle East. Dictators who tolerated terrorism, harbored terrorist leaders as well as provided training grounds for terrorists and financing terrorist activities in the US and other regions in the world. This saw the forceful ousting of leaders like Sadaam Hussein of Egypt from power. The west also took advantage of the unrest they cause in the Middle East to benefit from the vast oil wells in the Middle East regions. One of the reasons that makes a lot of the citizens of Islamic background from all over the world to gang up and seek revenge against America and its associates is because the invasions that happen in their soil in the name of fighting oppression and terrorism results in the destruction of their lives and subsequent exploitation of their resources by the west. They do not benefit from the purported freedom because even afterwards the influence of the west is felt when they advocate for certain leaders and even force the locals to choose whoever they deem suitable for them. According to Bakas (2009) the evasion of Iraq with the claim of Sadaam having weapons of mass destruction led to a lot of increased tension between the west and the middle east after it was found that the whole attack was based on speculations and lies that such weapons existed. Oil rush has been a major factor in this tension with the West harboring beliefs that they have to get major benefits from the oil after realizing that its reserves are running low while the demands for oil products increases. Another cause for the tension has been the rivalry between the Asian countries especially China and the west. The Chinese have resorted to supporting the Middle East leaders just in retaliation to the west thus furthering the tension. Most citizens of countries in the middle east resort to radical measures against the west because they at times loose all that they own during some of the western invasions thus they do not have any more means of livelihood. Many in Iraq have publicly declared that they would have liked to remain under the oppression of Sadaam Hussein because at that time they had massive growth and peace and that at the moment all they experience is oppression far worse than they faced under Sadaam’s regime. Conclusively, the west has at most times attacked the middle east with much pretence for the liberation of the latter when in reality all that the west needs is instability in the region so as to benefit from the oil and sell more ammo. It is a known fact that instability is more profitable than peace. References Bakas, A. (2009). 52 Brilliant Ideas Series. Oxford: Infinite Ideas. Feldman, N. (2010). The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State. New York: Princeton University Press. Margoliouth, D. (2010). Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. New York: Cosimo Inc. Read More