How the Islamic and Mongol Empire Have Affected the World - Essay Example

Civilizations and empires through out history have marked the advancement of humanity. Some civilizations stand over others and amongst these is the Islamic and the Mongol empire. These civilizations not only captured more than half the world, but they also changed the way people thought and lived. Islamic civilization was based by other deep-rooted civilizations in the same region and was the result of mutual interaction and influence. Before the Arabs conquest, there were three different waves that influenced the region. The Christian Byzantines had some influence over the Red Sea, which at times formed an alliance with the Monophysite Christians of Abyssinia; the Zoroastrian Persians influence reached at times the eastern side of Arabia and up to Yemen; and the South Arabian kingdoms that had lost all signs of vitality by the time Islam arose. Alexander of Macedonia was not satisfied with political unification and hence adopted other measures to unite the human elements across the domain. These included respect for all religions and performance of prayers at various shrines. The objective was to allow the Greeks to mix with the local inhabitants so that a new culture emerged based on earlier civilizations. To set an example he married a Persian and asked his leaders to follow suit. The scientific movement started by Alexander continued even after his death. Islam was a way of life that showed and illuminated people’s life. The humanity was suffering from religious, political, cultural and intellectual vacuum and at this juncture Islam provided a permanent solution to these problems. While Greek thoughts were restricted to materialism, Roman thoughts glorified military power. In India and China there was a clear imbalance between the theoretical and practical aspects of a man’s life. The Islamic view of man and life was comprehensive and the Islamic civilization began when Mohammed Ibn Abdulla was blessed with verses from the Quran. Apart from being a religion, Islam is also a civilization, a reforming message and culture based on science and knowledge (Islamset, n.d.). Man is conservative by nature and resists innovation. Any civilization requires great sacrifices. The Prophet too faced great opposition but finally through his political skills he managed to unite and form a homogenous group of people and defined the form of Islamic state. Islam remained a world power till about the 16th century. After establishing the Medinian state the Arabs poured into the neighboring countries of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Khurasan and beyond. The Umayyids spread Islam to an extensive area of the world. They established institutions to consolidate Islam and to spread Islam in the new Islamic societies. The Umayyids had the advantage of creating cultural centers concerned with scientific activity. The Abbasid state replaced the Umayyids but they did not favor the Arabs as did the Ummayids. They viewed the people of the Islamic nation as equal regardless of the color or race as per the Islamic principle of equality. The Abbasids were considered the political head by the majority of the Muslims. During this period Islam spread to the East and under the Abbasid caliphs, the Islamic civilization entered the Golden Age (Kreis, 2000). Arabic, Persian and Indian traditions and cultures were integrated. Thereafter Islam spread to southern France to Central Asia and Sindh in India. From 750 till 1258 Islam spread in areas in and around Saharan Africa, Northern Central Asia and the Gangetic Plane in the Indian sub-continent. Islam then made inroads into Eastern Europe, and the Malaysian Archipelago. Today the Muslim faith includes some 800 million people with most of them being non-Arabs (Lippman, 1983). The rich heritage embraces 14 centuries of tumultuous history, spans across three continents and links societies of every race, economic condition and political orientation. Today they are sophisticated bankers and diplomats in Istanbul and Kuwait, scientists in Pakistan, factory hands in Egypt, and all are connected by their diversity under the banner of the Muhammad. The Mongols too were a bunch of tribes with a population about 3 million in 1100 CE. They were great archers and excellent horsemen but they fought each other. The empire needed a strong leader to guide the people into conquest and victory. Gengis Khan emerged who gained power by defeating the nomadic tribes. He appointed loyal subjects to high positions and did not allow enemies to thrive because they could cause insurrection against him (Kilton, 1998). He did not even allow tribal hierarchies to influence his army. He tolerated all religions and did not persecute people just because they were Muslims, Buddhists or Christians. Gengis Khan became a leader, stopped the in-fighting and united the different tribes to form a single kingdom. In a short span of 1290 years, the Mongol empire had grown to become one of the largest empires. By 1200 the Mongol empire had grown and in 1211 they conquered Xi Xia and all of Northern China. They then built the Great Wall and captured the city of Beijing. By 1218 they had controlled all of Central Asia and the Khwarazm Empire. The Mongol empre was handed down from Gengis Khan to his third son Ogodei to his nephew Batu Khan and by 1238, they had moved into Russia and Ukraine. During the 1250s the Mongols conquered the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Turkey, Persia, and Syria. The success of the Mongol empire was due to their warfare skills, large troops, talented horsemen and great archers. Another major leader in the Mongol empire was Kublai Khan. Under the rule of Kublai Khan money became the medium of exchange and China was unified. Under Kublai Khan the empire had grown and stretched its limits to cover all of Asia, Indochina and even Eastern Europe (Kilton). The empire was built on the principle of single authority but this very principle brought about the down fall of the empire. They were great traders and had built a long stretch of road on which were located several important cities involved in trade. When the lask Khan died in 1260 CE, the kingdom was back to where Gengis Khan had struggled to bring it out of. In-fighting resumed for the position of the King which led to the downfall of the kingdom. The Mongol empire broke into separate states. The eastern lands were known as the Great Khan, China, Russia and east Europe became the Great Horde, central Asia was known as the Jagadai Khanate, and the Middle-East was known as the I1-Khans. When the humanity was suffering from religious, political, cultural and intellectual vacuum Islam provided the solution or a balance between the theoretical and political aspects of a man’s life. The Mongol empire came into existence to stop infighting and to unite the people. Thus both were borne out of a need to satisfy man’s basic needs and both helped to unify the world and different nations. Both empires spread gradually across different nations. Islamic civilization emerged as an outcome of war while the Mongol empire helped stop the fight. In both cases, leaders try to dominate and while Islam created religious leaders, and became passive due to involvement in religion, the Mongol empire was based on political power and had an organized and powerful political system. The Mongol empire spanned the longest period in history to ever rule the world and still remains the most powerful empire. Its impact can be felt in the society even today. The Islamic civilization was affected due to religious rivalry between the Jews, the Christians and the Zoroastrians. The Mongol empire was ruthless but it tolerated all religions and assimilated cultures. References: Gopinath, Deepak, John Micklethwait, and Adrian Wooldridge. "Back to the future.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)." Institutional Investor 34.5 (May 2000): 176. British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. British Council. 3 July 2007 Islamset (n.d.), Islamic Civilization, 03 July 2007 Kilton, J., (1998), How the Mongol Empire has Affected the World, 06 July 2007 Kreis, S., (2000), Islamic Civilization, 03 July 2007 Lippman, Thomas W. "Cultural heritage of Islam through fourteen centuries." Smithsonian 14 (June 1983): 61(9). British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. British Council . 3 July 2007 Lynas, Mark. "Whats going wrong? Although trade is the worlds biggest distributor of wealth, the current system is widening inequalities between the wealthiest and poorest nations.(Geographical dossier)." Geographical 76.2 (Feb 2004): 36(2). British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. British Council. 3 July 2007 SCU (n.d.), History of International Trade, 03 July 2007 Wikipedia, International Trade, 03 July 2007 Read More