Introduction
Islam shares the story of origin with Christianity and Judaism in that they all originated from the Middle East (Esposito, 2002). Through the Caravan trade and the contact and travel by the Meccan traders, Zoroastrianism, Judaism (believe in one God) and Christianity had been brought into Arabia, and this suggests that they might have influenced the evolution and expansion of Islamic religion.
Influences to formulation of Islam
Sunnah (trodden path), which was a combination of tribal customs and traditions of the pre-Islamic Arabian tribes handed from previous generations by word and example, became an important basis for the formulation of the Muhammad’s Sunnah, interpreted as words and deeds of Muhammad. Muhammad reformed these practices (Esposito, 2002). The likelihood of influence of Christianity may be contested, but is clear in the fact that the Quran-which is God’s word to Muhammad-contains similar scriptures on figures like Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and others as those in the bible.
In fact, the major argument in this respect is that although Muslims consent to the fact that God delivered his word first through Moses, Muhammad had the belief that there was distortion of the original word as delivered to Moses and latter to Jesus, which he may as well blame it on the Jews and the Christians (Esposito, 2002). The influence of the religions earlier mentioned can be captured in the fact that the earliest converts of Muslims contained the stamp of other religions.
Muhammad claimed to call people into the return of worshiping one God and a society that was socially justice, and this happened in the environment of arising and growing division between the rich and the poor in Mecca as it emerged as a new commercial center and the divisions challenged the “traditional system of Arab tribal values and social security” (Esposito, 2002). The fact that there was an emphasis on social justice, call for rights of women as children and windows, call for social reforms, points to us that there could be evidence of injustices in the social set-up.
The past life in the Arab environment and the way of life of the people influenced the formation of Islam since the customary norms of the society in the Western Arabia was a basis for the construction of the ideas of rights and wrongs held by the first Muslims. There is a correlation between the practices and rules formulated by the Caravan traders on commercial transactions, property rights, and the tribal virtues; and the teachings of Muhammad, which are said to be the expansion of the realm of rights and responsibilities (Arthur, n.d.).
Early development of Islam was not devoid of contributions by the existing legal systems and institutions such as the Roman and Persian law judicial and arbitration probably because they were more developed, while Muslim was new. The need to amend the laws and systems so infiltrated was realized, and the laws of Islam needed to be made clearer (Arthur, n.d.). Cultures of pre-Islamic Arab included values of muru’a (manliness) adopted after the Bedouins became a military power.
Pre-Islamic people has been said to be a mixer of Christianity bits, Judaism and Bedouin polytheism, and worship of gods has been documented (Hooker, 1996). The political environment of the pre-Islamic Arabia influenced the Islamic world. The last Persian Empire was the Sassanid Empire that played a role in the creation of the Persian nationalism and a Persian identity which remained even after Persia was conquered by Islam. The Islamic caliphate may have adopted the model for tax collection system which was improved by Khusrau I as the leader of Sassanid. The leader changed the method of assessment and collection of the tax.
The empire and the Byzantines confronted with one another, and the former was defeated. Arabs invaded the Sassanid Empire in between 636 and 642 where the Empire collapsed. The Sassanid was weak following their fight with the Byzantines and could not resist victoriously the attack by the Arabs who were seeking to spread Islam and had simpler military structure than the Persians and fewer in number. After the initial conquest of Persia, Islam spread to the non-Arab regions. The Persian and the Arabians united for the survival of the Empire and the conversion of Persians to Islam was influenced by the Sassanid Empire (The Applied History Research Group, 1998).
Results of Islamic and its spread
Islam solidified through the formulation of rules, regulations, and amendments to the existing norms. Although there are about five sources of the Islamic law, namely, hadiths (documented statements about the sunnah of Muhammad), Quran, judicial opinion, consensus of the ummah and the interpretation by analogy, the hadiths and the Quran serves as tangible sources.
Islam presented an opportunity for the Arabian community to have not only a common language but also a common culture and way of life. Although the religion did not eliminate inter-tribal rivalry, it gave the tribes a “unity of purpose in conquests outside of the Arabian peninsula,” according to Frye (n.d.). Islam changed the way of life through the establishment of new or realignment of the existing social and political norms. According to the established political theory held by the Sunni Islam, a caliph, who was to be an adult male, of sound mind, and of the tribe of Quraysh, was supposed to head the state.
The practices and beliefs of Muslims shaped the family life for the converts. Marriage was supposed to be arranged for by parents or the oldest living relatives of the potential couple, for example. The Islam religion also offered some rights and responsibilities to men while denying them to women, as recognized in the biological ideology. Husbands were allowed by the Islamic law to divorce as many times unlike wives, and men could marry as many wives as afforded.
Islam provided civilization in religious, cultural, architecture, science, among others, through self-advancement and retention of the Greco/Roman texts of antiquity (Stearns, 1992). Military conquest of the opponents of the Islamic communities also played an important role in its expansion. The first Caliph (Abu Bakr) made efforts that would lead to the control of Arabia region by the power of Medina. The concept of jihad was involved in the spread of Islam because people devoted themselves to fight expansion battles.
References
Arthur Goldschmidt. A Concise History of the Middle East. Chpt. 8. Islamic Civilization. Web.
Esposito John. 2002. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. Oxford University Press US.
Frye Richard. Arabia before Islam. Web.
Hooker Richard. 1996. Islam pre-Islamic Arabic culture. Web.
Stearns, Peter N. 1992. Islam from the Beginning to 1300. Web.
The applied history group. 1998. The Islamic world to 1600. Web.