World History
Islam affected the society in many ways. It brought political power and influence to the church and the kings of the time through the frequent Crusades. In addition, Islam affected the society through the Renaissance and greatly affected the economy of mostly the middle and eastern parts of the world. The Islamic religion changed gradually over time and was transmitted across cultures. The religion had several missionaries, converts and pilgrims who served as elements change sue to the facilitation of transmission of their diverse practices and beliefs mostly between the 2nd and 12th centuries. During the times when the religion was not highly developed, believers put their faith on their political leaders, business merchants, travelers and other local communities that adapted the same sets of belief systems.
The Islamic religion has existed for more than fourteen centuries. Several diverse political movements in several different countries and contexts have used Islam to create legitimacy to their causes. This has made many aspects of Islamic politics prone to much contention and disagreement due to the different interpretations of their different policies. The arrival of Muhammad was the origin of Islam’s political affiliation. Muhammad contributed a great deal in making Islam a political movement. Muhammad was invited to be the ruler of the city of Medina in recognition of his claims of being a prophet. Before Muhammad, the city of medina was being ruled by two local Arab tribes of Aus and the Khazraj. However, these tribes were in constant conflict.
The Medinans saw in Muhammad a leader who would resolve the conflict that existed in the city. The politics in the city before the arrival of Muhammad were on a hostile and low level and with the arrival of Muhammad, they went a notch higher. Muhammad late moved into Medina with his followers and drafted the Charter of Medina. This document made Muhammad the ruler of the city and recognized him as the prophet of Allah. He late established a system of laws that were based on the Quran and these are what are today termed as Sharia law. Muhammad also acquired a strong army and a very huge following and his rule expanded gradually and steadily first to the city of Mecca and then spread out to the rest of the Arabian countries. This happened through a combination of military conquest and diplomacy. The arrival of Muhammad and his policies greatly changed the political, social and cultural conditions of mostly the east region.
As different as Christianity and Islam were, there are certain key and common features that explained why the religions were able to spread so fast, wide and successfully. Both religions greatly affected the lives of the people their culture and their lifestyles. Both religions adopted elements of pre-existing cultural and religious traditions. The elements that had existed previously were taken and incorporated into the new sets of beliefs and were either bettered or were transformed to fit the new sets. The mindset they used was that, it was easier to use supportive things rather than oppositional ones thus they incorporated the local belief systems, gods and methods of worship into the new ones. This was a very important and significant move in the spread of both religions.
A system known as religious syncretism was used in the advancing and incorporation of these religions to the local societies. This was the act of combining the practices from previous traditions into the new ones. This move meant that the missionaries did not have a hard task in making the locals acquire the new religion. Religious syncretism is one of the key reasons that supported the religious movements either by Diasporas or by pilgrims and missionaries. Christianity and Islam influenced the ethics and morality of the people in their everyday lives. Since the people indulged in the religions of their choice the different paths that they walked through, the decisions they made and the struggles they encountered were mostly reflected to their religions. Since the people participate in culture, their beliefs, actions and reasoning highly contributed to the shaping of the culture that is present today.
Religion affected culture by reasoning, providing alternative solutions and questioning. The presence of both Islam and Christianity meant that there were two systems of beliefs that preached truth according to each one. Each had a set of morals in terms of do’s and don’ts. These sets of morals affected the followers of each religion since the religions highly affected how people conducted their daily lives. The religions kept people in order since it kept people having similar thoughts though they believed in very different things. Everyone, regardless of their religion believed in a Supreme Being whom they were supposed to fear and pledge allegiance to. This makes the people straight morally. In terms of culture, the people intermingle due to the existence of both religions in our society.
Both religions had their constraints and still do; however, the cultures of the people where the religions visited or influenced remained mostly the same. Cultural interaction was however high since the people had to trade, occupy land and even socialize. Therefore, ideas and practices were exchanged between believers from both religions and this caused the diversification of the cultures of both sides since practices from Christianity, which the Muslims could acquire, were assimilated and vice versa. Religion heavily shaped the culture of the people since it affects most of what and how the people think, act, dress, speak, and eat and many more activities carried out by humans. Therefore, religion mostly defined the people’s culture and the existence of two religions, Christianity and Islam, shaped quite a diverse culture.
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