Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar: Crash Course World History #13

Conquests, and following Omar's example, he was assassinated. Then it finally came to Ali's turn to the caliphate, but his assumption was controversial and ultimately led to civil war. This led to the rise of the Umayyads, affiliated with Othman, a dynasty that ruled the Islamic empire, which expanded for more than 100 years. It's common to say that Islam was "spread by the sword" in those early days, and that's partly true, unless you're...the Mongols. In reality, as always, the truth is more complex. Many, including the Mongols and other Central and East Asians, converted to Islam without any military campaign.

In fact, the Quran stipulates that there is no coercion in religion, but the ancient Islamic empire was actually good at winning wars. Since it was situated between two extremely wealthy empires, Byzantium and Sassanian, there were many reasons to fight. The Sassanids were the first to fall and were the last non-Muslim rulers of the Persian Empire. They were relatively easy to defeat because they had fought the Byzantines for almost 300 years, were extremely exhausted, and suffered as well. of the plague. the plague! It looks like the red turtle shell from the Mario game in the story. But in those early days they conquered important lands such as Egypt and the Holy Land and eventually reached Spain, where several Islamic dynasties seized power before being expelled in 1492.

But despite their military prowess, it is easy to attribute the Arab victory to providence. heavenly. , and that was the point of view of many of those conquered by the Arabs. Wars in this part of the

world

were not only between people, but also between their gods. Although the Islamic Empire did not force its subjects to convert to Islam, its overwhelming victories convinced many that this monotheistic religion was terrible. Here's John Green using youth slang. Taxes were also reduced with conversion to Islam, and just as taxes on tobacco helped some people give up smoking, taxes imposed on idol worship caused people to give it up.

Thus, in a historically very short and very close period, a small group from an area without natural resources was able to build one of the largest empires in the

world

and also one of its largest religions. This may be the reason why many Western Europeans ignore this period. The Muslims were not only great conquerors, but they also established a commercial and educational movement that lasted for hundreds of years. They saved many classical texts that formed the basis of Western literature and civilization and that Europe had ignored, and ultimately paved the way for the Renaissance. It is important to remember that many of the countries of the world located between Spain and the Indus River were not Arabized, but the Islamic religion was transferred to them to a large extent, to the point that what we today call the Middle East is inseparable in our minds from the Islam.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the power of Islam to organize people's lives and societies is that in Egypt,

five

times a day millions of people turn their backs on the pyramids and head towards Mecca. Egypt, the cradle of one of the world's longest-lived civilizations, has become the largest Arab country in the world. Next week we will talk about the Middle Ages. Information: She was not as immersed in ignorance as claimed. Thanks for watching and until next time. Our show is directed and produced by Stan Mueller, and the script is supervised by Danica Johnson. The episode was written by my high school

history

teacher, Raoul Meyer, in collaboration with me, and the graphics were prepared by the Thought Bubble team.

Last week's tagline was "They can be giants." If you want to guess the phrase of the week, suggest a future phrase or have questions about today's episode, write them in the comments and our team of historians will try to answer them. Thank you for following us and, as we say at home: don't forget to be amazing.