Christianity and Islam

Formation and history of Christianity and Islam

The land known as Israel was situated within easy reach of many of the ancient empires. It was strategically important as the doorway to Egypt, and it was ruled by Egypt until the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. Then, after several hundred years of independence, it was conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and eventually the Greeks.

Greek culture was eagerly absorbed and had a lasting impact. By the time Israel was absorbed into the Roman Empire, many Jews spoke Greek and many were familiar with Greek philosophy.

Augustus Caesar became emperor of Rome in 27 BC and ruled for over forty years. This period of time became known as the 'Roman Peace'. Mediterranean trade flourished and regional economies experienced unprecedented prosperity. Diverse cultures intermingled, sharing their ideas, inspiring a resurgence of art, architecture, and literature.

Among the Jews at the time, there were several sects of Judaism. The most influential sect was the Pharisees, who were influenced by the Persians and who believed in life after death. Then there were the Sadducees, who were influenced by the Greeks. The Sadducees held the high priesthood and other positions of power. They did not believe in life after death.

Then there was a radical sect called the Essenes. This group was opposed to the priesthood in Jerusalem. They chose to live in separate communities, they were pacifists, they practiced ceremonial baptisms, and many were celibate. They had been developing their own scriptures and were anxiously awaiting the arrival of a messiah.

Under the influence of Rome, many Jews struggled to maintain their political and religious independence. Radical political parties and religious sects appeared, but any group openly opposed to the Roman occupation was hunted down and its leaders were killed.

Jesus

According to legend, the man who became known as Jesus Christ grew up in Israel as the Romans were establishing their authority over the Jews. Driven by a vision for social progress, he became a religious reformer on a mission to transform traditional Jewish beliefs and customs.

Jesus said that God intends for us all to be peaceful, loving, and forgiving to each other. He said that you should love others as much as yourself, and not do anything to anyone that you would not want done to you. He said that God forgives those who realize their wrongdoings and change their ways.

Jesus preached that there is a heavenly kingdom that exists in the midst of our earthly kingdoms. A person's life cannot be judged by the changing standards of this evil world. Our earthly standards will always be corrupted by greed, lust, and other self-interests. A person's life can only truly be judged by the eternal standards of God's heavenly kingdom.

In his Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said...

Since ancient times, men were told, "Do not murder", and "Whoever is guilty of murder must be punished". But I tell you that anyone who is angry at his fellow man without reason is guilty, and whoever speaks abusively about his fellow man is guilty, and whoever yells "you fool!" is inviting the flames of hell.

You have heard that it was said, "Be faithful to your wife". But I tell you that any man who looks with desire upon another woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If an eye causes you to be unfaithful, then you would be better off without it than to live a sinful life.

You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say, do not seek revenge for any harm done to you. If someone slaps you in the face, turn your head and let him slap you again. And if someone forces you to walk one mile, walk with him two miles instead. Give to those who ask from you, and lend to those you can lend to.

You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy". But I say to you, love your enemies and help those who hate you, so that you may be sons of your heavenly father. For he makes the sun shine upon both the good and the evil, and he pours the rain on both the just and unjust. If you love only those who love you, and if you care only for your family and friends, then what makes you better than a tax collector? Instead, you must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.

Do not judge others, for the standard by which you judge others, you will be judged, and the way in which you measure others, you will be measured. Why notice the splinter in your brother's eye without considering the log in your own eye? Stop being a hypocrite. First get rid of the log in your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the seeker finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If your son asks you for a loaf of bread, would you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? If you then, evil as you are, know enough to give your children what is good, then how much more surely will your heavenly father provide for those who ask. Accordingly, whatever you would have others do for you, do the same for them.

Everyone who listens to these sayings and puts them into practice will be like a thoughtful man who built his house upon the rock. The rains poured, the floods rose, the wind blew and beat upon that house, but it never collapsed, for it was based on the rock. And everyone who hears these sayings and fails to practice them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rains poured, the floods rose, the wind blew, and the house collapsed and was completely wrecked.

According to legend, Jesus traveled widely, attracted followers, and gained support for his message. But he increasingly provoked the anger of the Jewish priesthood. After traveling to Jerusalem to preach, he was arrested by the authorities and executed. He died around the year 30.

His legend continued to grow after his death. His followers idolized him for being the heroic spokesman for a more loving form of Judaism. His life story grew more mythical as new followers added their own expectations about who they wanted him to be and what they wanted him to have said. The thing that united them was their desire that his life and death be significant enough to bring lasting change.

As his following grew more enthusiastic, Jesus the man gradually transformed into Jesus Christ, the mythical savior of mankind. God was said to have appeared in the flesh to teach us right from wrong and to mark the beginning of a new age of peace and love.

There were no significant writings about Jesus until decades after his death. Few people had heard of him, and his following remained a small and relatively unimportant sect of Judaism.

Paul

Paul was a zealous Pharisee who was authorized to hunt down the followers of Jesus, but after witnessing the strength of their faith, he realized that stories about the son of God might be persuasive enough to spread the Jewish faith in God to the Greeks and Romans.

After converting, Paul traveled throughout the Roman Empire, preaching to anyone who would listen. He was regularly beaten, stoned, ridiculed, and arrested, but he did manage to attract new followers and establish growing congregations in many Greek and Roman cities. In his letters to the various congregations, he wrote...

If anyone seems wise among you in this age, then let him become a fool, so that he may become wiser, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's eyes. For although the world failed to know God by means of its wisdom, it pleased God to use the foolishness of preaching faith to save those who believe in him.

Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, such as his eternal power and infinite wisdom, have been plain to see in all the things that he has created. So there was no excuse, when having seen evidence of God, men still failed to glorify or give thanks to him.

Instead they found reasons to glorify themselves, and so their thoughts became darkened. Thinking they were wise, they had become foolish. They even tried bending the glory of the perfect God into the likeness of an imperfect man, or into the image of birds, four-footed beasts, and reptiles.

I say to you and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live like unenlightened people, with their vain thoughts and darkened understandings, far removed from the guidance of God. Because of their ignorance and the hardness of their hearts, they have no true feelings. They have abandoned themselves to sensuality, and with greedy minds they pursue sinful activities.

But those who have heard about Christ and were taught that Jesus gave us the truth, you are to rid yourselves of your primitive nature which was corrupted by deceit and desire, and renew the spirit of your mind, and adopt a new nature that was created in God's likeness, in the form of righteousness and holiness, speaking the truth to each other, because we are all like family.

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with tenderness of heart, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patient endurance. Bear with one another and forgive each other in case of any dispute. As Christ has forgiven you, you should forgive also. And above all give love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, and be thankful.

Do you not know that you are enslaved to serve that to which you have offered yourselves? Thank God that although you were once slaves to sin, your hearts became obedient to this higher teaching, so that having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. For when you were slaves to sin, without righteousness, what benefit did you get from those things of which you are now ashamed?

I beg you, therefore, to offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, for this is your true service to God. Do not conform to worldly ways, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so as to sense for yourselves what is good and acceptable, and what is the will of God.

Do not suppress the Holy Spirit. Do not despise the words of the prophets, but test them all and keep what is good. And keep away from evil in every form.

The Jews had been told they were God's chosen people, but Paul preached that God's love was for everybody, not just the Jews. Christianity would be a religion for every believer, regardless of race, gender, or class. It was particularly popular among the poor and oppressed, and those who were suffering, because it preached that everyone was equal in the eyes of God, and it gave people hope for happiness after death.

Colonies of Jews had settled in cities throughout the Roman Empire. Some Greek speaking Jews were persuaded to convert to Christianity along with Greeks and Romans who were not satisfied with their traditional religions or philosophies. But soon after being established in the Greek and Roman worlds, Christianity's roots in the Jewish world were extinguished.

Furious at the corruption of their Roman rulers, the people of Israel rose up against Rome in the year 66. The Roman army marched into Judea to regain control. The war lasted several years, and it was written that as many as a million Jews were killed. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and its people were either slaughtered or sold into slavery.

The Gospels

Many stories were written about the life of Jesus. Most portrayed wildly differing accounts of what he said and did. Only the four books known as the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John gained widespread acceptance. After a century of debate, they were chosen to be in the scriptures.

Mark had grown up among the early Christians. He wrote the first gospel around the time that Jerusalem was destroyed. Drawing from the clutter of myths surrounding Jesus, he wove together a story which satisfied the hopes and expectations of believers.

In Mark's story, Jesus was baptized by a desert preacher and declared to be the chosen one. He then traveled the countryside, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, and raising the dead. However, he was misunderstood by his followers, persecuted by the priests, and betrayed by a friend, before being crucified by the Romans.

The Jewish tradition is full of myths about miracles and divine intervention, so it needed to be said that Jesus performed miracles in order to prove that he possessed the power of God. Mark's story was later appended to say that he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to sit beside God.

The sayings of Jesus had been recorded by early followers. These sayings were combined with Mark's story to produce the gospel of Matthew. Some Jewish scriptures contained obscure prophecies about the coming of a messiah. Matthew added the story of the virgin birth to help fulfill these prophecies, making it easier for people to imagine Jesus as being the son of God.

Constantine

The Romans usually showed tolerance towards popular religions, as long as they did not challenge the authority of Rome. But many early Christians publicly denounced the gods of the empire and openly criticized the divinity of the emperor. Many refused to cooperate with Roman authorities or participate in state affairs.

As Christianity grew in popularity, it became an effective opposition group, united and disciplined against some of the cruel and vulgar aspects of Roman tradition.

This provoked some emperors to become openly hostile to it. Churches were demolished, scriptures were burned, and bishops were imprisoned and killed. But executing Christians only seemed to strengthen this religion whose founder had also been executed by the Romans.

By the year 306, perhaps only one in ten Romans was Christian, but they were highly organized. Every city had a bishop, a treasury, charities, and records, with letters passing between them. The old cults had only temples and festivals. The Christian Church had an administration.

Around this time, a handful of military commanders were battling for control of the empire. One of them, Constantine, was sympathetic to Christianity. After winning a battle to take the city of Rome, he credited his victory to the Christian God. As emperor, he proclaimed tolerance for Christianity throughout the empire.

During his reign, he gradually transformed Christianity into a state religion. He began by exempting the Church from taxation because of their service to the poor. He then continued to show favor to Christian bishops, eventually giving them power over state officials and law courts.

Roman emperors traditionally became chief priest of whatever the popular religions were at the time. Religious cults gained or lost popularity based on the emperor's interest in them. After Constantine adopted Christianity, many people followed his lead and Christianity became the most popular religion of the empire.

The Trinity

Christianity has always struggled with differences of opinion over the interpretation of scripture. These arguments have often led to fierce power struggles within the Church. Anyone holding an opinion different from the majority of bishops was often condemned as a heretic.

One of the most bitter and lasting disagreements was over the relationship between Jesus and God. The Jewish commandments clearly state there can only be one God, but Jesus, the son of God, seemed to be a separate lesser God.

Constantine had only just united the empire under Christianity when this dispute escalated into civil unrest and threatened to tear the empire apart.

As these kinds of debates raged over the decades, there was one man, Saint Augustine, whose opinions on a wide range of subjects gained popular support among the bishops. His writings about the interpretation of scripture and the administration of the Church became the foundation of church philosophy. Augustine wrote...

When the question is asked, what we are to believe in regard to religion, it is not necessary to probe into the nature of things, as was done by the Greek scientists.

We need not be alarmed should the Christian not know the number of elements; the motion of the heavenly bodies; the shape of the cosmos; the species of animals and plants; the nature of stones, rivers, and mountains; about time and distance; the signs of coming storms; or about a thousand other things which these scientists have either found out, or think they have found out.

For even these men themselves, endowed as they are with so much genius, burning with zeal, abounding in leisure, tracking some things by the aid of human conjecture, searching into others with the aids of history and experience, have not found out all things; and even their boasted discoveries are more often mere guesses rather than certain knowledge.

It is enough for the Christian to believe that the only cause of all created things, whether heavenly or earthly, visible or invisible, is the goodness of the creator, the one true God; and that nothing exists but himself that does not derive its existence from him. And that he is the Trinity, meaning he is the father, and the son begotten of the father, and the holy spirit proceeding from the father, all being one and the same spirit.

Augustine knew that a scientific view of nature was not entirely compatible with Christian faith. For many Christians, there was no need for new discoveries. Everything that mankind would ever need to know about God, nature, or humanity was to be found in the Bible. The process of discovery that began in ancient Greece was coming to an end.

Cultural influence

In the early Roman Empire, wars of conquest were fashionable. Those who refused to submit were conquered, their treasures stolen, their women raped, and entire populations were often enslaved or killed. Even in Rome, the poor and unfortunate starved, and people were slaughtered for entertainment in the arena.

Ancient Rome was powered by slavery. Fathers who were unable to pay their debts were often forced to sell their children into slavery. Girls were abducted from poor rural areas and sold to wealthy Roman households.

Continuing the work done by earlier Stoic emperors, Christian emperors reformed the laws to offer better protection for women, children, and slaves.

Christianity had gone well beyond the practical morality of Judaism, declaring instead an ideal morality which was perfectly cooperative but entirely impractical.

It was said that not only should you give all your possessions away to the poor, you should give them away to the greedy as well. And if someone attacks you, you should not fight back. Keep giving them all of your love and care instead, and unconditionally forgive them for the damage they cause you.

It was never intended that people could live by these rules, they would not be able to survive if they did. It was more a matter of making people realize that any other kind of behavior - any proud, selfish, violent, lustful, or competitive behavior - is merely a form of social corruption caused by the material necessities of this earthly existence acting upon our animal instincts.

It was such a high moral stance that people could only justify having faith in it if it came directly from the mouth of God. And it was presented with a peaceful and loving kind of sophistication that many people would have expected from God.

In a truly Christian kingdom, everyone would work together for a common cause, nobody would serve their own interests over the interests of others, and resources would be shared without question when needed for the common good. Christians should not need to be forced to behave. They would force themselves to behave.

Barbarian invasions

The western regions of the empire like Italy and Spain spoke mostly Latin, while the eastern regions spoke mostly Greek. Constantine recognized the growing wealth and cultural strength of the eastern regions by establishing a new capital in the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.

Cultural and political differences between the two halves, and the difficulty of governing such a large area of land, eventually led to the empire being split into two. The western regions would be governed from Rome, and the eastern regions from Constantinople.

By the 400s, attacks and invasions from the north and east had placed an unbearable strain on the empire's defenses. Roman institutions were still recovering from the cultural upheaval that followed the rise of Christianity. The majority of troops guarding the northern border were now barbarian tribesmen. Rivalry between the two halves of the empire made the situation even more dangerous.

Rome's frontiers eventually crumbled as barbarian tribes flooded into the empire and soon conquered Italy, Spain, and North Africa. Rome was repeatedly sacked, its treasures stolen, its buildings burned, and its people massacred. The western half of the empire came to an end in the year 476 after a barbarian warlord declared himself to be king of Italy.

Wherever the barbarians settled, Roman civilization was replaced by tribal law and culture. Throughout Europe, there was a dramatic decline in trade. Law and order gave way to banditry. People moved out of the towns and cities, and within a few generations, reading and writing were mostly forgotten. Roman buildings, bridges, and roads fell into ruin and the knowledge needed to rebuild them was lost.

The eastern half of the empire survived and eventually recaptured Italy, North Africa, and the coastal regions of southern Spain. The Church in Rome also survived, and the bishop of Rome, otherwise known as the pope, rose to become the spiritual leader of the western churches. The eastern churches took their directions from the eastern emperor in Constantinople.

Christianity continued to spread throughout Europe, as devoted missionaries worked to convert pagan kings and barbarian warlords. As they became united by a common Christian worldview, and connected by the Church network, struggling European kingdoms became a little less hostile to each other.

Arab tribes

Most of the Arabian peninsula is a dry sandy desert. The early Arabs lived a nomadic lifestyle, breeding camels and herding goats and sheep in the scrublands on the borders of the desert. The first settlements appeared around 2000 BC along the coastlines and in the rocky oasis regions of the Red Sea coast.

Arab society was organized into tribes, with each person depending on their tribe for survival. Each tribe tried to maintain control over an oasis, and wars often broke out between tribes over access to fertile land and water.

Oasis towns grew into regional trading centers as camel trains carried spices and other goods across the desert between Egypt, Syria, and Persia. Merchants along the southern coast also traded with Africans across the Red Sea.

A variety of religious beliefs existed throughout the peninsula. Some tribes believed in ancestral spirits, others worshiped the ancient goddess of fertility. Many believed in a supreme god, and some also in a number of lesser gods and goddesses who were his children.

Jewish tribes had long been settling throughout the peninsula and owned some of the best land. Funded by the Greeks, Christian missionaries were busy establishing churches in Arab cities, and many Arab tribes had converted to Christianity. Arab kingdoms in Syria and Iraq were devoutly Christian.

After the fall of Rome, the Greeks formed an alliance with Christian Arabs in order to defeat a series of Persian invasions. The Persians also formed alliances with Arab tribes, paying them to join the fight.

Eventually a dispute broke out between Greeks and Christian Arabs over how Jesus could be both human and divine at the same time. This led to persecutions and assassinations, and eventually the Arabs broke off their alliance with the Greeks.

Regional power was now beginning to favor the Arabs, but in order for them to realize this power, they first needed to unite behind a common cause.

Mecca was an important religious center long before the rise of Islam. Pilgrims journeyed from all over the region to worship the idols contained in its many sacred shrines. The most sacred shrine contained a black stone that was believed to have supernatural powers after falling from the heavens.

Muhammad

Muhammad was born around the year 570 in Mecca. As a young man, he traveled with the trading caravans from Mecca to Syria. When he was 25, he married a wealthy older widow and became manager of her business interests.

He developed a passion for religion, and for years he studied and discussed the Jewish and Christian scriptures and spent much of his time contemplating God in the hillside caves outside of Mecca. He formulated a uniquely Arab interpretation of religion, based on the biblical scriptures but also incorporating Persian themes.

Abraham was the mythical forefather of the Jews. His faith was said to be so strong that God promised his descendants possession of the land of Israel. But the Jews had twice been removed from the land, supposedly because of their disobedience to God, and Muhammad believed the Christians were guilty of corrupting the faith by claiming that God had a son.

Muhammad claimed that the Arabs were also the descendants of Abraham through his first son, born to an Egyptian slave girl. He believed that if he could convince the Arabs to embrace Abraham's original faith in one God, then the Arabs could claim to be the rightful heirs to Abraham's religious tradition.

He started preaching to his family and friends, calling his new religion Islam (meaning "surrender to God"). He said it was not a new religion but rather an old one that had freed itself from the corruptions of Judaism and Christianity. He declared himself to be the final prophet. Those who accepted Islam would be called Muslims.

Muhammad preached that there is only one God and that he is almighty and all-knowing, and that he represents justice and fairness, kindness to orphans and widows, and charity to the poor. And although God is compassionate, he will inflict harsh punishment upon those who defy him. Muhammad's words had the power to stir the emotions of those who listened...

The righteous are those who believe in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Book, and the prophets, and who share their wealth with their family, and orphans, and the poor, and travelers in need, and with beggars and slaves. They attend to their prayers, and give to charity, and fulfill their commitments. They remain calm under stress and in times of war. These are the true believers. These are the God fearing.

As for the faithless, it is the same if you warn them or not, they will not believe. God has sealed their ears and their hearts. Their sight is dimmed. Their fate will be an agonizing punishment.

The Day of Judgment

The Day of Judgment was a central theme in Persian religion. It was effective at instilling the fear of God, allowing priests to more easily control believers, even convincing them to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a heavenly reward.

Although many early Christian bishops were bitterly opposed to the Book of Revelation with its vivid description of the Day of Judgment, after much resistance, it was eventually adopted into the Christian Bible.

With the Persians and Christians both believing in it, Muhammad embraced the Day of Judgment as the foundation of his new religion. Hope for reward and fear of punishment in the afterlife became one of his prime motivations for believing in God. He said...

The earth will shine with the light of the Lord, the Book will be laid open, and every soul shall be treated accordingly, for God knows everything, even the innermost thoughts of men.

As the Book is placed, the guilty will tremble and say "what book is this that leaves nothing missing from the greatest to the smallest detail?" Everything will be presented to them. God will be fair.

The righteous will return to the glorious Garden of Eden, whose gates will open wide to welcome them. Resting comfortably with modest companions, they will feast on abundant fruit and cool drink. This is your promised reward on the Day of Judgment. Our gifts have no end.

But for the wrongdoers, they will be cast into the fires of hell, the worst possible resting place, where they will drink boiling water, rotten blood, and other putrid things. They will be hated by those who burn with them, and they will curse each other as they burn.

After Muhammad began preaching, many opposed him for speaking out against the shrines and other objects of worship that were attracting visitors to Mecca. The Quran says they asked "are we to renounce our gods for the sake of a mad poet?"

Over the next decade, Muhammad continued preaching in Mecca, gathering around him a small but dedicated band of followers.

The Quran

It was uncommon for literature to be written in Arabic before Muhammad's time. Muhammad composed verses which were at first committed to memory by his followers, and later recorded by scribes to form chapters of his holy book, the Quran.

In these verses, Muhammad summarized the Jewish and Christian scriptures, adapting them to Arab ways, using persuasive language. The Quran says...

Thus We have inspired you with knowledge of righteousness when you knew nothing about revelation or faith. We made it a light to guide those who we wish to serve us. They shall now be guided along the right path, the path of God. All that is in the heavens and on earth belongs to him, and all things shall return to him in the end.

The Quran mentions most of the Bible's main characters from Adam and Eve to Jesus and Mary. Muhammad regarded Jesus as an important prophet but rejected claims that he was the son of God...

Those who say the Merciful Lord has fathered a son preach such a monstrous lie, that the heavens above would tear open, the earth split apart, and the mountains crumble to dust, that they would ascribe a son to the Lord of Mercy, when it is not in his nature to have one.

War against Mecca

The Meccan authorities grew increasingly hostile towards Muhammad's new religion. After they threatened to kill him, Muhammad fled north to the oasis town of Medina, where he was joined by hundreds of his followers.

An uneasy balance of power existed between Arab and Jewish tribes for control of Medina. Muhammad and his followers joined the power struggle by forming strategic alliances with other tribes. His position was strengthened by gaining converts.

As his conflict with Mecca intensified, his followers attacked Meccan trading caravans and Meccan forces laid siege to Medina. The Arab tribes in Medina forgot their old rivalries and united behind Muhammad. He promised them a reward in heaven if they protected him with their lives and accepted him as their leader. The Quran says...

Those who are willing to trade their lives for a reward in the next life should fight for the cause of God. Whether they die or triumph, they shall be richly rewarded.

Muhammad continued having new revelations, but the nature of his religion was changing. New verses reflected the struggles of a tribe battling to survive...

The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Messenger, and who spread disorder in the land is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off, or be exiled. They will be shamed in this world and harshly punished in the next, except for those who repent before you defeat them. Know that God is merciful and forgiving.

The Jewish tribes in Medina were skeptical about his claim to be one of their prophets. After they conspired against him, his early respect for the Jews turned into bitter resentment. He banished two tribes from the city and accused another of treachery in his war against the Meccans. The men of the tribe were killed and their women and children enslaved.

Believers, do not take the Jews or Christians as allies. They are allies to each other. Whoever seeks an alliance with them shall be treated like one of them. God does not guide such wrongdoers.

Having established an Islamic government in Medina, Muhammad introduced new laws and punishments which covered everything from ownership of property to marriage and divorce. Some laws promoted equality and social justice, while others reflected a culture of tribal warfare and harsh desert justice.

The Muslims formed alliances with desert tribes and battled for control of the surrounding countryside. Jewish tribes offered fierce resistance against the growing Muslim army but were eventually defeated.

Believers, fight the infidels who dwell around you. Be hard on them. Know that God is with those who fear him.

God sent his messenger with guidance and the true faith to make it prevail over all religions, however much the idol worshipers may dislike it.

No longer able to defeat the Muslims, the Meccans signed a peace treaty. But when the treaty was broken, his army marched into Mecca and its people and places of worship were converted to Islam.

As a concession to the old religions, Muhammad embraced existing religious traditions like the pilgrimage to Mecca to see the sacred sites.

After Muhammad

Muhammad said it was the duty of all Muslim men to fight for the establishment of an Islamic empire. Defeated populations must accept Islam, but Jews and Christians were to be offered the alternative of paying a tax for being non-Muslims.

He later decreed that in Arabia, there should be no other religion than Islam. Faced with a choice between conversion and death, some Christians chose to die, while many others converted their churches into mosques.

Having successfully united the Arab tribes under a single leadership, he sent messengers to warn neighboring kings and emperors to embrace Islam, but he died before he could undertake any further conquests.

After his death, the leadership passed to his closest friends and companions. But after the assassination of their third leader, the authorities in Medina argued over how to choose the next leader. Civil war broke out and Islam splintered into two main factions, Sunni and Shia.

The Shia wanted the leadership to pass down to Muhammad's descendants. They believed that the highest religious leader is God's representative on earth with the authority to add to the message of the Quran.

The Sunnis wanted the new leader to be chosen by consultation. They believed that the Quran is the final authority and that there must be no further revelation.

Muhammad's son-in-law ruled briefly before being assassinated, and then the commander of the Arab forces in Syria gained control, moving the capital of the emerging empire to Damascus, where his family ruled for the next hundred years.

Islamic conquest

Convinced that God and history were on their side, an army of warriors set out on horseback to complete Muhammad's mission of uniting the world under Islam. Any gold or other riches taken from conquered lands were to be shared among the Arab tribes, encouraging them to stay in the federation.

Muslim armies forced the Greeks out of Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. The Persian Empire was also conquered. It had been weakened by decades of war and its inhabitants hated their corrupt and oppressive rulers. A rapidly expanding Arab empire based on equality and social justice promised to be a much more favorable place to live.

Muslim forces continued pushing up into Central Asia, where they met fierce resistance from nomadic horse-riding archers known as Turks. Impressed by their skill and discipline, the Arabs captured thousands of Turks, bringing them back to serve as the spearhead of their slave armies.

Muslim forces also pushed west, conquering all of North Africa and gaining control over much of the Mediterranean Sea. After invading parts of Spain and Portugal, they crossed the mountains into France, before being pushed back by Frankish forces.

Charlemagne

The Frankish king Charlemagne (Charles the Great) came to power in 768. His grandfather had repelled the Muslim invasion, and now he was determined to restore the western half of the old Roman Empire and bring order to Europe. He began by conquering much of northern and eastern Europe and converting the barbarian tribes to Christianity.

Using an army of priests and executioners, he threatened to kill any tribesman who refused to accept Christ as their savior. Older generations pretended to be Christian out of fear, but their children grew up knowing no other religion. Conversion to Christianity proved to be an effective way of gaining control over the warrior habits of the northern tribes.

In the year 800, as Charlemagne was expanding his territory and strengthening the Church in Rome, the pope crowned him emperor of the western half of the old Roman Empire. Charlemagne wanted to form a permanent alliance between church and state, but this degenerated into a power struggle between popes and emperors that continued to dominate European politics for a thousand years.

Viking tribes in far northern Europe still worshiped a multitude of gods whose stories had been passed down from nomadic cattle herders who invaded Europe on horseback thousands of years before. The Vikings believed that those who died bravely in combat would be rewarded by the gods with an eternity of daily combat and nightly feasts.

Viking warships sailed the coastlines of Europe, raiding Christian kingdoms, destroying villages, capturing women, and looting the golden ornaments and jeweled relics from churches and monasteries. Over the centuries they established themselves as lords over much of Europe, giving rise to a new aristocracy. But as they gradually converted to Christianity, they ceased their raids, and Europe became more united and peaceful.

Aristocrats owned the land and forced the peasants to work in the fields and fight in the wars. Popes often gained the affection of the poor and oppressed by speaking out against injustices and supporting popular resistance against tyranny.

Islamic Golden Age

By around the year 750, a considerable tension had grown throughout the Muslim empire. The Arab tribes were no longer receiving their share of the profits from conquest. The Meccans accused the leadership in Damascus of abandoning Islam. The Shia opposed the Sunni leadership. And those who had converted to Islam in conquered lands were demanding the same rights as Arabs.

Tensions erupted into a violent revolution which began in Persia and quickly spread throughout the rest of the empire. Persian rebels fought to establish a new leadership which represented the aspirations of all Muslims, not just Arabs.

After successfully overthrowing the old ruling dynasty, the capital of the empire was moved to Baghdad, and it was here that Islam reached the height of its power and prosperity.

Arabic became the common language of the Islamic Empire. Schools and libraries were established and the surviving works of Greek science, philosophy, and mathematics were recovered and translated into Arabic.

While the Christians were limiting scientific enquiry, Muslim scholars were busy making important contributions to astronomy and medicine. While European mathematics was being held back by unwieldy Roman numerals, Muslim scholars had adopted the decimal number system and were making progress in the development of new mathematical techniques like algebra.

Some Islamic thinkers tried to introduce elements of philosophy into Islam. They wrote that although there can only be one truth, there may be two ways of looking at the truth, religion for the illiterate masses and philosophy for those who could read. There should be no conflict between religious revelation and philosophical reasoning as long as they both reach the same conclusions about the existence of God.

Other Islamic thinkers rejected science and philosophy. They observed that philosophical enquiry tends to drift towards atheism, and that the scientific viewpoint is incompatible with life after death. Permitting free inquiry might inevitably lead to the rejection of Islam.

The Crusades

Disagreements continued to push the western church in Rome and the eastern church in Constantinople further apart. One disagreement was about the nature of the Trinity. Did the Holy Spirit proceed from the father alone, or from both the father and the son?

These differences were exploited for political purposes, and in the year 1054, the two sides excommunicated each other. The western church became Catholic and the eastern church became Orthodox.

A year later, Turkish soldiers marched into Baghdad and took control of the Muslim empire, infusing it with an aggressive new energy for conquest. Muslim armies were soon marching through the land now known as Turkey towards Constantinople.

The eastern emperor pleaded with the western pope for assistance. The pope responded by gathering forces from all over Europe to launch a religious crusade. After recapturing Turkey, the crusaders marched towards Jerusalem, conquering it and slaughtering its population, then holding onto it for almost a century.

Other crusades were launched, each one facing increased resistance from Muslim armies. In the fourth crusade, instead of attacking Muslims, the crusaders attacked Constantinople and looted its treasures. Constantinople was one of the wealthiest cities in the world and had never been conquered.

Centuries later, the Turks used cannons to blast their way through its defensive walls, finally bringing an end to the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Constantinople is now known as Istanbul.

Universities

Science, mathematics, and philosophy had been abandoned throughout Europe after the rise of Christianity and the fall of Rome. Many of the books written by ancient Greeks and Romans were lost and forgotten. Some were preserved by Greek book collectors and Irish monks. Others were translated into Arabic, and for hundreds of years were only available to Muslim and Jewish scholars.

Charlemagne had established church schools to train new priests. Over the centuries, these schools expanded to teach administration and commerce to aristocrats and merchants. Universities were established in the 1100s to teach theology, law, and medicine.

As the Muslims were forced out of Spain, their schools and libraries fell into the hands of the Europeans. European scholars eagerly absorbed the knowledge of their Muslim and Jewish counterparts and began translating collections of ancient literature into Latin. European universities soon added science, mathematics, and philosophy to their range of subjects.

The rediscovery of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers had a profound effect on European thought. This caused the Catholic Church to become deeply concerned. Those whose ideas strayed too far from Christianity were accused of heresy. Scholars tried to defend themselves by arguing that there was no contradiction between philosophical reasoning and religious faith.

The most influential thinker of the time was an Italian theologian known as Saint Thomas Aquinas. He helped ease the growing conflict by arguing that although observation and rational thinking can help us understand the design of nature, our purpose in nature can only be found through faith in a divine higher purpose. He did not believe anything could ever be discovered about nature that would cast serious doubt on the existence of God.

The printing press

To raise an army for the first crusade, the Church offered to forgive the sins of anyone who volunteered to fight. They soon began funding the crusades by forgiving the sins of anyone who could afford to pay. This worked so well that before long, selling forgiveness vouchers called 'indulgences' had become a major source of revenue for the Church.

Johannes Gutenberg was a German metalworker who developed a way of printing indulgences faster and easier than copying them by hand. He crafted stamps for each letter, which were arranged on a plate and covered with ink, allowing him to print thousands of perfect copies.

The success of his technique fueled his ambition of printing the Bible. After years of work designing the plates, he succeeded in printing 180 copies, and began selling them in 1455, each one costing more than a year's pay for the average worker.

Printing presses soon began appearing throughout Europe. By the year 1500, tens of thousands of different books had been published, covering a wide range of subjects, with many millions of books being sold. For the first time in history, people had cheap access to growing amounts of information.

Also around this time, the Church began banning and burning books that it found offensive, but this had little effect, as heretics could now distribute printed books faster than priests could burn them.

The Protestant Reformation

In 1517, a German university professor named Martin Luther objected to the sale of indulgences, saying they encouraged immoral behavior and made people skeptical about religion. If the pope really cared about people, he would forgive them out of love and not for money.

Luther was ordered to be silent, but instead he became more outspoken. He was eventually condemned by the pope, but by then he had gained a popular following. Princes throughout northern Europe saw this as an opportunity to gain political and financial independence from Rome. They soon began confiscating church property and formed their own national churches.

The pope and the emperor sent armed forces into northern Europe to exterminate all opposition and regain control. European civilization fell into a series of long and bloody religious wars. Villages and towns were burned to the ground, millions of people were killed, and millions more were forced to flee.

Over one hundred years later, nobody was winning and everybody was exhausted by war. A peace treaty was signed in 1648 and Europe was divided into Catholic and Protestant countries.

Sufism

In the 1200s, a Mongol warlord named Genghis Khan united the horse-riding warrior nomads of Central Asia into an unstoppable invasion force. After conquering much of Asia and Eastern Europe, the Mongols eventually swept into Persia and conquered the Islamic capital of Baghdad. Its people were slaughtered, its wealth was plundered, and its libraries were burned, thus bringing an end to the golden age of Islam.

Around this time, well-funded religious schools spread across the region, teaching mainly law, scripture, and theology. Science and philosophy were soon denounced as heresy. For many believers, the truth had already been revealed in the Quran and anything not conforming to Islam was largely condemned.

This led some thinkers to seek enlightenment outside of mainstream Islam. Some used cannabis to expand their consciousness. Others found spiritual euphoria by dancing in circles. Many left their homes to seek solitude in the mountains and deserts. Through quiet contemplation, they attempted to transcend this worldly life and develop a sense of oneness with the divine.

The search for deeper meaning under Islam led many to join a long established movement known as Sufism. Seeing religion as a liberating force instead of a moral burden, Sufi thinkers stressed that true religion was less about having blind faith in scripture and tradition, and more about developing an ever-deepening appreciation of God through open-minded contemplation of nature.

Jalaluddin Rumi was an orthodox cleric whose homeland was destroyed by the invading Mongols. Later in life, he met a vagabond preacher who spiritually awakened him to Sufi mystic wisdom. Rumi embraced peace and love and became perhaps the most respected poet in Islamic history. Rumi wrote...

To slay the ego brings true victory. He who subdues it is the real king. A worldly conqueror takes kingdoms, but he remains a slave to his passions. The inner king subdues the beast within, and thus rules over the spiritual realm. A man is not fit to rule over others when he is still a prisoner of his own desires.

Your enemy outside is merely a shadow; the real adversary is the fleshly ego within you. To slay this ego is the true holy war, a battle far greater than any fought with swords upon the earth. He who slays the external enemy may appear a champion, but he who slays the internal enemy becomes like a prophet.

The blind follower of religion is like a deaf man who sees a group laughing at a joke. He laughs along in imitation, yet he is entirely ignorant of the joy that caused it. His delight is merely borrowed, a shadow cast by someone else's light.

Those who read scripture literally see only the bone, but the seeker of open-minded faith sees the marrow. The blind follower copies the gestures of prayer, yet remains completely unaware of the divine aroma that sweetens the soul.

Rigid sectarians argue fiercely over the shape of the pot, ignoring that the purpose of the vessel is only to hold the water. The open-minded believer forgets the pot entirely and drinks deeply from the divine stream.

The ways of God can seem contradictory. He builds up and he tears down. He shows one face, and then another, and the mind is left bewildered. The work of religion seems confusing, but it is not a confusion that turns us away from God, it is a confusion that leads us to drink from his love and become utterly intoxicated.

Knowledge of religion is a borrowed thing. It is bought and sold, passed from hand to hand, and the one who carries it mistakes it for his own. But borrowed knowledge does not belong to the man who holds it. There is another knowledge that no one can lend you and no one can sell you. It rises from a spring within your own heart, and it is the only kind that is truly yours.

Once your heart becomes pure and clear, it will become a mirror on which pictures will appear from beyond this earthly realm. Not only will such pictures appear, but also the image of the one who painted them.

© Cosmic Nexus