The Islamic Enlightenment

The political system that existed among the tribal peoples in Saudi Arabia before the birth of Islam.

Before the birth of Islam the people of Saudi Arabia lived in family-based clans. These clans were dotted all over Saudi Arabia and only trusted and were loyal to family and close friends. Each clan was lead by the senior male of the family. This meant, that before Islam, they too, believe males were superior to females in the sense that they couldn't hold a powerful position in their “system” of loyalty.

The clans absolutely loathed each other to the point where if a dehydrated warrior came to clan “A” for a drink from their well, they would most usually be denied just because they came from clan “B.” These clans were in constant war-fare meaning that not many advancements were made except military at the time because they were just too busy fighting.

Another factor that divided these clans were beliefs. Each clan had their own god and believed their god was the right one and the others were wrong. This was just another reason to spark war. Each clan's god would be betrayed in an idol form. The one place these tribes didn't fight was the Ka'Ba'. it was considered to be a no violence zone, and all of the tribes knew it. This being the case, trade flourished here. Every tribe could have traders there selling their tribe's goods in exchange for other valuable goods like water, herbs, or food.

In our age and time everything is stored on paper or computers. If someone wished to learn about our history, they could simply look it up online, barrow a book from the library, or go to a bookstore, and buy a book pertaining to the topic. The clans in Saudi Arabia didn't have the technology of paper making yet, or the technology of computers, so they used animal hides and wrote poems of the great events and people of their past.

Most people at that time weren't literate, so they had a special leader sing them the poem, which in end taught the clan members of their beginnings, wars, and leaders of the past. It was the way of knowing what happened and was passed orally from generation to generation.

The central message of Islam that Muhammad preached.

Muhammad preached that people should unite, there should be one nation and believe in one god which was hard for all tribes to accept. The fact that Muhammad preached that there should be one people meant that the tribes couldn't fight anymore and grudges would have to be dropped.

It also meant that the tribes would have to change their beliefs from their gods to Allah, the god that Muhammad preach and was told by god that he was the one. The one nation part the Muhammad preached meant that the tribes would have to unite as the Islamic empire. It meant that the tribes would have to ban together and become one nation, fight off opposing forces together, and pledge allegiance to another leader, not their family elder.

The effect of this new Islamic philosophy, and how it changed the culture's political system.

Before the tribes of Saudi Arabia believed in many different gods. This new idea of Islam implied the belief in one god. For many generations, these tribes worshiped the gods of their ancestors, so it was extremely had for them to give that up and believe in a “new” god that has never been worshiped before. It forced the people of Saudi Arabia to join together into one nation. This allowed them to become more powerful, but drastically changed their life style from their ancestors.

Why the Islamic Empire spread so quickly in the Middle East, and how Islam treated other cultures and religions.

The Islamic empire was like a huge freight train flying down the tracks at 100 miles an hour, nothing was going to stop it from advancing any time soon. The empire spread quickly because of their battle tactics along with their acceptance of other cultures. They knew horses couldn't bear the weight of a rider through the desert and still be fit for battle, so they Islam Empire thought of a very useful battle tactic.

They rode camels up until about half a mile away from the opposing force's village or town, then they mounted their horses and prepared for battle. With the horses speed, the enemy's troops were caught off guard and easily wiped out and the village was in Islamic control in a very short amount of time. This battle tactic helped them vastly increase their empire to the edge of India all the way through Africa and into parts of Spain and France.

The key to having such a large empire was keeping the people happy and informed. What the Islamic empire did was, they let you keep your religion, but with a slightly higher tax rate, so the people are still happy, and the Islamic Empire makes some extra money from it. Thought this meant that you could remain catholic, or Jewish or any religion you wished to be, there was always that incentive of pay lower taxes if you were Islamic, so a good amount of conquered land's people did convert.

It also had a key way to make enormous amounts of money and spread information extremely fast compared to other civilizations. Believers in Islam had to make a journey to Mecca, and Baghdad was a centrally located area for people to go on their way there. So what people did to pay for such an expensive journey (The empire was so big it took 1 year to get from 1 end to the other, so it was very expensive to travel for 6 months to a year to get to Mecca!) was bring goods to sell in Baghdad. Because so many people passed through Baghdad, it became an immense city for trade and information. ]

At this time, a lot of dictators rule nations all around the world. The Islamic empire however, was not. For obvious reasons, dictatorships were not usually liked by the people. The Islamic empire was like an escape from the oppressive ways of their country, so people flocked there. Also, when a nation was conquered, its people usually put up resistance because they knew their lives would be better in the Islamic empire.