It’s hard to believe that the Arabs could gain so muchss success in just 150 years, and still hold it together.
Could Christianity for example, have the same success?
Could Christianity for example, have the same success?
Wow this is a good one.I dont think any one answer will be sufficient, but I have my own geopolitical theory.
In short, no singular religion had ever dominated the silk road prior to Islam.
Before Islam, being on the periphary and at least paying homage to Buddhism, Manichaeism etc was a safe bet because as a merchant and a king, it was trade from practitioners of these faiths you were likely to engage in.
But when Islam dominated the silk road, suddenly becoming a Muslim had strong advantages, and you would likely raisr your kids to be muslims etc.
It helped that pretty much every invader that took over converted to Islam outside the Crusaders which required much more outside support than they received.
I dont think any one answer will be sufficient, but I have my own geopolitical theory.
In short, no singular religion had ever dominated the silk road prior to Islam.
Before Islam, being on the periphary and at least paying homage to Buddhism, Manichaeism etc was a safe bet because as a merchant and a king, it was trade from practitioners of these faiths you were likely to engage in.
But when Islam dominated the silk road, suddenly becoming a Muslim had strong advantages, and you would likely raisr your kids to be muslims etc.
This is a good question. What's most fascinating to me is why the North African Berbers unanimously converted to Islam while still fighting the Caliphates constantly. Berbers across North Africa accepted Islam almost instantly, but fought the Caliphates for hundreds of years and destroyed a lot of colonial Middle Eastern dynasties between 700 and 1000 C.E. Puzzles me why they'd adopt the religion of their enemy while completely rejecting them politically. It would almost be like America turning completely Communist while still hating the USSR.
Part of it IMO was the extreme racism Middle Eastern Arab Muslims displayed to the first Berbers they met, but then why did they accept Islam if it was associated with an oppressor? Very fascinating, a part of history that doesn't get enough attention.
They adopted different forms of Islam (in the mindset of the times, they adopted diametrically opposed religions), during the period of the Umayyads and Abbasids, the Berber regions were hotbed for the most ghuluu (exaggerating) Shi’a sects and home to many of the more dangerous Kharijite/Shurha sects. In many ways, it was the third most troublesome region conquered by the early Islamic Caliphate, following Iraq and Iran.
I think you have missed what I was saying, namely not that Islam itself created order but that its dominance of the region made conversion far more profitable than other religous alternatives for those on the periphery.Is that so? It is my position and contention that the Silk Road ended in any substantial way during the rise of Islam. If we chart the history of the Silk Road even just after the fall of the Kushan Empire or the rise of Islam, we see the decline of order in Central Asia until the Mongol hordes united the regions. For instance, in the Abbasid period, the region of the Silk Road at least the western portion, was a place where war prevailed. The old princes of the Silk Road were either conquered by the Muslim armies, Tang or Tibet abd later by the Qhara Qhanids and other hordes.
The Silk Road certainly returned during the Samanid Empire, which kept open the trade routes of Central Asia, and Khazar Khaganate, which established a new northern land route that passed through the Pontic Steppe. Archaeological finds in Sweden and Norway examining Viking Age coin hoards have found substantial numbers of silver dirhams from the Abbasid and Samanid Empires, with the relative frequency of Samanid coins indicating an intensive trade between Scandinavia and Middle Asia from about 900-960 AD. Logically these would have been only the last scraps of the Silk Road trade that made it to the far north, and the Silk Road must have continued in higher intensity in Asia. Connections with China were looser, but Sogdian merchants produced and distributed their own silk in the Uighur Empire and continuing through Islamic conquests.Is that so? It is my position and contention that the Silk Road ended in any substantial way during the rise of Islam. If we chart the history of the Silk Road even just after the fall of the Kushan Empire or the rise of Islam, we see the decline of order in Central Asia until the Mongol hordes united the regions. For instance, in the Abbasid period, the region of the Silk Road at least the western portion, was a place where war prevailed. The old princes of the Silk Road were either conquered by the Muslim armies, Tang or Tibet abd later by the Qhara Qhanids and other hordes.
There was no free movement thus in the same sense that existed between the Han Dynasty and Kushan-Yuezhi Empire (which in my opinion is the only true period of the Silk Road). Rather, we see trade in the Islamic period move closer to the Persian Gulf and the ever growing networks gained by conquest, such as in India.
Certainly there was Muslim merchants in China, however it is not as if there was uninhibited movement or even free movement. Rather, it was a period wherein war was constant and the cities once known for great merchant enterprises, declined and or were destroyed.
Plus, Asia Minor was perceived as the core and most important part of the Roman Empire by that point other than Constantinople, being named "Rum" by Muslims.The Romans had persecuted those who dissented from Greek Orthodoxy and there was a lot of discontent outside of the core Orthodox area (Greece/Anatolia). When the Muslims invaded, they won a lot of popular support with their promise to treat all Christians (and Jews) equally as "people of the book," giving them tolerance as long as they paid jizya. Conversely, the core Orthodox regions remained faithful to Constantinople and the Arabs failed to conquer them.
The Silk Road certainly returned during the Samanid Empire, which kept open the trade routes of Central Asia, and Khazar Khaganate, which established a new northern land route that passed through the Pontic Steppe. Archaeological finds in Sweden and Norway examining Viking Age coin hoards have found substantial numbers of silver dirhams from the Abbasid and Samanid Empires, with the relative frequency of Samanid coins indicating an intensive trade between Scandinavia and Middle Asia from about 900-960 AD. Logically these would have been only the last scraps of the Silk Road trade that made it to the far north, and the Silk Road must have continued in higher intensity in Asia. Connections with China were looser, but Sogdian merchants produced and distributed their own silk in the Uighur Empire and continuing through Islamic conquests.
Plus, Asia Minor was perceived as the core and most important part of the Roman Empire by that point other than Constantinople, being named "Rum" by Muslims.
I think you have missed what I was saying, namely not that Islam itself created order but that its dominance of the region made conversion far more profitable than other religous alternatives for those on the periphery.