Islam Empire of Faith Part 4

the destruction of the idols was a new beggining
a breaking from the past and the creation of
a powerful new force,
mecca was just the beggining
one after another, the tribe of the nation was summoned into the folk
and unity and onto the banner of islan
a worldwide community of faith was began
born in a extraordinary alingment of history personality and conviction
what mohammed dis was to bring a sense of solidarity a sense of mission
and he united all the seperated segment within the peninsula
from denna moves, eastward, westward, northward, southward
The Muslims turned to the north, threat into present they´re living in serious
They continued west, into Egypt, and quickly across North Africa,
fortifying the coastline of the Mediterranean.
Only the seas stopped them.
Its growth was so explosive
from 622, Year 1 of the Islamic calendar.
Within 50 years,
people whose fathers had been camel herders
were now governing one of the major empires in world history.
Within 200 years it extended from Spain to China.
The Muslims absorbed the Sasanian Empire of Iran
and two thirds of the Christian Byzantine Empire.
By now the empire was larger than Rome.
It stretched from Morocco in the west
to the Indus River in the east, where the border of India is today.
How had it happened,
that so small an army could conquer an area so large, so fast, so easily?
Islam's success in expanding into the central Middle East
then across North Africa
was due in large part
because people were fed up with previous regimes.
So the idea that Muslims were going across the world saying that "Convert or Die"
is really not accurate, not at all.
They didn't have a heavy hand, they didn't rule with a heavy hand.
They allowed the conquered people to maintain their administrative structures.
They allowed the Christians and the Jews to maintain their religious law
and to be governed by them.
And so, in many cases, conquered peoples did not feel
the presence of the new regime very heavily.
Certainly for individuals who felt themselves exploited or downtrodden
by an oppressive and even sometimes parasitic priesthood,
the idea of Islam being a religion essentially free from clergy
must have seemed very attractive.
It's the times that create the movement and sometimes the men.
The Roman Empire had collapsed.
The Byzantine Empire wasn't strong enough.
There was a need for a new vision, a new way of looking to life
and i think what happened at that time,
Muhammad's mission filled the void that the societies wanted.
They really wanted some sort of solidarity in their lives.
The lessons of the Qur'an,
so successful for the Muslims in Medina and Mecca,
were playing out on a global scale.
As the conquest swept through Syria,
the Muslims held their friday prayers
in the church of St John the Baptist in Damascus...
allowing its Christian congregation to continue their services on Sunday.
Side by side, the two faiths shared the same building, in peace.
As the Muslim community grew,
they bought the old church from the Christian congregation
and built a huge mosque on the site.
With Byzantine artisans, they decorated it with golden mosaics of an Islamic paradise.
The Great Mosque of Damascus would become a model for new mosques to come,
all across the empire.
The Arabs transformed their conquered lands,
maintaining, improving or expanding the infrastructure.
In Tunisia, building on Roman ruins,
they devised an ingenious system of water purification,
using gravity to separate fresh water from sediments.
Part of this system were these two enormous basins
that they built outside the city walls.
The clean fresh water would flow over into the larger basin
where it would then be distributed by pipes to the city.
This is, you know, hundreds of years before
anyone in Europe ever thought of having running water.
All over you find schemes for bringing water from the mountains,
where there was more water,
to the plains, where there might be less water.
They resurrected elaborate irrigation systems,
filling the old stone aqueducts with precious water.
Agriculture flourished
as life-giving staples like wheat were introduced to the Mediterranean region.
the muslims safe the most monumental feat for the holy city of jerusalem
Islan first great work of art is the dome of the rock it was built
in the city that was holy to christian and jews and it´s spetacular
like mecca and the cabba the significance of this holy site
goes back to hebram for the rock within it´s said to be
the place he nearly sacrifice his son
it was built to rival nearby church of the holy sepulcher
where jesus was set to have being bette
what is pern in the dome of the rock is how perfect it´s
people who veer this site as some place holy to hebramm and to isaac
imagine if look this new guy comin in an taking over this piece of prime really state
and building a new building for a new religion
that sits on the top of the mountain that sparks and glitters in the
sunlight for everyone to see
this is not something that apply by night
this is something big and important
Islan has come to stay
In just 100 years,
Muhammad's vision had transformed the spiritual and political map of the world
and his followers had established an empire larger than Rome.
But Muhammad never lived to see it.
In the 11th year of the Islamic calendar,
632 AD, only two years after the taking of Mecca,
Muhammad died.
Medina fell into despair.
For days, the city was consumed with sorrow and ceremony.
He's known to have said that he wanted to be buried very simply
with no marker over his grave.
He didn't want people to worship his grave.
That would interfere with their worship of God.
God had spoken to them only through Muhammad.
Now that the Prophet had left them, perhaps God would as well.
Muhammad's death set up a crisis in the young Islamic community.
The question of succession was the first thing that really occupied people's concerns.
At this point there was a divergence of opinion as to how
the community should go about choosing a new leader.
According to the Shi'ites, a faction, the Shi'a of Ali,
Muhammad had indeed designated Ali his son-in-law and cousin, as his successor.
The opinion that came to be the majority, or Sunni opinion
held that Muhammad had not appointed a successor during his life
but had said "After I am gone, choose one from among your peers,
from among the elders."
And from the house there came out a man who would be his successor, Abu Bakr.
And he addressed the people and said...
"If you worship Muhammad, know that he is dead"
"If you worship God, know that he lives forever. "
Here was the secret to Islam's strength and profound influence...
the unifying power of one God, merciful and compassionate,
the power of one people, bound by a common faith.
Muhammad did not lead the conquest of create the empire to come
The transforming power of his message did.
Out of that message would spring a font of knowledge
that would transform humanity,
as Islam continued to spread its reach far and wide.
Awaiting the Muslims would be a new age.
They would be destined for enlightenment, for new horizons,
and a clash of great powers
the like of which the world have never seen...