Mohammedan Culture A

(Originally written July 24, 2006 in Book 5)

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell

Chapter X - Mohammedan Culture

So after my 16 hour shift at AWS I came home and worked on "The Utopian Project" and am currently pleased with the rough draft as of yet. But I need to set up the events of WWIII in a chronological order rather than apply it in a haphazard way.

But I am relatively annoyed at the moment about today's events. She didn't get up until 2 pm in the afternoon. Then we went to go get lunch in Gas City because grocery shopping was delayed because Heather was coming with us. We ended up not eating out because we couldn't spare the money yet here in Muncie she dropped $20 on canvas material and I'm sure she'll drop an equal amount on paint supplies in Hobby Lobby.

(Omitted Paragraph Not Suitable for Blog) (I'm sure your curious now...)

Chapter X - Mohammedan Culture

The Hegira launched the age of Mohammedanism in 622. The Hegira was Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina.

Mohammed died in 632 and the Arab conquest of former Roman territory began shortly after. Syria was invaded in 634, conquered in 636. Persia was invaded in 637, conquered in 650. India was invaded in 664. Constantine was invaded in 669 and then again in 716-17. Egypt was conquered in 642. Carthage was conquered in 697.

The Arab Empire was an absolute monarchy under the power of the Caliph (who was the descendants of Mohammed). The first dynasty of the Arabs were the Umayyads and reigned until 750. The Umayyads accepted Mohammed on political levels and opposed religious fanaticism.

The Persians were much more religious than the Arabs and their conversion to Islam radically changed Islam itself.

The Islamic religion was divided into two sects after the death of Ali (Mohammed's son-in-law) in 661 into the Sunni and the Shiah. The Sunni have always been larger. The Shiah followed Ali and disliked the Umayyad Dynasty.

The Umayyad were overthrown by the Abbasids through Persian influence. The capital of the Empire moved from Damascus to Baghdad. The Abbasids were more fanatical but they lost Spain to the remnant of the Umayyad family.

Tarun-Al-Rashid was the best known Abbasid Caliph and was a contemporary of Charlemagne. He is known through The Arabian Nights. His empire stretched from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Indus. Rashid's will was absolute and traveled with an on-call executioner. The Abbasid dynasty lost the power and prestige after Rashid died due to the insubordination of the Turks, who were most of the army. The Abbasid Dynasty lasted though until 1256 when the last Caliph was murdered, along with 800,000 inhabitants of Baghdad by the Mongols.