From Arabia Felix to the Golden Age
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The Arabs had always had a distinct identity, formed almost a millennium before the current era and long before the rise of Islam. Until the 7th century, a vibrant Arab culture arose. This culture of endlessly conflicting tribes for political and economic dominance, developed a rich tradition of powerful kings and warrior queens, as well as a strong presence in the commerce and the shaping of the social structures of the area. In this landscape a young man of exceptional talents and vision was born. Within the space of his 62-year lifetime, not only did he rise to become the prophet of a new faith - Islam - and leader of the Arab people, but also he set off a process of expansion, assimilation, and innovation that within 100 years of his death had carried Arab-Muslim civilization and the faith of Islam from Arabia across North Africa, northward into Spain and Southern France, across the Middle East, across half Byzantine Anatolia, across Persia and into Central Asia towards the gates of China, even south into India. This was one of the most exceptional developments in human history. Within little more than a century, an entirely new way of living, worshipping, thinking, and organizing society had arisen. And over the next 800 years, this new Arab-Muslim civilization would rise to become a progressive and modernizing force in the world of the time. |