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Islamic Practices

After Muhammad's death in 632 C.E., Islam spread rapidly to the north, east and west from the Hejaz. Within the first 25 years, Muhammad's successors, the caliphs or khalifas, extended the boundaries of what became the Muslim empire across Palestine and Syria, the whole Persian Empire, and across lower Egypt and Libya into Africa. In spite of what many Westerners believe, Muslim conquests were not achieved solely at the point of a sword. Many peoples whose lands they conquered were unhappy with their overlords. Many Christians were disheartened by the constant sectarian struggles and persecutions of early Christianity and were ready to try a monotheism that promised peace. Any conquered people who embraced Islam enjoyed equal citizenship with the conquerors, and as conquerors went, Muslims were fairer than most.

Penalties for law-breaking were often severe in Muslim lands, but in societies where the law of God governs the details of daily life (theocracy) such severity is common. In many ways Islam's social practices were more enlightened in the medieval period than societies today. For instance, except in cases where law was ignored, Islam recognized almost no possibility of heresy among Muslims. If an individual claimed to believe Islam's central creed, no Muslim could challenge the correctness of his belief. "You must curb your tongue about people who turn toward the qibla (the direction Muslims face in prayer)," said al-Ghazali. Allah is the only one able to read human hearts.

The peace that soon extended throughout the ever-expanding Muslim lands permitted the flourishing of the arts, sciences, and philosophy, as well as amplification of Muslim theology, the evolution of Sufism (Islamic mysticism), and the gradual formation of an extensive and varied body of tradition. Beginning with the Umayyad dynasty in 661 C.E., the Calilfate was made hereditary, and moved to a new capital in Damascus. A bloody dispute over the caliph's succession at this time led to the creation of two opposing Muslim factions, the Shi`ites and the Sunnis, whose disagreements still persist into the present. The golden age of Islam began a century later and lasted until the middle of the 13th century, when a variety of factors brought the Muslim empire into steady decline.

Today, the various Islamic governments in the Middle East reflect differing approaches to Muslim belief and practice. In the basics of belief, however, Muslims remain united and dedicated to the same vision preached by the Prophet in the 7th-century Hejaz.