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COMMUNITY
“O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”
Koran 49:13
The spread of Islam was so rapid that within a century after the death of the Prophet
(632), the Muslim faith extended from Spain to China.
Islam was a universal religion that was expressed in Arabic, the language chosen by God for the Koran. As a result, the Muslim relied on Arabic for reciting prayers, naming children, decorating a vase, illuminating a book, or embellishing a dagger-hilt.
The confession of faith in the shape of a boat.
ARABIC READS FROM RIGHT TO LEFT.
Knowledge of Arabic is indispensable to Muslim theologians.
The Reach of Islam
Islam stamped five highly-developed civilizations with its own religious character:
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Islam would spread to North and South America.
The Byzantine, Persian, Berber/African, Turkish, and Indian civilizations.
Damascus
The blossoming of Islamic civilization occurred in
DAMASCUS
probably the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. The city was the capital of the Umayyad Dynasty between 661-749. Today, Damascus is the capital of Syria.
“Damascus is a city intersected by streams and begirt with trees… Nowhere else will be seen such magnificent hot baths, nor such beautiful fountains, nor people more worthy of consideration.”
The 10th-century traveller Al-Maqdisi.
A damascene wooden jewelry box inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Khalid ibn al-Walid, the most capable military strategist in early Islamic history, entered Damascus in 635, after the capitulation of the city.
The inhabitants of Damascus did not resist the Muslim conquerors; rather, they supported them against the Byzantine rulers. Indeed, the Bishop of the city regularly brought food to Khalid, the “Sword of Allah.”
The latter responded with a benevolent treaty:
In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate. This is what Khalid would grant the inhabitants of Damascus when he enters it. He shall grant them security for their lives, properties and churches. Their city wall shall not be demolished, neither shall any Muslim be quartered in their homes. So long as they pay poll-tax, nothing but good shall befall them.
Trans. Philip Hitti.
Islam was putting to practice the toleration and coexistence which the Koran preached:
As Damascus ruled the Muslim world, Islamic culture moved closer to the Hellenized Mediterranean and away from the desert.
In Damascus, the Islamic institution gave rise to the
The courtyard of the Prophet’s
house in Medina served as the first mosque, the concept of which developed over the years to include additional features. These can be found in the
Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, a fine example of the
With the spread of Islam, mosques adapted to indigenous traditional architecture, resulting in a variety of styl...
