Religion and the World of Islam

Islam had its beginnings in the urban environment of Mecca, an important trade centre in western Arabia, during the seventh century A.D. Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions today and claims a following of at least one billion people. From a political and sociological point of view, the beginnings of Islam can be explained as an attempt to develop a new community based on universal criteria rather than on the more parochial concerns of the tribe. The relationship of the Bedouin to the political world of Islam has had a topsy-turvy history. Armies composed mainly of Bedouin tribesmen from Arabia quickly conquered most of the Byzantine Empire and Iran and established a far-flung Islamic Empire that eventually reached from Spain across North Africa and southwest Asia to India and China. In Arabia, the Al Saud and the Al ash-Shaikh sought drastic changes among the Bedouin and their incorporation into the structure of the new Islamic state.