The Post Classical Era was a period of time that ranged from 600 BCE through 1450 BCE. This era followed the decline of the great empires but later on served as guidance for Christian and Muslim empires. The Post Classical Era was filled with fluctuation causing numerous people to seek stability through political, social and religious duties. During this time period it was extremely difficult for the people especially the Muslims and Christians; therefore, they searched for rulers to uphold their empires. From an analytical perspective based on The Ideal Muslim King by Shaikh Hamadani, and The Life of Charlemagne by Christians and Muslims did share similar duties in different aspects to create a foundation and to guide their people.
In this instance the type of rulers that will be addressed will be the Christian and Muslim rulers as oppose to
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discussing all of the rulers of the Post Classical Era. This is due to the fact that Christianity and Muslim were to two main religions of this time. When it came to Muslim and Christian rulers, the people had ideal thoughts of how their ruler should act and what the requirements should be. The people believed that if there were not any requirements then how would they know whether or not the ruler was upholding his position. The key point was that both Christians and Muslims wanted a ruler that would serve as guidance to them all. During the Post Classical Era the expectations of the people to the ruler were met which created the motion that they did indeed have ideal rulers. Although they had requirements, the level of requirements for Muslim and Christian rulers differed which was a main contrast between the two.
When it came to Muslim rulers it seemed as though they had many more requirements rather than when it came to Christian rulers. The duties of Muslim rulers were more detailed rather than the duties of Christian rulers. “There are twenty duties toward their Muslim subjects which are laid upon governors and kings and which they are obliged to perform” on the other hand Christians did not have that many expectations for their rulers. Another contrast would be that Christians cared more about appearance this is shown through the text that states “thus his appearance was always stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting” . While on the other hand Muslims focused on characteristics; this has a way of making Christians seem shallow considering it did not seem as though they cared about substance. The ideal Muslim ruler cared for society as a whole, wanting to create peace, keeping promises, having respect, demonstrating fairness, and worrying about the people to
come. Nonetheless, Muslim and Christian rulers did share some of the same key elements that an ideal good ruler should follow. A main thing they both had in common was that fact that the rulers focused more on the poor rather than constantly focusing on the rich. “The fifteenth duty is to keep the position of those who are poor and weak preponderant over that of those who are rich and powerful” this was what the Muslims believed their leader should do and what the leader did. The Christian ruler Charlemagne “was very forward in succoring the poor, and in that gratuitous generosity” , proving that he also cared for the poor. Furthermore, both of the rulers were noble men due to the fact that they gave fast and fair trials. Charlemagne gave attended to anything where judgement was needed “he had the parties brought before him forthwith, took cognizance of the case and gave his decision, just as if he were sitting on the judgement seat” . He further showed his nobility by the fact that “he performed any duty of the day whatever, whether he had to attend to the matter himself or to give commands concerning it to his officers” . For the tenth duty the Muslim ruler had to “show fairness in the exercise of the royal office and jurisdiction” this also shows nobility and fairness which the Christian and Muslim rulers had in common. The last main thing they both had in common was the fact that they both invested in their peoples place of worship. “The nineteenth duty is to build a mosque in any place where Muslims congregate” this was one of the set of rules for an ideal Muslim ruler. Charlemagne also indicated that he invested in the church due to the fact that “he cherished the Church of St. Peter the Apostles at Rome above all other holy and sacred places and heaped its treasury with a cast wealth of gold, silver and precious stones. He sent great and countless gifts to the popes” . Both rulers proved their generosity, nobility, and their support of the church in the same ways and duties. To conclude, the post classical era served as the stage for the religious rulers to cater to their people to best of their abilities. From an analytical perspective based on The Ideal Muslim King by Shaikh Hamadani, and The Life of Charlemagne by Christians and Muslims did share similar duties in different aspects to create a foundation and to guide their people. Although the Christians mostly cared about their ruler’s appearances, they did share the same generous nature as the ideal Muslim rulers who had many duties, and expectations to withhold. In the end, both rulers played an imperative role in their society by showing tremendous support for the church, nobility, and generosity.
The political structure of the Arabian and Byzantine empires greatly differed from each other. The Arabian empire was ruled over by a Caliphate. The Caliphate was the successor to the great prophet Muhammad. Politically, the Caliphate sometimes caused trouble for the stability of the empire. With multiple groups such as the Umayyad and the Abbasid believing the were in charge of the Caliphate led to conflicts and violence. An example of conflict would be towards the end of the Abbasid empire when the death of Harun al-Rashid brought several full scale revolutions. Another example would be at the beginning of Abbasid empire when they went as far as too kill off all of the remaining Umayyad leaders to sustain full control with little to no interference. Politically, the Arab/Muslim empire stretched from India and the Middle East into the Africa, the Mediterranean, and Iberia. They also had a large influence in Southeast Asia. When they conquered these areas, there was no forced conversion. On the other hand, they did enforce a higher tax for non-Muslims which prompted people to convert. Only later were there violently forced conversions. A testimony to this would be when the Muslims invaded India and did not touch the Buddhist or Hindus already there. They even respected the Hindu leadership and allowed them to continue. The Muslim empire was successful in other parts of the world due to tolerance, and continued to operate in the face of power struggles.
Although Christians initially did not support the ways of commercial life on account of how merchants were too fixated on wealth and property, they adjusted to it over time. Muslims, on the other hand, went from approving of merchants to viewing them adversely as trade grew and became more corrupt in their eyes. Still, they both agreed that traders should be honorable and principled in their exchange. The attitudes of Christianity and Islam toward merchants and trade greatly reformed from their origins until 1500.
Three Muslim empires rose during the spread of Islam. These empires are different, yet also similar. They are the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. They united other Muslims but also conquered other territories to form their own empires.
...still treated equally to Muslims in respect to how the government handled vandals and thieves. By comprehending the needs of defeated Christians, Muslims were able to achieve homage with the Christians and avoid possible uprisings during military expansions of the empire.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca where Muhammad was born in 570 CE. He became known as “the Prophet,” he was meant to be God’s final prophet. The main two groups of Islam are the Shia and Sunni; which they were created after Muhammad’s death. The Islam religion as
Einhard, in his account of Charlemagne, and Ibn Battuta, in his account of Mansa Sulaiman, give witness to the way these two kings ruled their lands and provide an insight on how culture has an effect on people’s views of their leaders. Although each one lived in different cultures, each ruler embodied similar characteristics, such as the influence of religion on their realms. However, there are several distinct differences as well, and each narrative contains cultural bias that cannot be ignored. Overall, each account thoroughly analyzes each ruler and infuses their observations with the culture of the time, which is integral in order to gain an accurate depiction of who these men were.
...t advances in art and literature in the Islamic Caliphates during its rise differed greatly from the few advances during the rise of the Byzantine Empire,
Much of past civilizations have endured many failures and triumphs throughout their existence. In the third century, there were many civilizations that started to flourish. One of these civilizations that started to expand was the Byzantine civilization. The Byzantine civilization, also regarded as Byzantium, was part of the Roman Empire which was divided in 395 AD. Byzantium had shared the same attitude, as the Roman Empire, toward exercising its authority over its citizens and throughout its empire. The Islamic civilization had started thrive in the fifth century. The Islamic civilization was unified together as unison by Islam and it has expanded its civilization throughout parts of Europe through jihad. Because of their expansions throughout parts of Europe, they shared various similarities which include their political system, social structure, and economy.
Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, “By the sword and the cross.” (Compton’s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe.
We have to admit that the Middle East in general, and specifically the Persian region and Central Asia have the same duplicated historic occasions where it relies on nomadic and semi-independent nobles that did not have any direct interaction with the central government. As demonstrated by Roy Mottahedehs, Loyalty and Leadership in Early Islamic Society displays the concept of social and ideological loyalties where the population is responsible in creating their leader that could be presumed as a military figure or an individual Shayik of having the same tribe title and religious belief. This, in fact, did exist at the beginning stages of Islamic history, were loyalties intend to be classified depending on their dynasties origin or religious belief. Loyalty is a priority for the ruler to commit on especially if he was an individual ruler of a different ideology where it ordain giving security and prosperity among these nomadic ethnic groups and religious
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned during a time of much turmoil and upheaval in Europe during middle ages. Charlemagne’s background and family history contributed much to his rise to power. The triumphs of his past lineage prepared him to take on the task of governing the Frankish Empire, and defending it from invaders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his supremacy. He not only brought education back into medieval Europe, but also invented an efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the many adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire expanded his empire across the majority of Europe. His conquests also formed strong ties between the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s drive to convert Europe’s primitive and pagan tribes to Christianity nearly effaced the Saxons, whom he battled with for the majority of his reign. The crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor created a turning point in history. Within years after his death, however, his once great empire amounted to nothing. Charlemagne’s reign as King of the Franks and as Holy Roman Emperor greatly influenced the course of Europe during the middle ages.
The religion of Islam spread and the Franks rose to power (The Reign of Justinian). Among other things, Justinian’s rule saw a flourishment in the areas of architecture, the arts, and literature. It was a time of re-building for the empire. Justinian pursued an ambitious dream of restoring the old Roman Empire. In fact, Justinian led the Byzantine army in many wars to regain this land.
hammed. Byzantine and the Muslims worlds were the very first in the western world to base their governing off of their monotheistic beliefs. The religion of Islam began in Mecca, however the beginning of the Muslim period started with Mohammed’s voyage from Mecca to Medina. The religion quickly spread from India to Spain.
Between the years of 300 and 800 C.E different cultures’ religion and politics were correlated to each other. Religion is commonly linked to politics because it is an important aspect of people lives. Even though some influences may be negative or positive towards the people, the religion’s protocol is always a major factor. Christianity caused uproar in the Roman faith, so they created laws that affected their environment and laws that were unfair to Christians. Islam positively affected the government and improved their environment. These different religions will show the different impact it brought among their people.
Religion is among one of the aspects that defines culture. This was a key concept for those living in the Middle Ages, whose lives were dominated by religion. More specifically, those in high positions of the church dominated their lives because the church provided a unified culture, or belief system. In fact, in the Early Middle Ages, rulers needed the support of the church to legitimize their rule. This was the case for Charlemagne, who united much of Western Europe and converted his subjects to Christianity. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans in 800(History). “The assumption of the title of emperor of Charlemagne in