Arab Civilisation:-
The mostly nomadic and illiterate Arabs had only the rudiments of a ' civilized' society. What historians speak of, ' Arab civilisation', was and is a misnomer.
It was not Arabian either in its origins or in its ethnicity.
The most fundamental and only contributions of the Arabs were the Arabic language and the Quran. The Arabs conquered civilizations in the east and the west which have been in existence for more than 3500 years. They ' Arabised' these countries.
A lot of Jews, Christians, Persians, Syrians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, etc., helped in running the finances, commerce, translation, administration etc of these vast territories. The Arabs had neither the knowledge nor the wherewithal of administering themselves to start with, let alone an empire.
The Arabs IMPOSED upon the conquered peoples the following:
1 The Arabic language (so that they could read the Quran) and Arabic names.
2 Their holy book, the Quran.
3 The Arabs' new Cult Belief System of Muhammadan Islam.
4 The Qibla towards Mecca, a pagan Arabian holy place to start with.
5 The Hajj to an Arabian holy shrine.
6 Fasting, an Arabian tradition.
7 The Arabian manner of dress for the conquered women of the Empire.
8 The Arabs DESTROYED all the holy books of the Zoroasterian/ Persians, the Hindus and the Buddhists.
9 The Arabs destroyed all the so called 'pagan temples' of the Persians, Hindus and Buddhists.
10 The Arabs took over and converted Synagogues and Churches into Mosques.
11 The Arabs imposed ONEROUS taxations on the conquered peoples forcing hundreds of thousands of them to convert to 'Islam' to escape these taxes.
12 The Arabs gave only ONE choice to the UNBELIEVERS: CONVERSION or DEATH.
13 In almost every country that they conquered, the Arabs made sure that the HISTORY of that country starts ONLY from the moment of their SUBJUGATION by the Arabs, since any history prior to the moment of conquest is considered NULL & VOID.
It is not so ironic afterall, that peoples conquered by the Arabs have been so brain washed and subsumed into the Arabic traditions that they have inadvertently allowed themselves to loose their identity, culture, traditions and history.
Take the Egyptians for example; they had a civilization which was already almost
3500 years old when the Arabs conquered them. The conquerors were not of such enormous numbers as to have overwhelmed the Egyptian population. Yet, unfortunately and perversely, many Egyptians speak of themselves as Arabs. The same is true of the Sudan and many North African states.
They are Arabised They are not Arabs.
The British conquered India and many portions of Africa. In both India and the new political entities in Africa, the English language is used to run their countries since they otherwise would have to cope with hundreds of dialects. They even have, in many states, Christianity as their religion. Are they then ' English'? The answer is obviously NO. They are Anglicised.
The most undeniable contribution of the Arabs was that they brought together diverse peoples and ideas from East and West and allowed them - for a short while, under tolerant Muhammadan leaders - to exchange knowledge, religious thought, philosophy, science etc.
This fertile environment allowed - at the beginning - the cross pollination of ideas which then produced many of the most important intellectual advances at the time in the fields of science, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, trade, philosophy etc.
These advances in across the board knowledge happened, in general, as a result of the interchange of ideas and not because of any Arab pre-meditation, contribution or input to the matter.
These advances occured under the 'umbrella of Muhammadan Islam'; IN SPITE of Muhammadan Islam and NOT because of it.
Note: This subject is discussed also in the Definitions Section of
Islamic/ Mawali Civilization ***
