Was Islam really originally an religion or a technique to unify an arab empire?

Question

Granted that before Islam spread the Arabs past the borders of Saudi Arabia into land that Jews for thousands and Christians for hundreds of years had been living in, do you think that originally the religion of Islam was just a techinique invented by a camel herder named Mohammed to unify the nomadic idolater Arab tribes and create the Arab empire of the middle east?

Answer 1

Yes.
Muhammed used Islam as a way to unite the Arabs in one theocratic empire. Arabia was a place of many different pagan religions, and he brought them together under one religious regime.

Answer 2

I think the primary goal was to stop the "vendetta culture" that was plaguing the Arabian land at the time.

In another light it could have been a reactionary movement. Mecca at the time was a large trading centre and the people were giving up the values of the tribe to live a decadent life of the merchant.

Don't malign camel herders, many of the influential people (right or wrong) have come from humble origins.

The second one is a hypothesis I have and if it turns out to be true, it would start to explain a lot about the current relationship between the Middle East and the Western world.

Answer 3

Muhammad (PBuh) spoke out on numerous occasions against this type of ideology (nationalism) stating: "Let people stop boasting about their forefathers who have died, who are merely fuel for the Hell Fire; or they will certainly be more insignificant with Allah than the beetle which rolls dung with its nose. Allah has removed from you the partisanship of the days of jaahiliyyah (refers to the Pre-Islamic days) and the boasting about one's forefathers. Indeed a person is either a pious Believer or a wretched sinner. All of mankind are the children of Adam, and Adam was created from clay. [Related by Abu Dawood and at-Tirmithi]

Muhammad (PBuh) also said: "Indeed there is no excellence for an Arab over a Non-Arab, nor a Non-Arab over an Arab, nor a white person over a black one, nor a black person over a white one, except through piety.” [Related by Ahmad]

The Qur’an is filled with the same message. One example of this is in the following verse: "O’ mankind, we have created you from male and female and have made you into nations and tribes, that YOU MAY KNOW ONE ANOTHER. Indeed the most noblest of you with Allah is the one who has the most piety." [Surah al-Hujuraat 49:13]

Regardless of one’s color, nationality, or tribe, anyone who believes in the Islamic message is part of the brotherhood.
Had these people allege for the purpose of uniting the Arabs, then why would he have put the exact opposite message? We can see that this Islamic message actually divided the Arabs into two distinct groups: Muslims and non-Muslim.

Muhammad (PBuh) also had companions that were from different tribes and were other than Arab.

Answer 4

It is by design that the cult of islam has a built in anticritisim mechanism.

If we only know and hear of the good attributes of something, how can we not be seduced by said thing?

Would not feces be more pleasant or less unpleasant if we masked thine odor?

Three very gifted social geniuses stalin, mohamed, and hitler.

Attached our religious success to SEX and we will motivate an army!!! 72 virgins for martyrs, four wives for any muslim man, wives as young as nine years old if you go that way, male is in power and can control his women or beat them into SUBMISSION as is God's will "WINK WINK" <<< now that is seductive!

and then the brain washing: PRAY morning noon and night PLUS two more times... that'll brain wash the bastards!

Answer 5

there was no such country as Saudi Arabia when the Prophet lived. It was Britain and the USA that divided up the middle east into all these different countries. Why does Britain and the USA seem to be at the root of all problems?

Answer 6

Islam is a religion for all of mankind. The largest population of Muslims are actually Asian.

Answer 7

a religion. it did not become widespread until a few years after its establishment after a king converted

Answer 8

does it matter what i think or what you think???


the fact is that it is the 2nd largest religion in the world. read the Quran, understand it and learn about Islamic history and you won't be saying some thing like that.

Answer 9

Islam is the universal religion addressing all mankind. The meaning of Islam is actually the unconditional and peaceful submission to the One and Only God, Who is the Creator of existence. When God refers to Himself in the Qur’an, He does not limit His divinity to a certain category or sect of humanity. On the contrary, He declares Himself to be God of all beings and worlds:

{Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;}*(Al-Fatihah 1:2)

He never defines himself as the God of all Arabs or even the God of all Muslims only, but He is God of all things, including all mankind:

{God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs.}*(Az-Zumar 39:62 )

On the other hand, Islam regards any person who submits to the Creator and who calls to this submission as a true Muslim. According to the Qur’an, all prophets who called to the idea of submitting to God, throughout the history of humanity, are true Muslims:

*{Say: "We believe in God, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to God do we bow our will (in Islam)."}*(Aal `Imran 3:84)

Accordingly, prophets and messengers sent by God to call mankind to Islam were not mostly Arabs, but they were from different nations, backgrounds and races. Among the Arab ones were Prophet Salih and Messenger Muhammad, the last of all prophets (peace be upon them all).

Thus, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is considered God’s final messenger to all mankind, not to Arabs or people of the Prophet’s time only. God has declared this repetitively and explicitly in the Qur’an, when He addressed or mentioned Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):

{We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.}* (Al-Anbiyaa' 21:107)

*{We have not sent thee but as a universal (Messenger) to mankind, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men understand not.}*(Saba' 34:28)

{Say: "O mankind! I am sent unto you all, as the Apostle of God, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in God and His Apostle, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in God and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."}*(Al-A`raf 7:158)

{Blessed is He who sent down the criterion to His servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures;}*(Al-Furqan 25:1)

I would also like to add that since Islam is God’s last universal message to all His servants, conveyed through His final messenger, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), its principles strongly support the concept of equality between all mankind. Islam emphasizes that the criterion that ranks one person higher than another is never his race, color, kind, nationality or wealth, but rather, it is his devotion, piety, and strength of faith. For Allah, there is no distinction between an Arab and a non-Arab except according to the piety of the believer. In addition, the Qur’an also confirms this principle:

{O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).}*(Al-Hujurat 49:13)

This principle was always fulfilled and proved throughout the history of Islam. Numerous non-Arab figures played fundamental roles in supporting the foundation of the Islamic civilization throughout its history. Worth mentioning are the great companions of the Prophet like Salman the Persian, Sohaib the Roman and Bilal the African, along with others. Those great companions played fundamental roles in spreading Islam when it was still in its early ages. They were also known to be of great devotion and piety among the companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Later, in the history of the Islamic civilization, among the greatest scholars specialized in the different disciplines of Islamic studies, were many non-Arab figures. Among the numerous great Islamic empires, there were many non-Arab rulers. An important example is the Ottoman Empire. It was a powerful Muslim Turkish empire, that dominated the Muslim world since the mid of the 16th century till the beginning of the 20th century.

The criterion of bondage between the individuals of the Muslim nation is not their race, but rather, it is their sincere belief and submission to the One and Only God. Yes, it is a fact that Arabs played a major role in the history of Islam, especially in its early ages, for they served as a means for communicating this great religion to all mankind. This is due to more than one reason, among which is that God’s final messenger was an Arab. If he was not so, and if he was from any other race, his people would have played the same role carried out by the Arabs. Actually, statistics prove that Islam has spread enormously among non-Arabs and that Arabs make up only 20% of the Muslim nation today.

i just answered u cause i really hate ignorance.

wish this give u some information u need.

Answer 10

nope.