The 13th Century: The Islamic Golden Age

From the 7th century to the end of the 13th century there were two Islamic golden ages. The first Golden Age was from about the 7th century to the 11th century. This Golden Age was society integrated in all dimensions, political, social, and moral, under the aegis of Islam. (Lapidus 14). The second Golden Age was from the 11th century to the 13h century. This Golden Age society was divided between the state and religious institutions and differentiated political and religious elites (Lapidus 13). While Muhammad was not a big influence to start out, he had a strong political and economic influence during the Islamic Golden Age, because he was not only a prophet, but the political leader of southern Arabia.
Muhammad was born in 570ad in Mecca …show more content…
When his uncle died he had no one to protect him and things got dangerous. Since things were getting dangerous Muhammad fled to Yathrib. Yathrib became known as Madinat al-Nabi (the City of the Prophet) which they called Medina. While Muhammad was in Medina, he was their teacher, judge, arbitrator, adviser, consoler, and father figure (Haleem xii). The people of Medina hoped Muhammad would be a good arbitrator for their warring tribes, as he was. Muslims were denied the right to enter Mecca. The Treaty of Al-Hudaybiya was made, which allowed Muslims to enter into Mecca the following year (Welch 21). The Meccan ally broke the truce. Muslims attacked Mecca, but the Meccan leaders accepted Islam and surrendered without a fight (Haleem …show more content…
As I mentioned earlier, there are two golden ages. In the first golden age the political, social, and moral dimensions are integrated in society. There was no difference between religion, religious authority, and the state and the secular authority (Lapidus 14). The second golden age the Middle Eastern societies were organized into different tribal, state, and church institutions. Religious groups, like the Shiite communities, Sufi lineages, schools of law, theological sects, and brotherhood, were commonly independent of the state regimes. Most withdrew from participation in government. Religious scholars wanted the state and the community to be integrated as one as the time Muhammad lived, but they were not committed in bringing this into their practice. By the eleventh century, states and religious communities were highly differentiated. Middle Eastern states asserted independence from