Discussion Week 5
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1. Discuss "Without Muhammad there would have been no
Charlemagne."
[The Arab invasions isolated Western Europe from the eastern
Mediterranean and the Byzantine Empire. In consequence there developed
a close tie between the Papacy and the Frankish kingdoms, and this
ultimately brought about the rise of feudalism.]
2. Discuss "Islam enjoyed a Golden Age of political
stability, economic prosperity, and cultural achievement under the
early Abbasid Caliphs."
[What factors, do you think, led to the success of early medieval
Islam? Islam must have seemed a world away from the feudal structures
of rural, hierarchical life in Western Europe, where religious ideals,
economic forces and tradition bound peasants, slaves and women to
limited roles. It certainly did to European observers of Islam, who,
despite their racial and religious prejudices, were astonished by the
splendors of Islamic art, science, music and architecture.]
Copyright ©2008 Aidan Breen, Ph.D.
