Islamic culture
In the 19th to the 20th century, Islamic culture grew and formed Islam. In the earlier period, military expansion helped in the spreading of Islam. Also, the Introduction of trade, missionaries, and the alteration in the Islamic society political structure was influential in the spread of the Islamic culture, thus leading to more converts in Rome. The essay explains the interpretation of Europeans to Islam expansion in Rome and also the impacts that Islam had to the flow of goods on the east and west.
The Christian Europeans perceived Islam expansion as a threat. The Christian saw the Muslims as blameworthy of living in the holy land and also using their armed forces to threaten Christendom. To Europeans, Muslims were former Christian heretics that worshipped Muhammed, who was an Islamic prophet. Therefore the Europeans organized the first crusade that was to launch the liberation of the holy land from the Islam rule. However, the movements never succeeded because of the lack of enough material to sustain both the military and the political outpost from Western Europe. The campaign remained prominent as a component of the European culture in the 15th and 16th centuries when the Ottoman Empire threatened to fight over southeastern Europe and Mediterranean. It was until the treaty of Carlowitz in 1699 between the Holy Roman Empire and the Otto Empire that peace prevailed.
Even though the European perceived them as being a threat, some recognized the spreading of Islam to improving civilization in Rome. The Muslims were asked to seek knowledge at all cost. It then gave way to a civilization based on spirituality and culture. Many of the verses in the Quran encourage the believer to reason and condemn those that do not use their intellect. The Quran also advise people to study natural phenomenon like earth, animals, water, etc. The teachings lead to the Muslims learning sciences. Quran and tradition were sources used as references for the Islamic sciences and culture. Muslims benefited from science, arts, and skills, thus enriching their culture. It is through this that they managed to translate works to different languages. Muslims established many religious sciences that include theology, hadith tradition, jurisprudence, and so on. They also developed other disciplines like mathematics, physics, and philosophy and also established sciences like geology, sociology trigonometry, etc. The rise of Islam was envied because it came up with its own independent culture and learning. This was unique to many Europeans who at first were reluctant in accepting and appreciating it. Their impact, however, is evident and remains to be a fact of history. It is through the intermingling and the rising of the Islam that the European got to benefit from the civilization brought about by the Muslims.
However, Islam expansion had an impact on trading activities. The victory of the Muslims in most of the regions in Europe had a ceasing effect to the long-distance trade by the Christian European. Territories under the Islamic rules were included in the Muslim commercial sphere because they were so aggressive at that time. International trade appeared later in the Christian areas. Moreover, the crusade led to the inward flow of eastern goods and other luxuries to Europe, thus creating interest among wealthy Europeans. The trade in the European states was flourishing when merchants began to actively engage business with the Islamic people. The Muslim ports are the reasons for the advancing of the commercial activities of ports belonging to the Christian European. Goods that were imported from the east were silk, spices, cotton, perfumes, oranges, rice, etc.
In conclusion, Muslims were significant trade partners in Europe. They strengthened the European economy by facilitating European trade. They also helped in availing goods that were not in Europe, and through this; Europe became the best place for European merchants. The Muslims also enhanced civilization despite being seen as a threat by the European. The impacts of Muslims to Christian European were therefore beneficial.