How Did Islam Influence The Byzantine Empire

Religion spread throughout the world a long time ago, and was used for many various reasons. For instance, it helped the military, used to influence others, and sometimes, they were also used to affect the government in different empires. The Byzantine Empire’s major religion was Christianity and it has helped govern the empire in countless ways. Also, Islam helped out with the government in Islamic Caliphates. But the religions didn’t help similarly, instead, they lent a hand to each empires very differently. Also, the effects were not always the same, they were very divergent because of the different ways they helped the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate. Until 1450, the religion played many roles including a very important one for the
As I stated before, the Islamic Caliphates’ main religion was Islam, referring to their empire name. Like Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, Islam also took a part of the government in the Islamic Caliphates. Just like the Byzantine Empire, the ruler of the Islamic Caliphate was Muslim, their most practiced religion. His name, as many of you probably know, was Muhammad (c.570-632). He is the person who found the religion and was the leader of all Muslims until his death. After his death, caliphs appeared, who were “successor of the Messenger of God.” Looking back at their name it is believable that they were the ones that ruled the Muslim community and the empire. Since they were the ones that ruled, Islamic Caliphates were mostly governed by the Muslims. The religion didn’t specifically help or effect the government, but actually governed the empire. Abū Bakr was the first caliph who ruled the Islamic Caliphates and as it states on britannica.com, “When the Prophet Muhammad died (June 8, 632 ce), Abū Bakr succeeded to his political and administrative functions as khalīfah rasūl Allāh, “successor of the Messenger of God,” but it was probably under ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the second caliph, that the term caliph came into use as a title of the civil and religious head of the Muslim state.” So it makes one understand that Muhammad was in charge of the politics and government while he was alive, and since it says that Abū Bakr succeeded to Muhammad, it means that they did the same as Muhammad, govern the Islamic Caliphates. Umar was the second caliph and he used his knowledge about politics and government that he received from the two rulers before him. This helped the Islamic Caliphates to stay put and hold itself together. This quote from www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org supports the fact that Umar was a great leader, “Umar, however, was one of the great political geniuses of history.” Under him, the empire expanded immensely and he was