Islam is the second largest religion and the fastest growing religion (by fertility, not by conversions) on earth. For 1400 years it has been in an existential struggle against all others for earthly power.
By Mark D. Harris
The Middle East in AD 600.
The Middle East in the late 6th century AD bristled with thorns. The Byzantines and Persians crossed swords time and time again. Christendom rent itself over theological disputes, with arguments sometimes ending in blood. The Jews, having lost their homeland to the Romans over 400 years before, got on as best they could as minorities in societies very different from them. Justinian’s Plague, an outbreak of yersinia pestis, killed at least 15 million people from 541-549, depopulating farms and cities alike. A volcanic eruption in 535 covered the earth’s atmosphere with ash, darkening the sun and causing a year-old cold spell that caused a mass famine in the northern hemisphere.
In Arabia, Bedouin tribes and their livestock moved from pastureland to pastureland as they had done since the days of Abraham and Ishmael. In accordance with tradition, they raided, looted, burned, and murdered each other. Townsmen, who lived in settlements built near the rare oases in the desert, made a living from making and trading goods and services. Traditional Arab pagans worshipped many gods of whom Allah was only one. Mecca was a site of pilgrimage, and the Kaaba in Mecca housed the holy black stone. Christianity, Judaism, and paganism shaped the thinking of men.
