Islam: (610 - 1750) After the death of Muhammad the Prophet, his father-in-law Abu Bakr became the first caliph and re-established the Muslim authority in the Arabian Peninsula. Islam continued to spread through conquests, and by the eighth century Islam forces had conquered Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain. Islam was an integral political element in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, and because Muslim was concentrated in cities, many people flocked to the cities for pilgrimage, education and trade, fostering a diverse Islamic population. Sunni-Shiite schism: (632 - 1750) The split occurred after Muhammad’s death over the issue of succession. Where the Shi’ites wanted the line of leadership to remain in the family, supporting Ali, Sunnis favored the idea of an elite leader, supporting the Umayyad Caliphate. Iran, Iraq, and southern Lebanon were where the Shiite minority were concentrated, but the Sunni distribution extended to include most of the Arabian peninsula, North Africa, and West of Iran. Before 1500, Persia had been a center of Sunni scholarship, but with the Safavid dynasty came the Shiite dominance. Christianity: (30 - 1750) While Christianity was founded on the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the way into salvation, the official religious spread did not begin until after his death and alleged resurrection. After Paul the Apostle’s conversion in 35 CE, he mission work made its way to Greece, Italy, and the Middle East. In the fourth century, the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official state religion of the Byzantine Empire, which encouraged conversion in Spain, Italy, North Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Mediterranean states spread Christianity to …show more content…
However, some of his ideas caught on in the Mesopotamian and Sassanid Persian areas, where Islamic rulers tolerated the Nestorian minority. In the 7th century, Nestorian ideas were introduced to the Tang emperor and a small monastery was put up in Chang’an. The Nestorian church, called the ‘Church of the East”, expanded their ideas along the Central Asian trade routes, but was never widely popular in Rome. Nestorians found success under the tolerant Mongol Empire, but diminished alongside the fall of the Mongols.
Hinduism: (1 - 1750) Hinduism emerged as a revision of old Vedic religion with Dravidian and Buddhist elements, and gained popularity in India, becoming the prominent religion in the Gupta Empire. Early Hinduism may have spread when Brahmins entered Southeast Asia with trade. The adaptability of Hinduism encouraged a rapid spread throughout India. Under the Vijayanagara Empire, Hinduism was dispersed throughout Malaysia, the Philippines, and