The Great Muslim Empire

The phrase “quality over quantity” usually applies to many lessons in life, teaching how the quality of something should be considered more heavily rather than the amount. However, one exception to this phrase is the understanding of how the great Muslim Empire was able to grow so strong. This is because it was quantity that brought it many powerful qualities. Founded in the early 600 C.E.’s by the prophet Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula, the Muslim empire eventually spanned from Spain to Afro-Eurasia, making it one of the biggest empires in world history. After Muhammad’s death in 632, the Muslim population was under the rule of wise caliphs, making decisions that lead to their cities prospering in many fascinating perspectives (TCI textbook).

With a massive population, the demand for satisfactional resources was high. Therefore, the search for these resources was one of the main reasons for expansion as they were free to explore the lands once they conquered it. When the Fatimids conquered Cairo, they took control of the gold mines of Nubia. The gold then served as currency for them to pay huge armies and buy essential supplies (Doak 76). This means that the advantages of expansion to Cairo were gaining the freedom to access gold and use it. This proves that expansion strengthened the Muslim Empire because this brought the people to the discovery of new materials, which then served very useful functions to them. As can be seen, the people created a prominent system of currency out of the gold they obtained. In other words, this developed political and economical stability and functionality to the empire. Hence, the Muslim Empire was more established and fixed due to expansion. Within the great population, expansion did not only encourage economic and political success, but it also promoted the expansion of a united and bold

With conquering new lands inhabited by foreign populations, the cultural aspects of the Muslim Empire influenced those people greatly. “This began with Arabic, which was the official language of the empire and was required for all government business… conquered peoples soon began learning to speak and write Arabic” (Doak 73). In addition to the language, their dominant religion, Islam was enforced upon them. Although conversion to Islam was by choice and not by force, the Muslims thoughtfully encouraged and persuaded many non-Muslims to convert (“Expansion of the Islamic Civilization”). This means that the people of the conquered lands ultimately had to accept and adapt to the characteristics of the Muslim culture, such as the Arabic language and the religion of Islam. This supports that expansion strengthened the Muslim empire because with spreading their culture to a group of different people, the empire gained converters, followers, and strong supporters. Therefore eventually, a growing population was united with the common purposes, perspectives, and loyalty, which made the empire intellectually stable and orderly. As can be seen, with the impacts of expansion on the Muslim empire, their population grew in cultural unity and