A.D. 600 — THE MIDDLE EAST IN DISINTEGRATION
Chapter – 1
- The Middle East played a unique role in history, where agriculture and animal domestication began around 8,000 years ago, marking a significant shift in human civilization.
- The region gave rise to two influential beams of light in Western civilization: Greek humanistic thought and Judaeo-Christian awareness of God’s presence.
- The book aims to guide readers through the history of the Middle East, particularly the Islamic or Arab Civilization.
- The Middle East’s climate changed over thousands of years, leading to the formation of fertile regions like the Fertile Crescent.
- In 600 A.D., the Middle East’s society was a result of the expansion and development of the Agricultural Civilization.
- Agriculture was not possible in the desert regions, but marginal steppe-lands supported nomadic Bedouin communities with livestock.
- Unequal distribution of goods and privileges among various social classes, with the priesthoods and military leaders holding more power.
- Technical inventiveness in industry and transport was limited, as most power was human or animal-based.
- Empires rose and fell in the Middle East, with each attempting to dominate larger areas, but facing challenges in maintaining unity and managing diverse populations.
- The Hellenistic and Roman empires had a significant influence on spreading language, culture, and commerce in the region.
- In the Roman Empire, despite a high level of material, social, and intellectual civilization, there were still unhappy and dissatisfied people who sought something beyond material wealth.
- Displaced people from various regions came together in cosmopolitan cities like Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, where they were exposed to different traditions of thought and belief, including Greek philosophical speculation.
- People displaced from their homes often turned to unlocalized mystery-religions for comfort and hope, as they lost their connection to traditional local cults.
- The Hebrew god Yahweh’s cult had been transformed during the exile and then became more nationally exclusive upon the Jewish people’s return.
- Christianity, with its universal message, began to spread, particularly among those dissatisfied with the cosmopolitan materialism of the Roman Empire.
- Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 313 A.D., leading to its rapid expansion and integration into the state machinery.
- The triumph of Christianity did not significantly improve the overall happiness of most people or change their fundamental behaviors.
- The Church became intertwined with the state, and state intervention through compulsory enactments hindered economic and social development and imposed heavy taxation.
- The unity brought by Greek language and culture and Christianity was partial, as it mainly reached the urban middle classes, while artisans and rural populations maintained their local languages and customs.
- The Christian Church was plagued by dogmatic disputes, particularly related to the concept of the Triune Godhead.
- A dispute in the fifth century over the nature of Jesus Christ’s divinity and humanity led to the Monophysite doctrine in the Levant, creating a rift between those who favored Greek reasoning and those who opposed it.
- The Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. adopted a compromise formula, but it led to a violent Monophysite reaction, especially in Egypt and Syria.
- The Monophysite movement resulted in the formation of two national churches, the Coptic Church of Egypt and the Syrian or Jacobite Church, which used Coptic and Syriac languages in their liturgies.
- In the early seventh century A.D., the Middle East was characterized by a lack of a unifying factor. The region was contested between two great military empires, the Byzantine (Later Roman) Empire and the Persian Empire.
- The Byzantines controlled the Levant but couldn’t make a lasting conquest of Mesopotamia, while the Persians made serious incursions into Syria during the sixth century.
- Despite ongoing wars, commerce and industry remained active, and there was enough wealth to build new churches, especially during the reign of Justinian.
- Towns like Jerash and Palmyra exemplified busy urban life, but beneath the surface, much of the apparent prosperity was superficial.
- Landed proprietors, wealthy religious institutions, and merchants prospered, but the urban and rural masses faced heavy taxation and corruption, leading to their disloyalty to the ruling regime.
- The Christian Church had become a stratified institution, losing the sense of brotherhood that characterized early Christianity.
- The Monophysite churches’ breakaway reflected opposition to centralization and Hellenization by the bureaucratic and ecumenical church, rather than a positive patriotic appeal.
- Successive emperors tried to reconcile with the Levant provinces through doctrinal concessions to the Monophysites, but the negotiations were complicated, and the Popes were concerned about the preservation of orthodoxy.
- The Monophysites were not inclined to compromise with the Greeks, leading to periods of persecution.
- The estrangement between the Levant provinces and the Byzantine Empire was never fully resolved, making them susceptible to external invaders offering greater freedom from imperial interference.