Mya Laliberte
Emami
Humanities I
2/28/19
Impact of ideas and beliefs is a significant enduring issue because people want something to believe in that brings them together, and gives them something they all have in common. Kind of like your group of friends, you are friends with them because you have things in common. Ideas and beliefs give people the one thing they all support bringing them together. Throughout history, religious beliefs have influenced rulers, governments, and other religions. As shown in, the Pact of Umar when the Islamic armies conquered the Christians of Syria, causing the rulers and the Christians they conquered to have a strong relationship. Iran’s government and laws are based upon harsh punishments and autocratic rules. The Mongols being open to other religions and their people, causing them to have good relationships with many people from many different religions.
In 637 CE, the Islamic Empire conquered the Christians of Syria. The Caliphates that ruled over the Islamic Empire at the time, realized that they needed a way to allow people to follow their religion while still being part of the Islamic Empire. Muhammad conquered Saudi Arabia and converted it to Islam. His successors the Caliphates, religious ruler, expanded the Empire from Spain to India. The need to consolidate their power impacted the way they ruled and caused them to create the Pact of Umar, an agreement between the Caliphs and non-Muslims, An excerpt from the Pact of Umar that originated in 637 CE and was one of the first agreements between the Caliphs and the Christians of Syria. Shows how the Christians worked with the Islamic rulers to let them follow their religion while still following the rule of the Islamic empire. Some of the things they agreed to and stated were, “We will not teach our children the Qu’ran; we will not refuse a Muslims entry into our churches.” This shows that the Christians were able to say what they wanted, to not teach their children the sacred text of Islam, helping build a strong relationship with the Caliphs because they could follow their religion while still being under Islamic rule. Similarly, the Islamic Caliphates were also able to state what they wanted, to be allowed in any churches without objection, allowing them to keep their power while still being open to the Christian religion. However, they still had some tension in their relationship because there was still separation and they weren’t unified.
A theocracy is a government based on religion. Run by religious leaders and that religions law. This was a type of autocratic government, that prevented some people from the rights they deserve. This had a negative impact on those people, such as women. In 1979, Iran became a theocracy. This shows how governments and their laws can be impacted and heavily influenced by religion. An Iranian lawyer spoke about her opinion on the change and how it will affect the people. She claimed the religious beliefs were outdated and put men above women. “If a car hit both on the street, the cash compensation due to the women’s family was half that due to the man’s,” she listed many reasons why these outdated beliefs of a religion shouldn’t control the modern day laws of a country. A woman’s testimony on the court didn’t matter as much as a man’s, A woman needed to ask her husband permission for divorce. This source does have a little bias because it is a woman speaking on women’s rights. We don’t have the point of view from a religious ruler of the country or someone who is for the theocracy. However, this does show how religious beliefs can impact a government and its people. Because the laws and government officials based around an old autocratic interpretation that was unfair to some people, and had a negative effect on women in particular. Affecting them because this theocracy gave the men more power.
The beliefs of one religion can impact those of another when they come in contact. We can see this when the Islamic Caliphates worked with the Christians to create the Pact of Umar. But we can also see this in the way the Mongols interacted with the other religions that were present in their empire. It was a crucial part of their reign in China because they built strong relationships with other powerful religions and empires. Causing them to in the end become a more powerful empire because of the impact of religion. The Mongols became so powerful because of their invention of the composite bow and the horse saddle. Because of this, they were able to conquer large parts of land creating a large empire. The large empire created a period of peace and stability so they could support other religions. They supported Islam by having many mosques throughout China and offered jobs to Muslims. This created a good relationship with the Islamic world. The Mongols were also very interested in Buddhism. They recruited Tibetan Monks to help them promote the ideas of Buddhism. Christianity was promoted because Khubilai Khan’s mother was a follower of that faith. They did however not support Daoism caused by their support of Buddhism. All these shows how the Mongols supporting and integrating other religions into their empire, helped them have strong relationships with other religions. And how other religions impacted their culture through relationships, jobs, and how the interacted with other religions such as Daoism. These strong relationships helped them as individuals become more tolerant and more caring, causing less division in their empire.
Impact of ideas and beliefs is a significant enduring issue because throughout history religion has impacted other religions, rulers and governments. Through the Pact of Umar creating a strained relationship between the Islamic Caliphates and the Christian people they conquered. The Iranian government is impacted by the Idea of theocracy and a religion based governmental system, and how it affected the Iranian people, in negative ways because of outdated autocratic rules that were unfair to some Iranian people. The Mongols being supported by many religions, creating strong ties with other religions and their people through jobs, loyalty, and relationships. Though today we still have conflicts over religious beliefs, because of autocratic governments denying people freedom of religion, causing hate between religious groups. We also have come a long way in accepting all beliefs, for example in the United States the first amendment protects an individual’s freedom of religion. Religion continues to be a source of comfort as it answers the existential questions that we face as humans, where do we go when we die, what is the purpose of life, how do we live correctly but it also continues to divide us.
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