Stela of an ancient Arabian deity
Tunis, Bardo Museum
The period in which the population of Arabia was polytheistic in Islam, is called the “time of ignorance.” The ancient Arabian pantheon contained a great number of gods and goddesses, and worship of the heavenly bodies — the sun, moon, and evening star — was originally a major part of the religion. In Mecca, the moon god Hubal was venerated as the god of the city, as a tribal god, and as “lord of the house” (that is, the Kaaba(. Three female deities were also worshipped: al-Uzza (Venus, or the evening star), al-Lat (the moon goddess), and Manat (the goddess of fate). They were also called “daughters of Allah,” that is, the greatest god. Muhammad’s struggle against ancient Arabian polytheism went through severa
“Oriental despotism” forms of government in the region
The “irrigation states,” a term u6d for the early advanced civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, had in common, as the earliest development of a logical concept of the stare, the form of government described by K. A.Wittfogel as “Oriental despotism.” Many institutions found in early Islamic kingdoms can be interpreted as descended from and succeeding ancient oriental forms of government and administration. This is especially true of the centralized rule of the caliphs, more particularly in the caliphate of the Abbasids.
These states shared a common interest in the extensive exploitation of water and the local inundations that left the fertile mud of the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris behind when they receded. Artificial irrigation by canals rivers and the system left behind of dam-building under the centralized administration, were pre-conditions of the prosperous agrarian culture that went hand in hand with such methods. The basis of the economy of these states was self-sufficiency, social division of labor and the performance of compulsory services, and technical progress, rapid at first, later stagnating to an increasing extent, particularly in the development of tools.
Within these states, the outcome was the construction of central cities, protected by the army, with strict urban administration, and large markets in which to trade goods such as pottery and craft products were bought and sold, while rigorous police supervision guaranteed public order and the security of commercial dealings. Class societies developed on the basis of small patriarchal family and professional distinctions, and thus urban and middle classes and upper classes formed. Urban administration was the task of professional civil servants organized in a strict and official hierarchy of well-defined areas of responsibility: in essence a fully fledged bureaucracy. Administration and legislation were centralized and a precisely adjusted system of taxation governed the distribution of goods, and there was constant expansion of the supply and exploitation of cultivated plants, although the keeping of livestock was hardly practiced at all, and was essentially the prerogative of the ruling class.
Political rule was based on theocratic foundations: the sovereign was sacrosanct because of his supposed function of mediating with the divine powers, which he demonstrated at the celebration of urban religious events, through the ceremonial calendar, and as a leader in war. He was usually regarded as the son in the divine hierarchy, and in line with ideas of religious absolutism, his rule was considered cosmic law. God-kings or priest-kings ruled the Egyptians and Sumerians. Divine worship in temples and the presence of palaces made the capitals of these kingdoms national centers. The temples also served as granaries for the storage of provisions, and goods were often directly distributed by the administrative staff of the temple, an office which increased their power. Luxury surrounded rulers, magnificent buildings, and an increasingly complex court ceremonial. As a result, they became more and more remote from the common people, while their bodyguards and close advisers gained increasing political power. A strictly organized army, quartered in barracks and divided into infantry and cavalry (or the drivers of war chariots), provided the ruler with a military fighting power that could be mobilized at any Lime to enforce his claims to dominion.
Early ideas and innovations in the sciences inclined strongly toward their practical and technological aspects: hydraulic engineering, the development of weapons of war, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, medicine, and magic were the subjects of predominant or sole interest. Common features of the states ruled by oriental despotism were economic prosperity, usually considerable, together with ever-increasing stagnation in the field of social policy.
Donate for encourage Now
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น