Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Rise of Islam
Reminders of Christianity are scattered across
Jordan today, for instance in the observance of
the faith in towns such as Madaba. But listen to
the bells peal on a weekend and moments later
they will be replaced by the Muezzin's call to
prayer from the neighbouring mosque. Islam is
present not just in Jordan's mosques but in the
law, in social etiquette and at the very heart of
the way people live their lives - in Bedouin
camps as well as in modern city centres. So how did Islam reach here and how did it re-
place Christianity as the dominant religion?
From 622 (10 years before the death of the Prophet Mohammed) the armies of Islam
travelled northwards, quickly and easily spreading the message of submission (Islam) well
beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Although they lost their first battle against the Christian
Byzantines at Mu'tah (near Karak) in 629, they returned seven years later to win the
Battle of Yarmouk. Jerusalem fell in 638 and Syria was taken in 640. Islam, under the
Sunni dynasty of the Umayyads, became the dominant religion of the region,
headquartered in the city of Damascus, and Arabic replaced Greek as the lingua franca.
Within 100 years Muslim armies controlled a vast empire that spread from Spain to India.
The Umayyads' rich architectural legacy included the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. In eastern Jordan, the Umayyads' close attach-
ment to the desert led to the construction of a string of opulent 'desert castles' (
Click
Despite the blossoming of Islamic scholarship in medicine, biology, philosophy, archi-
tecture and agriculture over the next three centuries, the area wedged between Jerusalem
and Baghdad remained isolated from the sophisticated Arab mainstream. This is one reas-
on why Jordan possesses relatively few demonstrations of Islamic cultural exuberance.
Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law, the caliph Ali,
was assassinated in 660. He was succeeded by
Mu'awiyah, who established the Umayyad dynasty
(661-750). The bitter dispute over this succession
split Islam into two factions, the Sunnis and the
Shiites.
HISTORY OF A HIGHWAY
When pondering the King's Highway, a fair question is to ask: 'which king?' In fact, the highway was never the per-
sonal project of royalty: it gained its name through the sense of major thoroughfare, often referred to in the Arabian
Orient as 'royal road'.
