cross can be clearly seen the rectangular space in which the original inscription was replaced by tesserae to
match the background color.
The Rise of the “Best Community”: Islam
Like the Byzantines, the Muslims thought of themselves as God’s people. In the
Qur’an, the “recitation” of God’s words, Muslims are “the best community ever
raised up for mankind... having faith in God” (3:110). The community’s common
purpose is “submission to God,” the literal meaning of “Islam.” The Muslim (a word
that derives from “Islam”) is “one who submits.” Under the leadership of
Muhammad (c.570–632) in Arabia, Islam created a new world power in less than a
century.
THE SHAPING OF ISLAM
“One community” was a revolutionary notion for the disparate peoples of Arabia
(today Saudi Arabia), who converted to Islam in the course of the early seventh
century. Pre-Islamic Arabia lay between the two great empires of the day—Persia
and Byzantium—and felt the cross-currents as well as the magnetic pull of their
economies and cultures. Its land supported Bedouins: nomads (the word “arab” is
derived from the most prestigious of these, the camel-herders) and semi-nomads. But
by far the majority of the population was neither; it was sedentary. To the southwest,
where rain was adequate, farmers worked the soil. Elsewhere people settled at oases,
where they raised date palms (a highly prized food); some of these communities were
prosperous enough to support merchants and artisans. Both the nomads and the
settled population were organized as tribes—communities whose members
considered themselves related through a common ancestor.
Herding goats, sheep, or camels, the nomads and semi-nomads lived in small
groups, largely making do with the products (leather, milk, meat) of their animals,
and raiding one another for booty—including women. “Manliness” was the chief
Bedouin virtue; it meant not sexual prowess (though polygyny—having more than
one wife at a time—was practiced), but rather bravery, generosity, and a keen sense
of honor. Lacking written literature, the nomads cultivated oral stories and poetry
filled with striking images: “I passed the night in watch, / lightning kindled along its
edges, / flickering, / With a dark trail behind it... .”^6
