Conclusion ••• 27reflects our training (especially the languages that we learn), you, as a stu¬
dent first learning about the Middle East, should avoid falling into the trap
of dismissing as irrelevant the history of the area before Islam. The achieve¬
ments of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians in hydraulic engineering have
lasted (with periodic renovations, to be sure) up to now. The world's first
law code was proclaimed in Mesopotamia by Hammurabi. The develop¬
ment of monotheism by the Egyptians and especially by the Jews was a
necessary precursor to both Christianity and Islam. Greek ideas and Ro¬
man laws are part of the heritage of the Middle East as well as the West. The
doctrinal disputes in early Christianity eventually set the direction of
Catholic and, hence, of Protestant theology, although they also weakened
Christendom's ability to withstand the impact of Islam. Sasanid Persia's im¬
perial kingship, bureaucratic traditions, and tolerance of dissident faiths set
a pattern for later Muslim-ruled, multicultural, dynastic states. The experi¬
ence of the Arabs before Islam formed the matrix for the rise of Muham¬
mad and his mission as a prophet. None of these themes is irrelevant to this
book, for ancient institutions and customs lived on in medieval Europe
and in the early Muslim world.