Microsoft Word hoArab Civilizati doc

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Arab Civilization 

The Arabs were originally the people of the Arabian desert. Converted to Islam in the 7

th 

century A.D., they conquered the Middle East from the Sassanian and Byzantine empires 

and established a succession of Arab-Islamic Middle Eastern empires from Spain to 

Central Asia and from the Caucasus to India. More profoundly, Islam, as well as its laws 

and doctrines, became the universally accepted religion and culture of the Persians, 

Turks, and many other peoples. What is referred to as Arab Civilization is a combination 

of certain classical Arab values [see Arab], Islamic culture and institutions, the inherited 

knowledge of the great civilizations of the Old World, and the unity provided by the 

Arabic language. The Arabs preserved and built upon existing knowledge in the realms of 

government, literature, philosophy, history, art and architecture, music, physical and 

mathematical sciences, biology, medicine, engineering, navigation, and commercial law. 

Although Arab control over Islamic empires proved ephemeral, Islam continued to 

flourish as a religion and civilization of the Middle East. Currently, one fifth of the 

world’s population is Muslim, and Islam has become the second largest religion in both 

Europe and North America.