The advent of Islam (640–829)
The
Arab invasion of Iran made a break with the past that affected not only Iran but all of western
Asia and resulted in the assimilation of peoples who shaped and vitalized Muslim
culture. (
See also Islamic world.) The Prophet
Muhammad had made
Medina, his adopted city, and
Mecca, his birthplace, centres of an Arabian movement that Muslim Arabs developed into a world movement through the conquest of Iranian and
Byzantine territories. Neither Sasanian Iran nor the
Byzantine Empire had been unfamiliar to those Arabs who were the former’s
Lakhmid and the latter’s
Ghassānid vassals, the frontier guardians of the two empires against fellow Arabs who roamed deeper in the
Arabian Desert. Also, Meccan and Medinese Arabs had established commercial connections with the
Byzantines and Sasanids. The immunity of Mecca’s ancient
sanctuary, the
Kaʿbah, against outlawry and outrage had promoted this city’s commercial importance. The Kaʿbah was cleansed of
idols by Muhammad, who had himself once been engaged in commerce. He made it the sanctuary of a monotheistic
faith whose sacred writings were filled with the
injunctions and prohibitions needed by a
business community for secure and stable trading.
History of Iran