THE CONDITION OF THE NEIGHBORING REGIONS IN THE PREISLAMIC PERIOD

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia is one of the oldest settlement regions of the world, and was founded by the Saba, of Semitic origin, who came from south-eastern Arabia; they soon became one of the dominant powers in the region. Over time Ethiopia became an important link in international trade between the Mediterranean and the Far East when it gained control of ports in the Red Sea.

The people of Ethiopia experienced a religious transformation after King Ezana became a Christian in the fifth century. Later, in the first half of the sixth century, Yemen was influenced by Judaism. As the ruling Himyar king in Yemen, Zu Nuvas, embraced Judaism and suppressed the Christians in the region, the Yemeni Christians, overwhelmed by this oppression, asked for help from their Christian friends in Ethiopia, and as a result Ethiopia invaded Yemen. The Ethiopians began to rule Yemen, with governors being sent from the center who aimed to transform Yemen into one of the important centers of Christianity. The Kullays church was built in Sana. Ebhere, the governor of Yemen, set out on a military campaign to Mecca in 570 in order to destroy the Kaaba, which he saw as a rival of this church, and to take control of the entire Hejaz. The failure of this campaign, which occurred in the year that Prophet Muhammad was born and which turned the people of the Ethiopia against each other, led to the weakening of the dominance of Ethiopia in Yemen. The clashes occurring between the people of Yemen and the invading Ethiopians quickened this process. Soon the Ethiopians were expelled from the region by the Sassanids, the most important power in the region, and thus Ethiopia no longer had a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula. The ensuing power struggles in Ethiopia caused them to lose interest in Arabia. This situation continued until the first Muslims embraced Prophet Muhammad’s invitation to Islam. They were persecuted and tortured, and they fled to Ethiopia to take shelter there. Ethiopia became known as the first state to offer shelter and embrace believers during the early years of Islam and it also earned an important place in the history of the spread of Islam with Najashi Ashama, who was the first foreign ruler outside Arabia to accept Islam.

BYZANTINE (EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE)

The Byzantine Empire, the successor of the Roman Empire, reigned over the Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt from 330 to 1450. Before the emergence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and its sovereignty over a huge region, Byzantium was one of two significant forces in the region, holding territory over three continents. The period of Heraklesios (610-641), which corresponds to the birth of Islam in Arabia, was one of the harshest eras in Byzantine history. The state was going through severe hardships during this period, when there were dynastic struggles, corruption in civil and military administration, and economic decline. Economic and religious embargos laid upon the members of different sects led to serious problems between the state and the people.

In addition to all these domestic threats, as the expansion policy of the Byzantines targeted the lands of the Sassanid Empire, they were faced with serious threats from the Avars and Slavs, bringing the state to the edge of collapse. The invasion by the Sassanid Empire into the eastern provinces in 611 led to the loss of Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem and Egypt; the Persian army targeted Istanbul, moving along the coast of the Bosphorus. This predicament forced the Byzantine emperor Herakleios to sign a treaty, the terms of which were considerably detrimental. The fact that the Sassanid Empire had defeated the Byzantines, who were considered to be people of the Book (of an Abrahamic, monotheist religion), delighted the polytheist Arabs to whom Prophet Muhammad was conveying Islam. This defeat also led the polytheists to think that the end of the Muslims would be the same as that of the Byzantines.

The Byzantine Empire imported a large variety of luxurious materials from the East; now the Persian Empire was controlling the routes from China and India and the sea routes from India and Ceylon through the Persian Gulf. The Persians were trying to gain economic superiority over the Byzantines, and this frequently pitted the two states against one another. As a matter of fact, it is known that at times when battles did not impede trade, the Byzantines paid large amounts of money to the Sassanids for the acquisition of silks and spices.

After being defeated by the Sassanid Empire, the Byzantine Empire introduced miscellaneous reforms and established a thema (military province) system in Anatolia. This organization was introduced by the state as an alternative to the mercenary military system, which the state no longer relied on, and this led to the establishment of a strong regional army in Anatolia.

With reforms carried out within the army and the administration, the state was able to recover from its predicament and began to stand up to the attacks of the Sassanids; in 627 they expelled the Sassanids from Anatolia in the Battle of Ninova. However, the Byzantine victory against the Sassanids was not enough to solve the domestic political conflicts or the religious problems that resulted from differences among the sects. The failure of the state to maintain its neutrality in religious conflicts and its acting as the supporter of one party led to serious dissatisfaction among the masses. All the success gained by the Byzantine Empire were to become meaningless with the Islamic Conquest that was about to start. Thus, the map of the region was to be re-drawn.

THE SASSANID EMPIRE

The Sassanid Empire had a well-established state tradition and during the birth of Islam this state, which had embraced Zoroastrianism, was ruled by a dynasty founded in the year 226. Fighting Byzantine to the west and Turks to the east, the empire had boundaries that stretched from Afghanistan to Amu Darya.  The center of the state was located in the rich Iraqi lands.

In order to take control of the Middle East and Egypt, the Sassanid Empire frequently clashed with Byzantium; but when the Byzantine Empire assumed control of these regions, the Sassanids turned their face to the Arabian Peninsula and attempted to penetrate the Persian Gulf and the coasts of southern Arabia. Although the principalities in the mentioned region were annexed to the Sassanid Empire and although the country acquired certain stability, after Nushirawan the Sassanids entered a period of regression; this period of decline did not last long.

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