Can Arabic culture and language be separated from Islam after 661?

Submitted by John Hansen (United States), Sep 17, 2017 at 20:00

Can Arabic language, culture, societal rules and laws be separated after Muawiyah I established the Ummayad Caliphate in 661?

This seems impossible given the readily accepted Arabic traditions of Mohammed, as well as his military victories and reaping of spoils, that became the islamic example of belief in Allah. Since 661 and the Ummayad's expansion, there appears to no cross cultural exchange between Arabs and the peoples they conquered in southern Europe, Africa and the Central Asian countries.. This would imply not only a strict adherence to Islamic rules of society and sharia but also a brutally enforced suppressive intolerance of anything non-Arabic or non Islamic. The misnamed Crusades also witnessed a refusal of the Arabs to accept any idea, concept or technology of the European defenders. It would appear that electricity and modern armaments that arrived after the discovery of oil have been the only westernized concepts accepted in Arabia.

Shouldn't therefore, schools be placed on guard to review the material being accepted as not a contravention of the separation of church and state? .

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".