Since Islam came into being, it has clashed numerously with the already .
Their rivalry has never ceased until today. Modern .
Examples would be Bosnia and Lebanon. There were not only military clashes .
but political as well as economical. Although, the rivalry was incredibly intense, .
ironically, Arab or Islamic culture managed to severely influence the Christian .
kingdoms. However, Christianity used all the advantages provided by Islam to .
their advantage and through that they managed to keep the Arabs at bay. .
Islamic civilization and its rise were thanks to one man and that is the last .
prophet, Prophet Muhammad. Islam came into being in 622AD and it was the last .
of the great civilizations. Islam managed to push the Arabs into a new kind of .
community, which at the same time spread far beyond Arabia, Persians, Indians, .
North African countries and parts of Europe came under its domination. .
The Arabs managed to capture most of the most powerful economic .
areas. In the Mediterranean their navy conquered Cyprus and crippled Byzantine .
sea power. They first clashed with the Christians when they tried to besiege .
Constantinople. In 711 they started their raids into Spain and in 716 they .
conquered it. They tried to conquer France but the Franks under the leader .
Charles Martel handed the Arabs their first defeat. From the end of the 7th .
century till the middle of the 11th, the Mediterranean remained something of a .
Muslim lake and western trade with East Asia wasnt cut off during these .
centuries, it was significantly diminished and carried on in awareness of Muslim .
dominance. ( Craig, Graham, Kagan, Turner, The heritage of western civ. .
Pp323) .
In the early Middle Ages the main power in Europe was always the Pope .
and later in the 700's it was shared with Charlemagne. The combination of these .
two managed to keep the Arab invasions at bay. But the Christians did benefit .
with their contact with Islamic culture.
