The history of Islam is often linked to the existence of the Islamic state and empire. From the beginning, Islam existed and spread as a communal state consisting of both a faith and a political order. Islam was established in the Arabian Peninsula, an area occupied by nomadic pastoralists, and on the outskirts of civilized areas. Much of the peninsula is desert, which has fostered goat and camel nomadism among people called Bedouins. The tribal culture of the Bedouins provided an essential backdrop to the emergence of Islam. The basic social unit of the Bedouins was the kin clan. Although clans were grouped into tribes, these units rarely came together. Clan councils determined the distribution and use of all resources essential to nomadic life, and household heads were those who dominated clan councils. These cities existed along the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula, where they served as ports for transcontinental trade between Europe and Asia. Mecca, founded by the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh tribe, was the most important of these Arab cities, also called the religious city. Arab material culture was less developed than that of neighboring civilizations. The most creative activity of Bedouin society was poetry. Bedouin religion featured a mixture of animism and polytheism. They associated spirits and gods with the night and were often located in sacred caves, springs and groves of trees. Allah was only one of the Bedouin deities. Clan custom was more related to the effects of ethical and moral norms than to religion. The Jewish religion dates back to around 1200 BC. The first Israelites were wanderers who colonized...... middle of paper ......appointed by the Prophet as his successor. Umar succeeded him and presided over the first wave of conquests. This in turn had brought many non-Muslims under their control. Christians and Jews were people of the book and practiced their religion freely, although they were required to pay a special tax called jizya. Additionally, large numbers of non-Arabs converted to Islam and were called mawali, or clients of the early Arab conquerors. a/the_rise_of_islam/ http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Hist/Islam-3-Pre-islamicArabia.htm http://www.oneworldmagazine.org/focus/deserts/hittstr1.htm http://www. answering-islam.org/Silas/mo-death.htm http://christianityinview.com/xncomparison.html http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islam_judaism_christianity.htm