Islam Creator of the Modern Age
1. Islam: Creator of the Modern Age
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powerful to dominate others—Persia, Greece and
Rome ruling over eastern countries at different
times—they were unable to exert their cultural
influence on these countries to any appreciable
extent. Neither their religion, their language, their
sciences, nor their industries could take root and
flourish. Not only did Egypt hold to its own religion
during the days of Roman rule, but the conquerors
themselves adopted the religion and the
architecture of the conquered. The buildings con-
structed in those periods were patterned on the
architecture developed by the Pharaohs.
However, the goal that the Greeks, Persians and
Romans were unable to achieve in Egypt was
attained by the Arabs in a very short time and
without resorting to the use of force. This was in
spite of the obvious difficulties for Egypt in
adopting the way of life of an alien nation and of
adopting a new religion and a new language within
the space of just one century, especially when it
meant abandoning an ancient culture which dated
back seven thousand years. The same influence was
exerted by Arabs on African countries and on Syria
and Iran. Islam spread rapidly among these
