Last time you did the alternate history is two years ago, are you feeling like to change your channel name to something else other than suggest something you stopped doing long time ago?
To be clear I have nothing against you personally or anything but I think since you are more focused on anthropology and sociology now, I feel you should change your channel name to anthropologist and sociology related
You could talk about the future of the monarchy in Saudi Arabia. The point is, the the Arab King (I forgot his name) is the main backer of Wahabism, while the crown Prince (I forgot his name too) is a Party-Animal who often insults Islam, and his reig will cause --- tension. Also Architecture in Arabia is intersting (can you please team-up with Adam Something). Arabs absolutly love Postmodernism. They build glass towers in the desert, even if it makes now sense at all.
Unfortunately the proliferation of BS injury claims is a large driver of insurance rate increases and has all kinds of undesirable economic effects, such as dissuading possible manufacturers from domiciling in the US since they then become subject to US courts broad interpretation of liability (which just so happens to target well-insured defendants)
I can't wait for Whatifalthist to run out of civilizations to talk about, forcing him to build his own civilization in real life so that he can get more material.
The Mamelukes were insane. Imagine Haiti, but the slaves decided that staying slaves would be cool, since it let them know who was in the in-group and who was in the out-group. You had slaves lording over free people, and the composition of their elite was decided entirely by whichever group got subjugated and sold into slavery last.
You can't compare Islamic and mamluk kinds of slavery to Western kinds of slavery. The fact that the word "slavery" is slapped on both phenomena of African transatlantic slavery and on Islamic slavery, doesn't mean they're actually comparable
@@NP1066 Yes and no first of there is no good kind of Slavery. There was a huge slave trade from eastern and central europeans into north-africa and west-asia over the Califate of Cordobar and Byzantium into the meditiranian sea that only stopped because of the christianisation of europe at the end of the medival period. Christians were not allowed to treat other christians as slaves just like Muslimes were not allowed to treat other muslimes as slaves and had this castlike system for other people of the book. Something that the Iberian Christians copied from the iberian muslims and used in their conquest of the americas. Using the local elite against the ruling class. For example the people of Scandinavia enslaved people from the british isle or they went of the river-system in eastern europe in the the blacksea and captured locals and traded them in Byzantium for Silk. This involved castrating the men and selling woman as concobines/slaves. The Mongols and other nomadic people from the eurasian step also sold europeans into slavery mostly of slavic and germanic origin. Another example were the Jantischaren of the Ottoman Empire slaves? Were the European Jews slaves, because they were bascily forced to life in cities and kept in ghettos and only allowed to coexist with christians because Jews was it allowed to land money with compound interest which made the Local Christians Rulers also alot of money? Another example is serfdom in Europe. Forced Labor is a form of Slavery yes ,but there are still nuances. But the Atlantik Slave Trade is more allaign to what the Nazis did. Basicly treating people like disposable Cattle with no rights and not like breathing, feeling, living beings on an industrial scale. Slavery/serfdom/forced Labor is always horrible but still there are differences.
@JamesMacPherson the basra slave was revolt lead by someone who thought he mehdi It has nothing with religous principlity Some people will revolt if you push them enough
@@NP1066 ngl, kinda sounds like you're just excusing Islamic slavery. Mostly because you didn't provide any reason as to why they're not comparable. I'd love to hear your reasoning for such a conclusion
So, you're saying, Christians talk about Jesus too much, but Muslims don't fixate on Muhammad? Seriously? Christians believe Jesus IS God. Muslims believe Muhammad was a prophet. You'd expect Jesus to be at the center of the Christian religion. To Christians, Jesus IS God. If Christians elevated Paul in their discussions to the extent Muslims elevate Muhammad, you'd be right to question why he's the center of all discussions.
I'd think a further breakdown of western civilization into Catholic and Protestant sections would be interesting. Maybe do a comparison between the twp of them and then Orthodox would be fun. Then add in the Ethiopian/Coptic as a comparison
I personally would like to see a well-researched Buddhist video. I’m no expert, but I could give some advice to Rudyard. There are three distinct branches of Buddhism. Theravada - Traditional Buddhism Mahayana - Spiritual Buddhism Vajrayana - Esoteric Buddhism Each one has its own history and philosophy regarding the Buddha’s teachings.
Marxism is the most destructive ideology. More murderous and oppressive is one scant century than all religions combined back to the beginning of history.
I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians. And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge". 1 Nephi 1-3 Hello friends, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The verses above are the first three verses in The Book of Mormon. I know this probably isn't the most ideal place to talk about religion but I really do want you to know that God loves you. You may not love Him or care about Him at all, but He still will continue to love you. You are a beloved son or daughter of God. He knows you personally and He truly and deeply desires for your happiness. He loves everyone who has every lived on this earth, with a perfect equal love regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, faith and values and beliefs. The Lord loves you more than you can think or comprehend. "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" 2 Nephi. He is our loving, caring Heavenly Father. We are literally His children and creations. When we were in the womb, he knew about us" Jerimiah 4:5. He knitted us and we were created in His image. I testify to you that you and I are not a mistake. He knows the very moment when we stand and when we sit. He is familiar with all our ways and knows us personally who we are. The hairs on our very head are numbered. God loved us so much, He sent His Only Begotten Son for us, that we may be able to return and dwell in the presence of God again. The Lord has not forgotten about us even when it feels like He has. He will never forsake us. When we are happy, He and His angels rejoice alongside us. When we are sad, He heals us and lifts us up from our trials. He has always been there for us. He has always been our loving, compassionate Heavenly Father and God. Will we always be His children and people? I testify to you that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. Both love you exceedingly and rejoice when you are happy. They both love you so much. They love you with a love unfeigned. They will never ever stop doing good unto you. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost". Moroni 10:4 I promise and testify to you, that if you will read The Book of Mormon, ponder on its message and ask God if it is not true, you will come to know of its truthfulness, whether its true or not true. Remember my friends that God loves you with all his heart, might mind, soul and strength. He wants you to be happy. He knows what you are going through and dealing with right now. He desires for you to return back to Him. Unfortunately, He has been misrepresented and seen as a cruel and angry God who anticipates for us to slip and writes down every mistake we make waiting to punish us by those who do not know or know Him fully. My friends, God has stored many opportunities and blessings for you. He is incredibly eager and desires with all His heart to bless you abundantly. He wants you to live with Him again. He only wants the best for you and your well being. He wants to experience everlasting joy and indescribable happiness in this life and in the life to come. He wants you to partake of His goodness and come and follow Him. The Lord does not care how early or late you decide to come unto Him. I testify to you that if you have strayed and wondered off the path that there is peace and hope in Jesus Christ, The Savior of the world. The Lord accepts those who come unto Him whether your early, late or just in time who desire to change. The Lord will accept you wholeheartedly and forgive you if you are willing to change. The Lord will welcome you and will always be ready to embrace you with open arms. The Lord will lift us up in our trials and use us to bless the lives of those around us if we are willing to change. If you desire to learn more, you are always welcome to visit comeuntochrist.org. There you will learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ and our core beliefs and values. If you have taken the time to read The Book of Mormon and this comment, thank you. It takes a huge leap of faith and a lot of courage to muster enough faith to read in the Book of Mormon and to believe in something in a personage that you may never see in this lifetime. Although we may not be able to see God and Jesus Christ in this life, I testify to you that they are real. They do truly exist. I promise you that if you will pray to know of their existence, you will come to know whether they exist or have been made up. You are my friends. The Lord loves you unconditionally and is fully aware of you and despite all our weaknesses and shortcomings, he still loves us and will forgive us if we will humble ourselves before Him and diligently seek correction and do whatever is needed to repent. Remember that The Lord is always available to talk to through prayer 24/7. No question sounds too silly for Him. James wrote, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" James 1:5. If you must know whether or not something is true and uplifting, or evil and deceptive, you can always pray to God. He will help you know what the truth is and what is not the truth. He will never be too busy to talk to. He will give you strength you need to overcome and conquer your temptations and will give you the strength you need to endure through your trials and afflictions. Paul said that The Lord will not give you temptations that you cannot resist, but that in your temptations, He will provide a way for you to resist, overcome and conquer them. He will provide a way. He wants to bless you and reward you abundantly in Spiritual and physical things. The Lord knows you and will not forget you. You are loved. You are utterly amazing. You have incredible potential. You are not forgotten or ever will be forgotten or forsaken. You are special. You are unique. You really are one of a kind. You have been reserved for this time and The Lord needs you on His side. It just simply would not be the same without you. That is just how much the Lord need you on His side. Thank you dearly for your time
@@WhatifAltHist My friend I know that the United States is categorized as "Western",but I think that we are both unique enough and geographically isolated enough. That America is its own civilization and should be treated as such, albeit a very young one and absolutely descended from Western civilization
I think you should make a video on the Japanese civilisation as well. While certainly having a lot of Sinic and Confucian elements to it, Japan combines elements of confucianism, shintoism and buddhism in a very unique way generally unseen in other East Asian countries, as well as having a more distinct family structure and language. Huntington categorised Japan as its own small quasi-civilisation and I think and exploration of that idea would be an interesting detour for the series.
Actually every countries should be their own civilizations if we counted like Huntington. Eithopian civilization was surrounded by Pagans and Muslims and yet noone is making a video about them.
I’m not too confident in whatifalthist’s ability to get the general things correct about Japan, considering he thinks Philippines is part of Latin America, but then again he has shown Japan as separate from Chinese civilization in his maps (Also, I haven’t seen him covering Japan much apart from modern geopolitics and his older alternate history videos)
Muslim here, I think this video was largely fair and though I do respectfully disagree with a few points such as the implication that a longstanding Christian plurality or majority in the Muslim world fueled innovation or that Islam uniformly fell into basically spiritual despotism post-Ghazali (see Ottoman and Mughal preferences for more rational modes of thought like Hanafism which remains the most popular school of thought today as well as less rigid forms of Sufism which remain popular in Egypt and other regions), I'd say this was a very good analysis. And bonus points for having a bit more hope for the future of the Muslim world than I do.
I don't think he actually thinks Christians were the ones driving innovation. I think it was more of a joke, as his presented reason for stagnation was a cultural shift due to other reasons. And I really hope muslims can sort themselves out, and that we see more cooperation between the abrahamic religions. I thought the abraham accords were a good start, unfortunately the momentum seemed to die out after 2020.
@@hugoguerreiro1078 Israel represents the oppression and humiliation imperial europe forced upon the muslims. the conflict is not about religion as Islam is the religion that coined the 'people of the book' mentality. The conflict is about western encroachment on a native people's right to self-sovereignty. Given all these reasons, you'll find the supporters of Palestine tend to be nations most subjected to colonization in history while supporters of Israel are the now-reformed, former Imperialist driven nations
@@hxyzazolchak Not necessarily. A reformed Israel would look nothing like it does today, and it would be essentially what Palestine always was. Granted, this would still require complete equal rights and compensation for Palestinian lives/ property lost.
@deriznohappehquite imagine a hospital that deliberately gave you syphilis. There's a difference between accepting sinners and trying to get them on a different path vs just saying "keep doing what you're doing" and, whether through misunderstanding or deliberately, telling people that pointing out sin/saying people should change is judgement. "Thou shall not judge" is about claiming someone is already damned beyond redemption or conversely that theyre beyond rebuke
@@deriznohappehquite yeah, but sometimes it feels wrong. Not a church but here in muslim majority country i used to see a more secular outlook where sinners are sinners and saints are saints but know i often see a saints act like sinners and sinners act like saints, you know what i mean?
I can never say that those videos are absolutely correct in every little detail but I just can't stop watching them. They are pretty great, they remind me of how I try to link literature always with the history of a place at the time, and though I get a ton of little details lost, it's still a great way to get people to actually start learning. I can't wait for the video on Muslim Africa! ❤️
I started watching Whatifalthist in Junior High (about 8 years ago), as I was very drawn to alternate histories during that time. However, the difference between Rudyard and say alternate history hub for example is that his content matured along side me. While alternative history is fun, I stopped being as interested when I hit my Junior year in Highschool. Currently I’m a freshman collegiate wrestler and Whatifalthist is really the only channel I still watch from my childhood. His videos analyzing American cultures, civilizations, and predictions of the future resonate with me. To explain why, I’m from a Midwestern city of about 140,000 people. It’s in a really unique demographic position as it’s about 60% white surround on all sides by corn fields which are farmed by rural whites. In the city, there’s a hallowed out industrial sector which is decrepit and in ruins. However, my city found a lifeline in having a couple large companies headquartered in my downtown as well as a massive state school of 20,000, a smaller private college of 5,000, and a community college. Finally, there’s large black, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian (from india) populations. The American cultures of the Midwest, foundry, bourgeoisie intellectuals, and yankee are all present to a significant degree. Next about myself- I grew up in a single mother household with two older brothers. My biological dad is a scumbag who’s off doing whatever trailer park white trash estranged dads do. Despite this, I formed very close bonds with my brothers and mother. I would say love for my family most of life choices. My goals in life are to move out of the lower middle class, take care of my mother in her old age, and settle down with a wife and children. With this combination being how I grew up when Rudyard would talk about America’s issues and future it just made sense. Everything he talked about damn near perfectly described my life and my community. To say that his videos have impacted my life would be a bit of an understatement. As a result of Rudyard, I have read Oswald Spengler, Euripides, Virgil, Gilgamesh, Homer (Iliad and odyssey), Aeschylus, and more. My political and personal identity is deeply shaped by the morals and virtues that Rudyard spouts. Today, I’m entering the final stretch of my freshman year in college and my season ended a couple weeks ago. I’m majoring in economics and have been dating a wonderful Chinese girl for the last year and half. Perhaps I’m not alone in being an OG Whatifalthist fan that’s still here, absolutely loving the new content, and looking forward to every new video. Or, I suppose that also a possibility is that I’m some weird guy that spends too much time on UA-cam. To each his own I guess. Rudyard if you read this- I’m sure I’m one of many guys that’ve been here from the start who you’ve impacted in some pretty significant ways. Keep up the amazing work
Not sure its correct to say the Ottomans fought well in WW1. My understanding is that Enver Pasha's Caucasus campaign, where an army was lost to questionable logistics, is a pretty good counter example to this.
I agree but some of that could be ascribed to incompetent leadership on the part of Enver Pasha himself. Where Ottoman soldiers were led by competent commanders (Gallipoli), they performed well and on par with European powers. Also well oiled and competent armies were the exception and examples of incompetence (Austria-Hungary, Italy) abound; by that metric the Ottomans performed decently compared to European expectations of them being a pushover.
Ottoman Empire has a population of 21,000,000 and it fought Empires over twice it's size. So for a country with a relatively lower population, they fought well.
I’m a life long learner who is not only subscribed to, but has watched the full back logs of most notable educational channels on UA-cam. Of them all, Whatifalthist is currently my favorite thing to show up in my subscription feed. The content of this channel is incredibly high level, and plays a significant role in how I view the world. Thank you
This is not an educational channel. He’s not a historian and is completely biased in nearly every video he makes. Literally takes one sentence from somebody 1000 years ago, misquotes it, and says, “this is the main problem with Islam”. As if an entire religion with millenia worth of history can be summed up in a sentence. If you’re a lifelong learner, you can learn to discern what is an isn’t educational
My feelings aren't hurt I'm just utterly confused Who thinks the literal creator of the universe who's beyond time can be worn down just by some puny humans waffling?????
Three Wrong Things I Have to Point out here: 1- 5:41 actually Arabia had its influential civilizations before Islam in the form Of Multiple Omani and Yemeni (South Arabia) Empires that date back to thousands of years such as Hamyrite Empire, Magan Empire, Saba Kingdom etc. Even North Arabia (The Arabian Desert) which is the same area of Modern Saudi Arabia, had its own Empires in the Form of Thamud Kingdom, Lahyan Kingdom, Kindah Kingdom etc. But the problem that they were all in a desert and separate from the rest of the world which had its histories mostly lost, this problem is even still present in modern Arabia empires Histories such as the Omani Empire, Rassulid Empire, Multiple Arab Desert Emirates etc are full with holes and lost history. You can even see this problem in other desert civilizations such as the Swahili Civilization Of East Africa and Sahel Of West Africa, which both histories are full with holes and lost parts. 2- 18:50 is wrong, Both Hispania and Central Asia (Transoxiania) were mostly conquered by Arab Generals such as Musa Bin Nusyar and Qutayba Ibn Muslim just like all the other areas that the Arabs conquered even though unlike these areas, this two areas (Hispania and Transoxiania) were conquered by armies that are mixed between Arabs and non-Arabs which can be seen as the return of the influence of the original people of these areas and the formation of the Later Muslim Berber and Persian dynasties. 3- 19:55 The Abbasids were never Shia, they were always sunnis even though they based their rule over the fact that they were relatives of the Prophet.
2. You are wrong. Typical Arab-centric p.o.v. Berbers, Turks, Kurds, and Slavs took over the military and administrative leadership of Islamic/Arab regions. Accept it.
@@juniorjames7076 Yes, but that only happened during the abbasid caliphate. The problem is that he said that it happened during the early Muslim conquests (from 623-750) which is wrong.
The narrator guy actually said "some Arab conqueror from some war in the Middle Ages, I think it was the crusades, said this powerful quote [the weak Christians, they let their god die on the cross],". Ugh. That literal quote is even impossible to find on the internet right off the cuff. This is just a self-taught book-educated guy throwing his imperfect knowledge around, without even doing research on the finer points even. No sources, just blurting out what he knows on the topic. Good work for a layperson, but this is so far from authoritative that it stops being funny. *Even highschool history teachers should do a better job than him.*
here are a few points.. 5:50 Yemen was well civilized for centuries before Islam, and Mecca and Medina were settled as urban communities, Mecca was notorious for its trade, and Medina for its agriculture 11:40 "The weak Christians they let their God die on the cross" There is an old poem for a Muslim Scholar called Ibn Alqayem that he refutes Christiany with, he says: "Worshippers of Christ, we have a question, that we want its answer from those who think (understand), if God dies by the hands of people that killed him, then what kind of God is that?! And if God is pleased with what they did, then they have gained his gratification, and if He hates what they did to him, then their strength overcome his" 15:00 I don't know on what basis you provide this conclusion, through Quran, while reading the stories of the prophets, you repeatedly read verses saying "But most people don't know", "But most people don't believe", "’Most people don't thank God" Ibn Masud, a companion of the prophet, said a famous verse which translates to "Muslim society is what agrees with the truth, even if you are alone", it is a common concept in the Muslim world that the majority is not always right, and that you should stand with truth even if you are alone. 17:40 They didn't force conversion, it is not a synonym with discouraging them, there is no way they could practically discourage a group from becoming Muslims, in Sharia (Islamic laws, which were the laws in practice back then until the fall of Ottomans), saying the Shahadah and declaring yourself as a Muslim is enough to be considered a Muslim, they get the obligations of Muslims and their privileges, and Muslims pay their own tax (Zakat, 2.5% of your wealth annually). 21:00 I think you meant to say his son-in-law Ali, or his father-in-law Abu baker, but this was not the point of split, it is a retrospective view to it, Shia started with the quarrel and fighting between the companions after the killing of the 3rd Caliph, Othman, Ali, the 4th Caliph, saw that they should stabilize the Islamic caliphate first and then go after the killers of Othman (it was more of a rebellious movement which attacked his house and killed him), but Muaweya, the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, saw that he should revenge for the death of Othman who was from Umayya tribe too, and then the 'civil war' started, and even though Sunnis believe that Ali's claim was the better one, but the division back then led to an accumulation of differences that in the end made them 2 different sects. 26:49 No Muslim really believes that.. it is encouraged to study "the creations of God" in order to find the truth, which in Islam, it is God, in many verses in Quran it tells people to observe the world and think, and what was contributed to AlGhazali is the same words of Neil deGrasse in one of his most famous speeches, when he claimed that Alghazali prohibited math, which in fact, he didn't, and it can't be found in his works, Alghazali criticized the philosophers use of math in theology, Alghazali himself said: “As for ((the praiseworthy disciplines such as medicine and mathematics)), they are associated with worldly benefit. And that category is divided into those that become a communal obligation and those that are of great merit but are not an obligation. If there are not people who are experts in mathematics within society that it will be a hardship on society and certain aspects of society will suffer from it.”
Hi. I agree that alGazali is unfairly accused of hate science, when he was himself a scientist too. Then why do you think the intelectual reform of Nizam al Mulk and alGazali had such a terrible efect in scientific development? Maybe was that alGazali said that if science cant proof the existence of Allah, then is a lesser discipline? What do you think?
@@adamnesicoscience quite simply goes where the money for research is and since Islam was beginning to decline in its wealth by that point and it was india and china and then later europe that would have the wealth, they were the ones progressing science. Once a society loses its finances it loses its academic capabilities, the people become less educated and therefore less able to think which also in turn allows for corrupt regimes to step in and actively further reduce the capacities of society to think and be educated so that said corrupt regimes can get away with more corruption - if the people were educated and capable of thought they would notice corruption and fight against it but if they are retarded it is nice and easy to do whatever. You can still see this now very prevantly in "islamic cultures" - my family is from Bangladesh and some guy there said to my sister who had got 1st class honours in history that women shouldnt be allowrd to be educated because then they learn their rights. It is disgusting if only these people could read and understand what islam actually says, Aisha (ra) was literally considered a university on her own and these people now try say women cant be educated?
Also thank you for feeding my existential dread, your videos really make me use my brain and wonder about the chances of myself along with the civilization i grew up with actually coming to fruition.
Really not much to go off of unfortunately. The empire was only established in 1438, and by then it was only a speck of land similar to a really big Luxembourg, and reached max expansion less than 50 years later, and completely disappeared less than a hundred years after their founding. They simply didn't have enough time to leave a cultural impact, and even then, most of the little records they had were destroyed by the Conquistadors. It's like trying to create a video on Hunnic civilization, too little to create an in depth video
@@boaoftheboaians the quipus were used mostly an accounting and its use was limited to a few administrative officials. The information that could be conveyed was limited to a few concepts relevant for accounting, their use to tell a story or keep historical records wouldnt go beyond that of a mnemotecnic aide and innenteligible if you didnt already know the information
Bro I randomly came to see if there are any new videos and found this surprise Love the depth of your videos, it's very hard to find among simplified content
Your videos are always very informative. However, I would really like it if you could put a source document/recommended reading whether you do videos on topics. It would be great to find some new reading material.
Bro, that Morgan and Morgan ad where you say that "you can have a clean conscious because the insurance company is paying." Comon dude, you're better than that.
@@jurtra9090 No, it's a lie. The lawyer is trying to get you to not think about the consequences of your actions. For example, just because a cop was a prick to you, it doesn't mean you can cheat on your taxes. Just because you won't get punished for doing something wrong, doesn't mean that it's not wrong. He's playing the snake in the garden of eden. He has already sold his soul, and he's trying to get you to let him gamble with yours. This is basically his justification for suing the insurance company. ua-cam.com/video/yZjCQ3T5yXo/v-deo.html
Islam had a HUGE cultural influence on the west. (considering after the conquest of Iberia, and the dominance of the pagan north, Christians at the time would have felt on the verge of extinction.) The Iconoclasm of Byzantium was a direct influence of Muslims. (the Orthodox argued that the Muslim victories were proof they were seen as the more holy by God and their lack of Icons was one obvious difference.) The Crusades themselves were argued at the time as the answer to the Muslim Jihad. (for good or bad) We often compare the two but forget that these are breathing systems that interact with and rub off on one another.
All trash cultures like to pretend that they had a "HUGE" influence on the west *LOL* "You see the champion? I taught him all he knows" - looser Reality is that the cultural influence Islam had on the west was much smaller then you make it out to be and the west eventually succeeded in spite of that garbage.
The Crusades being a response to Jihads are not equivalent to "cultural influence" and I have nowhere seen that Eastern Romans believed muslims more holy in the eyes of God.
It would be awesome if you did a breakdown about the different "civilizations" in South Africa. It's a hotpot of cultures and each one has their own story to tell.
Well, judging from the "civilization maps" of the guy, he doesn't seem to believe in the existence of any sub-saharan African "civilization", so there's that
@@haidouk872 Because there isn't. There isn't a unified culture or civilisation in this part of the world. What exists is an adaption of either Western or Soviet influenced civilisation. Sub-Saharan Africa did not have the same luxury of a couple thousand years of war, unification, technological advancement, invasion and so on that Europe and Asia had. My old political science professor who was a Shona Zimbabwean explained this to us. Africa is in a post-Roman Europe state of civilisation at the moment. The colonisers have officially left and the people left behind are going to struggle for some time while still facing a softer level of foreign influence.
Muslim, I'm Sierra Leonan and Moroccan, Sierra Leone has been Islamic for 1,000 years. Shit, the majority of West Africa is Muslim, by like 85%. I don't know why we hardly get added to the list since we've been Muslim for 1,000 years.
I think the map is meant to show that Canadas population is basically the border with the US, like 90% or something is within 50 miles of the border the rest of the country is empty. There's more wolves than people in Yukon, lol. But yeah there is also the part where the country has no common identity besides "we're not the US". Rudyard did a video on Canada before, it was pretty on point imo.
He has included most of Canada as part of the 'uninhabited' coloration, if you look carefully, the bits of Canada that actually have sizable populations have been included as part of 'the West'.
Question about this series: So up until now you've been doing one video per civilization on the map (excluding SE Asia), but will you cover ones like Sahel and Japan in a similar manner to SE Asia, or will they be done differently?
Would be interesting to see his take on Japan, but then again I’m also not confident in his accuracy considering he kept peddling the narrative that Philippines is part of Latin America
@@boaoftheboaians Phillipine culture is very common(superficially) to that of latin america. What are the reasons you think it should be catagorized otherwise?
@@laststand6420 Philippines faces the dilemma of being too “Asian” (or Pacific, alternatively) to be classified as part of Latin America Yet the inverse also happens that Philippines can be considered too “Hispanic” or “Western” to be considered Asian in Asia I think it deserves its own category, to give it justice (also on a personal level I’m not very comfortable with the idea of being mistaken for someone who is from places I have very little personal connection to, but then again for various reasons even I’m super weird by normal Filipino standards)
@@boaoftheboaians There is a great degree of difference in Latin America, and most Brazilians probably wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Mexican either... But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be classified as Latin American. In the same way I can't stand Canada, but I don't think my country of the U.S. and Canada should be classified as parts of different civilizations.
@@laststand6420 I checked back here cause I forgot to add one critical part to my previous comment of what makes the Philippines different: No one (except the Chavacanos) speaks Spanish here, and we didn’t experience the same devastation of the Natives dying out of introduced diseases... prob because said “introduced diseases” were already familiar to us XD The native culture continued and flourished with Spanish influence being more of an add-on rather than fully combining with the natives and becoming the main thing. By classifying it as Latin America, you’re forgetting the significant Chinese and Indian influence that was here before Magellan (and also Arabic influence to some extent… the Muslims here for sure would, similarly to me, feel far more little connection to Latin America) “Heavily Spanish-influenced” are the words that are more accurate rather than “part of Latin America…. Also, Canada and the US, Mexico and Brazil do not make for good comparisons to Philippines and Latin America, maybe under certain criteria, Mexico specifically could count, but the difference only gets bigger going south (Philippines & Indonesia would be more iconic and fitting to that example… but even those two have significant differences that set them apart, similarly to the Turkics and Mongols) (This shall be my last reply, I’m fully capable of sending a hundred more replies debunking your points, but I don’t wish to make hundred-long comment war out of the replies to a comment that’s completely unrelated to this topic)
Nice video, although in the future could you link some of the sources in the description for further reading? Cuz I enjoy your content, but frankly it can sometimes be hard to tell what’s fact and opinion and where I can go for further research
@IBZ they are not same they don't have a thing common to ancient Egyptians they have more common to arabian Bedouin tribes Unlike india and china where u can find similarity far back
@IBZ Are today's Egyptians the same Egyptians who built Pyramids? I've seen some African channels saying ancient Egyptians were all black when the pyramids were built, only after that there were Middle-eastern and European descent people who existed in Egypt. Idk if that's true, since, mainstream archaeologists say that Ancient Egyptians were mostly Middle-eastern.
Something interesting about a "east-west" Eurasian split I don't hear talked about: West of the Indus, religious claims are based around the divine coming down and revealing itself to humanity (namely the "Abrahamic" religions). East of the Indus, religion is a product of humans attempting to reason about the divine (especially Buddhism and Taoism, but also Hinduism and Shinto to an extent). I don't know if there's a socio-cultural reason behind this, but it's intriguing. Even more interesting is that the West's more recent religions - deism, atheism, and new age spiritualism - follow the Eastern pattern of human reasoning about the divine more closely.
Finally I’ve been waiting for this for a while Being pretty far from the Middle East geographically and culturally being south East Asian,the Islamic world have been some of the most confusing for me.it’s also incredibly complex and have diverse old preislamic cultures as well so thank you very much for yhis if yiu are from the region you could talk to me and give more info on the region btw Also would you do any videos on the different Native American civilizations?the info is pretty hard to find .
@@Handle0108 ooh, nice Actually, I really wanna know about Somalia itself as well actually First, have Somalis been importing food since ancient times or they just rely on local agriculture fishing and pastoralism? It’s a region with great trade potential and horrible climate except in the south a bit and having the fertile Ethiopian highland nearby. Ik at some point Ethiopia rule the Somalian coast so this isn’t a problem but i wanna know about after that Secondly how far away had the goods from the Indopacific trade route travel to Somalia? Here in Thailand for example we have some goods from Japan but not a lot of influence until later but with a lot of Indian and Chinese influence and even some Arabian influence but there weren’t much from east Africa despite being in the same route. I’ve heard of large Chinese influence pretty far into Africa tho so I wanna know what the influences are like Thirdly do Somalians historically usually care about the land at all as a pretty sea facing civilization?would a powerful Somalian nation try to expand on land or just expand on the coast? Fourthly how does the dynamic between the merchants and various local herder groups play out? Do they trade often or is it just a stoppping point? I’ll ask more later btw, Im doing worldbuilding so this would also be a great inspiration
@@thefolder3086 Firstly, Somalis have not really relied on foreign lands for food historically, we made the best out of what was in our country. Farms and agriculture in the south of the country made a lot of food, enough for most of the country, and also many people in the country side in central and northern Somalia were Nomadic so they removed from place to place and they relied on their cattle and Camels (which we have the most in the world) to live. We did not need Ethiopian highland, and in fact Ethiopia is our oldest enemy of over 1000 years. Which also leads me to the next point, Ethiopia and it’s past empires(D’mt, Aksum etc) never controlled Somalia or anywhere near our coast for the last 3000 years at least. They did control Yemen and Arabia though but they never controlled Somalia, due to the resistance of the Somali people for thousands of years. It was in fact the opposite, Somali sultanates like Adal sultanate penetrated deep into Ethiopia and kept the Ethiopian rulers to the highlands, until the 19th century.
@@thefolder3086 As for trade we had goods from as far away as China and south east Asia and we traded with India, Persia and the Roman Empire(who bought incense and cinnamon from us). In fact the first African ambassador to China was a Somali called “Sa’id of Mogadishu” and we introduced exotic animals to them like Giraffes, and to this day China, Japan and Korea use a Somali origin word for Giraffe. The great Chinese fleet admiral Zheng He(who was rumoured to be Muslim) brought back several Giraffes from Somalia and called them “Qilins” Chinesified from the Somali word “geri” and the Japanese and Koreans call it “Kirin.” We’ve also taken influence from others, for example there are many Persian and Indian words in Somali like, “Roti” which means bread and “Sambosa” and “Baraf” which means ice and “Miis” which means table and “Rinji” which means paint etc. And also there are many native Indian and Arab origin populations in Somalia like the Banaadiri and Bravanese who are descendants of Indian and Arab merchants. In regards to foreign relations we had good relations and alliances with Arabs and the Ottoman Empire which helped us on numerous occasions, especially when the Portuguese tried to invade us and take over all of East Africa in the 16th century, and a joint Somali and ottoman fleet defeated the Portuguese at sea and on land our national hero Ahmed Gurey defeated and killed the Portuguese commander Cristovao Da Gama(son of the famous Vasco da gama) who was helping the Ethiopian Christians against us. As for whether we care about the land, there are two types of Somalis throughout history, the Nomad and the Merchant city dweller. The Nomads almost certainly cared about the land because they used it for Pastoralism and animal grazing for their own livelihoods, but Merchants did not care as much since they mostly relied on ships and the sea. But our Sultanates cared about both and expanded on both land and along the coast, which is why we have the largest coast in Africa and there’s an entire region in Ethiopia called the Somali region(almost a third of the country). Merchants and Nomads definitely traded and worked together, since both relied on each other. The nomads brought livestock and merchants brought foreign spices and goods. But there were some differences and the attitude and behaviour or of Nomads and Merchants differ significantly. The nomads are more harsh and tough to deal with and they are very traditional. Merchants and their descendants on the other hand are more globalised, open minded, educated and overall more “civilised” you could say.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography I remember getting patreon like a year ago just to ask him about when part 2 would come out and he said it would probably never happen. But I think if we get enough popular support we may be able to over rule him because that video was straight kino.
This video was spot on in many areas but had some major things that needed to be corrected. The biggest problem in this video was portraying Prophet Muhammed ﷺ and Prophet Jesus ﷺ disrespectfully at 10:29. I know you did not do this out of spite, but it still stung. I also think that Imam al-Ghazali (ra) needed to be more understood by @Whatifalthist. Sorry to assume, but I think you were referencing Neil deGrasse Tyson regarding Imam al-Ghazali's views about scientific inquiry and the like. If that's the case, I recommend Mohammed Hijab because he refuted Tyson's claims. Since we live in the modern world, scientific progress is seen as the epitome of civilization. Scientific progress is generally good, but unfettered and unregulated scientific progress is problematic. The modern world is plagued with problems stemming from unrestricted scientific progress. Loneliness, depression, the collapse of marriage and family, lack of a communitarian ethic, overly centralized and controlling states, global warming, climate change, and much more. Your claim that the Abbasid Caliphate is what Muslims aspire to, 21:53, is incorrect. Instead, Muslims want to establish a state modeled after the state established by Prophet Mohammed ﷺ in Medina and the Rashidun Caliphate. Ask the majority of Muslims about the Rashidun and Abbasid Caliphates, and you’ll see Muslims have more admiration for the Rashidun. Saying that the Muslim world was not affected a lot by colonialism is baseless. The French conquest of Algeria in the 19th Century killed at least a million people. Colonial rulers coopted or bribed specific ulema to teach the Muslim masses what the colonial powers deemed acceptable parts of Islam. After WWII, the US picked up the tab. Many draconian anti-terrorism and anti-extremism programs like CVE and PREVENT were imported to puppet and secular dictators in the Muslim world to monitor Muslims. Growing out a beard and wearing a thobe can be an excuse to make you disappear. Didn’t you hear about the $200 million the US Congress wants to send to gender equality programs in Pakistan? Haven’t you also heard about RAND’s report on secularizing the Muslim word, www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1716.html? These are clearly attempts to colonize the Muslim mind to spread liberalism and make Muslims subservient to Western or American interests. Sorry for the long comment, but my criticism comes from a desire to discuss and inform rather than just rant.
Then, why alGazali&Nizam reform ended muslim science? Thats true, West has lost too much values. What he said and its efnitively true is that the umayad and abasid empres were the models in wich later muslim empires were based and tried to emulate. Muslims could say they wanted a model like Medina, but Medina is just a city state, you cant rule an empire like a city state., so in the end the model for do empires were those 2 empires. Hehe, no ,thats not a long comment.
@@adamnesico "Muslims could say they wanted a model like Medina, but Medina is just a city state, you cant rule an empire like a city state.," thats not what he meant but ok.
@@adamnesico It's not really their reforms that ended muslim science/islamic golden age, there were multiple factors that contributed to it's general downfall, firstly would be the mongol invasion and by extention the loss of a lot of knowledge the islamic world has gathered, this event was quite traumatic for the muslim world at that time. Another factor would also be the rise of colonialism some times later, which radicalised a big portion of their society, dumbing down their population and ideology to being anti-western and disguising it as 'Islamic', hence the ban on printing which wasn't really based on any religious scriptures but rather out of spite/fear. I'm not really the most knowledgable on this subject as I'm still in the process of learning the deep history of the Islamicate world, but one thing I know for sure is that my man al-Ghazali (RA) has been done very dirty, the man was anything but anti-science or anti-reason, he had whole existential crisis' because he had too much of a scientific mind (he even wrote about it if you're interested).
What about Albania, Bosnia and Central Asia? What about Western Africa? These countries are Muslim Majority and have fully embraced and competently embraced secular life style. In these countries, you will rarely see a women in Hijab.
3:26 Wow, you divide West and East more or less the same way I've always thought about it! My first introduction to "The West" vs "The East" was the USA vs. Japan, so it always felt strange to me to call Muslim countries or Russia as "Eastern", when they were clearly closer to the West religiously and in terms of civilizational continuity (or at least in terms of the way European and Americans start "Western History" in the Middle East).
Love your vids bud but as a Christian gone through seminary I'm pretty shocked at how off your analysis is of not only Christian history, but why we worship Jesus in the first place.
I agree. We worship Him because He’s literally YHWH. To criticize Christians for being obsessed with Christ is like criticizing Muslims for being obsessed with Allah.
When someone asks me if a Muslim is saved, I first want to point out God’s love towards them, and all of us. I get so tired of these lifeless religious teachers down-talking gays, Muslims, drunks, etc, and implying that God doesn’t love them just as they are. Yes, their sin grieves Him. But He still loves them with all His heart. And that’s why he sent Jesus. God was willing to die for Muslims. For Gays. For Murderers. For You. For Me. For all of us. The problem is NOT outward. It’s inward. Now, I am not saying Muslims are saved. There is a choice that we all must make. The Bible is littered with scriptures about not hardening our hearts. There are countless warnings about hell and the danger of unbelief. There is no way to God except through belief in Jesus. We are living in the dispensation of the grace of God, by believing and trusting the gospel of salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) given to our Apostle Paul by Jesus Christ you are saved and sealed with the holy Spirit of promise till the day of redemption!!! Ephesians 1:13 - King James Version 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Romans 2:16 - King James Version 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Paul's Gospel - 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1-4).
@@Nasaj_Tengras it’s an obsession because you focus too much on the “Logos”/ Son rather than the Father/God who is the one actually deserves our full worship and focus. Focusing too much on a human individual is kind of an obsession.
@@Handle0108 Jesus is God though. Claims to be the I AM from Exodus, does miracles on His own authority, forgives sin on His authority, and rules on the right hand of (making him equal in authority to) the Father. He’s both fully human and fully God and is (probably) The Angel of YHWH in the Old Testament. It’s not obsession it’s basic theology.
@@SoulStormZero he is completely blinded by his bias for western ideology. Pretty sure he called the Assyrians communists at one point. Just an all around bad historian. Not even a historian. Just a UA-camr who makes videos about “history”
@@lucasmurphy740 some philosophers think its impossible to fully escape ones cultural bias. At least we can say that its very difficult if at all possible. But then again, maybe this opinion is also part of that cultural bias.
Hey man I love you videos but one critique. Im Eritrean and I’ve noticed in videos you label Eritrea as an Islamic country/state but we are an orthodox Christian state (similar to Ethiopia). I noticed this in the family dynamics video as well
So from what I can infer. The mongol invasions of abbasids really changed the trajectory. Also, all the barbarians that came from steppe with them, (turks, tartars, mongols,) had brutal and ruthless barbaric warrior type lifestyle and they caused a lot of instability. People like Tamerlane, Ghori, ghanavid, Nader Shah constantly destroyed cities and carried out genocides and massacres. Its these barbarians that converted to islam and controlled the region in late middle ages (mughals, persians, ottomans and such) and had a more absolutist interpretation of islam. Though ottomans were less radical, and at a time less strict than europe; catholic church was wild for a time.
I don't think that al ghazali was the reason of islamic world being more closed and conservative, I think it was the nizami schools in the seljuk empire which focused on religious teachings to serve political goals and neglected scientific researchs Edit: actually al ghazali critisised some philosophies because he wanted to encourage the critic thinking,he said that philosophy isn't the only way to know the truth but also by the using of the five senses and he defended the natural sciences and scientific researchs
But it was needed so that other sects wouldn't be born like the ismaily shias who caused a lot of chaos in the Islamic world+it's not justification to put all the blame on Al ghazali
I think the meme of Jesus and Mohammad might cause some controversy, I personally understand your point and why you put it in but others will undoubtably not understand.
When I think of Muslims, I think of the "Dothraky horse lords." Warlord horsemen fighting each other. And their religion is violent, slave based and repressive.
@@kevinjones2061 you’re referring to the Baghdad battery, then you clearly have read much on it asides from ancient alien esque conspiracy screeds. That artifact was not a battery, at best the fact that it could provide some form of electrical current is likely coincidental since there is no evidence of electrical loads or metallic wires for transmission. At most this artifact could discharge the equivalent of a light static shock, which may have had some form of religious application.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography did you miss the part my sentence where I said or at least thought to be? It's commonly referred to as the Baghdad battery whether you believe it or not
Hello! Great video that analyzes Islam as a whole, but I’ve wanted to talk about the Ottoman Empire and why it could have not, in fact, survived WW1. 1) Ataturk’s technological advancement was rather impressive indeed, but he had to gain political power to pass his reforms, which he would be unlikely to have unless the people’s faith in the Empire and the Ittihadists has collapsed completely as it did as the result of the war. 2) Yes, but would the British and French just ignore that? Or would they support rebellions against the Ottoman rule in the most oil-rich regions, which were Arabic-speaking and not Turkic-speaking? Considering Ottoman military was downright bad (I’ll return to it in point 4), they could probably just supply and finance those regions so much that their victory would be pretty much guaranteed. 3) Yes, there was no nationalism, but there was, however, plenty of sheikhs and emirs forced to be subservient to Ottomans and wishing to rule as kings in their own right. And Lawrence of Arabia kind of begs to differ about ineffectiveness. 4) Is this statement based entirely on Gallipoli? Because Turkish army was really bad in WW1 overall. The Russian Empire was in disarray but even it was beating the Ottomans into pulp on the Caucasian front. And Italy, who often gets mocked for its poor military performance, has beaten the Ottos singlehandedly just two years prior and taken Lybia from them. Yes, they won in Gallipoli, but that was because they had absolutely favorable terrain and the only competent man in the country - Kemal Pasha - was the one commanding. Plus they have actually dispatched troops to commit the Armenian and the Assyrian genocides instead of fighting, so really, most Turk commanders were just a bunch of psychotic idiots. 5) No, there was plenty of minorities: Orthodox Armenians and Pontic Greeks, Nestorian Assyrians and Lebanese, Druze and Mizrahi Jews in Palestine and Yazidi Kurds. Besides, common religion is not the only thing to unite a nation, language is also very important, and the vast majority of the Empire did not speak Turkish. 6) No, the territories, in fact contained all three areas of the Middle East you correctly identified in the very beginning of the video: the mountains, the Fertile Crescent, and the peninsula desert. This terrain differences did affect the empire negatively. Overall, I think, the Ottoman Empire fell for the same reason the Russian one did: they had great resources which could bring prosperity with proper economic policy (Russia partially managed that), but they were too stuck in smug nationalism to even think about giving regions autonomy. Of all the parties in the Russian Empire only Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were pro-decentralizing, and I don’t think there was any major force in Turkey with such a policy. Ataturk, for all his merits, kept the government completely central, which lead to the Kurdish rebellion beginning, which has been ongoing ever since with brief breaks, and really brings down both Turkey and Kurdistan. Otherwise, a really good video about how Islam came from its grand beginnings to its pretty sorry state today, keep up the good work.
0:00 I think you should draw a circle around Southeast Asia. Vietnamese, Malays, Filipinos, despite their major religious denomination, share a lot of the same Southeast Asian traditions. It's more like a gradient rather than here's Protestantism, here's Islam, and here's Buddhism. Same in Africa or the US South, despite them following Christianity or Islam, they bring their own local spiritual beliefs and incorporate them into their religion. References: Iliffe, John. Africans, The History of a Continent. Baker, Chris, Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World. Baker, Chris, Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Thailand. Liberman, Victor. Strange Parallels in Southeast Asia, Vol I and II.
i like how you pointed out that islamic civilisation is closest to the western one, when compared to all the other civilisations (like China, india or africa). many Westerners and Muslims seem to ignore this fact. This is true not only ideologically but also genetically. The reason we saw Muslims and Westerners clash a lot in history and even today is cause they are the only two ideologies capable of world domination. So the clash is cause of power struggle, otherwise the Chinese or Indians are even more opposed to Western or Islamic civilisation, they just never got the chance to compete for world domination.
I totally agree with your statement about Islam and Christianity being the only ideology’s able to do world domination but I think China was quite the tolerant of Muslims as a Chinese emperor made a poem praising Muhammad.
@@adamnesico You probably think Europeans and Middle Easterners are also the same as, you are beyond retarded, not even insane asylums will take you in.
First time watching this, and this was an amazing explanation. Alot of it did go over my head, since I am coming from the Western Christian background, but you explained so much and I truly did learn so much, from this video.
Copts aren't Semites. The Afroasiatic language family is split into 6 main branches-Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic, and Semitic. Copts unsurprisingly fall under Egyptian, whereas some Ethiopians like Amharas and Tigreans technically count as Semites.
Amazing how similar Muhammed and Moses are. I have been saying for this longest time Muhammad is the most impressive human in history. The guy was literally Ceasar and Pope in one.
@Pedro Ortega no problem really thats how world work for thousand of year All royalty did that She was already engaged before and it was normal to christian and jew alreeady to marry at this age according to all civilazation laws
@@_Phen_I would disagree with you in this matter the only evidence of Aisha being 9. Is in conversation Hadith she said in a time Arab had no actual calendar nor that they count their birth day. And it contradicts another Hadith statements that says that she was younger ten years then her sister which at the time of that marriage was 28 roughly. And another statement of her that she witnessed the event of splitting the moon and she was a little girl (used a word that indicates she was from 4 t 8) which actually be impossible if she was nine and would add 5 years at least to her age There is a lot of contradiction that Aisha married was when she was nine. And the simple answer is probably didn’t happen.
I will say as someone who is part Turkish and part Iranian, though not muslim, Iran a Turkey are culturally distinct from eachother and certainly from Arabic culture, which has far more influence on North Africa. Arabia and North Africa are far more tribal and of course mostly desert, while Iran and Turkey both had periods of modernization and Westernization as well as being more hospitable and holding a far richer pre-Islamic culture than pre-Islam Arabia. Furthermore, Turkey and Iran were part of Alexander's empire, as was Egypt, and Turkey was under Greek control until the late middle ages. Meanwhile, modern North African and Arabian culture developed as a reaction to being under direct colonial rule by the West: the same reason for Iran's conservative government today.
20:50 this part of the video is completely wrong. 1. Abbasids weren't shia 2. They weren't persian although because they weren't opressive to other ethnicities they got supported bu other ethnicities which persians were culturally strongest.
About sunni shia split; Ali were were Muhammads adoptive son as well as his daughter's husband and cousin. Ali children were only descendants of Muhammad. So shia sunni split is at first pretty much was hereditary monarchy or elective monarchy as first four caliphs elected by a council of prophet's companions . Shia says Ali who is the fourth elected caliph is wronged because there shouldn't have been an election because it should have been hereditary. There is a lot more to be covered but at its core its this.
I'm looking forward to the future smaller civilization videos! I would be very interested to see one about Elamite culture if you are ever interested. Thank you for another video here. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)
According to some historians ,Arabs first appeared in historical sources around 835 B.C.They were fighting with the assiriyan empire.They were led by a chief whom the assiriyans called "jundibu the Arab".His group of camels are also mentioned.
The Bible records them all the way back to Abraham(Ishmaelites). They are described as a people who will always be contrary to the world, and the world contrary to them.
You made a small mistake at 21:00 The Sunni-Shia split isn't based off the lineage of Fatima vs Ali because Ali and Fatima were married, all Muhammad's grandsons were begotten to Fatima and Ali IIRC. The Sunni believe that the Caliph or leader of the Umma should be chosen while the Shia believe it should be hereditary from Muhammad.
Oh god, the map at 17:00 is really bad. I love how it doesn't have any date on it. Since you have 'Nestorians' labelled, we have to assume that we're looking at the 5th or 6th century. I wonder what new scholarship has recently come to light that suggests that ALL of North Africa was Monatist in the 5th or 6th century! That would be breaking new ground indeed, considering the Monatists all but died out by the end of the 3rd, and never had even close to the cultural influence to be considered the dominant expression of Christianity for an entire province. I'm honestly baffled, and genuinely wonder where you got the idea to put them on the map. Meanwhile we have the 'Copts' by which I assume you mean Monophysites/Miaphysites given that the Egyptian Miaphysites eventually developed into the modern Coptic church. Aside from the anachronistic label, the Miaphysites ought to have a presence in Syria, down towards Ethiopia, and deep into Arabia. The 'Nestorians,' now called the Church of the East, should have a much less dominant hold on Syria, but should have a greater reach eastward towards central Persia and eventually towards India and China. As for the "Catholics," I guess they should be labelled as 'Chalcedonian,' and should be given all of North Africa, Palestine, and the Syrian coast (Melkites). However, Armenia should NOT be considered Chalcedonian, as the Armenian church rejected the council. Eventually, Armenia would adopt Monophysitism. But of course, if you made these changes, then you would be completely invalidating your own point that the Semitic ethnicity of the Levantine/Egyptian/North African provinces made them at odds with 'Europe' and more susceptible to conquest by the Arab Empire. But of course, history does not support your essentialist narrative of civilization, so in order to make your argument, you had to paper over the contrary evidence, eliminating support for Chalcedon within the semitic provinces, and the reverse for the 'European' ones, as well as inventing a virile Monatist resurgence in the 6th century. I study Late Antiquity so can easily identify the problems with your arguments regarding my field. I can only wonder about all the inaccuracies which I miss because they are beyond my field of expertise. And I feel very sorry for all the people who are encountering this material for the first time and think, 'Well, that makes sense to me,' and are convinced by your arguments, not realizing that they are based upon incredibly poor history.
Similar thoughts over here. Not sure where this "history" came from. Later I picked up on some theological statements that were questionable to say the least - and I then later realized he's just a kid. That being said, think he should have spent a bit more time on this video before putting it out. A bit sloppy considering his large audience.
@@George-ur8ow I believe he is around his early 20s. I think he should know better than to just lie by now! He presents himself as a 'public intellectual' and claims that the internet has replaced academia as the primary place where intellectual progress is made, yet if he were to present his theories to actual academics who know this stuff, he would be laughed out of the room! It is true that academia is declining, but if this is what we have to replace it, then we are in major trouble. I totally agree with you that, especially considering his audience, he has an obligation to present well-researched history and not to deliberately mislead his listeners. A major problem seems to be that he bases most of his content on the works of either pop historians, or early 20th century (usually eugenicist) historians who were usually incredibly essentializing when discussing different people groups, be they ethnic or religious. We know much more about these cultures today than we did a century ago and there's simply no excuse to just ignore all the advancements made since then
Will you make a civilization video about Japan? I mean it kind of belongs to the chinese/sinic civilization but you have them as a different civilization on your map
I would like to see this video myself, and can only imagine the effort it would take ;) I agree but can claim to get a sense (as opposed to entirely understanding) of how they must be more along the line of Koreans or a particular group in Chinese history, in abstract interpretqtion, than being "like other Asians". In a sense too, it can be a greater effort to tell other stories than even understand. For a few reasons. I sent one of my friends once, a video on someone's history, might have been the India videos, and he increduously asked "told by a white guy?" For me it didn't matter because it was respectfully done and introductary -level, as far as my understandings lie. But that is maybe something that needs to be considered. I see Rudyard as being too respectful for such a view of his material, I'm jist saying it exists. I woild like to see this video myself.
My friends and I are going to write an alt history story set in Japan. So if you help me find someone with enough subscribers (111 minimum) to collaborate with on my next video project. I'll do a video on Japanese civilization for you. My next YT video will be on the religious history of Ukraine. I'll touch on the grand duchy of Lithuania, the polish Lithuanian commonwealth and the Kievan rus. So if u know any content creators on YT who have tried anything relevant to that then lmk
@@straightrippnable706 My friends and I are going to write an alt history story set in Japan. So if you help me find someone with enough subscribers (111 minimum) to collaborate with on my next video project. I'll do a video on Japanese civilization for you. My next YT video will be on the religious history of Ukraine. I'll touch on the grand duchy of Lithuania, the polish Lithuanian commonwealth and the Kievan rus. So if u know any content creators on YT who have tried anything relevant to that then lmk
You're wrong at 20:57 , it's about who the Caliph should've been Abu Bakr r.a. or Ali r.a. , Shias believe that after prophet Muhammad it should've been Ali r.a. and Sunnis believe it to be the Prophet's companions and Ali r.a. to be the 4th Caliph.
AmazIng content. It would also be great to see a video on the individual cultures within the islamic world. Such as the rise of the Turkic people and their impact on the spread of islam. Also the Iranic peoples, whose influence has stretched from spain to the east indies. Etc
I've always noted a pattern of decadence leading to the downfall of great societies. I share your concerns as groups in the US seem to be going down this same path. Your geopolitics were fairly accurate. It's pertinent to brush up on western intervention which started before WW1. Lawrence of Arabia, the Turks, and the British empire are especially interesting and would make a great episode. The main point though, tying the above into theology was a complete failure. The theology is much to complicated largely because of the diversity. Something Muslim historians can't even agree on. It requires a much more nuanced approach. For example the treatment of women is more a result of socioeconomic break down than religious instruction. Your example of Hijabs legality in Iran was related to rebellion against a US lead coup in the ’50s and 70s (see NPR's through-line episode). Second, Islamically, God will have never been a reason to cease one's efforts. (tying one's camel). In fact, Muslims juggle God's will/destiny, and effort to carve out ones future much better than any other religion I've studied. I'd also add, many times the actions of Muslim leaders were rooted in greed for power, not religion. Overall great job, and I think some of my critiques would make great future content.
Very few leaders in history are fueled solely by the high ideals they proclaim to hold. Most of them have a good reason for what they do(to justify their acts), and a real reason.
At 12:05, I agree with you that I feel like modern Christianity is either cheesy "Jesus loves us" or "Your of the devil because you vote different then me" no one talks deeper theological issues that philosophers have wrestled with for centuries.
Maybe because he went to a sunday worship where the whole point is to worship instead of a bible study where the whole point is to understand the bible and the verses with a deeper meaning
Still hoping for an eventual alternate history video on What if Islam followed al-Ghazali and Islamic Civilization continued to promote science, not blind adherence to faith.
If you still believe that Al-Ghazali single handy changed how Islamic Civilization thought about faith and reason, you need to think again. First off, Muslim lands reached it's height in the Early Modern period way after Al-Ghazali. You had far more Muslim lands in Eurasia and Africa than you did during the Middle Ages, plus you also had the mighty Ottoman Empire, one of the strongest Islamic Empires since the Arab Caliphates. Second Islam itself is a very political religion and believes it has "The Truth." The people who founded the religion were themselves conquerers. Islamic texts contain practically every matter of subject you can think of from laws to governing to economics to even mundane tasks like how to drink water. Abrahamic religions are garbage, but they're way more complex than Islam being "Christianity with an Arabic Twist", Judaism being "Christianity with no New Testament" and Christianity being "Judaism but with a Son of God."
You can say the same about any Muslim country if your going for that. Case in point, Islamic Civilization is where the dominant religion is Islam and thus they rule by the sharia law and what has been ordained in the Islamic Texts. Prior to the modern era all Muslim-majority nations shared that in common, though with the rise of secularism this civilization has slowly been declining. Islam is more of a political ideology than it is as some spiritual religion.
@@elifern889 Actually it's both. Islam values spirituality a lot. But at the same time, it gives a good base for a strong political organization, adapted to the era it lives in, but without changing its core creed and message.
@@Retaliatixn I mean Islam's Heaven is just fucking, drinking, and eating in some King's Palace. I don't see any "spiritual benefit" in this afterlife.
You are the first European commentator that understands Islam the same way I do: as an Arab revolut against rule by the Romans. Re: it was all one man "Muhammad" There's a hisstory researcher on UA-cam (Khaled Balkin) who has a avery interesting theory about how the creed of Islam evolved over time: At first, Muhammad was mostly receiving ancient revelations written in scrolls and books that he would then read and decipher and put in his "book". These manuscripts formed the basis of his theological knowledge. Balkin notes that this is consistent with the concept of prohpethood at that time. Later he began writing into the book himself, believing he was guided by the holy spirit. After his death, the manuscripts remained with his first two successors. During the reign of his third successor, word of these manuscripts spread among young enthusiastic believers who came to him demanding that he releases the manuscripts as they believed they art part of the divine revalation. He worried that if he revealed them it would weaken the resolve of the new believers so he destroyed them instead, after which the rebels killed him and then a huge internal civil war started where eventually the Umayyads won and they worked on elevating the significance of the Quran and started spreading stories that the text was revealed to the prophet directly via the arch angel, and they worked tirelessly to oppress anyone spreading any claims to the contrary. The Sunni/Shia split originated from there. The story kept evolving but remnants of the original story can still be found in early accounts: such as talking about a paricular man from the Levant whose form Gabriel would always take, and accounts of revalation talking about Gabriel visiting the prophet via dreams, and early Shias claiming that Ali and/or Fatima had a very large Quran that is 3 times larger than what is currently known. The vast majority of what is known as the "Meccan" quran was written possibly a few centuries earlier in the fertile crescent, but was considered a heretic text so was carefully hidden and entrused to only few people until some of those trustees decided to start delivering it to Muhammad. Another artifact is that, as you have noted, early conqurers did not try to convert the people they ruled over. They considered Islam to be a religion for the Arabs alone, and Muhammad as a prophet who would bring the word of God to the Arabs
Muslims preferred and supported the Romans against the Persians. The Persian empire was completely destroyed, while the Romans were only partially overtaken.
@@yolemae6580 The Quran has long chapters dedicated to arguments against the Roman empire's religion. Nothing against Persian religious beliefs though.
@@hasen_judi the persians were following a pagan religion (zoroastrianism) of fire worship. by default Islam is more against any such religions which is why the early Muslims supported the romans against persians. And the Quran talks about idol worhsippers throughout, it was directed at arab pagans but applies the same to persian or any other type of idolaters. Whereas Christians were described as the closest to Muslims, despite the differences. it's the exact opposite of what you are suggesting.
text at 25:56 actually, the number of native English speakers and native Arabian speakers is very similar, around 400 million each, but there are another 900 million non native English speakers vs only about an additional 100 million non native Arab speakers. He might be confusing Arabs with total Islamic people in these numbers. "No one in the Arab world is capable of building a bicycle let alone a car" there might be a gain of truth there but this is at the very least highly exaggerated and hyperbolic. Of course there are some Arab people who have natural mechanical talent, who could build devices like these with the proper materials, but yes, because of cultural reasons these talents are less likely to be properly developed.
Harry Turtledove wrote a AU history book called "Through Darkest Europe" where the POD is that the ideas of al-Ghazali and Thomas Aquinas about the relationship between religion and science were switched. As a result the Islamic world is filled with modern technology, secularism etc. while Europe is a backwater full of religious violence. It's not a very realistic book but the concept is really interesting.
These things come in waves. That is how it was during the "Dark Ages", where all the forward-looking centers of learning were in the Muslim world. Now the shoe is on the other foot; but al-Ghazali's life as a microcosm continues to serve as a stark reminder for future generations about this coming wave that breaks when the balance between liberalism and conservatism is disturbed, as is happening here in the West. We're in the early stages of a new "dark age" insofar as people are turning insular, towards populists, away from globalism, all as a reaction to the excesses of neo-liberalism. @@Whatifalthist being bullish on Islam has merit at least for this reason. This is going to depend, of course, on whether Muslim civilization can meaningfully reform in a balanced manner while maintaining its soul, and without becoming a cheap imitation of its former self.
We don't need the book, there are real examples of that, in the West, like "Math is racist " . When a society is so secure, it loses contact with reality, that's when Al-Ghazani and Post-Modernists get an audience. A new Cold War , this time with China, will eventually fix that.
Great video! But some errors here. -The Arabs aren’t the origin of the origin of crescent semites but they’re both descendants of a common ancestor -You referred to the Abu Muslim revolution that brought about Abbasids as Shia. While they would be classified as such in modern times, that’s now what they identified as and the term was not a thing back then. -I think the clan system and family structure in Islamic countries plays a more important role than referenced in the video. -The first boom expansion of the Muslim empire was a combination of both a stride of good geopolitical luck and a charismatic liberal leader (for the time) -There’s a gap there around 800 AD where your video doesn’t make it obvious why the Muslim empire didn’t just take over backwater europe.
@SireJaxs I do. If you look back to many of his older vids, I agree with him on many things, and I've commented on many of them. Though I've noticed over time that his views on the world are shallow and one dimensional. He often comes to insane conclusions. For example, old people suck because they had too much sex which caused people to not have enough sex which caused an old population. That's ludicrous. History is complex and ever-changing. Using information that was relevant 80 years ago is not credible and leads to said insane conclusions. Hell, Nathan Seper, the original commenter, stated that whatifalthist is a youtuber that seriously studies and analyzes civilizations and their strengths and weaknesses. You can't fit an entire civilization into a cookie cutter video and force the civilization into 2 categories. Especially one that's existed for thousands of years. In conclusion, whatifalthist uses stereotypes and over simplifications to cut down a group of people into a cookie cutter video for his audience to appraise him for his immense intelligence.
I've been watching your videos for a while and for some reason on all of the maps you show, North/East Africa is usually the same(Under the Islam sphere) except for where Ethiopia is. Is there a reason why Ethiopia is so much different than her neighbours? Is it because we're chrisitan? Or maybe there is some other reason?
I am from neighboring Somalia and this is what I can tell you. Ethiopia was an ancient Christian Kingdom from before the time of even prophet Muhammad. It’s had its own Christian Abyssinian empire from ancient times that ended in the 20th century, and that’s why it’s different.
@@mgplayzxd3062 yeah sorry all of those are called habasha in arabic so you will get confused with this The prophet ordered not to attack them for many reasons and one is because they saved muslims
Seeing a video on that peak Persian cultural sphere ~1700 would be really cool. Those parts of the world aren’t really thought of as interacting much in the modern world, but the spread of Islam into the Pacific and Mughal history seems extremely interesting as someone in the West who hasn’t been exposed to the history. Besides Sufi evangelism among the islands, Islam in SE Asia has always been a bit of a “hey, it’s here too” thing for me rather than something I know the history of.
the persian cultural sphere map is nothing but exaggeration it did have influence but doesn't warrant enough to INCLUDE india, it had a seperate islamic culture very different from the turko persians
I think that Ataturk abolishing the caliphate should have at least been mentioned in this video. It's probably the most important event in Muslim history since the Mongol invasions
Blaming Imam al-Ghazali and belief in occasionalism for the lack of scientific progress in the Islamic world is simply ludicrous, and hailing the Mu'tazilites, who carried out an inquisition against their orthodox co-religionists, as rationalist free thinkers is equally, if not more, absurd.
@@adamnesico A combination of different social, political, and economic factors. Imam al-Ghazali passed away in 1111 CE, and Muslim decline began in the latter half of the 18th century.
@@Husayn0318 Thats totally wrong, muslim science fell very fast after alGazali. The last great muslim filosofer was ibn Khaldun, the prelast, ibn Rushd, who lived just a century after alGazali.
Christians and Muhammadans do not worship the same God. The Islamic god is singular, while the Christian God is triune. So the argument that they worship the same diety shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity.
Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Islam claims that Allah is is the same as YHWH but that is false. Muhammad says that the trinity is Father, Son, and the virgin Mary and claims that Jesus isn't one with the Father.
@@gonfreecss6002 Allah is the greatest of deceivers, but in the Lord (Jesus) there is no darkness or evil, only light. Lying is sinning, therefore, Allah is sinful and can't be the God of the Bible or the Torah. This is one of many inconsistancies that the Muslim has to overcome to prove his point, which he cannot.
In fact, many battles took place between the Arabs and the Chinese during the Umayyad and Tang expansion in Central Asia, not just one. But the most famous and last battle among us was the Battle of Talas (video talks about), between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and its ally, the Tibetan Empire, against the Chinese Tang Empire and its ally, the Karkota dynasty. This battle is the most famous for several reasons: 1- Because the overwhelming victory of the Abbasid Empire in this battle stopped the expansion of the Tang Dynasty and the Chinese towards the west for approximately 1000 years, until the Qing Dynasty invaded East Turkestan (1933 - 1934) and Tibet. The expansion of the Arab Caliphate was also stopped because the two sides later focused on establishing more diplomatic and commercial relations instead of continuing the war. The Chinese allowed Arab and Persian merchants to build mosques and establish cities and commercial settlements on the Chinese coast and in the interior lands. 2- Because the Turkish tribes changed their allegiance during the battle and fought alongside the Abbasids against the Chinese, Abbasid-Turkish relations began and they allowed them to enter the empire and supported the Muslim Turkish tribes against the pagan Turks. 3- Because this battle was also the reason for the transfer of the Chinese paper industry to the Abbasid Empire and then to the rest of the world. In general, this battle (despite its violence) was the reason later for building good and peaceful relations that continue to this day between Arabs and Chinese
It's only a matter of time until you will be forced to censor out the picture at 10:22. Therefore, I will download the video immediately... and recommend everybody else to do so.
8:38 I always though that Ancient Egyptians and later Copts were not Semites, but a separate branch of Afro-Asiatic speakers. 33:02 I thought the Fatimids were Arabs and descendants of Muhammad, not Berbers. 36:51 In 1700, the ruling dynasty of Persia was the Safavids, not the Qajars. I cannot wait for your video on African civilization, which could discuss broad historical, geographical, societal, and economic trends of Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes unique phenotype, extremely varied climates. fewer advanced civilizations compared to Eurasia, late European colonization, ethnically ultra-diverse countries with borders arbitrarily drawn with disregard to local cultures, lower human development, less urbanization, authoritarian (often socialist) first post-colonial presidents, and the lack of a unifying philosophy and common political structures (before Europeans) that defines civilizational spheres (Christianity and the Enlightenment for the West, Confucianism and Imperial meritocracy for China, Hinduism and the Caste system for Indian civilization, City-states, polytheism, and stepped pyramids for Mesoamerican civilization). In addition to your upcoming Africa video, I would recommend making a separate video about Sahelian civilization. This region was the largest complex of civilizations in pre-colonial Africa. The Sahel shares many distinctions from the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa in that it has always been home to large empires. The Sahel has been Muslim starting in the 11th Century, albeit in a syncretic form, unlike the Arabo-Persian world. Furthermore, I would like to see you make a video on Ethiopian Civilization. Lastly, I suggest "What if the Islamic World Never stagnated" as a one hour-long video. I understand that you said on a live stream that you will no longer make alternate history, but I loved alternate history. Alternate history is the region I discovered your channel and how your channel became my favorite UA-cam channel. I also love real history, geography, politics, and cultures, so I will continue to follow your channel. Over the years, I have accumulated a list of 124 alternate history scenario suggestions for you, which I now understand might never be realized. A recurring theme of your videos is that the Islamic World stagnated and was outcompeted by the West because of a philosophical turn in the 11th century, and that the Western and Islamic world reached equal footing during this time. Muslim scholars such as Al-Ghazali came to the conclusion that God is inherently irrational, so studying the Quran was enough for understanding the world. (What if the West never rose to dominance?, What if Europe was wiped out by the Black Death?, What if Tamerlane never existed?, Understanding Western Civilization, A Study of Decadence, and now this very video). I have always wanted scenarios where any civilization other than the West becomes the dominant civilization of the world in the sense of having had a renaissance, an enlightenment, an industrial revolution, democracy, human rights, and colonizing most of the world. An alternate scenario where Al-Ghazali never existed or where Islam never stagnated has been repeatedly suggested. Since you abandoned alternative history very quietly, and for the love of your fans, this scenario could serve as a long-awaited grand finale to your series on alternate history.
I truly wish he did more islamic alt histories such as what if al ghazali never existed or what if the mongols didnt invade I dont think he touched islamic history on this channel in a very meaningful way tbh and his analysis leaves a lot to be desired not that his analysis is bad but I find whenever he talks about islamic societies it is usually criminally short and glosses over stuff
Hes gonna do a video if african civs? I don’t think that. 1 in his videos he has showed a clear lack of interest in black culture. 2 the video would probably get censored by afrocentrists.
Check out www.forthepeople.com/whatifaltHist for our sponsor Morgan&Morgan
Last time you did the alternate history is two years ago, are you feeling like to change your channel name to something else other than suggest something you stopped doing long time ago?
To be clear I have nothing against you personally or anything but I think since you are more focused on anthropology and sociology now, I feel you should change your channel name to anthropologist and sociology related
You could talk about the future of the monarchy in Saudi Arabia. The point is, the the Arab King (I forgot his name) is the main backer of Wahabism, while the crown Prince (I forgot his name too) is a Party-Animal who often insults Islam, and his reig will cause --- tension.
Also Architecture in Arabia is intersting (can you please team-up with Adam Something). Arabs absolutly love Postmodernism. They build glass towers in the desert, even if it makes now sense at all.
Unfortunately the proliferation of BS injury claims is a large driver of insurance rate increases and has all kinds of undesirable economic effects, such as dissuading possible manufacturers from domiciling in the US since they then become subject to US courts broad interpretation of liability (which just so happens to target well-insured defendants)
100 centuries????
100 x 100 = 10,000 years
I can't wait for Whatifalthist to run out of civilizations to talk about, forcing him to build his own civilization in real life so that he can get more material.
He's already done this too, with his far-flung future civilization predictions.
@@normanclatcher no, I mean he'll start a religion and conquer land
(it would be funny)
@@TheGreenKnight500 no, it wouldn't, since we would not get any new content thereafter.
You guys should stop almost-venerating the guy. You can be fan of the content, but it's not healthy to put him on a pedestal like that.
@@haidouk872 it's a joke. It would be funny if he somehow became a warlord or something
The Mamelukes were insane. Imagine Haiti, but the slaves decided that staying slaves would be cool, since it let them know who was in the in-group and who was in the out-group. You had slaves lording over free people, and the composition of their elite was decided entirely by whichever group got subjugated and sold into slavery last.
You can't compare Islamic and mamluk kinds of slavery to Western kinds of slavery.
The fact that the word "slavery" is slapped on both phenomena of African transatlantic slavery and on Islamic slavery, doesn't mean they're actually comparable
@@NP1066 Yes and no first of there is no good kind of Slavery.
There was a huge slave trade from eastern and central europeans into north-africa and west-asia over the Califate of Cordobar and Byzantium into the meditiranian sea that only stopped because of the christianisation of europe at the end of the medival period.
Christians were not allowed to treat other christians as slaves just like Muslimes were not allowed to treat other muslimes as slaves and had this castlike system for other people of the book. Something that the Iberian Christians copied from the iberian muslims and used in their conquest of the americas. Using the local elite against the ruling class.
For example the people of Scandinavia enslaved people from the british isle or they went of the river-system in eastern europe in the the blacksea and captured locals and traded them in Byzantium for Silk. This involved castrating the men and selling woman as concobines/slaves. The Mongols and other nomadic people from the eurasian step also sold europeans into slavery mostly of slavic and germanic origin.
Another example were the Jantischaren of the Ottoman Empire slaves? Were the European Jews slaves, because they were bascily forced to life in cities and kept in ghettos and only allowed to coexist with christians because Jews was it allowed to land money with compound interest which made the Local Christians Rulers also alot of money?
Another example is serfdom in Europe. Forced Labor is a form of Slavery yes ,but there are still nuances.
But the Atlantik Slave Trade is more allaign to what the Nazis did. Basicly treating people like disposable Cattle with no rights and not like breathing, feeling, living beings on an industrial scale. Slavery/serfdom/forced Labor is always horrible but still there are differences.
@@NP1066 exactly there is a whole set of rules in Islam on the slavery issue.
@JamesMacPherson the basra slave was revolt lead by someone who thought he mehdi
It has nothing with religous principlity
Some people will revolt if you push them enough
@@NP1066 ngl, kinda sounds like you're just excusing Islamic slavery. Mostly because you didn't provide any reason as to why they're not comparable. I'd love to hear your reasoning for such a conclusion
So, you're saying, Christians talk about Jesus too much, but Muslims don't fixate on Muhammad? Seriously? Christians believe Jesus IS God. Muslims believe Muhammad was a prophet. You'd expect Jesus to be at the center of the Christian religion. To Christians, Jesus IS God. If Christians elevated Paul in their discussions to the extent Muslims elevate Muhammad, you'd be right to question why he's the center of all discussions.
I am hindu I thought that too. they even bar showing the face of muhhmad, who was a human and had a real face
@Ok Ok muhhmad is not god right, so image or not, why would someone worship him?
@@NikasInParis_777 Christ is literally God in human form. That's what the Trinity is. Go read up on religion my man.
@@tesserae-c2y oh yeah you are right
@@tesserae-c2y thank you for letting me know
I'd think a further breakdown of western civilization into Catholic and Protestant sections would be interesting. Maybe do a comparison between the twp of them and then Orthodox would be fun. Then add in the Ethiopian/Coptic as a comparison
I personally would like to see a well-researched Buddhist video. I’m no expert, but I could give some advice to Rudyard.
There are three distinct branches of Buddhism.
Theravada - Traditional Buddhism
Mahayana - Spiritual Buddhism
Vajrayana - Esoteric Buddhism
Each one has its own history and philosophy regarding the Buddha’s teachings.
There are numerous differences of Christianity, much more than in islam
I agree
It wouldn’t just be interesting, it would destroy America and Europe
Marxism is the most destructive ideology. More murderous and oppressive is one scant century than all religions combined back to the beginning of history.
Love the vids. Your video on the ethnic history of the United States in particular was gold. Keep it up
That's my favorite😀
Did you mean Pick it up? Pick. It. Up.
I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge". 1 Nephi 1-3
Hello friends, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The verses above are the first three verses in The Book of Mormon. I know this probably isn't the most ideal place to talk about religion but I really do want you to know that God loves you. You may not love Him or care about Him at all, but He still will continue to love you. You are a beloved son or daughter of God. He knows you personally and He truly and deeply desires for your happiness. He loves everyone who has every lived on this earth, with a perfect equal love regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, faith and values and beliefs. The Lord loves you more than you can think or comprehend. "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" 2 Nephi. He is our loving, caring Heavenly Father. We are literally His children and creations. When we were in the womb, he knew about us" Jerimiah 4:5. He knitted us and we were created in His image.
I testify to you that you and I are not a mistake. He knows the very moment when we stand and when we sit. He is familiar with all our ways and knows us personally who we are. The hairs on our very head are numbered. God loved us so much, He sent His Only Begotten Son for us, that we may be able to return and dwell in the presence of God again. The Lord has not forgotten about us even when it feels like He has. He will never forsake us. When we are happy, He and His angels rejoice alongside us. When we are sad, He heals us and lifts us up from our trials. He has always been there for us. He has always been our loving, compassionate Heavenly Father and God. Will we always be His children and people?
I testify to you that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. Both love you exceedingly and rejoice when you are happy. They both love you so much. They love you with a love unfeigned. They will never ever stop doing good unto you. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost". Moroni 10:4 I promise and testify to you, that if you will read The Book of Mormon, ponder on its message and ask God if it is not true, you will come to know of its truthfulness, whether its true or not true.
Remember my friends that God loves you with all his heart, might mind, soul and strength. He wants you to be happy. He knows what you are going through and dealing with right now. He desires for you to return back to Him. Unfortunately, He has been misrepresented and seen as a cruel and angry God who anticipates for us to slip and writes down every mistake we make waiting to punish us by those who do not know or know Him fully.
My friends, God has stored many opportunities and blessings for you. He is incredibly eager and desires with all His heart to bless you abundantly. He wants you to live with Him again. He only wants the best for you and your well being. He wants to experience everlasting joy and indescribable happiness in this life and in the life to come. He wants you to partake of His goodness and come and follow Him. The Lord does not care how early or late you decide to come unto Him. I testify to you that if you have strayed and wondered off the path that there is peace and hope in Jesus Christ, The Savior of the world. The Lord accepts those who come unto Him whether your early, late or just in time who desire to change. The Lord will accept you wholeheartedly and forgive you if you are willing to change. The Lord will welcome you and will always be ready to embrace you with open arms. The Lord will lift us up in our trials and use us to bless the lives of those around us if we are willing to change.
If you desire to learn more, you are always welcome to visit comeuntochrist.org. There you will learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ and our core beliefs and values. If you have taken the time to read The Book of Mormon and this comment, thank you. It takes a huge leap of faith and a lot of courage to muster enough faith to read in the Book of Mormon and to believe in something in a personage that you may never see in this lifetime. Although we may not be able to see God and Jesus Christ in this life, I testify to you that they are real. They do truly exist. I promise you that if you will pray to know of their existence, you will come to know whether they exist or have been made up.
You are my friends. The Lord loves you unconditionally and is fully aware of you and despite all our weaknesses and shortcomings, he still loves us and will forgive us if we will humble ourselves before Him and diligently seek correction and do whatever is needed to repent.
Remember that The Lord is always available to talk to through prayer 24/7. No question sounds too silly for Him. James wrote, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" James 1:5. If you must know whether or not something is true and uplifting, or evil and deceptive, you can always pray to God. He will help you know what the truth is and what is not the truth. He will never be too busy to talk to. He will give you strength you need to overcome and conquer your temptations and will give you the strength you need to endure through your trials and afflictions. Paul said that The Lord will not give you temptations that you cannot resist, but that in your temptations, He will provide a way for you to resist, overcome and conquer them. He will provide a way. He wants to bless you and reward you abundantly in Spiritual and physical things. The Lord knows you and will not forget you. You are loved. You are utterly amazing. You have incredible potential. You are not forgotten or ever will be forgotten or forsaken. You are special. You are unique. You really are one of a kind. You have been reserved for this time and The Lord needs you on His side.
It just simply would not be the same without you. That is just how much the Lord need you on His side.
Thank you dearly for your time
@@watchingwitcher3653
No…?
@@WhatifAltHist My friend I know that the United States is categorized as "Western",but I think that we are both unique enough and geographically isolated enough. That America is its own civilization and should be treated as such, albeit a very young one and absolutely descended from Western civilization
I think you should make a video on the Japanese civilisation as well. While certainly having a lot of Sinic and Confucian elements to it, Japan combines elements of confucianism, shintoism and buddhism in a very unique way generally unseen in other East Asian countries, as well as having a more distinct family structure and language. Huntington categorised Japan as its own small quasi-civilisation and I think and exploration of that idea would be an interesting detour for the series.
Maybe that will be one of the videos he does about smaller civilizations, I'm pretty sure he's a aware than Japanese civilization is fairly distinct.
Huntington at it again.
😮
Actually every countries should be their own civilizations if we counted like Huntington.
Eithopian civilization was surrounded by Pagans and Muslims and yet noone is making a video about them.
I’m not too confident in whatifalthist’s ability to get the general things correct about Japan, considering he thinks Philippines is part of Latin America, but then again he has shown Japan as separate from Chinese civilization in his maps
(Also, I haven’t seen him covering Japan much apart from modern geopolitics and his older alternate history videos)
Every day Whatifalthist uploads is like Christmas.
Muslim here, I think this video was largely fair and though I do respectfully disagree with a few points such as the implication that a longstanding Christian plurality or majority in the Muslim world fueled innovation or that Islam uniformly fell into basically spiritual despotism post-Ghazali (see Ottoman and Mughal preferences for more rational modes of thought like Hanafism which remains the most popular school of thought today as well as less rigid forms of Sufism which remain popular in Egypt and other regions), I'd say this was a very good analysis. And bonus points for having a bit more hope for the future of the Muslim world than I do.
I don't think he actually thinks Christians were the ones driving innovation. I think it was more of a joke, as his presented reason for stagnation was a cultural shift due to other reasons.
And I really hope muslims can sort themselves out, and that we see more cooperation between the abrahamic religions. I thought the abraham accords were a good start, unfortunately the momentum seemed to die out after 2020.
@@hugoguerreiro1078 vast amount of Muslims will not support the Abraham Accords until Israel itself reforms.
@@deleted3843 No even then we will not support it.
@@hugoguerreiro1078 Israel represents the oppression and humiliation imperial europe forced upon the muslims. the conflict is not about religion as Islam is the religion that coined the 'people of the book' mentality. The conflict is about western encroachment on a native people's right to self-sovereignty. Given all these reasons, you'll find the supporters of Palestine tend to be nations most subjected to colonization in history while supporters of Israel are the now-reformed, former Imperialist driven nations
@@hxyzazolchak Not necessarily. A reformed Israel would look nothing like it does today, and it would be essentially what Palestine always was. Granted, this would still require complete equal rights and compensation for Palestinian lives/ property lost.
“A church for Instagram influencers” Crucifixion honestly sounds more enjoyable than being there 😂
The church is not a club for saints. It’s a hospital for sinners.
@deriznohappehquite imagine a hospital that deliberately gave you syphilis. There's a difference between accepting sinners and trying to get them on a different path vs just saying "keep doing what you're doing" and, whether through misunderstanding or deliberately, telling people that pointing out sin/saying people should change is judgement. "Thou shall not judge" is about claiming someone is already damned beyond redemption or conversely that theyre beyond rebuke
@@deriznohappehquite Very true, that doesn't mean the Church should embrace sin though. Jesus told his followers to sin no more.
@@deriznohappehquite yeah, but sometimes it feels wrong. Not a church but here in muslim majority country i used to see a more secular outlook where sinners are sinners and saints are saints but know i often see a saints act like sinners and sinners act like saints, you know what i mean?
I can´t believe me, a European, got an ad for a personal injury law firm. Just like in the movies.
Bc it wasn’t a UA-cam ad but a personal ad inserted into his video
yeah found that funny as well
life imitates art, or does art imitate life?
That’s because UA-cam (and the internet, for that matter,) are American. You’re just an interloper or a bird watching from a tree.
Can Europeans not sue for wrongful injury?
I can never say that those videos are absolutely correct in every little detail but I just can't stop watching them.
They are pretty great, they remind me of how I try to link literature always with the history of a place at the time, and though I get a ton of little details lost, it's still a great way to get people to actually start learning.
I can't wait for the video on Muslim Africa! ❤️
By any chance are you Ahmad Pasha? The Sudanese guy
@@minutemanchan7232 by any chance do you happen to be a somali?
@@ahmedmuawia2447 :DDDD Why yes
Wait are you from the discord channel Al Muqaddimah ?
As Somali historian and scholar I don’t think he’ll get an ounce of Islamic African civilization right but he’s fascinating
I started watching Whatifalthist in Junior High (about 8 years ago), as I was very drawn to alternate histories during that time. However, the difference between Rudyard and say alternate history hub for example is that his content matured along side me. While alternative history is fun, I stopped being as interested when I hit my Junior year in Highschool. Currently I’m a freshman collegiate wrestler and Whatifalthist is really the only channel I still watch from my childhood. His videos analyzing American cultures, civilizations, and predictions of the future resonate with me. To explain why, I’m from a Midwestern city of about 140,000 people. It’s in a really unique demographic position as it’s about 60% white surround on all sides by corn fields which are farmed by rural whites. In the city, there’s a hallowed out industrial sector which is decrepit and in ruins. However, my city found a lifeline in having a couple large companies headquartered in my downtown as well as a massive state school of 20,000, a smaller private college of 5,000, and a community college. Finally, there’s large black, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian (from india) populations. The American cultures of the Midwest, foundry, bourgeoisie intellectuals, and yankee are all present to a significant degree. Next about myself- I grew up in a single mother household with two older brothers. My biological dad is a scumbag who’s off doing whatever trailer park white trash estranged dads do. Despite this, I formed very close bonds with my brothers and mother. I would say love for my family most of life choices. My goals in life are to move out of the lower middle class, take care of my mother in her old age, and settle down with a wife and children. With this combination being how I grew up when Rudyard would talk about America’s issues and future it just made sense. Everything he talked about damn near perfectly described my life and my community. To say that his videos have impacted my life would be a bit of an understatement. As a result of Rudyard, I have read Oswald Spengler, Euripides, Virgil, Gilgamesh, Homer (Iliad and odyssey), Aeschylus, and more. My political and personal identity is deeply shaped by the morals and virtues that Rudyard spouts. Today, I’m entering the final stretch of my freshman year in college and my season ended a couple weeks ago. I’m majoring in economics and have been dating a wonderful Chinese girl for the last year and half. Perhaps I’m not alone in being an OG Whatifalthist fan that’s still here, absolutely loving the new content, and looking forward to every new video. Or, I suppose that also a possibility is that I’m some weird guy that spends too much time on UA-cam. To each his own I guess. Rudyard if you read this- I’m sure I’m one of many guys that’ve been here from the start who you’ve impacted in some pretty significant ways. Keep up the amazing work
Majoring in economics, you won't be lower middle class forever from the sounds of it.
You sound like whatifalthis You watched too many videos of him Cant blame you since you were a peasant
@@DogmaticAtheist ?
This is sick. It's good to know I have this effect on people
God damn shits long
would be interesting to see a scenario where the Vinland colony didn't fail and survived to this day
I believe he is done with alternate history as of right now. He’s more into geopolitics because those videos do much better.
If only North America had been settled by warriors instead of religious fanatics...
@@jackboot8432 at the point they settled they were already Christians. How religious I don’t know though.
Not sure its correct to say the Ottomans fought well in WW1. My understanding is that Enver Pasha's Caucasus campaign, where an army was lost to questionable logistics, is a pretty good counter example to this.
I agree but some of that could be ascribed to incompetent leadership on the part of Enver Pasha himself. Where Ottoman soldiers were led by competent commanders (Gallipoli), they performed well and on par with European powers.
Also well oiled and competent armies were the exception and examples of incompetence (Austria-Hungary, Italy) abound; by that metric the Ottomans performed decently compared to European expectations of them being a pushover.
@@tarunrao9643 18th BILLION BATTLE OF THE ISONZO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@AnonYmous-gg9oq not Cadorno the butcher of Italy.
Ottoman Empire has a population of 21,000,000 and it fought Empires over twice it's size. So for a country with a relatively lower population, they fought well.
You got Enver Pasha or Mustafa Kemal, depends on who is piloting.
I’m a life long learner who is not only subscribed to, but has watched the full back logs of most notable educational channels on UA-cam. Of them all, Whatifalthist is currently my favorite thing to show up in my subscription feed. The content of this channel is incredibly high level, and plays a significant role in how I view the world. Thank you
This is not an educational channel. He’s not a historian and is completely biased in nearly every video he makes.
Literally takes one sentence from somebody 1000 years ago, misquotes it, and says, “this is the main problem with Islam”.
As if an entire religion with millenia worth of history can be summed up in a sentence.
If you’re a lifelong learner, you can learn to discern what is an isn’t educational
"Its like calling you're girlfriend everyday, its just too much."
That's going to hurt some feelings lol
ya i think ill stop doing that right npw lol
I think this guy may be a protestant if he has a such a simplistic view of Christianity and its teachings
My feelings aren't hurt I'm just utterly confused
Who thinks the literal creator of the universe who's beyond time can be worn down just by some puny humans waffling?????
Three Wrong Things I Have to Point out here:
1- 5:41 actually Arabia had its influential civilizations before Islam in the form Of Multiple Omani and Yemeni (South Arabia) Empires that date back to thousands of years such as Hamyrite Empire, Magan Empire, Saba Kingdom etc. Even North Arabia (The Arabian Desert) which is the same area of Modern Saudi Arabia, had its own Empires in the Form of Thamud Kingdom, Lahyan Kingdom, Kindah Kingdom etc. But the problem that they were all in a desert and separate from the rest of the world which had its histories mostly lost, this problem is even still present in modern Arabia empires Histories such as the Omani Empire, Rassulid Empire, Multiple Arab Desert Emirates etc are full with holes and lost history. You can even see this problem in other desert civilizations such as the Swahili Civilization Of East Africa and Sahel Of West Africa, which both histories are full with holes and lost parts.
2- 18:50 is wrong, Both Hispania and Central Asia (Transoxiania) were mostly conquered by Arab Generals such as Musa Bin Nusyar and Qutayba Ibn Muslim just like all the other areas that the Arabs conquered even though unlike these areas, this two areas (Hispania and Transoxiania) were conquered by armies that are mixed between Arabs and non-Arabs which can be seen as the return of the influence of the original people of these areas and the formation of the Later Muslim Berber and Persian dynasties.
3- 19:55 The Abbasids were never Shia, they were always sunnis even though they based their rule over the fact that they were relatives of the Prophet.
Yeah, Abbasids were never Shia. It's a big mistake.
2. You are wrong. Typical Arab-centric p.o.v. Berbers, Turks, Kurds, and Slavs took over the military and administrative leadership of Islamic/Arab regions. Accept it.
@@juniorjames7076
Yes, but that only happened during the abbasid caliphate. The problem is that he said that it happened during the early Muslim conquests (from 623-750) which is wrong.
The narrator guy actually said "some Arab conqueror from some war in the Middle Ages, I think it was the crusades, said this powerful quote [the weak Christians, they let their god die on the cross],". Ugh. That literal quote is even impossible to find on the internet right off the cuff.
This is just a self-taught book-educated guy throwing his imperfect knowledge around, without even doing research on the finer points even. No sources, just blurting out what he knows on the topic.
Good work for a layperson, but this is so far from authoritative that it stops being funny. *Even highschool history teachers should do a better job than him.*
Arabs never had shit. They are beduins
here are a few points..
5:50 Yemen was well civilized for centuries before Islam, and Mecca and Medina were settled as urban communities, Mecca was notorious for its trade, and Medina for its agriculture
11:40 "The weak Christians they let their God die on the cross"
There is an old poem for a Muslim Scholar called Ibn Alqayem that he refutes Christiany with, he says:
"Worshippers of Christ, we have a question, that we want its answer from those who think (understand), if God dies by the hands of people that killed him, then what kind of God is that?! And if God is pleased with what they did, then they have gained his gratification, and if He hates what they did to him, then their strength overcome his"
15:00 I don't know on what basis you provide this conclusion, through Quran, while reading the stories of the prophets, you repeatedly read verses saying "But most people don't know", "But most people don't believe", "’Most people don't thank God"
Ibn Masud, a companion of the prophet, said a famous verse which translates to "Muslim society is what agrees with the truth, even if you are alone", it is a common concept in the Muslim world that the majority is not always right, and that you should stand with truth even if you are alone.
17:40 They didn't force conversion, it is not a synonym with discouraging them, there is no way they could practically discourage a group from becoming Muslims, in Sharia (Islamic laws, which were the laws in practice back then until the fall of Ottomans), saying the Shahadah and declaring yourself as a Muslim is enough to be considered a Muslim, they get the obligations of Muslims and their privileges, and Muslims pay their own tax (Zakat, 2.5% of your wealth annually).
21:00 I think you meant to say his son-in-law Ali, or his father-in-law Abu baker, but this was not the point of split, it is a retrospective view to it, Shia started with the quarrel and fighting between the companions after the killing of the 3rd Caliph, Othman, Ali, the 4th Caliph, saw that they should stabilize the Islamic caliphate first and then go after the killers of Othman (it was more of a rebellious movement which attacked his house and killed him), but Muaweya, the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, saw that he should revenge for the death of Othman who was from Umayya tribe too, and then the 'civil war' started, and even though Sunnis believe that Ali's claim was the better one, but the division back then led to an accumulation of differences that in the end made them 2 different sects.
26:49 No Muslim really believes that.. it is encouraged to study "the creations of God" in order to find the truth, which in Islam, it is God, in many verses in Quran it tells people to observe the world and think, and what was contributed to AlGhazali is the same words of Neil deGrasse in one of his most famous speeches, when he claimed that Alghazali prohibited math, which in fact, he didn't, and it can't be found in his works, Alghazali criticized the philosophers use of math in theology, Alghazali himself said:
“As for ((the praiseworthy disciplines such as medicine and mathematics)), they are associated with worldly benefit. And that category is divided into those that become a communal obligation and those that are of great merit but are not an obligation. If there are not people who are experts in mathematics within society that it will be a hardship on society and certain aspects of society will suffer from it.”
Hi. I agree that alGazali is unfairly accused of hate science, when he was himself a scientist too.
Then why do you think the intelectual reform of Nizam al Mulk and alGazali had such a terrible efect in scientific development?
Maybe was that alGazali said that if science cant proof the existence of Allah, then is a lesser discipline?
What do you think?
Thank you 😊
@@adamnesicoscience quite simply goes where the money for research is and since Islam was beginning to decline in its wealth by that point and it was india and china and then later europe that would have the wealth, they were the ones progressing science. Once a society loses its finances it loses its academic capabilities, the people become less educated and therefore less able to think which also in turn allows for corrupt regimes to step in and actively further reduce the capacities of society to think and be educated so that said corrupt regimes can get away with more corruption - if the people were educated and capable of thought they would notice corruption and fight against it but if they are retarded it is nice and easy to do whatever. You can still see this now very prevantly in "islamic cultures" - my family is from Bangladesh and some guy there said to my sister who had got 1st class honours in history that women shouldnt be allowrd to be educated because then they learn their rights. It is disgusting if only these people could read and understand what islam actually says, Aisha (ra) was literally considered a university on her own and these people now try say women cant be educated?
Whites will cry regardless
@@Abz2205 you are absolutely correct and insha'Allah we Muslims will have a strong revival of our prominence in all fields
Also thank you for feeding my existential dread, your videos really make me use my brain and wonder about the chances of myself along with the civilization i grew up with actually coming to fruition.
I love your videos! Keep them coming!
Out of all sponsors on UA-cam, I’ve never seen a Morgan and Morgan one. I didn’t even think they did anything other than tv ads
Incan Civilisation would be pretty damn interesting.
Really not much to go off of unfortunately. The empire was only established in 1438, and by then it was only a speck of land similar to a really big Luxembourg, and reached max expansion less than 50 years later, and completely disappeared less than a hundred years after their founding. They simply didn't have enough time to leave a cultural impact, and even then, most of the little records they had were destroyed by the Conquistadors. It's like trying to create a video on Hunnic civilization, too little to create an in depth video
not much to go on as they didnt even last 100 years and didnt figure out writing, but prehispanic South America could be interesting
@@renatoe9648 they didn’t figure out writing because they wrote by tying knots, not by striking marks on some piece of paper or stone
@@boaoftheboaians the quipus were used mostly an accounting and its use was limited to a few administrative officials. The information that could be conveyed was limited to a few concepts relevant for accounting, their use to tell a story or keep historical records wouldnt go beyond that of a mnemotecnic aide and innenteligible if you didnt already know the information
Bro I randomly came to see if there are any new videos and found this surprise
Love the depth of your videos, it's very hard to find among simplified content
Your videos are always very informative. However, I would really like it if you could put a source document/recommended reading whether you do videos on topics. It would be great to find some new reading material.
Bro, that Morgan and Morgan ad where you say that "you can have a clean conscious because the insurance company is paying." Comon dude, you're better than that.
is that a scam?
@@jurtra9090 No, it's a lie. The lawyer is trying to get you to not think about the consequences of your actions. For example, just because a cop was a prick to you, it doesn't mean you can cheat on your taxes. Just because you won't get punished for doing something wrong, doesn't mean that it's not wrong.
He's playing the snake in the garden of eden. He has already sold his soul, and he's trying to get you to let him gamble with yours.
This is basically his justification for suing the insurance company.
ua-cam.com/video/yZjCQ3T5yXo/v-deo.html
Islam had a HUGE cultural influence on the west. (considering after the conquest of Iberia, and the dominance of the pagan north, Christians at the time would have felt on the verge of extinction.) The Iconoclasm of Byzantium was a direct influence of Muslims. (the Orthodox argued that the Muslim victories were proof they were seen as the more holy by God and their lack of Icons was one obvious difference.) The Crusades themselves were argued at the time as the answer to the Muslim Jihad. (for good or bad)
We often compare the two but forget that these are breathing systems that interact with and rub off on one another.
All trash cultures like to pretend that they had a "HUGE" influence on the west *LOL*
"You see the champion? I taught him all he knows" - looser
Reality is that the cultural influence Islam had on the west was much smaller then you make it out to be and the west eventually succeeded in spite of that garbage.
Yes as adversaries
The Crusades being a response to Jihads are not equivalent to "cultural influence" and I have nowhere seen that Eastern Romans believed muslims more holy in the eyes of God.
It would be awesome if you did a breakdown about the different "civilizations" in South Africa.
It's a hotpot of cultures and each one has their own story to tell.
Well, judging from the "civilization maps" of the guy, he doesn't seem to believe in the existence of any sub-saharan African "civilization", so there's that
@@haidouk872 Because there isn't. There isn't a unified culture or civilisation in this part of the world. What exists is an adaption of either Western or Soviet influenced civilisation. Sub-Saharan Africa did not have the same luxury of a couple thousand years of war, unification, technological advancement, invasion and so on that Europe and Asia had. My old political science professor who was a Shona Zimbabwean explained this to us. Africa is in a post-Roman Europe state of civilisation at the moment. The colonisers have officially left and the people left behind are going to struggle for some time while still facing a softer level of foreign influence.
@@jaycee945 so they’re in the Middle Ages
@@marcuscole1994 culturally speaking, not technologically i assume he means
@@pilot.wav_theory yea I know
The first time I’ve seen a law firm advertisement on a UA-cam video, well played Morgan & Morgan
Amazing power of summarization while inserting relevant details tying it all together. “ No one does it better”.
Muslim, I'm Sierra Leonan and Moroccan, Sierra Leone has been Islamic for 1,000 years. Shit, the majority of West Africa is Muslim, by like 85%. I don't know why we hardly get added to the list since we've been Muslim for 1,000 years.
How ya let them islamized ya lol asking from an African diaspora
@@marcuscole1994 Islam came to Sierra Leone by the Malian Empire
@@mauricebeyjr611 facts I got mali n me bruh 13 percent
As a Canadian I can confirm we are in fact not a civilization as indicated by the map within the first few seconds of this video
I think the map is meant to show that Canadas population is basically the border with the US, like 90% or something is within 50 miles of the border the rest of the country is empty. There's more wolves than people in Yukon, lol. But yeah there is also the part where the country has no common identity besides "we're not the US". Rudyard did a video on Canada before, it was pretty on point imo.
He has included most of Canada as part of the 'uninhabited' coloration, if you look carefully, the bits of Canada that actually have sizable populations have been included as part of 'the West'.
Question about this series: So up until now you've been doing one video per civilization on the map (excluding SE Asia), but will you cover ones like Sahel and Japan in a similar manner to SE Asia, or will they be done differently?
Would be interesting to see his take on Japan, but then again I’m also not confident in his accuracy considering he kept peddling the narrative that Philippines is part of Latin America
@@boaoftheboaians Phillipine culture is very common(superficially) to that of latin america. What are the reasons you think it should be catagorized otherwise?
@@laststand6420 Philippines faces the dilemma of being too “Asian” (or Pacific, alternatively) to be classified as part of Latin America
Yet the inverse also happens that Philippines can be considered too “Hispanic” or “Western” to be considered Asian in Asia
I think it deserves its own category, to give it justice
(also on a personal level I’m not very comfortable with the idea of being mistaken for someone who is from places I have very little personal connection to, but then again for various reasons even I’m super weird by normal Filipino standards)
@@boaoftheboaians There is a great degree of difference in Latin America, and most Brazilians probably wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Mexican either... But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be classified as Latin American.
In the same way I can't stand Canada, but I don't think my country of the U.S. and Canada should be classified as parts of different civilizations.
@@laststand6420 I checked back here cause I forgot to add one critical part to my previous comment of what makes the Philippines different: No one (except the Chavacanos) speaks Spanish here, and we didn’t experience the same devastation of the Natives dying out of introduced diseases... prob because said “introduced diseases” were already familiar to us XD
The native culture continued and flourished with Spanish influence being more of an add-on rather than fully combining with the natives and becoming the main thing. By classifying it as Latin America, you’re forgetting the significant Chinese and Indian influence that was here before Magellan (and also Arabic influence to some extent… the Muslims here for sure would, similarly to me, feel far more little connection to Latin America)
“Heavily Spanish-influenced” are the words that are more accurate rather than “part of Latin America…. Also, Canada and the US, Mexico and Brazil do not make for good comparisons to Philippines and Latin America, maybe under certain criteria, Mexico specifically could count, but the difference only gets bigger going south (Philippines & Indonesia would be more iconic and fitting to that example… but even those two have significant differences that set them apart, similarly to the Turkics and Mongols)
(This shall be my last reply, I’m fully capable of sending a hundred more replies debunking your points, but I don’t wish to make hundred-long comment war out of the replies to a comment that’s completely unrelated to this topic)
Nice video, although in the future could you link some of the sources in the description for further reading? Cuz I enjoy your content, but frankly it can sometimes be hard to tell what’s fact and opinion and where I can go for further research
It's self research from osmosis, you academy-minded simpleton.
Your videos are awesome please make one about the Egyptian civilization 🙏🙏🙏
There is no Egyptian civilization left in modern day Egypt is just Arab now !!
@IBZ most Egyptians are Arab in blood, very few are true Coptic netives.
@IBZ they are not same they don't have a thing common to ancient Egyptians they have more common to arabian Bedouin tribes
Unlike india and china where u can find similarity far back
@@prateeksharma6706There's a thing called "Inter-Marriage" .
@IBZ Are today's Egyptians the same Egyptians who built Pyramids? I've seen some African channels saying ancient Egyptians were all black when the pyramids were built, only after that there were Middle-eastern and European descent people who existed in Egypt. Idk if that's true, since, mainstream archaeologists say that Ancient Egyptians were mostly Middle-eastern.
Something interesting about a "east-west" Eurasian split I don't hear talked about: West of the Indus, religious claims are based around the divine coming down and revealing itself to humanity (namely the "Abrahamic" religions). East of the Indus, religion is a product of humans attempting to reason about the divine (especially Buddhism and Taoism, but also Hinduism and Shinto to an extent). I don't know if there's a socio-cultural reason behind this, but it's intriguing. Even more interesting is that the West's more recent religions - deism, atheism, and new age spiritualism - follow the Eastern pattern of human reasoning about the divine more closely.
That was also true of Greek philosophy as well.
Your analysis is not even superficial
Finally I’ve been waiting for this for a while
Being pretty far from the Middle East geographically and culturally being south East Asian,the Islamic world have been some of the most confusing for me.it’s also incredibly complex and have diverse old preislamic cultures as well so thank you very much for yhis
if yiu are from the region you could talk to me and give more info on the region btw
Also would you do any videos on the different Native American civilizations?the info is pretty hard to find .
@whatifalthisttbruh
Why
As a Somali (neighbors with Yemen and Arab world) you can ask away.
@@Handle0108 ooh, nice
Actually, I really wanna know about Somalia itself as well actually
First, have Somalis been importing food since ancient times or they just rely on local agriculture fishing and pastoralism? It’s a region with great trade potential and horrible climate except in the south a bit and having the fertile Ethiopian highland nearby. Ik at some point Ethiopia rule the Somalian coast so this isn’t a problem but i wanna know about after that
Secondly how far away had the goods from the Indopacific trade route travel to Somalia? Here in Thailand for example we have some goods from Japan but not a lot of influence until later but with a lot of Indian and Chinese influence and even some Arabian influence but there weren’t much from east Africa despite being in the same route. I’ve heard of large Chinese influence pretty far into Africa tho so I wanna know what the influences are like
Thirdly do Somalians historically usually care about the land at all as a pretty sea facing civilization?would a powerful Somalian nation try to expand on land or just expand on the coast?
Fourthly how does the dynamic between the merchants and various local herder groups play out? Do they trade often or is it just a stoppping point?
I’ll ask more later btw, Im doing worldbuilding so this would also be a great inspiration
@@thefolder3086 Firstly, Somalis have not really relied on foreign lands for food historically, we made the best out of what was in our country. Farms and agriculture in the south of the country made a lot of food, enough for most of the country, and also many people in the country side in central and northern Somalia were Nomadic so they removed from place to place and they relied on their cattle and Camels (which we have the most in the world) to live.
We did not need Ethiopian highland, and in fact Ethiopia is our oldest enemy of over 1000 years. Which also leads me to the next point, Ethiopia and it’s past empires(D’mt, Aksum etc) never controlled Somalia or anywhere near our coast for the last 3000 years at least. They did control Yemen and Arabia though but they never controlled Somalia, due to the resistance of the Somali people for thousands of years. It was in fact the opposite, Somali sultanates like Adal sultanate penetrated deep into Ethiopia and kept the Ethiopian rulers to the highlands, until the 19th century.
@@thefolder3086 As for trade we had goods from as far away as China and south east Asia and we traded with India, Persia and the Roman Empire(who bought incense and cinnamon from us). In fact the first African ambassador to China was a Somali called “Sa’id of Mogadishu” and we introduced exotic animals to them like Giraffes, and to this day China, Japan and Korea use a Somali origin word for Giraffe. The great Chinese fleet admiral Zheng He(who was rumoured to be Muslim) brought back several Giraffes from Somalia and called them “Qilins” Chinesified from the Somali word “geri” and the Japanese and Koreans call it “Kirin.”
We’ve also taken influence from others, for example there are many Persian and Indian words in Somali like, “Roti” which means bread and “Sambosa” and “Baraf” which means ice and “Miis” which means table and “Rinji” which means paint etc. And also there are many native Indian and Arab origin populations in Somalia like the Banaadiri and Bravanese who are descendants of Indian and Arab merchants.
In regards to foreign relations we had good relations and alliances with Arabs and the Ottoman Empire which helped us on numerous occasions, especially when the Portuguese tried to invade us and take over all of East Africa in the 16th century, and a joint Somali and ottoman fleet defeated the Portuguese at sea and on land our national hero Ahmed Gurey defeated and killed the Portuguese commander Cristovao Da Gama(son of the famous Vasco da gama) who was helping the Ethiopian Christians against us.
As for whether we care about the land, there are two types of Somalis throughout history, the Nomad and the Merchant city dweller. The Nomads almost certainly cared about the land because they used it for Pastoralism and animal grazing for their own livelihoods, but Merchants did not care as much since they mostly relied on ships and the sea. But our Sultanates cared about both and expanded on both land and along the coast, which is why we have the largest coast in Africa and there’s an entire region in Ethiopia called the Somali region(almost a third of the country).
Merchants and Nomads definitely traded and worked together, since both relied on each other. The nomads brought livestock and merchants brought foreign spices and goods. But there were some differences and the attitude and behaviour or of Nomads and Merchants differ significantly. The nomads are more harsh and tough to deal with and they are very traditional. Merchants and their descendants on the other hand are more globalised, open minded, educated and overall more “civilised” you could say.
please release part 2 of the medieval america alt hist project you were making like 3 years ago.
Upvote, bump.
Seriously we need part 2 Rudyard.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography I remember getting patreon like a year ago just to ask him about when part 2 would come out and he said it would probably never happen. But I think if we get enough popular support we may be able to over rule him because that video was straight kino.
This video was spot on in many areas but had some major things that needed to be corrected. The biggest problem in this video was portraying Prophet Muhammed ﷺ and Prophet Jesus ﷺ disrespectfully at 10:29. I know you did not do this out of spite, but it still stung.
I also think that Imam al-Ghazali (ra) needed to be more understood by @Whatifalthist. Sorry to assume, but I think you were referencing Neil deGrasse Tyson regarding Imam al-Ghazali's views about scientific inquiry and the like. If that's the case, I recommend Mohammed Hijab because he refuted Tyson's claims.
Since we live in the modern world, scientific progress is seen as the epitome of civilization. Scientific progress is generally good, but unfettered and unregulated scientific progress is problematic. The modern world is plagued with problems stemming from unrestricted scientific progress. Loneliness, depression, the collapse of marriage and family, lack of a communitarian ethic, overly centralized and controlling states, global warming, climate change, and much more.
Your claim that the Abbasid Caliphate is what Muslims aspire to, 21:53, is incorrect. Instead, Muslims want to establish a state modeled after the state established by Prophet Mohammed ﷺ in Medina and the Rashidun Caliphate. Ask the majority of Muslims about the Rashidun and Abbasid Caliphates, and you’ll see Muslims have more admiration for the Rashidun.
Saying that the Muslim world was not affected a lot by colonialism is baseless. The French conquest of Algeria in the 19th Century killed at least a million people. Colonial rulers coopted or bribed specific ulema to teach the Muslim masses what the colonial powers deemed acceptable parts of Islam. After WWII, the US picked up the tab. Many draconian anti-terrorism and anti-extremism programs like CVE and PREVENT were imported to puppet and secular dictators in the Muslim world to monitor Muslims. Growing out a beard and wearing a thobe can be an excuse to make you disappear. Didn’t you hear about the $200 million the US Congress wants to send to gender equality programs in Pakistan? Haven’t you also heard about RAND’s report on secularizing the Muslim word, www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1716.html? These are clearly attempts to colonize the Muslim mind to spread liberalism and make Muslims subservient to Western or American interests.
Sorry for the long comment, but my criticism comes from a desire to discuss and inform rather than just rant.
Then, why alGazali&Nizam reform ended muslim science?
Thats true, West has lost too much values.
What he said and its efnitively true is that the umayad and abasid empres were the models in wich later muslim empires were based and tried to emulate.
Muslims could say they wanted a model like Medina, but Medina is just a city state, you cant rule an empire like a city state., so in the end the model for do empires were those 2 empires.
Hehe, no ,thats not a long comment.
@@adamnesico "Muslims could say they wanted a model like Medina, but Medina is just a city state, you cant rule an empire like a city state.,"
thats not what he meant but ok.
@@adamnesico It's not really their reforms that ended muslim science/islamic golden age, there were multiple factors that contributed to it's general downfall, firstly would be the mongol invasion and by extention the loss of a lot of knowledge the islamic world has gathered, this event was quite traumatic for the muslim world at that time. Another factor would also be the rise of colonialism some times later, which radicalised a big portion of their society, dumbing down their population and ideology to being anti-western and disguising it as 'Islamic', hence the ban on printing which wasn't really based on any religious scriptures but rather out of spite/fear.
I'm not really the most knowledgable on this subject as I'm still in the process of learning the deep history of the Islamicate world, but one thing I know for sure is that my man al-Ghazali (RA) has been done very dirty, the man was anything but anti-science or anti-reason, he had whole existential crisis' because he had too much of a scientific mind (he even wrote about it if you're interested).
What about Albania, Bosnia and Central Asia? What about Western Africa? These countries are Muslim Majority and have fully embraced and competently embraced secular life style. In these countries, you will rarely see a women in Hijab.
@@mohdadeeb1829 Communism. Communists are leftists and leftists are the most rabid anti-religion crowd there is.
3:26 Wow, you divide West and East more or less the same way I've always thought about it! My first introduction to "The West" vs "The East" was the USA vs. Japan, so it always felt strange to me to call Muslim countries or Russia as "Eastern", when they were clearly closer to the West religiously and in terms of civilizational continuity (or at least in terms of the way European and Americans start "Western History" in the Middle East).
What we call Middle East should be the West, including the Balkans. The rest of Europe is the Far West.
Love your vids bud but as a Christian gone through seminary I'm pretty shocked at how off your analysis is of not only Christian history, but why we worship Jesus in the first place.
I agree. We worship Him because He’s literally YHWH. To criticize Christians for being obsessed with Christ is like criticizing Muslims for being obsessed with Allah.
When someone asks me if a Muslim is saved, I first want to point out God’s love towards them, and all of us. I get so tired of these lifeless religious teachers down-talking gays, Muslims, drunks, etc, and implying that God doesn’t love them just as they are. Yes, their sin grieves Him. But He still loves them with all His heart. And that’s why he sent Jesus. God was willing to die for Muslims. For Gays. For Murderers. For You. For Me. For all of us.
The problem is NOT outward. It’s inward.
Now, I am not saying Muslims are saved. There is a choice that we all must make. The Bible is littered with scriptures about not hardening our hearts. There are countless warnings about hell and the danger of unbelief. There is no way to God except through belief in Jesus.
We are living in the dispensation of the grace of God, by believing and trusting the gospel of salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) given to our Apostle Paul by Jesus Christ you are saved and sealed with the holy Spirit of promise till the day of redemption!!!
Ephesians 1:13 - King James Version
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Romans 2:16 - King James Version
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Paul's Gospel - 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1-4).
@@Nasaj_Tengras it’s an obsession because you focus too much on the “Logos”/ Son rather than the Father/God who is the one actually deserves our full worship and focus. Focusing too much on a human individual is kind of an obsession.
@@Handle0108 Jesus is God though. Claims to be the I AM from Exodus, does miracles on His own authority, forgives sin on His authority, and rules on the right hand of (making him equal in authority to) the Father. He’s both fully human and fully God and is (probably) The Angel of YHWH in the Old Testament. It’s not obsession it’s basic theology.
@@Nasaj_Tengras so God went to the toilet?
Your channel is slowly going from an althistory channel to a regular old history channel. 👍
Which is way better.
to a regular *terrible* history channel
@@Joleyn-Joy I see you did make the effort to underline terrible, yet do not explain why you think that
@@SoulStormZero he is completely blinded by his bias for western ideology. Pretty sure he called the Assyrians communists at one point.
Just an all around bad historian. Not even a historian. Just a UA-camr who makes videos about “history”
@@lucasmurphy740 some philosophers think its impossible to fully escape ones cultural bias. At least we can say that its very difficult if at all possible. But then again, maybe this opinion is also part of that cultural bias.
Hey man I love you videos but one critique. Im Eritrean and I’ve noticed in videos you label Eritrea as an Islamic country/state but we are an orthodox Christian state (similar to Ethiopia). I noticed this in the family dynamics video as well
It's a common mistake I find, I guess it's because like 45% of the country is Muslim, but still, you'd think he'd know better
@@KawaiiCanadafreememes
It's mostly Muslim now.
@user-dl5ln3wd6f It's not, most statistics indicate its between 50-65% Christian and 40-50% Muslim.
Not only is it majority Christian- at a magnitude larger than 55%. It’s a Christian led state
So from what I can infer. The mongol invasions of abbasids really changed the trajectory. Also, all the barbarians that came from steppe with them, (turks, tartars, mongols,) had brutal and ruthless barbaric warrior type lifestyle and they caused a lot of instability. People like Tamerlane, Ghori, ghanavid, Nader Shah constantly destroyed cities and carried out genocides and massacres.
Its these barbarians that converted to islam and controlled the region in late middle ages (mughals, persians, ottomans and such) and had a more absolutist interpretation of islam. Though ottomans were less radical, and at a time less strict than europe; catholic church was wild for a time.
Turks came 200 years before Mongols you know right?
Love your avatar
Arab muslims were also barbarians
I dont understand how he calls iranians barbarians as they had organized the first superpower (achaemenid empire) also woth human rights
@@josha136 he calls Muslim Arabs barbarians
I don't think that al ghazali was the reason of islamic world being more closed and conservative, I think it was the nizami schools in the seljuk empire which focused on religious teachings to serve political goals and neglected scientific researchs
Edit: actually al ghazali critisised some philosophies because he wanted to encourage the critic thinking,he said that philosophy isn't the only way to know the truth but also by the using of the five senses and he defended the natural sciences and scientific researchs
His philosophy did undermined the doctrine of uniformity which in turn undermines science.
But it was needed so that other sects wouldn't be born like the ismaily shias who caused a lot of chaos in the Islamic world+it's not justification to put all the blame on Al ghazali
@@omarelmorsy139can you explain please, how did it prevent other sects from rising
@perniciousseizurehellio3438 by criticising some philosophies a lot of sect used like: esotericism,Incarnation and union
I think the meme of Jesus and Mohammad might cause some controversy, I personally understand your point and why you put it in but others will undoubtably not understand.
Yeah it's offensive to both, mockery of Jesus, and drawing the prophets is haram in Islam let alone a caricature.
Yup it’s absolutely disrespectful and hateful, pretty despotic.
When I think of Muslims, I think of the "Dothraky horse lords." Warlord horsemen fighting each other. And their religion is violent, slave based and repressive.
My dad always said when asked if there was electricity in Iran, that the first battery was invented there.
If you're referring to the Baghdad battery the ancient battery found by archaeologists or at least thought to be a battery that was found in Iraq.
@@kevinjones2061 you’re referring to the Baghdad battery, then you clearly have read much on it asides from ancient alien esque conspiracy screeds. That artifact was not a battery, at best the fact that it could provide some form of electrical current is likely coincidental since there is no evidence of electrical loads or metallic wires for transmission. At most this artifact could discharge the equivalent of a light static shock, which may have had some form of religious application.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography did you miss the part my sentence where I said or at least thought to be? It's commonly referred to as the Baghdad battery whether you believe it or not
ElectroBOOM is proof of the Iranian electrical legacy.
Been waiting for this for a long time
Hello! Great video that analyzes Islam as a whole, but I’ve wanted to talk about the Ottoman Empire and why it could have not, in fact, survived WW1.
1) Ataturk’s technological advancement was rather impressive indeed, but he had to gain political power to pass his reforms, which he would be unlikely to have unless the people’s faith in the Empire and the Ittihadists has collapsed completely as it did as the result of the war.
2) Yes, but would the British and French just ignore that? Or would they support rebellions against the Ottoman rule in the most oil-rich regions, which were Arabic-speaking and not Turkic-speaking? Considering Ottoman military was downright bad (I’ll return to it in point 4), they could probably just supply and finance those regions so much that their victory would be pretty much guaranteed.
3) Yes, there was no nationalism, but there was, however, plenty of sheikhs and emirs forced to be subservient to Ottomans and wishing to rule as kings in their own right. And Lawrence of Arabia kind of begs to differ about ineffectiveness.
4) Is this statement based entirely on Gallipoli? Because Turkish army was really bad in WW1 overall. The Russian Empire was in disarray but even it was beating the Ottomans into pulp on the Caucasian front. And Italy, who often gets mocked for its poor military performance, has beaten the Ottos singlehandedly just two years prior and taken Lybia from them. Yes, they won in Gallipoli, but that was because they had absolutely favorable terrain and the only competent man in the country - Kemal Pasha - was the one commanding. Plus they have actually dispatched troops to commit the Armenian and the Assyrian genocides instead of fighting, so really, most Turk commanders were just a bunch of psychotic idiots.
5) No, there was plenty of minorities: Orthodox Armenians and Pontic Greeks, Nestorian Assyrians and Lebanese, Druze and Mizrahi Jews in Palestine and Yazidi Kurds. Besides, common religion is not the only thing to unite a nation, language is also very important, and the vast majority of the Empire did not speak Turkish.
6) No, the territories, in fact contained all three areas of the Middle East you correctly identified in the very beginning of the video: the mountains, the Fertile Crescent, and the peninsula desert. This terrain differences did affect the empire negatively.
Overall, I think, the Ottoman Empire fell for the same reason the Russian one did: they had great resources which could bring prosperity with proper economic policy (Russia partially managed that), but they were too stuck in smug nationalism to even think about giving regions autonomy. Of all the parties in the Russian Empire only Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were pro-decentralizing, and I don’t think there was any major force in Turkey with such a policy. Ataturk, for all his merits, kept the government completely central, which lead to the Kurdish rebellion beginning, which has been ongoing ever since with brief breaks, and really brings down both Turkey and Kurdistan.
Otherwise, a really good video about how Islam came from its grand beginnings to its pretty sorry state today, keep up the good work.
0:00 I think you should draw a circle around Southeast Asia. Vietnamese, Malays, Filipinos, despite their major religious denomination, share a lot of the same Southeast Asian traditions. It's more like a gradient rather than here's Protestantism, here's Islam, and here's Buddhism. Same in Africa or the US South, despite them following Christianity or Islam, they bring their own local spiritual beliefs and incorporate them into their religion.
References:
Iliffe, John. Africans, The History of a Continent.
Baker, Chris, Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World.
Baker, Chris, Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Thailand.
Liberman, Victor. Strange Parallels in Southeast Asia, Vol I and II.
i like how you pointed out that islamic civilisation is closest to the western one, when compared to all the other civilisations (like China, india or africa). many Westerners and Muslims seem to ignore this fact. This is true not only ideologically but also genetically. The reason we saw Muslims and Westerners clash a lot in history and even today is cause they are the only two ideologies capable of world domination. So the clash is cause of power struggle, otherwise the Chinese or Indians are even more opposed to Western or Islamic civilisation, they just never got the chance to compete for world domination.
I totally agree with your statement about Islam and Christianity being the only ideology’s able to do world domination but I think China was quite the tolerant of Muslims as a Chinese emperor made a poem praising Muhammad.
What he "pointed out" is complete nonsense.
Westerns civilization and Islam have nothing is common.
@@adamnesico You probably think Europeans and Middle Easterners are also the same as, you are beyond retarded, not even insane asylums will take you in.
Actually it‘s China and Old Egypt, hence our inevitable becoming a bureaucratic dystopia
@@yogatonga7529 china&khmt?
I don’t see the similarity.
First time watching this, and this was an amazing explanation. Alot of it did go over my head, since I am coming from the Western Christian background, but you explained so much and I truly did learn so much, from this video.
new whatifalthist video dropped. massive win. i will now motivate myself to finish my spanish homework and this will be the reward.
I can't believe Morgan and Morgan sponsored you. As a law student, this cracked me tf up hahaha
Hey yo from Hoboken! Saw you walking around their last year
Hi
Copts aren't Semites. The Afroasiatic language family is split into 6 main branches-Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic, and Semitic. Copts unsurprisingly fall under Egyptian, whereas some Ethiopians like Amharas and Tigreans technically count as Semites.
yeah i was gonna say
Please do a tibetan civilization video I would love to see it
Amazing how similar Muhammed and Moses are. I have been saying for this longest time Muhammad is the most impressive human in history. The guy was literally Ceasar and Pope in one.
Even jews were convinced that he was a prophet at that time.
@Pedro Ortega Morals change over time. You can't just apply a modern principle on an arab man who lived 1400 years ago.
@Pedro Ortega Think about the next time you see 9 years being married in England during the 1800's century.
@Pedro Ortega no problem really thats how world work for thousand of year
All royalty did that
She was already engaged before and it was normal to christian and jew alreeady to marry at this age according to all civilazation laws
@@_Phen_I would disagree with you in this matter the only evidence of Aisha being 9. Is in conversation Hadith she said in a time Arab had no actual calendar nor that they count their birth day. And it contradicts another Hadith statements that says that she was younger ten years then her sister which at the time of that marriage was 28 roughly.
And another statement of her that she witnessed the event of splitting the moon and she was a little girl (used a word that indicates she was from 4 t 8) which actually be impossible if she was nine and would add 5 years at least to her age
There is a lot of contradiction that Aisha married was when she was nine.
And the simple answer is probably didn’t happen.
The realistic pictures of historic war are really nice and interesting. I pause to look at some of them for a while.
I will say as someone who is part Turkish and part Iranian, though not muslim, Iran a Turkey are culturally distinct from eachother and certainly from Arabic culture, which has far more influence on North Africa. Arabia and North Africa are far more tribal and of course mostly desert, while Iran and Turkey both had periods of modernization and Westernization as well as being more hospitable and holding a far richer pre-Islamic culture than pre-Islam Arabia. Furthermore, Turkey and Iran were part of Alexander's empire, as was Egypt, and Turkey was under Greek control until the late middle ages. Meanwhile, modern North African and Arabian culture developed as a reaction to being under direct colonial rule by the West: the same reason for Iran's conservative government today.
Cool stuff
20:50 this part of the video is completely wrong.
1. Abbasids weren't shia
2. They weren't persian although because they weren't opressive to other ethnicities they got supported bu other ethnicities which persians were culturally strongest.
About sunni shia split;
Ali were were Muhammads adoptive son as well as his daughter's husband and cousin. Ali children were only descendants of Muhammad. So shia sunni split is at first pretty much was hereditary monarchy or elective monarchy as first four caliphs elected by a council of prophet's companions . Shia says Ali who is the fourth elected caliph is wronged because there shouldn't have been an election because it should have been hereditary. There is a lot more to be covered but at its core its this.
Video wasn't saying abbasids were shia
@@furkankamslgol9848 he did say that
@@furkankamslgol9848 ali is cousin and son in law of the prophet and not adoptive son
@@hxyzazolchak thats true i don't even know why i write nephew, but Muhammad raised Ali, that would make him adoptive son
I'm looking forward to the future smaller civilization videos! I would be very interested to see one about Elamite culture if you are ever interested. Thank you for another video here.
God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)
Rudyard really going for that daytime TV demographic.
According to some historians ,Arabs first appeared in historical sources around 835 B.C.They were fighting with the assiriyan empire.They were led by a chief whom the assiriyans called "jundibu the Arab".His group of camels are also mentioned.
Obviously the Arabs were in the area for several thousand years so its not at all surprising
They didn't drop out of thin air all of sudden
The Battle of Qarqar took place in 853 BCE bro.
The Bible records them all the way back to Abraham(Ishmaelites). They are described as a people who will always be contrary to the world, and the world contrary to them.
@@laststand6420arab are son of ishmail if im not mistaken
@@kamikazeblackjack Yes, Ishmael was the son of Abraham.
You made a small mistake at 21:00
The Sunni-Shia split isn't based off the lineage of Fatima vs Ali because Ali and Fatima were married, all Muhammad's grandsons were begotten to Fatima and Ali IIRC. The Sunni believe that the Caliph or leader of the Umma should be chosen while the Shia believe it should be hereditary from Muhammad.
Oh god, the map at 17:00 is really bad. I love how it doesn't have any date on it. Since you have 'Nestorians' labelled, we have to assume that we're looking at the 5th or 6th century. I wonder what new scholarship has recently come to light that suggests that ALL of North Africa was Monatist in the 5th or 6th century! That would be breaking new ground indeed, considering the Monatists all but died out by the end of the 3rd, and never had even close to the cultural influence to be considered the dominant expression of Christianity for an entire province. I'm honestly baffled, and genuinely wonder where you got the idea to put them on the map.
Meanwhile we have the 'Copts' by which I assume you mean Monophysites/Miaphysites given that the Egyptian Miaphysites eventually developed into the modern Coptic church. Aside from the anachronistic label, the Miaphysites ought to have a presence in Syria, down towards Ethiopia, and deep into Arabia. The 'Nestorians,' now called the Church of the East, should have a much less dominant hold on Syria, but should have a greater reach eastward towards central Persia and eventually towards India and China.
As for the "Catholics," I guess they should be labelled as 'Chalcedonian,' and should be given all of North Africa, Palestine, and the Syrian coast (Melkites). However, Armenia should NOT be considered Chalcedonian, as the Armenian church rejected the council. Eventually, Armenia would adopt Monophysitism.
But of course, if you made these changes, then you would be completely invalidating your own point that the Semitic ethnicity of the Levantine/Egyptian/North African provinces made them at odds with 'Europe' and more susceptible to conquest by the Arab Empire. But of course, history does not support your essentialist narrative of civilization, so in order to make your argument, you had to paper over the contrary evidence, eliminating support for Chalcedon within the semitic provinces, and the reverse for the 'European' ones, as well as inventing a virile Monatist resurgence in the 6th century.
I study Late Antiquity so can easily identify the problems with your arguments regarding my field. I can only wonder about all the inaccuracies which I miss because they are beyond my field of expertise. And I feel very sorry for all the people who are encountering this material for the first time and think, 'Well, that makes sense to me,' and are convinced by your arguments, not realizing that they are based upon incredibly poor history.
Similar thoughts over here. Not sure where this "history" came from. Later I picked up on some theological statements that were questionable to say the least - and I then later realized he's just a kid.
That being said, think he should have spent a bit more time on this video before putting it out. A bit sloppy considering his large audience.
@@George-ur8ow I believe he is around his early 20s. I think he should know better than to just lie by now! He presents himself as a 'public intellectual' and claims that the internet has replaced academia as the primary place where intellectual progress is made, yet if he were to present his theories to actual academics who know this stuff, he would be laughed out of the room! It is true that academia is declining, but if this is what we have to replace it, then we are in major trouble. I totally agree with you that, especially considering his audience, he has an obligation to present well-researched history and not to deliberately mislead his listeners. A major problem seems to be that he bases most of his content on the works of either pop historians, or early 20th century (usually eugenicist) historians who were usually incredibly essentializing when discussing different people groups, be they ethnic or religious. We know much more about these cultures today than we did a century ago and there's simply no excuse to just ignore all the advancements made since then
Will you make a civilization video about Japan?
I mean it kind of belongs to the chinese/sinic civilization but you have them as a different civilization on your map
I would like to see this video myself, and can only imagine the effort it would take ;)
I agree but can claim to get a sense (as opposed to entirely understanding) of how they must be more along the line of Koreans or a particular group in Chinese history, in abstract interpretqtion, than being "like other Asians".
In a sense too, it can be a greater effort to tell other stories than even understand. For a few reasons. I sent one of my friends once, a video on someone's history, might have been the India videos, and he increduously asked "told by a white guy?"
For me it didn't matter because it was respectfully done and introductary -level, as far as my understandings lie. But that is maybe something that needs to be considered.
I see Rudyard as being too respectful for such a view of his material, I'm jist saying it exists. I woild like to see this video myself.
My friends and I are going to write an alt history story set in Japan. So if you help me find someone with enough subscribers (111 minimum) to collaborate with on my next video project. I'll do a video on Japanese civilization for you. My next YT video will be on the religious history of Ukraine. I'll touch on the grand duchy of Lithuania, the polish Lithuanian commonwealth and the Kievan rus. So if u know any content creators on YT who have tried anything relevant to that then lmk
@@straightrippnable706 My friends and I are going to write an alt history story set in Japan. So if you help me find someone with enough subscribers (111 minimum) to collaborate with on my next video project. I'll do a video on Japanese civilization for you. My next YT video will be on the religious history of Ukraine. I'll touch on the grand duchy of Lithuania, the polish Lithuanian commonwealth and the Kievan rus. So if u know any content creators on YT who have tried anything relevant to that then lmk
You're wrong at 20:57 , it's about who the Caliph should've been Abu Bakr r.a. or Ali r.a. , Shias believe that after prophet Muhammad it should've been Ali r.a. and Sunnis believe it to be the Prophet's companions and Ali r.a. to be the 4th Caliph.
AmazIng content. It would also be great to see a video on the individual cultures within the islamic world. Such as the rise of the Turkic people and their impact on the spread of islam. Also the Iranic peoples, whose influence has stretched from spain to the east indies. Etc
I've always noted a pattern of decadence leading to the downfall of great societies. I share your concerns as groups in the US seem to be going down this same path.
Your geopolitics were fairly accurate. It's pertinent to brush up on western intervention which started before WW1. Lawrence of Arabia, the Turks, and the British empire are especially interesting and would make a great episode.
The main point though, tying the above into theology was a complete failure. The theology is much to complicated largely because of the diversity. Something Muslim historians can't even agree on. It requires a much more nuanced approach. For example the treatment of women is more a result of socioeconomic break down than religious instruction. Your example of Hijabs legality in Iran was related to rebellion against a US lead coup in the ’50s and 70s (see NPR's through-line episode). Second, Islamically, God will have never been a reason to cease one's efforts. (tying one's camel). In fact, Muslims juggle God's will/destiny, and effort to carve out ones future much better than any other religion I've studied.
I'd also add, many times the actions of Muslim leaders were rooted in greed for power, not religion.
Overall great job, and I think some of my critiques would make great future content.
Very few leaders in history are fueled solely by the high ideals they proclaim to hold.
Most of them have a good reason for what they do(to justify their acts), and a real reason.
America has nothing to do with this. Found the Russian troll. Go back to Moscow Ivan.
"Ishmael shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him'.
At 12:05, I agree with you that I feel like modern Christianity is either cheesy "Jesus loves us" or "Your of the devil because you vote different then me" no one talks deeper theological issues that philosophers have wrestled with for centuries.
Maybe because he went to a sunday worship where the whole point is to worship instead of a bible study where the whole point is to understand the bible and the verses with a deeper meaning
Still hoping for an eventual alternate history video on What if Islam followed al-Ghazali and Islamic Civilization continued to promote science, not blind adherence to faith.
That is a world I'd love to see
Would have been more beneficial to us Musliims 💯💯
If you still believe that Al-Ghazali single handy changed how Islamic Civilization thought about faith and reason, you need to think again. First off, Muslim lands reached it's height in the Early Modern period way after Al-Ghazali. You had far more Muslim lands in Eurasia and Africa than you did during the Middle Ages, plus you also had the mighty Ottoman Empire, one of the strongest Islamic Empires since the Arab Caliphates. Second Islam itself is a very political religion and believes it has "The Truth." The people who founded the religion were themselves conquerers. Islamic texts contain practically every matter of subject you can think of from laws to governing to economics to even mundane tasks like how to drink water. Abrahamic religions are garbage, but they're way more complex than Islam being "Christianity with an Arabic Twist", Judaism being "Christianity with no New Testament" and Christianity being "Judaism but with a Son of God."
@@elifern889 islam has No rules on government
yeah but there is still mongol invasion.
I've been waiting for this one for a long time, let's go!
Some Muslim countries are a mix of civilisations ( e.g Pakistan and Bangladesh )
You can say the same about any Muslim country if your going for that. Case in point, Islamic Civilization is where the dominant religion is Islam and thus they rule by the sharia law and what has been ordained in the Islamic Texts. Prior to the modern era all Muslim-majority nations shared that in common, though with the rise of secularism this civilization has slowly been declining. Islam is more of a political ideology than it is as some spiritual religion.
@@elifern889 Actually it's both. Islam values spirituality a lot. But at the same time, it gives a good base for a strong political organization, adapted to the era it lives in, but without changing its core creed and message.
@@elifern889 1) Where is the book of Shariah? PEOPLE ARGUE OVER WHAT SHARIAH IS.
2) You clearly haven’t been around Muslims
@@Retaliatixn I mean Islam's Heaven is just fucking, drinking, and eating in some King's Palace. I don't see any "spiritual benefit" in this afterlife.
Pakistan has a lot of identity crisis.
You are the first European commentator that understands Islam the same way I do: as an Arab revolut against rule by the Romans.
Re: it was all one man "Muhammad"
There's a hisstory researcher on UA-cam (Khaled Balkin) who has a avery interesting theory about how the creed of Islam evolved over time:
At first, Muhammad was mostly receiving ancient revelations written in scrolls and books that he would then read and decipher and put in his "book". These manuscripts formed the basis of his theological knowledge. Balkin notes that this is consistent with the concept of prohpethood at that time. Later he began writing into the book himself, believing he was guided by the holy spirit. After his death, the manuscripts remained with his first two successors. During the reign of his third successor, word of these manuscripts spread among young enthusiastic believers who came to him demanding that he releases the manuscripts as they believed they art part of the divine revalation. He worried that if he revealed them it would weaken the resolve of the new believers so he destroyed them instead, after which the rebels killed him and then a huge internal civil war started where eventually the Umayyads won and they worked on elevating the significance of the Quran and started spreading stories that the text was revealed to the prophet directly via the arch angel, and they worked tirelessly to oppress anyone spreading any claims to the contrary. The Sunni/Shia split originated from there. The story kept evolving but remnants of the original story can still be found in early accounts: such as talking about a paricular man from the Levant whose form Gabriel would always take, and accounts of revalation talking about Gabriel visiting the prophet via dreams, and early Shias claiming that Ali and/or Fatima had a very large Quran that is 3 times larger than what is currently known. The vast majority of what is known as the "Meccan" quran was written possibly a few centuries earlier in the fertile crescent, but was considered a heretic text so was carefully hidden and entrused to only few people until some of those trustees decided to start delivering it to Muhammad.
Another artifact is that, as you have noted, early conqurers did not try to convert the people they ruled over. They considered Islam to be a religion for the Arabs alone, and Muhammad as a prophet who would bring the word of God to the Arabs
Muslims preferred and supported the Romans against the Persians. The Persian empire was completely destroyed, while the Romans were only partially overtaken.
@@yolemae6580 The Quran has long chapters dedicated to arguments against the Roman empire's religion. Nothing against Persian religious beliefs though.
@@hasen_judi the persians were following a pagan religion (zoroastrianism) of fire worship. by default Islam is more against any such religions which is why the early Muslims supported the romans against persians. And the Quran talks about idol worhsippers throughout, it was directed at arab pagans but applies the same to persian or any other type of idolaters. Whereas Christians were described as the closest to Muslims, despite the differences. it's the exact opposite of what you are suggesting.
Whatifalthist are you planning on doing a video on the civilization of Sub Saharan Africa? That would be interesting!
There's a few channels that do sub Saharan Africa.
text at 25:56 actually, the number of native English speakers and native Arabian speakers is very similar, around 400 million each, but there are another 900 million non native English speakers vs only about an additional 100 million non native Arab speakers. He might be confusing Arabs with total Islamic people in these numbers. "No one in the Arab world is capable of building a bicycle let alone a car" there might be a gain of truth there but this is at the very least highly exaggerated and hyperbolic. Of course there are some Arab people who have natural mechanical talent, who could build devices like these with the proper materials, but yes, because of cultural reasons these talents are less likely to be properly developed.
Harry Turtledove wrote a AU history book called "Through Darkest Europe" where the POD is that the ideas of al-Ghazali and Thomas Aquinas about the relationship between religion and science were switched. As a result the Islamic world is filled with modern technology, secularism etc. while Europe is a backwater full of religious violence.
It's not a very realistic book but the concept is really interesting.
These things come in waves. That is how it was during the "Dark Ages", where all the forward-looking centers of learning were in the Muslim world. Now the shoe is on the other foot; but al-Ghazali's life as a microcosm continues to serve as a stark reminder for future generations about this coming wave that breaks when the balance between liberalism and conservatism is disturbed, as is happening here in the West.
We're in the early stages of a new "dark age" insofar as people are turning insular, towards populists, away from globalism, all as a reaction to the excesses of neo-liberalism. @@Whatifalthist being bullish on Islam has merit at least for this reason. This is going to depend, of course, on whether Muslim civilization can meaningfully reform in a balanced manner while maintaining its soul, and without becoming a cheap imitation of its former self.
We don't need the book, there are real examples of that, in the West, like "Math is racist " . When a society is so secure, it loses contact with reality, that's when Al-Ghazani and Post-Modernists get an audience. A new Cold War , this time with China, will eventually fix that.
Great video! But some errors here.
-The Arabs aren’t the origin of the origin of crescent semites but they’re both descendants of a common ancestor
-You referred to the Abu Muslim revolution that brought about Abbasids as Shia. While they would be classified as such in modern times, that’s now what they identified as and the term was not a thing back then.
-I think the clan system and family structure in Islamic countries plays a more important role than referenced in the video.
-The first boom expansion of the Muslim empire was a combination of both a stride of good geopolitical luck and a charismatic liberal leader (for the time)
-There’s a gap there around 800 AD where your video doesn’t make it obvious why the Muslim empire didn’t just take over backwater europe.
Can’t wait for him to mention Turkey
and we spawned
You are of the few UA-camrs to seriously study and analyze civilizations and their strengths and weaknesses.
He literally doesn't look at any sources past 1960. This information is 80 years old.
@@spiritgaming1442 good, less politicized
@@gahamhumphrey4812
It was just as political then as it was now. There's no difference.
@@spiritgaming1442 mald lmao, how about u actually listen to what he has to say instead of what people that disagree with him say
@SireJaxs I do. If you look back to many of his older vids, I agree with him on many things, and I've commented on many of them. Though I've noticed over time that his views on the world are shallow and one dimensional. He often comes to insane conclusions. For example, old people suck because they had too much sex which caused people to not have enough sex which caused an old population. That's ludicrous.
History is complex and ever-changing. Using information that was relevant 80 years ago is not credible and leads to said insane conclusions.
Hell, Nathan Seper, the original commenter, stated that whatifalthist is a youtuber that seriously studies and analyzes civilizations and their strengths and weaknesses. You can't fit an entire civilization into a cookie cutter video and force the civilization into 2 categories. Especially one that's existed for thousands of years.
In conclusion, whatifalthist uses stereotypes and over simplifications to cut down a group of people into a cookie cutter video for his audience to appraise him for his immense intelligence.
I've been watching your videos for a while and for some reason on all of the maps you show, North/East Africa is usually the same(Under the Islam sphere) except for where Ethiopia is. Is there a reason why Ethiopia is so much different than her neighbours? Is it because we're chrisitan? Or maybe there is some other reason?
I am from neighboring Somalia and this is what I can tell you.
Ethiopia was an ancient Christian Kingdom from before the time of even prophet Muhammad. It’s had its own Christian Abyssinian empire from ancient times that ended in the 20th century, and that’s why it’s different.
Christian and mountainous.
Muslim had peace treaty with them for 700 year because of they help the muslims in time of prophet
@@manofwar2354 That was the Nubian Makuria, not Ethiopia.
@@mgplayzxd3062 yeah sorry all of those are called habasha in arabic so you will get confused with this
The prophet ordered not to attack them for many reasons and one is because they saved muslims
I think one on the Francophone world and the French Revolution and its effect on the world would be great.
Would you be able to make a video on the egyptian civilization?
Seeing a video on that peak Persian cultural sphere ~1700 would be really cool. Those parts of the world aren’t really thought of as interacting much in the modern world, but the spread of Islam into the Pacific and Mughal history seems extremely interesting as someone in the West who hasn’t been exposed to the history. Besides Sufi evangelism among the islands, Islam in SE Asia has always been a bit of a “hey, it’s here too” thing for me rather than something I know the history of.
the persian cultural sphere map is nothing but exaggeration it did have influence but doesn't warrant enough to INCLUDE india, it had a seperate islamic culture very different from the turko persians
Dude, this is the perfect video for you to post today after my Arabic lesson.
If you're seeking to find more "Understanding xxxx civilization" video ideas, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you make one about the CAUCASUS region!
I think that Ataturk abolishing the caliphate should have at least been mentioned in this video. It's probably the most important event in Muslim history since the Mongol invasions
17:50 - I’ve read that the Middle East was majority Christian until 1700. I can’t remember where.
Blaming Imam al-Ghazali and belief in occasionalism for the lack of scientific progress in the Islamic world is simply ludicrous, and hailing the Mu'tazilites, who carried out an inquisition against their orthodox co-religionists, as rationalist free thinkers is equally, if not more, absurd.
seriously that part was a weird one. I felt like he just took a page out of degrasse's book and just read it out to us.
Then, wich is your theory of why the Ummah stopped making science?
The reform of alGazali and Nizam al Mulk seems to be the cause.
@@adamnesico A combination of different social, political, and economic factors.
Imam al-Ghazali passed away in 1111 CE, and Muslim decline began in the latter half of the 18th century.
@@Husayn0318 Thats totally wrong, muslim science fell very fast after alGazali.
The last great muslim filosofer was ibn Khaldun, the prelast, ibn Rushd, who lived just a century after alGazali.
@@adamnesico Ibn Khaldun was an Ash‘arī, for God's sake.
Christians and Muhammadans do not worship the same God. The Islamic god is singular, while the Christian God is triune. So the argument that they worship the same diety shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity.
Well, Christians do not worship the same God as jews either.
Tbh jews and islam share more in common then Christians
As a muslim i still have no idea what trinity supposed to mean
Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Islam claims that Allah is is the same as YHWH but that is false. Muhammad says that the trinity is Father, Son, and the virgin Mary and claims that Jesus isn't one with the Father.
So they worship different interpretations of the same God 😅
@@gonfreecss6002 Allah is the greatest of deceivers, but in the Lord (Jesus) there is no darkness or evil, only light. Lying is sinning, therefore, Allah is sinful and can't be the God of the Bible or the Torah. This is one of many inconsistancies that the Muslim has to overcome to prove his point, which he cannot.
@@chaseb5133 bro a think your just don't understand shit could that be it
And secondly there is no Trinity a think that you just didn't understand it because a Trinity is everything that Islam hates
@@chaseb5133 aint jews dont belive in trinity to
This series may be your magnum opus, Spengler would be impressed.Then he would immediate remind us that Kant was a useless incel.
Damn I'd love to hear about that Chinese vs Arab battle
In fact, many battles took place between the Arabs and the Chinese during the Umayyad and Tang expansion in Central Asia, not just one. But the most famous and last battle among us was the Battle of Talas (video talks about), between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and its ally, the Tibetan Empire, against the Chinese Tang Empire and its ally, the Karkota dynasty.
This battle is the most famous for several reasons:
1- Because the overwhelming victory of the Abbasid Empire in this battle stopped the expansion of the Tang Dynasty and the Chinese towards the west for approximately 1000 years, until the Qing Dynasty invaded East Turkestan (1933 - 1934) and Tibet. The expansion of the Arab Caliphate was also stopped because the two sides later focused on establishing more diplomatic and commercial relations instead of continuing the war. The Chinese allowed Arab and Persian merchants to build mosques and establish cities and commercial settlements on the Chinese coast and in the interior lands.
2- Because the Turkish tribes changed their allegiance during the battle and fought alongside the Abbasids against the Chinese, Abbasid-Turkish relations began and they allowed them to enter the empire and supported the Muslim Turkish tribes against the pagan Turks.
3- Because this battle was also the reason for the transfer of the Chinese paper industry to the Abbasid Empire and then to the rest of the world.
In general, this battle (despite its violence) was the reason later for building good and peaceful relations that continue to this day between Arabs and Chinese
1:56 Beginning
Part 1 3:50 6:55 8:39
Part 2 10:15 11:30 12:25 13:32 15:12 18:55
Part 3 19:45 22:55
Part 4 25:18 30:05
Part 5 31:03 33:40 34:57 36:15
Part 7 37:05 38:05
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It's only a matter of time until you will be forced to censor out the picture at 10:22.
Therefore, I will download the video immediately... and recommend everybody else to do so.
Dude's got law firm ads now lol
8:38 I always though that Ancient Egyptians and later Copts were not Semites, but a separate branch of Afro-Asiatic speakers.
33:02 I thought the Fatimids were Arabs and descendants of Muhammad, not Berbers.
36:51 In 1700, the ruling dynasty of Persia was the Safavids, not the Qajars.
I cannot wait for your video on African civilization, which could discuss broad historical, geographical, societal, and economic trends of Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes unique phenotype, extremely varied climates. fewer advanced civilizations compared to Eurasia, late European colonization, ethnically ultra-diverse countries with borders arbitrarily drawn with disregard to local cultures, lower human development, less urbanization, authoritarian (often socialist) first post-colonial presidents, and the lack of a unifying philosophy and common political structures (before Europeans) that defines civilizational spheres (Christianity and the Enlightenment for the West, Confucianism and Imperial meritocracy for China, Hinduism and the Caste system for Indian civilization, City-states, polytheism, and stepped pyramids for Mesoamerican civilization).
In addition to your upcoming Africa video, I would recommend making a separate video about Sahelian civilization. This region was the largest complex of civilizations in pre-colonial Africa. The Sahel shares many distinctions from the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa in that it has always been home to large empires. The Sahel has been Muslim starting in the 11th Century, albeit in a syncretic form, unlike the Arabo-Persian world. Furthermore, I would like to see you make a video on Ethiopian Civilization.
Lastly, I suggest "What if the Islamic World Never stagnated" as a one hour-long video. I understand that you said on a live stream that you will no longer make alternate history, but I loved alternate history. Alternate history is the region I discovered your channel and how your channel became my favorite UA-cam channel. I also love real history, geography, politics, and cultures, so I will continue to follow your channel. Over the years, I have accumulated a list of 124 alternate history scenario suggestions for you, which I now understand might never be realized.
A recurring theme of your videos is that the Islamic World stagnated and was outcompeted by the West because of a philosophical turn in the 11th century, and that the Western and Islamic world reached equal footing during this time. Muslim scholars such as Al-Ghazali came to the conclusion that God is inherently irrational, so studying the Quran was enough for understanding the world. (What if the West never rose to dominance?, What if Europe was wiped out by the Black Death?, What if Tamerlane never existed?, Understanding Western Civilization, A Study of Decadence, and now this very video). I have always wanted scenarios where any civilization other than the West becomes the dominant civilization of the world in the sense of having had a renaissance, an enlightenment, an industrial revolution, democracy, human rights, and colonizing most of the world.
An alternate scenario where Al-Ghazali never existed or where Islam never stagnated has been repeatedly suggested. Since you abandoned alternative history very quietly, and for the love of your fans, this scenario could serve as a long-awaited grand finale to your series on alternate history.
I truly wish he did more islamic alt histories such as what if al ghazali never existed or what if the mongols didnt invade I dont think he touched islamic history on this channel in a very meaningful way tbh and his analysis leaves a lot to be desired not that his analysis is bad but I find whenever he talks about islamic societies it is usually criminally short and glosses over stuff
Hes gonna do a video if african civs?
I don’t think that.
1 in his videos he has showed a clear lack of interest in black culture.
2 the video would probably get censored by afrocentrists.