Jackson Riley

The Byzantine and Islamic Empire were two major empires in history after the fall of Rome.  They are both built upon a religious foundation of Christianity and Islam.  Christianity is a religion where you worship one God and his son has come to earth while Islam also worships one God called Allah, his son however, never came to earth.  Byzantinum was ruled by Justinian and Islam was ruled by Mohammed.  What were the effects of religion on these society's laws and customs?

The islamic law is based off of the five pillars of islam.  The first pillar is called Shahadah and it represents the honest preaching of the Muslim faith, this means that people are sincere about what they believe and to not lie about their religion.  The second pillar is called Salat and it represents the act of prayer in the proper form, five times a day.  The third pillar is called, Zakat which represents charity and tax benefit to the needy, this means that families are required to pay a part of their wealth to charity.  The fourth pillar is named Sawm, which represents Fasting during the month of Ramadan, this is when you cannot eat during a period of time in this case Ramadan.  The fifth pillar is named Hajj which represents Pilgrimage to mecca this means that all muslims must take a trip to Mecca at some point of their life(Tom Sizgorich).  Those are the five pillars that Muslims live by, they were made with words of the Qur’an which is the Islamic Bible.  The laws of the empire is called the Shari’a, this is a chronicle of laws made to govern the empire with direct accordance with the Qur’an, this chronical was made by Caliphates which are the religious leaders of the Empire(Sizgorich).  Crimes in the Islamic Empire were considered sins against Allah and were given severe punishment.  All punishments against criminals are found inside the Shari’a such as stoning, execution, amputation, and lashings.  Criminal procedures followed a judge and trial system, the victim of the crime is put in charge of bringing a claim against the criminal along with evidence for support.  Evidence had to be conclusive in order for the judge to reach a guilty verdict and if the accuser could not bring evidence he could make the defendant swear an oath to Allah that he is innocent, if the defendant swears he is found innocent and if he does not he is found guilty.  Domestic laws are also dealt with a trial but instead of a judge there are Kadis.  Domestic laws are qualified as; violations of religious duties, lawsuits, business disputes, and property disputes.  The setup for domestic trials is the same as the criminal trials except for the Kadis(Origin Islamic Law).  There are more comparisons than differences that the Shari’a and qur’an have.  First off the Shari’a was made using the Five Pillars and the Qur’an and most of the laws described are the same as the ones described in the Qur’an.  Crimes are punished as sins are punished in the Qur’an.  The people who created the Shari’a were caliphates which are descendants of Mohammed the prophet and held a high religious and political status.  For the Islamic Empire religious beliefs played a large role in the making of laws for the community.

The Byzantine Empire’s culture was based around the religion of Christianity.  The church controlled the empire with five patriarchs in charge of the church(Livius).  The text used by the church just like the Qur’an is the Holy Bible which contains testaments of prophets and disciples of God.  There was a set of rules placed for Christians to follow much like the Five Pillars only it’s the Ten Commandments.  The commandments are; have no other God, worship no idols, do not misuse the name of God, keep the sabbath day holy, respect your parents, do not kill, do not commit adultery, don’t steal, do not lie, and lastly do not be envious and love your enemies.  These are the ten rules that Christians are required to follow in relevance with the bible.  The laws of Byzantium was composed in the Justinian Code which was written by Emperor Justinian.  This code is a set of four books that contain the laws that citizens in the kingdom must follow and keep the peace.  Disputes were settled legally in a jurisdiction system, with a trial and judge set in place.  There are two volumes of the Justinian code dedicated to rural and maritime affairs, the Farmer’s Law and Rhodian Sea Law.  The Farmer’s Law would cover pilferage of crops and havoc from wild animals.  Crimes committed in the city have no relation with these volumes however.  If a crime fits under two categories such as abduction, it goes under property and person, these crimes merit a more severe punishment.  The Ecloga is in charge of punishing criminals through financial compensation, imprisonment, or exile for harsh crimes such as rape, stealing, and murder(Rautman).  Most criminal punishments and trials were held by the church due to the fact that the church was the highest power in Byzantium.  The church played a major role in the creation of the Justinian Code because Emperor Justinian transferred most of the power to the church because he believed the church deserved to be the highest power.  In Byzantium religion clearly held the highest position in the empire for the church was the highest political power you could be in.  Because of that religion played a large role in the persecuting of criminals and the law system in general.

Both empires clearly hold religion very high in their eyes and make it their base of everyday life.  Both empires have laws based on the Bible and Qur’an and also have a set of religious rules called the Five Pillars and Ten Commandments.  It seems very clear that these kingdom’s laws were all based off of religious rules and text.  For example the Shari’a does not prevent anyone from being able to perform all Five Pillars in the Islamic Empire and the source for all punishments is from the Qur’an, lastly the political leaders that created the Shari’a were Caliphs which are Successors of Mohammed.  For the Byzantine Empire the church controls the incarceration of criminals along with devising punishments.  Most of the laws inside the Justinian Code are actually parts of the Ten Commandments, such as do not steal and do not commit adultery.  These are some examples of how religion affects the shaping of laws in kingdoms throughout history especially these famous empires.

In conclusion society's laws can be influenced by religion greatly especially if the church holds a lot of political power such as the churches did in Byzantium.  The Islamic and Byzantine Empire are prime examples of this idea due to the fact that their laws are restates of their bibles and the churches there hold the most political power.  This idea of religion playing a major role in development of laws and customs is true, just like the Byzantine and Islamic Empire other kingdoms will be the same way.  This is just how powerful religion can be in societies.

Works Cited

Rautman, Marcus. "Crime and the Law in the Byzantine Empire." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1715866. Accessed 12 Dec. 2016.

Costly, Andrew. "The Origins of Islamic Law." The Origins of Islamic Law - Constitutional Rights Foundation. Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2006. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Editor, Britannica. "Code of Justinian." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

@ahencyclopedia. "Byzantine Empire." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2000. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Sizgorich, Tom. "Five Pillars of Islam." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/600867. Accessed 12 Dec. 2016.

Editor, Britannica. "Caliphate." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.