The religion of Islam is often viewed solely in terms of its origins in the<br >barren， sparsely settled Arabian Peninsula. To be sure， it was in the Arabian<br >city of Mecca that Islam was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the<br >years A.D. 610 to A.D. 632. However， during the century following Muham-<br >mad s death， the Arabs expanded out of the peninsula and conquered a<br >world empire stretching from Spain to present-day Pakistan. The great capi<br >tal cities of the first Arab-Islamic empires， Damascus and Baghdad， were not<br >located in Arabia but in the long-settled lands of antiquity. To understand<br >the development of Islam and Islamic civilization， we must recognize that<br >the Middle East region into which Islam expanded was a rich repository of<br >centuries of accumulated intellectual exchanges， religious experiences， and<br >administrative practices. Islamic society built upon these existing tbunda-<br >tions and was shaped by them. As Ira Lapidus has written， "The civilization<br >of Islam， though born in Mecca， also had its progenitors in Palestine， Baby-<br >lon， and Persepolis."l<br >