Portfolio Reflection

Sabah Moghul
History 134
Schoolcraft
12/16/16

Portfolio Reflection

Religion/Morals & Traditions

I have had the opportunity to visit many places around the world, and each place I have
been to has a huge sense of history, culture, and religion in its atmosphere. To have a successful
empire, it is important that the people believe in the leader and the morals that he has. The reason
that I chose religion, morals, and traditions is because I believe that these were things that either
made or break a civilization and the success of it. Without strong standing traditions and
something to believe in, the people in a civilization wouldn't know what to do. The traditions and
morals that people in all these civilizations raise their kids on are what help it to be successful.
Throughout all of the different civilizations that we have learned about this semester, Medieval
Europe, ancient Rome, and the rise of Islam all had religion, morals, and traditions play a very
large role in their civilization.
In Medieval Europe, the Merovingian Kingdoms had a lot of power, but kept a strong
connection to the Church. Gregory of Tours was a great leader, sometimes violent, but he knew
that no matter what he did he had to answer to his religion. He made sure that his people knew
that he valued religion and that they should too. The role of the bishops was to hold society
together, with the monks and saints. Gregory of Tours protected the religious leaders of the
empire, he thought very highly of them. He would even consult with his religious leaders on
decisions that he had to make sure, so that in some areas he stayed on the right path. Although
Gregory of Tours had his fair share of dark moments where he sometimes terrorized, his
people respected him more once he started to care for his religion more. Once he started
consulting with the bishops he started to become a better leader. Gregory of Tours knew that to
be a successful and loved leader, he not only needed to preach and protect the religious leaders of
the society, but he also had to believe in them as well. i

In ancient Rome, the Athenians and Spartans both had very deep rooted traditions, morals, and
religion. The Athenians had more democratic values and traditions where as the Spartans had
more militaristic values and traditions. Children in Sparta were taught about respecting the
elderly, women, and warriors. Most of the children grew up to be Spartan warriors. The
Athenians believed in more of a civil participation as a part of civic responsibility. The tradition
of the Athenian women were to be the property of their husbands, not allowed much of an
education, but were allowed to be leaders in religious life. In Sparta the women were given an
education, were allowed to play in sports, have a great deal of freedom, and take care of their
families. Both the Athenians and Spartans had strong traditions and values that both made them
successful societies. ii
In the rise of Islam, there were many morals and values that went along with the religion. The
reason that Islam rose so quickly was because of the clear message that Muhammad (pbuh) was
preaching, and the morals that he believed in. Before Muhammad (pbuh) became a prophet, he
was already known in the community for being one of the most trustworthy, honest, loyal, and
humble men. People in the society looked up to him and asked him for advice even before he
became the prophet. Although some people had their doubts about the things that Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) had to preach and his message, there were a great deal of people that
followed him automatically because of the person that he was. Many people in the society
thought that because he was such an amazing person before he stated his message, there is no
way that he could be lying. Because people believed that there was no way that he could lie
about something like this, they had to believe that it was the truth. If God had chosen him to be
the one to bring down his message then it was him that we had aspire to be more like and follow
his teachings. iii

Another reason that I chose religion, traditions, and morals as my topic is because these three
things means so much to me in my day to day life. I am a practicing Muslim and everything that
I do leads back to my religion and my beliefs. I aspire to be a good overall person with strong
morals that tie into my religion. I believe that we should all try to be more like the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) was back in his day because there was no problem that he couldn't overcome,
whether it was his or one of his peoples. There are many stories from the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) that some people think don't apply to the world we live in now. But, I have a strong belief
that everything happened for a reason (gods will) and we should continue to strive to be better
people for the sake of humanity and our religion. Islam teaches us to always be kind to one
another, muslim or not. I believe that especially in the times that we live in now, with our new
President Elect, it is important for the Muslim people to show the world that we are not the
people that they display on the media. It is time for us to be extra kind and extra generous to
those around us so that we can show how amazing our religion is and how little of a threat we are
to harming the society. If anything we are a help to our society and world, with the good morals
that we have in us and our religion, and how we treat all those around us.

Bibliography
ahencyclopedia. "Greek Religion." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
This source provided detailed information about Greek Religion and some of the values
and traditions that the Greek societies had.
"Islam, Muhammad, Prophet Of Islam." Islam, Muhammad, Prophet Of Islam. N.p., n.d. Web. 18
Dec. 2016.

This source provided detailed information of Muhammad (pbuh) before he was the
Prophet of Islam and after.
"Islam, The Spread Of Islam." Islam, The Spread Of Islam. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
This source provided detailed information about the spread of Islam, how it spread so
quickly, and how Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) influenced his people.
James, E. (2012), The Merovingians from the French Revolution to the Third Republic. Early
Medieval Europe, 20: 450471. doi:10.1111/emed.12004
This source provided detailed information of how religion affected the Merovingian
kingdoms and how it changed leaders like Gregory of Tours.

i James, E. The information from this paragraph was gathered from this source.

ii ahencylopedia. The information from this paragraph was gathered from this source.

iii Islam, Muhammad and Islam, The Spread of Islam. The information from this paragraph
was gathered from these sources.