Early Arab society, like the Quran itself, was strikingly egalitarian, until it came up against the reality of administering a large and multicultural empire.
Is it even possible to spread a set of norms widely, but still maintain your status as the arbiter of those norms?
The Buddha’s teachings were not easy to understand. And yet, millions of people adopted these teachings as their own. All without a single religious war.
Imagine a client handing you a hunk of stone and saying: here, convince humanity to buy my service.
So you’ve just inked a deal with a hard-driving international partner. Each of you returns to HQ satisfied that you’ve negotiated the better deal.