It is a place where Muslims gather, since a mosque's role is that of a centre of authority for the Muslim community, which guides and instructs them in their religious as well as temporal duties and obligations and directs their relationships with their environment as per the revealed laws of Islam. The Arabs conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from the Byzantine empire, while Iraq and Iran, the heart of the Sasanian empire, succumbed to their forces. Here in these lands, Islam fostered the development of a religious, political, and cultural commonwealth and the creation of a global empire.