Silk to be lawful for men to wear, but the dominant opinion of most Muslim scholars is that the wearing of silk by men is forbidden. Modern attire has raised a number of issues, including, for instance, the permissibility of wearing silk neckties, which are masculine articles of clothing. Despite injunctions against silk for men, silk has retained its popularity in the Islamic world because of its permissibility for women, and due to the presence of non-Muslim communities. The Muslim Moors brought silk with them to Spain during their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Italy was the most important producer of
Silk Road the Egyptian Mamluks. Some studies indicate that the Black Death, which devastated Europe starting in the late 1340s, may have reached Europe from Central Asia (or China) along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire. One theory holds that Genoese traders coming from the entrepot of Trebizond in northern Turkey carried the disease to Western Europe; like many other outbreaks of plague, there is strong evidence that it originated in marmots in Central Asia and was carried westwards to the Black Sea by Silk Road traders. The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire loosened the political, cultural, and economic unity of