Early Muslim conquests – Wikipedia

The early Muslim conquests ( Arabic : الفتوحات الإسلامية, al-Futūḥāt al-Islāmiyya ), besides referred to as the Arab conquests [ 4 ] and the early Islamic conquests [ 5 ] began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the seventh hundred. He established a new unify polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion. The resulting conglomerate stretched from parts of Central Asia and South Asia, across the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and parts of Southwest Europe ( Sicily and the iberian Peninsula to the Pyrenees ). The Muslim conquests brought about the collapse of the Sassanid Empire and a great territorial loss for the Byzantine Empire. The reasons for the Muslim success are hard to reconstruct in hindsight, chiefly because only fragmental sources from the period have survived. Fred McGraw Donner suggests that formation of a department of state in the arab peninsula and ideological ( i.e., religious ) coherence and mobilization was a chief cause why the Muslim armies in the distance of a hundred years were able to establish one of the largest pre-modern empires until that time. Estimates of the total area of the compound territory held by the Islamic Caliphate at its extremum have been american samoa high as thirteen million square kilometers, or five million square miles. [ 6 ] Most historians agree arsenic well that the Sassanid Persian and Byzantine Roman empires were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of fighting one another. [ 7 ] It has been suggested that some Jews and Christians in the Sassanid Empire and Jews and Monophysites in Syria were dissatisfied and welcomed the Muslim forces, largely because of religious conflict in both empires. [ 8 ] At other times, such as in the Battle of Firaz, Arab Christians allied themselves with the Persians and Byzantines against the invaders. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] In the character of Byzantine Egypt, Palestine and Syria, these lands had been reclaimed from the Persians lone a few years before .

background [edit ]

Byzantine and Sasanian Empires in 600 ad Arabia was a region that hosted a number of unlike cultures, some urban and others mobile Bedouin. arabian club was divided along tribal and kin lines with the most important divisions being between the “ southern ” and “ northern ” tribal associations. Both the Roman and Persian empires competed for determine in Arabia by sponsoring clients, and in twist arabian tribes sought the patronize of the two equal empires to bolster their own ambitions. The Lakhmid kingdom which covered parts of what is now southern Iraq and northern Saudi Arabia was a customer of Persia, and in 602 the Persians deposed the Lakhmids to take over the department of defense of the southerly frontier themselves. This left the Persians debunk and over-extended, helping to set the stage for the collapse of Persia later that century. Southern Arabia, particularly what is nowadays Yemen, had for thousands of years been a affluent area that had been a center of the spice trade. Yemen had been at the center of an external trade network linking Eurasia to Africa and Yemen had been visited by merchants from East Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India and evening from as far away as China. In turn, the Yemeni were capital sailors, travelling up the Red Sea to Egypt and across the amerind Ocean to India and down the east african seashore. Inland, the valleys of Yemen had been cultivated by a system of irrigation that had been set back when the Marib Dam was destroyed by an earthquake in about 450 AD. Frankincense and myrrh had been greatly valued in the Mediterranean region, being used in religious ceremonies. however, the conversion of the Mediterranean world to Christianity had significantly reduced the demand for these commodities, causing a major economic slump in southern Arabia which helped to create the stamp that Arabia was a backward region. little is known of the pre-Islamic religions of Arabia, but it is known that the Arabs worshipped a number of gods such as al-Lat, Manat, al-Uzza and Hubal, with the most authoritative being Allah ( God ). There were besides jewish and christian communities in Arabia and aspects of Arab religion reflected their influence. pilgrimage was a major depart of arabian paganism, and one of the most authoritative pilgrimage sites was Mecca, which housed the Kaaba, considered an specially holy place to visit. Muhammad, a merchant of Mecca, started to have visions in which he claimed that the Archangel Gabriel had told him that he was the last of the prophets continuing the function of Jesus Christ and the prophets of Tanakh. After coming into conflict with the elect of Mecca, Muhammad fled to the city of Yathrib, which was renamed Medina. At Yathrib, Muhammad founded an Islamic state, and by 630, conquered Mecca .
arab conquests of the Sassanid Empire and Syria 620-630 The drawn-out and escalating Byzantine– Sassanid wars of the 6th and 7th centuries and the recurring outbreaks of bubonic plague ( Plague of Justinian ) left both empires exhausted and weakened in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Arabs. The last of these wars ended with victory for the Byzantines : Emperor Heraclius regained all lost territories, and restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629. [ 17 ] The war against zoroastrian Persia, whose people worshiped the fire deity Ahura Mazda, had been portrayed by Heraclius as a holy place war in defense of the Christian faith and the Wood of the Holy Cross, as splinters of wood said to be from the True Cross were known, had been used to inspire christian fighting ardor. The theme of a holy war against the “ burn worshipers ”, as the Christians called the Zoroastrians, had aroused a lot exuberance, leading to an all-out effort to defeat the Persians. however, neither conglomerate was given any find to recover, as within a few years they were overrun by the advances of the Arabs ( newly united by Islam ), which, according to James Howard-Johnston, “ can only be likened to a homo tsunami ”. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] According to George Liska, the “ unnecessarily elongated Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam ”. [ 21 ] In late 620s Muhammad had already managed to conquer and unify much of Arabia under Muslim dominion, and it was under his leadership that the first Muslim-Byzantine skirmishes took place in response to Byzantine incursions. Just a few months after Heraclius and the Persian general Shahrbaraz agreed on terms for the withdrawal of persian troops from take Byzantine eastern provinces in 629, Arab and Byzantine troops confronted each other at the Battle of Mu’tah as a consequence of Byzantine vassals murdering a Muslim emissary. [ 22 ] Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr, the first Caliph with undisputed control of the integral Arab peninsula after the successful Ridda Wars, which resulted in the consolidation of a knock-down Muslim country throughout the peninsula. [ 23 ] Byzantine sources, such as the Short History written by Nikephoros, claim that the arab invasion came about as a solution of restrictions imposed on arab traders curtailing their ability to trade within Byzantine territory, and to send the profits of their trade out of Byzantine territory. As a result, the Arabs murdered a Byzantine official named Sergius whom they held responsible for convincing the Emperor Heraclius to impose the trade restrictions. Nikephoros relates that :

The Saracens, having flayed a camel, enclosed him in the obscure and sewed it up. As the hide hardened, the homo who was left inside besides withered and then perished in a irritating manner. The charge against him was that he had persuaded Heraclius not to allow the Saracens to trade from the Roman country and send out of the Roman state the thirty pounds of gold which they normally received by manner of commercial addition ; and for this rationality they began to lay waste the Roman kingdom. [ 24 ]

Some scholars assert that this is the lapp Sergius, called “ the Candidatus ”, who was “ killed by the Saracens ” as related in the seventh century Doctrina Jacobi document. [ 25 ] Edward Gibbon writes in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire :

Under the last of the Umayyads, the Arabian empire extended two hundred days journey from east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean … We should vainly seek the insoluble union and easy obedience that pervaded the government of Augustus and the Antonines ; but the progress of Islam diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners and opinions. The linguistic process and laws of the Quran were studied with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville : the Moor and the amerind embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca ; and the arabian language was adopted as the popular dialect in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris .

Forces [edit ]

Muslims [edit ]

In Arabia, swords from India were greatly esteemed as being made of the finest steel, and were the favored weapons of the Mujahideen. The arabian sword known as the sayfy close resembled the Roman gladius. Swords and spears were the major weapons of the Muslims and armor was either chain mail or leather. In northern Arabia, Roman influence predominated, in eastern Arabia, iranian influence predominated and in Yemen, indian charm was felt. As the caliphate gap, the Muslims were influenced by the peoples they conquered — the Turks in Central Asia, the Persians, and the Romans in Syria. The Bedouin tribe of Arabia favored archery, though, contrary to popular belief, Bedouin archers normally fought on foot rather of horseback. The Arabs normally crusade defensive battles with their archers placed on both flanks. By the Umayyad period, the caliphate had a standing army, including the elect Ahl al-Sham ( “ people of Syria ” ), raised from the Arabs who settled in Syria. The caliphate was divided into a number of jund, or regional armies, stationed in the provinces being made of by and large Arab tribes who were paid monthly by the Diwan al-Jaysh ( War Ministry ) .

roman [edit ]

The infantry of the Roman Army continued to be recruited from within the conglomerate, but much of the cavalry were either recruited from “ soldierly ” peoples in the Balkans or in Asia Minor, or, alternatively, were germanic mercenaries. Most of the Roman troops in Syria were indigenae ( local ) and it seems that at the meter of the Muslim seduction, the Roman forces in Syria were Arabs. In reaction to the passing of Syria, the Romans developed the phylarch system of using armenian and christian Arab auxiliaries living on the frontier to provide a “ shield ” to counter marauding by the Muslims into the empire. Overall, the Roman Army remained a small, but professional force of foederati. Unlike the foederati who were sent where they were needed, the stradioti lived in the frontier provinces. The most celebrated of these units was the Varangian Guard made up of Vikings .

persian [edit ]

During the final decades of the Sasanian conglomerate, the frequent use of royal titles by persian governors in Central Asia, specially in what is now Afghanistan, indicates a weakening of the power of the Shahanshah ( King of Kings ), suggesting the empire was already breaking down at the time of the Muslim conquest. persian club was rigidly divided into castes with the nobility being of supposed “ Aryan ” descent, and this part of persian company along caste lines was reflected in the military. The azatan gentry provided the cavalry, the paighan infantry came from the peasantry and most of the greater persian nobility had slave soldiers, this last being based on the persian exemplar. much of the iranian army consisted of tribal mercenaries recruited from the plains south of the Caspian Sea and from what is immediately Afghanistan. The persian tactics were cavalry based with the persian forces normally divided into a center, based upon a mound, and two wings of cavalry on either side .

ethiopian [edit ]

little is known about the military forces of the Christian department of state of Ethiopia other than that they were divided into sarawit professional troops and the ehzab auxiliaries. The Ethiopians made much use of camels and elephants .

Berber [edit ]

The Berber peoples of North Africa had much served as a federates ( auxiliaries ) to the Roman Army. The Berber forces were based around the knight and camel, but seemed to have hampered by a lack of weapons or protection with both Roman and Arab sources mentioning the Berbers lacked armour and helmets. The Berbers went to war with their entire communities and the presence of women and children both slowed down the Berber armies and tied down Berber tribesmen who tried to protect their families .

Turks [edit ]

The british historian David Nicolle called the turkish peoples of Central Asia the “ most formidable foes ” faced by the Muslims. The jewish Turkish Khazar khanate, based in what is nowadays southern Russia and Ukraine, had a potent heavy cavalry. The turkish heartland of Central Asia was divided into five khanates whose khans variously recognized the shah of Iran or the emperors of China as their overlords. turkish company was feudal with the khans only being pater primus among the gentry of dihquans who lived in castles in the countryside, with the rest of turkish forces being divided into kadivar ( farmers ), khidmatgar ( servants ) and atbai ( clients ). The heavily armored turkish cavalry were to play a big role in influencing subsequent Muslim tactics and weapons ; the Turks, who were by and large Buddhists at the fourth dimension of the Islamic seduction, late converted to Islam and, ironically, the Turks came to be regarded as the foremost Muslim warriors, to the extent of replacing the Arabs as the dominant allele peoples in the Dar-al-Islam ( House of Islam ) .

Visigoths [edit ]

During the migration period, the Germanic Visigoths had traveled from their fatherland north of the Danube to settle in the Roman province of Hispania, creating a kingdom upon the wreckage of the Western Roman empire. The Visigothic state in Iberia was based around forces raised by the nobility whom the king could call out in the consequence of war. The king had his gardingi and fideles firm to himself, while the nobility had their bucellarii. The Visigoths favored cavalry with their darling tactics being to repeatedly charge a foe combined with simulate retreats. The Muslim conquest of most of Iberia in less than a decade does propose good deficiencies with the Visigothic kingdom, though the circumscribed sources make it unmanageable to discern the precise reasons for the break down of the Visigoths .

Franks [edit ]

Another germanic people who founded a state upon the ruins of the Western Roman empire were the Franks who settled in Gaul, which came to be known afterwards as France. Like the Visigoths, the Frankish cavalry played a “ meaning share ” in their wars. The frankish kings expected all of their male subjects to perform three months of military serve every year, and all serving under the king ‘s streamer were paid a regular wage. Those called up for service had to provide their own weapons and horses, which contributed to the “ mobilization of frankish society ”. At least part of the reason for the victories of Charles Martel was he could call up a push of experience warriors when faced with Muslim raids .

history and context [edit ]

military campaigns [edit ]

Conquest of the Levant : 634–641 [edit ]

The province of Syria was the first to be wrested from Byzantine control. Arab-Muslim raids that followed the Ridda wars prompted the Byzantines to send a major expedition into southerly Palestine, which was defeated by the arabian forces under command of Khalid ibn al-Walid at the Battle of Ajnadayn ( 634 ). [ 45 ] Ibn al-Walid, had converted to Islam around 627, becoming one of Muhammad ‘s most successful generals. Ibn al-Walid had been fighting in Iraq against the Persians when he led his military unit on a trek across the deserts to Syria to attack the Romans from the rear. In the “ Battle of the Mud ” fought outside of Pella in the Jordan river valley in January 635 the Arabs won another victory. After a siege of six months the Arabs took Damascus, but Emperor Heraclius former retook it. At the battle of Yarmuk between 16–20 August 636, the Arabs were triumphant, defeating Heraclius. Ibn al-Walid appears to have been the “ real military drawing card ” at Yarmuk “ under the nominal command of others ”. Syria was ordered to be abandoned to the Muslims with Heraclius reportedly saying : “ peace be with you Syria ; what a beautiful domain you will be for your enemy ”. On the heels of their victory, the arabian armies took Damascus again in 636, with Baalbek, Homs, and Hama to follow soon afterwards. [ 45 ] however, other fortified towns continued to resist despite the rout of the imperial united states army and had to be conquered individually. [ 45 ] Jerusalem fell in 638, Caesarea in 640, while others held out until 641. [ 45 ]
arabian campaigns in Anatolia 637–638 After a biennial siege, the garrison of Jerusalem surrendered quite than starve to death ; under the terms of the capitulation Caliph Umar promised to tolerate the Christians of Jerusalem and not to turn churches into mosques. on-key to his give voice, the Caliph Umar allowed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to remain, with the caliph praying on a entreaty rug outside of the church. The passing to the Muslims of Jerusalem, the holiest city to Christians, proved to be the informant of much resentment in Christendom. The city of Caesarea Maritima continued to withstand the Muslim siege — as it could be supplied by sea — until it was taken by attack in 640. In the mountains of Asia Minor, the Muslims enjoyed less success, with the Romans adopting the tactic of “ shadowing war ” — refusing to give battle to the Muslims, while the people retreated into castles and bastioned towns when the Muslims invaded ; rather, Roman forces ambushed Muslim raiders as they returned to Syria carrying loot and people they had enslaved. In the frontier area where Anatolia met Syria, the Roman state evacuated the entire population and laid waste to the countryside, creating a “ no-man ‘s land ” where any invade army would find no food. For decades afterwards, a guerrilla war was waged by Christians in the cragged countryside of north-western Syria supported by the Romans. [ 52 ] At the same time, the Romans began a policy of launching raids via sea on the coast of the caliphate with the aim of forcing the Muslims to keep at least some of their forces to defend their coastlines, thus limiting the number of troops available for an invasion of Anatolia. [ 52 ] Unlike Syria with its plains and deserts — which favored the offensive — the mountainous terrain of Anatolia favored the defensive, and for centuries afterwards, the line between Christian and Muslim lands run along the edge between Anatolia and Syria .

Conquest of Egypt : 639–642 [edit ]

The Byzantine Empire after the Arabs conquered the provinces of Syria and Egypt c. 650 The Byzantine province of Egypt held strategic importance for its ingrain production, naval yards, and as a foundation for further conquests in Africa. [ 45 ] The Muslim general ‘Amr ibn al-‘As began the seduction of the province on his own enterprise in 639. [ 53 ] The majority of the Roman forces in Egypt were locally-raised coptic forces, intended to serve more as a patrol power ; since the huge majority of Egyptians lived in the Nile river valley, surrounded on both the easterly and western sides by desert, Egypt was felt to be a relatively plug province. In December 639, al-‘As entered the Sinai with a large force and took Pelusium, on the boundary of the Nile river valley, and then defeated a roman counter-attack at Bibays. Contrary to expectations, the Arabs did not head for Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, but alternatively for a major fortress known as Babylon located at what is now Cairo. Al-‘As was planning to divide the Nile river valley in two. The arab forces won a major victory at the Battle of Heliopolis ( 640 ), but they found it unmanageable to advance further because major cities in the Nile Delta were protected by urine and because al-‘As lacked the machinery to break down city fortifications. [ 56 ] The Arabs laid siege to Babylon, and its starving garrison surrendered on 9 April 641. however, the province was hardly urbanize and the defenders lost hope of receiving reinforcements from Constantinople when the emperor butterfly Heraclius died in 641. [ 57 ] Afterwards, the Arabs turned north into the Nile delta and laid siege to Alexandria. The last major center to fall into arab hands was Alexandria, which capitulated in September 642. [ 58 ] According to Hugh Kennedy, “ Of all the early Muslim conquests, that of Egypt was the swiftest and most accomplished. [ … ] Seldom in history can so massive a political change have happened so swiftly and been so hanker persistent. ” [ 59 ] In 644, the Arabs suffered a major kill by the Caspian Sea when an intrude on Muslim army was about wiped out by the cavalry of the Khazar Khanate, and, seeing a casual to take back Egypt, the Romans launched an amphibious attack which took back Alexandria for a shortstop time period of time. Though most of Egypt is desert, the Nile river valley has some of the most generative and fecund farmland in the entire worldly concern, which had made Egypt the “ granary ” of the Roman empire. Control of Egypt mean that the caliphate could weather droughts without the fear of famine, laying the basis for the future prosperity of the caliphate .

The War at Sea [edit ]

Map of the main Byzantine-Muslim naval operations and battles in the Mediterranean The Roman empire had traditionally dominated the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with major naval bases at Constantinople, Acre, Alexandria and Carthage. In 652, the Arabs won their first victory at sea off Alexandria, which was followed by the irregular Muslim conquest of Cyprus. As Yemen had been a center of nautical craft, Yemeni sailors were brought to Alexandria to start building an Islamic fleet for the Mediterranean. The Muslim flit was based in Alexandria and used Acre, Tyre and Beirut as its forward bases. The congress of racial equality of the fleet ‘s sailors were Yemeni, but the shipwrights who built the ships were iranian and Iraqi. In the “ Battle of the Masts ” off Cape Chelidonia in Anatolia in 655, the Muslims defeated the Roman fleet in a series of boarding actions. As a result, the Romans began a major expansion of their dark blue, which was matched by the Arabs, leading to a naval arms race. From the early eighth century forth, the Muslim evanesce would launch annual raids on the coastline on the Roman empire in Anatolia and Greece. As part of the arms raceway, both sides sought raw engineering to improve their warships. The Muslim warships had a larger forecastle, which was used to mount a stone-throwing locomotive. The Romans invented “ greek arouse ”, an incendiary weapon that led the Muslims to cover their ships with water-soaked cotton. A major problem for the Muslim fleet was the deficit of lumber, which led the Muslims to seek qualitative rather of quantitative superiority by building bigger warships. To save money, the Muslim shipwrights switched from the hull-first method of building ships to the frame-first method .

Conquest of Mesopotamia and Persia : 633–651 [edit ]

Sasanian weaponry, 7th century After an arabian incursion into Sasanian territories, the energetic shah ( king ) Yazdgerd III, who had just ascended the Persian throne, raised an army to resist the conquerors. [ 62 ] Many of the marzbans refused to come out to help the shahinshah. [ 63 ] however, the Persians suffered a lay waste to defeat at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 636. [ 62 ] Little is known about the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah other than it lasted for respective days by the banks of the river Euphrates in what is now Iraq and ended with the Persian force being annihilated. [ 64 ] Abolishing the Lakhmid Arab buffer state had forced the Persians to take over the desert defense themselves, leaving them overextended. [ 63 ] As a solution of al-Qadisiyyah, the Arab-Muslims gained restraint over the whole of Iraq, including Ctesiphon, the das kapital city of the Sassanids. [ 62 ] The Persians lacked sufficient forces to make consumption of the Zagros mountains to stop the Arabs, having lost the prime of their united states army at al-Qadisiyyah. [ 64 ] The irani forces withdrew over the Zagros mountains and the arab army pursued them across the iranian tableland, where the fortune of the Sasanian empire was sealed at the Battle of Nahavand ( 642 ). [ 62 ] The crushing Muslim victory at Nahavand is known in the Muslim universe as the “ Victory of Victories ”. [ 63 ] After Nahavand, the iranian state collapsed with Yezdegird fleeing further east and assorted marzbans bending their knees in submission to the Arabs. [ 64 ] As the conquerors slowly covered the huge distances of Iran punctuated by hostile towns and fortresses, Yazdgerd III retreated, finally taking refuge in Khorasan, where he was assassinated by a local satrap in 651. [ 62 ] In the consequence of their victory over the imperial united states army, the Muslims still had to contend with a collection of militarily weak but geographically inaccessible principalities of Persia. [ 45 ] It took decades to bring them all under control condition of the caliphate. [ 45 ] In what is now Afghanistan — a region where the agency of the shah was constantly disputed — the Muslims met boisterous guerrilla resistance from the militant Buddhist tribe of the region. [ 65 ] Ironically, despite the complete Muslim victory over Iran as compared to the alone fond frustration of the Roman empire, the Muslims borrowed far more from the vanished Sassanian country than they ever did from the Romans. [ 66 ] however, for the Persians the defeat remained bitter. Some 400 years late, the Persian poet Ferdowsi wrote in his popular poem Shahnameh ( Book of Kings ) :

“ Damn this populace, damn this clock time, damn this destiny, That barbarian Arabs have come to
Make me a Muslim
Where are your valiant warriors and priests
Where are your hunting parties and your feats ?
Where is that militant bearing and where are those
Great armies that destroyed our county ‘s foes ?
Count Iran as a ruin, as the lair
Of lions and leopards.
expect now and despair ”. [ 67 ]

The end of the Rashidun conquests [edit ]

right from the begin of the caliphate, it was realized that there was a need to write down the sayings and story of Muhammad, which had been memorized by his followers before they all died. [ 68 ] Most people in Arabia were ignorant and the Arabs had a strong culture of remembering history orally. [ 68 ] To preserve the history of Muhammad and to prevent any corruptions from entering the oral history, the Caliph ‘Abu Bakr had ordered scribes to write down the fib of Muhammad as told to them by his followers, which was the lineage of the Quran. [ 69 ] Disputes had emerged over which interpretation of the Quran was the adjust one and, by 644, different versions of the Quran were accepted in Damascus, Basra, Hims, and Kufa. [ 69 ] To settle the dispute, the Caliph ‘Uthman had proclaimed the translation of the Quran possessed by one of Muhammad ‘s widows, Hafsa, to be the authoritative and correct translation, which offended some Muslims who held to the rival versions. [ 69 ] This, together with the favoritism shown by ‘Uthman to his own kin, the Banu Umayya, in government appointments, led to a mutiny in Medina in 656 and ‘Uthman ‘s murder. [ 69 ] ‘Uthman ‘s successor as Caliph, Muhammad ‘s son-in-law, Ali, was faced with a civil war, known to Muslims as the fitna, when the governor of Syria, Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan, revolted against him. [ 70 ] During this time, the first time period of Muslim conquests stopped, as the armies of Islam turned against one another. [ 70 ] A fundamentalist group known as the Kharaji decided to end the civil war by assassinating the leaders of both sides. [ 70 ] however, the fitna ended in January 661 when the Caliph Ali was killed by a Kharaji assassin, allowing Mu’awiya to become Caliph and found the Umayyad dynasty. [ 71 ] The fitna besides marked the begin of the split between Shia Muslims, who supported Ali, and Sunni Muslims, who opposed him. [ 70 ] Mu’awiya moved the capital of the caliphate from Medina to Damascus, which had a major effect on the politics and polish of the caliphate. [ 72 ] Mu’awiya followed the conquest of Iran by invading Central Asia and trying to finish off the Roman Empire by taking Constantinople. [ 73 ] In 670, a Muslim fleet seized Rhodes and then laid siege to Constantinople. [ 73 ] Nicolle wrote the siege of Constantinople from 670 to 677 was “ more accurately ” a blockade preferably than a siege proper, which ended in failure as the “ mighty ” walls built by the Emperor Theodosius II in the fifth hundred AD proved their deserving. [ 73 ]

The majority of the people in Syria remained Christian, and a significant jewish minority remained, as well ; both communities were to teach the Arabs much about science, trade and the arts. [ 73 ] The Umayyad caliph are well-remembered for sponsoring a cultural “ golden age ” in Islamic history — for example, by building the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, and for making Damascus into the capital of a “ world power ” that stretched from Portugal to Central Asia, covering the huge district from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China. [ 73 ]

Explanations for the success of the early conquests [edit ]

The celerity of the early conquests has received assorted explanations. [ 74 ] Contemporary Christian writers conceived them as God ‘s punishment visited on their companion Christians for their sins. [ 75 ] Early Muslim historians viewed them as a contemplation of the religious readiness of the conquerors and evidence of divine favor. [ 76 ] The theory that the conquests are explainable as an arabian migration triggered by economic pressures enjoyed popularity early on in the twentieth century, but has largely fallen out of party favor among historians, particularly those who distinguish the migration from the conquests that preceded and enabled it. [ 77 ] There are indications that the conquests started as initially disorganized plundering raids launched partially by non-Muslim Arab tribe in the aftermath of the Ridda wars, and were soon extended into a war of conquest by the Rashidun caliph, [ 78 ] although other scholars argue that the conquests were a aforethought military venture already afoot during Muhammad ‘s life. [ 79 ] Fred Donner writes that the second coming of Islam “ revolutionized both the ideological bases and the political structures of the Arabian company, giving get up for the first clock time to a express capable of an expansionist apparent motion. ” [ 80 ] According to Chase F. Robinson, it is probable that Muslim forces were much outnumbered, but, unlike their opponents, they were fast, well coordinated and highly motivated. [ 81 ] Another key reason was the weakness of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, caused by the wars they had waged against each other in the preceding decades with alternating success. [ 82 ] It was aggravated by a plague that had struck densely populated areas and impede conscription of new imperial troops, while the arabian armies could draw recruits from mobile populations. [ 75 ] The Sasanian empire, which had lost the latest round of hostilities with the Byzantines, was besides affected by a crisis of confidence, and its elites suspected that the rule dynasty had forfeited the privilege of the gods. [ 75 ] The arabian military advantage was increased when Christianized Arab kin who had served imperial armies as even or accessory troops switched sides and joined the West arabian coalescence. [ 75 ] Arab commanders besides made liberal use of agreements to spare lives and property of inhabitants in case of resignation and extended exemptions from paying protection to groups who provided military services to the conquerors. [ 83 ] Additionally, the Byzantine persecution of Christians opposed to the Chalcedonian creed in Syria and Egypt alienated elements of those communities and made them more open to accommodation with the Arabs once it became authorize that the latter would let them practice their religion undisturbed a long as they paid tribute. [ 84 ] The conquests were far secured by the subsequent large-scale migration of arab peoples into the suppress lands. [ 85 ] Robert Hoyland argues that the failure of the Sasanian conglomerate to recover was due in boastfully part to the geographically and politically disconnected nature of Persia, which made coordinated action unmanageable once the established Sasanian rule collapsed. [ 86 ] Similarly, the unmanageable terrain of Anatolia made it difficult for the Byzantines to mount a large-scale approach to recover the suffer lands, and their offense action was largely limited to organizing guerrilla operations against the Arabs in the Levant. [ 86 ]

Conquest of Sindh : 711–714 [edit ]

Although there were sporadic incursions by arab generals in the steering of India in the 660s and a small Arab garrison was established in the arid region of Makran in the 670s, [ 87 ] the first base large-scale Arab campaign in the Indus valley occurred when the general Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sindh in 711 after a coastal march through Makran. [ 88 ] Three years by and by the Arabs controlled all of the lower Indus valley. [ 88 ] Most of the towns seem to have submitted to Arab govern under peace treaties, although there was ferocious underground in other areas, including by the forces of Raja Dahir at the capital city Debal. [ 88 ] [ 89 ] Arab incursions southward from Sindh were repulsed by the armies of Gurjara and Chalukya kingdoms, and farther Islamic expansion was checked by the Rashtrakuta conglomerate, which gained control of the region soon after. [ 89 ]

Conquest of the Maghreb : 647–742 [edit ]

arab forces began launching sporadic raiding expeditions into Cyrenaica ( modern northeast Libya ) and beyond soon after their conquest of Egypt. [ 90 ] Byzantine rule in northwest Africa at the prison term was largely confined to the coastal plains, while autonomous Berber polities controlled the rest. [ 91 ] In 670 Arabs founded the settlement of Qayrawan, which gave them a forward foundation for far expansion. [ 91 ] Muslim historians credit the general Uqba ibn Nafi with subsequent conquest of lands extending to the Atlantic coast, although it appears to have been a impermanent penetration. [ 91 ] [ 92 ] The Berber foreman Kusayla and an enigmatic drawing card referred to as Kahina ( prophetess or priestess ) seem to have mounted effective, if ephemeral resistance to Muslim rule at the end of the seventh hundred, but the sources do not give a clean picture of these events. [ 93 ] Arab forces were able to capture Carthage in 698 and Tangiers by 708. [ 93 ] After the descent of Tangiers, many Berbers joined the Muslim army. [ 92 ] In 740 Umayyad dominion in the region was shaken by a major Berber rebellion, which besides involved Berber Kharijite Muslims. [ 94 ] After a serial of defeats, the caliphate was ultimately able to crush the rebellion in 742, although local Berber dynasties continued to drift off from imperial control from that fourth dimension on. [ 94 ]

Conquest of Hispania and Septimania : 711–721 [edit ]

bilingual Latin-Arabic libyan dinar minted in Iberia AH 98 ( 716/7 AD ) The Muslim seduction of Iberia is celebrated for the brevity and undependability of the available sources. [ 95 ] [ 96 ] After the Visigothic king of Spain Wittiza died in 710, the kingdom experienced a period of political division. [ 96 ] The Visigothic nobility was divided between the followers of Wittiza and the new king Roderic. Akhila, Wittiza ‘s son, had fled to Morocco after losing the sequence struggle and Muslim custom states that he asked the Muslims to invade Spain. Starting in the summer of 710, the Muslim forces in Morocco had launched respective successful raids into Spain, which demonstrated the failing of the Visigothic department of state. [ 98 ] Taking advantage of the situation, the Muslim Berber commander, Tariq ibn Ziyad, who was stationed in Tangiers at the time, crossed the straits with an united states army of Arabs and Berbers in 711. [ 96 ] Most of the invasion force out of 15,000 were Berbers, with the Arabs serving as an “ elect ” coerce. [ 98 ] Ziyad landed on the Rock of Gibraltar on 29 April 711. [ 65 ] After defeating the forces of king Roderic at the river Guaddalete on 19 July 711, Muslim forces advanced, capturing cities of the Gothic kingdom one after another. [ 95 ] The capital of Toledo surrendered peacefully. [ 98 ] Some of the cities surrendered with agreements to pay protection and local gentry retained a measure of erstwhile influence. [ 96 ] The spanish Jewish community welcomed the Muslims as liberators from the oppression of the Catholic Visigothic kings. [ 99 ] In 712, another larger force of 18,000 from Morocco, led by Musa Ibn Nusayr, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar to link up with Ziyad ‘s force at Talavera. [ 99 ] The invasion seemed to have wholly on the inaugural of Tariq ibn Ziyad : the caliph, al-Walid, in Damascus reacted as if it was a surprise to him. [ 100 ] By 713 Iberia was about wholly under Muslim see. [ 95 ] In 714, al-Walid summoned Ziyad to Damascus to explain his political campaign in Spain, but Ziyad took his time travelling through North Africa and Palestine, and was finally imprisoned when he arrived in Damascus. [ 65 ] The events of the subsequent ten years, the details of which are hidden, included the capture of Barcelona and Narbonne, and a raid against Toulouse, followed by an excursion into Burgundy in 725. [ 95 ] The last large-scale raid to the north ended with a Muslim kill at the Battle of Tours at the hands of the Franks in 732. [ 95 ] The victory of the Franks, led by Charles Martel, over ‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Ghafiqi has often been misrepresented as the decisive conflict that stopped the Muslim conquest of France, but the Umayyad coerce had been raiding Aquitaine with a particular interest in sacking churches and monasteries, not seeking its conquest. The struggle itself is a dim affair with the few sources describing it in poetic terms that are frustrating for the historian. The struggle occurred between 18–25 October 732 with the culminate being an approach on the Muslim camp led by Martel that ended with al-Ghafiqi being killed and the Muslims swallow when night fell. Martel ‘s victory ended whatever plans there may have been to conquer France, but a series of Berber revolts in North Africa and in Spain against Arab predominate may have played a greater character in ruling out conquests north of the Pyrenees .

Conquest of Transoxiana : 673–751 [edit ]

Transoxiana is the area northeast of Iran beyond the Amu Darya or Oxus River roughly corresponding with contemporary Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Kazakhstan. initial incursions across the Oxus river were aimed at Bukhara ( 673 ) and Samarqand ( 675 ) and their results were limited to promises of tribute payments. [ 103 ] In 674, a Muslim wedge led by Ubaidullah Ibn Zayyad attacked Bukhara, the capital of Soghdia, which ended with the Sogdians agreeing to recognize the Umayadd caliph Mu’awiaya as their overlord and to pay tribute. [ 73 ] In general, the campaigns in central Asia were “ hard fight ” with the Buddhist Turkic peoples fiercely resisting efforts to incorporate them into the caliphate. China, which saw Central Asia as its own sphere of influence, particularly due to the economic importance of the Silk Road, supported the Turkic defenders. [ 73 ] Further advances were hindered for a quarter century by political upheavals within the Umayyad caliphate. [ 103 ] This was followed by a decade of rapid military build up under the leadership of the new governor of Khurasan, Qutayba ibn Muslim, which included the conquest of Bukhara and Samarqand in 706–712. [ 104 ] The expansion lost its momentum when Qutayba was killed during an united states army mutiny and the Arabs were placed on the defensive by an confederation of Sogdian and Türgesh forces with support from Tang China. [ 104 ] however, reinforcements from Syria helped turn the tide and most of the lose lands were reconquered by 741. [ 104 ] Muslim rule over Transoxania was consolidated a ten later when a Chinese-led united states army was defeated at the Battle of Talas ( 751 ). [ 105 ]

Afghanistan Area [edit ]

Medieveal Islamic scholars divided the area of contemporary Afghanistan into two regions – the provinces of Khorasan and Sistan. Khorasan was the eastern satrapy of the Sasanian Empire, containing Balkh and Herat. Sistan included a number of Afghan cities and regions, including Ghazna, Zarang, Bost, Qandahar ( besides called al-Rukhkhaj or Zamindawar ), Kabul, Kabulistan and Zabulistan. [ 106 ] Before Muslim rule, the regions of Balkh ( Bactria or Tokharistan ), Herat and Sistan were under Sasanian rule. Further south in the Balkh region, in Bamiyan, indication of Sasanian assurance diminishes, with a local dynasty apparently ruling from late antiquity, probably Hepthalites subject to the Yabgu of the western Turkic Khaganate. While Herat was controlled by the Sasanians, its hinterlands were controlled by northern Hepthalites who continued to rule the Ghurid mountains and river valleys good into the Islamic earned run average. Sistan was under Sasanian administration but Qandahar remained out of Arab hands. Kabul and Zabulistan housed Indic religions, with the Zunbils and Kabul Shahis offer potent resistor to Muslim rule for two centuries until the Saffarid and Ghaznavid conquests. [ 107 ]

early campaigns and the end of the early conquests [edit ]

In 646 a Byzantine naval expedition was able to briefly recapture Alexandria. [ 108 ] The like class Mu’awiya, the governor of Syria and future laminitis of the Umayyad dynasty, ordered construction of a fleet. [ 108 ] Three years belated it was put to use in a plunder foray into of Cyprus, soon followed by a second raid in 650 that concluded with a treaty under which Cypriots surrendered many of their riches and slaves. [ 108 ] In 688 the island was made into a roast dominion of the caliphate and the Byzantine empire under a treaty which was to concluding for about 300 years. [ 109 ] In 639–640 arabian forces began to make advances into Armenia, which had been partitioned into a Byzantine state and a Sasanian province. [ 110 ] There is considerable disagreement among ancient and mod historians about events of the keep up years, and noun phrase control of the area may have passed respective times between Arabs and Byzantines. [ 110 ] Although Muslim dominion was last established by the time the Umayyads acceded to world power in 661, it was not able to implant itself solidly in the area, and Armenia experienced a national and literary rash over the following hundred. [ 110 ] As with Armenia, Arab advances into other lands of the Caucasus region, including Georgia, had as their end assurances of tribute payment and these principalities retained a boastfully degree of autonomy. [ 111 ] This time period besides saw a series of clashes with the Khazar kingdom whose center of baron was in the lower Volga steppes, and which vied with the caliphate over see of the Caucasus. [ 111 ]
early Muslim military ventures were met with outright failure. Despite a naval victory over the Byzantines in 654 at the Battle of the Masts, the subsequent undertake to besiege Constantinople was frustrated by a storm which damaged the Arab fleet. [ 112 ] Later sieges of Constantinople in 668–669 ( 674–78 according to other estimates ) and 717–718 were thwarted with the aid of the recently invented greek fire. [ 113 ] In the east, although Arabs were able to establish control over most Sasanian-controlled areas of modern Afghanistan after the fall of Persia, the Kabul area resisted repeated attempts at invasion and would continue to do so until it was conquered by the Saffarids three centuries late. [ 114 ] By the time of the Abbasid rotation in the middle of the eighth century, Muslim armies had come against a combination of natural barriers and brawny states that impeded any far military progress. [ 115 ] The wars produced diminishing returns in personal gains and fighters increasingly left the army for civilian occupations. [ 115 ] The priorities of the rulers besides shifted from conquest of fresh lands to administration of the acquired conglomerate. [ 115 ] Although the Abbasid era witnessed some new territorial gains, such as the conquests of Sicily and Crete, the period of rapid centralize expansion would now give room to an era when farther spread of Islam would be behind and accomplished through the efforts of local dynasties, missionaries, and traders. [ 115 ]

aftermath [edit ]

significance [edit ]

Nicolle wrote that the series of Islamic conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries was “ one of the most meaning events in global history ”, leading to the initiation of “ a new civilization ”, the Islamicised and Arabised Middle East. Islam, which had previously been confined to Arabia, became a major world religion, while the synthesis of Arab, Roman, and iranian elements led to distinctive modern styles of art and computer architecture emerging in the Middle East .

Socio-political developments [edit ]

The military victories of armies from the Arabian Peninsula heralded the expansion of the Arabs ‘ culture and religion. The conquests were followed by a large-scale migration of families and wholly tribe from Arabia into the lands of the Middle East. [ 85 ] The appropriate Arabs had already possessed a complex and advanced society. [ 85 ] Emigrants from Yemen brought with them agricultural, urban, and monarchal traditions ; members of the Ghassanid and Lakhmid tribal confederations had experience collaborating with the empires. [ 85 ] The rank and file of the armies was drawn from both mobile and sedentary tribes, while the leadership came chiefly from the merchant class of the Hejaz. [ 85 ] Two fundamental policies were implemented during the reign of the second caliph Umar ( 634–44 ) : the bedouins would not be allowed to damage agrarian production of the appropriate lands and the leadership would cooperate with the local elites. [ 118 ] To that end, the Arab-Muslim armies were settled in segregated quarters or new garrison towns such as Basra, Kufa and Fustat. [ 118 ] The latter two became the raw administrative centers of Iraq and Egypt, respectively. [ 118 ] Soldiers were paid a stipend and prohibited from seizing lands. [ 118 ] Arab governors supervised collection and distribution of taxes, but otherwise left the erstwhile religious and social regulate integral. [ 118 ] At first base, many provinces retained a large degree of autonomy under the terms of agreements made with arab commanders. [ 118 ] As the time passed, the conquerors sought to increase their control over local affairs and make existing administrative machinery work for the new government. [ 119 ] This involve several types of reorganization. In the Mediterranean region, city-states which traditionally governed themselves and their encompassing areas were replaced by a territorial bureaucracy separating town and rural administration. [ 120 ] In Egypt, fiscally autonomous estates and municipalities were abolished in favor of a simplified administrative system. [ 121 ] In the early eighth hundred, syrian Arabs began to replace Coptic functionaries and communal levies gave way to individual tax income. [ 122 ] In Iran, the administrative reorganization and construction of protective walls prompted agglomeration of quarters and villages into large cities such as Isfahan, Qazvin, and Qum. [ 123 ] Local notables of Iran, who at first gear had about arrant autonomy, were incorporated into the central bureaucracy by the ʿ Abbasid period. [ 123 ] The similarity of egyptian and Khurasanian official paperwork at the time of the caliph al-Mansur ( 754–75 ) suggests a highly centralized empire-wide government. [ 123 ]
The society of new arabian settlements gradually became stratified into classes based on wealth and office. [ 124 ] It was besides reorganized into fresh communal units that preserved kin and tribal names but were in fact only loosely based around old kinship bonds. [ 124 ] Arab settlers turned to civilian occupations and in eastern regions established themselves as a land nobility. [ 124 ] At the same time, distinctions between the conquerors and local populations began to blur. [ 124 ] In Iran, the Arabs largely assimilated into local culture, adopting the irani terminology and customs, and marrying irani women. [ 124 ] In Iraq, non-Arab settlers flocked to garrison towns. [ 124 ] Soldiers and administrators of the old regimen came to seek their fortunes with the raw masters, while slaves, laborers and peasants fled there seeking to escape the harsh conditions of life in the countryside. [ 124 ] Non-Arab converts to Islam were absorbed into the Arab-Muslim company through an adaptation of the tribal arabian mental hospital of clientage, in which protective covering of the herculean was exchanged for loyalty of the subordinates. [ 124 ] The clients ( mawali ) and their heirs were regarded as virtual members of the kin. [ 124 ] The clans became increasingly economically and socially stratified. [ 124 ] For example, while the noble clans of the Tamim kin acquired iranian cavalry units as their mawali, other clans of the same tribe had slave laborers as theirs. [ 124 ] Slaves much became mawali of their former masters when they were freed. [ 124 ] contrary to the belief of earlier historians, there is no evidence of multitude conversions to Islam in the immediate aftermath of the conquests. [ 125 ] The first groups to convert were christian Arab kin, although some of them retained their religion into the Abbasid earned run average even while serving as troops of the caliphate. [ 125 ] They were followed by erstwhile elites of the Sasanian empire, whose conversion ratified their old privileges. [ 125 ] With fourth dimension, the sabotage of non-Muslim elites facilitated the breakdown of old communal ties and reinforced the incentives of conversion which promised economic advantages and social mobility. [ 125 ] By the get down of the eighth century, conversions became a policy publish for the caliphate. [ 126 ] They were favored by religious activists, and many Arabs accepted the equality of Arabs and non-Arabs. [ 126 ] however, conversion was associated with economic and political advantages, and Muslim elites were reluctant to see their privileges diluted. [ 126 ] Public policy towards converts varied depending on the region and was changed by consecutive Umayyad caliph. [ 126 ] These circumstances provoked opposition from non-Arab converts, whose ranks included many active soldiers, and helped set the stage for the civil war which ended with the fall of the Umayyad dynasty. [ 127 ]

Conversions and tax reforms [edit ]

The Arab-Muslim conquests followed a general convention of mobile conquests of settle regions, whereby the conquer peoples became the new military elect and reached a compromise with the old elites by allowing them to retain local political, religious, and fiscal assurance. [ 119 ] Peasants, workers, and merchants paid taxes, while members of the erstwhile and newly elites collected them. [ 119 ] Payment of taxes, which for peasants frequently reached half of the measure of their produce, was not only an economic effect, but besides a grade of social inferiority. [ 119 ] Scholars disagree in their judgment of proportional tax burdens before and after the conquests. John Esposito states that in effect this meant lower taxes. According to Bernard Lewis, available evidence suggests that the change from Byzantine to Arab rule was “ welcomed by many among the subject peoples, who found the new yoke far lighter than the erstwhile, both in tax income and in other matters ”. [ 129 ] In contrast, Norman Stillman writes that although the tax load of the Jews under early Islamic rule was comparable to that under previous rulers, Christians of the Byzantine Empire ( though not Christians of the Persian empire, whose status was similar to that of the Jews ) and Zoroastrians of Iran shouldered a well heavier load in the immediate consequence of the conquests. [ 130 ]
egyptian papyrus PERF 558 containing a bilingual Greek-Arabic tax receipt dated from 643 ad In the wake of the early conquests taxes could be levied on individuals, on the nation, or as collective tribute. [ 131 ] During the first century of Islamic expansion, the words jizya and kharaj were used in all three senses, with context distinguish between individual and land taxes. [ 132 ] Regional variations in tax at first reflected the diverseness of former systems. [ 133 ] The Sasanian Empire had a general tax on land and a poll tax having several rates based on wealth, with an exemption for gentry. [ 133 ] This poll tax was adapted by Arab rulers, so that the gentry exemption was assumed by the fresh Arab-Muslim elect and shared by local gentry who converted to Islam. [ 134 ] The nature of Byzantine taxation remains partially unclear, but it appears to have been levied as a collective tribute on population centers and this practice was broadly followed under the arab convention in former Byzantine provinces. [ 133 ] Collection of taxes was delegated to autonomous local communities on the circumstance that the charge be divided among its members in the most equitable manner. [ 133 ] In most of Iran and Central Asia local rulers paid a fixed tribute and maintained their autonomy in tax solicitation. [ 133 ] Difficulties in tax solicitation soon appeared. [ 133 ] egyptian Copts, who had been skilled in tax evasion since Roman times, were able to avoid paying the taxes by entering monasteries, which were initially nontaxable from tax income, or simply by leaving the district where they were registered. [ 133 ] This prompted imposition of taxes on monks and presentation of movement controls. [ 133 ] In Iraq, many peasants who had fallen behind with their tax payments converted to Islam and abandoned their land for Arab garrison towns in promise of escaping tax income. [ 135 ] Faced with a refuse in farming and a treasury deficit, the governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj, forced peasant converts to return to their lands and subjected them to the taxes again, effectively forbidding them from converting to Islam. [ 136 ] In Khorasan, a alike phenomenon forced the native gentry to compensate for the deficit in tax collection out of their own pockets, and they responded by persecuting peasant converts and imposing heavier taxes on poor Muslims. [ 136 ] The position where conversion to Islam was penalized in an Islamic state could not last, and the devout Umayyad caliph Umar II ( 717–720 ) has been credited with changing the taxation system. [ 136 ] Modern historians doubt this explanation, although details of the passage to the system of tax income elaborated by Abbasid-era jurists are still ill-defined. [ 136 ] Umar II ordered governors to cease collection of taxes from Muslim converts, but his successors obstructed this policy and some governors sought to stem the tide of conversions by introducing extra requirements such as circumcision and the ability to recite passages from the Quran. [ 137 ] Taxation-related grievances of non-Arab Muslims contributed to the opposition movements which resulted in the Abbasid rotation. [ 138 ] Under the modern system that was finally established, kharaj came to be regarded as a tax levied on the country, careless of the taxpayer ‘s religion. [ 136 ] The poll-tax was no retentive levied on Muslims, but the treasury did not necessarily suffer and converts did not gain as a result, since they had to pay zakat, which was credibly instituted as a compulsory tax on Muslims around 730. [ 139 ] The terminology became speciate during the Abbasid era, so that kharaj nobelium longer meant anything more than land tax, while the term jizya was restricted to the poll-tax on dhimmis. [ 136 ] The influence of jizya on conversion has been a topic of scholarly consider. [ 140 ] Julius Wellhausen held that the pate tax amounted to so small that exemption from it did not constitute sufficient economic motif for conversion. similarly, Thomas Arnold states that jizya was “ excessively moderate ” to constitute a charge, “ seeing that it released them from the compulsory military service that was incumbent on their Muslim fellow subjects. ” He further adds that converts escaping tax would have to pay the legal alms, zakat, that is annually levied on most kinds of movable and real property property. [ 142 ] other early twentieth century scholars suggested that non-Muslims converted to Islam en masse in rate to escape the poll tax, but this theory has been challenged by more late research. [ 140 ] Daniel Dennett has shown that other factors, such as desire to retain social status, had greater influence on this choice in the early Islamic time period. [ 140 ]

policy toward non-Muslims [edit ]

The arabian conquerors did not repeat the mistakes which had been made by the governments of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, which had tried and failed to impose an official religion on national populations, which had caused resentments that made the Muslim conquests more acceptable to them. [ 143 ] alternatively, the rulers of the new empire broadly respected the traditional middle-Eastern radiation pattern of religious pluralism, which was not one of equality but rather of authority by one group over the others. [ 143 ] After the end of military operations, which involved sack of some monasteries and confiscation of zoroastrian ardor temples in Syria and Iraq, the early caliphate was characterized by religious tolerance and peoples of all ethnicities and religions blended in public life. [ 144 ] Before Muslims were ready to build mosques in Syria, they accepted christian churches as holy places and shared them with local Christians. [ 125 ] In Iraq and Egypt, Muslim authorities cooperated with Christian religious leaders. [ 125 ] numerous churches were repaired and new ones built during the Umayyad earned run average. [ 145 ] The first Umayyad caliph Muawiyah sought to reassure the conquer peoples that he was not hostile to their religions and made an feat to enlist patronize from christian Arab elites. [ 146 ] There is no evidence for public display of Islam by the state before the reign of Abd al-Malik ( 685–705 ), when Quranic verses and references to Muhammad on the spur of the moment became outstanding on coins and official documents. [ 147 ] This change was motivated by a desire to unify the Muslim community after the moment civil war and rally them against their chief common enemy, the Byzantine empire. [ 147 ] A far transfer of policy occurred during the reign of Umar II ( 717–720 ). [ 148 ] The black failure of the siege of Constantinople in 718 which was accompanied by massive Arab casualties led to a spike of democratic animosity among Muslims toward Byzantium and Christians in general. [ 148 ] At the same clock time, many Arab soldiers left the united states army for civilian occupations and they wished to emphasize their high social status among the conquer peoples. [ 148 ] These events prompted introduction of restrictions on non-Muslims, which, according to Hoyland, were modeled both on Byzantine suppress on Jews, starting with the Theodosian Code and late codes, which contained prohibitions against building fresh synagogues and giving testimony against Christians, and on Sassanid regulations that prescribed distinctive attire for different social classes. [ 148 ] In the adopt decades muslim jurists elaborated a legal model in which other religions would have a protected but subordinate status. [ 147 ] Islamic law followed the Byzantine common law of classifying subjects of the department of state according to their religion, in contrast to the Sasanian model which put more weight unit on social than on religious distinctions. [ 148 ] In hypothesis, like the Byzantine empire, the caliphate placed severe restrictions on paganism, but in practice most non-Abrahamic communities of the early Sasanian territories were classified as possessors of a scripture ( ahl al-kitab ) and granted protected ( dhimmi ) condition. [ 148 ] In Islam, Christians and Jews are seen as “ Peoples of the Book ” as the Muslims accept both Jesus Christ and the jewish prophets as their own prophets, which accorded them a respect that was not reserved to the “ heathen ” peoples of Iran, Central Asia and India. [ 149 ] In places like the Levant and Egypt, both Christians and Jews were allowed to maintain their churches and synagogues and keep their own religious organizations in exchange for paying the jizya tax. [ 149 ] At times, the caliph engaged in triumphalist gestures, like building the celebrated Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem from 690-692 on the site of the jewish Second Temple, which had been destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD — though the habit of Roman and Sassanian symbols of power in the mosque suggests its aim was partially to celebrate the arabian victories over the two empires. [ 150 ] Those Christians out of favor with the prevailing orthodoxy in the Roman conglomerate much preferred to live under Muslim govern as it meant the end of persecution. [ 151 ] As both the jewish and christian communities of the Levant and North Africa were better educated than their conquerors, they were much employed as civil servants in the early years of the caliphate. [ 73 ] however, a reported order of Muhammad that “ Two religions may not dwell together in Arabia ” led to different policies being pursued in Arabia with conversion to Islam being imposed rather than merely encouraged. [ 151 ] With the noteworthy exception of Yemen, where a large Jewish community existed properly up until the center of the twentieth hundred, all of the Christian and jewish communities in Arabia “ completely melt ”. [ 151 ] The Jewish community of Yemen seems to have survived as Yemen was not regarded as separate of Arabia proper in the lapp means that the Hejaz and the Nejd were. [ 151 ] Mark R. Cohen writes that the jizya paid by Jews under Islamic principle provided a “ sure guarantee of protection from non-Jewish hostility ” than that possessed by Jews in the Latin West, where Jews “ paid numerous and much unreasonably high and arbitrary taxes ” in return for official protection, and where discussion of Jews was governed by charters which new rulers could alter at will upon accession or refuse to renew raw. [ 152 ] The Pact of Umar, which stipulated that Muslims must “ do battle to guard ” the dhimmis and “ put no burden on them greater than they can bear ”, was not always continue, but it remained “ a steadfast cornerstone of muslim policy ” into early modern times. [ 152 ]

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

Citations [edit ]

Sources [edit ]