Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
The early Arab conquests and forced conversions

The early Arab conquests and forced conversions

Last updated on: May 27, 2020 at 11:01 pm by Dan Peterson

The early Arab conquests and forced conversions 2020-05-27T23:01:27-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A remnant of the pre-Islamic Babylon Fortress, in the anachronistically titled “Old Cairo” neighborhood. A favorite place for us to visit when we lived in Egypt, the fortress surrendered to Arab forces in December, AD 640.

I share a couple of passages from Graham E. Fuller, A World Without Islam (New York, Boston, and London: Little, Brown and Company, 2010):

[I]t is absurd to think in simplistic terms of “loyal Christians falling to anti-Western Muslim forces,” the often-popular Western version of the process. The Christians in these Semitic regions were not particularly loyal or happy with Byzantium and were already quite anti-Western in predisposition. Simple theories of “Islam versus West” dichotomies here simply collapse in the face of the realities. (85)

Elements of internal discontent within the Byzantine and Persian empires — [the Christian sects of the] Monophysites and Nestorians in Syria, Christians and Jews within Iran — facilitated the overthrow of both empires, city by city, as the Muslims advanced. According to the Boston University professor of medieval Islam Merlin Swartz, most of the Jewish population was discontented with their persecuted status within the Byzantine Empire and welcomed the Muslim armies, whose rule would turn out to facilitate a new flowering of Jewish culture.

Furthermore, contrary to expectation, conversion of the conquered citizenry to Islam was not at all the immediate goal of the Arab conquerors; the extension of Muslim power and authority was. We are really talking more about secular change — change of rulers — than of religion itself at the social level. As [Ira] Lapidus points out, “The Arab conquerors did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples. At the outset, [the Arab conquerors] were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs.” (86-87)

I marked these passages not because they contain information that was new to me. Quite the contrary. Although I’m not an Islamic historian in the standard sense of the term, I consider myself an Islamic intellectual historian. More to the point, I studied Islamic history in graduate school, especially during my years in Egypt; I incorporate Islamic history into my courses on Islamicate culture and the religion of Islam; and, when I lecture on the subject, I make these very points. I marked these passages because I want to remember to make these points (if I haven’t already) in the heavily revised third edition of my introductory book on Islam for a Latter-day Saint audience. I’m making a checklist for myself of points that must not be omitted.

Christianity in the Middle East

Christianity in the Near East

Previous Post

May 26, 2020

Gathering the scriptural passages about the experience of the Book of Mormon Witnesses

Next Post

May 27, 2020 At the apparent ultimate boundary of science

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What covered the sky during Jesus’ crucifixion?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Clouds Fire Rain Darkness