Early Muslim conquests

He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun (The Rightly Guided Caliphs) and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power. They grew well beyond the Arabian Peninsula in the form of a Muslim empire with an area of influence that stretched from the borders of China and India , across Central Asia , the Middle East , North Africa , Sicily , and the Iberian Peninsula , to the Pyrenees . 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 . And if we retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the march of a caravan . We should vainly seek the indissoluble 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 language and laws of the Quran were studied with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville : the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca ; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris . The Muslim conquests brought about the collapse of the Sassanid Empire and a great territorial loss for the Byzantine Empire , eventually also resulting in its collapse. The reasons for the Muslim success are hard to reconstruct in hindsight, primarily because only fragmentary sources from the period have survived. Most historians agree that the Sassanid Persian and Byzantine Roman empires were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of fighting one another . The rapid fall of Visigothic Spain remains less easily explicable. 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, while at other times, such as in the Battle of Firaz , Arab Christians allied themselves with the Persians and Byzantines against the invaders. In the case of Byzantine Egypt , Palestine and Syria , these lands had only a few years before being reacquired from the Persians, and had not been ruled by the Byzantines for over 25 years. Fred McGraw Donner , however, suggests that formation of a state in the Arabian peninsula and ideological (i.e. religious) coherence and mobilization was a primary reason why the Muslim armies in the space of a hundred years were able to establish the largest pre-modern empire until that time. The estimates for the size of the Islamic Caliphate suggest it was more than thirteen million square kilometers (five million square miles), making it larger than all current states except the Russian Federation . A Short History of the Middle Ages . The Battle of the Yarmūk: A Reconstruction , Journal of Asian History , 19 (1): 8–21 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History, pg. 108 Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihad State, the Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd-al Malik and the collapse of the Umayyads .

The early Muslim conquests ( , al-Futūḥāt al-Islāmiyya ), also referred to as the Arab conquests and the early Islamic conquests began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion. The resulting empire stretched from the borders of China and the Indian subcontinent , across the Middle East , North Africa , Central Asia , the Caucasus , and parts of Europe ( Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula to the Pyrenees ). 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 indissoluble 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 language and laws of the Quran were studied with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville : the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca ; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris . 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, primarily because only fragmentary sources from the period have survived. Fred McGraw Donner suggests that formation of a state in the Arabian peninsula and ideological (i.e., religious) coherence and mobilization was a primary reason why the Muslim armies in the space of a hundred years were able to establish the largest pre-modern empire until that time. The estimates for the size of the Islamic Caliphate suggest it was more than thirteen million square kilometers (five million square miles). Most historians agree as well that the Sassanid Persian and Byzantine Roman empires were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of fighting one another . 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. It has also been suggested that later Syriac Christians reinterpreted the events of the conquest to serve a political or religious interest. At other times, such as in the Battle of Firaz , Arab Christians allied themselves with the Persians and Byzantines against the invaders. In the case of Byzantine Egypt , Palestine and Syria , these lands had been reclaimed from the Persians only a few years before. Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban . Hoyland (2014) , Kennedy (2007) Kaegi (1995) , Donner (2014) Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihad State, the Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd-al Malik and the collapse of the Umayyads . A Short History of the Middle Ages . Journal of Asian History . 19 (1): 8– 21.

Historical process in the 7th and 8th centuries CE For later military territorial expansion of Islamic states, see Spread of Islam . The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ), more commonly known as the Arab conquests , were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad , the main Islamic prophet . He established a new unified polity in Arabia that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate , culminating in Islamic rule being established across three continents ( Asia , Africa , and Europe ). According to Scottish historian James Buchan : "In speed and extent, the first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great , and they were more lasting." At their height, the territory that was conquered stretched from Iberia (at the Pyrenees ) in the west to India (at Sind ) in the east; Muslim rule spanned Sicily , most of the Middle East and North Africa , and the Caucasus and Central Asia . English historian 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 indissoluble 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 language and laws of the Quran were studied with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville : the Moor and the Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca ; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris . Among other drastic changes, the early Muslim conquests brought about the collapse of the Sasanian Empire and great territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire . Reasons that would provide an explanation for the Muslim victories have been difficult to reconstruct in hindsight, primarily due to the fact that only fragmentary sources have survived from the period. American scholar Fred McGraw Donner suggests that the formation of a state in Arabia coupled with ideological (i.e. religious) coherence and mobilization constituted the main factor that propelled early Muslim armies to successfully establish, in the timespan of a century, one of the largest empires in history . Estimates of the total area of the combined territory held by the early Muslim polities at the conquests' peak have been as high as thirteen million square kilometres (five million square miles). Most historians also agree that, as another primary factor determining the early Muslim conquests' success, the Sassanids and Byzantines were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of warfare against each other (see Roman–Persian Wars ). It has been suggested that Jews and some Christians in Sassanid and Byzantine territory were dissatisfied and welcomed the invading Muslim forces, largely because of religious conflict in both empires. However, Arab Christian confederations including the Ghassanids initially allied themselves with the Byzantines, and Sassanids and Byzantines fought together against the Muslims in the Battle of Firaz . Some of the lands lost by the Byzantines to the Muslims (namely Egypt , Palestine , and Syria ) had been reclaimed from the Sassanids only a few years prior to the Muslim conquests. Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban . Kaegi (1995) , Donner (2014) Hoyland (2014) , Kennedy (2007) Buchan, James (21 July 2007). The End of the Jihad State, the Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd-al Malik and the collapse of the Umayyads . A Short History of the Middle Ages . Journal of Asian History . 19 (1): 8– 21. "Yarmuk" . 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).

Expansion of the Islamic state (622–750) For later military territorial expansion of Islamic states, see Spread of Islam . The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( Arabic : الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة , romanized : al-Futūḥāt al-ʾIslāmiyya ), also known as the Arab conquests , were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad , the founder of Islam . He established the first Islamic state in Medina , Arabia that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate , culminating in Muslim rule being established on three continents ( Asia , Africa , and Europe ) over the next century. According to historian James Buchan : "In speed and extent, the first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great , and they were more lasting." At their height, the territory that was conquered by the Arab Muslims stretched from Iberia (at the Pyrenees ) in the west to India (at Sind ) in the east; Muslim control spanned Sicily , most of the Middle East and North Africa , and the Caucasus and Central Asia . Among other drastic changes, the early Muslim conquests brought about the collapse of the Sasanian Empire and great territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire . Explanations for the Muslim victories have been difficult to discover, primarily because only fragmentary sources have survived from the period. American scholar Fred McGraw Donner suggests that Muhammad's establishment of an Islamic state in Arabia coupled with ideological (i.e., religious) coherence and mobilization constituted the main factor that propelled the early Muslim armies to successfully establish, in the timespan of roughly a century, one of the largest empires in history . Estimates of the total area of the combined territory held by the early Muslim polities at the conquests' peak have been as high as 13,000,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 sq mi). Most historians also agree that, as another primary factor determining the early Muslim conquests' success, the Sasanians and the Byzantines were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of warfare against each other . It has been suggested that Jews and some Christians in Sasanian and Byzantine territory were dissatisfied and welcomed the invading Muslim troops, largely because of religious conflict in both empires. However, confederations of Arab Christians , including the Ghassanids , initially allied themselves with the Byzantines. There were also instances of alliances between the Sasanians and the Byzantines, such as when they fought together against the Rashidun army during the Battle of Firaz . Some of the lands lost by the Byzantines to the Muslims (namely Egypt , Palestine , and Syria ) had been reclaimed from the Sasanians only a few years prior to the Muslim conquests. Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban . Kaegi (1995) , Donner (2014) Hoyland (2014) , Kennedy (2007) Buchan, James (21 July 2007). The End of the Jihad State, the Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd-al Malik and the collapse of the Umayyads . A Short History of the Middle Ages . Journal of Asian History . 19 (1): 8– 21. "Yarmuk" . 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of World History .