Answer to Question #186211 in History for Feby Abraham

Question

Explain Arab conquests of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia: Umayyad caliphate; motivations behind conquest; methods of governance; treatment of Jews and Christians.

Answer 1

The Arab conquest began from the historical contest of the spread of Islam.Islam initially spread through military conquest of arab muslims which happened over a short period of time after the beginning of Islam. By 698 the Arabs had taken the most part of north Africa from the Byzantines. Most parts of middle east, Asia and north Africa were the earliest to be conquered by the Arabs. Under the Rashidun caliphate the reign of the first four caliphs and the Umayyad caliphate , arab- muslim forces expanded quickly . The Rashidun maintained stability and unity among the arab tribes. the arab conquest was motivated by their success to convert most people into Islam. For example, the islamization of the berbers in north africa was a consequence of the arab conquest.

The Arab tribes united into a cohesive political force through military conquest. They also used force to most of the parts occupied by non Muslims.

In early years the Jewish kingdom in southern Arabia allied with the Persians and were defeated and replaced by Christians monophysites army from Abyssinia allied with Byzantium. According to early Muslim historians, this army defiled christian churches. The loyalties of the Jews and christians one or the other two empires meant that choosing either Judaism or Christianity was choosing to ally with a superpower interested in dominating Arabs. This created a rift and hatred between Islam, Christianity, and judaism.