TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > Introductory Points about Islam
- TRADITIONAL MUSLIM VIEW – conquest result religious zeal from new faith and truly miraculous demonstration of divine favour that Islam supposed to enjoy.
- TRADITIONAL WESTERN VIEW – Sir William Muir – result of mass migration of Arab tribesman = “love of rapine” kept going and going in swarms. Leone Caetani disagrees: forces of all three groups far too small.
- Agrees migration but mainly due to economic distress in Arabia. Henri Lammens talks of tumultuous incursions due to superior military organization and “irresistible penchant for the raid”
- Becker’s view those migrations only after initial victories in Iraq and Syria. Migrations after thought – unleashed promise of wealth and of land in conquered domains. Hunger and greed rather than religious zeal.
- Butzer modifies this view “The Arab migration was mainly conditioned by economic factors, by the poor living conditions of the Bedouin in the inhospitable steppes of Arabia … The Bedouin emigration was mainly caused by economic factors, [but] was rendered possible by social and surrounding political events” – once conquests, to him unplanned, had taken place – mass migration to “promise land”.
- Bousquet sees economic factors – booty – as important, but these guys got caught up in religious enthusiasm. Causes for conquests – general weakness Byzantine and Sasanid Persia due to prolonged wars – lucky presence of good generals and administrators on Arab side.
- Canard – argues against military superiority – he sees large weaknesses in tactics, weaponry, tactics etc – downplays advantage of knowledge of desert etc. Attributes much to dissatisfaction of people in Syria and Iraq – rejects Arabs driven out of Arabia by misery – yes booty, yes economic factors encourage people to the front, but not driving forward. Would have stopped in Syria and Iraq and not continued.
- Gabrieli- religion important not because it unified tribesmen but elites around the prophet who led campaigns of conquest. Short term material motives important – “the need for food, pastureland and booty” - Post Ridda wars – regime in Medina put down rebellious tribe “was seething with arms and armed men: the victors, no less than the vanquished, needed an outlet for their surplus energies…Certainly one of the major incentives for external conquest may have lain in this explosive internal situation”.
- Shaban uses trade disruption by ridda wars. Nomadic tribesmen peninsula in such dire straits – greatly temped to launch raids in the Fertile Crescent. Accidental beginning for economic reasons by Arab tribesmen – only some Muslims.
- Need to distinguish between Islamic Conquest – extension hegemony of Islamic states from Medina over vast domains into western Asia and North Africa – second Arab migration – movement Arab speaking individuals – some nomadic and some sedentary from peninsula to domains in conquest.
- Distinguish between causes of Islamic Conquests, causes of its success and causes Arab migrations directly follow it.
- Most see reasons as part of a deterministic historical process or a series of accidents – ignores view of Islam and its part. Appearance of Islam might itself have itself have been of some importance in generating the Islamic conquests.
- Muhammad’s career and doctrines of Islam revolutionised both the ideological base and political structures of Arabian society – gave rise of state for first time capable of organizing and executing an expansionist movement. Yes accidental factors – such as weakness of empires – more than an accident – testament to power of human action mobilised by ideological commitment as a force in human affairs
- Importance careful examination of social and political organization in the Arabian peninsula on the eve of Islam – rise of Islam affects realities of Arabian life.
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