Introductory Points
Bookmark this page

• 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.

Other Notes in this Category

1. A tribal society
2. Abu Bakr and Ridda wars
3. Causes of Islamic Conquest
4. Conclusions
5. Economics and Social Relations
6. Foundations of the islamic conquest
7. Introductory Points
8. muhammad’s consolidation
9. Muhammad’s Teachings
10. Political life in northern and central arabia
11. Religious Aristocracies
12. State and society in pre-islamic arabia
13. The early islamic world – patricia crone
14. The New Ruling Elite
15. The State and the Nomads
16. Tribe and state in arabia

Didn't find this useful?

• Visit Coursework.Info for over 14,000 GCSE, A-Level and University Essays