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202-398: The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates , expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces expanding over vast territories and building imperial structures over time. Most of the significant expansion occurred during
404-457: A 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there are 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. And according to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, within the next four decades, Christians will remain the world's largest religion ; if current trends continue, by 2050 the number of Christians will reach 3 billion (or 31.4%). According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, by 2060 Christians will remain
606-525: A 2017 Pew Research Center survey, between 2010 and 2015 "an estimated 223 million babies were born to Christian mothers and roughly 107 million Christians died, meaning that the natural increase in the Christian population – i.e., the number of births minus the number of deaths – was 116 million over this period". According to Mark Jürgensmeyer of the University of California , popular Protestantism
808-597: A Christian majority until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. At Mecca , Muhammad is said to have received repeated embassies from Christian tribes. Like their Byzantine and late Sasanian predecessors, the Marwanid caliphs nominally ruled the various religious communities but allowed the communities' own appointed or elected officials to administer most internal affairs. Yet the Marwanids also depended heavily on
1010-628: A Christian revival in Romania , Slovakia and Bulgaria . According to a 2005 paper submitted to a meeting of the American Political Science Association , most of Christianity's growth has occurred in non- Western countries . The paper concludes that the Pentecostalism movement is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. Protestantism is growing primarily as a result of historic missionary activity and
1212-575: A Muslim Where are your valiant warriors and priests Where are your hunting parties and your feats? Where is that warlike mien and where are those Great armies that destroyed our county's foes? Count Iran as a ruin, as the lair Of lions and leopards. Look now and despair Right from the start of the caliphate, it was realized that there was a need to write down the sayings and story of Muhammad, which had been memorized by his followers before they all died. Most people in Arabia were illiterate, and
1414-614: A Muslim emissary. Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr , the first caliph with undisputed control of the entire Arab peninsula after the successful Ridda Wars , which resulted in the consolidation of a powerful Muslim state throughout the peninsula. Byzantine sources, such as Short History written by Nikephoros , claim that the Arab invasion came about as a result of restrictions imposed on Arab traders curtailing their ability to trade within Byzantine territory, and to send
1616-465: A collection of militarily weak but geographically inaccessible principalities of Persia. It took decades to bring them all under control of the caliphate. In what is now Afghanistan—a region where the authority of the shah was always disputed—the Muslims met fierce guerrilla resistance from the militant Buddhist tribes of the region. Despite the complete Muslim triumph over Sasanid Iran as compared to
1818-429: A complete turning from an old to a totally new life. While it entailed the acceptance of new religious beliefs and membership in a new religious community, most converts retained a deep attachment to the cultures and communities from which they came." The result, he points out, can be seen in the diversity of Muslim societies today, with varying manifestations and practices of Islam. Conversion to Islam also came about as
2020-878: A decade does suggest serious deficiencies with the Visigothic kingdom, though the limited sources make it difficult to discern the precise reasons for the collapse of the Visigoths. Another Germanic people who founded a state upon the ruins of the Western Roman Empire were the Franks who settled in Gaul . Like the Visigoths, the Frankish cavalry played a "significant part" in their wars. The Frankish kings expected all of their male subjects to perform three months of military service every year, and all serving under
2222-527: A global affiliation, the real heart of Muslim religious life remains outside politics—in local associations for worship, discussion, mutual aid, education, charity, and other communal activities. A third development is the growth and elaboration of transnational military organizations. The 1980s and 90s, with several major conflicts in the Middle East , including the Arab–Israeli conflict , Afghanistan in
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#17327729261172424-515: A guerrilla war was waged by Christians in the hilly countryside of north-western Syria supported by the Byzantines. At the same time, the Byzantines began a policy of launching raids via sea on the coast of the caliphate with the aim of forcing the Muslims to keep at least some of their forces to defend their coastlines, thus limiting the number of troops available for an invasion of Anatolia. Unlike Syria with its plains and deserts — which favored
2626-508: A hill, and two wings of cavalry on either side. Little is known about the military forces of the Christian state of Ethiopia other than that they were divided into sarawit professional troops and the ehzab auxiliaries. The Ethiopians made much use of camels and elephants. The Berber peoples of North Africa had often served as a federates (auxiliaries) to the Byzantine Army. The Berber forces were based around
2828-747: A holy war in defense of the Christian faith and the Wood of the Holy Cross, as splinters of wood said to be from the True Cross were known, had been used to inspire Christian fighting zeal. The idea of a holy war against the "fire worshipers", as the Christians called the Zoroastrians, had aroused much enthusiasm, leading to an all-out effort to defeat the Persians. Nevertheless, neither empire
3030-525: A law was enacted that required all bureaucrats of the empire to be Muslims. Both periods were also marked by significant migrations of Arab tribes outwards from the Arabian Peninsula into the new territories. Richard Bulliet 's "conversion curve" shows a relatively low rate of conversion of non-Arab subjects during the Arab centric Umayyad period of 10%, in contrast with estimates for the more politically-multicultural Abbasid period, which saw
3232-517: A mutiny in Medina in 656 and 'Uthman's murder . Uthman's successor Ali was faced with a civil war, known to Muslims as the fitna , when the governor of Syria Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan revolted against him. During this time, the first period of Muslim conquests stopped, as the armies of Islam turned against one another. A group known as the Kharaji decided to end the civil war by assassinating
3434-580: A net gain of 3.8 million. According to scholar Philip Jenkins Christianity is growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries and sub-Saharan Africa. According to a study by a scholar Fenggang Yang from Purdue University , Christianity is "spreading among the Chinese of South-East Asia", and "Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is growing more quickly in China", also according to him, more than half of them have university degrees . According to
3636-405: A net of 66 million adherents (40 million converts versus 106 million apostate) mostly to religiously unaffiliated category between 2010 and 2050. It is also expected that Christianity may have the largest net losses in terms of religious conversion. However, these forecasts lack reliable data on religious conversion in China, but according to media reports and expert assessments, it is possible that
3838-518: A painful manner. The charge against him was that he had persuaded Heraclius not to allow the Saracens to trade from the Byzantine country and send out of the Byzantine state the thirty pounds of gold which they normally received by way of commercial gain; and for this reason they began to lay waste the Byzantine land. Some scholars assert that this is the same Sergius, called "the Candidatus", who
4040-579: A poll conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2006, Christianity has increased significantly in Japan , particularly among youth, and a high number of teens are becoming Christians. In 1900, there were only 8.7 million adherents of Christianity in Africa, while in 2010 there were 390 million. It is expected that by 2025 there will be 600 million Christians in Africa. In Nigeria ,
4242-706: A primarily non-Western religion. Much of the growth has occurred after World War II , when decolonization of Africa and abolition of various restrictions against Protestants in Latin American countries occurred. According to one source, Protestants constituted respectively 2.5%, 2%, 0.5% of Latin Americans, Africans and Asians. In 2000, percentage of Protestants on mentioned continents was 17%, more than 27% and 5.5%, respectively. The significant growth of Christianity in non-Western countries led to regional distribution changes of Christians. In 1900, Europe and
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#17327729261174444-407: A reflection of the religious zeal of the conquerors and evidence of divine favor. The theory that the conquests are explainable as an Arab migration triggered by economic pressures enjoyed popularity early in the 20th century but has largely fallen out of favor among historians, especially those who distinguish the migration from the conquests that preceded and enabled it. There are indications that
4646-584: A report by the Singapore Management University , more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity, and these new converts are mostly Chinese business managers. According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a "rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards. Singapore, Mainland China, Hong Kong , Taiwan , Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have
4848-401: A result of enhanced communications, media, travel, and migration makes meaningful the concept of a single Islam practiced everywhere in similar ways, and an Islam which transcends national and ethnic customs. This does not necessarily imply political or social organizations: Global Muslim identity does not necessarily or even usually imply organized group action. Even though Muslims recognize
5050-487: A result of the breakdown of historically-religiously organized societies: with the weakening of many churches, for example, and the favouring of Islam and the migration of substantial Muslim Turkish populations into the areas of Anatolia and the Balkans, the "social and cultural relevance of Islam" were enhanced and a large number of peoples were converted. This worked better in some areas (Anatolia) and less in others (such as
5252-510: A return of the individual to Muslim values, communities, and dress codes, and a strengthened community. Another development is that of transnational Islam, elaborated upon by the French Islam researchers Gilles Kepel and Olivier Roy . It includes a feeling of a "growing universalistic Islamic identity" as often shared by Muslim immigrants and their children who live in non-Muslim countries: The increased integration of world societies as
5454-654: A study published in 2011 by Pew Research, what little information is available may suggest that religious conversion has no net impact on the Muslim population, as the number of people who convert to Islam is roughly similar to those who leave Islam . Some religions proselytise vigorously (Christianity and Islam, for example), while others (such as Judaism and Hinduism ) do not generally encourage conversions into their ranks. Some faiths grow exponentially at first (especially, for example, along trade routes or for reasons of social prestige ), only for their zeal to wane (note
5656-541: A survey of religion in China in the year 2010, the number of people practicing some form of Chinese folk religion is near to 950 million (70% of the Chinese), of which 173 million (13%) practice some form of Taoist-defined folk faith. Further in detail, 12 million people have passed some formal initiation into Taoism, or adhere to the official Chinese Taoist Association . Comparing this with other surveys, evidence suggests that nowadays three-fifths to four-fifths of
5858-471: A vast array of gods and spirits and that also assume the efficacy of these beings in intervening in this world. The Chinese folk religion is a "diffused religion" rather than "institutional". It is a meaning system of social solidarity and identity, ranging from the kinship systems to the community, the state, and the economy, that serves to integrate Chinese culture . World Christianity by tradition in 2024 as per World Christian Database According to
6060-791: Is above replacement level (2.1). The birth rate is expected to be the main factor in the growth of Christianity. According to Pew Research Center study, by 2050 the number of Christians in absolute number is expected to grow to more than double in the next few decades, from 517 million to 1.1 billion in Sub Saharan Africa , from 531 million to 665 million in Latin America and Caribbean , from 287 million to 381 million in Asia , and from 266 million to 287 million in North America . By 2050, Christianity
6262-466: Is because their religions tend to be "pro-natal" and they have more children, and not due to religious conversion. The total Protestant population has reached 1.17 billion in 2024. Protestantism is one of the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world. Evangelical Christian denominations also are among the fastest-growing denominations in some Catholic Christian countries, such as Brazil and France (France going from 2% to 3% of
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6464-463: Is better established than elsewhere, temples of folk religion are usually twenty or even a hundred times as numerous as Christian church buildings. The number of adherents of the Chinese traditional religion is difficult to count, because of : Chinese rarely use the term "religion" for their popular religious practices, and they also do not utilize a vocabulary that they "believe in" gods or truths. Instead, they engage in religious acts that assume
6666-613: Is expanding in Singapore , Indonesia , Malaysia , Taiwan , and South Korea . According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, around 9% of Latin Americans were raised as Protestant, but nearly 19% now identify themselves as Protestants. The US Department of State estimated in 2005 that Protestants in Vietnam may have grown by 600% over the previous 10 years. According to Pew Research Center, "largely through
6868-568: Is expanding in the United States. According to study published by the missionary statistician and professor David B. Barrett of Columbia University , and professor of global Christianity, historian George Thomas Kurian , and both are work on World Christian Encyclopedia , approximately 2.7 million converting to Christianity annually from another religion, World Christian Encyclopedia also cited that Christianity ranks at first place in net gains through religious conversion. On
7070-540: Is expected to remain the majority of population and the largest religious group in Latin America and Caribbean (89%), North America (66%), Europe (65.2%) and Sub Saharan Africa (59%). Europe was the home for the world's largest Christian population for the past 1,000 years, but since 2015 Christians in Africa and Latin America respectively surpass the Europe Christian population because of
7272-520: Is expected to remain the majority religion in the United States (66.4%, down from 78.3% in 2010), and the number of Christians in absolute numbers is expected to grow from 243 million to 262 million. According to the Pew Research Center , Christianity is declining in the United States while non-Christian faiths are growing. The 2014 Religious Landscape Study finds a large majority (87.6%) of those who were raised as Christians in
7474-508: Is growing by 7% annually. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , Christianity (growth rate, 1.38%) is one of the six fastest-growing religions in the world, with high birth rates and conversions in the global South were being cited as the major reasons of the Christian population growth. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. Christians have 2.7 children per woman, which
7676-629: Is home to the largest Druzite community in the world, according to a study published by Columbia University , the number of Syrian Druze increased from 684,000 in 2010 to 730,000 in mid of 2018. The Lebanese Druze have the lowest fertility among all age groups after the Lebanese Christians . According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics in 2017, the Israeli Druze population growth rate of 1.4%, which
7878-669: Is known about the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah other than it lasted for several days by the banks of the river Euphrates in what is now Iraq and ended with the Persian force being annihilated. Abolishing the Lakhmid Arab buffer state had forced the Persians to take over the desert defense themselves, leaving them overextended. As a result of al-Qadisiyyah, the Arab-Muslims gained control over the whole of Iraq, including Ctesiphon ,
8080-658: Is known in the Muslim world as the "Victory of Victories". As with the Levant, this was the first time since the collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC with the Battle of Opis , that Mesopotamia was ruled again by Semitic-speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid , Parthian and Sasanian empires), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , Seleucid the Roman empires) ruling periods. After Nahavand,
8282-601: Is lower than the Muslim population growth rate (2.5%) and the total population growth (1.7%), but higher than the Arab Christian population growth rate (1.0%). At the end of 2017, the average age of the Israeli Druze was 27.9. About 26.3% of the Israeli Druze population are under 14 years old and about 6.1% of the Israeli Druze are 65 years and over. Since the year 2000, the Israeli Druze community has witnessed
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8484-458: Is now Afghanistan, indicates a weakening of the power of the Shahinshah (King of Kings), suggesting the empire was already breaking down at the time of the Muslim conquest. Persian society was rigidly divided into castes with the nobility being of supposed "Aryan" descent, and this division of Persian society along caste lines was reflected in the military. The azatan aristocracy provided
8686-484: Is one of the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world. According to various scholars and sources Pentecostalism – a Protestant Christian movement – is the fastest growing religion in the world, this growth is primarily due to religious conversion . According to Pulitzer Center 35,000 people become Pentecostal or " Born again " every day. According to scholar Keith Smith of Georgia State University "many scholars claim that Pentecostalism
8888-551: Is reportedly the fastest growing religion in China with an average annual rate of 7% as of 2015. Some reports also show that the number of the Chinese Indonesians Christians have increased, according to scholar Gavin W. Jones of Australian National University , "there has been a rapid growth in the number of Chinese Christians" in Indonesia, and "conversion of Chinese to Christianity accelerated in
9090-587: Is significantly increasing among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese in the United States. By 2012 percentage of Christians on mentioned communities was 71%, more than 30% and 37%, respectively. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia , between 1965 and 1985 about 2.5 million Indonesians converted from Islam to Christianity. Many people who convert to Christianity face persecution . The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) survey estimated that between 1990 and 2001
9292-599: Is the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world. Berber troops were used extensively by the Arabs in their conquest of Spain, which began in 711. No previous conqueror had tried to assimilate the Berbers, but the Arabs quickly converted them and enlisted their aid in further conquests. Without their help, for example, Andalusia could never have been incorporated into the Islamic state. At first only Berbers nearer
9494-478: Is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history", and according to scholar Peter L. Berger of Boston University "the spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion". Changes in worldwide Protestantism over the last century have been significant. Since 1900, due primarily to conversion, Protestantism has spread rapidly in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America. That caused Protestantism to be called
9696-491: Is the fastest-growing major religion in the world. A comprehensive religious forecast for 2050 by the Pew Research Center predicts that the global Muslim population will grow at a faster rate than the Christian population – primarily due to the average younger age, and higher fertility rate of Muslims. Religious conversion has no net impact on the Muslim population growth. In fact, conversion will have little impact on
9898-520: Is the majority religion in the following nine countries: Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Mongolia , Japan and Singapore . Special administrative areas in China are Buddhist majority areas such as Macau , Hong Kong and Tibet . Kalmykia is the only Buddhist majority region in Europe. It is an autonomous republic in Russia. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, over
10100-417: Is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world", and according to scholar Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University " Islam is the fastest shrinking religion in there [Iran], while Christianity is growing the fastest", and in 2018 "up to half a million Iranians are Christian converts from Muslim families, and most of these Christians are evangelicals", and he adds "recent estimates claim that
10302-488: The World Christian Encyclopedia estimate significantly more people have converted to Christianity from Islam in the 21st century than at any other point in Islamic history. The 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census study published by Baylor University institute for studies of religion estimates that 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity based on global missionary data. Countries with
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#173277292611710504-723: The Arab conquests , were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad , the founder of Islam . He established a new unified polity in Arabia based in Medina 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 Scottish historian James Buchan : "In speed and extent,
10706-691: The Balkans and the Indian subcontinent . The earlier period also saw the acceleration in the rate of conversions in the Muslim heartland, and in the wake of the conquests, the newly-conquered regions retained significant non-Muslim populations. That was contrast to the regions in which the boundaries of the Muslim world contracted, such as the Emirate of Sicily (Italy) and Al Andalus (Spain and Portugal), where Muslim populations were expelled or forced to Christianize in short order. The latter period of that phase
10908-537: The Battle of the Masts off Cape Chelidonia in Anatolia in 655, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine fleet in a series of boarding actions. As a result, the Byzantines began a major expansion of their navy, which was matched by the Arabs, leading to a naval arms race. From the early 8th century onward, the Muslim fleet would launch annual raids on the coastline on the Byzantine empire in Anatolia and Greece. As part of
11110-586: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre to remain, with the caliph praying on a prayer rug outside of the church. The loss to the Muslims of Jerusalem, the holiest city to Christians, proved to be the source of much resentment in Christendom. The city of Caesarea Maritima continued to withstand the Muslim siege—as it could be supplied by sea—until it was taken by assault in 640. It was the first time since
11312-671: The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and for making Damascus into the capital of a "superpower" that stretched from Portugal to Central Asia, covering the vast territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China. The rapidity of the early conquests has received various explanations. Contemporary Christian writers conceived them as God's punishment visited on their fellow Christians for their sins. Early Muslim historians viewed them as
11514-562: The Horn of Africa , West Africa , Central Asia , South Asia (in Afghanistan , Maldives , Pakistan , and Bangladesh ), Southeast Asia (in Malaysia , Brunei , and Indonesia ), Southeastern Europe (in Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Kosovo , among others), Eastern Europe (in the Caucasus , Crimea , and the Volga ), and Southern Europe (in Spain , Portugal , and Sicily prior to re-Christianizations ). In contemporary usage, "Islamization" and its variants too can also be used with implied negative connotations to refer to
11716-404: The Mediterranean Sea : Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and Venice with its eastern Mediterranean colonies. Later, the Ottoman Empire set on to conquer territories from these rivals: Cyprus and other Greek islands (except Crete ) were lost by Venice to the Ottomans, and the latter conquered territory up to the Danube basin as far as Hungary . Crete was conquered during the 17th century, but
11918-413: The Middle East , and south to Somalia by the Companions of the Prophet , most notably the Rashidun Caliphate and military advents of Khalid Bin Walid , Amr ibn al-As , and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas . The historic process of Islamization was complex and involved merging Islamic practices with local customs. This process took place over several centuries. Some scholars reject the stereotype that this process
12120-785: The Netherlands , Nigeria , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Singapore , Sweden , Syria , Tanzania , Tajikistan , Tunisia , Turkey , United Kingdom , the United States, Uzbekistan , and other countries. According to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007, experts estimated that thousands of Muslims in the Western world converted to Christianity annually, but were not publicized due to fear of retribution. According to scholar Rob Scott of University of Tasmania in 2010 there were "approximately 180,000 Arab Americans and about 130,000 Iranian Americans who converted from Islam to Christianity", Scholar Dudley Woodberry form Fuller Theological Seminary estimated approximately that 20,000 Muslims converts to Christianity annually in
12322-416: The Nile Delta were protected by water and because Amr lacked the machinery to break down city fortifications. The Arabs laid siege to Babylon, and its starving garrison surrendered on 9 April 641. Nevertheless, the province was scarcely urbanized and the defenders lost hope of receiving reinforcements from Constantinople when the emperor Heraclius died in 641. Afterwards, the Arabs turned north into
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#173277292611712524-462: The Nile Valley through the Sudan up to Uganda and across the Red Sea and down East Africa through settlements such as Mombasa and Zanzibar . The initial conversions were of a flexible nature. The reasons that by the end of the 10th century, a large part of the population had converted to Islam are diverse. According to the British-Lebanese historian Albert Hourani , one of the reasons may be that "Islam had become more clearly defined, and
12726-467: The Ottoman Empire in Anatolia significantly changed the course of history. The people of the Islamic world created numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with far-reaching mercantile networks, travelers, scientists, hunters, mathematicians, physicians, and philosophers , all contributing to the Islamic Golden Age. The Timurid Renaissance and the Islamic expansion in South and East Asia fostered cosmopolitan and eclectic Muslim cultures in
12928-410: The Ridda Wars prompted the Byzantines to send a major expedition into southern Palestine , which was defeated by the Arab forces under command of Khalid ibn al-Walid at the Battle of Ajnadayn in 634. Ibn al-Walid had converted to Islam around 627, becoming one of Muhammad's most successful generals. Ibn al-Walid had been fighting in Iraq against the Sasanians when he led his force on a trek across
13130-409: The Siege of Carthage , that parts of North Africa and Iberia were reconquered by Semitic-speaking people. 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
13332-401: The Somali people 's connection with Muhammad . The early Muslims fled to the port city of Zeila in modern-day Somaliland to seek protection from the Quraysh at the court of the Aksumite Emperor in present-day Ethiopia . Some of the Muslims that were granted protection are said to have then settled in several parts of the Horn region to promote the religion. The victory of the Muslims over
13534-449: The Umayyads , Abbasids , Mamluks , Seljukids , and the Ayyubids were among some of the largest and most powerful in the world. The Ajuran and Adal Sultanates , and the wealthy Mali Empire , in North Africa , the Delhi , Deccan , and Bengal Sultanates , and Mughal and Durrani Empires , and Kingdom of Mysore and Nizam of Hyderabad in the Indian subcontinent , the Ghaznavids , Ghurids , Samanids in Persia, Timurids , and
13736-403: The world's largest religion ; and the number of Christians will reach 3.05 billion (or 31.8%). According to scholar Mark Juergensmeyer of University of California, Berkeley , the global Christian population increased at an average annual rate of 2.3%, while Roman Catholicism is growing by 1.3% annually, Protestantism is growing by 3.3% annually, and Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism
13938-410: The "mighty" walls built by the Emperor Theodosius II in the 5th century proved their worth. The majority of the people in Syria remained Christian, and a substantial Jewish minority remained as well; both communities were to teach the Arabs much about science, trade and the arts. The Umayyad caliphs are well-remembered for sponsoring a cultural "golden age" in Islamic history—for example, by building
14140-437: The "real military leader" at Yarmuk "under the nominal command of others". Syria was ordered to be abandoned to the Muslims with Heraclius reportedly saying: "Peace be with you Syria; what a beautiful land you will be for your enemy". On the heels of their victory, the Arab armies took Damascus again in 636, with Baalbek , Homs , and Hama to follow soon afterwards. However, other fortified towns continued to resist despite
14342-448: The 1830s , it is among the top ten largest Christian denominations in the U.S., and it was the fastest growing church in the U.S. in 2012. The 19th century saw at least 250,000 Jews convert to Christianity according to existing records of various societies. Data from the Pew Research Center has it that, as of 2013, about 1.6 million adult American Jews identify themselves as Christians, most as Protestants . According to
14544-549: The 1960s, especially in East Java , and for Indonesia as a whole the proportion of Chinese who were Catholics rose from 2 percent in 1957 to 6 percent in 1969". Professor Aris Ananta reported in 2008 that "anecdotal evidence suggests that more Buddhist Chinese have become Christians as they increased their standards of education, because Christianity, unlike Buddhism, is often associated with 'modernity' and Western education", although there are no stats to support this. According to
14746-533: The 1980s and 2001, and the three Gulf Wars ( 1980–88 , 1990–91 , 2003–2011 ) were catalysts of a growing internationalization of local conflicts. Figures such as Osama bin Laden and Abdallah Azzam have been crucial in these developments, as much as domestic and world politics. Muslim Arab expansion in the first centuries after Muhammad's death soon established dynasties in North Africa , West Africa , to
14948-918: The Americas were home to the vast majority of the world's Christians (93%). Besides, Christianity has grown enormously in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. In 2010, 26% of the world's Christians lived in Europe, followed by 24.4% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 23.8% in Sub-Saharan Africa, 13.2% in Asia and the Pacific, 12.3% in North America, and 1% in the Middle East and North Africa. The study also suggested that by 2050,
15150-406: The Arab empire being established across three continents ( Asia , Africa , and Europe ), enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for the emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic teachings. Trade played an important role in the spread of Islam in some parts of the world, such as Indonesia. During the early centuries of Islamic rule, conversions in
15352-453: The Arabs had a strong culture of remembering history orally. To preserve the story of Muhammad and to prevent any corruptions from entering the oral history, Abu Bakr had ordered scribes to write down the story of Muhammad as told to them by his followers, which was the origin of the Quran. Disputes had emerged over which version of the Quran was the correct one and, by 644 different versions of
15554-560: The Balkans in which "the spread of Islam was limited by the vitality of the Christian churches".) During the Abbasid period, economic hardships, social disorder, and pressure from Muslim attackers, led to the mass conversion of Samaritans to Islam. Along with the religion of Islam, the Arabic language, Arabic numerals and Arab customs spread throughout the empire. A sense of unity grew among many though not all provinces and gradually formed
15756-476: The Buddhists population between 2010 and 2050; Buddhists are expected to lose 2.9 million adherents between 2010 and 2050. According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, between 2010 and 2015 "an estimated 32 million babies were born to Buddhist mothers and roughly 20 million Buddhists died, meaning that the natural increase in the Buddhists population – i.e., the number of births minus the number of deaths –
15958-648: The Byzantine Empire, but much of the cavalry were either recruited from "martial" peoples in the Balkans or in Asia Minor or alternatively were Germanic mercenaries. Most of the Byzantine troops in Syria were indigenae (local), and it seems that at the time of the Muslim conquest, the Byzantine forces in Syria were Arabs. In response to the loss of Syria, the Byzantines developed the phylarch system of using Armenian and Arab Christian auxiliaries living on
16160-480: The Byzantine and Sasanian empires competed for influence in Arabia by sponsoring clients, and in turn Arabian tribes sought the patronage of the two rival empires to bolster their own ambitions. The Lakhmid kingdom which covered parts of what is now southern Iraq and northern Saudi Arabia was a client of Persia, and in 602 the Persians deposed the Lakhmids to take over the defense of the southern frontier. This left
16362-535: The Byzantine empire. Control of Egypt meant that the caliphate could weather droughts without the fear of famine, laying the basis for the future prosperity of the caliphate. The Byzantine Empire had traditionally dominated the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with major naval bases at Constantinople , Acre , Alexandria and Carthage . In 652, the Arabs won their first victory at sea off Alexandria, which
16564-471: 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. Arabia was a region that hosted several cultures, some urban and others nomadic Bedouin . Arabian society was divided along tribal and clan lines, with the most important divisions being between the "southern" and "northern" tribal associations. Both
16766-588: The Caspian Sea when an invading Muslim army was almost wiped out by the cavalry of the Khazar Khanate , and, seeing a chance to take back Egypt, the Byzantines launched an amphibious attack which took back Alexandria for a short period of time. Though most of Egypt is desert, the Nile Delta has some of the most productive and fertile farmland in the entire world, which had made Egypt the "granary" of
16968-602: The Chinese believe in folk religion. This shows a significant growth from the 300–400 million people practicing Chinese traditional religion that were estimated in the 1990s and early 2000s. This growth reverses the rapid decline that Chinese traditional religion faced in the 20th century. Moreover, Chinese religion has also spread throughout the world following the emigration of Chinese populations , with 672,000 adherents in Canada as of 2010. According to scholars Miikka Ruokanen and Paulos Huang of University of Helsinki ,
17170-563: The Christian inhabitants to Islam. A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qal'a in central Algeria. There is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 CE to tombs of Catholic saints outside of the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Arab Spain. In addition, calendar reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of Tunis, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome. During
17372-512: The Covenant', with whom compacts of protection had been made. In general, they were not forced to convert , but they suffered from restrictions. They paid a special tax ; they were not supposed to wear certain colors; they could not marry Muslim women ;." Most of those laws were elaborations of basic laws concerning non-Muslims ( dhimmis ) in the Quran , which does not give much detail about
17574-817: The Holy Sepulchre, with the tall minaret, is known as the place to which he retired for his prayer. Bishop Arculf , whose account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the seventh century, De locis sanctis , written down by the monk Adamnan, described reasonably pleasant living conditions of Christians in Palestine in the first period of Muslim rule. The caliphs of Damascus (661-750) were tolerant princes who were on generally good terms with their Christian subjects. Many Christians, such as John of Damascus , held important offices at their court. The Abbasid caliphs at Baghdad (753-1242), as long as they ruled Syria, were also tolerant to Christians. Harun Abu Jaʻfar (786-809), sent
17776-658: The Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. The Ottoman Empire, which controlled much of the Middle East and North Africa in the early modern period, also did not officially endorse mass conversions, but evidence suggests they occurred, particularly in the Balkans , often to evade the jizya tax. Similarly, Christian sources mention requests for mass conversions to Islam, such as in Cyprus , where Ottoman authorities refused, fearing economic repercussions. As of 2016, there were 1.7 billion Muslims, with one out of four people in
17978-464: The Mediterranean region, being used in religious ceremonies. However, the conversion of the Mediterranean world to Christianity had significantly reduced the demand for these commodities, causing a major economic slump in southern Arabia which helped to create the impression that Arabia was a backward region. Little is known of the pre-Islamic religions of Arabia, but it is known that the Arabs worshipped gods such as al-Lat, Manat, al-Uzza and Hubal, with
18180-469: The Middle East were mainly individual or small-scale. While mass conversions were favored for spreading Islam beyond Muslim lands, policies within Muslim territories typically aimed for individual conversions to weaken non-Muslim communities. However, there were exceptions, like the forced mass conversion of the Samaritans . Muslim dynasties were soon established and subsequent empires such as those of
18382-653: The Middle East, India and even from as far away as China. In turn, the Yemeni were great sailors, travelling up the Red Sea to Egypt and across the Indian Ocean to India and down the east African coast. Inland, the valleys of Yemen had been cultivated by a system of irrigation that had been set back when the Marib Dam was destroyed by an earthquake in about 450 AD. Frankincense and myrrh had been greatly valued in
18584-422: The Muslim ummah , would mass conversion take place. The new understanding by the religious and political leadership in many cases led to a weakening or breakdown of the social and religious structures of parallel religious communities such as Christians and Jews. The caliphs of the Arab dynasty established the empire's first school, which taught the Arabic language and Islamic studies. The caliphs furthermore began
18786-596: The Muslim population grow from around 40% in the mid-9th century, with almost the entire population being converted by the end of the 11th century. That theory does not explain the continuing existence of large minorities of Christians during the Abbasids. Other estimates suggest that Muslims were not a majority in Egypt until the mid-10th century and in the Fertile Crescent until 1100. What is now Syria may have had
18988-407: The Muslim shipwrights switched from the hull-first method of building ships to the frame-first method. After an Arab incursion into Sasanian territories, the shah Yazdgerd III , who had just ascended the Persian throne, raised an army to resist the conquerors, although many marzbans refused to help. The Persians suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 636. Little
19190-600: The Muslims arrived. The empire spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Aral Sea , from the Atlas Mountains to the Hindu Kush . It was bounded mostly by "a combination of natural barriers and well-organized states". For the polytheistic and pagan societies, apart from the religious and spiritual reasons that individuals may have had, conversion to Islam "represented the response of a tribal, pastoral population to
19392-456: The Muslims, while the people retreated into castles and fortified towns when the Muslims invaded; instead, Byzantine forces ambushed Muslim raiders as they returned to Syria carrying plunder and people they had enslaved . In the frontier area where Anatolia met Syria, the Byzantine state evacuated the entire population and laid waste to the countryside, creating a no man's land where any invading army would find no food. For decades afterwards,
19594-472: The Nile Delta and laid siege to Alexandria. The last major center to fall into Arab hands was Alexandria, which capitulated in September 642. According to Hugh Kennedy , "Of all the early Muslim conquests, that of Egypt was the swiftest and most complete. [...] Seldom in history can so massive a political change have happened so swiftly and been so long lasting." In 644, the Arabs suffered a major defeat by
19796-578: The Ottomans lost Hungary to the Holy Roman Empire , and other parts of Eastern Europe, which ended with the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699. The Ottoman sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922 and the caliphate was abolished on 3 March 1924. Islam has continued to spread through commerce and migrations, especially in Southeast Asia, America and Europe. Modern day Islamization appears to be
19998-489: The Persian state collapsed with Yezdegird III fleeing further east and various marzbans surrendering to the Arabs. As the conquerors slowly covered the vast distances of Iran punctuated by hostile towns and fortresses, Yazdgerd III retreated, finally taking refuge in Khorasan , where he was assassinated by a local satrap in 651. In the aftermath of their victory over the imperial army, the Muslims still had to contend with
20200-412: The Persians exposed and over-extended, helping to set the stage for the collapse of Persia later that century. Southern Arabia, especially what is now Yemen, had for thousands of years been a wealthy region that had been a center of the spice trade . Yemen had been at the center of an international trading network linking Eurasia to Africa, and Yemen had been visited by merchants from East Africa, Europe,
20402-601: The Quran were accepted in Damascus , Basra , Hims , and Kufa . To settle the dispute, the Caliph Uthman had proclaimed the version of the Quran possessed by one of Muhammad's widows, Hafsa , to be the definitive and correct version, which offended some Muslims who held to the rival versions. This, together with the favoritism shown by 'Uthman to his own clan, the Banu Umayya , in government appointments, led to
20604-728: The Quraysh in the 7th century had a significant impact on local merchants and sailors, as their trading partners in Arabia had then all adopted Islam , and the major trading routes in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea came under the sway of the Muslim Caliphs . Through commerce, Islam spread amongst the Somali population in the coastal cities. Instability in the Arabian peninsula saw further migrations of early Muslim families to
20806-451: The Somali seaboard. These clans came to serve as catalysts, forwarding the faith to large parts of the Horn region. Early Muslim conquests Byzantine Empire Sassanid Persia Caucasus Other regions The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( Arabic : الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة , romanized : al-Futūḥāt al-ʾIslāmiyya ), also known as
21008-452: The Turkic peoples of Central Asia the "most formidable foes" faced by the Muslims. The Jewish Turkic Khazar khanate , based in what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, had a powerful heavy cavalry. The Turkic heartland of Central Asia was divided into five khanates whose khans variously recognized the shahs of Iran or the emperors of China as their overlords. Turkic society was feudal with
21210-575: The Umayyad period, the caliphate had a standing army, including the elite Ahl al-Sham ("people of Syria"), raised from the Arabs who settled in Syria. The caliphate was divided into jund , or regional armies, stationed in the provinces being made of mostly Arab tribes who were paid monthly by the Diwan al-Jaysh (War Ministry). The infantry of the Byzantine army continued to be recruited from within
21412-419: The United States since the late 1980s, but many of them do not leave Christianity, but rather convert to another Christian denomination, in particularly to evangelicalism . Schnabel and Bock argued also that evangelicalism and Conservative Christianity has persisted and expanded in the United States. And according to Eric Kaufmann from Harvard University and University of London , Christian fundamentalism
21614-578: The United States still identify as such, while the rest who no longer identify as Christians mostly identify as religiously unaffiliated, and the number of those leaving Christianity in the United States is greater than the number of converts; however, the number of those convert to evangelical Christianity in the United States is greater than the number of those leaving that faith. While on the other hand, in 2017, scholars Landon Schnabel and Sean Bock at Harvard University and Indiana University argued that while " Mainline Protestant " churches has declined in
21816-619: The United States. Also according to the historian Daniel Pipes of Harvard University and University of Chicago , and a researcher specializing in criticism of Islam, "reports of widespread conversions of Muslims to Christianity come from regions as disparate as Algeria, Albania, Syria, and Kurdistan ", in northern Iraq and Algeria, the conversions of Kurds and Berbers to Christianity are unusually high. According to Guinness, approximately 12.5 million more people who converted to Islam than people who converted to Christianity between 1990 and 2000. According to scholar Ladan Boroumand "Iran today
22018-474: The adoption of the client status of mawali . Governors lodged complaints with the caliph when he enacted laws that made conversion easier since that deprived the provinces of revenues from the tax on non-Muslims. An enfranchisement was experienced by the mawali during the Abbasid period, and a shift was made in the political conception from that of a primarily-Arab empire to one of a Muslim empire. Around 930
22220-815: The ambitious project of building mosques across the empire, many of which remain today, such as the Umayyad Mosque , in Damascus. At the end of the Umayyad period, less than 10% of the people in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain were Muslim. Only the Arabian Peninsula had a higher proportion of Muslims among the population. The Abbasids replaced the expanding empire and "tribal politics" of "the tight-knit Arabian elite with cosmopolitan culture and disciplines of Islamic science , philosophy , theology , law and mysticism became more widespread, and
22422-426: The archangel Gabriel had told him that he was the last of the prophets continuing the work of Jesus Christ and the prophets of Tanakh . After coming into conflict with the elite of Mecca, Muhammad fled to the city of Yathrib, which was renamed Medina . At Yathrib, Muhammad founded an Islamic state and by 630 conquered Mecca. The prolonged and escalating Byzantine–Sasanian wars of the 6th and 7th centuries and
22624-487: The arms race, both sides sought new technology to improve their warships. The Muslim warships had a larger forecastle , which was used to mount a stone-throwing engine. The Byzantines invented Greek fire , an incendiary weapon that led the Muslims to cover their ships with water-soaked cotton. A major problem for the Muslim fleet was the shortage of timber, which led the Muslims to seek qualitative instead of quantitative superiority by building bigger warships. To save money,
22826-711: The capital city of the Sassanids. The Persians lacked sufficient forces to make use of the Zagros Mountains to stop the Arabs, having lost the prime of their army at al-Qadisiyyah. The Persian forces withdrew over the Zagros, and the Arab army pursued them across the Iranian plateau, where the fate of the Sasanian Empire was sealed at the Battle of Nahavand in 642. The crushing Muslim victory at Nahavand
23028-462: The capitulation in the spring of 637. Sophronius also negotiated a pact with Umar known as Umar's Assurance , allowing for the religious freedom for Christians in exchange for jizya , a tax to be paid by conquered non-Muslims, called dhimmis . Under Muslim rule, the Jewish and Christian population of Jerusalem in this period enjoyed the usual tolerance given to non-Muslim theists. Having accepted
23230-417: The cavalry, the paighan infantry came from the peasantry and most of the greater Persian nobility had slave soldiers, this last being based on the Persian example. Much of the Persian army consisted of tribal mercenaries recruited from the plains south of the Caspian Sea and from what is now Afghanistan. The Persian tactics were cavalry based with the Persian forces usually divided into a center, based upon
23432-542: The coast were involved, but by the 11th century Muslim affiliation had begun to spread far into the Sahara and Sahel . The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between CE 647–709 effectively ended Catholicism in Africa for several centuries. However, new scholarship has appeared that provides more nuance and details of the conversion of
23634-411: The collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC with the Battle of Opis , that Mesopotamia and Levant were ruled again by neighboring Semitic -speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid , Parthian and Sasanian empires), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , Seleucid the Roman and Byzantine empires) ruling periods. And the first time since the fall of Ancient Carthage in 146 BC with
23836-409: The collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, that the Levant was ruled again by Semitic-speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid Empire ), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , the Roman and Byzantine empires) ruling periods. In the mountains of Asia Minor, the Muslims enjoyed less success, with the Byzantines adopting the tactic of "shadowing warfare" — refusing to give battle to
24038-522: The conquests started as initially disorganized pillaging raids launched partly by non-Muslim Arab tribes in the aftermath of the Ridda Wars and were soon extended into a war of conquest by the Rashidun caliphs , although other scholars argue that the conquests were a planned military venture already underway during Muhammad's lifetime. Fred Donner writes that the advent of Islam "revolutionized both
24240-491: The conquests was mostly of a practical nature, as fertile land and water were scarce in the Arabian Peninsula. A real Islamization therefore came about only during the subsequent centuries. Ira M. Lapidus distinguishes between two separate strands of converts of the time: animists and polytheists of tribal societies of the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent and the native Christians and Jews existing before
24442-412: The consciousness of a broadly Arab-Islamic population. What was recognizably an Islamic world had emerged by the end of the 10th century. Throughout the period, as well as in the following centuries, divisions occurred between Persians and Arabs, and Sunnis and Shias, and unrest in provinces empowered local rulers at times. The expansion of Islam continued in the wake of Turkic conquests of Asia Minor ,
24644-635: The countries with highest growth rates are Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and some African countries. The Australian Bureau of Statistics , through statistical analysis, held Buddhism to be the fastest-growing spiritual tradition in Australia in terms of percentage gain, with a growth of 79.1% for the period 1996 to 2001 (200,000→358,000). Buddhism is the majority and state religion in seven countries: Sri Lanka , Myanmar , Mongolia , Thailand , Cambodia , Bhutan and Laos . Buddhism
24846-630: The deserts to Syria to attack the Byzantines from the rear. In the Battle of the Mud fought at or near Pella (Fahl) and nearby Scythopolis (Beisan) , both in the Jordan Valley , in December 634 or January 635, the Arabs scored another victory. After a siege of six months the Arabs took Damascus, but Emperor Heraclius later retook it. At the battle of Yarmuk (636), the Arabs were victorious, defeating Heraclius. Ibn al-Walid appears to have been
25048-540: 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
25250-527: The edge of the Nile River valley, and then defeated a Byzantine counter-attack at Bibays . Contrary to expectations, the Arabs did not head for Alexandria , the capital of Egypt, but instead for a major fortress known as Babylon located at what is now Cairo. Amr was planning to divide the Nile River valley in two. The Arab forces won a major victory at the Battle of Heliopolis in 640, but they found it difficult to advance further because major cities in
25452-559: The efforts of missionaries and churches, Christianity has grown rapidly in South Korea over the past century", and has grown from 1% in 1900, to 20.7% in 1985 and to 29.3% in 2010, And the Catholic Church has increased its membership by 70% in the last ten years, according to Pew Research Center, "the growth of Catholics has occurred across all age groups, among men and women and across all education levels. In Singapore ,
25654-710: The exact number of Dalit converts to Christianity in India is not available, scholar William R. Burrow of Colorado State University estimated that about 8% of Dalit have converted to Christianity. According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity in India gained an increase from conversion, most of the Christian converts in India are former Hindus. It has been reported also that increasing numbers of young people or educated people are becoming Christians in several countries such as China , Indonesia , Iran , Japan , Singapore , and South Korea . It has also been reported that conversion into Christianity
25856-455: The faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam , Druze do not identify as a branch of Islam and view themselves as a separate religion. The Druze faith do not accept converts to their faith, nor practice proselytism . Over the centuries a number of the Druze embraced Christianity , Islam and other religions. The Druzites reside primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Syria
26058-529: The fall of communism, the number of Muslim converts to Christianity in Kyrgyzstan has been increased. Some scholars and media reports indicate that in the Middle East there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among the Berbers , Kurds , Persians , and Turks , and among some religious minorities such as Alawites and Druze . Churches in Europe say that there is an increase in
26260-638: The fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese". Asia has the second largest Pentecostal-charismatic Christians of any continent, with the number growing from 10 million to 135 million between 1970 and 2000". According to the Council on Foreign Relations the "number of Chinese Protestants has grown by an average of 10 percent annually since 1979". According to scholar Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University , by 2005, around 6 million Africans converted to Christianity annually. While
26462-641: 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 . It was the first time since
26664-682: The flagging case of Zoroastrianism ). The growth of a religion can interact with factors such as persecution , entrenched rival religions (such as established religions ), and religious market saturation . Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama , commonly known as the Buddha, who was born in modern day Nepal and lived and taught in India in the 5th century BC. The majority of Buddhists live in Asia; Europe and North America also have populations exceeding one million. According to scholars of religious demographics, there are between 488 million, 495 million, and 535 million Buddhists in
26866-483: The frontier to provide a "shield" to counter raiding by the Muslims into the empire. Overall, the Byzantine army remained a small but professional force of foederati . Unlike the foederati who were sent where they were needed, the stradioti lived in the frontier provinces. During the last decades of the Sasanian empire, the frequent use of royal titles by Persian governors in Central Asia, especially in what
27068-528: The global Christian population will change considerably. By 2050, 38% of the world's Christians will live in the Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by 23% in Latin America and the Caribbean , 16% in Europe, 13% in Asia and the Pacific and 10% of the world's Christians will live in North America. In mid-2005 Christianity adds about 65.1 million people annually due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion, while losing 27.4 million people annually due to factors such as death rate and religious apostasy. Most of
27270-675: The gradual conversions of the empire's populations occurred. Significant conversions also occurred beyond the extent of the empire such as that of the Turkic tribes in Central Asia and peoples living in regions south of the Sahara and north of the Sahel in Africa through contact with Muslim traders active in the area and Sufi orders . In Africa, Islam spread along three routes, across the Sahara and Sahel via trading towns such as Timbuktu , up
27472-421: The help of non-Arab administrative personnel and on administrative practices (e.g., a set of government bureaus). As the conquests slowed and the isolation of the fighters ( muqatilah ) became less necessary, it became more and more difficult to keep Arabs garrisoned. As the tribal links that had so dominated Umayyad politics began to break down, the meaningfulness of tying non-Arab converts to Arab tribes as clients
27674-523: The high fertility rate there. in 2018 a new data from the Gordon Theological Seminary shows that, for the first time ever, more number of Christians live in Africa than on any other single continent: "The results show Africa on top with 631 million Christian residents, Latin America in 2nd place with 601 million Christians, and Europe in 3rd place with 571 million Christians". In 2017 Christianity added nearly 50 million people due to factors such as birth rate and religious conversion . According to
27876-441: The historian Geoffrey Blainey from the University of Melbourne , since the 1960s there has been a substantial increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the Evangelical and Pentecostal forms. According to Blainey, this is due to several reasons, including the lack of ties of Evangelical Christianity with colonial powers in contrast to Roman Catholic and Mainline Protestant Churches, as well as
28078-419: The horse and camel but seemed to have been hampered by a lack of weapons or protection, with both Byzantine and Arab sources mentioning the Berbers lacked armour and helmets. The Berbers went to war with their entire communities, and the presence of women and children both slowed down the Berber armies and tied down Berber tribesmen who tried to protect their families. The British historian David Nicolle called
28280-429: The ideological bases and the political structures of the Arabian society, giving rise for the first time to a state capable of an expansionist movement." According to Chase F. Robinson, it is likely that Muslim forces were often outnumbered, but unlike their opponents, they were fast, well coordinated and highly motivated. Growth of religion Growth of religion involves the spread of individual religions and
28482-453: The increase in the numbers of religious adherents around the world. In sociology, desecularization is the proliferation or growth of religion, most commonly after a period of previous secularization. Statistics commonly measure the absolute number of adherents, the percentage of the absolute growth per-year, and the growth of converts in the world. Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam
28684-407: 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
28886-409: The keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to Charlemagne , who built a hospice for Latin pilgrims near the shrine. Rival dynasties and revolutions led to the eventual disunion of the Muslim world. In the ninth century, Palestine was conquered by the Fatimid Caliphate , whose capital was Cairo . Palestine once again became a battleground as the various enemies of the Fatimids counterattacked. At
29088-415: The khans only being pater primus among the aristocracy of dihquans who lived in castles in the countryside, with the rest of Turkic forces being divided into kadivar (farmers), khidmatgar (servants) and atbai (clients). The heavily armored Turkic cavalry played a significant role in influencing subsequent Muslim tactics and weapons; the Turkic peoples, who were mostly Buddhists at
29290-441: The king's banner were paid a regular salary. Those called up for service had to provide their own weapons and horses, which contributed to the "militarisation of Frankish society". At least part of the reason for the victories of Charles Martel was he could call up a force of experienced warriors when faced with Muslim raids. The province of Syria was the first to be wrested from Byzantine control. Arab-Muslim raids that followed
29492-973: The largest numbers of Muslims converted to Christianity according to this study include Indonesia (6,500,000), Nigeria (600,000), Iran (500,000 versus only 500 in 1979), the United States (450,000), Ethiopia (400,000) and Algeria (380,000). Indonesia is home to the largest Christian community made up of converts from their former Islamic faith; according to various sources, since the mid and late 1960s, between two million to 2.5 million Muslims converted to Christianity. Christians of Muslim background communities can be found in Afghanistan , Albania , Algeria , Argentina , Australia , Austria , Azerbaijan , Bangladesh , Belgium , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Canada , Denmark , Egypt , Ethiopia , Finland , France , Georgia ( Abkhazia ), Germany , Greece , India ( kashmir ), Iran , Iraq , Kazakhstan , Kosovo , Kyrgyzstan , Lebanon , Malaysia , Morocco ,
29694-413: The leaders of both sides. However, the fitna ended in January 661 when Ali was killed by a kharaji assassin, allowing Mu'awiya to become caliph and found the Umayyad dynasty . The fitna also marked the beginning of the split between Shia Muslims who supported Ali, and Sunni Muslims who opposed him. Mu'awiya moved the capital of the caliphate from Medina to Damascus, which had a major effect on
29896-399: The line between Muslims and non-Muslims more sharply drawn. Muslims now lived within an elaborated system of ritual, doctrine and law clearly different from those of non-Muslims. (...) The status of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians was more precisely defined, and in some ways it was inferior. They were regarded as the 'People of the Book', those who possessed a revealed scripture, or 'People of
30098-511: The majority until around the fourteenth century. In the initial invasion, the victorious Muslims granted religious freedom to the Christian community in Alexandria , and the Alexandrians quickly recalled their exiled Monophysite patriarch to rule over them, subject only to the ultimate political authority of the conquerors. In such a fashion the city persisted as a religious community under an Arab Muslim domination more welcome and more tolerant than that of Byzantium. (Other sources question how much
30300-655: The masses. He noted: "The question of why people convert to Islam has always generated the intense feeling. Earlier generations of European scholars believed that conversions to Islam were made at the point of the sword, and that conquered peoples were given the choice of conversion or death. It is now apparent that conversion by force, while not unknown in Muslim countries, was, in fact, rare. Muslim conquerors ordinarily wished to dominate rather than convert, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary. (...) In most cases, worldly and spiritual motives for conversion blended together. Moreover, conversion to Islam did not necessarily imply
30502-417: The most important being Allah (God). There were also Jewish and Christian communities in Arabia, and aspects of Arab religion reflected their influence. Pilgrimage was a major part of Arabian paganism, and one of the most important pilgrimage sites was Mecca , which housed the Kaaba , considered an especially holy place to visit. Muhammad, a merchant of Mecca, started to have visions in which he claimed that
30704-402: The native population welcomed the conquering Muslims.) Byzantine rule was ended by the Arabs, who invaded Tunisia from 647 to 648 and Morocco in 682 in the course of their drive to expand the power of Islam. In 670, the Arab general and conqueror Uqba Ibn Nafi established the city of Kairouan (in Tunisia) and its Great Mosque also known as the Mosque of Uqba; the Great Mosque of Kairouan
30906-416: The need for a larger framework for political and economic integration, a more stable state, and a more imaginative and encompassing moral vision to cope with the problems of a tumultuous society." In contrast, for tribal, nomadic, monotheistic societies, "Islam was substituted for a Byzantine or Sassanian political identity and for a Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian religious affiliation." Conversion initially
31108-515: The net growth in the numbers of Christians is in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Christianity is still the largest religion in Western Europe , according to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center , 71.0% of the Western European population identified themselves as Christians , however, most of them are non-practicing and non- church-attending. According to the same study, a large majority of those who raised as Christians (83%) in Western Europe , still identified themselves as Christians today. On
31310-437: The next four decades the number of Buddhists around the world is expected to decrease from 487 million in 2010 to 486 million in 2050. The decline is due to several factors such as the low fertility level among Buddhists (1.6 children per woman), and the old age (median age of 34), compared to the overall population. According to the Pew Research Center published on 2010, religious conversion may have little impact on
31512-463: The number might have climbed up to somewhere between 1 million and 3 million". Converting to Christianity is growing among Muslims in the Albanian diaspora , Iranian diaspora , and Syrian diaspora , and among Muslim Maghrebis in France, and Kurds and Turks in Germany . According to scholars Felix Wilfred from the University of Madras and Chris Hann from the University of Cambridge and Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology , since
31714-401: The number of Muslims converting to Christianity among immigrants. Religious conversions are projected to have a "modest impact on changes in the religious groups including Christian population" between 2010 and 2050; and may negatively affect the growth of Christian population and its share of the world's populations "slightly". According to the same study Christianity, is expected to lose
31916-481: The number of converts to a religion can prove difficult. Although some national censuses ask people about their religion, they do not ask if they have converted to their presently espoused faith. Additionally, in some countries, legal and social consequences make conversion difficult. For example, individuals can receive a capital punishment if they openly leave Islam in some Muslim countries. Statistical data on conversion to and from Islam are scarce. According to
32118-401: The number of self-identifying deists grew from 6,000 to 49,000, representing about 0.02% of the US population at the time. Druze is a major religion in the Levant region. Druzites or Al-Muwaḥḥidūn are an Arabic -speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group ; the number of Druzites worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant . Even though
32320-401: The offensive — the mountainous terrain of Anatolia favored the defensive, and for centuries afterwards the line between Christian and Muslim lands ran along the border between Anatolia and Syria. The Byzantine province of Egypt held strategic importance for its grain production, naval yards, and as a base for further conquests in Africa. The Muslim general Amr ibn al-As began the conquest of
32522-434: The only partial defeat of the Byzantine Empire, the Muslims borrowed far more from the vanished Sassanian state than they ever did from the Byzantines. However, for the Persians the defeat remained bitter. Some 400 years later, the Persian poet Ferdowsi lets Yazdgerd III speak in his popular poem Shahnameh ( Book of Kings ): Damn this world, damn this time, damn this fate, That uncivilized Arabs have come to Make me
32724-604: The other hand, Central and Eastern European countries did not experience a decline in the percentage of Christians, as the proportion of Christians in these countries have mostly been stable or even increasing. Christianity is still the largest religion in Central and Eastern Europe , according to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center , the share of adults who identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox in Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria has been significantly increased between 1991 and 2015. According to scholar Barry John Tolmay of University of Pretoria there are increasing signs of
32926-602: The other hand, demographer Conrad Hackett of Pew Research Center stated that the World Christian Encyclopedia gives a higher estimate for percent Christian when compared to other cross-national data sets. While according to the book The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion , which written by professor of the Christian mission , Charles E. Farhadian, and professor of psychology , Lewis Rambo, in mid-2005 approximately 15.5 million converted to Christianity from another religion, while approximately 11.7 million left Christianity, most of them becoming irreligious, resulting in
33128-429: The perceived imposition of an Islamist social and political system on a society with an indigenously different social and political background. The English synonym of "Muslimization", in use since before 1940 (e.g., Waverly Illustrated Dictionary ), conveys a similar meaning as "Islamization". 'Muslimization' has more recently also been used as a term coined to describe the overtly Muslim practices of new converts to
33330-473: The percentage of Christians among Singaporeans increased from 12.7%, in 1990, to 17.5%, in 2010. According to scholar Michael Nai-Chiu Poon of University of Toronto conversion to Christianity is increasing among Chinese Singaporeans . In recent years, the number of Chinese Christians has increased significantly; Christians were 4 million before 1949 (3 million Catholics and 1 million Protestants), and are reaching 67 million today. Christianity
33532-409: The percentage of Christians has grown from 21.4%, in 1953, to 50.8%, in 2010. In South Africa, Pentecostalism has grown from 0.2%, in 1951, to 7.6%, in 2001. According to Pew Research Center the number of Catholics in Africa has increased from one million in 1901 to 329,882,000 in 2010. From 2015 to 2016, Africa saw an increase of more than 6,265,000 Catholics. Catholic Church membership in 2013
33734-426: The period. American scholar Fred McGraw Donner suggests that Muhammad's establishment of an Islamic polity 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
33936-408: The politics and culture of the caliphate. Mu'awiya followed the conquest of Iran by invading Central Asia and trying to finish off the Byzantine Empire by taking Constantinople. In 670, a Muslim fleet seized Rhodes and then laid siege to Constantinople . Nicolle wrote the siege of Constantinople from 670 to 677 was "more accurately" a blockade rather than a siege proper, which ended in failure as
34138-468: The population). In Brazil, the total number of Protestants jumped from 16.2% in 2000 to 22.2% in 2010 (for the first time, the percentage of Catholics in Brazil is less than 70%). These cases do not contribute to a growth of Christianity overall, but rather to a substitution of a brand of Christianity with another one. According to the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , its membership has grown every decade since its beginning in
34340-410: The profits of their trade out of Byzantine territory. As a result, the Arabs murdered a Byzantine official named Sergius whom they held responsible for convincing the Emperor Heraclius to impose the trade restrictions. Nikephoros relates that: The Saracens, having flayed a camel, enclosed him in the hide and sewed it up. As the skin hardened, the man who was left inside also withered and so perished in
34542-431: The province on his own initiative in 639. The majority of the Byzantine forces in Egypt were locally raised Coptic forces, intended to serve more as a police force; since the vast majority of Egyptians lived in the Nile River valley, surrounded on both the eastern and western sides by desert, Egypt was felt to be a relatively secure province. In December 639, Amr entered the Sinai with a large force and took Pelusium , on
34744-439: The rapid growth of Christianity in China may maintain, or even increase, the current numerical advantage of Christianity as the largest religion in the world. This scenario (Chinese scenario) is based primarily on sensitivity tests. Large increases in the developing world (around 23,000 per day) have been accompanied by substantial declines in the developed world , mainly in Western Europe and North America. By 2050, Christianity
34946-438: The rebirth of traditional religion in China is faster and larger than the spread of other religions in the country, such as Buddhism and Christianity: Since the 1980s, with the gradual opening of society, folk religion has begun to recover. Especially in the rural areas, the speed and scale of its development are much faster and larger than is the case with Buddhism and Christianity [...] in Zhejiang province, where Christianity
35148-499: The recently high fertility rate in Africa, and due primarily to conversion in China . According to scholar Paul Freston of Wilfrid Laurier University Pentecostalism continues to grow in Latin America , "both by conversion and by high birth rates". According to scholar Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University "converts to Protestantism find their incomes, education levels, hygiene and social networks expanding". According to scholar Terence Chong, since 1980s Protestantism
35350-460: The recurring outbreaks of bubonic plague ( Plague of Justinian ) left both empires exhausted and weakened in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Arabs. The last of these wars ended with victory for the Byzantines: Emperor Heraclius regained all lost territories and restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629. The war against Zoroastrian Persia, whose people worshiped the fire god Ahura Mazda , had been portrayed by Heraclius as
35552-426: The reign of Umar II , the then governor of Africa, Ismail ibn Abdullah, was said to have won the Berbers to Islam by his just administration, and other early notable missionaries include Abdallah ibn Yasin who started a movement which caused thousands of Berbers to accept Islam. The history of commercial and intellectual contact between the inhabitants of the Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula may help explain
35754-462: The reign of the rāshidūn ("rightly-guided") caliphs from 632 to 661 CE, which were the first four successors of Muhammad. These early caliphates , coupled with Muslim economics and trading , the Islamic Golden Age , and the age of the Islamic gunpowder empires , resulted in Islam 's spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian , Atlantic , and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world . The Islamic conquests , which culminated in
35956-428: The religion who wish to reinforce their newly acquired religious identity. Within the century of the establishment of Islam upon the Arabian Peninsula and the subsequent rapid expansion during the early Muslim conquests , one of the most significant empires in world history was formed. For the subjects of the empire, formerly of the Byzantine and the Sasanian Empires, not much changed in practice. The objective of
36158-400: The right conduct with non-Muslims, but it in principle recognises the religion of "People of the Book" (Jews, Christians and sometimes others as well) and securing a separate tax from them that replaces the zakat , which is imposed upon Muslim subjects. Ira Lapidus points towards "interwoven terms of political and economic benefits and of a sophisticated culture and religion" as appealing to
36360-486: The rising of Islamism , which lead some Muslims to look towards other religions such as Christianity through evangelical activity in the visual and audio media, as well as irreligion. Many Muslims who convert to Christianity face social and governmental persecution. Khalil Bilici, while admitting that the limitations of their 2007 study database are too small, found a good number of Middle Eastern people are likely to convert to Christianity after leaving Islam. According to
36562-406: The rout of the imperial army and had to be conquered individually. Jerusalem fell in 638, Caesarea in 640, while others held out until 641. After a two-year siege, the garrison of Jerusalem surrendered rather than starve to death; under the terms of the surrender Caliph Umar promised to tolerate the Christians of Jerusalem and not to turn churches into mosques. True to his word, Umar allowed
36764-429: The same data, most of the Jews who identify themselves as some sort of Christian (1.6 million) were raised as Jews or are Jews by ancestry. According to a 2012 study, 17% of Jews in Russia identify themselves as Christians. According to study by Pew Research Center in 2021, around 19% of American those who say they were raised Jewish or who had at least one Jewish parent now identify as Christian. According to
36966-565: The same time, the Byzantines continued to attempt to regain their lost territories, including Jerusalem. Christians in Jerusalem who sided with the Byzantines were put to death for high treason by the ruling Shiʻi Muslims. In 969, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, John VII, was put to death for treasonous correspondence with the Byzantines. As Jerusalem grew in importance to Muslims and pilgrimages increased, tolerance for other religions declined. Christians were persecuted and churches destroyed. The Sixth Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah , 996–1021, who
37168-434: The size of religious groups. It is projected that birth rate – rather than conversion – will prove the main factor in the growth of any given religion. While according to other various scholars and sources Pentecostalism – a Protestant Christian movement – is the fastest growing religion in the world, this growth is primarily due to religious conversion and denomination switching among Christians. Counting
37370-401: The surrender, Omar then entered Jerusalem with Sophronius "and courteously discoursed with the patriarch concerning its religious antiquities". When the hour for his prayer came, Omar was in the Anastasis church, but refused to pray there, lest in the future Muslims should use that as an excuse to break the treaty and confiscate the church. The Mosque of Umar , opposite the doors of the Church of
37572-409: The terminology of the "spread of Islam" to refer to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim . Societal Islamization has historically occurred over the course of many centuries since the spread of Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula through the early Muslim conquests , with notable shifts occurring in the Levant , Iran , North Africa ,
37774-403: The time of the Islamic conquest, later converted to Islam and came to be regarded as the foremost Muslim warriors, to the extent of replacing the Arabs as the dominant peoples in the Dar al-Islam (House of Islam). During the migration period , the Germanic Visigoths had traveled from their homeland north of the Danube to settle in the Roman province of Hispania , creating a kingdom upon
37976-468: The world being Muslim, making Islam the second-largest religion . Out of children born from 2010 to 2015, 31% were born to Muslims, and currently Islam is the world's fastest-growing major religion . Alongside the terminology of the "spread of Islam", scholarship of the subject has also given rise to the terms "Islamization", "Islamicization", and "Islamification" ( Arabic : أسلمة , romanized : aslamah ). These terms are used concurrently with
38178-403: The world. According to Johnson and Grim, Buddhism has grown from a total of 138 million adherents in 1910, of which 137 million were in Asia, to 495 million in 2010, of which 487 million are in Asia. According to them, there was a fast annual growth of Buddhism in Pakistan , Saudi Arabia , Lebanon and several Western European countries (1910–2010). More recently (2000–2010),
38380-473: The wreckage of the Western Roman Empire . The Visigothic state in Iberia was based around forces raised by the nobility whom the king could call out in the event of war. The king had his gardingi and fideles loyal to himself, while the nobility had their bucellarii . The Visigoths favored cavalry with their favorite tactics being to repeatedly charge a foe combined with feigned retreats . The Muslim conquest of most of Iberia in less than
38582-552: Was "killed by the Saracens" as related in the 7th century Doctrina Jacobi document. In Arabia, swords from India were greatly esteemed as being made of the finest steel and were the favorite weapons of the Mujahideen . The Arab sword known as the sayfy closely resembled the Byzantine gladius . Swords and spears were the major weapons of the Muslims, and armour was either mail or leather. In northern Arabia, Byzantine influence predominated; in eastern Arabia, Persian influence predominated; and in Yemen, Indian influence
38784-480: Was 1.254 billion, which is 17.7% of the world population, an increase from 437 million, in 1950 and 654 million, in 1970. The main growth areas have been Asia and Africa, 39% and 32%, respectively, since 2000. Since 2010, the rate of increase was of 0.3% in the Americas and Europe. On the other hand, Eric Kaufman, of University of London , argued that the main reason for the expansion of Catholicism and conservative Protestantism along with other religions
38986-399: Was 12 million over this period". According to the same study Buddhists "are projected to decline in absolute number, dropping 7% from nearly 500 million in 2015 to 462 million in 2060. Low fertility rates and aging populations in countries such as China, Thailand and Japan are the main demographic reasons for the expected shrinkage in the Buddhist population in the years ahead". According to
39188-461: Was believed to be "God made manifest" by his most zealous Shiʻi followers, now known as the Druze , destroyed the Holy Sepulchre in 1009. This powerful provocation helped ignite the flame of fury that led to the First Crusade . The dynasty was later overtaken by Saladin of the Ayyubid dynasty . In Egypt conversion to Islam was initially considerably slower than in other areas such as Mesopotamia or Khurasan, with Muslims not thought to have become
39390-532: Was diluted; moreover, the number of non-Muslims who wished to join the ummah was already becoming too large for this process to work effectively. The Siege of Jerusalem (636–637) by the forces of the Rashid Caliph Umar against the Byzantines began in November 636. For four months, the siege continued. Ultimately, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem , Sophronius , an ethnic Arab, agreed to surrender Jerusalem to Umar in person. The caliph, then in Medina , agreed to these terms and travelled to Jerusalem to sign
39592-410: Was felt. As the caliphate spread, the Muslims were influenced by the peoples they conquered—the Turkic peoples in Central Asia, the Persians , and the Byzantines in Syria. The Bedouin tribes of Arabia favored archery, though contrary to popular belief Bedouin archers usually fought on foot instead of horseback. The Arabs usually fought defensive battles with their archers placed on both flanks. By
39794-420: Was followed by the temporary Muslim conquest of Cyprus . As Yemen had been a center of maritime trade, Yemeni sailors were brought to Alexandria to start building an Islamic fleet for the Mediterranean. The Muslim fleet was based in Alexandria and used Acre, Tyre and Beirut as its forward bases. The core of the fleet's sailors were Yemeni, but the shipwrights who built the ships were Iranian and Iraqi. In
39996-432: Was given any chance to recover, as within a few years they were overrun by the advances of the Arabs (newly united by Islam), which, according to James Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". In late 620s Muhammad had already managed to conquer and unify much of Arabia under Muslim rule, and it
40198-408: Was initially "spread by the sword" or forced conversions. There are a number of historians who see the rule of the Umayyads as responsible for setting up the "dhimmah" to increase taxes from the dhimmis to benefit the Arab Muslim community financially and to discourage conversion. Islam was initially associated with the Arabs' ethnic identity and required formal association with an Arab tribe and
40400-429: Was marked by the Mongol invasion (particularly the Siege of Baghdad in 1258) and, after an initial period of persecution, the conversion of those conquerors to Islam. The Ottoman Empire defended its frontiers initially against threats from several sides: the Safavids in the east, the Byzantine Empire in the north until it vanished with the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and the great Catholic powers from
40602-403: Was neither required nor necessarily wished for: "(The Arab conquerors) did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples. At the outset, they were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs." Only in subsequent centuries, with the development of the religious doctrine of Islam and with that the understanding of
40804-406: Was under his leadership that the first Muslim-Byzantine skirmishes took place in response to Byzantine incursions. Just a few months after Heraclius and the Persian general Shahrbaraz agreed on terms for the withdrawal of Persian troops from occupied Byzantine eastern provinces in 629, Arab and Byzantine troops confronted each other at the Battle of Mu'tah as a result of Byzantine vassals murdering
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