Islam originated from the Arabian Penisula and for over a century found its way to areas that are now in modern Spain in the west and northern India in the east. The spread of Islam in these regions took place in many ways. At times, it was carried during trade in great caravans or sea vessels and other times it was transferred through the work of missionaries as well as military conquest. Muslims were worried that the rise of Islam would draw the attention of both the Romans and the Persians who at that time were in a position to destroy any newly-established power in the Arabian Peninsula. After Arabians united as Muslims, the hegemony of the Romans and Persian empires was under constant threat. Consistently these two powers were in warfare with each other for many centuries, especially the Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628 which exhausted both, and paved the way for the emergence of Islam. However, after a while, the Muslims enjoyed profound success by gaining territories over the Roman and Sasanian empires due to the fall of the Roman Empire, the influence of Islam leadership, and conflicts among pre-existing power, among other factors.
Muslims conquest of Sasanian Empire
. The Sasanian Empire was the most influential of all ancient Iranian empire and ruled the vast region between rivers Euphrates and Oxus. Initially, an ancient religion identified as Zoroastrianism that influenced Christianity, Judaism and Manichaeism were the most common in the Sasanian regions. Arabs, who originated from the depths of Arabian Desert in the seventh century were in a position to overrun the Sasanian Empire, convert its people to Islam and also transformed its culture and language due to various reasons. One of the most prominent reasons was the long wars that the Roman Empire engaged. The Roman Empire and the Persian Empire were superpower rivals and were always in constant warfare. The persisted conflicts between the Romans and the Persians resulted in new concepts of ‘holy war’, the emergence of Islam and the conquest of the Near East by the Arabs. During the time of Khosrow-Parviz, the war lasted for 25 years, and this was a significant cause of the fall of the Sassanid government and the rise of Muslims.
According to historians, Arabs were able to overrun the Sasanian Empire due to the Islamic religion being very simple and clear as it is monotheistic. Religion, therefore, significantly contributed to the unification of Muslims, giving them further strength over the reigning powers. The arrival of Muslims who had a nomadic lifestyle also the lead to the collapsing of the Sasanian Empire as their arrival destroyed a glorious civilization in Iran. Generally, the Zoroastrian theocracy was not popular to people as it was not well managed during the late Sasanian period (Rowshanfek 402). There was a disturbance of society as people had different thoughts and beliefs as their religion was not satisfying to many. Therefore, the status quo gave little resistance to the invading Arabs whose religion came with new, dynamic and promising slogans. The weakening of the Zoroastrianism religion greatly contributed to the Muslim’s victory and conquering of the Sassanid, which resulted in the acceptance of Islam in Iran.
Another reason for the victory of the Muslims over Iranians is that the social society of Iran was cast during the Sassanid period and had its limitations. The system society used to be chaotic and cruel during the Sassanid era. As a result, the system evoked unpopularity among people, and it was itself the source of Sassanid weaknesses and the victory of Muslims over Iranians. The confrontation between the king and the elders in Iran, especially those who were wealthy and owned property, also led to the defeat of Iranians. Majority of political and social disturbances in Iran during the Sassanid era were as a result of disagreements on the affairs of the country between the elders and kings and their intervention. The interventions increased in case of a weaker king. Shortly before the arrival of Muslims, a group of elders betrayed the Sassanid government for them to preserve and guarantee their position and dignity.
The dissatisfaction of Peasants’ and their acceptance to Muslim was another reason that caused the defeat of Iranians. During the Sassanid era peasantry used to be one of the essential and influential classes as they acted as mediators between the government and the people. Like other classes and social groups in the late Sassanid rule, peasants also failed to defend the Sassanid government. On the contrary, they helped and guided Muslims in conquering Iran. People’s dissatisfaction also played an essential role in the fall and defeat of the Sassanid government. Due to lack of central power and given the disturbances of the late Sassanid period, farmers and artisans confronted Muslims and cooperated with them. These farmers and artisans were willing to work for the Muslims in developing landscapes as the Muslims didn’t force Iranians to leave their religion, and therefore, the Iranians were more willing to cooperate. The amount of taxes that the Iranians gave to the Muslims under the name of Jaziyeh were far less compared to the one the Iranians used to give to the Sassanid government. As a result, the favourable policies made Islamic rule earn popularity among the locals.
There was considerable deterioration in the Sassanid dynasty after Khosrow-Anushiravan showed signs of weakness and after the death of Khosrow-Parviz disorder and absolute chaos spread all over Iran. After the death of Anushiravan, Hormuz (IV) his son became king. During this time the elders of the country took much power for themselves and most of Hormuz’s time became shortened by their actions, including the elder Bahram Choubin who sacked and killed Hormuz (IV). In the year of the seventh century, the prophet (pbuh) wrote a letter to King Khosrow-Parviz and invited him to the Islamic religion (Rowshanfek 406). When Abu-Bakr become the successor of the prophet between the seventh to the twelfth century, no encounter was made between the Iranians and the Muslims. Khalid-bin-Walid sought to repress those believers who were still in denial and false prophets in the Iranian border in Mesopotamia, which led to the mingling of Iranians and Muslims. Muthan-ibn-Haritha, a leader of the Arab tribes neighbouring the borders of Iran, encouraged the Muslims to fight the Persians. The move resulted in the Muslims invading Iran’s borders.
Additionally, the Iranians were attracted to Islam teachings. Muslims believed in nothing more than the principles of their religion. Muslims believed that in case they died while fighting by the command of God for the progress of Islam they would be “martyrs” and that would receive blessings, which are better and more stable than the pleasures of the world. Islamic religion called upon all people as it was monotheistic and much emphasized on equality and brotherhood. The Islamic slogan of egalitarianism and justice influenced the following of the deprived and oppressed classes. Moreover, due to the changes that had taken place on Iranians, they had no motivation to fight and resist this time.
The Muslim conquest of the Roman Empire
The Muslims also amassed vast territory from the Roman Empire. Some of the factors behind the success of Muslim conquest over the Romans were similar to the Sasanian conquest. However, there were additional factors that had a significant effect on Muslim win over the Roman Empire. One significant reason was the underestimation of Romans of Muslims as a threat. Many historical sources lead to the conclusion that the Roman Empire did not anticipate a threat from Muslims. The Romans who first encountered the Muslim expeditions interpreted the customers with perceptions of their historical interactions. In the past, Romans had used gifts and recognition to resolve conflicts with Arabs. As a result, the Roman imperial agents thought that gift exchanges would work as had always been the case (Sizgorich 1005). For example, Muslim conquest leaders such as Khalid al Walid and Muadh Jabal met with Roman officials shortly before two battles in the conquest of Syria. The Roman officials offered the two, though in separate incidents, gifts and promises of honours in exchange for their cooperation with the Roman Empire.
As a result, the Roman officials could not have anticipated an attack from Muslims since they had enjoyed a fairly peaceful relationship for long. In some historical texts, like al-Azdi’s history, Bahan observed that Arabs had experienced a long traditional approach of generosity from the Romans. For instance, a significant percentage of Arabs had settled in the Roman territory as neighbours, and the two kept their treaty obligations towards each other and treated each other in good faith (Sizgorich, 1010). It, therefore, came as a surprise that Arabs could launch an attack on the Roman Empire. The expectation was that the kindness that had been shown to the few Muslims would inspire and influence loyalty for the rest of the Muslims. On the contrary, Muslims attacked without any consideration of such factors.
Another factor that facilitated Muslim success in conquering the Roman Empire was Islam leadership. After the death of Muhammad, Abu Bakr succeeded him as the caliph. Bakr had a challenging task to accomplish to ensure the success of Islam. Following Muhammad’s death, many people started abandoning Islam, while others halted their tax payments to new Muslim leaders. However, Bakr used his military and preaching skills to influence a turn away from the direction of secession and encourage more people to convert to Islam. Abu Bakr influenced most of his enemies to join Islam and subsequently join the formidable military force has built. As a result, two years following Mohammad’s demise, Muslims had stamped their authority over the Arabian Peninsula and had begun offensive campaigns against Iraq and Syria. By this time, Arabia had unified to consolidate much power to go against pre-existing Persian and Byzantine Empires, with the latter as part of the Roman Empire.
Abu Bakr died shortly afterwards, with Umar as his successor. Umar’s political genius enabled him to rapidly expand the empire through battles at a faster rate than his predecessors. Moreover, Umar developed new structures to strengthen the empire further. Umar chose regional governors in the areas he conquered and established a new taxation system that drew at least two percent of individuals’ earnings for all irrespective of religion. As a military genius, he used Generals Khalid and Abu Ubayda to crush the Byzantines and Persians (Amplify Education Inc. 26). For instance, in 636 and 637, Umar won two strategic battles to conquer a massive part of the Roman Empire, while entirely shuttering the Persian territory. In the battle of Yarmouk, for example, the Muslim generals, through strategy and courage, were able to crush a Byzantine Army that was several times larger and had superior weapons. By the time he died, Umar had taken over territories over Syria, Egypt, Jerusalem and Damascus.
Moreover, in the Muslim leadership reigns that followed, the Islamic Empire expanded at an even faster rate due to military conquests. The expansion was particularly associated with the Umayyad dynasty from 661 to 750. During the period, the influence of Islamic and Arabic culture had grown substantially. The Umayyads developed more complex political structures to facilitate their expansion through a centralized and dynastic state. Through taxation of non-Muslims, they subsidized political expansion. The Abbasid dynasty then followed the Umayyad and continued to attract more people into Islam.
Another factor that facilitated Islam success over the Romans was their beliefs. For example, the Muslims showed mercy to those who surrendered and subsequently joined Islam. Moreover, after conquests, they shared the benefits equitably and asked for fair tribute from the captives (Achuthan). Such beliefs and practices enhanced unity and inspired more people to join their cause. Additionally, they enjoyed success in battles over Romans due to the superiority of their articles, which became apparent even when the odds seemed against them. The Muslims depended on better intelligence and retrieved crucial information from dissenters and traitors. On the contrary, their opponents sometimes demonstrated poor tactics by failing to focus their cavalry promptly in defence. In some cases, the opponents used predictable ‘text-book’ tactics, like in the Battle of Qadisiyyah.
Conclusion
Muslims conquered the Sasanian and Roman empires with great success for several reasons. The simplicity and clarity of the Islam religion influenced a considerable following and triumph against the Sasanian Empire. Furthermore, support from locals such as peasants enabled the Muslims to overrun the Sasanian territory. Chaos and stability facing the pre-existing systems also gave the Muslims a huge chance to overwhelm the existing systems. The leadership that came after Mohammad’s death was proactive in military conquests to enable their rapid expansion in the Roman Empire. Leaders such as Umar used strategy and good military leadership to crush their opponents. The opponents also used inferior techniques despite having larger armies than Muslims. The Umayyad dynasty led to the further expansion of the Islamic empire.