Islamic conquests and expansion from "summary" of History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
The rapid conquests of the Arabs were the effect of their religious zeal and martial spirit; the former was kindled by the preaching of Islam, the latter was encouraged by the taste of victory and plunder. The religion of Mahomet depended on the success of his arms: the Koran inculcates a belief in the virtue of holy war; the Moslems, in their turn, were persuaded of their own merit and the weakness of their enemies. The Arab tribes were united under the common interest of faith and plunder, and the training of the desert gave them the advantage of intrepid courage and patient hardiness. The conquests of the Arabs were not only extensive but lasting; the conquest of Persia, Syria, and Egypt were not the result of a single campaign, but of a series of wars. The Arabs gradually extended their dominion over the provinces of the Roman and Persian empires, until they established a vast empire that stretched from Spain to India. The conquered territories were not merely overrun, but permanently occupied; the Arabs settled in the countries they had conquered, and their language and religion gradually supplanted those of the conquered peoples. The Arabs were not content with mere conquest; they also sought to spread their religion among the conquered peoples. The spre...
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