EARLY ISLAMIC EXPANSION – Colonialism or Conquest

whenever generate content that touches upon Western colonialism or Zionist occupation I'm always reminded by some viewers of how Islam itself in its early days was colonizer of many peoples and territories how during its conquests of the 7th and 8th Century Islam suppressed the populations and forced upon them new faith and language echoing The Narrative that its expansionism was strictly conducted by The Sword and in my attempt to respond to these viewers with reason and fact simply couldn't break through what was this narrative that was confronting what was this Earth moving proof that had convinced them so deeply that they wouldn't hear anything was saying first let us quickly summarize the Zeitgeist of the times from political perspective and then assess what this Geographic expansion was and when it all happened during the life of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him Western Asia was dominated by two Empires that were in bloody and violent war that had lasted for over eight decades these two empires were the Byzantine and cenan empires in the Arabian Peninsula region that wasn't included in either's domain both intertribal aggression and constant raids were also concurrently rampant so basically it was bloody mess and when the fledgling faith became threatened in Medina by its various enemies in the early 7th Century the necessity for defense and thereafter the protection of its Believers had had to take priority for the Muslim Regional minority and with the battle of the saw the failed attack on Medina by the quray clan and their allies and thus began the eventual conquest of Islam overtaking the entire Arabian Peninsula during the lifetime of the Prophet peace be upon Him followed by the rashidun caliphate that saw the expansion span from the Eastern borders of Persia turkey to the north and Libya to the west and finally during the omay caliphate came the crossing of Islam into Afghanistan and the Indians of continent into the Northwestern African lands of the MB and into the Iberian Peninsula from 622 to 750 current ERA 120 years in all Islam has expanded across three continents now with this background we can indulge in the confirmation or repudiation of the element of colonialism in Islam's conquests but one more quick digression let's define colonialism in simple terms colonialism is when one more powerful people people invades and occupies another people usurps their rights and natural resources for the sole purpose of self andris like what the British French and Spanish Empires did to the world from the 15th to the 20th century as well as what Israel is currently doing in Palestine during the supposedly civilized 20th century century where Humanity had finally perfected the concepts of equality Justice and freedom and think this is very valid point to start with when looking back at history and assessing Islam's conqu ests what was equality Justice and freedom like back in the 7th and 8th Century World beyond the facts this Foundation is how we must establish our conclusions and how we must compare the behavior of Islam towards those conquered peoples relative to other nations of the time we can't expect Islam to behave as per 21st century standards or even the 20th century but even question that that Islam was actually more Humane than even the colonialists of the 20th century one would note when looking at the Islamic expansion and the short duration it took the accomplishments suggest speed of success unheard of it was true that both the Byzantine and cenan Empires had fought their way to their eventual collapse over the decades but still the number of Islam's military paled in comparison there are significant factors that played into this Dynamic these Empires had shown extreme oppression towards the inhabitants of those occupied regions while Islam exhibited tolerance and relatively Fair approach to those of other faiths in general in most of the conquered Nations the local inhabitants offered no resistance to the invading Muslims as they had little or Nothing to Lose by The Changing of the Guard in some cases such as in the Levant Mesopotamia and Egypt Islam was liberator and hence openly welcomed one aspect that differentiated Islamic forces from other preceding Victorious armies was that Islam had embedded within its belief system the rule Rules of Engagement during Warfare with humanitarian tenants that understood that there was to be the protection of women and children and to respect the property and symbols of other faiths yes there were occasions when individuals broke such tenants but these should be regarded as exceptions don't forget to join the Chronicles by subscribing to the channel and like it if you do actually like it and by clicking the notification button you'll be up to date on all new releases and this is where want to reintroduce this narrative that Islam was spread by the sword this is narrative originating at the time of the Crusades when the sole ambition was to discredit Islam and give it barbaric and Savage reputation common misrepresentation of this narrative was the supposed forc conversions of conquered peoples whereas the facts suggest that even prior to any imminent military engagement the Muslim generals would offer the options of conversion to Islam acceptance of zi status meaning the payment of an annual jiz tax or trying their chances at armed conflict and even upon Muslim Victory the first two options remained available and this widespread and well documented zi system that dealt with non-muslim citizens is proof positive that no Force conversions took place there was structure in place that allowed for religious continuity while also protecting the rights however limited 7eventh and 8th Century rights were with structure that maintained the retention of physical land and property property records show that in the varying lands conquered in the previous Byzantine and sesanian Empires Muslims were small minority during the early Islamic Reign ranging between 10 to 20% of the population up until century or two after the initial Conquest in certain cases such as in Iran and Egypt Muslims as majority of the population only came into being well into the 9th century how can that possibly be forced conversion another powerful counterargument for the case against Islamic colonialism is the fact that there was never really any extraction of resources out of the conquered lands and shipped off to meca back in Arabia in actuality trade and commerce throughout the new Islamic territories blossomed further during Islam's Reign and created series of powerful Cosmopolitan cities across the Empire that would eventually become some of the greatest and brightest cities on the planet within the next two centuries Baghdad Damascus Cairo and Cordoba while Mecca and Medina the supposed Colonial centers were humble in their expansion and prosperity for the next millennium plus question that can always be asked to further prove this point would the British ever have moved their capital from London to delh well to exhibit the difference the capital of the Muslim empire left the Arabian Peninsula with the coming of the OM caliphate never to return such decision only reflects that the Islamic empire wasn't about the benefit of one people Nation or territory over another but that new set of groups of United people inclusive of those conquered were now new nation that had much larger Collective aspirations one would think that islamization of Faith would result in the arabization of language but the reality was the opposite as the islamization of the populations took significant time to materialize learning the language of the faith Arabic was never forced onto others but the fast-paced assimilation of Arabic was principally due to the fact that it was the primary language of trade governance and law within the Islamic Empires as well as being language familiar to the populations of the Levant and Mesopotamia who were mainly Aramaic speakers arabization wasn't about the Muslim faith but was about integrating within civilization that was booming not just back in Arabia but everywhere it became the common language for non-arabs and non-muslims to prosper during the subsequent Golden Age thinkers and Scholars from across the Empire wrote and relayed in Arabic much in the same way that the English language spread all over the world during the 20th century due to globalization and technology so did Arabic achieve widespread acceptance for the sake of the transfer of knowledge and in aspiring to Prosperity one exception to this fluid expansion of both the faith and the language would be the conquests in North Africa during the time of the omad caliphate when Islam initially confronted the amzik tribes and conquered the remnant Byzantine strongholds the acceptance of the Faith by the indigenous people went as per the conquest of earlier territories but this soon changed with the omad leadership alienating the locals through very heavy taxation that were unfair and inequal to the taxes levied on Arab settlers resulting in many revolts and counter revolts that never really reconciled the state of the conquered territory this led to sort of autonomy of this new Muslim region that would see strong commitment to the faith but with reduced version of arabization as well as resistance for the integration of Arab Centric culture while retaining vast parts of the amzic identity this video is about how Islam was able to integrate group of peoples into single society and language irrespective of Faith merged them into series of subcultures and Subs societies that fundamentally had Muslim as well as Legacy systems governing them while at the same time the ability to retain their own unique and Indigenous attributes and nuances people that were Arab were both sedentary and nomadic were various religious systems and ethnicity all became Arabs and majority of them later on in history became Muslim and since it's partially Arabic language we're talking about this is what is referred to in Arabic as an umah meaning collective nation and in the case of the Islamic empire this included all Muslims and those protected under the tenants of the faith I'm unsure as to how anyone can link the term colonialism with early Islam's conquests none of the typical destructive behavior of colonialists were exhibited but guess it's really not about the facts for those viewers talked about at the very beginning it's about an opportunity for those who have no like to stand on when defending themselves to accuse others of inhumane conduct even if it was over 14 centuries ago so that they can deflect the attention from the recent and ongoing real abuses they are committing but I'm sorry that's not going to happen