Why did Islam and the Arabs succeed in spreading throughout the Greater Middle-East/Gulf against the - Essay Example

The Arabs in the Middle East had quite a strong conquest that was aimed at spreading a new faith to the region and was marred by misery, oppression and massacre. The three events occurred against those that opposed the Arabs and their quest for dominance in the region. The state religion imposed upon the Persians was Islam and conversion to the new faith was the main agenda of the Arabs, which led to the destruction of the traditional creeds and culture. As a result, the Arabs went about their business of conquering the Middle East by commandeering the schools, universities and libraries.

This was a strategy that saw the Arabs dominate most of the Middle East since they weeded out the original culture; that did not see Islam as the state religion or even as a religion as a whole.The spread of Islam was also successful since the Arabs applied a form of scorched earth policy only that their policy was against culture. The general, in charge of the expansion and spread of Islam, burnt all forms of literature that contradicted Islam. This attempt to annihilate completely the traditional culture and everything went against the Koran.

A large library and collection of literature was burnt while a part of the collection was thrown into the river Euphrates.1 In addition, a large number of scholars and historians, as well as literate persons in the Middle East were killed. This made the spread of Islam and Arabs in the Middle East highly successful and worth mentioning to the present times. The Omayyad and Abbasids Arab empires had a number of military successes despite having different means of handling the economy, politics and social fields.

The military of the two dynasties had strong military successes considering the military that ruled the dynasties and exercised direct control over every aspect of the nation. This can be seen by the control the military had in the economic affairs of the nation, where it controlled all the tributes that came from the provinces for the leader.2 This created a stronghold, economic, for the military so that they could control how finances flowed throughout the nation. In addition, the military worked towards the spread of Islam in the provinces and new territories as is seen in the conquest against the Meccans by the military.

In the Islamic civil war, the Umayyad military came to power by winning over the rest and at the end of the war; the same military brought all Muslims together which was done irrespective of the nationalities of the people. In addition, the Umayyad military brought about improved communication by making Arabic the official state language that was used by the different Arabic states, where it replaced all Greek and Persian officials.3 This brought about the success and provided dominance for the Arabs and the Umayyad, as well as Abbasids military.

In conclusion, the Arabs succeeded in spreading Islamic faith by the use of a strong military that used the scorched earth policy. This was in relation to eliminating anti-Islamic culture and inducing Arabic through their militaries as is the case for the Umayyad and Abbasids militaries that played a key role. ReferencesSandlot. (2009). The Caliphs of The Umayyad and Abbasid Empires. Socyberty. Retrieved from http://socyberty.com/history/the-caliphs-of-the-umayyad-and-abbasid-empires/Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d).

Umayyad dynasty. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/613719/Umayyad-dynastyBahamian, D. (1996). The History of Zoroastrians after Arab Invasion; Alien in Their Homeland. The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/Post-Sasanian/zoroastrians_after_arab_invasion.htm