Islam is often thought of as an Arab religionand for much of the 7th century

it was. The third major Abrahamic faith (with Judaism and Christianity,
religions that trace their origin to the biblical Abraham) arose in western
Arabia. Its prophet, Muhammad, was an Arab; its revealed scripture, the
Koran (Quran), is written in Arabic; and by the end of Muhammads life in 632
all the tribes of the Arabian peninsula had submitted to his authority. Arab-led
armies conquered territories from Spain to India within less than a century,
and they established a central administration, the caliphate, in which Arabs
held most of the positions of power and privilege.

Many Arabs came to view their astonishing military successes as proof of their
new religions superiority. This notion was apparently confirmed by the
rewards of new and unimagined wealth and status throughout the conquered
lands. Arabs acquired vast amounts of booty in battle, and following their
victories they assumed important and lucrative positions within the new
imperial government of the caliphate. Their new empire also gave them
control over trade, a situation highly favorable both to Arab merchants and to
government officials who collected tariffs.

It is not surprising, then, that the Arabs were loathe to share these vast
benefits with people outside the Muslim community. Nor is it surprising that
outsiders sought to become part of the privileged group. In large measure, this
tension underlay Islams dramatic transformation from a specifically Arab
cultural expression into a cosmopolitan, universal tradition within little more
than a hundred years.
Arab Acceptance of other Cultures

Although many people still believe Islam was a religion spread by the sword,
it is important to distinguish the spread of rule by Muslims from the spread of
Islam as a religious belief. The Koran states that there is no compulsion in
matters of religion, and the Muslim Arabs, desiring to preserve their power

and the mystery of their success, had little interest in bringing others into the
community. However, the Koran does enjoin Muslims to spread Islamic rule,
so that wherever Muslims live, they are not forced to live according to laws
that might go against their faith.

From the first major Arab conquestsof the former Byzantine lands of Egypt
and Syria to the west and north, and the entire Persian Sassanian empire to
the eastMuslims generally were content to leave existing systems and
infrastructures intact. As a traditionally tribal people, the Arabs had no
previous experience or models of their own for ruling a whole empire of nonArabs. They sensibly chose to leave things largely in place, while occupying
the top governmental positions and presiding as the ultimate authority in
important decisions. Administrative records were kept in Greek, Aramaic, or
Pahlavi Persian throughout the 7th century and even later in the east, and
coinage only gradually acquired Arabic inscriptions. Taxation systems
remained intact, and local communities within the new Arab territories were
mostly left under the legal jurisdiction of their own leaders. Centrally appointed
Muslim judges, or qadis, ruled only in major cases. Bureaucrats generally kept
their positions under nominal Arab bosses. In education, Christian, Jewish,
and other non-Muslim teachers continued to teach at the major institutions
(such as the medical school at Gundeshapur in southwestern Iran), often
instructing Muslim Arab students.

In fact, compared with conditions under the Byzantines and Sassanids, the
period of the Arab Umayyad dynasty (661-751) was one of extraordinary
religious and cultural tolerance for the non-Muslim subject populations. The
ruling policies of the Umayyads were driven less by benevolence than by
practical concerns, however. The Arabs considered Islam their own religion;
as long as they remained firmly in control politically, the traditions of the socalled protected peoples (conquered residents protected by the Muslims from
other invading armies) posed no threat. Furthermore, the Arabs were aware of
the many ways in which their subjects cultural heritages could benefit them as
rulers. The Umayyads allowed and encouraged the immigration of skilled
individualssuch as physicians, astronomers, and mathematiciansfrom the
Byzantine world. Many of these immigrants were members of unorthodox
Christian sects or were unconverted pagans who suffered persecution under

the Byzantines and found the Arab-ruled lands more hospitable. The Arabs
also were open to learning from the intellectual traditions of the classical
Mediterranean world, including the works of the Greek and Latin philosophers
and scientists, shunned by the Christian Byzantines. As a result of this
interest, many classical works were translated into Arabic; later these Arabic
translations were transmitted to medieval Europe, mainly through Spain.

Through the religious self-confidence of the Umayyads, the Muslim Arabs

benefited from the most useful aspects of the civilizations that preceded them.
Their adoption of a vast array of administrative, technical, and scientific tools
enriched their empire and shaped their own developing Islamic culture.
Consequences of Conversion to Islam

Many of the Arabs subjects sought membership in the community of Muslims

for the very reason that Arabs were protective of their privileged group.
Bureaucrats under Arab rule envisioned an increase in power through
conversion: They imagined that their relationships with their superiors would
improve and that their positions would be more secure if they adopted a
Muslim identity. Businessmen saw advantages in belonging to an increasingly
Muslim-dominated global trade network, in which Muslims were routinely
given favorable terms and concessions. Intellectuals hoped to win legitimacy
for their views and ideas by presenting them in an Islamic framework. By
converting, professional soldiers could fight in the Islamic army and thereby
hope to win booty and other benefits of the continuously successful Arab
campaigns. Some converts also might have seen an advantage in freedom
from the jizyah, or poll tax, that the protected peoples were required to pay
their Muslim overlords. The Muslims saw this as a protection tax because nonMuslims were not supposed to serve in the army. However, while some nonMuslims may have considered this tax discriminatory, during the first years of
the Umayyad caliphate the jizyah was significantly less than the heavy taxes
that had been exacted by the Byzantines and the Sassanids. Therefore, it
probably did not seem particularly onerous to most of the Caliphs subjects.

A problem facing those who wished to join Islamic society was that the society

was still organized according to Arab tribal norms. A major theme of the Koran
is the equality of all believers before God, but in reality hierarchical divisions
among the Arabs had never disappeared. Earlier converts and their
descendants felt entitled to special status, and clans from Mecca felt rivalry
with those from Medina. As certain clans immigrated to new homes
throughout the empire and acquired local power bases, tensions arose
between Arab groups in different geographical regions. Thus, while the Arabs
could define themselves as Muslims in relation to outsiders, among
themselves they remained keenly aware of the clan affiliations that formed the
basis of their identity within their own communities.

By definition, anyone who was not an Arab had no Arabian clan identity.
Becoming a Muslim was easy enough, the only requirement being the
recitation of the shahada, the profession of faith: There is no god but Allah,
and Muhammad is his Messenger. But becoming a member of Arab society
was another matter. For a non-Arab convert the solution was to seek an Arab
patron to serve as a sponsor within a given clan.
The Abbasid Revolution

The system of sponsorship by which non-Arabs gained admission into the

Muslim community did not guarantee them the full equality laid down in the
Koran. Each clients place within the Arabs clan-based social structure was
ensured only by the Arab patron, upon whom the client remained dependent.
By the late 7th century it seems that many of the converts were beginning to
express dissatisfaction with this state of affairs and to seek ways to assert
their equal rights as Muslims.

The clients were not the only dissatisfied Muslims, however. Discontent arose
among the various Arab clans over regional inequalities in political and
economic power. Many Arabs felt that the Umayyad caliphs and their families,
who ruled from Damascus (in present-day Syria), were imitating the corrupt
lifestyles of the ousted Byzantine governors. The Umayyads were accused of
drinking, debauchery, nepotism, and other vices. The conflict between the first
Umayyad governor, Muawiyah, and the fourth caliph, Ali, led indirectly to Alis

murder in 661. Likewise, it was Muawiyahs son Yazid who sent the army that
killed Alis second son, Husayn, and his followers at Karbal, Iraq, in 680.

The issue of legitimacy served as a rallying point for Muslims with all manner
of complaints against the Umayyads. For the many opponents of the
Umayyads, a natural alternative was to support the leadership of the House of
the Prophet, or Shiites. In Khorsnon the eastern Iranian fringe of the
empire farthest from the reach of caliphal powerwidespread opposition to
the rule of Damascus, in combination with popular pro-Ali sentiment within the
local military, inspired a revolt that succeeded in dethroning the Umayyads in
751. The movement was led by Iranian general Abu Muslim in the name of a
descendent of the Prophets uncle Abbas; hence the name of the new
dynasty, the Abbasids.
The Growing Influence of Non-Arab Converts

By the dawn of the 8th century the number of non-Arab converts was
increasing steadily, and with this increase came a corresponding rise in
influence. As Muslims with a recognized place in Islamic society, these
converts could claim access to the divine authority embodied in the Koran
alongsideand sometimes in competition withtheir Arab patrons. To do this
they had to learn Arabic, and they became the first Arabic grammarians. As
the converts adopted Arabic as the premier language of the increasingly
ecumenical Islamic culture, they transformed the very language itself. Those
engaged in translation work had an especially strong influence in shaping the
language. Arabic, originally a language of desert nomads, lacked vocabulary
for expressing many abstract scientific and philosophical concepts. The many
new words and expressions coined by translators converted Arabic into a
language of high civilization, capable of communicating the most complex and
sophisticated ideas.

As more and more non-Arabs came to identify themselves as members of the

Muslim community, tensions arose over norms of proper lifestyle and
behavior. The Koran explicitly addresses no more than a handful of legal and
lifestyle questions. Although many Muslims believe that, correctly interpreted,

the Koran contains guidance in all matters of life, interpretations often do not
concur. As long as all or most Muslims were Arabs, Arab social custom
prevailed when the Koran did not instruct otherwise. However, non-Arabs
often had different norms, and conflicts arose as the number of non-Arab
Muslims grew. Appeal to the common authority of the Koran did not always
resolve these issues, and Muslims sought a supplemental source of authority
in the example of the prophet Muhammad. The Koran validated this recourse
by stating, You have a good example in the Messenger of God. If one party
in a dispute could claim that the Prophet himself had set a precedent for a
given behavior or position, that was seen as authoritative for Muslims. This
could only be known, however, from anecdotes about the Prophet that had
been transmitted orally by those who had known him in person.

Many critically minded individuals assumed the task of collecting stories about
the Prophet. They attempted to establish the credibility of these stories by
analyzing the biographies of those who had transmitted them. The result of
this vigorous scholarly activity, which continued into the 9th century, was an
immense body of literature called hadiths. Most Muslims came to accept
hadiths as second only to the Koran in authority. It appears that the increasing
internationalism of Islam was key in bringing about the compilation of hadith
literature, because all six of the hadith collections recognized as canonical by
Sunni Muslims were compiled in the Iranian world. Some scholars have
speculated that it was the divergence in social norms between Arabs and nonArab converts that gave rise to the need for a commonly accepted basis of
authority. That is, as long as all Muslims were Arabs, questions not explicitly
addressed in the divine revelation would be resolved on the basis of Arab
norms; whereas, if the disagreement were between Arabs and non-Arabs, the
established norms of the respective parties would not be the same, hence the
need for a second authority.
The Rise of Iranian Influence

Under the Abbasids the imperial capital was moved to Mesopotamia, at the
western edge of the Iranian world. From that point on, Iranian influence on
secular and religious life was paramount. The new caliphs chose Iranians
(most notably from the Barmak family, or Barmecides, who formerly had been

Buddhist priests) for most of the important ministerial positions. Under the
influence of their Iranian advisors the Abbasids adopted the Sassanian
imperial system almost entirely, including court protocol, the system of tax
farming (local landlords collecting imperial taxes), the solar calendar and
equinox festivals, patronage of court literature, and music. They even adopted
the ideologies and symbolism of the pre-Islamic Sassanian emperors; these
ideologies and symbols were based on absolute kingship in which the ruler
was seen as the shadow of God on Earth.

The latter half of the 8th century saw an enormous rise in the prominence of
Iranian factors shaping the development of Islamic civilization. In 762 the
caliph Mansur built a new imperial capital between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers near the former Sassanian capital of Ctesiphon; the new city was called
Baghdd, Persian for given by God. Along with the Barmak family, other
Iranians attained high administrative positions under the Abbasids. Among
them was Ibn al-Muqaffa, who is best known for translating literary works from
Persian into Arabic. Although Arabic was not his native language, Ibn alMuqaffa viewed these translations as a means of asserting Iranian cultural
superiority.

This paradox goes to the heart of Iranian identity. Ibn al-Muqaffa was a
convert to Islam, and within a few centuries nearly all Iranians would become
Muslims. Yet it was the Arabsviewed as uncivilized inferiors by Iranians
since ancient timeswho had brought Islam to them. Even today, many
Iranians perceive the Arab destruction of the Sassanid empire as the single
greatest tragedy in Irans long history. In the 8th century, Iranian intellectuals
such as Ibn al-Muqaffa saw Persian translations into Arabic as a way of
establishing Iranian legitimacy and status throughout the Islamic world. These
intellectuals initiated a literary movement known as the shuubiyya, through
which works such as the Thousand and One Nights were translated into
Arabic and won their place in the world of Islamic literature. The shuubiyya
movement symbolized the many means by which Iranians and other nonArabs claimed Islam for themselves and integrated their history into Islamic
culture.

The power of the Iranian cultural heritage proved strong. Throughout

subsequent centuries, a heavily Iranian-influenced Islamic civilization spread
and took root across the Asian continent into India and parts of China. In the
11th century Mahmud of Ghazna, a recently converted Turk from Central Asia
who established Islamic rule in northern India, sought to legitimize himself by
sponsoring the composition of the great Iranian national epic, the Book of
Kings, which glorifies Irans pre-Islamic Persian past. Around the same time, a
Central Asian translator might write in his preface to an important work on
local history, Few people these days have the desire to read a book in Arabic.
Therefore, on the advice of friends, I have translated this book into Persian.
Continuing Legacy of Islamic Expansion

In little more than a century, the early tensions between non-Arabs and their
Muslim counterparts helped create the international religion of Islam. By the
time the Mongols destroyed the caliphate in 1258, Islamic literature, painting,
architecture, and education had been shaped by Iranian norms. When one
considers the earlier Iranian contributions to Islamic administration, finance,
law, theology, and philosophy, it is clear that Iranian culture played an
important role in shaping the development of Islama role that, as one
scholar has put it, was not less than that of Hellenistic civilization in shaping
the emergence of Christendom. During the same period the Islamic West,
Syrians, Egyptians, Berbers, Spaniards, and others also contributed to
development of Islam. And, from the 11th century on, Turks, Indians, and other
Asian peoples also brought new influences to the dynamic Islamic civilization.

Today less than 15 percent of the worlds 1 billion Muslims are Arab, and more
than twice as many Muslims live in South Asia as in the Arab world. From
Senegal to the Philippines, converts to this world religion have infused their
own native cultural traditions into the diverse reality that is the Islamic world.
Their continuing contributions are part of a process initiated by the first
converts more than 13 centuries ago[/color].

Richard C. Foltz is the author of Religions of the Silk Road and several other

publications. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.