• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

How Arab Colonialism Conquered the Middle East

Schism

Destroyer of Propaganda
DP Veteran
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Messages
14,242
Reaction score
7,597
Location
Seattle, WA
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
How Arab Colonialism Conquered the Middle East | ProgressME Magazine | Medium

How did the indigenous peoples of the Middle East outside of the Arabian Peninsula become “Arabs?” A perspective on colonialism.

When referring to the Middle East, people automatically assume that one is referring to ‘Arabs’ and ‘Muslims’. So how did the entire region become Arab-Muslim when in fact it is a region composed of a diverse mix of ethnicities and religions?
Originally Arabs were a minority in the Middle East; they existed predominantly in the Arabian Peninsula. How did they expand? What happened to the other nations around them? Did they vanish?

The answers to the last couple of questions are, no they did not vanish, they are still living on their ancestral land to this day, yet have had very little international recognition or none at all. Arabs have managed to convince millions in the region that they share the same identity.
This didn’t happen overnight, it took many generations until the original identities of these peoples were wiped from their psyche. This campaign started with the Arab-Islamic conquests of neighbouring nations, through these invasions nations were made to submit to the new religion, Islam, as well as submitting to a whole new identity, the identity of the invader.

I stumbled upon this article from 2016 and found it an interesting read. I really don't hold a position on ME conflict, per say, but I've long suspected that Saudi Arabia was more involved in unrest than is typically cited. Anyways, it was informative.
 
Tabari VII:97 “The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, ‘Kill any Jew who falls under your power.’”

Bukhari:V1B1N6 “Just issue orders to kill every Jew in the country.”
 
Tabari VII:97 “The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, ‘Kill any Jew who falls under your power.’”

Bukhari:V1B1N6 “Just issue orders to kill every Jew in the country.”

not relevant
 
How Arab Colonialism Conquered the Middle East | ProgressME Magazine | Medium



I stumbled upon this article from 2016 and found it an interesting read. I really don't hold a position on ME conflict, per say, but I've long suspected that Saudi Arabia was more involved in unrest than is typically cited. Anyways, it was informative.

It actually started before the conquests of Arabia's neighbors. First they cleansed the Arabian Peninsula of the Jews who had been living there for a thousand years. Yathrib was a Jewish city in 622 when Mohamed arrived. Within 5 years the Jews had been evicted, enslaved, or slaughtered and Yathrib became known as 'al medinat al nabi (the city of the prophet), or simply - Medina. Then the rest of the peninsula was subdued. Only then did the Muslims branch out and start conquering their neighbors.

Let's all take a moment to let the love and peace of Islam wash over us.
 
The title chosen is misleading in that the spread of Islam to all areas was hardly an entirely Arab venture.

As such in India initial conversion was conducted by Arab traders but Muslim rule over the whole sub-continent was established later by Mongols or, respectively, their successors.

The Byzantine empire, while heavily but unsuccessfully beleaguered by Arab armies, did not run into far greater trouble until the arrival of the Seljuk Turks. The same, incidentally, that Crusader armies had to battle on their way to Jerusalem.

Central Asia initially succumbed to missionary work and would not spread the adopted religion by (coincidental) military force until later, again with few if any Arabs involved.

South East Asia saw no Arab invasion at all.

The conquest of Iberia was effected by Berber armies, albeit Arab-led, the peninsula later being twice subjected to invasions from what is now Morocco with no Arabs involved at all, but Arab elites til then ruling the Cordoba caliphate and the later taifas being toppled.

Just a few examples.

Saudi Arabia, cited in the OP as a cause of unrest, did not come into existence until centuries later and had no hand in any of it.
 
It would be interesting to see a historian draw a parallel between the Arab conquests which spread a language and a religion, with the Spanish conquests that did much the same in the new world. The latter was was brutal, involved some genocide, esp. in the Caribbean, even brought the (originally anti-Semetic) Spanish Inquisition with it. Love the phrase in the article, "the ultimate aim... was to amass great wealth under the pretence of spreading Islam." Cortez and Pizarro couldn't have said it better.

Much of "Arab territory" then fell to the Turks, who after their loss in WWI, saw Britain and France divvy up the area.
 
Last edited:
Nether Muhammad's armies nor subsequent ones of his followers from Medina ever "subdued the rest of the peninsula" as has been erroneously claimed here.

Prime example being Yemen whose various tribes accepted Islam only upon diplomatic overtures.

In fact they expelled the initially accepted Ummayad governor from Sana'a and proceeded to capture both Medina and Mecca around a hundred years after the prophet's death.
 
It would be interesting to see a historian draw a parallel between the Arab conquests which spread a language and a religion, with the Spanish conquests that did much the same in the new world. The latter was was brutal, involved some genocide, esp. in the Caribbean, even brought the (originally anti-Semetic) Spanish Inquisition with it. Love the phrase in the article, "the ultimate aim... was to amass great wealth under the pretence of spreading Islam." Cortez and Pizarro couldn't have said it better.

Much of "Arab territory" then fell to the Turks, who after their loss in WWI, saw Britain and France divvy up the area.
It would in fact be interesting to get to see, for starters, somebody addressing Arab history altogether.

BEFORE, that is, embarking on the usual bitch-fest of ignorance we constantly get to see from the usual suspects on here and elsewhere.
 
Mohammaed had an incredible burst of energy and an empire was forged
 
It actually started before the conquests of Arabia's neighbors. First they cleansed the Arabian Peninsula of the Jews who had been living there for a thousand years. Yathrib was a Jewish city in 622 when Mohamed arrived. Within 5 years the Jews had been evicted, enslaved, or slaughtered and Yathrib became known as 'al medinat al nabi (the city of the prophet), or simply - Medina. Then the rest of the peninsula was subdued. Only then did the Muslims branch out and start conquering their neighbors.

Let's all take a moment to let the love and peace of Islam wash over us.

tribalism in the 7th century

and?
 
Equating Islam with common tribalism is absurd. How many tribes were literally invented by one man, complete with how-to manual?

tons.

it was tribalism and always was in history
 
Actually tribes are different, somehow it became one, or close to one.
They are still killing each other.

tribalism and nothing else

war for evolutionary survival
 
source,citations?

what about the other hundreds of jewish expulsions?

Tabari VII:97 "The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared,
'Kill any Jew who falls under your power.'"

Bukhari:1.6 "Just issue orders to kill every Jew in the country."
 
It goes back to the expansion of Islam starting in the 7th century and continuing for hundreds of years. The area was a military target for many groups over the years. The three main players were the Byzantines, the Moslems and the Mongols. The rise of the Ottomans is a fascinating story. One of the most popular TV series in the Moslem world is about the rise of the Ottomans starting with Ertrugrul Bey and then his son, Osman. The empire was named after Osman. its on Netflix and believe me, it gets addicting. I have watched every episode at least once, fantastic story lines, incredible acting and the whole production is worthy of any Hollywood series. It was originally solely a Turkish TV series but it took off. Check it out.
 
Tabari VII:97 "The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared,
'Kill any Jew who falls under your power.'"

Bukhari:1.6 "Just issue orders to kill every Jew in the country."

7th century tribalism

next
 
Medium - Media Bias/Fact Check
Overall, we rate Medium Left-Center biased based on story selection that moderately favors the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to a lack of sourcing and some articles that promote conspiracy theories and pseudoscience.
A biased source. Does more need to be said?
 
Back
Top Bottom