Islam’s success in expanding into the central Middle East and in across North Africa was due in large part because people were fed up with previous regimes. So the idea that Muslims were going across the world saying, “convert or die” is really not accurate, not at all. But they didn’t have a heavy hand. They didn’t rule with a heavy hand. They allowed the conquered peoples to maintain their administrative structures. They allowed the Christians and the Jews to maintain their religious law and to be governed by them. So in many cases, the conquered peoples did not feel the presence of the new regime very heavily. 

 

Certainly for individuals who felt themselves exploited or downtrodden by an oppressive, and even sometimes parasitic priesthood, the idea of Islam being a religion essentially free from clergy must have seemed very attractive.

 

It is the times that create the movement and sometimes the man. The Roman Empire had collapsed. The Byzantine Empire wasn't strong enough. There was a need for a new vision, a new way of looking into life. And I think what happened at that time Muhammad's mission filled the void that the societies wanted. They really wanted some sort of solidarity in their lives.

 

The lessons of the Koran, so successful for the Muslims in Medina and Mecca were playing out on a global scale. As the conquest swept through Syria, the Muslims held their Friday prayers in the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Damascus, allowing its Christian congregation to continue their services on Sunday. Side by side, the two faiths shared the same building in peace. As the Muslim community grew, they bought the old church from the Christian congregation and built a huge mosque on the site.