Islam conquered most of the Christian Roman Empire in its first century

Evidence

In a sense, early Islam defined itself against Christian faith and power. The earliest Muslim religious monuments, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the great Umayyad mosque in Damascus, were consciously built to vie with the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem and the great Christian churches of Syria. The inscriptions inside the Dome and on the gold coins, struck by the Caliphs in deliberate defiance of what had until then been a Roman prerogative, announce the rejection of Christian errors and the supersession of Roman power by the bearers of the new Islamic order. In medieval Muslim writings, the Byz­ antine Empire is the “House of War” par excellence, against which the final and greatest jiha¯d must be waged. These were no simple heathens to be instructed and absorbed, but the supreme rivals, and they are treated with the suspicion— and respect—appropriate to that status. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 655 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early Islamic identity was forged in rivalry with Christian Rome — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 655; Most Near Eastern Christians converted to Islam within three centuries of conquest; Political conquest enabled sharper Christian polemic against Islam — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 830 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Early Islamic identity was forged in rivalry with Christian Rome #expands (1.00) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 655
• Most Near Eastern Christians converted to Islam within three centuries of conquest #complicates (0.90)
• Political conquest enabled sharper Christian polemic against Islam #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 830
• Subject Christian minorities viewed Muslim conquest as deliverance from Roman persecution #complicates (0.80)
• The negative portrait of Islam underwrote Christian imperial rule centuries before modern empire #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 907
• Islamic conquests disestablished Christianity without systematic persecution #complicates (0.70) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 115
• Early Muslims framed conquests as God-given triumph of the weak against mighty empires #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 267
• Initial Christian leaders read the Muslim conquests as divine punishment for sin #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 294
• A medieval Christian tract presented early Muslim conquests positively using Muslim sources #complicates (0.70)
• Muslims under Christian rule sustained hope of Islam’s eventual triumph. #complicates (0.70) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 852
• Medieval Christians first classified Islam as heresy within their own taxonomy #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 738
• Christian polemic against Islam rooted in Muhammad’s military success endured from the seventh century #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 233