Syrian Monophysites welcomed Muslim conquest as deliverance from Byzantine persecution.

Evidence

God, who exacts his due and who determines sovereignty among people on the earth, will give power to whom He chooses. He may appoint even the dregs of mankind to be their rulers. When He saw that the measure of the Romans’ sins was overflowing and that they were committing every sort of crime against our people and our churches, bringing our [Jacobite] Confession to the verge of extinction, He stirred up the Sons of Ishmael and enticed them hither from their southern land. This had been the most despised and disregarded of the peoples of the earth, if indeed they were known at all. Yet is was by bargaining with them that we secured our deliverance. This was no small gain, to be rescued from Roman imperial oppression. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 283

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates the monolithic ‘medieval Christians feared Islam’ framing in the vault’s existing trope-genealogy claims — the conquered saw Muslims as liberators against a fellow-Christian oppressor.
• QUESTION: How widely shared was this Jacobite welcome of Muslim rule across other conquered Christian communities, e.g. Copts and Nestorians?