Реферат: Islamic Conquests Up To 700 Ad

control.? Once Islam and the Islamic

state?s power had been created and legitimised successive leaders furthered

centralisation and control.? Sedentary

tribes were given precedence over nomadic ones.? Indeed Nomadism was frowned upon by the Islamic state.? By emphasising the dominance of the

sedentary tribes around Medina, notably the muharijun and the Quraysh, the

state associated power with sedentary, centralised tribes.? Further actions show a desire for the nomads

to settle.? Upon conquest individuals

were only permitted to receive the lucrative ata, or stipend, if they settled:

?the sooner one settles, the sooner one receives the stipend?.? This desire for settlement can surely be

seen as a form of control.? By

encouraging settlement the central authorities encouraged further control.The centralised administrative

structure enabled the Islamic state to organise and fund the conquests.? Traditionally historians viewed the Islamic

conquests as economically driven migrations, but evidence points to a more

organised and strategic movement.? The

first settlers or soldiers that had conquered territories did not bring women,

children and animals with them.? This

implies a stage-by-stage approach to conquest: overpower the occupiers and then

allow controlled migration.? The

interpretation that the Islamic conquests were a collection of random and

eclectic raids is also questionable.? It

can be persuasively argued that the conquests were centrally controlled.? The best example of central directive

authority is Umar?s decision to switch the great Khalid from the Iraqi frontier

to the Syrian frontier.? Donner furthers

these arguments by suggesting that the state had the power to tax and recruit

from all tribes via state run agents.?

He argues that Umar formed conquest parties by instructing his network

of agents to contribute recruits to the Islamic cause.? No historian seems to suggest that the

Muslims had any technological superiority over the great power, and in most

cases they were numerically outnumbered.?