THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE WAS DEFEATED AT THE BATTLE OF YARMUK IN 636 AD, JERUSALEM WAS TAKEN IN 638 AD, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE WAS DEFEATED AT NIHAVAND IN 641 AD, AND ALEXANDRIA (NORTH AFRICA) IN 640-641AD. SUPERIOR MILITARY TECHNIQUES, THE USE OF HORSES AND CAMELS, THE INCENTIVE OF BOOTY, AND FINALLY THE SUPERIOR MOTIVATION AND ENTHUSIASM OF AN UP-AND-COMING ARAB NATION, MADE THE VICTORIES OVER DECADENT SYSTEMS OF AGEING NATIONS INEVITABLE. IN THE BEGINNING ISLAM WAS CONSIDERED TO BE A KIND OF JEWISH-CHRISTIAN SECT. THE COPTS OF NORTH AFRICA REGARDED THE MUSLIMS AS LIBERATORS FROM THE YOKE OF BYZANTIA, AND THEY AIDED THE MUSLIMS IN WAGING THEIR WAR. UNDER THE KHALIFAHS, MECCA AND MEDINA WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT CENTRES. UNDER ALI, KUFA, DAMASCUS TOOK THEIR PLACE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE. SOON EXPANSIONIST ZEAL LED THE MUSLIMS AS FAR AS THE CHINESE BORDER, INDIA, SPAIN AND EVEN SOUTHERN FRANCE. AT THE BATTLE OF TOURS AND POITIERS (732 AD) THE FRANKS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CHARLES MARTEL TURNED THE TIDE AND THE MUSLIM FORCES WITHDREW TO BEHIND THE PYRENAES, A MOUNTAIN RANGE SEPARATING FRANCE FROM SPAIN. "FREEDOM OF RELIGION" WAS GRANTED BY THE MUSLIM CONQUERORS. CONVERSIONS FROM CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM TO ISLAM WERE ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED. CONVERSION FROM ISLAM TO CHRISTIANITY, HOWEVER, WERE SUBJECT TO THE DEATH PENALTY. THIS IS TO THIS DAY THE PRACTICE IN SOME ISLAMIC COUNTRIES. IN THOSE CONQUERED TERRITORIES THE ARABIC LANGUAGE USUALLY BECAME THE OFFICIAL MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION. ONLY TURKEY AND PERSIA RESISTED THIS POLICY OF ARABISATION WITH SUCCESS. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSIA TURNING TO ISLAM WAS, THAT A MATURE CULTURE, WHICH COULD WELL BE CONSIDERED SUPERIOR TO CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN CULTURE AND SCIENCE, WAS INCORPORATED INTO ISLAM. UNDER ISLAM, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, PHILOSOPHY (REVIVAL OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY), THE SCIENCES, PARTICULARLY MEDICINE, MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY, REACHED GREAT HEIGHTS. NAMES LIKE AL-KINDI, AL-ARABI, AVICENNA (IBN-SINA) AND AVERROES (IBN RASHID) EARNED FAME FAR BEYOND THEIR MUSLIM HOMELANDS. THE ARABS BECAME THE TUTORS OF EUROPE IN THE "DARK AGES". MUSLIMS UNDERSTOOD HOW TO PRESERVE AND REVIVE THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF SUBJECT NATIONS AND SUCCESSFULLY SYNTHESISED A NEW ISLAMIC CULTURE. UNDER THIS DISPENSATION, 3 200 CHURCHES WERE DESTROYED OR CONVERTED INTO MOSQUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE POPULATION, INITIALLY 90% "CHRISTIAN", EVENTUALLY BECAME ALMOST COMPLETELY MUSLIM. IT IS SAD TO OBSERVE, HOWEVER, THAT POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ADVANTAGES WERE THE MAIN INCENTIVE. IT IS PERHAPS DIFFICULT FOR OUR MINDS, BIASED AS THEY ARE BY TRADITION, TO ACCEPT THAT CONVERSIONS TO ISLAM DID NOT GENERALLY HAPPEN BY FORCE. THE COPTIC, SYRIAN AND ORTHODOX CHURCHES WERE ALLOWED TO PRACTISE THEIR RELIGION, BUT WERE FORBIDDEN TO CONDUCT ANY MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES AMONG MUSLIMS. THE MUSLIM WHO DECLARED FAITH IN CHRIST WOULD AT ONCE BECOME GUILTY OF APOSTASY (IRTIDAD), THE ONLY UNFORGIVABLE SIN IN ISLAM AND WOULD BE LIABLE TO THE D
