HIST&126 Journal #2

This assignment deals with the rise of Islam and the amazing success of the early leaders in expanding territory under Muslum rule. You have two approaches to conquest to read. First is a chronicle of victory. In the face of the Muslim expansion, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius gathered a large army which met the Muslim army at the Battle of the Yarmuk in Syria on 20 August 636. It was a crushing victory which gave Syria to the Muslims. Second, The Pact of Umar is the body of limitations and privileges entered into by treaty between conquering Muslims and conquered non-Muslims. The Pact was probably originated about 637 by Umar I after the conquest of Christian Syria and Palestine.

In addition to the conditions of the Pact, Jews and Christians paid a head-tax in return for protection, and for exemption from military service. They were also forbidden to hold government office. This Pact, like much medieval legislation, was honored more in the breach than in the observance.

Click on the link for the documents and answer these questions in a 300-500 word essay. Make sure you put these in context using the textbook. Use the documents as your examples.

The account of al-Baladhuri (ca. 892) shows the episodic and personal character of early Islamic historiography but also emphasizes the hostility of Syria to Byzantium and the welcome which the inhabitants of the former province accorded to their invaders. The Pact of Umar has served to govern the relations between the Muslims and "the people of the book," such as Jews, Christians, and the like, down to the present day. Why were the Islamic warriors so successful?