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Was anybody but Arabs involved in the conquest of the early 7th century? Ie I'm sure other people took on Islam afterwards but he was talking about a specific p
by omonra 11y ago
Was anybody but Arabs involved in the conquest of the early 7th century? Ie I'm sure other people took on Islam afterwards but he was talking about a specific point in history.
We don't call the Spanish conquest of the Americas a Christian one even though they were Christians who ultimately converted everybody to Christianity.
- Cyph0n 11y agoQuite a few of the Prophet's companions were not Arabs, but yes the majority were. Nonetheless, it is more correct to identify as a Muslim before an Arab. What irritates me greatly is when historians refer to the Muslim scientists of the Islamic Golden Age as "Arabs", when most of them were not Arabs at all. It's such a simpleminded and sweeping generalisation that clearly shows the thoroughness of the so-called orientalists.
- morsch 11y agoThat seems like a silly thing to get greatly irritated about.
- omonra 11y agoImagine if all the great Scottish scientists were referred to as 'the English'. That might piss some people off.
- morsch 11y agoI'm sure some people track these sort of tribal affiliations between inhabitants of the British isles over the course of a millenium, too, but again I'd consider it a silly thing to get riled up about.
- omonra 11y agoI think people tend to care about these things when one nation is subjugated by another, more powerful one, which tends to exert its dominance. Hence the 'weaker' nation feels deprived of its history when its proudest moments are appropriated away.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- omonra 11y agoI think it may be the preferred nomenclature in the Muslim world since all the people who were conquered are now Muslim - so they should have an easier time accepting the fact of being Islamicized as that's their culture now (whereas bringing up the fact that they were conquered by a foreign people might stir up tensions). I agree with you about the second point. I guess it's due to the fact that they wrote in Arabic and many of the people they actually belonged to no longer exist (for example al-Khwārizm was from a Persian family but born in what is today Uzbekistan - I actually visited his hometown :)
- macspoofing 11y ago>What irritates me greatly is when historians refer to the Muslim scientists of the Islamic Golden Age as "Arabs" To me it's strange to ascribe such areas of study to the religion. What does Islam really have to do with optics besides Ibn Al-Haytham being a Muslim? No one ever ascribes enlightenment science as 'Christian science'.