ABSTRACT
The Arab conquests following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in AD 632 changed the face of the world for ever. In the year 600 there were no Muslims, and Arabic was spoken only in the Arabian Peninsula and the fringes of Iraq and Syria. No Arabs lived in Egypt or North Africa; Syria and Egypt formed part of the Greek-speaking Christian Byzantine Empire; and Iraq and Iran were ruled by a fire-worshipping Zoroastrian, the Sasanian King of Kings." "Yet in just a few decades this old world order came to an end: by 641 Arab Muslim armies had conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Iraq; by 700 all of North Africa; and by 720 Spain, Pakistan and much of Central Asia. The speed of the conquests is astonishing, but even more is the fact that they proved to be permanent: Syria, Iraq, Egypt and North Africa all became Arabic-speaking Muslim countries, and in Iran, although Arabic never replaced the ancient Persian language, Islam became the dominant religion.