The Battle of Guadalete which was fought in 711 between the Gothic king Roderic and the invading Arabs under Tariq decided the fate of Spain. With their usual rapidity they over-ran almost all Spain and Southern Gaul in little more than three years. Unfortunately, however, for themselves, they left a corner of Spain among the rocks of Galicia unsubdued which formed the nucleus of patriots which swelled into an army and forced its way southward recovering every foot of ground that their ancestors had lost. In this policy of persecution and intolerance they were but following the examples of the Goths before the invasion, who harassed and exiled the Jews in their country. Curiously enough, just about the time when Umar drove out the Jews and the Christians from Arabia, saying that its soil was for the faithful alone – in Spain at the Sixth Council of Toledo severe measures were being taken against the Jews. In 732 the Muslim Saracens of Spain made a great effort to add the whole of Gaul to their European dominions, but their defeat at Tours put an end to all schemes of the kind for the future.
The conquered Spaniards were treated with remarkable clemency, and there is good reason for thinking that the advent of the Arabs was hailed with joy by all classes of the population except the Gothic aristocracy. Even of these many settled down among their conquerors, and many an Arab chief traced back his lineage, with pride, to a Gothic noble or prince as his ancestor. The downtrodden slaves came over in great numbers, and purchased freedom and equality by the easy repetition of the formula of the faith of Islam. Captives taken in war were given the choice of Islam or immediate death in this way converts were said to be numbered in their thousands. But Arab self-interest was also at work and tended to restrain the Arabs from attempting to proselytize too much, for fear of diminishing the tribute arising from the jaziya tax on unbelievers. Many Christians, however, went over to avoid paying this small tax, or even to evade verdicts in the Christian Courts. The number of those who went over to Islam must have been very great, and these Muwallads, as they were called, soon formed a strong party in the state.
Although Spaniards became Muslims by birth and feeling, and though by no means friendly to the Spanish Christians, they were far from being on good terms with the Arabs and Berbers, whom they regarded as interlopers into their country, and by whom they were despised as having none of the noble Arab blood in their veins. A revolt occurred under Umar ibn Hafsun, who being a Muwallad by birth, afterwards became a Christian. Whether this was political or a matter of conviction is unsure, but continued Arab rule led to other conversions from Muwallads. No missionary agency, properly speaking, came into place on either side. Conversions were , as far as we have evidence of them, prompted solely by worldly motives; by fear; by domestic pressure; by love, gratitude, admiration or such emotions. Disputations on the relative merits of Islam and Christianity there may have been between monks and faqirs and controversial works of the rival religions there certainly were, but direct preaching was neither permitted to the Christians nor considered necessary by the Arabs. Any attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity, or any abuse of Muhammad, was punishable by death, but in all other respects the Christians were allowed to keep their own religion.
Meanwhile two large islands were added to the Muslim Empire. In 823 Crete fell and remained under the possession of Muslims until 960 when it was recovered by the Byzantines and the island of Sicily was conquered over a period of fifty years with Syracuse finally falling in 878. We hear of as many as 500 boys being circumcised in one day but the domination of the island lasted less than a century. With Sicily as a base of operations the Muslims even managed to get a foothold in the south of Italy occupying several ports for a number of years. Rome herself came near to being conquered and was actually pillaged by the Saracens. Fortunately for Christendom Rome never became a Muslim city, and the conquests of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain, removed the Muslim domination.
The Christian conquest of Spain was approaching its completion when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453. The youthful vigour of the Ottoman Turks and the martial and administrative genius of a long succession of rulers secured for Islam a new lease of life, and by the capture of Constantinople dealt Christendom a terrible and well-nigh fatal blow. For 800 years the imperial city had stemmed the tide of Islamic aggression, a respite of inestimable value to Christendom in Europe. The criminal desertion of the west towards the Eastern Empire in its sore need could have cost the West very dear, and it is little short of a miracle that Bajazet 2, the Ottoman Sultan, did not live to fulfil his boast and feed his horse off the high altar of St. Peter’s. If Rome had been captured by Bajazet, or the siege of Vienna (1529) under the arms of Suleiman the Magnificent had been successful it would have sealed the fate of all Continental Europe. The retreat from Vienna marked the turning point of the fortunes of Islam.
The dying injunction of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, to his son Orhan was “Give equal protection to all thy subjects and extend the law of the Prophet.” Adherence to this simple yet comprehensive precept may be taken as the secret of the success of the Turks in winning over so large a number of European converts. There seems to be nothing in the character of Europeans adverse to the reception of Islam.
Some in the past believed that Islam only found favour with a few Albanians and Bosnians, but this is notoriously not the case. Herzegovina became a province of Turkey in 1466, and a portion at least of the population became Muslims, the son of the Christian ruler, Stephen, being himself among the number. Montenegro affords a still more striking example, for though it was never conquered, a good number came over to Islam until it was rooted out by the stern measures of Daniel Petrovich. The Muslim converts being given the choice of death or baptism, mostly chose death. During the period immediately following the Ottoman occupation of Greece apostasy occurred among the Greeks, particularly those from the higher classes.
As time went by the toleration of the Turks was exchanged for bigotry, by way of reprisals for the intolerance of Christian powers in Spain and elsewhere, conversions among the middle classes became more and more common. The historians attribute this readiness to apostatize to the feeling of despair which their despised position called up in their minds, and to their desire to bear arms and mix in active life. However it be accounted for, the fact is indisputable. At the circumcision of Muhammad, son of Murad 3, in 1582, one hundred Greek, Albanian and Bulgarian Christians daily renounced their faith during the whole forty day period of Lent. Even among clergy and dignitaries of the faith apostates were found. In 1661 an ex-metropolitan of Rhodes, who had become a Muslim, was put to death. In 1675 three of the secular clergy of Corinth became Muslims. Five years later the remarkable fact is recorded of a renegade monk being beheaded for reviling Christ before the assembled council.
The wise policy of the Turks was to welcome those renegades and admit them, if qualified to the highest offices. Renegades were not looked down upon in Turkey as they were in Spain, and in one period of fifty years (1520-1574) it is recorded that eight out of the ten grand viziers were of the renegade class. In some districts such as Albania, Crete and the Greek island Euboea a large portion of the population embraced Islam, and by the end of the seventeenth century it is estimated that a million Muslims in Europe were the descendants of renegades.
Fortunately for the Christian cause, Islam failed to win over the Russians but she was unable to prevent the people of the Caucasus from joining the rank of her foes. Georgia was subdued by the Arabs in the thirteenth century. It is not known when Islam began to make way in the country, but we are told that in the fourteenth century Timur forced the king to renounce his faith, which was Christianity; and at some time later a portion of the Georgian nation was forced into Islam. Some assert that Alp Arslan and Malik were responsible for the forcible conversion of the whole nation.
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