ABSTRACT: The world’s political and religious map was radically redrawn in the seventh century AD. Islam’s birth, growth, and rapid conquest of much of the world was due to factors that range broadly, from the traditional activities of Arabian tribes to the oppressive tax policies of the Roman/Byzantium empire. Despite the Muslim conquests, Christianity was never fully stamped out, not because of stout military resistance but because of the spiritual nature of new birth.
For our ongoing series of feature articles for pastors and Christian leaders, we asked Donald Fairbairn (PhD, Cambridge University), Robert E. Cooley Professor of Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, to describe the rise of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries.
