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Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask this question.
I’m a Muslim revert and I was wondering what the impetus was for the early Caliphal Muslim conquests? I understand the unification of the Arabian peninsula, but starting with the Rashidūn, ie Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali (RA), all the way to the end of the Abbasids, what was the point or purpose of the conquests into places like North Africa, Italy, Iberia, Persia, and India?
I understand that Islam is the religion of peace and teaches that there’s no compulsion in religion and to never be the aggressor, but I can’t wrap my head around why there were all of these quote-unquote “conquests” by the Muslims across the old world. Was it imperialism and greed that motivated these, or the desire to genuinely and sincerely spread the religion?
I’ve heard some Da3wis and other speakers say that in some cases (like Spain/Andalus, the Roman territories of the Levant, etc) the Muslims were “invited” by the common people living there to overthrow their “wicked and oppressive government” but I haven’t seen any historical evidence of this anywhere and it seems to be hearsay. Is there any evidence of non-Muslims living in foreign lands inviting and being happy under Muslim rule? A lot of things I’ve seen show that people by-and-large resisted conversion or saw Muslims as invaders and despots, but also the overwhelming population of Muslims in those lands today seem to contradict that.
If anyone could clarify this it may improve my Iman. If the answer is simply imperialism/colonialism, that would be fine and I could mentally chalk it up to some Caliphs that were less than rightly guided.
"Ramirez, destroy the two most powerful empires in the world! Now!"