Re: The bible in Islam
Iconoclast, you seem to be suggesting that mass conversions occur when
A group of people are impressed by culture/civilization of another group.
When there are social and economic benefits of conversion.
When they (Religions) were sponsored by state.
In the case of Arab invasion of Byzantium,
To 3. This is true. Once a king or ruler adopts a religion the citizens may follow. The Byzantine State, however, was headed by the Christian Emperor Heraclius. He did not convert. So this is not why the Christians would have aided the Muslim Arab invaders defeat the Christian State & army or adopt the language and religion of the invaders.
To 1 & 2. There were no economic and social benefits of becoming a Muslim in the Byzantine Empire. Infact, aiding a foreign Arab invasion and killing Christian troops in an uprising against the Byzantine Empire probably resulted in death. There are no economic or social benefits to being a traitor in any socieity. So, this too could not be a reason for Byzantine Christians to aid the Muslim Arab invaders defeat the Christian State and Army or adopt their language and religion.
As far as being impressed by another nation is concerned, I thought you were trying to be reasonable and logical- an iconoclast? Did you ever see the Hindu nation adopt Christianity and English, after becoming impressed by the British, when the Bristish ruled India? Did you see the Chinese adopt English and convert to Christiainity? Did the North Africans and Middle Eastern Muslim nations adopt French or Italian and convert to Christianity? Have the Palestinians adopted Judaism? Did the Hindu adopt Islam after being impressed by the Mughals? The answer is always a no. Like I said before, we have seen the inability of 100 million Arabs to change the mind of a few million Jews in Israel, so it is hard to believe that a few thousand fundamentalist Arabs changed the minds of millions of Christians. Where have you seen inhabitants of a great and powerful nation impressed by a weak and small foreign nation, rapidly changing their religion and language, fighting against their own army, overthrowing their own government to help that weak foreign nation take political control over themselves?
Bob
Like I said, "I also dont find any examples of such a thing in modern history, where a small outside minority convinced a large majority to abandon their religion and language, and rise up against their army & government to enable a foreign minority to govern them."