By the second and third
centuries the Arabs had disappeared as the standing army of the
caliphate, or, in other words, as a body set apart for the dissemination
of the faith. The crusading spirit, indeed, ever and anon burst
forth--and it still bursts forth, as opportunity offers--simply for the
reason that this spirit pervades the Koran, and is ingrained in the
creed. But with the special agency created and maintained during the
first ages for the spread of Islam the incentive of crusade ceased as a
distinctive missionary spring of action, and degenerated into the common
lust of conquest which we meet with in the world at large.
[Sidenote: With cessation of conquest, Islam ceased to spread.]
The extension of Islam, depending upon military success, stopped
wherever that was checked. The religion advanced or retired, speaking
broadly, as the armed predominance made head or retroceded. Thus the
tide of Moslem victory, rushing along the coast of Africa, extinguished
the seats of European civilization on the Mediterranean, overwhelmed
Spain, and was rapidly advancing north, when the onward wave was stemmed
at Tours; and as with the arms, the faith also of Islam was driven back
into Spain and bounded by the Pyrenees.
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