Islamic Period
The rise of Islam led to large areas of the Near East coming under the rule of Muslim Arabs. This resulted in substantial Christian populations coming under Islamic rule.
Initially, the invasions were seen by the occupied as more like a large-scale raid with tribute being paid. Possibly the Arabs saw things in these terms themselves; certainly their policy was to allow the existing administration to continue, but the taxes gathered to be paid to themselves rather than to the Byzantine emperor or the Persian Shah.
Christians did not at first compose in Arabic, but continued to write in Greek, Syriac or Coptic. However, over time as conversions occurred, there was a need for works in Arabic. The first to write in Arabic was Theodore Abu-Qurrah and Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa.
Read more about this topic: History Of Arab Christians
Famous quotes containing the word period:
“His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America ... when Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There was, indeed, a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and savage, only the mild and infantile. The sentiments of humility and reverence chiefly were expressed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)