Ridda Wars - Aftermath

Aftermath

With the collapse of the rebellions and Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph at Medina, Caliph Abu Bakr now decided to expand the empire. It is unclear what his intentions were; whether it was a full scale expansion plan or preemptive attacks to secure more territory to create a buffer zone between the Islamic state and the powerful Sassanid and Byzantine empires. This set the stage for the Islamic conquest of Persia to begin. Khalid was sent to the Persian Empire with an army consisting of 18,000 volunteers to conquer the richest province of the Persian empire: Iraq. After the successful conquest of Iraq, Abu Bakr sent his armies to invade Roman Syria, a main province of the Byzantine Empire.