78 DESTINY DISRUPTED
When I say Islamification, I mean that growing numbers of people in
territories ruled by the khalifa abandoned their previous faiths-Zoroastrian,
Christian, pagan, or whatever-and converted to Islam. Some no doubt
converted to evade the poll tax on non-Muslims, but this probably wasn't
the whole story, because after conversion people were liable for the charity
tax incumbent on Muslims but not on non-Muslims.
Some may have converted in pursuit of career opportunities, but this,
too, can be overstated, because conversion really only opened up the religion-
related careers. The unconverted could still own land, operate workshops,
sell goods, and pursue business opportunities. They could work for the
government too, if they had skills to offer. The Muslim elite did not hesi-
tate to take from each according to his abilities. If you knew medicine, you
could be a doctor; if you knew building, you could be an architect. In the
Islamic empire, you could become rich and famous even if you were a
Christian or a Jew, the ''Abrahamic" religions, or eventually Zoroastrian,
even though this was more distant from Islam.
But most people, I think, in the world Muslims came to rule, converted
to Islam because it looked like the Truth. Certainly, no other force or move-
ment in the Middle World at this time had the muscular self-confidence
and the aura of inexorable success of Islam. Who would not want to join
the Umma if they could?
And they could. It was easy! All a person had to do was say "La illaha
if-Allah wa Muhammad ur-Rasulillah':· "There is no god but God and Mo-
hammed is his messenger." That's all it took to gain membership in this
triumphant dub.
But the core creed was much more loaded than it may have looked at
first blush.
"No god but God"-that phrase alone has engendered countless thou-
sands of volumes of commentary, and no one has yet come to the end of
what it means.
And on top of that: "Mohammed is his messenger!" Sign on to that
one, and you've accepted everything Mohammed prescribed as Messenger.
You've committed yourself to five daily prayers; to avoidance of pork; to
the Ramadan fast; to sobriety; and to much, much more.