ABSTRACT
It is a common misapprehension that the holy war meant that the Muslims gave their opponents a choice "between Islam and the sword". This was sometimes the case, but only when the opponents were polytheists and idol-worshippers. It was in this way that the Arabs were able to expand so rapidly and to keep on expanding. The full citizens or Muslims received a stipend from the treasury and were able to devote themselves almost wholly to soldiering. The Spain which was conquered so easily by the Muslims suffered from grave internal weaknesses. It was in April or May that the first substantial body of Muslims set foot in southern Spain, and saw Andalusia in its most attractive mood. This was not quite the earliest Muslim contact with Spain, but what went before can be discerned only dimly through a haze of legend.
