ABSTRACT
The Muslim Empire, as it took form in the early period, was an Arab military state. Using Bedouin military experience and turning its energies from internal raiding and feuding toward fighting the infidel, the Muslim state rapidly gained power. Under capable administrative leadership, the Arab conquerors instituted an orderly process for collecting revenue and for distributing it by means of the army register, or diwan. Conquered people were guaranteed their civil and religious freedom as djimmis in return for their submission to Muslim rule and taxation (often a more attractive arrangement than the older empires had afforded). The Arabs themselves lived in garrison towns segregated from the conquered populace; they had no intention either of blending into the local life or of inviting their new subjects to become like them. Forced conversion of the djimmis was rarely an issue because the Muslims considered their religion, their Arab background, and their privileged status as conquerors and tax recipients to be inextricably connected. To promote religious unity and to safeguard against any possible deviations from the faith, Umar did much to establish the forms of worship and to promulgate knowledge of the Koran in the garrison towns. The center of social life in such towns became the mosque, and the military leader himself emphasized the religious character of the community by personally leading the people in prayer.
