ABSTRACT
Historiography of the early conquests consists of thousands of reports of various lengths and characters. The diversity of these reports notwithstanding, many shares a common set of tropes, which recur in disparate renditions of similar, but unrelated, accounts, in geographical settings ranging from Egypt to Syria and to Iraq and Iran. It is the aim of this chapter to present in some detail this set of tropes and some select accounts are embedded. The inflated numbers of the enemy's troops and the significantly lower number of Muslim fighters is a recurrent theme in the conquest narratives. The formulaic distinction between the Muslims and their enemy features in messages sent by Muslim commanders and in addresses delivered to the population inhabiting the conquered territories. "Monks at night and warriors during the day" phrase is ascribed to Christian dramatis personae when describing the Arab warriors and thus encodes the Muslim's outstanding abilities and their superiority over their enemy.
