had about 40 converts. The new doctrine took shape in Mecca, and the number of converts rose to approximately 100. A period of persecution followed, leading to the Hijra, or emigration to Medina. In time, the ideological struggle between the Meccans and the Muslims developed into an armed conflict. This began when Mohammed raised a party of 300 to set an ambush at the well of Badr on the road to Syria:
The Battle of Badr is a landmark and had far reaching consequences. it sanctioned a concern for material existence and the use of force as a means of survival, and both were built into the foundations of Islam. . . The victory was interpreted by the Muslims as a sign that the city of Mecca would fall and that all Mohammed's opposition from Christians, Jews and pagans was in the wrong. Mohammed henceforth saw his task as overcoming all opposition.
At the beginning of the 7th Century, after some three centuries of struggle, the Near and Middle East was divided between Byzantium and Persia. After the death of Muhammad there was a sort of constitutional crisis. This was resolved by the imposition of Abu Bakr as sole successor to the Prophet. He was the head of the region, with executive powers and an army. He first countered military action among the tribes known as the Ridda, a word that means apostasy. The war with the Ridda developed into a war of conquest leading far beyond the boundaries of Arabia to Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Initially, each of these invasions constituted an expansion of the Arab nation, not of Islam. The role of religion in the conquests was overestimated by early writers. The Arabs took over only state lands and the lands of enemies of the regime. The Muslims did not interfere with the internal civil and religious administration of the conquered peoples. Islam was identified by this time with Arabism, and this was apparent as non-Arab Muslims flocked to the faith. During the reign of 'Uthman t...