A.M. Lothrop Stoddard



“The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history. Springing from a landand a people previously negligible, Islam spread within a century over half the earth, shatteringgreat empires, overthrowing long established religions, remoulding the souls of races, andbuilding up a whole new world - the world of Islam.
“The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it (Islam) appear. Theother great religions won their way slowly, by painful struggle, and finally triumphed with theaid of powerful monarchs converted to the new faith. Christianity had its Constantine, Buddism its Asoka, and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lendingto his chosen cult the mighty force of secular authority.
“Not so Islam. Arising in a desert land sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previouslyundistinguished in human annals, sailed forth on its great adventure with the slenderesthuman backing and against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed with seeminglymiraculous ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery Crescent borne victorious from thePyrenees to the Himalayas and from the desert of Central Asia to the deserts of Central Africa.”