nless chaos were to be the consequence. In fact, pre-existing
administrative regulations were so far retained that the old customs
duties on the former frontiers were levied as before, though they
represented an institution wholly alien to the spirit of the
Muhammedan empire. Those Muhammedan authors, who describe the
administrative organisation, recognise only the taxes which Islam
regarded as lawful and characterise others as malpractices which had
crept in at a later date. It is remarkable that these so-called
subsequent malpractices correspond with Byzantine and Persian usage
before the conquest: but tradition will not admit the fact that these
remained unchanged. The same fact is obvious when we consider the
progress of civilisation in general. In every case the Arabs merely
develop the social and economic achievements of the conquered races to
further issues. Such progress could indeed only be modified by a
general upheaval of existing conditions and no such movement ever took
place. The Germanic tribes destroyed the civilisations with which they
met; they adopted many of the institutions of Christian antiquity, but
found them an impediment to the development of their own genius. The
Arabs simply continued to develop the civilisation of post-classical
antiquity, with which they had come in contact.

This procedure may seem entirely natural in the department of economic
life, but by no means inevitable where intellectual progress is
concerned. Yet a similar course was followed in either case, as may be
proved by dispassionate examination. Islam was a rising force, a faith
rather of experience than of theory or dogma, when it raised its
claims against Christianity, which represented all pre-existing
intellectual culture. A settlement of these claims was necessary and
the military triumphs are but the prelude to a great accommodation of
intellectual interests. In this Christianity played the chief part,
though Judaism is also represented: I am inclined, however, to think
that Jewish ideas as they are expressed in the Qoran were often
transmitted through the medium of Christianity. There is no doubt that
in Medina Muhammed was under direct Jewish influence of extraordinary
power. Even at that time Jewish ideas may have been in circulation,
not only in the Qoran but also in oral tradition, which afterwards
became stereotyped: at the same time Muhammed's utterances against the
Jews eventually became so strong during the