Quick: Name the Middle East’s most successful (and brutal) colonizers
Westerners rarely apply the terms “colonialism” and “imperialism” to Arabs or Muslims, though the land they control is far larger than Europe or the United States.
Apr. 16, 2026
James Sinkinson
( Apr. 16, 2026 / JNS ) When we discuss great colonial powers, we usually think of Europeans—Britain, Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal. But often overlooked are some of the world’s most brutal—and successful—colonizers: Arab Muslims.
Indeed, what started as the unlikely dream of a single Arab—Islam’s founder, Mohammed— expanded into a mighty empire. While today the power and influence of Mohammed’s conquests have diminished, Arab Muslims still today control some 9% of the world’s land mass and 470 million of the world’s 8.3 billion people.
Not only did the religion of Islam obligate Arabs to conquer non-Muslim lands and impose Islam on subjugated peoples, they pursued their mission ruthlessly. Inspired Islamic warriors marched out of their Arabian Peninsula homeland with a goal of bloody conquest.
Over the centuries, the Arab Muslim march spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, marked by atrocities—from the destruction of indigenous cultural, and religious and linguistic communities to the slaughter of native people who resisted Muslims’ imperial religious fervor. Conquered peoples were required to convert to Islam or die, often by mass executions and beheading.
For hundreds of years, Arab Muslims were also among the greatest practitioners of slavery.
https://www.jns.org/opinion/quick-name-the-middle-easts-most-successful-and-brutal-colonizers
