Were forced conversions common throughout Islamic history?

by Jsemps

I am currently finding it difficult to find a good informative answer on this, with the whole terrorist circlejerk going on. I am wrote a paper on Islam recently and am now quite interested in the religion and want to hear information from all sides in order to properly understand it.

I know that they would tax Jews and Christians, but I haven't found out much about what they did with other religions.

[deleted]

Essentially, Christians and Jews would be subjected to the poll tax, the jizya, and were seen as dhimmi, second class subjects - the word literally means "pay tribute" or "utterly subdued" - but they would not be forced to convert.

Those who were not Christians or Jews had to convert or die. EDIT: This stricture applies to discussions in Arab Spain.

See:

  • Tolan, John Victor. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, specifically p. 34ff.