What made non-Muslims convert to Islam, leading to the creation of the Islamic world?  Early historical sources -- both Muslim and non-Muslim --make clear that the Islamic empire was forged by the sword; that people embraced Islam, not so much out of sincere faith, but for a myriad of reasons -- from converting in order to enjoy the boons of being on the “winning team” to converting in order to evade the dooms of being on the “losing team.” Modern-day Muslims and other apologists -- primarily in academia, government, and mainstream media -- reject this idea. They argue that the non-Muslims who embraced Islam did so from sheer conviction; that the ancestors of today’s 1.5 billion Muslims all converted to Islam due to its intrinsic appeal; that the modern day coercion and persecution committed by the Islamic State and other organizations is an aberration. Of course, as mentioned, the primary texts of history are full of anecdotes demonstrating...(Read Full Article)