Quote:Muhammad was a political leader who conquered lands.
That's the story they like to tell but the problem is that there is no contemporary evidence to that effect. IOW, the Byzantines and Persians did not seem to know who was "conquering" them. Somewhat odd wouldn't you say? There are occasional references in Byzantine literature to "Saracens" but this only refers to the people ( i.e. Arabs ) not to a religion. The term is first used by Ptolemy in Geographica, a second century work.
