4. LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY

4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity ~ 170 ~ Giving many further instances of the freedom of thought and expression during the Muslim period, Arnold has written that those Roman provinces which were rapidly conquered by Muslims suddenly found themselves in such an atmosphere of tolerance as had been unknown to them for centuries. Such tolerance was quite striking in the history of the seventh century. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Professor Arnold mentions another incident which took place during the rule of the Abbasid Caliph, alMamun (813-833). When al-Mamun came to know that the enemies of Islam declared that it owed its success to the sword and not to the power of argument, he summoned a great assembly of the leaders of all the religious bodies of the period. In this meeting, the Muslim doctors defended their religion against the imputation, and the unbelievers acknowledged that the Muslims had satisfactorily proved their point.86 Professor Arnold goes on to say: “Al-Mamun himself was very zealous in his efforts to spread the faith of Islam ... but he did not