The Influence of Turks in Early Islamic Armies

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The Influence of Turks in Early Islamic Armies
Introduction
Turks have been enormously influential in the history of Islam. Turkic-speaking people from Central Asia were early converts to the new religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad, which spread inexorably outward from Arabia after 632 C.E., and took an important role in the formation and leadership of early Islamic armies, including those of the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Seljuks.
From roughly the thirteenth century C.E. onwards, Turkic states and empires began to play increasingly prominent roles in the Near and Middle East, culminating with the formation of the Ottoman Empire in 1281. From that time onwards, the military role of Turks in Islam has received a great deal of scholarly...

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