\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs24 The requirement that the \b \cf1 \ATXht48 Koran\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 be read in a common tongue, Arabic, is one of the fundamental e
lements of the universal character of \b \cf2 \ATXht10904 Islam\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . The spread of MuhammadÆs message, and the consequent conquest of faraway countries, occurred at a speed that had no precedent in history. Islam put down peaceful roots in
Arabia and then vanquished, one after the other, Mesopotamia (637), Syria and Egypt (641), Persia (650), and the \b \cf2 \ATXht11302 Maghreb\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 (670) as far as Spain. Not only armies converted people, who often freely adopted the new religi
on that promised equality among men and the abolition of slavery, but also merchants, able to reach the most remote places and to distribute the Koran without having to resort to\b \i \cf2 \ATXht11002 jihad\b0 \i0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , the holy war against unb
