Dar al-Islam: The House of Submission

I'm about to get started, update later today, so here I'll answer your questions:

General_Grant, Simon-1979: I chose the Iranian flag because it is a flag of an Islamic theocracy, much as Dar al-Islam is. The Saudi flag is out because it is from the Kingdom of Nejd, which is a seperate country. The Arab Federation flag is the flag of the country that they just spent three years overthrowing, so it would be odd to have their flag. The 'Western' opposition, however, has no grounds. The Persian flag used at the time is similar, but you do not accuse them of being Western.

Marchalk_Zjukov, lifeless, chefportnen: I have a base IC of 25; that will change soon. My tech teams I admit are very good for a country of this size, but the size problem will be changing soon, and besides, I won't be able to use them until I have more IC.

ju87: Thank you. I have worked very hard to find areas with a Muslim-majority.

stabsoffizier, General_Grant: I will put all of my files up later. They are very rough, not meant for release, but they get the job done. Here are my cores:


likk9922, chefportnen, Karelian, bbcrackmonkey, etc.: I want to remind everyone of something I said in the beginning:

I will have this rule in regard to non-Muslim land: after I have controlled it for six months or more and there is no dissent in that land, then I will add cores to signify that land becoming Muslim and, thus, part of Dar al-Islam.

I have been looking for land with a Muslim majority, or >50% Muslim. If I have missed out some areas, it is because they have <50% or I thought that they would not be suitable to claim for another reason. As for Spain, it is Catholic. If and when I conquer it, it will become cored and Muslim after the above requirments have been met. I am not going for traditional Muslim land, I am going for modern Muslim land, and any area I conquer will become that.

EDIT: This rule is no longer in effect.

First Expansions​

"You ask of me, 'Why will the infidels allow us to expand? Won't they stop us while we are weak?' The Westerners will do no such thing. How many Britons are willing to die for the independence of Turkey? How many Frenchmen would die for Albania? How many Italians would die for Persia? The answer is that none would. They oppress our fellow Muslims in Africa and Indonesia, yet claim to be governments 'of the people'. How could they object to us freeing our brothers, our people, from similar oppression?"

Abu Bakr, Baghdad, 1936

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The following is an excerpt from The First Beginnings: A Look at the First Wars of Dar al-Islam by J. Perry:

. . . civil war ended, Bakr began to immediately look outward towards expanding his Islamic theocracy to Muslim lands. There were several Muslim countries surrounding his: Turkey, Persia, and Albania were all within reach. He chose the latter, and of Feb. 4, 1936, he declared war on Albania (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1​

Albania was a good choice for several reasons: it had a modest population and industrial base, it was easy to conquer, and it was accessible by sea. The rickety and antiqued ships of the DaIN (two WWI vintage destroyers inherited from the Arab Federation and enough transports to carry a corps of the Mujahideen) set sail from Tel Aviv and soon were along the coast of Albania. Within three days, Albania surrendered (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2​

Bakr laid low for the next few months, letting the Western objection to blow over and preparing for his next war. He brought his revolutionary army, 180,000 strong and growing, to the northern border. His army, the 'Mujahideen', carried weapons from World War I and was not very well trained. Bakr had the Mujahideen Training Division work on modernizing the army, but it would be months before the weapons were available for mass-production and the new doctrines released. Until then, Bakr was stuck with his second-rate army, but that would not stop him from more wars.

Bakr's next victim was the Republic of Turkey, when war broke out on April 4 (see Fig. 3). Turkey's industry was almost the size of Dar al-Islam's, and (including Albania) the conquest of it would double the industry at Bakr's disposal.

Fig. 3​

During April, the Mujahideen was hard at work (see Fig. 4). The Turkish Army was just as badly equipped as theirs, but they were the same size and had the advantage of being on the defensive. At first, however, the Mujahideen was unopposed with much of the Turkish Army in the western half of that country. When the Turks moved east, the DaIN landed an understrength corps at Istanbul, enough to occupy and defend the city but not much else, beside tying up enemy troops.

Fig. 4​

May was spent solidifying control and securing the flank (see Fig. 5). The westernmost armies were told to simply hold their ground while the eastern armies would secure the eastern half of the country and move around to the north. This was done without opposition.

Fig. 5​

July was continuing the task of May (see Fig. 6). The poor roads of Turkey made moving slow, which worked both for and against the Mujahideen. The advance was slow, but the Turkish Army was just as slow arriving from the west. The southern units still held their ground (and were pushed slightly back) while the northern units caught up to the line.

Fig. 6​

While the war went on, Spain erupted in Civil War. Abu Bakr thought of intervening, but the range was too far for the DaIN and he could not free troops with the war with Turkey.

Fig. 7​

During the month of July, Dar al-Islam captured all of the land in eastern Turkey and was advancing on Ankara, the capital (see Fig. 8). Turkey was in its last death throes.

Fig. 8​

August would see Istanbul connected to the rest of Dar al-Islam's land (see Fig. 9), and Ankara conquered. The now full-strength corps from Istanbul would aid in the push south for Turkey's last remaining strongholds. The Turkish Army was cracking, and rumors of mutiny spread throughout their ranks. Many escaped from their lines towards the Mujahideen's, where they were welcomed and soon fought for Bakr.

Fig. 9​

Just nine days later, the Republic of Turkey surrendered to Dar al-Islam (see Fig. 10). This would spread Bakr's land to the extent of the Ottoman Empire before WWI and more, with Albania. Dar al-Islam was now a force to be reckoned with, with a good-sized industry about 2/3 the size of Italy's. Abu Bakr now chose the title of Caliph, to fit his vision of uniting the Muslim world. . .

Fig. 10​

NiseJapanses said:

Whoa! Won't that lead to a steamroller of a campaign? You'll be gathering momentum rather fast... I can see a J curve already.

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How about this: six months for non-partisan land (Africa, Southern Asia), and what? A year, a year and a half, or two years for Europe, Northern Asia, and the Americas. That sound good? But I will not take that away, because traditionally conquered lands became Muslim fairly quickly, because of a number of reasons (would you like to be a dhimmi in a muslim land?).

This is the House of Submission, not the House of "we'll conquer you, but you can stay Christian/Hindu/Jewish/Shinto/etc. and that's cool."

LordLeto said:

Differnt times and differnt places. Any such Moslim Conquest would have to deal not only with the unruly religious fanatics but also nationalist fanatics. Neither of which the original moslim expansion didn't have to contend with(for the most part). If you're going for accuracy so to speak you could possibly get away with lowered RR time in Moslim terr. But other then that stick to the game mechanics.


Also fundimentalist moslims(todays varienty anyways) arn't always as tolerent as their predecessors were. So think if you're empire is actually Fundimentalist, or a romantic view of and Islamic Empire. Or perhaps somewhere inbetween.

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Oh, I have no romantic views about Islam, being the most brutal, one-way religions around. But whenever Muslims conquer land, they bring in Muslim teachers. They claim to tolerate Christians and Jews, but they are given second-class citizenship, essentially. Muslims are given special priviledges (being allowed to own property, etc.) and a special tax is placed on the non-Muslims, called 'dhimmis'. With dhimmis being allowed to be full citizens by just converting, is it any wonder that they do? Forced conversion also took place. These were how Africa, Central Asia, Persia, and more were converted.

Realistically, Africa would be easy to convert. After being ruled by Europeans with which they could never be equals, they would be eager to convert and be equals. Religious Christian areas would be hard to convert, but areas that are not as serious would be convertable. Also, sparsley populated areas like Siberia, western Australia, central Canada, central South America and the like would not be hard to convert. The Middle Kingdom and Japan would be tougher to convert. This being said, Islam has been so strong by conquering, consolidating, converting, then going through the cycle again.

I will listen to what you think. I am right now thinking about adding cores after x amount of time after conquering, based on area, level of religiousness, and level of nationalism. But this is not set in stone, and I won't do it if you think that it is too unrealistic and unfair. Anyways, I won't be going into Dar al-Harb, or non-muslim land, for a couple of years.