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→Implications of the Battle
Typically, the fall of one empire, in this case the Sasanian, and rise of another, the Islamic Empire, which became the Umayyad and later Abbasid Empire, as well as spawning other states, would not be that different from other succession of empires that was typical in the 1st millennium CE. However, the battle at Qadisiyyah and subsequent conquests it enabled allowed many social changes to occur that proved to spread to many regions.
First, the fall of the Sasanians, which became more inevitable after the battle, meant that the once widespread Zoroastrian religion began to fade and many adherents eventually converted to Islam(Figure 1). In effect, it allowed one religion to be mostly replaced by another. Although this process occurred over a long period, the events at Qadisiyyah paved the way for this to accelerate.
Second, the defeat of the Persians paved the way for major Arab migrations to Iraq and more fertile regions of the Middle East. Although Arabs were present before in many towns and cities in the Middle East, this now meant the Arabic language started becoming more prominent as migrants came to different regions. With the use of Arabic in Islam, it cemented the spread of this new common language to be widespread across not only the Middle East but it soon spread to Iran and west to North Africa.
Third, the battle gave the Islamic armies a lot of confidence and experience. This led to much more rapid gains in the Middle East and North Africa against the Byzantines, although they were never ultimately defeated by the Arabs. The success even carried on in Europe, where they were only finally defeated in France by Charles Martel in 732. Between 646 and 732, the Arab armies had almost been unstoppable in open battlefields, although sieges of great cities, such as Constantinople, gave them more difficulty(Figure 2).
One of the great results of the battle was the Arab armies were now in a position to benefit from the technical and infrastructure built by the Sasanians in the region of Iraq. This allowed them to build using new technical capabilities they acquired and developed using Persian science. Furthermore, scholars who were based in Persia, who had come from many parts of the ancient World, including Greece and India, now were employed by the Arabs. This allowed not only the great Gold Age of Arab science and philosophy to be possible, but it also allowed much of the lost knowledge in Europe, after the collapse of Rome, to be copied by the Arabs. This knowledge was then transferred back to Europe in the Medieval period, eventually leading up to the Enlightenment that allowed a new period of discovery to emerge in Europe.
[[File:Zoroastrian temple of Yazd.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1. Image of a Zoroastrian temple. The Zoroastrian religion began to decline after the battle's results.]]
[[File:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 2. The Arabs were able to expand after the battle and fight the Byzantines, ultimately being checked at the gates of Constantinople.]]
==Alternative Possibilities==