And yet the Islamic scimitar would not have been thousands of miles away from its Arabian homeland, poised to invade Europe through its easternmost and westernmost gateways (Chapters 2 and 3, respectively) had it been shattered at Yarmuk. This fact has prompted generations of historians, past and present, Christian and Muslim, to wonder: How and why did the Muslims win, especially considering that the Roman military was superior to them in virtually every way?
