The difference is "God wills it". Seriously. Arab militaries don't like training, hardly aim, hate doing maintenance. Are the furthest thing from meritocracy. They're the opposite of effective military forces.
They make great brigands, though.
yea, bandit kings tend to be good at oppressing the untrained unarmed peasantry. The issue in the modern day is that said bandit kings are able to use modern brain science to convince a not insignificant portion of their victims that the way things are is good. TV propoganda, censoring opposing voices, etc. In the olden days you just killed anyone that talked against you, now its not the only tool in the box.
They make great brigands, though.