How Did Islam Influence The Spread Of Western Europe

I’m sure everyone knew about how islam one of the most popular religions, but most people never realized how quickly it spread. Islam is a religion that was created in the time 610 C.E. by a judge named Muhammad who lived in Mecca. He went to pray at mt. Hira as he usually does, but then an archangel appeared. The angel then grabbed Muhammad and shared information about Allah or God and and called the religion Islam. This brings you to the question, how did Islam spread so quickly. I believe the main ways Islam spread so quickly was because of the protection they give you in the empire, conquering land, and through trade.

As history continues, many religions have had an over powering effect on western civilization. When the 5th century arose, the religion, Islam, had an extremely important impact on the civilization. Muhammad, an Arabic prophet founded Islam and began to introduce it the people of his time. Diplomacy, violence, warfare, public laws, and Arabic tradition played a crucial role in the building of the Islamic religion. These important aspects helped shape and build the Islam religion that is now one of the world’s most widely practiced religions.

In the beginning, Muhammad started to preach his teachings, called Islam, in a populous trade center known as Mecca. Though, at first, his preachings were resisted as the people worried that idol worship and pilgrimages, or journeys to a sacred place, would end. This, in fact, proved to be true as with enough support, Muhammad ordered that the idols be destroyed and that a shrine dedicated to Allah be built instead, making Mecca the birthplace and foundation of Islam. However, within 100 years of Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, Islam had spread to multiple other countries including Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The question is, how did Islam spread so rapidly over the course of 100 years? Briefly put, Islam spread rapidly due to trade routes, military campaigns, and non-Muslim converts.

In the 7th and 8th centuries, Islam spread from its beginnings in Arabia to cover the entire Middle East and parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. As (Document 8) shows, by the year 750, Islam stretched from Eastern Persia in the Middle East, all the way to the westernmost edges of Spain and North Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Islam expanded so rapidly because of its techniques on conquering unstable areas and converting people to Islam, preventing setbacks and obstructions. Islam had three main reasons for its eminent prosperity. The way that Muslims treated the conquered people allowed for peace throughout the empire. Tolerance, combined with the military power, a disciplined army, and an overall appealing religion of Islam, provided the template that allowed the empire to expand to encompass an enormous amount of area.

    Around the years of 632-750 C.E., Islamic followers created an empire that reached across North Africa into Europe and dominated the Middle East. Due to several aspects leading up to expansion such as war, geography, and establishing an organized impressionable government, the Islamic empire grew rapidly.

September 11, 2001. “Islam equals terrorism” is a thought of most people when they hear the word “Islam”, but many people don’t immediately think of the greatness of Islam, like how the religion spread so fast in such little time. Islam is the second-largest and the fastest-growing religion in the world that began in the 7th century. When Muhammad first began spreading his religion, he had as little as 70 families as members. A century after Muhammad’s death, Islam already spread to Europe and Asia. As of last year, there was about 50 Muslim-majority countries with approximately 1.5 billion people praising the religion. Islam is a religion with many requirements such as fasting, praying everyday, free-will donation, and many more. So, why would a religion with so many demanding rules become so popular? Islam spread quickly because of trade, military conquests, and because it was an amiable religion that was fair to all people with its laws set for the people.

As people traveled, science/philosophy and technology spread between all regions. The Greek influence over philosophy and science appeared in Western Europe as Muslim influence in the Iberian Peninsula was fascinated with the ideas of Greek science and philosophy. Indian and Greeks mathematical systems diffused into Muslim cultures. Eastern Asia affected Muslim and Western European life by introducing printing and gunpowder.

An individual known as Muhammad contemplated by himself in a cavern nearby Mecca and had acquired a godly insight. This insight established the beginning for a new creed. The ideology that emerged Muhammad’s vision turned out to be the foundation of one of the world’s most widely carry out creed, Islam. Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca, situated on the Arabian headland. Muhammad was raised by his uncle and grandfather due to his parents passing before he was six years old. His family were from a sept that was effective in Mecca politics.

During the time around 610 C.E when Muhammad lived in the Arabian Peninsula, Islam began spreading quickly for many different reasons. Historians believed that Islam spread for the reasons of trade, military conquest, and the treaty. People disagreed with this event because they had different perspectives on what were the main events for Islam spreading so quickly. The most important reason for Islam spreading so quickly was trade routes connecting to different areas.

Why did Islam spread so quickly? I believe it definitely did, spread very rapidly. There are all kinds of reasons as to why this may have happened. There are not many wrong answers to this question. I believe that the following are the three main reasons as to why it spread so quickly. The first main reason I believe that helped the rapid spread of Islam was due to it’s very loyal followers. They had some of the most loyal and serious followers of any religion. The followers of Islam at that time were very committed and ready to spread their religion more and more. The ideas and teaching of Islam may have been why the followers were so loyal, which brings me to my next point. The next reason I believe Islam spread so quickly was because of the ideas of Islam. These ideas talked about things like

About 90 percent of Egyptians are Islamic. Most of them are Sunni Muslims. The other 10 percent is christian. Early Islam was spreading wildly throughout the Middle East. The spread of Islamic as well as economic and social factors fueled this expansionism. By the end of the Islam’s first century, Islamic armies had reached far into North Africa and eastward and northward into Asia. Among those first countries Egypt.

Islam spread quickly because people converted to their religion to avoid the hassle that Islam had in store. Muslims were extremely violent toward Non-muslims, but if they agreed to become Muslim, the violence would be ended (Doc E). So some people pretended to become Muslim for an easier life, which was a great idea. But some really may have switched over to the Muslim religion from their own. Pretending to, or truly becoming Muslim was the only way out of being threatened, and it was key to a pretty much worry free life. Muslims didn’t have to pay taxes and were not ghazued (Doc D).

Until now, I didn't realize how much Islam influenced art and practically kick-started science. I learned that the Abbasid caliphs established the House of Wisdom, a center of leaning and science. They gathered manuscripts in Greek and Sanskrit along with scholars who could understand and translate them from the areas that they conquered.

The rise and expansion of Islam has had a significant impact on the role and rights of women throughout history. Since its origin in the seventh century until modern times, the Muslim faith has somewhat broadened, but has mostly restricted women’s rights in numerous Islamic communities. The history of Muslim women is complex, as it involves many advances and declines in numerous locations, such as Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, concerning several subjects, including both civil and social rights. Thus, in general, the rights of Islamic women did not improve significantly over time, instead, conditions remained the same or became worse for women as Islam evolved and spread as a world religion.

Most of time, translating was done in Spain. As the result, cultural crossroads joining in Western Europe and medieval Islam. After the Christian re-conquest of Spain increased cultural and intellectual contact with Islamic world and make Arabic works available to scientists and scholars in Western Europe.