Muslims Dbq

The Islamic empire benefited surrounding countries with this advancement and

As of 2012, there were over 1.6 billion muslims around the world. The religion started from a prophet named Muhammad. An angel came to him and squeezed him so hard that words came out of his mouth saying, “Allah the one God.” Allah is the one God that Muslims believe in. The religion called Islam spread around the middle east quickly. It started in Mecca in 610 and took 120 years to completely spread. “Why did Islam spread so quickly?” Islam is a religion greatly influenced by trade, war, and rules.

“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.

Though Islamic jihads spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and North Africa (even into Europe), they rarely forced conversion by the sword and instead wanted people to come to it of their own will, which allowed a “truer” believer. The reason for this difference is probably due to the threats that the early western European church faced from constantly invading nomads and thus wanted those under their control to be Christian and nothing else. Islam was not as concerned with this due to the overwhelming nature of their conquests. This is also demonstrated in the eastern Roman empire (Byzantine Empire) because they never “collapsed” and thus allowed a diversity of religions within their empire unlike western Europe. The structure of these religions allowed both regions to have a sense of stability and common beliefs even though both had a diversity of cultures within their regions. This structure allowed for political systems to get stronger and protect the people during this period of constant invasion (especially for Europe) and allowed the rise of more advanced civilizations. One sees this with rise of the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe and the caliphate empires of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. This similarity in the impact of structured religion in both regions can be explained by the need for people to latch on to any stable, organized entity that would allow them to survive the chaos after 500 CE.

Islamic civilization was spread using a variety of useful techniques, ranging from extreme violence, to the use of peaceful doctrine. Without these practices and methods, the spread of Islam would not be as profound as it has shown to be, especially from 632 to 750 CE. Islamic civilization spread to encompass such an extensive empire through the “way of the sword”, use pre-existing roads, ruthless fighting techniques, and the way of salvation and religious doctrine. One of the biggest methods that were used to spread Islam was the way of the sword, and other practices of intimidation. When new lands were taken over by Islam, Muslims gave a few options.

In Document C, a map of the Arabian Peninsula shows how Islam spread through military campaigns. The campaigns were successful because during the seventh and eighth centuries the empires surrounding the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and the Byzantine Empire, were weak after battling each other for almost a century. This allowed for the followers of Islam to conquer them, allowing for the religion to spread easily.Document D explains how military operations aided the spread of Islam. Under the Ummah Muslims are not allowed to attack other Muslims, leading to an increase in ghazu raids against non-Muslim communities around the Middle East. Persia and Byzantium were still weakened, causing effortless raids. In these raides the Muslims would spare those they were attacking who then converted to Islam. These raids were simple for the Muslims and produced copious amounts of followers for their

Lastly, Islam spread quickly through military campaigns which is depicted in “The Spread of Islam (map)” (Doc. C) This map shows how the people that were conquered by the Muslims chose to convert to Islam

One reason Islam spread fast was because Muslims used force. From the beginning, Muhammad believed that Arab Muslims should not attack other Muslims. However, they could raid non-Muslims and take their things. These were called ghazu raids (Document D). Later the raids got bigger and became military campaigns and spread across the middle east, North Africa, and into Spain (Document C). Without force, Islam would not have spread so quickly.

The rise of the Islamic religion and the growth of Islam’s territory happened rather quickly. During the life of their prophet and Islam’s originator, Muhammad, and interestly it even increased after his death, but how? Islam spread so fast after it was originated because of three things: trade, military conquest, and the appeal of its government.

The Islamic civilization grew to become such a large empire by making smart decisions and being peaceful and not violet. The civilization thrived and gained more land to expand their empire.

Scholars also made advances in trigonometry, astronomy and mapmaking, and artists used calligraphy to decorate buildings and objects of art as well as to reflect the glory Allah (Docs 5 and 6). In a photograph of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, it shows the different features used from different cultures, such as the Byzantine Empire, as well as adding their own personal touches (Doc 7). All of these were preserved and used in Europe, and are even used in today’s curriculum. A lot of ideas have also been altered just a little bit, and expanded to create things that we use today. Everything that the Muslims passed on through many generations had a large impact on our modern world, and even the places around the Islamic Empire during that time period. A book mentioned before said “In the early 800s, Caliph-al-Ma’mun opened in Baghdad...the House of Wisdom. There, scholars of different cultures, and beliefs worked...translating texts from Greece, India, Persia, and elsewhere into Arabic.” The photograph of the Dome that was also talked about before shows what an impact the inventions made did for the Muslims. A trade route was created later on which says “Masters of the sea, even as of the land, the Arabs spread throughout the geographical area.” (Doc 9). Lastly, an excerpt described the benefits that the Europeans received from Muslim industries. “Finally our commercial vocabulary itself has preserved...proofs that there was a

The Muslim army was well trained, disciplined, and capable of defeating any enemy that it encountered in war. Muslim forces were very violent and cruel. The army took countless captives and attacked with the cruelty of raging tigers. (Document 4) Two empires in

One way Islam spread was through force. According to document A, “By Allah’s help, some 70,000 of them [the Greeks] were put to death, and their remnants took flight, reaching as far as Palestine, Antioch, Aleppo, Mesopotamia and Armenia.” Because of this readers can infer that, the Muslims believed that Allah was helping them kill anyone that refused to join their religion. Document B states that the Muslims killed the non-Muslims, took them prisoner, separated people from

The information provided by Hutchinson from Islamic Empire (2016) in Age of Conquests says that the history of Islamic conquest begins with the rise of Muhammad in Mecca where he shared his experiences with others which gained him followers of this new faith, while being persecuted by Meccans, therefore he had to flee to the Arabian City of Medina. While in Medina, Muhammad gained more followers and established an army that he led against Mecca. This battle began with raiding each other’s camps, or ghawz, until Muhammad’s forces outnumbered the Meccans, defeating them in 624. Afterwards, Muhammad rose in power in Mecca as leader and converted most of the citizens into Muslims. As the leader of Mecca, Muhammad was aided by tribes of Bedouin against Meccans who had not converted and Arab tribes until 630, when Mecca surrendered to Muhammad thus many Meccans converted. After the death of Muhammad in 632, the Muslims were prepared for a rapid territorial expansion and spread of

The motivating force of Islam, and thus the ideas first established by Muhammad, played a crucial role in the conquests. The new aim shared by many Muslims, to convert the entire world to Islam, was the most important reason for the initial Arab conquests. This led to an enthusiastic and motivated army, which facilitated its success. Muhammad continued to inspire Arabs to work together and fight successfully long after his death. Rather than reckless