Spread Of Islam In Africa

    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.

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.

Mansa Musa and his masses of men journeyed through barren, scorching deserts, unfamiliar cities, and trekked thousands of miles to reach the birthplace of Islam, the city of Mecca. Mansa Musa was Muslim and on his hajj, or a religious pilgrimage to the city of Mecca. Although this religious aspect might have been a primary factor to Mansa Musa's travels through Africa, his venture was not purely for religious reasons. Mansa Musa had many motivating factors to travel through Africa to Mecca. One reason was Mansa Musa could put Mali on the map through his journey.

On document a titled “Merchant Trade Routes” from the McDougal Littelll World History: Medieval and Early Modern Times it states “Overseas trade to the Arabian Peninsula included amazing luxury goods like spices, textiles (for clothing) and spices from Asia. Adding to the profits from caravan was a busy pilgrimage trade…” Though this may be true, transportation and travel took a long time during that time period, so it probably took them a while to receive or get the resources from the other empires. Military conquest and taxes, treaties, and toleration are a stronger argument because they show that they were able to increase population of Muslims by either letting them convert to Muslim or pay them taxes. Either way, Islam had more followers and became prosperous.

Hello! I'm Veronica, a Muslim soldier. I'm here to explain why Islam spread so quickly. In document A, it is stated that Mecca was a good place for trade and these traders went to many places for their dealings. While they were doing this, they also brought their religion and beliefs, and spread it upon the people they met. In document B, some of Islam's beliefs are stated. Many people seem to enjoy these beliefs, therefore converting to the Islam religion. In document C, traders took routes through Medina, Isahan, Merv, Bukhara, Kabul, Damascus, Constantinople, Cairo, Aswan, Caliruan, Tangler, Cordoba, Toledo, Saragossa, and Tours. These are all places where the brought and expressed their religious beliefs.

The spread of the Islamic faith throughout the Middle East is through the presence of these Muslim cities. As discussed in Document 4, the establishment of Medina contributed to the spread of Islam. This was where it started. Muhammad and his followers fled to Medina when the ruling class of Mecca started to persecute them. There, Muhammad was able to help the people accept the Islamic faith which helped the overall spread of Islam. Muslim cities are scatted throughout the Middle East (Document 9). The location of these holy cities allowed for a proper diffusion of the faith and is significant because, without these establishments, the spread of Islam would have come to an abrupt halt. Muslim cities are the driving force in the diffusion of Islam, and because of them, the Islamic faith has grown to become a worldwide leader in religious affairs.

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.

West Africa has experienced migration, because of the cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups it contains, and because of the minerals, and goods it can produce. Around the ninth century C.E., in the trans- Saharan route, slave trade became popular. These slaves were used by the Arabs for military service, administration, domestic service, and concubinage. Extensive trade in the region led to urbanization, as well as the introduction of Islam. Muslim Berbers contributed to the expansion of Islam, by controlling the trade routes in Africa, and becoming conduits for economic activities, by the tenth century. During the mid-11th century, cities like Gao and Timbuktu had Muslim scholars traveling the routes, because of the intrusion of the Almoravids, and this resulted in turning these cities into hotspots for study and trade. The eleventh century brought the acceptance of the Islamic culture, and led to conversion of the elites, so they can have legal, political, administrative, cultural, and economic benefits. The Islamic culture did not disrupt indigenous African shamanist and animist beliefs, it united ethnic groups, and led to the development of Islamic states throughout Africa. (Africa, 3000 B.C.-A.D. 1500 / West African Trade /

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.

It all began in a cave. Muhammad started Islam in 610 BC and after that it spread throughout Arabia and regions near it. Islam was able to do this quickly because of its military success, trade connections, and political order.

Musa, a heartfelt Muslim built multiple mosques across grounds that in some way were influenced by the political and religious existence of Mali; additionally, his pilgrimage journey to Mecca earned him recognition across both as historical records well as then-contemporary. This was done not only through his widespread wealth and relationship with sultan of Egypt, Al-Nasir Muhammed, but also because of his genuine kindness. Musa gave up a large portion of his wealth to numerous cities which he visited, and was reported to have built a Mosque each Friday in many of the cities he stopped at 6. Mansa Musa transformed Timbuktu into one of the world’s most recognized cultural centers. Being Muslim, this put him in a primary position to make Muslim influence tangible over the province, and with a single city playing the role as a focal point for Islamic influence, it soon dispersed over many other regions as

The trade between Islam and many other countries helped spread Islam. Trade leads to a good economy meaning more jobs (less unemployment). As people move around to trade they sometimes stay they traded to causing the spread of

parents at an early age and working as a merchant most of his life . He retreated to a cave in a near

Changes in political and cultural traditions during the post-classical period occurred in Africa because of intensive Islamic contact. When Arab conquerors introduced the Islamic faith into northern Africa, they expanded the region of commerce. Muslim merchants established trading centers for copper, iron, salts, and cotton textiles. The newly established trade affected traditional social and religious beliefs. After 1000 C.E., the kin-based social structure experienced difficult challenges. Increased conflict between peoples led to the creation of military forces for both offensive and defensive use. This led to the formation of chiefdoms exhibiting more formal structures of governing such as in the kingdoms of Kongo, Ghana, and Mali. Because most traders were Muslim, many African societies converted to Islam to improve their relations with the

The lower part of Africa below the Sahara, that area was never really isolated but it was hard and difficult to contact. Between 800 and 1500 C.E the contact with the “outside world” grew intensely.