The Rise and Spread of Islam

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.

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 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

economic growth directly could show why it spread so quickly because if the Islamic towns and cities

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 strict religious rules were a big reason that Islam spread so quickly. God commandment 5:23 saying if you kill someone you have killed all mankind and if you save someone you have saved all mankind. This is why people don´t kill but save insead leading to less riots and less violence. They also believe that there should be no injustice in the law system. Leading to less riots and uneasiness.

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 spread of Islam and Christianity. Both belief systems spread both rapidly and were efficient religions that brought great change for the greater good. They were the largest religions in the entire world and both happened to be monotheistic. Both religions share a similar history and tradition. Christianity appealed to the people because of their unwillingness to live on and how hopeless they were to move forward in poverty. Travel played an enormous role in conversion because of the missionaries sent out to unknown lands to spread the faith through trading routes (Christianity) and contacts (Islam). Islam prospered, on the other hand, with a vision of the angel Gabriel from Muhammed (became a god messenger and prophet of Allah). Interactions with other civilizations developed the Islamic World. These new religions led to more growth in the aspects of their social, economic, and political systems in addition to influencing other upcoming religions in history.

One’s mission as a Muslim is to proselytize and strive to get people to convert to Islam. This allowed more people to join the Muslim community, thus expanding it in population. The belief of the Muslims was not friendly to people who were once Muslim and converted to a different religion. Islam teaches that people who leave the religion are to be killed. Killing apostates scared people and persuaded them to stay in the Muslim community. Lastly, Islam was an attractive religion because it did not have any priests or positions of authority. Under the eyes of Allah, the low cannot be distinguished from the high nor the master from the slave. (Document 3) This attracted many poor people and slaves to Islam because they were given a chance to be equal in

    Islam’s massive growth in size can be credited to the constant battles and war with surrounding areas. The Muslims were determined to share

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.

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.

One of the greatest changes in the post classical period was the rise of Islam that spread across Eurasia and Africa. Even after the Islamic Empire, Dar al-Islam, had begun to lose power by 850 Islam continued to spread, unifying diverse societies and ethnicities through the commonality of culture and religion.

It grew from a local, oppressed faith that was pioneered by Muhammad and his close family and friends, to a force that united nations under one of the largest empires that the world had ever seen. It would have never become what it was without the incorporation of whole populations into the faith, the unified network of trade it provided, and the scholarly developments it pioneered and renewed. Without the deliberate conquests of different nations, Islam would not have grown so rapidly. If Islam had not grown so large, so quickly, the entirety of Afro-Eurasian trade would not have been so standard and unified. Likewise, if there was no such established network of trade, the ideas and innovations of Muslim education would not have become so widespread. Therefore, it is evident that each of these effects of the Islamic faith and its empire needed the others. Without all of them, Islam would not have been so influential to the history of Afro-Eurasia and would have produced a very different outcome that would have affected the history of Islam up until