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Expansion of the Islamic empire
Spread of Islam in history
Spread of Islam in history
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Nazia Riaz
Mr. Ian Wendt
Muslim World
December 13, 2013
Final Paper
Beginning more than 1400 years ago, Islam has spread from the small trading town of Makkah on the Arabian Peninsula and became a world religion practiced on every continent. Like other world religions. Islam has been spreading ever since its origin. Both through migration of Muslims to new places and by individuals who have accepted Islam as their religion having chosen to convert from other religions.
During the first century after Muhammad began preaching, there was rapid expansion of the territory under Muslim rule. The Muslims took over as a result of military campaigns. This territory did not instantly become Islamic, meaning that most people rapidly became Muslims. Rather the spread of Islam among the population took centuries even in the regions conquered in the seventh century. In this era Islamic faith and civilization encompassed extensive new areas of Eurasia and Africa. The continuing spread of Islam was closely connected to the migrations of conquerors and herding folk and to the growth of Muslim commercial enterprise all across the hemisphere. By about 1400 CE Muslim societies spanned the central two thirds of Afro-Eurasia. New Muslim states and towns were appearing in West Africa, the East African coast, Central Asia, India, and Southeast Asia. Consequently Muslim merchants, scholars, and a host of long-distance travelers were the principal mediators in the interregional exchange of goods, ideas, and technical innovations.
Makkah was a huge trading center which really contributed to the spread of Islam. Merchants liked trading with Muslims. Religiously Muslims couldn’t add interest on anything which buyers really liked. Merchants dealing with Musl...
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On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe or the Sultanate of Delhi and the later Mogul empire of India had success in spreading Islam. They did gain territory. Non Muslim populations seem to have viewed these powerful tax-gathering Muslim rulers negatively, and so they resisted conversion to Islam. Whoever did embrace Islam in such circumstances if not for material gain, they usually did so because of the efforts of merchants, teachers, and traveling Sufi preachers who were not part of the government.
Through 600 to 1000 CE the Islamic world had expanded beyond its original territories through war, trade and cultural diffusion. As it interacted and expanded across Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Byzantine Empire the Islamic world spread the influence of its culture and religion, turning Islam into a great world religion.
Because of Islam’s holy book, The Qur’an revolved a lot around the sacred language, Arabic, which was very beneficial for trade. Since the text in The Qur’an was in Arabic, it helped spread language, religion and culture when people traded it (Outside Source: Spread of Islam Background Reading Packet). This helped spread Islam because a lot of people read it, they may have thought of the same way and told themselves that they should become and adherent (Adherent: “Sticking to” or “ Having Faith in”) to Islam (Doc
One forceful way that islam was spread was through laws made by the government. It may sound like a stretch at first, but when the government ordinances on document E are
Islam continued to spread by making the idea of being a Muslim sound great. The Muslim Empire didn’t force any Muslims to pay taxes(Doc 1). The idea of changing religions made a lot of sense money wise. The change to Islam was not a large difference, pray more, and eat a little less during sun up. The idea of going to paradise after your death seemed Marvelous (Doc 2). It also gave you an idea about fighting for the Muslim Army, if you died, you would be taken to Heaven with Allah and his Apostle. To some
One of the reasons why Islam spread so quickly was because of the trading that was happening about the time islam first began. The people how were trading goods with the muslims would spread the word about muhammad in their home towns. Muhammad lived in Mecca, which was a very important and rich town . Mecca was a major crossroads for for the caravan trade. Everything from silk to spices came through Mecca. People from every direction came to Mecca to trade. Muhammad and his followers would tell the traders about Islam and some
All across cultures in history, varying groups of beliefs have come into contact with one another. As for early Muslims, military expansion and travel were key components for spreading the Islamic religion to foreign nations. However, not all exchanges were hostile or wholly based on the conquest of exotic lands. Some interactions solely were based on capturing lands to control, while allowing non-converters to remain in the area as the military continued forward gaining new territory. The primary sources, The Viking Rus, Peace Terms with Jerusalem, and The Pact to Be Accorded to Non-Muslim Subjects provide insight on how Muslims interacted with other religious groups. Early Muslims saw the expansion of Islam through conquest, travel, and trade with foreign cultures and beliefs, all while having unusual exchanges with each faith.
For example, the spread of Islam to the Byzantines and the Persians. The other caliphs (Umar, Uthman and Ali) expanded the Islamic empire rapidly and grew faster than any other religion. The Muslims conquered a massive amount of land from the Indus River, across North Africa and into Spain. There were many factors that helped Islam succeed; for example, people would rather fight for God and their salvation instead of fighting for a king, the use of military force by the Muslims and how easy it was to convert to Islam.
The modern world is linked through networks of communication and exchange between peoples. These exchanges between regions has changed cultures, economics, and politics. Through time the cultural influence between regions has consisted of many factors and elements but comes down to the spread of religion and religious teachings , movement of peoples, technological and cultural advancements affecting trade and commerce. Beginning with the Middle Ages in the years 1100-1500 , Africa, Asia, and Europe developed and influenced each other in several different ways. Starting with religion. The birth of Islam in the Middle East rapidly spread throughout Afro- Eurasia. Islam was attractive to people who were uninterested in the requirements of Christianity and the Church.
In 610 CE, Muhammad first founded the religion known as Islam. It soon spread out through the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Spain. Once Muhammad died, new Muslim leaders took over the Islamic Empire. Known as caliphs, they ruled the Muslim community instead of Muhammad. When Islam reached Spain, the Jews living there were affected in a positive way. The Jews of the Muslim world led a fair and comfortable life under the Caliphate, however, once the Caliphates were gone, the Jewish golden age was terminated.
hammed. Byzantine and the Muslims worlds were the very first in the western world to base their governing off of their monotheistic beliefs. The religion of Islam began in Mecca, however the beginning of the Muslim period started with Mohammed’s voyage from Mecca to Medina. The religion quickly spread from India to Spain.
Islam, on the other hand, started in Mecca, where Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) was born. He was believed to be that last nabi (messenger) that Allah will give to the world. The religion was not well accepted in its city of origin though, due to the opposition the Prophet faced as a nascent community . Later, he was invited to Medina and Islam expanded from there.
...o Southern China in the 14th and 15th centuries. Islam was essentially spread through merchants and the sword, while Christianity and Buddhism were spread by missionaries.
Islam is a major world religion. Its origin can be traced back to 610 CE in Arabia. The basis of this religion is the revelations to the prophet Mohammad. Dissatisfied with his life, he traveled to deserts, hills, and the wilderness surrounding Mecca, where he lived, to meditate and reflect. He became a new man through his revelations, which many of his followers believe Allah transmitted to him through his angel Gabriel. Islam was originally an Arab religion, but many different beliefs and practices were added to it, making it extremely popular and aiding in its rapid spread. This new religion spread to many different areas surrounding Arabia, both under Mohammad and after his death. The Muslim Empire grew to encompass Spain and the Eastern Roman Empire as well Persia and Africa. Many different practices and methods were used to spread Islam. The religion itself was appealing to, in addition to the inhabitants of Arabia, other people in the surrounding areas because of its distinct religious beliefs and practices, such as the five pillars, as well as the humility and prayerfulness of the Islamic people. They fought cruel, vicious wars with their enemies. Many different things motivated the warriors to expand, but above all, the riches they would gain from the people of the Fertile Crescent encouraged them to expand.
The prophet Muhammad had a significant impact on the rise and spread of the religion Islam. According to World Civilizations, Muhammad “began receiving revelations transmitted from Allah,” and later these revelations became holy scripts in the Quran. Muhammad started off with very few followers but as the faith of Allah started to spread, he gained more followers and he became a threat to Mecca’s rulers. As mentioned in World Civilization, “in 622 Muhammad left Mecca for Medina where his skilled leadership brought new followers.” In Medina, Muhammad became the religious authority in the area and he used this power to conquer Mecca, a holy place for Islamic believers. By the time of his death, he was able to have created a religious empire that controlled all of the Arabian Peninsula.
Came, take away all the things, and forced people to convert, or tried to impress people with universal appeal – which one worked as power for Islam to spread? Throughout the history of world, religion played an important role for the development of mankind. Sometimes religion created impact on the gr The world had lots of religion, but none of them were sophisticated Some people used to follow animism, where the nature was worshipped. It showed that people thought that nature was source of power. Polytheism was common form of religion. People used to follow lots of Gods and Goddesses. Religion was one kind of source of fear, where the followers were forced to follow several customs. Islam created a great change in the areas where it spread. Through its views, Islam was successful to convince lots of people. In the postclassical period, Islam spread to Southeast Asia from the Arabian Peninsula. As a religion, Islam was widely accepted to huge numbers of people. The ideas of Islam were successful to create impact on people. Islam spread in the Southeast Asia through trade, Sufism, Islam’s universal appeal, and scientific innovation, though there were also challenges in the way of spreading Islam.
...ry CE when Muslim merchants, accompanied by missionary Sufis, from India and Arabia arrived through the Indian Ocean trade route for business (Johnston 2002, 291). However, it wasn’t until the 13th century when Islam began to spread across Southeast Asia from Sumatra through to Java until reaching Borneo and Philippines in the 16th century (Houben 2003, 153). Trade was not the only purpose indicated from Muslim merchants as Sufis brought about the localization of Islamic organisations for Islamic teachings which would appeal to locals and their rulers for valuable networks (Johnston 2002, 291). This presence of Islam was recorded by Moroccan traveller Marco Polo in the late 13th century which indicated the advancement of Islam localisation where citizens of Perlak, Sumatra and the Pasai king, Sultan Al-Malikus Saleh were already converted as Muslims (Mutalib 2008).