The Factors Of Islamic Religion Expanding

Islam is not only one of the three major religions practiced today, but it is also the fastest-growing according to an article done by CNN. The Islamic religion was founded way back in the 7th century in Mecca, Saudi Arabia by Muhammed. Although it is and always has been the fastest-growing religion, no one ever seems to ask such an obvious question; how and why did Islam spread so quickly? The answer is concise and simple. Islam was able to spread quickly by conquering other land by force, by advocating for religious tolerance to others and by louring people in by campaigning and by being the center of many trade routes.

One of the most dominant ways Islam was able to spread so quickly was by taking over opposing land. By taking over other lands they were able to force the civilians within to practice their religion and if they disobeyed it would come at a cost. In document D it spoke about how Unmahs (Muslim communities) can not attack one another, cause that would cause a downfall in the Muslim population. So instead they concluded to raid non-Muslim communities (also known as a ghazu) that were located in their neighboring countries ( Armstrong, Islam: A Short History, 2000). This was a very big risk as if the raid messed up,it could have put the entire religion in jeopardy of ever having a future. However, luckily it paid off to extreme measures and by raiding neighboring non-Muslim communities they were able to maximize the number of people in the religion and we can see by how much it has grown to this day.

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Another one of the major ways Islam was able to spread so rapidly was by promoting religious tolerance. Religious tolerance is the act of allowing other religions to be present in their land (in this case the land being Mecca) however the dominant religion overall must be Islam. By promoting religious tolerance they were able to represent their religion in a more open environment and they did not make it seem as harsh. Religious tolerance was seen in document E, it spoke about the Ordinances of Government, the laws. It said how punishments are chosen based on the action committed, if it was a severe action, the punishment would most likely be dead. It also says “ To defend the lands of Islam and protect it them from intrusion so that people may earn their livelihood and travel at will without danger to life or property” (Al- Mawardi, Ordinances of the government, 975 CE). This pretty much says that the supreme law is to make sure that the land is safe from bad people. Religious tolerance was shown in document F, in this document the Byzantine empire wanted to counter against the expansion of Islam. To do so they gathered around 200,000 men to attack the 24,000 Moslems who took part. It was almost impossible for the Moslems to win. When the Moslems saw the men were coming they refunded back to Hims. When they returned to Hims they said they couldn’t take care of them anymore and wanted to leave, however, the Hims then said that they in fact like the Moslems rule and didn’t want Heraclius (leader of the Byzantine army) to enter the city. After this was said they shut the gates of the city and blocked the Byzantine out. By doing this the Moslems won and were able to guard the city and guard the religion of Islam once again (Al-Baladhuri, origins of the Islamic state, 850 CE).

Finally, another way Islam was able to spread so quickly is by campaigning to other countries as well by being the center of all trade routes. In document C a map is shown on the map is the military campaigns taken by the Islamic communities. The map represents How Islam was able to spread throughout many major cities including the likes of Jerusalem, Cairo, Baghdad, and Saragossa. Mecca is the founding location of Islam, all the military campaigns came from there. The map shows arrows that correspond to where the military campaigns took place, the military campaigns took place in many cities neighboring Mecca. By performing these campaigns they were able to show not only how strong their military is but also how safe and more holy they would be if they converted to Islam( The Spread of Islam 622-750). As well, document A gives a great representation of how Mecca was the center of trade routes. They were abundant in things like bearing spices, perfumes, precious metals, ivory, silk and more due to their location being so central within trade routes. Document A shows a map and within the map are land routes represented by lines and sea routes represented by dotted lines. All the lines seemed to traverse by one major city, that city being Mecca. By being the center of all trade routes they were able to expand their very important trading empire, because back in those days a major way to expand a religion, or country’s population was by attracting people by trade ( Stewart, Great Ages, Trade routes 570, 1967).

In conclusion, The Islamic religion was able to expand themselves into the large religion we know of them today by taking over other lands by force, by advocating for religious tolerance to others and by luring people by campaigning and by being the center of many trade routes. By taking over neighboring lands by force they were able to expand their population by raiding ghazus ( non-Muslim communities) and taking over the people and land they conquered. As well, they were able to expand their population by promoting religious tolerance throughout the land which attracted people because it made the Islam rules seem less harsh and it allowed people to be freer, and the only major rule everyone had to follow was to defend their land from intruders and keep the land safe. Another major way Islam was able to expand themselves greatly was by trade routes, by being the center of all trade routes it attracted many people to their land which caused an outstanding growth in population throughout time. All in all, Islam was able to grow into one of the biggest religions and to this day they are still growing, and according to another article done by CNN by the year 2040 the amount of Muslims in the US should be doubled, and by 2050 tripled in population.