reading time ~13 mins
- Introduction
- Why Did Islam Spread
- Presence of other religions despite Muslim Rule
- Islam in countries without a history of military conquest
- Testimony of Historians
- How Did Islam Spread
- Factors which make Islam appealing
- No Sugar Coating
- Summary
- Additional Reading
Introduction
Islam has always given respect and freedom of religion to all faiths. Freedom of religion is ordained in the Quran itself. Allah says in the Quran
“Let there be no compulsion in religion, for the truth stands out clearly from falsehood.”
Quran 2:256
Islam comes from the root word “sa-la-ma سلم” which describes Islam as peaceful & voluntary submission to one God (Allah)
When someone says Islam was spread by the sword, it sounds like “Peace was spread by the sword”. In Islam use of force & violence is permissible but generally encouraged as a last resort
Muslims went out of central Arabia to other lands (e.g. Syria, Egypt, Persia, Spain) to spread the message of Islam and to help oppressed people living under tyranny
Muslims dominated the lands politically, but no one was forced to convert, neither were the laws of Islam forced on them. They could practice their religion while paying tax (called Jizya)
The armies went out even when there was no threat but simply to spread the word of monotheism. They did engage in battle to take over land and spread the word. However religious freedom was given to the people after the battles
Why Did Islam Spread
Islam is not a religion in the sense that western societies view the concept of religion. The west has generally separated church & state, and view religion as individual rituals and connection to God almighty.
This is not the Islamic paradigm. Muslims have always understood that Islam is a deen (دين) which is a complete way of life and an ideology to live by. It includes individual responsibilities towards God and others, but also includes governance, law & order, politics, economics, sociology, community interactions, etc.
Islam is ordained by the Creator (Allah) in His infinite knowledge and Wisdom. It offers the best and only system of justice & mercy to manage roles and responsibilities in a society for individuals as well as governing organizations
The roles and responsibilities are defined based on clear principles for all areas whether within the family (e.g. parent, child, spouse) or in business (seller, customer, counterparties, witnesses), Work (employer, employee), government (leader, official, judge, police), Military(general, soldier), etc.
If implemented properly, there will be no injustice to any individuals or groups whether in minority or majority
This system has been brought to humanity since the time of Adam (the first human and Prophet)
The reason why Islam was politically spread across the world, was because most empires in the world were based on ideologies which were made by human beings. These ideologies in principle have good intentions but generally tend to give advantage to the wealthy and powerful while being tyrannical towards the masses. These man made ideologies (such as authoritarianism, tribalism, capitalism, communism, Hindu caste system, etc) were being unjust to the people. Islam was spread politically to bring justice and mercy to the world
I, as a Muslim, am grateful that Muslims came to the lands of my ancestors and invited them to convert. It is because of their efforts that I enjoy the invaluable gift of faith in our Creator (Allah)
Presence of other religions despite Muslim Rule
Muslims have ruled many lands for long periods of time, however natives of other religions still live there
- Muslims have ruled over Arab lands for ~1,400 years. However, today there are ~14 million Coptic Arab Christians
- Muslims ruled India for ~1,000 years. Had they wanted, they could have forced the entire population to convert to Islam. 80% of People in India are non-Muslims
- Muslims ruled Spain (Andalusia) for ~800 years. During this period the Christians and Jews enjoyed freedom to practice their respective religions, and this is a documented historical fact
- The oldest churches in the world are in Muslim lands like Egypt, Syria and Palestine
Islam in countries without a history of military conquest
- Which Muslim army went to Indonesia, Malaysia or East Africa? Islam did not reach there by war or battles
- Today the fastest growing religion in America and Europe is Islam. The Muslims in these lands are a minority. The only sword they have in their possession is the (s)word of truth
Testimony of Historians
“History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.”
De Lacy O’Leary, Islam at the Crossroads, p.8
Carlyle refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: “The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one; in one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and tries to propagate with that will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can.”
Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, 1841
If Islam was spread by the sword, it was the sword of intellect and convincing arguments. It is this sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Quran says in this connection:
“Invite ˹all˺ to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice, and only debate with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord ˹alone˺ knows best who has strayed from His Way and who is ˹rightly˺ guided.”
Quran 16:125
“The question of why people convert to Islam has always generated the intense feeling. Earlier generations of European scholars believed that conversions to Islam were made at the point of the sword, and that conquered peoples were given the choice of conversion or death. It is now apparent that conversion by force, while not unknown in Muslim countries, was, in fact, rare. Muslim conquerors ordinarily wished to dominate rather than convert, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary.
Ira M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies (Cambridge: CUP, 1988) p. 243-244
“Of forced conversion or anything like persecution in the early days of the Arab conquest, we hear nothing. Indeed, it was probably in a great measure their tolerant attitude towards the Christian religion that facilitated their rapid acquisition of the country.”
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, Preaching of Islam, 2nd Edition, p. 134
“The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one hand and the Qur’an in the other is quite false.”
A. S. Tritton, Islam, London, 1951 p. 21
”Incidentally these well established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.”
Lawrence E. Browne, The Prospects of Islam, London 1944. p. 14
“The Quran certainly provided scriptural support for the idea that muslims could and should fight the unbelievers but at no point does it suggest that they should be presented with the alternatives of conversions or death”
Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In, London 2008. p. 50
“I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self effacement of the prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These, and not the sword, carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble.”
M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 1924
“To begin with, there was no forced conversion, no choice between ‘Islam and the Sword’. Islamic law, following a clear Quranic principle (2:256), prohibited any such thing”
Michael Bonner, Jihad in Islamic History, 2006, p. 89-90
How Did Islam Spread
Generally there are five aspects
- Dawah: Inviting others with the truth
- Trade: Muslims travelled a lot for trade and invited others to embrace Islam
- Migration: Muslims movement into other lands either voluntarily migrant, refugees or as slaves took Islam to other lands
- Influencers: social, political or personal influencers conversion to Islam led to many of their followers or admirers converting. One example is a famous Chinese admiral and explorer Zheng He. He developed mosques in south east asia
- Inter marriage: many Muslim converts from marrying non-Muslims by conversion
Factors which make Islam appealing
- The message is logical and appeals to innate nature
- Emphasis on justice and equity
- Unity and concept of Ummah (one nation). With the congregation in the mosque locally and for Umrah and Hajj globally, etc.
- Universality: every culture and nation is welcome & accepted. It is easy to become Muslim and enter the faith
No Sugar Coating
- We must bear in mind that conversions may have happened due to groupthink because politically the leaders or social elites accepted Islam and groups started to accept them during the expansion phase
- There is no need to sugar coat it that all accepted voluntarily by dawah, there may have had been an aspect of peer/group pressure to accept Islam because it had political, security or economic benefits
- Also, if forced conversions were done rarely, this was not in alignment with the principles of Islam
Summary
The political influence of Islam was spread by military conquest just as the spread of all other empires in the world. However, individuals’ conversion to the religion of Islam happened very rarely by force
Islam was spread to bring justice and mercy to the world
Reinspyre 