Islam is a monotheistic religion that spread very quickly throughout south, South-Eastern Asia, and Africa through exposure to the religion. The Islamic faith spread so quickly because of the positive aspects of the religion, trade, and also military campaigns. One of the reasons for the Islamic faith spreading so quickly is that there was a lot of trade happening where Islam first emerged. There were many trade routes throughout Mecca, and it was a very prosperous and important city (Doc A).
In the excerpt from the Great Ages of Man: Early Islam, Desmond Stewart and editors used an informative tone to show how they believed that Mecca was a very important place for trade. Since Mecca was where Islam first emerged and so much trade occurred, it caused Islam to spread quickly. The merchants coming in and out of Mecca for trade exposed the Islamic faith to them and they would’ve adopted the faith and shared it with their people.
To better show spread of Islam through trade, a journal entry from an Islamic merchant would be helpful, because it would’ve been a great primary source to show exactly what occurred along the trade route and prove that trade help spread Islam. Another reason for the quick spreading of Islam is through the military campaigns that occurred around the time that the faith emerged. The military campaigns are shown by the arrows (doc C), which would’ve also exposed the Islamic faith throughout these campaigns and spread it even more.
The Essay on How and Why did Islam spread so quickly
In 610 C.E., a local merchant named Muhammad completely changed all of Middle East through the religion of Islam. He fled to Mecca, in a cave where he was given the words of Allah and by this, introducing the religion. Overtime, the religion continued to attract new followers, which leads to question- how and why did Islam spread so quickly? Three of the reasons to how this happened were due to ...
Whenever the Muslim army went against the “unbelievers” and conquered them, the ones that chose to stay “unbelievers” were forced to pay a land tax (doc F).
Some people wanted to convert so that they wouldn’t have to pay the land tax and thought it would be a better path to take so it spread the faith quickly that way, this was all because of the military campaigns that occurred.
In the excerpt from The Origins of the Islamic State, Ahmad ibn-Jabir al-Baladhuri, used a serious tone to show how he believes that Allah helped the Muslims beat the Byzantine army since they were believers, but this source is untrustworthy because it is bias since the author is Muslim and believed that Allah caused the Muslim army to win. To better show spread through military campaigns, a journal entry from a non-Muslim soldier would be helpful because it would show how the Muslim soldiers affected the non-Muslims in conquered areas into causing them to convert.
The final reason for the quick spreading of Islam is the positive aspects of the faith and the appeal of them to the non-Muslims. Islam offers people forgiveness and equality (doc B); this was an appealing aspect to many of the non-Muslims and would’ve made people want to convert. There were a “series of ghazu raids against the non-Muslim communities in the neighboring countries” that would preserve the unity for the ummah (doc D).
The places where the raids occurred, the people chose to convert rather than be attacked because of the appeal of converting.
In the excerpt from A Short Story, Random House, Karen Armstrong uses a serious tone to show how she believes that there were many raids against the non-Muslim communities so that they could preserve the ummah, and claims these are not religious campaigns. The Muslims were guaranteed protection. The government was requested to always stand up for the Muslim people and protect them from danger (doc E).
This appealed to many non-Muslims for the reason, they would be safe and out of danger, this would’ve caused the spread to happen a lot quicker due to all of the positive aspects of the faith.
To better show spread through positive aspects of the faith, a journal entry from a non-believer would be helpful because it would show how they thought Islam was appealing from its positive aspects and cause them to want to convert. All in all, the Islamic faith was spread so quickly due to three reasons. The first being through trade and the exposing of the faith, the second being through military campaigns and how they influenced non-Muslims to convert, and finally the last being that there were many positive aspects of the faith which non-Muslims found appealing.
The Essay on Muslim Religion
Muslim Religion Christianity and Islam share a few similar beliefs and practices such as belonging to the monotheistic family. Monotheism: (one-God-ism) belief that there is but one Supreme Being who is moral and who seeks a total and unqualified response from human creatures. This term emphasizes the belief in one God who is the Creator and Sustainer of life and that the universe demonstrates ...
