How did Islam start to spread?

Answer 1

- It's an undeniable fact that the most important reason behind the spread of Islam is its distinguishing features. The reasonable, harmonic beautiful features of this religion have always been able to attract people to embrace it. Muhammad PBUH was alone, sooner His message could gain more people despite the very difficult circumstances at the very beginning of Islam when the Muslims were threatened & persecuted by the pagans of Makkah.

- Years had progressed & Muslims were increasing despite the different obstucles created by the enemies of Islam. After the treaty of Al-Hudaibiya (6 Hijri), the assaults of the pagans against Muslims were reduced & the preaching of Islam started at a higher level by the messages of the prophet Muhammad PBUH that He sent to the rulers of many areas. Generally, when a ruler converted to Islam,his people followed him.

- The city of Makka converted to Islam after an act of grace, a historical remission from the prophet Muhammad PBUH who entered the city with His companions without fighting & forgave its people in spite of their huge harm to Muslims since the very beginning of His message. This historical event occurred in 8 Hijri (630 AD).

- In the following year (9 Hijri) many Arabian tribes embraced Islam & that continued to happen abundantly in the following year which is historically known as, "ِAam Al-wofood " which means (The year of delegations) in which so many delegations from the Arabs came to the prophet Muhammad in Madina to embrace Islam. By the year (10 Hijri) the whole Arabic Peninsula converted to Islam.

- Islam started to widely spread directly after the death of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims had their fair wars against Rome & Persia who were worried about the new power in the world. Muslims could convert many regions to Islam like Syria, Iraq & Persia by the appeal of their religion & not by force. An evidence for that is the existence of non-Muslims from different beliefs living peacefully in the Islamic Empire.

Note: The first battle between Muslims & Romans broke out due to the killing of the messenger of the prophet Muhammad to the king of Bosra (Syria) by Roman's ally.

- The Muslim merchants had played a key role in the spread of Islam as their high morals & benevolent values could be persuasive enough to spread their religion in many areas in Africa & in the east of Asia like for example, Indonesia, the largest Islamic country. (This is actually a very important principal reason).

- Preaching is a factor in spreading any religion,Islam is not an exception. But actually it didn't play that role in spreading Islam as it wasn't carried out in wide organised ways like those with the other religions. True Islam preaches itself !

In Islam, preaching is ruled by mainly two verses: According to the Qur'an itself, Preaching must be done with wisdom and good manner, since it says: "Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance."

(Holy Quran, 16:125)

As it also says:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error:..."

(Holy Quran, 2 :256)

- Contacting with good real Muslims like Suffis, traders, travellers...etc.

Thomas Arnold in his famous book "The preaching of Islam" states that the two primary reasons for the spread of Islam all over the world were merchants and the Sufis, two groups of people who went out, worked with humanity and gently invited others to their faith.

Non-Muslim PerspectiveIslam was spread by the sword.

Hint: The answer above is not true and absolutely groundless, for the following reasons:

• Indonesia is the country with the highest Muslim population in the world (Muslims in Indonesia account for about 13% of Muslim world. Did Islam spread in Indonesia by war? sure not.
• Did Islam in China, the phlippines, Malaysia, west Africa, etc spread by war? sure not.
• If Islam spread by war what prevents those Muslims to convert back to their former religions to faiths after the apparent current weak powers of Muslims
• Why Islam till now is spreading?
• How do you explain the convert to Islam by many public figures of other religion followers.
• Refer to the related questions below for more information.

Muslim PerspectiveThe answer to this question would be much harder than it appears, what happened basically is that, Muslims entered countries, and seeked conversion, the answer to How was Islam preached is found in the Koran, as it says:

• "Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance." (Yusuf Ali, 16:125)

• And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say, "We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam)." (Yusuf Ali, 29:46)

Many times, The Koran stresses that there is no compulsion in religion:

• "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things." [2:256]

• "And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed - all of them entirely. Then, [O Muhammad], would you compel the people in order that they become believers?" [10:99]

• "And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." [18:29]
• "So remind, [O Muhammad]; you are only a reminder.", "You are not a compeller, etc. over them."[88:21-22]

• "Again and again will those who disbelieve, wish that they had bowed (to God's will) in Islam. Leave them alone, to enjoy (the good things of this life) and to please themselves: let (false) hope amuse them: soon will knowledge (undeceive them)." [15:2-3]

• "Say: O ye that reject Faith! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your Way, and to me mine." [109:1-6]

Arab Emperors firstly entered countries on the command of the Koran, to fight those who fight them, and to fight those who fight them, and more specially, Jews and Christians, until they pay the Jizyah, or between them is peace.

• "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors." [2:190]

• "And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah . Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing." [8:61]
• "Would you not fight a people who broke their oaths and determined to expel the Messenger, and they had begun [the attack upon] you the first time? Do you fear them? But Allah has more right that you should fear Him, if you are [truly] believers." [9:13], Then this continues to 9:29 which says:
• "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly." [9:29]

Basically, All the laws of War are found to be in the "Sword Verse", The Sword verse is the verse which all verses about war boil down to, and consits of 3 verses, 9:4-6, It states:

• "Excepted are those with whom you made a treaty among the polytheists and then they have not been deficient toward you in anything or supported anyone against you; so complete for them their treaty until their term [has ended]. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous [who fear Him]." [9:4]
• "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." [9:5]
• "And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah . Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know." [9:6]

And when entering countries, A Person had three choices:

1. to be a dhimmi, have rights, etc. but, pay the Jizyah as an equalivent to Zakat.
2. to be a Muslim, have rights, etc. but, pay the Zakat as an equalivent to Jizyah.
3. to fight until death.

Based on the above evidence, It is pretty clear that how Islam was spread, It was:

• Muslims enter countries which refuse peace, and fight them.
• Persons had to be either a dhimmi, Muslim (basic rights for each) or to fight.
• Islamic Missionaries entered and preached with good ways and arguing with better words.
• No one can be compelled to become a Muslim.
• and thus, Islam was spread by preaching with good ways and there was no compulsion at all.

When Muslims tried to use forced conversion, It failed highly failed, Karen Armstrong asserts that after Muhammad's death, nobody in the Islamic empire was forced to accept the Islamic faith. [Armstrong, A History of God: from Abraham to the Present: the 4000-year Quest for God, 1993, p. 185]

There is no real evidence that "forced conversion were very common during Islamic times", this is ridiculous and without actual evidence.

Answer 2

Islam spread quickly due to a number of factors. It is notable that although there are a few occurrences of Muslims carrying out the "Convert or Die" scenario, this is not the most common reason for Islam's expansion both in terms of territory and belief.

1) Arabia - What's that?: Prior to Mohammed, Arabia had been seen as a cultural and political backwater barely worth notice and therefore Mohammed's consolidation of the Arab Tribes was not seriously considered by the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires. This lead to a very porous southern defense and miscalculation of the Islamic Armies.

2) Byzantine-Sassanian Wars: Since the Byzantines and Sassanians considered each other the only real civilizations in the region, they fought each other numerous times in the early 600s C.E. over control of what is today East Turkey and Iraq. These were intense religious wars (Christian vs. Zoroastrian) and greatly weakened both empires at just the wrong time.

3) Tribal Command Structure: Arab Tribes and warriors owed their loyalty to their Sheikhs and leaders without fault because the Sheikh provided each person with all of the amenities and protection necessary to live a full life. Whenever the Arabs went to war, the Sheikhs could count on the ability to muster their tribesmen as soldiers without issue.

4) Support of the Locals: Since the Byzantine Empire and Sassanian Empire were engaged in religious zealotry, it stands to reason that they did not tolerate their religious minorities very well. The Muslims professed to (and did) treat minorities far better than either of these Empires. This led to religious minorities (especially Jews) from within the conquered territories helping Muslims to secure outposts and positions, freeing the Muslims to continue to spread the religion.

5) Citizenship by Conversion: The Islamic Empire was interesting in that being the leader or a person of import in the Empire was not contingent on ethnicity or place of birth as was the case of most prior empires. All a person had to do to gain power and prestige was to convert to Islam. This simple integration mechanism resulted in massive number of Persians, Berbers, and Turks converting to Islam. In fact, the furthest expansions of Islam (Spain, India, West China, South Russia, the Balkans) were all accomplished by non-Arabs (respectively Berbers, Persians/Mughals, Turkmen, Azeris, and Ottomans).

6) Warfare: The leaders charged with expanding the influence of Islam were thoughtful and diligent military leaders. Caliph 'Omar, who conquered much of the Levant, Egypt, Persia, and Iraq was well-known as a strategist and a fighter. It was this knowledge of warfare that allowed Muslim forces to expand the territory's influence.

7) Universality: Islam, as a religion, claims salvation for all people in all places, making the religion very attractive, especially to people born into low castes and bad economic positions.

8) Commerce: Islam, like most religions, spread also through peaceful means of commerce and education whereby non-Muslims learned of the faith and adopted as their own amidst business dealings with Muslims. This happened especially in maritime cities like Zanzibar or Aceh whose primary source of wealth was trading with Muslims.