The Spread of Islam
Like a rumor, Islam spread quickly throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, cultural diffusion has happened throughout history and is happening today. Whether it’s a food, a song, or a religion- a new event or idea is usually transported from one place to the other (Hook exercise). Furthermore, Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula, during the early 6th century CE. During 610 CE, a local merchant named Muhammad made one of his frequent visits to a cave on nearby Mount Hira. For Muhammad,` it was time to pray for how he felt that money and wealth was causing his people to lose their ways. According to Muhammad (the prophet) that was where he met an angel named Gabriel. Also according to Muhammad, angel Gabriel was sent by god to tell Muhammad to tell his people that there is only one god Allah. Angel Gabriel also gave Muhammad words to recite to his people and to others around him. After receiving Allah’s words for two years, Muhammad decided it was time to talk. He spoke of the one god, Allah, and the importance of charity. Together these teachings began the religion called Islam. Later on, Islamic/Islam followers created an empire that stretched across North Africa, and into Europe and Asia. This empire was vast since it spread throughout these three countries in just a matter of time (Background Essay). Islam spreads quickly because of three main reasons: the teachings of Islam,the strong military and the land that the military had conquered , and the strong leaders Islam
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The teachings of Islam played a great part in spreading Islam. For example one of the basic principles of Islam was that there is only one god (Allah) and that all of the other gods must be rejected. People who believed in these basic principles were called Muslims.Islam started when a local merchant named Muhammad made one of his frequent visits to a cave on nearby Mount
The town of Mecca was the birthplace of Islam, at first the leaders of the city refused the changing of this new religion and forced Muhammad to leave. Muhammad returned and preached to the people about what he had heard, that there is only one god. Islam spread quickly for two main reasons they are the message and military conquest.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca where Muhammad was born in 570 CE. He became known as “the Prophet,” he was meant to be God’s final prophet. The main two groups of Islam are the Shia and Sunni; which they were created after Muhammad’s death. The Islam religion as
Expansion of the Muslim Empire The Muslim empire expanded vastly from 622 CE to 750 CE. This empire could be compared to the Holy Roman Empire, one of the greatest in the world. There are three main reasons to explain how the Muslim empire reached its height: battling for land, signing peace treaties, and granting stipends. Every Muslim who was in the military fought against other civilizations for land. After that, they made an agreement, or a peace treaty, with the people of the land they conquered.
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.
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
Islam is a very large and influential religion, it all originated from one man named Muhammad spreading his beliefs to the people of Mecca, and now it has become the second largest religion in the world. How did this come to be? How did a religion that started with one man spread so quickly? methods , purposeful or not, were used. There are a few methods that appeared to be most effective, and those methods can be classified under two categories. Islam expanded from forceful ways such as government laws and military conquest, and from peaceful ways like the religion being a reasonable jump for other religions and Islam being an easily acceptable religion.
According to the Islamic beliefs, the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad by Allah through Angel Gabriel. This process took twenty-two years, from when Prophet Muhammad became a Prophet, just up until he died. The Quran is believed to be the only text by Allah that didn’t get corrupted over the years by the community. ------(cont. intro) Explain why this is important-----
In a dark cave in the mountains, sparked a new, and wonderful religion that caused a chain of events. In 610 CE, a merchant retreated to his cave in the mountains to meditate when he saw a vision, the angel Gabriel, gave him the task from Allah to spread Islam, and he made it his goal to do that task. So, due to Islam’s vast trade routes and business, to their strong military, along with their political order, and there strong and mostly convincing messages that helped build and quickly spread Islamic 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
First, trade contributed greatly to the spread of Islam. When people traded, ideas were exchanged along with goods. Had Islam begun in an isolated desert town rather than the bustling city of Mecca, it may have never spread at all. A map of Arabia and
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
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.
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 world you once knew is falling to ashes and food is become such a scarcity that people are fighting over a few pieces of bread. The political class is too busy fighting among themselves to care for anyone else. Children are roaming the streets and begging for work to feed their dying, hungry stomachs. This is not a scene from a horror movie, but rather the reality of the beginning of post classical era. In these times of hardship the people turned to a higher power, which resulted in a religious boom. The main religion during the post classical era that had the greatest impact on people was Islam due to Muhammad, trade routes, the Black Plague, conquests and Islamic culture.
In order for Islam to spread you have to have converts and people reception to the religion. Thus, Islam spread through different people converting over to the religion. People that converted had different reasons for being open to religion. It was not just about accepting Islam and wanting to be apart of it. people at motivates for converting. In North Africa for example Islam spread as a rebellion against the Byzantines and the Romans. It states that "The Christians of Egypt then saw the Muslims as liberators" (Gilbert & Reynolds 100). Also the similarities of Christianity and Muslims also made the conversion to Islam easy because the religion had similarities. Now in West Africa people had different reasons for converting. They did not convert to rebel but rather they converted because the did not want the traditional religion anymore. They converted because they thought Islam can help advance them as a society and individuals. Thus, the jihad movement started and Islam started to spread. Conversions also came to receive special privileges. In North Africa people converted so they didn 't have to pay taxes and they could have spiritual freedom (Gilbert & Reynolds 95). In West Africa they converted to Islam rather than face enslavement (Gilbert & Reynolds 205). Thus, the conversion of Islam happened because of different factors in different areas but the only way Islam could spread is if people were receptive of it. Even though people had different reason for converting they were still open and recipient of it, which lead to the