Islam’s present day relevance is due to it being one of the world’s most talked about religions. It is also one of the largest religions in the world. Islam has followers in all areas of the globe. (Zissis, 2007) Islam first began spreading in 610 CE and has not stopped. Today, India’s population includes approximately 150 million Muslims and Islam has contributed greatly to the area and its people. (Kennedy, 2007) The spread of Islam is vast and instead of focusing on the entire realm of Islam’s range, I will put an emphasis on the Mughal Dynasty and it’s impact on the spread of Islam.
The Religion of Islam views Muhammad as the last prophet. He proclaimed revelations that he understood to be from God. Muhammad believed that Gabriel was sent by God to deliver these revelations. His companions recorded those revelations and they are known as the Qur’an. After receiving the revelations, Muhammad shared the Qur’an with the people of Mecca. Muhammad tried to persuade people to abandon their polytheistic religions. (Hussain) Polytheism is a religion in which you worship multiple Gods. The local Meccan powers did not appreciate this and Muhammad and his early followers were persecuted. (Mazhar-ul)
While Muhammad was successful at converting people to Islam, they were often people of the lowest class or slaves. After more than a decade of prosecution and harassment from the Meccans, many Muslims emigrated to Medina. This is where Muhammad established political and religious authority over his old and new followers. A Constitution of Medina was devised and it brought all the groups into one massive society. The formulated statement set up security, certain freedoms, Medina’s sacredness, a tax system and a judicial system. In 629, Muh...
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...Mughal Empire did not require people to convert to Islam. Therefore, it could not have used the sword to force people to convert. The Qur’an specifically states that an insincere conversion means nothing, “Let there be no compulsion in religion,” (Qur'an 2:256). This would make spreading Islam by the sword pointless. Akbar also lifted a tax that was specifically put on non-believers. Multiple Mughal leaders also married Hindu women, which shows their tolerance of religions. The Mughal Empire was more tolerant than any other Islamic state at the time. Their stance on religion, except under Aurangzeb, was that all are equal and all are allowed. It was when Aurangzeb took power that only Islam was accepted. The Mughals used the sword to spread their empire but in no way forced its own beliefs on to other people. The Mughal Empire was simply a vehicle for Islam.
Akbar was considered the best of the Mughal rulers partly because of his tolerance of all religions. Akbar did his best to unify the Hindus and Muslims by giving both religions positions in the government. Traditionally, only Muslims would could be rulers zamindars while most of the population was Hindu. Akbar also married women of both religions, as an attempt to unify Hindus and Muslims. Akbar himself was interested in religions, inviting different people to discuss other religions with him. Akbar's greatest impact in trying to unite the Hindus and Muslims was creating the Divine Faith religion, but most people did not convert. When Akbar died, the following rulers did not support the same religious tolerance policy that he had. Aurangzeb tried to rid the empire of all Hindu. This caused revolts from both Hindus and Muslims, which created a period of instability allowing Europeans to come and take
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.
For example, the spread of Islam to the Byzantines and the Persians. The other caliphs (Umar, Uthman and Ali) expanded the Islamic empire rapidly and grew faster than any other religion. The Muslims conquered a massive amount of land from the Indus River, across North Africa and into Spain. There were many factors that helped Islam succeed; for example, people would rather fight for God and their salvation instead of fighting for a king, the use of military force by the Muslims and how easy it was to convert to Islam.
“Segu is a garden where cunning grows. Segu is built on treachery. Speak of Segu outside Segu, but do not speak of Segu in Segu” (Conde 3). These are the symbolic opening words to the novel Segu by Maryse Conde. The kingdom of Segu in the eighteenth and nineteenth century represents the rise and fall of many kingdoms in the pre-colonial Africa. Therefore, Segu indirectly represents the enduring struggles, triumphs, and defeats of people who are of African decent in numerous countries around the world. There are three major historical concepts that are the focus of this book. One is the spread of the Islamic religion. Another is the slave trade, and the last is the new trade in the nineteenth century and the coming of new ideas from Europe (legitimate commerce). However, Segu does not simply explain these circumstances externally, but rather with a re-enactment that tells a story of the state of affairs on a personal level, along with the political one. By doing this, the book actually unfolds many deceitful explanations for the decline of West African countries in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
The Mughal Dynasty was a line of Muslim emperors who reigned in India from 1526 to 1858.3[3] The line began with Babur as the first great Mughal emperor. He was a descendant of the Turkish conqueror Timur on his father's side and of the Mongol (in Persian, mughal) conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side.4[4] Babur came to power with the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat.5[5] During his reign as the Mughal, Babur extended his empire to Punjab and Bihar.6[6] Babur served as the Mughal for only four brief years, but he left his imprint on the whole of his empire for years to come. His reign came to an end in 1530 with his death, at which time he was succeeded by his son Humayun. Humayun reigned for only ten years before being defeated by Sher Shah, an Afghan who ruled north India for fifteen years in ...
Clearly protection, trading and Islamic religion are the three reasons why I think Islam is spreading so quickly. These are not the only reasons but major ones. Islam is continuing to grow around the world. Someday it may the the world's largest religion but only time will
Due to the restrictive nature of Mecca, Muhammad was unable to convert many. Those who did convert converted individually, not in groups, whilst their clans remained as their basic social links. For Islam to succeed Muhammad needed to migrate to a more convenient place, where he could form spiritual and political leadership, preach openly and convert Muslims in groups. Yathrib would provide this and Muhammad's migration would begin a new era. Muhammad’s unacceptance in Mecca and thus his decision to take the Hijrah to a place where Islam could bloom attaches meanings of determination and perseverance to the Hijrah. Islam was unappealing to the majority in Mecca and preaching it came at a huge cost, but the prophet did not give up and attempt to settle back into the restricting nature of pre-Islamic Mecca, he was determined that Islam was going to be a success and that his revelations would be heard.
In 610 CE, Muhammad, a merchant trader from Mecca (Mecca is also a site of a yearly pilgrimage where Muslims come to perform a rituals at the sacred Ka’ba a.k.a. the holy shrine of Mecca), made one of his frequent visits to a cave by Mount Hira. On his way to the cave, he decided to pray because of all the different causes that made him feel like he was losing his way. During this visit to Mount Hira, the Archangel Gabriel squeezed Muhammad hard forcing the words “Allah is one God” continuously coming out of his mouth. After having these words come out of his mouth for about two years, Muhammad decided that it was the time to encourage others to quote
Islamic religion is the world's second largest religion with over 1 billion followers. Islam started in 1400 years ago in Mecca where it was revealed. Islam was revealed through a man called Muhammad. It is believed by Muslims(the people that follow the religion) that Muhammad was the last prophet send by Allah(God) , so that's why most Muslims say “ peace be upon him” every time they say his name. Muhammad was born in Mecca 570 CE.At first he worked as a shepherd but later he became a merchant.
The religion is based on the revelations that the prophet Muhammad received in the early seventh century. Muslims believe Muhammad is the last prophet of Allah, the first being Adam. Muslims do not think that Muhammad is the founder of Islam, but is the restorer of the faith. In 570 CE, Muhammad was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia to a widow from a respectable clan. His mother died when he was young, so
The Mughal Empire was a Muslim empire that was established in the 16th century and took home in current day India and Afghanistan. In the Mughal Empire the nobles were created from the military aristocracy and the empire also allowed for free expression of religion. The Mughal Empire was a very well off and striving empire until the beginnings of the 18th century. The empire begin to collapse from within due to the empire losing revenues. This in turn caused huge chaos in who will now lead the empire, but while the leadership role was being fought for, certain regions started becoming their own entity. The Mughal Empire is important to understand today because it shows that without having structure from within one’s nation and having the leader
...ts and knowledge from other nations and made sometime improved it or added to it and passed it on to other nations, which strengthened the belief of Islam even more to people. All in all, the rise and spread of Islam was very significant during the Postclassical Era.
Came, take away all the things, and forced people to convert, or tried to impress people with universal appeal – which one worked as power for Islam to spread? Throughout the history of world, religion played an important role for the development of mankind. Sometimes religion created impact on the gr The world had lots of religion, but none of them were sophisticated Some people used to follow animism, where the nature was worshipped. It showed that people thought that nature was source of power. Polytheism was common form of religion. People used to follow lots of Gods and Goddesses. Religion was one kind of source of fear, where the followers were forced to follow several customs. Islam created a great change in the areas where it spread. Through its views, Islam was successful to convince lots of people. In the postclassical period, Islam spread to Southeast Asia from the Arabian Peninsula. As a religion, Islam was widely accepted to huge numbers of people. The ideas of Islam were successful to create impact on people. Islam spread in the Southeast Asia through trade, Sufism, Islam’s universal appeal, and scientific innovation, though there were also challenges in the way of spreading Islam.
Islam has been and still is one of the most practiced religions in the world today. In the ancient world, the major contributors to the rapid spread of Islam were the conquest of other nations including the Byzantine Empire and Persia, trade, and the very educated Prophet Muhammad. The word “Islam” means “submission to the will of God. (History Slideshow)
After ‘The Year of Sorrow’ in which both Muhammad’s uncle- Abu Talib and wife- Kadijah died Muhammad is warned by the angel Gabriel that the situation is getting too dangerous for him in Mecca. “Muhammad knew the faith must find expression in a community which would insure its external force and the opportunity to prevail against opposition” (Cragg). It is at this point that Muhammad is invited to become a leader in Medina (622ce).