The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political …show more content…
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
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. Some people believe that trade routes were most important reason in Islam expansion. People travel through Mecca and trade there while on their way to other cities such as Aden, Medina, and Petra.(Document A)
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.
The modern world is linked through networks of communication and exchange between peoples. These exchanges between regions has changed cultures, economics, and politics. Through time the cultural influence between regions has consisted of many factors and elements but comes down to the spread of religion and religious teachings , movement of peoples, technological and cultural advancements affecting trade and commerce. Beginning with the Middle Ages in the years 1100-1500 , Africa, Asia, and Europe developed and influenced each other in several different ways. Starting with religion. The birth of Islam in the Middle East rapidly spread throughout Afro- Eurasia. Islam was attractive to people who were uninterested in the requirements of Christianity and the Church.
As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
People are wondering how did Islam spread so quickly? We are going to find out how did Islam really spread so quickly in the Middle East.
Although there are many religious in history, Islam is one of the quickest spreading in the Middle East. According to Document A, cultural diffusion helped advance the religion of Islam. For example, the city of Mecca was the center of trade, which meant there were many trade routes connected to Mecca. Some trade routes travelled farther away, like to India or China and Islam's culture and religion grew from all the trading. Document B explains that Islam spread so quickly because the laws from their God appealed to many. In other words, the laws of the Muslim community were fair, wanted people to be kind not evil, told followers their property would not be stolen or destroyed and also promised them afterlife in paradise. People that were not
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 spread rapidly because of its religious appeal because of its similarities to Christianity and Judaism, as well as the promised recompense to both men and women. In the Qur’an it is promised that “God will bestow forgiveness and rich recompense” as well as “both men and women, shall enter paradise” (Source 4). Both men and women were promised forgiveness if they followed Islam, this was appealing to people because it was universal and everyone
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 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 question then to ask is why then did Christianity died from North Africa when Islam made it great advance during the centuries? Was there something unique about North Africa? Did the Muslims use a different technique in North Africa than they did in other areas which they invaded? An overview of this assignment will give the dead of Christianity from North Africa finding it primary and most decisive cause in a unique form.
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.
The spread of Islam throughout the African continent was predominantly influenced by the trading routes in North and East Africa. While Islam was very influential in the political and economic sphere of these areas, many of the original practices and traditions of Africa remained. The dominant people who facilitated the spread of Islam throughout the continent were the elite of Africa, such as the kings, and the traders themselves. While the spread of religion is typically looked at as a spreading of faith or a way to exclude yourself from warring nations, Africa’s conversion to Islam was incredibly economical and political. Primary sources from the time period, like Meadows of Gold, serve to further highlight how the effects of trade and commerce were able to have so much impact on the spread of Islam throughout the continent.
Birth and death in the Arab culture has being one of the most interesting topics that is being discussed more frequently. When people talk or hear about the Arab culture they tend to think about different things about them like they are being considered as terrorist, they oppress their women and many things like that. But we tend to forget that this people, the Arabs are also human beings that they have normal day-to-day activities like people in the other part of the so-called westernized world.