My Muses On The Expansion Of Islam
Islam started with the belief of one man and his encounter with God. Muhammad was told the Qur’an by the angel Gabriel, and he was told to recite. This divine occurrence spawned the most expansive and accepted faiths in history. The Islam Empire Started in Arabia with nomadic tribes converting to Islam from Muhammad's teachings, in 632 AD. Eventually, the realm of Islam spread to Egypt, wrapped around the Mediterranean, and extended through Persia. Finally, it spread throughout North Africa into Spain, and further east into Persia, in 750 AD. Islamic beliefs spread rapidly across the world, due to conquest, rewarding Non-Muslims for belief in Islam, tolerance, and implementing the force or fear of punishment for disbelief.
A main factor of the spread of Islam was due to the unreasonable violent threats and merciless aggression of Muslim followers toward those who were not of Muslim faith, which forced them to convert. The Qur’an, which is the foundation of Islamic beliefs, explicitly instructs followers of Islam to fight all those that do not profess Islam, and, further, they will be punished, as opposed to being brought into paradise (Document 2). Muhammad gave warning to a Christian tribe leader by explaining, “Believe or else pay tribute…if ye opposed and displease [the lord]…I will fight against you and take your little ones and slay the elder…” (Document 1). This excerpt, from the voice of Islam, directly portrays the aggression of Muhammad and his Muslim followers, and he would put the fear of Allah into an innocent tribe followed by brute force. Finally, a Non-Muslim Historian, Sir Edward Crecy puts honest perspective on the barbaric strategy of forced conversion of non-believers, by writing a description of the fury of the Muslims hostility (Document 4). The excerpt describes Muslim attackers laying waste to their “enemies” country, and the furies of their scimitars were like raging tigers. Thus, the expansion of Islam was a direct implication of the...
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