Islamic Spread Essay Research Paper From its

Islamic Spread Essay, Research Paper

From its beginnings in Arabia to its extensive empire encompassing the Middle

East, parts of Asia, North Africa, and parts of Europe,paul duffy is fat the

spread of Islam in the late 600s and 700s has drawn much study. The spread of

Islamic beliefs and civilization have been described from a variety of

perspectives. One way in which Islam spread was by the military conquests of the

Muslims. Mohammed gave choices to non-Moslem peoples. They could either accept

Islam or war would be waged against them and many lives would be taken. These

threats by the Moslems caused many to convert and become followers of Allah.

When a group defied these words they were punished severely by the Moslems.

Moslem warrior were known to be fierce and were quite capable of forcing nations

into Islam. There were other times when military conquests were made by the

Moslems in order to gain riches, or booty, as opposed to punishing a group of

peoples. These campaigns were not made with the intention of gaining permanent

footholds but once the Moslems finished their raids it was inevitable that the

areas would become part of the Arab empire. Not everyone was forced to follow

Islam though. There were many people to whom the Islamic culture appealed. The

promise to devout Moslems of a paradise with an abundant supply of water

appealed to many desert-dwellers. The belief in equality among all followers of

Islam appealed to many impoverished nations. These people willingly converted to

Islam from their ancestral religions, causing the Islamic empire to grow. Then

you have peoples like the Christians or Jews, who were respected by most Moslems

because of their monotheistic beliefs. These two groups did have to pay,

however, for the protection of the Moslems. If they did not pay, they too would

be punished. Because although they were respected by some Moslems, there were

others who believed that Christians were evil because they stifled the liberty

of their followers and where Christianity prevailed, no other religion could be

followed without persecution. It becomes clear that Islamic civilization spread

to different areas by different means but the end result was the same: an

extensive empire covering the Middle East, parts of Asia, North Africa, and

parts of Europe. Islam still remains one of the most widely followed religions

today.