How Did Islam Expand? Questionnaire Example

Introduction

This paper addresses the expansion of Islam in the 200 years following the death of the prophet Muhammad. In the first instance Islamic society was mainly focused around the area of Saudi Arabia. Islam was considered both a religious and political religious belief. It was Muhammad that called for the word to be sent out calling for the worship of Allah (God). Muhammad created unification of the tribes of Saudi Arabia forming a platform for expansion of the religion in the Middle East and beyond.

The spread of Islam after Muhammad

The initial spreading of the Islamic faith was brought about by expansion of trade and traders bringing the word to other cultures and countries in the Middle East. It was Muhammad that was instrumental in despatching large numbers of caravans (trading merchants) to the surrounding countries in order to spread the word. The next big push came from the wars started by Caliph Umar in 634 AD when the Muslim armies managed to conquer most of the Middle East and this essentially forced the religious doctrines of Islam upon those conquered States. After this in 670AD there was a big push along the North African countries and again the Saudi Arabian Caliphs used war as a mechanism in order to gain control and establish Islamic dominance over the region. Islam like Christianity developed from the early teachings of a single man i.e. Jesus and Muhammad. Both had miraculous growth in just a 200 year period. Christians had suppressed other religions by means of warfare and capture of countries. (Ab? al-Faz?l ?Izzat? 2002)

Conclusions

The spread of Islamic faith started with relative peaceful means i.e. trading but it quickly developed by means of warfare. It was the conquest of the Middle Eastern countries that acted as enabling device for the Caliph’s of Saudi Arabia in order to consolidate both political and religious beliefs that would dominate the regions for over 200 years. They applied pressure to other religions to convert to the Islamic faith but there was no crackdown or other hostile offensive against the Christians other than paying their taxes in the regions under occupation. (Gordon 2005)

References

Ab? al-Faz?l ?Izzat?, Abu-‘l-Fa?l ?Izzat?. 2002. The Spread of Islam: The contributiong factors. London UK: ICAS Press.

Gordon, Matthew. 2005. The Rise Of Islam. London: Greenwood Publishing.