If you lived in the Islamic empire, and were not Muslim, what did you have to do? Trade played the biggest role of why it spread so quickly because it went to Spain, Africa, and Europe. It is intrinsically linked to the issues of formation of national identities and rival territorial claims of the Balkan states. [19] For the subjects of the empire, formerly of the Byzantine and the Sasanian Empires, not much changed in practice. From the ninth century to the twelfth century, Islamic culture flourished and crystallized into what we now recognize as Islam. "Such is the recompense The spread of Islam was both a political and religious phenomenon, so sort of a combination of both - Muslim rulers gained control of these areas and some of their followers stayed with them, and some people who lived in these areas became Muslims, and Islam was also spread via trade beyond areas under Muslim control. The early caliphate had a strong army and built garrison towns, but it did not build sophisticated administrations. Torah, written in Hebrew, is that the translation itself can also give you various nuance. Islamic influence first came to be felt in the Indian subcontinent during the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. [37] Berber troops were used extensively by the Arabs in their conquest of Spain, which began in 711. It wasnt until centuries later, at the end of the eleventh century, that Muslims made up the majority of subjects of the Islamic empires. However, only a small fraction of the people who came under Arab Muslim control immediately adopted Islam. Direct link to Juan C. Mendoza's post Explain the causes of the, Posted 3 years ago. There are many great women in Islam,and they definitely did their part in making Islam what it is today. 74, Sturrock, J., South Canara and Madras District Manual (2 vols., Madras, 1894-1895), Eaton, "5. Christianity spread, amid intense persecution, for nearly 300 years throughout parts of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East. A drawing of a group of people traveling on horseback in a straight line. As Jerusalem grew in importance to Muslims and pilgrimages increased, tolerance for other religions declined. Also, the interaction of Arab-Muslims with non-Arab ones contributes vastly. [45] Moreover, Muslim missionaries did not encounter difficulty in explaining Islamic tenets to Zoroastrians, as there were many similarities between the faiths. Direct link to David Alexander's post You may have this backwar, Posted 4 years ago. Image credit: Before the Umayyads, Islamic rule was non-centralized. Missionaries and political expansion moved Islamic culture, but Islamic culture also traveled through trade. Islam spread through military conquest, trade, pilgrimage, and missionaries. [70] The first communities arose in Northern Sumatra (Aceh) and the Malacca's remained a stronghold of Islam from where it was propagated along the trade routes in the region. The idea of dhimmi status is that they would have protected rights, they would have the same Muhammad bin Qasim The first great expansion of Islam into India came during the Umayyad Dynasty of caliphs, who were based in Damascus. the Nineteenth Century. Direct link to David Alexander's post Sufism emerged early on i. There might have been some support that allowed it to spread this quickly. A kebatinan talisman, which is meant to increase spiritual power. Andalusia, http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Sec5.htm Many different groups ruled areas previously held by the Abbasids. This spread of Islamic culture was facilitated by trade, missionaries, and changes in the political structure of Islamic society. Military campaigns continued without pause. revelation is believed, according to Islamic tradition, to have come down when the Muslims were actively being persecuted He changes his name to reflect his new religion. [45] At other times, converts were won in conjunction with the propagation efforts of rulers. from a religious point of view, you can look at some of the Direct link to Polina Viti's post During the *Umayyad Dynas, Posted 4 years ago. So it's really out of defense, trying not to be persecuted. Muslim Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, Mongol, and Afghan leaders secured power in places as far apart as modern-day Turkey and modern-day northern India. [71] The spread of Islam generally followed the trade routes east through the primarily Buddhist region and a half century later in the Malacca's we see the first dynasty arise in the form of the Sultanate of Malacca at the far end of the Archipelago form by the conversion of one Parameswara Dewa Shah into a Muslim and the adoption of the name Muhammad Iskandar Shah[72] after his marriage to a daughter of the ruler of Pasai.[70][71]. The Rashidun caliphate constructed a massive empire out of many swift military victories. Whether or not Islam provided the motivation for early Muslim imperialism, it could be used to provide justification for it - in the same way that it had previously been used to support Muhammad's own actions against his opponents. At Mecca, Muhammad is said to have received repeated embassies from Christian tribes. [1] These early caliphates, coupled with Muslim economics and trading, the Islamic Golden Age, and the age of the Islamic gunpowder empires, resulted in Islam's spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world. In the 1330s, the Mongol ruler of the Chagatai Khanate (in Central Asia) converted to Islam, causing the eastern part of his realm (called Moghulistan) to rebel. Islam spread through military conquest, trade, pilgrimage, and missionaries. Another development is that of transnational Islam, elaborated upon by the French Islam researchers Gilles Kepel and Olivier Roy. The Islamic state centered in Cordoba had ended up splintering into many smaller kingdoms (the so-called taifas). [60] These are typically represented by the following schools of thought:[60], Muslim missionaries played a key role in the spread of Islam in India with some missionaries even assuming roles as merchants or traders. Image credit: Under the Abbasids, Islamic art and culture flourished. On the side of religious tolerance, you have excerpts like this. Ultimately, the highly centralized Abbasid caliphate fragmented into multiple smaller, independent political structures. Islam was just that much better. Notably, an Arab hierarchy emerged, in which non-Arabs were accorded secondary status. [27] That theory does not explain the continuing existence of large minorities of Christians during the Abbasids. In 1085 Alfonso VI of Castille took back Toledo. How did women contribute to the spread of Islam? Poorer Muslims (Moriscos) who could not afford to leave ended up converting to Catholic Christianity and hiding their Muslim practices, hiding from the Spanish Inquisition, until their presence was finally extinguished. Sufi missionaries were responsible for many conversions in sub-Saharan Africa and in South and Southeast Asia. The Rashidun can be credited for military expansion, but did Islam truly spread through their conquests? [39] (Other sources question how much the native population welcomed the conquering Muslims.)[40]. Direct link to Milo's post They didn't persecute any, Posted a month ago. The most important reason for Islam spreading so quickly was trade routes connecting to different areas. Direct link to David Alexander's post When a translation is poo. It depends on the context and the manner in which the "new" serves better than "what came before.". Abu Bakr was known as the first caliph (from khalifa, the Arabic for successor). into the territory of the Pechenegs, where he taught and converted individuals to Islam. Then it spreads even more. As is well known, the Arabs made no attempt to impose their faith on their new subjects, and at first in fact discouraged conversions on the part of non-Arabs. Many women helped to spread Islam, even taking part in battles themselves. Towards the end of the Abbasid caliphate, the formerly vast and united Islamic empire became fragmented and decentralized. He isn't supposed to be worshipped in any way, so covering Muhammad's features really prevents action of putting any kind of physical image behind him. they have expelled you, "and persecution is worse than killing. "Such is the recompense They are famous for inaugurating the Islamic golden age. at the sacred mosque "until they fight you there. [81] This demographic transition can be illustrated by the decrease in the number of mosques in Belgrade, from over 70 in 1750 (before Serbian independence in 1815), to only three in 1850. Ismailis were instructed to speak potential converts in their own language. [77] In 1295 however, the new Khan of the Ilkhanate, Ghazan, converted to Islam, and two decades later the Golden Horde under Uzbeg Khan (reigned 13131341) followed suit. Now on the other hand, Embedded within these lies the concept of Islam as a foreign imposition and Hinduism being natural condition of the natives who resisted, resulting in the failure of the project to Islamicize the Indian subcontinent is highly embroiled with the politics of the partition and communalism in India. like the Spanish Inquisition, or some aspects of the Crusades, or some of what we saw in the New World with the conquistadors, where Along these trade routes, merchant communities developed. What's particularly surprising is how fast Islam spread shortly after that. Direct link to looyrocks's post When Zoroastrianism and I, Posted 6 years ago. The remaining Muslim converts in both elected to leave "lands of unbelief" and moved to territory still under the Ottomans. A map depicting the extent of the Umayyad caliphate in 750 CE, which extended from Spain in the west to northern India in the East and covered northern Africa, southern Europe, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula. The people of the Islamic world created numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with far-reaching mercantile networks, travelers, scientists, hunters, mathematicians, physicians, and philosophers, all contributing to the Islamic Golden Age. Direct link to Saharsh Madullapalli's post *bold*How did the Arabian, Posted 3 years ago. that, we have this text here from the American Muslims controlled parts of the western silk road and were influential on trans-Saharan trade routes. As the descendants of Visigoths and Hispano-Romans concentrated in the north of the peninsula, in the kingdoms of Asturias/Leon, Navarre and Aragon and started a long campaign known as the 'Reconquista' which started with the victory of the Christian armies in Covadonga in 722. Instability in the Arabian peninsula saw further migrations of early Muslim families to the Somali seaboard. Analyzes how expansion of the islamic world through military conquest led to the spread of islam. Their arrival coincided with a period of political weakness in the three-centuries-old kingdom established in the Iberian peninsula by the Germanic Visigoths, who had taken over the region after seven centuries of Roman rule. "Fight them until there is no persecution "and until worship is A painting depicting five men, one of whom has his face covered. The Rashidun caliphate was also not dynastic, meaning that political leadership was not transferred through hereditary lineage. Direct link to Angel's post Im not 100% sure, however, Posted 6 years ago. Conversion was a combination, initially by violence, threat or other pressure against the person. The spread of Islam through merchants, missionaries, and pilgrims was very different in nature. You may have this backwards. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. As people converted to Islam, tax revenue collected from non-Muslim subjects dwindled, and the Abbasid court could no longer sustain its expenditures. In addition, calendar reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of Tunis, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome. In the background, a tall minaret. The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they propagated it wherever they went. This worked better in some areas (Anatolia) and less in others (such as the Balkans in which "the spread of Islam was limited by the vitality of the Christian churches". That was contrast to the regions in which the boundaries of the Muslim world contracted, such as the Emirate of Sicily (Italy) and Al Andalus (Spain and Portugal), where Muslim populations were expelled or forced to Christianize in short order. Not only did the Islamic conquests continue during this period through North Africa to Spain and France in the West and to Sind, Central Asia and Transoxiana in the East, but the basic social and legal institutions of the newly founded Islamic world were established. He is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. elite Arab Muslim ruling class and they weren't that interested in spreading their religion. It is now apparent that conversion by force, while not unknown in Muslim countries, was, in fact, rare. Modern Islam is divided into many sects. [5], As of 2016, there were 1.7 billion Muslims,[6][7] with one out of four people in the world being Muslim,[8] making Islam the second-largest religion. Direct link to i 's post Non-Muslims living in a M, Posted 4 years ago. Historians believed that Islam spread for the reasons of trade, military conquest, and the treaty. After the death of Muhammad (PBUH), his companion Abu Bakr became the Caliph because he was considered the closest and most knowledgable about Islam to the Muslims. Without a doubt, military conquest was key in Islam's rapid spread. excerpts is this one. Some of the tribes decided that as their loyalty to Islam had been primarily to Muhammad himself, his death allowed them to end their allegiance to Mecca and to Islam. nor a black over a white, "except by piety towards God." To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. The Timurid Renaissance and the Islamic expansion in South and East Asia fostered cosmopolitan and eclectic Muslim cultures in the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. [64], The Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, was able to conquer almost the entirety of South Asia. Islam came to it's major role in the world (24% of world population are Muslims) by meeting the religious needs of people. In Islam, Muhammad is not to be taken as a godly figure and is not worshiped. If I am wrong I apologize, however it must have had some role to play. The military conquest was inspired by religion, but it was also motivated by greed and politics. Christians were persecuted and churches destroyed. The Abbasids replaced the expanding empire and "tribal politics" of "the tight-knit Arabian elite[22] with cosmopolitan culture and disciplines of Islamic science,[22] philosophy, theology, law and mysticism became more widespread, and the gradual conversions of the empire's populations occurred. Im not 100% sure, however it is true that Islam was really effective when involving another religion to get more cultural and contextual beliefs. Harun Abu Jafar (786-809), sent the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to Charlemagne, who built a hospice for Latin pilgrims near the shrine.[34]. Now what we see here in this dark brown is what was in control Byzantine rule was ended by the Arabs, who invaded Tunisia from 647 to 648[41] and Morocco in 682 in the course of their drive to expand the power of Islam. Later, the Ottoman Empire set on to conquer territories from these rivals: Cyprus and other Greek islands (except Crete) were lost by Venice to the Ottomans, and the latter conquered territory up to the Danube basin as far as Hungary. A depiction of a caravan traveling along the Silk Road around the fourteenth century. Well, the four caliphs conquered many areas through honesty and teachings of the prophet. Within roughly two decades, they created a massive Arab Muslim empire spanning three continents. A drawing showing a man practicing with a lance, a long weapon with a wooden shaft and a pointed steel head, formerly used by a horseman in charging. prophets and the leadership to kill other people just because they disbelieve God in the Old Testament. When Arab Muslim armies conquered most of the Middle East and North Africa in the seventh century, many of the conquered peoples saw the Arabs' unending string of military victories as clear evidence of the reality and power of their one God, Allah. Direct link to Milo's post They weren't persecuted o, Posted 3 years ago. "And if they cease, then indeed God "is forgiving and merciful." Bury, London, 1898, V, 436. A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qal'a in central Algeria. In a way, it's kind of like discovering that a different medication is superior to what you had been taking for your condition. Essential elements of Islam reach many foreign lands, making many non-Muslims into Muslims. white period is before, according to Muslim traditions, that he started having Dome of the Clocks, Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria. Because back in ancient times, the Arabian Peninsula was about as close to the middle of the world as possible. Direct link to David Alexander's post Islam came to it's major , Posted 5 years ago. [26] Both periods were also marked by significant migrations of Arab tribes outwards from the Arabian Peninsula into the new territories.[27]. [73] A centuries later example that can be counted amongst the earliest introductions of Islam into Eastern Europe came about through the work of an early 11th-century Muslim prisoner whom the Byzantines captured during one of their wars against Muslims. Muslims did not pay this tax as they already pay 2.5% of their wealth to charity every year as part of one of the pillars their faith. Religion was co-opted on both sides for the purposes of people who wanted power. [19] The earlier period also saw the acceleration in the rate of conversions in the Muslim heartland, and in the wake of the conquests, the newly-conquered regions retained significant non-Muslim populations. The Islamic conquests, which culminated in the Arab empire being established across three continents ( Asia, Africa, and Europe ), enriched the Muslim world, achieving the economic preconditions for the emergence of this institution owing to the emphasis attached to Islamic teachings. The Abbasids massive empirespanning over four thousand mileswas impressive, but very difficult to maintain. According to Ibn Batuta, the Khaljis encouraged conversion to Islam by making it a custom to have the convert presented to the Sultan who would place a robe on the convert and award him with bracelets of gold. "And if they cease then indeed God "is forgiving and merciful. The early suras (chapters) of the Qur an proclaim this basic message: "Say: He is Allah, the only One, Allah, the Everlasting. [51], Islam was readily accepted by Zoroastrians who were employed in industrial and artisan positions because, according to Zoroastrian dogma, such occupations that involved defiling fire made them impure. I'll leave it to you to decide. In other places, religious needs are met by other religions. Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which was a link between them and the ports of South East Asia to trade even before Islam had been established in Arabia. Direct link to einass khaled's post I looked it up and this i, Posted 3 years ago. [citation needed], Even before Islam was established amongst Indonesian communities, Muslim sailors and traders had often visited the shores of modern Indonesia, most of these early sailors and merchants arrived from the Abbasid Caliphate's newly established ports of Basra and Debal, many of the earliest Muslim accounts of the region note the presence of animals such as orang-utans, rhinos and valuable spice trade commodities such as cloves, nutmeg, galangal and coconut. With the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires on the decline and strategically disadvantaged, Arab Muslim armies were able to quickly take over vast territories that once belonged to the Byzantines and Sasanians and even conquer beyond those territories to the east and west. As a result, the Muslim population in Europe has steadily risen. [34] The dynasty was later overtaken by Saladin of the Ayyubid dynasty. The early advance of Islam went hand in hand with military expansion - whether it was the motivation for it is difficult to tell, although one recent book suggests that Islam certainly facilitated the growth of Muslim power. A real Islamization therefore came about only during the subsequent centuries. Like their Byzantine and late Sasanian predecessors, the Marwanid caliphs nominally ruled the various religious communities but allowed the communities' own appointed or elected officials to administer most internal affairs. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. However, this unity was tentative and ultimately gave way to major divergences that disrupted state and religious institutions in the coming centuries. Kurdish leaders, like. referring to the Quraysh, because remember they're fighting over this notion of what even should [2] Trade played an important role in the spread of Islam in some parts of the world, such as Indonesia. From there, Islam spread to modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia. The initial conversions were of a flexible nature. community, of the ummah, goes to the kalifs, and The political status of Islam, and the role Muhammad had given it as a political as well as a religious force, was reinforced in the military conquests. Direct link to Yesenia's post Where did they move the c, Posted 4 years ago. In 1206, Bakhtiyar Khalji led the Muslim conquest of Bengal, marking the easternmost expansion of Islam at the time. Following the brutal Mongol invasion of Central Asia under Hulagu Khan and after the Battle of Baghdad (1258), Mongol rule extended across the breadth of almost all Muslim lands in Asia. Even though Muslims recognize a global affiliation, the real heart of Muslim religious life remains outside politicsin local associations for worship, discussion, mutual aid, education, charity, and other communal activities. about in most cases worldly and spiritual motives for Vol. Some Ismaili missionaries traveled to India and employed effort to make their religion acceptable to the Hindus. it changed and strengthened arabia and brought people from many lands hope and faith. The Umayyads also minted Islamic coins and developed a more sophisticated bureaucracy, in which governors named. [47][48], The spread of Islam in Africa began in the 7th to 9th century, brought to North Africa initially under the Umayyad Dynasty. can anyone tell me where the sufi tradition comes from? Religious scholars, called, Posted 6 years ago. passage or see nuance here says, look, this is about being persecuted and fighting persecution, The at-first small Muslim elite continued to grow with converts, and with a few exceptions, rulers in Islamic Spain allowed Christians and Jews the right specified in the Koran to practice their own religions, though non-Muslims suffered from political and taxation inequities. New cultural relationships resulted in the transfer of technology, science, and other cultural forms. The Muslim ruling class definitely had better political rights. Ottoman Connections to the Malay World: Islam, Law and Society, Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2011 (, This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 00:45. essentially successors to Mohammed, under these four kalifs, which is now dynastic, the Umayyad Caliphate, by This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals,[57] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. But then when you eventually The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It was perhaps this political decentralization and destabilization that led to the spread of Islam beyond the massive Abbasid empires borders. With the Delhi Sultanate established, Islam was spread across most parts of the Indian subcontinent. BBC 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. From the 9th century onwards, the Turks (at least individually, if not yet through adoption by their states) began to convert to Islam. by Mohammed's tribe, the Quraysh. they say, hey look, this is talking about killing Significant conversions also occurred beyond the extent of the empire such as that of the Turkic tribes in Central Asia and peoples living in regions south of the Sahara in Africa through contact with Muslim traders active in the area and Sufi orders. If you start in the middle, you can cover a lot of ground, while also being able to suffer casualties that might be devastating. In fact, the Eastern Orthodox Churches had a higher position in the Ottoman Empire, mainly because the Patriarch resided in Istanbul and was an officer of the Ottoman Empire. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. After the reconquest of Spain by Christian forces, much of the scientific knowledge that was developed by Muslims came to Western Europe through Spain. The caliph, then in Medina, agreed to these terms and travelled to Jerusalem to sign the capitulation in the spring of 637. (eds.). Conversion to Islam also came about as a result of the breakdown of historically-religiously organized societies: with the weakening of many churches, for example, and the favouring of Islam and the migration of substantial Muslim Turkish populations into the areas of Anatolia and the Balkans, the "social and cultural relevance of Islam" were enhanced and a large number of peoples were converted. In that context they're saying, "And fight the way of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a court official and general of Turkic origin who participated in the Mongol invasion of Southwest China, became Yuan Governor of Yunnan in 1274. are destroyed or killed, or God might command his This conquest was made much easier by the weakness of the Sassanid Empire, which was wounded by internal conflicts and a lengthy war with the Byzantine Empire. They also were powerful entities in maritime trade in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean. Or, is it simply saying that people within the given areas gradually began to accept Islam more and more? A sense of unity grew among many though not all provinces and gradually formed the consciousness of a broadly Arab-Islamic population. They were regarded as the 'People of the Book', those who possessed a revealed scripture, or 'People of the Covenant', with whom compacts of protection had been made. Direct link to cac.hwaarcher's post How did women contribute , Posted 3 years ago. Arab or Turkish conquerors." Muslims of Central Asian origin played a major role in the Mongol conquest of China. Did the Arab Muslim only encourage the conversion to Islam, They didn't persecute anyone who didn't convert. subjugated in most cases. Since the 1960s, many Muslims have migrated to Western Europe. Direct link to JaydinA's post the world and the New cul, Posted 3 months ago. Image credit: The Umayyads did not come into power smoothly. Abu Bakr died in 634 and was succeeded by Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph, who ruled until 644. The name "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Triq ( ) (meaning "mountain of Tariq"), named after him. To begin to understand the rich history of Islam, lets start with the historical context and events that led to Islams spread. He established a new unified polity in Arabia that . As a clarification question, is this supposed to mean that the early Muslims were conquering territory for a kingdom, like Rome, Greece, and Persia in earlier times? notion of dhimmi status. [77] The Mongols had been religiously and culturally conquered; this absorption ushered in a new age of Mongol-Islamic synthesis[77] that shaped the further spread of Islam in central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. [16] In contemporary usage, "Islamization" and its variants too can also be used with implied negative connotations to refer to the perceived imposition of an Islamist social and political system on a society with an indigenously different social and political background. How did the ethnic character of the Muslim Empires change over the course of the Abbasid caliphate? On the east coast of Africa, where Arab mariners had for many years journeyed to trade, mainly in slaves, Arabs founded permanent colonies on the offshore islands, especially on Zanzibar, in the 9th and 10th century.