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.