Nygel Butler
11/11/18
World History
1st period
Why Did Islam Spread So Quickly?
Islam originated in present day Saudi Arabia where the prophet, Muhammad, had been
born. Islam would later be able to spread quickly through trade, the appealing nature of the
Islamic faith, and military campaigns.
In the “Arabian Peninsula Trade Routes” (Doc. A) it shows how Mecca was very busy
with all kinds of trade. Since Mecca is where Islam would start in the upcoming years, traders
would come and go taking the teachings of Muhammad with them. Mecca was both the center of
trade and the center of Islam which leads to the quick spread of faith through the many traders
and merchants that traveled to Mecca to trade and left with the words of Islam.
In Versus from The Qur’an (Doc. B), the author, Muhammad used a didactic tone to
show he believed in educating the people about Islam. This segment (Doc. B) was used to show
the equality featured in the beliefs of Islam so that the “non-believers” would feel equal and
would want to convert to Islam because of its appealing nature. ”The Ghazu” (Doc. D) also
helped in teaching others about the appealing nature of Islam by showing how Muslims are equal
and they cannot attack each other.
“The Ordinances of Government” (Doc. E) too helped with spreading the appealing
nature of Islam by telling Muslims “the rules” of Islamic faith to prevent any accidental wrongful
actions. This appealed to the people because they knew “the rules” so they could be true to the
nature of their faith and they wouldn’t accidentally stray from the teachings of Muhammad.
Lastly, Islam spread quickly through military campaigns which is depicted in “The
Spread of Islam (map)” (Doc. C) This map shows how the people that were conquered by the
Muslims chose to convert to Islam because it was more convenient for them to convert to a new
religion than it was to continuously pay taxes so they could follow their own religion.
“The Origins of the Islamic State” (Doc. F) also helped with the spread of Islam because
in Circa 850 CE the Muslims were not able to protect the people of Hims because they were busy
with their own war and the people of Hims converted to Islam so they could get protection. This
boosted the numbers of the Muslims and it showed that many people converted due to war
because it was more convenient to convert to Islam than it was to fight these large armies with no
help at all.
Islam spread quickly through trade because the many people that traveled to Mecca heard
the words of Muhammad and they spread the word to others creating a domino effect with
“non-believers. Islam spread quickly through its appealing nature too by telling Muslims of
peace and Harmony and other things that appealed to the Muslims such as equality. Military
campaigns helped spread Islam as well by forcing people to convert so they can avoid paying
taxes and it was more convenient for these people to convert to Islam than it was to stay with the
religion they had already.
