Essays --

Nazia Riaz Mr. Ian Wendt Muslim World December 13, 2013 Final Paper Beginning more than 1400 years ago, Islam has spread from the small trading town of Makkah on the Arabian Peninsula and became a world religion practiced on every continent. Like other world religions. Islam has been spreading ever since its origin. Both through migration of Muslims to new places and by individuals who have accepted Islam as their religion having chosen to convert from other religions. During the first century after Muhammad began preaching, there was rapid expansion of the territory under Muslim rule. The Muslims took over as a result of military campaigns. This territory did not instantly become Islamic, meaning that most people rapidly became Muslims. Rather the spread of Islam among the population took centuries even in the regions conquered in the seventh century. In this era Islamic faith and civilization encompassed extensive new areas of Eurasia and Africa. The continuing spread of Islam was closely connected to the migrations of conquerors and herding folk and to the growth of Muslim commercial enterprise all across the hemisphere. By about 1400 CE Muslim societies spanned the central two thirds of Afro-Eurasia. New Muslim states and towns were appearing in West Africa, the East African coast, Central Asia, India, and Southeast Asia. Consequently Muslim merchants, scholars, and a host of long-distance travelers were the principal mediators in the interreg ional exchange of goods, ideas, and technical innovations. Makkah was a huge trading center which really contributed to the spread of Islam. Merchants liked trading with Muslims. Religiously Muslims couldn’t add interest on anything which buyers really liked. Merchants dealing with Musl... ... to new areas. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe or the Sultanate of Delhi and the later Mogul empire of India had success in spreading Islam. They did gain territory. Non Muslim populations seem to have viewed these powerful tax-gathering Muslim rulers negatively, and so they resisted conversion to Islam. Whoever did embrace Islam in such circumstances if not for material gain, they usually did so because of the efforts of merchants, teachers, and traveling Sufi preachers who were not part of the government. Through 600 to 1000 CE the Islamic world had expanded beyond its original territories through war, trade and cultural diffusion. As it interacted and expanded across Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Byzantine Empire the Islamic world spread the influence of its culture and religion, turning Islam into a great world religion.