How can Islam be called the religion of peace when it was spread by the sword?

Question

It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the sword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.
Islam means peace.
Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).
Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.
Each and every human being in this world is not in favor of maintaining peace and harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested interests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for this reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and anti-social elements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the same time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.
Opinion of historian De Lacy O’Leary.
The best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by the noted historian De Lacy O’Leary in the book "Islam at the cross road" (Page 8):
"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated."
Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.
Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, that is the call for prayers.
14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.
Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.
The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years but still more than 80% non-Muslims in India.
The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword.
Indonesia and Malaysia.
Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, "Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?"
East Coast of Africa.
Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, "Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?"
Thomas Carlyle.
The famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book "Heroes and Hero worship", refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: "The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can."
No compulsion in religion.
With which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use it to spread Islam because the Qur’an says in the following verse:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error"[Al-Qur’an 2:256]
Sword of the Intellect.
It is the sword of intellect. The sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Qur’an says in Surah Nahl, chapter 16 verse 125:
"Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious." [Al-Qur’an 16:125]
Increase in the world religions from 1934 to 1984.
An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?
Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe.
Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam. Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?
Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson.
Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson rightly says, "People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day MUHAMMED (pbuh) was born". (Dr.Zakir Naik www.irf.net)

Answer 1

start thinking a little, can u force some1 to believe something?
for example if i threaten to kill you if you don't become a muslim would you convert?
even if you converted it wouldn't be free will and , it would be by force.
Islam says whoever converts to this religion 'will be tested' in their faith otherwise they won't be counted as real muslims.
so how the h-ll can some1 force another person to believe ysomething from the bottom of his\her heart?
and again... u can't force some1 to believe something..

Answer 2

Sadly, religion is frequently used as an excuse by those with an altogether different motive.

It appears that as people become more highly educated, they begin to turn their back upon any religion that seems to offer mainly unsurportable dogma.

Unfortunately there are many more poorly educated people in the world whose minds are more easily swayed, having believed bizarre promises of a heavenly riches, countless virgins, a favoured seating arrangement or thankful congratulations for a 'job well done' from their deity.

Of course, religious fanatics can also be persuaded into a murderous act by cash.

Answer 3

It is a one way religion, Muslim cannot leave Islam, if they do they must hide.

If it was a religion of peace then why did their followers go on the streets in Turkey bearing banners asking to behead the Pope to convince all of us that the Pope was wrong at saying it is a violent religion?
It defies logic. Why did they kill an innocent christian Nun when the Pope made that statement? Why did they kill Dutch politicians for designing simple cartoons? Why is it that in Iraq they need a dictator like Saddam to behave like humans?

Why are they slaughtering each other on the streets of Bagdad?
Why are they killing everyone in Somalia?
Why are they so eager to escape their country? Why are there millions of muslim homeless souls camping at Calais every year living like animals, sticking to the bottom of lorries so they can enter a secular country they seem to despise so much?

it defies logic.

Wake up people.

Answer 4

The question here actually demonstrates the problem- Most Muslims simply ignore the facts and deny the obvious truth. They want to believe something that is just not supported by reality, because it allows them the continuation of abuse and the claim to some kind of righteousness. You have to be really screwed up to do that, given the obvious and documented facts.

FACT- Regardless of what you believe or what you say- WHAT YOU DO IS WHO YOU ARE.

FACT- Islam has defined itself by it's own actions. Those include terrorism and unbridled random murder, kidnapping, extortion, torture, assination, fraud, theft, counterfieting and a host of illegal activities condemned worldwide. It ALSO includes the support, both active and passive, of terrorist activities and positions by millions of "normal" muslims. That makes them accessories to the crimes.

Al Queda may be the college of terrorism- but Islam is the prep school. Every child raised Muslim is a potential terrorist. Every Muslim who does not actively work to stop Muslim terrorism is an enabler of terrorism in his own ranks, or worse.

Throw in the fact that Muslims use the excuse of religion to demean and subjugate half it's people (women) and deem themselves (males only, of course) superior by their "religeous" beliefs- simply confirms the bottom line about Islam, and it's a very ugly picture. Don't give us that crap that there are just a few "extremists" who are terrorists.

Perhaps you have heard of the "Glass parking lot" solution to mideast problems? Support for it is growing.

Answer 5

I have also heard that the primary root word for Islam is al-silm which means that Islam translates into 'submission to Allah.' This is largely supported by most of the text in the Koran which deals with submitting onesself to Allah. Also, while al-salaam is a secondary root word for Islam, the meaning of the first outweighs the meaning of the second. Pretty much vice versa what you are saying.

I think the saying that Islam was spread by the sword deals mainly with the spread of Islam corrolating with the growth of Islamic empires. The same could be said about the spread of Christianity. Also couldn't the treatment of non-believers in these Islamic as secondary citizens have anything to do with people converting to Islam in these areas? As far as I have read the Koran supports treatment of non-believers as second class citizens through additional taxes, exclusion from government and military post, and other means. Earlier Islamic Empires did use those means to seperate those who believed in Islam and those who did not.

Although the rate at which Islam is growing in America may be high, the actual number of Muslims in America is still one percent. The number of actual converts as compared to the overall population is still minor. One factor that might make Islam the fastest growing factor in America is the fact that many Americans, instead of converting to any religion, are instead turning to atheism or agnosticism. Their numbers consists of ten percent of Americans (in some European countries this number is reaching nearly half the population, most of which has been in the last couple of centuries). The point I am trying to make here is that in countries with a relatively low number of Muslims the percentage of increase does not accurately show the actual number of a group in a population. Also, although the fastest growing religion in America and Europe may be Islam, statistics like these often have tendencies to leave out people who choose not to believe or people who choose new age religions such as Wicca. (I'm sorry to say, but perhaps Reader's Digest isn't the best source for these statistics.)

As for the time frame of growth you used; it has nothing to do with the Islam is spread by the sword thing. That saying was created long before you or I were even thought of. It mainly refers to the original boom of the Muslim Empires, which, whether you admit it or not, was spread by the sword. Like I said before, the same thing goes with Christianity.

In current events, 'Islam being spread by the sword' is refering more the the use of terrorism by Islamic extremist and support of these methods by some fundalmentalist. The only way the Islamic community can combat this is and to show that Islam is a religion of peace is to actually denounce these methods, but this isn't seen often.

Part of the reason for the high rate of growth in the number of Muslims in the timeframe you mentioned has a lot to do with the rise and fall of communist Russia. In 1934 areas controlled by the USSR were strictly secular to the point of persecuting religions. By 1986 the USSR had either lost most of its former strentgh which created a situation where the Muslim people it had oppressed were able to express their religion again. You also can't forget the rise of Islamic fundalmentalist and extremist in this time frame. They contributed to the growth in Islam (more the fundalmentalist than the extremist). In fact the last group mentioned was more effective and powerful than Christian ministeries at the time and still are to this day. This still doesn't account for most of the spread of Islam though, but they are some important factors to take into consideration.

Back to the peace thing, do you think that any religion that supports a government that is theocratic in nature is really going to be able to keep peace among the people? Even in Islamic nations you see disputes between Islamic sects which defeat the whole purpose of peace. Like I previously mentioned, terrorism and extremism also void the picture of Islam you are trying to portray here.

Answer 6

Thank you for the lecture.........but Islam is NOT the only religion that is spread by the sword. Now a days the catholic pope sits in vatican city ceturies ago the pope used to be on the front lines fighting with the army......is this not spreading religion by the sword also ?????

Answer 7

Crusades spread christianity by sword too, but no one has any doubt about that Christianity is a religion of peace. Why can't the same be thought about Islam?

Answer 8

Does this mean you repudiate the "Verse of the sword"? How do you feel about persecution of Christian minorities in Islamic countries? Is it ok to lie to the infidel and break treaties?

Answer 9

Islam spread by the sword? I think not

If Islam was spread by the sword why did people come to islam when they knew they would be persecuted if they were found out.

Take Bilal (RA), he was a slave and when he accepted Islam his master used to lay him on the burning desert sand and place a large stone on his chest and he was told to renounce Islam, but he kept repeating "AHAD" (One God).

So if Islam was spread by the sword would people like him be persecuted? And wouldn't he renounce Islam?

Answer 10

Some of you are complete idiots and need to learn to read things before you answer.

If you actually read the question and the following supporting information you would realize that the person is apparently muslim and he was actually answering his/her own question in favor of islam.

but just because an ideology is successful doesn't make it good. Nazism was the fastest growing ideology of all time at one point in time!!! once people realized that it was not only truely bad but was about to change the world for the worst, mankind got off it's a-s-s and did something. islamonazis' day is comming too!

everytime something bad happens in the name of islam you have the soo called moderates prettend it has nothing to do with them since it is all the extremist fault but they are up in arms for a cartoon.

hmmm seems like priorities are out of wack eh?

news.faithfreedom.org educate yourself about islam then educated the world