Was Islam ever spread by the sword.. i have heard it was but cannot find much evidence of this..?

Question

Now, this is not an islamaphobia question at all .. i was having a discussion with my friend and we couldnt think of specific examples! And was Christianity also using these methods at any stage or is Islam villified just because we like to pick on it ?

Answer 1

nop it was not here is the answer before i give the answer i wana ask that people who says ISLAM was spread by sword to them i wana ask that Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?

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

Answer:

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.


1. 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).


2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.


Each and every human being in this world is not in favour 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.


3. 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."


4. 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.


5. 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.


6. 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.


7. 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?"


8. 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?"


9. 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."


10. 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]


11. 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]


12. 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?


13. 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?


14. 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".

Answer 2

During Medieval time Arabs became united by Islam. According to the Koran an acceptable method of spreading the word of Islam is by conquest. The Arab muslims, most notably the Arab General Saladin, conquered kingdoms of the time all the way up to lower Spain. In the conquered kingdoms the official religion was made Islam and those who were conquerd were encouraged to convert. Those who did not convert were allowed to practice their faith (as long as that faith was Judaism or Christianity which both have the same basis as Islam in the teachings of Abraham) in peace but did not have the full rights of a Muslim citizen. This is how Islam was spread by the sword in Medieval times.

Answer 3

"Christianity also using these methods at any stage"

Yes, during the evil crusades of the Roman Catholic domination of Europe and the Middle East.

The Crusades took place because the Roman Catholic Church translated the Bible into Latin, locked it up behind gates and said, "Thus and thus is what God says." From this we got inquisitions, crusades, indulgences and the like.

When the reformation translated the Bible into German and English, the average person could stand up to the evil popery and say "No!" for the Bible says thus and thus. Then the killing and fleecing soon stopped.

Today, the Qu'ran cannot be translated because it is a high and holy form of Arabic. The teachers say the Qu'ran commands to make Jihad against the infidels. They honor woman and children blowing themselves up to kill the innocent. Is that what the Qu'ran truly teaches? Will someone stand up and say "No"?

Looks like history is repeating itself once more, and Islam is now the new Roman Catholic Crusaders.

We also need to look at locations such as the Sudan where you are brutalized or killed for being anything but under the thumb of Islam.

Answer 4

Islamic armies conquered the Arabian peninsula. After mohammed's death they took on a weakened Byzantine Empire and Persian empire. They conquered Iraq, Iran, Syria, Judaea, then Egypy and the mediterranean coast across to Morocco. Then they invaded Spain but their army was routed at Tours in southern France, and so they stopped at Spain. It was conquest, and reordering society to put moslems in control. Swords and other weapons of violence were of course used !

Later muslim armies attacked Afghanistan and India.
It was just trade that brought Islam to the eastern coast of Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia I think.

They didn't force "people of the book" (Jews and christians) to convert I think. Sharia law though means humiliation and discrimination (eg increased taxes, being excluded from important offices) so many converted out of self-interest and the plausibility of the Koran. There were probably patches of persecution but don't know enough to list them to you.

They were a lot harder when faced with real polytheists, like hindus, since according to Mohammed, polytheists should be made to convert or die. But I'm not sure how much that hard koranic/hadith attittude could in practice be carried out - it would create great and bitter opposition.

They had another go at Europe under the Turks - but we pushed them back when they got as far as Vienna. May God protect all of us from people using violence to extend control and influence of their religion.

Answer 5

I think alot of it has to do with how the "Crusades" are presented and taught in American schools. I was taught that the noble Christian Europeans went to the Middle East to liberate the land from the uncompromising grip of Islam. In all reality, though, I don't think people would have maintained Islam as their religion had it been forced upon them. Not to mention that a precept of Islam is that there can be no compulsion in religion.

Answer 6

Gandhi:

"I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers and his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle”.
(Young India, 1922).

George Bernard Shaw:
"I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving the problems in a way that would bring the much needed peace and happiness. Europe is beginning to be enamored of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go further in recognizing the utility of that creed in solving its problems."
(A Collection of writing of some of the eminent scholars, 1935).





Michael H. Hart of USA, compiled a ranking list of the 100 most influential persons in the history of the entire humanity, who authored book “The 100 most influential persons", published in 1978 by Hart Publishing Company Inc. He ranked Muhammad peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him, as the number one, at the top of his list.
Following are brief excerpts from the chapter on Muhammad peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him.

“My choice of Muhammad to lead the best of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels.

Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world’s great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.
The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backwards area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art and learning. Orphaned at the age of six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate.”

Answer 7

Hi,

Actually there is a story that I read, its from the Quran. Its about one Prophet Mohammad's Khalifs. Can't recall his name at this time. But the story goes (for short) that he was married to 4 wives and had 40 kids. And they were preaching Islam and used Force and Swords to persuade people to join the new religion. I'm going to dig more into this and got the facts. But I clearly recall reading it. Just wanted to point that out.

Thanks

Answer 8

I'm pretty sure the start of the crusades wasn't ALL b.s. on the part of the Catholic Church.
The Ottoman empire, though not "Islam" itself, definitely helped to spread it through military conquests.

Answer 9

NO... it is against islam to force someone into the religion... it is actually a SIN to make some one convert to islam under the sword...

Answer 10

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate and Merciful

What is believed by nearly all orientalist professors in Western universities and what is known as fact by educated Muslims is that Islam was spread by goodly character, not by coercion. This is something remarkably unique about the rapid and immense spread of this religion in comparison to the slow and violent spread of Christianity, for example.

What we saw from the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) is that they went out from Makka and from Madina and never came back. They went as far as China and modern-day Istanbul, etc. Unlike what we see in our times from ignorant Muslims, they didn't come with fancy pamphlets, in-depth theological arguments to debate with, violent attacks on people's beliefs and way of life, or anything of this sort. Rather, they came with the light of the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace). The came with good character. People saw how well they treated others, how honest, generous, and kind they were. In Afghanistan, for instance, the citadel of Eastern Buddhism -- it became nearly entirely Muslim in a couple year's time. Why? Because people looked at the companions and saw something better than what they had. They saw them praying. This is how Islam was spread. The big Buddhist statues in Afghanistan were viewed by the companions of the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace), and they left them be. They certainly knew more about Islamic jurisprudence than anyone today -- such as the Taliban who insisted on destroying the statues.

In some classical Muslim texts on tenets of faith, we see mention, in Arabic, about the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) "spreading Islam with the sword." We must understand that this phrase, in its proper context, meant something entirely different than its English translation in modern time. As the scholars of our religion have always interpreted, this phrase is asserting the level of determination with which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) delivered the message of Islam. It is in no way a symbol of coercion. In fact, Islam is the only major religion, whose primary text has outwardly evident, specific proofs of the obligation of protecting the religious rights of people of other faiths.

When this process is compared to the many horrific events that have been carried out in the name of Christianity (crusades, etc.), it becomes clear that the success of Islam's rapid spread was rooted in the method with which it was passed on. Only within Islam itself, do we really see people of splinter sectarian groups trying to spread their bizarre ideology to other Muslims by way of violence. The was clearly the case in Iran, where the Safavids put it over on a whole nation of traditional Muslims, and converted them to twelver shi'ism by the sword -- quite literally. Another example is the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. But, as I mentioned, these were almost entirely internal cases of this type of propagation.

As for Islam being vilified in our times, this is done almost exclusively in the West and mostly just in America. The reasons are obvious in that the vilification of Islam is part of the agenda of the people who are politically in charge of the country. It's obviously not to anyone's benefit, as the endless wars and humiliation carried out against the Muslims all over the world is only giving deranged lunatics a platform from which they can recruit Muslims to carry out wild terrorist operations that fly in the face of a basic understanding of Sacred Law. And God Most High knows best. And all praise is due to God, Lord of all the worlds.

Answer 11

Off the top of my head - the Moorish occupation of Spain.