If islam was really spread by sword then how come?

Question

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?
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.
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?"
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 the sword did not spread Islam
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
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."

Answer 1

Where are the statistics to support the claims?
Is Islam growing rapidly as a result of emigration?
Or is it attrition?
Either way, the claims Islam is the "fastest" growing religion truly have failed to support the calim with hard factual evidence.
From what I have seen, as regards the growth of Islam in the US, it seems to be making huge surges in at the very least, the US prison population, but not really much elsewhere other than by emigration, and procreation.

Answer 2

History has proven that Islam was spread by the sword. It's funny that fundamentalist Islamists (like Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri) rail about the Crusades and Crusaders while conveniently ignoring their own past history. The Crusades were in large part a backlash against Moslem conquests and forced conversion by the sword. Unfortunately the Crusaders did the same thing, but that's all the Muslims seem to remember.

Answer 3

In the early days it was spread by sword. Mohammed (kmfa) led over 60 military campaigns in his life, some were nothing more than unprovoked attacks on villages.

There is still a lot of violence done in the name of Islam, but most of Europe and America is peaceful and well policed, so it is rare there.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe because it is the new religious franchise. It has not yet claimed its market share. Christianity has been in those places for hundreds of years, and has already peaked out its market share.

Check out the latest peaceful deeds of the month here:
http://thereligionofpeace.com/

And you can read about the violent beginnings that your apologist tries to deny here:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/History.htm

Answer 4

I'm pretty young and I don't know much from the 23 years I've been on earth! I was raised as a Christian but not once was I truly complete or satisfied with that religion. I have learned that when the truth hurts people will say or do anything to stay away from it. I believe that everyone is born a Muslim. They don't want to accept it but it's true. A Muslim is a servant of Allah (God). A Christian is a follower of Christ. Now if you sing praises to Jesus and worship Jesus as if He is God then is that a sin? Because God says to serve no one but Him! Now to me there are a lot of people out there that want to do things their way and just let it be that way but refuse to give light to the truth. The truth is that EVERYONE must serve God and Him alone. I believe it is ok to be thankful for His profits but when are we taking it too far? There are two paths that God created. One path is filled with struggle and strife, pain and misory but at the end of the path there is paridise. The other path has wealth and prosperity (worldly things) and at the end of that path is HELL! It seems to me that Muslims are on that rough path still to this day of strife and I know the outcome! Every religion has a group of people that want to be in "control" (if that word is correct) of the followers of that religion. It's funny that the word religion isn't in the Bible, Quran, or any other "religious" Book! At least I haven't seen it! But what I'm getting into is that there is a Hislam and a Islam. Meaning that there are people who will interpret Islam their way and those who will interpret it God's way. Regardless I really think people shouldn't judge people based on words that they don't know the meaning of or don't truly understand everything about.

Answer 5

This is very interesting. Ons might suppose that western historians, being predominantly Christian, might have a skewed view of the spread of Islam due to ignorance of Muslim culture and the supposed superiority of European society.

Foxtrot - One cannot have statistics for an absence of behavior. One can only look at the historical record and interpret the events and policies of Muslim leaders and missionaries as either being coercive or not.

I suspect some of the spread of Islam can be related to coercive violent acts, but I doubt this was the primary method of conversion, nor was it necessarily as prevalent as portrayed by western historians. Furthermore, if Christians are to criticize Muslims for coercively converting people, it is only because they are so familiar with the practice.

Finally, the idea that suicide bombers are a method of coercive conversion is absolutely preposterous. Suicide bombers are motivated by political goals, and only justify their actions on religious grounds. No one has converted to Islam to save themselves from a suicide bomber, and I highly doubt that any suicide bomber has held the delusion that blowing themselves up would scare masses of people into joining their religion.

Answer 6

islam was NOT spread by the sword or any other weapon
i don't recall any muslim armies going to africa,america,indonesia..

to the person who said about 9/11 that people are leavin islam..seriously i worry about you..

because of the negative media,people are becoming thirsty too seek knowledge on Islam...
since 9/11 thats when soo many people have converted..

i also seem to notice Even the really really cold-hearted people seem to have interest in Islam,that is such coincidence..

Answer 7

You fail to give them any points for craftiness.

You don't really need to put a sharp edge against someone's neck and say "Convert or die."

You just need to make the laws of the conquered people (as long as they eschew conversion) restrictive and taxations excessive, which is exactly what the earliest proponents of Islam did. Tell them that converts get a big economic break and you'd be surprised how many sign up for the faith.

Answer 8

Islam was NOT spread by the Sword. It was just an ignorant myth made up by some drunk fool.

Answer 9

Muslim conquest of Christian Spain began in 711 AD and continued until 732 AD. Their conquest would have continued had it not been for the Frankish ruler, Charles Martel, who prevented them from going any further.

The very word conquest suggests that they took the country by force. I have yet to read any histories that proclaim "the Muslims marched in bringing food and gifts, and the people lay their weapons at their feet and said "Rule over us."

Edit: So, when Muhammad went to Mecca in 630 AD and told them to convert or be annililated, he wasn't actually threatening the people?

Answer 10

First, you have no evidence to back up those claims. Provide me with a source.

Second, it states in the Quran that Islam must be spread by the sword. You know your Quran. So please look that up.

Thirdly, people have been brainwashed into thinking Islam is the only religion that should be followed.

Fourth, the religion of Islam is not all that peaceful. I bet you didn't know that beheadings are carried out in Saudi Arabia on a regular basis to criminals. Kind of violent if you ask me. Radical Muslims (A.K.A. Islamofasicsts) don't want to tolerate Christians or Jews sadly. They hate them. It's a shame. Those are two great religions. The Islamofasicsts have beheaded American troops Iraqi civilians, and foreigners too, all in the name o Allah. People have been killed just because they didn't convert to Islam. The Islamofasicsts want to destroy/ conquer Israel, America, and the West.

And what about that madman in Iran? He wants to wipe Israel off the map. And he practices Islam. He (the Iranian president) preaches hatred against the U.S.A., Israel and the West on almost a daily basis.

Any religion that kills people if they don't convert to their religion, does not practice a relgion of peace. They practice a religion of death sadly.

Some religion of peace.

And don't forget the horrible acts of terrorism that were carried out on U.S. soil. Does 9/11 come to mind? And what religion did those terrorists practice? Islam. Those acts were commited all for Allah's sake. CRAZY!

Hopefully you're a moderate who doesn't preach hatred against the U.S.A., Israel, and the West.