Dbq- Spread of Islam

DBQ- Spread of Islam

All throughout world history, religion has played a major role in the shaping and expansion of many civilizations. However, up to the post-classical era, the spread of ideas and religions was limited to the primal, developing networks of communication and trade between civilizations. Religions took as many as centuries to spread and take prominent places within their respective societies. Buddhism, for example, was formed around 500 BCE, yet it did not become take popular hold In India until about 300 years later, and it took another 600 years for it to spread to the nearest civilization, China. With the continued development of ever-expanding trading networks in the mid-1st millennium, trade and contact between societies began to occur almost daily; with that, the spread of ideas, most notably religions, took off. The most important of these beliefs that benefitted from these factors was the religion of Islam. Founded in the early 600's CE, Islam took hold in its local area of origin. In contrast to earlier religions, though, Islam spread throughout the entire known world like a wildfire. It took only 120 years for Islam to go from one city to an entire area spanning from the Iberian Peninsula in the West to the Indian subcontinent in the East. Through the facilitation of inter-regional contact due to expanding communication networks, this rapid spread of Islamic civilization can be contributed to appealing egalitarian concepts and beliefs, coerced conversion, and effective military campaigns.

One of the more pivotal reasons for the spread of Islamic civilization was the promotion of its beliefs in equality. Within both the Islamic community and the heathen people they ruled, Muslims practiced acceptance and tolerance throughout a majority of its empire. When looking specifically at the umma, or the family of believers, Muslims all were seen as equals in the eyes of Allah. Thus, it was a man's responsibility to not exalt himself above other fellow Muslims, and treat others according to their value in Allah, not their worldly status. Hence leaders would humble themselves and servants would be exalted and all would unite as one equal body at the feet of Allah (Doc 3). In addition to equality within the Islamic community, people were also attracted to the tolerance that Muslims had towards other religions. As put by Muslim writer Syed Ameer Ali, "Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any moral faith." (The Spirit of Islam, 1946) According to Ali, unlike other rulers of religions, such as Christianity, who imposed their beliefs on their subjects and left no leeway for any other religion to coexist with their own beliefs, Islam only required of their subjects a treaty of peace and a certain tax in order for the peaceful coexistence of many beliefs (Doc 6). Nevertheless, there have been instances where Muslim rulers have not exercised peace with those of other religions, and Muslims sometimes did impose their beliefs on other people. It is not unreasonable to say, then, that Ali, being a prominent Muslim, would have stretched the truth about Islam's tolerance towards other religions in order to write about Islam in a way that would appeal to others, highlighting the peacefulness and loving characteristics of Islamic civilization and ignoring the exceptions and the negatives of some cases in history. However, it is safe to say that for the most part, Islamic civilization was one of acceptance. Thus, when Muslims went into other lands, people were attracted to the peaceful community Islam created. Thoughts of being able to keep one's beliefs and living in a society in which equality is regarded highly led to these peoples willingly subjecting to Islamic rule.

In addition to appealing equality, Islam also spread massively as a result of forced conversion and subjection as well as the use of menacing threats. Though Muslims were not necessarily known for being violent and oppressive (quite the opposite, actually), as stated above, there were certain instances in which Muslims deviated from their peaceful course and found it obligatory to engage in conflict. There are two main reasons for the use of brute force in conquering a people. The most common reason is simply Koranic revelation. As the holy book of Islam, the Quran gives instructions to be followed by adherents of the faith. One of these commands is to "do" battle with enemies if they do not profess Islam. The fulfillment of this command is to be rewarded with life in the realm of Paradise. Essentially, the Quran motivates Muslims to do war with non-Muslims in order to attain the possibility of going to heaven in the next life (Doc 2). Another passage in the Quran suggests that Muslims still "fight in the cause of God," yet not to be the aggressors in the fighting. Thus, it can be concluded that although Muslims were to be rewarded from engaging in holy war, one should only enter into war if in one was being attacked