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What accounts for the rise and spread of Islam during the 7th century? Think about it – Mohammed is said to have died around 630, and by the early 8th century Spain had already been invaded. This map shows Muslim territories by the mid-8th century.I wonder if this was the quickest expansion of power for that large of a region up until that point in history.
What accounts for the rise and spread of Islam during the 7th century?
Except for Spain, there really was no central form of government in the Arabian penninsula or N.Africa. So political Islam was able to unite people. An obviously powerful message helped it spread rather quickly by cultural diffusion.
It is my opinion that Islam was infused with the same dynamism as all young ideologies and this is what led to its rapid growth. This is the same dynamism that fed the Bolsheviks in the early 20th century. What is even more amazing is the way in which the Christian nations of Europe were able to revitalize themselves and combat the threat that this new creed represented.This is not a slam on Islam, but rather, it is my take on why they spread so far, so fast, but did not go farther. If you think about it, by the 9th or 10th century, Christianity was in some ways on the wane as a faith. The appearance of Islam did much to revitalize the Christian world and faith by providing an enemy to point at. This is something that still happens today. The dogma of Christianity and Islam are in many ways diametrically opposed to each other although I would not hazard to guess as to whether this is by design or purely accidental.
You both make good points. In the 30 years or so after Mohammed's death Islam seems to have cut into the Persian Empire to the East. This was rather surprising. I wonder how much the dynamism of Islam could come into play if the spread of the religion was made by the sword. This, of course, raises another question - were the people conquered by Muslims during the 7th century "converted" to Islam or were they just ruled under Muslim sovereignty? I agree that the dynamic aspect of the religion could be attractive to many, but conversion on an individual basis would take a longer time than simply conquering neighboring territories.
Trade caravan routes and militarism spread Islam throughout the Mahgreb. Google Amr ibn al As. He is the biggest reason Islam spread during the early Khalifa.
I think that Amr ibn al As was responsible for the military spread of Islam. But why was he able to conquer so much right off the bat? Perhaps had Justinian not conquered the Vandals in North Africa in the 6th century the Muslims would not have been able to move west. Without powers in the way of their path, the Muslims would have been able to defeat disunited lands.
If I remember correctly Islam was spread by the sword and through political coercion. Other religions were allowed in Islamic lands but their practitioners were considered second class citizens and had to pay taxes that Muslims did not have to pay. When I was in the Balkans in the mid 90's the major argument the Serbs had with the Bosniaks is that their ancestors had converted to obtain preferential treatment at the hands of the Turks through their conversion. This was the main reason the Serbs and Croats hated the Bosnian Muslims, they considered them traitors to their race and religion.
