The spread of islamic civilization

The Spread of Islamic Civilization The Islamic Civilization spread so extensively due to their excellent, organized, well paid warriors and the strength of their forces formed from their practices and belief methods. The Quran, and the life of their renowned prophet Muhammad set examples and rules on how to live one’s life. The monotheistic people strongly lived in Allah’s word. Before the prophet Muhammad was born Islam originated from the Arabian Peninsula spread throughout the land mostly by caravan trade. Much like Greece and Rome, Arabia was divided into tribes and cities, with different gods and goddesses they were devoted to, around sixth century A. D. Once a year the polytheistic people would meet in Mecca and pray at the Kaaba, which is now has a different meaning, to pray to their gods during Hajj. A few years after having his first vision Muhammad thought to be the last prophet for Allah, was forced to flee Mecca, his homeland, for the fear he would be killed for going against the religion of the majority. After years of hiding and gathering arms and followers Muhammad and his men made the to Mecca and demolished the polytheistic religion by force keeping the Kaaba and changing the meaning of it. After their victory some jewish tribes tried to defeat Muhammad themselves but to no avail, they two were taken out. (can be found on http://www. truthnet. org/islam/whatisislam. html, notes from class, and The Earth and Its People textbook) After practically erasing polytheism from Mecca, Muhammad and his followers continued their spreading of his revelations. Jihad, which some people refer to as the sixth pillar, means struggle for your religion. This is a religious belief and practice that Islams take very seriously. Sometimes known as holy war, many Islams use this as their reason to fight. In document #4 it is showing that Muslims, at the Battle of Tours saw the resistance to convert as a struggle, so they fought. Not always did they use force, but sometimes propaganda to get people to convert. People were promised that if they did, they could go to Paradise. Document #2 a qoute from the Quran, states that if you follow Allah and his Apostle(Muhammad) then he’ll bring you there. But if you turn away, if you don’t accept, then you will be punished or go to Hell. Though acceptive of Christianity and the Jewish religion because they followed God and were People of the Book, they were still heavily taxed and threatened, shown in document #1. Their lust for booty, weak enemies, skilled warriors, unification under religion and social structures, swiftly and skillfully helped Islam conquer and expand their territory and religion. Through different methods people began to join their forces and religion whether it be of, or against their own will.