The Spread of Islam

 Recently, for my language arts class, I was asked to write a four paragraph essay reflecting what we learned in our history class. The essay is about the spread of the Islam empire, and what we think are the main reasons for the spread. 

What is the process of a balloon inflating called? Well, it expands, or becomes larger & more extensive. The expansion of a balloon is pretty similar to the expansion of a religion, take the Islam religion for example. The Islam culture all begin in 610 CE, when Muhammad received his first words from the Allah, stating that Allah was the only god, and how important charity/giving to the needy was. After two years of  Muhammad keeping what he heard to himself, he finally decided to share Allah’s words to the people of Mecca. The people of Mecca did not believe Muhammad one bit, they resisted against him so badly that in 622 CE, Muhammad had to leave Mecca for Medina. While in Medina, he established a new base. Finally, in 628 CE, he made the tough decision to return to Mecca. There he found out that the people actually listened to his words, and the Islam culture was born. There were many reasons for the massive spread of Islam, just as there are many ways which can inflate a balloon. Out of the many possible reasons for the spread of Islam, the two which contributed most were the trading center in Mecca and the Ordinances of the Government. 

The trading center located in Mecca was a huge contributor in spreading the Islam empire past the Arabian Peninsula. According to Document A, a map compiled from various sources, many different tribes/countries visited the Meccan area, which resulted in many different religions being exchanged. Since people were coming from all over the world, once they communicated and interacted with each other, they would learn one’s language, some beliefs, and parts of their religion. This definitely was a boost in getting the Islam religion more known, and spread to more parts of the world, as the Islamic culture was born in Mecca. According to the document, the reason why Mecca is so popular for trading and cultural diffusion is because of the location. Mecca is located in the middle of three different continents, and has many trade routes from farther countries. Again, because of how convenient the location is, the Islamic culture had many different countries and trading routes to expand to. With all of the trading routes and multiple countries surrounding Mecca, it is clear that the trading center in Mecca had an impact on the spread of Islam. 

The ordinances of the Government also had a large impact on expanding the Islamic Empire beyond the Arabian Peninsula. According to Document E, a book written by Abu al-Hasan Al-Mawardi, changing into the Islam culture has many laws set about being conquered & harming others. For example, one of the laws placed about harming others states that a practicing Muslim can travel while being protected at the same time. This means that when a Muslim is traveling, they are guaranteed safety to themselves and their property. As many would want this reassurance when traveling, this law attracted many people to convert into the Islam religion. Another example of  a law directed towards being conquered was the Pact. The Pact law was an arrangement created by Muslim rulers which let conquered non-Muslims still be able to practice their own religion - if, and only if they paid a special tax (a jizyah) and obeyed the Islamic laws. As a good amount of conquered non-Muslims did not have the most money in the world, many decided to give up their own religion and start following the Islamic religion instead. Though this may not be the best way the Islam religion spread, it did work, and also helped strengthen their empire with so many different types of people from many different cultures. The Ordinances of the Government greatly impacted the spread of the Islamic empire.

All these reasons ultimately show that the trading center in Mecca and the Ordinances of the Government  were what impacted the spread of the Islam religion most. Because of Mecca’s convenient location, and all of the laws set by the government it is clear how these two factors impacted Islam more than others. Similarly to a balloon, helium and human air are what impact the expansion of a balloon the most. Though there are many different ways a balloon can expand, and many ways the Islamic culture could have grown, there are certain points which have a much greater contribution than others.