WAS ISLAM SPREAD BY THE SWORD?
\nQuestion:
\nHow can Islam be called the religion of peace when it was spread by the sword?
\nAnswer:
\nIt is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have
\nmillions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of
\nforce. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the
\nsword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible
\nfor the rapid spread of Islam.
\n1. Islam means peace.
\nIslam comes from the root word \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsalaam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, which means peace. It also means
\nsubmitting one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is
\nacquired by submitting one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).
\n2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.
\nEach and every human being in this world is not in favour of maintaining peace
\nand harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested
\ninterests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for
\nthis reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and antisocial
\nelements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the
\nsame time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The
\nfight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force
\ncan only be used to promote peace and justice.
\n3. Opinion of historian De Lacy O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Leary.
\nThe best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by
\nthe noted historian De Lacy O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Leary in the book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Islam at the cross road\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Page 8):
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping
\nthrough the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races
\nis one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n4. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.
\nMuslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the
\nsword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to
\nSpain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who
\ncould openly give the adhan, that is the call for prayers.
\n5. 14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.
\nMuslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British
\nruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia
\nfor 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians
\ni.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would
\nnot have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.
\n6. More than 80% non-Muslims in India.
\nThe Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had
\nthe power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today
\nmore than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these nonMuslim
\nIndians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the
\nsword.
\n7. Indonesia and Malaysia.
\nIndonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world.
\nThe majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Which Muslim
\narmy went to Indonesia and Malaysia?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n8. East Coast of Africa.
\nSimilarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again
\nask, if Islam was spread by the sword, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Which Muslim army went to the East
\nCoast of Africa?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n9. Thomas Carlyle.
\nThe famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heroes and Hero worship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d,
\nrefers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The sword indeed, but
\nwhere will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in
\na minority of one. In one man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man
\nalone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he
\ntakes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get
\nyour sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n10. No compulsion in religion.
\nWith which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use
\nit to spread Islam because the Qur\u00e2\u20ac\u2122an says in the following verse:<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WAS ISLAM SPREAD BY THE SWORD? Question: How can Islam be called the religion of peace when it was spread by the sword? Answer: It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faqs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}