INTRODUCTION 

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters. 

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel! 

A subject that a lot of people like to talk about, is the history behind the spread of Islam. The reason why people like to talk about it so much is because it carries so much political weight; The question many people are discussing is, did Islam spread by violence or did it spread through peace?  

It's difficult to paint history in black and white in this manner. Unfortunately, many people who try to do so are those with some type of political agenda (either pro or anti-Islam).  

In this lesson, we’re going to overview the spread of Islam from the death of the Prophet Muhammad (s) until the Ottoman Empire. Since we have covered the life of the Prophet Muhammad (s) elsewhere, we will begin with the events that unfolded after his death. 

BODY OF TEXT 

Let's begin looking at the history of the spread of Islam, beginning with the death of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and the beginning of Ummayad Dynasty (610 CE to 750 CE) 

The first phase of Islam’s spread after the death of the Prophet was during the reign of the first four Caliphs.  

During the time of the first four caliphs, Islam expanded dramatically. At first, the whole of the Arabian Peninsula was taken, and by the time of the second Caliph Umar, Egypt and Persia had been conquered.  

It is important to note that none of these conquests were religious per se, and none of the conquering Caliphs ever claimed it to be so, at least according to reliable historical sources. The conquests were largely if not entirely political and economic in nature; conquering lands and it's respective resources for political and economical growth.  

 With the exception of Imam Ali (as), the first three Caliphs and the Ummayad rulers actively discouraged people from converting to Islam. The Ummayad Caliphs in particular saw Islam as a religion for Arabs and not for non-Arabs. 

By the end of the Ummayad Caliphate around 750 C.E, only 10% of the population of the newly conquered lands, that is, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Spain, Iraq and North Africa had converted to Islam.  

What was the role of the Ahl al-Bayt (as) in this? Well, Imam Ali (as) had opposed the conquests from the get-go. He did not participate in any of them. Naturally, he was against the forced conversion of people to Islam. On the contrary, he believed in converting others to Islam not by words, but by his own actions. People had to convert to Islam freely and without any pressure. 

Through his own spiritual aura, compassion and kindness, people in conquered lands converted to Islam after only having briefly met Imam Ali (as).  

Next came the Abbasid Period which lasted from 750 C.E to 1258 

During the Abbasid period, things started turning around. Unlike the Ummayads, the Abbasids did not oppose converting non-Muslim populations to Islam. However, they didn’t actively promote it either.  

The Abbasid period saw the rise of Muslim mysticism, better known as Sufism. Many Muslim traders were Sufis, and many Sufis travelled across Africa, the Middle East, Central, Western and South Asia.  

As the Sufis travelled, they settled in various towns and converted people to Islam. For example, many of the Turks living in central Asia and many people in India were converted to Islam by Sufis. This trend is also found all over Africa as well as in Persia. 

People in Indonesia, Malaysia and part of the Philippines began converting to Islam in the 13th century due to the influence of the Sufis and Sufi tradesmen who travelled to the area from Gujarat, India as well as China. No Muslim army ever set foot in Indonesia or Malaysia. 

For this reason, if you look at the pre-Wahhabi era of Islam, most Sunnis were in fact Sufis and most of their major towns or cities have Sufi shrines.  

It is around the 11th and 12th centuries where the majority of these non-Muslim regions became Muslim. The last ones to become predominately Muslim were Syria and Iran.  

The dramatic growth of Islam in these lands were due to the efforts of non-political elements of Muslim society, namely the Sufis. 

So as you can see, populations were not forcibly converted to Islam. On the contrary, most of the rulers had opposed conversion to Islam. It is the local, unarmed and charismatic Sufis who turned people into Muslims. 

Now let's discuss the Mongols and the Reconquista  

In 1258, the Mongols invaded and took over Baghdad, the capital of the Muslim world at the time. Although Muslim scholars, institutions and libraries were oppressed initially, the Mongols soon found themselves converting to Islam as well. As such, the rulers and not the ruled were the ones changing their religion. 

In Muslim Spain, however, the story was different. For centuries Christian empires fought to reclaim the entirety of Spain from Muslims. By the end of the 15th century, they successfully managed to take over. The Reconquista period is the centuries long process of reclaiming land from Muslims in Spain. As Spain was conquered, Muslims and especially Jews were either kicked out, killed or forced to convert to Christianity. This is how much of the Sephardic Jewish community in Morocco was established. They fled Christian violence to the safety of Muslim Morocco. 

As the ruling elite governing Spain began doubting the genuineness of these conversions, they started the Inquisition where Muslims and Jews were tortured to “get the truth out of them.” It is important to note here that although the Catholic Church had initially supported the Inquisition, they shortly withdrew their support of it after learning of the horrors that took place. Despite the Church’s opposition, the ruling royalty of Spain still pressed on with the torture. 

Next we will look at The Ottoman Empire from 1299-1924 

The Ottoman Empire is one of the longest lasting empires in human history. Ottoman is an Anglicization of the word Osman or Othman and refers to the Turkish house of Osman. Osman the first, who died in 1324, is credited for having founded the Ottoman Empire in 1299. The Ottoman Empire expanded greatly in Southern, and especially South East Europe.  

In 1453, they conquered Constantinople, the heart of the Eastern Roman Empire. By conquering that city, they moved Westward and conquered what we know as modern day Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, Servia, Sicily and much more. Like previous Muslim empires, the Ottomans never forced anyone to convert to Islam.  

Evidence that the people of these lands retained their religion can still be found in most of the countries that were conquered.  

The populations of Albania and Kosovo, however, had mostly converted to Islam at the hands of Sufi mystics who travelled and settled in their towns and cities. 

Finally let's look at Post-Ottoman Empire Until Today 

Conversion to Islam did not cease with the end of the Ottoman Empire. However, it did gradually decrease. Statistically speaking, conversion to Islam saw another peak after September 11th 2001, when Islam took front page in the media. Many people who had not known anything about Islam started researching about it and converting to the religion.  

Hundreds and thousands of people in the West have since converted to Islam. I myself being one of them! 

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh