Was Islam Spread By Force Of The Sword?

Answering the Wrong Perception That Islam Spread By Force of the Sword

Main Points:

1.    It is wrong to believe that Islam was spread by the force of the sword.

2.    The Quran itself supports freedom of religion in clear words.

3.    Islam does not accept hypocrites; it seeks real believers. Freedom of religion is the only way to ensure sincerity and reality in faith. This is why Islam favours religious freedom.

4.    Contrarily, the force can only persuade someone to accept Islam on the surface, not the inside.

5.    If there was a sword used to propagate Islam, it was the sword of reason and persuasive arguments.

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By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam

19 August 2022

Some people frequently believe incorrectly that Islam would not have millions of believers globally if it had not been preached through the threat of force and sword. This whole thing is false. The following arguments will show that, rather than the sword; the forces of truth, reason and logic were responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.

The freedom to practise any religion has always been acknowledged and safeguarded by Islam. The Quran itself supports freedom of religion in clear words:

“There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” (2:256)

Islam does not accept hypocrites; it seeks real believers. Freedom of religion is the only way to ensure sincerity and reality in faith. This is why Islam favours religious freedom.

Contrarily, the force can only persuade someone to accept Islam on the surface, not the inside. This approach can turn someone into a hypocrite who displays his or her Islam in public but does not truly embrace it. Islam, as we all know, strongly detests hypocrisy. Islam can therefore not be forced upon anyone. Forced conversion simply serves to increase the number of hypocrites while decreasing the number of real believers.

The Prophet of Islam has also been commanded to serve as a reminder and not as someone who forces others to convert to Islam:

“So remind, [O Muhammad, peace be upon him]; you are only a reminder. You are not over them a controller.” (88:21-22)

In countless other verses, the Prophet is described as "a carrier of good news" and "a Warner of God's punishment” (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:119; Surah Saba, 34:28). To remind the people of their fundamental yearning to believe in God was his only duty. As the first verse (2:256) made it clear that there is no need for forcing someone to accept Islam because it is simple to distinguish between the right and evil paths.

It is undeniable that Muslims ruled Spain (Andalusia) for almost 800 years. Jews and Christians were free to practise their own religions throughout this period, according to acceptable history.

In the Muslim regions of the Middle East, Christian and Jewish communities have existed for centuries. Countries with sizable Christian and Jewish populations include Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Huston Smith writes about how the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) allowed Jews and Christians to practise their religions freely while living under Muslim dominion in his book The World's Religions:

Jews and Christians “shall be safeguarded from all insults and damage. They shall have an equal right to our help and good services and they shall profess their religion as freely as the Muslims”, according to a document the Prophet had prepared.

Smith states that Muslims saw that document as the first proclamation of religious freedom in the annals of human history and the model for all subsequent Muslim states.

Since Muslims controlled India for almost a thousand years, they had the authority to compel all non-Muslims to convert to Islam. However, they chose not to do so, and today, more than 80% of Indians do not practise Islam.

In the same vein, Islam quickly spread down Africa's east coast. Likewise, no Muslim army was ever sent to Africa's East Coast.

Muslims make up the bulk of the population of Malaysia, with Indonesia having the largest Muslim population worldwide. Indonesia or Malaysia, however, has never been conquered by a Muslim force. It is a well-known historical fact that Indonesia adopted Islam due to its moral precepts rather than because of hostilities. Many regions that were historically under Islamic rule no longer have Islamic governments, yet the local populace still considers themselves Muslims. Additionally, they endured harm, pain, and injustice in order to disseminate the truth and inspired others to do the same.

The same is true for people living in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, North Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Spain, as well as other regions. This demonstrates that the impact of Islam on the populace was one of moral conviction, in contrast to western colonisation, which led to the forcible displacement of people from areas where the native peoples only had memories of sorrow, sadness, slavery, and oppression.

According to renowned historian De Lacy O'Leary, the methodology of fanatical Muslims “marching throughout the globe and forcing Islam on conquered nations at the point of a sword is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated”.

If there was a sword used to propagate Islam, it was the sword of reason and persuasive arguments. This sword is the one that wins over people's hearts and minds. When referring to this, the Quran states:

“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided.” (Qur'an 16:125)

That Islam did not spread by force of sword can also be understood if we look at the Prophet's life in two phases. After spending the first thirteen years of his mission in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) spent the final eleven years of his life in Medina.

The Prophet served in Mecca for his first thirteen years as a prophet. Using force was historically both unimaginable and impractical because he and the Muslims were both minorities in Mecca. Instead, it was the persecution inflicted upon the Muslims that forced the Prophet and the Muslims to migrate from Mecca to Medina.

The Prophet resided in Medina for the last eleven years. Before the Prophet migrated to Medina, the vast majority of its inhabitants, who belonged to the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, had embraced Islam. The inhabitants of Medina could not have been forced into acceptance or conversion. There was no way for the Prophet and his companions in Mecca to physically convert the inhabitants of Medina. Islam only expanded through propagation in Medina.

The Prophet discovered that there was a small Jewish population in Medina that was unwilling to join Islam once he had arrived there. In order to clarify the rights and responsibilities of each religious group in Medina, he met them and invited them to an agreement with the Muslims. This is what the pertinent section of the charter says:

“The Jews who sign this covenant will be shielded from any abuse and vexation and will have the same access to our help and good offices as our own people. Together with the Muslims, the Jews of the several branches of the 'Aws, the Najjar, Harith, Jashim, Tha'labah, and Aws, as well as everyone else residing in Medina, should constitute one composite nation.

“The Jews' clients and allies will have the same freedom and security. The guilty will be sought out and dealt with. Jews and Muslims will work together to defend Medina from all adversaries. For all who abide by this Charter, Medina's interior shall be a holy place. The Muslim and Jewish clients and allies must be treated with the same deference as the principals.”

This demonstrates unequivocally that the Prophet did not coerce individuals into accepting Islam; rather, he encouraged harmonious coexistence with adherents of other religions.

All of these historical facts show unequivocally that Islam was not propagated by the sword but by its sublime teachings.

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Kaniz Fatma is a classic Islamic scholar and a regular columnist for New Age Islam.

URL:     https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/religion-hypocrite-force-sword/d/127750

  

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