610 C. E.: The Spread Of Islam

In 610 C.E., a man was called a messenger of God. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 C.E. It is believed by Muslims that an angel with the name of Gabriel told him he was a prophet while Muhammad was praying in a cave in on Mount Hira. Muhammad preached monotheism and acquired many followed called Muslims. There were, however, people who disagreed with Islam. They were afraid that Muhammad could potentially grow to power and that pilgrimages to the Ka’ba would cease and their merchant shops would lose business. To protect their new religion, Muhammad and his followers traveled to Medina in 622 C.E. In 628 C.E., Muhammad returned back to Mecca. They destroyed the statues in the Ka’ba, a pagan shrine, and replaced them with one statue of God. Reasons such as military conquest, trade and the appeal of the message of the message led to the rapid expansion of Islam. …show more content…
Muslims were not allowed to hurt or threaten other Muslims. Random House states, “The obvious answer was a series of ghazu raids against the non-Muslim communities in the neighboring countries” (Doc D). Basically, Muslims had to venture further out into other countries that were not heavily populated with Muslims. Countries nearby were now exposed to Muslim culture. It has been diffusing from the Middle East to Europe, Africa and Asia. Looking at a map created from different sources showing the spread of Islam, over a short span of about 140 years, the Islamic territory reached as far north as France and as far east as India (Doc C). Apparently, Muslim advances were very successful. One might conclude that Muslim military campaigns were not obeying the Qur’an or the Sunnah, Muhammad’s example, since every advance was probably not an act to protect