The Sword of Islam

Many non Muslims believe that Islam was spread by the sword. I.e. Be a Muslim Or Die.
This belief comes from ignorance of historical facts or taking parts of Quraan and Hadeeths (the Prophet’s, peace be upon him, sayings) and then misinterpreting them.


When talking to uninformed non-Muslims, one of the first questions I get asked is this:
How can Islam be called the religion of peace when it was spread by the sword?


If Islam was spread by the use of fierce force, then how come there are millions of adherents all over the world at a time when the Muslim countries are considered to be the weakest in the world?

Islam was spread by force, but not the sword. The force I’m talking about is the natural influence of truth, the power of reason and the might of logic.

Muslims who would spread Islam, would be the ones who follow the Quraan. It is stated in the Quraan in 2:256:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error".
So even if the Muslims wanted to force the people (especially those they love) into Islam, how can they, when they can not compel them into religion?


So lets brainstorm a bit…


Islam = Peace

Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, an Arabic word that means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah.
This means that Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the One & the Mighty, Allah (swt).


Islamic Spain

Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years, and never used the sword to force the people to convert. However, when the Christian Crusaders came to Spain, they wiped out the Muslims and forbade Muslims of performing their religious duties. The Secular European countries nowadays prevent the Muslims of practicing their faith by using their power to prevent them from studying or working if they cover their heads!


What about the Coptics, the Indians and the rest?

Since the beginning of Islam, about 1400 years ago, Muslims ruled Arabia. If Muslims used the edge of sword to convert people into Islam, how come today we have about 14 million Arab Coptic Christians, who’ve been Christians generation after another? Wouldn’t all those Arab non Muslims been forced to convert into Islam?
Same thing applies to India which was ruled by the Muslims for about a century, and yet 80% of the population today is non-Muslim. If Islam was spread by sword, wouldn’t the population there be 100% Muslim?
I00 % Muslim population is seen in Indonesia & Malaysia. But there was no Muslim “army” that went invading to these countries. Nor was a Muslim army sent to the east coast of Africa, where Islam has spread rapidly.


Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion in the World

It’s easy for me as a Muslim to state that Islam is the fastest growing religion in Islam But here is a sample of non Muslims stating the same fact.

In an article written by Gayle Young for CNN in 1997, Islam was reported to be the second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, and the fastest-growing religion.


Michael Burkert, an Evangelist, wrote in article, titled: Will Islam Convert Europe saying:

A news report on German television recently proclaimed that, “Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe, and that within 20-25 years, the majority of Europeans will be Muslim.”

ISLAM IS THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION in Europe today, mostly through immigration, but also due to conversion of duped, deluded Europeans. (LOL, no comment!)

Another article written in 2004 in the Sunday Times by Dearbhail McDonald and titled Ireland's Muslims Go Speed-Dating:

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Ireland. The number of Muslims in the republic quadrupled from less than 400 in 1991 to almost 20,000 in 2002, according to the latest census figures. There are an estimated 3,200 Muslims living in Northern Ireland. Each week, conversion ceremonies — for Irish and other nationals who want to convert to Islam — are held at Clonskeagh mosque.

And some more:

"In fact, religion experts say Islam is the second-largest religion in the United States... Islam has 5 million to 6 million members, followed by Judaism, with approximately 4.5 million..... And Islam is believed to be fastest-growing religion in the country, with half its expansion coming from new immigrants and the other half from conversions." By ELSA C. ARNETT Knight-Ridder News Service

"The religion of Islam is growing faster than any other religion in the world." MIKE WALLACE, 60 MINUTES

"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America, a guide and pillar of stability for many of our people..." HILLARY RODMAN CLINTON, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1996, p.3


Now, I’m confused, what sword was used to make Islam the fastest growing religion in the US & Europe?


Quotes from Non Muslims on this Myth and it is a Myth!

A Quote from Jew For Allah (A site that will give you insights on the Jewish faith from an ex Jew) for De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London, 1923.

History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.

Thomas Carlyle, a famous historian, in his book "Heroes and Hero Worship", refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam:

Much has been said of Mahomet's propagating his Religion by the sword. It is no doubt far nobler what we have to boast of the Christian Religion, that it propagated itself peaceably in the way of preaching and conviction. Yet withal, if we take this for an argument of the truth or falsehood of a religion, there is a radical mistake in it. The sword indeed: but where will you get your sword! Every new opinion, at its starting, is precisely in a minority of one. In one man's head alone, there it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it; there is one man against all men. That he take a sword, and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must first get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can. We do not find, of the Christian Religion either, that it always disdained the sword, when once it had got one. Charlemagne's conversion of the Saxons was not by preaching.

You can find more from Heroes and Hero Worship at Lectures on Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History.


Just before I end…

Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson, a gay Christian biologist and President of Phoenix Evangelical Bible Institute, calms non Muslims about the Islamic sword as Muslims have something even more fatal than a nuke! He said:

"People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day MOHUMMED was born"

And I end with a link to the Islamic song Mount Hira by Zain Bhikha. Enjoy!