Islam is the youngest of the world religions, and the modern popularity of the doctrine speaks of its rapid spread. In 2015, there were over 1.8 million Muslims in the world, which is about 24% of the global population (Lipka, 2017). However, coercion or forced imposition is often cited as the main reason for the rise of Islam. In this paper, I am going to talk about trade as the main way of spreading Islam in the world.
The history of Islam is often associated with military campaigns and violence as the main vehicle for the dissemination of the teaching. Azad and Zafar (2017) underline that some orientalists argue that “Prophet Muhammad… and his followers responsible for propagating their faith by the force of compulsion” (p. 34). However, this assumption is based on bias and misconception, due to which researchers confuse the expansion of the borders of the Islamic State with the spread of Islam as religion. (Azad & Zafar, 2017). Thus, in Western and Eastern history, a rather incorrect view of the rise of the teaching in the world was fixed.
The spread of Islam is associated with the rapid growth of civilizations, as well as the beginning of active trade between different parts of the world. Michalopoulos et al. (2018) note that “the Islamic world came to dominate the network of the most lucrative international trade routes that connected Asia to Europe” (p. 3214). The main aspect in this regard is that Muslims, unlike representatives of other religions, were engaged in direct exchange. This means that instead of hiring agents and intermediaries to transport goods, Islamic merchants traveled all the way in person. This factor has greatly contributed to interpersonal social contact and the spread of the message.
Thus, the spread of the opinion about the violent military spread of Islam is erroneous. The rise of the teaching is associated with the explosive growth of trade, which is in line with the patterns of the appearance of Muslim countries along ancient trade routes (Michalopoulos et al., 2018). This perspective on the spread of Islam as a world religion makes it possible to exclude the probable bias that characterizes earlier historical theories.
References
Azad, M. S., & Zafar, A. R. (2017). Contrast opinions of orientalists on the spread of Islam: A critical analysis. Social and Cultural Studies, 16(2), 21-38.
Lipka, M. (2017). Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U.S. and around the world. Pew Research Center.
Michalopoulos. S., Naghavi, A., & Prarolo, G. (2018). Trade and geography in the spread of Islam. The Economic Journal, 128(616), 3210-3241.