Areas where islam spread

Foltz argues that the act of submission generated defacto non-aggression pacts between Muslim Arabs and their neighbors. Most of the clans of the Arab peninsula had submitted and professed their loyalty to the Muslim clans by the year , forcing them to find more targets for raids beyond the Arabian peninsula in Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt, lands held by Byzantium and Sassanian Persia.

Expanding into these areas, the Muslim clans had little trouble expelling the Sassanian and Byzantine leadership and their armies; some villages, Foltz notes, opened their gates to the Muslim Arabs and welcomed them as liberators.

The Muslims set up Islamic governments in the regions they conquered, and by the s an Islamic dynasty, the Umayyads, was established in Damascus. By , other kingdoms ruled by Arab and non-Arab Muslim dynasties would come to control all lands from Spain in the west, throughout northern Africa, over all of Persia and the entire Middle East, spreading as far to the east as the edge of the Tang Empire in the Tarim Basin, and crossing the Indus river into Indian sub-continent. Sometime referred to as the "Islamic Empire," it was not a true empire since there was no central authority governing all of these lands.

Rather, they were united by similar governments structured around the interpretation of Islamic law. The true Islamization of the Silk Routes did not begin until around the beginning of the eight century. Initially, Muslims referred to their faith as "the Arab religion" al-din al-'arab , and did not attempt to win converts.

The first Abbasid armies, on the other hand, relied mostly on Khurasani elite forces and, by the early ninth century, the cavalry became clearly dominant. From the eleventh century onwards the horse-back archery techniques of Central Asian and Turkish origin began to play a major role in Muslim warfare.

Muslim commanders left the social structure of the conquered territories almost intact by appointing local Muslim governors and relying on local administrative and financial systems. The populations were not converted en masse but in time the frequency of conversions increased. The reasons for embracing Islam ranged from a desire to come closer to the new masters and share their privileges, to an acknowledgment of, or belief in, the tolerant and syncretistic nature of the new faith.

These could not, in principle, be forcibly converted as could polytheists and disbelievers , and were guaranteed protection and religious autonomy against the payment of a special tax. By the end of the first Muslim campaign into Spain - 13 all but the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula came under Arab rule. The achievements of this period are embodied in the building in of the Great Mosque of Cordova, which became a vibrant centre of learning. In time, however, the central authority of the state declined and, by the early eleventh century, Spain had broken up into a multiplicity of small kingdoms.

The Christian states of the north captured Toledo in and this marks, to some extent, the first step towards the Crusades of the Middle Ages see pp.

Islamic Spain then came under the rule of Berber dynasties such as the Almoravids — and the Almohads — , who held the entire political power of the western lands of Islam. The coalition of Christian states eventually reduced the presence of Islam to a strip of country in the southeast around Granada where, for a further years, the Nasrid dynasty ruled. In , Granada surrendered to the Christians and, within a few years, all Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain.

Islam continues to spread through the continent of Africa, including Nigeria, which served as a trading liaison between the northern and central regions of Africa. European Crusaders take Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Eventually Muslims defeat the Crusaders and regain control of the holy land. Islam continues to spread throughout Asia. Malaysian traders interact with Muslims who teach them about Islam. Ottomans conquer the Byzantine seat of Constantinople and change its name to Istanbul.

Circa C. Approximately 30 percent of Africans forced into slavery in the United States are Muslim. Muslim immigrants from the Arab world voluntarily come to the United States until the Asian Exclusion Act is passed in World War I ends with the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which was the last of the Islamic empires. Many regions populated by Muslims in Africa and Asia are colonized by Europeans. Traditional religious ways of life are threatened and, in some cases, destroyed.

The Nation of Islam is created in the U. It is based on some Islamic ideas, but contains innovations, such as the appointment or declaration of Elijah Muhammad as a prophet. The state of Israel is created. Muslim students come to the U.