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Islam Spreads Throughout

Riley Robbins

World Civilization I

Gabrielle Patterson

April 12, 2021

 Robbins 1

Islam is the second largest religion in the world. Islam means submission in Arabic

where followers of Islamic faith, Muslims, submit to their God, Allah. This monothesitic

religion originated in Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula during the 7th century where Muhammed

received messages from the angel, Gabriel, that he was God’s prophet. Gabriel recited words

from the Holy book, Quran. The Quran is considered by Muslims to be the absolute,

uncorrupted word of God. 1 Muhammed and his followers quickly spread the teachings of Islam

throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Islam is guided by the Five Pillars of Islam. Muslims must

declare their faith. They must believe there is no god but God, and Muhammad is his Prophet.

There must be obligatory prayer. Muslims must practice praying five times a day while facing

Mecca. Another pillar is compulsory giving which means giving alms to the poor. Islamic

followers must practice fasting during the month of Ramadan, and all Muslims must make the

Hajj, pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime. All of these practices soon began to

spread throughout the world and did so quickly due to the trade patterns that quickly emerged

along the route to Mecca.

Trade flourished and was encouraged by Islam. Trade became a central role that allowed

the Islamic religion to continue to spread much farther away from its birthplace of Mecca. “The

Islamic world came to dominate the most lucrative international trade routes that connected Asia

to Europe and by sea to North Africa. Islam spread the same way Christianity spread

throughout the Roman Empire due to the trade patterns that were established along the route.

Important trade hubs were created in the Middle East. Most of them were part of the Persian

1
Spodek, Howard. The World’s History: Combined Volume. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson,
2010.
 Robbins 2
Empire which fell and conceded to Islam. The most important trading areas were found along

the Silk Road in Asia and the Red Sea in North Africa. Trade became a way that Muslims could

carry their religious message throughout the world because exchanges between people mostly

took place on Muslim lands. Muslims began to control the western half of the Silk Route in the

mid-eighth century. Merchants soon realized there were benefits to being Muslim traders

because the officials and laws favored Muslims over non Muslims which helped Islam continue

to spread along the trade routes.2 Another belief that trade helped the spread of Islam is that

Muslims believed in practicing direct trade. They wanted to relay their goods that were to be

traded so they could have a personal connection with social contact to preach the message of

their faith.

Islam had lasting great impacts in parts of the world like the Middle East, Asia, and

Africa. The Red Sea in North Africa was one of the trade connections to help Islam spread

through trade throughout the region. Once Islam moved into Africa, it helped the wealth of the

African people and started to form empires. One of the benefits that Islam brought to the region

was monotheism, the belief in one God. Previously, people believed and practiced polytheistic

religion which led to many political problems within the society.3 Being able to trust and have

loyalty to one God made the empires so much stronger. Another important contribution was

geometric design in the area of architecture. The building of mosques in Africa was credited to

the impact the Islamic religion made in the area. In the Middle East, Muslims spread their

2
Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Trade and the Spread of Islam in
Africa.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm (October 2001)

3
Rahman, F. , Schimmel, . Annemarie and Mahdi, . Muhsin S.. "Islam." Encyclopedia
Britannica, August 15, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam.
 Robbins 3
beliefs and ideas because it was so close to home and others converted and took up practices. In

the Middle East, Islamic principles were used as the basis for converting to Islam but people

from new lands adapted the Islamic religion to be more suitable for them. People in the Middle

East only had to accept the first pillar of Islam to be able to practice the monotheisic religion.

Islam is still practiced all over the world even though some of the practices get adopted

and changed to make it work for a certain region. Trade was the highway that allowed Islam to

spread like wildfire along the routes from Mecca throughout the world. Without the benefits of

being able to trade, the Islamic religion might have been short lived but trade allowed Islam to

survive.
 Robbins 4

Works Cited

Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Trade and the Spread of Islam in
Africa.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm (October 2001)

Rahman, F. , Schimmel, . Annemarie and Mahdi, . Muhsin S.. "Islam." Encyclopedia

Britannica, August 15, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam.

Spodek, Howard. The World’s History: Combined Volume. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson,
2010.