What are the main dynamics of the rapid spread of Islam?

What are the main dynamics of the rapid spread of Islam?

During the tenth century, Islam was the predominant religion of an area covering more than half of the then-known world. Its adherents inhabited three continents: from the Pyrenees and Siberia up to China and New Guinea, and from Morocco to the southern tip of Africa.

One of history鈥檚 most striking facts is that Islam spread over such a vast area within 3 centuries. Most striking of all, within 50 years after the Hijra, all of North Africa (from Egypt to Morocco) and the Middle East (from Yemen to Caucasia, and from Egypt to the lands beyond Transoxiana) had come under the sway of Islam. During 鈥楿thman鈥檚 reign (644-56), Muslim envoys reached the Chinese royal court and were welcomed enthusiastically. According to historians, this important event marks the beginning of Islam鈥檚 presence in China.

How did Islam spread?

Peoples of all eras have been ready to embrace Islam for a wide variety of reasons. But perhaps the foremost one, as pointed out by Muhammad Asad, a Jewish convert to Islam, is that:

Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other, nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. Everything in the teaching and postulate of Islam is in its proper place. [1]

Most Western writers continue to accuse Islam of spreading by the sword. One major cause of this prejudice is that Islam often spread at the expense of Christianity. For hundreds of years Christians have converted to Islam without much effort or organized missionary activity. Muslims, however, almost never convert to Christianity despite sophisticated means and well-organized missionary activities. Furthermore, Christianity has always been at a disadvantage when competing with Islam. This has caused its missionaries and most Orientalists to present Islam as a regressive and vulgar religion of uncivilized peoples [2]. Such negative attitudes also color their accounts of the Prophet. Some unbiased Western writers have admitted this: