The topic of the research is the Islamic religion. In this paper, the key points concerning Islam are covered. Firstly, one touches upon the general discussion of the peculiarities of Muslim religion with the aim of identifying what exactly distinguishes it from other religions of the world. Then, the topic switches to the spread of Islam, namely the way it conquered the world, beginning with its emergence in Mecca. Next, the research proceeds to its spread on the African continent, while particular attention is paid to Islamic influence on the development of Timbuktu – the city in West Africa. At the same time, the issue of slavery and its status in Muslim religion are discussed as well. Finally, two personalities’ autobiographies are included to highlight the atrocities of slavery and the ambiguity of Muslims’ status in the USA. The results have showed that despite the fact that Islam is a comparatively young religion, it was able to develop and spread rather rapidly. Consequently, the new religion immensely influenced the social, cultural, and everyday life of African and other people whose territories Islam had conquered. During the research, both empirical-analytical and interpretive methods were used to give a full picture of realities of the Islamic religion as in premium essays https://premiumqualityessays.com

Islam is considered to be the youngest religion in the world. According to the number of its followers, which is approximately 1 billion people, Islam is the second largest religion worldwide. Nevertheless, the number of people, who convert to this religion, constantly grows now. Therefore, Islam is considered to be one of the fastest-growing religions, and it is full of interesting peculiarities that distinguish it from other religions. One should identify the factors that have contributed to the fact how such a young religion was able to become one of the most influential ones in the world for a comparatively short period of time. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the peculiarities and other crucial issues in Islam, identify its spread, discover the facts about the personalities connected with this religion, and having analyzed the found information, try to give an answer to the cause of its popularity.

Islam

Islam is believed to have begun 1,400 years ago in Mecca, in Arabia. People, who started to follow this religion, were called Muslims. The basic feature of the new region is that it is monotheistic since Muslims believe in only One God – Allah whom they obey and pray. Interestingly that the word ‘Islam’ means ‘submission to the will of God, which implies that Muslims admit the dominate role of Allah and their obedience to His will is indisputable. Muslims strongly believe that their God takes care of them. Because of this, He had sent to the Earth plenty of prophets whose purpose was to transmit Allah’s will to people and, thus, teach them how to live according to the laws He had created. Some prophets’ names are known quite well. These are Moses, Abraham, and Jesus; however, in Islam the most respected one is Muhammad who is viewed to be the final prophet. The reason for Muhammad’s popularity is that Muslims date their religion from the time of Muhammad’s life on the Earth. The key point is that they believe that their religion has always existed but without being revealed. The prophets endeavored to reveal it to the humanity, and the last and the most crucial revelation was made by Muhammad in the 7th century AD. Muhammad is believed to have been the man of great virtues and spiritual views. He recorded and formed the Quran – the Holy Muslim scripture. The conventional story tells that once, when Muhammad was meditating, he was visited by the angel Jibreel who conveyed to him Allah’s words and ordered him to write them down. This was the creation of the Quran. These common beliefs and postulates, which the Islamic religion follows, constitute its uniqueness among other religious views.

The Spread of Islam

After Muhammad’s death in 632, the Islamic state began expanding fairly quickly. The expansion of the state meant the spread of religion as well. People, belonging to other religions, were often converted to Islam with the help of force and weapon. Such a tendency for converting people to a new religion was initiated by Muhammad himself since his methods of the establishment of Islam presupposed not only conversation but also conquest. Muslims’ strong faith in God and their desire for a political consolidation served as an impetus for the expansion of both - the state and religion. Therefore, Arabs subdued the New East, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes and other countries. Their military success was facilitated by political revolutions in the governments of target countries. Under such circumstances, these countries were easy to encroach on. Moreover, people on the conquered territories were interested in a new religion since many of them had consciously accepted Islamic postulates. For those people, who hesitated about accepting this religion, high personal taxes, which all unbelievers were obliged to pay, had played an important role in their conversion to Islamic religion (“Islam from the beginning to 1300,” 2002). Thus, the number of the followers increased rather rapidly, which designated the growth of Islam in the world.

Islam in Africa

Islam is the largest religion in Africa. According to scientific research, approximately a quarter of all Muslim population is located on the African continent.

The notion of Islam in Africa predates the name ‘Africa’ itself by approximately 1,000 years. First, this religion entered the territory of modern Ethiopia, and then, it spread westwards and northwards. Islam had developed in East Africa even before Muslims conquered such important countries and cities as Iraq, Persia, and Medina. Therefore, the connections between Arabs and Africans are rather deep in terms of their culture and political relations. The spread of Islamic religion westwards was enhanced by the traders, called the Fulani. These people belong to nomadic tribes in West Africa, and they are known to be the holders of Muslim religion. The turning point in African Islamization and Islam’s domination on its territory was the colonization that facilitated the spread of this religion over the vast parts of Africa. The important thing about Islam in Africa was the fact that this religion was altered. Some customs and superstitions were changed in order to adjust to suit more peaceful Africans. Therefore, one can notice that Islamic religion in Africa presupposes the mixture of Arabic and African conventions. Islam has taken deep roots not only on the West and East African territories. The reason is that it allows greater rights for the government and its numerous followers believe that it provokes only the best in people’s souls. The submission of the native population to accept a new religion mitigated the process of its adjustment on African lands and changed the life of people immensely.

Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a renowned city in West Africa, established as a trade centre 900 years ago. Now, this city is almost abandoned; however, in the past, it was a hub of religious, cultural, and commercial life.

Timbuktu was a center of Islamic religion. Moreover, it was the city of Islamic education. The university, which was founded in Timbuktu, was famous in the entire Islamic world due to its Muslim scholars who had made a great contribution to the Islamic education. They wrote many books and manuscripts and developed a powerful scholarship there. Furthermore, they often imported the books from other Islamic countries. Therefore, one can find numerous books, written in other scripts in Timbuktu’s libraries. The most famous works found in this city were Islamic Manuscripts from Mali that had been written in three scripts: Saharan, Maghribi, and Sudani. This implies that the level of education in Timbuktu was fairly high, which marked the milestone in the development of West African countries. Such a prosperous center gave rise to the establishment of high-powered empires in West Africa such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. The emergence of these empires influenced the development of civilization and education in the region. Being situated in the West part of Sahara, these newly-founded states attracted plenty of travelers and merchants, allowing various ideas, goods, and knowledge pass through these lands. Such a constant flow of people contributed to the growth of new empires.

Slavery: Muslim Slaves

Slavery was a typical institution for numerous countries, and Islamic countries were not an exception. Slavery was a common thing in the pre-Islamic epoch, and it continued its existence under Islamic conditions. However, in Islam, slavery was present in its modified form since this religion was famous for the moderation of some the principles of this institution. This moderation was enabled by the notion of freedom that Muslim religion suggested. Nevertheless, this notion did not lead to the complete abolition of slavery, but it only mitigated it. For instance, Islam restricted the categories of people who could be enslaved, but this restriction was often neglected, prohibited the enslavement of other Muslims as well as a cruel and barbarous treatment of slaves. Moreover, Islam made it possible for slaves to become free eventually. Despite these improvements, the essence of slavery under Islamic religion remained the same. Slaves were not free and they could be severely punished in the case of disobedience. The horrible consequence of the new Islamic approach to slavery was that the prohibition of Muslim enslavement implied that slaves could be only of foreign origin (unbelievers). As a result, wars became a sole source of slaves; therefore, they were highly encouraged and profitable, which led to the considerable increase of their numbers and constant encroachment of Muslims on other lands. Nowadays, slavery is prohibited and illegal in modern Islamic countries; nevertheless, the rare reports concerning some slavery instances are still found in today’s Islamic world.

Abdulrahman Ibrahim ibn Sori

Abdulrahman Ibrahim ibn Sori was a prince, born in West Africa in Guinea. The story of this man can serve as a veritable example of the injustice of slavery. Despite his royal origin, he was captured, becoming a slave. Consequently, ibn Sori was brought to the USA, where he spent 40 years, working on a cotton plantation. His previous knowledge in this field helped him to acquire a decent position on the plantation. He never stopped trying to be released from slavery and become free. Ibn Sori received help from an old friend of his royal family from Africa; however, their joint endeavors were in vain since Abdulrahman’s owner understood the profit he would lose if he had set him free. Therefore, did not grant him any freedom. Nevertheless, after 40 years of struggle, Abdulrahman was free, and he spent the rest of his life, attempting to release his children from slavery. The story of this man’s life shows the atrocities that slavery brings and illustrates the need of its total abolition.

Omar ibn Said

Another renowned victim of slavery was Omar ibn Said whose father was quite rich. He was born in West Africa just like Abdulrahman Ibrahim ibn Sori. Omar Ibn Said was a knowledgeable man; therefore, he became a Quran teacher in his native village. In 1807, he was enslaved and brought to South Carolina, USA. Omar ibn Said escaped from his owner Johnson, but his runaway led him to prison. There, he met General James Owen, who had enslaved him and whose family, despite of this fact, was described in Omar ibn Said’s autobiography as a good generation. The striking fact was that ibn Said had converted to Christianity under the influence of Owen’s family. In his autobiography, he tried to combine Islam and Christianity by overlapping some of their notions. For instance, he kept naming the God as Allah. It was not entirely clear why ibn Said had actually converted to Christianity. Perhaps, he just accepted the views of the majority and this acceptance gave him a chance to feel a part of society and religious community. He did not come back to Africa. He died in the USA in 1864. The biography of this personality demonstrates the ambiguity of views among Muslims in the USA concerning other religions. On the one hand, they followed Islam; however, the desire to be a part of the community had influenced them to convert to Christianity. As a result, they were neither Muslims nor Christians.

To sum up, one should admit that Islamic religion combines positive and negative features just like any other religion in the world. The influence of Islam on the world history, culture, and literature is impossible to overestimate. In comparison to its early times, Islam has changed now. Thus, it has rejected some cruel issues like slavery and wars, becoming one of the most spread religions in the world. Analyzing the data, one can suppose that Islamic religion has obtained its today’s status because of its past. Namely, numerous wars and conquests contributed to its expansion in the world and to the conversion of masses to a new religion. Especially, the spread of Islam in Africa promoted its further growth since the majority of African population converted to Islam intentionally. That is why, nowadays despite its comparatively young age, Islam enjoys the second place in the top list of all world religions.