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if you're stuck in "Islam was spread by the sword" I'm not even gonna hesitate to mute or block you because I did not study Islamic history to get into 2003 online political forum debates.
And it's always men, with wikpedia vibes.
Like buddy, I don't have time to deconstruct how revisionist narratives have been built for modern nationalist fervor and identity building or how no faith which has spread has spread through a single means, but..
Modern historians have looked at the work of *European Christian historians* who are the ones who wrote of 'Islam spreading by the sword' and contended that forced conversions were ultimately rare.
The idea that Islam spread primarily/overwhelmingly through violence was meant to explain why so many were going towards an inferior religion vs a great faith like Christianity.
We've only recently seen how the story of Aurangzeb Alamgir - 17/18th C Mughal king - has been grossly mischaracterized and dispersed throughout the subcontinent through the lens and efforts of Hindu nationalist sentiments.
And yeah, political history of Muslim societies is filled with violence, much like the political history of *any other society*. Pathologizing Muslim history and thus Islam as rooted in violence and spreading is ahistorical and bigoted.
Waits for the "well, actually".
Happy to share some accessible, concise resources later tonight for anyone interested.
Everything is behind a paywall, but here’s a (2008) paper by historian Hugh Kennedy - relatively easy to read, accessible. This was one of the first English language essays on the subject I read: https://www.medievalists.net/2010/09/was-islam-spread-by-the-sword/
I read excerpts from this book some time ago - it follows Islam (and other religions) along the Silk Road. Here’s an interview with author Prof. Richard C. Foltz about what he discusses in the book. https://asiasociety.org/religions-silk-road
Yaqeen, via @HassamM_, provides this response to a Muslim audience (I think the Devshirme system could have been better tackled): https://yaqeeninstitute.org/hassam-munir/did-islam-spread-by-the-sword-a-critical-look-at-forced-conversions
I read a book or an article ~5 yrs ago that made the argument about how Islam spread thru 
sex & marriage. Under Islamic law, the children take the faith of the father. Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women (and historically also married women of other faiths too).
sex & marriage. Under Islamic law, the children take the faith of the father. Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women (and historically also married women of other faiths too).
Islam across Africa has varying histories and people tend to forget how some of the first communities of Islam were in Africa. This is a good overview of Islam’s spread in parts of Africa: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm
These are really basic reads - not behind paywalls.
Islam is a religion, not a people. You have 1400+ years of Muslim politics and movements that were informed by a myriad of value systems: Islam (and which Islam?), local customs/culture, individual attitudes of rulers.
Islam is a religion, not a people. You have 1400+ years of Muslim politics and movements that were informed by a myriad of value systems: Islam (and which Islam?), local customs/culture, individual attitudes of rulers.
Also, a necessary read from Edward Said (from 1998) in The Nation- if it’s behind a paywall for you let me know. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/islam-through-western-eyes/
lastly, none of this is to absolve past kingdoms and rulers for unjust violence and treatment -rather, to just point out the problem of “Islam was spread by the sword” as its own ideology rooted in Christendom supremacy & pathologizing Islam/Muslims and political violence. Night!
