Did Islam force conversions at the point of the sword?

[Poof]

i can agree that islam spread by conquests , not by forcing people to convert rather it’s by preaching the relegion

Islam is so strong and so self-assured that it does not need to use force to attract others to it. The moral and intellectual superiority of Islam has manifested itself clearly

Islam has penetrated the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, West Africa, East Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, India, Western China and the Malay Archipelago. In all these regions, Islam replaced so many other well-established religions: Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism and Animism.

throughout the history of Islam. Despite the ills that Muslims are facing everywhere, Islam continues to be the fastest growing religion on earth. Professor Huston Smith of the MIT in his book, The Religions of Man says:

“In some areas where Islam and Christianity are competing for converts, Islam is gaining at a rate of 10 to 1.”

Elwill, you do realize that the only reason Islam is spreading faster than Christianity is because of:

1. High birth rates
2. Religious oppression in Islamic countries (people just can’t convert openly, their lives are at stake)

Also, it is a FACT that:

1. Islam was spread by the sword
2. Jesus was crucified
3. Muhhamad had sexual interactions with a child
4. The Muslims have always been the aggressors throughout history, we did not start the crusades!

No offense but do they even teach History over there?

I’ll check back on this thread on Friday as I have classes.

 

[ronin67]

Hey everyone. I have often heard from pro-Islamic sources that Islam did not force conversions at the point of the sword. They often quote the verse from the Koran that says there is no compulsion in religion. However, I am not sure whether to believe them or not. Were people forced to convert to Islam at the point of the sword or not? Please provide sources.

Ah, yeah and they still do it today. Go to voice of the Martyrs homepage and read some of the stories yourself.

May God Bless!

Ed

 

[GaryTaylor]

Watch the MacNeil/Leher report nightly. There has been “no” better New’s Source for the past 4 decades.

 

[sedonaman]

i can agree that islam spread by conquests , not by forcing people to convert rather it’s by preaching the religion

Islam is so strong and so self-assured that it does not need to use force to attract others to it. The moral and intellectual superiority of Islam has manifested itself clearly …

If Islam is “so strong and so self-assured,” then why does it need Christianity for a crutch? Just look at the great lengths your theologians have to go to in order to find Mohammed in the NT. Why can’t Islam just stand on its own?

Quote:

Islam – After the flight to Medina, the persecution of Muslims was in large part provoked by the Muslim practice of raiding caravans from Mecca and other unbelieving groups.

Christianity – Christians engaged in no acts of violence or crime and their only provocation was their peaceful proclamation of their beliefs, which stood in denial of the beliefs of both the public and the Roman Empire itself.

In conclusion, we can see that while conversion to Islam can be explained as a response to the twin motivations of financial gain and Mohammed’s military force after a relatively mild and short-lived persecution, conversion to Christianity cannot be explained away by such normal, natural means. Converting to Islam meant going along with the natural flow of Mohammed’s military force and financial incentives. Conversion to Christianity meant going against the flow of the military force of Rome without the possibility of any financial elevation. Having seen that the rise of Islam is easily explained by Mohammed’s military strength and financial incentives, the fact that Christianity had none of these favorable conditions means that the rise of Christianity cannot be explained in terms of the natural, human factors that led to the expansion of Islam. Instead, we are left to inquire about exactly what could have motivated so many early Christians for almost three hundred years to accept a religion that would guarantee them nothing in this life except poverty, persecution, exile, and death.

Conclusions about Islam

So, we conclude from this intensive study that we must reject Islam’s claims as well. There are two main reasons for this rejection. First, though Islam has historically identifiable origins, these origins do not provide any reason for concluding that Mohammed’s teachings are an accurate view of God, the universe, and mankind. Instead, the circumstances surrounding the origin and rise of Islam can clearly be understood simply as a product of normal human affairs and ambitions.

Unquote.

 

[elwill]

Elwill, you do realize that the only reason Islam is spreading faster than Christianity is because of:

1. High birth rates
2. Religious oppression in Islamic countries (people just can’t convert openly, their lives are at stake)

as i said before check statistics and news about converters to islam in the world , and in the nonmuslims countries
hence you can avoid birth rate issue , and oppression issue to find out that islam have the most of relegions which converters from other relegions and within nonmuslim countries

Also, it is a FACT that:

1. Islam was spread by the sword
2. Jesus was crucified
3. Muhhamad had sexual interactions with a child
4. The Muslims have always been the aggressors throughout history, we did not start the crusades!

No offense but do they even teach History over there?

i think we read different histories

I’ll check back on this thread on Friday as I have classes.

good luck
waiting you

 

[Tyuiop411]

i can agree that islam spread by conquests , not by forcing people to convert rather it’s by preaching the relegion

Islam is so strong and so self-assured that it does not need to use force to attract others to it. The moral and intellectual superiority of Islam has manifested itself clearly

Islam has penetrated the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, West Africa, East Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, India, Western China and the Malay Archipelago. In all these regions, Islam replaced so many other well-established religions: Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism and Animism.

Obviously you missed my point. Islam spread because after Muslims seized control of an area it became financially and politically expedient for non-Muslims to convert.

throughout the history of Islam. Despite the ills that Muslims are facing everywhere, Islam continues to be the fastest growing religion on earth. Professor Huston Smith of the MIT in his book, The Religions of Man says:

“In some areas where Islam and Christianity are competing for converts, Islam is gaining at a rate of 10 to 1.”

You do know that now in 2011 Islam is losing control of Africa at an alarming pace? You can watch tons of youtube videos with Muslims trying to explain why this is happening. Also, most of Islam’s growth takes place in countries where it is already the majority faith. Which means most of it’s growth is because of birth rates in Muslim majority countries.

 

[dzheremi]

The claims that Islam is the fastest growing religion are suspect at best, and would sound a lot better not coming out of da’wah practitioners mouths’.

The truth is that the growth of Islam is higher in certain sectors, lower in others. The growth of Islam in prisons in the USA, for instance, is hardly a matter of debate. In his testimony before the United States Senate, J. Michael Waller claimed that Muslim inmates comprise 17-20% of the prison population, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. He also claimed that 80% of the prisoners who “find faith” while in prison convert to Islam. (source) 350,000 is, with all due respect, not a huge number, and the fact that it is 350,000 of whom many are violent felons is nothing to be overjoyed about.

Outside of that, there are some things for Muslims to get excited about. The Guiness Book of World Records 2003 edition listed Islam as the fastest growing religion in the world. That’s exciting, right? The Pew Research Center reported in 2009 that 1 in 4 people in the world were Muslims, with 62.1% living in Asia (2010 projection). This makes sense, doesn’t it? All the “Islamic countries” are spread throughout Asia. The center’s report also stated: “While the global Muslim population is expected to grow at a faster rate than the non-Muslim population, the Muslim population nevertheless is expected to grow at a slower pace in the next two decades than it did in the previous two decades. From 1990 to 2010, the global Muslim population increased at an average annual rate of 2.2%, compared with the projected rate of 1.5% for the period from 2010 to 2030.” In other words, the Muslim population is growing faster than the non-Muslim population, and is expected to keep doing so for at least the next 20 years. In that time, however, it will likely slow in its overall growth. Muslims will get a larger piece of the pie (possibly becoming the world’s largest religion?), but they will start to stagnate and reach “near-Christian” numbers (Christianity’s growth rate in 2007 was 1.38%)…right about now. Combine that with competition from other religions, and it is in no way assured that Islam will be in the position to brag about anything in the long run.

Pentecostalism, on the other hand…oh my! From 72 million in the 1960s to 525 million in 2000, with most of that growth occurring in the non-Western world! Beat that, Muhammad! Not that this matters all that much, since Pentecostalism is a bunch of hooey, but still…I think in terms of growth rate as a percentage, no other religion comes close. (figures, figures, figures) ((Very interesting reading on Pentecostalism and Christianity in Africa)

 

[sedonaman]

… Despite the ills that Muslims are facing everywhere, …

Whatever ills Muslims are facing, they are facing them because Islam will not accord others what it demands for itself. Whenever an ill befalls Muslims, they don’t ask, “What did we do wrong?” Rather they ask, “Who did this to us?”

“…with the exception of Spain, it has never lost its vantage ground; it has been spreading ever since it came into being.

See this animated map en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osmanli_Imparatorlugu_1300-1923.gif of the Ottoman Empire from 1300 AD to 1923 AD. The Empire is a hollow shell of its former self.

… There must be something in the religion itself to explain its persistence and spread, and to account for its present hold over so large of a proportion of the dwellers on the earth… Islam has stirred an enthusiasm that has never been surpassed.

I guess that would explain the long lines of Americans desperately trying to emigrate to an Islamic country and the short lines of Muslims who want to move to the US.

 

[elwill]

Obviously you missed my point. Islam spread because after Muslims seized control of an area it became financially and politically expedient for non-Muslims to convert.

how is that ?

You do know that now in 2011 Islam is losing control of Africa at an alarming pace? You can watch tons of youtube videos with Muslims trying to explain why this is happening. Also, most of Islam’s growth takes place in countries where it is already the majority faith. Which means most of it’s growth is because of birth rates in Muslim majority countries.

actually i didn’t saw these vedios yet

 

[dzheremi]

Here’s one from Al-Jazira about Muslims leaving Islam in Africa. It’s pretty interesting.

 

[elwill]

Whatever ills Muslims are facing, they are facing them because Islam will not accord others what it demands for itself. Whenever an ill befalls Muslims, they don’t ask, “What did we do wrong?” Rather they ask, “Who did this to us?”

for me i will ask " what did we do wrong " as for allah says in quran

42-30 And whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have wrought, and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults). .

 

[elwill]

Here’s one from Al-Jazira about Muslims leaving Islam in Africa. It’s pretty interesting.

i will listen to it
thank you

 

[LOCO]

Watch the MacNeil/Leher report nightly. There has been “no” better New’s Source for the past 4 decades.

We get McNeil/Lehrer here too. Love it.

We also get Fox News on Cable…YIKES! Please take it back, we don’t want it. It’s cartoon journalism, reporting more opinion rather than fact.

Anywhooo…I digress

 

[Tyuiop411]

We get McNeil/Lehrer here too. Love it.

We also get Fox News on Cable…YIKES! Please take it back, we don’t want it. It’s cartoon journalism, reporting more opinion rather than fact.

Anywhooo…I digress

I actually quite like to watch Fox News; It’s entertaining, but I get most of my actual news from the BBC.

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

All religions have forced people to convert in the past, including the Catholic Church (and the Protestant Churches). The Middle Ages are replete with horrific examples of abuses of human rights by religion.

Let’s be fair, in Russia history there is a certain group who’s track record is repleted with horrific examples of death, persecution, forced famines, and the burning of churches, temples and mosques.

 

[Jack_Bauer]

Hey everyone. I have often heard from pro-Islamic sources that Islam did not force conversions at the point of the sword. They often quote the verse from the Koran that says there is no compulsion in religion. However, I am not sure whether to believe them or not. Were people forced to convert to Islam at the point of the sword or not? Please provide sources.

No. That because they were gently persuaded at the hand of a sword. Convert of die. It’s what I learn in my World Geography class. In reality, Islam was so impressively effective that the people subjected by Islam converted because they saw a powerful convicted army of Muslims that were convicted of their faith that they converted willfully. But historically there were those that converted under duress, do or die.

 

[GaryTaylor]

I actually quite like to watch Fox News; It’s entertaining, but I get most of my actual news from the BBC.

BBC is highly recommended also.

 

[GaryTaylor]

But historically there were those that converted under duress, do or die.

Which continues not only through History but as we speak today. But hey…its in the Quran, so what the heck right?

Peace

 

[sedonaman]

All religions have forced people to convert in the past, including the Catholic Church (and the Protestant Churches). The Middle Ages are replete with horrific examples of abuses of human rights by religion.

Where in the NT does it say to wage war against non-believers?

 

[sedonaman]

for me i will ask " what did we do wrong " as for allah says in quran

42-30 And whatever affliction befalls you, it is on account of what your hands have wrought, and (yet) He pardons most (of your faults). .

You took that verse out of context.

People don’t go to war for no reason; it’s because they think they’ve been wronged. So ask yourself why is it wherever there is Islam, there is war?