How Did Islam Become Popular?

[zynner]

It seems pretty clear how Christianity got a foothold in Western societies. It started off in the second century as an offshoot cult. When Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, the religion had the power of government swords behind it. It was only a matter of time before the people not only adopted it but new generations just assumed that's the way it always was.

But what is the history of Islam -- how did it become such a dominate force in the Middle East? Anybody know?

~ zynner

[G. Adams]

Quote by: zynner It seems pretty clear how Christianity got a foothold in Western societies. It started off in the second century as an offshoot cult. When Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, the religion had the power of government swords behind it. It was only a matter of time before the people not only adopted it but new generations just assumed that's the way it always was. But what is the history of Islam -- how did it become such a dominate force in the Middle East? Anybody know? ~ zynner

Politics and swords, just like any other major religion.

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Right, like any other dominant religion. Look at how concentrated Islamic society is today, all centered around the culmination of religion and political authority, like that's the real plight for peace in the Middle East...I wonder when they will figure it out.

[Ghumanto]

Christianity got a foothold among the down trodden in Europe as those poor guys wanted some respite from the Romans.
Later it became so popular that Constantine had to accept it as the religion in order to save his throne.
Then afterwards , the sword power helped it to grow bigger .

Islam has a bit different story. Prophet Muhammad preached it, struggled for it and finally esablished it as the relegion in Mecca . He didn't have to use the sword at the initial stage .
After the Prophet, the sword became the carrier of the relegion. Except for non-Arab Muslim countries.
The sufi's , saints and the Arab merchants carried the relegion to countries like Malaysia / Indonesia / Bangladesh and Maldives. Perhaps that is why Islam has a very different nature in these countries !

Mao Ze Dong once told - when they ( Europeans ) 1st came to China, they had the Bible and we ( Chinese people ) had the power. After the year - we have the Bible , they grabbed the power.

Relegion has such a silent move!
:eek:

[tinybear]

Read this: http://www.bartleby.com/67/286.html

[G. Adams]

Quote by: tinybear Read this: http://www.bartleby.com/67/286.html

Jeez, are they paying you to link this place all over?

edit: ignore me...

[Milton Bradley]

The real irony, and the fact that I find so hard to swallow about Christiianity in Western culture is this.


Of all the people who suposedly witnessed the events that lead to Christianty, the vast majority lived, and live in the Middle East. Of those, very, very few are Christians. Most of the people living in those areas who have ancestors who were there to witness the events are Jews, or Muslim. Not a lot of converts among that crowd.

[lsbskins1]

The sad irony is that no one wants to focus on what is truely attractive about Islam. In a very basic, boiled down explanation, it manages to keep all the advantages of Judism and Christianity, while losing the disadvantages. It's simple, easy to understand, relatively easy to adhear to the major tenents and keeps the awe inspiring elements of its "feeder faiths". What is so hard to understand?

[ShOuLdEr]

Unfortunatley for the people that practice Islam the reputation of that religion for slightly less intelligent people has been ruined by terrorists. To the average Schmuck Muslim/Terrorist are the same word. Kind of sad too i found Islam to be one of the more interesting religions i have studied.

[SoccerfreakAB2]

Quote by: ShOuLdEr Unfortunatley for the people that practice Islam the reputation of that religion for slightly less intelligent people has been ruined by terrorists. To the average Schmuck Muslim/Terrorist are the same word. Kind of sad too i found Islam to be one of the more interesting religions i have studied.

That's the American mindset for you. So quick to believe anything that comes hot off the press or hot from your parent's words, while not quite registering it with anything that actually sounds logical or reasonable.

[grandpa]

Through brainwashing ad coercion (AKA education and tradition).

Grandpa h.

[SaintLucifer]

My dear children you are all wrong. Islam was spread throughtout via the use of force, just like every other religion. There is one difference. When the Jesuits came to the New World unlike the Muslims they did not have a large army standing behind them. Notice the Natives were never converted. Why is this? Simple. Force was never used.

SaintLucifer
The Dark Saint

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: SaintLucifer My dear children you are all wrong. Islam was spread throughtout via the use of force, just like every other religion. There is one difference. When the Jesuits came to the New World unlike the Muslims they did not have a large army standing behind them. Notice the Natives were never converted. Why is this? Simple. Force was never used. SaintLucifer The Dark Saint

Do your history "Saint" look up the crusades the Jesuits were not formed until the English Reformation as a counter to Protestantism..

Force was used by the Christians.

Look it up in the middle ages buddy :rolleyes:

and a link could clear all of these questions for whomever is the original poster of this thread.

Try wikipedia

[Abdullah]

Woah, I`ve been gone for a while.

Quote by: SaintLucifer My dear children you are all wrong. Islam was spread throughtout via the use of force, just like every other religion. There is one difference. When the Jesuits came to the New World unlike the Muslims they did not have a large army standing behind them. Notice the Natives were never converted. Why is this? Simple. Force was never used. SaintLucifer The Dark Saint

Hah! Don`t make me laugh, this is Jesus` own words:

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw"
(Mt :10 :35-36)

"Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?". "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors';and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."
(Lk. 22:35-37)

If Jesus and his followers would`ve gained power then you would have known the talent of his sword, he even ordered his disciples to sell their clothes to buy swords.

[another day]

Quote by: Abdullah Woah, I`ve been gone for a while. Hah! Don`t make me laugh, this is Jesus` own words: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw" (Mt :10 :35-36) "Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?". "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors';and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." (Lk. 22:35-37) If Jesus and his followers would`ve gained power then you would have known the talent of his sword, he even ordered his disciples to sell their clothes to buy swords.

You guys sure jumped the gun pretty quick there...he never said anything about christianity not using force.. Notice he said "Islam was spread throughtout via the use of force, just like every other religion"

He wasnt saying Christianity didn't advocate or use force, he was showing that in that one case you can see how religion requires force to be effective...The jesuits had no army behind them, hence no force, hence minimal conversion. It was not an attempt to show christianity as forceless converters, they are obviously just as forceful as muslims were. But in that case it shows how religion requires violence and forceful control to successfully brainwash the masses into believing their mind control fairy tale.

You guys need to take a moment to comprehend people's posts if you cannot discern things like that....F for reading comprehension for you two!

[SaintLucifer]

Quote by: ldmaniac Do your history "Saint" look up the crusades the Jesuits were not formed until the English Reformation as a counter to Protestantism.. Force was used by the Christians. Look it up in the middle ages buddy :rolleyes: and a link could clear all of these questions for whomever is the original poster of this thread. Try wikipedia

Hmm. None too bright. The Crusades were begun to protect Christians abroad from the Muslim hordes. You do recall the Muslims captured every Christian city at first leaving Jerusalem the sole survivor? The Crusades in effect were the protection of Christianity from the psycho Muslim hordes. Much of it began when the Spanish strove to drive the invader Moors from their soil. Wait, were not the Moors Muslim? Why yes they were. It is YOU who should read.

This background in the Christian West must be matched with that in the Muslim East. Muslim presence in the Holy Land goes back to the initial Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century. This did not interfere much with pilgrimage to Christian holy sites or the security of monasteries and Christian communities in the Holy Land of Christendom, and western Europeans were not much concerned with the loss of far-away Jerusalem when, in the ensuing decades and centuries, they were themselves faced with invasions by Muslims and other hostile non-Christians such as the Vikings and Magyars. However, the Muslim armies' successes were putting strong pressure on the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire.

A turning point in western attitudes towards the east came in the year 1009, when the Fatimid caliph of Cairo, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem destroyed. His successor permitted the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it under stringent circumstances, and pilgrimage was again permitted, but many stories began to be circulated in the West about the cruelty of Muslims toward Christian pilgrims; these stories then played an important role in the development of the crusades later in the century.

My case is rested dear child. Lots of library cards out there for you I am sure. *sneers*

SaintLucifer
The Dark Saint