Dimensions of the Resources
1. Books on the biography of the Prophet of Islam: such as سیرة ابن هشام المتوفی 151 which is the revised version of the Seerah of Ibn Ishaq.
Seerah of ibn Ishaq is translated under ‘The Life of Muhammad’ by A. Guillaume, 1955.
Also, the work of Ayatollah Sobhani ‘The Message’ is a scholarly record of the life of Prophet Muhammad.
2. The history of the major Islamic cities: Such as “The History of Baghdad” written by Khatib Baghdadi, died in 463 A.H or ‘the History of Dameshq’ by Ibn Asakar, died in 571A.H.
3. Travel Accounts: Such as the travel account of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler of the 14th century A.D. His travel lasted for about 30 years. He is the only medieval traveler who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. The mere extent of his travels is estimated at no less than 150,000 k. His book is of great historical value and is translated by Ross Dunn.
4. General History of Islam: Such as ‘The History of the Nations and the Kings’ by al-Tabari. ‘Cambridge History of Islam’ edited by P.H. Holt 2 vols. which is the most comprehensive book in English. And ‘Muslim History’ (570-1950) by Akram Zahoor.
5. Geographers such as Ibn Hawqal, the Muslim geographer of the 10th century and the author of المسالک و الممالک translated by H. Kramer as “The Legacy of Islam”.
6. Accounts of the Conquered countries, such as Futuh al-Buldan, by Balazuri; the Muslim historian of the 9th century.
Introduction
In the barren city of Mecca about 610 AD the Almighty God appointed Muhammad, the trustworthy (al-Amin), with no official education to be His last Messenger to mankind. The message and the religion that was introduced to man through Muhammad, was called ISLAM.
Islam completely changed the intellectual outlook of Arabia, so much so that it divided the history of Arabs into pre-Islamic era known as the era of Ignorance, and the post Islamic era. Within a span of 23 years Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) transformed the barbarous and impious Arabs into a civilized and religious nation. During his life and also after his death, Muslims took the message of Islam to every corner of the world and within a few years Muslims became the super power of the era.
In its early stages when Prophet Muhammad, his wife Khadija and his cousin Ali were the only monotheists on earth, Prophet Muhammad prophesized that “a time shall come when there will be no house on earth whether made of mod or wool but the Almighty Allah will admit the Word of Islam into it.”1
The rise of Islam was the most amazing event in human history. It sprang from a barren desert amidst illiterate people with no civilization, yet within a century built the then most advanced and vast human civilization.
Islam, like Christianity, is a proselytizing religion. This means that followers of these religions believe that it is their duty to share their religion and try to convert others to their religion.
It is one of the striking facts of human history that within half a century after the advent of Islam, Islam had already conquered the whole of North Africa from Egypt to Morocco, all the Middle Eastern lands from Yemen to Caucasia and from Egypt to the lands beyond Transoxiana in Central Asia.
It was during the reign of the third Caliph Othman that the Muslim envoys, lead by one of the companions of the Prophet, reached the Chinese Palace, where they were welcomed enthusiastically, an important event marking, according to the historians, the beginning of Islam’s entry into this country.
Most striking of all, Islam spread within a century over half of the Earth, shattering great empires, ousting long-established religions, remoulding the souls of human races and building up a whole new world; “the World of Islam”. This phenomena becomes more striking when the history of the spread of Islam is compared for instance with that of the Christianity.
Early Christians for a few centuries were facing scorn at best and persecution at worst, depending on Emperor and the era, and hence they were forced to blend in with their Pagan counterparts. It was until early 4th century with the apparent conversion of the Constantine that Christianity started to become an official religion.
If we were to draw a map of the political condition of Europe, Africa and Western Asia about the middle of the tenth century A.D. we would see that by far the greatest part of that “inhabited world”, which the Greeks called “Oikoumene” meaning ‘the whole inhabited earth’, was occupied by countries possessed by Muslim rulers and inhabited mainly by Muslim people. It is perhaps due to this fast spread of Islam that Prof. Clifford Geertz; the famous American anthropologist in his ‘The Near East in the Fast East’ states: “Islam is a religion designed for export.”
The development and the vast spread of Islam took place mainly in only three centuries. Islam once was the main religion, or at least the religion of the majority of the people in an area covering more than half of the civilised world stretching over three continents.
It was from Pyrenees and Siberia in West and North Europe to the furthest end of Asia, up to China and southern tip of Africa, covering two thirds of the African continent. Harun al-Rashid; the fifth Abbasid Caliph in the 8th century, used to address the clouds: “You rain wherever you wish; you drop but on my land!”
American author Louis L’Amour, summarised the spread of Islam as follows: “in the space of one hundred years following the death of Mohammed in 632, the empire of the Arabs (he means Muslims) was larger than that of Alexander the Great of Rome” (The Walking Drum, 1984, p.171)
In modern times, Islam is the fastest growing religion and the second largest religion in the world. The Muslim community consists of both the people in over 51 Muslim countries as well as the Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries. According to CIA ‘The World Fact Book’ (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook) among every four human on earth, one of them is Muslim.
In the last fifty years Muslims have increased by over 235% (257.01% in Australia) up to over 1.6 billion. By comparison, Christians have increased by only 47%, Hinduism, 117 %, and Buddhism by 63 %. Islam is the second largest religious group in France, Great Britain and U.S.A. (There are 10 millions Muslims in U.S.A compared with 6 millions Jews).
The range of the Muslim world is as wide as the human race. Indeed, although most Arabs are Muslims, no longer are most Muslims Arab. Indonesia with nearly 200 million is the most Muslim populated country. Both coming second are China and India with about 135 million. The third most populated is Pakistan with nearly 125 million none of which are Arabs. Today, at the most, only up to 15% of Muslims speak Arabic.