Compare and Contrast the Spread of Islam Essay

Two of the most significant made use of are Islam and Christianity, their propagate has impacted many locations throughout the world. Throughout the years these types of religions have gotten substantial effect on the course of history. There are plenty of things as well and different involving the spread of Islam in Africa and the spread of Christianity in Europe.

Through the first two centuries with the existence of every religion there have been fundamental dissimilarities between the development of Christianity and that of Islam, inspite of early commonalities in the way that they spread. Christianity existed a number of centuries prior to the birth of Islam, and by the time Muhammad founded Islam in the centre East, Christianity had moved its center to Europe, where it had firmly set up itself as the official faith. But Christianity originally sprouted in the Middle East after Christ’s resurrection in A. D. 35.

The house of worship began in Jerusalem and the surrounding location, and that initially preached the Gospel only to the Jews. It grew quite rapidly for the timein simple fact, the publication of Serves records the conversion of 3000 Jews in a single, incredible day. During this early period, however , Christianity did not expand far beyond Jerusalem and its vicinity. That could soon alter.

After the starting years of relative peace for the chapel, a terrible persecution broke away following the stoning of Sophie. Jewish frontrunners hunted throughout the followers of Jesus and threw all of them into jail. At this time a large number of in the chapel scattered to the surrounding countryside of Judea and Samaria. Christianity’s throughout the world expansion was beginning (Nosotro 1). Once Islam was founded about 550 years afterwards, around the start of the seventh century, its primary experience was strikingly similar to the early connection with the Christian church.

In 610 A. D. Muhammad claimed that he received revelations via God that called him to preach a new faith called Islam. At first he began to do so privately, but after three years this individual found the courage to proclaim his new faith publicly and gained a growing number of followers. However , his monotheistic message has not been well received by many in the polytheistic metropolis, where people were used to profiting from pagan pilgrims. As a result, the first Muslim changes faced persecution, just as the early Christians acquired. Islam’s growth was limited during this time, and it did not distributed far further than Mecca.

At some point the nuisance forced Muhammad to keep Mecca, therefore he fled to Medina. Here he gathered many converts who also became his militant fans. As with the early Christian house of worship, therefore , persecution caused the first significant spread of Islam (Goddard 128). The histories of Christian and Muslim development, however , lost much of their very own similarity following your points of their particular initial dispersion caused by persecution. Christians, for instance , generally established new church buildings in metropolitan areas, intending the gospel will diffuse in the countryside following that.

But this kind of made the spread of Christianity through the first two centuries a great essentially city phenomenon, and it became a great urban religious beliefs. In contrast, Persia had hardly any cities, thus Islam distributed mostly through villages and rural areas. Another comparison was that the Christian church continued to handle persecution throughout its 1st two decades, and yet this continued to grow. On the other hand, persecution against Muslims got essentially finished by the time Muhammad died. A large number of such distinctions made the spread of Christianity plus the spread of Islam extremely different (Hutchinson 122).

Probably the most significant difference between the initial two centuries of the growth of Christianity and Islam was involving the methods used to spread their messages. These methods been a result of the philosophy of each faith. Their different attitudes brought on Christians and Muslims to visit about change in different ways.

During their initially two centuries, Christians would not force their very own religion upon others although relied in missionaries, preaching, and leading godly lives to draw people to the main one true Goodness. Muslims, alternatively, did not rely solely about preaching to spread their particular faiththey turned also for the sword. Although it is true that lots of did convert willingly to Islam, the Muslims also conquered great areas of terrain in the Middle East and Upper Africa through the seventh and eighth decades.

When they bitten or occupied new area, they offered its occupants three options: convert to Islam, pay a particular tax, or die. Under these circumstances many chose to pay the tax, and many others chose to convert to Islam (Nosotro 1). The differing techniques of expansion in fact helped determine the area every religion might cover as it spread.

Christian believers during the 1st two decades traveled via city to city inside the Roman Disposition, taking advantage of the wonderful Roman roads. As a result, the first two centuries observed the Gospel spread generally in Both roman territory, although it was also carried for some other areas, which include Ethiopia and perhaps even India. By the year 200 A. D., Christian communities existed throughout the Midsection East and Turkey, and there were a number of in Greece and Italy as well. Islam, however , distributed from Saudi Arabia and conquered most of the Midsection East and North Africa.

Muslims even extended themselves into the Iberian Peninsula and pressed north, nearly reaching Paris before Charles Martel checked their advance by simply defeating them at the Fight of Tours in 732. Because Islam advanced simply by force, this met with violence and amount of resistance in The european union, where Christianity was already solid. But in other areas, such as Egypt and Syria, it was approved readily by simply people who was living beneath suppressive guideline.

As a result of the method of growth Islam could hardly spread much north in to Europe although remained inside the territory southern of The european countries instead (Neander 224). Plainly, the first two generations of Christian expansion differed greatly from Islam’s 1st two generations of expansion, in spite of a few early commonalities. Although the distributed of the two religions was sparked simply by persecution, they went regarding spreading their messages in very different ways. As a result of Christianity’s reliance in missionaries, that spread primarily in the Roman Empire.

Since Islam employed force to expand the territory, it may not broaden far in to Europe as it met army opposition. Rather it swallowed up most of the Central East and North Africa. Even today the marks of Christianity and Islam can be seen in the areas exactly where they initially spread. After its initially two generations of development, Christianity became the official religious beliefs of the Both roman Empire, and it profoundly influenced the introduction of Europe associated with the Unites states.

Islam even now remains dominating in most of the Middle East and North Africa in which it once created a great empire (Nosotro 5). In the beginning these two made use of started on the same path of expansion. But their growth began to differ more and more over the years. The spread of Islam has greatly motivated Africa. Likewise, Christianity had a great influence on Europe.

Both these beliefs have, and will continue to have got, major results throughout history. Work Mentioned Goddard, Hugh. Christians and Muslims. Ny: Routledge, 95. Hutchinson, Paul.

The Spread of Christianity. Boston: Abingdon Press, 1922. Neander, Augustus. General Good the Christian Religion and Church. Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1854. Nosotro, Rita. The Propagate of Christianity and Islam.

April ’07, 2008 http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw11christislamexpand.htm.