Islam's Misconception that it was Spread by the Sword

Another article on ISLAM, this would be the thought of most of the people who are reading this article. I am a Muslim and I am PROUD to be a Muslim. In today's world Islam is the most misunderstood religion, people think that TERRORIST AND ISLAM are same things but this thought is wrong because Islam is a religion of Peace. If you read the QURAN and the sayings of the Holy Prophet you will see that Islam is one of the most peaceful religions of the world. One of the main objections raised by the non-Muslim world is that Islam was spread by the SWORD!!!! This is a base less accusation because if we go through the history of Islam we can see that it was not spread by the sword. Let me give my readers a very good and not so old example to prove that Islam was not spread by force no Non-Muslim was ever forced to convert to Islam. The example I am giving is of the Indian Empire. The Indian Empire ruled over India for over 1000 years. But when in 1857 the Indian Empire broke and the British took control HINDUS were the majority which means that even after 1000 years the Muslims who were the rulers were in minority. If Islam was being spread by the sword then the whole of India should have converted to Islam. Today 80% of the population in India is Non-Muslims and these people are living proofs that Islam was not spread by the sword. The example I gave proves that Islam was not being spread by the sword but the people who truly accepted the religion were converting to Islam no one was forcing them. Another example is of Indonesia. Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims in the world; I want to ask all those Non-Muslims which say that Islam was spread by the sword to tell me that which Muslim Army went to Indonesia to enforce Islam?

Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian. An article in Reader's Digest 'Almanac', year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in 'The Plain Truth' magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?

If we look at the life of The Prophet {P.B.U.H} he fought Nine major battles in all,

1. 1. The Battle Of Badr

2. 2. The Battle Of Uhud

3. 3. The Campaign Of The Trench

4. 4. The Campaign Of Bani Qurayzah

5. 5. The Battle Of Khyber

6. 6. The Conquest Of Makah

7. 7. The Conquest Of Hunain

8. 8. The Conquest Of Al-Taif

9. 9. The Campaign Of Bani Al Mustaliq

The first three were the principal wars in which the Kufars (Non-Muslims) of Makah challenged the Muslims and set out from Makah to eliminate Islam, while the rest were skirmishes which were fought to eliminate the threats to Islam from nearby areas. The Books of History prove that when a new area was conquered no one was forced to convert to Islam. After the death of The Prophet {P.B.U.H.} the rule of the four caliphs came and after them many emperors came and went. Many wars were also fought, new areas were conquered but no one was forced to accept Islam. If Non-Muslims by saying that Islam was spread by the sword mean these wars which were fought to conquer land and defeat the enemies of Islam, I would want to ask them to tell me how did the British Empire, The Roman Empire, The Greeks etc become such great empires? They also fought wars, killed people and sieged cities! Every Empire has to fight wars to become big but by these wars no one can blame ISLAM that it was spread by the SWORD! It is the sword of intellect. The sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Qur'an says in Surah Nahl, chapter 16 verse 125:

'Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching;
and argue with them in ways that are
best and most gracious.'

I hope that if people read this article some of their doubts that ISLAM WAS SPREAD BY THE SWORD will be removed. I would like to end my article with a quotation by the famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book 'Heroes and Hero worship', refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: "The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man's head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can."