How did Islam spread so quickly?

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How did Islam spread so quickly?

• Grade 7 Assessed task
• Task adapted from worksheet by RJ Tarr
  www.activehistory.co.uk

Background www.wanderingword.com/.../20051017-IMG
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The death of Mohammed

• 632 AD, Mohammed dies
• The Caliphs (this simply means successor)
  carried on spreading Islam
• First 4 Caliphs had known Mohammed personally!
• 1st Caliph Abu Bakr completed conquest of
  arabia
• 2nd Caliph Umar leads attacks on Persian Empire

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Growth from nothing to an empire stretching
1000s of miles in 100 years!
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So how did it do it?

• Military Factors to do with how they fought and
  were led
• Religious Factors to do with the religion of
  Islam
• Social Factors to do with how people lived and
  how they treated others

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1. Their enemies were weak

• The Persian and Byzantium Empires had been
  fighting against each other for 200 years!

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2. Nomads

• Some of the Muslims were Nomads.
• They didnt have a set home they traveled from
  place to place
• Used to long travel and fighting in the desert
• Didnt need a HQ they could simply make a
  base wherever they were!

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3. Holy War

• Jihad means Holy War
• Soldiers strongly believed they were fighting for
  their religion
• Therefore if they died then they would go to
  heaven
• This made Muslim soldiers very brave and
  determined.
• Persian and Byzantium soldiers tended to either
  be slaves or hired to fight these arent as
  determined and prepared to die for their Empire!

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4. United armies

• Soldiers were united by a common set of beliefs
  Islam
• They prayed together and were fighting for the
  same purpose
• A united team is always more effective!

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5. Tolerance

• At the time it was usual for conquering armies to
  abuse the local population
• In most cases the Muslim forces were remarkably
  tolerant for the time.
• Islam acknowledges and respects key figures in
  the Jewish and Christian faiths (e.g. Abraham and
  Jesus) and people were allowed to keep their own
  religion
• As a result many areas simply surrendered without
  a fight as people felt the new Muslim rulers
  would be better than the ones they had anyway!

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Tasks

1. Draw a Venn diagram and use it to categorize
   the reasons for the rapid spread of Islam.
2. Write your short (maximum 200 words) answer to
   the question How did Islam spread so rapidly?

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Religious
Social
relating to human society and its members, how
people live together
to do with weapons and war, fighting, how they
fight, leadership in battle
Military
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Assessment Criteria B

• How well do you understand the reasons for CHANGE
• The reasons for the Arab success need to be
  logically categorized
• Your 200 word maximum answer needs to show you
  understand the main reasons and show how they are
  LINKED together