# Was Islam spread by the sword?

*Was Islam spread by the sword? No, by zeal*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/30/
- Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:38:37–1:42:23)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=5917s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/

**Topics:** Orthodoxy and how Islam spread

**Question as asked:** When you get a chance, can you talk about Islam being spread through violence?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: Islam spread by zeal, not the sword, he says; forced conversion rarely lasts, as British rule in India showed, though Islam is not pacifist.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says Islam spread not by force but by zeal, and that the idea it was spread by the sword is absurd.

**Evidence, his words at 1:39:53:** “when i say it spread not by force but by zeal because you know this thing that islam was spread by the sword it's absurd because how would you maintain islam by the sword” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=5993s)

## Longer summary

Asked to talk about Islam being spread through violence, Mufti Abu Layth says this is simply not true, though Islam is not a faith of pacifism: it has a military aspect, has had empire, and met force with a powerful, zealous response. He says it spread not by force but by zeal, and asks how a faith could be maintained by the sword, pointing out that three hundred years of British colonial rule could not make India Christian and that conversion by force can only be imposed at best in the moment, not policed in later generations. He cites the Spanish Inquisition, in a small region of southern Spain and in South America, as a rare case of forced conversion that stuck, and says a shaykh who conceded in a moment of supposed transparency that Islam spread this way was wrong.

## Sources and names cited

- the Spanish Inquisition
- the British Empire

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:38:37–1:42:23)

[1:37:59] kind of polemicists don't even understand that stuff you know let alone try and take it down you it's it's a different arena man so yeah cool let's move on people could you get dr jeffrey lang on mind trap sure if he's happy to come what i say to people is if you know anybody that you think uh may be great to get onto um mind trap if you're in touch with them always ask them my two key validating factors are they must be interesting

[1:38:37] and interested in coming on if so reach out to them if they are yep let's make this happen when you get a chance can you talk about islam being spread through violence islam was not spread through violence um right so it's it's simply not true if that i mean you see islam is not a faith of pacifism it's not a faith of you know we don't take up arms and things like this it does have a military aspect to it you know it has had empire it has had these things

[1:39:16] so it's not something that you know will say oh if you come meet me with a sword what i'm gonna do is turn the other cheek no islam would actually in fact it's had a very powerful um highly inspiring you know such with such zeal it's had a um a reply and a counter response to being met with force that which shows how islam spread in the

[1:39:53] um in the early century and not see now here when i say it spread not by force but by zeal because you know this thing that islam was spread by the sword it's absurd because how would you maintain islam by the sword how how would you do it like tell me 300 years of colonial rule couldn't do it you know you couldn't convert the people to being christians not i mean maybe a handful of christians here or there but he couldn't convert india didn't become christian

[1:40:33] despite you know the most full throttle effect and and efforts of the the british empire it doesn't you know converting people to religion is only something you can do at best there and then like i say become this you say oh okay and then how do you police that how do you police their children in the future becoming that the only forceful attempt of this to some extent that has been

[1:41:10] uh so malignantly successful in history and that too it wasn't for such a long period but it was the spanish inquisition and that too it so much effort went into but it was a small concentrated region that that's in southern spain and then obviously in south america they did that as well so but by that it's very difficult finding in history these parallels where you can just convert by force so easily and they stay upon it

[1:41:50] and it certainly did not happen with islam and shaykh was wrong when he somehow felt he was you know accepting trying to have a moment of transparency and say yes islam was spread like this is like uh no it wasn't but anyway cool uh that's all the super chats i've been through them i can see them here [Music]

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/30. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/30/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.