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Why do people convert to Islam? Islam
is the fastest growing religion in the world. What compels people to overcome
major obstacles (often rejection and prejudice from family, friends and work)
and become Muslims? Was Islam spread, Did Islam Spread by Force, Swords or Guns?
Here is a good study of the question of the spread of Islam by a Christian
missionary, T. W. Arnold: "...of
any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim
population, or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian
religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either course of
action, they might have swept away Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and
Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestantism penal in
France, or the Jews were kept out of England for 350 years. The Eastern Churches
in Asia were entirely cut off from communion with the rest of Christiandom
throughout which no one would have been found to lift a finger on their behalf,
as heretical communions. So that the very survival of these Churches to the
present day is a strong proof of the generally tolerant attitude of Mohammedan
[sic] governments towards them" . Islam
does not teach, nor do Muslims desire, conversion of any people for fear, greed,
marriage or any other form of coercion. In
conclusion, jihad in Islam is STRIVING IN THE WAY OF ALLAH by pen, tongue, hand,
media and, if inevitable, with arms. However, jihad in Islam does not include
striving for individual or national power, dominance, glory, wealth, prestige or
pride. ho
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