Da'wah Succeeded Through Character Not Conquest

September 13, 2022

The historical spread of Islam was driven far less by military conquest than by the quiet, persistent witness of ordinary Muslims whose conduct embodied the faith traders, prisoners, travelers, and neighbors whose character made the message compelling.

"Whatever disadvantages may be entailed by this want of a priestly class, specially set apart for the work of propagating the faith, are compensated for by the consequent feeling of responsibility resting on the individual believer... he takes more trouble to learn the doctrines and observances of his faith, and thus becoming deeply impressed with the importance of them to himself, is more likely to become an exponent of the missionary character of his creed in the presence of the unbeliever." T.W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam

T.W. Arnold's The Preaching of Islam documents case after case: an Indian mawlavi sentenced to transportation for life to the Andaman Islands converted many of his fellow convicts. An Arab chief condemned to death by the Belgians spent his final hours trying to convert the Christian missionary sent to comfort him. Shaykh Ahmad Mujaddid, imprisoned for two years, converted "several hundred idolaters who were his companions in the same prison." These are not professional missionaries or state agents but individuals so saturated by their faith that they transmitted it under the most adverse circumstances.

Arnold identifies the simplicity of the creed as a key factor in its spread: "There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Apostle of God." This formula requires no theological sophistication to explain, demands no elaborate institutional infrastructure to transmit, and is "within the compass of the meanest intelligence." Islam's lack of a priestly class the absence of any intermediary between the believer and God meant that every Muslim was potentially a da'i. The faith spread through Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia primarily through merchants and Sufis, not armies.

This challenges both the Western narrative of "Islam spread by the sword" and the modern Islamist assumption that political power is the primary vehicle for Islamic revival. The historical record suggests that Islam's most durable expansions occurred through the moral authority of individuals, not through the coercive power of states.

Takeaway: Islam's greatest expansion happened not through conquest but through the accumulated weight of millions of ordinary Muslims living their faith visibly.

Linked from

Prophecy Is Not Magic It Is Moral Leadership