Chapter 9 The World of Islam

I have been always interested in religions since I was a child; especially Isam. It appeared to me as a mysterious culture. I used to have some Muslim friends live nearby my apartment. I hang out with them pretty often. There were two things really interested me when I hang out with them. One is their prayer ceremony and other is their Ramadan ( the month of fast).  Su, one of my Turkish friends who always have to cover her hair. She set up some special alarm on her phone three times a day to remind her about the prayer time. My other interesting friend called Ardy, who is from Indonesia. He would not eat during the day for a certain month of the year which made me very curious about his beliefs. Su and Ardy both are Muslims, but they from different places which are very far away. I was wondering, how great the impact a religion can bring to social structures that can make people from different places to practice the same belief system. Su and Ardy can be the best example to show how “ the spread of Islam had been accompanied by the creation of an immense Arab Empire” (428) that straddled more than one continent.

According to the reading, 20-25% population in India got converted into Muslims. In Anatolia, there were 90% of its population declaimed them as Muslim by 1500. In West Africa, a lot of Muslim traders across Sahara from mostly Islamized North Africa. They introduce the idea of Isam and converted more and more people in the urban centers of West Africa. Also, in Spain, the Islam religion created its own “ golden age”. By 1000, “perhaps 75 percent of the population had converted to Islam.” (434)