The ambassador guide to islam pdf

Today nearly half of all Africans are the adherents of Islam, with the rest being Christians and of indigenous African religions. China is mentioned in a Prophetic saying as an expression for the then remotest place for learning. This event is considered to be the birth of Islam in China. The Chinese Emperor Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and considered it to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. The mosque still stands today, after fourteen centuries. The office of the Director General of Shipping was consistently held by a Muslim during this period.

During the Ming Dynasty - A. D , a period considered to be the golden age of Islam in China, Muslims fully integrated into Han society by adopting their name and some customs while retaining their Islamic mode of dress and dietary restrictions. Trade relations between Arabia and the sub-continent date back to ancient times. Long before the advent of Islam in Arabia, the Arabs used to visit the coast of Southern India, which then provided the link between the ports of South and South East Asia.

A number of local Indians living in the coastal areas embraced Islam. However, it was the Muslim conquests in Persia, including the provinces of Kirman and Makran, which brought the Arabs face to face with the then ruler of Sindh, who had allied with the ruler of Makran against the Muslims.

At that time, Raja Dahir, a Brahman, ruled Sindh. In one of the business trips, an eight-ship caravan of Arab traders passed by the seaport of Daibul. Sindhi pirates looted it and took the women and children as prisoners. When news of this attack reached Hajjaj, he demanded that Dahir return the Muslim captives and the looted items. He also demanded that the culprits be punished.

Dahir replied that he had no control over the pirates and was, therefore, powerless to rebuke them. On this Hajjaj decided to invade Sindh. In , Hajjaj sent 6, selected Syrian and Iraqi soldiers, a camel corps of equal strength and a baggage train of 3, camels to Sindh under the command of his nephew and son in-law, Imad-ud-din Muhammad bin Qasim, a young boy of just seventeen years of age.

After a fierce struggle Sindh was conquered by Muslims. The spread of Islam in the Subcontinent is also the result of the untiring efforts of numerous saints and Sufis. Another contributing factor for the spread of Islam in Pakistan and India was the conquest of those regions by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi AD ; one of the greatest conquerors the world has even seen. During the reign of his father, Subuktigin, Ghazna was attacked by the neighbouring Hindu Raja Jaipal.

When Mahmud ascended the throne in he began a long series of attacks against Jaipal in South Asia. According to most historians, Mahmud invaded India seventeen times to crush the power of the Hindu Rajas and Maharajas who were always busy planning conspiracies against him.

However, the major reason for mass settlement in India by Muslims was the invasion of the Mongols into Central Asia. Genghis Khan AD , his grandsons and later Timurlane wreaked havoc in the Central Asian countries causing migration of a countless number of people seeking refuge in the relative safety of India. Islam had not entered the Malay Archipelago until the 14th century when the northern coast Sumatra was occupied and Java became a Muslim mission field. Even today, Muslim and Christians are competing for the conquest of the remaining pagan tribes in these islands.

It is at the crossroads of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Indonesia has been on trading routes for as long as mankind has sailed the seven seas. The earliest Indonesians were animists. Similar to Australian indigenous people, they practised ancestor and spirit worship. The actual timing and introduction of Islam to Indonesia is somewhat of a debate amongst the scholars. Whatever the case may be, the Muslim influence in Indonesia is at least six centuries old from A.

Moreover, there is no doubt that Islamization of many peoples in present-day Malaysia, southern Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, and the southern Philippines, occurred within a few hundred years of peaceful conversion. With nearly million Muslims; Indonesia constitutes the most Muslim populated country in the world. Al-Andalus, which means, "to become green at the end of the summer" is referred to the territory occupied by the Muslim empire in Southern Spain.

Spain was conquered by Arab Muslims in A. Tariq ibn Malik crossed the straight separating Africa and Europe with a group of Muslims and entered Spain. A year later Muslim men invaded Gibraltar. Al-Andalus was the name Arabs gave to that region. Unlike the conquest of Africa and subjugation of Berbers by Arab Muslims which took place over 50 years, the entire al-Andalus was conquered only over a few months. The Goths were an East Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in Scandinavia.

They migrated southwards and conquered parts of the Roman empire. Julian vowed to Roderick, "the next time I return to Spain, I promise to bring you some hawks the like of which your Majesty has never seen!

Musa did not commit to a full-scale invasion, but called upon his lieutenant to take charge. Another theory for the occupation of Spain by the Arab Muslims is that, because of their persecution, the Jews called upon their contacts in North Africa, who in turn encouraged the able Arabs to capture Spain.

This allowed the Almoravid and the Almohad dynasties to establish themselves in Spain. Nevertheless, and without a doubt, the Jews supported and welcomed Muslims into Spain as they were great beneficiaries under Muslim rule. Muslims entered Spain not as aggressors or oppressors, but as liberators. In this multicultural society, many Jews and Christians held government positions.

Islam allowed the Jews to flourish in Spain, with the example of the renowned philosopher Moses Maimonides, Musa ibn Maymun who wrote Guide to the Perplexed. With the Muslim conquest there began a Golden Age of freedom and tolerance for Jews. They freely entered the fields of government, science, medicine, and literature. Muslims ruled over Spain for roughly years.

By the late 15th Century A. In the period of the Inquisition, all the rights of the Muslims were withdrawn, their lives became difficult, and more were forced to become Christian or emigrate. Finally, in the early 17th century, most of the survivors were forcibly expelled.

Since then, the Muslims were swiftly and thoroughly wiped out. The similar ethnic cleansing, though in a smaller scale, was exercised by Christians on Tasmanian Aborigines who were totally exterminated in the 19th century in Australia. Those who would like to know how Muslims were forced out of Spain and how Andalus slipped back to Christian authority after being under Muslim administration for a long time, should study how in our modern time Zionists massacred the Palestinians and forced them out of their home-land and country.

Also how international Zionism employed all inhumane means to occupy Palestine is also a good study. The Muslims in both cases did not abandon their religion; they were simply massacred and forced out of their homes. One of the most amazing parts of human history is the rapid spread of Islam. As we already learnt within one century from its advent, Islam was the religion of half of the then civilized world.

This has been an interesting issue for the scholars to search for the secret power of this new religion by which it was able to accomplish such marvelous result. Many have sought to answer the questions as to why the triumph of Islam was so quick and complete. Why have so many millions of different cultural backgrounds embraced the religion of Islam?

Typically many non-Muslims, when they think about Islam, picture religious fanatics on camels with a sword in one hand and a Quran in the other. Thus, the myth that Islam spread by sword! Thus, no one can be forced to become a Muslim. It is true that Muslim rulers conquered the Persian Empire, Egypt, Spain and many other places but their ambition was, like many other kings, to expand their territories and conquer new lands. There is no historical record that the peoples of those countries were forced to accept Islam.

Hence, many churches and synagogues existed even after about 14 hundred years of Muslim rulers in Iran, Egypt and many other Muslim countries. Zoroastrian; the ancient religion in the pre-Islamic Iran is still even in the contemporary Islamic republic of Iran is recognised and its adherents constitute one of the religious minorities. Similar to the Christians and the Jewish people they have their representative in the Iranian Parliament.

Sir Henry M. As they have made submission and agreed to pay taxes to the Caliph, nothing more can be properly required from them. They have been taken under our protection 11 , and we cannot in any way stretch out our hands upon their lives or property.

Permission is given to them to worship their gods. Nobody must be forbidden or prevented from following his own religion. It was due to this Islamic tolerance that the Orthodox Christians of Byzantium openly expressed their preference for the Ottoman turban in Istanbul to the hats of the Catholic cardinals. Elisee Reclus, a French traveler of the 19th Century, wrote that the Muslim Turks allowed all the followers of different religions to perform their religious duties and rituals, and that the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Sultan were more free to live their own lives than the Christians who lived in the lands under the rule of any rival Christian sect.

Nouvelle Geographie Universelle , Vol. IX A sword may penetrate through the flesh of people but cannot change their hearts. The ancient Iran was conquered by Alexandria; the Great about a millennium prior to the conquest of Muslim Arabs. Yet, the influence of the Roman civilisation on Iran was rather temporarily and shallow. During the post-Islamic era, Iran was twice conquered by the non-Muslims; the Suljuk in the 11th century, and the Mongols in the 13th century, and in each case amazingly the conquerors adopted the religion Islam of the conquered!

This is certainly a unique occurrence in history. Since they were the victors, they certainly could not have been forced to become Muslims. Ironically, it is more evident that violence has often been employed by non-Muslims to stop the spread of Islam rather than by Muslims to spread it.

The touching homicide of Muslims in Spain is just one of its examples. The fact is the only key to the mystery of the spread of Islam, is Islam and its comprehensive and instinctive humanitarian values.

Islam is the divine response and prescription to all individual, social, political, educational and spiritual human demands. It is the sublime teachings of Islam that has been penetrating the hearts of mankind throughout its history. Arberry has also pointed out that the reason for the spread of Islam is Islam itself and its religious values.

Aspects of Islamic Civilization, p. Although various scientific discoveries and inventions may occur in a particular country, they do not belong nor limit to the geographical border of that country. Thus, the mathematical, chemical and biological laws are international no matter who has invented or discovered them. God has sent His Messengers for humanity at large, not merely Arabs or the lost sheep of Israel! Thus, divine religions are international. The teachings of Islam is not like the constitution of Australia which aims at only serving the citizens of a particular country; i.

You can not be simultaneously an Australian citizen and a Japanese citizen. But you can well be an Australian citizen and a loyal Muslim. As a matter of fact, the holy Quran states that should Arabs turn away from Islam, Allah will replace them with those who practice Islam better than them.

Chapter Ayah The Ambassador's Guide to Islam is a vital resource to prepare you with the knowledge and wisdom to be a better ambassador for Christ to Muslims, a skill that will be especially valuable in addressing the changing world at our doorstep. The Ambassador's Guide to Islam. Product Information Author:. Market Price:. Quantity Pricing. Stock Availability:. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook.

Summary Read our full plot summary and analysis of The Ambassadors , scene by scene break-downs, and more. Literary Devices Here's where you'll find analysis of the literary devices in The Ambassadors , from the major themes to motifs, symbols, and more. Themes Motifs Symbols. Quotes Find the quotes you need to support your essay, or refresh your memory of the book by reading these key quotes. Important Quotes Explained.