How Did Islam Spread Following the Death of Muhammad? What Were Some of the Challenges That the Muslims Faced and How Did They Deal with Them? Essay Example
The creation of Islam came about from the prophet Muhammad. Islam means submission to G-d, otherwise known as Allah to the Islamic people. Muhammad was someone who knew how to capture the attention of the people and did so very successfully. He spoke with passion and brought together the Arabian tribes who had been fighting for many years. Once united, Muhammad influenced these tribes to convert to Islam. Immediately following his death, the tribes who were once united broke apart and began fighting the way they had been before Muhammad came into place. After the death of Muhammad, it was the caliph’s job to continue spreading Islam throughout the world. Caliph literally means the deputy to God’s messenger. The first caliph, Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s best friend, father-in-law, and one of the first people to convert to Islam, stopped the fighting and the Islamic tribes were once again reunited. Although there was no comparison, Abu Bakr was influential enough to save the Islamic tribe from completely falling apart after Muhammad’s death. He made people realize that Muhammad was not only preaching the power and truth of G-d, but that Muhammad himself was only the messenger of G-d. However people stopped focusing on G-d and only believed in Muhammad, which was a big problem. Abu Bakr was the caliph from 632-634 when he died during a war brief to reunite the Muslims took place. Following the death of Abu Bakr, Umar, a general in the war, took Abu Bakr’s place and ruled for ten years (634-644). While on his deathbed, Abu Bakr had chosen Umar to be the new caliph. Umar was the most influential caliph and was the real founder of the early Muslim Empire. His commanded his Arab armies to go into North Africa. There they succeeded in conquering Egypt by 642. During that time, he also invaded Persia and the Byzantine territory in the eastern Mediterranean. Umar enforced religious tolerance in the new lands, which was how he spread Islamic beliefs to the people who lived in