History Of Islam

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it to spread so quickly and that made it appealing to its converts was that - at least compared to Christianity - it was a relatively tolerant philosophical system that was relatively open to new ideas. Although it should also be true of Christianity that faith is the only requirement to join the community, it was more true of Islam in its early days than of Christianity in the eighth century that faith was more important that race or class. Islamic society was relatively tolerant of non-Muslims, although of course not entirely so.
(Certainly, early Muslims did use force to conquer other lands and to impose their beliefs and customs on the residents of those lands. One can understand something of the terrible enduring hatred in India between Hindus and Muslims if one looks to the historical and political conditions that accompanied the Muslim invasion of India.)
However, while certainly there were colonizing aspects of early Islam, it was less politically avaricious in ...

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have a tradition of encouraging charity and generosity, of enjoining those who have enough to give to those who do not.
Most religions and cultures tell their children cautionary tales about what happens to those who do not give to the needy. In legends throughout the world and across the ages one can be pretty sure that the poor stranger who asks for only a crust of bread and a corner of a stable to rest in and is refused will turn out to be an angel or other powerful creature.
Early on Islam formalized this generally held human inclination towards charity. While Christians are told how Mary and Joseph were turned away again and again out of the lack of charity, it is Moslems ...

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