The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith — Inside the Classic

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In Category - Theology

Authors: Arnold, Thomas Walker, Sir, 1864-1930 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2021 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Islam -- Relations; Islam -- History; Islam -- Missions -- History Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 188,449

Reading time 820 min

Text sections 37

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #66960

Arnold's 1913 study traces the spread of Islam through missionary efforts, not conquest, using Arabic and Persian sources. The excerpts show a focus on individual conversions, Sufi shaykhs, and political factors, with detailed accounts of Mongol conversions and the use of force.

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e conversion of unbelievers. The present work a history of missions, not of persecutions 1

STUDY OF THE LIFE OF MUḤAMMAD CONSIDERED AS A PREACHER OF ISLAM.

Muḥammad the type of the Muslim missionary. Account of his early efforts at propagating Islam, and of the conversions made in Mecca before the Hijrah. Persecution of the converts, and migration to Medina. Condition of the Muslims in Medina: beginning of the national life of Islam. Islam offered (a) to the Arabs, (b) to the whole world. Islam declared in the Qurʼān to be a universal religion,—as being the primitive faith delivered to Abraham. Muḥammad as the founder of a political organisation. The spread of Islam and the efforts made to convert the Arabs after the Hijrah. The ideals of Islam and those of Pre-Islamic Arabia contrasted 11

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF WESTERN ASIA.

The Arab conquests and expansion of the Arab race after the death of Muḥammad. Conversion of Christian Bedouins. Causes of the early successes of the Muslims. Toleration extended to those who remained Christian.—The settled population of the towns: failure of Heraclius’s attempt to reconcile the contending Christian sects. The Arab conquest of Syria and Palestine: their toleration: the Ordinance of ʻUmar: jizyah paid in return for protection and in lieu of military service. Condition of the Christians under Muslim rule: they occupy high posts, build new churches: revival in the Nestorian Church. Causes of their conversion to Islam: revolt against Byzantine ecclesiasticism: influence of rationalistic thought: imposing character of Muslim civilisation. Persecutions suffered by the Christians. Proselytising efforts. Details of conversion to Islam.—Account of conversions from among the Crusaders.—The Armenian and Georgian Churches 45

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS OF AFRICA.

Egypt: conquered by the Arabs, who are welcomed by the Copts as their deliverers from Byzantine rule. Condition of the Copts under the Muslims. Corruption and negligence of the clergy lead to conversions to Islam.—Nubia: relations with Muhammadan powers: gradual decay of the Christian faith.—Abyssinia: the Arabs on the sea-board: missionary efforts in the fourteenth century: invasion of Aḥmad Grāñ: conversions to Islam: progress of Islam in recent years.—Northern Africa: extent of Christianity in North Africa in the seventh century: the Christians are said to have been forcibly converted: reasons for thinking that this statement is not true: toleration enjoyed by the Christians: gradual disappearance of the Christian Church 102

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIANS OF SPAIN.

Christianity in Spain before the Muslim conquest: miserable condition of the Jews and the slaves. Early converts to Islam. Corruption of the clergy. Toleration of the Arabs, and influence of their civilisation on the Christians, who study Arabic and adopt Arab dress and manners. Causes of conversion to Islam. The voluntary martyrs of Cordova. Extent of the conversions 131

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS IN EUROPE UNDER THE TURKS.

Relations of the Turks to their Christian subjects during the first two centuries of their rule: toleration extended to the Greek Church by Muḥammad II: the benefits of Ottoman rule: its disadvantages, the tribute-children, the capitation-tax, tyranny of individuals. Forced conversion rare. Proselytising efforts made by the Turks. Circumstances that favoured the spread of Islam: degraded condition of the Greek Church: failure of the attempt to Protestantise the Greek Church: oppression of the Greek clergy: moral superiority of the Ottomans: imposing character of their conquests. Conversion of Christian slaves.—Islam in Albania, conquest of the country, independent character of its people, gradual decay of the Christian faith, and its causes;—in Servia, alliance of the Servians with the Turks, conversions mainly from among the nobles except in Old Servia;—in Montenegro;—in Bosnia, the Bogomiles, points of similarity between the Bogomilian heresy and the Muslim creed, conversion to Islam;—in Crete, conversion in the ninth century, oppression of the Venetian rule, conquered by the Turks, conversions to Islam 145

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN PERSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA.

Religious condition of Persia at the time of the Arab conquest. Islam welcomed by many sections of the population. Points of similarity between the older faiths and Islam. Toleration. Conversions to Islam. The Ismāʻīlians and their missionary system. Islam in Central Asia and Afghanistān 206

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE MONGOLS AND TATARS.

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Arnold opens his preface with diffidence, acknowledging the vastness of his subject and the disadvantages under which he worked. He includes a Latin quotation from St. Augustine, inviting correction from scholars. This scholarly humility sets the tone for a work that relies heavily on primary sources, with full references provided. The excerpts reveal a focus on the conversion of the Mongols, detailing episodes such as a shaykh wrestling an infidel to win 160,000 converts in a day, and the violent methods of Muḥammad K͟hān, who drove horseshoe nails into the heads of Mongols who refused to wear turbans. Arnold presents these as historical evidence, not as endorsements.

Conversion by Force and Persuasion

The catalog subjects list Islam—Relations, History, and Missions—but the excerpts complicate any simple narrative of peaceful preaching. Arnold records that Muḥammad K͟hān used severe measures, including driving a horseshoe nail into the head of a Mongol who did not wear a turban. Yet the same passage notes that even such drastic methods were ineffectual, and a dervish named Isḥāq Walī later spent twelve years spreading the faith among the Kirghiz and Kazaks, making 180 converts and destroying eighteen idol temples. The juxtaposition of coercion and patient proselytism suggests that Arnold’s history does not shy away from documenting the full range of conversion methods.

The Role of Sufi Shaykhs and Miracles

Arnold’s account of the conversion of the Mongols under Tūqluq K͟hān centers on a shaykh who accepted a wrestling challenge against a giant infidel servant. The shaykh struck his opponent in the chest, causing him to fall senseless and then convert. This episode, drawn from a source, illustrates how Arnold incorporates hagiographic material. The shaykh’s words—"If it is God’s wish that the Mongols become honoured with the blessed state of Islam, He will doubtless give me sufficient power"—frame the victory as divine intervention. Arnold does not critique the historicity of such accounts but presents them as part of the record of missionary efforts.

Political and Nationalist Factors

Arnold notes that political considerations favored the Muslim party among the Mongols. Aḥmad Takūdār was denounced as a traitor for following "the way of the Arabs," while Ṭarmāshīrīn was driven into exile for disregarding the Yassāq, the ancient Mongol code. The struggle between Nestorian Christians and Muslims for Mongol allegiance involved accusations of foreign allegiance. Arnold observes that Christians became suspect as agents of Western Christendom, while Muslims could be attacked as adherents of a foreign faith. These details show that conversion was entangled with identity and power, not merely theology.

Arnold’s work is a dense compilation of source-based episodes, not a synthetic narrative. Readers should attend to the footnotes and the variety of evidence—from hagiography to political chronicles. The excerpts reveal a history that is neither purely inspirational nor critical, but documentary. The catalog subjects may suggest a straightforward religious history, but the text itself offers a more complex picture of how Islam spread through a mix of persuasion, force, and circumstance.

There’s something unexpectedly moving in Arnold’s patient tracing of faith passed hand to hand, conversion by quiet conversion—so unlike the clatter of armies. It reminded me, oddly, of the slow, deliberate urgency in The Bible, King James version, Book 27: Daniel — Reading Notes, where conviction waits through long nights of exile. Both feel less like history and more like a held breath.