One of the leading British orientalists of the last century, Sir Thomas W. Arnold, penned a book, "The spread of Islam", where he details, region-wise, the spread of Islam.
Keep in mind that the largest Christian countries today are found in Americas, where we know how the religion was spread, while the largest Islamic countries are Indonesia and Malaysia, where not even a single soldier in the name of Islam ever sat foot.
More recently you can see that a coalition of the world's best armies can't enforce "democracy" on Iraqis and Afghans ; do you seriously think a bunch of Arabs would have forced "prideful" populations such as Berbers, Persians, etc to change their thousands years old faith "by force" ? Go try to convert a hundred (not even a thousand or a million) of, let's say, Uzbeks to Buddhism, and see how many of them 1) accept, 2) keep the faith and 3) keep it strongly enough to produce Islamic scholar in a matter of one or two generations.
A recent article which might be of interest :
https://themuslimvibe.com/muslim-cu...ion-of-islam-historically-spread-by-the-sword
That is how most religions spread.
Fist through bloody conquests. Once establishing a foot hold, use missionary activities and some clever interpretations of the scripts to spread their religion. Intermittently, they also use some scare tactics if people are not budging.
My Post from another thread few days ago :
1. Gandhi wrote in Young India: ‘The more I study the more I discover that the strength of Islam does not lie in the sword.'
2. Arya Samajists Pandit Gyanandra Dev Sharma Shastri said:
Biased critics of Islam and especially those who want to provoke Hindu-Muslim riots in the country say that Hazrat Muhammad after acquiring power in Medina could not maintain his facade of mercy and kindness.There he used force and violence and became a murderous prophet to achieve his life-long aim of power, status and wealth. He fell short of his own ideal of patience, moderation and endurance. But this is the view of those observers who are prejudicial and partisan, who are narrow minded and whose eyes are covered by a veil of ignorance. They see fire instead of light, ugliness instead of beauty and evil instead of good. They distort and present every good quality as a great vice. It reflects their own depravity…
The critics are blind. They cannot see that the only ‘sword’ Muhammad wielded was the sword of mercy, compassion, friendship and forgiveness—the sword that conquers enemies and purifies their hearts. His sword was sharper than the sword of steel. 1
3. The editor of the Sat Updaish, wrote:
Some people say that Islam was preached by the sword, but we cannot agree with this view. What is forced on people is soon rejected. Had Islam been imposed on people through oppression, there would have been no Islam today. Why? Because the Prophet of Islam had spiritual power, he loved humanity and he was guided by the ideal of ultimate good. 2
4. The editor of the Vedic Magazine and a former professor of Gurukul, Kangri Ram Dev, said:
Sitting in Medina, Muhammad Sahib (peace be to him) held the Arabs spellbound; he filled them with spiritual strength; strength that makesdevtas [gods] out of men… it is incorrect to say that Islam spread with the force of the sword. It is a fact that the sword was never wielded to propagate Islam. If religion can be spread by force then let anyone try it today. 3
5. Dr D. W. Leitz said:
' All these arguments, advanced to prove that the purpose of jihad was to spread Islam by force, are contradicted by the Quran. The Quran says that the purpose of jihad is to protect mosques, churches, synagogues and cloisters. ' 4
6. Thomas Arnold’s said:
‘Islam has gained its greatest and most lasting missionary triumphs in times and places in which its political power has been weakest.” 5
7. A Sikh journalist wrote :
" In the beginning the Prophet’s enemies made life difficult for him and his followers. So the Prophet asked his followers to leave their homes and migrate to Medina. He preferred migration to fighting his own people, but when oppression went beyond the pale of tolerance he took up his sword in self-defense. Those who believe religion can be spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of religion nor the ways of the world. They are proud of this belief because they are a long, long way away from the Truth. " 6
References:
1. Translated from an Urdu speech by Pundit Shastri at a Gorakhpur (India) meeting, 1928, to commemorate the ProphetÂ’s birth, see Dunya ka Hadi Ghairon ki Nazar Main , 57, 61.
2. Sat Updaish, Lahore, 7 July 1915; see Barguzida Rasul Ghairon Main Maqbul , 12, 13.
3. Prof. Ram Dev, The Prakash , see Burguzida Rasul Ghairon Main Maqbul , 24.
4. D. W. Lenz, Asiatic Quarterly Review , October 1886. Dr Leitz
5. W. Thomas Arnold, The Preaching of Islam: a History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith , 2nd ed. (London: Constable and Co. Ltd, 1913), 279–80.
6. Literally, ‘The knower of the psyche of the Prophet’, or ‘The observer of the Prophet’s mind’.
