1. ISLAM AND SWORD
Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,
The first impression most Koreans get when they first hear about Islam and The Quran can be
expressed as "The Quran in one hand and sword in the other.?/SPAN> Let's see how true this
_expression is; Islam states the methods how to invite people to Islam. There isn't any among
them forcing people by sword or any other weapon to accept Islam. On the contrary main tool is
wisdom, smooth expressions and a smiling face. "Invite to the way of Allah (SWT) with wisdom,
and fair preaching..."(Surah An- Nahl 16/125).
In The Quran Allah (SWT) says: "There is no compulsion in religion "( Surah Al- Baqara 2/256)
Religion should be chosen by own decision. The property of religion is not compulsion; on the
contrary religion prevents forcing. According to this verse of The Quran, nobody may be forced
to accept religion. Because, religions addresses to the hearts. The essence of religion is faith
(iman). The place of faith (iman) is the heart. It is not acceptable just to say ?/SPAN>I believe..."
coming only from your mouth but not from your heart. Those, without having faith (iman) in their
hearts, say I believe are only double faced hypocrites (munafiq). According to Islam hypocrites
(munafiq) are more harmful than unbelievers (kafeer). Because they pretend to be muslim
though they aren't. So the faith (iman) as a result of someone's fear of death is not acceptable.
Religion means Love of Allah (SWT) and deep belief in Him. And Love couldn't be placed in
hearts by force. There is an interesting example for this issue in The Quran. When Allah (SWT)
sent his prophets Moses and Aaron (AS) with His following order to the pharaoh; " Speak to him
mildly, perhaps he may accept admonition or fear of Allah" (Surah Ta-ha 20/44)
It can be easily seen that it is an order of The Quran to use mild way a soft language even you
talk to the most stubborn unbeliever. Compulsion is contrary to the spirit of Islam.
Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,
No doubt the first person, who delivered the message of The Qur?/SPAN>an
was his
messenger Muhammad (SAW).
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) preferred way of peace in his 23 years guidance life. Always war
was started by his enemies, the unbelievers. They could not prevent Islam spreading and
boosting though they tried every way. Islam started with only one person but reached to 40.000
in 23 years. In the last 10 years of the Prophet Muhammad?/SPAN>s life there were more than
50 wars. After these wars the land of muslims reached 1.5 million square km. The dead rate of
enemies was only about 150 people totally, which means the aim of muslims is that, people get
known Islam rather than dying without belief. Through the history none of other religions spread
as fast as Islam.

2. The unacceptable myth that Islam was spread by sword the (non-Muslim) historian De Lacy
O?/SPAN>Leary wrote: ?/SPAN>History makes clear. However, that, the legend of fanatical
Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered
races in one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever accepted.?/SPAN>
(Islam at the crossroad, London, 1923, p.8) It should also be known that Muslims ruled Spain for
nearly 800 years. During this time, and up to when they were finally forced out, the non-Muslims
there were alive and flourishing. Additionally, Christian and Jewish minorities have survived in
the Muslim lands of the Middle East for centuries such as Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon,
Syria and Jordan and all have Christian, Jewish populations. If Islam taught that all people are
supposed to be killed or forced to become Muslim, how did all of these non-Muslims survive for
so long in the Middle of the Islamic Empire? Additionally, if one considers the small number of
Muslims who initially spread Islam from Spain and Morocco in the West to India and China in
the East, one would realize that they were far too few to force people to be members of a
religion against their will. Additionally, the great empire and civilization established by the
Muslims had great staying power, its citizens were proud to be part of it. The spread of Islam
stands in contrast to the actions of the followers of Christianity, who since the time of the
Emperor Constantine have made liberal use of the sword-often basing their conduct on Biblical
verses. This was especially true of the colonization of South America and Africa, where native
peoples were systematically wiped-out or forced to convert. It is also interesting to note that
when the Mongols invaded and conquered large portions of the Islamic State instead of
destroying the religion they adopted it. This is a unique event in history-the conquerors adopting
the religion of the conquered! Since Genghis Khan and his soldiers were the victors, they
certainly could not have been forced to become Muslims! Ask any of the 1.5 billion Muslims
alive in the world today, whether they were forced! The largest Muslim country in the world
today is Indonesia-and there were never any battles fought there! So where was the sword?
How could someone be forced to accept a religion like Islam?
As a result we can say that all evidences prove that Islam is not the religion of sword. Islam is
the last and perfect religion of Allah (SWT), which is accepted and adopted by the sincere heart
not by force.