At the time of Muhammad’s travel to Mecca in 613, Islam was rapidly spreading. Islam spread across Europe and Asia. Yet, soon Muslims were starting to get persecuted, and so, some Muslims migrated to both West and East Africa. In East Africa it originally spread to Abyssinia in the year 613. And from there it spread farther. Some parts prospered, others faltered. Many of the Muslims traveled from Arabia across the Red Sea to the coast of East Africa. Muslims eventually settled down and created homes in East Africa. They started interacting with other cultures and religions through trade. They traded goods and ideas. Some cultures and religions accepted and got along with the Muslims, while others did not. There were wars, and forced conversions, …show more content…
Muslims had many interactions with the people living in the city-states already in East Africa. They lived near them or in the same region as them. They intermingled with them. When Muslims arrived in Africa, they entered peacefully and with respect for the cultures around them. This helped establish good relations. This advanced the life of the people already living in Africa. Most of the people already living in Africa accepted Muslims. Muslims were very tolerant and helped the Africans out in many different ways. When Muslims arrived in East Africa, although they had previously been violent at times, they got rid of their violent ways and started to focus on education, charity, and prayer. This helped other cultures to accept Islam with peace. Islam impacted one specific indigenous local culture hugely, the Bantu speakers. The Muslims and these Africans were in such great relations that they blended together to produce Swahili Islam. This new type of culture impacted the Africans in a big way because it changed their way of living, it changed their way of religion, and it brought new ideas and new products into their lives. (Islam became a common practice for the lives of coastal settlements in East Africa. The surrounding city-states of the Muslims in East Africa were affected due to the arrival of …show more content…
Multiple of these religions got impacted by Islam. Once Islam was in East Africa, they lived and interacted with the other religions already in East Africa. They traded with them, and also shared their religious ideas with them. Some religions accepted Islam peacefully, while others struggled to tolerate another religion around them and their new ideas. The religion with the biggest tolerance issue with Islam was Christianity. Christians and Muslims had a hard time getting along. When Islam surfaced in Africa and they started trading with other cultures and religions, they traded their ideas. Muslims was trying to spread their religion and this affects other religions because people from their religion will leave. Christians did not like this. They did not like how Muslims had religious and cultural tolerance and how Muslims exercised power as part of their religion (Sanneh). Many Muslims lived near other cultures and religions. Some lived near Christians; Christians were very frustrated began persecuting Muslims and forced them to convert to Christianity. Muslims believed that everyone should be equal; this was very attractive to other religions. Islam also focused on education, they allowed more than one wife, and they tolerated cultural differences (Ibn Battuta). These were all extremely captivating. Many people from the traditional African religion converted to Islam because it was very