Database: Expansion of Islam Through Trade

Mosque in Kilwa Kisiwani / 10th-13th century, Tanzania

Islam spread much farther than the limits of the caliphs' territory. In Southeast Asia, China, West Africa, and the Swahili Coast, Muslim merchants played a decisive role in the expansion of Islam.

The proliferation of faith followed traditional commercial routes through the Sahara, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. In Guangzhou and on the Malabar Coast, Muslims built mosques for their own religious needs that remain today as some of the oldest in existence, like this one in Kilwa, Tanzania. But it is the nature of Islam that fostered its spread to their trading partners. Born in the commercial society of Mecca and preached by a Prophet reported to have been a merchant, the religion provides a set of ethical and practical prescripts useful for business activities. This code helped to sanction and control commercial relationships and offered a unifying ideology among the members of different ethnic groups, thus providing security and trust, two of the chief requirements for long-distance trade.

From Ghana to Malaysia, local leaders permitted Islam in the hope that it would be beneficial for trade. Some were also motivated to establish closer diplomatic ties with the powerful Islamicate states or to provide religious justification for their rule. In any case, by the 15th century, Islam had spread, largely through peaceful means, to locales in Africa and Southeast Asia.