Spread Of Islam: Social, Political, And Economic Impacts

As of 2012, Islam was the second largest religion under christianity with 1.3 billion followers.(http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islam_judaism_christianity. htm)The Islamic belief was not always this big though. It originated like most other religions as a group of a few select followers under a founding leader. After many years though, the religions popularity began to grow among many civilizations. The Islam religion spread very rapidly leading to many social, political, and economic impacts.
Islam spread rapidly for many reasons. Document 1 shows that over a period of a little over 1200 years, the religion spread from the little area surrounding Mecca to nearly the whole eastern hemisphere. This includes North and East
The social effect of the Islamic religion was quite large. "Wherever they went, the Muslims brought with them their love of art, beauty, and learning." The way people decorated their homes changed to incorporate Muslim style. The style of architecture itself even began to change in the areas that the religion spread to. Also, the level of education that people receive began to evolve. Mosques had schools and giant Muslim libraries were made. "...The followers of Mohammed achieved much in science, particularly in chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine…"( Roselle, A World History: A Cultural Approach). All these achievements lead to the creation of many important things. Muslims were behind the creation of the first handguns, mechanical clocks, and street lights, along with many other things.(http://metaexistence.org/inventions.htm) Politics were majorly affected by the spread of Islam. As new Muslim emperors rose to power many things were change. A good example of this would be the emperor Askia Mohammed. He, "sought to make all of the empire [of Songhai] one big Muslim community". "...He remodeled his empire along Islamic lines as far as possible. Legal and social reforms were introduced, Islamic judges were appointed in all the large districts of the empire, and justice was administered according to Muslim principles." ( Burke, Africa, Houghton Mifflin (adapted)) He wanted his whole empire to follow the same rules he did so he made them laws. Even if you were not a Muslim, you still followed all of the practices. This shows how much a main religion can affect those in an area. Economic changes were brought on by many things but the main thing that caused them was the lifestyle of the Muslims who were converting."Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, was perhaps the best example of a royal convert who developed a strong and sincere interest in Islam." He went on many pilgrimages and with