Travel Tales: Seeing History

Issue 100 January 2013

In the centuries following the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims from Arabia travelled across the world to spread the message of Islam. They travelled far and wide, working as merchants and scholars, bringing back goods and knowledge to help the Muslim Empire progress. 

In the centuries following the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims from Arabia travelled across the world to spread the message of Islam. They travelled far and wide, working as merchants and scholars, bringing back goods and knowledge to help the Muslim Empire progress. Today, we know that Muslims established themselves in Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, India, South-East Asia, Turkey, Africa, Sicily, Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe.

In each of these places are traces of Islamic history, so we should actively visit these places to learn more about the Muslims that came before us. It is important for us to acknowledge our history so that we are able to understand how past societies lived and functioned. Each group of people would have had a different lifestyle and way of thinking to us and there is definitely much that we can learn from them. Above all, we should be aware of what they did, so that we do not repeat their mistakes and can progress further as human beings in this world. Moreover, in all of these places Islam is presented in a different way, For example, Africa is home to mosques that were built from mud bricks.