Just been reading Belloc and the ‘Mohammadan Heresy’. He details how swiftly it spread.
But not only because it won battles (which it did) but also because of its simple teaching.
The geographic spread is astonishing though. Within the a lifetime after the death of the Prophet it had conquered Syria and a great swaith of North Africa. Not long after that it had a foothold in Europe. All of Spain went Muslim in a short time. The Balkans and Mesopotamia.
It really was astonishingly quick.
But Belloc argues and I agree with him that it was the simple teaching of a ‘One God’ that was attractive to people.
The law was simplified as well. Simple ‘debt forgiveness’ if you became a Muslim.
It had actually a reasonably ‘light tough’ on people’s lives as well. it wasn’t at the beginning as Authoritarian and rigid as it’s now.
Learning was high and encouraged.
What we must always remember about Islam (and the danger of it) is that it is a Christian Heresy.
The only heresy that has sprung from outside the Church.
As aways with heresies Islam is a simplification of the Christan message. That is why in part it is popular.
See you live a good life and you die and on Judgement Day (specific Christian teaching) you will be judged.
All the old Testament is taken as read. All the stories of and Personages are just lifted from the Bible into into the Quran as it were. Abraham, Moses
And so with the Gospels. Jesus is given the highest possible reverence. And so is Miriam (Mary).
But he changed things.
See link below.
Yes very similar to Calvinistic Heresy. John Calvin was obsessed with the idea of the Providence of God. Same with Mohammad.
Said it before-that emphasis on the sovereignty of God can be very dangerous.
Can be summed up there’s no room for Man in it. There is no ‘relationship’ with Allah.
That can make for very unhappy and dissatisfied people.
Sometimes they can explode.
Nominated by: Miles Plastic



