page_title: Spread of Islam
section_title: Horn of Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Spread of Islam / By region / Africa / Horn of Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: 19th century engraving of Zeila
context_page_description: The history of the spread of Islam spans about 1,500 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by missionary activities, particularly those of imams, who intermingled with local populations to propagate the religious teachings. These early caliphates, coupled with Muslim economics and trading, the Islamic Golden Age, and the Age of the Islamic Gunpowders, resulted in Islam's spread outwards from Mecca towards the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans and the creation of the Muslim world. Trading played an important role in the spread of Islam in several parts of the world, especially Indian traders in southeast Asia.
  Muslim dynasties were soon established and subsequent empires such as those of the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Mamluks, Seljukids, and the Ayyubids were among the largest and most powerful in the world.
context_section_description: The history of commercial and intellectual contact between the inhabitants of the Somali coast and the Arabian Peninsula may help explain the Somali people's connection with Muhammad. The early Muslims fled to the port city of Zeila in modern-day northern Somalia to seek protection from the Quraysh at the court of the Aksumite Emperor in present-day Ethiopia. Some of the Muslims that were granted protection are said to have then settled in several parts of the Horn region to promote the religion. The victory of the Muslims over the Quraysh in the 7th century had a significant impact on local merchants and sailors, as their trading partners in Arabia had then all adopted Islam, and the major trading routes in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea came under the sway of the Muslim Caliphs. Through commerce, Islam spread amongst the Somali population in the coastal cities. Instability in the Arabian peninsula saw further migrations of early Muslim families to the Somali seaboard. These clans came to serve as catalysts, forwarding the faith to large parts of the Horn region.
caption: The port and waterfront of Zeila.
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