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Islamization

الأسلمة

Islamization is societies' turning to Islam in belief and institutions; the conquest literature records people entering Islam after the futuh, while academic study describes the transformation as gradual across centuries 1 2.

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Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.

Converts and those who leavePolitics, governance and authority

Overview

Islamization is societies' turning to Islam in belief and institutions; conquest literature records populations' entry into Islam, while academic study describes the process as gradual 1 2.

Perspectives

  • Classical sources: al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan records the garrison towns' treaties, jizya and entry into Islam 1.
  • Academic: Bulliet argues conversion proceeded gradually over centuries through social networks, not at the moment of conquest 2.

Opinions on the question

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Entry into Islam through da'wa, conquest and treaty, as the futuh literature records

Al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan records how the garrison towns' populations made terms, paid jizya or entered Islam {cite:futuh-buldan-maarif-1407}.
More opinions (1)

Academic viewSecondary opinion

A gradual centuries-long social conversion, not an immediate post-conquest event

Bulliet's quantitative study argues conversion proceeded gradually over centuries through social networks rather than instantly upon conquest {cite:bulliet-conversion-1979}.

People and things also explored

Ahl al-Diwan (those paid from the state register of soldiers and officers, and the rules of their conditions and distribution)· Ahl al-Hall wa al-Aqd (those who loose and bind: the men of power whose choice confirms the imam)· Ahl al-Mahalla (the people of a quarter, their imam, call to prayer, and their part in the oath and blood money where a body is found)· Islamic management· Experience versus service, and self-development· The nominal group technique· Leadership and the leader's six roles· Situational leadership

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
  2. Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period (1979)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Islamization”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/islamization/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Ahl al-Diwan (those paid from the state register of soldiers and officers, and the rules of their conditions and distribution)

Diwan is a Persian loan-word meaning a collection of sheets and writings, in which the army and those given grants were written; for the jurists it is the register in which the names of those in state service who receive a stipend from the public treasury are recorded, and the office that keeps it. Umar ibn al-Khattab was the first to set up the diwan, according to two accounts. The people of the diwan are of several kinds: soldiers, on conditions that are regulatory, such as puberty, freedom, Islam, health and fitness for fighting; holders of office, such as governors, judges, scholars, collectors, imams and muezzins; and the needy. The Companions differed on preference in distribution: Abu Bakr and Ali made it equal, while Umar and Uthman preferred by precedence in Islam, and Umar added kinship to the Prophet; Abu Hanifa and Ahmad followed the latter view.