paarsurrey
Veteran Member
Was Islam spread by the sword?
No.
For example:
Spread of Islam in Japan: [3]
The history of Islam in Japan is relatively brief in relation to the religion's longstanding presence in other countries around the world.
PostWorld War II[edit]
In the 1970s, another "Islamic Boom" was set in motion, this time in the shade of "Arab Boom" after the 1973 oil crisis. After realizing the importance of the Middle East and its massive oil reserves for the Japanese economy, the Japanese mass media have since been giving big publicity to the Muslim World in general and the Arab World in particular.[citation needed]
The Turks have been the biggest Muslim community in Japan until recently. Pre-war Japan was well known for its sympathy and favour towards Muslims in Central Asia, seeing in them an anti-Soviet ally. In those days some Japanese who worked in intelligence circles had contact with these Muslims. A few converted to Islam through these contacts, and embraced it after the war ended.
The Japanese invasion of China and South East Asian regions during the Second World War brought the Japanese in contact with Muslims. Those who embraced Islam through them returned to Japan and established in 1953, the first Japanese Muslim organisation, the Japan Muslim Association under the leadership of Sadiq Imaizumi. Its members, numbering sixty five at the time of inauguration, increased twofold before he died six years later.[citation needed]
The second president of the association was the Umar Mita. Mita was typical of the old generation, who learned Islam in the territories occupied by the Japanese Empire. He was working for the Manshu Railway Company,[disambiguation needed] which virtually controlled the Japanese territory in the north eastern province of China at that time. Through his contacts with Chinese Muslims, he became a Muslim in Peking. When he returned to Japan after the war, he made the Hajj, the first Japanese in the post-war period to do so. He also made a Japanese translation of the meaning of the Qur'an from a Muslim perspective for the first time. Aljazeera also did a documentary regarding Islam and Japan called "Road to Hajj Japan".[9]
Though many Islamic organisations were established since the 1900s, each of them had only very few active members.[citation needed]
Muslim demographics[edit]
Islam was thought to have first come to Japan in the early 1900s when Muslim Tatars were escaping Russian expansionism.[10] The Muslim community in Japan has a history of over 100 years, although some sources contest more than this amount.[10][11][12] In 1909 it was documented by historian Caeser E. Farah that Abdul-Rashid Ibrahim was the first Muslim who successfully converted the first ethnic Japanese, and in 1935 Kobe MosqueJapan's first Islamic buildingwas constructed.[10][13]
Some sources have stated that in 1982 the Muslims numbered 30,000 (half were natives).[10] Some ethnic Japanese women during the economic boom of the 1980s converted when large swathes of immigrants from Asia came and integrated with local population.[14] The majority of estimates of the Muslim population have been put at around 100,000 in estimates.[10][15][16]
Islam remains a minority religion in Japan, and there is no evidence as to whether Islam is growing or not. Conversion is more prominent among young ethnic Japanese married women, as documented by the Japan Times as early as the 1990s.[14] Furthermore in 2000 Keiko Sakurai had estimated the number of ethnic Japanese Muslims in Japan at 63,552, and around 70,000100,000 foreign Muslims residing in the country.[11] However according to essayist Michael Penn states that 90% of Muslims are foreign and about 10% are ethnic, but the true figure is unknown and this is just another speculative estimate.[15]
In Japan the government does not take religion into account as part of the demographic concern under religious freedom. As Penn states, "The Japanese government does not keep any statistics on the number of Muslims in Japan. Neither foreign residents nor ethnic Japanese are never asked about their religion by official government agencies".[15]
Mosques[edit]
Kobe Mosque in Kobe, Japan
Tokyo Jama Masjid
According to japanfocus.org,[17] 'There are currently between 30 and 40 single-story mosques in Japan, plus another 100 or more apartment rooms set aside, in the absence of more suitable facilities, for prayers.
Islam in Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I don't see any sword in spread of Islam in Japan.
Regards
No.
For example:
Spread of Islam in Japan: [3]
The history of Islam in Japan is relatively brief in relation to the religion's longstanding presence in other countries around the world.
PostWorld War II[edit]
In the 1970s, another "Islamic Boom" was set in motion, this time in the shade of "Arab Boom" after the 1973 oil crisis. After realizing the importance of the Middle East and its massive oil reserves for the Japanese economy, the Japanese mass media have since been giving big publicity to the Muslim World in general and the Arab World in particular.[citation needed]
The Turks have been the biggest Muslim community in Japan until recently. Pre-war Japan was well known for its sympathy and favour towards Muslims in Central Asia, seeing in them an anti-Soviet ally. In those days some Japanese who worked in intelligence circles had contact with these Muslims. A few converted to Islam through these contacts, and embraced it after the war ended.
The Japanese invasion of China and South East Asian regions during the Second World War brought the Japanese in contact with Muslims. Those who embraced Islam through them returned to Japan and established in 1953, the first Japanese Muslim organisation, the Japan Muslim Association under the leadership of Sadiq Imaizumi. Its members, numbering sixty five at the time of inauguration, increased twofold before he died six years later.[citation needed]
The second president of the association was the Umar Mita. Mita was typical of the old generation, who learned Islam in the territories occupied by the Japanese Empire. He was working for the Manshu Railway Company,[disambiguation needed] which virtually controlled the Japanese territory in the north eastern province of China at that time. Through his contacts with Chinese Muslims, he became a Muslim in Peking. When he returned to Japan after the war, he made the Hajj, the first Japanese in the post-war period to do so. He also made a Japanese translation of the meaning of the Qur'an from a Muslim perspective for the first time. Aljazeera also did a documentary regarding Islam and Japan called "Road to Hajj Japan".[9]
Though many Islamic organisations were established since the 1900s, each of them had only very few active members.[citation needed]
Muslim demographics[edit]
Islam was thought to have first come to Japan in the early 1900s when Muslim Tatars were escaping Russian expansionism.[10] The Muslim community in Japan has a history of over 100 years, although some sources contest more than this amount.[10][11][12] In 1909 it was documented by historian Caeser E. Farah that Abdul-Rashid Ibrahim was the first Muslim who successfully converted the first ethnic Japanese, and in 1935 Kobe MosqueJapan's first Islamic buildingwas constructed.[10][13]
Some sources have stated that in 1982 the Muslims numbered 30,000 (half were natives).[10] Some ethnic Japanese women during the economic boom of the 1980s converted when large swathes of immigrants from Asia came and integrated with local population.[14] The majority of estimates of the Muslim population have been put at around 100,000 in estimates.[10][15][16]
Islam remains a minority religion in Japan, and there is no evidence as to whether Islam is growing or not. Conversion is more prominent among young ethnic Japanese married women, as documented by the Japan Times as early as the 1990s.[14] Furthermore in 2000 Keiko Sakurai had estimated the number of ethnic Japanese Muslims in Japan at 63,552, and around 70,000100,000 foreign Muslims residing in the country.[11] However according to essayist Michael Penn states that 90% of Muslims are foreign and about 10% are ethnic, but the true figure is unknown and this is just another speculative estimate.[15]
In Japan the government does not take religion into account as part of the demographic concern under religious freedom. As Penn states, "The Japanese government does not keep any statistics on the number of Muslims in Japan. Neither foreign residents nor ethnic Japanese are never asked about their religion by official government agencies".[15]
Mosques[edit]
Kobe Mosque in Kobe, Japan
Tokyo Jama Masjid
According to japanfocus.org,[17] 'There are currently between 30 and 40 single-story mosques in Japan, plus another 100 or more apartment rooms set aside, in the absence of more suitable facilities, for prayers.
Islam in Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I don't see any sword in spread of Islam in Japan.
Regards
