Was Islam spread by the sword?
No.
Islam did not spread by sword. In fact sword is a hindrance in the way of spread of Islam. Quran provides both commandments and the gist of wisdom of the same; this peculiarity is not retained in book of any other revealed religion.Islam flourishes most in peace with its strong reasonable and rational arguments.
For example:
Spread of Islam in
Croatia: [1]
Mosque of Rijeka, completed in 2013
Location of Mosques in Croatia
Islam is the second-largest faith in
Croatia after
Christianity. The religion is followed by 1.47% of the country's population according to the 2011 census, compared to 86.28%
Roman Catholics, 4.57% not religious, atheists, agnostics and sceptics, 4.44%
Orthodox Christians and 0.34%
Protestants.
[1]
Islam was first introduced in Croatia by the
Ottoman Empire during the
Croatian–Ottoman Wars that lasted from 15th to 19th century. During this period some parts of the
Croatian Kingdom were occupied which resulted in numerous
Croats converting to
Islam, some after being taken
prisoners of war, some through the
devşirme system. Nonetheless, Croats strongly fought against the Turks during these few centuries which resulted in the fact that the westernmost border of the
Ottoman Empire and
Europebecame entrenched on the Croatian soil. In 1519, Croatia was called the
Antemurale Christianitatis by
Pope Leo X.
The
Islamic Community of Croatia (
Mešihat Islamske Zajednice u Hrvatskoj) is the main organization of Muslims in Croatia that is officially recognized by the state.
[2] The President of the Islamic Community is Aziz
Effendi Hasanović.
[3]
As of 2011, 62.977 Muslims live in Croatia. Most of them declare themselves as
Bosniaks (27.959) while others declare themselves as:
Croats (9.647),
Albanians (9.594),
Roma (5.039),
Turks (343),
Macedonians (217),
Montenegrins (159) and other (2.420).
[1]
The first
mosque in Croatia was built in
Gunja in 1969.
[4] Today there are 17 mosques as well as two Islamic centers (in
Zagreb[5] and
Rijeka[6]).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Croatia
Muslim population in Croatia: It increased from 4,000 in 1931 to 62,977 in 2011.
Muslim population 2010 Pew Report
[1]:60,000
Muslim percentage (%) of total population 2010 Pew Report
[1] :1.4
Percentage (%) of World Muslim population 2010 Pew Report
[1] :< 0.1
Muslim Population Other Sources : -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Regards