Muhammad ﷺ prophesied that the Islamic civilisation would spread throughout the world: “God folded the earth for me, and I saw its east and west, and the dominion of my nation will reach as far as the earth was folded for me”
Ref: Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2889.
In this prophecy, Muhammad made the claim that the religion of Islam would spread to the far reaches of the earth. It’s important to understand the context in which this prediction was made.
Not only were the Muslims surrounded by their enemies, which included the super powers of the world and numerous pagan Arab tribes, but they also had the additional internal challenge of disunity due to tribalism. Prior to Islam, it was not uncommon for one Arab tribe to go to war with another over the smallest of disputes. Blood feuds were regular occurrences between tribes and often lasted generations.
History bears witness to the fact that Islam spread rapidly, both East and West, to reach as far as Spain and parts of China, just as Muhammad ﷺ boldly foretold. At the time, this was a geographic expansion the likes of which the world had never witnessed. The Islamic empire was the largest the world had ever seen, a fulfilment of Muhammad’s prediction as well as the promise that God made to the Muslims in the Qur’an: God has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me.
Ref: Qur'an 24:55
To put this into perspective, let’s compare the other Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity. During their early histories, both religions were mainly concentrated in Palestine and its surrounding areas. There were pockets of followers in other lands, but their early expansion was restrained by the pagan nations that surrounded them. On multiple occasions, the entire Jewish people were taken into captivity by their enemies. Christianity was a small, persecuted religion for hundreds of years until the pagan Roman Empire adopted Christianity as a state religion in the fourth century after Jesus.
Now it’s not unusual for new civilisations to emerge, dominate for a period of time and then decline or even disappear entirely. It’s also not uncommon for divided and dispersed tribes to unite under a charismatic leader and then conquer vast lands. The Mongols are a good example, their empire emerged after Islam, and at their peak in the thirteenth century they controlled the largest continuous land empire in human history. The difference however, is that unlike the Islamic empire, the Mongol empire collapsed within a century.
We have analysed accurate predictions that Muhammad ﷺ made in regard to Islam’s toppling of superpowers and global expansion. Muhammad ﷺ not only informed us about the spectacular rise of the Muslims, he also foretold their decline: “The nations will call each other and set upon you, just as diners set upon food.” It was said: “Will it be because of our small number that day?” He said: “Rather, on that day you will be many, but you will be like foam, like the foam on the river. And God will remove the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies and will throw weakness into your hearts.” Someone said: “O Messenger of God! What is this weakness?” He said: “Love of the world and the hatred for death.”
Ref: Related by Abu Dawud (no. 4297), Ibn ‘Asakirin in Tarikh Di-mashq (2/97/8) and others.
Here we can see that Muhammad ﷺ prophesied the dire circumstances in which the Muslims would find themselves. He said the day would come when Muslims will be large in number but in such a state of weakness that other nations will invite one another to set upon them. The analogy of Muslims being eaten as a meal was given, which emphasises just how helpless they will become. The cause of this weakness is said to be the love of the world and hatred for death. This means that Muslims would one day come to love the material world to the point where they become complacent in their religion, neglecting their obligations and forgetting about the eternal hereafter.
This prediction accurately describes the radical turn of events that took place in the Muslim l world in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Prior to this, the Muslim lands had grown to be some of the most powerful in the world. From the time of the death of Muhammad ﷺ until the nineteenth century, the Muslims had large empires which were economically, politically, militarily, technologically and educationally far ahead of most of the world. In the nineteenth and twentieth century the unthinkable happened, nearly all of the Muslim world from Indonesia in the far east to Libya in the far west was occupied, colonised, and militarily defeated by non-Muslim nations. Russia had annexed the Caucuses; France controlled Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia; Great Britain occupied Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Mughal India; the Dutch controlled Malaysia and Indonesia. Of the 50 Muslim countries that exist today, only a few survived occupation and the ones that did were still subject to colonial masters. This is despite the large number of Muslims that existed at the time. In the early twentieth century, there were an estimated 200 million Muslims, representing 12.5% of the world’s population
Ref: Stanley D. Brunn, The Changing World Religion Map: Sacred Places, Identities, Practices and Politics, p. 1774.
But their considerable numbers could do nothing to prevent the defeat, the non-Muslim nations came, divided, conquered, and invited each other to take the Muslim lands, just as Muhammad ﷺ foretold.
If we reflect on this prediction, it is quite counter-intuitive. Recall the reaction of the companion who heard Muhammad ﷺ make the prediction, this person remarked “Will it be because of our small number that day?” The companion made the natural assumption that the weak state of the Muslims would be due to their small numbers, because large numbers are typically associated with strength. If this prediction was guesswork, then it would have made more sense to state that the Muslims would be diminished in number and that would be the cause of their weakness. Yet Muhammad ﷺ predicted the exact opposite, a paradoxical situation of the Muslims being vast in number but very weak, and it came true. Another interesting aspect of this prediction is the psychology behind it. During Muhammad’s lifetime, Islam was not yet a world superpower and had not yet toppled other superpowers like Persia. So if Muhammad ﷺ was a liar who was out to deceive people into thinking he was a Prophet, he would surely have only said very positive things about the Muslims of the future, such as “you will be invincible” or “your enemies will never defeat you”. Such a positive outlook of the future would make people want to join his religion and be his followers. Indeed, it’s human nature to want to be successful. So for Muhammad ﷺ to make such a frank statement about how bleak the future would become not only shows that he was a speaker of truth, but also that his companions transmitted everything he said, regardless of whether it was good or bad, encouraging or embarrassing.
In summary, we’ve seen how Muhammad accurately foretold not only the spectacular rise of the Islamic empire as a world superpower, but also the subsequent political and military decline of the Muslims despite their large numbers. Historically speaking, when religions lose their influence on the world stage in such a way, it is usually followed by a stagnation or decline in the number of their followers. This is to be expected, as it is human nature to want to be associated with success. Yet Muhammad ﷺ foretold the exact opposite with regards to the religion of Islam, he said that it will continue to grow in terms of the number of followers, to the extent that it will eventually enter every household: “This matter will certainly reach every place touched by the night and day. God will not leave a house or residence except that God will cause this religion to enter it”
Ref: Musnad Aḥmad, Hadith 16509.
Today we are witnessing this very prophecy unfold before our eyes. Islam is currently the fastest growing religion in the world, with nearly one in four people on earth being a Muslim. It is forecast to be the world’s largest religion by the year 2070
Ref: Pew research
This is despite Islam being constantly attacked by the media, the colonisation of Muslim lands, and many wars that have been waged in the Muslim world.
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