Muslim history was written according to the pattern that was prevalent since earlier times, that is, making record of political conquests, wars and battles of kings and rulers. This is why the books on the Prophet's biography were previously called Maghazi, which means wars. Due to this pattern of history writing, the Prophet's history was turned into a history of wars, although in reality it was a history of peaceful spread of Islamic ideology. Other books on Muslim history are titled Futuh al-Buldan or Futuh al-Sham, which are also a record of Muslim conquests. The impression that a reader will have when he goes through such books is that Muslim soldiers rode on horses wielding swords and wherever they went they would ruthlessly kill people and shed blood. However, the truth is that in entire Muslims history it was the Quran which was the reason for people's acceptance of Islam. The wars that we read about were fought by Muslim kings and rulers, and not by Muslim peoples. Moreover, these were political battles between dynasties and not battles for Islam. A history that was made parallel to all of this was a history of the peaceful spread of the message of the Quran. In this parallel history, the Quran was a means of introduction to Islam. Even today if people understand Islam it is through the Quran. For example, a famous British singer was first introduced to Islam through a copy of an English translation of the Quran which he had received from a friend. So what people generally consider Islamic wars were actually wars fought by Muslim kings for political purposes and not for religion. In India the Mughals ruled for several years, but they were not responsible for the spread of Islam here. The Muslim rulers in India were engaged in battles with the local rulers and princes. But their sword was not responsible for the bringing of the faith of Islam to the Indian people. It was solely the message of the Quran that made Islam known to people in this country. This fact has also been acknowledged by Swami Vivekananda.
