How did Islam really spread across the world? — credits

Early Muslim states did expand by conquest, but ruling land is not converting people. The Qur'an says there is no compulsion in religion; Umar's treaty with Jerusalem, as preserved by al-Tabari, promised the city's Christians safety for their churches and no coercion in religion; and in the conquered lands conversion took centuries (in Iran, by Richard Bulliet's estimate, about three hundred years before most were Muslim). Merchants, scholars and Sufi teachers carried Islam by sea to today's Indonesia, which had the most Muslims of any country as of 2020 (Pew Research Center), and mostly by caravan across the Sahara to Mali. A hand-made-style paper-collage animation, rendered live in your browser with plain JavaScript and canvas.

Sources for the story

Qur'an 2:256 (Sahih International translation), with Tafsir Ibn Kathir 1/682: "There shall be no compulsion in the religion"
Qur'an 16:125 (Sahih International translation): "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction"
Umar's covenant with the people of Aelia (Jerusalem), 15 AH, as recorded by al-Tabari (via Safwat, Jamharat Rasa'il al-'Arab 1/175–176; Kurd 'Ali, Khitat al-Sham 1/84): safety for their churches; not to be coerced in their religion
Richard W. Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period (1979), as summarised by O'Sullivan (Mamluk Studies Review X.2, 2006): Iran from zero in the 640s to at least 80% Muslim by the 960s (an estimate); C. Sahner (2018) on Egypt, Palestine and Syria staying majority-Christian for centuries
T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (2nd ed., 1913): the spread of Islam in the Malay Archipelago largely through traders and teachers
Ahmad Ma'mur al-'Usayri, Mujaz al-Tarikh al-Islami 1/299–301, 416: Islam reached the Indonesian islands through trade and da'wa, not conquering armies
Mawsu'at Safir 9/1–5 and Ibn Battuta, Rihla 4/265 (in Mali, 1352–53): Islam crossing the Sahara with merchants' caravans
Pew Research Center, How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 (9 June 2025): about 240 million Muslims in Indonesia, the most of any country, as of 2020

Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ and the other prophets are never depicted, and people are shown only from behind. Early Muslim states did expand by conquest; this reel is about how people came to Islam, which is a different story.

Made with

Narration: Google Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS (voice “Algieba”), directed and edited for this film.
Illustrations: Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (backgrounds) and OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 (cut-outs), art-directed and reviewed frame by frame.
Typefaces (SIL Open Font License): Caveat Brush, Caveat, Patrick Hand, Aref Ruqaa.
Animation engine, sound design and mix: written for this series.

Sound

No music is used. All sound effects are CC0 unless noted.

amb_desert_wind — #827840 "Wind in the Mexican Desert" by Sassaby, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 97.0-123.2 s; HPF 160 Hz x2 (removes mic rumble); 24 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
amb_room_tone_studio — #744447 "Soft Room Tone" by callmethefoo, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 10.0-36.2 s (cabin interior room tone); HPF 40 Hz; 24 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
amb_sea_gentle — #824573 "Corfu - Boukari Beach - Waves Lapping Pebbles" by TicAshfield, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.0-28.2 s; HPF 40 Hz; 24 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
amb_village_day — #413849 "country rural mountain village quiet but dense morning birds and distant rooster +faint distant TV or radio Peru" by kyles, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.0-26.2 s (no radio/voices audible in this section; the source's radio is later); HPF 90 Hz; 24 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
sfx_camel_steps_sand — #480668 "R19-19-Slow Footsteps Deep Dirt.wav" by craigsmith, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.45-6.45 s (four slow soft steps); HPF 50 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_card_fold — #364740 "open-cardboard-box-compartment.wav" by newagesoup, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.12-0.95 s (quick cardboard flap fold); HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_cloth_flap — #391945 "cloth flap" by ssierra1202, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.74 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_dream_shimmer_short — synthesized for this series: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
sfx_fire_ignite — #186374 "Bonfire Being Lit" by samararaine, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.00-4.50 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_loom_shuttle_clack — #368577 "Kangaspuut / Old wooden loom from 1857, weaving a rag rug" by YleArkisto, CC BY 4.0. Edits: cut 2.86-4.30 s (two beater clacks); HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_1 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.30-2.55 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_2 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.50-4.45 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_3 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.45-2.15 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_4 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 5.70-6.41 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_5 — #211246 "PageRustle" by Tomoyo Ichijouji, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.10-1.90 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_slide_1 — #464302 "PaperSlide.wav" by eyesonlegs, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.64 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -55); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_slide_2 — #444431 "Sliding Envelope.wav" by MTJohnson, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.10 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -3 dBFS
sfx_paper_tear_1 — #272028 "Ripping Paper" by aldenroth2, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.96 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 8 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_tear_2 — #342541 "Fast Paper Rip" by sgrowe, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.89 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_tear_3 — #170311 "Tearing paper" by ludde44, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.52 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_pencil_scribble_1 — #257518 "Scribble_short.wav" by waldram, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.27 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -50); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_pencil_scribble_2 — #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-3.20 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -62); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_stamp_thump_1 — #448474 "es-stamp.wav" by eddies2000, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.95-1.65 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_stamp_thump_2 — #470710 "traditional stamp.wav" by I.fekry, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.40-1.20 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_tick — synthesized for this series: A short synthesized key click for typing in the Qaf app screen (made for this series). Non-instrumental.
sfx_water_lap_small — #438839 "G54-04-Pier Lap.wav" by craigsmith, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 36.30-37.60 s (one lap against a wooden pier); HPF 50 Hz; 60 ms fade-in, 300 ms fade-out, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_whoosh_2 — #683101 "quick woosh" by florianreichelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-2.05 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_whoosh_soft_synth — synthesized for this series: White noise through a time-varying log-Gaussian band-pass sweeping 300 Hz -> 2.2 kHz, swell envelope, slow L->R pan.
sfx_wire_creak — #861827 "Creaking Metal Wire of Wooden Gate" by qubodup, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-1.40 s (creak only, latch knocks removed); HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_wood_box_thud — #719794 "Setting down small hard object" by JoMungus, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.50 s (object set down on a wooden desk); HPF 50 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS