Re: Mechanisms for spreading Islam in Quran
Perzactly! If Muslims become weak in faith and yearn for dunya, then they will be ousted by the worst of enemies. And yes, power will be given in the hands of those who are best . It is not surprising that Muslims are not leaders of the world today. America and UK govts. have nukes and are bullies, but were that to be in the hands of Muslims then we would have to redraw the borders of continents every three years.
So then the initial conquests during the period of the rightly guided Caliphs was to spread Islam or subjugate people hostile to Islam. And Islam spread as a consequence of those conquests then. If Islam is preached peacefully then those initial conquests cannot be attributed to have occured for spreading Islam but to protect the borders of the Islamic state and Islam spread as a consequence of those conquests. The more hostility occured, further did the borders of the Islamic state expand in order to quell the hostility. This is the case when Umar RA caliphate extended into the Persian empire, the majority of the conquered areas opted for Jizya meaning they did not accept Islam but only muslim rule over them to manage their affairs.