According to The Oxford History of Islam in document 1 it states that Islam was spread to African Societies by opened trading routes and exposed isolated societies to external influences. This document also states that Merchants were the carriers of Islam rather than agents of Islamization. In Document 2 it explains ways that it improved lives of people in Spain. A couple of these ways would be the streets were solidly paved in Cordova, were as in Paris they were ankle deep in mud, and Nearly every mosque had a public school in which the Children of the poor were taught. Some political influences were explained in Document 3 when it talks about how Askia Mohammed expanded Islamic influences in the Songhai Empire by remodeling his empire along Islamic lines for as far as he could. This political spread was meant to turn into one big Muslim community, but he did not succeed in converting the entire Sudan