Islam, one of the three great monotheistic religions, has spread as a result of several conquests over of a vast area stretching from Spain to India. It took just one century to usher a new civilization.
In the seventh century Arabian Peninsula was a desert land inhabited by nomadic tribes. Only on the shores of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean there was more fertile soil. It was there that caravan routes started, to run across the desert and end in the cities of Syria and Mesopotamia. The trails lead through oases where people lived off brokering and where settlements developed. That was the nature of the two cities were located along a caravan trail - Mecca and Medina, which played a key role in the history of Islam.
Muhammad was born in Mecca in the late sixth century. He lost both parents when he was still a child - after his parents' death he was raised by his uncle. When he grew up, he traveled with the caravans. At the age of 24 he married his employer, a rich widow Khadija bint Khuwaylid who would later be known as the “mother of Islam”. Once he had secured his well-being, he could devote himself to religious meditation. Muhammad began to experience revelations during which he spoke to archangel Gabriel. He wrote down Gabriel's words in the form of verses that make up the oldest part of the Koran, the holy book of Islam. Over time, this part has grown to 114 revelations that he had over twenty two years. Then Muhammad began to preach what had been revealed to him - there is only one god almighty - Allah, and the only way to salvation is through total submission to the will of God. The word "Islam", which means submission or surrender in Arabic, gave the name to the new faith, whose followers were called Muslims - "those who surrender."
In Mecca, Muhammad gained a few followers, mostly in among his closest family. However, the merchants living in the city were not supportive of the new idea to say the least. Most of Mecca's wealth was owed to pilgrims visitng the temple of the Kaaba, dedicated to 360 different deities which the new prophet refused to recognize. In 622, knowing that there's a plot to assasinate him, Muhammad fled from Mecca to Yathrib (today's Medina) along with supporters. The date of this escape was called Hijri and over time Muslims become to recognize it as the beginning of a new era in line with the Islamic calendar.
In Yathrib, Muhammad quickly gained popularity as a wise mediator, which helped him win more and more followers. He organized a prophet-led Muslim commune and called Yathrib the “city of the prophet” - Medinat-annabi or Medina. Its inhabitants under the leadership of Muhammad took on fighting with Mecca. In 630 AD, Mecca capitulated which allowed Muhammad to return to his hometown. The Kaaba Temple after destroying the 360 idols was devoted to the one god - Allah.
The choice of a successor
At the time of the prophet's death in 632 all the tribes inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula converted to Islam. Muhammad did not leave, however, any accurate guidance as to the choice of his successor, which eventually led to conflicts and civil wars.
The Muslim commune agreed on rules governing the selection of religious and political leader who was given the name of caliph. Arabs under the leadership of caliphs began a period of great conquests. Once warring tribes, now united under the banner of Islam they proved to be a power strong enough to challenge two largest powers in the Middle East - the Christian Byzantine Empire and Sassanid-ruled Persia where Zoroastrianism was the major religion.
The march of Islam
Muslims wasted no time - their expeditions beyond Saudi Arabia began under the very first Caliph Abu Bakr (632-634). But the decisive period of conquest occurred during the period of the Caliphate of Omar (634-644). In 635, the Arabs took Damascus in Byzantine Syria, then conquered Persian Mesopotamia, and by 650 AD Persia itself. In 642 Byzantine Alexandria surrendered to Arab invaders, which meant the conquest of Egypt.
In such a vast and rapidly acquired empire, where recently settled nomads ruled the peoples of diverse and rich cultures, tensions caused by independence movements quickly emerged. Omar was assassinated in 644 and his successor met similar fate in 656. The rebels who killed Otmane chose Ali (656-661), Muhammad's son-in-law to be the next caliph. His reign changed little in terms of stability - it was marked by internal strife and religious disputes, and Ali himself was also murdered. The next in line was Muawiyah of the Umayyad clan. This time, Ali's supporters (Shī'atu 'Alī) refused to recognize religious leadership of the new caliph. This led to a permanent rift into the Shiite and Sunni Muslims. This schism that continues to be the most fundamental division in the Muslim world today.
With the death of Ali, the so-called classical or orthodox period in the history of the Caliphate ended. Since Muawiyah (661-680) caliph's power was more like the authority of monarchs. The capital was moved from Medina to Damascus. The authority of the caliph was passed in accordance with the dynastic order of Umayyad family. The centralized bureaucratic apparatus preferred to recruit its officials from non-Arab population that was often better qualified.
One state
Muawiyah solidified his power only after thirty years of civil war with caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705). Once unrest at home was over, further conquests were possible. In the east, the Muslims arrived in Tashkent in Central Asia and conquered Sindh and southern Punjab (today's Pakistan). In the west, the conquest proceeded along the North African coast. After passing the Strait of Gibraltar Arabs occupied the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain and in 718 crossed the Pyrenees, threatening the country of the Franks. Their march was stopped by Charles Martel, and the defeat in 732 at the Battle of Poitiers brought an end to the Arab expansion in Europe.
Caliphate, as a state without internal borders stretching from Spain to India, flourished under Umayyad rule. Arabs took full advantage of accomplishments of the conquered peoples: they adapted Byzantine and Persian methods of administration, benefited from the achievements of the art of war, copied art and explored science. The Umayyads were tolerant of other religions, especially of the "peoples of the Book", namely Jews and Christians, with whom they shared a common biblical tradition. According to the teachings of Islam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus were great prophets whose prophecy was fulfilled by the last of the prophets - Muhammad. The infidels, however, were obliged to pay taxes to the caliphate. This was a clever incentive for the population of the conquered territories to convert to Islam. And since there was a ban on translating the Koran into other languages, converts quickly learned Arabic. As a result, Arab invaders mingled with their subjects, creating a community with a unified culture, where the word Arab began to mean simply Arabic speaking follower of Islam. This way, a uniform civilization sharing the same culture and religion and spanning a large area was established.
However, Umayyads' tolerance of other religions became one of the causes of their fall. Their lack of consistent and strong effort to spread Islam among the infidels caused growing discontent. Abdul Abbas, a descendant of Muhammad's uncle, led the opposition and in 747 he was at the forefront of an open rebellion. In 750, the military rulers of Damascus were defeated in a decisive battle, and the entire family of Umayyad and all of their supporters were killed. The only member of the overthrown dynasty who escaped death was Abd-ar-Rahman - he fled to Spain where he founded an independent state that flourished for the next 300 years. The new Abbasid dynasty relocated the capital to Baghdad in Mesopotamia, which soon became a great metropolis. In this way, the main center of Islamic civilization shifted to the east, and the the influence of Greek-Byzantine culture in Abbasid caliphate gave way to the stronger influence of its Persian counterpart. The Abbasids sought islamization of all its subjects. Throughout the caliphate there was uniformity in the spirit of Arab culture. Only Iran, although its population converted to Islam completely, retained Persian language and cultural identity.
Blossoming civilization
Islamic civilization entered a new phase. Not only did it use the achievements of other cultures, but began to create its own. A so-called "House of Wisdom" was founded in Baghdad, where scholars translated medical and philosophical works of ancient Greeks and studied Indian mathematics, including numbers that we sometimes refer to as "Arab" today. Muslim thinker and the doctor Ibn Sina became one of the biggest medieval authorities in the field of philosophy and medicine and he was known in Europe under the name of Avicenna. The creator of algebra (the term itself is derived from Arabic) was a mathematician and astronomer of the ninth century Abū 'Abdallāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, while a Persian algebra scholar Omar Khayyam combined his talents in mathematics and poetry in a unique way.
Literature, fine arts and architecture bloomed as well. Beautiful mosques with shiny domes were built. In literature, Islamic culture used the heritage of folk tales and legends from all over Asia. This was reflected in the classic collection of fairy tales One Thousand and One Nights. For centuries, Muslim culture was significantly ahead of the West. Despite political disintegration of the great Abbasid Caliphate in just one hundred years after its creation, Islamic civilization continued to flourish. Having made East the center of their reign, the Abbasids quickly lost control over North Africa, where the dominance of the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171) prevailed, ruling from the new Egyptian capital - Cairo.
Turkish conquest
The biggest threat to the Caliphate of Baghdad, however, came from the east. Iran showed its political weight again. The situation changed with the advent of barbaric invaders from Central Asia. They were the Seljuk Turks who conquered most of the eastern Islamic world. On behalf of the Abbasid caliphs who retained religious authority, Seljuk rulers called sultans held political power. Seljuks successfully attacked the Byzantines, prompting the emperor to call on Christians from western Europe for a crusade against the infidels.
Muslim unity under the Seljuk rule proved to be as short-lived as that of the Abbasids - by twelfth century the East had already been divided into independent sultanates. Muslims, however, remained strong enough to challenge European crusaders. Once again, a major threat came from the east: the hordes of nomadic Mongols who eventually raided and looted Baghdad, thus putting an end to the Abbasid Caliphate. This has opened a new chapter in the history of the Muslim world.
Important dates
- ca. 570
Birth of Muhammad - ca. 594
Muhammad marries Khadija - ca. 610
Muhammad's revelations begin; around 613 he embarks on prophetic activity - 622
Muhammad flees to Yathrib (Medina) - 624-630
Battles of Mecca and Medina; Muhammed returns to Mecca - 632
Death of Muhammad; Abu Bakr becomes caliph - 634-644
Omar Caliphate - 636-641
Muslims conquer Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Egypt - 644-656
Otmane Caliphate - 656-661
The rule of Ali - the last of the orthodox caliphs - 661-680
Muawiyah becomes caliph; the Beginning of Umayyad Caliphate - 693
Conquest of North Africa begins - 711
The invasion and rapid conquest of the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain - 718
Arabs cross the Pyrenees - 732
The Battle of Tours aka the Battle of Poitiers - the Franks stop Muslim advance - 750
The beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate - 755
Abd ar-Rahman founds independent Umayyad emirate in Spain - 786-809
The rule of caliph Harun al-Rashid - 909-1171
Fatimid dynasty in Egypt and North Africa - 1055-1157
Turkish Seljuk Sultanate - 1258
Mongols capture Baghdad; end of the Abbasid Caliphate
