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143-528: The concept of classical Islam or a classical period in the history of Islam is largely a construct of non-Islamic scholarship, formed by analogy with the classical period of the Greco-Roman world . The term implies a positive judgement defining a "normative period" in Islamic history, but western scholars generally extend the period much later than Muslim scholars would allow. The Muslim conception of

286-401: A Muslim Agricultural Revolution ) and the arts and sciences (considered a Muslim Scientific Revolution ) also prospered under Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur (ruled 754–775), Harun al-Rashid (ruled 786–809), al-Ma'mun (ruled 809–813) and their immediate successors. Many non-Muslims, such as Christians , Jews and Sabians , contributed to the Islamic civilization in various fields, and

429-528: A contentious matter of debate, which has been extensively discussed both among Muslim scholars and Non-Muslim scholars within the academic field of Islamic studies . Various authors, Islamic activists, and historians of Islam have proposed several understandings of Muhammad's intent and ambitions regarding his religio-political mission in the context of the pre-Islamic Arabian society and the founding of his own religion: Was it in Muhammad's mind to produce

572-590: A court to rival that of Constantinople . He expanded the frontiers of the empire, reaching the edge of Constantinople at one point, though the Byzantines drove him back and he was unable to hold any territory in Anatolia . Sunni Muslims credit him with saving the fledgling Muslim nation from post- civil war anarchy. However, Shia Muslims accuse him of instigating the war, weakening the Muslim nation by dividing

715-695: A great portion of the Turkic groups, and several of the princes in India were Shia. The political unity of Islam began to disintegrate. Under the influence of the Abbasid caliphs, independent dynasties appeared in the Muslim world and the caliphs recognized such dynasties as legitimately Muslim. The first was the Tahirids in Khorasan , which was founded during the caliph Al-Ma'mun 's reign. Similar dynasties included

858-545: A justification for the emancipation of science and philosophy from official Ash'ari theology; thus, Averroism has been considered a precursor to modern secularism . Early Middle Ages According to Arab sources in the year 750, Al-Saffah , the founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, launched a massive rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate from the province of Khurasan near Talas. After eliminating

1001-524: A means of transporting ground troops, such as between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula. This was also seen with Alcácer do Sal 's ships in the campaign against Santiago de Compostela in 997. As in the army Almanzor recruited Berbers faithful to him. In its administration he favored the saqalibas to the detriment of native officials. The fleet was reinforced with a network of ports and

1144-591: A minority but they had formed the ruling elites since the Muslim conquest in the early 8th century. Berbers, who had made up the majority of the conquering army, were a larger group, relatively powerful but less so than the Arab elites. The indigenous population were the majority, but the proportion of Christians among them decreased over time as many of them converted to Islam. The indigenous Muslim converts were known as Muwallad s (Arabic: مولد ) and became very numerous in later generations. Some of them were descended from

1287-641: A new base in the Atlantic, in Alcácer do Sal, which protected the city of Coimbra , recovered in the 980s. It served as start of a campaign against Santiago. On the Mediterranean shore, the naval defense was centered at the base of al-Mariya, now Almería . The dockyards of the fleet had been built in Tortosa in 944. The fleet also maintained a significant budget. Initially, the maritime defense of

1430-646: A normative period corresponds mainly to that of the Companions of the Prophet and the Rightly Guided Caliphs , roughly the seventh century. There is no consistency in western usage. The term may be given a primarily religious sense, meaning "the era when the classics of Islamic law and spirituality were written", extending down to about 1400. Or it may take on a political sense, meaning "the major chain of political legitimacy" that came to end with

1573-509: A number of the proponents of contemporary da'wah activity in the West trace their inspiration to the prophet himself, claiming that he initiated a worldwide missionary program in which they are the most recent participants. [...] Despite the claims of these and other writers, it is difficult to prove that Muhammad intended to found a world-encompassing faith superseding the religions of Christianity and Judaism . His original aim appears to have been

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1716-772: A period. Weakened by the civil wars, the Umayyad lost supremacy at sea, and had to abandon the islands of Rhodes and Crete . Under the rule of Yazid I , some Muslims in Kufa began to think that if Husayn ibn Ali the descendant of Muhammad was their ruler, he would have been more just. He was invited to Kufa but was later betrayed and killed. Imam Husain's son, Imam Ali ibn Husain , was imprisoned along with Husain's sister and other ladies left in Karbala war. Due to opposition by public they were later released and allowed to go to their native place Medina. One Imam after another continued in

1859-450: A short time in 744, before he abdicated. Marwan II ruled from 744 until he was killed in 750. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus. Marwan named his two sons Ubaydallah and Abdallah heirs. He appointed governors and asserted his authority by force. Anti-Umayyad feeling was very prevalent, especially in Iran and Iraq. The Abbasids had gained much support. Marwan's reign as caliph

2002-518: A single vast state". History of Islam The history of Islam concerns the political , social , economic , military , and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization . Most historians believe that Islam originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by

2145-579: A successful military campaign known as the Ridda wars , whose momentum was carried into the lands of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. By the end of the reign of the second caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb , the Arab Muslim armies, whose battle-hardened ranks were now swelled by the defeated rebels and former imperial auxiliary troops, invaded the eastern Byzantine provinces of Syria and Egypt , while

2288-416: A world religion or did his interests lie mainly within the confines of his homeland? Was he solely an Arab nationalist —a political genius intent upon uniting the proliferation of tribal clans under the banner of a new religion—or was his vision a truly international one, encompassing a desire to produce a reformed humanity in the midst of a new world order? These questions are not without significance, for

2431-646: The ulama (religious scholars) and the fuqaha (judges) played the most important social role. In the 9th century, both the Maliki and the Hanafi legal schools of thought ( maddhab s ) were common, but the Umayyads themselves promoted the former. One reason for this might be that Hanafism was seen as too closely associated with the Abbasids, whom the Umayyads considered enemies. Maliki dominance solidified under

2574-680: The Abbasid Caliphate and became an independent emir of Córdoba. He had been on the run for six years after the Umayyads had lost the position of caliph in Damascus in 750 to the Abbasids. Intent on regaining a position of power, he defeated the existing Muslim rulers of the area who had defied Umayyad and Abbasid rule. Abd al-Rahman I united various local fiefdoms into an independent emirate . The campaigns to unify al-Andalus went into Toledo , Zaragoza , Pamplona , and Barcelona and took over twenty-five years to complete. Despite

2717-477: The Abrahamic prophets , such as Adam , Noah , Abraham , Moses , David , Solomon , and Jesus , with the submission ( Islām ) to the will of God . According to the traditional account , the Islamic prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations in 610 CE, calling for submission to the one God, preparation for the imminent Last Judgement , and charity for

2860-843: The Banu Qays Arabs against Yemenis and non-Arab Muslims , and Yazid received further support from the Qadariya and Murji'iya (believers in human free will ). Walid was shortly thereafter deposed in a coup . Yazid disbursed funds from the treasury and acceded to the Caliph. He explained that he had rebelled on behalf of the Book of God and the Sunna. Yazid reigned for only six months, while various groups refused allegiance and dissident movements arose, after which he died. Ibrahim ibn al-Walid , named heir apparent by his brother Yazid III, ruled for

3003-521: The Battle of Tours ). In the east, Islamic armies under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim made it as far as the Indus Valley . Under Al-Walid, the caliphate empire stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to India. Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf played a crucial role in the organization and selection of military commanders. Al-Walid paid great attention to the expansion of an organized military, building the strongest navy in

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3146-746: The Berber Revolt . He was also faced with a revolt by Zayd ibn Ali . Hisham suppressed both revolts. The Abbasids continued to gain power in Khurasan and Iraq. However, they were not strong enough to make a move yet. Some were caught and punished or executed by eastern governors. The Battle of Akroinon , a decisive Byzantine victory, was during the final campaign of the Umayyad dynasty. Hisham died in 743. Al-Walid II saw political intrigue during his reign. Yazid III spoke out against his cousin Walid's "immorality" which included discrimination on behalf of

3289-475: The Byzantine Empire ) also existed. Each wanted the capital of the newly established Islamic empire to be in their area. As ʿUthmān became very old, Marwan I , a relative of Muawiyah slipped into the vacuum, becoming his secretary and slowly assuming more control. When ʿUthmān was assassinated in 656 CE, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib , cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, assumed the position of caliph and moved

3432-606: The Caliphate of Córdoba , which lasted until 1031 before falling due to the Fitna of al-Andalus . The Bayt al-mal, the Welfare State then continued under the Abbasids. At its largest extent, the Umayyad dynasty covered more than 5,000,000 square miles (13,000,000 km ) making it one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, and the fifth largest contiguous empire ever. Muawiyah beautified Damascus, and developed

3575-531: The Day of Ashura . Political unrest called the second Muslim civil war (the "Second Fitna") continued, but Muslim rule was extended under Muawiyah I to Rhodes , Crete , Kabul , Bukhara , and Samarkand , and expanded into North Africa . In 664 CE, Arab Muslim armies conquered Kabul , and in 665 CE pushed further into the Maghreb . The Umayyad dynasty (or Ommiads), whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams ,

3718-578: The Fourth Fitna . Al-Ma'mun 's general Tahir ibn Husayn took Baghdad , executing Al-Amin. The war led to a loss of prestige for the dynasty. The Abbasids soon became caught in a three-way rivalry among Coptic Arabs, Indo-Persians , and immigrant Turks. In addition, the cost of running a large empire became too great. The Turks, Egyptians, and Arabs adhered to the Sunnite sect; the Persians,

3861-707: The Galician coast. Almanzor eliminated figures who could have opposed his reforms, such as killing Ghalib. Almanzor also replaced the governor of Zaragoza after he collaborated with his eldest son to replace him with a member of the same clan, the Banu Tujib. The admiral of the fleet was also poisoned in January 980 and replaced. Land transport routes were dotted with strongholds, and dignitaries controlled communications. Messengers were bought in and specially trained to handle Almanzor's messages and to transmit

4004-572: The Idrisid emir Abul-Aish Ahmad recognized the caliphate, but refused to allow them to occupy Tangier. The Umayyads besieged Tangier in 949 and defeated Abul-Aish, forcing him to retreat, and then occupied the rest of northern Morocco. Abd al-Rahman III increased diplomatic relations with the Berber tribes in North Africa, Christian kingdoms from the north, West Francia , East Francia , and

4147-530: The Maghreb (north-west Africa), the Sahel , the Swahili Coast , Somalia , southern Iberia ( al-Andalus ), Transoxania ( Central Asia ), Hindustan (including modern-day North India , Bangladesh , and Pakistan ), and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey ). It is necessarily an approximation, since rule over some regions was sometimes divided among different centers of power, and authority in larger polities

4290-658: The Middle Ages . By the early 13th century, the Delhi Sultanate conquered the northern Indian subcontinent , while Turkic dynasties like the Sultanate of Rum and Artuqids conquered much of Anatolia from the Byzantine Empire throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. In the 13th and 14th centuries, destructive Mongol invasions , along with the loss of population due to the Black Death , greatly weakened

4433-473: The Persian Gulf . There was also a yearning for a more "spiritual form of religion", and "the choice of religion increasingly became an individual rather than a collective issue." While some Arabs were reluctant to convert to a foreign faith, those Abrahamic religions provided "the principal intellectual and spiritual reference points", and Jewish and Christian loanwords from Aramaic began to replace

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4576-642: The Reconquista . Nonetheless, in the early modern period , the gunpowder empires —the Ottomans , Timurids , Mughals , and Safavids —emerged as world powers. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the Muslim world fell under the influence or direct control of the European Great Powers . Some of their efforts to win independence and build modern nation-states over the course of

4719-573: The Saffarids , Samanids , Ghaznavids and Seljuqs . During this time, advancements were made in the areas of astronomy, poetry, philosophy, science, and mathematics. Caliphate of C%C3%B3rdoba The state was founded by Abd al-Rahman I , an Umayyad prince who fled the defeat and persecution of the Umayyad clan amid the Abbasid Revolution . The polity then flourished for the best part of three centuries, before disintegrating in

4862-814: The Samanid Empire . In Persia the Ghaznavids snatched power from the Abbasids. Abbasid influence had been consumed by the Great Seljuq Empire (a Muslim Turkish clan which had migrated into mainland Persia) by 1055. Two other Turkish tribes, the Karahanids and the Seljuks , converted to Islam during the 10th century. Later, they were subdued by the Ottomans, who share the same origin and language. The Seljuks played an important role in

5005-527: The Umayyad dynasty . After Muhammad's death, Abū Bakr , one of his closest associates, was chosen as the first caliph ("successor"). Although the office of caliph retained an aura of religious authority, it laid no claim to prophecy. A number of tribal Arab leaders refused to extend the agreements made with Muhammad to Abū Bakr, ceasing payments of the alms levy and in some cases claiming to be prophets in their own right. Abū Bakr asserted his authority in

5148-535: The Ummah , fabricating self-aggrandizing heresies slandering the Prophet 's family and even selling his Muslim critics into slavery in the Byzantine empire. One of Muawiyah's most controversial and enduring legacies was his decision to designate his son Yazid as his successor. According to Shi'a doctrine, this was a clear violation of the treaty he made with Hasan ibn Ali. In 682, Yazid restored Uqba ibn Nafi as

5291-475: The angel Gabriel , which would later form the Quran . These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict monotheistic faith , as the final expression of Biblical prophetism earlier codified in the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending Judgement Day ; and to castigate social injustices of his city. Muhammad's message won over a handful of followers (the ṣaḥāba ) and

5434-720: The compilation of the Quran was finished some time between 650 and 656 CE, and copies were sent out to the different centers of the expanding Islamic empire. After Muhammad's death, the old tribal differences between the Arabs started to resurface. Following the Roman–Persian wars and the Byzantine-Sasanian wars , deep-rooted differences between Iraq (formerly under the Sasanian Empire ) and Syria (formerly under

5577-677: The divisions of the world theologically would form. These trends would continue into the Fatimid and Ayyubid periods. Politically, the Abbasid Caliphate evolved into an Islamic monarchy ( unitary system of government .) The regional Sultanate and Emirate governors' existence, validity, or legality were acknowledged for unity of the state. In the early Islamic philosophy of the Iberian Umayyads , Averroes presented an argument in The Decisive Treatise , providing

5720-474: The fall of Baghdad in 1258. Although "reality had failed to conform for rather more than four centuries" to the ideal of the caliphate , the collapse of 1258 represents a fundamental psychological break in Islamic history. In a more restricted sense, Islamic "classical civilization" corresponds to the "high caliphal" period of the Umayyads and Abbasids from about 692 to 945, when " Islamicate society formed

5863-603: The kinship -based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. Islamic ecumenism , promoted by the Abbasids, refers to the idea of unity of the Ummah in the literal meaning: that there was a single faith. Islamic philosophy developed as the Shariah was codified, and the four Madhabs were established. This era also saw the rise of classical Sufism . Religious achievements included completion of

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6006-680: The saqaliba and Berbers. He also created new units, outside the regular army of the Caliphate, that were loyal to him and served to control the capital. Almanzor abolished the system of tribal units with their own commanders. This system had been in decline due to a lack of Arab recruits and the pseudo-feudalistic institutions on the frontiers. A new system of mixed units without clear loyalty under orders from Administration officials replaced it. The increase in military forces and their partial professionalization led to an increase in financial expenses, and incentivized campaigning so troops could be paid with loot and land. Lands handed over to

6149-420: The Arab clan of Quraysh , which was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia. To counter the effects of anarchy (particularly raiding for booty between tribes), they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe. The polytheistic Kaaba shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination for surrounding Arabs, which

6292-477: The Arabian peninsula entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his claims of prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the alms levy to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury. The real intentions of Muhammad regarding the spread of Islam, its political undertone, and his missionary activity ( da'wah ) during his lifetime are

6435-432: The Book who took on the status of dhimmi s or "protected non-Muslims". In exchange for the state's protection, they were required to pay a tax called the jizya . Their religious practices were tolerated but conspicuous displays of faith, such as bells and processions, were discouraged. The local Christian Catholic Church in al-Andalus was partially integrated with the Umayyad regime and its leaders collaborated with

6578-406: The Byzantine Empire . Abd al-Rahman III also brought the Christian kingdoms of the north under his direct influence through military force. The size of the Caliphal army under Abd al-Rahman III was between 30,000 and 50,000 troops. The caliphate became very profitable during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III, with public revenue up to 6,245,000 dinars , higher than previous administrations. Wealth

6721-434: The Byzantine Empire and moved on into Carthage and across to the west of North Africa. Muslim armies under Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began to conquer the Iberian Peninsula using North African Berber armies. The Visigoths of the Iberian Peninsula were defeated when the Umayyad conquered Lisbon . The Iberian Peninsula was the farthest extent of Islamic control of Europe (they were stopped at

6864-424: The Byzantine side proved decisive. The Muslims sustained heavy losses. Sulayman died suddenly in 717. Yazid II came to power on the death of Umar II. Yazid fought the Kharijites, with whom Umar had been negotiating, and killed the Kharijite leader Shawdhab. In Yazid's reign, civil wars began in different parts of the empire. Yazid expanded the Caliphate's territory into the Caucasus, before dying in 724. Inheriting

7007-469: The Caliph after the defection of a large contingent of Slavs . The Islamic currency was then made the exclusive currency in the Muslim world. He reformed agriculture and commerce. Abd al-Malik consolidated Muslim rule and extended it, made Arabic the state language, and organized a regular postal service . Al-Walid I began the next stage of Islamic conquests. Under him the early Islamic empire reached its farthest extent. He reconquered parts of Egypt from

7150-454: The Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad marked the accession of a new family to power. As the state grew, the state expenses increased. Additionally the Bayt al-mal and the Welfare State expenses to assist the Muslim and the non-Muslim poor, needy, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled, increased, the Umayyads asked the new converts (mawali) to continue paying the poll tax. The Umayyad rule, with its wealth and luxury also seemed at odds with

7293-439: The Caliphate was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Rumahis, a veteran admiral who had served Al-Hakam II and was Qadi of Elvira and Pechina . He repulsed raids by al-Magus (idolaters) or al-Urdumaniyun ('men of the north', Vikings ), in the west of al-Andalus in mid-971. When there was another invasion later that year, the admiral left Almería and defeated them off the coast of Algarve . In April 973, he transported

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7436-447: The Christian north of the peninsula, which lacked large urban centers. The adoption of the Arabic language was a wide-reaching phenomenon of long-term importance. It was spearheaded by the promotion of Classical Arabic as an administrative and literary language, followed by the development of a native vernacular Andalusi Arabic . In the 9th century, Romance languages continued to be spoken in rural lower classes but Arabic had become

7579-407: The Fatimids had conquered Abbasid Egypt, building a capital there in 973 called " al-Qahirah " (meaning "the planet of victory", known today as Cairo ). During its decline, the Abbasid Caliphate disintegrated into minor states and dynasties, such as the Tulunid and the Ghaznavid dynasty . The Ghaznavid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty established by Turkic slave-soldiers from another Islamic empire,

7722-483: The Fatimids. The Umayyads sent their general, Ghalib, to invade Idrisid Morocco in 973. By 974, Al-Hassan II was taken to Córdoba, and the remaining Idrisids recognized Umayyad rule. The death of Al-Hakam II in 976 marked the beginning of the end of Caliphal power. Al-Hakam was succeeded by his only son, Hisham II . Al-Hakam's top advisor, Almanzor , pronounced the 10-year-old boy caliph and swore an oath of obedience to him. Almanzor had great influence over Subh ,

7865-494: The Islamic faith and mosques, separated by doctrine, history, and practice, were pushed to cooperate. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking the Umayyads' moral character and administration. According to Ira Lapidus , "The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali ". The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali , who remained outside

8008-460: The Islamic message preached by Muhammad. All this increased discontent. The descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib rallied discontented mawali , poor Arabs, and some Shi'a against the Umayyads and overthrew them with the help of the general Abu Muslim , inaugurating the Abbasid dynasty in 750, which moved the capital to Baghdad . A branch of the Ummayad family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established

8151-402: The Jewish Yahweh and the Christian Jehovah ." In their view, Mecca was originally dedicated to this monotheistic faith that they considered to be the one true religion, established by the patriarch Abraham . According to the traditional account , the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca , an important caravan trading center, around the year 570 CE. His family belonged to

8294-423: The Levant , Egypt , and North Africa . Alongside the growth of the Umayyad Caliphate , the major political development within early Islam in this period was the sectarian split and political divide between Kharijite , Sunnī , and Shīʿa Muslims ; this had its roots in a dispute over the succession for the role of caliph. Sunnīs believed the caliph was elective and any Muslim from the Arab clan of Quraysh ,

8437-562: The Masts in 655 CE, opening up the Mediterranean Sea to Muslim ships. Early Muslim armies stayed in encampments away from cities because ʿUmar feared that they may get attracted to wealth and luxury, moving away from the worship of God, accumulating wealth and establishing dynasties. Staying in these encampments away from the cities also ensured that there was no stress on the local populations which could remain autonomous. Some of these encampments later grew into cities like Basra and Kufa in Iraq and Fustat in Egypt. When ʿUmar

8580-431: The Saracen armies amount to 30, 40, 50 or 60,000 men, even when in serious occasions they reach 100, 160, 300 and even 600,000 fighters" in the time of Almanzor. In the campaign that swept Astorga and León , chroniclers record Almanzor leading 12,000 African horsemen, five thousand al-Andalusi horsemen, and 40,000 infantry. Stories of Almanzor's last campaign record forty-six thousand horsemen, six hundred forces guarding

8723-411: The Sasanids lost their western territories , with the rest of Persia to follow soon afterwards. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb improved the administration of the fledgling Islamic empire, ordering improvement of irrigation networks, and playing a role in foundation of cities like Basra . To be close to the poor, he lived in a simple mud hut without doors and walked the streets every evening. After consulting with

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8866-435: The Umayyad era. This tactic was crucial for the expansion to the Iberian Peninsula. His reign is considered to be the apex of Islamic power. Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik was hailed as caliph the day al-Walid died. He appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab governor of Mesopotamia . Sulayman ordered the arrest and execution of the family of al-Hajjaj , one of two prominent leaders (the other was Qutayba ibn Muslim ) who had supported

9009-434: The Umayyad family had been killed by the revolting Abbasids, one family member, Abd ar-Rahman I , escaped to Spain and established an independent caliphate there in 756. In the Maghreb , Harun al-Rashid appointed the Arab Aghlabids as virtually autonomous rulers, although they continued to recognize central authority. Aghlabid rule was short-lived, and they were deposed by the Shiite Fatimid dynasty in 909. By around 960,

9152-441: The area up to the Ganges river had fallen. In sub-Saharan West Africa, Islam was established just after the year 1000. Muslim rulers were in Kanem starting from sometime between 1081 and 1097, with reports of a Muslim prince at the head of Gao as early as 1009. The Islamic kingdoms associated with Mali reached prominence in the 13th century. The Abbasids developed initiatives aimed at greater Islamic unity. Different sects of

9295-422: The army of Ghalib from Algeciras to subdue the rebellious tribes of the Maghreb and end Fatimid ambitions in that area. In 985, the fleet ravaged the Catalans . During the Catalan campaign, Gausfred I , Count of Empurias and Roussillon tried to raise an army to help but several flotillas of Berber pirates threatened their coasts, forcing them to stay to defend their lands. In 997 the al-Andalusi fleet hit

9438-465: The army reached 35,000 to 40,000 combatants, half of them Syrian military contingents. An Umayyad expedition helmed by ʿIṣām al-Ḫawlānī occupied the Balearic Islands (the 'Eastern Islands') and incorporated them to Cordobese rule under emir Abdullah circa 902–903. Abd al-Rahman III ascended to the throne in 912, and faced the Fatimid Caliphate , a rival North African Shiʿite Islamic empire based in Tunis . The Fatimid's claim of Caliph challenged

9581-448: The beginning of Islam post-date the events by several generations, al-Tabari having died in 923 CE. Differing views about how to deal with the available sources has led to the development of four different approaches to the history of early Islam. All four methods have some level of support today. Nowadays, the popularity of the different methods employed varies on the scope of the works under consideration. For overview treatments of

9724-430: The caliphate from his brother, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ruled an empire with many problems. He was effective in addressing these problems, and in allowing the Umayyad empire to continue as an entity. His long rule was an effective one, and renewed reforms introduced by Umar II. Under Hisham's rule, regular raids against the Byzantines continued. In North Africa, Kharijite teachings combined with local restlessness to produce

9867-431: The canonical collections of Hadith of Sahih Bukhari and others. Islam recognized to a certain extent the validity of the Abrahamic religions , the Quran identifying Jews , Christians , Zoroastrians , and Sabians (commonly identified with the Mandaeans ) as " people of the book ". Toward the beginning of the high Middle Ages, the doctrines of the Sunni and Shia , two major denominations of Islam , solidified and

10010-474: The capital to Kufa in Iraq. Muawiyah I, the governor of Syria, and Marwan I demanded arrest of the culprits. Marwan I manipulated every one and created conflict, which resulted in the first Muslim civil war (the "First Fitna"). ʿAlī was assassinated by the Kharijites in 661 CE. Six months later, ʿAlī's firstborn son Ḥasan made a peace treaty with Muawiyah I, in the interest of peace. In the Hasan–Muawiya treaty , Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī handed over power to Muawiyah I on

10153-448: The chronicles exaggerated tenfold the real numbers – these speak of eight hundred thousand soldiers – the caliphate could have had eight million inhabitants. Those who use more bullish criteria estimate between seven and 10 million. Under Almanzor, the realm also had other large cities like Toledo , Almería and Granada , which were all around 30,000; and Zaragoza, Valencia and Málaga , all above 15,000. This contrasted sharply with

10296-464: The city of Mérida . Ethnic Arabs were (at least during the early Emirate period) sparse here and the Muslim population consisted mostly of Berbers, probably semi-nomadic or transhumant , and of Muwallad s. The region along the central frontier, near Toledo, also known as the Middle March, was again only sparsely inhabited by Arabs. The city and local politics were dominated by Muwallad s, while

10439-470: The civil war by contingents of Christian mercenaries. Beset by factionalism, the caliphate crumbled in 1031 into a number of independent taifas , including the Taifa of Córdoba , Taifa of Seville and Taifa of Zaragoza . The last Córdoban Caliph was Hisham III (1027–1031). Under Umayyad rule, Arabization and Islamization progressed significantly in al-Andalus. In the long-term, these were to comprise

10582-464: The collection of the jizya, or the tax on non-Muslims. Islam nearly doubled within its territory from 8% of residents in 750 to 15% by the end of Al-Mansur's reign. Al-Mahdi , whose name means "Rightly-guided" or "Redeemer", was proclaimed caliph when his father was on his deathbed. Baghdad blossomed during Al-Mahdi's reign, becoming the world's largest city. It attracted immigrants from Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Persia and as far away as India and Spain. Baghdad

10725-440: The condition that he would be just to the people and not establish a dynasty after his death. Muawiyah I subsequently broke the conditions of the agreement and established the Umayyad dynasty , with a capital in Damascus . Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī , by then Muhammad's only surviving grandson, refused to swear allegiance to the Umayyads; he was killed in the Battle of Karbala the same year, in an event still mourned by Shīʿa Muslims on

10868-482: The earliest periods in Islamic history is made difficult by a lack of sources. For example, the most important historiographical source for the origins of Islam is the work of al-Tabari . While al-Tabari is considered an excellent historian by the standards of his time and place, he made liberal use of mythical, legendary, stereotyped, distorted, and polemical presentations of subject matter—which are however considered to be Islamically acceptable—and his descriptions of

11011-534: The early 11th century during the Fitna of al-Andalus , a civil war between the descendants of caliph Hisham II and the successors of his hajib (court official), Al-Mansur . In 1031, after years of infighting, the caliphate collapsed and fractured into a number of independent Muslim taifa (kingdoms). The period was characterized by an expansion of trade and culture, including the construction of well-known pieces of Andalusi architecture . The Visigothic Kingdom had ruled Iberia for over two centuries when it

11154-510: The early Islamic empire. Local populations of Jews and indigenous Christians , who lived as religious minorities and were forced to pay the jizya tax under the Muslim rule in order to finance the wars with Byzantines and Sasanids, often aided Muslims to take over their lands from the Byzantines and Persians, resulting in exceptionally speedy conquests. As new areas were conquered, they also benefited from free trade with other areas of

11297-537: The elderly. When he felt that a governor or a commander was becoming attracted to wealth or did not meet the required administrative standards, he had him removed from his position. The expansion was partially halted between 638 and 639 CE during the years of great famine and plague in Arabia and the Levant, respectively, but by the end of ʿUmar's reign, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and much of Persia were incorporated into

11440-471: The empire". Évariste Lévi-Provençal argues the Almanzor's armies were between 35,000 and 70–75,000 soldiers. It is likely that the leader's armies may not have exceeded twenty thousand men. Until the eleventh century no Muslim army on campaign exceeded thirty thousand troops, while during the eighth century the trans-Pyrenean expeditions totaled ten thousand men and those carried out against Christians in

11583-450: The entire Umayyad family and achieving victory at the Battle of the Zab , Al-Saffah and his forces marched into Damascus and founded a new dynasty. His forces confronted many regional powers and consolidated the realm of the Abbasid Caliphate. In Al-Mansur 's time, Persian scholarship emerged. Many non-Arabs converted to Islam. The Umayyads actively discouraged conversion in order to continue

11726-472: The establishment of a succinctly Arab brand of monotheism , as indicated by his many references to the Qurʾān as an Arab book and by his accommodations to other monotheistic traditions. After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, his community needed to appoint a new leader, giving rise to the title of caliph ( Arabic : خَليفة , romanized :  khalīfa , lit.   'successor'). Thus,

11869-505: The exceptions of Iran and Oman . Muhammad's closest companions ( ṣaḥāba ), the four " rightly-guided " caliphs who succeeded him, continued to expand the Islamic empire to encompass Jerusalem , Ctesiphon , and Damascus , and sending Arab Muslim armies as far as the Sindh region . The early Islamic empire stretched from al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) to the Punjab region under the reign of

12012-520: The figure of the homes of paratge who obtained privileged military status by fighting against the Córdobans armed on horseback – after losing their capital in the fall of 985. Military industry flourished in factories around Córdoba. The city was said to produce 1,000 bows and 20,000 arrows monthly, and 1,300 shields and 3,000 campaign stores annually. In contrast to the role the navy played under Abd al-Rahman III, under Almanzor, it served as

12155-526: The following results: The following timeline can serve as a rough visual guide to the most important polities in the Islamic world prior to World War I . It covers major historical centers of power and culture, including the Arabian peninsula (modern-day Oman , Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates , and Yemen ), Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ), Persia (modern-day Iran ), Levant (modern-day Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , and Israel/Palestine ), Egypt ,

12298-458: The former Visigothic and Hispano-Roman landholding elites that existed prior to the Muslim conquest and who had retained much of their status after the conquest. Jews were present in smaller numbers relative to the other groups. According to Thomas Glick , "Despite the withdrawal of substantial numbers during the drought and famine of the 750s, fresh Berber migration from North Africa was a constant feature of Andalusi history, increasing in tempo in

12441-703: The gains of the earlier Caliphates . Initially, they conquered Mediterranean islands including the Balearics and, after, in 827 the Southern Italy . The ruling party had come to power on the wave of dissatisfaction with the Umayyads, cultivated by the Abbasid revolutionary Abu Muslim . Under the Abbasids Islamic civilization flourished. Most notable was the development of Arabic prose and poetry , termed by The Cambridge History of Islam as its " golden age ". Commerce and industry (considered

12584-563: The gates of the city were opened. Almanzor continued the military reforms by Al-Hakam and his predecessors. He professionalized the regular army, which guaranteed his military power in the capital and ensured the availability of forces for numerous campaigns. Professionalization de-emphasized levies and other non-professional troops, which were replaced with taxes to support the professional troops – often saqaliba or Maghrebis – and freed Córdoban subjects from military service. Almanzor expanded recruitment of

12727-600: The generation of Imam Husain but they were opposed by the Caliphs of the day as their rivals till Imam Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah came in power as first Caliph of Fatimid in North Africa when Caliphate and Imamate came to same person again after Imam Ali. These Imams were recognized by Shia Islam taking Imam Ali as first Caliph/Imam and the same is institutionalized by the Safavids and many similar institutions named now as Ismaili , Twelver , etc. The period under Muawiya II

12870-458: The governor of Syria after the previous governor died in a plague along with 25,000 other people. To stop the Byzantine harassment from the sea during the Arab–Byzantine wars , in 649 Muawiyah set up a navy, with ships crewed by Monophysite Christians , Egyptian Coptic Christians , and Jacobite Syrian Christians sailors and Muslim troops, which defeated the Byzantine navy at the Battle of

13013-579: The governor of North Africa. Uqba won battles against the Berbers and Byzantines. From there Uqba marched thousands of miles westward towards Tangier , where he reached the Atlantic coast, and then marched eastwards through the Atlas Mountains . With about 300 cavalrymen , he proceeded towards Biskra where he was ambushed by a Berber force under Kaisala. Uqba and all his men died fighting. The Berbers attacked and drove Muslims from north Africa for

13156-409: The great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph, ruled from 661 to 750 CE. Although the Umayyad family came from the city of Mecca , Damascus was the capital. After the death of Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr in 666, Muawiyah I consolidated his power. Muawiyah I moved his capital to Damascus from Medina , which led to profound changes in the empire. In the same way, at a later date, the transfer of

13299-575: The growing Islamic empire, where, to encourage commerce, taxes were applied to wealth rather than trade. The Muslims paid zakat on their wealth for the benefit of the poor. Since the Constitution of Medina , drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad , the Jews and the Christians continued to use their own laws and had their own judges. In 639 CE, ʿUmar appointed Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan as

13442-631: The historical, social, political, economic, and religious context of Late Antiquity in the Middle East . The second half of the 6th century CE saw political disorder in the pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula , and communication routes were no longer secure. Religious divisions played an important role in the crisis. Judaism became the dominant religion of the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen after about 380 CE, while Christianity took root in

13585-407: The history of early Islam, the descriptive approach is more popular. For scholars who look at the beginnings of Islam in depth, the source critical and tradition critical methods are more often followed. After the 8th century CE, the quality of sources improves. Those sources which treated earlier times with a large temporal and cultural gap now begin to give accounts which are more contemporaneous,

13728-509: The institution known as the House of Wisdom employed Christian and Persian scholars to both translate works into Arabic and to develop new knowledge. The capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad , due to the importance placed by the Abbasids upon eastern affairs in Persia and Transoxania . At this time the caliphate showed signs of fracture amid the rise of regional dynasties. Although

13871-474: The language of the middle and upper classes. By the end of the century, even the Christian population was so widely Arabized that their clergy were required to translate religious texts into Arabic. The early population of al-Andalus at the outset of Umayyad rule had several main constituents: Arabs , Berbers , indigenous converts to Islam, indigenous Christians, and Jews. The Andalusis of Arab origin were

14014-524: The last king of the Visigoths, was killed, leaving an open path into Hispania. The Umayyads established the Iberian Peninsula as a province ( wilāya ) of their empire. The rulers of this province established their capital in Córdoba and received the administrative titles wāli or emīr . In 756, Abd al-Rahman I , a prince of the deposed Umayyad royal family , refused to recognize the authority of

14157-723: The last two centuries continue to reverberate to the present day, as well as fuel conflict-zones in regions such as Palestine , Kashmir , Xinjiang , Chechnya , Central Africa , Bosnia , and Myanmar. The oil boom stabilized the Arab States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (comprising Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates ), making them the world's largest oil producers and exporters, which focus on capitalism , free trade , and tourism . The study of

14300-722: The legitmacy of the Abbasids' religious authority. Abd al-Rahman III took the title of caliph in 929, challenging the Fatimids in their claim to religious authority. Internally, the Spanish Umayyads considered themselves as closer to Muhammad and more legitimate than the Abbasids, even though the Caliphate of Córdoba's legitimacy was not accepted outside of al-Andalus and its North African affiliates. Fatimid invasions were thwarted when Abd al-Rahman III secured Melilla in 927, Ceuta in 931, and Tangier in 951. In 948,

14443-412: The marches along the Christian border, where power depended on the competence of the individual emir. For example, the power of emir Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi ( c.  900 ) did not extend beyond Córdoba itself. Raids increased the emirate's size such as one to Corsica in 806. In 818, the inhabitants of the al-Rabad suburb of Córdoba rose against  [ es ] Al-Hakam I . After

14586-571: The message of the Quran from the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism. Armed conflict with the Arab Meccans and Jewish tribes of the Yathrib area soon broke out. After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to secure control of Mecca and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE. In the time remaining until his death in 632 CE, tribal chiefs across

14729-527: The mother and regent of Hisham II. Almanzor isolated Hisham in Córdoba, eradicated opposition, and allowed Berbers from Africa to migrate to al-Andalus to increase his base of support. While Hisham II was caliph, he was merely a figurehead. In 996, Almanzor sent an invasion force to Morocco. After three months of struggle, his forces retreated to Tangier . Almanzor then sent out a powerful reinforcement under his son Abd al-Malik, whose armies clashed near Tangier. The Umayyads entered Fes on 13 October 998 once

14872-599: The north of the peninsula were even smaller. The main weapon of the peninsular campaigns, which required speed and surprise, was the light cavalry. To try to counteract them, the Castilians created the role of "villain knights" by ennobling those free men who were willing to keep a horse to increase the mounted units through the Fuero de Castrojeriz of 974. For similar reasons, the Barcelonan count Borrell II created

15015-403: The official reports that his foreign ministries wrote about the annual campaigns. The title of caliph became symbolic, without power or influence. Almanzor's temporal power increased the importance of the military, both as a symbol of the power of Almanzor and an instrument to guarantee the payment of taxes. The chamberlain's court also rivaled that of the caliph. Almanzor's reforms also divided

15158-409: The old pagan vocabulary of Arabic throughout the peninsula. The Ḥanīf ("renunciates"), a group of monotheists that sought to separate themselves both from the foreign Abrahamic religions and the traditional Arab polytheism , were looking for a new religious worldview to replace the pre-Islamic Arabian religions, focusing on "the all-encompassing father god Allah whom they freely equated with

15301-680: The peninsula. At that time al-Andalus was known as Dar Jihad , or "country of jihad". It attracted many zealous volunteers, who made up a small but important portion of the total army. Almanzor's personal guard was made up of Christian mercenaries who also participated in his campaigns in Christian territories. Contemporary figures on the size of the army are contradictory. Some accounts claim that their armies numbered two hundred thousand horsemen and six hundred thousand foot soldiers, while others talk about twelve thousand horsemen, three thousand mounted Berbers and two thousand sūdān , African light infantry. Christian chroniclers record that "ordinarily

15444-399: The poor and needy. As Muhammad's message began to attract followers (the ṣaḥāba ) he also met with increasing hostility and persecution from Meccan elites . In 622 CE Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (now known as Medina ), where he began to unify the tribes of Arabia under Islam, returning to Mecca to take control in 630 and order the destruction of all pagan idols. By

15587-567: The poor, ʿUmar established the Bayt al-mal , a welfare institution for the Muslim and Non-Muslim poor, needy, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. The Bayt al-mal ran for hundreds of years under the Rāshidūn Caliphate in the 7th century CE and continued through the Umayyad period and well into the Abbasid era . ʿUmar also introduced child benefit for the children and pensions for

15730-518: The population into two unequal groups: a large mass of civilian taxpayers and a small professional military caste, generally from outside the peninsula and not particularally loyal to the polity. Following Almanzor's death in 1002, the institutions he created stagnated under internal divisions from military and political factions competing for power. The power of the chamberlain was retained by Almanzor's sons, Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar , who died in 1008, and Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo . While Abd al-Rahman

15873-478: The quality of genre of available historical accounts improves, and new documentary sources—such as official documents, correspondence and poetry—appear. For the time prior to the beginning of Islam—in the 6th century CE—sources are superior as well, if still of mixed quality. In particular, the sources covering the Sasanian realm of influence in the 6th century CE are poor, while the sources for Byzantine areas at

16016-480: The realm's independence from Baghdad, the emirate's rulers used the title " emir " or " sultan " until the mid-10th century and recognized the religious authority of the Abbasid Caliphs. For the next century and a half, his descendants continued as emirs of Córdoba, with nominal control over the rest of al-Andalus and sometimes parts of western Maghreb . Real control was always in question, particularly over

16159-649: The region. The northern limit of Muslim settlement generally extended along a frontier that ran to the north of the Tagus River in the west, around the Cordillera Central in the center, and before the foothills of the Pyrenees in the east. The region along the western frontier, known as the Lower March and including the modern-day province of Extremadura , was largely rural with the exception of

16302-517: The reign of Abd ar-Rahman II in the 9th century, though during the reign of his son, Muhammad I, the Shafi'i and Zahiri schools were also introduced. Malikism eventually became another core characteristic of Andalusi identity and its spread contributed to the Islamization of the country. As elsewhere in the historic Islamic world, Jews and Christians were considered by Muslims to be People of

16445-531: The revival of Sunnism when Shi'ism increased its influence. The Seljuk military leader Alp Arslan (1063 – 1072) financially supported sciences and literature and established the Nezamiyeh university in Baghdad. Expansion continued, sometimes by force, sometimes by peaceful proselytising . The first stage in the conquest of India began just before the year 1000. By some 200 (from 1193 to 1209) years later,

16588-551: The revolt's suppression, the inhabitants were expelled. Some settled in Fez or Alexandria, while others ended forming the Emirate of Crete in the 820s. Emir Abd al-Rahman I had used Berbers and the saqaliba for a permanent army of 40,000 to end the conflicts that had plagued the emirate. In the time of Emir Al-Hakam I , a palatine guard of 3,000 riders and 2,000 infantry was created made up of Slavic slaves. Under Emir Muhammad I ,

16731-592: The rural highlands were generally the domain of Berber tribes. To the northeast, the Upper March, centered around Zaragoza and the Ebro River valley, contained more cities and a more diverse population, including Arabs, Berbers, and Muwallad s. Among the latter were powerful families who dominated the area's politics throughout the Islamic period. The hills and mountains to the north were generally still inhabited by Christians. In matters of Islamic religion,

16874-475: The soldiers were subject to tribute and ceased to operate under a system of border colonization. The nucleus of the new army was formed by Maghrebi Berber forces. Arabs, Berbers, and Slavs within the army were played off against one another by Almanzor to maintain his power. The massive incorporation of North African horsemen relegated the infantry to sieges and fortress garrisons. This reform led to entire tribes, particularly Berber riders, being moved to

17017-494: The subsequent Islamic empires were known as " caliphates ", and a series of four caliphs governed the early Islamic empire: Abū Bakr (632–634), ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (Umar І, 634–644), ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (644–656), and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (656–661). These leaders are known as the rāshidūn ("rightly-guided") caliphs in Sunnī Islam . They oversaw the initial phase of the early Muslim conquests , advancing through Persia ,

17160-524: The succession of al-Walid's son Yazid, rather than Sulayman. Al-Hajjaj had predeceased al-Walid, so he posed no threat. Qutaibah renounced allegiance to Sulayman, though his troops rejected his appeal to revolt. They killed him and sent his head to Sulayman. Sulayman did not move to Damascus on becoming Caliph, remaining in Ramla . Sulayman sent Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik to attack the Byzantine capital ( siege of Constantinople ). The intervention of Bulgaria on

17303-428: The tenth century. Hispano-Romans who converted to Islam, numbering six or seven millions, comprised the majority of the population and also occupied the lowest rungs on the social ladder." While the indigenous Jews, Christians, and Muwallad s were largely organized into family-based social structures, the Arabs and Berbers were organized into a more complex mix of family and tribe loyalties. "Arab" identity in general

17446-635: The time Muhammad died c.  11 AH (632 CE), almost all the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam, but disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community during the Rashidun Caliphate . The early Muslim conquests were responsible for the spread of Islam . By the 8th century CE, the Umayyad Caliphate extended from Iberian Al-Andalus in

17589-778: The time are of a respectable quality, and complemented by Syriac Christian sources for Syria and Iraq. Until the early 1970s, Non-Muslim scholars of Islamic studies—while not accepting accounts of divine intervention—did accept its origin story in most of its details. On the dates said, historians called Revisionist school of Islamic studies began to use relevant archaeology , epigraphy , numismatics and contemporary non-Arabic literature to crosscheck writings from 150 to 250 years after Muhammad. The school included scholars such as John Wansbrough and his students Andrew Rippin , Norman Calder , G. R. Hawting , Patricia Crone and Michael Cook , as well as Günter Lüling , Yehuda D. Nevo and Christoph Luxenberg . These studies yielded

17732-879: The traditional centers of the Muslim world, stretching from Persia to Egypt, but saw the emergence of the Timurid Renaissance and major economic powers such as the Mali Empire in West Africa and the Bengal Sultanate in South Asia . Following the deportation and enslavement of the Muslim Moors from the Emirate of Sicily and elsewhere in southern Italy , the Islamic Iberia was gradually conquered by Christian forces during

17875-429: The train, 26,000 infantry, two hundred scouts or 'police', and one hundred and thirty drummers. The garrison of Córdoba was recorded at 10,500 horsemen, while other forces kept the northern border in dispersed detachments. Other modern studies found the army was between 50,000 and 90,000 under Almanzor. Scholars have argued Almanzor's armies could muster 600,000 laborers and 200,000 horses "drawn from all provinces of

18018-470: The tribe of Muhammad, might serve as one. Shīʿītes, on the other hand, believed the title of caliph should be hereditary in the bloodline of Muhammad , and thus all the caliphs, with the exceptions of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and his firstborn son Ḥasan , were actually illegitimate usurpers . However, the Sunnī sect emerged as triumphant in most regions of the Muslim world , with

18161-488: The two major aspects of Andalusi identity and eventually characterized most of the population. The population of the capital city, Córdoba, most likely surpassed 100,000 in the 10th century, making it the largest city in Europe alongside Constantinople . Tertius Chandler estimated that circa 1000 CE, Córdoba held around 450,000 people. Around the same year, the caliphate occupied four hundred thousand square kilometers and

18304-844: The west to the Indus River in the east. Polities such as those ruled by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates (in the Middle East and later in Spain and Southern Italy ), the Fatimids , Seljuks , Ayyubids , and Mamluks were among the most influential powers in the world. Highly Persianized empires built by the Samanids , Ghaznavids , and Ghurids significantly contributed to technological and administrative developments. The Islamic Golden Age gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable polymaths , astronomers , mathematicians , physicians , and philosophers during

18447-419: Was a significant source of revenue for the city. Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the Ḥanīf . Like the Ḥanīf , Muhammad practiced Taḥannuth , spending time in seclusion at mount Hira and "turning away from paganism." When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine revelations delivered through

18590-410: Was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the Constitution of Medina , Muhammad began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance. The surahs of this period emphasized his place among the long line of Biblical prophets , but also differentiated

18733-463: Was almost entirely devoted to trying to keep the Umayyad empire together. His death signalled the end of Umayyad rule in the East, and was followed by the massacre of Umayyads by the Abbasids. Almost the entire Umayyad dynasty was killed, except for the talented prince Abd al-Rahman who escaped to the Iberian Peninsula and founded a dynasty there. The Abbasid dynasty rose to power in 750, consolidating

18876-485: Was assassinated in 644 CE, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān , second cousin and twice son-in-law of Muhammad, became the third caliph. As the Arabic language is written without vowels, speakers of different Arabic dialects and other languages recited the Quran with phonetic variations that could alter the meaning of the text. When ʿUthmān became aware of this, he ordered a standard copy of the Quran to be prepared. Begun during his reign,

19019-404: Was budgeted into three parts: the payment of the salaries and maintenance of the army, the preservation of public buildings, and the needs of the caliph. Abd al-Rahman III was succeeded by his 46-year-old son, Al-Hakam II , in 961. Al-Hakam II continued his father's policy toward Christian kings and North African rebels. Al-Hakam's relied on his advisers more than his father because the caliphate

19162-457: Was home to Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Zoroastrians, in addition to the growing Muslim population. Like his father, Al-Hadi was open to his people and allowed citizens to address him in the palace at Baghdad. He was considered an "enlightened ruler", and continued the policies of his Abbasid predecessors. His short rule was plagued by military conflicts and internal intrigue. The military conflicts subsided as Harun al-Rashid ruled. His reign

19305-402: Was largely tied to the assertion of Arab ancestry. This lineage was perceived as inherited through the father, meaning that children of Arab men and non-Arab women were still considered Arabs, although the lineage of the mother, if she came from another noble or elite background, could still be seen as prestigious. Beyond the heartland of Cordoba, the makeup of the population varied depending on

19448-474: Was leading a raid on the Christian north, a revolt tore through Córdoba and deposed him, and he was killed when he tried to restore himself to power. The death of Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo in 1009 marked the beginning of the Fitna of al-Andalus , with rivals claiming to be the new caliph, violence sweeping the caliphate, and intermittent invasions by the Hammudid dynasty . Córdoban forces were also joined in

19591-404: Was less prosperous, and there was less money to go around. This style of rulership suited Al-Hakam II since he was more interested in his scholarly and intellectual pursuits than ruling the caliphate. The caliphate reached an intellectual and scholarly peak under Al-Hakam II. Another Fatimid invasion of Morocco occurred in 958, led by the general, Jawhar , and Al-Hassan II had to recognise

19734-588: Was marked by civil wars ( Second Fitna ). This would ease in the reign of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan , a well-educated and capable ruler. Despite the many political problems that impeded his rule, all important records were translated into Arabic. In his reign, a currency for the Muslim world was minted. This led to war with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II ( Battle of Sebastopolis ) in 692 in Asia Minor . The Byzantines were decisively defeated by

19877-440: Was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. He established the library Bayt al-Hikma ("House of Wisdom"), and the arts and music flourished during his reign. The Barmakid family played a decisive advisorial role in establishing the Caliphate, but declined during Rashid's rule. Al-Amin received the Caliphate from his father Harun Al-Rashid, but failed to respect the arrangements made for his brothers, leading to

20020-417: Was met with increasing persecution from Meccan notables . In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib , Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called Medina ) where he was joined by his followers. Later generations would count this event, known as the hijra , as the start of the Islamic era. In Yathrib, where he

20163-716: Was often distributed among several dynasties. For example, during the later stages of the Abbasid Caliphate , even the capital city of Baghdad was effectively ruled by other dynasties such as the Buyyids and the Seljuks , while the Ottoman Turks commonly delegated executive authority over outlying provinces to local potentates , such as the Deys of Algiers , the Beys of Tunis , and the Mamluks of Iraq . Early Islam arose within

20306-475: Was overthrown by the Umayyad Caliphate . The Umayyads had previously conducted small raids on the southern tip of Iberia against the Visigoths, but full-scale conquest did not begin until April of 711. An army led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed into Southern Hispania from North Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar . After the crossing, Tariq's troops defeated Visigothic forces at the Battle of Guadalete . Roderic ,

20449-439: Was populated by around three million people. The Iberian Christian states comprised 160,000 square kilometers and 500,000 people. By comparison, at the time of the Muslim invasion, Iberia had an estimated four million inhabitants. Other historians estimate higher at around seven or eight million. Colmeiro estimated in a pre-industrial society, for every million inhabitants, ten thousand soldiers could be mustered. Even assuming

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