every event you need to know about islam
Below is every important event that occurred between 570 A.D. and 1258 A.D. in the ancient Islamic Empire. Enjoy.
THe life of Muhammad
- Before the birth of Muhammad in 570, the Arabian Peninsula was largely unimportant when it came to world history. The major civilizations before the seventh century (Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel) though near Arabia didn’t touch it.
- Before Muhammad, the primary religion in Arabia was a form of pagan idolatry, and the now sacred Muslim Ka’ba in Mecca was a holy site full of idols to all the gods.
- However in the seventh century, everything changed. In 610, Muhammad experienced a vision on Mount Hira outside of Mecca from the angel Gabriel, telling him to spread the word of God. And so he tried to convert the capitalist idolaters of Mecca to Islam, teaching them that worship of Allah was paramount to devotion of all other things, including their current religion and their families. You can guess how that went over. Under threat of persecution, Muhammad fled Mecca in 622 for the more open-minded Yagrib (now Medina or the city of the Prophet). This year is considered the first of year of the Muslim calendar.
- Muhammad was extremely successful in Yagrib, making it completely Muslim and becoming its social, political and religious leader. In Medina, he had a change of heart as to how to deal with the infidels that went against his religion. He called it jihad, or holy war. Through jihad, he led 10,000 Muslim soldiers to Mecca and took it (630), ordering all the idols of the Ka’ba to be destroyed, except the black stone of the Ka’ba which was decided by Muhammad to be now devoted to Allah. Mercy was also shown to all Meccan citizens who converted to Islam.
- After a very important life, Muhammad died in 632 and was buried at the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.
Post-Mortem
- Muhammad’s successors were the Khalifs.
- Muhammad didn’t leave clear instructions as to how to select his heir, so influential Muslim disciples selected Abu Bakr (632), a close friend to Muhammad and an early convert.
- To further unite the Muslim people and acquire more fertile land, Abu Bakr ordered attacks against the Byzantine and Persian empires but died in 634 just as the new wave of jihad was beginning.
- Umar became the next khalif, conquering Syria and Palestine which were part of the Byzantine Empire. In 637, Umar conquered Persia in an intense 4 day battle where 30 000 Persian soldiers and the Persian king were killed. Umar also conquered Egypt before his eventual assassination.
- After Umar died, there came some socio-political turmoil. The Muslims did not know how the next khalif was to be selected. And thus came the rift in Islam that still exists today. The vast majority of Muslims were Sunni - these Muslims believed that the khalif should be selected by a tribunal of powerful Muslim leaders. The minority were the Shi’a - Muslims that believed the Khalif should be descended from the Prophet and that Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was the rightful Khalif. Sunni and Shi’a also disagreed on interpretations of the Qu’ran and the actions and teachings of Muhammad.
- The next khalif was Uthman, a Sunni, and the next-next one was Ali. Yes, that Ali.
- From 661-750, it was the Umayyads who dominated Islam. They began a century-long dynasty of khalifs, but the Shi’a despised them due to their sheer Sunni-ness.
- From 680-692, a civil war broke out between Sunni and Shi’a because the khalif, Yazid, assassinated Ali’s son Husayn, uniting the Shi’a in anger over a relative of the Prophet being murdered.
- Under the Ummayads, Islam conquered North Africa and Spain, modern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Arab governors were appointed to each province to maintain control but non-Arabs were heavily taxed and the gap between Arab and non-Arab multiplied. However, this backfired on the Umayyad because non-Arab Muslim converts began to resent them, complaining of higher taxes and lower salaries, quoting the Qu’ran which states that all Muslims are equal in the eyes of Allah. And thus the Abbasid Khalifate began.
- The Abbasids were Sunni, but had Shi’a support as well due to their blood ties to Muhammad. Their dynasty began in 750 with Abu al-Abbas.
- Under the Abbasids, Baghdad became the capital of the Islamic world, surpassing even Constantinople as the world’s most prosperous city. They also eliminated discrimination against non-Arab Muslims and spread equality throughout the land. Their reign would last until 1258.
Downfall
- (1000 AD) Like the Romans, it was nearly impossible for the Abbasids to manage such a large empire. Relying too heavily on provincial government was their inevitable downfall. The governors took advantage of their unsupervised power and some began to virtually separate, paying lip service to the Khalif.
- The military became disloyal to the Khalif due to their non-Arab-ness. They mostly came from the Persian province of Khurasan, and when it became autonomous, the military became primarily Turkish slaves.
- These slaves were not loyal to the khalif and did not even speak Arabic. The military quickly seized control of the government and assassinated khalifs as they pleased but kept the khalifate in place due to its spiritual importance. With no real power left, the empire was fragmented to Baghdad and the surrounding area.
- Mongols eventually sacked Baghdad, killing the Khalif and started the new non-Arab led government. (1258)