History of the Middle East The Spread of Islam after Muhammad

Muhammad and Islam After moving to Mecca, Muhammad and his followers moved to take back Mecca By the year 630 CE, Mecca was under the control of Muhammad. By his death in 632 CE, Islam had spread through most of the Arabian Peninsula

The Spread of Islam After Muhammad’s death, one of Islam’s earliest converts and Muhammad’s closest friends ABU BAKR was chosen to lead. Was called the caliph, or successor Built an army to keep lands under Muslim control After Bakr’s death, a man named Uthman of the Umayyad family became the caliph Under the Umayyads the Caliphate, or empire, stretched from Spain, France and north Africa to India and the borders of China

A Split in the Empire Some disagreed with the caliphate Some believed that Muhammad’s cousin, ALI, should be the caliph In 644 CE, Uthman the Umayyad was killed by Ali’s rebels and Ali became the caliph Intense fighting occurred and Ali was killed

Sunni and Shia Those who followed the Umayyad Caliphate were called SUNNI Their leaders are called CALIPHS Those who followed the bloodline of Muhammad and Ali were called SHIA Their leaders are called IMAMS

The Sunni Caliphate Political struggle hurt the Umayyad Dynasty As the caliphate expanded, Arab Muslims asserted their power Wars over succession (especially between Sunni and Shia) made many faithful Muslims doubt the leadership Jews and Christians (called believers) were treated well by the caliphate, but forced to pay heavy taxes The Muslims respected the Bible and the Torah, but saw the Koran as the “final word” of God

End of the Umayyads Dissatisfaction led to rebellion In the 700 CE’s, the Abbasid family, who were SHIA, took over the caliphate The Abbasids changed the way the Islamic Empire was ruled

The Abbasid Dynasty The Abbasid were Persian and ruled the caliphate differently than the Arab Umayyads They invited all ethnicities to participate in government and religion They spread Islam through trade rather than war The Abbasids also expanded Muslim culture – math, science, literature and technology flourished in the caliphate The Abbasids had paper, gunpowder and many mathematical and scientific ideas before Europe discovered them

Why the Crescent and Star? The symbol pre-dates Islam and was used by many pre-Islamic cultures in the Middle East The symbol has become associated with Islam because the caliphates used them on flags and many Islamic countries today use them in their flags

Review: Islamic Empires 622 CE -632 CE – Muhammad spreads Islam through the Arabian Peninsula 633 CE – 661 CE – Abu Bakr and his successor spread Islam to near North Africa and Persia 644 CE – a new caliph, Uthman of the Umayyads, takes over - Ali, a descendent of Muhammad, and his followers kill Uthman and take over - Umayyads regain control after killing Ali 662 CE – 740 CE – Umayyad Dynasty spreads Islam through North Africa, Spain and India 740 CE – ~950 CE – Abbasid Dynasty expands Muslim Empire through trade, Golden Age of Islamic scholarship and art

The End of Unity Small states start to break away from Abbasid caliphate Caliph becomes a less power figure

Europe In the early 1000’s CE Europeans take Spain back from the Muslims Around this same time, Pope Urban II organizes the first of many crusades to take the Holy Land from the Muslims During the Crusades, Catholic Crusaders murder thousands of Jews in Europe and the Middle East, justifying it with spreading Christianity The Crusades were brutal and Muslims and Christians committed many atrocities against each other

Egypt In 969 CE, the Fatimid Dynasty emerged in Egypt The Fatimids claimed ownership of the caliphate due to their descent from Fatimid, Muhammad’s daughter The Fatimids controlled the Red Sea and Mediterranean, disrupting Abbasid trade and slowly becoming more powerful

Seljuk Turks In 1055 CE the Seljuk Turks, who were Sunni, took control of Baghdad The Turks, however, supported the Abbasids and defended them from the Fatimid armies They went on to defeat the Christian Byzantine Empire in 1071 CE The Turks would later create their own Empire in Anatolia (Turkey today)

Mamluks and Mongols In 1200 CE, the Mamluks (former slaves) take over Egypt and Syria in the Western caliphate In 1250 CE, Mongols from Asia invade the Caliphate, take Baghdad, and kill the Abbasid Caliph This represents the end of the Caliphate