 When the prophet Muhammad died in 632 A.D., his followers chose Abū Bakr as his successor.  Abū Bakr was Muhammad’s closest friend.  He was given the title of “caliph”, meaning “successor to the Prophet.”  During his rule, Abū Bakr helped to bring the Arabic tribes together.  He also began to expand Islam’s influence northward.

 In 634 A.D. Umar succeeded Abū Bakr as caliph.  Umar was a strong leader with a well-run government.  Muslim expansion continued under Umar.  He continued to conquer neighboring territories of non-Muslims.  Most conquered people were forced to convert to Islam, or pay heavy taxes.  However, Christians and Jews were not forced to convert because Muslims considered them “people of the book” – people who lived by God’s teachings.

 The caliphs after Umar expanded Muslim influence as other empires, like the Byzantines, became weak.  Within 100 years of Muhammad’s death, Muslims had conquered part of India, much of North Africa, and many islands in the Mediterranean Sea.  Control of these areas helped give them control of important trade routes.  In 711 A.D., the Muslims invaded Spain – bringing Islam to Europe.

 The Islamic system of government allowed the caliphs to exercise great power & authority.  However, people had a hard time agreeing about who should be caliph.  Eventually these disagreements split the Muslim community.  The split began when Umar’s successor was killed.  A man named Alī became caliph, but was assassinated during a war between the two sides of the argument over who should be caliph.

 The two groups that formed as a result of this disagreement were the Sunni and Shi’ah.  The Sunni were followers of Sunna, or “the way of the prophet”.  They believed that agreement among the Muslim people should settle religious matters.  The Shi’ah were a group of people who believed that only descendants of Alī should be caliphs.  They believed that descendants of Alī, called imams, should settle religious matters.  The two groups are still a major part of the Muslim world today.

 Despite the split between the Sunni and Shi’ah, the empire continued to spread.  In 711A.D. a Muslim group from North Africa led a Muslim army to Spain.  Their general, Tāriq helped the Muslims conquer Spain very quickly.  The Muslims that remained in Spain after it was conquered were called Moors.  Within a few years, the Moors had raided central France, but were quickly defeated.  The Moors did continue to rule parts of Spain for over 700 years.

 The era of great Muslim expansion lasted until the 1100’s.  After that, the Turks became the ruling force in Islam.  The empire continued to expand under the Turks.  Turkish-speaking people from central Asia began to move west and south.  During this movement, they came into contact with Arab and Persian Muslims of the Middle East.  By the 900’s, large numbers of Turks had converted to Islam.

 Many of these people settled around the Muslim city of Baghdad.  They served the caliph as troops in the army.  The Turks supported Islamic law, but their growing power caused a shift away from the caliph.  Eventually, a sultan came to rule the Turks.  At this point the caliph still played an important symbolic role.  By the mid-1000’s the Turks had total control of Baghdad.

 During the 1000’s, Turkish Muslims seized Syria, Mesopotamia, and much of Asia Minor.  In 1071 the Turkish Muslims raided northern India, and won control of most of the area.

 During the Crusades of the 1200’s, the expansion of Islam was slowed.  Christians were sent to reclaim the Holy Land of Jerusalem, which had been controlled by Muslims.  The Crusaders took control of the land for a short period of time, but were overthrown by the Ottomans.  This Islamic empire would not experience another period of expansion like the one prior to the Crusades.