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THE FOURTH CALIPH
The supporters of Ali took this opportunity to make him caliph, but this caused civil war. The Umayyad leader Muawiya, governor of Syria and cousin to Uthman, challenged Ali’s right to rule. Before Ali could respond, he was murdered by an angry former supporter. At the time of Ali’s death in 661 A.D., North Africa and all of Persia were a part of the empire.
THE FIFTH CALIPH
In 661 A.D. Muawiya moved the capital from Medina in Arabia to Damascus in Syria. Muawiya began the Umayyad dynasty by appointing his son as the next Caliph. Muawiya conquered the Berbers on the north coast of Africa and the Sahara, whom they converted to Islam. With their help, the Muslims crossed the straight of Gibraltar and took Spain and Portugal, driving out the Christian Visigoths between 711 A.D. and 718 A.D.
Muawiya patterned his government after the Byzantine model, a bureaucracy with many different departments managed by appointed workers. He appointed governors and united the empire with a common language, common coinage, a common religion, and architecture. The downfall of the Mayyad empire was due to:
- Converts not paying as much in taxes
- Less new wealth from fewer new conquests
- A reputation for being too worldly
- Rebellion by the Abbasids, whose stronghold was in Persia
Abdulla killed 80 Umayyad leaders (guests) at a dinner, enabling them to gain control of the Islamic Empire in the east in 750 A.D.
THE GOLDEN AGE
Only one Umayyad leader escaped the mass assassination of the 80. Abd al Rahman escaped into Spain and united warring Muslim groups, built support, and established a new Umayyad government by 756 A.D. Bagdad was conquered by the Turks in 1055. The Umayyad ultimately fell to Christian resistance. In 1085 Alfonso VI took Toledo, and in 1236 the Umayyad capital of Cordoba fell to Christian forces. Bagdad fell again, this time to the Mongols in 1258, and in 1492 the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella drove out the Berbers from Granada.
THE GEOGRAPHY
The Arabian Peninsula is one of the driest regions in the world, even though it is almost completely surrounded by water. It is hot, dry, and is filled with lots of deserts. The surrounding bodies of water are the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, and The Gulf of Aqaba. The surrounding bodies of land are Iraq, Iran, Syria, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Turkey. Its interior is sandy, barren desert, and its has sparse, rocky, and sun scorched grassland.
In order for the nomads to survive in their desert environment they lived together in close family groups, and the herding families moved from one oasis to the next seeking pasture for the camels to graze. The women prepared the meals and cared for the children while the men tended the animals and guarded their territory form raiders. Because many vital resources were so scarce, families sometimes raided trade caravans.
ISLAM TODAY
On account of America's political correctness, along with simple ignorance, perhaps most U.S. citizens have a fundamental misunderstanding of the motives and goals of Islam, which is not only a religion, but is also a social ideology, system of government, and geopolitical project.
In the words of Robert Spencer, in addition to being a religion, Islam is a belief system that mandates warfare against unbelievers for the purpose of establishing a world-wide societal model that is absolutely antithetical to Western society.
History proves this to be true. Global Jihad has gone on almost without interruption since the seventh centrury, declining only when the Islamic world becomes too weak to continue perpetrating it. Muslims will not admit this openly, at least not while they are in the minority, but whenever and wherever you see them come to power, you find this becomes a completely different story.
Islam
Civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages: their geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures.
By Shepherd's Life Blend School
TrinityTutors.com
Born into the Quraysh tribe around 570 A.D., Muhammad was orphaned at an early age. He found work in the caravan trade and became a Meccan trader. At the age of 25 (about 595 A.D.) he married a wealthy widow in the trading business. Seeing as he was now a wealthy individual, Muhammad was able to visit Mount Hirra for a period of time each year to think. On one such occasion, at about the age of 40 (610 A.D.) Muhammad had a vision of the angel Gabriel, whom he claims told him to recite something to the effect of “God taught man he didn’t know anything.”
A couple of the major tenants of Islam—which means submission to God—are that believers are all equal in the eyes of Allah, and that the rich should share with the poor. Ten years after his vision, Muhammad had about 100 followers. But some families refused to trade with his followers. Some even plotted to kill him, so in 622, at the age of 52, he and his followers fled to Medina, a city on the verge of civil war.
Muhammad expelled the Jews in Medina who opposed him. Then he fought with Meccan forces for eight years, gathering followers among nomadic tribes and leading Meccans. He eventually built an army of over 10,000 and took over Mecca in 630 A.D. He died two years later, in 632 A.D., at the age of 62, having conquered the central and west coastal regions of Arabia.
THE FIRST CALIPH
When the people panicked, Abu Bakr reminded them that they should worship Allah, not Muhammad. Muhammad’s advisors met to choose a caliph, or “successor” to be an administrator and military leader of the movement. Out of four contenders the assembly of tribal leaders in Medina chose Abu Bakr to succeed Muhammad in 632 A.D. Upon becoming caliph, Abu Bakr did three things:
- United the tribes with the Arabian peninsula.
- Put down revolts by tribes who had renounced Islam.
- Kept the armies busy by urging them to extend the Muslim state.
Abu Bakr died only two years after he became caliph, but before he did, he appointed Umar to be his successor.
THE SECOND CALIPH
In 634 A.D. Umar became the second caliph. Umar was energetic and spirited. He encouraged his armies to conquer even more lands in the name of Allah. Some people who were persecuted by Persian and Byzantine conquers (such as the Christians in Egypt) welcomed Muslim rule and even aided the Muslim takeovers. In 635 A.D. the Muslims attacked and conquered the Byzantine city of Damascus in Syria, marking the beginning of the Islamic Empire. Muawiya, who helped to take the city, became the governor of Damascus in 635 A.D. and continued in that position for the next 25 years. In 637 the Muslims went on to conquer all of Mesopotamia. Persia fell by about 650 A.D. Afghanistan and Pakistan were next. In 644 A.D. Umar named a council to choose the next caliph. They appointed Uthman.
THE THIRD CALIPH
In 644 A.D. Uthman became the third caliph and conquered even more lands. However, Uthman made enemies by appointing members of his own family as regional governors, causing bitter jealousy among other families. Finally, in 656 A.D. an angry mob of about 500 murdered Uthman.
