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Muhammad was called by an angel of God, Garbriel, to be a messanger of God. This helped prove that there was only one God.
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Muhammad and his followers had to emigrate to survive. They headed to Medina, another oasis town. In Medina they were promised freedom to practice their new religion.
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People believed Ali, phrophets son-in-law and cousin, should be Caliph. They thought the phrophet had appointed Ali as the sole interpreter of his legacy. In the end, Abu-Bakr became the first caliph.
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After Muhammad deid, the Muslim community spread to cover the Arabian Peninsula. They successfully expanded because of three factors. These factors include: Military technology, weakness of aging empires, and the powerful of conversion.
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Islam divied into two parts, the Sunni and the Shi'a. Islam split because when Muhammad died, the Muslims did not know who the new leader should be. Some people thought Muhammads son-in-law, Ali, should be the new leader and others thought his father-in-law, Abu Bakr, should be the leader.
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Abu-Bakr, Muhammads father-in-law, became the successor after Muhammads death. When Abu-Bakr was first encharge, no one followed him because they had been dependent on Muhamaads persoal command. After a few battles, Abu-Bakr reunited the Muslims and they converted Arab tribes to Islam.
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Through 661-750, the Umayyad dynasty came to power once Ali was killed. The Umayyads chose Mu'awiya as the fifth caliph. Mu'awiya moved his capital to Damascus and began to reform the new empire's administration. He emphasized secularity, he wanted to rule the Islamic empire as a political state than as a religion.
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Abbasids joined with other forces that were against the the Umayyad empire's secular emphasis. The Abassids bought down the Umayyad daynasty and killed every Umayyad family member as they could, but one person survived, Abd al-Rahman.
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The Abbasids seized power over the Muslim lands. They moved the capital to Bagdad in 762 and expanded to the east where they ran into conflick with the Chinese.
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Abd al-Rahman was the only survivor of the Umayyad dynasty after the Abbasids murdered his family. He fleed to Spain and establsihed a capital in the city of Cordoba.
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Abbasids seized power over Muslim lands. They moved the capital to Baghdad. Even though the leaders were Arab, adminitrators and cultural influence were Persian.
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Crusades were trying to get to the middle east. They could not use the Mediterranean Sea so they had to cross by land. Disease was common and they had to cross no matter what the weather was.
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Mongol invasion reached Mesopotamia. The conqureors destroyed the city of Baghdad. This caused the Abbasid dynasty to end.
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In the eighth century, the Abbasids were interested in medical and scientific knowledge. Because they were so interested in this, the house of wisdom was created. The hosue of wisdom is in Baghdad and scientific texts were translated, studied, and saved.
