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Muhammad is born in the Quraysh tribe in teh city of Mecca
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In the cave at Mount Hira, Muhammad begins to have visions of the angel Gabriel and recieves messages from God (Allah). Muhammad begins spreading these messages and challenging the old ideas. These messages will from the basis of the religion of Islam.
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After being threatened by the city leaders, Muahmmad nad his followers leave Mecca and go to Medina (the name means "the Prophet's city"). this journey is known as the hegira and it marks the frist year in the Islamic Calendar. Muhammad became both a political and spiritual leader. Other Arab tribes began to accept Islam.
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After several years of fighting, the city of Mecca surrenders, welcomes Muhammad back, and accepts Isalm as their religion. The tribal idols in the Kaaba are destroyed so that it can be redirected to the worship of Allah.
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Muhammad dies. The new leader, Abo Bakr, becomes the first caliph, a title that Muslims use for the highest leader of Islam. (In Arabic the word means successor.) Under his rule, the Muslims conquered many land outside of Arabia.
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Abu Bakr dies. He had made Arabic a unified muslim state. He is followed by Umar who encourages the armies to conquer more land.
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The pact of Umar is written. This treaty is like others made with the non-Muslims, often Jews and Christians, whose land was conquered. It protected them form attacks.
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A combined Arab and Berber army invades Spain and quickly conquer it. For the next 700 years, Muslims, called Moors, ruled parts of Spain.
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At the Battle of Tours in what is now France, the Muslims are stopped from invading the rest of Europe, determining that Europe would be Chrsitian and not Muslim.
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The Abassids came to power. They reorganized the government to make it easier to rule such a large region.
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Baghdad, in present-day iraq, becomes the capital of the Islamic Empire. It was a center for trade, learning and culture.
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Muslim Turkish warriors called the Ottomans conquer Constantinople, defeating the Byzantine Empire. Their leader, Mehmed II, made Constantinople his capital and renamed it Istanbul, the name it is known as today. Rulers of the Ottoman Empire were called sultans.
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The Safadid Emipre begins wehn they conquered Persia. their leader took the title of Shah, or king, and made Shi'a Islam the official religion. Their capital was in Esfahan, in present day Iran. Most Muslims in Iran today are Shi'a Muslims.
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The Mugnal Empire is established by its founder, Babur, in northern India. A later emperor, Akbar, conquered many land and strengthen the government. He did not discriminate against those who followed other religions. Later emperors did not follow his policy. Violent revolts occured and weakened the Empire which soo fell apart.
