-
The small Muslim community that had grown around Muhammad headed to Medina. The move from Mecca to Medina is known as the hijra.
-
Abu Bark is the fahter in law of the prophet Muhammad. Abu Bark was with Muhammad in the Hijra.
-
Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and instructed Muhammad to recite in the name of your lord. What Gabriel told Muhammad became the basis of the Qur'an.
-
Ali is the closest survining blood of Muhammad. Therefore, the Shi'a believed that only he could be the next prophet of Islam.
-
Muhammad death was unexpected. He left Islam with no assigned successor.
-
Sunnis and Shi'as are Muslims, but they practice Islam differently. The Sunnis and Shi'as both agree on the Fundamentals.
-
After the assassination of Ali, Umayyads came to power and chose Mu'awiya as the fifth caliph. Mu'awiya's father changed traditional Muslims governance by indentifying his son, Yazid, as his succesor. Therefore, the Umayyads were the first dynasty to rule an Islamic empire.
-
In the East, Umayyad Dominance was challenged by rising Muslim faction, the Abbasids. The Abbasids brought down the Umayyads in the 750 and sought to kill as many Umayyad family members as possible to avoid its later resurgence.
-
The Abbasids seized power over Muslims lands. The Abbasids moved the capital to Baghdad in 762. Also, Abbasid expansion to the east brought them in conflit with the Chinese.
-
Abbasids moved the capital of Islam to Baghdad. Though the leaders were Arab, administrators and cultural influence were primarily Persians
-
Seljug Turkmen took control of Baghdad. Their leader, Tugrul Bey, forced the Abbasids caliph to name him sultan.
-
When Christians started to have challenges the pope call the first crusades. Europeans maintained a presence in the region until the Crusades ended in 1204 and in spite of the conflit, trade flourished between east and west. It was partly through these exchanges that the learnings of Muslim scholars in the Middle East was shared with Europe.
-
The House of Wisdom was a library and university in Baghdad. It held great works of the classical world. The books were translated into Arabic.