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This, is a thousand years of Islamic history - focusing on its middle eastern heartland. In
the 6th century, the Arabian Peninsula was the backyard of great empires - the Persian. Sasanian
Empire in the east, and the Christian Byzantine Empire in the west. The Arab inhabitants of the
peninsula were an ethnic and cultural group consisting mainly of nomadic tribes. Most of them
were polytheists - worshiping many deities. This was all about to change.
Around 570 CE, Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca. According to Muslim
tradition, he was chosen by God to serve as the last prophet in a line of prophets - including
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muhammad was to spread monotheism in its true form among the
Arabs. Tradition holds that over many years, the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet in
segments, and was later compiled into the central book of Islam. At first, Muhammad was
persecuted. But after migrating to the city of Medina, an event that marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar - he formed the new religion, consolidated the Muslim community, waged wars
against idolaters, and united the Arab tribes into a Muslim nation. Muhammad died in 632. It
was a time of crisis - who would succeed the religious, social, political and military leader? The
question of rightful leadership will continue to be a central theme in the Islamic world
throughout the ages.
Muhammad's heirs established the title of Caliph - meaning "Successor". During this
period, the first Muslim state emerged - with institutions, taxes and bureaucracy. The Caliphs
conducted military campaigns, and in a rapid, colossal process, expanded the Caliphate from
Iran to North Africa. Muslim tradition considers the Rashidun period as the Glory days of Islam.
However, it was characterized by acute internal tensions, and three of the four Caliphs were
assassinated. In particular, tension mounted around the supporters of Ali ibn Abi
Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. This group, that came to be known as Shias. claimed
that Muhammad had appointed Ali as his successor, and therefore, their opponents, who would
later be called Sunnis, did not recognize this appointment. In time, the political divide will
become the biggest religious rift in Islam.
In 661, the Umayyads, an Arab family that settled in Syria, came to power and ruled for
90 years. The Islamic capital moved from the Arabian Peninsula to Damascus. The new
authority brought with it a new political system: a dynasty, where the position of Caliph is
passed down from father to son. The Muslim defeat to Frankish forces in the battle of Tours
marked the end of Muslim expansion in the west, preventing the Islamization of Western
Europe. But social and political divisions, rebellions and civil wars shook the Umayyad
Caliphate. In the battle of Karbala, the Umayyads murdered Ali's son, delivering a resounding
and formative blow to the Shias. Finally, in the mid-8th century, the various oppositions to the
ruling power organized into a military force that brutally massacred the Umayyad family.
In 750, out of the chaos, the Abbasid dynasty rose to power. caliphs lasted for more than
five hundred years. They moved the capital from Damascus to a new city they built: Baghdad. It
soon became known as the largest and most prosperous city in the world. The Caliphate served
as a fertile ground for poets, writers, physicians, philosophers and astronomers. And so, the
Abbasid period is considered the Golden Age of Islamic civilization. In the west, Iberia was
never ruled by the Abbasids, but by a remnant of the Umayyad dynasty.
The Islamic presence in Spain lasted hundreds of years, slowly being pushed back by
the Christian Reconquista. The Persian language was reborn, and adopted the Arabic script. In
945, the Persian Buyid family took control of Baghdad. Even though the Buyids were Shias -
they chose not to oust the Sunni Abbasid Caliph, but to limit his power, while controlling a
confederation spanning Iraq and western Iran. Their presence lasted for more than a hundred
years. At the same time, the Fatimids gained power. They were an ambitious Arab Shia dynasty
that traced itself back to Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter and wife of Ali. The Fatimid dynasty
spread through North Africa to Egypt, established Cairo as its capital, and from there ruled vast
areas. The Fatimids ruled their “shadow-caliphate” for an impressive 200 years, but failed to
defeat Baghdad. In the 10th and 11th centuries, political and climatic challenges struck the
steppes of Central Asia, stirring the movement of tribes of Turkic peoples. They were nomadic,
economically based on horses and other livestock, The process was threefold: conversion to
Sunni Islam, migration, and political takeover. The most prominent political power of the
region was the Sultanate of Rum - a Seljuk branch.
The most prominent political power of the region was the Sultanate of Rum - a Seljuk
branch. Crusader presence in the Middle East lasted for 200 years. During this period, Muslims
tended to see their new neighbors as representatives of an unadvanced civilization, with a
culture inferior to their own. Saladin fought the Crusaders, defeated them in the Battle of
Hattin in 1187, and freed Jerusalem from Christian hands.
At the same time, a new power grew in the West. Around 1300, a man named Osman
emerged as the leader of a small Turkic-Muslim principality in Anatolia. Osman and his
descendants fought the Byzantine Empire and conquered territories in Anatolia and the
Balkans, creating the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, the last Caliphate in the history of
Islam, survived for 600 years, and fell only in the 20th century, following the First World War.

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