Muslim history and Spread of Islam
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, is the second most sacred Mosque in Islam.
Muhammad (c. 570 – June 8, 632) was a trader later becoming a religious, political, and military leader He was brave and He was a great man.
However, Muslims do not view Muhammad as the creator of Islam, but instead regard him as the last messenger of Allah, through which the Qur'an was revealed. Muslims view Muhammad as the restorer of the original, un corrupted monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.
In Muslim tradition, Muhammad is viewed as the last in a series of prophets.During the last 22 years of his life, beginning at age 40 in 610 CE, according to the earliest surviving biographies, Muhammad reported revelations that he believed to be from Allah.
The content of these revelations, known as the Qur'an, was memorized and recorded by his companions.
During this time, Muhammad preached to the people of Mecca, imploring them to abandon polytheism and He told to them convert toward Islam.
Although some converted to Islam, Muhammad and his followers were persecuted by the leading Meccan authorities.
After 12 years of preaching, Muhammad and the Muslims performed the Hijra ("emigration") to the city of Medina (formerly known as Yasrib) in 622, after initially trying the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire.
There, with the Medinan converts (Ansar) and the Meccan migrants (Muhajirun), Muhammad established his political and religious authority.
Within years, two battles had been fought against Meccan forces: the Battle of Badar in 624, which was a Muslim victory, and the Battle of Uhad in 625, which ended inconclusively.
Conflict with Medinan Jewish clans who opposed the Muslims led to their exile, enslavement, or death, and the Jewish enclave of Khaybar was subdued.
In 628, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was signed between Mecca and the Muslims and was broken by Mecca two years later.
Meccan trade routes were cut off as Muhammad brought surrounding desert tribes under his control.
By 629 Muhammad was victorious in the nearly bloodless Conquest of Mecca, and by the time of his death in 632 (at the age of 62) he united the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity.
Caliphate and civil war (632–750)
Succession to Muhammad, Muslim conquests, and Battle of Karbala
The Muslim Caliphate, 750 CE
With Muhammad's death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.
Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad's companion and close friend.
Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph.
Abu Bakr's immediate task was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".
The prodigious Mosque of Kairouan,constructed in 670 in Kairouan, Tunisia, represents one of the great architectural examples of Islamic civilization.
His death in 634 resulted in the succession of Umar as the caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib and Hasan ibn Ali.
The first caliphs are known as al-khulafa' ar-rashidun ("Rightly Guided Caliphs"). Under them, the territory under Muslim rule expanded deeply into Persian and Byzantine territories.
When Umar was assassinated in 644, the election of Usman as successor was met with increasing opposition.
In 656, Usman was also killed, and Ali assumed the position of caliph.
After fighting off opposition in the first civil war (the "First Fittna"), Ali was assassinated by Kharijites in 661.
Following this, Muawiyah seized power and began the Umayyad dynasty, with its capital in Damascus.
These disputes over religious and political leadership would give rise to schism in the Muslim community.
The majority accepted the legitimacy of the three rulers prior to Ali, and became known as Sunnis.
A minority disagreed, and believed that Ali was the only rightful successor; they became known as the Shi'a.
After Muawiyah's death in 680, conflict over succession broke out once again in a civil war known as the "2nd Fitna". The Umayyad dynasty conquered the Maghrib, the Iberian Peninsula, Narbonnese Gaul and Sindh.
The local population of Jews and indigenous Christians, persecuted as religious minorities and taxed heavily, often aided Muslims to take over their lands from the Byzantines and Persians, resulting in exceptionally speedy conquests.
The Umayyad aristocracy viewed Islam as a religion for Arabs only; the economy of the Umayyad empire was based on the assumption that a majority of non-Muslims (Dhimmis) would pay taxes to the minority of Muslim Arabs.
A non-Arab who wanted to convert to Islam was supposed to first become a client of an Arab tribe.
Even after conversion, these new Muslims (mawali) did not achieve social and economic equality with the Arabs.
The descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib rallied discontented mawali, poor Arabs, and some Shi'a against the Umayyads and overthrew them with the help of the general Abu Muslim, inaugurating the Abbasid dynasty in
