The+Islamic+Empire+(622+C.E.-1258+C.E.)

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 The Islamic Empire (622 C.E.-1258 C.E.) By: Harry  The Islamic Empire started in 622 C.E. with the founder of Islam, Muhammad. After the death of Muhammad three other caliphs (groups) took control of the empire.

** //Muhammad (622 C.E.-632 C.E.) // **
The official beginning of the empire started when Muhammad led his family, and followers to Yathrib. In Yathrib, Muhammad made public speeches that touched the hearts of the people who heard him. Because of his outstanding speeches the people of Yathrib thought Muhammad was a great political leader. Here in Yathrib, Muhammad started a band of over 10,000 followers. Here Muhammad renamed the city of Yathrib to Medina.

After the renaming, Muhammad led his followers to Mecca. There they surrounded Mecca entirely, and Mecca surrendered. After the capture of Mecca, Muhammad moved on as a military leader. During his reign he captured the present day countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and small parts of Iraq, and Jordan, under the control of Islam. Muhammad then died in 632 C.E.

**//The 'Rightly Guided' Caliphs (632 C.E.-661 C.E.) //**
The death of Muhammad occurred in 632 C.E. Muhammad had not named someone to take his place. Eventually a very close friend of Muhammad called Abu-Bakr stepped up and took control. This started the rule of The Rightly Guided Caliphs. People in the empire were worried how life would go on without Muhammad. But Abu-Bakr had a strong fist when it came to leading the empire. He stood for what Muhammad said, and followed the Qur'an as the basic blocks of rules for the empire. Some Muslim spots on the Arabian peninsula broke up, because of Muhammad's death. The empire was going into turmoil. But then one thing saved Abu-Bakr: jihad. The concept means"striving" "and can refer to the inner struggle against evil. It is also used in the Qur'an as an armed struggle against unbelievers." Abu-Bakrs only encouraged the use of the first definition. In 634 C.E. Abu-Bakr died. Just two years after the death of Muhammad. After Abu-Bakr died, the next ruler was Umar, another good friend of Muhammad. When Umar came into power, he started military conquests to expand the empire. During his reign he captured the present day country of Syria, and lower parts of the present day country of Egypt. After Umar died the last two Rightly Guided caliphs, Uthman and Ali, who were also good friends of Muhammad, continued to expand the empire. The Rightly Guided Caliphs had expanded land from present day Tripoli, Libya to present day Pakistan. The Rightly Guided Caliphate ended in 661 C.E.

**The Umayyads (661 C.E.-750 C.E.) **
Once Ali died the Rightly Guided Caliphs reign came to an end. A new family and caliph then came to power. They were called the Umayyads. The Umayyads were filthy rich, and offered lots of luxuries to their people. The Umayyads also expanded the empires land by a lot as well. The Umayyads continued to expand at a rapid rate. The Umayyads were eventually stopped in modern day France. They were known as the Frankish Empire. In 732 C.E. The Umayyads marched to Tours destroying anything in their path. Although at Tours the Franks stopped them. this was known as the battle of Tours. The Franks defeated the Umayyads, sending them back to Spain. Later, in the reign of the Umayyads, they changed the capital from Mecca to Damascus. In Damascus, The Umayyads had created a huge some of wealth that Muslims tended to not do. The Muslim community generally disliked the Umayyads. Some of the reasons were: The Umayyads chose wealth over a simple life. Muslims disliked this. And The Umayyads had bad leader skills. The Muslim community decided to reject the luxurious Umayyads, and rebel. In 750 C.E. a family known as the Abbasids overtook the empire and killed the entire Umayyad family. All except one. This man named, Abd al-Rahman escaped the slaughter, and fled to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). There he and his followers who followed him set up their own Umayyad caliphate.

**The Abbasids (750 C.E.- 1258 C.E.) **
In 750 C.E. the Abbasid family took over the empire, starting a new caliphate. Twelve years after the Abbasids took control they moved the capital from Damascus, to Baghdad, in present day Iraq. This was a good location for the capital. Settled near the Tigris River, and nearby Euphrates River, this location was similar to Rome. Like Rome, Baghdad is settled on the Tigris River, and Rome is settled on the Tiber River. Like Rome this could be used for trade, connecting to other empires, and used for military purposes, in case an attack was coming up the river. The city was also located on important trade routes. The empire now even had economic teams. Business people were sent all over the continent to promote business. The empire found out how to get more business by taxing importing, exporting, and property taxes. Another economic stronghold, was the Abbasids set up banks throughout the empire, where citizens could cash in their money. The Abbasids were also big on trading. The Abbasids primarily traded through the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Through this they traded all around the world from Europe to Africa to Asia. As impressive as the Abbasids were they had problems with maintaining control over the gargantuan empire. Different areas of the empire broke off and became independent. And during this time another caliphate spar and up called the Fatimid caliphate. ===  **The Fatimids (909 C.E.- 1171 C.E.) **  === In 909 C.E. the Fatimid caliphate was formed by the Islam group Shi'a. The empire started in the region of Northern Africa and spread to the Northern Middle East. The rulers had to be decedents of Muhammad's daughter. Her name was Fatima. The Fatimids spun off from the Abbasid caliphate still ruling over parts around the Fatimid caliphate. In 1171 C.E. the state was officially dead politically, and religiously.