The rise and spread of Islam (optional reading: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1d.html)

1.      Early Arabs were desert nomads,  never united before 7th century AD

2.      The World in the century preceding the Arab conquests

  1. Germanic kingdoms occupy the Western Mediterranean 
  2. Sassanid Empire (last pre-Islamic dynasty of Persia ) rules most of Iran , Afghanistan
  3. Byzantine Empire rules much of the Eastern Mediterranean; Emperor Justinian (527-565) reconquers much of the Roman Empire, fights with Lombards (German tribe in Italy )
  4. Ecological events of 535-565AD (Bubonic Plague in Mediterranean, 542AD)

3.      Mohammed (570-632AD), revelation by Angel Gabriel in 610 on Mt. Hira; flight in 622 from Mecca to Yathrib (later renamed Medina) an event called the Hijra, or Hejira.

Know: Islam ("submission to God"), Muslim (adherent of Islam), umma(the Muslim community); Koran (Qur'an, book containing Muhammad's teachings, consisting of 114 suras, or verses), Sunna (book of Islamic customs, compiled after the death of Muhammad); Sharia, or code of law, which outlines five pillars of Islamic faith: 1) "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet"; 2) pray 5x daily, facing Mecca;  3) perform charitable acts; 4) fast during month of Ramadan; 5) once in lifetime, make a haj (pilgrimage to Mecca) to visit the Qa'aba (black meteorite, the main Islamic shrine in Mecca).  Sixth pillar sometimes added: jihad, or holy war to defend the Muslim community.

4.      The first Arab conquests:  the Bedouins of Arabia are united

5.      The conquest of Sassanid Persia and Central Asia; 751 Muslims defeat Tang China at Talas.

6.      The conquest of North Africa and Spain ; Frankish king Charles Martel defeats Muslims in 732

7.      Mohammed's immediate successors, the 4caliphs (successors): Abu Bakr (M's father-in-law), Umar, Uthman (neither were directly related to M), and Ali (M's cousin and son-in-law),  632-661

8.      The Umayyad (or Omayyad) Caliphate (661-750) – centered in Damascus, Syria , Umayyad family are not direct descendants of Muhammad, nor from his immediate entourage.

Know: Sunni (followers of the law) vs. Shi'ite (party of Ali, accept only direct descendants of Muhammad as leaders). Today, most of Iran and southern Iraq are Shi'ite, the rest of Muslim world is Sunni;  rise of the "hashishim", or suicide martyrdom movement.

9.      The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258) founded by Abbu l-Abbas – capital moved to Baghdad in 762, Arabs are no longer the majority of the world Islamic umma; non-Muslims not directly persecuted, but must pay a special tax. Abbasids dominate all of Islamic world except Spain (where Umayyads continue to rule the Caliphate of Cordoba); after 940, gradual influx of steppe nomads (Turks) diminishes Abbasid power; Baghdad destroyed by Mongols in 1258.

10.  Jizyah (tax on Christians and Jews living under Muslim rule); enslavement of pagans

11.  Mohammed's legacy:  (partial) unification of a vast area by language (Arabic) and religion (Islam): 

Southwest Asia and North Africa  +   Central Asia     and eventually parts of Europe