Introduction - This page provides an overview of the history ofand the, which is a great part of the history of the Middle East. The subject covers more than twelvecenturies, about a dozen empires and a vast territory, stretching from Spain in the west to the islands of Indonesia inthe Pacific Ocean. It is impossible to provide a comprehensive treatment of the history of Islam in a brief space.However, I have attempted to present here, and in related pages that are linked or planned, a concise (relatively)treatment of the essential facts that everyone should know about Islam, the Arabs and the Middle East. Islam arose inthe Arabian peninsula, and its history and rites are connected with it. This history is meant to be read in conjunctionwith the complementary article about theThe Rise of Islam -, a prophet astute in statecraft andmilitary strategy ‎and an inspired statesman, changed the history and destiny of Arabia and of much of ‎the world. Hewas born about 570 to the Banu Hashim family, reputable merchants in ‎the tribe of Quraysh in.

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According totradition, he was a penniless orphan who ‎married Khadija, the widow of a rich merchant, somewhat older than himself. He‎probably engaged in trade, and is said by some to have had responsibilities in ‎connection with the Ka'aba stone. Whenhe was about forty years old he began ‎preaching a new religion, eventually meeting the opposition of Meccan oligarchy.‎Initially, Muhammad made few converts and many enemies. His first converts were ‎Khadija,(who became the husband of Fatima), and.The Hijra - From about 620, ‎Mecca became actively hostile,since much of its revenues depended on its pagan ‎shrine, the Kaaba, under the protection of the Quraysh, and an attackon the existing ‎Arab religion was an attack on the prosperity of Mecca.‎ Following the death of Khadija in 621, Muhammadmarried eleven other women.

‎Tradition relates that he and his followers were invited to the town of Yathrib by ‎Jewishand Christian tribes after they were no longer welcome in Mecca. In 622, the ‎first year of the Muslim calendar, theyset out on the, the emigration to Yathrib, ‎later renamed, meaning 'the city' where Muhammad concluded atreaty with ‎the tribes of Medina. A large number of Medinans, known as the(helpers), ‎were attracted toMuhammad's cause. According to several sources, early versions of ‎Islamic practice included Jewish practices such as thefast of Yom Kippur and prayer ‎to Jerusalem, perhaps influenced by the Jews of Medina. These were eventually ‎dropped,and the direction of prayer was turned to Mecca. ‎Battle of Badr - In 624 Muhammad learned of a war party of theQuraysh, who were setting out to ‎Medina to avenge the apparently accidental death of one Hadrami, a relative of the‎leader of the Quraysh. Muhammad and his army, aided by theauxiliaries, rode ‎out to meet them at Badr.

Thisbattle, related in the Quran, is often called the first ‎battle of Islam, but in fact there had been several skirmishesbefore Badr. Despite the ‎numerical superiority of the Qurayshites, the Battle of Badr was apparently a clear ‎victoryfor Muhammad. The Quraysh lost about 70 warriors and leaders and 70 ‎captured (these 'round' numbers may be historicalconventions) out of a fighting ‎force of about a thousand.

‎Battle of Uhud -The Qurayshites prepared better for the battleof Uhud, fought in the following year. ‎They gathered a force of some 3,000 men, including a strong cavalry contingentled ‎by Khalid Ibn Walid, later a famous general of Islam. The battle was fought in the vally ‎of Aqiq, north of Yathrib(Medina) in the shadow of Mount Uhud. Though the Muslims ‎had the initial advantage, they fell to looting the camp ofthe Meccans and ‎abandoned a good archery position in the high ground. This allowed Khalid ibn Walid ‎to save the dayfor the Qurayshites and inflict heavy losses on the Muslims. Tradition ‎relates that the Muslims lost 70 men in thisbattle.

Uhud is often called the second ‎battle of Islam, because it is the second battle referred to in the Quran, orperhaps ‎because it was the second Ghazwa. A Ghazwa is a large scale raid that was led by Muhammad in person.

‎Battle of The Trench - Muhammad believed firmly in his positionas last of the prophets and as successor of ‎Jesus. Therefore, he seems at first to have expected that the Jews andChristians ‎would welcome him and accept his revelations, but he was soon disappointed. ‎Medina had a large Jewishpopulation that controlled most of the wealth of the city, ‎and a portion of them at least refused to give their newruler any kind of religious ‎allegiance.

Muhammad, after a long quarrel, appropriated much of their property, and‎destroyed two Jewish tribes, the Banu Nadir and the Banu Quraizah. Muhammad ‎fought the Banu Nadir and expelled themfrom Meccah. According to tradition, in 627, ‎remnants of the Banu Nadir instigated the formation of a large alliance (Ahzab)of ‎tribes including the Quraysh, the Banu Quraiza and others and mounted an attack on ‎Medina with a force of about20,000. Muhammad and his followers constructed a ‎trench around Medina as a part of its fortification, purposely makingone section ‎narrower than the rest, so that the Meccan attackers would try to cross the trench at ‎that point. Thisformed a convenient trap which resulted in the death of many ‎Meccans. Unable to cross the trench, the Meccans besiegedMedina.

Medina was ‎saved by a miracle reminiscent of the destruction of Senacharib before Jerusalem. ‎After 27 days ofsiege, according to tradition, God sent a piercing blast of the cold ‎east wind.

The enemy’s tents were torn up, theirfires were put out, the sand and rain ‎beat in their faces. Terrified by the portents, they broke camp and lifted thesiege. ‎Treaty of Hudaybieh - In 628, Muhammad and his followers set outon a pilgrimage to Mecca, and met the ‎Quraysh tribe at Hudaybiyeh, where the Quraysh had assembled to block the‎pilgrimage. Instead of fighting, the enemies concluded a treaty and the Muslims ‎agreed not to make the pilgrimage thatyear. Instead, they turned on the Jews of the ‎town of Khaybar, who were now no longer protected by the Quraysh, andattacked ‎and subjugated the city.Conquest of Mecca - By 630, Muhammad and the Muslims werestrong enough to ‎attack and conquer Mecca, despite the treaty, alleging that the Quraysh had violated ‎the treatyfirst. The Meccans were forced to convert to Islam, and the powerful ‎Quraish and Umayya tribes were incorporated intothe Islamic leadership by giving ‎members of their leaders, especially Uthman, prominent positions in the military and‎government. By this time pagan Arabia had been converted, and the Prophet's ‎missionaries, or legates, were active inthe Eastern Empire, in Persia, and in ‎Ethiopia.‎The new religion evolved into a way of life and recipe for communityorganization, ‎providing a religious and ideological framework for uniting the Arab tribes, and a ‎social andorganizational framework for regulating the unified action of the nomads.

‎The separate tribes had been re-formed into aMuslim-Arab Umma (community). The ‎Qur'an is, among other things, a handbook for rules of war, prescribing the laws of‎treaties and of booty and commanding the faithful to Jihad, (holy war) against any ‎who interfere with the practice ofIslam. In practice, Jihad was often carried out as ‎aggressive war well beyond the borders of Islam. Muhammad hadcreated powerful force that could now wrest control of much of the subcontinent.

In 632, Muhammad died after a shortillness. Though he had been an astute statesman, he failed to make any arrangements for his succession. His successorswere chosen one after the other from among the family and supporters of Muhammad.Abu Bakr, father-law of Muhammad, was his first successor. He was givencommand of the faithful as Khalifa (, deputy) ofMuhammad. Several tribes living at some distance from Mecca refused toaccept his rule, and a war of secession, the Ridda, was fought by Abu Bakr and his able general Khalid ibn alWalid to subjugate these tribes. Muslim successes in these wars and real or perceived threats from the neighboringPersian and Byzantine empires initiated a series of wars of conquest outside the Arabian peninsula.

Abu Bakr died in634, and was replaced by, who completed the initial expansion of Islam. The Byzantine and Persian empires hadbeen greatly weakened by their struggles with each other and internal decay. The Arabs had perfected a form of warfaresuitable for the desert, and for those times and conditions. The swordsmen mounted on camels, and living by raids andforaging were self-sufficient and didn't concern themselves with supply lines. They could come out of the desert thatbordered Persian and Byzantine domains and strike at will. If they failed in battle, they could quickly retreat into thedesert, where it was difficult for enemies mounted on horseback to follow.

The failing Byzantine and Persian empirescould not organize field armies large enough to decisively defeat the Arabs, nor could they provide the manpower forproper stationary defensive fortifications. The Arabs quickly conquered Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt and Persia. TheCaliph Umar conquered Jerusalem in 640, and guaranteed the safety of the Christian holy places.The Caliphate is moved from Arabia - On the death of Umar(Omar) in 644, was chosen as Caliph. Uthman was murdered by mutinous soldiers in 656, provoking a civil war overthe succession, and laying the foundation for an eventual split.

In place of Uthman. Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, whohad married his daughter Fatima, became Caliph.

Ali moved the capital from Media to Kufa, in what is now Iraq. TheArabian peninsula, which had spawned Islam, remained an important religious center and the site of the holy pilgrimageto Mecca, but it was politically eclipsed and did not play an important part in the subsequent expansion of Islam. Alifought a civil war against supporters of the party of Uthman and others. He defeated the widow of Muhammad and hersupporters at Basra, in modern Iraq, in the battle of the Camel. Mu'awiya, who ruled the province of Syria fromDamascus, claimed that he was the legitimate successor to the Caliphate, and challenged Ali indecisively in the battleof Sittin in 657.

The Kharjites (meaning 'those who left') protested against the compromise outcome of the battle andformed a separate movement as adherents of Ali. They continued to be important until aboutthe eleventh century and eventually evolved into Ibadi Islam. Ibadism is neithernor, and exists todaymainly in Oman, East Africa, the Mzab valley in Algeria, the Nafus mountains of Libya, and Jerba island inTunisia. Ali was murdered in 661 and the Caliphate moved to Damascus under Mu'awiya, who founded thedynasty.In the course of history, Islam diverged into numerous schools andsects with different approaches and philosophies ranging from fierce and puritanical schools such as the Wahhabi ofSaudi Arabia to tolerant and spiritualistic Sufi practitioners. Four different Sufi schools (Tasawwuf) arose indifferent parts of the Islamic world: The Naqshbandiah, the Qadriah, the Chishtiah, and Suharwardiah.Sunni (meaning 'orthodox')Sunni Islamincludes four systems of law (.

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One of these, the school of Malik ibn Anas (died in 796), which is observed today in muchof Africa and Indonesia, originated with the scholars of Medina. The three other Sunni law schools (Hanafi, Shafii, andHanbali) developed at about the same time, mostly based on Iraqi scholarship.The Rise of Shi'ism. Despite civil discord, Mu'awiyacontinued the rapid expansion of Islam throughout central and Eastern Asia, including Afghanistan. Mu'awiya alsolaunched the first Muslim expeditions against Byzantine Constantinople, though he was unsuccessful.

In 680,Mu'awiya died and was succeeded by Yazid. Yazid was challenged by Hussayn, the son of Ali, in the same year, andHussayn and his followers were massacred in the battle of Karbala in Iraq.

This event formed the impetus for the growthof the dissident Shi'ite movement, which had begun with the death of Ali in opposition to the Umayyads. The ranks of theShi'ites were swelled by various discontented groups, notably by newly converted non-Arab Muslims, the Mawali,who demanded equal rights with Arabs.

The Shi'a supported successors of Ali and family members of the Prophet as theonly legitimate Caliphs. They spawned several related political and religious movements including the Isma'ili sect, theCarmathians and the Fatimid movement and dynasty. A central belief of the Shi'ites relates to the coming of a specialleader, the Mahdi, the Muslim equivalent of the Jewish and Christian Messiah. The majority of Shi'ites recognizea line of twelve leaders, or Imams beginning with Ali and ending with Muhammad al Muntazar (Muhammad, the awaitedone). These Shia, known as 'Twelvers,' believe that the Twelfth Imam did not die but disappeared in 874,and that he will return as the 'rightly guided leader,' or Mahdi, and usher in a new, more perfect order. Asecond Shia group, the Ismailis, or the 'Seveners,' follow a line of Imams that challenged the Seventh Imam andsupported a younger brother, Ismail.

The major Shi'a ritual is Ashura, the commemoration of the death of Husayn.Other practices include pilgrimages to shrines of Ali and his relatives. The Alawi of Syria and Lebanon are consideredto be a branch of Ismaili Shi'ism, as is the Druze religion, which originated in Fatimid Egypt. Druze, Ismailisand Alawi share beliefs in emanations of God, in supernatural hierarchies, and in the transmigration of souls.The Umayyads - In 683 Yazid died. A second civil war ensued,ending in Umayyad victory at the battle of Marj Rahit.

The Caliph Marwan ruled for only a year, but arranged for thesuccession of his son Abd-al Malik. Abd-al Malik consolidated Arab gains and put down revolts by Kharjites and otherswith a heavy hand. His deputy Al-Hajjaj ibn Yussef was send to Iraq against its governor, the brother of Ibn al-Zubayrwho was in rebellion, and after dealing with him, al-Hajjaj was sent to Mecca with Syrian troops under his command tosubdue the rebellion of Ibn al-Zubayr and his followers. After a seven-month seige, Ibn al-Zubayr was killed and unitywas restored to the Muslim empire.

Al-Hajjaj's cruelty became a byword in Islam. He is said to have told the faithful ata mosque in Baghdad, 'I have seen that some heads have ripened and are ready to be picked, I will be the one to pickthem.' Abd-al Malik was succeeded in 705 by Walid, whose reign representedthe height of Ummayad power. Walid resumed the expansion of the Muslim empire, conquering Sind in India and landing inSpain for the first time in 710.

Walid was succeeded in 715 by Sulayman, who mounted a disastrous expedition againstConstantinople that almost ruined the Arab state. In 717 he died, passing the Caliphate to Umar ibn Abdel Aziz, or UmarII. Umar II, a pious and able ruler, reconstructed and restored the Arabian empire. However, he reigned only 3 years,and was followed by Yazid and Hisham, and Marwan, the last Umayyad ruler in the East. In the West however, the Umayyadsestablished an independent dynast in Spain, where Abd ar Rahman III became Caliph in 912. The last Umayyad Caliph ofSpain was Hisham III, who ruled until 1032The Abbasids and the Climax of Arab power - Disenfranchisedand dissatisfied elements including Shi'ites united under the leadership of Abu Muslim in Persia, and raised a blackflag of rebellion in Khurasan. These forces quickly gathered strength and swept away the resistance of the Arab tribesat the battle of the Great Zab, bringing to power Abu'l Abbas known as al Saffah, founder of thecaliphate.

The rise of the Abbasid caliphate represented a true social revolution. Arabs been displaced byPersians and others. The distinctions of aristocracy disappeared. The distinction between Arab Muslims and convertedMuslims was likewise wiped away and the basis was laid for the eclectic and tolerant Muslim society of the golden age ofIslam.

The Abbasid caliph Al-Mansour built a capital city on an island between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers,in place of a small Persian village. He called his capital Madinat as-Salam - the city of peace, but it came tobe known by most people by its older Persian name, Baghdad.The Golden Age -The apogee of Abbasid power came under the famous caliph Haroun al-Rashid. The Arab/Muslim empire had expanded from theArabian Peninsula to cover all of North Africa, Mesopotamia and central Asia in a very brief period. Under Haroun AlRashid(786-809) and his successors, Baghdad became the culturalcenter of the world, at a time when Europe was lost in the darkness of the early Middle Ages.In particular, during the reign of Al-Ma`mun (819-833), Iraq and theArabian empire catalyzed a remarkable cultural revolution, which included the generation of poetry and literature,compilations of folktales such as the famous tales of the 1001 Arabian nights, and translation of works of science andphilosophy from other languages into Arabic, preserving and propagating the ancient classics. Baghdad was probablythe richest city in the world. The caliph Al-Ma`muncollected texts, employed translators such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, and established an academy in Baghdad, the Bayt al-Hikmah('House of Wisdom'), with a large library and an observatory and research center, and private patrons encouraged scienceand the arts as well.The contrast of thebrilliance of Arab Islamic civilization with the benighted Frankish empire in Europe, ruled by illiterate monarchs suchas Charlemagne, is striking.

Muslim activity had a profound effect, not only on Muslim intellectual life, but also onthe intellectual life of western Europe.

The sweep of Empire (632-750 C.E.)The death of Mohammed shocked many Arabs who had attributed divine qualities to the prophet. In order to ease their doubts, one of Mohammed's chief followers, Abu Bakr, addressed thecrowd gathered in Mecca: 'Whichever of you worships Mohammed, know that Mohammed is dead. But whichever of you worships God, know that God is alive and does not die.' Then hequoted a passage from theQuran: 'Mohammed is a prophet only; there have been prophets before him.

If he dies or is slain, will you turn back?' Their nerves soothed and their faith reassured,the Arabs struck out on a path of conquest almost unparalleled in its scope and speed.The civilizing influences filtering into Arabia from Rome and Persia had two effects combining to give the Arabs the dynamic energy for conquering an empire. For one thing, thoseinfluences made Arabia fertile ground in which Islam could take root. Second, they helped the Arabs to unify and expand outward, especially when inspired by Islam, whose warriors believedthat death in a holy war for the faith led to being transported instantly to Paradise. Add to this very capable leaders armed with the lightning fast tactics of the desert, and Islam'sarmies became the most potent forces of their day.Two other outside factors also made the Arabs' rapid expansion possible.

First, there was the degree of support, or at least non-resistance from the many Aramaic speaking peoples underRoman and Persian rule, since they felt much closer kinship to the Arabs than to their rulers. Also the Muslims were tolerant of Christians and Jews, charging only a special tax instead offorcing them to convert. This contrasted sharply with the harsher Byzantine policies against the Monophysite Christians in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. The second factor wastiming. Both the Byzantine and Persian Empires were worn out from years of prolonged warfare against each other. Likewise, Visigothic Spain was suffering internal decay and was thusready for a fall.The Arabs' first victims were the Byzantines and Persians. At the Yarmuk River in Palestine they were facing a large enemy force when a sandstorm blew up in the Byzantines' faces.Taking this as a sign from God, the Arabs charged and destroyed the Byzantine army.

Syria and Palestine, along with Jerusalem, a city Muslims also revere, fell into the Arabs' hands.The Patriarch of Jerusalem, resplendent in his finest robes, had to meet this rag tag army of desert nomads and personally lead their leader's horse into the city. Nothing could bettersymbolize the contrast between the wealthy civilized subjects and their new masters fresh out of the desert.The Arab advance continued northward into Asia Minor toward Constantinople, a particularly prized goal for Muslims. Despite their desert origins, they rapidly built a navy (with the helpof their newly conquered Greek and Phoenician subjects) with which they twice besieged Constantinople (674 and 717). In each case, the Byzantines' dreadful new weapon, Greek fire, helpedsave the city and empire. The Byzantines held fast, and a fairly stable frontier between Christianity and Islam gradually took shape in Asia Minor.Sweeping westward the Arabs took Egypt with an army of only 4,000 men, following quickly with the conquest of North Africa.

In 711 C.E., a small Muslim force crossed into Spain, wherethe Visigothic kingdom also crumbled before its onslaught. Storming into southern Gaul (France), the Arabs were finally stopped by the Franks at the Battle of Tours (733). Eventuallya stable frontier formed in northern Spain between the Muslim and Christian worlds.The Arabs also advanced eastward into Persia, which, also exhausted by prolonged war with the Byzantines, collapsed like a house of cards in 651.

However, Persian culture would re-emergeas a major influence on Islamic civilization as it developed. (the same year Muslim forces entered Spain), the Arabs entered northwestern India and started to establish theirpower there. They also extended their rule into Central Asia and beat a Chinese army in a battle near the Talas River, which brought the Arabs a new type of product, paper, and helpedestablish Islam as the dominant religion in Central Asia. Thus, by 750 AD, after little more than a century, the Islamic Empire stretched from Spain in the west to north India and thefrontiers of China in the east, the most far-flung empire of its day. Adapting to empireIn the year 640, a messenger brought news to the Caliph Omar in Mecca that his forces had taken Alexandria with its 4000 villas, 4000 baths, and 400 places of entertainment. To celebratethis victory, Omar had the messenger share a meal of bread and dates with him, the simple fare of desert nomads. However, as ill suited to ruling such an empire the Arabs may have seemed,contact with their civilized Persian and Byzantine subjects allowed them to adapt quite quickly.

They had three things to do: decide who was to rule, set up a system of government to rulethe empire, and absorb and adapt the older cultures they ruled to Islam. The rulerThe first problem was who should becaliph, the spiritual and secular successor to Mohammed. The first four caliphs were elected by a tribal council of elders and are referred to as the Orthodox Caliphs, ruling from632 to 661 C.E. However, as the empire grew, this form of government became increasingly inadequate.

In addition, tribal and clan jealousies continued. Of the four OrthodoxCaliphs, only one, Abu Bakr (632-634) died a natural death. Finally, the Umayyad clan took over and established the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750). From now on, the dynastic principle ofone family choosing the caliph would dominate.However, not everyone saw the Umayyads as rightful rulers. Some known asShiites felt that only descendants of Ali, the last Orthodox Caliph and a member of Mohammed's family, should be caliph.

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Those who felt any Arab could be caliph were known asSunnites. The Sunnite-Shiite split is still one of the major factors dividing the Muslim world today.In 750 C.E., a revolt led by Abbas, a governor of Persia, overthrew the Ummayads and established the Abassid Dynasty (750-1258). Abbas was a ruthless man who worked to exterminate theUmayyad clan to a man. He even invited eighty Umayyads to a banquet and had them murdered at the table, then covering the bodies so he could finish his meal in peace. One member ofthe clan did survive, Abd-al-Rahman, who barely escaped Abbasid agents to make his way across the Mediterranean through the use of disguises and trickery. He arrived in Spain and founded anindependent Umayyad dynasty.

This was the first crack in the unity of the Islamic state. It would never be unified again. Ruling the empireFrom the start, the Umayyads saw that they must adapt Byzantine and Persian techniques for ruling their empire. Therefore, they instituted some major changes. They moved thecapital from Mecca to a much more central location, Damascus in Syria. They created the first Muslim coinage.

They also adapted Byzantine and Persian bureaucratic methods as well asthe Persian system of relay riders for faster communication of news from the further parts of the empire.The Abbasids continued Umayyad centralizing policies. Consequently, more and more Persians, Greeks, Jews, and other non-Arabs gained positions of responsibility, since they had thetraining and experience necessary for running the government. This signified more equality and less distinction between the Arab conquerors and their subjects, especially for thosenon-Arabs who converted to Islam.

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Even the Abbasid caliphs had less and less Arab blood in them, since few of them married Arab wives.Nothing better shows these changes in Muslim government than the position and status of the caliph himself, which was modeled after the Persian concept of kingship. Although he stilltried to advertise his religious functions by wearing the tattered robe of Mohammed upon occasion and styling himself as the 'Shadow of God on earth', he was no longer a simple man of thepeople.

Just getting an audience with him involved dealing with a multitude of officials. Upon approaching the throne, one prostrated himself, while the caliph remained out of sight,speaking to people through an elaborate screen that hid him from view. An executioner with drawn sword reminded one of the need to behave according to the strictest rules. Thiscontrasted sharply with the Caliph Omar sharing his bread and dates with a messenger.Exalting the caliph and keeping him hidden from view also isolated him from his people and the problems of his empire. As a result, thevizier, or prime minister, assumed more power and became the power behind the throne for the generally weak or disinterested caliphs.

Later,mamelukes, slave bodyguards, also gained increasing power, virtually holding the caliph as a prisoner in his own palace.Symbolic of the great changes going on in Muslim government and culture was the new capital the Abbasids built: Baghdad. Just as Constantinople was the crown jewel of the Christianworld, so Baghdad became the same sort of gem for Islam. Its site in Mesopotamia was flanked by the Tigris River and various canals, thus making it easy to defend. Its centrallocation also put the government in closer communication with the empire's far-flung provinces.The form of the city shows the growing influence of Persian culture at court. Its layout was round in the Persian style, and had three sets of surrounding walls.

The middle wallwas the tallest, supposedly being 112 feet tall, 164 feet thick at the base, and 46 feet thick on top! Two highways split the city into four quadrants, each with a central market. Thecentral part of the city was dominated by a great mosque and the caliph's palace, which was made of marble with a golden gate and a massive green dome 120 feet in diameter.

On top of thedome was a statue of a lancer. According to legend, this statue would point toward parts of the empire where there was trouble.

Baghdad was supposed to be inhabited mainly by thecaliph, his court, and government officials, but such a capital drew a large population from all over the empire, its population reaching, according to some estimates, as high as one and a halfmillion.At first, all these expenditures stimulated trade with Western Europe, which helped both the Arab and Frankish empires. Unfortunately, continued heavy spending by the caliphs onexpensive palaces, court ritual, adorning such cities such as Baghdad, and patronizing culture and the arts drained the treasury, which in turn wrecked trade with Europe. With trade sodisrupted, Vikings in Russia and the Baltic Sea and Arabs in the Mediterranean turned increasingly to raiding and piracy in the ninth and tenth centuries. This brought the Dark Ages totheir lowest point in Western Europe. The development of Islamic CivilizationThe period of roughly 750-1000 C.E. Is known as a cultural golden age for Islam.

During this period, the vigorous desert tribesman from Arabia assimilated the older cultures of the NearEast and Mediterranean and infused new life into them.The basis for such a golden age was the orderliness and resulting prosperity that Arab rule brought the empire from India to the Atlantic. The Arabs flourished as middlemen in a tradethat involved silks and porcelains from China, gems and spices from India, slaves and gold from Africa, and slaves and furs from Europe.

The stability and range of this trade are seen by acustom of writing letters of credit that would be honored in other cities of the empire. The Arab word for this,sakk, is the origin for our word 'check'. The Italian city-states would adopt these practices to become the premier centers of business in Europe in later centuries.There were three main cultures the Arabs assimilated and fused into what we call Muslim civilization: Indian, Persian, and Greek. From India, the Arabs picked up two conceptsessential to the evolution of mathematics: the place value digit and zero. Both of these were vital to being able to do much more complex calculations than the old system of using lettersrepresent numbers.From the Persians, the Arabs inherited the full scope of Near Eastern cultures that extended back to the early days of Sumer.

Much of Muslim art and literature was heavily influenced byPersia. The classicOne Thousand and One Arabian Nights, with such tales as Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, dates from this period. Poetry also flourished, although it should benoted that the Arabs already had a strong poetic tradition before the conquests. Even such games as Backgammon, Chess, and Polo came to Islamic civilization by way of Persia.The Greeks also contributed substantially to Muslim culture in the fields of philosophy, math, science, and architecture. Mohammed had said nothing wastes the money of the faithful morethan building. However, the Muslims were great builders who owed much of their architectural skill and style to the Greeks. It takes little imagination to see the relationship betweenthe dome of a Moslem mosque and the dome of a Byzantine church such as the Hagia Sophia.Arab rule and civilization had important results by way of providing economic stability and the spread of civilization.

In time, it would pass many of its ideas to India, modern Islamicculture, and even Western Europe where they would be instrumental in the flowering of culture known as the Italian Renaissance.