Spread of Islam_EChoe

Arabia before Muhammad- Mecca

570

The city of Mecca was important to trading. Mecca was also the religious center of Arabia. It had a very diverse population, so there was a wide variety of cultures.

Arabia before Muhammad- Early Arabs

570

The majority of the first Arabs were nomadic Arabs and practiced many gods. The Bedouins were a nomadic tribe that lived on the Arabian Peninsula. The Early Arabs also had no strong central government. The early Arabs practiced animistic polytheism, which shows that they worshipped multiple gods.

Arabia before Muhammad- Quraysh

570

The Quraysh were a very powerful and local tribe of Arabs. They told tribes to put their idols in the Kaaba; the religious shrine for a price. The Quraysh were like "security guards" for the religious idols that were located in the Kaaba.

Muhammad's Call to Prophethood-Early Life

580

Muhammad was born into the Quraysh tribe. His father died before he was born, and mother died when he was six years old. He was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib.

Muhammad's Call to Prophethood- Family

580

As a young adult, Muhammad got a job working for a rich widow named Khadija. He later married her and had 7 children. Only one child named Fatima lived.

Life of Muhammad-Marriage

595

Muhammad was married to the wealthy Khudija. They had 7 children together. Their marriage was considered a happy one.

Life of Muhammad- Suspecting Something is wrong

610

When Muhammad was around 40 years old, he observed that the people of Mecca lived with a lot of war and cruelness. Muhammad wanted the way they lived to change, so that they could have peace instead of war. The wealthy people that lived in Mecca didn't share their money with the poor.

Life of Muhammad- His Visions and Teachings

610

Muhammad retreated to the mountains where he spent multiple days there to pray and fast. This action would later create the Islamic holiday; Ramadan. After he spent seventeen days in the mountains, Muhammad had a vision. In his vision, the angel Gabriel visited him in the cave and told him how to solve the problems that his city had.

Life of Muhammad- Facing Discrimination

617

After Muhammad got his vision from the angel Gabriel, he spread his message throughout Mecca and gained followers. The Quraysh and other merchants/ people started boycotting them They disliked the idea of Muslims and so they ruled that no one could give food to them. Because of this, Muslims started to starve, and led to them eventually leaving Mecca.

Life of Muhammad- First Islamic Community

621

A group of tribes from Yathrib visited Mecca because they heard about Muhammad's teachings. He taught them his wisdom and the tribes listened to his message, ultimately deciding to convert to Islam. This led to the creation of the first Islamic community.

Life of Muhammad- Leaving Mecca

622

Muhammad knew that he and the other Muslims were still in danger by staying in Mecca. He decided to move them to Yathrib, leaving the Quraysh shocked. No one had ever split off to create an independent tribe relating to religious allegiances. Their settlement in Yathrib became the city of Medina.

Life of Muhammad- Medina

622

Medina was set up after Muhammad and his followers left Mecca to begin their new lives as Muslims. Medina was located in Yathrib and was the city where his home became the first mosque. Muhammad set many rules and regulations to settle in Medina, including laws and precedents. An example of a law created was that all of his followers could practice and worship freely, without the control of councils or governments.

Constitution of Medina

622

The Constitution of Medina was established by Muhammad in 662. The Constitution of Medina established the first Islamic state and how Muhammad assigned Jews and Christians certain responsibilities. He let them practice their religion for a special tax. It was later exacted for Christians and Jews in the conquered territories.

Life of Muhammad- His death and its impact

632

When Muhammad died in 632, most of the region that reigned under his leadership was united. They were also united under the faith of Islam. Even after his death, Islam continued to spread to surrounding countries. Thanks to Muhammad's visions and his inspiration to start a new religion, the religion of Islam has spread all around the world.

Arabia after Muhammad's death

632

After Muhammad's death, some of the converted tribes fell away and reverted back to different religions. Some tribes found new gods to worship because no one was clear on who would be the leader of the Muslims.

Caliph Abu Bakr

633

Abu Bakr was an original follower and father in-law of Muhammad. Shortly after his death, a council of Muhammad's advisors decided that he should be the next caliph of Islam. The Riddah Wars were a series of battles between Muslims and Arabs after Muhammad. Some Arab leaders refused to follow Abu because they were committed to Muhammad, not Islam. He started the war against the Arabs to regain their trust and won the war, reuniting the Muslims in the region.

Caliph Abu Bakr

634

In the year 634CE, Abu Bakr declared war on the Byzantine Empire because they had invaded them. Previously, during the Riddah Wars in 632, Abu took the rebellious Arabian tribes under his control and united them under the religion of Islam.

Caliph Umar

644

Caliph Umar was the successor of Abu Bakr, who died in 634. Caliph Umar invaded and conquered Jerusalem, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Palestine and Mesopotamia. He was the 2nd of the 4 Righteous Caliphs, and was previously a military leader. Umar established
the basic policies and rules for the Islamic Empire. He also conquered land to take their religion and forced them to pay special taxes and fees.

Caliph Uthman

652

The third of "The Four Righteous Caliphs" was Caliph Uthman, who was Umar's successor. He expanded the territory of the Islamic Empire to Iran, the Caucuses, and North Africa. He also standardized the Qu'ran, so that all Muslims were reading the sane version of the book, instead of varying copies. This helped make the Islamic empire stronger by uniting them under the Qu'ran.

Caliph Ali

656

Ali was the the rightful successor of Muhammad, but he was known to be a controversial leader or caliph of the Islamic Empire. The reason why he was controversial was because he was passed over three times for the role of the next caliph. The First Fitnah was the first civil war that was caused by Ali's leadership. The civil war was ordered because people believed that he could be associated with Uthman's death. The First Fitnah ended in 661 when Ali was assassinated.

Umayyad Dynasty

661

The Umayyad Dynasty began in 661, and they helped expand the Islamic Empire to double the size it was. This was known as the 100- year Arab expansion. They took over parts of Central Asia, North Africa, Spain. The Umayyad Dynasty fell when rebel fighters attacked the Islamic Empire in 750. This led to the replacement of the Umayyad Dynasty by the Abbasid Dynasty.

The Abbasid Dynasty

750

The Abbasid Dynasty replaced the Umayyad dynasty in the year 750 CE. They conquered countries, and expanded their territory to southern Europe, around the Mediterranean and North Africa along with Baghdad. The Abbasid Dynasty decided to make their capital the city of Baghdad.

The Crusades

1095

The Crusades were a series of expeditions by Christian armies against Muslims. They began from 1095 to 1291 and were a total of nine Crusades, but the first four were the most pivotal and important expeditions.Major fighting regions were on Jerusalem, Palestine,Syria, Egypt, Spain, and Anatolia. As a result of the Crusades, Edessa, Antioch, Galilee and Tripoli were created. And, holy places associated with Islam and Christianity were established.