The Rise of Islamic Civilization

Fall of Byzantine Empire

1453 BCE

The eastern half of the Roman empire known as the Byzantine empire continued under rulers like Heraclius till their defeat by the Ottoman Sultan , Mehmet 2 , in 1453 . Sultan Mehmet 2 made Constantinople the capital of the Ottoman Empire , renaming it Istanbul .

Destruction of Baghdad by Halagu Khan

1258 BCE

The Abbasid dynasty cam to an end in 1258 with the attack by the Mongols , under their warlord , Hulagu khan . He sacked and destroyed Baghdad completly , killing thousands of it's inhabitants . The greatest loss apart from human lives , were the libraries which contained knowledge collected and produced by Muslims over the past five centuries .

Mamluk Dynasty

1250 BCE

Mamluk , slave soldier, a member of one of the armies of slaves established during the Abbasid era that later won political control of several Muslim states. Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Mamluk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria. The name is derived from an Arabic word for slave. The use of Mamluks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of Islamic civilization as early as the 9th century CE.

Ayubid Dynasty

1169 BCE

Ayyūbid dynasty, Sunni Muslim dynasty, founded by Saladin, that ruled in the late 12th and early 13th centuries over Egypt and what became upper Iraq, most of Syria, and Yemen. Saladin’s father, Ayyūb , for whom the Ayyūbid dynasty is named, was a member of a family of Kurdish soldiers of fortune who in the 12th century took service under the Seljuq Turkish rulers in Iraq and Syria. Appointed governor of Damascus, and his brother united Syria in preparation for war against the crusaders.

Seljuq Dynasty

1037 BCE

Seljuq is a ruling military family of the Turkic tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded an empire that is a Turkey . Their advance marked the beginning of Turkish power in the Middle East. During the 10th-century migrations of the Turkish peoples from Central Asia and southeast Russia, one group of nomadic tribes, led by a chief named Seljuq, settled in the lower reaches of the Syr River and later converted to the Sunni form of Islam.

Fatimid Dynasty

910 BCE

Fāṭimid Dynasty, political and religious dynasty that dominated an empire in North Africa and subsequently in the Middle East from AD 909 to 1171 and tried unsuccessfully to oust the ʿAbbāsid caliphs as leaders of the Islāmic world. It took its name from Fāṭimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muḥammad, from whom the Fāṭimids claimed descent. The conquest of Egypt was the first series of conquests which extended Fatimid empire .

Establishment of Abbasid Dynasty

750 BCE

The abbasids moved their government to Iraq where they founded the city of Baghdad was famous as the most cultured and civilized city in the world at that time . Their two most prominent rulers were Haroon - al - Rasheed and his Mamoon . Under the Abbasids , from 750 to 1258 , the civilization of Islam bloomed and came to be known as the Golden Age of Islam .

Establishment of Ummayad Dynasty

661 BCE

The Umayyad dynasty was established by Amir Muawiya ( RA ) and it expanded the Muslim territories within a century of it's coming to power . An army led by Tariq Bin Ziyad crossed the strait of Gibraltar and conquered all of Spain right up to the Pyrenees Mountains near the borders of France . Another army under a seventeen - year - old Arab general , Muhammad - bin - Qasim , conquered Sindh up to Multan .

Tenure of Khulafa-e-Rashidin

632 BCE

Islam as a religion took root in the holy cities of Makkah and Madina in the Arabian peninsula . By the time of the demise of the Holy prophet Muhmmad in 632 , all of Arabia had converted to Islam . Hazrat Abu Bakar in his short tenure further consolidated the religion in the Peninsula by defeating false prophets and rebels . The next victory was the defeat of the Byzantine empire and as a result , Syria also came under Muslim rule . Under the rightly guided Kulafa especially Hazrat Umar.

Dark Ages

500 BCE

Europe entered the period known as the middle ages which lasted for nearly a thousand years from the fall of the roman empire to the age of discovery and the renaissance . This period is also known as the dark ages because of the collapse of law and order civilized life and the lack of interest in knowledge .

Fall of Western Roman Empire

476 BCE

The conversion of the Byzantine ruler , Constantine , to Christianity in the eastern part of it's empire . At the same time , with corrupt rulers , weak governments and attacks by barbarian tribes from North and West Europe in the fifth century CE , the Roman empire collapsed in 476 .