Spread of Islam
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Well of Badr 624
After his flight from Mecca to Medina in 622, Muhammad began to raid Meccan caravan routes. In 624, he learnt of a particularly large and... -
The Middle East at the Dawn of Islam 628
In the early 7th century, Muhammad’s steady unification of the warring tribes of Arabia appeared to be an insignificant sideshow in...
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Muhammad’s Missions and Campaigns to 632
After twelve years of persecution of his Muslim believers and the ostracism of his Hashemite clan, Muhammad led his followers on the Hijra,... -
Muslim conquests in North Africa and Europe 634–752
During the Rashidun caliphate (632–661), control of the Arabian Peninsula and crushing defeat of the Sasanid Empire was achieved within a... -
Battle of Yarmuk 636
In the build-up to the Battle of Yarmuk, Islamic armies had inflicted decisive defeats on the Sassanids before commencing the conquest of... -
The Rashidun Caliphate at the death of Uthman 656
The Rashidun (‘Rightly Guided’) were five close companions of the prophet Muhammad who were, successively, caliphs during the expansion... -
The Umayyad Caliphate by 750
The first of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad was the Rashidun (632–61), which was characterized by a... -
Islam: Expansion to 750
The trajectory of the military expansion of Islam is not dissimilar to the Mongol conquests of Timur or Genghis Khan. The initial phase was... -
Expansion of Islam 750–1700
The ‘Big Bang’ of the Umayyad Caliphate carried Islam by conquest from Spain to India in the century after Muhammad’s death. These... -
Abbasid Empire c. 850
The Abbasids swept aside the Umayyad dynasty in a series of revolts in the middle of the 8th century, culminating in the decisive victory at... -
Fatimid Empire and other Islamic states c. 1000
By the millennium, the Islamic world was prey to an array of centrifugal forces. At its core, the Abbasid caliphate had been reduced to a... -
Spread of Islam in Africa c. 1000
Islam swept the Mediterranean margins of Africa in the 7th century at the point of a sword. Southward permeation was more gradual: invasions... -
Islamic Spain c. 1030
The Islamic Caliphate of Córdoba disintegrated into a number of regional principalities in 1031 after shifting balances of power and a... -
Pilgrim Routes of Arabia c. 1200
The Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, was one of the Prophet Muhammad’s five pillars of Islam, to be performed at least once in the... -
Pre-Muslim India 1200
Jaichand, the last king of the Ghadavala dynasty, like King Harold, fell to an arrow through the eye at the battle of Chandwar (1193) near... -
Expansion of Islam in Southeast Asia 1500–1800
The first Muslim merchants are recorded in Sumatra in the 7th century. The catalyst for wider dissemination came with the establishment of...
