INTRODUCTION For several hundred years the Muslim community and its land formed a state called the Caliphate The Caliphate was created in 632 CE to prevent a leadership leadership crisis brought on by the death of Muhammad the founder of Islam The successor successor chosen was Abu Bakr Muhammad’s father-in-law and closest adviser His title was caliph a term that means both successor successor and deputy The Caliphate lasted until 1258 when the Mongol conquest of Baghdad effectively ended the empire The followers of Islam believed they had a mission to spread their religion They conquered surrounding territories in order to do so In addition to being religious religious leaders therefore the caliphs were also political rulers of an increasingly large empire During its first two centuries the empire grew rapidly to include not only Arabia the birthplace of Islam but also most of Southwest Asia North Africa and Spain The Caliphate expanded through military conquests and treaties Resistance to the Caliphate tended to be only slight and nondestructive and some areas surrendered surrendered without fighting The Caliphate began with and was ruled by Arab Muslims As the empire 4
INTRODUCTION This map depicts the territories held by the Abbasid Caliphate in the ninth century at the height of the empire grew people of many different cultures and religions were absorbed under its rule In fact Arabs came to be in the minority Many people in the conquered territories territories kept their own religion but large numbers converted converted to Islam Jews Christians and people of other tolerated religions were generally allowed to practice their faith but they had to pay a special tax People of other religions were forced to convert to Islam As the Caliphate became increasingly prosperous prosperous Islam Islamic culture and the Arabic language became prestigious The more the Muslim rulers were 5
THE ISLAM IC CALIPHATE successful the more the people within the empire wanted to adopt the customs customs of the ruling class Many people converted to Islam because membership membership in the Muslim community offered the best chance for social advancement Arabic was used as the language of Islam and the government government as well as of literature scholarship and other high culture Arabic was also widely adopted as a lin gua franca a second common language that allowed different peoples throughout the empire to communicate communicate with one another This example of naskhi script a calligraphic style developed in the tenth century for writing in Arabic is printed in a copy of the Quran found in Baghdad c 1000 During the first 250 years of the Caliphate Islam was thus transformed from the religion of a small Arab ruling class to the dominant faith of a vast empire As a result of this long gradual period of conversion Arab cultures intermingled with the cultures of the conquered peoples to produce a new Muslim civilization civilization The Arabs came to rule over a rich complex of old cultures they introduced new cultural elements and reoriented old ones in creative ways 6
Pilgrims visit the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina Saudi Arabia The mosque holds the tomb of Muhammad 7
