The Arabs and the Islam until the 13th Century. II. The Islamic Expansion

Abstract

Soon after the death of Prophet Muhammad, the Muslim State witnessed profound transformations both at the level of the internal structure and in its external status. This evolution can be subdivided into three stages. The first phase, during the reigns of the first four caliphs (632 – 661), was dedicated to the consolidation of the internal basis of the state and to expansion outside the Arabian Peninsula. In a rapid succession, Mesopotamia, Central and Western Iran, Syria and Egypt were conquered. In the second phase of the caliphate’s history (661 – 750), the state was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose power resulted from an efficient master-client system, primarily based on the weave of gentilic relations found in the Arabic tribes and clans, although the administration was dominated by Byzantine and Persian functionaries. The expansion continued towards three main directions – Asia Minor and Constantinople, Northern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula – large parts of these territories being incorporated into the caliphate. In the next chronological subdivision, in which the Abbasids governed (750 – 1250), another profound change took place: the almost completely Arabic empire from the Umayyad period lost its national unity, its political agents being mostly Muslims of diverse ethnic origins. The fall of the caliphate was consecrated after the conquer of Baghdad by the Mongol troops in 1258.