History of Islam facts for kids
Muslim history began in Arabia when Muhammad recited the Quran in the 7th century. The historical development of Islam has affected political, economic, and military trends both inside and outside the Islamic world.
As with Christianity, the concept of an Islamic world is useful when one looks at different periods of human history.
Early Muslim history
After Muhammad died, the Muslim leadership was assumed by Abu Bakr. He was followed by Umar, Uthman ibn Affan and then Ali. These four are called the Rashidun caliphs which means The Righteous Caliphs. The word caliph means religious and spiritual leader. Under these caliphs Islam became one of the most important religions of the middle East. Administrative offices of the Muslim nation were established. Under Umar more than two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire was conquered by the Muslims. Umar also started the Muslim calendar.
Islamic civil wars
The First Fitna
The first civil war in Islam, also known as the First Fitna broke out in Islam during the rule of the fourth caliph Ali and lasted throughout his caliphate. The third caliph Uthman ibn Affan had been murdered by rebel Muslim groups who had political motives. After Ali took over, the most important problem he faced was that of punishing those responsible for murder. However many people felt that before accepting the position of the caliph, Ali should have focused his attention on finding and punishing the murderers. A group of people led by Muhammad's wife Aisha, her brothers in law Talhah and Zubair ibn al-Awam refused to recognize Ali's caliphate. They instead raised an army which met Ali's army at Basra in Iraq, originally for the purposes of negotiations. In the night, some fighting broke out, probably out of confusion or due to rebel groups who were involved in the infamous murder. This led to the Battle of Bassorah (also known as Battle of the Camel) in which Ali's party emerged victorious. Aisha was escorted back to Medina honorably after the battle by Ali.
This battle however did not entirely finish the tension in the Muslim empire. Ali was soon challenged by Muawiyah, the governor of the Muslim provinces of Syria. He too raised the issue of punishing Uthman's murderers and refused to acknowledge Ali as caliph until the issue had been solved. Muawiyah was a kinsman of Uthman and his army pledged to bring to justice the murderers and those who sheltered them. This reference to people who are sheltering the murderers was towards Ali and his followers. Accordingly, the two groups met and fought a battle, called the Battle of Siffin. This battle ended in a draw and so both groups decided on arbitration which also did not lead to any concrete decision. Another group of Muslims, The Kharijites who had previously been with Ali, meanwhile rejected him because they felt that he was not following true Islam and conducting business over the caliphate as if it were his own property.
In the following years Ali's governors could not prevent his losing provinces to Muawiyah who increased his strength by further expanding his army. Ali had shifted the capital of the caliphate from Medina to Kufa in 656. He was killed by a Kharijite assassin in Kufa in 661.
Images for kids
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Page from the Sanaa manuscript. The "subtexts" revealed using UV light are very different from today's standard edition of the Quran. The German scholar of Quranic palaeography Gerd R. Puin affirms that these textual variants indicate an evolving text. A similar view has been expressed by the British historian of Near Eastern studies Lawrence Conrad regarding the early biographies of Muhammad; according to him, Islamic views on the birth date of Muhammad until the 8 century CE had a diversity of 85 years span.
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Arabia united under Muhammad (7th century CE)
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Close-up of one leave showing chapter division and verse-end markings written in Hijazi script from the Birmingham Quran manuscript, dated between c. 568 and 645, held by the University of Birmingham.
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Empire of the Rāshidūn Caliphate at its peak under the third rāshidūn caliph ʿUthmān (654 CE) Strongholds of the Rāshidūn Caliphate
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The rāshidūn caliphs used symbols of the Sassanid Empire (crescent-star, fire temple, depictions of the last Sasanian emperor Khosrow II) by adding the Arabic expression bismillāh on their coins, instead of designing new ones.
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Coin of the Rāshidūn Caliphate (632–675 CE). Pseudo-Byzantine type with depictions of the Byzantine emperor Constans II holding the cross-tipped staff and globus cruciger.
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Territories of the Umayyad Caliphate
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Abbasid caliphate in the 850s
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An Arabic manuscript written under the second half of the Abbasid Era.
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Regional powers born out of the fragmentation of the Abbasid caliphate
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Gold dinar of Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842) the founder of Samarra, patron of art and science
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Minaret at the Great Mosque of Samarra.
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Dirham of Al-Muttaqi
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Fatimid Caliphate in 1000
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Goharshad Mosque built by the Timurid Empire
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Tamerlane chess, invented by Amir Timur. The pieces approximate the appearance of the chess pieces in 14th century Persia.
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Map of the Mamluk Sultanate (in red) and the Mongol Ilkhanate (in blue) (1250–1382)
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The exterior of the Mezquita.
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The Great Mosque of Kairouan also known as the Mosque of Uqba was established in 670 by the Arab general and conqueror Uqba ibn Nafi, it is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb, situated in the city of Kairouan, Tunisia.
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Ruins of Zeila (Saylac), Somalia.
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The Great Mosque of Kilwa
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Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret, commenced by Qutb-ud-din Aybak of the Slave dynasty; 1st dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
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Grand Mosque of Demak, the first Muslim state in Java
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The Huaisheng Mosque of China, built by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas.
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Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman miniature, 1579–1580, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, Istanbul.
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The Ottoman Empire and sphere of influence at its greatest extent (1683)
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The Süleymaniye Mosque (Süleymaniye Camii) in Istanbul was built on the order of sultan Suleiman the Magnificent by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in 1557.
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The Safavid Empire at its greatest extent under Shah Ismail I (1501-1524)
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Shah Suleiman I and his courtiers, Isfahan, 1670. Painter is Ali Qoli Jabbador, and is kept at The St. Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies in Russia, ever since it was acquired by Tsar Nicholas II. Note the two Georgian figures with their names at the top left.
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Mughal India at its greatest extent, at the sharia apogee of Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir.
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Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
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Ottoman army in World War I
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See also
In Spanish: Historia del islam para niños
