Medina was wrecked by violent feuds between its major clans, prior to the arrival of the Prophet. Two years earlier several clan leaders had met Muhammad (PBUH) and heard about his teachings during their pagan pilgrimage in Mecca. The main clan leaders of Medina invited him later to arbitrate their disputes since he was known to be an impartial religious authority. In return, they swore allegiance to Muhammad, as a prophet, thereby, enhancing the credibility of the growing religion of Islam. Medina’s new converts were later called "Ansars" or Helpers. Muhammad (PBUH) succeeded in changing his role of arbiter of disputes into one of a leader of the new Arab community. This change of status enabled him to turn Medina’s residents into caravans’ raiders, and skilled fighters who, eventually, drove out its successful Jewish population controlling mainly farming and metalworking industry.

The rapid expansion of Islam was achieved through conversion and military conquests in the 7^th and 8^th centuries 

Muhammad (PBUH) the founder and prophet of Islam began preaching his visions in Mecca as early as 610 C.E. Within twenty-five years of preaching and conquest, he had gained with his army of followers, total control of the entire Arabian Peninsula. Islam was becoming, then, the third largest religion after Judaism and Christianity. By 650 C.E, an organized Islamic state was already ruling the Arabic Peninsula, the entire Fertile Crescent including: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. By the early 700th, the fast growth of Islam, dominating a wide area, stretching from the fringes of China to the East, India to the South, Spain and North Africa to the West, made it the most powerful and stable state in the world. The remarkable speed of expansion can be attributed to the fact that it was accompanied with military expeditions. The guaranty of salvation for those who died during the conquests, and fortune for survivors, drew lots of new converts into the religion. The caravan raids of the early years of Islam have turned into full-scaled wars, which subdued great empires and nations to the new religious, military, political, economical, and social, phenomenon.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts, Muslims, finally, fell upon a caravan and captured it in about 624 C.E. They killed one of its guards, shedding the first blood in the name of Islam. The Helpers were troubled because the slaying took place during a pagan sacred month in which bloodshed was forbidden. Two verses in the Qur’an (217, 218:1) relate the incidents following this raid. According to these revelations, driving Muhammad (PBUH) and the companions out of Mecca was worse than the violation of the pagan sacred month (Rajab). The attack of the Mecca caravan sparked a series of clashes between Mecca and Muhammad’s (PBUH) followers.

Three months later, a further victory over the pagans strengthened Muhammad (PBUH) fledgling Muslim group. The Prophet (PBUH) and about 300 Muslims fought a Mecca force three times their size at the oasis of Badr.The battle of Badr had been considered as a mark of nobility; Meccans sought revenge for their 75 humane losses at Badr, in another great battle fought the following year at a hill called Uhud. Some 7000 Meccans and about 3000 Muslims were involved in the battle; Meccans won the initial battle. Muhammad (PBUH) rallied his men, but Meccans satisfied with having exacted their revenge, broke the battle off and left.

In 627 C.E, a force of about 10,000 men, consisting of Meccans and their allied tribes, attacked Medina. Muslims dug a deep trench around their positions, which prevented a cavalry breakthrough. As a result, Mecca’s army retrieved after a few weeks of siege. This battle was later referred to as the Battle of the Trench. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used his army showdown to complete the process of driving, the three Jewish tribes, out of Medina. These Jewish tribes hostile to Islam would not recognize the prophet hood of Muhammad (PBUH) and the universal message of Islam. Bani Quraysh suspected with conspiracy during the battle of the trench with Meccans, was driven out last, following the two other tribes that had been expelled earlier. From the moment onwards, the Prophet (PBUH) was in total control of Medina.

Mecca’s rivalry with Medina and the Muslims concluded with a series of events initiated in 628 C.E.

As a demonstration of his strength and goodwill, Muhammad (PBUH) and about 1000 Muslims performed the pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the ancient sanctuary of Mecca local gods.

Muhammad (PBUH) concluded a ten year peace-agreement with Meccans: 1) Which allowed Muslims to perform the pilgrimage to the Kaaba; 2) A truce will be observed regarding the caravan raids; 3) Any tribe allied to Mecca or to Medina is allowed to change side, if it so desired.

The Prophet (PBUH) spent the next year extending his control over the tribes of the region. In 630 C.E, having attracted a large number of young men in his army ranks, in Mecca, he marched onto Mecca with about 10,000 Muslims and took the city without the least resistance. One of the youngest warriors, Khalid Ibn Al Walid, who would later become the ideal Arab-Muslim warrior, earned the title of "The Sword of Allah".

After ten years of exile, Muhammad (PBUH) returned to Mecca triumphant, with the religion on the rise. Several weeks after taking Mecca, 20,000 Bedouins attacked the Muslims. The surprise attack of these nomadic Bedouins, hostile to Islam, may have been motivated by the destruction of the pagan idols, under the prophet’s order, around the Kaaba and the conversion of the latter into Islam‘s holiest shrine. Muhammad (PBUH) overwhelmingly defeated the Bedouins’ army, confirming his leadership role as the strongest religious authority in the Arabic Peninsula, obliging many Arab tribes to seek his alliance. They finally recognized his prophet hood, accepted Islam as their religion, and started giving Zakat or alms.

A great confederation of Arab tribes united under Islam’s banner was emerging in the Arab world.

Muhammad (PBUH) passed away in 632 C.E, at 63. Abu Bakr, the father of Assaydatouna Aysha, one of the prophet’s wives, succeeded him.

Abu Bakr, thus, became the first Caliph (successor in Arabic) of Islam. Like the prophet (PBUH) he was a member of the Quraysh clan. Neither Abu Bakr nor any subsequent caliph claimed the role of a prophet; they were just the trusted leaders of this new religion that quickly grew into a political entity as well. The first four caliphs, all of whom were selected by some sort of Muslim council, would later be called Al Khulafaur Rashiduna, or the Rightly Guided Caliphs.

Muslim scholars to signify that these caliphs were the truest and most virtuous followers of the prophet’s teachings later coined the epithet "Rightly Guided Caliphs".

In the prophet’s (PBUH) lifetime, the ruling of the new Muslim community had had some precedents. The prophet (PBUH) provided guidelines with the revelation of the Qur’an, as well. Early Muslim communities harshly criticized the Rightly Guided Caliphs anytime they acted upon their own judgment. As time passed, disagreement over the interpretations of the Quranic laws, increasingly caused division among Muslims.

Most of Abu Bakr short caliphate was spent putting down a series of local rebellions against Islamic rules, known as the War of Apostasy, or the "Riddah Wars". Shortly after Muhammad’s (PBUH) passing, many Arab tribes renounced their allegiance to Islam in favor of new, local pseudo-prophets. Political and economic reasons rather than religious ones dictated their change of attitude towards the religion, since this was their alibi to proclaim self-governance thus stop paying Zakat or alms and abiding by the Quranic laws.

During his caliphate, Abu Bakr took part in some military campaigns, but Khalid Ibn al Walid provided mainly military leadership. The Riddah Wars established Medina’s supreme authority over Arabia with the inclusion of all Arab tribes in the Islamic Ummah or community.

After the Riddah Wars, Abu Bakr looked to extend Islamic territories northwards, into present-day Iraq and Syria. These two territories and the rest of Fertile Crescent had been a battleground between the Byzantines and the Sassanians of Persia for more than a century, before the appearance of Islam. Already forged into a strong experienced army thanks to their participation in the Riddah Wars, inspiration from their new religion and the opportunity for plunder, Arab Muslims warrior successively fought and defeated both the Byzantines and the Sassanians, whose forces were drained by years of warfare. Abu Bakr’s forces gained more territories in southern Iraq, threatening the major Persian cities on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as they began to push forward into Byzantine Syria.

When Abu Bakr passed away in 634 C.E, Omar Ibn Al Khattab, father of the prophet’s second wife Hafssa, succeeded him, as second caliph. An early convert to Islam, Omar had been instrumental in getting the Helpers in Medina to accept Abu Bakr as first caliph.

Omar also was from a clan of the Quraysh tribe, bearing the title of Amir-al-mumi nin (commander of the believers in Arabic), indicating that Muslims were a nation united under their commander.

He first sought to expand into Byzantine territory to the north. In 635 C.E, the Muslims captured Damascus, followed a year later by the defeat of the Byzantine force under Emperor Heracles, signaling the end of effective Byzantine rule in the Fertile Crescent. Jerusalem, which would become the third most important Islamic city, after Medina and Mecca, was taken in 638 C.E.

To the northeast, Muslims forces achieved similar successes against the Persian Sassanians in Present-day Iraq. The Sassanian king Yazdegerd III army defended its positions and fought well, but despite his vast resources, his army was vanquished at the Battle of Qadisrah in 637 C.E. Ctesiphon, his capital on the Tigris, fell the same year. Muslims pushed eastwards, and by 642 C.E, they had captured the region of Khuzestan, present-day Iran.

Meanwhile, to the West, an army of Muslims under the commandment of General Amru Ibn As had launched an attack against Egypt and the precursor of Cairo.

Omar organized the Muslim empire as it grew. As Muslims began to occupy and settle into already populated areas of the Fertile Crescent, he created new institutions to ensure the protection of both soldiers and the conquered people. The soldiers and eventually their families would be housed in Ansars (separated, militarized sections of old towns) or in new Garrison towns. In the newly populated areas, Arabs were a minority group and by limiting all their activities inside their section of the Ansars, kept their identity intact, therefore ade it easy for their leaders to better control them. In largely populated Syria, Ansars were constructed in existing towns. In Iraq, with a lower population initially, new garrison towns, such as al Basrah and Kufah were built.

Another new innovation introduced by Omar during his caliphate was the creation of the Diwan (the official registration center of Arab Muslim soldiers), which would eventually determine the distribution of spoils of war.

The Diwan listed the names of all Muslims from the original centers in Medina and Mecca, as well as the soldiers of the conquering armies, and their dependents. The hierarchy in the lists, and therefore the size of each person’s share, was determined by several criteria such as: chronological order of Islam acceptance, relationship to Muhammad (PBUH), and service rendered to the cause of Islam; included were Aysha, and the prophet’s other wives, relatives, the companions, the helpers, those who took part in the Battles of Badr/Uhud, the Riddah Wars, and the conquest of fertile crescent. Movable plunder, such as gold and silver was divided between the troops on the spot. Veterans would each receive an annual stipend, but some of the more prominent took their spoils in form of land. The caliph would receive one-fifth of the plunder, the same amount Muhammad (PBUH) had received to help the poor of the community, and another one-fifth would be sent to Medina.

Omar passed away in 646 C.E, Usman Ibn Al-Haffan, son in law of the prophet (PBUH), succeeded him. He also belonged to the Quraysh tribe, however of the Umayyad clan, who had been prominent in Mecca before Muhammad (PBUH). Under Usman’s caliphate conquests slowed causing subsequently unrest in the garrison towns. Usman, who represented the merchant class of Mecca, knew little about warfare, thus, faced opposition from his military commanders right from the start. With less plunder to share among them, soldiers were upset by the amount of wealth that continued to be sent to the caliph and his entourage in Medina. Increasingly, the only bond between soldiers and their leaders was Islam. In an effort to heighten the image of Islam, Usman insisted into the compilation of the Qur’an into a single, standardized text, and had all previous copies burnt.

From this time on, the arrangement of the Qur’an into the longest to the shortest Surat or Chapter, was fixed once for all.

In 656 C.E, a group of soldiers converged to Medina and rioted against Usman, pelting him with stones in the mosque. Suspecting that an army from Syria was coming to his rescue, the soldiers broke into his home and murdered him. Then, they prevailed upon Ali, also son in-law of Muhammad (PBUH), to accept the Caliphate. The Umayyad clan and the prophet’s wife "Aysha" who felt he became Caliph unjustly opposed him.

Ali went north to Al Bashra with his loyal troops where, in 656 C.E, he fought and defeated an army of Aysha’s supporters in what is considered as the first round of the first Islamic civil war. This war lasted 5 years (656 C.E – 661 C.E), and was later referred to as the first fitnah (Arabic for ordeal) for Muslims, for their unity was put to the test. Just after the first battle, Ali moved from Al-Bashra to Kouffah where he had more supporters. There, Muhawiyah, the Umayyad governor of Syria, challenged him.

Muhawiyah refused to recognize Ali as caliph and engaged Ali’s forces in a battle at Siffin, in northern Syria, in 657 C.E. The battle turned in Ali’s favor when he agreed, upon Muhawiyah’s request, to submit to arbitration the issue of Usman’s death: Should Usman be held accountable of his own death, or if he had been unjustly killed? The decision, reached in 658 C.E, went against Ali, who refused to accept the verdict and tried to resume the battle.

Meanwhile a number of Ali’s supporters deserted him, declaring that they could no longer follow him because he turned his back to the Qur’an by resorting to arbitration.

Ali retaliated by massacring many of the "Kharijites", as the dissidents were later known; such an act echoed in the Islamic world and shocked all his followers. He pursued the war against Muhawiyah but was faced with opposition from every direction. The Kharijites murdered him in 661 C.E. Muhawiyah pressured his son Hassan, not to pretend to the caliphate.

Muhawiyah was proclaimed caliph, bringing an end to the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and ushering in the beginning of the Umayyad rule.

At the end of these difficult periods, Muslims split into three factions. The first and smallest faction was the Kharijites. The major contention was between the partisans of Ali, the Shias (later known as Shia Muslims), and those who accepted Muhawiyah as caliph. The latter group comprised of the majority of Muslims, was referred to as Sunni Muslims. The Shias called for the caliph to revert to Ali’s family, believing that he was unjustly deposed and was in fact the legitimate heir chosen by God to succeed Muhammad (PBUH).

Muhawiyah came to the caliphate by force, not through election, and maintained his position thanks to his ties with an Arab army stationed in Syria. Muhawiyah organized a new government center in the garrison city of Damascus, signaling the emerging domination of Syria over Medina and Mecca, and sought to unify his gouverment by placing the authority of the Arab warrior class solidly over the Umayyad’s authority.

The Umayyads tried to channel the energy of their subjects and of the military into further conquests. North Africa became one of the main new areas of Islamic expansion. With the North African ports cities in the hands of the Christian Byzantines, the Arabs first occupied the rural inland. In 670 C.E, they built the new garrison town of Al Khayrawan (in present-day Tunisia), and between 697-705 C.E, they captured Carthage near Tunis, which became the Arab naval base. Islam then spread among the native Berbers, who joined the Arab armies and were given the same share of the plunder as Arabs. One of the Berbers named Tarikh Ibn Zayid led the Muslim armies across the Mediterranean to Spain in 711 C.E, through Gibraltar. The combined Arab-Berber army conquered Spain and France then "Gaul", but was defeated in 732 C.E in the Battle of Tours by Frankish King Charles Martel, stopping their advance in Europe.

In addition to their westward expansion, the Umayyad also sought to destroy the Byzantine Empire by the conquest of Constantinople, which they failed to accomplish three times: in 669, 674-680 C.E and 716-717 C.E. They also pushed eastward spreading through what is now Iran and in Central Asia, the population of which consisted mainly of Iranian farmers, the Turkish military governing elite, and Chinese silk traders.

By 667 C.E , Arabs conquerors had reached and crossed the Oxus River (Amu Daria), and by 751 C.E they had taken present day Uzbekistan. Other Arab armies had already reached Sind (in present-day Pakistan) and the Indus River Delta in 712 C.E.

Arabs contented themselves with plundering and levying taxes on the wealth of the conquered regions. They did not settle in the eastern territories but did spread Islam throughout the areas.

Political and Social ills

Although the Umayyad hoped to unify their growing states, they were faced with opposition on several fronts, mainly from the Mawalis, or non-Arab Muslims, and the Shia Muslims.

As Islam spread into the Fertile Crescent and beyond, non-Arabs began to convert to Islam. Since Islam was an Arab movement from its beginning, the Mawalis were regarded as a second –class group. They were called Mawalis because of their under class status. They worked and provided their services for Arab Muslim tribes or individuals. The Mawalis lived in suburbs around the Ansars where they made a living as farmers, shopkeepers, craftspeople, and unskilled laborers. They served in the Arab infantry and were given a smaller share of the plunder, unlike Arab soldiers. However, the Umayyad could not reward all Muslims with equal share, otherwise there would not be enough wealth left for distribution, moreover, local Muslims communities relied on taxes paid by Mawalis. This practice, which troubled the Mawalis bred discontent, disloyalty, and eventually rebellious activities, to claim equal treatment.

Meanwhile, hostilities between the Umayyad and other Muslims factions, notably the Shias escalated to uncontrollable proportions.

Before his death in 680 C.E, Muhawiyah dispensed with the practice of electing a caliph by designating his son Yazid as his heir. The move angered Muslim groups that objected to what seemed to be the creation of an Umayyad royalty. Each group had its opinion as to whom, of all the relatives and descendants of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), was the most entitled to lead the Islamic community. The Shias believed that the caliph should come from the lineage of Ali; the Helpers felt that their contribution to the cause of Islam had been overlooked in the selection of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, that one of their peers should, then, be selected. Many groups questioned the very faith of the Umayyad.

In addition, non-Arab Muslims feeling more and more emphasis was put on Arabism rather than the basic tenets of Islam; avenues of social mobility were being closed to them.

The climate of discontent following the death of Muhawiyah led to six decades of political unrest and civil war between Muslims.

A month after Muhawiyah’s death, Shia rebelled in Kufah, rallying behind Ali’s son, Hussaynu. Ambushed on their way back from Mecca to Al Kufah, Hussaynu, his party of relatives and supporters were massacred by Umayyad forces. The rebellion put down, following the murder Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), shocked the Islamic world, and led to increased sympathy for the Shias. The Umayyads recaptured Medina, pillaging the city for three days. Syrian armies unsuccessfully besieged Mecca, destroying in the process the Kaaba, the Holy shrine of Islam. Arabia went into chaos, as tribal antagonisms that had been dormant since the Prophet’s time erupted into internal power struggles. Frequent Mawali rebellions spread unrest beyond Arabia, all over Islam territories.

The Umayyad territorial expansion intensified their social problems as more garrison cities and more non-Arabs converting to Islam led to more Mawali unhappiness.

In 740 C.E, Shia rebels formed alliances with another Arab clan, the Abbasids, who were descendants of Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet (PBUH). The Abbasids proclaimed that all Muslims, Arabs or non-Arabs, should receive equal treatment. After eliciting the support of rebellious Persian Mawalis, this confederation won a decisive battle over Umayyad forces in Iraq in 750 C.E, which precipitated the end of the Umayyad rule (except in Spain, which still remained under their control). The Abbasids moved their capital to Baghdad, restored order, and introduced reforms aiming at giving equal rights and justice to all Muslims.

Only 120 years after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) captured Mecca, the Abbasids inherited a vast Islamic Empire that extended from North Africa through the Fertile Crescent, onto the Iranian plateau, over the Oxus River across Central Asia to the frontiers of China and India. Over the next centuries, the Abbasids slowly lost control of most of these territories to rebellious provinces. Finally, all Asian territories were lost during the Mongol invasion in the 13th century.

Nonetheless the reign of the Muslim Empire has collapsed in the region, the religion itself persisted throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa. Eventually, missionaries and traders spread the faith into Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian sub-continent, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe.

Today, our most prominent religious guide, Sheikh Ahmadu Bamba of Touba Senegal, has revived very clearly Islam’s peaceful and intellectual message.

By Serigne Bassirou Sylla

 Propagation of Islam:

Conclusion:

Further growth:

The Umayyad Rule

Internal dissension:

Islamic Institutions

Expansion of Islamic territories:

The Era of the Rightly Guided Caliph:

Issues of Succession:

Conquest of Medina: