The Postclassical Period, c. 600 CE to c. 1450: Content Summary 3.1: Early Islamic States

Islam is based on the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad. (3.1.A)

Along with Judaism and Christianity, it is a monotheistic faith based on moral and ethical codes. (3.1.A)

Muhammad was a merchant from the trading city of Mecca, and the Quran promotes ethical trade, charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca. (3.1.A)

The Quran also represents the community of Muslims (the ummah) as a community of both faith and faithful obedience. (3.1.A)

The caliphs who succeeded Muhammad were both civil and religious leaders. (3.1.A)

Arab forces developed effective military tactics by utilizing fast cavalry movements and mounted archers. (3.1.B)

Arab forces developed effective military tactics by utilizing fast cavalry movements and mounted archers. (3.1.B)

Arab forces developed effective military tactics by utilizing fast cavalry movements and mounted archers. (3.1.B)

Their armies conquered territory by exploiting the divisions between the Byzantine and Persian Sasanian empires. (3.1.B)

The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE) emerged in the wake of the major Islamic sectarian divisions over the succession to the caliphate. (3.1.B)

The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE) emerged in the wake of the major Islamic sectarian divisions over the succession to the caliphate. (3.1.B)

The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE) emerged in the wake of the major Islamic sectarian divisions over the succession to the caliphate. (3.1.B)

Sunni Muslims believed that the leader of the ummah should be chosen by the majority, but Shi’a Muslims argued that Muhammad’s religious leadership, spiritual authority, and divine guidance were passed on to his descendants, beginning with his son-in-law Ali and grandsons Hassan and Hussein. (3.1.B)

The Sunnis prevailed, and the Umayyad Caliphate spread by conquest from the Iberian Peninsula to Sindh in South Asia. (3.1.B)

The Umayyad was an Arab state, with its capital in Damascus, that borrowed secular administrative practices and structures from the Byzantines. (3.1.B)

Religious tolerance was extended to Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. (3.1.B)

These dhimmi (non-Muslim) communities paid the jizya (a tax levied on non-Muslims) to practice their beliefs, and the tax revenues helped support the empire. (3.1.B)

These dhimmi (non-Muslim) communities paid the jizya (a tax levied on non-Muslims) to practice their beliefs, and the tax revenues helped support the empire. (3.1.B)

The Abbasid Caliphate was a cosmopolitan Islamic empire that was associated with widespread Persian and Turkish conversion to Islam. (3.1.C)

The Abbasid Caliphate was a cosmopolitan Islamic empire that was associated with widespread Persian and Turkish conversion to Islam. (3.1.C)