6. ISLAM AND THE WEST DURING THOSE DARK DAYS

MUHAMMAD –
AND THE ISLAMIC EMPIRE

Explosion Seemingly without warning, out of the obscure Arabian Peninsula roared highly fired up Arab troops (633), rolling back everything set before them in the name of some obscure Arab prophet named Muhammad.  It happened so quickly and so forcefully that both Byzantine Rome and Sassanid Persia, exhausted from their own long-drawn out and mutually destructive wars, found themselves rapidly losing territory to these frenzied Arab troops.  Indeed, the Persian Empire was completely overrun and forced under duress to convert to Islam – however choosing a deviant version (Shi'a Islam) that "orthodox" or Sunni Islam would soon come to consider heretical.  Meanwhile huge sections of the Byzantine Empire (Southern Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt) were also lost to Islam.  All of this occurred in less than a 10-year time frame.  What just happened? While Rome and Persia were blasting each other with all the might they could muster, neither was paying much attention to what was going on to the south of their lands in Arabia. A movement that was both religious and political was gathering there like a dark storm and was about to be unleashed on both extremely exhausted kingdoms to the north. From orphan to merchant This new movement, Islam,1 was founded by an at first obscure, self-proclaimed "prophet" born and raised in Mecca, a city situated on the western Arabian trade route linking Yemen in southern Arabia with the Byzantine lands to the north.  Muhammad was orphaned as a boy and raised by his uncle Abu Talib, leader of the Banu Hashim (or Hashemite) clan of the Quraysh tribe.  The Quraysh tribe dominated life in the city of Mecca – though the Banu Hashim were a rather unimportant clan within that tribe.  Life was not easy for Muhammad, being both an orphan and member of a relatively impoverished clan.  But his uncle did what he could to help raise Muhammad – taking him on trade journeys north to Syria, where Muhammad was first exposed to the Byzantine Christian culture. Islamic tradition states that in an early journey to Syria he encountered a Christian monk, Bahira, who detected in Mohammad a future prophet of God … and who thus took the time to instruct him in Judeo-Christian thought … most importantly, Judeo-Christian thought of the Unitarian variety popular among the Semitic (Aramaic or Arabic) speaking people – rather than of the Trinitarian variety popular among the Greek-speaking people of the East.  Basically, through this process, Muhammad became something of a Unitarian Christian. As a tradesman (the only career open to an Arab orphan) Muhammad proved to be a hard and reliable worker – and was eventually hired by Khadijah, a woman 15 years older than him, to be in charge of her caravans to the north.  Eventually (595) Khadijah proposed marriage – which he accepted.  This not only secured a comfortable life for Muhammad, it proved to be a happy marriage. The beginning of the Qur'an (Muhammad's prophetic recitations) Muhammad was of a philosophical bent and strongly interested in learning the ways of the superior Byzantine or Roman Christian civilization to the north.  At the same time, he was deeply embarrassed by the paganism and chaotic tribalism of his Arab world.  When back home in Mecca, he would spend a lot of time to himself in a cave in one of the hills just outside the city – in deep meditation about these matters.   In the year 610 he received a vision or visit from the archangel Gabriel, who commanded him to memorize and recite some verse which he dictated to Muhammad (Sura 96:1-5).  This visit confused and upset Muhammad – though when he told Khadijah of the event she told him to take the matter seriously.  He continued his meditations in the cave – but received no further visit from the archangel.  Three years later the visits of Gabriel resumed.  He was instructed not only to learn new verses, but to begin preaching them to his fellow Arabs.  Basically these were pronouncements against the paganism of the Arabs and a warning of pending judgments against them if they did not give up these practices and come to Allah (Arabic for "the God" … similar to the Hebrew El) ... in "submission to his will.  The verses also included instructions on the proper life of a Muslim.2 Mounting troubles in Mecca At first, he attracted only a handful of followers who took his pronouncements seriously: his wife, Khadijah; a slave he had freed, Zayd; his very young cousin. Ali; a close friend, Abu Bakr, and one or two others.  Mostly Mecca scorned him – especially when the numbers of his followers began to increase.  A serious problem facing Muhammad was that Mecca was not only a trade center, it was also a religious center.  Once a year, for about a month, the tribes of Arabia would declare a truce and gather peacefully in Mecca to worship their tribal (pagan) deities in the city's center, ranged around the Ka'bah, a large cubic structure approximately 40+ feet in each direction, containing in one corner a black stone (possibly a meteorite) twelve inches in diameter.   This was very important commercially for the city of Mecca.  And to have Muhammad year after year shouting prophetic warnings against the tribes' pagan practices during this high holy month was more than the Quraysh town fathers could tolerate.  They could not simply execute Muhammad, because he enjoyed tribal protection as a fellow Quraysh.  But his followers, who had no such protection, they were not hesitant to remove by whatever means necessary.   Thus in 615, under Muhammad's direction, a number of his followers left Arabia and moved to Ethiopia (importantly Islam's first Hijrah or journey – one of "freedom from oppression"), coming under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian Emperor or Negus, Ashama.  On their arrival (according to the Maryam or 19th Sura) it was pointed out that Muhammad's Muslims venerated Jesus and the Virgin Mary.  However, apparently Ashama was a Trinitarian Christian and thus it was not pointed out that Islam viewed Jesus only as a prophet (though the greatest of all prophets prior to Muhammad) … even though now in heaven Jesus was seated at the right hand of God and was the one who would one day return to earth to bring the world to its last days.  And Mary, though among Muslims a highly venerated woman, certainly was not viewed by Islam as the Theotokos or "Mother of God" – as she was by the Trinitarian Christians of those times. In any case through a misunderstanding about some of Muhammad's recitations (the "Satanic Verses" in the 53rd Sura) the Quraysh forgave Muhammad and invited his followers to return to Mecca.  Muhammad later recanted on these particular verses – and the persecution of the Muslims in Mecca resumed.  In 617 Quraysh leaders ostracized the Banu Hashim for their protection of Muhammad, cutting off not only trade with but also food for the Banu Hashim.  This situation persisted for two or three years – however ultimately producing no repentance on the part of Muhammad, although a very shameful treatment of fellow Quraysh.  Eventually the ostracism was stopped. The year 619 was the "year of sorrows" for Muhammad, losing both his wife and his uncle in that same year.  Leadership of the Banu Hashim now passed to a bitter enemy of Muhammad.  Muhammad escaped to Ta'if – but, failing to secure a tribal sponsor there, found his life in danger in Ta'if as well.  But he was able to return to Mecca when the clan leader of the Banu Nawfal extended the clan's protection to Muhammad. The Isra and Mi'raj (620) Muhammad claimed that one night Gabriel took Muhammad on a journey.  During the first part of the journey, the Isra, he was taken from atop the Ka'bah in Mecca by way of a winged horse to a distant mountain (what Muslims believe was the Temple Mount in Jerusalem) and proceeded to lead other prophets in prayer.  During the second part of the journey, the Mi'raj, the horse takes him from this mountain to heaven, speaking to the ancient prophets and to God (Allah).  Here he is instructed by God on prayer – which, thanks to the intervention of Moses – is reduced to only five in number per day.   He is then returned to earth.  One of the effects of this journey was that it made the Jerusalem mount, or al-Aqsa, the third most holy site in Islam (after Mecca and Medina).3 The Hijrah (the "withdrawal') – 622 Even under the protection of the Banu Nawfal, Muhammad's situation in Mecca remained dangerous – and Muhammad began to explore the possibilities of moving elsewhere. Negotiations with Yathrib (which would later be termed simply Medina, meaning, "city") proved fruitful.  His Islamic religion had reached north to Yathrib.  A delegation from Yathrib met secretly with Muhammad to invite him and his followers to move to their town.  They were having tribal conflicts in Yathrib – largely on-going blood-feuds between the Arab and Jewish tribes of the town.  Accompanying the offer was the hope of the delegation that Muhammad might come to the town as a "judge" and restore order and peace there.  Muhammad agreed.   When word of the pending migration (the Hijrah) reached the Quraysh they attempted to stop it (as they had with those who had moved to Ethiopia).  But most of Muhammad's followers (who came to be termed the Muhajirun or "emigrants") were able to slip away to Yathrib.  Then in the dark of night Muhammad himself (and his friend Abu Bakr) made their escape to Yathrib.  This was the year 622 on the Christian calendar.  For the Muslims, this event (the Hijrah) serves their calendar as the beginning of year one … and the official beginning of Islam.   In Yathrib (Medina) Muhammad immediately set about establishing a new legal order on which his "peace" (or salaam) might stand.  The Medinans (people of Yathrib) began a massive conversion to Muhammad's Islamic faith – and closed forces with the Muhajirun as Ansar or "helpers" of the immigrants.  The Jewish tribes of the area were included in the new arrangement.  Yet some of the Jews and some recalcitrant pagan tribesmen of Medina were bitter about this new order.  When some pagans produced verses mocking Muhammad and his Muslims, they were assassinated.  As Muhammad did not disapprove of the assassination, no one dared to take revenge for the murders.  This would be the end of overt pagan opposition to Muhammad in Medina. 1Islam: The Arabic I plus Salaam (similar to the Jewish Shalom) is the fundamental concept of Islam.  Salaam refers to the blessing of true peace or success in life … which comes only in submitting to the will of Allah.  The two, peace and submission, are thus vitally interconnected. 2A Muslim (Mu plus Salaam) is simply one who has submitted thusly.  The goal of Islam is to bring all the world to such submission … by whatever means necessary. 3Jerusalem was initially very central to Muhammad's sense of religious orientation.  Similar to the Jews of Arabia, the Muslims had been praying toward Jerusalem (the Qiblah or direction of prayer) – until Muhammad abruptly changed the Qiblah toward the Ka'bah in Mecca. The Islamic Movement Begins to Grow The Battle of Badr (624).  The migration had cost Muhammad's followers their fortunes – as their property in Mecca was seized by the Meccans in retaliation for the Muslims' departure.   In poverty, the Muslims began to raid Meccan caravans passing north near Medina territory.  Muhammad's Qur'anic recitations opened the way for such raids – on the basis that the raids would speed the conversion of Mecca to Islam.  In 624 Muhammad himself led a raid on a large Meccan caravan – and a Meccan army sent to protect it from the Medinans.  Though vastly outnumbered, Muhammad's troops badly defeated the Meccans at Badr, killing many and taking even more prisoner for ransom.  This victory was interpreted as a clear sign of Allah's favor with the Muslims. Expulsion and/or execution of the Arabian Jews The Jews of Medina had been unwilling to leave their faith for Muhammad's Islam – a major sore point for Muhammad.  After the Battle of Badr Muhammad was ready to deal with them. The Banu Qaynuqa.  Soon after the Battle, an incident (or perhaps just a rumor) set off an conflict between the Muslims and one of the Jewish tribes (the Banu Qaynuqa), in which the latter were decisively crushed.  Mohammed wanted to put them all to death.  But intervention by a Muslim leader of a major Medinan tribe caused Muhammad to back down and spare their lives.  Nonetheless he banished them from Medina … with the Muslims then taking possession of all Qaynuqa property, including a full 20% of the total value of such wealth going to Muhammad personally as their leader.  Muhammad was now a rich man. The Banu Nadir.  Now it was time for the Banu Nadir, a very wealthy Jewish tribe based just south of the city, to face the same fate.  Tensions mounted between the Banu Nadir and the Muslims – as the Jews challenged Muhammad's rights to rule so absolutely.  In 625 a Jewish plot to assassinate Muhammad (or so the rumor went) was met by Muhammad with an assault on the Banu Nadir.  The result was that the Banu Nadir were expelled (making their way north to the large Jewish community at Khaybar)4 and their huge assets in property seized – adding even greater wealth to the Muslims and their leader Muhammad. The Battle of the Trench (627).  The Jews of Khaybar then approached the Quraysh of Mecca to join in an anti-Muslim coalition to drive Muhammad and his Muslims from the area. In 627, with about 10,000 men, the coalition marched against Medina, defended by about 3,000 Muslims.  But Muhammad had dug trenches in the open area before Medina, rendering the coalition's cavalry useless.  The siege of Medina quickly settled into a stalemate, with the Medinans growing tired and hungry – but the coalition growing impatient. The Banu Qurayza.  A third Jewish tribe of Medina, the Banu Qurayza, were supposedly neutral in the conflict (they had a contract of peace with the Muslims).  But rumors grew that they were negotiating with an anti-Muhammad coalition – and the Muslims countered with their own rumors of Banu Qurayza treachery in conspiring with the coalition.  Ultimately no action was taken by the Banu Qurayza.  The anti-Muslim coalition soon broke down anyway.  Thus an assault on Medina thus ended after only two weeks when the coalition troops headed home.  But the fate of the Banu Qurayza was now in question.  The Muslims turned on them, laying siege to their fort for 25 days.  Finally the Banu Qurayza surrendered, not suspecting what was then going to happen.  A decision was made that the men of the Banu Qurayza should be executed (ultimately between 600 and 800 men were beheaded), their women taken into slavery and their property distributed among the Muslims. Muhammad Finalizes the Faith Agreement with the Quraysh of Mecca (628).  Failure of the Meccans to take Medina essentially shut down their trade with Syria – a crucial piece of Mecca's economy.   But Muhammad received a vision of a Hajj (holy pilgrimage) to Mecca and ordered his followers to accompany him to Mecca for that purpose.  The Meccans attempted to block their arrival – then decided to enter into negotiations instead.  What was finally agreed was that the Muslims would return to Media – but be allowed to return the next year for a Hajj.  In any case Mecca now recognized Muhammad's leadership – and were willing to enter a period of peace with him and his followers. The Battle of Khaybar (629).  With peace with Mecca secure Muhammad turned his attention to the Jewish oasis of Khaybar.  The Jews were forced to surrender – but were spared their lives under agreement to send fully one-half of the produce of the oasis to the Muslims as jizya (tribute).  This would establish the Muslim principle of allowing non-Muslims (or at least Christians and Jews, considered by Muslims to be fellow "people of the Book") to retain their lives, their homes, even their religion, provided that they pay Muslim authorities a jizya on an on-going basis.  Nonetheless, when Umar headed up the Muslim community after Muhammad's death three years later, the agreement was broken and the Jews of Khaybar were expelled from Arabi anyway.  Henceforth, (and to this day) there would be none but Muslims allowed to live in the Muslim homeland of Arabia. The conquest of Mecca (630).  A tribal feud between a tribe allied with Muhammad and a tribe allied with the Meccans ultimately ended the two-year peace.  Muhammad marched on Mecca with what was a now a huge army (perhaps 10,000 soldiers) – and quickly took control of Mecca.  He spared all but of few of the Meccans – who then for the most part agreed to become Muslims.  The pagan statues surrounding the Ka'bah were destroyed – though the Ka'bah itself became accepted as the center point of all Islamic worship from that time forward. The spread of Muhammad's authority in Arabia.  Now Muhammad took up the cause of Mecca against some of its traditional tribal enemies – sending a large army out against several tribes and bringing them to defeat – and subsequently to acceptance of Islam.  Muhammad's reputation was spreading rapidly in Arabia – and even Bedouin (nomadic) tribes began to accept Islam in acknowledgment of Muhammad as Arabian leader. His death (632) ... and Islam's deep political division.  Soon after completing the great annual Hajj to Mecca in 632, Muhammad gathered the huge crowd of pilgrims (perhaps 120,000) and delivered a long sermon explaining some of the last details completing the full requirements of the Muslim.  He concluded with an admonition to follow the Qur'an and ... ? Here debate within Islam is intense.  The Shi'ites ("faction" or "party" of Ali) claim that he added the name of his nephew (and son-in-law) Ali.  Sunnis claim, however, that he added the word Sunna (the proper "way" of the Muslim).  Which of those two options was it that Muhammad wanted the faithful to then follow?  From the very beginning, Islam was thus destined to split into two deeply hostile factions: the Shi'ites and the Sunnis. Muhammad then returned to Medina ... and a few months later became sick and died.  He was buried in Medina (his tomb is now housed in Medina's Mosque of the Prophet). 4Khaybar was a large settlement of Jews, who had moved south to Arabia to avoid the ongoing Roman-Persian conflicts.  In doing so, they had brought to the region agriculture – instead of just animal-herding, as was common throughout Arabia. THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAM The Qur'an (or Koran) The Qur'an and Hadith.  In so many ways Islam is an extension of the Judeo-Christian legacy … but a spinoff much simpler in form than its Judeo-Christian parent.  Islam has its own holy Scripture, the Qur'an (or Koran) … a recording of what Muhammad claimed were the social-spiritual instructions given him by the archangel Gabriel … organized into some 114 surahs (chapters) – not chronologically but instead simply by size, the longest surahs presented first and the shortest last.  Then there is the Hadith – a supplemental collection of sayings and doings of Muhammad … compiled a couple of centuries later … although the two competing Islamic subgroups, the Sunnis and the Shi'ites, each have their own versions of the Hadith. Most interestingly, there is much in the Qur'an that relates closely to the Judeo-Christian Bible … except that it is reshaped considerably under Muhammad's own interpretation of things.  For instance, Adam is not the primal sinner that he is in the Judeo-Christian Genesis story … but instead is the first prophet of the true faith – and thus incapable of sin.  Abraham is presented as the father primarily of the Arabs through his son Ishmael and only secondarily through his second son Isaac.  Moses and David are part of the account … although too as sinless prophets.  They are part of the prophetic lineup leading to its fulfillment in Mohammed – Muhammed considered as the last or the "seal" of the prophets.  Jesus is there also … as the second to the last and thus very important.  But he is viewed in the Unitarian fashion – as a very good man, a moral example to us all sent by God to show us how to live according to the will of God.  And Mary is also given considerable attention (a large surah devoted to her) … as the greatest of women because she was the God-gifted mother of Jesus. The Shari'a.  Islam also has its own carefully recorded code of law as per the instructions of Muhammad … although most unsurprisingly, it is completely in line with the harsh social-moral code of the Arab tribes, a code developed in the face of a very challenging desert environment.  And there can be no amendment or updating of this code – because it was set out by Muhammad himself. The "Five Pillars" of Islam.  In comparison to Christianity – especially given the complex theological arguments that produced so much Christian controversy (and bloodshed) – Islamic theology is very simple.  Becoming a Muslim is quite easy: simply recite the Shahada "There is but one God, God (Allah); and Muhammad is His prophet."  This single line is not only the identifying label of the true Muslim – but also the opening line of the prayer or Salah that Muslims are required to recite five times a day.  Being a social order as well as simply a religion, the Muslim is also required to pay – the Zakat or tax – a portion of their wealth to provide for the poor and support the faith in its various works.  There is also the annual fast or Sawm – which requires them for a full month (Ramadan) to refrain from eating or drinking during daylight hours.  They are supposed to use this time to meditate on their faith walk … to see what they could do to improve that walk.  Then there is the Hajj or purifying pilgrimage to one or another holy site … although the lifetime goal of making such a hajj to Mecca itself is considered the highest of all honors. And that is about all that is required in terms of his or her personal walk as a true Muslim. Islam's "style."  Muhammad himself comes across to Westerners not as a scholarly prophet but instead as a very powerful tribal chief capable of leading his warriors on very bloody engagements with the surrounding world.  Muhammad was most capable of slaughter or forced slavery on the part of those who got in his way … and a very wealthy man on the basis of this trade in human lives and property. Therefore to a Westerner, Muhammad was hardly a second Jesus.  But to a Muslim, he was the very personification of what they believed that Allah or God expected them to be:  fierce warriors for the cause of Islam.  Thus the jihadist or "one who struggles or fights" is considered to be the finest version of the Muslim man of faith. Indeed, dying in the course of jihad or battle is the ultimate guarantee of gaining heaven's greatest reward:  the massive sensual pleasures of the afterlife. On the other hand, since Muhammad had deep respect for the Judeo-Christian world – Judeo-Christians being "People of the Book" – there was an amazing degree of tolerance of Judeo-Christianity … provided that Judeo-Christians submitted to the political sovereignty of the Islamic political-social order.  Indeed, as dhimmis (protected peoples), Judeo-Christians were given a fair amount of respect … provided of course they paid the jizya or tribute to their Muslim overlords. However, this tolerance of other peoples or nations – ones not "People of the Book" (such as the Zoroastrian Persians) – did not exist.  Such people brought under Muslim overlordship by conquering Muslim armies either converted to the Islamic faith … or were killed on the spot. MUHAMMAD'S SUCCESSORS (CALIPHS) Abu Bakr (632-634) The First of the Rashidun or "Rightly Guided" Caliphs Soon after Muhammad's death in 632 a group of muhajirun and ansars gathered in Medina and – after diplomatic action taken by the highly respected Umar, action designed to prevent a split within the leadership – acclaimed Muhammad's long-standing and faithful friend (and one of Muhammad's fathers-in-law) Abu Bakr as the caliph ("successor"). Rebellion.  Some of the Arab tribes refused to pay the zakat that Muhammad had collected from his followers – claiming that they had made this agreement with Muhammad only – and not with anyone else.  Also, another Arab prophet had arisen to lay claim to the tribal loyalties of Arabia.  Consequently, Abu Bakr sent out Khalid and other Muslim military leaders to crush the tribal rebellion and bring the tribes back into the Muslim fold.   A bit of treachery by Khalid was involved in the fighting, and another military leader, Umar, and others brought a complaint to Abu Bakr.  But Abu Bakr demonstrated the qualities that the Arabs so greatly admire:  the ability to find a workable solution – usually some kind of wise compromise that brings disputing parties to agreement and thus peace (as in the above example of Umar's role in helping the Muslims decide on a caliph).  He accepted Khalid's rather questionable explanation of what had happened – and thus avoided a bigger problem of having to get rid of one of Islam's very best soldiers.  This character trait of the Arabs (shrewd diplomacy through a spirit of compromise) would become a issue that would actually deepen the Sunni-Shi'ite split already developing within Islam. Consolidation – and expansion northward.  Through a combination of brutal battle and shrewd diplomacy, step by step the rebellion was crushed and Arabia returned to the new faith.   This action also carried the Arab Muslim armies north into additional Arab territory that was more directly connected with the great Byzantine and Persian empires.  Ghassanid Arabs living in that region served the Byzantine Empire as something of a buffer against raiders from Arabia.  But they were largely Monophysite Christians … and thus, as Christian "heretics," rather alienated from their Orthodox or Byzantine rulers.  This religious alienation of these Arabs would come to serve the Muslim conquerors well. Against the Persians.  In the Northeast, the Persians had once been served by a client tribe, the Lakhmid Arabs (also Monophysite Christians).  But the murder of their last great leader by Persian king Khosrau had brought them to full rebellion.  In 633 Khalid assaulted the Lakhmid capital at Hira on the lower Euphrates River in Mesopotamia and quickly brought the Lakhmids to defeat.  They agreed to submit and pay the jizya to their new Muslim rulers – even to act as spies against their former Sassanid rulers.  From here Khalid advanced up the Euphrates and defeated a coalition of Persians and Arabs at Walaja – using the strategy of a double flanking or encirclement of the enemy by his mobile cavalry, a strategy he would use to great effect again and again. Khalid then advanced all the way north to Firaz, a town in Mesopotamia located along the frontier between the Byzantines and Persians.  At his approach (the end of 633) the Byzantines and Persians combined forces to contest Khalid and his Muslim army, which was considerably the smaller of the two armies.  But the Byzantines and Persians got themselves trapped in this encircling movement of Khalid's army.  The results were disastrous for the Byzantines and Persians.  These two empires were beginning to understand that Khalid and his army had no intention of withdrawing after its victory – which as desert raiders Arabs usually did after a battle.  It was clear that the Muslim Arabs were no longer after mere plunder.  Instead they were after new land.  Indeed, Khalid installed a garrison at Firaz to take firm control of the area.  Now from this new strategic position acquired by Khalid, both empires were easily open to assault. Against Byzantine Syria.  The Arab world of Syria was restless because of the persecution by Byzantine authorities of the Jews and the Monophysite Christians (predominantly Arab) in the area.  Also long-standing trade ties between the Arabs of Arabia and the Arabs of Syria helped undermine further the sense of loyalty supposedly binding these Semitic Arabs to the culturally Greek Byzantine empire.  Also, the very capable Byzantine emperor Heraclius was sick and unable to lead his troops personally in the defense of the Empire against these Arab raiders.  Thus Khalid found the resistance of many of the towns in Syria to be easily overcome.  One by one they fell to the Muslims, so that by the end of 634 much of Syria, including the strategic city of Damascus, was in Muslim hands. [Damascus however offered stiff resistance for many months, and surrendered to the Muslims after receiving a promise of a 3-day safe-conduct, to permit any to leave the city that wanted to do so; but at the end of the 3rd day, just as thousands of Damascus evacuees were approaching Antioch, Khalid's army came down upon them and slaughtered or enslaved as much of the group as they could before they could reach the safety of Antioch – which many of them actually did.] Umar (Caliph: 634-644) Abu Bakr named Umar as his successor and upon his death in 634 the Muslim leaders complied with his wish – despite the fact that there was a faction of Muslims which felt that this honor should have gone to Ali, nephew and son-in-law of Muhammad.  Umar was a member of the Quraysh tribe, but one of the early converts and among the muhajirun who moved from Mecca to Medina with Muhammad.  He was strongly built, brave and ultimately an excellent soldier, participating in all of the Muslim battles of the early days.  As caliph, he oversaw the conquest of the north on both the Byzantine and Persian fronts.  The Battle of the Bridge (634).  But things did not go so well for the Muslims on the Persian front.  Buoyed by Islam's earlier successes, a large Muslim force (9,000 men) led by Abu Ubaid (Umar had removed Khalid as commander) crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of boats and eagerly attacked a Persian army waiting on the other side.  But the Persians had brought up their elephants – and the Arab cavalry attack instead turned into a rout.  Abu Ubaid and 2,000 of his men were killed outright, 2,000 drowned trying to escape, 2,000 managed to flee back to Medina – leaving only 3,000 to stand to continue the fight.  But the Persians got word of a rebellion back in their capital and the Persians were recalled to Ctesiphon, preventing a total disaster for the Muslims. The Battle of Yarmuk (636).  Meanwhile on the Byzantine front to the West the Muslims were making steady progress against the Byzantine Empire.  In early 635 the Muslims under Khalid fought a Byzantine army under Theodore at Fall (or Pella) in the Jordan Valley south of Syria.  The Muslims were victorious.  Palestine now became the target and the Arabs began an advance against the region from the south and from Syria in the north.  However, Heraclius, positioned in Antioch, decided to take the offensive against the Muslims to recover the lost Syrian and Palestinian territory.  By the summer of 636 he was ready to advance against the Muslims with a huge army of Franks, Slavs, Georgians, Armenians and Christian (Ghassanid) Arabs.  The Muslim Arabs were spread widely around Syria and Heraclius intended to take advantage of this by taking on the Muslim units one by one.  But the Muslims learned of the plan and quickly brought their armies together.  Khalid (who was no longer supreme commander – but the military voice that the Muslim generals listened to anyway) advised withdrawal to a strategic site on the plain of Yarmuk (just east of the Sea of Galilee).   Here in mid-August the two armies met along a 10-mile front.  The battle raged for days – with the Muslims taking mostly a defensive stance against Byzantine attacks.  But the Muslims managed to hold their position – as the Byzantines began to wear themselves down in frustration.  Finally on the 6th day of the battle the Muslims took the offensive against the Byzantine army.  The Muslims performed a swift flanking attack against the Byzantines and began to push the Byzantines into retreat.  Heraclius attempted to rally his troops but could not, and the retreat soon turned into a catastrophe as the disorganized Byzantine army was surrounded by huge ravines on two sides and Muslim cavalry on the other sides.  Some Byzantines jumped to their death down the cliffs of the ravine, some escaped to the river below only to be crowned or crushed by the rocks and many were simply cut down by Muslim swords and arrows.  Many got away – but were followed by Khalid's troops and cut down before they could get to Damascus (which had been retaken by the Byzantines).  But Damascus opened its doors to Khalid – and was thus returned to Muslim control. The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (636).  Meanwhile, on the Eastern front, in 636 the Persians decided to take to the offensive against the Muslims – and crossed the Euphrates to attack the Muslims with a huge Persian army.  A smaller Muslim army was sent by Umar to meet them – and the battle raged for two days, with the Muslims losing a much greater number of troops.  But with the capture and execution of the Persian commander the fortunes of war changed – and the Muslims finally routed the larger Persian army.  This would prove to be the turning point in the balance of power between the Muslims and the Persians. The Muslims immediately pursued the Persians to their capital Ctesiphon – which the Persians and their king Yazdgird abandoned after only a brief Muslim siege.  The Persians attempted to rally at Jalula, and again at Qasr-e Shirin and again at Masabadhan.  At first Umar wanted to stop the expansion in order to consolidate the Muslim grip on Mesopotamia, but his generals urged him to chase down Yazdgird before he had a chance to regroup.  Arab raiders were thus sent up into the Zagros Mountains in an attempt to locate and destroy remaining Persian resistance. The fall of Jerusalem (637).  The next year the Muslims – who had already secured control of the area around Jerusalem and had placed the city under siege for a year – entered the city under an agreement of the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, with Umar.  Under the agreement, Umar himself came to Jerusalem to receive the surrender of the Patriarch, to recognize officially Islamic control of the city, and to receive a jizya (financial tribute or tax) required of Christians and Jews living under their new Muslim sovereigns. This agreement or "Covenant of Umar" was to serve as the prototype agreement between Islam and the Christian and Jewish communities whenever Islam came to establish dominance over them. The Battle of Heliopolis, Egypt (640).  After the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims and the advance of the Muslims on Gaza, near the border with Egypt, the Egyptians purchased some sort of very expensive peace through the offer of tribute to the Muslims. But that peace came to an end at the end of 639 when Umar sent a Muslim army under the very capable general Amr from Palestine into Egypt to bring the area under the control of Islam.  The Byzantine troops withdrew to the protection of a number of fortresses – (where some were able to hold out for a year or more).  But this purely defensive strategy allowed the Muslims time to gather an even larger army – and to overrun the fortified towns one by one.   Eventually as the Muslims were laying siege to Heliopolis a Byzantine army arrived to do battle with the Muslims in July of 640.  Anticipating the arrival of the Byzantines, The Muslim general Amr divided his army into three groups, hiding one and sending a second group to swing around behind the Byzantines.  The Byzantines, believing the Muslims to be merely the single group that remained – proceeded to do battle with them – only in the midst of the engagement to be shocked to be hit from behind by another Muslim group.  Retreat turned into a rout when the third group showed up to block the Byzantine retreat – and the destruction of the Byzantine army was near total. The fall of Egypt (641).  From this point on the conquest of the rest of Egypt was inevitable.  Resistance of the local Coptic Christian population to the Muslim invasion had been muted. The Copts had begun to hear how the Muslim treatment of the Christian population was easier than it had been under the authority of the co-Christian rulers in Constantinople (the Copts had been very wrongly assumed to be Monophysites by the authorities in Constantinople and had been persecuted accordingly).  Also, the financial burden of the jizya was reputed to be even lighter than the Byzantine taxes that had been levied on the Egyptians (although this benefit would disappear when the jizya was increased under the Umayyad dynasty which took control of Islam after 661). The fortress at (Egyptian) Babylon fell in 641 after a siege of several months and the capital Alexandria fell soon thereafter.  Amr wanted to make Alexandria the capital of his province, but Umar wanted a more inland location for the capital.  Amr picked a site along the eastern side of the Nile, built a mosque there, and laid the foundations for a new city (which would eventually become Cairo). Meanwhile from Egypt the Muslim armies pushed westward along the north African coast, taking the province of Cyrenaica (today's eastern Libya) in 643-644. The Battle of Nihawand (641) and the end of Zoroastrian Sassanid Persia.  Meanwhile over in Persia – by 641 Yazdgird had gathered a huge new army (approximately 150,000 troops).  But the two armies (the Muslims having only about 30,000 troops) met at a narrow mountain valley where Persia's greater numbers were useless.  Indeed Yazdgird had placed his army in something of a trap.  The results were ruinous and final for the Persian Empire.  100,000 Persian soldiers were lost and Yazdgird forced to flee into the Persian interior. Persian resistance henceforth became merely sporadic and ineffectual.  What was left of Persia at that point was presided over by a number of tribal warlords.  Yazdgird himself was assassinated in 652.  Sassanid Persia was no more, even though his son Pirooz attempted to keep the Sassanid line alive.  But Pirooz was unsuccessful and later died in China. The death of Umar (644).  As he was going to prayer in Medina, a Persian slave (possibly a former Persian military commander) was able to approach Umar and stab and kill him. Uthman (644-656) Uthman was chosen by a small committee (which included himself) and by confirmation of other opinion leaders to be the next caliph.  Once again Ali was passed over.  It was not an illogical choice (except to Ali's Shi'ites) for Uthman was a wealthy businessman, generous to the poor, a son-in-law of Muhammad, and a close advisor to Abu Bakr.  He would personally contribute immensely in putting the growing Islamic Empire on a sound political and economic footing. Uthman had been born into a wealthy business family, members of the influential Umayyad clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca.  He was introduced early to Muhammad and was one of the very first of Muhammad's followers.  He was reputed to have spent much of his wealth on the poor.  He married Muhammad's daughter, Ruqayyah – and the two of them were among the small group of Muslims to migrate to Ethiopia in the early days of the religion.  Here Uthman prospered as a trader.  The Ethiopian Muslims returned to Mecca two years later when they heard a rumor that the Quraysh had accepted Islam – which, when they reached Mecca, they discovered was not true.  But Uthman and Ruqayyah elected to stay in Mecca anyway.  Again, Uthman prospered as a merchant.  But they joined the group of muhajirun who migrated with Muhammad to Medina.  Here again Uthman prospered as a businessman.  But Ruqayyah died of smallpox during the Medina years (their son died soon thereafter).  He married Muhammad's second daughter, Umm Kulthum (who died childless sometime later).  He fought in a number of battles in securing Arabia for Islam.  Upon Muhammad's death Uthman served as a close advisor to his friend, the caliph Abu Bakr. Then when Umar became caliph he continued in that capacity. The conquest of North Africa.  With the death of Umar and the recall of Amr from Egypt, the Byzantine navy, directed by the newly installed Byzantine emperor Constans II, retook Alexandria (vital to the Byzantines as the shipping center for the all-important Egyptian wheat needed in the Empire).  Uthman directed Amr to return to Egypt where the Byzantines were defeated in a land battle in 646 – and took Alexandria soon thereafter.  After the withdrawal of the Byzantines from Egypt, North Africa declared itself an independent state reaching from Egypt in the east to Morocco in the west under king Gregory.  The next year (647) a Muslim army met Gregory's army in Tunisia and defeated (and killed) Gregory and his army.  With the promise of the North Africans to pay an annual tribute to the Muslims, it was decided simply to make North Africa a vassal state rather than an integral part of the growing Muslim domain. The conquest of some of the islands in the Eastern Mediterranean.  The Arab governor of Syria, Mu'awiya, who had wanted to take the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean since the era of Umar, was finally given permission by Uthman to build a navy and go after these islands.  Cyprus fell easily in 649, then Crete (also 649).  In 652 parts of Sicily fell to the Muslims – although they abandoned the island with the death of Uthman in 656. The advance against the heart of the Byzantine Empire.  In 646 the Muslims invaded Armenia and Cappadocia (southeastern portion of Asia Minor or today's Turkey).  In 648 they made their first raids against Phyrgia (central Asia Minor).  And in 650-651 they were deeply engaged against the Byzantines in Cilicia and Isauria (southern Asia Minor) – forcing Constans to negotiate a peace with Mu'awiya which gave the Byzantines something of a respite.  But in 654 Mu'awiya sent an army westward along the southern coast of Asia Minor – and his navy against Rhodes, a very strategic island just offshore of southwestern Asia Minor.  Constans sent out a fleet to meet the Muslims – but was badly beaten at the "Battle of the Masts." (500 Byzantine ships were sunk, with Constans barely escaping in disguise back to Constantinople).  The Mediterranean was now no longer the sole domain of the Byzantines. Advance deeper into Asia.  Upon Umar's death much of the former Persian Empire rose up in revolt against their Muslim conquerors.  Consequently, Abdur Rahman led a Muslim army into the eastern province of Sistan (eastern Iran and Afghanistan) and, breaking the resistance of fortified town after fortified brought the rebellion there to a halt.  He reached all the way to the Hindu Kush mountains, securing the key towns of Gazni and Kabul in the process. By the same process, but with different Arab commanders, Tabaristan (just south of the Caspian Sea), Dagestan and Azerbaijan (to the west of the Caspian Sea) were returned to Muslim domination.  The arm of Islam reached northeast even to Khorasan and Transoxiana (north of Afghanistan) and east to Baluchistan, Makran and the Sindh, all the way to the Indus River (Pakistan). Administration of the Islamic Empire (the Ummah) under Uthman.  The businessman in Uthman inclined him to want to put the newly acquired Muslim empire into the best order possible.  It was he who ordered that Muhammad's recitations be collected and organized into the Qur'an, giving it the structure that it still has to this day.  He organized the domain of Islam into twelve provinces and these into over 100 districts, each with a governor, chief judge and tax collector.  He appointed four of his kinsmen as provincial governors, raising a great controversy – some seeing this as a necessary measure in order to ensure unity of administration in the empire, others seeing this as a sign of corruption. Mounting troubles within Islam.  Uthman was of a gentler nature than his predecessors, and this also began to produce trouble, as it was interpreted by some as weakness – and as an invitation to revolt.  His rule brought great prosperity to Islam, but no discipline to the Arab's tendency to tribal strife.  Added to this Arab tendency was the restlessness of the Persian "converts" to Islam – a restlessness which seemed to take the channel of intense partisanship in what was becoming a major dispute between two Quraysh clans over the proper succession of caliphs since Muhammad:  the Hashemites, supporting Ali and his sons, and the Umayyads, supporting Uthman and his kinsmen.  Also, Uthman's decision to remove the formidable Amr as governor of Egypt and replace him with a kinsman of his made the Egyptians restless – as the new governor seemed more interested in collecting taxes than in offering Egypt good government. Rumors were spreading by mouth and by correspondence about Uthman's corruption and lack of proper governance.   In 654 Uthman called a council of governors to see if the issue could be resolved through some reforms.  While this satisfied much of the Ummah (Empire), it only emboldened Ali's Shi'ites all the more.  Uthman attempted to answer his opponents with sermons presented to a gathering during the Hajj of 655 and the next year in a sermon delivered in Medina.  But his quest for fairness hardly addressed the issue – since what was brewing was simply old-fashioned dynastic rivalry. By 656 Egypt and some of the other provinces were in rebellion.  A huge delegation left Egypt for Medina – intent on removing (assassinating) Uthman; other delegations arrived from Kufa and Basra in the East.  Each offered its support to one or another leader if they would seize the caliphate.   Ali turned down these offers of support in his taking control.  But the display of power effectively intimidated the population of Medina.  Seeing this, the rebels laid siege to Uthman's house.  The noose tightened day by day (A'isha, the most politically ambitious of Muhammad's 13 wives or concubines being a leader of the opposition) until finally a group of conspirators broke into Uthman's house and assassinated him as he was sitting studying the Qur'an. Ali (656-661) and the First Fitna (civil war) The position of caliph was offered to Ali.  But he at first refused it.  However, seeing civil strife looming he finally relented and accepted the position. But Uthman's Umayyad relatives were alienated by this whole crisis – and, refusing to accept Ali's election, moved to Syria.  A'isha, for reasons of her own, also was opposed to Ali's election. Ali's power base was very weak.  Foolishly, in taking office as caliph he removed a number of the officials that had been appointed by Uthman, angering the Umayyads deeply.  Then when Ali took no action to hunt down Uthman's assassins, this deepened the wound – and at the same time gave even his other political opponents the excuse to accuse him of being a co-conspirator in the plot (which he actually was not) – and thus subject to the law of retribution. The Battle of the Camel.  Soon a large number of anti-Ali Muslims (including A'isha) began to gather at Basra (southern Iraq).  Ali collected an army and went after them.  But instead of a battle, a lengthy and angry Arab negotiation process took place.  But to no avail – and the battle lines began to form.  Although Ali still hoped for a compromise, his troops were hot for battle.    A'isha watched from the back of a camel (thus the name of the battle) ... watched her forces get defeated by Ali's army.  The Arab slaughter of Arab was great and many long-time Muslims died in the battle.  A'isha was captured – but permitted by Ali to return to Medina. Mu'awiya organizes revolt.  But the battle did not really settle the issue for the Umayyads.  Mu'awiya refused to submit his Syrian governorship to Ali's authority – and full revolt was thus in effect.  Again, Ali approached the issue through negotiation.  Nonetheless the rank and file were eager for battle (and plunder) and full battle resulted.  Mu'awiya's soldiers were about to be routed – when the bright idea of putting pages of the Qu'r'an on the tip of their lances threw Ali's men into confusion. Ali's death (661).  Back to negotiation the process went and again Ali proposed compromise.  But this spirit of compromise of Ali's so infuriated some of his followers that a group of "schismatics" (Kharijites) themselves plotted his removal.  In 651, while Ali was praying in the mosque of Kufa, he was attacked by a Kharijite with a poisoned sword ... and died two days later. This group would come to be termed the Shi'a al-Ali or "Party of Ali."  We know them and their huge number of followers today as the Shi'ites THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY (661-750) The split with the Hashemites After Ali's death, the Muslim leadership gathered at Kufa (Iraq) and picked Ali's oldest son Hasan to be the new caliph.  But Mu'awiya, who at this point ruled not only Syria but also Egypt, declared himself to be caliph ... and marched his army to Kufa to challenge Hasan.  Money and promises of power offered by Mu'awiya gradually won the Kufi officers to his side.  Hasan was thus forced to surrender the title of caliph to Mu'awiya.  Hasan then retired to Mecca ... to live out his life there quietly.  At this point the Umayyad clan took over Islam as a ruling dynasty, one that would remain in power for the next century. Arab rebellions were shaking Arabia, so Mu'awiya received officially the title of caliph in Jerusalem rather than take the journey to Medina in Arabia ... and soon simply moved the center of Muslim politics to his own administrative center at Damascus in Syria.  At this point Damascus under the Umayyads became the new capital of the Islamic Empire ... and would continue to serve in that capacity for the 90 years that the Umayyads dominated the Ummah. The secular minded Mu'awiya Mu'awiya himself exemplified none of the spiritual virtues that pious Muslims looked for in their leaders.  Mu'awiya was more secular than religious in spirit.  Like his cousin Uthman, his rule was more about the business of running an empire than exemplifying the virtues of an Islamic holy man.  Consequently, he was both respected (by religious minorities) and hated (by Muslim purists) for his high sense of religious tolerance. But Mu'awiya was very effective as a political governor.  Under his rule the Empire or Ummah was brought certainly under a high degree of political order ... even with many politically experienced Byzantine Christians serving as advisors to Mu'awiya in the running of this huge empire.   Indeed, Mu'awiya showed both a high degree of tolerance toward Christians (and Jews) and at the same time a lack of interest in opening Islam to any but those of pure Arab ancestry.  In a sense he was making Islam a matter of special privilege for pure Arabs – something of a religious political aristocracy.  Actually, this move was motivated in part by the awareness that converts to Islam from among the Christian and Jewish population would no longer be required to pay the jizya.  To Mu'awiya it seemed more advantageous to have Christians and Jews as tribute payers than as converts! The Cultural Character of Islam under the Umayyads In general, locating the heart and nerve center to Syria's Damascus served to give Islam a much more cosmopolitan character.  The blend with Christian Byzantine or Roman culture became very obvious.  Mu'awiya was not a particularly religious individual but instead seemed to enjoy more the secular pleasures of being the powerful ruler of a vast empire.  He was a great organizer and succeeded in bringing to an end the Islamic in-fighting that had brought him and his party to power ... as well as making the office of caliph truly the powerful political center of the Islamic Ummah. Nonetheless, there remained an Arabic overlay to this social-political structure ... as the language itself gradually replaced the Greek and Persian first used widely in the administration of this new, vast empire.  Also direct Arabic descent became increasingly important as a matter of social status ... as muwali or converts from the ranks of the Greeks and Persians joined the Islamic faith.  Thus the muwali would find ways of taking on Arabic names in the intent of slipping into to the higher social status of the Arab Muslim.  This also, of course, allowed them to avoid the burdensome jizya imposed on the non-Muslims within the empire.   Indeed, under the Umayyads converts were even discouraged, so as to keep the status of being Arab Muslim a highly protected privilege ... and to keep the imperial revenues flowing.  Ongoing struggles with Byzantine Rome Meanwhile, Mu'awiya built the first Muslim navy (manned, interestingly enough, by Christian sailors), to guard the Muslim-controlled coastlines of the eastern Mediterranean against the powerful Byzantine navy ... and then to help expand Muslim control of numerous Mediterranean islands and extensive shoreline. In 674 he used his navy to advance on Constantinople and place a blockade against it ... and proceeded to attack the city over the next four years.  But finally Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV was able to use a new invention, Greek Fire, to destroy the Muslim navy ... at the same time defeating a Muslim land army with a huge loss of Muslim lives (30,000 men?).  The Muslims were thus forced to lift the siege ... and return to Syria. The humiliation of the Muslims brought the Byzantines to new heights of respect – even a treaty requiring the Muslims to pay an annual tribute in money and horses to the Byzantines – and allowing the Byzantines to recover lost territory in Armenia as well as to confront a number of other problem areas such as the Bulgars, who had invaded from the north). Some historians contest the idea that this event even took place ... although they acknowledge that something happened around this time – which allowed the Byzantines to bounce back in power and reclaim some of the territory lost to Islam. "The  fleet of the Romans setting ablaze the fleet of the enemies" Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid Yazid ... and the Sunni Shi'ite split As he approached 80 years of age, Mu'awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor or caliph.  The supporters of the Hashemite or Ali Party (the Shi'ites) were outraged.  This constituted the breaking of Mu'awiya's promise to pass the caliphate back to the Hashemites, to Ali's son Hasan ... but then to his younger brother Husayn if Hasan died or was unable to continue in command.   But Muslims in general were also concerned because, if Mu'awiya was not at all a religious zealot, his son Yazid fit the religious ideal of Islam even less ... much less, being something of a moral degenerate (wine, women and whatever).  Husayn When Mu'awiya died in 680 and Yazid moved to take leadership of all Islam, Husayn refused to submit to this arrangement ... protesting the violation of the earlier agreement.  At this point a fierce political battle began to develop between Yazid and Husayn ... with each moving to line up supporters in the face of the mounting contest for the position of caliph. In October of that same year, on his way from his home base in Arabia to the town of Kufa (his father's headquarters at Kufa still claiming to be the political center of Islam), Husayn's caravan was intercepted by Yazid's army at Karbala ... and Husayn and his entire family was captured and killed ... and Husayn's head was sent to Yazid in Damascus. The Sunni-Shi'ite split becomes permanent within Islam This treatment of the grandson of Muhammad was a shock to the Muslim community and weakened the stature of the Umayyads among most of the Arab community.  But no one seemed able to challenge Yazid ... who took control of the Islamic community. However, and even more significantly, Husayn's death gave the discontented Shi'ites a martyr, a distinct cause to lead them to identify themselves as separate from the rest of Islam.  In fact, Husayn's death date became a major Shi'ite holiday ... still celebrated to this day as a time of great mourning by all Shi'ites Islam at this point now split into two contending sub communities, Shi'ite (pro Husayn) and Sunni (those willing to accept ongoing Umayyad governorship) ... a split that would never be repaired.  From this point on there would be no going back to a spirit of unity within the Islamic world.  Shi'a Islam would permanently distance itself from the rest of Sunni or orthodox Islam.  And there would be no love lost between the two groups, as each considered the other an illegitimate offshoot of the Mohammedan legacy. The Islamic Ummah under the later Umayyads From their capital at Damascus in Syria, the Umayyad family would provide the world of Islam with 14 caliphs.  This period of Umayyad domination would be a time of strong organization ... and further expansion and consolidation of the Ummah. Abd al Malik and the formalizing of Islam (685 705).  But Yazid was not destined to rule long ... dying only three years later (683) ... and his position was eventually passed on to another Umayyad kinsman, Marwan.  But Marwan ruled less than a year before he too died.  At this point (685) the caliphate was put in the hands of Marwan's son Abd al Malik.   Abd al Malik would come to occupy in the life of Islam the same role that Constantine played in the life of Christianity.  He not only had the Qur'an edited into its final form, he also had the many social legal pronouncements of Muhammad collected to form the Hadith ... writings similar to the Jewish Talmud (a collection of commentaries on Jewish Law offered by famous Jewish scholars).  During his reign as caliph, Arabic replaced Greek as the language of the Umayyad court ... and rules were issued that carefully defined Muslim worship, as well as the norms of proper Islamic behavior. He built the gold domed mosque (Dome of the Rock) that sits atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (and dominates the city's profile) ... perhaps offering it at the time as the center of all spiritual or religious things Islamic (Arabic Mecca and Medina, though points of religious interest, had slipped in importance at that time). Walid (705-715).  When Abd al-Malik died (705), he was followed by his son Walid ... who ruled for ten years.  During that time Islam reached by way of conquest all the way West across North Africa and up into the Iberian Peninsula (Spain).  And in the East Walid extended and strengthened the Muslim position in  Khorasan and Transoxiana (involving most of today's 'stans' outside of Pakistan: Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc.), and Sind (across the Hindu Kush Mountains into the Indus River Valley of today's Pakistan) ... basically duplicating Alexander the Great's achievement in the East. The gradual loss of political support by the Umayyads.  Under Mu'awiya the Arab political habit of decisions by a council of equals and an easy accessibility of counselors to their sheikh had been maintained.  Yet as subsequent generations of Umayyads took over the caliphate, that Arabic trait would give way to an increasingly autocratic character in which the caliph ruled according to his own personal will, and that alone.  Furthermore, the later caliphs' autocratic rule would be maintained increasingly by simply the rigorous and even rough-handed policing of society by the caliph's army ... causing Islam to lose a great deal of Umayyad support previously coming voluntarily from the Muslims themselves. A failed attempt at conquering Constantinople.  in 717, the Arabs were able i to advance all the way up to the walls of Constantinople.  They were trying to take advantage of an internal conflict going on within the Byzantine Empire (rather typical of the times) between the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius III and his general Leo III the Isaurian.   However, the Arabs fared poorly in the venture.  The Byzantine navy was able to destroy the Arab navy, preventing the Arabs from isolating Constantinople ... key to bringing any well walled city to defeat.  Then a very hard winter set in on the Arab army, crippling it badly with famine and disease.  Then reinforcements sent by both land and sea to help the Muslims were likewise destroyed by the Byzantines.  Finally the next summer, the Muslims gave up the venture ... not only saving the Byzantine Empire, but leaving the Muslims with little desire to continue to pursue the venture (it would not be until seven centuries later that the Muslims would finally succeed in bringing Christian Constantinople under their grip). A rapid turnover in leadership.  After Walid, there had been a rapid succession of short-lived caliphs (al-Malik's brothers, sons, cousins or nephews) ... until Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik took the throne in 724 and ruled until 743.  But Hisham would have troubles in the West (defeat in France at the hands of Frankish leader Charles Martel at Tours in 732 and a Muslim Berber rebellion in Spain lasting from 740 to 743) ... and in the East from the rising power of the Abbasid dynasty, with its power-base at Kufa.   Ultimately, incompetence in the face of these challenges tarnished any saintly image still possessed by the Umayyad caliphate ... and would later (750) be used by the Abbasids to justify their rebellion against the Umayyads – thus ending Umayyad rule ... at least in the East. The Umayyads sided with Leo with the hope of using him to gain dominion over this last holdout of the Byzantine Empire.  But Leo used the Arab support instead to drive out Theodosius and then place himself at the head of the Byzantine Empire (which he ruled from 717 to 741). Go on to the next section:  The Carolingian Revival   Miles H. Hodges