Islam is perceived to many around the world as a religion of hatred and danger. But in reality, Islam is a religion that provides a beautiful culture that is shared amongst millions around the world. There are a multitude of stereotypes that shadow the individuals who practice this religion, prohibiting them from thriving and reaching their goals due to unreasonable fears created by society. There have been four periods in Islamic history that illustrate and show the extent to which the religion has had its significance on the world, and to how the religion is shaped today. These different periods of time truly show the evolution that people have gone through to get to what we know and understand in today’s day and age. These events include Prophet Muhammed and how he changed the way people study Islamic culture, as well as the year that Prophet Muhammed left this world.
The rise of Prophet Muhammed was a pivotal point in history. He was the one person that started the process of putting all the scriptures together to create what we know now as the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran is the holy book that all Muslims read and praise, therefore being the beginning factor to the creation of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad has allowed people to express themselves within their religion. The Prophet was a big believer in the idea that all Muslims should submit to the all reigning Allah. He preached to his people, who willingly came to hear him speak to the public, teaching them about Islam and the one person they should always obey by, Allah. Seen as a threat, in 622 the Prophet brought his followers on a long journey from Mecca to Madinah, making it the new capital of the Arab world. He was the one person that people trusted the most as he was essentially the individual that connected the Islamic faith to Allah. Aside from putting together the Qu’ran, the Prophet Muhammad established a month of fasting, which to this day is still globally known as Ramadan. Ramadan is a period of time where Muslims get to experience first hand what it is like to be someone at the bottom of the social class, therefore understanding what it is like not to have food and water readily available to them. This all sums up the amount of work and effort that the Prophet Muhammed put into this newly found religion, acknowledging everything that is still present in the religion and faith today.
The day that the Prophet Muhammad passed away was a day that was devastating to many. At the time of his passing, the Prophet had 4 caliphs that were picked to succeed him. The Sunnis believed that these 4 caliphs were the rightful guiders of the Prophet, but in 656 there were multiple conflicts that occured, that led to two civil wars within the Muslim community. As the wars continued, the Umayyad Dynasty was formed making their capital Damascus, modern day Syria. Until being overthrown by the Abbasids, the Umayyads ruled as caliphs until 750 C.E. Once having overthrown the Umayyads, the Abbasids took Baghdad as their capital but soon changed it to the Palace-city of Samarra in Iraq. Until 861, the Abbasids had lost control of large parts of what they built of their empire by multiple uprisings, therefore causing provincial governors to assert power for independence. After this event occurred, many regional dynasties in North Africa and Asia had started to pop up creating more artistic styles dedicated to that region. Revolving around individualism, Islam as we know it today would not be the same if these two civil wars had not occured. They were the two main events that started a chain leading to different parts of the world embracing the Islamic culture. The Middle East soon wasn’t the only Muslim area, creating a more cohesive and unified unit.
Due to many disapproving of the extremist group called the Ismailis, they were then forced to hide everything about their religion including their beliefs and what they stand for as a whole. The Ismailis hid from the public during the 800s and late 900s because of their fear of being completely overtaken and not being able to survive as a religion. This started a trend across the Muslim world causing all “cells” of the religion to go into hiding and not reveal that the religion still exists. One of these cells, however, decided to step up and go public amongst all Muslims, and begin their journey and goal for total domination of the Islamic world. After doing so, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah had appointed himself as a caliph within present day Tunisia. He was an individual that agreed with all Ismaili beliefs and customs, as well as claiming to be an Ismaili Imam. He is said to be related to the Prophet Muhammad through his Fatima, but no real evidence encourages anything that he had claimed before hand. In 969, the Fatimids were at the peak of their ruling being able to take over the 3 holy cities of Madinah, Mecca and Jerusalem. Not only were they able to conquer these cities, but they were able to conquer Egypt, taking the country away from the Ikhshidid Dynasty. They established Cairo as the city where the Emperor would stay in order to keep him from the public population. Many saw this as the Fatimids’ peak point of ruling the Muslim world. By the late 900s, the Fatimids had already taken over a majority of the Muslim world, allowing for maximum power and religion amongst the public. Scholars have said that this was the golden era of the Fatimids and that great religious tolerance was had over the public population. During this ruling era for the Fatimids, they were able to see Christianity and Judaism communities amongst the majority of Muslims. This was nothing new, as they were essentially following the reigns of other empires before them. This was a great thing to see, as different cultures were continuing to be accepted amongst Islam.
In the 1200s the Muslim world was starting to look “attractive” to outsiders as this was a period in time when all things corrupt left the Islamic world. This didn’t last long before the Mongols came and started a ruthless empire amongst the Islamic world. Unlike other Muslim tribes, the Mongols never decided to establish one major tribe, but instead created small groups across Northern China. Constantly at war with Southern China, the Great Wall of China was built to keep the Mongols away from precious villages. Not only did they feud with Southern China, the Mongols decided to go against the Turkic and Tatar tribes. All feuding came to a halt as soon as Genghis Khan came to power in 1206 as being the head leader of the Mongols. During his 21 year long reign, Khan was able to unite many Mongol and Turkic Tribes. By attacking borders into Persia, Khan was able to make his way through Europe, attacking much of Russian territories as well as central Europe. Genghis Khan was the type of ruler that would use terror and fear to conquer new lands. If tribes were against him and the Mongols, he would initiate a massacre across the whole territory killing everyone and everything. At one point, he killed around 1,000,600,000 people in Herat, present day Afghanistan. Khan and his followers soon worked their way into the Arab world, creating major ripples in time. Their attempt to conquer all Muslim territories and the religion itself failed, therefore creating a deep and profound impact on the Islamic World.
In conclusion, Islam as we know it today would not have come to be if four major events did not take place. These four events divided Islamic history into four distinct periods, which make it the powerful religion that it is today. Despite its stereotypes, the religion will always prove to be a religion of strength and power to all, as it has been through tremendous ups and downs throughout the centuries. Its evolution from the birth of the Prophet Muhammed to its current state of peace and global interaction will always prove the religion’s true power and importance.