The Islamic Civilization is today and was in the past an amalgam of a wide variety of cultures,

made up of polities and countries from North Africa to the western periphery of the Pacific Ocean,
and from Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.

The vast and sweeping Islamic Empire was created during the 7th and 8th centuries CE, reaching a
unity through a series of conquests with its neighbors. That initial unity disintegrated during the
9th and 10th centuries, but was reborn and revitalized again and again for more than a thousand
years.

Throughout the period, Islamic states rose and fell in constant transformation, absorbing and
embracing other cultures and peoples, building great cities and establishing and maintaining a vast
trade network. At the same time, the empire ushered in great advances in philosophy, science, law,
medicine, art, architecture, engineering, and technology.

A central element of the Islamic empire is the Islamic religion. Varying widely in practice and
politics, each of branches and sects of the Islamic religion today espouses monotheism. In some
respects, the Islamic religion could be viewed as a reform movement arising from monotheistic
Judaism and Christianity. The Islamic empire reflects that rich amalgamation.

Background

In 622 CE, the Byzantine Empire was expanding out of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), led
by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (d. 641). Heraclius launched several campaigns against the
Sasanians, who had been occupying much of the Middle East, including Damascus and Jerusalem,
for nearly a decade. Heraclius' war was nothing less than a crusade, intended to drive out the
Sasanians and restore Christian rule to the Holy Land.

As Heraclius was taking power in Constantinople, a man named Muhammad bin 'Abd Allah (c.
570–632) was beginning to preach an alternative, more radical monotheism in west Arabia: Islam,
which literally translates to "submission to the will of God." The founder of the Islamic Empire was
a philosopher/prophet, but what we know of Muhammad comes mostly from accounts at least two
or three generations after his death.

The following timeline tracks the movements of the major power center of the Islamic empire in
Arabia and the Middle East. There were and are caliphates in Africa, Europe, Central Asia, and
Southeast Asia that have their own separate but aligned histories that are not addressed here.

Muhammad The Prophet (570–632 CE)

Tradition says that in 610 CE, Muhammad received the first verses of the Quran from Allah from
the angel Gabriel. By 615, a community of his followers was established in his hometown
of Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.

Muhammad was a member of a middle clan of the high-prestige Western Arabic tribe of the
Quraysh, However, his family was among his strongest opponents and detractors, considering him
no more than a magician or soothsayer.

In 622, Muhammad was forced out of Mecca and began his hegira, moving his community of
followers to Medina (also in Saudi Arabia.) There he was welcomed by the local followers,
purchased a plot of land and built a modest mosque with adjoining apartments for him to live in.