Expansion of Muslim Rule

Section 3

Key Terms

7.2.4

• Discuss the expansion of Muslim rule through military conquests and treaties, emphasizing the cultural blending within Muslim civilization and the spread and acceptance of Islam and the Arabic language.

Background Knowledge

• When Muhammad died in 632, Islam was limited to the Arabian Peninsula. Within a one hundred years, Muslims had conquered a vast territory.

• In this section, you will learn more about the expansion of Muslim rule and how it changed over time.

• caliphate: government rule of a land by a caliph

• Ali (Ali Ibn Abu Talib): Muhammad’s cousin and fourth caliph. Shiites believed he should have become the first caliph.

• Umayyad: This caliphate established Islam’s first dynasty and led the empire to its greatest size.

• treaty: a written agreement between countries or peoples (ex. People accepted Muslim rule in return for certain rights).

• Abbasids: the caliphate that replaced the Umayyad, moved the capital to Baghdad, and elected their leaders.

• Abu al-Abbas: first Abbasid ruler (the “slaughterer”) who was tolerant of non-Muslims in the empire.

• Baghdad: new capital created by the Abbasids, which became the center of a golden age of art, science, and learning.

• Fatimid’s: Shiite group that seized control of Egypt, took control of N. Africa and the Mediterranean world, and were tolerant of Christians and Jews.

• Ottoman Empire: Turkish state that captured Constantinople, conquered the last of the Byzantine states, and spread Islam to its greatest height.

• Sultan: name of a Muslim ruler