History of Islam

April 2

According to legend, Islam have originated in A.D. 610, when Muhammad first said the 5 verses of the Holy Book. After that, he preached the new creed in secret for three years. The first 40 adepts who entrusted themselves and their fate to Allah were people close to the Prophet: his relatives and friends.

N.T. Khaziakhmetov “Ibn Fadlan reads the letter of the caliph Al-Muqtadir to Almush khan”, 1997 From the collection of the Kazan Kremlin Museum Reserve

In 613 Muhammad made his first public appearance in Mecca as the Prophet of the Most High. However, the local nobility reacted with hostility, forcing the Prophet and his companions to relocate to Medina after a while. The Prophet could no longer stay in Mecca for security reasons. The population of Medina at that time consisted of the Khazraj and Ausa tribes, who soon followed Muhammad and became the key and largest group of adherents to the new teaching.

By the end of the Prophet’s life, the first Islamic state was formed, occupying the entire area of the Arabian Peninsula. After the death of the Prophet in 632, the Righteous Caliphate was established. It was governed at different times by the caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ali ibn Abu Talib and Uthman ibn Affan. The territory of the newly formed state included the Arabian Peninsula, part of the Caucasus, the Iranian Plateau and part of North Africa. From the very beginning, the leaders of the Righteous Caliphate had to face the difficulties of the increasing number of apostasy cases. Generally speaking, the problem of apostasy was an issue during Muhammad’s lifetime, but with his death, the situation worsened. After successfully suppressing rebellions and subduing apostates, the Righteous Caliphate began successful wars of conquest beyond the borders of the Arabian Peninsula.

By 640 Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia had been added to the Caliphate, followed three years later by Egypt and Persia. The foundations of the Сaliphate’s political structure were laid by caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab. He was the one who introduced the new calendar (counting back from Muhammad’s Hijra to Medina), an effective system of taxation, and did a lot to centralize power.

In the XI-XVIII centuries, Islam became the dominant religion in Northern India and Indonesia. At the same time, Islam became widely known in the Black Sea region, Western Siberia, and the North Caucasus.

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