How Did Calohate Take Over One Caliph At A Time

Arianna Bassil

Mr. Osmar

Middle Eastern History and Civilization—ASH1044

5 March 2015

Caliphate’s Taking Over—One Caliph At A Time The Encyclopedia Britannica defines a caliphate as, the political-religious state comprising the Muslim community and the lands and peoples under its dominion in the centuries following the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The three caliphates that ruled had a great deal of influence on Middle Eastern history, because they ruled from the time of Muhammad’s death in 632, all the way to their decline in 1258. During their first two centuries the Caliphates grew rapidly through conquest, to include most of Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Spain. These three main Caliphates were, The Rashidun, Umayyad, and Abbasid

The first caliphate, The Rashidun Caliphate, came about when Muhammad died. His followers had to decide who would be the next leader of their people. They decided that his successor should be from Mecca and someone who had supported Muhammad early on. Muhammad’s followers nominated his father in law, Abu Bakr, as his successor, and he took on the title as the first Caliph. He chose this title because it means successor to the messenger of god and messenger of the faithful. He then chose his successor, Umar, who wanted to find a way to unite everyone. He wanted to let hostages free, and put together a powerful empire and army to lead conquests of other empires—such as the Byzantines. He wanted to convert people to Islam, but as an excerpt from, “The Spoils of War” states, if you did not convert to Islam, you had to pay a tax, or jizya. Umar is remembered for bringing Arab tribes together through conquest, enriching the Islamic empire, and establishing a functional administrative regime. Before he was assassinated he created the Surah, which was a committee to select new Calpihs. They

A significant difference between the three caliphates was how they treated women. The Rashidun’s made it illegal for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man. In the Umayyad Caliphate, women had advantages and a higher status compared to the women of the Abbasid Caliphate. The women during the Umayyad Caliphate participated in a wide range of cultural and intellectual pursuits. However women during the Abbasid Caliphate lost status. An example of this loss of status would be how women had to wear the veil on their heads. Another major difference between the dynasties was how they treated Muslims and non-Muslims. Umayyad’s did not favor non-Muslims converting, and as such the numbers of Muslims did not increase in their one hundred year rule. But the Abbasid’s were more accepting of non-Muslims, which lead to a large increase in the number of Muslims around the world. One last significant difference between the caliphates was what was most important to them to achieve. The Rashidun’s were concerned with maintaining the unity of the Ummah, the Umayyad’s focused a lot on military expansion, while the Abbasid’s favored expansion of knowledge, as is evident from their golden age of science. They all had different ways to maintain control of their empires, which made them powerful in their own