Birth of Islam
The people of Mecca didn’t take to Muhammed’s preaching at once; in fact, they forced him to leave Mecca, says tradition, in 622. This ‘flight’ (‘hegira’) is the starting-point for the Muslim lunar calendar.
Setting up housekeeping in Medina, Muhammed organized a religious common- wealth which over ten years became so powerful that it could challenge and conquer Mecca (624-630). Before Muhammed died two years later, the Muslims (adherents of lslam) had begun the conquest of other Arab tribes.
The story of militant Islam is one of history’s most astounding tales. Fifty years after the Prophet’s ignominious flight from Mecca, the armies of Islam were threatening the walls of Constantinople (669-678), having conquered everything and everybody from there to Mecca, plus Persia and Egypt. The Arabic Muslim empires that followed these conquests were among the world’s greatest political, social and cultural achievements.
Muhammed was succeeded by ‘caliphs’, or deputies, whose job was to oversee the welfare of the Muslim commonwealth. His close companions got the job first, then his son Ali. After that, two great dynasties emerged. The Umayyads (661- 750) based their empire in Damascus; the Abbasids (750-1100) in Baghdad. Both continually challenged the power and status of Byzantium.