The Postclassical Period, c. 600 CE to c. 1450: 3.1: Early Islamic States (Sources 1–9)

Before Muhammad, Arab military contingents fought under the command of clan or tribal leaders. (Source 3)

They often failed to report to the battlefield, arrived late, or simply left the fight once they had captured sufficient loot. (Source 3)

Within the ummah there was no distinction between the citizen and the soldier. (Source 3)

All members of the community had an obligation to defend the clan and participate in its battles. (Source 3)

As Muslims, all members of the army were equally bound by the same laws, and all clan members and their chiefs were subject to the same discipline and punishments. (Source 3)

Muhammad was able to overthrow the old order and establish both a new religion and a new polity in Arabia. (Source 4)

As we have seen, no state had existed in northern Arabia before Muhammad’s time, and yet his success seems to have filled a yearning felt by tribesmen scattered over a vast area. (Source 4)

The superstructure would be built by subsequent generations of Muslims. (Source 4)

The early Muslim state or caliphate, first centered in al-Madīna and then in Syria, constituted one of the largest unitary empires that mankind has ever known. (Source 5)

As a result of this expansion, the Muslim [Umayyad] caliphate surpassed the Roman and Chinese empires in land area, perhaps being exceeded only by that of the Mongols in pre-modern times. (Source 5)

However, despite the enormous size of the [Umayyad] caliphate and the ideology of jihād that supported it, the universal caliphate did not endure for centuries like the Roman and the Chinese empires, but suffered a sudden and unexpected disruption after which it was never reconstituted. (Source 5)

However, despite the enormous size of the [Umayyad] caliphate and the ideology of jihād that supported it, the universal caliphate did not endure for centuries like the Roman and the Chinese empires, but suffered a sudden and unexpected disruption after which it was never reconstituted. (Source 5)

Because of this disruption [suffered by the Umayyad Caliphate], which began with the civil wars of 740–50 and culminated in the replacement of the Umayyads with the ‘Abbāsids, three major results emerged. (Source 8)

First, the political unity of Islam and the Muslims, which is strongly insisted upon in the Qur’ān, was immediately and forever sundered after 740. (Source 8)

Under the Umayyads, the Muslim caliphate had rarely concluded even temporary truces with non-Muslim polities; under the ‘Abbāsids, such truces would become frequent, leading in time to exchanges of embassies, and finally a diplomatic mosque in Constantinople. (Source 8)

[T]he ‘Abbāsids made only minor local frontier expansions, and otherwise suffered from continuous territorial losses to new, parochial Muslim entities that [previewed] the political division of the medieval Muslim world. (Source 8)

[T]he ‘Abbāsids made only minor local frontier expansions, and otherwise suffered from continuous territorial losses to new, parochial Muslim entities that [previewed] the political division of the medieval Muslim world. (Source 8)

Although the establishment of an Islamic government remained an ideal, respect for the actual rulers began to dwindle,…and the Muslim religious leadership became more and more dissociated from the government in fact, if not in theory. (Source 8)

The acceptance of this fundamental principle of racial equality helped the early sovereigns of the house of Abbas to build up a fabric which endured without a rival for over five centuries. (Source 9)

The Abbasid dynasty claim[ed] itself to be dawlah (a revolutionary state) and indeed it departed from the Umayyad dynasty in many ways. (Source 9)

The ascendancy of the Arabs was over and while the khurasanis became the caliph body-guards, the Persians occupied the key positions in the government. (Source 9)

This was natural because the rulers of the new dynasty had risen to power with substantial help of their Persian supporters. (Source 9)

The proximity of the new capital [Baghdad] to Persia further helped the non-Arab elements to occupy positions of eminence in the administration of the new caliphate. (Source 9)

The proximity of the new capital [Baghdad] to Persia further helped the non-Arab elements to occupy positions of eminence in the administration of the new caliphate. (Source 9)

As it is known, [the second Abbasid caliph] Al-Mansur was the first to adopt the Persian characteristic, in which he was naturally followed by his subjects. (Source 9)