Immediately after the death of the successor Ali in 661 CE, the Umayyad dynasty was founded. The Umayyad dynasty had a strong military that conquered both the east and the western parts of the Middle East at a slow rate. They conquered modern day Afghanistan, Africa, and Christian Spain. Arab Muslim army officers were the primary rulers of the caliphate. However, they enforced a bureaucracy to control their conquered and widespread territories. The Umayyads were not religiously tolerant. Non-Arab Muslims lived in rural areas and were required to pay a tax to the government. Although the government attempted to keep Muslim and non-Arab Muslim interactions at a minimum, it was unsuccessful. The government attempted to separate Muslims and non-Muslims to continue collecting tax money from the non-Arab Muslims. Interactions of the Muslims and the non-Arab Muslims resulted in a greater number of conversions to Islam. Despite the fact that some non-Arab Muslims converted to Islam, the government continued to levy property and special head taxes on them because they were considered “People of the Book”- Jews and Christians. The Umayyad segregation of non-Arab Muslims widened the centers of control, making it easy for non-Arab rebels to attack. In 740 CE, rebel forces attacked …show more content…
As the religion spread throughout the Middle East in the eighth and ninth centuries, it’s and practices became part of new, vast territories. In the late seventh century, the Prophet Muhammad died and the successors to his throne were decided. The Sunni and Shi’ite denominations were created and the Islamic Caliphates arose. The religion universalized as the Caliphates were formed an Islamic Golden Age was born. The intense culture of the Islamic religion spread throughout the region as the religion’s beliefs were spread through trade and conquest; forever altering the lives of those living in the Middle