Islam: a short history

Beginnings. The prophet (570-632)

The rashidun (632-661)

The first fitnah. Development. The Umayyads and the second fitnah

The religious movement

The last years of the Umayyads (705-750)

The Abbasids : the high caliphal period (750-935)

The esoteric movements. Culmination. A new order (935-1258)

The crusades

Expansion

The Mongols (1220-1500). Islam triumphant. Imperial Islam (1500-1700) - The Safavid empire

The Moghul empire

The Ottoman empire. Islam agonistes. The arrival of the west (1750-2000)

What is a modern Muslim state?

Fundamentalism

Muslims in a minority

The way forward.