Another group, the Kharijites, had arisen from events surrounding the assassination of Uthman, the third caliph, and the transfer of authority to the fourth caliph, Ali.

In the war between Ali and Muawiyah, part of Ali's army had objected to arbitration of the dispute.

They had left Ali's camp, causing other Muslims to refer to them as "kharijites" (the ones who leave).

The term Kharijites had also become a designation for Muslims who refused to compromise with those who differed from them.

Their actions had caused the Sunni community to consider them assassins.

Some Kharijites began to moderate their position in the eighth century.

Leaders arose who suppressed the fanatical political element in Kharijite belief and discouraged their followers from taking up arms against other Islamic leaders.

Kharijite leaders emphasized instead the special benefits that Kharijites might receive from living in a small community that holds high standards for personal conduct and spiritual values.

One of these religious leaders, or imams, is Abd Allah ibn Ibad (d. 708), whose followers found communities in parts of Africa and southern Arabia.

Some of Abd Allah's followers, known as Ibadis, became the leaders in Oman.

The prosperity of the gulf in the Islamic period continues to be linked to markets in Mesopotamia.

Accordingly, after 750 the gulf prospers because Baghdad becomes the seat of the caliph and the main center of Islamic civilization.

Islam brings great prosperity to Iraq during this period, thus increasing the demand for foreign goods.

As a result, gulf merchants roam farther and farther afield.

The Isma'ilite sect comes into being after the death in 765 of Ja'far ibn Muhammad, the sixth imam, or spiritual successor to the Prophet, who is recognized by the Shi'ites.

The term imam imam is used in the Koran to mean leader, guide, model, or sign, and, for Shiites, meaning only a descendant from Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad.

Most Shiites acknowledge Ja'far's younger son, Musa al-Kazim, as the seventh imam and will acknowledge his successors through the twelfth imam: these will become known as the Ithna 'Ashariyah, or Twelvers, the largest and most conservative of the Shi'ite sects.

Those who support his older, disinherited son, Ismail, become known as Ismailis; also Sabiyah, or Seveners, as they recognize Ismail as the seventh and last imam until the return of his son at the end of time.

Central Asia (820 – 963 CE): Samanid Renaissance, Oasis Roads, and Steppe Frontiers

Geographic and Environmental Context

Central Asia includes the Syr Darya and Amu Darya basins (Transoxiana), Khwarazm and the Aral–Caspianlowlands, the Ferghana Valley, the Merv oasis and Kopet Dag piedmont, the Kazakh steppe to the Aral littoral, and the Tian Shan–Pamir margins.

• A lattice of irrigated oases—Bukhara, Samarkand, Khwarazm/Urgench, Merv—was threaded by caravan tracks to Ferghana, Kashgar, and Nishapur.

• Beyond the canals rose the steppe and semi-desert zones of Oghuz and Kipchak pastoralists, linking the Aral–Caspian to the Volga and Black Sea worlds.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Warm–dry conditions with highly seasonal rivers (Syr/Amu); reliable irrigation made oases resilient while steppe pastures fluctuated with multi-year droughts.

• Snowmelt-fed canals in the piedmont and river deltas underwrote bumper harvests; dune movement and salinization required continuous maintenance of canals and fields.

Societies and Political Developments

• Tahirids (821–873) and Saffarids (861–1003) shaped the Khurasan–Sistan rim, but in Transoxiana the decisive power was the Samanid dynasty (819–999), ruling from Bukhara and Samarkand.

• Under Nasr II (r. 914–943) and Nuh I (r. 943–954), Samanid authority stabilized Transoxiana and Khwarazm, balancing tributary ties with steppe tribes and asserting Sunni legitimacy against Ismaʿili activism.

• Oghuz confederations along the Syr Darya gathered strength, controlling corridors toward the Caspian and brokering horses and slaves; Kimek–Kipchak groupings on the northern steppe grew more prominent.

• In the far east, Karakhanid tribal blocs in Semirechye/Ferghana began coalescing (mid–late 10th c.), foreshadowing a new Turkic sovereignty over Transoxiana after 963.

Economy and Trade

• Irrigated cereal and cotton agriculture flourished in the Zarafshan and Ferghana; orchards (apricot, grape, pomegranate) and silk weaving added value.

• Samanid mints at Bukhara, Samarkand, and Nishapur struck vast quantities of silver dirhams; these coins fueled the Volga trade to Bulghar and the Rus’, turning Central Asia into a monetary engine of the wider Eurasian economy.

• Caravan networks tied Merv–Nishapur to Rayy and the Iranian plateau, Bukhara–Samarkand to Kashgar and Khotan, and Khwarazm to the Caspian–Volga riverways.

• Exports: textiles, sugar, paper, fruit syrups, refined silver; imports: slaves, furs, amber, swords from the north; horses, jade, tea, and silk from China; aromatics and pearls via the Persian Gulf.

Subsistence and Technology

• Oases relied on canals and diversion weirs; in piedmont and delta zones, subterranean galleries (qanāt/kārīz) extended arable margins.

• Paper-making (Samarkand tradition), book copying, and dyeing workshops thrived; iron foundries produced tools and blades for both oasis and steppe markets.

• Steppe pastoralists fielded composite bows, lamellar armor, and remount herds; caravans and frontier garrisons purchased remount horses in quantity.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• The Transoxiana–Ferghana–Kashgar arc moved silk and jade west; the Khwarazm–Volga–Bulghar route moved dirhams and slaves north; the Merv–Nishapur–Rayy road linked to Baghdad and the Gulf.

• Seasonal steppe corridors along the Syr and lower Amu carried Oghuz/Kipchak herds and raiding parties toward oasis frontiers—regulated by tribute, markets, and punitive expeditions.

Belief and Symbolism

• Sunni Hanafi Islam anchored Samanid legitimacy; madrasas, mosques, and waqf endowments expanded in the oases.

• A Persianate renaissance flourished at Bukhara: Rudakī and court poets inaugurated New Persian literature in Arabic script; Arabic scholarship (theology, medicine, astronomy) circulated through libraries and paper markets.

• Ismaʿili missionaries operated in Khurasan–Transoxiana, but the Samanids suppressed them, positioning themselves as defenders of Sunnism.

• Among Turkic steppe peoples, Tengri sky worship, ancestor cults, and shamanic practices persisted alongside growing contact with Islam.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Oasis–steppe symbiosis—grain, textiles, and coin for horses, guards, and furs—reduced conflict costs and stabilized borders.

• Canal upkeep and salt management preserved arable land; caravanserai provisioning reduced risk on long hauls.

• Monetization via dirhams cushioned shocks by integrating Central Asia into Volga–Rus’–Baltic and Persian Gulf–Indian Ocean circuits.

• Frontier diplomacy (tribute, hostage exchange, intermarriage) with Oghuz and Kipchak leaders channeled steppe pressures into trade.

Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, Central Asia had entered a Samanid-led golden age:

• A Persianate cultural core (Bukhara–Samarkand–Merv) powered scholarship and literature,

• Irrigated oases turned river water into silk, sugar, and coin,

• Steppe gateways delivered horses and transcontinental partners, and

• The Karakhanids were poised on the Ferghana frontier, preparing to enter Transoxiana and inaugurate the next political cycle.

This age set the template for the region’s classic medieval pattern: Sunni–Persian urban courts, Turkic steppe military power, and caravan capitalism binding China, the Islamic world, and the North.

The Near and Middle East (820 – 963 CE): Abbasid Fragmentation, Local Dynasties, and the Maritime–Desert Frontier

Geographic and Environmental Context

The Near and Middle East extended from Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean through the Tigris–Euphrates basin and the Iranian uplands to the Arabian and Red Sea coasts and Gulf rim.
It included three linked zones:

• The Middle East—Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, the Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf littoral.

• The Near East—Egypt, the Levant, western Arabia, Yemen, Sudan/Nubia, and western Anatolia.

• Southeast Arabia—the incense-producing highlands and coasts of Hadhramaut and Dhofar, the Empty Quarter, and Socotra, the island midway between Arabia and India.

Together these regions formed the central hinge of Afro–Eurasian civilization: canals, caravan routes, and monsoon ports tied together the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Inner Asian worlds.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

The period fell within late-Holocene stability:

• Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley maintained fertile irrigation systems;

• Syrian and Anatolian uplands relied on rain-fed farming, sensitive to local drought;

• Arabian deserts remained arid but supported caravan mobility;

• Oases and wadis in Hadhramaut, Dhofar, and Oman sustained terrace farming and resin groves;

• Gulf fisheries and pearl banks flourished under consistent sea temperatures.

This steady climate sustained both agrarian production and long-distance commerce.

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Societies and Political Developments

Abbasid Caliphate and Regional Dynasties

• Baghdad, still the symbolic heart of the Islamic world, saw its authority erode under competing dynasties and governors.

• In Iran and Iraq, the Tahirids (Khurasan), Saffarids (Sistan), and Samanids (Transoxiana) rose to prominence.

• In 945, the Buyids, a Shiʿi-leaning Persian house, seized Baghdad itself, reducing the caliphs to nominal figureheads.

• Syria and Cilicia oscillated between Abbasid, Tulunid (868–905), and Ikhshidid (935–969) rule, with Byzantine–Muslim frontier warfare along the Cilician thughūr.

• The Caucasus saw the revival of Christian kingdoms: Bagratid Armenia regained sovereignty in 885, while Georgia’s Bagrationi princes consolidated their realms.

Egypt and the Levant

• Ahmad ibn Tulun (868–884) founded the Tulunid dynasty, asserting Egypt’s autonomy.

  • His capital near Fustat built monumental mosques and efficient fiscal systems.

• After Tulunid decline, the Ikhshidids maintained quasi-independent rule until the Fatimids seized Egypt in 969.

• Levantine ports—notably Tyre and Tripoli—prospered as glass, textile, and sugar centers.

• In western Anatolia, Byzantine control persisted along the Aegean, despite raids from Cilicia and Syria.

Arabia and the Gulf

• Eastern Arabia and Oman: The Qarmatians, a radical Shiʿi movement centered in al-Ahsa–Qatif, rose after 899, seizing Bahrain and attacking pilgrim caravans.

• Ibāḍī Oman endured as a theocratic state, its ports at Suhar and Qalhat linking the Gulf to India.

• In Yemen, Zaydi imams established authority in the northern highlands, while the southern Hadhramaut and Dhofar valleys thrived on frankincense cultivation.

• Socotra stood as a maritime crossroads where Arab, Persian, and Indian traders mingled with local Austronesian-descended seafarers.

• The Empty Quarter (Rubʿ al-Khali) remained the preserve of Bedouin tribes guiding caravans across vast, ungoverned sands.

Sudan, Nubia, and Christian Frontiers

• Makuria and Alodia, Christian kingdoms of the Nile south of Aswan, maintained independence through the Baqt treaty, trading slaves and gold for Egyptian grain and textiles.

• Armenia and Georgia to the north and Nubia to the south framed the Islamic heartlands with strong Christian enclaves, balancing the Abbasid world through diplomacy and trade.

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Economy and Trade

• Agrarian cores:

  • Iraq and Khuzestan: grain, dates, flax, and cotton under canal irrigation.

  • Egypt: Nile surpluses of wheat, barley, and linen textiles.

  • Yemen and Oman: aromatics, coffee precursors, horses, and pearls.

  • Syria and Anatolia: olives, vines, and cereals.

• Maritime commerce:

  • The Persian Gulf hosted fleets linking Basra and Siraf to India, Socotra, and East Africa.

  • The Red Sea tied Aden, Aydhab, and Jeddah to Egypt and Levantine ports.

• Caravan and overland routes:

  • From Tabriz–Rayy–Nishapur across Iran;

  • Mosul–Aleppo–Cilicia toward the Byzantine frontier;

  • Caucasus passes (Darial/Derbent);

  • Hadhramaut–Najran–Mecca incense road through the desert interior.

• Coinage and credit: Abbasid gold dīnārs and silver dirhams circulated widely; regional mints under Buyids and Samanids proliferated; merchants’ letters of credit (suftaja) streamlined long-distance exchange.

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Subsistence and Technology

• Canals and qanāt systems sustained Mesopotamia and Iran.

• Syrian norias and Yemeni terraces optimized water management.

• Shipbuilding: sewn-plank and nailed hulls; lateen sails enabled monsoon navigation.

• Craft industries: Egyptian linen, Levantine glass, Persian silks, Yemeni aromatics, and Anatolian wines defined the region’s artisan wealth.

• Military innovation: cavalry archery, heavy cataphracts, and fortified passes; the Cilician frontier became a laboratory of cross-cultural warfare.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Tigris–Euphrates canal system: arteries of Mesopotamian life.

• Nile River: the logistical spine of Egypt.

• Red Sea and Arabian Sea routes: joined the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via Aden and Socotra.

• Caucasus and Anatolian corridors: funneled trade between steppe and Mediterranean.

• Pilgrimage routes: Mecca and Medina connected the Islamic world through faith and exchange.

From the incense valleys of Dhofar to the ports of Tyre and Tripoli, these networks bound deserts, rivers, and seas into one integrated economy.

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Belief and Symbolism

• Islam: Abbasid orthodoxy persisted at Baghdad, but regional heterodoxies thrived—Qarmatian egalitarianism, Zaydi imamate in Yemen, and Ibāḍī autonomy in Oman.

• Christianity: Byzantium retained coastal Anatolia and Cyprus; Armenia, Georgia, Nubia, and Makuria remained vibrant Christian realms on Islam’s periphery.

• Judaism: thriving mercantile communities in Cairo, Fustat, and the Levant linked Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade.

• Pilgrimage and ritual: The Hajj unified Muslims across regions; incense rituals in Dhofar and Hadhramaut blended ancient practice with Islamic trade wealth.

• Socotra’s syncretism: Islam and Christianity coexisted with pre-Islamic traditions, embodying the cultural crossroads of the Arabian Sea.

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Adaptation and Resilience

• Decentralization allowed flexibility: Tulunid Egypt, Buyid Iraq, and Zaydi Yemen adapted governance to local needs.

• Hydraulic and maritime redundancy—multiple water and trade routes—buffered ecological shocks.

• Pluralism fostered resilience: Islamic, Christian, and Jewish communities often cooperated economically.

• Caravan–port symbiosis balanced overland and sea commerce, ensuring continuity even amid political fragmentation.

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Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, the Near and Middle East had evolved into a polycentric system:

• Baghdad remained the spiritual capital but shared power with Buyid amirs, Tulunid–Ikhshidid Egypt, Zaydi Yemen, and Qarmatian Bahrain.

• Christian Armenia, Georgia, Nubia, and Byzantine Anatolia endured as autonomous partners and rivals.

• Southeast Arabia and Socotra connected caravan deserts with Indian Ocean circuits, ensuring the region’s role as the commercial and religious nexus of the Old World.

This balance of fragmentation and connectivity defined the transitional centuries between the early Abbasid empire and the later Islamic golden age—an era of hydraulic empires, desert confederations, and maritime corridors linking Africa, Asia, and Europe in a single interdependent world.

Middle East (820 – 963 CE): Abbasid Fragmentation, Caucasian Kingdoms, and the Qarmatian Gulf

Geographic and Environmental Context

As defined above. Key zones: Baghdad–Tigris, Tabriz–Azerbaijan–Rayy, Caucasus (Armenia–Georgia–Azerbaijan), Cilicia and Syrian uplands, eastern Jordan, northeastern Cyprus, and the eastern Arabia–northern Oman–Gulf rim.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Stable late-Holocene conditions; productivity hinged on Tigris–Euphrates canals, qanāt belts in Iran, and Syrian rain-fed plains.

• Gulf fisheries and pearls flourished; steppe margins swung with rainfall.

Societies and Political Developments

• Abbasid Baghdad retained symbolic primacy while power devolved to regional dynasts.

• Iran–Iraq: Tahirids (Khurasan), Saffarids (Sistan) and Samanids (Transoxiana/Khurasan) pressed Abbasid frontiers; Buyids seized Baghdad in 945, creating a Shi‘i-leaning amirate over the caliphs.

• Syria & Cilicia: administered under Abbasid/Tulunid (868–905) and later Ikhshidid (935–969) governors; Cilician thughūr (frontiers) saw Byzantine–Muslim raiding.

• Caucasus: Bagratid Armenia restored kingship (885); Georgia consolidated under Bagrationi princes.

• Eastern Arabia–Gulf: the Qarmatians (from 899) dominated al-Ahsa–Qatif, raiding the Gulf and pilgrim routes; northern Oman maintained Ibāḍī polities and port autonomy.

• Northeastern Cyprus: intermittent Byzantine–Abbasid condominium and raiding base.

• Lebanon (north/coastal—Tripoli) prospered as a glass/textile port (southernmost strip excluded).

Economy and Trade

• Irrigated cores: Mesopotamian grain/dates/flax; Persian cotton/silk; Syrian cereals/olives.

• Gulf maritime: pearls (Bahrain/Qatif), horses, dates, and Gulf–India traffic via Hormuz’s precursors and Omani ports.

• Caravans: Tabriz–Rayy–Khurasan silk/horse routes; Aleppo/upper Syria to Jazira–Iraq.

• Coinage: Abbasid dīnārs/dirhams; regional mints proliferated under Buyids/Samanids.

Subsistence and Technology

• Canals & qanāt kept oases productive; Syrian norias; glass/textiles in Syrian and Lebanese workshops.

• Military: cavalry, composite bows; fortified Cilician passes.

Movement Corridors

• Tabriz–Rayy–Nishapur; Mosul–Aleppo–Cilicia; Baghdad–Basra–Gulf; Caucasus passes (Darial/Derbent); northeastern Cyprus as a coastal node.

Belief and Symbolism

• Sunni orthodoxy at Baghdad; Shi‘i Buyid patronage later in the century.

• Armenian/Georgian churches flourished; Ibāḍī Oman endured.

• Qarmatian heterodoxy challenged pilgrimage and Abbasid prestige.

Long-Term Significance

By 963, the Middle East was a polycentric field: Buyid Baghdad, Armenian–Georgian crowns, Ikhshidid Syria/Cilicia, and a Qarmatian-dominated Gulf—frameworks that would channel Fatimid, Seljuk, and Byzantine surges in the next age.

The Tulinids and the Ikhshidids have brought Egypt peace and prosperity by pursuing wise agrarian policies that increased yields, by eliminating tax abuses, and by reforming the administration.

Neither the Tulinids nor the Ikhshidids have sought to withdraw Egypt from the Islamic empire headed by the caliph in Baghdad.

Ahmad ibn Tulun and his successors were orthodox Sunni Muslims, loyal to the principle of Islamic unity.

Their purpose was to carve out an autonomous and hereditary principality under loose caliphal authority.

The Fatimids, the next dynasty to rule Egypt, unlike the Tulinids and the Ikhshidids, want independence, not autonomy, from Baghdad.

In addition, as heads of a great religious movement, Ismaili Shia Islam, they also challenge the Sunni Abbasids for the caliphate itself.

The name of the dynasty is derived from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Ali, the fourth caliph and the founder of Shia Islam.

The leader of the movement, who had first established the dynasty in Tunisia in 906, claimed descent from Fatima.

Under the Fatimids, Egypt becomes the center of a vast empire, which at its peak comprises North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Syria, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Yemen, and the Hijaz in Arabia, including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Control of the holy cities confers enormous prestige on a Muslim sovereign and the power to use the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca to his advantage.

Cairo is the seat of the Shia caliph, who is the head of a religion as well as the sovereign of an empire. The Fatimids establish Azhar in Cairo as an intellectual center where scholars and teachers elaborate the doctrines of the Ismaili Shia faith.

Missionaries of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam, in the closing decades of the ninth century, convert the Kutama Berbers of what will later be known as the Petite Kabylie region and lead them in battle against the Sunni rulers of Ifriqiya.

Kairouan falls to them in 909.

The Ismaili imam, Ubaydallah, declares himself caliph and establishes Mahdia as his capital.

Ubaydallah initiates the Fatimid Dynasty, named after Fatima, daughter of Muhammad and wife of Ali, from whom the caliph claims descent.

...conquering Sijilmasa in Morocco.

Missionaries of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam convert the Kutama Berbers of the Kabylie region to the militant brand of Shia Islam in the last decade of the ninth century and lead them on a religious war against the Sunni Aghlabids.

Kairouan falls in 909, and the next year the Kutama install the Ismaili grandmaster from Syria, Abdullah Billah, as imam of their movement and ruler over the territory they have conquered, which includes Tripolitania.

Recognized by his Berber followers as the Mahdi ("the divinely guided one"), the imam founds the Shia dynasty of the Fatimids, named for Fatima, daughter of Muhammad and wife of Ali, from whom the imam claims descent.

Merchants of the coastal towns are the backbone of the Fatimid state that is founded by religious enthusiasts and imposed by Berber tribesmen.