THE ARAB CONQUESTS

In 11/632 the Prophet died, leaving unsettled the question of succession. The dispute over governance was resolved in favor of Abū Bakr, a distinguished Meccan of senior age who had adopted Islam when Muḥammad was still preaching his new religion in the city. Abū Bakr's short tenure as caliph, however, allowed him to accomplish little more than to quell the so-called apostasy rebellions that erupted among the Arab tribes upon the death of the Prophet. By the time of his death in 13/634, order was restored, the tribes having been largely subdued. With this reassertion of Islamic dominance over the entire Arabian Peninsula, the nascent state emerged all the more powerful, with a reinforced assurance of its military strength and religious conviction.

The consolidation of the military and political standing of the young state permitted ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (ʿUmar I), the second caliph, to undertake intensive military campaigns directed mainly at the Syrian and Iraqian north, ruled, respectively, by the vassal kingdoms of Byzantium and Sasanid Persia. During the two decades of this aggressive and dynamic caliph's rule, much was achieved, in terms of both military expansion and administrative organization. From a historical perspective, his reign was arguably the most momentous of all, for it predetermined the success of the Islamic state enterprise that laid the foundations for the civilization that was to come.