why medieval period is known as Islamic period?
Answers
Islam was founded in the early 7th century by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Muslims believe that the Qur'an is God's ultimate revelation to mankind. Islam spread quickly through warfare and along the major trade routes of the old world, finding appeal with traders and travellers. The Islamic religion soon split; between the Sunni Muslims and the Shi'a. The Sunni religion is the majority (roughly 85% of Muslims belong to this sect), Most Shi'a live in modern-day Iran and Iraq. The Sunni-Shi'a split has been compared to the Catholic-Eastern Orthodox split of the Christian church much later in 1054.
Muslims quickly conquered the Christian countries of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Spain. The Christians were able to keep France and other European countries. Later Muslims took other countries such as Persia and India where they built the Mughal Empire. The Muslim Ottoman Empire eventually conquered parts of eastern Europe. The Muslims took hold of vast areas of land making them a superpower of the Middle Ages.
During the Early Middle Ages, Muslims achieved what is remembered as a golden age of knowledge. During these times of strife in Europe, Muslim caliphs gathered the ancient texts of the great empires (Rome, Greece, Egypt) and attempted to re-integrate that knowledge. During this time a Persian Muslim helped develop progress in algebra. The golden age of Islam ended with the Ottoman invasions in the 11th century.