The previous articles centered on the origins of Shiite Islam and its political history to examine the Shiite basis for ...

These novels blend the substantiated with the surreal, offering new ways to understand the past through magic, monsters and ...

Supporters of the Islamic State march in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014, the year the militant group declared a new caliphate in Iraq and Syria. (Associated Press) Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow in the ...

Meanwhile, the Abbasid Caliphate faced an unexpected and serious problem: a massive insurrection that broke out in Mesopotamia near Basra, led by a self-proclaimed descendant of Muhammad who was ...

The succeeding Arab caliphates ruling the Muslim world for over six hundred years from Damascus and Baghdad, the Umayyad caliphate (661-750 C.E.) and the Abbasid caliphate (750-1258 C.E.), met the ...

Several caliphates have been declared throughout history, including the Abbasid caliphate of the ninth century, which dominated the Arabian peninsula as well as modern-day Iran, Iraq and ...

The Mongols invade the Middle East. In 1258, General Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, kills Al-Musta’sim Billah, the last Abbasid Caliph.

They ruled for 500 years and led the Islamic world into a golden age. Then in a single siege, Baghdad was reduced to ruins and the caliphate was no more.

The Abbasid Caliphate covered 4.29 million square miles of land - more than 7% of the earth's landmass. The empire had an unknown population number in 750 and claimed Baghdad as its capital.