I've meant to write more about Israel and the Middle East at large since the Oct 7th attacks, but life is busy, you know? Still the subject matter continues to be pertinent and of massive interest to me, so better late than never.
In looking at the well-underway conflict between Hamas and Israel, mostly confined to the Gaza Strip, I want to go back, way back, to the beginning of Islam. At this time, the 600s AD (or CE), the Arab people were native mostly to the Arabian Peninsula, containing modern-day Saudi Arabia and a few other countries. In the following 100+ years the religion was spread, by Arabs, far and wide. These can now be referred to as the Early Muslim Conquests and are the reason the Arab world is so large today.
In the lead up to 600 AD the major powers in the Near East were the Eastern Roman Empire (the 'Byzantines') and the Sasanian Empire (or 'Second Persian Empire'). The Byzantines, based in Constantinople, did not fall with the Western Roman Empire and in fact survived until the later Crusades (1204), though with dwindling power. The Sasanians saw themselves as a revival of the Achaemenids (the Persians of Darius and Xerxes that fought ancient Greece) and created a dominant period in Iranian history. The Roman-Persian border wars, on-going for centuries, escalated in the 500s/early 600s and left both empires significantly weakened. This is the large-scale political situation into which Islam appeared.
Muhammed was born around ~570 AD and lived in/near Mecca (in current day Saudi Arabia). Islam dates to 610 when he claimed to be visited by the angel Gabriel and received his first revelation. In 622 Muhammed and a small group of followers moved to Medina, where he soon united the city's clans and created a form of Islamic government with himself at its head. In 629 an army of 10,000 took Mecca by force. Muhammed died in 632 with most Arabians already Muslim converts. So far we're only about 20 years into Islam.
The successor to Muhammed was the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661), a political-religious state under the rule of a single man, a 'caliph.' It's important to understand the caliph supposedly represented and led the entirety of Islam. This next leader, from Muhammed's inner circle, was elected in 632 amid some rebellion amongst the converts at large. Over 29 years, under four elected caliphs, the Rashidun Caliphate pacified and consolidated power in the Arabian peninsula while also conquering a wide swath of territory including the Levant (by 641, Jerusalem in 638), Egypt (by 642) and Persia (by 651). In fact it was the final end of the once great Sasanian Empire. The Rashidun Caliphate ended in 661 following about five years of civil war and the assassination of one of its caliphs. This is when the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims became permanent, with a major difference between the groups being how the caliph should be chosen (elected by Muslims or chosen by God). We are now about 50 years in.
Following the Rashiduns was the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750), headed by a once rival Meccan clan. This caliphate moved its political base of operations from Arabia to Syria (specifically Damascus), recently taken from the Byzantines, and eventually functioned like a hereditary monarchy. What didn't change was rule over the rapidly expanded Muslim world (though this wasn't a simple matter) and continued outward conquest. The caliphate successfully went west through Africa and even crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to take Iberia. Encroachment into Europe was stopped at the famous Battle of Tours (732), won by Charles Martel and his Frankish knights. Expansion to the east included gains as far as modern day India and Kyrgyzstan. It was a massive empire that led to the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age in the late 8th century. We'll stop here, about 140 years in.
Simply put, Islam exploded in the first 100+ years of its existence and forever changed the world. Arabs, the predominant Muslim people group at the time, trounced the decaying old world Roman and Persian empires and spread out to culturally dominate everywhere west of Persia: the Levant (Israel, Syria etc.), Mesopotamia (Iraq) and north Africa (Egypt, Libya, Algeria and more). The effects of this are still felt today, the Arab world has largely been the same shape ever since (1300 years!). It's an essential building block in understanding the Middle East.
Before I wrap this, you may be wondering about the gap between the 600s and the Crusades, beginning in 1095. It was indeed 400+ years between the Muslim capture of the Holy Land and the first attempt by Christians to retake it. Apparently under the caliphates discussed above Christians and Jews were generally tolerated in the conquered territories, though paid a tax that didn't apply to Muslims. (Such tolerance did not occur in Arabia.) It was the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century who upset a relatively stable political situation. Christian pilgrims reported mistreatment following their capture of Jerusalem in 1071, the Byzantine Emperor sought military aid and the Pope wanted to make his mark. So began 200 years of Holy War.
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