This work provides a comprehensive description of Islam's long and dynamic history. It provides a survey of the history of the Islamic world and of Islamic civilization from the time of the Prophet Mohammed until the consolidation of the Ottoman Empire. Maps and detailed commentaries locate each Islamic region in its historical context, with special attention paid to Arabic developments in science, art, and literature. Timelines help readers place events, people, and developments in relation to one another. Coverage includes pre-Islamic Arabia, the life of the Prophet, rightly guided caliphs, the golden age of Baghdad, defeating the crusades, Persia and the Middle East, the spread of Islam, the rise of the Ottomans, and North Africa and Granada in the 13th to 15th centuries.