The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire - Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen

Trace the rise and fall of the Islamic Empire, from the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century to the sacking of Baghdad.

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In the 7th century CE, the prophet Muhammad united the people of the Arabian Peninsula through the formation of Islam. Over the next 30 years, caliphs conquered vast areas beyond Arabia, including their mighty neighbors the Persians and Byzantines. But an empire this vast was at risk of conflict and fracture. Petra Sijpesteijn and Birte Kristiansen detail the rise and fall of the Islamic Empire.

Lesson by Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen, directed by Elahe Baloochi, Fardi Mahmoodi.

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[mrmiah]

I do appreciate the effort made and the respect shown to Islam as a religion and belief by covering/not showing the faces of the Prophet (PBUH) and his successor. Thank you.

[abdullahmuhammadfaathir]

"In one week, libraries and their treasures that had been accumulated over hundreds of years were burned or otherwise destroyed. So many books were thrown into the Tigris River, according to one writer, that they formed a bridge that would support a man on horseback" (Harris,  History of Libraries in the Western World 4th ed [1999] 85).

[mr.m]

As an Arab it's great to see a video about our history. Not overgloriefied by our school books. And not vilified by media.
Edit:Mf's ok :"as a Muslim..." happy now?

[TEDEd]

Though most maps are drawn in ink, their borders and names are constantly shifting. For the purposes of this animation, we chose to refer to the important cities of the Islamic Empire by their most commonly used English and Farsi names. But keep in mind that many of the places mentioned in this lesson have a variety of names in multiple languages. Share what name YOU refer to these cities by below!

[abouttime]

This is very thoughtful. Not only did they get a narrator that can pronounce these names accurately but they were considerate about not drawing faces of the prophet and specific companions. Well done!

[ganaspin]

To think that Damascus was once the capital of a powerful empire! It's really sad to see the situation the city and Syria as a whole were brought to nowadays.

[MaskedManMikeMD]

Thank you for the first part depicted with respect, fact and non-bias . If I asked my dad, he'd get carried away with the shiah perspective of what happened. If I asked others, I get the sunni view, and everyone gets carried away with the politics. I just wanted to know what happened. Thanks!!!

[muhammadrizkyst]

as a Muslim I feel so sad knowing how this happened.
"Destruction starts from Corruption".
We should learn from history so we can create a brighter future

[Sid-mjqf]

After Fire of Alexandria library and the destruction of Nalanda university, the siege of Baghdad is another painful moment in history, Think how much information we lost with it...

[tahasajid]

Don't you love it when they actually pronounce it as Islam and not "izlam" and Muslim not "muzlim" ? Kudos to ted ed for telling the unbiased history.

[CryBabiey]

This is the first time I’ve seen a video like this pronouncing the names in correct Arabic pronunciation

[micahbush]

An interesting aspect that the video didn't touch on was the role political infighting had on the Crusades. The region was already in uproar when the first Crusaders arrived, and had there not been so much division, it's unlikely that the poorly-organized European armies would have enjoyed as much success as they did.

[ulama]

In my honors department here at the University of Toronto we learned of the amazing love and respect Adam Smith (Father of Capitalism) had for Islam. In fact, reading his essays he very much respected the Caliphs as 'Magnificent Princes' whom restored the sciences etc of Europe. He gives heavy credit to current success of Europe and the West (Economically) to Islam and Islamic civilization.

[ChanwooPark-mewc]

중세 이슬람 제국에 대한 내용 잘 봤습니다. 중세 역사는 매우 흥미로운 점이 많은 것 같습니다. 최근에 이런 역사 동영상을 보며 역사 공부를 하고 있는데, 참 유익하고 좋은 것 같습니다. 좋은 영상 감사합니다!

[kevin]

Was hooked up on the "Arabian nights" trend on tiktok and has started to research aladdin and all the 1001 nights stories and arabian culture all in all and ted ed uploaded it just about now!.. this is so timely and in sync for me 😮🤯

[trisha]

I hope we can get more videos about earlier civilizations (especially within Asia) because it's more fun to learn history with the animation and narrations.

[joermnyc]

The sack of Baghdad is right up there with the loss of the library of Alexandria, so much written knowledge was lost, possibly forever.

[moneyprinter]

im so happy that they covered the face of the prophet. That's really respectful for muslim viewer.

[philipsullivan]

The tree motif is awesome.

And I love how the map looks like it may have at the time. A small but incredible detail.

[rhmw]

Again: what a great overview of an important empire/culture in world history. A few suggestions that I would find interesting to see: the Frankish empire/Charlemagne, the Han dynasty and ancient Egypt!