All language subtitles for East to West 3of7 A Force from the Desert

(TURKISH MUSIC)

This is the untold story

of the making of the modern world.

A fresh perspective,

charting the spread of civilisation
across the globe.

From the dawn of mankind

and the first cities and empires...

to the belief in one God.

(Sings the call to prayer)

We follow the flow of civilisation

from the Middle East.

An extraordinary place
that has been a vital link

between the continents of Asia,
Africa and Europe for millennia.

An economic, scientific
and cultural centre of the world.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

This is an epic journey
of discovery...

from the east

to the west.

(MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER)

Mecca - the holiest city
in the Islamic world.

According to Muslim tradition,

this is the city where
the Prophet Muhammad was born,

the city where he first received
God's message,

the city which gave birth to Islam.

For over 1400 years

no non-Muslim
has been allowed to enter Mecca,

while it's been the duty
of every able-bodied follower

to pilgrimage here
and pay homage to God

once in their lifetime,
performing the hajj;

one of the five pillars of Islam.

(Man sings prayer)

In the last month
of the Islamic calendar

over three million Muslims still
perform this pilgrimage each year,

worshipping around the Kaaba,

the black stone which marks
the Muslim direction of prayer.

(Man sings prayer)

In the 21st century

Islam is the fastest-growing religion
on earth.

Over one and a half billion people,

23 per cent
of the world's population,

following the words
of the Prophet Muhammad.

This is the story of the events that
began this amazing global following.

Exploring the cultural heritage
of its first converts,

the nomadic Arab tribes,

who before Islam,
had conquered the desert

but had yet to change
the wider world.

Under Islam,
they were united under one banner,

transforming
not just the Middle East,

but the rest of the globe, forever.

Every year during the hajj

Pilgrims make an extra journey
to the outskirts of Mecca

to climb Mount Noor,

following the footsteps
of their prophet Muhammad.

According to Muslim tradition,
for the first 4O years of his life

the Prophet Muhammad, then simply
a merchant citizen of Mecca,

made the journey here
to reflect and escape,

disenchanted by the sinful lifestyle

of the urban populace below.

And it was here, 1400 years ago,

that his piety was rewarded when God
first revealed his message to him,

an event that would
change the world forever.

As he rested
on top of the mountain,

the angel Gabriel appeared to him,

three times instructing the Prophet
to recite the following words...

With this revelation
the call to Islam had begun.

The first of many which
the Prophet Muhammad would receive

throughout his life.

Revelations that would become the
basis of the holiest book of Islam,

The Koran.

It was following this revelation

that the Prophet Muhammad
began his mission

to spread the word of Islam,

sowing the seeds that would bring
the Arab tribes together

under one banner
for the first time ever.

(Men speak Arabic)

1400 years ago, they were united
under a new religion -

Islam.

For the first time, this gave them
the opportunity and drive

to become a global power.

(Speaks Arabic)

This incident
is one of the most momentous

in the history of world religion,

an event that would begin
to transform the cultural make-up

of the Arabian Peninsula forever.

(Speaks in Arabic)

Before Islam, for thousands of years,

the native inhabitants
of this desert region, the Arabs,

had lived
as separate groups of nomads,

governed by tribal rules and laws.

The first time the Arabs appear
in any sort of historical record

is in the victory inscriptions
of the Assyrian kings.

The Assyrian kings are the great
warrior kings of northern Iraq

from about 1000 BC onwards.

And the great thing
about the Assyrians

was that they put up monuments and
wrote about what they'd been doing

in this cuneiform writing
that we see here.

And in this one Shalmaneser Ill
in about 850 BC

is writing about his conquests
and he's writing about his allies

and people who fought with him.

One of these is Gindibu the Arab,

named as such
with 1000 of his followers.

We don't know anything more
than that about them

but this is the first time
the name “Arab"

appears in the historical record.

If we go on about 100 years

we actually get
the first visual images of Arabs

to be found anywhere.

This is part of a frieze,
it dates from 728 BC,

and it depicts a triumphant
procession of prisoners.

This time the Arabs
are on the wrong side

and here are the Arab prisoners,
definitely prisoners,

they've only got little
sort of skirts on,

they've been stripped
of their clothes,

they're bearded,
they've got long hair,

all these things
are probably accurate.

Look at the way they've got their
wrists tied behind their backs.

These people
are not having a good time.

And here...
we see the sort of things

that the Assyrians were taking
from these Arabs.

And the first thing are the camels,

the classic one-humped camels of
the desert that you still see today.

This is the chief sort of booty
that the Arabs have to offer.

It's interesting that what the Arabs
are contributing is their livestock.

There is no mention here
of fine textiles,

there's no mention of precious gold
and silver or anything like that

and there are no representations
of any buildings and castles.

They offer the simple products
of a pastoral lifestyle.

And even today, nomadic Bedouin
tribes still inhabit the desert,

living a remarkably similar lifestyle
to their ancient Arab forefathers.

(Urges camel on)

Although it wasn't
until the birth of Islam

that the Arab tribes began
to establish a unified culture

and make a global impact,

this tribal way of life,
travelling in small nomadic groups,

bonded by tribal laws and loyalties,

had enabled them not only to survive,

but to flourish, on the limited
resources which the desert offered.

The desert looks to us to be
incredibly harsh and inhospitable,

but properly managed by people
who knew what they were doing,

it could be a land of opportunity.

Caravans could be organised
to go through the desert

passing from one tribal territory
to another,

and to bring profits
to the people who organised them.

So it was a land
of economic opportunity.

For thousands of years

before Arab Muslims began to expand
their territorial domain,

the Arabian desert was already a key
trade route between East and West.

The region was perfectly placed
to profit from the passage of goods

between India, China,
Arabia and Europe.

It gave rise

to one of the most remarkable cities
of the ancient world,

on the edge of the Arabian desert -

Petra.

Today, Petra's ruins
give us a glimpse

of how the Arabs began to capitalise

on these lucrative
trade opportunities

and reveal their early attempts
to create an enduring civilisation.

What makes Petra unique

is that it combines two seemingly
paradoxical characteristics.

It's both hidden,

ringed by this huge range of
mountains that you see around you,

and it's also very accessible.

When you pass out to the east,
one enters a narrow passage

that takes you then
to a junction of trade routes,

through which one can access markets
to the north, Syria and beyond,

to the east, Iraq and Iran,
to the south, Yemen,

and also to the west
through a gap in the mountains here,

on to Gaza and the Mediterranean.

The Nabateans, an Arab people

who pastured herds of sheep and
camels in the eastern deserts here,

gradually took control
of these trade routes.

The first records of the Nabateans
date from over 2300 years ago.

Whilst they were still
a nomadic tribe

they established Petra
as a city tor their dead,

carving out over 800 tombs
from the rocky ravines.

But within 200 years,
their fortunes would change

as they accumulated vast wealth
from their monopoly

of the lucrative trade routes.

The Nabateans became wealthy

in particular because of
one product, namely incense.

Frankincense is only found in Yemen.

(LIVELY WIND MUSIC)

It was used very much
for dedications to the deities,

cremations...

Famously, Nero threw
3O pounds of incense

on the funeral pyre of his consort
Poppaea when she died.

By the time the frankincense gets
to the markets of the Mediterranean

you have to pay a fortune,

six gold coins
for each pound of frankincense.

A gold coin is something

an average person couldn't dream
of earning in a whole year.

The Nabateans cream off
a lot of the money from this.

With the revenue,
the Nabateans transformed Petra

from a city of the dead
into a living, bustling metropolis.

And as thousands of traders
from different cultures

passed through the city,

Petra drew on the cultural
traditions of its foreign visitors.

Its architecture combined
Greco-Roman influences

with designs from Ptolemaic Egypt,

and Babylonian styles
from ancient Mesopotamia.

In many ways
this is the uniqueness of Petra,

bringing together
of different traditions and ideas

from so many peoples.

The Nabateans had created
a cosmopolitan society,

drawing on the many cultures
they encountered through trade.

They were the first Arabs
to establish an empire.

But while their nomadic culture had
enabled them to conquer the desert,

they would never conquer
the wider world.

Despite their riches,
the Nabateans were never the masters,

always the servants.

Theirs was a commercial empire,

and in terms of politics and power
they were never fully in control.

1900 years ago
the Roman Empire spread east

and gained control of the region.

The Nabateans' fate
was totally in their hands.

So when the Romans redirected
the trade routes away from Petra,

the Nabatean glory days were over.

But their demise
didn't crush the Arabs completely.

As the new trade route
wound its way through the desert

another tribe took control
of the commerce.

With the wealth it brought them

they not only created
a new, equally lavish kingdom

but this time
one with real ambitions of power...

Palmyra.

Like Petra, Palmyra grew
into a thriving metropolis

with theatres and colonnades
influenced by the classical world,

which it had encountered
through trade.

For the first time in history

the world would get a brief glimpse
of a real Arab empire.

Superficially, it looks Greek
and Roman like Petra before it.

But Palmyra retained its
distinctly Arab and eastern identity,

revealed by the huge
temple complex at its heart...

not a temple to Greek or Roman gods,

but to the ancient Arabic god Baal,
the god of the sun.

Palmyra had entered a golden age.

And driven by its queen, Zenobia,

it had dreams of becoming an empire
to rival Rome itself.

But Zenobia underestimated

both Rome's determination
to control trade

and the strength of its legions.

(DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

The Roman forces invaded the city

and took Zenobia back to Home

where they paraded her
as a symbol of their victory.

(MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO)

Palmyra lay in ruins.

Its days as a thriving trade centre
had ended.

At both Petra and Palmyra

the Arabs had proved
that they could create great kingdoms

off the back of trade
through the desert.

But in both cases they had failed
to make a lasting impact.

And it would be another 300 years

before the Arabs' fortunes
would begin to change forever

at another city
on the caravan route...

Mecca.

Following the revelation of God here,

the Prophet Muhammad began his
mission to spread the word of Islam,

sowing the seed
that would unite all the Arab tribes.

And the Koran created further unity

with a strict set of doctrinal rules

governing every aspect
of Muslim lives

and giving them a common goal.

At its heart
are the five pillars of Islam.

By 630, Islam had gathered together
over 10,000 followers

but this was only the beginnings
of what would shortly become

a vast global following.

The desire to spread God's message

was central
to this burgeoning religion.

It was this that would help fuel the
early expansion of the Muslim empire.

Just two years after the death
of the Prophet Muhammad

this desire resulted in the Arab
Muslims' first major victory,

the taking of Damascus.

The manner in which they won over
both the city and its citizens

would set the style
for lslam's spread

over the next 100 years.

Damascus is said to be the
oldest continuously occupied city

in the world.

Its busy souk reflects its origins
as a thriving centre of commerce,

the terminus of trade with Mecca,

linking the Far East
with the Christian Byzantine west.

Damascus was the emporium, the rich
city in the minds of the Arabs.

And conquering Damascus

was probably a symbolic act
in terms of conquering Syria.

In 634 the Muslim army arrived
at the city's gates.

But taking this ancient capital
would be no mean feat.

Only 12 years after the birth
of the Islamic state

the Arab Muslim force
was still in its infancy.

(RAPID PERCUSSION MUSIC)

Yet it was about to be pitted
against a force

that had dominated the ancient world
for over 800 years.

We know that the Arabic army
that came into Syria

was made up of 12,000 soldiers,

ill-equipped, not having enough
horses, not having enough swords.

The Arabs not only faced
a formidable Byzantine army,

but one entrenched
in a heavily fortified city.

With the odds stacked against them

their generals were split
on how to take the city -

either by the sword
or through negotiation.

The military approach was personified
by Khalid lbn al Walid,

a warrior whose fearsome reputation
in battle

had already gained him the title
“The Sword of Islam...

He began to lay siege
to the eastern gate.

Khalid lbn Al Walid
is a man of action,

is really the very famous hero
of the Islamic armies

in the early years
of the conquest

and he and his division were here

at the eastern gate
of the city of Damascus.

Khalid lbn Al Walid was very keen

on conquering the city
with his sword.

But while Khalid lbn Al Walid
was spoiling for a fight

at the eastern gate of the city,

at the opposite gate
his fellow general,

Abu Ubaidah al Jarrah,
had different plans.

Abu Ubaidah al Jarrah entered into
negotiations on the other end,

probably
with the patriarch of Damascus,

and ultimately signed a treaty
or a truce

whereby the army
was let into the city peacefully

from the western gate of the city.

And the story goes that half
of Damascus was conquered by war

and the other half
was conquered by peace.

The ancient city,

that had been under the dominion of
the most powerful force in the West,

was now ruled from the East
by the East.

The old order was gone
and the balance of power had shifted.

Damascus had become home
to a new form of government

that would change the world.

(SERENE MUSIC)

Remarkably, although spreading Islam
was a prime motivation

for territorial growth,

the new Islamic rulers
didn't simply impose their beliefs

on the city's inhabitants,

most of whom were Christians.

There's evidence for this

in the history of one the city's
oldest religious buildings.

But when the Muslims conquered
the city in the seventh century,

they didn't take over the church
immediately

and build the Umayyad Mosque
we see today.

For many decades after the conquest,
it remained a church too.

Amazingly, the Muslims decided
to share it with the Christians.

Religious and cultural tolerance,
as well as military strength,

had characterised the Arab Muslim
conquest of Damascus

and it would continue to do so
as they maintained their expansion...

even when they set their sites
on another city

of major importance in the region.

It was a place
of little strategic value

but of huge religious significance
for every faith group in the region,

including the new Islamic state -

Jerusalem.

According to Islamic tradition,

this was where the Prophet Muhammad
was taken

on the night journey
by the angel Gabriel,

where he led the other prophets
in prayer and met with God.

Jerusalem was the Muslims' third
holiest city after Mecca and Medina.

The night journey in itself
is important

in Muslim practice and belief

because at that night
the Prophet Muhammad

according to Muslim views,
point of views, performed a prayer.

He was the Imam, the leader
of all the prominent prophets

like Isaac, Abraham, Jesus, Moses.

But at the beginning
of the seventh century

Jerusalem, like Damascus,
was ruled by the Byzantines.

As Christians they considered it
to be their holiest of cities,

at its sacred heart,
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

We are in front
of the Holy Sepulchre.

And according to Christianity,

Jesus Christ was crucified
and buried here, inside here,

in the middle of Jerusalem.

(Priests sing)

Just three years
after the fall of Damascus,

in 637 the Arab Muslim forces
arrived at the city's walls.

And as the Byzantine forces had
already been routed from Damascus,

Jerusalem couldn't rely
on any military backup.

Although Jerusalem held out
for four months,

its ruler, the patriarch Sophronius,

knew that his city's fate was sealed

and decided to surrender.

Sophronius had taken a huge gamble.

What would happen to the Christians'
most important city

once it was claimed by a force
who also held it so sacred?

Omar lbn al-Khattab
came to the Holy Sepulchre

because the patriarch
wanted to show him the church.

Then it was the time
for Muslim prayer

and he wanted to pray,

so the patriarch asked him
to pray inside the church

and he refused.

He refused because he told him
that in the future,

the Muslims will start saying

that Omar lbn al-Khattab
prayed here

and then they will claim the place

and they will change the church
to mosque.

Recognising the importance
of the church to Christians,

the Muslim leader,
the Caliph Omar,

decided to find
another location to pray,

finding his own place of worship

within just a few metres
of the Holy Sepulchre,

establishing the mosque
that today bears his name.

The Muslims were now in possession
of one their holiest cities.

And they could set about
celebrating the location

where the Prophet Muhammad
was taken on the night journey,

today marked by the oldest surviving
Islamic monument in the world -

the Dome of the Rock.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

When ordinary Muslim
visit the Dome of the Rock

the first act they will do,

they will do a prayer following
the steps of Prophet Muhammad.

So that really is so important

in Islamic creed and Islamic belief.

After the conquest of Jerusalem

the Christians were again
allowed keep their churches

and the Jews,
who under the Romans and Byzantines

had been banished from the city
for centuries,

were now allowed to return.

(Monk sings prayer in Latin)

Religious tolerance was core
to Islamic belief,

but it was also key
to the future success of the empire.

Acceptance into the new Islamic state
came at a price.

In return tor protection,

non-Muslims
such as Christians and Jews

had to pay a poll tax.

The taxes gained through conquest

not only ensured that the empire
could continue to grow,

but that it would have
the financial wealth to last.

And like the development
of every empire in history,

the direction of expansion
was very much motivated

by the potential riches on offer.

Nowhere in the world offered greater
rewards than their next conquest -

Egypt, the breadbasket of the region.

In 639, the Arab Muslim forces
arrived in the country.

The speed of their advance
was amazing.

They quickly gained control
of the Nile,

overcoming
its heavily guarded defences,

before advancing
on its capital Alexandria.

This was the port which had been
the main hub between East and West

for over 1000 years.

Within two years

Egypt was completely
under Arab Muslim control,

the Byzantines banished
from the region forever.

The Islamic state now set out
to maximise the riches

it could gain from the country.

One of the first buildings they made

wasn't dedicated to religion.

It was designed to calculate tax

and therefore fund their empire.

This is then Nile-ometer,

and this is probably

the oldest Islamic building
in Egypt.

The Nile-ometer is a device
that measures the water of the Nile.

Every year the Nile used to flood.

The water would come in
from this hole there

and the space that we're standing in
would be filled up

and the column
has all these measurements.

The unit of these measurements
is the cubit.

So every cubit,
you can see there's a section there,

and people would be recording this
all the time.

And this has to be monitored
every day

because it should always be compared
with the year before

and the years before.

If it gives you good Niles,
good level,

then everything will be okay.

You'll have good irrigation,
you'll have good crops,

you'll sell well,
you'll do good business,

people will pay taxes, no problems.

By monitoring the levels of the Nile,

the Islamic state could evaluate
each year's potential harvest

and therefore how much
they could tax the population,

maximising their financial rewards.

Because this wasn't
a smash and grab raid.

The Islamic state wanted to create
a lasting empire

and make sure that Egypt

would become the jewel
in that empire's crown forever.

The Arab Muslim army, who were
still mostly nomadic tribesmen,

now had to settle down to make sure
their presence was permanent.

And a few hundred metres
from the site of their first victory,

archaeologists
have discovered evidence

of the Muslims' very first settlement
in Egypt.

These brick buildings
are the remains of the houses

of the earliest Islamic settlement
in this area called Fustat.

This was originally the site
where the Arab army was based

and probably where their camp was.

And these garrison towns
are a kind of making permanent

of the army military camp.

One of the first things done

was the foundation
of the congregational mosque,

which was the key place
for the bonding

and the communal interaction
of this new religious community.

The rest of the city was laid out
by means of plots of land,

which were given
to the different tribal units.

And they were allowed then
to build up

their own areas of settlement,
their own facilities, their houses.

Smaller neighbourhood mosques
were built up within these plots

to serve the needs
of each tribe who settled at Fustat.

Basically the whole of Fustat
is a new settlement,

it didn't take over
any pre-existing settlements,

there was nothing here before,

a very unusual development
in the history of urbanism.

The Arab Muslim forces
had built a totally new capital

completely from scratch.

And what started off
as a small settlement, Fustat,

would eventually become Cairo,

today the biggest Arab city
in the world...

the city of 1000 minarets

with a predominantly
Muslim population

of around 15 million people.

As the Muslims' territories grew,

new distinctly Arab Islamic towns
began to evolve -

Baghdad, Basra, Mosul,

Fustat and Kairouan,

reshaping the landscape of Arabia
and North Africa completely.

Even today, the layout of towns
like Fez in Morocco

still reflect the character
and culture

of its early nomadic settlers.

(RHYTHMIC PERCUSSION MUSIC)

Fez captures the very essence
of what is an Islamic city.

When the city was first built

it was organised
into a number of neighbourhoods

and usually
there are a number of things

or a number of reasons
behind this organisation.

I would think tribal, ethnic,
or even religious affiliation.

Each neighbourhood
is self-sufficient

in terms of its basic needs -
for example, there is a fountain,

usually used for the population
of the neighbourhood

to fetch their water.

But this is also an act of piety,
to provide water for passers-by.

It would have a mosque.

Usually the mosque
in the neighbourhood

is smaller than the mosque
in the heart of the city

because it's used
for the five daily prayers

and usually on Friday
the people of the neighbourhood

would have to go to the main mosque
of the city.

A kuttab, which is basically
a place for learning for children

to teach them the very basic
of religion.

A number of shops but when I speak
of shops I'm talking

mostly about basic needs,
like convenience stores.

Usually each neighbourhood
would have an oven

for baking the bread
oi the neighbourhood.

These structured neighbourhood units
were the core of the new cities

which sprang up
across the Islamic empire.

The labyrinthine maze of streets
that linked them together

was quite different
from the open, gridded city planning

of the classical world
that had gone before.

The urban landscape
of the Middle East and North Africa

was changing forever.

By the late seventh century

the Islamic empire covered
vast territories

and it was now that their rulers
began to make a conscious effort

to create a single imperial identity

that would be needed to ensure
a lasting civilisation.

One of the first things they did
was to unify the language.

Arabic had always been
the language of Islam

but at first it wasn't used
as the language of administration

and each of the conquered territories
were administered

in their local tongue.

Now Arabic became
the official language of the empire.

As a consequence, today it is spoken
by over 280 million people.

(Man speaks Arabic)

Only 6O years
since the birth of Islam

the Islamic state
had spread its own language,

culture, and architecture

over a huge area
stretching from Persia

right through North Africa.

And now the Umayyad rulers
created the ultimate symbol

of their far-reaching power -

the first imperial mosque.

The Muslims stopped sharing
the building with other worshippers.

Christians were given
an alternative place to pray

and this ancient religious site

was transformed into the mosque
we see today.

The architecture and layout
of the Byzantine church

had formed the basis
of the first-ever imperial mosque.

Even the decoration on its walls
was inspired by the Byzantines.

But the architects had also created
something totally new,

a model
for all future great mosques...

a grand courtyard
where worshippers could gather...

fountains where they could wash
before prayer...

and prayer halls
focused on the mihrab,

the niche denoting the direction
of worship towards Mecca.

Architects and craftsmen
from across the empire

were instructed to visit
so that they could copy the design.

Further mosques began to spring up,

built not just as places of worship

but as lasting symbols
of the Islamic empire.

By the early eighth century

the empire now covered the whole
of the Middle East and North Africa

and it was about to spread
even further west.

Just eight miles
off the coast of Morocco,

across the straits of Gibraltar,

lay a whole new frontier
for the Islamic army... Spain.

Like Egypt before,

Spain's fertile lands
offered a new opportunity

to amass wealth
for the Islamic empire...

and it was in a state
of political turmoil.

In fact, it was ripe for the picking.

Spain at this stage was suffering

what seems to have been
a short-term political crisis,

but a political crisis nonetheless.

And the king, Wittiza, had died

and there was
a struggle for succession.

And this seems to have been
one of the reasons

why Spain performed so badly
when faced with what was probably

a much smaller number
of Muslim troops.

In 711 the Muslim army
conquered southern Spain

and the Umayyad caliphate
set up their capital at Cordoba...

in the new province
they called Al-Andalus.

They now set about stamping
their identity on the West...

building an imperial mosque

as magnificent
as any they'd created in the East.

This mosque is a mixture

of the Damascus Great Mosque,
the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus,

as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque
in Jerusalem,

not only in plan
but as well as in elevation.

But the similarities to the great
imperial mosques of the East

weren't just structural,
they were also in the details.

The walls of the magnificent edifice

were covered with glittering mosaics

taking their inspiration from designs

originating in the Great Mosque
in Damascus.

The decoration of the first part
of the mosque is very scarce.

It is not preserved of course.

But what is preserved
are the columns of the mosque...

this authentic forest of columns.

The effect oi this Islamic monument
on the Spanish population

was so profound

that even when Spain became
Christian again, 500 years later,

the new Christian rulers chose

not to destroy the Islamic presence
completely

but instead build their cathedral
right in the heart of the mosque.

Instead of demolishing the mosque,

the cathedral was established
in the middle of the mosque.

The people of Cordoba
didn't want the mosque to disappear

because they considered the mosque

the symbol, the emblem of Cordoba.

And that's how
the representation of Islam

became in fact
the representation of the people

of Cordoba and of Andalusia.

Islam had changed
the face of the globe forever.

The early Muslims
had not only conquered the desert,

they had conquered the East.

They had not only
transformed the West,

they had begun
to transform the world.

Arab people had sown the seeds
of a religion and culture

that would touch every country

and every corner of the earth
to this day.

And in the 21st century

over 1.5 billion Muslims,
23% of the world's population,

still pray towards Mecca,

the birth place
of the Prophet Muhammad.

The speed and ease of this expansion
was remarkable.

Within little more than 100 years

Islam had already spread
across vast territories,

creating one of the largest empires
in history,

an empire that was built
almost overnight

but whose legacy would endure
to this day.

Subtitles © SBS Australia 2012