Islam in Asia

Introduction By the middle of the ninth century C.E., the Abbasid dynasty had begun to lose control over its empire. Rebellious states, military regimes, and religious dissenters broke apart the political unity of Islam. Mongol armies finally conquered the steadily diminishing Abbasid heartland in the 13th century C.E. Although the political unity of Islam was forever shattered, the last centuries of Abbasid rule witnessed a period of cultural creativity and the expansion of Islam into South and Southeast Asia and Africa. The Islamic Heartlands in the Middle and Late Abbasid Eras Introduction