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| | History of Islam (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21) |
 | | The next three caliphs were all relatives of the prophet, but were succeeded by another household of the same Makkan tribe, a change not universally accepted, leading to the major schism in Islam between the Sunnites (in the majority) and the Shiites (in the minority). |
 | | The new household was the first major caliphate dynasty, the Umayyads, who conquered the Sassanian empire (Persia) and the southern Byzantine provinces as far as Spain. |
 | | Thus there was a revolution in 750, and a new dynasty, the Abbasids, took the caliphate, marking the transition to a more settled empire and a, disputed, golden age. |
| hallencyclopedia.com /History_of_Islam (1858 words) |
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