ABSTRACT
The Umayyad era was comparatively fleeting, but it has a pivotal place in world history. Whatever the exact character of the West Arabian monotheism of the mid-seventh century, it is certainly the case that the religious tradition that became known as Islam was shaped decisively by the social and political developments of the Umayyad era. The mid-to-late Umayyad period perhaps saw the very beginnings of the formal transmission of the Hadith – the reports about the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions that in very different forms became important to both Sunni and Shi’i Muslims. Expansionist warfare in the Umayyad era built upon the initial conquests and settlements of the 630s and early 640s. The conquests of the Umayyad era came in two main waves, each following a hiatus caused in part by civil war within the Arabian elite.
