ABSTRACT
Islamic tradition records that just when his personal situation had reached this low point, Muhammad experienced in 620 the Isra and Miraj: two parts of a miraculous one-night journey. In the Isra, he was carried on a mystical winged horse from Mecca to “the farthest mosque”, later identified by Muslims with the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. One important aspect of these conquests can be found in the Muslim treatment of non-Muslims in the lands they occupied. All who believed in one God such as Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians were known as “People of the Book” and given dhimmi status under Islamic law. The son of Muhammad ibn Ali, Abu al-Abbas Abdullah al-Saffah, started asserting his right to become caliph in the 740s. Throughout Islamic history, different groups of Muslims have turned to charismatic leaders whom they identified as the Mahdi, acting on hopes of a messiah or deliverer shared by Muslims with Christians and Jews.
