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Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia

Muslim conquest of Persia
Part of the Muslim conquests
IslamicConquestsIroon.png
Map of Persia and its surrounding regions on the eve of the Muslim invasions
Date 633–654
Location Mesopotamia, Caucasus, Persia, and Greater Khorasan
Result Decisive Rashidun victory
Territorial
changes
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire
Caucasian Albania (633–636)
Arab Christians (633–637)
Kanārangīyāns (633–651)
Ispahbudhans (633–651)
Hephthalites (651–654)
House of Mihran (633–651)
House of Karen (633–654)
Dabuyids (642–651)
Rashidun Caliphate
Kanārangīyāns (after 651)
Commanders and leaders

The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, led to the end of the Sasanian Empire in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia.

The rise of Muslims coincided with a significant political, social, economic and military weakness in Persia. Once a major world power, the Sasanian Empire had exhausted its human and material resources after decades of warfare against the Byzantine Empire. The internal political situation quickly deteriorated after the execution of King Khosrau II in 628 AD. Subsequently, ten new claimants were enthroned within the next four years. With conflict erupting between Persian and Parthian factions, the empire was no longer centralized.

Arab Muslims first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when general Khalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia (Sassanid province of Asōristān; what is now Iraq), which was the political and economic center of the Sassanid state. Following the transfer of Khalid to the Byzantine front in the Levant, the Muslims eventually lost their holdings to Sassanian counterattacks. The second invasion began in 636 under Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, when a key victory at the Battle of Qadisiyyah led to the permanent end of Sasanian control west of Iran. The Zagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Due to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered a full invasion of the Sasanian empire in 642, which led to the complete conquest of the Sasanians around 651. Directing from Medina, a few thousand kilometres from the battlefields of Iran, Caliph Umar's quick conquest of Iran in a series of well-coordinated, multi-pronged attacks became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist.


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