Iraq

The Battle of Nahrawan (658 CE) was fought between Caliph Ali and the Kharijites who defected after the arbitration at Siffin. This battle marked the emergence of the Kharijite movement and led to Ali's assassination.

The Battle of Siffin (657 CE) was a major confrontation between Caliph Ali and Muawiyah that ended with controversial arbitration, marking a turning point that led to the emergence of the Kharijites and deepening sectarian divisions.

The unprecedented territorial expansion of the Islamic empire under Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-644 CE), which transformed Islam from an Arabian state into a world power spanning three continents through the conquest of the Sassanian Empire and much of the Byzantine Empire.

Founded in 638 CE as a military garrison, Kufa became one of the most consequential cities of early Islam — capital of Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, birthplace of the Iraqi legal tradition, a center of Arabic grammar and hadith, and the city where the Abbasid revolution was launched.