1. golden age
In pre-Islamic times the Arabian peninsula was a desert backwater, largely ignored by the rulers of the Sasanian empire. ... Driven by religious zeal and the desire for the spoils of war, they brought Muslim rule to Syria, Egypt, and what was left of the Sasanian Empire. ... Soon after this victory, Mu"awiya, a Syrian regional governor and cousin of Uthman, began a campaign against Ali to avenge Uthman's death. ... As the Empire grew to include more urbanized, cosmopolitan parts of the middle east such as Syria and Iraq, the Arabian peninsula came to be thought of as a desert was...