Listen now | In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a conversation with Michael Cook about the history of the Muslim world. They discuss Islamic civilization from origins to modernity, early antecedents before Islam, genesis of Islam, and the Prophet Muhammad and his creation of a monotheistic religion and state. They discuss succession after the death of Muhammad and the caliphate, the Umayyid dynasty, the Abbasid dynasty, and how important Islam and the Arabic language were for an Islamic civilization. They talk about the origin of the Turks, Bilga Qaghan, Turks being pagan and interacting with Islam, and the three ways the Turks spread out of the Steppe. They discuss the Mongols and their relationship with Islam, the Seljuk dynasty, the safawid dynasty and the impact of Shiism. They also talk about the Ottoman Empire and their administration and integration of other cultures. They discuss India,