This video popped up on You Tube. (Non Muslims can skip this. But it can be useful information.)
Here is their blog https://qurantalkblog.com/2024/10/14/non-arabs-mostly-persian-influence-on-sunni-islam/
My Comments : The writers say that after the death of the prophet in 632 AD, there were the four caliphs or Khulafa Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs). They were Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman and Ali. The fourth caliph Saidina Ali was 'succeeded' by Muawiyah in Damascus, Syria. So Muawiyah established the Umayyad caliphate, the first caliphate in Islam AFTER the end of the period of the four Khulafa Rashidun.
The Umayyad caliphate lasted for a very short time - only about 89 years from 661 AD till 750 AD.
In 750 AD the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasids who were based largely in Khorasan. At that time (before the advent of Islam) Iraq (and later Baghdad) was all part of the Persian speaking civilisation. Khorasan covered the area from eastern Iraq into Persia, Afghanistan and into the Indus Valley in India (Sindh).
The Persian general from Khorasan who played a crucial role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate was Abu Muslim al Khorasani. His real name was Ibrahim ibn Uthman ibn Yasar ibn Shadus ibn Judirn (but please feel free to argue these "facts" because I cannot vouch for them. This is what other people say. I also recall yet another name for Abu Muslim Khorasani but I cant locate it right now.)
Abu Muslim, originally from Khorasan was a key figure in the Abbasid Revolution that led to the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate. His leadership and military prowess were instrumental in the success of the Abbasid forces.
Abu Muslim's 20 year revolt against the Abbasids triumphed when the last Umayyad caliph, Marwān II, was defeated and killed (750 AD) and Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah became the first ʿAbbāsid caliph (749). Abu Muslim was given the governorship of Khorāsān in reward for his services. The ʿAbbāsids still depended on him to keep order, and Abu Muslim served his patrons well by defeating both internal and external enemies.
The Abbasid Caliphate which was the SECOND caliphate after the Umayyads lasted for 508 years from 750 AD until 1258 AD. This coincided with the Golden Age of Islam. The Abbasids were entrenched within a Persian speaking civilisation. The earliest Abbasid scholars like Abu Hanifa 700 AD - 767 AD (full name Nuʿmān ibn Thābit) were Persians. The latter Abbasid scholars like Imam Ghazali (died 1111 AD) were also Persians. So for 500 years the Persians dominated the entire spectrum of Islamic scholarship.
It is also to be noted that during the 500 years of the Abbasid Caliphate the earlier period of Islamic history from the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus was almost completely erased or wiped out.
There is hardly any reference to any scholarship or jurisprudence from the period of the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus (the 89 years from 661 AD till 750 AD).
It is largely the Persian scholarship of the Abbasid Caliphate that has formed the Islam that we know until today.
