In 750 A.D., almost a century after the beginning of Umayyad rule, the Islamic world was shaken by a new sharp divide. The old dynasty was accused of excesses, nepotism, corruption and of betraying the egalitarian spirit of the Islamic religion. Against this backdrop of crisis, the Abbassid family, descendants of the prophet Muhammad's uncle, Al-Abbas, set out to conquer power, ushering in a new era for Islam.

The Umayyads were defeated by the Abbasid insurgency and the political centre of the caliphate was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, which became the new prosperous capital of the empire. Founded on the banks of the Tigris in 762 A.D., Baghdad became the largest city in the world at the beginning of the Dark Ages, a centre of commerce, science and arts of all kinds. It is no coincidence that the Abbasid era is remembered as the golden age of the Arab world, an era in which the sciences, such as medicine, but also more abstract subjects, such as philosophy and literature, flourished. The enlightened caliphs promoted religious and cultural tolerance and sought to peacefully manage coexistence between Muslims, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians.

This broad mosaic of cultures and populations was connected by the long caravan trade routes that linked the ports of the Indian Ocean to those of the Mediterranean. In particular, the Caliphate of Harun Al-Rashid (786-809) was famous for the splendour of his court, which surpassed all previous models. This caliph is also famous for the tales of the ‘Arabian Nights’, the book of fables set in the medieval Middle East.

However, the Abbasid power was not invulnerable and, after centuries of prosperous rule, the empire began to decline due to multiple factors: rebellious provinces and invasions by rival peoples. The coup de grace was dealt by the Mongol invasion of the hordes of Hulagu Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan), who besieged Baghdad in 1258, totally razing it to the ground and marking the end of the most prosperous era in the entire history of the Middle East.