The following is a list of Muslim empires and dynasties. It includes states, empires and dynasties with an Islamic foundation or other Muslim majority states ever to exist.

In the centuries after the life of Muhammad, Muslim armies poured out into all surrounding Areas, bringing the lands from Persia to Spain under their control. With this huge amount of land under their control, the Umayyad (and latter, the Abbasid) Caliphates allowed merchants and scholars to travel easily through western Eurasia, bringing goods and knowledge which the Muslims greatly expanded upon through the Caliphate and outward to less advanced regions, such as Western Europe. In 751, papermaking from China made its way to the West through Muslims. Trade introduced Islam to the Africans. In the Middle East, the success of Islam meant that culture would be changed forever. Even after the decline of the Abassid Caliphate, Islam would remain as one of the base institutions of the region. Future states of the region, such as the Safavid, Seljuk, and Ottoman and Mughal Empires, were all "Islamic Empires".