Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyad Dynasty was a significant ruling family in early Islamic history, seizing control of the caliphate in 661 CE following the assassination of Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. This marked the end of a period of civil strife within the Muslim community. The Umayyads relocated the capital from Medina to Damascus, which became the center of their expansive empire. Under Caliph Muawiyah I, the dynasty sought to establish a hereditary rule, leading to further civil unrest. Despite these challenges, the Umayyads successfully expanded their territory across North Africa into Spain and eastward into regions like Afghanistan and Turkistan, promoting a centralized administration and adopting Arabic as the language of governance.
The dynasty's approach to governance included imposing taxes on non-Muslim subjects while allowing for the practice of their faith, resulting in a diverse society as many non-Arabs converted to Islam. The Umayyad rule was marked by significant religious and philosophical debates, particularly with the emergence of Shīʿism, which contested their legitimacy. Ultimately, in 749 CE, a coalition led by the ʿAbbāsids initiated a revolutionary movement that culminated in the overthrow of the Umayyads, ending their reign and altering the course of Islamic leadership.
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Umayyad Dynasty
Related civilization: Arabia.
Date: 661-751 c.e.
Locale: Arabia, the Middle East, Egypt, North Africa, Spain
Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyad (oom-I-yuhd) family seized the Islamic caliphate after the murder of Caliph ՙAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in 661 c.e., ending the 657–661 c.e. Muslim civil war. The Umayyads promptly moved the capital from Medina to Damascus. In 682 c.e., when Caliph Muՙāwiyah I sought to make Umayyad power dynastic, another civil war erupted. After 692 c.e., with the dynasty victorious, the Umayyads continued the Muslim Conquests and pursued territorial expansion and domestic consolidation. Arab armies swept westward over North Africa and into Spain and east into Afghanistan and Turkistan. Umayyad caliphs created a centralized bureaucracy, an official currency, and a tax code; made Arabic the language of government; and planted new garrison towns to supervise their Arab horsemen.
Ruling as champions of Islam, the Umayyads did not compel the conquered to become Muslims but forced non-Muslim subjects (dhimmi) to pay special taxes. Thousands of Persians, Berbers, and other non-Arabs embraced Islam, and these converts (mawali) came to outnumber the Arab Muslims. The regime’s often heavy-handed rule stimulated Islamic religious and philosophical controversies. For example, Shīՙism rejected Umayyad claims to Islamic legitimacy and created its own distinctive vision as a spiritual and political alternative. In 749 c.e., a political and religious coalition led by the ՙAbbāsids unleashed a revolutionary movement (749-751 c.e.) that finally overthrew the Umayyads.
Bibliography
Hawting, G. R. The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate, a.d. 661-750. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Kennedy, Hugh. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. New York: Longman, 1999.