The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
This domain covers the two caliphates from 661 to 1258, their political systems, and the cultural shift from Damascus to Baghdad.
Umayyads (661–750)
- Mu'awiya founds the dynasty; Damascus becomes the capital; hereditary succession is introduced.
- Abd al-Malik: Arabized administration, coinage reform, and the Dome of the Rock (completed 691/692).
- Expansion: North Africa, Spain (711, Tariq ibn Ziyad), Sind (711, Muhammad ibn Qasim); Tours/Poitiers (732) checked expansion into Frankish territory.
- Internal tensions: Arab tribal rivalries, grievances of the mawali, and Karbala (680).
Abbasids (750–1258)
- Revolution aided by Abu Muslim; Battle of the Zab (750); Baghdad founded in 762 by al-Mansur.
- Harun al-Rashid and the Barmakids; civil war after his death; Bayt al-Hikma and translation under al-Ma'mun; the mihna.
- Fragmentation: Tahirids, Aghlabids, Fatimids (969), Buyids (945), Seljuks (1055); the Mongols sack Baghdad in 1258.
Worked example
Question: Why did the Abbasids win? Reasoning: they combined Khurasani military support, a broad appeal to mawali and Shia-linked sympathies, and Umayyad dynastic disputes; they did not win on religious legitimacy alone. Name Abu Muslim and the Battle of the Zab for credit.
Traps
- Naming Harun al-Rashid as Baghdad's founder.
- Placing the Dome of the Rock in the Abbasid era.
- Treating Abbasid decline as a single event rather than a long process of regional dynasties.