The Umayyads and the Abbasids (661–1258)
The two great Arab dynasties that succeeded the Rashidun caliphate gave Islamic civilisation its imperial form. The Umayyads of Damascus (661–750) transformed the Caliphate into a hereditary monarchy spanning from Sindh to the Atlantic. The Abbasids of Baghdad (750–1258) turned that empire into the cosmopolitan, Persianised culture of the Islamic Golden Age.
A polity headed by a Caliph, who claims spiritual-political successorship to the Prophet (PBUH). Unlike the Rashidun, the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates were hereditary, with one family monopolising the office for generations.
The Umayyads (41–132 AH / 661–750 CE)
After Hasan ibn Ali's abdication in 41 AH (661), Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan (r. 661–680) founded the Umayyad dynasty with the capital at Damascus. The Umayyad period falls into two phases:
- Sufyanids (661–684) — Muawiya, Yazid I, Muawiya II.
- Marwanids (684–750) — beginning with Marwan I after the second civil war (Fitnah) at Marj Rahit.
Key Umayyad Caliphs
| Caliph | Reign | Notable for |
|---|---|---|
| Muawiya I | 661–680 | Founder; capital at Damascus |
| Yazid I | 680–683 | Karbala — martyrdom of Hussain (RA) (10 Muharram 61 AH / 680) |
| Abd al-Malik | 685–705 | Arabicised the bureaucracy; first Islamic coinage; Dome of the Rock (691) |
| Walid I | 705–715 | Tariq bin Ziyad takes Spain (711); Muhammad bin Qasim takes Sindh (711); Qutaiba bin Muslim takes Bukhara, Samarkand (706–712); Great Mosque of Damascus |
| Umar II ibn Abd al-Aziz | 717–720 | "The fifth rightly-guided caliph"; tax reform |
| Hisham | 724–743 | Last great Umayyad; Battle of Tours (732) |
| Marwan II | 744–750 | Defeated by Abbasids at Battle of the Zab |
Expansion and culture
The Umayyads carried Muslim arms to their farthest medieval limits: Spain (711) by Tariq bin Ziyad, Sindh (711–13) by Muhammad bin Qasim, Transoxiana (706–12) by Qutaiba bin Muslim, and twice besieged Constantinople (674–78, 717–18). The Battle of Tours/Poitiers (732 CE) marked the high-water mark of Muslim expansion into France; Charles Martel defeated Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi, halting further northward advance.
Under Abd al-Malik (685–705), Arabic replaced Greek and Persian as the language of administration, the gold dinar and silver dirham were standardised, and the Dome of the Rock was built in Jerusalem (691). Under his son Walid I, the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus was completed (715).
The Abbasid Revolution (132 AH / 750 CE)
The Umayyad reliance on Arab notables alienated the mawali (non-Arab Muslims) and Shia partisans of the family of Ali. The Abbasid revolution — beginning in Khurasan in 747 under the propagandist Abu Muslim al-Khurasani — culminated in the Battle of the Zab (January 750), where the last Umayyad Caliph Marwan II was defeated and killed in Egypt later that year.
A single Umayyad prince, Abdul Rahman I, escaped to al-Andalus and founded the Emirate of Cordoba in 756, preserving a rival Umayyad line in Spain for nearly three more centuries.
The Abbasids (132–656 AH / 750–1258 CE)
The Abbasids moved the capital to Iraq, founding Baghdad in 762 under al-Mansur (r. 754–775). The dynasty's history falls into three broad phases:
- Golden Age (750–945) — Mansur, Harun al-Rashid, al-Ma'mun; the Bayt al-Hikmah and translation movement; Barmakid viziers.
- Buyid and Seljuk tutelage (945–1055; 1055–1194) — caliphs become political figureheads while Iranian Buyids (Shia) and then Turkish Seljuks dominate the centre.
- Final decay and Mongol sack (1194–1258) — direct caliphal rule briefly restored under al-Nasir; Hulagu Khan's army destroys Baghdad and executes the last caliph al-Musta'sim in February 1258.
- 661 — Muawiya founds Umayyad caliphate at Damascus.
- 680 — Karbala; martyrdom of Hussain (RA).
- 711 — Spain, Sindh and Transoxiana conquered the same year.
- 732 — Battle of Tours halts the Umayyad advance in Europe.
- 750 — Battle of Zab; Abbasids overthrow the Umayyads.
- 1258 — Hulagu Khan sacks Baghdad; Abbasid caliphate ends.
The Abbasid Golden Age
The reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786–809) and his son al-Ma'mun (813–833) mark the cultural climax. Harun's Baghdad was an imperial metropolis of perhaps half a million inhabitants; he exchanged embassies with Charlemagne and patronised the legendary Thousand and One Nights. Al-Ma'mun expanded the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah), where Syriac and Greek scientific texts were translated into Arabic and original advances were made by al-Khwarizmi (algebra), al-Kindi (Arab philosopher), al-Razi (Rhazes, medicine), al-Battani (astronomy) and later al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and al-Ghazali.
For FPSC, lock down four anchor dates: 750 (Abbasid takeover), 762 (Baghdad founded), 786 (Harun ascends), 1258 (Mongol sack). The Umayyad span is exactly 89 years in Damascus; the Abbasids lasted 508 years until the Mongol sack.
Decline and legacy
The Abbasid caliphate began losing peripheries early: the Aghlabids of Tunisia (800), the Tahirids of Khurasan (821), the Tulunids of Egypt (868), and the Samanids of Transoxiana (819) functioned as autonomous dynasties under nominal allegiance. The rise of the Fatimid (909) and Cordoban (929) caliphates ended Abbasid monopoly on the title. Saladin (Salahuddin Ayyubi) abolished the Fatimids in 1171, restoring Sunni allegiance to Baghdad. The Mongol catastrophe of 1258 closed the formal Arab caliphate; a shadowy line survived in Mamluk Cairo (1261–1517) until the Ottoman Selim I took the title in 1517.