Wednesday, January 16, 2019

The Umayyads: Damascus

A History of the Arab Peoples: Albert Hourani, c. 1991.

After the death (assassination) of the fourth caliph, huge changes for the Muslim Empire.
  • the Umayyads: Damascus
  • the coming to power by Mu'awiya (661 - 680) has always been regarded as marking the end of one phase and the beginning of another
  • the first four caliphs, from Abu Bakr to 'Ali are commonly known as the Rashidun or "Rightly Guided"
  • later caliphs were seen in a rather different light
    • first of all, from now on the position was virtually hereditary (as if it weren't under the four original caliphs -- though somewhat differently)
    • power was now in the hands for hte Umayyads -- ancestor was Umayya
    • capital of Islam moved to Damascus, Syria -- huge
    • the empire could be more easily controlled; Madina had been too remote
  • Muslim forces
    • west across the Maghrib; their first important base at Qayrawan in the former Roman province of Africa (Ifriqiya), in present day Tunisia
    • then westwards to Morocco by the end of the 7th century
    • then crossed into Spain
    • to the east, beyond Khurasan, reaching the Oxus valley
    • a new type of government was required
  • the Umayyads
    • differences
    • Calioph 'Abd al-Malik 9685 - 705)
    • new style of coinage; no more images; words alone; 
    • more important: creation of great monumental buildings
    • first places for communal prayer, masjid, hence the English word 'mosque' by way of the Spanish mesquita
    • succession of new mosques: Damascus, Aleppo, Madina, Jerusalem; later in Qayrawan, Cordoba, the Arab capital in Spain
    • Syria: a weak link for the Umayyads
    • cities of Iraq; further east: becoming the main strength of the Muslim community
    • similar process was taking place in Khurasan, in the far northeast of the empire
    • the rise of the imams
    • the expectation of the coming of a mahdi, 'him who is guided,' arose early in the history of Islam
  • dissident movements
  • interestingly, it was an army from Khurasan that drove out the Umayyads
  • the Umayyads were defeated in a number of battles, 749 - 750
  • the last caliph of the house of Amayyad, Marwan II, was pursued to Egypt and killed there
  • in the meantime, the unnamed leader was proclaimed in Kufa (south of Baghdad) -- he was Abu'l-'Abbas, a descendant not of 'Ali but of 'Abbas
  • and thus rose the caliphate of Baghdad, the family of Abu'l-'Abbas (749-754) 
  • next: the Abbasids (Baghdad(

No comments:

Post a Comment