Umayyad Caliphate
Umayyad Caliphate | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 661–750 | |||||||||||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||||||||||
.svg) The Umayyad Caliphate at its greatest extent | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | |||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Arabic | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Islam | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Hereditary caliphate | ||||||||||||||||
| Caliph | |||||||||||||||||
• 661–680 | Mu'awiya I (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 744–750 | Marwan II (last) | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
| 661 | |||||||||||||||||
| 750 | |||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||
| 720 | 15,000,000 km2 (5,800,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | |||||||||||||||||
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The Umayyad Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الأموية), also known as the Umayyad Empire, was the second Islamic caliphate, ruled by the Umayyad dynasty (Arabic: بنو أمية, Banu Umayyah). It was founded by Mu'awiya I, with Damascus as the administrative capital. After the Abbasid revolution, the Umayyads established the Emirate of Córdoba (756-929) in Al-Andalus, followed by the Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031).
By the mid 8th century AD, the territories of the Umayyad Caliphate spanned across three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe). The Umayyad Caliphate was the largest empire in the world at the time, and the fifth largest empire in history.
Origins
According to tradition, the Umayyad family (also known as the Banu Abd-Shams) and the Islamic Prophet Muhammad both have a common ancestor, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Muhammad descended from Abd Munaf via his son Hashim, the Umayyads descended from Abd Munaf via a different son, Abd-Shams. The two families are therefore considered to be different clans (those of Hashim and of Umayya, respectively) of the same Arabian tribe (that of the Quraysh).
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the grandson of Umayya, was initially opposed to Muhammad. He tried to get rid of the new religion by waging a series of battles. But eventually he accepted Islam, as did his son (the future caliph Mu'awiya I), and the two provided much-needed political and diplomatic skills for the management of the quickly expanding Islamic empire.
The origins of Umayyad rule date back to the assassination of Caliph Uthman, a member of the Umayyad clan, in 656. Ali, a cousin of Muhammad, subsequently became the caliph. He was soon met with resistance from the Uthmaniyya, who sought to avenge Uthman's death. The resulting conflict, which lasted from 656 until 661, is known as the First Fitna ("time of trial").
After Ali's assassination in 661, Mu'awiya compelled Ali's son Hasan to abdicate. Then he moved the capital of the caliphate to Damascus. Syria would remain the base of Umayyad power until they established an emirate in Cordoba, which also became a centre of science, medicine, philosophy and invention during the Islamic Golden Age.
Notes
- ↑ Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994-01-01). The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām Ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-9683-1.
- ↑ AL-Ajmi, Abdulhadi, The Umayyads, in Muhammad in history, thought, and culture: an encyclopedia of the Prophet of God. 2 vols, edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014. ISBN 1610691776
- ↑ Bulliet, Richard W (2002). "The Second Umayyad Caliphate: The Articulation of Caliphal Legitimacy in al-Andalus (review)". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 33 (2): 341–343. doi:10.1162/00221950260209156. S2CID 146340535. Project MUSE 16400.
- ↑ It is the third largest contiguous empire and the third largest empire by percentage of world population (33.5%)
- ↑ Rodríguez, Manuel Lozano (19 June 2023). Bioethics of Displacement and Its Implications. IGI Global. ISBN 9781668448090.
- ↑ Haberl, Ferdinand J. (22 March 2023). Jihadi Intelligence and Counterintelligence: Ideological Foundations and Operational Methods. Springer. ISBN 9783031247446.
- ↑ Most historians consider Caliph Mu'awiya I (661-80) to have been the first ruler of the Umayyad dynasty, as he was the first to assert the Umayyads' right to rule on a dynastic principle. While Caliph Uthman (644-56) was also descended from Umayya, he never named an heir, and cannot be considered the founder of a dynasty.
References
- Previté-Orton, C. W (1971). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Further reading
- G.R. Hawting, The first dynasty of Islam: the Umayyad caliphate, AD 661-750 (London, 2000).
- H. Kennedy, The Prophet and the age of the caliphates: the Islamic Near East from the sixth to the eleventh century (London, 1986).
Other websites
- Ummayad Lineage Chart Archived 2006-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Ummayads Archived 1997-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Umayyads - First caliphate dynasty[permanent dead link]