The Umayyad Caliphate changed the face of the Islamic world forever through military expansion, creating a huge empire. Some saw their dynasty (661 - 750 C.E.) as a golden era, while others critiqued the caliphs as secular compared to their pious predecessors. The Umayyads were more concerned with expanding and administrating the territory of the Islamic world than they were with spreading the word of God or converting people to Islam. Whichever viewpoint you agree with, it's hard to deny that the Umayyad empire was a transformational period in Islamic history.
Caliphate
A political-religious state governing the Islamic community in the centuries following the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Caliph
The rule of a caliphate. The caliph is seen as a successor to the Prophet Muhammad as the religious and temporal leader of the Islamic people.
Umayyad Empire Definition
The Umayyad Empire (661 - 750 C.E.) was one of the major political and cultural centres of the early medieval era. The Umayyad caliphs governed the Islamic world in the century following Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 C.E, when they succeeded the Rashidun Caliphate. This made the Umayyad dynasty the second Islamic caliphate.
The capital of the Umayyads was the city of Damascus, Syria. However, this Islamic empire became best known for its successful conquests. By the end of the dynasty, the regions of the Umayyad empire extended from Western Europe to Southeast Asia. This led to the long-term Islamisation of Central Asia.
Rashidun Caliphate
The first caliphate of Islam, which ruled the Islamic world from Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 C.E. When Caliph Ali was assassinated in 661 C.E., the Rashidun Caliphate ended and the Umayyad dynasty took over.
Islamisation
The process by which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam.
Historian Andrew Marsham expresses the importance of the Umayyads in the following quote:
[...] it is no exaggeration to say that the power structures of the Umayyad Empire both facilitated and shaped the development of the religious and ethnic formations across the southern Mediterranean, the Middle East and western Central Asia. [...] These changes transformed all these regions in profound and long-lasting ways.1
Fig. 1 - Map showing the territory held by the Umayyad Caliphate (Key: Brown = expansion under the Prophet Muhammad; Orange = expansion under the Rashidun Caliphate; Yellow = expansion under the Umayyad Caliphate).
So, how did this huge empire fall? The caliphs had been struggling from military defeats and financial issues for some time before the empire ended in 750. After the Byzantine army led a crushing defeat of the Umayyad forces in 740, civil war erupted in the Islamic world between the Qays and Kalb factions. In 749 C.E., the war was won by Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah, who founded the third Islamic empire (the Abbasid Caliphate) and executed members of the ruling family of the Umayyads.
Only one survivor escaped, Abd-ar-Rahman. He fled to Spain, where he founded the Emirate of Córdoba. There, the Umayyad dynasty survived in Spain until 1031 C.E.
Although the Umayyad Empire was one of the most significant empires in the world, historians encounter a major problem when studying it: all the sources we have about the Umayyads come from centuries later. Most of the sources come from the Abbasid Caliphate, the Islamic dynasty which succeeded the Umayyads and which was fiercely critical of it. Therefore, it can be hard for historians to look through the anti-Umayyad bias of these later sources to get to the truth of what happened in the Islamic world under the Umayyads.
Umayyad Dynasty Caliphs
There were fourteen caliphs ruling the Islamic empire under the Umayyad dynasty:
- Caliph Muawiya I (661-680)
- Caliph Yazid I (680-683)
- Caliph Muawiya II (683-684)
- Caliph Marwan I (684-685)
- Caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705)
- Caliph Al-Walid I (705-715)
- Caliph Sulayman (715-717)
- Caliph Umar (717-720)
- Caliph Yazid II (720-724)
- Caliph Hisham (724-743)
- Caliph Al-Walid II (743-744)
- Caliph Yazid III (744)
- Caliph Ibrahim (744)
- Caliph Marwan II (744-750)
Umayyad Caliphate Timeline
Here is a timeline outlining some of the key events of the Umayyads.
| Year (C.E) | Event |
| 656-651 | The First Fitna. |
| 661 | Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan founded the Umayyad Caliphate. |
| 680 | Shia Imam Husayn's death led to the start of the Second Fitna. |
| 711-714 | The empire conquered Spain and regions in modern-day Pakistan. |
| 715 | Sulayman became Caliph. There was no more expansion of the Empire. |
| 717-718 | An unsuccessful attempt to take Constantinople meant Umar II withdrew Umayyad forces. |
| 743-747 | The Third Fitna.Marwan II emerged as Caliph. |
| 750 | The Umayyad Caliphate fell and was succeeded by the Abbasid Caliphate. |
| 756 | The surviving member of the Umayyad dynasty founded the Emirate of Córdoba. |
Fitna
Literally translated from Arabic, fitna means a trial or test. However, in the context of the history of Islam, a Fitna is a civil war between opposing factions within the Islamic world. During the Umayyad Caliphate, there were two fitnas, the second of which lead to the downfall of the Umayyad dynasty in 750 C.E.
Umayyad Caliphate Founder
The founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate was Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan. He was born in Mecca and rose to become the governor of Syria before founding the Umayyad Empire.
Fig. 2 - Drawing of the Fatimid Caliph.
In 624 C.E., Muawiya fought alongside Meccan leaders against the Prophet Muhammad in the watershed Islamic Battle of Badr. The Meccans were critical of the Prophet's emphasis on converting non-Muslims to Islam. However, the Meccans lost the battle.
After Prophet Muhammad died, Muawiya emerged as one of the major opponents of the Rashidun Caliphate during the First Fitna.
Fortune changed for Muawiya in 661 C.E. when he successfully fought against the fourth Caliph, Ali, who was Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. Ali was assassinated, and the way was clear for Muawiya to take leadership of the Islamic community.
He founded a new dynasty to take over the Rashidun Caliphate. He decided to name his dynasty 'Sons of Umayya' because Umayya was a common ancestor he shared with the Prophet Muhammad, and so the name bolstered his legitimacy to rule the Islamic world.
Umayyad Caliphate: Population of the Umayyads
At its greatest extent, in the 730s, the Umayyad Empire was the largest in history by land area to date.2 - Andrew Marsham, historian
The Umayyad empire greatly increased the population of the Islamic world over time through territorial conquest, but estimates of the population during the height of the Umayyads vary wildly.
One estimate, put forward by Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones, authors of Atlas of World Population History (1978), is that the Umayyads ruled a population of approximately 20-30 million people.3
The Islamic empire was divided into different regions, each ruled by a governor appointed by the caliph. However, the rapid expansion of the Umayyads meant that there were not enough Arab workers to cover the entire area. Therefore, the Umayyads often allowed existing populations to keep their jobs under the new government. This meant that administration was initially done in a variety of languages, including Persian, Greek, and Coptic. It wasn't until the late stages of the dynasty that the empire synthesised administration to be in Arabic.
Population Structure
The population of the Umayyad Empire was divided into four social classes:
- Islamic Arabs
- Islamic Non-Arabs
- Dhimmis - Non-Islamic free people (including Christians and Jews)
- Enslaved people
The divisions between these groups could be bitter and acrimonious, and helped usher in the fall of the empire. This is because Islamic Arabs saw themselves as at the top of the pecking order, and did not mix with other Islamic communities from non-Arab areas.
However, as the empire expanded, the proportion of the Islamic population which was non-Arab naturally increased. These new converts were not given the same rights as the Islamic Arabs, which created significant social unrest.
Furthermore, tax revenues from Dhimmis decreased in later periods as non-Muslims started converting to Islam, leading to low funds. These social problems contributed to the Abbasid Revolution in the 740s.
Umayyad Empire: Achievement and Legacies
The Umayyad Empire was a towering monument of the early medieval world, and its achievements are being reevaluated and expanded.
Many of the developments of Islam that were formally attributed to the Abbasid period - for example, the emergence of Islamic theology and law, the rise of science in the Islamic world, and the development of key institutions of Muslim government - are now dated by many scholars to the Umayyad period. 5 - Tanvir Anjum, historian
Some achievements and legacies of the Umayyads include:
Expansion of the Umayyad Empire
The Umayyad Empire vastly increased the size of the Islamic world. Its armies captured territory from Spain to India, taking control of many important cities including Bukhara, Samarkand, Khwarezm, Tashkent, and Fergana.
Islamisation of Central Asia
The conquests of the Umayyads had profound, long-term effects on the religious and cultural life of the regions they conquered. In particular, the southern Mediterranean, the Middle East, and West Asia adopted Islam.
Development of Islam
Many of the elements that we now think of as fundamental to Islam developed during the Umayyad period.
For example, the Qur'an was compiled during this period. Furthermore, the Haj annual pilgrimage to Mecca began during the rule of the Umayyads. The late period of the Umayyads also saw the beginning of the formal transmission of the Hadith - the reports about the life and times of the Prophet Mohammad and his companions.
Infrastructure of the Umayyad Empire
Despite expanding rapidly, the Umayyad Empire managed to control its territory effectively by developing quality infrastructure. One of the central achievements of the Umayyads was the creation of a postal system, allowing communication to flow easily throughout their empire. Another important system was their financial infrastructure - a banking system that was based on credit.
Cultural achievements of the Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyads built some of the most stunning architecture the world has known. They blended previous architectural styles with inspiration from Byzantine and Mesopotamian decorations, to create a fusion of east and west-inspired design.
The Umayyads also pioneered new types of Islamic worship buildings. Before this point, Islamic mosques had been make-shift and simple. However, the Umayyads introduced distinctive new features, including more aisles, decorative panelling, mihrabs, and minarets. Two of the crowning architectural achievements of this era were the creation of the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem.
Fig. 3 - The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Rise of Sufism
Sufism established itself as a vocal force within the Islamic world during the Umayyad Empire. The origins of this mystical tradition within Islam can be interpreted as an emergent critique of the materialism of the Umayyads. This is an opinion highlighted by historian of Sufism, Tanvin Anjum. The Sufi doctrine of voluntary poverty contrasted with the wealth of the ruling family and the constant desire to acquire new lands.6
Sufism
A distinctive branch of Islam. Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam, whose adherents focus on developing the individual's direct personal consciousness of Allah. They tend to be more liberal in their interpretations of the Qur'an. A Sufi can be either Sunni or Shia or both.
Contentious perspectives on the Umayyad legacy
The majority of Islamic historians portray the Umayyads in a negative light, critiquing their focus on expansion and administration rather than spreading the word of God as the Rashidun caliphate did.
One of the terms sometimes used against the Umayyads in this regard is mulk: a term for a kingship with strong connotations to tyranny. However, modern Arab nationalists tend to portray the Umayyad Empire as a key part of the Arab Golden Age because of its military and cultural achievements.
Umayyad Caliphate - Key takeaways
- The Umayyad Caliphate ruled the Islamic world from 661 C.E. to 750 C.E.
- The founder of the Umayyad Caliphate was Caliph Muawiya. He chose the name Umayyad for his dynasty because Umayyad was a common ancestor that he and the Prophet Muhammad shared.
- The population of the Umayyad Caliphate is difficult to estimate. Some historians think that the empire had a population of 20 million, others think this figure was as high as 60 million.
- The main achievement of the Umayyad Caliphate was the expansion of the Islamic empire. By the end of their era, the empire stretched from Spain to India.
- The Umayyads also built fantastic architecture, including the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
References
- Andrew Marsham, The Umayyad World (2021), pp. 1.
- Andrew Marsham, The Umayyad World (2021), pp. 4.
- Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones, Atlas of World Population History (1978), pp. 128.
- Alain George and Andrew Marsham, 'Introduction: Umayyad Elites and the Foundation of the Islamic Empire' in Power, Patronage and Memory in Early Islam (2018).
- Tanvir Anjum, 'Sufism in History and Its Relation to Power', Islamic Studies Journal (2006).
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