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Umayyad Abba Sid Compared

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UMAYYAD AND ABBASID CALIPHATES COMPARED

Category Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate


Origin (657-750CE) Umayyad clan starts as a foe to Muhammad. (750-1258 CE)Umayyad troops, garrisoned on the frontier
They are defeated at Mecca by Muhammads forces but are for years at a time, were becoming increasingly disgusted
embraced by Muhammad and become a powerful Muslim with the lavish lifestyle of the Umayyad caliphs. This led to
clan that will lead the faith after Muhammad. more and more revolts. Abu-al-Abbas led a successful revolt
After the first three caliphs, The followers of Ali will split starting around Merv (Marw in Arabic), on the frontier in
away from the faith and form the Shiites (who think caliphs Northern Iran (former Sassanian Empire) after he, a Sunni,
should be related to Muhammad) and the Umayyads will lead allied himself with many of the Shiites in the northeast of the
the remaining vast majority of Muslims (the Sunnis) who empire. After gaining power by killing many Umayyad
believe the caliphs should be chosen from among all family members (the survivors will flee to Spain) he betrays
Muslims. Umayyads will conquer much of North Africa, the and persecutes his Shiite allies (since their core belief is a
Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Western Europe (Spain) bloodline descent from Muhammad being required for all
very rapidly. They will be halted from taking more of western caliphs).
Europe at the Battle of Tours in France in 732CE.
Political The Abbasids set up a bureaucracy of absolute authority
While the Umayyads will win political victory militarily (by
the sword) they will not generally force their conquered under Sharia law. This absolute authority is symbolized by
people to convert on pain of death. The Umayyad capital will the ever present Royal Executioner at the side of each
be Damascus and they will govern as ARAB ELITE caliph. The empire was soon governed by mostly Persian
Muslims looking down upon non-Arab converts known as bureaucrats in the Persian bureaucratic style with a Wazir
Mawali and using an ethnic Arab military and ethnic Arab (vizier in Egyptian) as the chief operating officer. Persian
bureaucracy. The caliphs will be resented by the soldiers on would soon largely take over control of the empire after the
the frontier for leading non-Islamic lavish lifestyles. first century. The empire would also begin to break up into
Umayyads will set up a theocracy where religious and many smaller Muslim kingdoms still recognizing the
political law is one and the same. Their inspiration for all law religious authority of the Abbasid Caliph but not necessarily
will be the Koran. These laws will be known as Sharia Law. the Political authority. They moved the capital to Baghdad.
Economic The Abbasids would encourage conversion of the Dhimmis (people
Umayyads will not aggressively seek to convert people of
the book known as Dhimmis because these Jews, of the book) far more than the Umayyads and many Persians and
others would convert to avoid the extra taxes forced on non-Muslims.
Christians, and later Zoroastrians and Hindus will pay a
These new converts (Mawalis) were treated much more equally than
higher tax, making their status as non-Muslims very in the Umayyad caliphate. Trade exploded with a continuing growth
profitable for the Umayyads. of a new Muslim merchant (middle) class. Urbanization increased
Trade will be controlled by Muslims under standardized through trade and growing cities created large handy-craft
Sharia law making it flourish as never before. The central industries (leather, rug, cloth, making). These were the first craft-
location of the Umayyad caliphate will link trading networks guilds where the guild system controlled employment and prices.
from around the old world on a continuous basis. Goods and Farmland was soon controlled by a noble landed class and most
ideas will be globally exchanged as never before. peasants were tenant farmers. This would cause problems later.
Slavery increased during the Abbasid Caliphate causing much
hypocrisy when slaves converted to Islam.
Social Women will have advantages and a higher status in the
Umayyad Caliphate as compared to the Abbasid Caliphate. Due to urbanization, women lost status during the Abbasid Caliphate
This higher status dates back to both the teachings of as the Islamic culture copied the traditional gender restrictions in
Muhammad and the nomadic Bedouin Arab traditions. Non- their locally conquered areas. Cloistering, the Veil, and the Harem,
believers (Dhimmis) while certainly losing profitable jobs would symbolize this loss of status. As in many cultures, poor
and trade routes and paying higher taxes to the Umayyad women were the only ones allowed to go to the city or market
unaccompanied by an adult male relative. Learning flowered at the
Arabs, and while being considered second class at best, will
Baghdad House of Wisdom (the first international center dedicated
not be actively persecuted as some of them had been under to learning for learnings sake)
the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires.
Decline The Lavish, wealthy lifestyles of the elite Umayyad Arabs The decline of the Abbasid caliphate comes from both within and
was considered by many in the army to be outside the faith of without. From within, Persian Bureaucrats became more and more
Islam, given Muhammads message about Social justice, influential in the first century of the Abbasid caliphate until they
equality, and helping the poor. Further, Many Arab soldiers declare their independence as the Buyid Dynasty in 934CE. The
Fatimids will break away from Abbasid rule in Egypt in 909 CE
were growing tired of being posted (garrisoned) on the
Later, a slave class of Muslim soldiers who served the Abbasids will
frontier of the empire year after year. Revolts began. The declare independence in Egypt in 1250 forming the Mamluk
final rebellion by soldiers in the northeast corner of the Sultanate. Seljuk Turks will take the Anatolian peninsula from the
empire led to the overthrow and murder of most of the Abbasids by 1100CE. Finally, from without, the weakened Abbasid
Umayyad clan by Abu al-Abbas (founder of the Abbasid caliphate will be destroyed by the Mongols in 1258CE
Caliphate)

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