Even before Ali died,
Muawiya claimed to be the true caliph. His family, the Umayyads, provided the
next fourteen caliphs. They ruled until 750. Muawiya moved the capital of Islam
from the holy city of Medina to Damascus, capital of Syria. He had been
governor of Syria for Uthman. His supporters and his army were there. Each
Umayyad caliph named a relative to be his successor before he died. This was to
avoid arguments. But it meant that a ruling family was being created.
The Umayyad ruled well
for a while. Under them, Arab rule grew to the borders of modern-day France in
the west and India in the east. They built fabulous mosques like the Dome of
the Rock in Jerusalem. They allowed their people to bring their problems to
them and consulted advisers about their policies. They were just like the Arab
sheiks of the desert. They kept many of the efficient Christian clerks of the
Byzantine Empire, but put Arabs in the top jobs. They had a postal system using
riders on horseback to reach all parts of their lands. Arabic replaced Greek
and Persian as the language of the captured territory. They started the first
Arab coinage, the gold dinar and the silver dirham. Before this, the Arabs had
used the coins of other countries. All of this meant the Umayyads had firmer
control than any caliphs before.
But they started to
neglect the rules of Islam. They did not base their laws on the Koran. They
were not good Muslims like earlier caliphs. They built lavish palaces outside
the towns, where they spent their time hunting or drinking and dancing.
Surrounded by beautiful women, poets and musicians. Their subjects became
unhappy with the Umayyads. Many Muslims, especially the Shi’ites, thought that
the beliefs of Islam were being forgotten. The Christians and Jews under Arab
control became restless too. They didn’t like having to pay more taxes than
Muslims. The Persians were also restless. They had a glorious history and
didn’t like the way the Arabs looked down upon them. The Bedouin soldiers, who
had fought for the land the Umayyads ruled, began the settle down and live as
farmers. Many of them didn’t want to fight for Umayyads any longer.
A group of Arabs began
to use this discontent to stir up trouble against the Umayyads. They had
settled in the lands aptured from the Persian Empire but they were Arab
descendants of one of Muhammad’s uncles, al-Abbas. They called themselves the
Abbasids. They started a propaganda campaign against the Umayyads. Then they
raised n army from their supporters. At the Battle of the Great Zab in750, they
defeated and killed the caliph. Umayyad control of Islam thus ended.
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