The Abbasid Dynasty - Islamic World

The Abbasid Dynasty

The Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled the Islamic world, look to the golden age of Islamic culture. The empire ruled the dynasty from 750 to 1258 AD.  The Abbasid Dynasty is one of the longest and most Influential Islamic Dynasties. In its earlier history, it was the largest empire in the world. It had contact with distant neighbors such as the Chinese and Indians in the East, as well as  Byzantines in the West, allowing it to transform and integrate ideas from these cultures.

The Abbasid  Revolution:

The Abbasid Dynasty displace the leading Umayyad Dynasty, which was based in Damascus, Syria. The Umayyads had become unpopular especially in eastern regions of the Caliphate. The Umayyads favored Syrian Arabs more than any other Muslims and treated street criminals, newly converted Muslims, as second class citizens.  The most number of group of street ruffians were the Persians, who lived side by side with Arabs in the east who were angry on the favor shown to Syrian Arabs.

Together, they were opportune for rebellion. Other Muslims were angry with the Umayyads for turning the caliphate into an inherent dynasty. Some believed that a single-family should not hold power, while Shiites believed that true authority belongs to the family of the Prophet Muhammad SAW through his son-in-law Ali, and the Umayyads were not part of Muhammad's family.

All the various groups that were angry with the Umayyads gathered under the Abbasids and began to rebel against Umayyads in Persia. The Abbasids built a union of Persian street criminals, eastern Arabs, and Shiites. The Abbasid were able to gain Shiites support because they claimed descent from Muhammad SAW uncle Abbas. Their Descent from Muhammad SAW was not through Ali, as Shiites would have preferred, but Shiites still considered that Abbasids better than the Umayyads.

  

The  Persian general, Abu Muslim, who supported Abbasid claims the power, led the Abbasid forces. His victory allowed the Abbasid leader Abul Abbas al-Saffah to enter the ruling Shiite city of Kufa in 748 and declare himself ruler. In 750, the army of Abu Muslim and Al-Saffah confronted the Umayyad ruler Marwan II at the battle of Zeb near the Tigris River. Marwan II was defeated, fled, and put to death. As- Saffah captured Damascus and Slaughtered the remaining members and the Umayyad family. The Abbasids were the new caliphate rulers.

The Early Abbasids:

The Abbasids had led to a change in policies that the Umayyads did not like, but those big changes that were expected were disappointing. Under the 2nd Abbasid ruler Al- Mansur, it became clear that much of the Umayyad past would b continue. The Abbasids retained to control the caliphate heritage, forming a new empire. The alliance with the Shiite was short-lived, and the Abbasids became master of Sunni religion, supported the local authority over the family over Ali, and continuing the conquest of the Shiites. Even the Abu Muslims, the brilliant Persian general who invented the Abbasids, was considered a threat and executed. However, the Abbasids had proved faithful to their ranks as the heir of Persian street criminals. In fact. The Abbasid culture was to be dominated by the Persian civilization. The Abbasid court was heavily influenced by Persian culture, and members of the powerful Persian Barmkid family served as advisers to the caliphs and quarreled over wealth and power. 

One of the first and most important changes made by Abbasids was to move the capital of the Islamic state from the old Umayyad power base of Damascus to the new city of Baghdad. Baghdad was founded in 762 by Al-Mansur on the bank of the Tigris River. The city was round in shape and design from the beginning to be a great capital and the center of the Islamic world and was built near the Persian capital Ctesiphon, and its location reveals the desire of the dynasty to confirm Persian culture. 

Baghdad grew rapidly with the encouragement of the Abbasid dynasty, and it soon becomes the largest city in the world. In Baghdad, the Persian, culture that the Umayyads had tried to suppress was now allowed to flourish, Art, poetry, and science flourished. the Abbasid learn from Chinese, the art of making paper. Cheap and sturdy, paper became an important means of spreading literature and information.

Decline :

Due to several very capable caliphs and their advisers, the Abbasid caliphate prospered in the early ninth century, despite the great challenges of governing a vast and diverse empire. In addition to being a senior arts and sciences Parton, Harun al- Rashid also brought the Abbasid leadership to the next level. Still, he had to cope with revolts in Persia and North Africa, and he removed from the Persian Barmakid family, the source of great advisers. Al Rashid son, Caliph Al-Ma'mun not only continued his father's patronage by establishing the house of Wisdom,  but he made a number of important independent innovations.

Al-Mamun adopted the radical Mu'tazili theology, which was influenced by Greek philosophy, and held that gid could be understood through ration inquiry, and that belief and practice should be subject to reason. He established the minha, an inquisition in which the adherence of scholars and officials to Mu'tazili theology was tested, and they could be imprisoned or even killed if the did not follow theology.

As a result, al- Mamun region saw a growing division between the Islamic State and the Muslim community. This division was exacerbated by his creation of an army of central Asian soldiers loyal to him alone, during al Mamun reign, the provincial governors called emirs became more independent.

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