History of the Caliphate II: The Umayyads — A Mediterranean Empire
1. The Rise of the Umayyads
Among the various Qurayshite clans, the one that soon prevailed was that of the Umayyads: Mu'awiya, son of Abu Sufyan, was an old adversary of Muhammad who had been appointed governor of Damascus. After the assassination of the fourth caliph, 'Ali, he managed to impose himself without much difficulty over the other claimants and, in 661, became caliph, making Damascus the new capital. It was the triumph of the ancient Qurayshite aristocracy of Mecca over the meritocratic elite of early Islam.
Mu'awiya succeeded in imposing the succession of his son Yazid (680–83), inaugurating a dynasty that would last until 750. Yazid and his successors had to face more than one fitna (“trial”, i.e., conflict with fellow Muslims), such as that of Husayn, son of 'Ali, killed in 681 at Karbala. Meanwhile, the sons of Zubayr, a companion of the Prophet, established a counter-caliphate in Mecca, which survived until 691.
First year every territory was controlled by the Umayyad Caliphate
'Abd al-Malik (685–705) was the caliph who renewed the administrative apparatus, still largely Greek, and who established a standardized form of Arabic.
2. The Mediterranean Expansion
Expansion continued throughout much of the Umayyad Caliphate: repeated attempts were made to besiege Constantinople (674–78 and 717–18), though unsuccessfully. Tariq led an Arab-Berber expedition across the strait that bears his name — Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq, “mountain of Tariq”) — and brought an end to the powerful Visigothic Kingdom.
Arab troops pushed as far as the Indus delta, in present-day Pakistan, while Bukhara and Samarkand were conquered in 710 and 715. In 732, Charles Martel halted at Poitiers an expedition that might have penetrated the heart of Latin Europe. Once the great wave of expansion ended, Hisham (724–743) could focus on containing the incursions of the Turks from the northern steppes.
3. Social Transformations Under the Umayyads
Alongside the two classes of emigrants (muhajirun) and helpers (ansar), a new class emerged during this period: the mawali, “clients.” A notable example were the dheqans, the Persian knightly nobility, who converted with extraordinary speed and cohesion.
Another important transformation concerned the diffusion of coinage throughout the empire. Under the Umayyads, especially from the reign of 'Abd al-Malik, the state introduced a standardized monetary system, replacing earlier Byzantine and Sasanian issues with distinctly Islamic gold dinars and silver dirhams. This reform not only strengthened fiscal control and administrative cohesion but also facilitated commercial exchange across the vast territories of the caliphate, contributing to the emergence of a more integrated Mediterranean and Near Eastern economy.
Sources
- Silverstein, A.J., A Short History of Islam, 2013.
- Halm, H., The Arabs, 2006.
- Ducellier, A., Eastern Christians and Islam in the Middle Ages. 7th–15th Centuries, 2001.
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