The Abbasid Revolution

After the end of the Rightly Guided Caliphate, in which Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, and ‘Ali led the muslim world, the caliphate came to the Umayyad family in 661. Mu’awiya, the first Umayyad caliph, led the muslim world from his capital of Damascus, and passed on rule to his son, Yazid, in 680. 

During the 89 years of Umayyad rule, the muslim world experienced exponential growth geographically, militarily, and economically. With an economy buoyed by such conquests, the Umayyad caliphate became incredibly wealthy, leading to a relatively stable society.

As the muslim empire pushed into non-Arab lands in North Africa, Spain, and Persia, huge numbers of non-Arab non-Muslims came under Umayyad control. In Islamic Law, non-Muslims in a muslim state are required to pay a tax known as the jizya. For most parts of the empire, this tax was lower than the pre-Islamic taxes of the Byzantine Empires, so no discontent came from this aspect of the government.

For non-Muslims newly under Umayyad rule, conversion to Islam clearly had some financial advantages. If a big enough proportion of the population converted to Islam and stopped paying the jizya, tax revenues would go way down, leading to financial instability. To combat this problem, the Umayyads decided to continue to tax recent converts as if they were still non-Muslims. The rest of the Umayyad ruling family opposed his reforms however, and he was poisoned after 3 years in power. With his death, the equitable treatment of all races in the Umayyad Empire also ended, and serious plans to remove the Umayyads from power began.

Umayyad rule was essential based on their ability to keep The Muslim World united and organized after the upheaval of ‘Ali’s time. One group that offered an alternative to Umayyad rule was the people who favored the rule of ‘Ali’s family. In order to get the support of the more pious-minded, the Abbasids claimed that one of the descendants of ‘Ali had officially transferred the right to rule to the Abbasid family. 

Led by a mysterious figure known as Abu Muslim, the supporters of the Abbasid family in Khurasan promised a return to the utopian ideals of the Prophet Muhammad and the early caliphs. The important thing to the Abbasids and their supporters was the removal of the Umayyad family from power, other issues would be solved afterwards.

After securing the city of Merv and exiling the Umayyad Governor, Abu Muslim began to send the Abbasid armies westward, towards the rest of Persia and Iraq. Meanwhile, the Abbasid family had fled Humayma for the relatively safer Iraq. With the support of the local people, the Abbasids organized an overthrow of the local Umayyad government, installing the Abbasids as the rulers of the city. The Abbasid army finally met the bulk of the Umayyad forces near the Zab River in northern Iraq. The Umayyads with their white flags represented the Arab Syrians who had been the most important social group in the 89 years of Umayyad rule. At the climactic Battle of the Zab in early 750, the Abbasid force completely smashed the Umayyad army. The Abbasids were able to march right into the Umayyad homeland in Syria and take control of Damascus, relatively peacefully. The last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, fled to Egypt, where he was found by Abbasid agents and executed. Like the Umayyads, and every other dynasty in Islamic History, there were positive and negative aspects to Abbasid rule.