Ground 1

Andrew Ground

November 12, 2020

Hist 466A ; Thurs 4:00

Instability in the Umayyad Caliphate

The time of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs is looked back on as a golden age, but may

be more accurately categorized as a time of strife and inner turmoil where the Islamic faith and

it’s practitioners attempted to determine the nature and character of their own faith and the

government they wished to propagate it. But instead of being seen as a continuation of the issues

and difficulties that plagued the caliphate, the Umayyads are frowned upon as being impious

usurpers. The perspective of the Golden Age of al-Rashidun has dominated for so long because

many of the groups either had reason to dislike the Umayyads or blamed them for the issues that

plagued the Caliphate at the time. Many of these issues would only disappear with time as the

Islamic identity crystallized over time, especially in the reign of the Abbasids.

The Golden Age perception where the “Rightly Guided Caliphs'' would see the Islamic

polity conquer much of the Middle East, along with its wealth, culture, and past tradition is

tarnished only by the inner turmoil over the succession of Muhamid. The issues of leadership

resulted in a succession crisis that did not end with the Fitna. Umar ibn al-Khattab’s

assassination, along with Uthman’s is a testament to the instability of this period. Following

Uthman’s murder, Ali would become Caliph as appointed by Uthman’s murderers until his own

violent death in 661CE. Ali's rival, the Arab governor of Syria, Muawiya, was a cousin of

Uthman who would establish a foundation of rule based on his descent from Banu Umaya.

Claiming descent from Banu Ummaya, he began to put members of his family in a position of

power that would shift further issues down the lines towards dynastic struggles1. This may be
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where some of the accusation of impiety can be found as their ancestor had been both late and

reluctant in his conversion to Islam. To some, it represented a return the rule of pre-Islamic Arab

nobility, it is this association which was a reason for the murder of Uthman2. However, the

accusation that the Umayyads lulled the caliphate into becoming a secular kingship(luulk)3 and

so were jawaar4 may be also propped up by the replacement of the Sassanids or rivalry towards

the Eastern Roman states as the Umayadds incorporated imperial symbols, decorations, and

ceremonial court practises. However, their religious piety as rulers can be seen by the fact they

acted as gaudis, judges of religious laws5 and may also be seen in beginning construction of

Dome of the Rock67 in how the monument sought to meant to express Islam's supremacy over the

other Abhramic religions 8.

In the sense that they were usurpers, Muawiya would be guilty of utilizing governorship

to locally entrench himself socially and militarily9, something that the Abbasids would

eventually release10. A key political and military key even in pre-Islamic times, the importance of

the Arabic tribes became maintained in the ongoing dynastic struggle. To exert control, these

tribes were relied on to meet social and political ends in world where Arabs were still only a

minority of the population in the territory the caliphate controlled11. But, as Umayyad reign

continued and non-Arab converts grew in number displayed increasing dissatisfaction with their

rule. Competition between Arab elites and their tribal groupings as different groups competed

against each other resulted in the murder of Caliph al-Walid by Yemenis. The Umayads

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Berkey Location 1019
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Location 1114
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Crone’s Slaves on Horses p. 7
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Location 1124
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Location 1114
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Donner 290, Formation of the Islamic State
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Location 1163
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Kennedy 3, Central Government of Abbasid Elites
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Location 1802
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Location 1104
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favoritism towards the tribes of their Syrian troops who formed the core of their support was the

cause of resentment towards Iraqi Arabs. Tensions would only increase as the last Umayyad

Caliph Maiwan II led a movement of Qays on the path of vengeance12. Meanwhile, these

tensions and rivalries were acted upon by the Abbasids as substantial number of the Abbasid

supporters from Yemeni settlers of Khorasan 13.

Following this period of religious and factional turmoil, along with the wide

dissatisfaction of many within the Caliphate, the Abbasids could lead an insurgency using

Islamic grounds. The formation of the idea of a leader selected from the house was of particular

importance to the the Alid partisans and proto-Shiite Rafiti who recognized Ali as the first Imam

and saw the requirement of a divinely elected individual who could speak on God's behalf14. But

because the Umayyads were recognized as being people of the house, the conclusion became

more specific to the clan of Hashim, and more specific to that of Ali 15. When drawing from the

support of so many, the Abbasids avoided specifying who their claim was for, only that it was

one of the "people of the house"(ahl al-bayt)16.

Meanwhile, the Kharijis became a group that was taken advantage of in how they

weakened the establishment. The Khariji had long been a turbulent group within the Islamic

polity all throughout the early caliphate and had even been the ones who killed Ali in 658 17.

Rather than stopping, the violent insurrections would only persist, especially when they

instigated a series of rebellions in Iraq that only made the advance of the Abbasids later on, an

easier endeavor18. Even attracting support in their dynastic ambitions from the Rawandiyya who

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Berkey Location 1465
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Location 1520
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Location 1841
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Location 1257
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Location 1500
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Location 1225
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Location 1473
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the Abbasids had to clarify the nature of their legitimacy as non-divine 19.

In this case, maybe it is not that the Umayyads were impious, but rather that the Abbasids

made themselves out to be more pious, eventually even draping themselves in the prophet’s

mantle, both literally20 and metaphorically, their rebellion focused on the issues associated with

the religious and political legitimacy of the Umayyad state. Even using the term of dawla, they

made the claim they would be returning to the order of the ideal, Muslim of society of the past21.

The Abbasids oversaw the solidification of Islamic identity. While rejecting the Shiites they

became a further identifiable group as their revolts were put down on the news that the claimant

descended only through Abu Hashim, a non blood descendent of Ali. As a reaction, the Sunni

also became an increasingly established group the broader clan of the Banu Hashim which the

Abbasid ancestor of Abbas came from became recognized as legitimate 22. The city of Baghdad

became a huge concentration of wealth and seen as the navel of the Islamic world. after a period

of time, would be turned into something cohesive only in the 8th and 9th centuries in the form of

taxes(kharaj & jizya)23. In terms of the historicity of the claims of a Golden Age ruined by

Umayyads that were impious usurpers and that the Abbasids were superior, history is not only

composed of what happens and the recordings of this, but also how people respond to what

happens. In this case, the Umayyads are remembered as being impious and secular when they

were unfortunate to preside over a time of great instability and poor written record24 .

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Berkey Location 1568
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Location 1792
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Location 1510
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Location 1558
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Donner 287, Formation of the Islamic State
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Location 1792