The Umayyad dynasty presided over the largest territorial expansion in the history of the
Arab Caliphate.
At its height, the Empire stretched from the Iberian Peninsula and modern-day Morocco in
the west all the way to Central Asia and India in the East.
The Eastern Roman Empire was under constant threat from the Caliphate, and on two occasions
Constantinople was besieged by the Umayyads.
The Caliphate was advancing in Western Europe as well, as only the Frankish victory at the
Battle of Tours prevented the further territorial expansion in the Christian world.
But in spite of its military success, the Caliphate was rife with unrest and discontent
throughout the Umayyad rule.
In this video, we are going to describe the last of the revolts against the Umayyad reign
in the Caliphate and the Abbasid Revolution.
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Since the start of its reign, arguably the biggest problem of the Umayyad dynasty was
its lack of legitimacy.
There were two prevailing schools of thought on succession in the Caliphate.
One was the election of the ruler by the leaders and elders of the Ummah - the Muslim community,
sort of a proto-electoral college.
The other was the succession based on the belonging to Prophet Muhammad’s family - Ahl
al-Bayt, which eventually led to the emergence of Shia branch within Islam.
But the Umayyad were neither.
They were not related to the Prophet’s family, nor chosen by the Ummah, instead passing the
reign from father to son, which was unprecedented in the Caliphate until their rule started.
Thus, lacking in legitimacy, the Umayyad dynasty relied on military conquest and the wealth
coming with it, along with the loyalty of Arabs of the Levant to maintain its power.
But the expansion of the Muslim Empire brought additional difficulties.
Now many non-Arab and non-Muslim people became subjects of the Caliphate and the challenge
for Umayyads was their integration into the Muslim Empire.
On paper everything was straightforward.
Along with numerous other taxes paid by all subjects regardless of their confessional
belonging, non-Muslims would pay the jizya tax.
Muslims would not pay it, therefore, many people converted to Islam also in order to
avoid paying additional taxes.
The Umayyad understood that this was going to lead to less tax income for the state,
on which it depended for everything from military organization and conquest to the lavish and
luxurious lifestyle of its rulers.
Thus, on occasions, they prevented conversion or forced new converts to pay jizya anyway.
For example, in the year 700, thousands of Persian peasants traveled to Wasit to the
seat of the Umayyad governor asking him to recognize their conversion to Islam.
This request was rejected and they were sent back to work on their lands and had to continue
paying jizya.
This was unacceptable in Islam, as it deemed all Muslims regardless of their ethnic and
national belonging equal - all of them part of the Ummah.
Such blatant disrespect of the Islamic rules was a further blow to the Umayyad legitimacy.
The Umayyad dynasty’s plan was to rely on Arab Muslims, particularly those from Syria
and apart from the caliph Umar II, who was considered the most pious ruler of the Umayyad
dynasty and who seemed to genuinely want to change the state of affairs regarding the
acceptance of Islam by non-Arab lands of the Caliphate and regarding the imposition of
jizya on newly converted Muslims, the rest of the Umayyad rulers had a bad reputation
for being corrupt, worldly caliphs, who did not really care much about the religion.
Such discriminatory policies gradually increased discontent with the Umayyads in the Caliphate.
First of all, Shia Muslims were inherently in opposition to the Umayyad Dynasty.
They opposed the way the Umayyads came to power and obviously held the grudge for the
Karbala tragedy, which is one of the pillars of Shia eschatology.
The Shia opposition mostly resided in Iraq and the Hejaz.
Non-Arab Muslims were unhappy as well, as they felt discriminated against by the Arab-centric
policies of the Umayyad dynasty and wanted to enjoy the same privileges as Arab Muslims,
including being free from paying jizya.
Historian Patricia Crone argues that worldly and financial reasons are insufficient to
explain the conversion of non-Arabs, particularly in Iran.
“Most converts are likely to have embraced their new life with enthusiasm, exhilarated
by the idea that the deity who had allowed the Arabs to conquer the world should be willing
to include the defeated peoples among his devotees”.
In most cases, Arabs residing in newly captured regions were soldiers and bureaucrats and
they would live in segregated garrison towns not having too much interaction or mingling
with the locals.
In Khurasan this was different.
Throughout the Umayyad rule, some 70k Arabs were settled in the province and lived among
the locals, intermarrying with the local population.
Descendants of these Arab settlers became locals themselves.
Moreover, the Arab settlers and local Persians had a common cause in defending the eastern
frontier of the Arab Caliphate against raids of Turkic tribes.
Non-Arab Muslims in Iran, including Khurasan, were also discontent with the fact that the
Umayyads charged non-Muslim Persian nobility, the dihqans, who mostly continued to worship
their old Iranian gods or followed Zoroastrianism, with a collection of taxes, including jizya.
Controversially, this clashed with another Umayyad policy of harsh attitude towards Zoroastrians,
thousands of whom had been massacred or forced to exile during their reign.
Most probably, the Umayyads tolerated the Zoroastrian nobility, who completely accepted
their rules and perhaps on paper converted to Islam.
Whatever the case, persecution of Zoroastrians and adherents of other religions existed in
the Caliphate, which made them unhappy with the situation as well.
Finally, non-Shia Arab Muslims also had their reasons for discontent.
Inter-tribal Arab conflict was common and many were unhappy with the privileged role
of the Syrian Arabs.
Moreover, there was instability within the Umayyad dynasty as well.
The highest point of this was the Third Fitna - a civil war between Umayyad contenders,
which concluded with the victory of Marwan II in 747.
But the worst for the Umayyad dynasty was still to come.
After the Battle of Karbala and the death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and Ali ibn
Abi Talib’s son Husayn, Ali’s fourth son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah became the head
of the house of Ali, who was succeeded by his son and the new imam Abu Hashim.
He is said to have launched an underground movement to promote vague anti-Umayyad and
pro-Shia views throughout the Caliphate.
Unlike the previous opposition movements, which were open revolts, this one was about
covert methodic recruitment.
This would be called the Hashimiyya movement, which played a key role in the Abbasid revolution.
While the recruitment and propaganda in traditional oppositional strongholds like Kufa, which
was tired of constant conflict, was not particularly successful, choosing Khorasan as one of the
key regions of the Hashimiyya movement was a strategically smart decision, since it was
far from the main military force of the Umayyads and was ripe with discontent.
Following Abu Hashim’s death, the majority of the movement pledged its support to Muhammad
ibn Ali, the great-grandson of the Prophet’s uncle Abbas.
There is a high chance that this final testament was fabricated, since it would be more likely
for Abu Hashim, who did not have a son, to choose a closer relative as his successor.
Moreover, Abbas was not among Prophet Muhammad’s close disciples and would convert to Islam
after fighting against the early Muslim army in the Battle of Badr in 624.
Regardless of the truth in this matter, Muhammad ibn Ali of the Abbasid clan became the leader
of Hashimiyya, largely launching the political ambitions of the Abbasids.
Since the late 710s, the Hashimiyya agents launched the careful propaganda campaign throughout
the Caliphate with its center in Khurasan on a vague platform of deposing the Umayyad
dynasty and installing al-Rida min al Muhammad - the acceptable candidate from the family
of the prophet.
The purpose was not to alienate any forces, who opposed the Umayyad rule and create a
broad coalition of anti-Umayyad opposition with as many followers as possible, to reveal
and push the Abbasid agenda only at the end.
Tensions were rising throughout the Caliphate on the eve of the Abbasid revolution.
Khurasan was rocked by a 3-way struggle for dominance over the province by the Umayyad
governor Nasr ibn Sayyar, the Yemenite candidate for governor position Jadi al-Kirmani and
al-Kharit ibn Surayj, who had launched numerous unsuccessful rebellions against the Umayyad
rule in the province.
In Egypt, army commanders defied Marwan II and installed their own governor.
In Kufa there was yet another uprising against the Umayyad rule.
There probably could not be any better conditions for Abbasids to start their rebellion.
This was when Abu Muslim enters the annals of history as a man who was sent to Khurasan
by the Abbasid family to launch the rebellion there.
Not much is known about the origins of Abu Muslim or his life before the Abbasid Revolution.
Scholars disagree on his origins, with some considering him a freed slave, others a slave.
His ethnic origin is not known exactly, although some claim he was Persian.
Abu Muslim said to respond to a question about his origins as follows: “I am a man from
among the Muslims.
I do not belong to one tribe against the other…
But my faith is Islam and allegiance to Muhammad”.
The fact that the Abbasid leader Ibrahim ibn Muhammad sent Abu Muslim to such an important
mission, demonstrates that regardless of his origins he was trusted by the clan.
In June 747, Abu Muslim proclaimed a rebellion in Khurasan for “the Book of Allah and the
sunnah of the Prophet” and sent his subordinates to inform the underground movement established
in the province that the black Abbasid banner had risen in revolt.
Historian Farouk Omar, who extensively studied the Abbasid revolution, claims that at the
beginning Abu Muslim had 3-4k men only.
But soon the numbers would swell as thousands of slaves abandoned their masters to join
Abu Muslim’s cause.
He masterfully manipulated the tribal discord within the Umayyad army between the Syrian
and Yemenite Arabs and was able to win the support of the latter.
By February 748, Abu Muslim took control of the provincial capital Merv due to weak resistance
by the Umayyads and their low support among the population, along with capitalizing on
the struggle of various factions and tribes for control of the city.
After gaining a foothold in Khurasan, the Abbasid leader Ibrahim ibn Muhammad appointed
Qahtaba ibn Shabib as the commander in chief of the Abbasid army and ordered it to march
towards the center of the Umayyad Caliphate - Syria and Iraq.
By then Herat and Balkh were also under the Abbasid control and its army swells to 30k
men bolstered by slaves and disaffected members of Arab tribes unhappy with the Umayyads.
While Abu Muslim stayed put in Khurasan to solidify the Abbasid power, Qahtaba pursued
the remnants of the Umayyad army in the region led by its governor Nasr.
At this time Marwan changed the Umayyad leadership in the region by sending Nabata al-Kallabi
with close to 10k men to defeat the Abbasid revolt asking Nasr to step down.
In July 748, Qahtaba defeated the Umayyad at the Battle of Gorgan, whose commander Nabata
was killed.
The Abbasid army continued its march towards Mesopotamia and this time Amir ibn Dubara
was sent by Marwan II to confront Qahtaba with 50k men.
In March 749, Qahtaba defeated him, destroying the backbone of the Umayyad army.
Now the situation of Marwan II seemed desperate and the victory of the Abbasid revolution
seemed even more likely.
With the Abbasid army approaching Iraq, the underground cells created and nurtured by
them for decades set for a campaign of subversion and instigation of rebellion in Iraq.
Soon Halwan, Tikrit, the Lower Euphrates, and other places in Mesopotamia revolted,
some for plunder, others for their support to the Abbasid cause.
Qahtaba’s army moved towards Kufa to connect with the rebels there and was intercepted
by another Umayyad army commanded by Yazid ibn Hubayra at Upper Fallujah.
On August 27, 749 the Abbasid army claimed yet another victory, despite the death of
its commander Qahtaba.
Kufa revolted and overthrew the Umayyad rule, from which they had suffered so much throughout
the years.
Around the same time, the Abbasid leader Ibrahim ibn Muhammad was arrested and executed by
the Umayyads, paving the way for his brother Abul Abbas to become his successor.
In late 749, the Kufans proclaimed him the Caliph under the title of al-Saffah - the
blood spiller.
The Abbasid march continued with al-Saffah’s brother capturing Wasit, while the Caliph’s
uncle Abdallah ibn Ali was sent to merge with a smaller Abbasid Khurasani army commanded
by Abu Ayun to confront the Umayyad army under the command of Marwan II himself, who entrenched
between the rivers Tigris and the Great Zab.
The sources mention drastically different numbers of men fighting for the Umayyad and
the Abbasid armies.
Some of them mention that Marwan II had more than 100k men.
Tabari claims that according to Marwan II, he only had 12k men.
The sources claim 20-100k men fighting for the Abbasids.
The only thing which is certain is that the morale of the Umayyad army was extremely low
due to all the defeats in the hands of the Abbasids.
The battle of the River Zab commenced on 25 January 750 and ended with a decisive victory
of the Abbasids.
Marwan II fled towards Egypt.
The Umayyad army was no more.
The Abbasids took control of the main Umayyad city Damascus.
Soon Marwan II was found by the new regime and was executed.
Fearing potential Umayyad vengeance the new caliph al-Saffah gathered all remaining major
members of the Umayyad dynasty to a feast under the pretext of reconciliation and ordered
their cold-blooded murder.
Red Wedding style.
Few Umayyads managed to survive and a 20-year old young man named Abd al-Rahman became the
most prominent among them for being able to eventually establish an Umayyad rule in Spain.
But the Abbasid dynasty was safe from any Umayyad threat.
The Abbasid revolution was victorious.
The Abbasid revolution is prominent not only for its obvious historical impact but as one
of the medieval examples of meticulous revolutionary planning, use of propaganda, which of course,
was supported by military might.
The rule of the Umayyad dynasty, which was based on loyalties of various Arab tribes,
ended due to their inability to understand the new reality of an expanded Empire, which
was not solely the Arab state anymore, but the Caliphate of the Ummah.
Discriminatory policies against increasing numbers of non-Arab Muslims were eventually
going to backfire.
The strength of the underground opposition and the fact that the Abbasid revolution started
in Khurasan caused some scholars like Gerlof Van Vloten and Julius Wellhausen to claim
that the Abbasid revolution was a Persian counter-offensive against the Arab elite,
but since then scholars have rebuked these claims as racialist, focusing too much on
the ethnic component, while ignoring the role of the Arab tribal dynamics, the Alid support
to the revolution and the end result of it, which was a continuation of the reign of the
Arab family over the Caliphate.
We will talk more about the reign of the Abbasid dynasty and Muslim history in general in our
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