ADITYA SINGH

B.A. HONS HISTORY- 2016130

SOFO ASSIGNMENT-2

SEM-2

Q. Assess the major social, political and economic changes from the Umayyad to the Abbasid Caliphates.

Ans. Before the rise of Islam the Arabian Peninsula was divided up between 2 superpowers of

that time- the Sasanian (Iranians) and the Byzantine Empire (Greco- Roman). The region was

the home for a mixture of various religious groups, the Byzantine Empire was mostly Christian

and the Iranian Empire was a blend of various sects such as Buddhism, Judaism, Manichaeism

etc. but the most dominant one was Zoroastrianism and thus the chances of the region being

occupied by people of single religious group were meagre. The geography of the region was

harsh due to its aridity and settlements were only possible around oases while the rest of the

people were mostly nomads. Some of these oases’ cities such as the Nabataeans of Petra and the

city of Palmyra grew into minor kingdoms due to expansion in trade. The Arabs were organized

into small tribal units and looked for the welfare and security for the members of the tribe and

engaged in trading.

The face of change for the region of Arabia was a man born into the tribe of Quraysh in the city

of Mecca in the yr. 570, named Muhammad. It is said that around the age of 40 he had a life

changing experience when he was confronted by Gabriel in a mountain cave and called

Muhammad the messenger of God. Muhammad started preaching to his close ones and then 3

years later to the common public and gained some converts which was not liked by the traders
and the Pagans who stopped trading with the followers of Muhammad thus making life difficult

for them. This led to the travelling of Muhammad from his home city to the city of Medina in the

year 622 which is the starting yr. of the Muslim calendar. He created a new community – the

Umma and thus assumed the role of the ultimate decision maker. Muhammad gained converts in

the new city but the internal issue of Jews remained which were eradicated slowly. Battles were

fought between the supporters of Muhammad and the Meccans and in the year 630 they

voluntarily surrendered the city to Muhammad. He launched many expeditions in the

surrounding regions and gained great success in converting many into Islam and bringing more

territory under the control. The issues escalated post Muhammad’s death as he had no surviving

sons to replace him. The Muslims chose Monarchy and placed Abu Bakr as the leader of the

community and being given the title of Khalifa or Caliph. The 1st four Caliphs were called the

Rashidun Caliphate. He launched campaigns in the surrounded regions of Syria and Iraq and

bringing more land under the Caliphate rule. The power shifted to the 2nd Caliph Post Abu

Bakr’s death to Umar in the year 634 who passed an ordered that all the land taken over by force

was to be taken over by the state and also established armed camps around various cities. The

traders grew unhappy by the control of economy by the state. The 3rd Caliph Uthman was caught

between an unresponsive government and newcomers eager to get power; he was murdered by

the army veterans thus leading to the 1st civil war. The 4th caliph Ali came to power and quickly

eliminated a few of the opposition but was mercilessly murdered in 661- the battle of

Siffin( between Ali and Muawiya) and Muawiya who was the governor of Syria was accepted as

the Caliph by the entire community to end the bloodbath and thus establishing the Umayyad

Caliphate. But this led to divide between the Muslims- those who considered Ali to be only
rightful Caliph are called the Shia’s and those who accepted Muawiya as the successor are called

the Sunnis.

A basic background about any subject is very important to create a link with the actions that

happened in the past but our main topic of discussion is about the politics, society and economy

of the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphate and the difference between the two.

The Umayyad Caliphate

Muawiya came to power in the year 661 and changed the century old tribal connections into a

centralized Monarchy. During this time the capital of the Islamic empire shifted from Mecca to

the militarily and administratively developed city of Syria or Damascus. Under the rule of

Muawiya there was rapid military and administrative expansion as he was well versed in the

subjects. To satisfy the traders and tribal groups various expansionist campaigns were launched

in the regions of Eastern Africa and Northern Iran but maintained peace with the Byzantine

Empire on the Syrian front. Mu'awiyah's reign saw the reconquest of most of Khurasan, and its

permanent settlement with garrison towns; many further eastern Iranian lands were

systematically subdued, including part of the middle Oxus valley. The Reign of Muawiya was

based upon centralized state power, network of Clientele and his ability to keep the Arab groups

intact. Muawiya was succeeded by his son Yazid in the year 680 who was faced with opposition

due to being the son Muawiya. He fought against the Meccan rivals lead by Abdallah al- Zubayr.

Another important Caliph was Abd Al- Malik who had the support of the Syrian Yemeni army.

The French historian Gaston Wiet portrayed the Umayyad caliphate as being stationed in
Damascus and focused upon war with Greeks and thus the period could be seen as part of the late

antiquity- the transitionary phase from the classical period to the period of Christianity and

Islamic world.

The Arab conquest made its last major advancement under Abd al- Malik and al- Walid. The

Umma under the Umayyads was different than before. The Non- Arabs who converted into Islam

were converted into Clients (Mawali is the word used for them) just like in the Roman Empire

because the society was still largely tribal and thus the converts needed to tie themselves with

one tribal group or the other and thus faced social discrimination at the hands of the Arabs. The

Language of the court was also changed from Greek to Arabic. With time the Mawali started to

play an important role in the society as soldiers, in the government, administration and in

religious teaching. The early wandering nomadic people who formed the backbone of the

Muslim army began to settle in the land conquered by their forefathers. The Governors now

began to control their army with the help of Aristocrats called the Ashraf and this further lead to

the growth of complex governance form. Abd Al- Malik demilitarized the Arabs in the garrison

towns of Iraq and the Syrian forces replaced the Iraqi soldiers. Malik and his successor al- Walid

translated the Greek and Persian tax registers into Arabic. In the reign of Abd al- Malik minting

of coins began for the first time. The coins made of gold and silver contained Arabic symbols

unlike the coins of earlier times that had Christian or Zoroastrian symbols on it. Earlier the

Arabic coins were modelled on Byzantine and Sassanian empire. Since coins circulated widely

the coins helped articulate the new faith and political authority to both Muslims and the peoples

that they had conquered. The uniform coinage also facilitated trade, as there was now a single

currency with standardized iconography and denominations. Finances of various regions were

reorganized and revisions in taxation were made to make it more uniform equal for all. The city
of Iraq suffered with lack of irrigation and exploitation on the Roman front but the growth of the

Umayyad caliphate proved beneficial for them in the foremost place. The economic growth of

the caliphate provided a stable government and a better irrigation system and better trade

connections with the surrounding states leading to the growth of the city. The growth of major

cities was an incentive for commerce.

The Umayyads faced both external and internal threats. On the external front they faced the

Kharijites or the secessionist who had played a role in the killing of Ali. The internal threat they

faced was from the sides of small tribal group units that persisted within the Muslim community

leading to various disputes and violent engagements- the main 2 groups were that of Qays and

Yemen struggling against each other in the pasture lands and other places of conflicting interests.

Umar- II realized that the domination of one cast over the other was unfair and not suitable for

the present conditions and thus he tried to dissolve these differences and create a universal

Muslim unity. These measures attracted more people from the regions of west Asia and the

surrounding areas. He brought the policy of equal pay for the Arab and Non- Arab soldiers in the

army and accepted the tax equalities of all the Muslims. The Umayyads faced financial problems

with the mass movement of people and large scale converts to Islam. The exact nature of

taxation during the Umayyad period is a matter of debate but we know that people from the

fertile regions of Iraq fled to the garrison cities of Kufa and Basra in a hope of getting freed from

tax liabilities thus leading to a great economic depression as the taxes from the regions fell

considerable of which we have records. The governor of Iraq and Persia were entitled with the

work of sending back the peasants trying to move to the garrison cities so that taxes could be

extracted from them. The dome of the rock in Jerusalem was the first monumental Islamic

structure built in the year 692 under the Caliphate of Abd al-Malik. The structure itself shows
links with the world around as the architectural features of the Dome have touches of Greco-

Roman as well as Sassanian heritage. It is also believed that Abd al-Malik brough workers,

architects and master workers from Rome and Iran thus showing interaction with the surrounding

states. The dome of the rock was built on the legendary site of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of

Ismael who is considered as the favored son in Islam. The site was also important for the Judaist

and the Christians alike. The mosque of Damascus presented yet another story of absorption of

the Pagan sanctuary- the classical Roman symbols and the Christian church motifs into one

distinct Muslim architecture.

Under the rule of Umar, all the people who owned land were expected to pay taxes without any

differentiation. The Non- Muslims were expected to pay the Poll taxes but the Arab settlers were

too made to pay the Sadaqat or the alm tax. The Arab's had paid one-tenth tithe on their land

while the non-Muslims had to pay the much larger Kharaj. With Muslims acquiring land and

non-Muslim cultivators converting, state collections dropped.

In the later Umayyad period the non- Arabs began to outnumber the Arabs in the Muslim

community as conversions took place on a large scale. The prisoners of war, slaves and other

house workers learnt Arabic and converted to Islam. Sources give us information about

migration of entire villages into the Muslim garrison towns in a hope of joining the army and

living a better life. There was no discrimination upon the basis of income but the Umayyad

policy of admission into Islam was arbitrary and gave rise to much bitterness among the Muslim

society. As mentioned above the military structure changed during the Umayyad period. The

Original system in which all the tribesmen were soldiers and the conquered people were subjects

was replaced by professional armies recruited from both Arabs and non- Arabs. The Army now

accompanied the civilized Muslim society. The period saw the shift from war zones to fields as
many Muslims moved out of the army and became settled peasants. The period also saw fierce

debates among the supporters of Ali and the Umayyads likewise. In the later period the economic

tension started to tighten over the Umayyads and the pressure from the peasantry increased. It

was easy to administer the Arabs when they were secluded in garrison cities away from the

subject populations but when they started to move away from garrison towns and into central

cities the problem of administration grew.

The year 774 to 750 marked the decline and the fall of the Umayyad period when the Caliph al-

Walid was killed by a coup and Yazid 3 was made the Caliph leading to the 3rd civil war but

finally in the year 750 the Khurasanis inflicted a defeat on the Umayyad Caliphate and setting up

their own Caliphate from the Hashimite part of the Muhammad’s family- Abu al- Abbas al-

Saffah was made the Caliph.

The Abbasid period

The Abbasid revolt against the Umayyads was supported by the Arabs who were unhappy from

the taxations and other laws passed by the Caliphs. They were also supported by the Shia’s in a

hope that someone from the family of Ali would be made a Caliph but they faced disappointment

in the end. Upon coming to power they were faced with the issue of the lack of conquest elite to

hold the empire together and thus it required a new political organization to keep the empire

intact. The capital of the Caliphate was shifted from Damascus to Kufa by al- ‘Abbas in Iraq as

the Caliphate had mustered their support with the help of Khurasanis soldiers and were able to
overthrow the Umayyads. The administrative elite consisted of bureaucrats in Iraq who were

trained in Sasanian schools. The scholars did not offer full Muslim legitimation to the Abbasids

but were accepted as being menial persons doing dirty jobs which involved not abiding to

Muslim laws and those things that must be avoided by a true Muslim. Abbasids too did things to

enhance their moral standing by building mosques, conducting the holy war against Christians

and the neighboring states and patronizing scholars. The Abbasids fostered the religious loyalty

to the caliphate on both Muslim and traditional middle eastern grounds.

Under the 2nd Caliph al- Mansur the capital city was shifted to Baghdad in the year 762 which he

called the city of peace. According to Jonathan Berkey this shift in capital could represent the

growing tension between the Abbasids and the branch of Ali supporters as they were strong in

the region of Kufa. At that time the city stood as a metaphor for the character of the Islamic

empire of this period and for its greatness as it was an ambitious enterprise. Baghdad was

accepted as the central hub by many Muslim groups. The creation of the city lead to the

formation of 2 camps in its vicinity- one for the Abbasid army in the northern district and the

other towards the south which housed thousands of workers brought in from different places.

Baghdad was not a city but a metropolitan Centre – something that had never been witnessed

earlier. The capital city grew as a great commercial center for markets and trade and dealt with

productive textiles, leathers, paper and other such industry. The city was like a flower garden

with people of various groups living in it and carrying out different occupation.

Under al- Mutasim the high level and reliable troops were appointed from the Turks of central

Asia who were known for their archery skills. These were slaves and were carried to Iraq and

were converted to Islam and then manumitted to work as soldiers, governors etc. they were far
different from the domestic slaves as they were rich and powerful and held an influential position

in the society.

The issue discussed above about the governance of the state was resolved by the Abbasids by

using the policy of Umar-II and dividing the administration into 3 parts- Central, Provincial and

Local Government. The Abbasids removed the Arab caste supremacy that prevailed in the

society and created universal unity among the Muslims. The Abbasid Empire no longer belonged

to the Arabs but to all who followed Islam and accepted the rule of the Caliph. In the central

Governance the shift from provincial Arab forces to Syrian, non- Arabic and non- Muslim forces

was started under the Umayyad period but it never completely reached it which was achieved by

the Abbasids. They didn’t keep large reserves of soldiers but instead required limited frontier

forces and a central army to wage expeditions. People of other religious sects were in important

position in the Abbasid period which was not seen in the Umayyad Caliphate. The bureaucracy

included Persians, tax and banking activities were dominated by Jews and likewise but the Arabs

didn’t lose their importance completely but were not influential and depended upon the royal

family. It is said that the Abbasids inherited the traditions and the personnel of Umayyad

administration as Clientele relations with the Caliph were the essence for the governmental

organization. With time the direct role of the Caliphate was suspended by a more developed form

of administration- the 1st one was the records and correspondence office, the 2nd one was the tax

collection office and the 3rd one for paying the expenses of armies. The Caliphs too appointed

Qadis or judges from among the leading Islamic scholars. Office of the Wazir was also

developed to coordinate, supervise and check upon the operation of the bureaucracy.

Iraq, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Syria and Khuzestan were the provinces that were directly controlled.

The Caliph placed those officials that were the most obedient and close to the family but were
appointed for a short span of time so that they could not accumulate power with time. The

governor of the province was the military commander and looked upon the security of the

territory. Some peripheral provinces such as Farghana and Kabul were governed by supervising

military officials but the Centre lacked the power of collection of taxes which rested in the hands

of the states. The Local governance was a complex phenomenon in the Abbasid period which

was entirely lagging in the Umayyad period. Iraq was divided into hierarchical districts Kura,

Tassuj and Rustaq based on their ranking. The main objective of the local government was the

taxation for which surveys were conducted and an accurate amount created. Not all lands were

taxed some such as the crown land and the iqta land (land left uncultivated or the wasteland for

the sake of stimulation of agricultural growth). The amount of tax levied on a farmland varied

with the fertility of the land and the production capacity. Though the administrative system under

the Abbasid times was quite accurate in the central and the provincial governance but it had

some problems at the Local level. Though the bureaucracy was well spread it was difficult for

them to execute their power in the villages and collect as much tax that were required and also

they were not well known with the inhabitants of the villages and the amount of land they owned

or the number of cattle they had. To curb the problem the bureaucracy started to include the

village landlords who were in possession of a large part of land in the villages and thus played a

major role as an intermediary in the taxation process.

The Abbasid dynasty accepted the exalted position for the caliphs and adopted the court

ceremonies, protocol and decoration which was also practiced in the Umayyad period. The study

of the economic history of the caliphate is a recent development and much which is written falls

under fiqh (philosophy of law) and cultural and social history. Commerce flourished because of

peace within the empire. The empire had extremely busy ports not only in the Indian Ocean and
the Persian Gulf but also in the Black, Red, Caspian and the Mediterranean seas. Markets grew

and prospered. The increasing wealth of individuals generated a phenomenal trade in luxury

items. The governing classes invested in trade and speculated. Partnerships were common often

involving Muslims and non-Muslims or with partners based in places as far as Gujarat or Spain.

Money was also invested in handicraft and handloom sector. According to Muhammad Abdul

Jabbar the economic condition of the Abbasid caliphate was in decline in the later period due to

depression in the market as well as inflation in prices. We get some accounts of famines leading

to food shortage and small military revolt due to delayed payments. As discussed in the

Umayyad caliphate the movement of peasants lead to a fall in the tax revenue for the state. Ibn

al-Jawzi states that the income from the estates of the caliph eventually decreased over the

course of time to only fifty thousand dinars annually. The financial crisis of the Caliphate was

heightened by the decline of economy of the Sawad in Iraq.

The Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphate came to power in an almost similar fashion but the way

they moved on was different though diverging sometimes. Both the Caliphate helped spread the

message of Islam far and wide and had some great Caliphs but not all were well enough. The

time of the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphate was a time of expansion as well as consolidation

and intermixing of the Muslim community with the world around and thus growing on its own

with some influences of the past empires.