{"id":158,"date":"2017-04-18T18:54:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T18:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-worldcivilization\/chapter\/the-abbasid-empire\/"},"modified":"2017-04-18T18:54:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T18:54:58","slug":"the-abbasid-empire","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/chapter\/the-abbasid-empire\/","title":{"raw":"The Abbasid Empire","rendered":"The Abbasid Empire"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\n<ul><li>Discuss the political stability during the Abbasid Era and the Abbasids' rise to power<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul><li>The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750 CE, supporting the mawali, or non-Arab Muslims, by moving the capital to Baghdad in 762 CE.<\/li>\n \t<li>The Persian bureaucracy slowly replaced the old Arab aristocracy as the Abbasids established the new positions of vizier and emir to delegate their central authority.<\/li>\n \t<li>The Abbasids maintained an unbroken line of caliphs for over three centuries, consolidating Islamic rule and cultivating great intellectual and cultural developments in the Middle East in the Golden Age of Islam.<\/li>\n \t<li>The Fatimid dynasty broke from the Abbasids in 909 and created separate line of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine until 1171 CE.<\/li>\n \t<li>Abbasid control eventually disintegrated, and the edges of the empire declared local autonomy.<\/li>\n \t<li>Though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Terms<\/h3>\n<h4>mawali<\/h4>\nNon-Arab Muslims.\n<h4>Fatimid dynasty<\/h4>\nA Shi'a Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west; they claimed lineage from Muhammad's daughter.\n<h4>emir<\/h4>\nA title of high office used in a variety of places in the Muslim world.\n<h4>vizier<\/h4>\nA high-ranking political advisor or minister in the Muslim world.\n\n<\/div>\n<h1>Rise of the Abbasid Empire (c. 750 CE)<\/h1>\nThe Umayyad dynasty was overthrown by another family of Meccan origin, the Abbasids, in 750 CE. The Abbasids distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character and administration. In particular, they appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, who remained outside the kinship-based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566\u2013653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. Muhammad ibn 'Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II, an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717\u2013720 CE.\n<figure>\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"680\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/BLworldhist\/3esvc3fvsqotqhv5htld.jpe#fixme#fixme#fixme\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"700\" \/> Coin of the Abbasids, Baghdad, Iraq, 765 CE.[\/caption]<\/figure><h1>Power in Baghdad<\/h1>\nThe Abbasids moved the empire's capital from Damascus, in modern-day Syria, to Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, in 762 CE. The Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads, and the geographic power shift appeased the Persian mawali support base. Abu al-'Abbas's successor, Al-Mansur, welcomed non-Arab Muslims to his court. While this helped integrate Arab and Persian cultures, it alienated the Arabs who had supported the Abbasids in their battles against the Umayyads. The Abbasids established the new position of vizier to delegate central authority, and delegated even greater authority to local emirs. As the viziers exerted greater influence, many Abbasid caliphs were relegated to a more ceremonial role as Persian bureaucracy slowly replaced the old Arab aristocracy.\n\nThe Abbasids, who ruled from Baghdad, had an unbroken line of caliphs for over three centuries, consolidating Islamic rule and cultivating great intellectual and cultural developments in the Middle East in the Golden Age of Islam. By 940 CE, however, the power of the caliphate under the Abbasids began waning as non-Arabs gained influence and the various subordinate sultans and emirs became increasingly independent.\n<figure>\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"680\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1745\/2017\/04\/18185454\/1024px-abbasids850.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"414\" \/> Map of the Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent, c. 850 CE. The Abbasid dynasty ruled as caliphs from their capital in Baghdad, in modern Iraq, after taking over authority of the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE.[\/caption]<\/figure><h1>Decline of the Abbasid Empire<\/h1>\nThe Abbasid leadership worked to overcome the political challenges of a large empire with limited communication in the last half of the 8th century (750\u2013800 CE). While the Byzantine Empire was fighting Abbasid rule in Syria and Anatolia, the caliphate's military operations were focused on internal unrest. Local governors had begun to exert greater autonomy, using their increasing power to make their positions hereditary. Simultaneously, former supporters of the Abbasids had broken away to create a separate kingdom around Khorosan in northern Persia.\n\nSeveral factions left the empire to exercise independent authority. In 793 CE, the Shi'a (also called Shi'ite) dynasty of Idrisids gained authored over Fez in Morocco. The Berber Kharijites set up an independent state in North Africa in 801 CE. A family of governors under the Abbasids became increasingly independent until they founded the Aghlabid Emirate in the 830s. Within 50 years, the Idrisids in the Maghreb, the Aghlabids of Ifriqiya, and the Tulunids and Ikshidids of Misr became independent in Africa.\n\nBy the 860s governors in Egypt set up their own Tulunid Emirate, so named for its founder Ahmad ibn Tulun, starting a dynastic rule separate from the caliph. In the eastern territories, local governors decreased their ties to the central Abbasid rule. The Saffarids of Herat and the Samanids of Bukhara seceded in the 870s to cultivate a more Persian culture and rule. The Tulinid dynasty managed Palestine, the Hijaz, and parts of Egypt. By 900 CE, the Abbasids controlled only central Mesopotamia, and the Byzantine Empire began to reconquer western Anatolia.\n<h1>The Fatimid Caliphate (909\u20131171 CE)<\/h1>\nSeveral factions challenged the Abbasids' claims to the caliphate. Most Shi'a Muslims had supported the Abbasid war against the Umayyads because the Abbasids claimed legitimacy with their familial connection to Muhammad, an important issue for Shi'a. However, once in power, the Abbasids embraced Sunni Islam and disavowed any support for Shi'a beliefs.\n\nThe Shi\u02bba Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah of the Fatimid dynasty, who claimed descent from Muhammad's daughter, declared himself Caliph in 909 CE and created a separate line of caliphs in North Africa. The Fatimid caliphs initially controlled Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and they expanded for the next 150 years, taking Egypt and Palestine. The Abbasid dynasty finally challenged Fatimid rule, limiting them to Egypt. By the 920s, a Shi'a sect that only recognized the first five Imams and could trace its roots to Muhammad's daughter Fatima, took control of Idrisi and then Aghlabid domains. This group advanced to Egypt in 969 CE, establishing their capital near Fustat in Cairo, which they built as a bastion of Shi'a learning and politics. By 1000 CE, they had become the chief political and ideological challenge to Abbasid Sunni Islam. At this point, the Abbasid dynasty had fragmented into several governorships that were mostly autonomous, although they official recognized caliphal authority from Baghdad. The caliph himself was under \"protection\" of the Buyid Emirs, who possessed all of Iraq and western Iran, and were quietly Shi'a in their sympathies.\n<figure>\n\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"680\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1745\/2017\/04\/18185456\/Fatimid_Islamic_Caliphate.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"372\" \/> The Fatimid Caliphate at its height, c. 969 CE. The Fatimid dynasty broke from the Abbasids in 909 CE and created separate lines of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine until 1171 CE.[\/caption]<\/figure>\nOutside Iraq, all the autonomous provinces slowly became states with hereditary rulers, armies, and revenues. They operated under only nominal caliph authority, with emirs ruling their own provinces from their own capitals. Mahmud of Ghazni took the title of \"sultan,\" instead of \"emir,\" signifying the Ghaznavid Empire's independence from caliphal authority, despite Mahmud's ostentatious displays of Sunni orthodoxy and ritual submission to the caliph. In the 11th century, the loss of respect for the caliphs continued, as some Islamic rulers no longer mentioned the caliph's name in the Friday khutba, or struck it off their coinage. The political power of the Abbasids largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks in 1258 CE. Though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.\n<h4 class=\"bcp-concept--collapsible-header collapsed\"><i class=\"icon-caret-down\" \/>Sources<\/h4>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss the political stability during the Abbasid Era and the Abbasids&#8217; rise to power<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750 CE, supporting the mawali, or non-Arab Muslims, by moving the capital to Baghdad in 762 CE.<\/li>\n<li>The Persian bureaucracy slowly replaced the old Arab aristocracy as the Abbasids established the new positions of vizier and emir to delegate their central authority.<\/li>\n<li>The Abbasids maintained an unbroken line of caliphs for over three centuries, consolidating Islamic rule and cultivating great intellectual and cultural developments in the Middle East in the Golden Age of Islam.<\/li>\n<li>The Fatimid dynasty broke from the Abbasids in 909 and created separate line of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine until 1171 CE.<\/li>\n<li>Abbasid control eventually disintegrated, and the edges of the empire declared local autonomy.<\/li>\n<li>Though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Terms<\/h3>\n<h4>mawali<\/h4>\n<p>Non-Arab Muslims.<\/p>\n<h4>Fatimid dynasty<\/h4>\n<p>A Shi&#8217;a Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west; they claimed lineage from Muhammad&#8217;s daughter.<\/p>\n<h4>emir<\/h4>\n<p>A title of high office used in a variety of places in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n<h4>vizier<\/h4>\n<p>A high-ranking political advisor or minister in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Rise of the Abbasid Empire (c. 750 CE)<\/h1>\n<p>The Umayyad dynasty was overthrown by another family of Meccan origin, the Abbasids, in 750 CE. The Abbasids distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character and administration. In particular, they appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, who remained outside the kinship-based society of the Arabs and were perceived as a lower class within the Umayyad empire. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad&#8217;s youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566\u2013653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. Muhammad ibn &#8216;Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II, an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 717\u2013720 CE.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/BLworldhist\/3esvc3fvsqotqhv5htld.jpe#fixme#fixme#fixme\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"700\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coin of the Abbasids, Baghdad, Iraq, 765 CE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h1>Power in Baghdad<\/h1>\n<p>The Abbasids moved the empire&#8217;s capital from Damascus, in modern-day Syria, to Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq, in 762 CE. The Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads, and the geographic power shift appeased the Persian mawali support base. Abu al-&#8216;Abbas&#8217;s successor, Al-Mansur, welcomed non-Arab Muslims to his court. While this helped integrate Arab and Persian cultures, it alienated the Arabs who had supported the Abbasids in their battles against the Umayyads. The Abbasids established the new position of vizier to delegate central authority, and delegated even greater authority to local emirs. As the viziers exerted greater influence, many Abbasid caliphs were relegated to a more ceremonial role as Persian bureaucracy slowly replaced the old Arab aristocracy.<\/p>\n<p>The Abbasids, who ruled from Baghdad, had an unbroken line of caliphs for over three centuries, consolidating Islamic rule and cultivating great intellectual and cultural developments in the Middle East in the Golden Age of Islam. By 940 CE, however, the power of the caliphate under the Abbasids began waning as non-Arabs gained influence and the various subordinate sultans and emirs became increasingly independent.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1745\/2017\/04\/18185454\/1024px-abbasids850.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"414\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of the Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent, c. 850 CE. The Abbasid dynasty ruled as caliphs from their capital in Baghdad, in modern Iraq, after taking over authority of the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h1>Decline of the Abbasid Empire<\/h1>\n<p>The Abbasid leadership worked to overcome the political challenges of a large empire with limited communication in the last half of the 8th century (750\u2013800 CE). While the Byzantine Empire was fighting Abbasid rule in Syria and Anatolia, the caliphate&#8217;s military operations were focused on internal unrest. Local governors had begun to exert greater autonomy, using their increasing power to make their positions hereditary. Simultaneously, former supporters of the Abbasids had broken away to create a separate kingdom around Khorosan in northern Persia.<\/p>\n<p>Several factions left the empire to exercise independent authority. In 793 CE, the Shi&#8217;a (also called Shi&#8217;ite) dynasty of Idrisids gained authored over Fez in Morocco. The Berber Kharijites set up an independent state in North Africa in 801 CE. A family of governors under the Abbasids became increasingly independent until they founded the Aghlabid Emirate in the 830s. Within 50 years, the Idrisids in the Maghreb, the Aghlabids of Ifriqiya, and the Tulunids and Ikshidids of Misr became independent in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>By the 860s governors in Egypt set up their own Tulunid Emirate, so named for its founder Ahmad ibn Tulun, starting a dynastic rule separate from the caliph. In the eastern territories, local governors decreased their ties to the central Abbasid rule. The Saffarids of Herat and the Samanids of Bukhara seceded in the 870s to cultivate a more Persian culture and rule. The Tulinid dynasty managed Palestine, the Hijaz, and parts of Egypt. By 900 CE, the Abbasids controlled only central Mesopotamia, and the Byzantine Empire began to reconquer western Anatolia.<\/p>\n<h1>The Fatimid Caliphate (909\u20131171 CE)<\/h1>\n<p>Several factions challenged the Abbasids&#8217; claims to the caliphate. Most Shi&#8217;a Muslims had supported the Abbasid war against the Umayyads because the Abbasids claimed legitimacy with their familial connection to Muhammad, an important issue for Shi&#8217;a. However, once in power, the Abbasids embraced Sunni Islam and disavowed any support for Shi&#8217;a beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>The Shi\u02bba Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah of the Fatimid dynasty, who claimed descent from Muhammad&#8217;s daughter, declared himself Caliph in 909 CE and created a separate line of caliphs in North Africa. The Fatimid caliphs initially controlled Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and they expanded for the next 150 years, taking Egypt and Palestine. The Abbasid dynasty finally challenged Fatimid rule, limiting them to Egypt. By the 920s, a Shi&#8217;a sect that only recognized the first five Imams and could trace its roots to Muhammad&#8217;s daughter Fatima, took control of Idrisi and then Aghlabid domains. This group advanced to Egypt in 969 CE, establishing their capital near Fustat in Cairo, which they built as a bastion of Shi&#8217;a learning and politics. By 1000 CE, they had become the chief political and ideological challenge to Abbasid Sunni Islam. At this point, the Abbasid dynasty had fragmented into several governorships that were mostly autonomous, although they official recognized caliphal authority from Baghdad. The caliph himself was under &#8220;protection&#8221; of the Buyid Emirs, who possessed all of Iraq and western Iran, and were quietly Shi&#8217;a in their sympathies.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1745\/2017\/04\/18185456\/Fatimid_Islamic_Caliphate.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"680\" height=\"372\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Fatimid Caliphate at its height, c. 969 CE. The Fatimid dynasty broke from the Abbasids in 909 CE and created separate lines of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine until 1171 CE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Outside Iraq, all the autonomous provinces slowly became states with hereditary rulers, armies, and revenues. They operated under only nominal caliph authority, with emirs ruling their own provinces from their own capitals. Mahmud of Ghazni took the title of &#8220;sultan,&#8221; instead of &#8220;emir,&#8221; signifying the Ghaznavid Empire&#8217;s independence from caliphal authority, despite Mahmud&#8217;s ostentatious displays of Sunni orthodoxy and ritual submission to the caliph. In the 11th century, the loss of respect for the caliphs continued, as some Islamic rulers no longer mentioned the caliph&#8217;s name in the Friday khutba, or struck it off their coinage. The political power of the Abbasids largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks in 1258 CE. Though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"bcp-concept--collapsible-header collapsed\"><i class=\"icon-caret-down\">Sources<\/i><\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-158\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Boundless World History. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/world-history\/textbooks\/boundless-world-history-textbook\/\">https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/world-history\/textbooks\/boundless-world-history-textbook\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":622,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Boundless World History\",\"author\":\"Boundless\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.com\/world-history\/textbooks\/boundless-world-history-textbook\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-158","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":132,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/158\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/132"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/158\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}