Umayyad Caliphate | |
|---|---|
| 661–750 | |
.svg) The Umayyad Caliphate at its greatest extent, under Caliph Umar II, c. 720 | |
| Status | Empire |
| Capital | |
| Official languages | Arabic |
| Common languages | (official in certain regions until 700) various regional languages |
| Religion | Islam |
| Government | Hereditary caliphate |
| Caliph | |
• 661–680 | Mu'awiya I (first) |
• 744–750 | Marwan II (last) |
| History | |
| 661 | |
| 750 | |
| Area | |
| 720[1] | 11,100,000 km2 (4,300,000 sq mi) |
| Currency | |
| Caliphate خِلافة |
|---|
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 Islam portal |
| Historical Arab states and dynasties |
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.jpg) |
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (UK: /uːˈmaɪjæd/,[2] US: /uːˈmaɪæd/;[3] Arabic: ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, romanized: al-Khilāfa al-Umawiyya)[4] was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty.[pron 1] Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established dynastic, hereditary rule with Mu'awiya I, the long-time governor of Greater Syria, who became caliph after the end of the First Fitna in 661. After Mu'awiya's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in the Second Fitna,[5] and power eventually fell to Marwan I, from another branch of the clan. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, with Damascus as their capital.
The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, conquering Ifriqiya, Transoxiana, Sind, the Maghreb and Hispania (al-Andalus). At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km2 (4,300,000 sq mi),[1] making it one of the largest empires in history in terms of area. The dynasty was toppled by the Abbasids in 750. Survivors of the dynasty established themselves in Córdoba which, in the form of an emirate and then a caliphate, became a world centre of science, medicine, philosophy and invention during the Islamic Golden Age.[6][7]
The Umayyad Caliphate ruled over a vast multiethnic and multicultural population. Christians, who still constituted a majority of the caliphate's population, and Jews were allowed to practice their own religion but had to pay the jizya (poll tax) from which Muslims were exempt.[8] Muslims were required to pay the zakat, which was earmarked or hypothecated explicitly for various alms programmes[8][9] for the benefit of Muslims or Muslim converts.[10] Under the early Umayyad caliphs, prominent positions were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served the Byzantines. The employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious accommodation that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in Syria. This policy also boosted Mu'awiya's popularity and solidified Syria as his power base.[11][12] The Umayyad era is often considered the formative period in Islamic art.[13]
- ^ a b Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 496. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "Umayyad". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ "Umayyad". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 12 May 2019. • "Umayyad". Oxford Dictionaries US Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019. • "Umayyad". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. • "Umayyad". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ "Umayyad dynasty". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ^ Bukhari, Sahih. "Sahih Bukhari: Read, Study, Search Online". Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
- ^ Barton, Simon (30 June 2009). A History of Spain. Macmillan International Higher Education. pp. 44–5. ISBN 978-1-137-01347-7.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Venable, Francis Preston (1894). A Short History of Chemistry. Heath. p. 21.
- ^ a b Rahman 1999, p. 128.
- ^ "Islamic Economics". www.hetwebsite.net. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ^ Benthal, Jonathan (1998). "The Qur'an's Call to Alms Zakat, the Muslim Tradition of Alms-giving" (PDF). ISIM Newsletter. 98 (1): 13–12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ Cavendish, Marshall (2006). World and Its Peoples. Marshall Cavendish. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-7614-7571-2. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Haag, Michael (2012). The Tragedy of the Templars: The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-84765-854-8. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Yalman, Suzan (October 2001). "The Art of the Umayyad Period (661–750)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Based on original work by Linda Komaroff. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
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