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Abbasid

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Abbasid Caliphate (Abbasid Khalifat) and contemporary states and
   empires in 820.
   Abbasid Caliphate (Abbasid Khalifat) and contemporary states and
   empires in 820.

   Abbasid (Arabic: العبّاسيّون, Abbāsīyūn) is the dynastic name generally
   given to the caliph of Baghdad, the second of the two great Sunni
   dynasties of the Arab Empire, that overthrew the Umayyad caliphs from
   all but Spain. It descended from Muhammad's youngest uncles, Abbas ibn
   Abd al-Muttalib. It seized power in 750 and shifted the capital from
   Damascus to Baghdad. It flourished for two centuries, but slowly went
   into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army it had created,
   the Mamluks. Within 150 years of gaining power across Iran, they were
   forced to cede power to local dynastic amirs who only nominally
   acknowledged their power, and had to cede Al Andalus to an escaped
   Umayyad royal and the Maghreb and Ifriqiya to independent Berber
   entities such as the Aghlabids and the Fatimids. Their rule was ended
   in 1258, when Hulagu Khan, the Mongol conqueror, sacked Baghdad. While
   they continued to claim authority in religious matters from their base
   in Egypt, the dynasty's secular authority had ended. Descendants of the
   Abbasids include the al-Abbasi tribe who live northeast of Tikrit in
   modern-day Iraq.

Revolt against the Umayyads

   The Abbasid caliphs officially based their claim to the caliphate on
   their descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (AD 566– 652), one of the
   youngest uncles of Muhammad, by virtue of which descent they regarded
   themselves as the rightful heirs of Muhammad as opposed to the
   Umayyads. The Umayyads were descended from Umayya, and were a clan
   separate from Muhammad's in the Quraish tribe.
   The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by
   attacking their secularism, moral character, and administration in
   general. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as
   mawali, who remained outside the kinship-based society of Arab culture
   and were perceived of as a lower class within the Umayyad empire.
   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, Muhammad ibn Ali.
   During the reign of Marwan II, this opposition culminated in the
   rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam, the fourth in descent from Abbas.
   Supported by the province of Khorasan, he achieved considerable
   successes, but was captured (AD 747) and died in prison—as some hold,
   assassinated. The quarrel was taken up by his brother Abdallah, known
   by the name of Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah, who, with victory on the
   Greater Zab River ( 750), defeated the Umayyads and was proclaimed
   Caliph.

Consolidation and schisms

   The first change the Abbasids made was to move the empire's capital
   from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. This was to both appease
   as well to be closer to the Persian mawali support base that existed in
   this region more influenced by Persian history and culture, and part of
   the Persian mawali demand for less Arab dominance in the empire.
   Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762. A new position,
   that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority,
   and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. Eventually,
   this meant that many Abbasid caliphs were eventually relegated to a
   more ceremonial role than under the Umayyads, as the viziers began to
   exert greater influence, and the role of the old Arab aristocracy was
   slowly replaced by a Persian bureaucracy.

Rift with the Arabs

   The Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their
   overthrow of the Umayyads. Abu al-'Abbas' successor, al- Mansur, moved
   their capital from Damascus to the new city of Baghdad and welcomed
   non-Arab Muslims to their court. While this helped integrate Arab and
   Persian cultures, it alienated many of their Arab supporters,
   particularly the Khorasanian Arabs who had supported them in their
   battles against the Umayyads.
   Abbasid coins during Harun al-Rashid's reign
   Abbasid coins during Harun al-Rashid's reign

   These fissures in their support led to immediate problems. The
   Umayyads, while out of power, were not destroyed. The only surviving
   member of the Umayyad royal family, which had been all but annihilated,
   ultimately made his way to Spain where he established himself as an
   independent Emir ( Abd ar-Rahman I, 756). In 929, Abd ar-Rahman III
   assumed the title of Caliph, establishing Al Andalus from Córdoba as a
   rival to Baghdad as the legitimate capital of the Islamic Empire.

Rift with the Shia

   The Abbasids also found themselves at odds with the Shias, since the
   Abbasids claimed legitimacy by their familial connection to Muhammed.
   Once in power, the Abbasids embraced Sunni Islam and disavowed any
   support for Shi'a beliefs. That led to numerous conflicts, culminating
   in an uprising in Mecca in 786, followed by widespread bloodshed and
   the flight of many Shi'a to the Maghreb, where the survivors
   established the Idrisid kingdom. Shortly thereafter, Berber Kharijites
   set up an independent state in North Africa in 801.

Loss of North Africa

   Within 50 years the Idrisids in the Maghreb and Aghlabids of Ifriqiya
   and a little later the Tulunids and Ikshidids of Misr were effectively
   independent in Africa.

Communication with Provinces

   The Abbasid leadership had to work hard in the last half of the eighth
   century (750-800), under several competent caliphs and their viziers to
   overcome the political challenges created by the far flung nature of
   the empire, and the limited communication across it and usher in the
   administrative changes to keep order. While the Byzantine Empire was
   fighting Abbasid rule in Syria and Anatolia, military operations during
   this period were minimal, as the caliphate focused on internal matters
   as local governors, who, as a matter of prodecure, operated mostly
   independently of central authority. The problem that the caliphs faced
   was that these governors had begun to exert greater autonomy, using
   their increasing power to make their positions hereditary.

Golden Age

   At the same time, the Abbasids faced challenges closer to home. Former
   supporters of the Abbasids had broken away to create a separate kingdom
   around Khorosan in northern Persia. Harun al-Rashid ( 786– 809) turned
   on the Barmakids, a Persian family that had grown significantly in
   power within the administration of the state.

   The time of Harun al-Rashid is reckoned the " Golden Age" of the
   Abbasids. He was succeeded by his son, al-Mamun, during whose reign
   increased discontent brewed in the provinces, leading up to the
   fracturing of the caliphate. In Persia, the cultural battle with the
   Arabs that had been ever pervasive renewed, and Abbasid control began
   to give way to local leaders challenging the authority of the
   caliphate.

The Mameluks

   In the 9th century, the Abbasids created an army loyal only to their
   caliphate, drawn mostly from Turkish slaves, known as Mamluks, with
   some Slavs and Berbers participating as well. This force, created in
   the reign of al-Ma'mun ( 813– 833), and his brother and successor
   al-Mu'tasim ( 833– 842), prevented the further distintegration of the
   empire.
   The Mamluk army, though often viewed negatively, both helped and hurt
   the caliphate. Early on, it provided the government with a stable force
   to deal with domestic and foreign problems. However, creation of this
   foreign army and al-Mu'tasim's transfer of the capital from Baghdad to
   Samarra created a division between the caliphate and the peoples they
   claimed to rule. In addition, the power of the Mamluks steadily grew
   until al-Radi ( 934– 941) was constrained to hand over most of the
   royal functions to Mahommed bin Raik. In the following years, the
   Buwayhids, who were Shi'ites, seized power over Baghdad, ruling central
   Iraq for more than a century.

Fracture of Central Authority

   Even by 820 CE, the Samanids had begun the process of exercising
   independent authority in Transoxiana and Greater Khorasan, the Shia
   Hamdanids in Northern Syria, and the successive Tahirid, Alid and
   Saffarid dynasties of Iran. By the early 10th century, the Abbasids
   almost lost control to the growing Persian faction known as the
   Buwayhids that replaced the Samanids as the Buwayhids were quietly able
   to assume real power in the bureaucracy at Baghdad.
   All these autonomous provinces slowly took on the charecteristic of de
   facto states with hereditary rulers, armies, and revenues and operated
   under only nominal caliphal suzeranity, which may not necessarily be
   reflected by any contribution to the treasury. The eventual rise of the
   Ghaznavid Empire and the Seljuks to displace all these factions marked
   the end of Abbasid political dominion over the area.

Loss of Power

   Mahmud of Ghazni proclaimed the title of Sultan vs. the Emir that had
   been in more common usage prior, signifying the Ghaznavid Empire's
   independence from Caliphial authority even as a matter of form. By the
   11th century, this was demonstrated by no longer mentioning the caliphs
   name in the Friday Khutba, or by striking it off from their coinage by
   the Seljuks, Sultanate of Rum, Khwarezmshahs, Almoravids etc. The
   Fatimids contested the Abbassids for even the titluar authority. The
   Buwayhids were then defeated in the mid-11th century by enlisting the
   aid of the Seljuks under Toghril Beg. The Seljuks however then
   themselves took over defacto lordship of the empire, and their leader
   bestowed the title by the caliph of the Sultan of the East and the
   West, reflecting his power, and exerted influence power over the
   Abbasids as a matter of form by publicly pledging allegiance to them
   leaving the Caliph in control of little actual territory beyond
   Baghdad.

Learning under the Abbasid dynasty

   Julius Köckert's painting of Harun al-Rashid receiving the delegation
   of Charlemagne demonstrates diplomatic contacts between their
   respective domains.
   Julius Köckert's painting of Harun al-Rashid receiving the delegation
   of Charlemagne demonstrates diplomatic contacts between their
   respective domains.

   The reigns of Harun al-Rashid ( 786– 809) and his successors fostered
   an age of great intellectual achievement. In large part, this was the
   result of the schismatic forces that had undermined the Umayyad regime,
   which relied on the assertion of the superiority of Arab culture as
   part of its claim to legitimacy, and the Abbasids' welcoming of support
   from non-Arab Muslims. It is well established that the Abbasid caliphs
   modeled their administration on that of the Sassanids. One Abbasid
   caliph is even quoted as saying:

          "The Persians ruled for a thousand years and did not need us
          Arabs even for a day. We have been ruling them for one or two
          centuries and cannot do without them for an hour."

   A number of medieval thinkers and scientists living under Islamic rule
   played a role in transmitting Greek, Hindu, and other pre-Islamic
   knowledge to the Christian West. They contributed to making Aristotle
   known in Christian Europe. In addition, the period saw the recovery of
   much of the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric, and astronomical
   knowledge, such as that of Euclides and Claudius Ptolemy. These
   recovered mathematical methods were later enhanced and developed by
   other Islamic scholars, notably by Al-Biruni, and Abu Nasr Mansur.
   Medicine was an area of science that advanced particularly during the
   Abbasids' reign. During the ninth century, Baghdad contained over 800
   doctors, and great discoveries in the understanding of anatomy and
   diseases were made. The clinical distinction between measles and
   smallpox was discovered during this time. Famous scientist Ibn Sina
   (known to the West as Avicenna) produced treatises and works that
   summarized the vast amount of knowledge that scientists had
   accumulated, and is often known as the father of modern medicine. The
   work of him and many others directly influenced the research of
   European scientists during the Renaissance and even later.
   Three speculative thinkers, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and Avicenna, combined
   Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through
   Islam.

The end of the dynasty

   Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad on ( February 10, 1258), causing great loss
   of life. Hulagu, and many others feared the ensuing a shock of nature,
   if the blood of Al-Musta'sim, the last reigning Abbasid caliphate in
   Baghdad, a direct descendent of Muhammads's uncle, was spilled. Despite
   having taken advice from Learned Shiites of Persia that no such
   calamity had happened after the deaths of John the Baptist, Jesus
   Christ, or the Shiite saint Hosein, as a precaution, Hulagu had
   Al-Musta'sim wrapped in a carpet and then trodden to death by horses on
   February 20, 1258. Al-Musta'sim family was also executed, with the lone
   exceptions of his youngest son and a daughter who were sent to Mongolia
   to be slaves in the harem of Hulagu.
   The Abbasids still maintained a feeble show of authority, confined to
   religious matters, in Egypt under the Mamluks, but the dynasty finally
   disappeared with Al-Mutawakkil III, who was carried away as a prisoner
   of the palace to Constantinople by Selim I where he only had ceremonial
   role, until his death when the Caliphate title was transferred to Selim
   I.

Abbasid Monarchs of Baghdad

   An overview of the geneological history of the Abbasids. The names in
   bold are those of caliphs.
   An overview of the geneological history of the Abbasids. The names in
   bold are those of caliphs.
     * Abu'l Abbas As-Saffah 750 - 754
     * Al-Mansur 754 - 775
     * Al-Mahdi 775 - 785
     * Al-Hadi 785 - 786
     * Harun al-Rashid 786 - 809
     * Al-Amin 809 - 813
     * Al-Ma'mun 813 - 833
     * Al-Mu'tasim 833 - 842
     * Al-Wathiq 842 - 847
     * Al-Mutawakkil 847 - 861
     * Al-Muntasir 861 - 862
     * Al-Musta'in 862 - 866
     * Al-Mu'tazz 866 - 869
     * Al-Muhtadi 869 - 870
     * Al-Mu'tamid 870 - 892
     * Al-Mu'tadid 892 - 902
     * Al-Muktafi 902 - 908
     * Al-Muqtadir 908 - 932
     * Al-Qahir 932 - 934
     * Ar-Radi 934 - 940
     * Al-Muttaqi 940 - 944
     * Al-Mustakfi 944 - 946
     * Al-Muti 946 - 974
     * At-Ta'i 974 - 991
     * Al-Qadir 991 - 1031
     * Al-Qa'im 1031 - 1075
     * Al-Muqtadi 1075 - 1094
     * Al-Mustazhir 1094 - 1118
     * Al-Mustarshid 1118 - 1135
     * Ar-Rashid 1135 - 1136
     * Al-Muqtafi 1136 - 1160
     * Al-Mustanjid 1160 - 1170
     * Al-Mustadi 1170 - 1180
     * An-Nasir 1180 - 1225
     * Az-Zahir 1225 - 1226
     * Al-Mustansir 1226 - 1242
     * Al-Musta'sim 1242 - 1258

Abbasid Monarchs on behalf of Mamluk Sultans of Cairo

     * Al-Mustansir 1261
     * Al-Hakim I (Cairo) 1262- 1302
     * Al-Mustakfi I of Cairo 1303- 1340
     * Al-Wathiq I 1340- 1341
     * Al-Hakim II 1341- 1352
     * Al-Mu'tadid I 1352- 1362
     * Al-Mutawakkil I 1362- 1383
     * Al-Wathiq II 1383- 1386
     * Al-Mu'tasim 1386- 1389
     * Al-Mutawakkil I (restored) 1389- 1406
     * Al-Musta'in 1406- 1414
     * Al-Mu'tadid II 1414- 1441
     * Al-Mustakfi II 1441- 1451
     * Al-Qa'im 1451- 1455
     * Al-Mustanjid 1455- 1479
     * Al-Mutawakkil II 1479- 1497
     * Al-Mustamsik 1497- 1508
     * Al-Mutawakkil III 1508- 1517

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