The Abbasids Era: Rise and Fall Assignment free sample

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These include some history of the collapse of the Umayyad Dynasty. It is important to know the situation that time to understand the chronology of the Abbasids. In the following part, we highlighted the rise of the Abbasids. This comprises of the factors and their contributions towards the Ummah. as this dynasty is the longest one in the Islamic history compared to other dynasty, they had contributed in vast of fields of knowledge. This dynasty was disestablished on 656 AH/1258 CE. Thus, in the final part we discussed the factors that lead to the collapse of Abbasids. This includes the problems internally and externally. 2. 0THE EVE OF THE ABBASIDS

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The Abbasid Caliphate was the Islamic dynasty after the Umayyad Caliphate. It was the largest and the longest Islamic government and state in the classical Islamic History. 2. 1General Situation To help understand the history of Abbasids chronologically, it is better to highlight the general situation of the Muslim State and the Ummah prior to the rise of Abbasids; Expansion of the Muslims, Ruling of Persians and Romans, and Umayyad toward their end. [1] During the Umayyad period, Muslim extended their territories until almost two-third of the world. The expansion can be categorized into two; westwards covering North Africa, Spain and France and eastwards up to Middle Asia and India.

During that time eastern territories were under Indian and Turkish rule, they played an important role on the International Trade routes between the Far East and the Mediterranean world. [2] Thus, it had attracted China’s interest to involve in the affairs of these territories. The end of the first century AH and the beginning of the second century witnessed the final foundation of the Ummah. Many people embraced Islam and most of them were either under the rule of Persian or the Roman. The authority that was practiced under Persians and Romans ruling was absolute authority. [3] First, the authority supported by the military power. Roman Empire was ruled by emperors who had very strong military power to support their authority.

Declination of power will result in being taken over by new emperor. The other was based on divine authority, as for example, the Persians. The rulers were believed to be divine for their connection with God; Gods, sons of Gods, or delegated by Gods etc. [4] Their ‘divinity’ is the cause for the acceptance among the people. Under such governments that implement absolute authority, there were some distinguish features. The goals and plans were to satisfy the needs and to serve the ruling classes[5], both economically and politically. Only royal families can be rulers especially under divine authority. Heavy tax rate was being levied to the people, either regularly or occasionally.

And finally, people cannot improve their classes regardless of wealth or contributions as they belong to classes by birth. Thus, they were living a very miserable life. The Umayyad encountered many serious difficulties in term of financial and administrative nature throughout the second period of the ruling. Their financial management engaged with immorality. [6] The policy of some Umayyad governors was against the rules of Islam. They allowed Muslims to acquire land of Kharaj which changed the rules of the 2nd Caliph, Umar. They also discouraged people to convert to Islam in order to avoid the Jizyah lose. This policy was stopped during the time of Umar II. His reminder was “God sent His Prophet not as tax gatherer”.

When they complained about the treasury would empty, he replied, “Glad would I be, by Allah, to see every body become Muslim so that you and I would have to till the soil with our own hands to earn a living”. [7] However, they reapplied the policy immediately after his death. This shows that the Muslims’ love of worldly life and the adab are on the wane. [8] In administrative field, Umayyad depended mainly on Arabs as the key administration posts. [9] Non Arabs Muslim population only has chances to take part in the local states administration. But as we mentioned before, during the end of Umayyad there is a large number of newly converts. They were assuming to have equality in treatments and chances under the Islamic ruling which would differ from Persians or Romans.

Unfortunately, they were outside the kinship-based society of Arab culture and were perceived of as a lower class within the Umayyad Empire. [10] Beside that, there is an odd kind of degeneration in the administration. With a few exceptions, some of them think that the people have been created for their services[11] and called themselves a “supertribe” of the Muslims. This social subordination of the mawali or clients from the conquered races (a good proportion of whom were Persians who had come over to the new faith)[12] lead to discontentment among the mawali. The Umayyad were opposed by two; Shi`ah and Khawarij. They opposed with regards to the succession of the Caliph. These three parties represented different political theories. The Umayyad holds to “Ahl as-Sunna” which ays: “the leadership of Muslims (the Caliph) should be selected from the tribe of Quraish” referring to the “Saqifa” that pointed Abu Bakr as the 1st Caliph. Contradictorily, Khawarij hold that any qualified Muslim regardless of race can be a Caliph. They do not accept the inheritance of post practiced by the Umayyad. Shi`ah are the supporter of the family of Ali Abi Talib. According to them, this is the only legitimate family for the post. [13] The Umayyad was descended from Umayya, and was a clan separate from Muhammad’s in the Quraish tribe[14] (see Appendix 2). 2. 2The Revolution The Abbasids were very famous as scholars and had good contribution in the field of knowledge.

They also proved that they were competent as politicians; partly by the skill of propagating and partly by their manipulation of internecine jealousies among the Arabic and non-Arabic subjects of the empire. [15] They used their skill to secure their involvement in politics. They won the heart of the Shi`ahs and at the same time kept their leadership hidden to be safe from the Umayyad. [16] By propagating under the slogan of “a member of the House of the Prophet who shall be pleasing to everyone” (al-reza men al Muhammad), they arranged the system of noqaba (sing. naqib). [17] Under this system, each naqib form a cell of ten and the top cell represented the supreme council lead by Muhammad b. `Ali (see Appendix 1).

Only the noqaba made contact with Muhammad b. `Ali. This intensive propaganda began around 718 in Iraq and Khurasan. [18] They manipulated the internecine jealousies among the Arabic and non-Arabic subjects. The Abbasids promised the rise of an Islamic State where all people are equal. Using the slogan, they also promised to achieve reforms especially in finance and administration, succeeded in winning the support of the majority of the population in Iraq and Khurasan. One of the principal agents of the Abbasids revolution was a Persian Abu Moslem ? orasani. [19] He succeeded his propaganda and in 747 began the rebellion that would quickly lead to the end of the Umayyad caliphate.

The death of Ibrahim the fourth in descent from Abbas, who, supported by the province of Khorasan, in 748 after his capture by the Umayyad could not halt the steady westward procession of Abbasid forces: in 749 they reached Iraq and declared Ibrahim’s brother, Abu al-Abbas, to be the new caliph with the title al-Saffah. The last Umayyad caliph was killed in 750. The capital of the Caliphate which was located in Baghdad that was established by him. ??????? ???????? ????????? 2. 3Islamic Abbasid Caliphate Abbasid (Arabic: ???????????? , al-‘Abbasiyun) originated from the name of to Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad’s youngest uncle (refer to Appendix 1). All the descendents of Abbas was referred as the Abbasids. Al-Mansur 754 – 775 |Ar-Radi 934 – 940 | |Al-Mahdi 775 – 785 |Al-Muttaqi 940 – 944 | |Al-Hadi 785 – 786 |Al-Mustakfi 944 – 946 | |Harun al-Rashid 786 – 809 |Al-Muti 946 – 974 | |Al-Amin 809 – 813 |At-Ta’i 974 – 991 | |Al-Ma’mun 813 – 833 |Al-Qadir 991 – 1031 | |Al-Mu’tasim 833 – 842 |Al-Qa’im 1031 – 1075 | |Al-Wathiq 842 – 847 |Al-Muqtadi 1075 – 1094 | |Al-Mutawakkil 847 – 861 |Al-Mustazhir 1094 – 1118 | |Al-Muntasir 861 – 862 |Al-Mustarshid 1118 – 1135 | |Al-Musta’in 862 – 866 |Ar-Rashid 1135 – 1136 | |Al-Mu’tazz 866 – 869 |Al-Muqtafi 1136 – 1160 |Al-Muhtadi 869 – 870 |Al-Mustanjid 1160 – 1170 | |Al-Mu’tamid 870 – 892 |Al-Mustadi 1170 – 1180 | |Al-Mu’tadid 892 – 902 |An-Nasir 1180 – 1225 | |Al-Muktafi 902 – 908 |Az-Zahir 1225 – 1226 | |Al-Muqtadir 908 – 932 |Al-Mustansir 1226 – 1242 | |Al-Qahir 932 – 934 |Al-Musta’sim 1242 – 1258[20] | The Islamic Abbasid Caliphate was established on 132 AH/750 CE and disestablished on 656 AH/1258 CE. The capital or central government of Abbasid Caliphate was Baghdad.

The area covered was 10,000,000 km? (3,861,022 sq mi) with the density of 5 /km? (12. 9 /sq mi) (see Appendix 3). The population of this Caliphate is about 50,000,000. The type of currency that was used is called Abbasid Dinar. The official language is Arabic. Other languages that being used were Aramaic, Berber languages, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Middle Persian and Turkish. As it was an Islamic Dynasty, the religion practiced was Islam. The territories were under the Caliphate System which the highest authority was called Amir al-Mu’minin. The Caliphs that have ruled under the Abbasids Era were (see Appendix 1); 3. 0THE RISE OF ABBASID ERA 3. 1The centralization

The rise of the Abbasid era was started during the period of centralization[21]. The first change that the Abbasids made during the period was to move the empire’s capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad began to expand immediately. It reached its peak as the first city in the Century CE). The population of Baghdad at this time was about two million. The government also took good care of welfare and services in the city. It is important to note that the services at that time were not only under the responsibility of the government, they were also considered as social responsibility. Tolerance in religious life was one of the best features of the life in Islamic cities at that time.

In Baghdad, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians lived side by side and as neighbors. The government defended the rights of non-Muslims in Muslim communities. During the period of centralization also, the Abbasids had introduced important and major changes in the political concepts of that time. Firstly, they changed the concept of the absolute and divine authority to a new concept of limited authority. Secondly, the Muslim government also changed the old concept of the purposes of the government. One of the important plans and goals of the government during those times was to look after the interests of the ruling classes and to achieve and serve their demands.

However, no attention was paid to the welfare of the people. Thirdly, the Abbasids also changed the concept of the ruling classes and divine rulers. Rulers, in Islamic concept are not divine and any qualifies person can take the lead of the people. The Abbasids ruled in Baghdad for about 525 years. They succeeded in maintaining a very strong central authority. However, towards the middle of the 3rd Century AH (9th Century CE), the central authority became weak. Provincial or regional capitals became much stronger and often politically independent. Baghdad during that period became like a federal capital. The Abbasid Caliphs were strong and capable. They did not practice an absolute authority.

The Caliph had beside him the Council of Shura (Council of Elders) for consultation, and he had to rule according to the constitution of the State (the Shari’ah). The territories of the Abbasids extended between Sind and Central Asia in the east until al-Maghrib in the west. As the economy of the Abbasids improved, irrigation system and canals were maintained. The swamps in the Tigris were dried and extensive areas were reclaimed. Both overland and sea trade routers from China to West Asia and through the Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea flourished. 3. 2The Golden Age The rise of the Abbasid Era also can be described by referring to the Islamic Golden Age[22].

The Islamic Golden Age was started by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. During this period, the Muslim world became the unrivaled intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established a “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world’s knowledge into Arabic in term of literature, many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn translated into Turkish, Hebrew, and Latin.

At this time, Muslim world also known as a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized, and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek, and Byzantine civilizations. All of these achievement of Abbasid Era had been classified into four categories which are; education and science, literature, philosophy, and technology. Education and Science In term of education and science, there are many achievements that have been made in the Abbasid Era. For example, in the reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786-809)[23], he and his successors had 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. Caliph Harun al-Rashid had opened the school of medicine at Baghdad University, towards the end of the 2nd Century AH (8th Century CE). As a result, large cities in the Abbasid territories were enjoying good health services. A number of medieval thinkers[24] and scientists living under Islamic rule played a role in transmitting Islamic science 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 that of Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy.

These recovered mathematical methods were later enhanced and developed much further by other Islamic scholars, notably by Persian scientists Al-Biruni and Abu Nasr Mansur, who are thought to have first derived the Cosine rule and applied it to spherical geometry. The Persian scientist, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was pioneered Algebra during this time in his landmark text, Kitab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala, from which the term algebra is derived. Because of this, he is known as the Father of Algebra. The terms algorism and algorithm are also derived from the name of al-Khwarizmi, who was responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals and Hindu-Arabic numeral system beyond the Indian subcontinent.

In term of Chemistry, scholars such as Will Durant and Alexander von Humboldt had regard Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. This is due to the Muslim chemists and alchemists played an important role in the foundation of modern chemistry. A number of chemical processes such as distillation techniques and the production of alcohol were developed in the Muslim world before spread it to the Europe. Therefore, Jabir ibn Hayyan is considered as the Father of Chemistry. Literature During Abbasids Era, there are also the achievements in literature. For example, one of the most well-known fictions from the Islamic world was The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights[25]).

According to this fiction, the original concept is derived from pre-Islamic Iranian (Persian) prototype with reliance on Indian elements. In this fiction also had included the stories from rest of the Middle-Eastern and North-African nations. The epic took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. All Arabian fantasy tales were often called “Arabian Nights” when translated into English regardless of whether they appeared in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. This epic has been influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland.

Many imitations were written, especially in France. Various characters from this epic had become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba. Philosophy One of the common definitions for “Islamic Philosophy” is the style of philosophy produced within the framework of Islamic culture. Islamic philosophy, in this definition is neither necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor is exclusively produced by Muslims. Their works on Aristotle was a key step in the transmission of learning from ancient Greeks to the Islamic world and the West. They often corrected the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of Ijtihad.

They also wrote influential original philosophical works, and their thinking was incorporated into Christian philosophy during the Middle-Ages, notably by Thomas Aquinas. Besides that, when three speculative thinkers; al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and Avicenna, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam, and Avicennism was later established as a result. Other influential Muslim philosophers in the Abbasids Era are include al-Jahiz, who was a pioneer in evolutionary thought, and Ibn al-Haytham, who was a pioneer of phenomenology and the philosophy of science and a critic of Aristotelian physics and Aristotle’s concept of place (topos). Technology

In technology, the Muslim world adopted the industry of papermaking from China and further advanced the technology with their invention of paper mills long times ago before paper were known in the West. Besides that, the knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China through Islamic countries, where the formulas for pure potassium nitrate and an explosive gunpowder effect were first developed. Technology also had been used in irrigation and farming sector, by using the new technology advanced such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans. Arab merchants dominated trade in the Indian Ocean until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century.

The Muslim engineers[26] during this era had made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, tidal power, wind power, steam power, fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic). They also had invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide the additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labor in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world.

The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution. 4. 0THE COLLAPSE OF ABBASIDS ERA As we know, history of the Abbasids is generally divided into two periods: 1) The Abbasid period 132? 238 AH (750? 852 CE) In the period, the administration was centralized. The central government of Baghdad practiced its authority over all the territories of the state. 2) The Abbasid period 238? 656 AH (852? 1258 CE) In this period, many historians look this as “the period of weaknesses and disintegration of the Caliphate”. It is because in this period the administration was decentralized, the local state emerged and the central government of Baghdad was no more practicing any power outside Iraq. [27]

In this section, we will discuss the second period where we can see how such a great power of Muslim can collapse. Actually, there are 2 factors: internal and external factors. 4. 1Internal Factors Within the entrance of external power in the central government at Baghdad, directly make the position of those Caliphs on that time as a statue or idol. Those Caliphs just have the power in the name of Abbasids government, but in real the affairs of governance had been handled by other parties[28]. Since the beginning, the Abbasids’ Caliphs had instilled the elements of non Arabic such as the elements of Persian and Turkey influence. Those elements also had conquered the administration matter.

Finally, the army and the guardian of the country had been colonized by the Turkish people. In 945? 1055 M, the government of Bani Buwaih from Persian had conquered Baghdad. In 1055? 1194 M, the government of Bani Seljuk from Turkey, had replaced Bani Buwaih to colonize Baghdad. In 950? 1050 M, the entire governor had escaped themselves from Baghdad and built their own state. Therefore, in the west Baghdad, we will see the existence of Idrisi governance at Morocco, Aghlabi at Tunisia, Tuluni at Egypt, Ikhsidi and Hamdani at Mosul and Aleppo. In the east of Baghdad, the governance of Tahriri at Khurasan, Saffari at Fes, and Samani at Transoxania, were existed.

Those dissolution was occurred because the area of Bani Abbasiah governed was wide, thus make the governance difficult in control them. Rather than that, the leader of the government of Baghdad himself had experienced problems where the Caliphs just only give their full attention to the internal problems[29]. The main sources of the government income were come from the collection of tax of the state and agricultural sector. It is because on the Abbasids era, they were mainly focused on the agriculture sector. However, many people trying to escaped themselves from paying the tax. Thus effected the total payment of lease became less and lesser. Therefore, to increase the income back, the government had taken a step by ordered the army to collect the tax by forcing them.

According to Jurji Zaidan, the income of Abbasid government had been reduced was because of the person in charged to collect the tax had manipulated it. The agricultural sector on that time had problem with the watering system was not good enough on that period. This problem was affected from the Nahrawan River experienced a great damage caused by the Great War and the gutter was not repaired. [30] The replacement of Caliphs system was not very clear. The Abbasid government on that time has no clear regulations regarding the system. This problem makes the Turkish people to control over the appointment of Caliphs from widespread and appoint anyone that they ant, either from their background family as Caliph. Besides, they also can easily fire any Caliph that they did not like.

The vague in these regulations had made havoc between the prince of the Caliphs and the cousins. Anyone from them can be appointed as a Caliphs as to replace the old one, who was not able to control the government anymore. For example, the situation when al? Saffah passed away. His position had been taken placed by his son, al? Mahdi[31]. The existence of the rebellious group. In al? Muhtadi period of governance (869 M. ), there was some rejection from Zanj tribe in the leading of Ali Bin Muhammad. In Iraq, there was a group movement called Syiah, Qaramitah was lead by Hamdan Qarmat in the year 874 M. This movement had been organized as to make their states independent from the country.

Their action had created havoc when they were daring to kill the leader of Bani Seljuk, the enemy of their country[32]. 4. 2External Factors The collapsed of the Abbasid government was occurred when the king of Mongolia, Mangu wanted to spread his power over the country. He ordered his army lead by Kublai Khan to attack the east country. In the same time, Hulagu moved his step to the south to conquer the Muslim country. He interested in collapsing the Islam government because of two reasons. 1) The feeling of hatred when his wife, who is Christianity, has raised the issue. 2) The promise that king Mangu has kept to hand over the Jerussalem to the Christ people if he wins in conquering the Islamic country. In 10 February 1258 M. the Hulagu army had succeeded to enter the Baghdad and destroyed it. All the property and books had been diminishing by burning them. The Caliphs and their family had been killed. However, some families were able to escape themselves from being the victims of Hulagu. This incident had made the whole Muslim on that day sad, because of the diminishing of Baghdad politics also made the Islamic politics, educational system, economics, and the widening of Islamic Culture on that time had been also influenced[33]. From the above effects, I also like to mention the weakness of the central government here. It is because a country will not collapsed if the government in the country is very strong.

Although we already know that the Abbasids in their first period tried to maintain their power and keep strong central authority. But there were some problems and difficulties that challenged that policy such as: 1) Problems of the administration 2) The opposition parties 3) The policy of some Caliphs Problems of the administration The central government needed a very good and efficient system of communication to maintain its power over all its territory[34]. The centralized system of government proved to be unsuccessful during those times. Abbasids on their turn tried their best to consolidated and strengthen their central authority, during the first century of their rule they were successful. After that their power became week.

It was very difficult to maintain that power, besides that, some other reasons helped in weakening their central power such as the movements of opposition parties. [35] The opposition parties Shia’ah and Khawarij were active opposition parties during the reign of Banu Ummayyah. They continued their opposition against the Abbasids. Members of the family of Ali and their supporters were surprised when they realized that the family of al? Abbas, not the family of Ali? was behind the propaganda of Ahlul Bayt (The family of the Prophet). After the rise of the Abbasids the leaders of Ali’s family continued their opposition against the Abbasids. On the other hand, there were a lot of opposition of that time such as Ibadiyyah in Oman and North Africa.

During the first hundred years of the Abbasid rule, both Shi’ah and Ibadiyyah were very strong in the remote parts of the Abbasid territories and they succeeded in weakening the power of the central government in these places. [36] The policy of some Caliphs Although the Abbasid Caliphs were very strong in the beginning of their rule, yet some of their policies contributed to the weaknesses of the central authority, here is example: We have seen that opposition parties were still active in the North Africa after the rise of the Abbasids. The rebellious movements of al? Ibadiyyah continued from the beginning of the Abbasid rule until the time of Harun al? Rasyid (170? 193 AH/ 786? 809 CE). Because of this Harun al? Rasyid had decided to change the policy in al? Maghrib.

He decided to establish a buffer state near Maghrib so as to separate the Western borders of the Abbasids in North Africa from the revolutionary parts of al-Maghrib, and to leave the middle and Far West to the opposition parties. Conclusion From the assignment, we have concluded several points. The emergence of Abbasid had a close link with the collapse of the Umayyad. The difficulties that lied in the Umayyad opened the chance for the Abbasid to engage in political matters. It also showed that the Abbasids were capable in their skills especially in dealing with the Ummah problems. The Golden Age of the Abbasid represented their level of knowledge. They contribution are still relevant in these days.

Moreover some of these masterpieces still are used as the basis of knowledge especially in science and technology. The factors that lead to their successfulness had been mentioned in this assignment. The fall of the dynasty showed up some weaknesses in various sectors. This comprises both internal and external factors. The last part of discussion in the assignment shows that when Muslims are weak, there are so much threats waiting for us. As for the last, the study in history for example, the Abbasid suggested that we should learn lessons from it. Appendices APPENDIX 1: The Genealogy of the Abbasids APPENDIX 2: The Umayyad, the Abbasids and the Shi`ahs SHI`AHS UMAYYADS

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