The fall of the Umayyads

Part oneA dynasty under strain

Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik died in 743 (125 AH), after almost twenty years as caliph. He had held the empire steady, but trouble was already visible. Around 740 the Amazigh of North Africa rose in revolt, and the Syrian army sent to put them down was beaten. In the same year Zayd ibn Ali, a great-grandson of al-Husayn, rose in Kufa and was killed. Many Muslims felt that the Prophet's ﷺ family deserved better, and Zayd's name was remembered.

The army in Syria was itself divided. Tribes from the north of Arabia and from the south, who had once fought together, were now rivals for favour and posts, and each caliph seemed to lean on one side. Quarrels like these weakened the caliphate where it was strongest.

Troops from Syria were stationed far from home. Persians and other non-Arab Muslims in the east felt that they were treated as second class, though they shared the faith. The tax rules, the weight of Syrian garrisons and the belief that the caliphate belonged in the Prophet's ﷺ family all fed the sense of grievance.

After Hisham the caliphs followed each other fast. Al-Walid II was killed in 744 in a revolt led by members of his own family and other leaders. His successor, Yazid III, died within months. After a short rule by Yazid's brother Ibrahim, Marwan ibn Muhammad, a seasoned commander, took power as Marwan II. He moved the capital from Damascus to Harran, in northern Mesopotamia, nearer to the troops who supported him.

Marwan had spent much of his career as a governor and general on the northern frontier, against the Khazars in the Caucasus, and he was respected as a soldier. He spent years putting down revolts in Syria and Iraq, and he mostly succeeded. The effort left the state tired. The real danger was in the far east.

Part twoThe black banners

Khurasan was a military province with a large Arab garrison. By the 740s its tribes were split by old rivalries, and its governor, Nasr ibn Sayyar, struggled to keep order. The distance from Damascus meant that ideas could spread unseen.

A secret movement had been spreading such ideas for years. It called for a ruler from the family of the Prophet ﷺ, without naming him, and its leaders belonged to the Abbasids, descendants of al-Abbas, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle. Its agent in Khurasan was Abu Muslim, whose early life is little known and whose origins accounts tell in different ways. In 747, in a village near Merv, he raised black banners, and followers came from many tribes and many backgrounds, and Arabs and Persians fought side by side. Merv was in his hands within a year, and Nasr ibn Sayyar was forced out.

His army moved west, town by town. In Kufa, in November 749, Abu al-Abbas of the Abbasid family was proclaimed caliph in the great mosque. His brother Ibrahim, the movement's leader, had been arrested by Marwan II and died in custody at Harran.

The Abbasids chose black for their banners, in contrast to the white of the Umayyads. They said it recalled the banners carried by the Prophet's ﷺ armies. Their message was simple: a ruler from the Prophet's ﷺ own family, and justice for all Muslims.

Marwan marched out from Harran with a large army. On 25 January 750, on the banks of the Great Zab river in northern Iraq, the two sides met. Marwan's army was beaten. Damascus surrendered soon afterwards. Marwan fled through Syria to Egypt, pursued by the Abbasid commander Abdullah ibn Ali, and was killed at Busir in the summer of 750. Within three years of the first black banners, the Umayyad caliphate had ended.

Part threeWhat came after

The new rulers moved against the Umayyad family, and many of its members were killed. That is a sad page of the story, and it is better told briefly. Damascus, the capital for almost ninety years, was no longer the centre.

One young prince, Abd al-Rahman ibn Muawiya, a grandson of Hisham, escaped. After years of travel across North Africa, he reached al-Andalus in 755 and founded a new Umayyad state there, which will appear in the story of Al-Andalus.

Abu al-Abbas became known as al-Saffah. His dynasty, the Abbasids, would rule for more than five centuries and soon build a new capital in Iraq. They promised a ruler from the Prophet's ﷺ family and a fairer deal for all Muslims. The Alids, the descendants of Ali, felt left out when the Abbasids took power, and the question of the Prophet's ﷺ family and the caliphate remained open for centuries.

What the Umayyads left was real. Their coins, their Arabic administration, the Dome of the Rock, the Umayyad Mosque and a caliphate that reached from Spain to the Indus all began under them.

Within three years of the first black banners, the Umayyad caliphate had ended.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Al MuqaddimahThe Fall of the Umayyad Caliphate (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Merv
• Kufa
• Great Zab river
• Harran
• Damascus
• Egypt

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter