The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750

174 Pages·2000·0.86 MB·English

by  G. R Hawting

The First Dynasty of Islam

The period 661–750 AD was a crucial one for the history of Islam
and the Middle East. The territories conquered by the Muslims in the
Middle East, north Africa and Spain were ruled from Syria by a
succession of caliphs belonging to the Umayyad family, the first
caliphal dynasty to emerge in the history of Islam. Under their rule
the region began a process of transformation which eventually led to
the emergence of Islam, both as a religion and as a culture, in its
classical form.
The First Dynasty of Islam provides a succinct and accessible
introduction to the Umayyad period. An introductory chapter
discusses the importance of the era as a whole, with further chapters
examining

(cid:127) the Umayyad family and its rise to the Caliphate
(cid:127) the Sufyanids
(cid:127) the second civil war
(cid:127) ?bd al-Malik and al-Hajjaj
(cid:127) the development of factionalism and the problems of
Islamisation
(cid:127) the third civil war and the caliphate of Marwan II
(cid:127) the overthrow of the Umayyad caliphate

The first edition established itself as a balanced and approachable
text for undergraduates and others interested in the early history of
Islam. This second edition, with an expanded and up-to-date
bibliography, will prove even more useful to its intended readership.
G.R.Hawting is Senior Lecturer in the History of the Near and
Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London.

The First Dynasty
of Islam

The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750
Second edition

G.R.Hawting

London and New York
First published 1986
by Croom Helm Ltd

Second edition published 2000
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

© 1986, 2000 G.R.Hawting

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-415-24073-5 (Pbk)
ISBN 0-415-24072-7 (Hbk)
ISBN 0-203-13700-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17692-8 (Glassbook Format)
Contents
Conventions vii
Abbreviations ix
Glossary xi
Figures and Maps xiii
Foreword to the Second Edition xix
Preface and Acknowledgements xxi
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Importance of the Umayyad
Period and its Place in Islamic History 1
Islamisation 1
Arabisation 9
The Umayyads in Muslim Tradition 11
Chapter 2 The Umayyad Family and its Rise to
the Caliphate 21
The Background of the Umayyads 21
Mu‘awiya’s Acquisition of the Caliphate 24
Chapter 3 The Sufyanids 34
Organisation and Administration of the Caliphate 34
Events and Personalities of the Sufyanid Period 40
Chapter 4 The Second Civil War 46
Chapter 5 ‘Abd al-Malik and al-Hajjaj 58
Changes in Government and Administration 61
Al-Hajjaj in Iraq 66
Chapter 6 The Development of Factionalism and the
Problems of Islamisation 72
The Family of al-Muhallab and the
Development of Factionalism 73
‘Umar II and the Mawali 76
Hisham and Khalid al-Qasri 81
vi Contents
Chapter 7 The Third Civil War and the Caliphate
of Marwan II 90
Walid II 90
Yazid III 94
Marwan II 96
Chapter 8 The Overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate 104
The Muslims of Khurasan 105
The Army 107
The ‘Abbasids and the Hashimiyya 109
The Umayyad Collapse 115
Appendix 1 A Note on the Sources 120
Appendix 2 Modern Developments in the Study of and
Attitudes to Umayyad History 123
Bibliographical Postscript to the Second Edition 129
Bibliography 139
Index 145
Conventions

Dates Unless there is a particular reason for providing
the Islamic, hijri date, all dates are AD.
References In the notes to the text, given at the end of each
chapter, references are usually to the name of
the author or editor and a short form of the title
of the work. Full titles, together with date and
place of publication, are provided in the
bibliography. See the list of abbreviations for
the titles of journals, etc.
Transliteration A full scholarly transliteration is not provided in
the text but the bibliography and index are
translit-erated. The bibliography reproduces the
various methods of transliteration used by the
authors cited. My transliteration follows the
system of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, with the
few modifications customary in works in
English. On the whole, readers without any
Arabic will safely ignore the transliteration
symbols, but may wish to note the following: ‘
= the Arabic letter ‘ayn, a guttural sound
produced by constricting the larynx; ’ = the
hamza, a glottal stop like the tt in the Cockney
pronunciation of butter; vowels are short unless
they have a macron (¯) over them; ibn
(abbreviated to b. in the middle of a name) =
‘son of’; B. (abbreviation of Banu) =
‘descendants of’, ‘family of’, ‘clan of’, ‘tribe
of’, as appropriate.

vii

Abbreviations

AIEOr. Annales de l’Institut des Études Orientales
AIUON Annali, Istituto Universitario Orientate di Napoli
AJSL American Journal for Semitic Languages and
Literatures
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift
CMedH Cambridge Mediaeval History
EI1 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st edition
EI2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition
GS I.Goldziher, Gesammelte Schriften
IC Islamic Culture
IJMES International Journal of Middle East Studies
IOS Israel Oriental Studies
IQ Islamic Quarterly
Isl. Der Islam
JA Journal Asiatique
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the
Orient
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSAI Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
MW Muslim World
PPHS Proceedings of the Pakistan Historical Society
ix