Umayyads

The Courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, one of the grandest architectural legacies of the Umayyads.

The Umayyad Dynasty (Arabic بنو أمية banū umayya / الأمويون al-umawiyyūn ; Persian امویان (Omaviyân), Turkish, Emevi) was the first dynasty of caliphs of the Prophet Muhammad who were not closely related to Muhammad himself, though they were of the same Meccan tribe, the Quraish. The first dynasty reigned from AD661 to AD750. Ironically, the Quraishi clan from which the Umayyads originated had originally been bitter enemies of Muhammad.

Umayyad rulers

Muawiyah had been the governor of Syria under the 3rd caliph and his kinsman, Uthman ibn Affan. After the assassination of Uthman, he was replaced by the new caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib. Since the killers of Uthman had allied themselves with Ali, Muawiyah refused to accept his caliphate, and in 657 led an army against him. The two sides agreed to a conciliation procedure, resulting in an arbitration that many of Ali's partsans saw as unfair. The Muslim empire was partitioned. Later when Ali was assassinated in 661, his son Hasan pledged allegiance to Muawiyah and Muawiyah was declared caliph of all Muslim lands. This established the Umayyad dynasty, and the capital of the caliphate was moved to Damascus.

Great waves of expansion occurred under the reign of the Umayyads. Muslim armies pushed across North Africa and Iran, through the late 600s, expanding the borders of the empire from the Iberian peninsula, in the west, to India, in the east. Forces led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad crossed Gibraltar and established Muslim power in the Iberian peninsula, while other armies established power far away in Sind, on the Indian subcontinent. The Muslim empire under the Umayyads was now a vast domain that ruled a diverse array of peoples.

The Umayyads were overthrown in the east by the Abbasid dynasty after their defeat in the Battle of the Zab in 750, following which most of the clan was massacred by the Abbasids. An Umayyad prince, Abd-ar-rahman I, took over the Muslim territory in Al-Andalus (Hispania) and founded a new Umayyad dynasty there.

Umayyad Caliphs at Damascus

Muawiyah I ibn Abu Sufyan, 661-680
Yazid I ibn Muawiyah, 680-683
Muawiya II ibn Yazid, 683-684
Marwan I ibn Hakam, 684-685
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 685-705
al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik, 705-715
Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik, 715-717
Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, 717-720
Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik, 720-724
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, 724-743
al-Walid II ibn Yazid II, 743-744
Yazid III ibn al-Walid, 744
Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, 744
Marwan II ibn Muhammad (ruled from Harran in the [[al-Jazira|Jazira) 744-750

Umayyad Emirs of Cordoba

Abd ar-Rahman I, 756-788
Hisham I, 788-796
al-Hakam I, 796-822
Abd ar-Rahman II, 822-852
Muhammad I, 852-886
al-Mundhir, 886-888
Abdallah ibn Muhammad, 888-912
Abd ar-Rahman III, 912-929

Umayyad Caliphs at Cordoba

Abd ar-Rahman III, as caliph, 929-961
Al-Hakam II, 961-976
Hisham II, 976-1008
Mohammed II, 1008-1009
Suleiman, 1009-1010
Hisham II, restored, 1010-1012
Suleiman, restored, 1012-1017
Abd ar-Rahman IV, 1021-1022
Abd ar-Rahman V, 1022-1023
Muhammad III, 1023-1024
Hisham III, 1027-1031

Umayyad sahaba

Here is a partial list of the Companions of Muhammad who were part of the Umayyad clan:

Marwan ibn Al-Hakam
Muaviya ibn Abu Sufyan
Abu Sufiyan ibn Harb

Umayyad taba'een

Here is a partial list of the Taba'een (the generation that succeeded the Companions) who were part of the Umayyad clan:

Abdul Rahman ibn Khalid ibn Walid
Yazid bin Muawiyah
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan

External links

ar:أمويون de:Umayyaden es:Dinastía de los Omeyas fa:امویان fr:Omeyyades id:Umayyah he:בית אומיה nl:Omajjaden ja:ウマイヤ朝 pl:Umajjadzi pt:Omíadas sv:Umayyader zh:倭马亚王朝