THE UMAYYAD CALIPHS I. Reign of Mu`awiyah.—Mu`awiyah was a born ruler ; Syria was the best administered province of the whole empire, and he was loved and honoured by the Syrians. On the murder of `Ali in 661, his son Hasan was chosen caliph, but he recoiled be fore the prospect of a war with Mu`awiyah, and resigning his position retired to Medina, where he died eight or nine years afterwards.
Mu`awiyah now made his entry into Kufa in the summer of 661 and received the oath of allegiance as Prince of the Believers. Just as soon as Mu`awiyah had his hands free, he directed all his forces against the Greeks, and no year passed without a cam paign. Twice he made a serious effort to conquer Constantinople, in 669 when he besieged it for three months, and in 674. In Africa also the extension of Muhammadan power was pursued energeti cally. In 67o took place the famous march of `Uqbah b. Nafi` and the foundation of Qayrawan, where the great mosque still bears his name.
The talented prefect of Kufa, Mughira broke down the resist ance of Ziyad, who had been a faithful servant of `Ali, and was said to be a bastard of Mu`awiyah's father. Mu`awiyah acknowl edged him as the son of Abu Sufyan, and thus as his brother; in 664 this recognition was openly declared. In the next year Ziyad was appointed governor of Basra and the eastern provinces be longing to it. Mughira died about 67o, and the province of Kufa also was entrusted to Ziyad. Kufa and Basra were military col onies, and each tribe had its own quarter of the city. The policy of eastern expansion, which had been interrupted by the civil war, was resumed. The first army sent by Ziyad into Khurasan re captured Merv, Herat and Balkh, conquered Tukharistan and ad vanced as far as the Oxus. In 673 the son of Ziyad, crossed the river, occupied Bokhara, and returned laden with booty taken from the wandering Turkish tribes of Transoxiana. Other gen erals penetrated as far as the Indus and conquered Kabul, Sijis tan, Makran and Kandahar.
Ziyad governed `Iraq with the greatest vigour, but as long as discontent did not issue in action, he let men alone. At his death (672-673), order was so generally restored that "nobody had any more to fear for life or estate, and even the unprotected woman was safe in her house without having her door bolted." Mu`awiyah was a typical Arab sayyid (gentleman). He gov erned, not by force, but by his superior intelligence, his self control, his mildness and magnanimity. Mu`awiyah was desirous of securing the Caliphate for his son Yazid. The leadership with the Arabic tribes was, as a rule, hereditary, the son succeeding his father, but only if he were personally fit for the position, and were acknowledged as such by the principal men of the tribe. The hereditary principle had not been recognized by Islam in the cases of Abu Bakr, `Umar and `Uthman, but had been adopted en tirely for the election of Hasan. Mu`awiyah succeeded in getting the succession of Yazid generally acknowledged before his own death, except in Medina. He died in 680.
No other issue of this rash expedition could have been expected. But, as it involved the grandson of the Prophet, the son of `Ali, and so many members of his family, Husayn's devout partisans at Kufa, who by their overtures had been the principal cause of the disaster, regarded it as a tragedy, and the facts gradually ac quired a wholly romantic colouring. `Umar b. Sa`d and his offi cers, `Ubaydallah and even Yazid, came to be regarded as mur derers, and their names have ever since been held accursed by all Shiites. They observe the loth of Muharram, the day of `Ashura, as a day of public mourning. Among the Persians, stages are erected on that day in public places, and plays are acted, repre senting the misfortunes of the family of `Ali. "Revenge for Husayn" become the watchword of all Shiites, and the Mashhad Husayn (Tomb of the martyr Husayn) at Karbala is to them the holiest place in the world. `Ubaydallah sent the head of Husayn to Damascus, together with the women and children. Yazid was very sorry for the issue, and sent the prisoners under safe-conduct to Medina.
Ibn Zubayr profited greatly by the distress caused by Husayn's death. He had himself secretly addressed as caliph, and many of the citizens of Medina acknowledged him as such. Yazid, when informed of this, sent an army with orders first to exact sub mission from the Medinians, if necessary by force, and then to march against Ibn Zubayr. The Medinians fought valiantly, but could not hold out against the well-disciplined Syrians, and for three days the city was given up to plunder. But the city recov ered very soon from the disaster, and remained the seat of holy tradition and jurisdiction, and of the Arabic aristocracy.
The army arrived before Mecca in Sept. 683 and found Ibn Zubayr ready to defend it. The siege had lasted 65—others say 40—days, when the news came of the death of Yazid, which took place presumably on Nov. 12, 683 ; whereupon the army returned to Syria. Ibn Zubayr now openly assumed the title of caliph and invited men to take the oath of allegiance. He was soon acknowl edged throughout Arabia, in Egypt and in `Iraq.
Meanwhile Mukhtar, a man of great talents and still greater ambition, after having supported Ibn Zubayr in the siege of Mecca, had gone to Kufa, where he joined the Shiites, mostly Persians, and acquired great power. He claimed to be the vice regent of `All's son, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, who after the death of Husayn was recognized by the Shiites as their Mandi. Ibn Zubayr's representative in KUfa was compelled to flee, and all those who had participated in the battle of Karbala were put to death. Ibn Zubayr, determined to get rid at all costs of so dangerous an enemy, named his brother Mus`ab governor of Basra and ordered him to march against Kufa. Mukhtar fell, and with him the ephemeral dominion of the Persian Shiites. This had been their first attempt to dispute the authority of their Arabian conquerors, but it was not to be the last.
5. Reign of `Abdalmalik.—Marwan died on May 7, 685. The accession of his son, `Abdalmalik, was attended with no difficulty, but the first years of his reign were occupied by troubles in north ern Syria, and it was not until 689 that he made an expedition into `Iraq to break Mus`ab, who in 691 was slain, sword in hand, by a Shiite of Kuf a.
This victory opened the gates of Kuf a to `Abdalmalik, and all `Iraq received him with acclamation. Thence, a few days later, he sent Hajjaj b. Yusuf at the head of 2,000 Syrians against Ibn Zubayr in Mecca. In 692 Mecca was invested. The blockade lasted more than six months, during which the city was a prey to all the horrors of siege and famine, which at length triumphed over the last adherents of Ibn Zubayr; he resolved to die, and, when the Umayyad troops made their way into the city, attacked them furiously, notwithstanding his advanced age, and was slain. His head was cut off, and sent by Hajjaj to Damascus.
The caliph committed to Hajjaj the government of the Hijaz, and, later, made him governor of `Iraq also with the most exten sive powers. In Kufa Hajjaj ordered that every man capable of bearing arms should immediately join Muhallab in Khuzistan (Susiana), and swore that all who should be found in the town after the third day should be beheaded. This threat had its effect, and Hajjaj proceeded to Basra, where his presence was followed by the same results. Muhallab, reinforced by the army of `Iraq, at last succeeded, after a struggle of 18 months, in subjugating the Kharijites, and was able in 697 to return to Hajjaj at Basra. The latter loaded him with honours and made him governor of Khurasan, whence he directed several expedi tions into Transoxiana. In the east the realm of Islam had been very much extended under the reign of Mu`awiyah, when Ziyad was governor of `Iraq and Khurasan. Balkh and Tokharistan, Bokhara, Samarkand and Khwarizm (modern Khiva), even Kabul and Kandahar had been subdued ; but in the time of the civil war a great deal had been lost again. Now at last the task of recovering the lost districts could be resumed. When, in 697, Hajjaj gave the government of Khurasan to Muhallab, he committed that of Sijistan (Seistan) to `Ubaydallah, a cousin of Ziyad. This prefect allowed himself to be enticed by Zanbil, prince of Zabulistan, to penetrate into the country far from his base, and narrowly escaped, not without severe losses. The com mand over Sijistan was now given to Ibn Ash`ath, who soon after his arrival in Sijistan, exasperated by the masterful tone of Hajjaj towards himself, decided to revolt. The soldiers of `Iraq, who did not love the governor, and disliked the prospect of a long and difficult war far from home, eagerly accepted the proposition of returning to `Iraq, and even proclaimed the dethronement of `Abdalmalik, in favour of Ibn Ash`ath. When Hajjaj came up with him, Ibn Ash`ath drove him back to Basra, entered the city, and then turned his arms against Kufa, of which he took possession with aid from within. In July 702, a decisive action took place at Dayr al-Jamajim. Ibn Ash`ath, defeated, fled to Basra ; but having been again beaten in a furious battle that took place at Maskin near the Dujail, he sought an asylum with the king of Kabul, who betrayed him ; so he killed himself. His head was sent to Hajjaj and then to Damascus. This happened in the year 703 or 704.
The struggle of Ibn Ash`ath was primarily a contest for hegem ony between `Iraq and Syria. The proud lords could not acquiesce in paying to a plebeian like Hajjaj, invested with absolute power by the caliph, the strict obedience he required. They considered it further as an injustice that the Syrian soldiers received higher pay than those of `Iraq. Moreover, Hajjaj, in order to maintain the regular revenue from taxation, had been obliged to introduce stringent regulations, and had compelled a great many villagers who had migrated to the cities to return to their villages.
Immediately after the victories of Dayr al-Jamajim and Maskin, in 702, Hajjaj, built a new residence on the Tigris, between Basra and Kufa, which he called Wasit ("Middle"). There his Syrian soldiers were not in contact with the turbulent citizens of the two capitals, and were at any moment ready to suppress any fresh outburst.
As soon as the expedition to `Iraq against Mus`ab had ter minated, the holy war against the Greeks was renewed. From this time forth the Muslims made yearly raids, the chief advan tage of which was that they kept the Syrian and Mesopotamian Arabs in continual military exercise. In the year 696 `Abdalmalik sent into Africa a numerous army, which swept the coast as far as Carthage, expelling the Greek garrisons from all the forti fied places; and then turned against the Berbers, who when they were ultimately subdued henceforward remained faithful to the Arabs.
In the meantime `Abdalmalik reconstituted the administration of the empire on Arabic principles. Up to the year 693 the Muslims had no special coinage of their own, and chiefly used Byzantine and Persian money, either imported or struck by them selves. `Abdalmalik instituted a purely Islamic coinage. A still greater innovation was that Arabic became the official language of the State. In the conquered countries till then, not only had the Greek and Persian administration been preserved, but Greek remained the official language in the western, Persian in the eastern provinces. All officials were now compelled to know Arabic and to conduct their administration in that language. Lastly, a regular post service was instituted from Damascus to the provin cial capitals, especially destined for governmental dispatches. The postmasters were charged with the task of informing the caliph of all important news in their respective countries.
`Abdalmalik died on Oct. 9, 705, at the age of about sixty. His reign was one of the most stormy in the annals of Islam, but also one of the most glorious; he not only brought triumph to the cause of the Umayyads, but also extended and strengthened the Muslim power as a whole.
6. Reign of Walid I.—This is the most glorious epoch in the history of Islam. In Asia Minor and Armenia, Walid's generals obtained numerous successes against the Greeks, and in Armenia advanced even as far as the Caucasus. In Africa, Musa in a short time carried his conquests as far as Fez, Tangier and Ceuta, and one of his captains even made a descent on Sicily and plun dered Syracuse. When he returned from the west to Kairawan, he made his client Tariq governor of Tangier and of the whole western part of Africa. In the beginning of A.D. 711, Tariq passed over into Spain with an army composed mainly of Berbers. The spot where he landed thence acquired the name of Jabal Tariq, "Mountain of Tariq," afterwards corrupted into Gibraltar. Hav ing made himself master of Algeciras and thereby secured his communication with Africa, Tariq set out at once in the direction of Cordova, and after a brilliant campaign, in 712, proclaimed the caliph of Damascus as sole ruler of the whole peninsula.
In the East the Muslim armies gained the most astonishing successes. In the course of a few years Qutaybah b. Muslim conquered Paikand, Bokhara, Samarkand, Khwarizm (modern Khiva), Ferghana and Shash (Tashkent), and even Kashgar on the frontiers of China. Meanwhile Muhammad b. Qasim invaded Makran, took Daibal, passed the Indus, and marched, after having beaten the Indian king, Dahar, through Sind upon Multan, which he conquered and whence he carried off an immense booty.
Towards the end of this reign, died Hajjaj, the great viceroy of the Orient. He was a man of extraordinary ability, and ac complished the task committed to him with vigour and energy. To his unflagging constancy was due the suppression of the dan gerous rebellion of Ibn Ash`ath. After the restoration of peace his capacity for organization was displayed in all directions. The draining and tilling of submerged or uncultivated land on a large scale, the promotion of agriculture in every way, in particular by the digging of channels, and the regulation of the system of taxation, were carried out on his initiative. He showed the utmost wisdom in the selection of his lieutenants. The fear of his name was so great that even in the desert there was security for life and property, and his brilliant military successes were un questionably due in a great measure to the care which he bestowed on equipment and commissariat. The heavy expenses entailed thereby were largely met by the booty which he won.
Maslama was rewarded with the governorship of `Iraq and Khurasan, but was soon replaced by Ibn Hubayra, who under `Umar II. had been governor of Mesopotamia. He belonged to the tribe of Qays, and was very severe against the Azd and other Yemenite tribes, who had more or less favoured the rebellion. In these years the antagonism between Qays (Mudar) and Yemenites became more and more acute, especially in Khurasan, where Ibn Hubayra caused large sums of money to be extorted from several of the most respectable Khurasanians. The discontent roused thereby became one of the principal causes of the fall of the Umayyads.
In Africa serious troubles arose from the same cause, when the governor issued orders that the villagers who, having adopted Islam, were freed from tribute according to the promise of `Umar II., and had left their villages for the towns, should return to their domiciles and pay the same tribute as before their conver sion. The Berbers rose in revolt, slaughtered the unfortunate governor, and put in his place the former governor. Yazid II., died on Jan. 26, 724, according to the chroniclers, from grief for the loss of a favourite singing-girl. As his successor he had ap pointed in the first place his brother Hisham, and after him his own son Walid.
1o. Reign of Hisham.—Hisharr was a wise and able prince and an enemy of luxury, not an idealist like `Umar II., nor a worldling like Yazid II., but more like his father `Abdalmalik, devoting all his energy to the pacification of the interior, and to extending and consolidating the empire of Islam. But the dis content, which had been sown under his predecessors, had now developed to such an extent that he could not suppress it in detail.
In `Iraq Zayd b. `Ali, grandson of Husayn b. `Ali, who had come to Kuf a for a lawsuit, was persuaded by the chiefs of the Shia to organize a revolt in 740, but he was deserted by his troops and slain. His son Yahya, still a youth, fled to Balkh in Khurasan, but was hunted down, till he fell, sword in hand, under Walid II. Abu Muslim, the founder of the Abbasid dynasty, pro claimed himself his avenger, and on that occasion adopted the black garments, which remained the distinctive colour of the dynasty.
In Khurasan also there were very serious disturbances. The Sogdians implored the assistance of the Turks, who had long been contending earnestly against the Arabs for the dominion of Transoxiana. The Government troops suffered more than one defeat, but in 736 a brilliant victory over the Turks finally caused them to retreat. Hisham separated Khurasan from `Iraq and chose as governor of the former Nasr b. Sayyar, a valiant soldier who had grown grey in war. Nasr instituted a system of taxation, which, if it had been introduced earlier, would perhaps have saved the Arabic domination. It was that which later on was generally adopted, viz., that all possessors of conquered lands (i.e., nearly the whole empire except Arabia), whether Muslims or not, should pay a fixed tax, the latter in addition to pay a poll-tax, from which they were relieved on conversion to Islam. During the reign of Hisham, Nasr made a successful expedition against the Turks. The propaganda of the Shia by the Abbasids was con tinued in these years with great zeal.
In India several provinces which had been converted to Islam under the Caliphate of `Umar II. declared themselves independent, because the promise of equal rights for all Muslims was not kept under the reign of his successors. This led to the evacuation of the eastern part of India (called Hind by the Arabs, Sind being the name of the western part). and to the founding of the strong cities of Mahf uza and Mansura for the purpose of controlling the land.
In the north and north-west of the empire there were no internal disorders, but the Muslims had hard work to maintain themselves against the Alans and the Khazars. The war against the Byzan tines was continued with energy during the whole of Hisham's reign.
In Africa the hand of government pressed heavily. The Berbers, though they had pledged themselves to Islam and had furnished the latest contingents for the Holy War, were treated as tributary serfs. The Kharijites, of whom a great many had emigrated to Africa, found them eager listeners, and a fierce insurrection broke out which was not easily suppressed.
Hisham died in Feb. 743, after a reign of 20 years. He had not been wanting in energy and ability, and kept the reins of the government in his own hands. His financial administration was sound and he guarded against any misuse of the revenues of the State. But he was not popular. Hisham tried to keep himself free from and above the rival parties, but his viceregents were inexorable. Notwithstanding his activity and his devotion to the management of affairs, the Muslim power declined rather than advanced, and signs of the decay of the Umayyad dynasty began to show themselves. The history of his four successors, Walid II., Yazid III., Ibrahim and Marwan II., is but the history of the fall of the Umayyads.
II. Reign of Walid II.—Walid II. was a handsome man, possessed of extraordinary physical strength, and a distinguished poet. His first public action was to increase the pay of all soldiers by I o dirhems, that of the Syrians by 20. The Umayyads who came to pay their respects to him received large donations.
But he made the mistake of designating his two sons as heirs to the Caliphate. These were still under age and were not the children of a free-born, noble mother. A conspiracy arose, headed by Yazid b. Walid I., and joined by the majority of the Marwanid princes and many Kalbites and other Yemenites. The conspirators met with slight opposition. Without difficulty, Yazid made him self master of Damascus, and the caliph was murdered on April 744 12. Reign of Yazid III.—Yazid III., on his accession, made a fine speech, in which he promised to do all that could be expected from a good and wise ruler, even offering to make place imme diately for the man whom his subjects should find better quali fied for the Caliphate than himself. But the distant provinces, with the exception of Sind and Sijistan, renounced his authority. In Africa `Abdarrahman b. Habib was almost independent. In Spain every amir tried to free himself from a suzerainty which appeared to him only nominal. Nasr b. Sayyar, the governor of Khurasan, had not yet decided whether he ought to take the oath of allegiance when Yazid died, after a reign of only five months and a half in 744.
13. YAZID III. left his brother Ibrahim as his successor. He was acknowledged as caliph only in a part of Syria, and reigned no longer than two months, when he was obliged to abdicate and to submit to the authority of Marwan II.
But the pacification was only on the surface. Many Umayyad princes considered Marwan as an upstart, his mother being a slave-girl; the Damascenes were angry because he had chosen Harran for his residence; the Kalbites felt themselves slighted, as the Qaisites predominated. Marwan, who wanted to march against `Iraq, was obliged to return to Syria, where he put an end to the troubles. Shortly afterwards Sulayman b. Hisham per suaded the Syrians to proclaim him caliph. But Marwan utterly defeated him at Khosaf in the district of Kinnesrin, and then besieged his brother Said in Homs. After the victory the walls were demolished, and likewise those of Baalbek, Damascus, Jeru salem and other towns. Syria was utterly crushed, and therewith the bulwark of the dynasty was destroyed. Not until 746 could Marwan resume his campaign against `Iraq. Here the Kharijites had set up a rival caliph and had captured (in Aug. 745) Hira, the residence of the governor of the province.
Whilst Marwan besieged Horns, the Kharijite army, which now numbered 120,000 men, returned to Mesopotamia, took Mosul, and threatened Nisibis. Mesopotamia itself was in danger, when Marwan at last was able to march against the enemy. In a furious battle at Kaf artutha (Sept. A.D. 746) the Kharijites were defeated; and their rebellion was crushed during the campaign of the follow ing year. Thus, at last, the western and south-eastern parts of the empire lay at the feet of Marwan. But in the north-east, in Khurasan, meanwhile a storm had arisen, against which his re sources and his wisdom were alike of no avail.
When the news of the murder of Walid II. reached Khurasan, Nasr b. Sayyar did not at once acknowledge the Caliphate of Yazid III., but induced the Arab chiefs to accept himself as amir of Khurasan, until a caliph should be universally acknowl edged. But Nasr had a personal enemy, the chief of the Azd (Yemenites), Kirmani, a very ambitious man. A quarrel arose, and in a short time the Azd under Kirmani, supported by the Rabi`a, who always were ready to join the opposition, were in insurrection ; Nasr tried in vain to put it down by concessions, and finding that he could hold Mery no longer, retired to Nishapur.
Since the days of `Ali there had been two tendencies among the Shiites. The moderate party distinguished itself from the other Muslims only by its doctrine that the imamate belonged legally to a man of the House of the Prophet. The other party, that of the ultra-Shiites, named Hashimiya after Abu Hashim, the son of Muhammad b. al-Hanafiya, preached the equality of all Mus lims, Arabs or non-Arabs, and taught that the same divine spirit that had animated the Prophet incorporated itself again in his heirs. After the death of Husayn, they chose for their Imam Muhammad b. al-Hanaf iya, and at his decease his son, Abu Hashim, from whom Muhammad b. `Ali, the grandson of `Abdal lah b. `Abbas, who resided at Homaima in the south-east of Syria, obtained the secrets of the party and took the lead. This Muhammad, the father of the two first Abbasid caliphs, was a man of unusual ability and great ambition. He directed his energies primarily to Khurasan. The missionaries were charged with the task of undermining the authority of the Umayyads, by drawing attention to all the injustices that took place under their reign, and to all the luxury and wantonness of the court, as con trasted with the misery of many of their subjects. God would not suffer it any longer. As soon as the time was ripe He would send a saviour out of the House of the Prophet, the Mandi, who would restore Islam to its original purity. The missionaries had great success, especially among the non-Arabic inhabitants of Khurasan and Transoxiana.
When Muhammad b. `Ali died, his son Ibrahim, the Imam, took his place. Ibrahim had a confidant about whose antecedents one fact alone seems certain, that he was a mania (client) of Persian origin. This man, Abu Muslim by name, was a man of real ability and devoted to his master's cause. To him, in the management of affairs in Khurasan was entrusted. At first the chiefs of the mission were by no means prepared to recognize Abu Muslim as the plenipotentiary of the heir of the Prophet. In the year 749 he judged that the time for open manifestation had arrived. His partisans were ordered to assemble from all sides on a fixed day at Siqadanj in the province of Merv. Then, on June 15, 747, the first solemn meeting took place and the black flags were unfolded. By the end of the year Abu Muslim, whom the majority believed to belong himself to the family of the Prophet, was the acknowledged head of a strong army. Mean time, Nasr had moved from Nishapur to Merv, and here the two Arabic armies confronted each other. Then, at last, the true significance of Abu Muslim's work was recognized. Nasr warned the Arabs against their common enemy, "who preaches a religion that does not come from the Envoy of God, and whose chief aim is the extirpation of the Arabs." In vain he had en treated Marwan to send him troops before it should be too late. When at last it was possible to them to fulfil his wish, it was, in fact, too late. But Abu Muslim made himself master of Merv, in Dec. 747. Nasr escaped only by a headlong flight to Nishapur. This was the end of the Arabic dominion in the East.
As soon as Abu Muslim had consolidated his authority, he sent his chief general, Qahtaba, against Nishapur. Nasr could not further resist. He reached Sawa in the vicinity of Hamadan, where he died quite exhausted, at the age of 85 years. Rayy and Hamadan were taken without serious difficulty. In June 749 Nihawand surrendered, and thereby the way to `Iraq lay open to Qahtaba. Qahtaba himself perished in the combat, but his son Hasan entered Kufa without any resistance on Sept. 2, 749.
Marwan had at last discovered who was the real chief of the movement in Khurasan, and had seized upon Ibrahim the Imam and imprisoned him at Harran. There he died, probably from the plague, though Marwan was accused of having killed him.
The other Abbasids arrived at Kuf a in the latter half of Sept. 749, where in the meantime the head of the propaganda, Abu Salama, had previously undertaken the government. This Abu Salama seems to have had scruples against recognizing Abu'l-Abbas as the successor of his brother Ibrahim, and to have expected that the Mandi, whom he looked for from Medina, would not be slow in making his appearance, little thinking that an Abbasid would present himself as such. But Abu Jahm, on the instructions of Abu Muslim, declared to the chief officers of the Khurasanian army that the Mandi was in their midst, and brought them to Abu'l-Abbas, to whom they swore allegiance. Abu Salama also was constrained to take the oath. On Nov. 28, 749, Abu'l-Abbas was solemnly proclaimed caliph in the principal mosque of Kuf a. The trick had been carried out admirably. On the point of gather ing the ripe fruit, the Alids were suddenly pushed aside, and the fruit was snatched away by the Abbasids. The latter gained the throne and they took good care never to be deprived of it.
The advancing Abbasid army completely defeated Marwan near the Greater Zab, an affluent of the Tigris, in a battle which lasted II days. Marwan retreated to Harran, thence to Damascus, and finally to Egypt, where he fell in a last struggle (Aug. 75o). His head was cut off and sent to Kuf a. In Syria, the Umayyads were persecuted with the utmost rigour. Even their graves were violated, and the bodies crucified and destroyed. Only a few Umayyads escaped the massacre. A grandson of Hisham, `Abdar rahman, reached Africa and founded in Spain the Umayyad dynasty of Cordova.
With the dynasty of the Umayyads the hegemony passes finally from Syria to `Iraq. At the same time the supremacy of the Arabs came to an end. Thenceforth it is not the contingents of the Arabic tribes which compose the army, and on whom the Govern ment depends; the new dynasty relies on a standing army, con sisting for the greater part of non-Arabic soldiers. The barrier that separated the Arabs from the conquered nations begins to crumble away. Only the Arabic religion, the Arabic language, and the Arabic civilization maintain themselves, and spread more and more over the whole empire.