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Umayyad Caliphate

الخلافة الأموية

41-132 AH / 661-750 CE (Damascus); Umayyad emirate/caliphate of al-Andalus 138-422 AH / 756-1031 CE

The first hereditary Muslim dynasty, founded by Mu'awiyah with its capital at Damascus. It expanded from Spain to Central Asia but is remembered also for Karbala and political oppression; it was overthrown by the Abbasids in 750 CE.

Biography

Mu'awiyah's nomination of his son Yazid (60-64 AH) turned the caliphate into hereditary kingship. Yazid's reign saw Karbala (61 AH), the sack of Madinah at al-Harrah (63 AH) and the siege of Makkah. The Marwanid branch (Marwan, Abd al-Malik, al-Walid) restored Umayyad control, defeated Ibn al-Zubayr (73 AH), Arabised administration and coinage, built the Dome of the Rock, and expanded into al-Andalus, North Africa, Sindh and Transoxiana.

The pious Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (99-101 AH) stands out for reform. Grievances of non-Arab converts (mawali), Shia and others fed the Abbasid revolution (132 AH / 750 CE). A surviving Umayyad, Abd al-Rahman I, founded the Andalusian Umayyad state at Cordoba.

Sources & explanation

۞ Qur'an

No specific verses cited for this node.

📜 Hadith verified on sunnah.com

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 2924 Sahih

    Umm Haram heard the Prophet ﷺ say Paradise is granted to the first of his Ummah to undertake a naval expedition, and 'the first army of my Ummah to invade Caesar's city will be forgiven'. (Scholars differ on who was in that first army and what it implies.)

  • Sahih al-Bukhari 7058 Sahih

    'The destruction of my Ummah will be at the hands of young men from Quraysh'; Marwan said 'May Allah curse those young men'.

💬 Explanation Mirza view verified

Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's perspective

Methodological note (not a direct quote): Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's widely known approach is to build narratives primarily on the Quran and Sahih Hadith, to set aside Israiliyat (Judeo-Christian lore absorbed into later tafsir) and weak or fabricated narrations, and to avoid sectarian framing. Applied to this node: Verified from his lectures (paraphrase): Mirza contrasts the thirty-year caliphate with the 'biting kingship' that followed (hadith of Safinah). He cites Sahih hadith on Umayyad governors: Marwan moving the Eid sermon before the prayer (with Abu Sa'id al-Khudri's objection) because Ali was being reviled in sermons; a governor ordering Sahl ibn Sa'd to curse Ali; and Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, whom he calls the worst of Yazid's governors, and al-Husayn's head. He holds Yazid's regime responsible for Karbala.

Verified from the auto-transcripts of 6zhjdo3CoFk and IGzUWj1OwDk; PmwybG4xNJU title ('four examples of hatred of Ali under Umayyad kingship') supports it.

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Further references

  • Tarikh al-Tabari (historical)
  • Sahih Bukhari (Anas on al-Husayn's head)

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