128 chapter four
(750–754) who is nicknamed al-Saffàh, the generous or, with refer-
ence to the way he treated his enemies, the bloodshedder. At the
peak of the Abbasìd reign, particularly during the time of al-Rashìd
(786–809), the Islamic empire reached its golden age.
The Abbasìd caliphate, however, suffered a number of setbacks,
which started with the civil war between al-Rashìd’s two sons over
the caliphate. Some regard the dispute as between the Persians, sup-
porting al-M"mun whose mother was Persian, and the Arabs, sup-
porting a1-Amin whose mother was an Arab (Œassan, 1959). When
the Abbasìd Caliph became weak, separatist movements arose in the
east and west of the empire and some succeeded in establishing inde-
pendent dynastic governments. This led to the dismemberment of
the empire and the further weakness of the central government.
Interestingly, although those local dynasties were independent of the
central caliphate, they kept their symbolically spiritual link with the
Caliph who by that time became only a figurehead. “Is it not ironic
that revenues are collected in the name of the Caliph while the
Caliph does not get from that a penny!” exclaimed the powerless
Caliph al-Mu"tamid, 870–892 (ibid.). From time to time, a Caliph
would rise to restore the political power of the caliphate but that
was not always consistent as it depended on the relative power of
both the commander of the Turkish army, the Sultan, and the power
of the caliph (Lapidus, 2002). Eventually attacks on the Islamic empire
came from outside, the first of these was the first Crusade in 1096.
But the final blow came from the Mongols who captured Baghdad
and killed the last of the Abbasìd Caliphs in 1258. Despite the polit-
ical disturbances in the Islamic empire, particularly during the last
phase of the Abbasìd regime, the period witnessed much progress
in education, science, culture, and economic development as shown
below.
Islamic Expansion and the Need for Administrative ReformThe Islamic territorial expansion during the Umayyad reign went in
three main directions: north, west and east. On the northern front,
the development of the Islamic fleet enabled the state to compete
with the Byzantine in the Mediterranean Sea and put the Byzantine
capital, Constantinople, under siege from the direction of the sea.
The capital was put under siege three times between 661 and 714.