4 al-Abbas ibn Abd al Muttalib
town hall in 1267 on the site of Charlemagne’s old
audience hall. The economy of the town was based
mainly on cloth production and metalwork, such as
work with copper and brass. It was also a pilgrimage
center for the relics of Charlemagne.
Further reading:Jeffrey H. Schaffer, “Aachen,” in
Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia, ed. John M. Jeep
(New York: Garland, 2001), 1–3; Richard A. Sullivan,
Aix-la-Chapelle in the Age of Charlemagne(Norman: Uni-
versity of Oklahoma Press, 1963).
al-Abbas ibn Abd al Muttalib (ca. 564–ca. 653)com-
panion of the prophet Muhammad
Al-Abbas was born about 564 and became a wealthy mer-
chant in MECCA. He was a member of the tribe of the
Quraysh and an influential member of the clan of the
Hashim. He was the paternal uncle and brother-in-law of
MUHAMMAD. His early life and his relationship with
Muhammad have had to be reconstructed from sources
written long after his life and produced as part of the
claims of legitimacy of the ABBASIDcaliphs who claimed
descent from him. Not an early adherent of the Prophet,
he even fought against him at the Battle of BADRin 624,
when he was captured. But eventually al-Abbas joined
Islam after its early successes against the city of Mecca,
eventually even assisting in the capture of the city. After
the death of Muhammad in 632, al-Abbas continued to be
held in high regard and was an adviser to the first caliphs,
but he did not participate militarily or administratively in
the conquests. His son, Abd-Allah or Ibn Abbas (ca.
619–ca. 686), was also a companion of the Prophet and
an important earlier interpreter of the Quran. He was
claimed as the source of the line that led to the Abbasid
dynasty. Al-Abbas died an old man about 653, probably
in MEDINA.
Further reading:Wilferd Madelung, The Succession
to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997); W. Montgomery
Watt, “al-‘Abba ̄ s ibn Abd al Mu
̈
ttalib,” Encyclopedia of
Islam,1.8–9.
Abbasid dynasty After working for decades in clan-
destine efforts to overthrow the UMAYYADSas caliphs, the
Abbasids seized control from them in 750. They massa-
cred all the members of that dynasty whom they could
catch and exercised political power as caliphs until 945,
when they progressively began to lose control of their
government to their military officials. They became reli-
gious figureheads. The last Abbasid to reign in any capac-
ity from BAGHDADwas killed by the MONGOLSin 1258. A
few years after the end of the dynasty in Baghdad in
1258, members of the family were restored as symbolic
religious caliphs to give the new Mamluk rulers of Egypt
more credibility. This line lasted until the Ottoman
takeover of Egypt in 1517.
RISE TO POWER AND
CULTURAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
They were later to claim descent from AL-ABBAS IBNABD
ALMUTTALIB, the uncle of Muhammad, though in the
mid-eighth century they were circumspect about their
qualifications for the office of caliph and even who was
the leader of their movement. Even though the Shiites
brought them to power, they were Sunni in orientation;
soon after 750 they proclaimed themselves the family
elected to rule by God. Their first caliph, ABU L-ABBAS AL-
SAFFAH(called “The Blood Thirsty”), gained power by
killing every member of the Umayyad and then turned on
his Shia followers. They initially lost control over the
western section of the empire, AL-ANDALUSand the AL-
MAGHRIB, but maintained and strengthened their control
over the eastern areas, especially IRAQand IRAN. They
based their seizure of power on including more non-
Arabs in their regime. They also played upon resentment
against the Umayyads’ employment of family members in
almost every high position of government. The Abbasids
became more reliant for their administration and army on
Arabs and Iranians, unlike the earlier Umayyads, who
had been primarily served by Syrians.
The dynasty’s second caliph, AL-MANSUR, established
the recently formed city of Baghdad as his capital. It was
during his reign (754–775) that there began a great cul-
tural flowering usually called the Golden Age of Islam
and associated with the Abbasid dynasty. Though very
successful until the early 10th century, the Abbasids
gradually grew more isolated within a court setting.
When they abandoned a Mediterranean orientation for a
more western Asian outlook in their culture and govern-
ment, Arabic and Persian ideas flowed into Islamic theol-
ogy, art, and literature. Under the Abbasids Islam was
receptive to all kinds of influences during the early part
of their rule. Scholars consulted Greek philosophy and
mystical thought from Persia and India, greatly enriching
religious culture. In political and religious terms, they
were, however, intolerant of the Shiites, who believed
that only the descendants of ALI IBNABUTALIBshould
rule over Islam. It was under the Abbasids that a com-
prehensive Islamic law code, the Sharia, was compiled
and put into force.DECLINE
In the 10th century the Abbasids lost the tenuous con-
trol they had exercised over EGYPTand PALESTINEto the
FATIMIDS. This change was soon followed by the effective
takeover of government by generals and administrators
from the eastern provinces. The caliphs AL-MAMUNand
al-Mutasim (r. 813–833) promoted the heterodox ideas
of a group called the Mutazilites and began to persecute
those holding what were now deemed to be heretical
religious ideas. As part of their efforts to maintain con-
trol, these caliphs moved themselves and their govern-
ment from Baghdad to a new nearby city called Samarra