“mainstream” caliphs of the other Muslims (“Sunni” Muslims, as they were later
called), awaiting the arrival of the true leader—the imam—who would spring from
the house of Ali.
Meanwhile, the Umayyads made Damascus, previously a minor Byzantine city,
into their capital. Here they adopted many of the institutions of the culture that they
had conquered, issuing coins like those of the Byzantines (in the east they used coins
based on Persian models), and employing former Byzantine officials as
administrators (John of Damascus came from such a family). Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik
(who, as we have seen, won high praise from the poet al-Akhtal) turned Jerusalem—
already sacred to Jews and Christians—into an Islamic Holy City as well. His
successor, al-Walid I (r.705–715) built major mosques (places of worship for
Muslims) at Damascus, Medina, and Jerusalem. The one at Damascus retains most
of its original elements; Plate 2.3 demonstrates how effortlessly Byzantine motifs
were absorbed—yet also transformed—in their new Islamic context. Cityscapes and
floral motifs drawn from Byzantine traditions were combined to depict an idealized
world created by the triumph of Islam.
