the dynastic caliphates: the umayyads and the reforms 127help avoid bloodshed over the new successorship it would not breach
the basis of the elective system since an oath of allegiance would
still be required by Muslims to approve of the new Caliph. That
was the theory, but the reality was different. During his life, Mu"awiyah
secured the approval of his son Yazìd as the prospective Caliph by
persuading the notable Muslim leaders to pay homage to him. The
few who did not agree were regarded as rebels and were left for
Yazìd’s sword to silence in due course. On the ascension of Yazìd
to power after his father’s death, a revolt erupted in Iraq and another
in al-Œijaz. The Iraqi revolt, which was headed by al-Œusayn, the
younger son of Caliph Ali, was easily crushed after the withdrawal
of the Iraqis’ support and the massacre of al-Œusayn and his fam-
ily by the Syrian soldiers in 680 A.C.. The revolt in al-Œijaz led to
an assault on al-Medìnah in 683, resulting in it being looted by the
Syrian soldiers for three days. Makkah was also besieged and attacked
by catapults, which resulted in the burning the Ka"aba itself. Eventually,
peace was established in al-Œijaz in 692 by forcefully eliminating the
last opposition. When local disturbances erupted they were crushed
with vigorous force. With an attitude like that of the province gov-
ernor al-Œajjaj who threatened, “I see heads ripe for cutting and I
am the one who is going to collect them”, and “I will beat you as
straying camels are beaten”, (Al- ̨abarì), peace, as an outcome of
fear, was eventually restored.
Mu"awiyah’s innovation of the dynastic caliphate became the rule
rather than the exception and from the Mu"awiyah’s caliphate onwards
the caliphate became a dynasty.
A further change, though not as dramatic, was also notable in the
caliphate: the Caliph no longer mixed with the public (or slept under
trees as a foreign delegate once found caliph Umar), they kept them-
selves aloof, surrounded by a court, appearing in congregational
prayers escorted by guards and establishing ceremonial practices. To
Muslims, the Umayyad caliphate marked the beginning of a king-
dom, “Mulk”, rather than a caliphate (Hitti, 1963).
After ninety years in power, the Abbasids—yet another dynasty
that descended from al-Abbàs, the Prophet’s uncle, overthrew the
Umayyads. Rivalry over the caliphate, or the kingdom, gave way to
the growing influence of the Abbasids who developed their influence
in the eastern side of the empire in Khurasàn and Iraq, making an
alliance with the Alids, the long-time rivals of the Umayyads (Al-
̨abarì). The founder of the Abbasids was the Caliph Abù-al-Abbàs