UPRISING IN THE EAST; REVOLTS AGAINST THE UMAYYADS
The Umayyad caliphate generated from the family of Banu Umayyah of Quraish with Muawiyaah bn Abi sufyan being the founder after Ali (R.A) demise. Therefore, they were the second caliphate to succeed the Rashidun caliphate after the demise of the prophet (SAW). They ruled the Islamic world from Damascus in Syria. They expanded the Muslim world to Africa, Spain in Europe and as far as Persia in Asia and even once conducted expendition to India.
The Umayyad ruling family was disliked for several reasons, some of which are:
· Muawiyyah who was the first Umayyad caliph changed the Islamic rule from republican to monarchy in order to allow his son yazid to take over him.
· The Umayyad caliph, Yazid bn muawiyah was responsible for the tragedy of karbala were the son of Ali, the well-respected Imam Hussein with his family and followers were attacked and massacred on their way to Kufa at Karbala.
· Most of the Umayyads had the passion of living luxurious lifestyle unlike the ascetic lifestyle lived by the Prophet and the companions.
· There was racial inequality under the Umayyad dynasty due to lack of funds. They would tax recently converted Muslim, but not those who were Arab.
Thus, several parties rose and claimed right to Caliphate. Among them are the Shias who believe that the caliph should be from the descendant of Ali(RA) and Fatimah, some other group are the Abbasids who were the descendants of the prophet’s uncle Al abass from where they got the name. The Abbasids were able to gather huge followers and later, the Shias rallied under their flag. The leader of the Abbasids then was Abul-Abbas who was a great grandson of the prophet’s uncle, Al abbas. They preached hatred against the Umayyads and stated to revolt in several parts of the Umayyad dynasty. In the reign of caliph Marwan (744–750A.D), they organized a massive rally of about 200,000 supporters.
Anticipate till the next episode is released to find out what later become of the instigator of revolt (Abbasids) and their followers and their later impact to history…
