ABBASID DYNASTY

The Rise

• Umayyad caliphs were obsessed with luxury
• Rebellion led by Abu al-Abbas
• He allied himself with Shias and non-Arab Muslims
• 740 C.E.: seized control of Persia and Mesopotamia
• 750 C.E.: battled Umayyads then slaughtered more at a banquet

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ABBASID AND UMAYYAD

• Abbasid was more cosmopolitan
• Abbasid did not favor Arab Muslims over everyone else
• Abbasid was not a conquering dynasty

The High Point

• Harun al-Rashid (786-809 C.E.)
• Reliable tax revenues
• Center of banking, commerce, craft, and industry
• Liberal support for artists and writers
• Distributed money to the poor

ADMINISTRATION

• Persian bureaucracy
• Ulama— people with religious knowledge who developed public policy to fit the Quran and the sharia
• Quadis— judges set moral standards in communities and resolved disputes

BAGHDAD

• Built by the Abbasid family in 762 C.E.
• Wanted a powerful capital away from Umayyad supporters
• The Round City
• Near major trade routes
• Center for art and literature

DECLINE OF ABBASID DYNASTY

• Flourished for two centuries
• 945: Persian family seized control
• 1050: Saljuq Turks took control of Baghdad
• Caliphs=figureheads, sultan=power
• 1258: Mongols invaded and took power