After the death Ali Bakr, who was the cousin of Muhammad, the Umayyad Dynasty began. It was a huge success because it restored faith in Muslims. The dynasty was based on Sunni beliefs, which means the other branch, Shia, did not like the circumstances they were put in.

After Muhammad's death,, two branches formed, the Sunnis and the Shias. Although they differ in many ways, the main idea was that the Sunni only believed that the caliph should be picked based on leadership qualifications. Shia believed that it didn't matter what skills he had, he just had to be a direct descendent from Muhammad.

After Muhammad's death, the dynasty was created based on laws from their holy book called the Quran. Having these laws, like the 5 pillars of Islam for example, helped restore the faith for Islam.

The jizya, meaning head tax, is the tax Muslims pay for one of the 5 pillars, the one which resembles charity. This tax also served another purpose as well. Umayyads allowed non-Muslims to live within their caliphate. However, since they weren't Muslim, their jizya was levied higher.

The capital for the Umayyad dynasty was Damascus. Since it was the capital, it was a major city, collecting money and was the main source of trade. Their prophet, Muhammad was a merchant, so merchant class in the dynasty were well respected. Banks were in the capital as well, people take sakks or bank checks to borrow money and pay the bank later.

The Shias found many faults in the Umayyads rule over the caliphate. Shias felt that the Sunnis were not strict enough to enforce the Muslim laws. Led by Abu al-Abbas, son of Muhammad's uncle, the Shias started rebellions, and as time goes on, went as serious as killing off the Umayyad clan one by one. It was said that the only Umayyad son fled to Spain, after the fall of Umayyad, the Abbasid dynasty rose into power.