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Abbasid Caliphate: Abbasid Caliphs
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The breakup of the Abbasid Caliphate paved the way between 950-1080 for several Kurdish dynasties to set up locally autonomous states: the Shaddadids (c. 950) and the Rawwadids (later 10th century) in Azerbaijan, the Hasanuyids (c. 960) and Annazids (c. 990) in the central Zagros region, and the Marwanids (982) in southeastern Anatolia. (See Peter N. Stearns (ed.), The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2001), 117).
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When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World Baghdad was founded in 762 by the Abbasid caliphate, which, claiming its legitimacy from lineage to the family of the prophet Muhammad, had overthrown the Umayyad caliphate. Chronicling the first two of the Abbasids' five centuries of rule, historian Kennedy acquaints nonspecialists with an important segment of Islamic history, perhaps best known to Westerners as the period setting for Arabian Nights. Sensitive to the biases of available sources, Kennedy picks through their panegyrics to political winners or condemnations of losers to present a narrative that realistically outlines the motivations and characters of caliphs, viziers, and even court attendants. He recounts contested successions to the caliphate, with detail on the immediate political tensions and their usually gruesome release. Weakened by these struggles for the throne and essentially a powerless pawn of generals by the time Kennedy leaves off in 935, the Abbasid caliphate ... produced a munificent court culture. Reveling in its richness of ritual, poetry, song, and architecture, Kennedy accessibly presents his expertise on the Abbasids in this insightful history of the dynasty.
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In 205/820 al - Mamun, the Abbasid caliph, appointed Tahir ibn Husayn ibn Masab to rule over a large portion of the Abbasid caliphate. According to the historian, Tabari, the area of this rule extended from Baghdad to the regions of the caliphate farthest to the cast. After Tahir's death the Abbasid caliphs left his descendants in control of important sections of Iran, the center of their rule begin the province of Khorasan. Finally, in the year 259/872 Yaqub ibn Layth Saffari entered Neishabur and imprisoned the Tahirid ruler of Khorasan, Mahmud ibn Tahir ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir. During the whole period of their rule, the Tahirids remained obedient to the Abbasid caliphate, sending to
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A defining characteristic of the Abbasid Caliphate was their obvious borrowings from the Sasanian Emperors. The strong ties of the Abbasid Caliphs to Iran and their employment of Iranian ministers such as the Barmaki family, meant adoption of Sasanian standards of government by the new dynasty. Abbasids increasingly tended towards construction of glorious monuments and cities with Sasanian influenced architectures. Their taste for luxury eventually gave rise to an Empire, built upon the ashes of the old, humble caliphate desired by people like Abu Bakr, Omar, and Ali.
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In the late 9th century, the Abbasid caliphs increasingly began to delegate administrative responsibility to ministers of state and other government officials and to lose control over their Baghdad guards. As they gradually gave up personal political power, the caliphs placed more and more emphasis on their role as protectors of the faith. One result of this change in emphasis was the increased persecution of heretics and non-Muslims. About the same time, several successful revolts in the eastern provinces led to the establishment of independent principalities, and independent caliphates were subsequently established in North Africa and in Spain. Eventually, the power of the Abbasids barely extended outside Baghdad, and by the middle of the 10th century, the Abbasid caliphs had virtually no power, serving merely as figureheads at the mercy of the military commanders. The final defeat of the Abbasid dynasty came from outside the Muslim world, when al-Mustasim was put to death by the invading Mongols at the order of Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan.
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One major element of the diversity of the first Abbasid era, before al-Ma'mun's reform, was the plethora of officials that were named on the coins, ranging from the caliphs down to unidentified local officials. Hundreds of people are named on coins in the period from 750 until 833. Nomenclature even for one individual was diverse. The caliphs themselves were designated differently on the contemporary issues of different mints, with no discernable pattern. The caliph al-Rashid, for example, is called al-Khalifa Harun, al-Khalifa al-Rashid, Harun Amir al-Mu'minin, and even al-Khalifa al-Mardi. More often than not... the caliphs were not named at all on the coins.
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Abbasid Caliphs