Definition of Abbasid Caliphate

After the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. C was appointed the first caliph o Leader religious of Islam, who is regarded as the successor of Muhammad, the envoy of Allah. In this sense, a caliphate is a form of government of a Muslim community in which the political and the religious are combined.

The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)

The Abbasid dynasty considered themselves descendants of Abbas, one of the uncles of the Prophet Muhammad. In the eighth century they expressed their discontent with the Umayyad dynasty. After a period of revolts, the Abbasids defeated the Umayyads and established a new Caliphate inspired by the tradition Sunni. During his long rule in the territory Muslim the various Caliphs prevailed over other tendencies of Islam, especially the Shiites.

The period of the Abbasid caliphs has the following characteristics:

1) a stage of growth and development of urban life,

2) the flowering of the philosophy and science,

3) intense commercial and artisanal activity and

4) new irrigation systems to improve crops.

On the other hand, the caliphs established an Islamic monarchy whose headquarters were in the city of Baghdad in present-day Iraq.

For the Abbasids the caliph represented the entire authority, since he was the religious leader and at the same time the judge and the administrator of the Muslim community. To facilitate the control of the caliphate in the wide territories, different regional and administrative powers were created, such as the office of vizier, the diwan or the emir.

One of the most famous Abbasid caliphs was Harum-al-Rashid, a legendary leader who maintained relations diplomatic with Charlemagne and who became a character in the tales of "Thousand and One Nights."

The power of the Abbasid Caliphate did not cover the entire Muslim territory at the time, as there were practically independent states (among them the Umayyad Emirate of Al-Andalus should be highlighted). One of the provincial governors (the emirs) who ruled Al-Andalus, Abderraman III, proclaimed himself Caliph and thus disassociated himself from the Abbasid Caliphate.

The end of the Abbasid dynasty

Starting in the nineteenth century, the Abbasid Caliphate began a slow stage of decline, since the Caliphate power could not control all conflicts in his territories (independent emirates, the situation of Al-Andalus or small dynasties regional). Over time, the caliph only maintained a purely symbolic.

Finally, the last caliph of the Abbasids was assassinated in 1258 by order of the khan of the Mongols, who occupied the city of Baghdad.

Photos: Fotolia - akumak - dervish15

Themes in the Abbasid Caliphate