Abbāsid caliphate << uh BAS ihd or AB uh sihd, KAY luh fayt or KAL uh fayt >> was an Islamic empire that lasted from 750 until 1258. At its height, it stretched from Morocco and Spain to what is now Uzbekistan and from Armenia to Yemen. The Abbāsids descended from the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle al-Abbās ibn Abd al-Muttalib. Muhammad’s life and teachings form the basis of the Islamic religion.
The Abbāsid revolution began in 747 in Khurasan (in what is now Iran) as a religious and political movement against the Umayyad caliphate. The Abbāsids, helped by their relationship to Muhammad, quickly won the support of Arabs and non-Arabs opposed to Umayyad rule. Revolutionaries defeated the Umayyad caliphate.
In 750, Abu al-Abbās al-Saffah became the first Abbāsid caliph (ruler). His empire was based in Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what is now Iraq. Al-Saffah’s successor, al-Mansur, built a new capital, Baghdad, in 762. The Abbāsid caliphate was at its height from 786 to 809 under Hārūn al-Rashīd.
The Abbāsid Empire was ethnically and culturally diverse. Many people lived in large cities. Arabic was the language of government, religion, and intellectual life. The population was active in agriculture, the arts, industry, and trade. Literature, philosophy, and science also flourished. To unite their large and diverse empire, the Abbāsid caliphs turned to Islam. Sunni Muslim religious scholars developed a sophisticated body of Islamic law and theology during this period.
Abbāsid caliphs claimed to rule by divine right, but they relied on a powerful military force and a complex system of government to manage their empire. During the 800’s and 900’s, the Abbāsid caliphate dissolved into a number of smaller states. The caliph continued to represent Islamic unity, and the leaders of these smaller states claimed to rule in his name. Islamic culture and interregional trade remained strong. Abbāsid rule ended when the Mongols conquered Baghdad in 1258.
The Abbāsid line of caliphs was reestablished a few years later in Cairo, Egypt. The Mamluk sultanate, which ruled Egypt from 1261 to 1517, installed a member of the Abbāsid family as caliph in name only. The Abbāsid caliph and his descendants had no real power, but their name helped give authority to the Mamluks.
