This paper will argue that the Umayyad Caliphs of the Marwanid branch, especially but not limited to the Caliph Abd-al Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685-705), forged what would become the idea of (early) ‘Islamic’ identity and orthodoxy. This paper gives reasons for why this happened and how it happened based on a range of sources that examine the socio-religious practices of the time, including legal pronouncements to near contemporary Near Eastern legends; our knowledge of this period needs to be reconstructed delicately due to the relatively few contemporary sources we have. Indeed, the Umayyads, largely castigated in historiography, both modern and pre-modern, as being a ‘corrupt’, ‘impious’ and ‘despotic’, are often overshadowed in the popular imagination by the four Rashidun Caliphs (Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman, Ali). As this paper will show however, unlike the Rashidun Caliphs based in isolated Arabia, it was the Umayyads of the Marwanid branch who were instrumental in laying the foundations of what would become a Muslim and Arab identity, situated as they were at the heart of a cosmopolitan empire based in Damascus, with strong Christian Byzantine and Zoroastrian Sassanid influences. In other words, it was the Marwanids, following religious policy precedents of their predecessors, established in Late Antiquity, who created what would become a distinctively ‘Muslim’ empire, rather than solely an Arab one. Abd al-Malik and his successors achieved this through an ambitious and dramatic series of institutional reforms and embarked upon monumental construction projects which are still strongly identified with the religion today in the late seventh and early eighth centuries CE. This included the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque, sumptuary laws demarking Muslims from non-Muslims, and the promulgation of Arabic as the language of not only religion but also administration. The reason for this flurried activity was pressure emanating from messianic inspired ‘Alid revolts (those claiming rulership through descent from Ali). The challenges posed by Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (r. 683-692) and Mukhtar (r. 685-687) would lead to the Marwanids styling themselves decisively as pious Muslim and Arab rulers, setting the tone for the rest of the Empires elites from the Pyrenees to the Indus. The ‘Arabization’ and ‘Islamization’ of the Empire therefore was not a pre-determined outcome, but a result of a crisis of legitimacy effecting the Umayyad dynasty through a series of pretender revolts.

Apr 13th, 9:45 AM

Apr 13th, 10:45 AM

Creation of a Muslim Empire: ‘Alid Revolts & the Marwanids in Perspective

This paper will argue that the Umayyad Caliphs of the Marwanid branch, especially but not limited to the Caliph Abd-al Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685-705), forged what would become the idea of (early) ‘Islamic’ identity and orthodoxy. This paper gives reasons for why this happened and how it happened based on a range of sources that examine the socio-religious practices of the time, including legal pronouncements to near contemporary Near Eastern legends; our knowledge of this period needs to be reconstructed delicately due to the relatively few contemporary sources we have. Indeed, the Umayyads, largely castigated in historiography, both modern and pre-modern, as being a ‘corrupt’, ‘impious’ and ‘despotic’, are often overshadowed in the popular imagination by the four Rashidun Caliphs (Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman, Ali). As this paper will show however, unlike the Rashidun Caliphs based in isolated Arabia, it was the Umayyads of the Marwanid branch who were instrumental in laying the foundations of what would become a Muslim and Arab identity, situated as they were at the heart of a cosmopolitan empire based in Damascus, with strong Christian Byzantine and Zoroastrian Sassanid influences. In other words, it was the Marwanids, following religious policy precedents of their predecessors, established in Late Antiquity, who created what would become a distinctively ‘Muslim’ empire, rather than solely an Arab one. Abd al-Malik and his successors achieved this through an ambitious and dramatic series of institutional reforms and embarked upon monumental construction projects which are still strongly identified with the religion today in the late seventh and early eighth centuries CE. This included the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque, sumptuary laws demarking Muslims from non-Muslims, and the promulgation of Arabic as the language of not only religion but also administration. The reason for this flurried activity was pressure emanating from messianic inspired ‘Alid revolts (those claiming rulership through descent from Ali). The challenges posed by Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (r. 683-692) and Mukhtar (r. 685-687) would lead to the Marwanids styling themselves decisively as pious Muslim and Arab rulers, setting the tone for the rest of the Empires elites from the Pyrenees to the Indus. The ‘Arabization’ and ‘Islamization’ of the Empire therefore was not a pre-determined outcome, but a result of a crisis of legitimacy effecting the Umayyad dynasty through a series of pretender revolts.