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As the Arab Empire grew, its caliphs changed from Arab chiefs into absolute monarchs, complete with elaborate court rituals, a complex bureaucracy, a standing army, and centralized systems of taxation and coinage. The empire was common to the dynastic rivalries and succession disputes, similar to many other empires. Thus, the first dynasty in the Islamic state, came from the Umayyad family who lasted from 661-750 BCE.
The Umayyad Caliphate was established by Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan after the end of the First Muslim Civil War. Before Muawiya’s death in 680 CE, he had changed the capital from the city of Medina in the Arabian Peninsula to the city of Damascus in Syria, which had profound effects on the development of the caliphate and became the Umayyads’ main power base. The Umayyad Caliphate expanded the Islamic Empire in to one of the largest empires in the world, and at its greatest extent, covered 5.79 million square miles with control over the Middle East, parts of India, much of North Africa, and Spain. Eventually this expansion came to an end with the failure of the second Muslim siege of Constantinople and the defeat of an Arab army at the Battle of Tours. Despite its success, the Umayyad Caliphate rule caused growing criticism and rebellion from the Shi’a and non-Arab Muslims frequently.
"The first dynasty, following the era of the Rightly Guided Calips, came from the Umayyad family. Under its leadership, the Arab Empire expanded greatly, caliphs became hereditary rulers, and the capital moved from Media to the cosmopolitan Roman/Byzantine city of Damascus in Syria." -Ways of the World Textbook, pg 376
The Umayyad caliphate was one of the most important Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad, as it expanded the Islamic state immensely.
In 750, the Umayyad caliphate was overthrown and replaced by a new Arab dynasty, the Abbasid caliphate. The Abbasid caliphate lead a flourishing and prosperous Islamic civilization where non-Arabs, especially the Persians, played a prominent role. In comparison, the Umayyad caliphate had previously provoked growing criticism and unrest, due to the fact that non-Arab Muslims resented their second-class citizenship in the empire, and they were seen as illegitimate usurpers. Presiding over its new capital in Baghdad, the Abbasid caliphate ruled for 400 years more than the Umayyad caliphate. However, they were fractured politically into a series of "sultanates" over the years, many ruled by Persian or Turkish military dynasties before officially being conquered by the Mongols.