Muawiyah, ruling Syria from Damascus, seizes the caliphate leadership from Hasan, Ali’s son and successor.

The Shiites refuse to recognize Muawiyah, insisting that only members of the Prophet's clan, specifically, Hasan and Husayn, the male descendants of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, could rightfully have succeeded him.

The Middle East: 676–819 CE

Islamic Expansion, Cultural Integration, and Dynastic Transformations

Consolidation and Revolts under the Umayyads

Following the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) with its capital in Damascus, the region undergoes significant political and cultural transformations. Muawiyah, founder of the dynasty, cements Umayyad control through administrative reforms, military strength, and religious tolerance, particularly toward Christians. Damascus flourishes, becoming one of the great cities of the eighth century, a hub of Islamic governance, culture, and economic prosperity.

However, succession issues plague the Umayyad dynasty. The violent death of Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala (680) creates a profound schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims, deeply influencing Islamic history. The martyrdom of Husayn solidifies Shia identity, with Karbala and the tomb of his father Ali at Najaf becoming central pilgrimage sites.

Sectarian Divisions and Ideological Movements

This era sees the rise of multiple Islamic sects, each interpreting leadership and theology distinctively. The Kharijites, initially rebels from Ali's army, promote strict doctrinal adherence and lead rebellions in Iraq and beyond, notably influencing movements such as the Azraqi Kharijites who rebel in 685. Meanwhile, the rise of the Paulicians in Armenia around 664 introduces a dualistic Christian sect influenced by Gnostic beliefs, opposing the established church and empire.

Abbasid Revolution and Cultural Renaissance

The growing dissatisfaction with Umayyad rule culminates in the Abbasid Revolution led by Abu Muslim, who captures Iraq in 747 and establishes the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 with its capital in Baghdad. The Abbasids, presenting themselves as divine-right rulers, usher in a new era of centralized administration, cultural flourishing, and intellectual expansion, significantly influenced by Persian traditions. The Abbasid caliphs, particularly under Harun ar-Rashid (786–809) and his son Al-Mamun (813–833), preside over a remarkable cultural renaissance, with Baghdad becoming a center for philosophical, scientific, and literary achievements.

Persian Influence and Cultural Integration

Under Abbasid rule, the integration of Persian administrative practices, such as the role of vizier and the bureaucratic institution of the divan, becomes foundational. Persian scholars profoundly impact Islamic sciences, literature, medicine, and philosophy, with Arabic becoming the language of administration in 696 but Persian remaining widely spoken. The Iranian populace, initially slow to adopt Islam, gradually integrates into the Islamic community by the ninth century, significantly contributing to Islamic intellectual traditions.

Regional Shifts and Continued Instability

Despite Abbasid centralization, regional unrest persists. Iraq remains restive under Umayyad and early Abbasid rule, with notable rebellions including the Alid Revolt (762–763), which emphasizes enduring sectarian divisions. Armenia, semi-autonomous under the Bagratid dynasty from 806, continues to serve as a crucial buffer state between Muslim and Byzantine spheres. In 813, Ashot I, a Bagratid prince, consolidates power in Georgia, initiating nearly a millennium of Bagratid rule there.

Religious Developments and Legal Schools

The formation of distinct Sunni legal schools—notably those founded by Malik ibn Anas, Abu Hanifa, Al-Shafi‘i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal—begins in earnest, shaping Islamic jurisprudence. Shia communities, particularly the Twelve Imams tradition, consolidate around revered figures such as Imam Reza, whose tomb at Mashhad becomes a significant pilgrimage site.

Economic and Social Prosperity

The Abbasids promote extensive economic development, infrastructure projects, and social welfare initiatives. Caliph Al-Walid I (705–715) builds the first major hospital in Damascus, institutes quarantine practices for leprosy patients, and initiates public works including street lighting, irrigation, and welfare programs. The Persian Gulf region experiences prosperity linked to the economic success of Baghdad, revitalizing trade networks.

By 819, the Middle East stands transformed by the profound cultural synthesis of Arab, Persian, and local traditions. This dynamic fusion shapes a vibrant civilization whose influences reverberate across the Islamic world and beyond, laying a foundation for centuries of cultural, scientific, and political achievements.

Ali had made Al Kufah his capital during his caliphate.

The transfer of power to Syria and to its capital at Damascus arouses envy among Iraqis.

The desire to regain preeminence prompts numerous rebellions in Iraq against Umayyad rule.

As a consequence, only men of unusual ability are sent to be governors of Al Basrah and Al Kufah.

One of the most able is Ziyad ibn Abihi, who is initially governor of Al Basrah and later also of Al Kufah.

Ziyad divides the residents of Al Kufah into four groups (not based on tribal affiliation) and appoints a leader for each one.

He also sends  fifty thousand Bedouin to Khorasan (in northeastern Iran), the eastern-most province of the empire, which is within the jurisdiction of Al Basrah and Al Kufah.

Yazid I, Muawiyah's son and his successor in 680, is unable to contain the opposition that his strong father had vigorously quelled.

Husayn, Ali's second son, refuses to pay homage and flees to Mecca, where he is asked to lead the Shias—mostly Iraqis—in a revolt against Yazid I.

Ubayd Allah, governor of Al Kufah, discovers the plot and sends detachments to dissuade him.

At Karbala, in Iraq, Husayn's band of two hundred men and women refuse to surrender and finally are cut down by a force of perhaps fourth thousand Umayyad troops.

Yazid I receives Husayn's head, and Husayn's death on the tenth of Muharram (October 10, 680) continues to be observed as a day of mourning for all Shias.

Ali's burial place at An Najaf, about one hundred and thirty kilometers south of Baghdad, and ...

...Husayn's at Karbala, about eighty kilometers southwest of Baghdad, are holy places of pilgrimage for Shias, many of whom feel that a pilgrimage to both sites is equal to a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The importance of these events in the history of Islam cannot be overemphasized.

They create the greatest of the Islamic schisms, between the party of Ali (the Shiat Ali, known in the West as Shias or Shiites) and the upholders of Muawiyah (the Ahl as Sunna, the People of the Sunna—those who follow Muhammad's custom and example) or the Sunnis.

The Sunnis believe they are the followers of orthodoxy.

The ascendancy of the Umayyads and the events at Karbala, in contrast, leads to a Shia Islam which, although similar to Sunni Islam in its basic tenets, maintains important doctrinal differences that have pervasive effects on the Shia world view.

Most notably, Shias viewed themselves as the opposition in Islam, the opponents of privilege and power.

They believe that after the death of Ali and the ascension of the "usurper" Umayyads to the caliphate, Islam took the wrong path; therefore, obedience to existing temporal authority is not obligatory.

Furthermore, in sacrificing his own life for a just cause, Husayn becomes the archetypal role model who inspires generations of Shias to fight for social equality and for economic justice.

The Second Fitna, or Second Islamic Civil War, a period of general political and military disorder that afflicts the Islamic empire following the death of the Muawiyah, involves the suppression of two challenges to the Umayyad dynasty, the first by Hussein ibn Ali (defeated at the Battle of Karbala in 680) and the second by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (killed in 692).

Historians dates its start variously as 680 or 683 and its end as being somewhere between 685 and 692.

As a result of the conflict, Shia Muslims become a distinct sect within Islam.

'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and one of the Ahl al-Bayt (people of the House) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, had migrated to Medina shortly after Muhammad.

There Muhammad told Ali that he had been ordered by God to give his daughter, Fatimah, to Ali in marriage.

'Ali had been an active servant of Muhammad's service during his decade at the helm of the community in Medina, carrying messages and orders and leading war parties of warriors on battles, participating in all the battles fought for Islam during this time eith the exception of Tabuk.

After the assassination in 656 of the third Caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan, the Companions of Muhammad in Medina had chosen 'Ali to be the new Caliph.

Because Ali is unable to apprehend and punish Uthman's murderers due to the rebel infiltration of the Muslim ranks, Muawiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, who had been a companion of Muhammad and been Governor of Syria since 640, had refused to acknowledge his caliphate.

Muawiyah had met with considerable military success in the ensuing civil war, including the seizure of Egypt.

Whereas the Shiites believe, as they do today, that the imamate, or leadership, is the sole right of the house of 'Ali, the Kharijites insist that any pious and able Muslim can be a leader of the Muslim community.

And whereas the Sunnis believe that the imam's impiousness does not, by itself, justify sedition, the Kharijites insist on the right to revolt against any ruler who deviates from the example of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the first two Caliphs.

A Kharajite had in 661 finally assassinated 'Ali at prayer in the mosque of Kufa with a strike of a poison-coated sword, and Muawiyah—holding both Syria and Egypt and, as commander of the largest force in the Muslim Empire, having strongest claim to leadership—had assumed the caliphate.

'Ali’s sons Hasan and Hussein had acquiesced to the rule of Mu'awiyah and received pensions from him.

Hasan, initially defying Muawiyah, had soon ceased hostilities and retired to a quiet private life in Medina, where he lived until his death in 670 under mysterious circumstances.

Hussein, however, refuses in April, 680 to recognize the legitimacy of Muawiyah's son and successor, Yazid.

The townsmen of Kufah, a city with a Shi'ite majority, now invite Hussein, reputedly the favorite grandson of Muhammad, to lead then in raising the standard of revolt against the Umayyads.

Hussein, after receiving some favorable indications, sets out for Kufah from Mecca with a small band of relatives and followers.

According to traditional accounts, he meets the poet al-Farazdaq on the way and is told that the hearts of the Iraqis are for him, but their swords are for the Umayyads.

The governor of Iraq, on behalf of the caliph, sends four thousand men to arrest Hussein and his small band, trapping him on October 10 near the banks of the Euphrates River.

Hussein refuses to surrender, and he and his escort are slain, his head sent to Yazid in Damascus. (Shi'ite Muslims observe the first ten days of Muharram, the date of the battle according to the Islamic calendar, as days of lamentation in remembrance of Hussein's martyrdom.)

Revenge for Hussein’s death at the Battle of Karbala' is turned into a rallying cry that will help undermine the Umayyad caliphate and give impetus to the rise of a powerful Shi'ite movement, making permanent a division in Islam between the party of 'Ali and the Sunnite majority.

The Umayyads subdue Iraq, but rebellions in the name of this or that relative of 'Ali will continue, attracting more and more non-Arab support and introducing new dimensions to his cause.