The Umayyad Dynasty (Arabicالأمويون / بنو أميةumawiyy; in Turkish, Emevi) was the first dynasty of caliphs of the Prophet Muhammad who were not closely related to Muhammad himself, though they were of the same Meccan tribe, the Quraish. The first dynasty reigned from 661 to 750. Ironically, the Quraishi clan from which the Umayyads originated had originally been bitter enemies of Muhammad.
The Courtyard of the Omayyad Mosque, Damascus
Muawiyah had been the governor of Syria under the 3rd caliph and his kinsman, Uthman ibn Affan. After the assassination of Uthman, he was replaced by the new caliph, Ali Ben Abu Talib. Rather than relinquish his post, Muawiyah took up a rebellion against Ali. The two fought many battles, and eventually they agreed to partition the Muslim empire. However, Ali was assassinated in 661, and Muawiyah declared himself caliph of all Muslim lands. This established the Umayyad dynasty, the capital was moved to Damascus
The Umayyads were overthrown in the east by the Abbasid dynasty after their defeat in the Battle of the Zab in 750, following which most of the clan was massacred by the Abbasids. An Umayyad prince, Abd-ar-rahman I, took over the Muslim territory in Spain and founded a new Umayyad dynasty there.
Although the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) was developed by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuhandhf) and his successors (the imams), the fiqh as taught by the Shi'a did not have the opportunity to be presented to the masses because of the political predicament that the ahl al-bayt suffered from under the rulers for many centuries.
Because they refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Umayyid and 'Abbasid caliphs and their governments, the imams of the ahl al-bayt and their followers were exposed to tremendous harassment and persecution at the hands of the caliphs.
Once the Umayyid government became weak, Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (pbuh) found a golden opportunity to formulate and spread the tradition of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuhandhf) and his family (pbut).
Therefore, the Umayyids presented methods of work and established the institutions to consolidate Islam and to spread Arabic in the new Islamic societies.
The Umayyids were also pioneers in their concern with the cultures of nations that embraced Islam and absorbed those cultures.
The Abbasid state replaced the Umayyids in 132-656 A.H./750-1258 A.D. and ruled for five centuries until defeated by the Mongols led by Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan in 656 A.H. The ruling Abbasid Dynasty was Hashemite Arab descending from Al Abbas Ibn-Abdul-Muttaleb, the Prophet's uncle; nevertheless it depended on "Mawali" i.e.
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