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June 10, 2026

Muhammad (570-632) died without arranging his succession to lead the Islamic Ummah (nation, i.e., the international religious community). One of his close associates, Abu Bakr, established the Caliphate (succession). He assumed the position of Caliph in 632 and died two years later. Omar succeeded him and died in 644. He was followed by Uthman, who died in 656, and Ali, who died in 661. The first four caliphs are known as “Al-Rashidun” (The Rightly Guided).

The Umayyads were the first Islamic dynasty to rule the caliphate, from 661 to 750. In the Islamic civil war (644-656) following the murder of ʿUthmān, Mu’awiyah, an Umayyad and then governor of Syria, emerged victorious over Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law and fourth caliph.

Muawiyah secured an oath of allegiance to his son Yazīd I, bypassing the traditional election (bayʿah) and establishing hereditary succession. Under Abd al-Malik (685–705), the Umayyad caliphate expanded by occupying India and the regions of Bukhara, Samarkand, Khwarazm, Fergana, and Tashkent.

Arabic became the official state language; the empire’s financial administration was reorganized, with Arabs replacing Persian and Greek officials; and a new Arabic coinage replaced the previous coins. A regular postal service from Damascus to the provincial capitals was established.

In 710, the Umayyads invaded Spain, which they called “Al-Andalus,” and ruled it for nearly 700 years. Their advance into France was halted at the Battle of Poitiers (732).

The Umayyad caliph Marwan (744–750) was defeated by the Abbasids at the Battle of the Great Zab River (750). An Umayyad, Abd al-Rahman, escaped to Spain and established Umayyad rule in Córdoba in 756. Umayyad rule ended in 1492 with the fall of Granada, which marked the completion of the Spanish Reconquista and the end of nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.