Umayyad dynasty

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The Umayyad dynasty (Arabic: بَنُو أُمَيَّةَ, romanized: Banū Umayya, lit. 'Sons of Umayya'), or the Umayyads (Arabic: الأمويون, romanized: al-Umawiyyūn), were the ruling family of the second Islamic caliphate from 661 to 750 and the Emirate of Córdoba from 756 to 1031. They were the first hereditary dynasty in the history of Islam. In the pre-Islamic period, the Umayyads were a prominent Arab clan of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh, descended from Umayya ibn Abd Shams. Despite staunch opposition to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Umayyads embraced Islam after the Conquest of Mecca in 630. Uthman ibn Affan, an early companion of Muhammad from the Umayyad clan, became the third Rashidun caliph, ruling from 644 to 656, while other members held various governorships. The Umayyad family established hereditary rule under Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the long-time governor of Syria, who became caliph in 661 after emerging victorious in the First Fitna. Syria served as the metropolitan province of the...

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