Abbasiyah

The Abbasid Caliphate (/bsd/ or /bsd/ Arabic: al-Khilfah al-Abbsyah) was

the third of the Islamiccaliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty
descended from Muhammad's youngest uncle,Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566653 CE), from whom
the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital
in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from
the Umayyads in 750 CE (132 AH).
The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded
the city of Baghdad, north of the Sasanian capital city of Ctesiphon. The choice of a capital so close
to Persia proper reflected a growing reliance on Persianbureaucrats, most notably of
the Barmakid family, to govern the territories conquered by Arab Muslims, as well as an increasing
inclusion of non-Arab Muslims in the ummah. Despite this initial cooperation, the Abbasids of the late
8th century had alienated both Arab mawali and Iranian bureaucrats, and were forced to cede
authority over Al-Andalus and Maghreb to the Umayyads,Morocco to the Idrisid dynasty, Ifriqiya to
the Aghlabids, and Egypt to the Shi'ite Caliphate of the Fatimids. The political power of the caliphs
largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the
vast Islamic empire was gradually reduced to a ceremonial religious function, the dynasty retained
control over its Mesopotamian demesne. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science,
culture, philosophy and invention during the Golden Age of Islam.
This period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu
Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, recentered themselves in
the Mamluk capital of Cairo in 1261. Though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to
claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt (1517).