DECLINE AND FALL OF THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY (743-750 A.D./125-132 A.H.) Within three years of the restoration of Umayyad control over the central provinces by Marwan II, his power and that of his dynasty were completely destroyed The agent of destruction was a rising which, beginning in Khurasan, was carried through mainly by Khurasanis and organized by a group known as the Hashimiyya. The result was the passing of the Caliphate into the possession of the Abbasid family.
Difficulties occur when we begin to ask questions about the nature and composition of the movement which overthrow the Umayyads. its aims and the reasons why it attracted support. These difficulties arise chiefly because the movement was necessarily secret in the years before its success, and as the historical tradition came to be stabilized in the period when the Abbasids were ruling as Caliphs, the views of the new rulers and their relationship with Islam were changing too, making necessary a certain reformulation of the traditions about their rise to power and the bases of their legitimacy. There has been room, therefore, for considerable controversy^over the nature of what is often called the Abbasid Revolution”, an expression which, if it has any validity, should be understood as referring to the many and profound developments which followed the accession of the dynasty, not merely to the overthrow of the Ummayyads and establishment of the ”Abbasid Caliphate itself. Now ue study the causes of downfall of Umayyads in detail.
Decline & Fall of the Umayyad Dynasty 451
