Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Preponderance Of The Persians
With the fall of the Umayyads the hegemony of the Syrians and the Arabs in general ended and the unity of Islam was broken. Rival dynasties grew first in the outlying provinces of the West beyond Egypt in Spain and Tunisia then several dynasties grew up in the East, some dependent on the Abbasid caliphate while the others were quite independent with their separate histories. The Abbasids, however, represented the true Calipjiate. The Iraqis were freed from the tutelage of the Syrians and the clients (Mawaljs) from that of the
Decline & Fall of the Umayyad Dynasty 463
Arabs. The Shiahs were also happy because they considered themselves avenged.
The Arabs lost their early religious zeal and enthusiasm, vigour and courage. They preferred the harem life to that of the field and even when under compulsion they went to the battle field they gave preference to personal, family and tribal gains over national and Islamic interests. The huge wealth that they gathered from their vast conquests ruined their military spirit and religious zeal which had once brought them out of the desert as world conquerors. Under the new dynasty, the Arabs, specially the Syrians, suffered the most. Luck favoured the Persians and the Khurasanis who won the throne for the Abbasids. The Kurds served the Caliphs as members of the bodyguard and the Persians occupied the main posts in the government. The Turks, freed-men and slaves, brought from the faroff lands officered and manned the Abbasid army.
As a result it was among the Syrian and Mesopotamia!! Arabs that dangerous revolts took place against the Abbasid dynasty. Persian influence bega»i to be felt in court and town life and in manners and customs of the people. The old Arab aristocracy gave place to a hierarchy of officials drawn from various races and religions headed by the wazir, the representative of the Caliphs, by the executives both newly created after the fashion of the Persians. The words of court astrologers were taken as laws, a purely Persian custom. The postal system was re-organized and used as a source of espionage like that of the Persian rulers who had learnt it from the Babylonians. The Arab practice of oral tradition gave way to the Persian and eastern*tradition of recording statement. The Persians also influenced the ideas of spiritual leadership and the divine Imamat. The Persian language received patronage though Arabic continued to be the official language. Thus Arabianism was replaced by Persiamism under the guise of international Islam.

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