ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE UNDER THE ABBASIDS (1258 A.D./656 A.H.)
By the end of the Umayyad rule, the Arabs in general and the Umayyads in particular had monopolized all the high offices of the State to the exclusion of the non-Arab Muslims. This polic> of discrimination between Arab and non-Arab Muslims caused a great wave of resentment throughout the empire, and the Abbasids effectively exploited it to their advantage. The revolution which wrested the supreme power from the Umayyads and transferred it to the Abbasids, having been manned and conducted chiefly by the non-Arab, opened the eyes of the subject nationalities and made them realize their real strength.
”Henceforth the non-Arabs, as common subjects of a great and civilized empire, assumed their proper place as citizens of Islam, were admitted to the highest employment of State, and enjoyed equal consideration with the Arabs. A greater revolution than this has scarcely been witnessed either in ancient or modern times; it gave practical effect to the democratic enunciation of the equality and brotherhood of man. To this mainly is due the extraordinary vitality of the Abbasid Caliphate anc! the permanence of its spiritual supremacy, even after it had lost its temporary authority. The acceptance of this fundamental principle or racial equality among ail their subjects helped the early sovereigns of the house of Abbas to
Administrative Structure Under the Abbasids 575 build up a fabric which endured without a rival for over five centuries, and fell only before a barbarian attack from without”.
