Editing Damascus (section)

=== Umayyad and Abbasid periods ===
[[File:Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.jpg|thumb|left|View of Damascus with the Umayyad Mosque in center]]

Following the fourth Rashidun caliph [[Ali]]'s death in 661, Mu'awiya was chosen as the caliph of the expanding Islamic empire. Because of the vast amounts of assets his clan, the [[Umayyad]]s, owned in the city and because of its traditional economic and social links with the [[Hijaz]] as well as the [[Christian Arab]] tribes of the region, Mu'awiya established Damascus as the capital of the entire [[Caliphate]].<ref name="Burns107">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=106–107}}</ref> With the ascension of Caliph [[Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan|Abd al-Malik]] in 685, an Islamic coinage system was introduced and all of the surplus revenue of the Caliphate's provinces were forwarded to the treasury of Damascus. [[Arabic language|Arabic]] was also established as the official language, giving the Muslim minority of the city an advantage over the Aramaic-speaking Christians in administrative affairs.<ref name="Burns110">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|p=110}}</ref>

[[Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan|Abd al-Malik]]'s successor, al-Walid initiated the construction of the [[Grand Mosque of Damascus]] (known as the Umayyad Mosque) in 706. The site originally had been the Christian Cathedral of St. John and the Muslims maintained the building's dedication to [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="Burns113">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|p=113}}</ref> By 715, the mosque was complete. Al-Walid died that same year and he was succeeded at first by [[Suleiman ibn Abd al-Malik]] and then by [[Umar II]], who each ruled for brief periods before the reign of [[Hisham]] in 724. With these successions, the status of Damascus was gradually weakening as Suleiman had chosen [[Ramla]] as his residence and later Hisham chose [[Resafa]]. Following the murder of the latter in 743, the Caliphate of the Umayyads—which by then stretched from Spain to India— was crumbling as a result of widespread revolts. During the reign of [[Marwan II]] in 744, the capital of the empire was relocated to [[Harran]] in the northern [[Al Jazira, Mesopotamia|Jazira]] region.<ref name="Burns122">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=121–122}}</ref>

[[File:Umayyad Mosque-Dome of the Treasury211099.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Qubbat al-Khazna|dome of Damascus' treasury]] in the Umayyad Mosque]]

On 25 August 750, the [[Abbasid]]s, having already beaten the Umayyads in the [[Battle of the Zab]] in Iraq, conquered Damascus after facing little resistance. With the heralding of the Abbasid Caliphate, Damascus became eclipsed and subordinated by [[Baghdad]], the new Islamic capital. Within the first six months of Abbasid rule, revolts began erupting in the city, albeit too isolated and unfocused to present a viable threat. Nonetheless, the last of the prominent Umayyads were executed, the traditional officials of Damascus were ostracised, and army generals from the city were dismissed. Afterwards, the Umayyad family cemetery was desecrated and the city walls were torn down, reducing Damascus into a provincial town of little importance. It roughly disappeared from written records for the next century and the only significant improvement of the city was the Abbasid-built treasury dome in the Umayyad Mosque in 789. In 811, distant remnants of the Umayyad dynasty staged a strong uprising in Damascus that was eventually put down.<ref name="Burns132">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=130–132}}</ref>

On 24 November 847, a [[847 Damascus earthquake|multiple earthquake struck and destroyed Damascus]], causing the lives of 70,000 people in estimated deaths.

[[Ahmad ibn Tulun]], a dissenting Turkish wali appointed by the Abbasids, conquered Syria, including Damascus, from his overlords in 878–79. In an act of respect for the previous Umayyad rulers, he erected a shrine on the site of Mu'awiya's grave in the city. [[Tulunid]] rule of Damascus was brief, lasting only until 906 before being replaced by the [[Qarmatians]] who were adherents of [[Shia Islam]]. Due to their inability to control the vast amount of land they occupied, the Qarmatians withdrew from Damascus and a new dynasty, the [[Ikhshidid]]s, took control of the city. They maintained the independence of Damascus from the Arab [[Hamdanid]] dynasty of [[Aleppo]] 967. A period of instability in the city followed, with a Qarmatian raid in 968, a Byzantine raid in 970, and increasing pressures from the [[Fatimid]]s in the south and the Hamdanids in the north.<ref name="Burns135">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=135–136}}</ref>

[[File:Califate 750.jpg|thumb|Damascus was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, which extended from Western Europe to Southern Asia]]

The Shia Fatimids gained control in 970, inflaming hostilities between them and the Sunni Arabs of the city who frequently revolted. A Turk, [[Alptakin]] drove out the Fatimids five years later, and through diplomacy, prevented the Byzantines during the [[Syrian campaigns of John Tzimiskes]] from attempting to annex the city. However, by 977, the Fatimids under Caliph [[al-Aziz]], wrested back control of the city and tamed Sunni dissidents. The Arab geographer, [[al-Muqaddasi]], visited Damascus in 985, remarking that the architecture and infrastructure of the city were "magnificent", but living conditions were awful. Under al-Aziz, the city saw a brief period of stability that ended with the reign of [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Hakim]] (996–1021). In 998, hundreds of Damascus citizens were rounded up and executed by him for incitement. Three years after al-Hakim's mysterious disappearance, a rebellion was initiated in southern Syria against the Fatimids, but was stifled by the Fatimid Turkish governor of Syria and Palestine, [[Anushtakin al-Dizbari|Anushtakin al-Duzbari]], in 1029. This victory gave the latter mastery over Syria, displeasing his Fatimid overlords, but gaining the admiration of Damascus' citizens. He was exiled by Fatimid authorities to [[Aleppo]] where he died in 1041.<ref name="Burns138">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|pp=137–138}}</ref> From that date to 1063, there are no known records of the city's history. By then, Damascus lacked a city administration, had an enfeebled economy, and a greatly reduced population.<ref name="Burns139">{{Harvnb|Burns|2005|p=139}}</ref>