Abbasids
The Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads, shifted
the capital to Baghdad which soon developed into an incomparable center of
learning and culture as well as the administrative and political heart of a
vast world. They ruled for over 500 years but gradually their power waned and
they remained only symbolic rulers bestowing legitimacy upon various sultans
and princes who wielded actual military power. The Abbasid caliphate was
finally abolished when Hulagu, the Mongol ruler, captured Baghdad in 1258,
destroying much of the city including its incomparable libraries. While the
Abbasids ruled in Baghdad, a number of powerful dynasties such as the Fatimids,
Ayyubids and Mamluks held power in Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The most
important event in this area as far as the relation between Islam and the Western
world was concerned was the series of Crusades declared by the Pope and
espoused by various European kings. The purpose, although political, was
outwardly to recapture the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem for Christianity.
Although there was at the beginning some success and local European rule was
set up in parts of Syria and Palestine, Muslims finally prevailed and in 1187
Saladin, the great Muslim leader, recaptured Jerusalem and defeated the
Crusaders.
