Three decades after the death of Muhammad in 632, his worst enemies take the reins of his community. His former companions, in fact, were torn in a civil war. Ali, the fourth caliph and cousin of the Prophet, finds himself isolated. Moawiya, governor of Damascus, of the Umayyad clan, seized power. He imposes his son as successor to the caliphate.
For eight decades, the first dynasty of Islam accumulates victories. It seizes Iraq and Iran, Syria and Egypt. It extends its domination in Central Asia and conquers North Africa. At the beginning of the VIII th century, it is up to the Iberian Peninsula and part of Gaul to fall. It was only defeated at the Battle of Poitiers in 732.
From Damascus where they reign, the primary objective of the Umayyads – who bear the title of “servant of God” and “commander of the believers” – is to establish the sovereignty of the Arabs and that of the God who revealed the Koran. However, the Arab warriors represent only a tiny minority, and the subjected populations are authorized to keep their ancestral religions. It took time for Arabic to assert itself as the state language, and even longer for some of the civil servants to be replaced by Muslims.
The Umayyads played a capital role in the formation of Muslim dogma and community rites. It was during their reign that the term “Islam” definitively designated the new religion, distinct from other biblical monotheisms. If it ends up being challenged and defeated, this conquering dynasty has left a deep mark on Islamic civilization.