v20_0147 - CALIFAT OMEYYADE - EL WALID Dirhem

CALIPHATE UMAYYAD - AL WALID

(705-715 = 86-96 AH)

The Umayyads descend from Moawiyya and belonged to the clan of the Qureishites (like Muhammad). They will reign from 661 to 750 in Damascus and from 756 to 1031 in Cordoba. The founder of the dynasty is Moawiyya I (660-680) who put an end to the elective and religious caliphate and replaced it with a hereditary and political caliphate. There were fourteen Umayyad Caliphs of Damascus. El Walid succeeded Abd el-Malik (685-705). He favored the Umayyad expansion in the East by conquering Belouchistan and Sindh in 711 and in the West, by beginning the conquest of Spain, which was completed in 718 under Omar II (717-720). The Caliphate stretches from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas; too large, it will break up and fall under the blows of the Abbasids who massacre the Omayyads of Damascus. Charles-Martel, mayor of the Palace, had stopped the progression of Islam in 732, near Poitiers.