The Umayyad army was the military of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. It was the successor to the land and naval forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. Originating from conquest-era provincial forces it developed into a socio-military system based on the Syrian ajnad, regular payments from the Divan, Arab tribal groups, garrison towns, annual raids and provincial military districts.

Under Caliph Mu'awiya (), the core of the army was the Syrian military districts known as Ahl al-Sham. These troops were organised through the ajnad of Damascus, Hims, Palestine, Jordan, and Qinnasrin. By the reign of al-Walid I, the Damascus jund alone is reported to have about 45,000 names. Blankinship estimates that the total Syrian rolls may have contained about 175,000 names, apart from the forces of the Jazira. Its main strengths were regular payment of salaries, Syrian tribal cohesion, liberal recruitment policies, and constant experience in warfare. Its main tensions came from stipend disputes, Syrian-Iraqi regional rivalry, status of the mawali, and the growth of Qays–Yaman tribal factionalism.

Under the Umayyads, the Caliphate extended from the Atlantic and al-Andalus to Transoxiana and Sindh, with Syria as its metropole. For eastern campaigns, Iraq became the main base and Khorasan was the decisive northeastern frontier. The westward expansion was led from Ifriqiya, with its center at Qayrawan. Egypt supplied vital tax revenues, grain and naval manpower. With the reigns of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and Marwan II, the combined pressure from several overstretched frontiers, depletion of Syrian military manpower, provincial rebellions, and the rise of the Hashimiyya movement in Khurasan, broke the old military order. Finally, at the Battle of the Zab in 750, Marwan II's Syro-Jazirian army was destroyed by the Khorasani forces of the Abbasids.

History

Background

The Umayyads inherited the conquest forces of the early caliphate. Their armies used a formation consisting of the center, wings, vanguard, rear guard, cavalry, infantry and standard-bearers. Command usually went to men trusted by the state, with Umayyad power centered in Syria. The Syrian Arabs included old settled and semi-settled groups, especially Kalb, Quda'a and other Yaman-linked tribes. They lived among established towns and villages, served on the Byzantine frontier, and formed the core military base of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Iraq had a different tribal balance. Kufa and Basra drew many soldiers from Najd and eastern Arabia, including Tamim, Bakr, Rabi`ah and other Mudar-linked groups. In Kufa, early soldiers and leading families were later joined by rawādif and new arrivals. By the reign of Caliph Uthman, these groups were said to be changing the social balance of the city and reducing the control of the older military elite. As governor of Syria, Mu'awiya was instructed to settle Bedouins away from cities and villages on vacant lands. Groups such as Tamim, Qays and Asad were settled in the Jazira near Raqqa and other frontier areas.

The conquest state also created a register for military salaries. Soldiers in the dīwān received ʿaṭāʾ, graded by service and other priorities such as tribal affiliation and seniority. Early converts and veterans received higher payments, while later arrivals entered lower categories. Taxes from conquered lands financed the garrison soldiers. Local specialists and allies also served in the army. Persian Asawira, Christian Arabs, Copts, Armenians, Berbers, Slavs, Samaritans and others served as soldiers, diplomats, sailors, guides, spies, couriers, workmen and auxiliaries.

Establishment

During his governorship of Syria which spanned two decades, Mu'awiya launched naval campaigns and annual summer raids against Byzantium. Syrian military support allowed him to challenge Caliph Ali and his Iraqi followers. At the Battle of Siffin in 657, Mu'awiya's Syrian army fought Ali's Iraqi forces; Muslim tradition reports that the Syrians appealed for Quranic arbitration and weakened Ali's political position. After Ali's death, Mu'awiya entered Kufa in 661 and secured his recognition as caliph.

Syrian Arabs

The Syrian army had a distinct social base. In Iraq, Arab soldiers lived mainly in new garrison towns such as Kufa and Basra. In Syria, many Arab groups lived among older towns, villages, estates and tribal districts inherited from Byzantine rule. This gave the Syrian army a more provincial and urban and dynastic character, tied to local society, village revenue and the northern war frontier.

The early Umayyads relied especially on the Kalb-led Quda'a confederation. These tribes belonged to the older Arab population of Syria and had long lived under Byzantine rule. This Syrian base differed from the later Qays, Mudar, Tamim and Asad tribal elements, whose main recruitment zones lay farther east in central and eastern Arabia, Iraq and the Jazira. After the conquests, settlement, pay and land turned these tribal names into military factions. Syrian ajnad

The Umayyads preserved a loyal Syrian military base. Syria was divided into ajnad, or military districts: Damascus, Hims, Palestine and Jordan. Qinnasrin was added around 680 as northern warfare against Byzantium grew more important. Each jund defended its region, supplied soldiers, collected taxes, and used local revenue to maintain them.

Syrian troops became the core military base of the Umayyad Caliphate. They fought on the frontiers, and formed a reliable standing army for the central government. Their loyalty helped the Umayyads defeat their Iraqi rivals time and again, and later Syrian troops served as garrisons in difficult provinces.

Provincial armies

The Syrian army stood beside strong provincial armies. In the early Sufyanid period, governors relied on local tribal soldiers, a small shurṭa, and tribal leaders known as ashrāf. These leaders connected governors with tribesmen and shaped mobilisation, discipline and pay.

Iraq was the main base for eastern conquests. Kufa and Basra supplied armies for Umayyad advances in Khorasan, Sistan, Sindh and Transoxiana. Kufa was organised into sevenths, later quarters under Ziyad ibn Abihi, while Basra was divided into fifths. These were urban, tribal and military divisions.

Iraqi soldiers claimed land revenue as a tribal right. Under the governorship of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, Syrian troops entered Iraq to restore discipline and suppress revolts. The foundation of Wasit marked the establishment of a Syrian military base in Iraq.

Frontier and naval forces

The Umayyad frontiers were a series of active war zones. The Jazira grew important because it guarded the northern frontier and supplied many Arab recruits. Its districts, including Diyar Mudar, Diyar Rabi'a and Diyar Bakr, reflected strong tribal divisions. War with Byzantium gave Jaziran troops prestige, and they later became the main power base for Marwan II.

The Umayyads also built a Mediterranean fleet. As governor of Syria, Mu'awiya built naval units which occupied Rhodes and Crete. Egypt supplied sailors, arsenals and shipyards, while major bases included coastal cities such Tyre, Acre, Beirut and Alexandria. Many sailors were Christians, especially Egyptian Copts, who served for wages and provisions.

Marwanid consolidation

The Marwanid period brought the strongest consolidation of Umayyad military power. During al-Hajjaj's rule in Iraq, he restored discipline among the soldiers of Kufa and Basra in 75/694, who had resisted further campaigns against the Kharijites. He established Wasit as the base for a centralised Syrian garrison in Iraq, and relied on commanders such as al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, who fought the Azariqa under Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a.

The same pressure also produced revolts. The revolt of Abd Allah ibn al-Jarud in 76/695 centered on pay and military service. The larger revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath in 700–701 began during a campaign in Sistan and Zabulistan, when Iraqi troops opposed distance from home, harsh conditions and al-Hajjaj's authority. The rebels were defeated by al-Hajjaj's Syrian troops at the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim. Their defeat confirmed Syrian-backed Umayyad control over Iraq.

Expansion and deployment

The Marwanid army pursued expansion on several fronts. In the east, Qutayba ibn Muslim campaigned in Transoxiana, while Muhammad ibn al-Qasim conquered Sindh. In the west, the governors stationed at Qayrawan completed the conquest of North Africa. In 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad and Musa ibn Nusayr crossed into Iberia with about 15,000 men, mostly Berbers under Arab command. The northern frontier also remained active. Under Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, the Umayyads launched a second siege of Constantinople. Under Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, raids continued until the massive defeat at the Battle of Akroinon in 740.

Late Umayyad crisis

Blankinship describes the early caliphate as a "jihad state" whose power depended on repeated campaigning and mass mobilisation. During the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, this system became overextended. The caliphate fought across the Byzantine frontier, Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sijistan, Sindh, North Africa, al-Andalus and the Frankish frontier. Each front required money, horses, commanders, garrisons and replacements. Repeated defeats strained the treasury and trusted Syrian forces.

The depletion of Syrian manpower became the centre of the crisis. The Umayyads still used troops from Iraq, Khurasan, the Jazira, Ifriqiya and al-Andalus, but the old Syrian army remained the dynasty's main reserve. When Syrian units were killed, scattered or sent far from Syria, the caliphate lost the force that usually held the provinces together. The Berber Revolt was especially damaging. In 741, a Syrian force under Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qushayri was destroyed in North Africa.

Blankinship argues that this scattered the last major Syrian Yamani force. Casualties against the Türgesh in Transoxiana and the defeat at the Battle of Akroinon in 740 also resulted in significant losses. In response, Marwan II shifted the core of the army to the Jaziran forces. He had fought the Byzantines and Khazars, governed the Jazira, and relied mainly on Jaziran Qaysi frontier troops. After becoming caliph, he moved his court to Harran, a Qaysi centre. By then, the Syrian army had split into hostile Qaysi and Kalbi blocs.

In Khurasan, the Hashimiyya used civilian discontent and army factionalism. Abu Muslim raised a revolt near Merv. Qahtaba ibn Shabib al-Ta'i led Abbasid armies west through Rayy, Hamadan, Nihawand and Kufa. The decisive battle came at the Great Zab in January 750. Marwan II advanced from Harran with his Syrian and Jaziran forces. The Abbasid army under Abd Allah ibn Ali used Khurasani infantry and a spear-wall formation. Marwan's army was defeated, and the Umayyad Caliphate collapsed.

Units

Syrian ajnad

The Syrian ajnad were the main formations of the Umayyad army. Each jund drew pay, recruits and supplies from its district. The principal districts were Damascus, Hims, Palestine, Jordan and Qinnasrin. They linked soldiers, taxation, local elites and the caliph in Damascus. Damascus formed the political centre, while Hims and Qinnasrin guarded the northern frontier.

Provincial soldiers

The provincial muqātila were enrolled fighting men in the Diwan. They received fiscal Ata payments and served through tribal, urban and provincial groups. In Iraq, the soldiers of Kufa and Basra claimed local revenue as a conquest right. In Khurasan, Iraqi settlers carried tribal divisions eastward, and the same army later became the base of the Abbasid takeover.

Police and guards

The shurṭa was the police and security force of governors. It enforced order, guarded officials, made arrests and supported political control. The ḥaras was the personal guard of caliphs and commanders. It gave rulers a loyal body of armed men for processions, prayers, private meetings and palace security.