Discuss the administrative structre of the the Abbasid Caliphate?
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Answer:
The Abbasid empire was established in 750 A.D after the fall of the Umayyad empire. Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah was the first Abbasid caliph. The period of Harun al-Rashid and Al-Ma’mun was considered as the golden period of the Abbasids. In this era, many inventions were made and it brought an enormous change in the Islamic history and the Islamic world.
After their victory over the Umayyads, the Abbasids revolutionised the empire into a multinational Muslim empire. The first change which was made during the reign of Al-Mansur was the shifting of the capital from Damascus, Syria to Baghdad, Iraq. This change was made in order to appease the Persians and gain support of the Mawalis.
Al Mansur, the second caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, continued the reorganisation of the administration which was left by the Umayyads. Following are some changes made by the Abbasids:-
1. Creation of the vizier’s office
2. System of banking was introduced
3. Development of the Umayyad postal system into an efficient intelligence service
4. Introduced a uniform coinage system which made commerce easier.
5. Literature was created for the uses and training of the clerical classes.
The Abbasids established the new position of vizier to delegate central authority, and delegated even greater authority to local emirs. As the viziers exerted greater influence, many Abbasid caliphs were relegated to a more ceremonial role as Persian bureaucracy slowly replaced the old Arab aristocracy.
The caliph under the Abbasids became an autocrat claiming a divine origin for his authority, resting it on a salaried bureaucracy. In the new regime pedigree was no help to advancement, but only the favor of the sovereign, and an official hierarchy thus replaced the Arab aristocracy.