UMAYYADS, COPTS UNDER THE. The Umayyads (661-750), named after
the Banu Umayyah, a merchant family of Mecca, following a civil
war established the first dynasty to rule the Islamic world.
Under Umayyad rule the Islamic empire attained its greatest
extent, reaching as far as France in the west and India in the
east. The Umayyads moved the capital of the Islamic world, and
therefore the center of gravity, from Mecca to Damascus, whence
Egypt was ruled as a province of Syria by ethnic Arab governors
appointed by the caliph. Umayyad rule has been most fully
examined as it affected Syria, Iraq, and the Persian-speaking
East. There, Umayyad favoritism toward ethnic Arabs resulted in
discrimination against non-Arab converts to Islam, hence the
literature often refers to the Umayyad empire as the "Arab
Empire." Discontent among converts led to the overthrow of the
Umayyads and their replacement by the Abbasid dynasty (A.H.
132-656/A.D. 750-1258), which brought in its wake increasing
ethnic Persian influence. Under th