Big Questions, part 5: the Early `Abbasid Empire

In areas ranging from the social composition of the elite, the ideological claims of the state, and the point of cultural patronage, the early `Abbasid Empire marked a break with the Umayyad past. As you begin to compare the `Abbasids with the Umayyads please consider the following questions. Some of these we have yet to deal with in full, but as we go over this material you might want to keep these questions in mind:

--What accounted for the success of the `Abbasid da`wa? What groups, interests, or wide-spread sentiments did the da`wa appeal to?

--In what ways can `Abbasid success be seen as "revolutionary"? In what ways might we be cautious about using the term?

--Why was the `Abbasid da`wa obliged to abandon many of its ideological claims following its success?

--Upon taking power, how and why did the `Abbasids recast the Caliphate as a new universal empire? What symbols, architectural forms, and ceremonial practices did they quote or rework from previous universal empires?

--How did the `Abbasids foster or patronize a new Islamic (in the cultural sense) cosmopolitan culture? In what ways was this culture politically useful? How did this new high culture spread across the widely dispersed provinces of the empire?

--How, under the aegis of Islam and in the language of Arabic, did an unprecedentedly wide and deep cultural fusion take place? What elements of what cultures were integrated into this new cosmopolitan culture?

--What continuities with previous universal empires and previous cosmopolitan cultures can be discerned in the early `Abbasid Empire? In what ways did the high culture of the `Abbasid Empire differ from that of their Umayyad predecessors?