SOCIETY OF THE BANU UMAYYADS:
The Umayyad society was a composite one, divided and subdivided by various kinds of distinctions and differences of wealth, social status, religion, race, culture, etc.
It was divided into the Muslims and Non-Muslims, a distinction which was also political, for the Muslims were the ruling classes while the Non-Muslims were subject peoples.
Socially, both religious groupings, the Muslims and Non-Muslims, could be divided into the following classes: feudal aristocracy, the Middle class, the Arab Muqatila or warrior-class, the Mawali, the Dhimmis, and the slaves.
Economically, it was divided into a tribal and feudal society. This period in Islamic History also witnessed further evolution of the feudal society among the Arabs.
FEUDAL ARISTOCRACY :
It was the highest class, comprising the wealthiest families of the Arabs, who were the ruling section of the Empire and held the highest offices in the civil and military hierarchy of the Empire. Some of the best lands in the Empire were thus apportioned among the feudal aristocracy, such as in the delta of lower Iraq, called al-Sawad, which had become, as an Umayyad once boasted, the garden of the Quraysh.
The Muqatila, or the Arab warrior - class, constituted the tribal feudalism of the Arab society. In muay days, 60,000 warriors dwelt in Kufa, 80,000in Basra, and nearly 45,000 in Damascus's Jund or military distinct.
The Mawali were a mixed lot of people, including Persians, Armenians, Egyptians, Berbers, and other non- Arab subject races of the Umayyad Empire. Many of the Mawali devoted themselves to the study of Islamic scriptures and became learned divines and traditionalists.
The Dhimmis had accepted the Muslim state's protection on the condition of remaining loyal and peaceful and paying the subject tax, called jizya. Those dhimmis who possessed land also paid kahraj or land-tax. Indeed, the Umayyad learnings, arts and labor of the dhimmis, and later of the Mawali, as many Dhimmis adopted Islam but continued their ancestral professions and trades.
THE SLAVES:
Although Islam disapproved of slavery, yet it also did not prohibit it. With the increase in the wealth and luxuries of the Umayyad Arabs, among both the feudal aristocrats and the warrior class, the number of slaves grew rapidly.
SOCIAL POSITION OF THE WOMEN :
As regards the social position of Muslim women, the Umayyad period was an age-old decline and degradation. Their position declined from conditions of equality, dignity, freedom, and liberty to those of inferiority, subjection, and luxurious captivity. These changes were brought about by introducing or adopting such h social institutions as concubinage, the veil, the Harim, and the employment of the eunuchs.
They were, to mention a few, the daughter of Husayn, named Tsukaima, who was renowned for her Learning, charms, beauty and her fondness of song and poetry, Ayesha bint Talha, Umm-ul-Banin, the sister of Umar II and the wife of Walid I, the Royal lady, who often took Hajjaj bin Yusuf to task for his harsh rule, lastly, the sanity Rabia al-Basri, one of the earliest Sufis in Islam.
CULTURE OF THE BANU UMAYYADS :
Town life under the Umayyads was becoming increasingly one of ease and luxury. The simplicity of the earlier times was discarded. Damascus's ancient city was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate and lost this position with the fall of this dynasty.
The Umayyad period was not favorable for literature, except poetry. The Arabs had a national instinct for poetry, which alone flourished under the Umayyads.
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