The Early Abbasid Caliphate

العصر العباسي المبكر

750 CE · 132 AH – c. 861 CE · c. 247 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

The first century of Abbasid rule from Baghdad, when translation, scholarship, trade and the arts flourished.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

725750775800825850875900 c.
The Early Abbasid Caliphate · Abbasid Fragmentation · The Umayyad Period

On screen

  • The Imam· Series · Set in · historical drama

Summary

The first century of Abbasid rule from Baghdad, when translation, learning, trade and the arts flourished. The museum roughly bounds it from 750 CE to about 861 CE. These boundaries are the museum's own organising convention and are not absolute.

Overview

The museum's holdings for this era today include: polities: 2, groups: 1, most frequently appearing figures: 8, works: 1, concepts: 3.

Polities

Groups

Most frequently appearing figures

Works

Concepts

What this page covers

This era is still thinly covered in the museum (15 items only), so this page should not be read as a comprehensive survey of it. Its items are being added gradually from primary sources with each new batch.

Notes for researchers

The era's boundaries are the museum's own organising convention and are approximate. For the wider history of this period, see 1 2.

Connections

Explore the connections

Setting of
The Imam

People and things also explored

Ahmad ibn Hanbal· Baghdad· The Imam

Explore the timeline

Sources

  1. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (1974)
  2. Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (1991)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The Early Abbasid Caliphate”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/period/abbasid-early/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-28.

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Related

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

An imam and hadith scholar who compiled the Musnad; eponym of the Hanbali school, which gives precedence to the revealed text and transmitted reports. He wrote only one treatise on jurisprudence, on prayer, while his students wrote more than thirty volumes of his words and fatwas.