The first major Muslim dynasty, established in Damascus by Mu`a^wiya the nephew of Uthman (of the Quraysh clan from Mecca) after fierce rivalry with `Ali, the last of the four "rightly guided caliphs." The events leading to the Umayyad takeover were influential in the establishment of Shiite Islam and also the Kharijite movement. After about a century (660-750 CE), the Umayyad dynasty was defeated and replaced by the Abbasids in Baghdad, but a branch of the Umayyads survived and prospered for centuries in Spain.

The first dynasty of Islam, which began with Muawiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, was the Umayyad dynasty. The Umayyads’ caliphate fell in 750CE when they were overthrown by Abbasids.

the first dynasty of Arab caliphs whose capital was Damascus