The Umayyads and Damascus

After the civil war, power in the caliphate is taken by Muawiya of the Umayyad house, governor of Syria, who moves the capital from Medina to Damascus — closer to the frontiers, the roads and the money. The caliphate becomes a hereditary state with a settled administration: Arabic displaces Greek and Persian in the chanceries, and a uniform coinage without images is introduced. The borders reach Spain in the west and the Indus in the east. Non-Muslims — Jews and Christians — receive the status of dhimmi: protection and freedom of worship in exchange for a special tax and a set of legal disabilities.