The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centred its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded th