The Status of Non-Arabs During the Ummayad Dynasty: Part I

Muslim and Sunnite perspectives on racism:

*al-Qur'an 49:13}

• O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). 

*al-Bukhari}

• "An Arab is no better than a non-Arab. In return, a non-Arab is no better than an Arab. A red raced man was not better than a black one except in piety. Mankind are all Adam's children and Adam was created out of clay."

However, these guidances seemed to have eluded a "knowledgable" sahabi such as Muawiya.
The evidence goes as following-

I. Western Historian's Opinions

Patrick Clawson, a prominent Islamic scholar, states, 

• "The Iranians chafed under Umayyid rule. The Umayyids rose from traditional Arab aristocracy. They tended to marry other Arabs, creating an ethnic stratification that discriminated against Iranians. Even as Arabs adopted traditional Iranian bureaucracy, Arab tribalism disadvantaged Iranians."
  

The conquest of Persia and beyond was thus seemingly intended to raise new revenues.

Naturally, the native population did not appreciate this exploitation. Many Arab Muslims under the Ummayad Dynasty believed that Iranian converts should not clothe themselves as Arabs, among many other forms discrimination that existed.

II. Muawiyah and the Banu Ummaya's Opinion of Non-Arabs

In his famous letter to Ziyad ibn Abih, Muawiyah stated,

• "Be watchful of Iranian Muslims and never treat them as equals of Arabs. Arabs have a right to take in marriage their women, but they have no right to marry Arab women. Arabs are entitled to inherit their legacy, but they cannot inherit from an Arab. As far as possible they are to be given lesser pensions and lowly jobs. In the presence of an Arab, a non-Arab shall not lead the congregation prayer, nor they are to be allowed to stand in the first row of prayer, nor to be entrusted with the job of guarding the frontiers or the post of a qadi."

 Source:

1. "Ansab al Ashraf" or "Futuh al-Buldan" by Baladhuri. p.417 

 Note: Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri was a Sunnite Persian historian who spent most of his life in Baghdad, Iraq. He is one of the most eminent Islamic scholars and is regarded as extremely reliable by modern day scholars. Although he is Persian, he has always maintained strong sympathies for Arabs -- hence there is no evidence for his bias in his description of Muawiyah's regime.

Mistreatment of Persians and other non-Arabs during early Islam is well documented. To begin with, the Umayyids did not recognize equal rights of a Mawali and believed that only "pure Arab blood" was worthy of ruling.
Neither did they make any effort to mend relations with the Mawali after making declarations like,

• "We blessed you with the sword (referring to the conquests) and dragged you into heaven by chains of our religion. This by itself is enough for you to understand that we are superior to you."

Source:

1. ممتحن ، حسینعلی ، نهضت شعوبیه جنبش ملی ایرانیان در برابر خلافت اموی و عباسی ، تهران : باورداران ، چاپ دوم ، 1368

 The Mawalis were even prohibited from having Kunya nomenclature!

• "During the early centuries of Islam when the Islamic empire was really an 'Arab kingdom', the Iranians, Central Asians and other non-Arab peoples who had converted to Islam in growing numbers as Mawali or 'clients' of an Arab lord or clan, had in practice acquired an inferior socio-economic and racial status compared to Arab Muslims, though the Mawali themselves fared better than the empire's non-Muslim subjects, the Ahl al-dhimma ('people of the book'). The Mawali, for instance, paid special taxes, often similar to the jizya (poll tax) and the kharaj (land tax) levied on the Zoroastrians and other non-Muslim subjects, taxes which were never paid by the Arab Muslims."

Source:

1.  زیدان، جرجی، تاریخ تمدن اسلام ، ترجمه علی جواهرکلام، تهران: امیرکبیر ، چاپ نهم

The Ummayid even killed those who did not speak Arabic,

• وقتی قتبیه بن مسلم سردار حجاج، بار دوم بخوارزم رفت و آن را باز گشود هرکس را که خط خوارزمی می نوشت و از تاریخ و علوم و اخبار گذشته آگاهی داشت از دم تیغ بی دریغ درگذاشت و موبدان و هیربدان قوم را یکسر هلاک نمود و کتابهاشان همه بسوزانید و تباه کرد تا آنکه رفته رفته مردم امی ماندند و از خط و کتابت بی بهره گشتند و اخبار آنها اکثر فراموش شد و از میان رفت
  • "When Qutaibah bin Muslim under the command of Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef was sent to Khwarazmia with a military expedition and conquered it for the second time, he swiftly killed whomever wrote the Khwarazmian native language that knew of the Khwarazmian history, science and culture. He then killed all their Zoroastrian priests and burned and wasted their books, until gradually the illiterate only remained, who knew nothing of writing and hence their history was mostly forgotten.

Source:

1. Biruni. From The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية)