The Main Issues Confronting the Rightly Guided Caliphs During the Period 632-661 CE and Their Success in Securing the Future of Islam
A) The death of Muhammad in 632 created confusion in the nascent
Muslim community, for Muhammad and had left no details as to who
should succeed him. Indications were made for Abu bakr to be the first
caliph as the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said
‘If I were to take a friend other than my lord, I would take Abu bakr
as a friend’ (hadith).
After a heated discussion by the senior members of the community, Abu
bakr was selected as the first caliph. However, the confusion did not
end with Abu bakr’s accession. Tribes all around Arabia broke out in
open revolt, while they continued to acknowledge Muhammad as a
prophet, they refuse to send taxes to medina now that Muhammad was
dead. Known as ‘Wars of Apostasy’ in Muslim chronicles, the rebellions
were not subdued until the end of 633. At the same time a number of
impostors claimed that the prophethood had passed on to them after
Muhammad. Despite these internal problems, Abu bakr pursued Muhammad’s
expansionist policy and sent Muslim forces into Syria and Iraq,
initiating their eventual conquest. The prophet had sent an army out
before he died which had not gone far. After the death of the prophet
the question raised whether the army should carry on or called for the
defence of medina. Abu bakr should determination and said
“I shall send usama’s army on its way as ordered by the prophet, even
if I am left alone”
Khalid was chosen by Abu bakr to lead the army as he had a reputation
and led his troops from one victory to another. Abu bakr also
colle...
... middle of paper ...
... expand the Muslim empire but lost land, this
was because he had to deal with Uthman’s problems and of his own. By
the time Ali was caliph some of the Muslim lost faith in Islam and
therefore rebelled against Ali. He had so much to deal with, that he
had no time to expand the Muslim empire or the religion. All the
Caliphs were successful because if they did not follow one after
another then the future of Islam could have been destroyed, with no
one to lead the Islamic community when they were undeveloped. The
diversion of the Muslim community in to two groups was not down to the
caliphates but down to the Muslims. They had the wrong idea. Shi’a
opposed the caliphate system in favouring Ali. The Qurra never
accepted Mu’awiya so Qurra formed a group called the Shi’a. All four
caliphs were related to Muhammad in some way.
Cobb, Paul. "Introduction." Ibn Munqidh, Usama. Book of Contemplation Islam and the Crusades. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. xv-xlii.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca where Muhammad was born in 570 CE. He became known as “the Prophet,” he was meant to be God’s final prophet. The main two groups of Islam are the Shia and Sunni; which they were created after Muhammad’s death. The Islam religion as
had to pick a new leader. He chose the Duke of Medina Sidonia. He was
Without these two empires, much of the Greek knowledge known today would not have existed. These two empires brought back into popularity much of Greek culture and philosophy. There are many similarities that should be compared between the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphates.
We have to admit that the Middle East in general, and specifically the Persian region and Central Asia have the same duplicated historic occasions where it relies on nomadic and semi-independent nobles that did not have any direct interaction with the central government. As demonstrated by Roy Mottahedehs, Loyalty and Leadership in Early Islamic Society displays the concept of social and ideological loyalties where the population is responsible in creating their leader that could be presumed as a military figure or an individual Shayik of having the same tribe title and religious belief. This, in fact, did exist at the beginning stages of Islamic history, were loyalties intend to be classified depending on their dynasties origin or religious belief. Loyalty is a priority for the ruler to commit on especially if he was an individual ruler of a different ideology where it ordain giving security and prosperity among these nomadic ethnic groups and religious
Amir's blunt rejection to Rahim Khan’s request to bring Sohrab is an act of betrayal to Hassan. He betrays Hassan one more time, even when Hassan dies as a loyal friend. Through the book, Amir’s ongoing troubles haunt him as the years go by, but I believe he would take any opportunity to redeem himself.
...egarding the holding of spiritual and political authority remained strong even after the end of the Caliphate itself in the 13th century.
Hassan would do anything for his friends and treated everyone, even bullies, with respect because his respectful dad, Ali taught him to always be loyal to all, and never hurt anyone. Ali was Baba’s servant and long time friend, and stayed
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Furthermore, this background gave Marwan a front-row seat as he watched the quasi-religious office of caliph evolve. Contemporary Umayyad caliphs were inaugurated with special oaths that carried religious as well as politico-legal considerations: caliphs were bound to uphold not only "the sunna of God and his Prophet, but also of his predecessors as caliph" (Blankenship 1994, pp. 76-78). In any event, after ascending to the role of caliph himself, Marwan proved to be an imposing military commander and adept political leader, and he oversaw significant consolidation of the authority of the Umayyads as he ruled from the multi-ethnic and multi-religious
The decline of the Abbasids was not a steady of rapid series of events. There were numerous revivals of the Caliphate in which certain strong Caliphs gained more control and influence over the Islamic world than their predecessors had had. However at no point after the death of Harun al-Rahid (reigned 786-809) was the Caliphate ever as powerful. This period is regarded as the Golden Age of the Abbasid Caliphate and was followed immediately by civil war between his sons. Harun’s two sons were called Al-Amin and Al-Mamun. Al-Amin was the elder and was nominated as the heir to the Caliphate. However Al-Mamun, who was the effective governor of the eastern provinces was ambitious. He was spurred towards seizing the Caliphate for himself by his prominent advisor Al-Fadl. In 810 he declared himself an Iman causing his brother to disinherit and dispatch a great army to snuff out his ever increasing dominance of the Caliphate east of Baghdad. It seemed likely that Al-Mamun would be defeated, his army numbered around 4,000 men but faced 40,000. However he was fortunate in his commander, called Tahir bin Husain, who won him a spectacular victory at Rayy in 811. Tahir proceeded to siege Baghdad in 812. In that year Al-Amin was captured and forced to hand over the office of Caliph to al-Mamun. Al-Amin was executed after trying to escape Baghdad after it had been captured.
“On the other hand, Islam was dangerous: it undermined the power of kings, according sovereignty to one supreme god who was completely alien to the Bambara universe” (41).
The world you once knew is falling to ashes and food is become such a scarcity that people are fighting over a few pieces of bread. The political class is too busy fighting among themselves to care for anyone else. Children are roaming the streets and begging for work to feed their dying, hungry stomachs. This is not a scene from a horror movie, but rather the reality of the beginning of post classical era. In these times of hardship the people turned to a higher power, which resulted in a religious boom. The main religion during the post classical era that had the greatest impact on people was Islam due to Muhammad, trade routes, the Black Plague, conquests and Islamic culture.
The Fatimid Caliphates were a 10th century Ismacili Shici dynasty that conquered the Ikhshidid dynasty in Egypt. The Fatimids claimed lineage rights from the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima; and, existed during the Golden Age of Islam. “Unlike the cAbbasids or Umayyads, who were led by a caliph approved by the community, the Shica espoused the concept of designation, in which the Prophet Muhammad chose Ali as his successor and in which each subsequent religious leader was a divinely ordained, supreme, infallible Imam who had the final authority in both religious and social affairs.” In 909, the Fatimid was established by the self-proclaimed Imam, Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi, who migrated his missionary work through the Palestine and Egypt before he finally came to settle in North Africa in the city of Raqqada. Throughout history, there have been differing views towards the establishment and core objectives of the Fatimid dynasty being established for economic or for Islamic progression during the Golden Age of Islam; and further, many claimed there was no separation of religion and government within the Fatimid.
Hazrat Abu Bakr occupies a unique and significant role in the history of Islam. He was the first adult male to accept Islam, and when he first accepted the new faith, he accepted it right away. The Prophet (S) said, “Whenever I offered Islam to any person, he showed some hesitation when embracing it. But Abu Bakr is an exception. He was the prophet’s closest companion. It was Abu Bakr, who traveled with the Prophet (S) to Madinah for the Hijra.