What Happened Then in Politics as Islam Expanded its Reach Westward

These next several posts concern, essentially, how the Islam I have described in earlier posts came up against the West and how the West responded. They deal with the political outcomes of Islam that concerned and interested both Muslims of the central Arab lands of Islam and "the West". Later, I will discuss the effects on Persians, Turks, Africans, central and south east Asians, Indians, etc.

Muhammad limited his conquests by the time of his death to the complete conquest of Arabia and invitations to neighbouring rulers to convert to Islam. There was some backsliding in Arabia immediately after his death but that was soon dealt with by his immediate successor, Abu Bakr (meaning the father of Bakr - he was also the father of Muhammad's child-bride, Aisha, and Muhammad's oldest male Muslim ally not of his immediate family). The successors were, of course, called Caliphs in English (really khalifa was the name used for his successor - it also means deputy). From the second Caliph on, they were also given the title, Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu'minin).

In this post and the next, I consider how his political legacy was carried on immediately after his death (including discussing the Sunni-Shi'a split briefly) and what political conquests followed his death (especially as they impinged on the interests of "the West").

I will first consider the period of the first four Caliphs (often called the Rashidun Caliphs meaning rightly-guided ones - there were others considered rightly-guided but these four are often regarded as the best). In discussing the Sunni-Shi'a divide, I will briefly note that two dynasties of Caliphs succeeded the first four Caliphs, the Umayyads and the 'Abbasids, and that the world's only Shi'a Caliphate was eventually established (based in North Africa).

The first four successors (Caliphs) attempted to follow Muhammad’s example quite closely, for all that they were not prophets. All four arguably suffered unnatural deaths although Abu Bakr was aged (Muhammad's death, at least, was considered to be natural). The first two were both fathers-in-law of Muhammad and the last two were his sons-in-law.

Abu Bakr was an early convert from Mecca and travelled with Muhammad on the hijra before they were followed by the other Meccan Muslims. He was chosen by a majority of the senior Muslims by consensus when Muhammad died (Muhammad had made him the leader of prayer when he had been too unwell in his later years to continue to lead prayers himself making this seem a natural choice for them).

Supporters of ‘Ali, who became known as Shi'a (for supporters as they were supporters of 'Ali), wanted him to succeed Muhammad and initially regarded Abu Bakr as an interloper but there is no doubt he was a good friend of Muhammad and a good Muslim. ‘Ali was an even earlier convert (being a cousin of Muhammad) and also a good Muslim. He became the fourth Caliph. There is understood to have been a mild complaint made that Abu Bakr was chosen as Caliph while 'Ali was busy making arrangements for the burial of his father-in-law, and cousin, Muhammad.

The split, however, became somewhat more acrimonious later in the Rashidun era and would continue to be even until today. The ideologists behind it developed their rationales as the dispute continued.

The Sunni rationalists saw succession by appointment by the preceding Caliph rather than determined by mere nepotism to be likely to signify Allah’s will best. This is similar to the English theory of the divine right of kings in some respects.

The Shi’a side ultimately asserted the religious quality of the family of a prophet and the putatively 'more natural' rules of familial succession. The additional idea was that, given that the family was holy, the religious and spiritual leader ought to be the same person; that is the roles should be combined as they had been with Muhammad. They use the word Imam slightly differently and more grandly than the usual meaning of "leader [of prayer]", a relatively lowly local mosque or prayer-place rank. It is synonymous for them in this special usage with the rightful Caliph of Muhammad.

Ironically, the idea of allowing a diversity of ideas propounded in the Hadith prompted such a diversity of ideas that ultimately it could not help but lead to violent disagreement (and the Sunni-Shi'a split was but one of these divides).

The Shi’a population was also prominent in the opposition to the less than completely holy successors to the first four Caliphs upon 'Ali's untimely death, the Syrian Umayyad Dynasty. The Shi’a allied themselves with other disaffected groups such as the Iraqis and Arabians and gained sufficient support to finally oust the dynasty in 750 CE.

‘Ali’s second son Hussayn was martyred in the early stages of this conflict while opposing the alleged oppressions of the second Umayyad Caliph, his elder brother Hasan having earlier been poisoned after having briefly presumed to the mantle of Caliph upon the death of their father, ‘Ali.

Hussayn’s martyrdom became a kind of badge of honour for the Shi’a cause opposed as it was to the Sunni reality of rule by Caliphs appointed by Allah via themselves and their ancestors. Hussayn's tomb (and place of martyrdom) at Karbala in Iraq is still venerated as is his father’s at nearby Najaf. His martyrdom was as the result of a virtual suicide mission that inspires the suicidal ideation of many Shi’a (and perhaps ironically also Sunnis) today.

The ‘Abbasids and not the Shi’a took power following the defeat of the Umayyads and ruled until 1258 CE mostly from their newly created capital of Baghdad. The Shi’a continued to be an opposition force. The ‘Abbasids were only marginally more acceptable as Caliphs to the Shi’a being more closely though by no means sufficiently related to Muhammad.

By the 10^th Century, the Caliphate had become split into three competing Caliphates.

The middle of the three, the Fatimid Caliphate (also called 'Ubaydid after its founder), in the Maghreb and then also Egypt where they built their capital, Cairo, was an Isma’ili Shi’a regime. As their names indicate, the dynasty claimed descent from Fatima (and naturally her husband ‘Ali, their martyred son, Hussayn, and Isma’il, a descendent of the other son, Hasan).

The Umayyads (after having lost out to the 'Abbasids in the East) managed to hold onto some power in the West and eventually establish the Western Islamic Caliphate in Muslim Spain.

All three Caliphates ultimately regarded each other as legitimate Islamic Caliphates. There was thus a period of relative peace among Muslims from Spain through North Africa to (at least) northern India and greater Iran.

A group of Shi’a known as the Twelver Shi’a don’t accept any Caliphs since the 9^th Century as legitimate since they believe that the 12^th Imam and thus 12^th legitimate Caliph was spirited away by Allah at that time to return in the end times as the renowned Mahdi with Jesus to restore the correct form of Islam throughout the world (incidentally, many Sunni Muslims also believe in the return of Jesus at this time to preach Islam). Twelver Shi'ism is the form most common in Iran today and the largest Shi'a group today in terms of population.

The Isma'ili Fatimids (the next largest group) accepted Isma’il, a relative of the Twelver 11^th Imam, as their 7^th Imam. He was the older brother of the Twelver 7^th Imam, hence the name of their version of Shi’a Islam, Isma’ili (though Isma'il died before his father, the 6th Imam).

A third major Shi’a version known as Zaydi recognises Zayd Ibn ‘Ali as the 5^th Imam in place of the accepted Twelver and Isma’ili 5^th Imam, Muhammad al Baqir.

There are also versions within these versions of the Shi’a. The Isma’ili version generally recognises the current Aga Khan as the current Imam.

The last major Shi’a political regime ended with the Fatimid Caliphate in 1071 CE, however.

The ‘Abbasid Caliphate, itself composed for some time of independent kingdoms, formally ended in 1258 CE with the invasion of the then not Islamic Mongols (they eventually converted to Islam) who also arrived at the gates of Vienna at around this time.

The third of these Caliphates, that of the Umayyads in Spain, was in contemporaneous decline and disunity as the ‘Christian’ rulers of northern Spain and Portugal slowly began to ‘take it back’.

The Mongols permitted the various ‘Abbasid kingdoms to continue to be somewhat independent under them. A degree of political unity (notwithstanding the loss of Spain and continued independence of some local regimes) was not restored until the advent of the Turkic Ottoman Empire in the 15^th Century. This was thus the political landscape that was witnessed by the West as it was culturally overtaken and surpassed by the East from the 9th Century until around the 16th Century.