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DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC STATE.
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Arab background, unifying political structures, the caliphate. Discusses 3 phases of Islam history.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Arab background, unifying political structures, the caliphate. Discusses 3 phases of Islam history.
Paper Introduction:
The Islamic state came into being in the seventh century, and the political organizations and the dissensions which trouble the new state had their origins in the Arab background.
The Arabian peninsula is marked by deserts and different zonal distinctions. Arabia has long served as a transit area between the Mediterranean and the Further East. The early centuries remain obscure because archaeology has not examined the area as it has in Egypt, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. According to tradition, the Arabian people are divided into northern and southern groupings, and the author discusses them separately. The historical chronology of the southern group is obscure until the time of Alexander the Great. The religion was polytheistic. Society was agricultural, with a high degree of development. The people of the central and northern regions
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.Lewis, Bernard. The Caliph successfully undercut 'Ali's power,and Mu'awiya was named Caliph in Syria and was soon generally accepted allover the Empire (Lewis 82-94). The religion was polytheistic.Society was agricultural, with a high degree of development. The Islamic state came into being in the seventh century, and thepolitical organizations and the dissensions which trouble the new state hadtheir origins in the Arab background. Mohammed henceforth saw his task as overcoming all opposition (Roberts 19). The administration of the Umayyad Caliphate was essentially a Persian andByzantine succession state. The main weakness of the Umayyad order was the recurrent feuds of the Arabtribes themselves, but the basic direction of Islamic society had now beencreated. The sates were Arab inorigin but were under the influence of Hellenized Aramaic culture. At the time of Muhammad in the late sixth and early seventhcenturies, Mecca and environs was in a state of fermentation that wasaggravated by social injustices resulting from discontent with the systemof privilege benefiting those with the right connections (Farah 34-35).One of the unifying political structures that emerged from the rule ofMuhammad and that would continue to be of vital importance during theGolden Age and beyond was the caliphate, and the first to follow theProphet was Abu Bakr. Both were marked by many small communities with social and culturaldistinctiveness, and religion and empire were closely related in bothcases. The Muslims did not interfere with theinternal civil and religious administration of the conquered peoples.Islam was identified by this time with Arabism, and this was apparent asnon-Arab Muslims flocked to the faith. The Arab ruling caste had vastsums of money that helped in the growth of a new class, the Mawali, or anyMuslim who was not a full member by descent of an Arab tribe. During the reign of 'Uthman therewas a breakdown, with Medina a center of opposition internally and Egyptattacking externally. The Arabs in History. The role of religion in the conquests wasoverestimated by early writers. Just before the Islamic era, the Middle East was divided into twogreat realms of polity and culture, Byzantine and Sasanian, as well as twooverlapping spheres of religious belief, Christian and Zoroastrian. There was limited foreign rule during this era leading todifferent influences. Thesewere marked by great differences in religious beliefs, but they alsodemonstrated underlying similarities in the organization of their empires,in religious beliefs, and in the structures of their religions and communallife. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981. After the death of Muhammad there was a sort of constitutionalcrisis that was solved by the imposition of Abu Bakr as sole successor tothe Prophet. Initially, each of these invasions constituted an expansion ofthe Arab nation, not of Islam. It sanctioned a concern for material existence and the use of force as a means of survival, and both were built into the foundations of Islam. New York: Barron's, 1987.Kennedy, Hugh. Islam began with Muhammad and the revelations hemade to his followers and others. Yazidsucceeded to the Caliphate in 68 and died three years later, leaving theEmpire to his infant son. The first Muslim was Khadija, theProphet's wife, and the second was either his freed slave or his teenagecousin. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. . The historical chronology of the southern group is obscureuntil the time of Alexander the Great. The early centuries remain obscurebecause archaeology has not examined the area as it has in Egypt,Palestine, and Mesopotamia. He was the head of the region, with executive powers and anarmy. The Arabs took over only state lands andthe lands of enemies of the regime. The people ofthe central and northern regions were nomadic. According to tradition, the Arabian people aredivided into northern and southern groupings, and the author discusses themseparately. The new doctrine tookshape in Mecca, and the number of converts rose to 1 . In a short time, he had about 4 converts. Rethinking Islam. The Arabian peninsula is marked by deserts and different zonaldistinctions. Islam: Beliefs and Observances. At the beginning of the 7th Century, the Near and Middle East wasdivided between Byzantium and Persia, after some three centuries ofstruggle. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.Roberts, D.S. Thebackground was one of small and often familial groups organized intohunting and gathering societies and eventually agricultural villages.There was also a tendency to create unities of culture, religion, andempire on an ever-larger scale. The victory was interpreted by the Muslims as a sign that the city of Mecca would fall and that all Mohammed's opposition from Christians, Jews and pagans was in the wrong. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994.Farah, Caesar A. The war with the Ridda developed into awar of conquest leading far beyond the boundaries of Arabia to Iraq, Syria,and Egypt. They flockedin large numbers to the Arab Amsar, soon outnumbering the Arabs themselves. He first countered military action among the tribes known as theRidda, a word that means apostasy. A period ofpersecution followed, leading to the Hijra, or emigration to Medina. Some ofthese states are less well-known than others of the time. Over time, the two were drawn together into a single Middle Easterncivilization, and the Arab conquests of the seventh century and the Islamicera that followed preserved the continuity of Middle Eastern institutions(Lapidus 9). The history of Islam can be divided into distinct phases --the periodof emergence extended from 61 to 661; the period of classical elaboration,or the Golden Age, from 661 to 1258; and the era of repetition andscholastic fragmentation from 1258 to 18 , followed by a time ofreactivation and political militancy in the nineteenth and twentiethcenturies (Arkoun 3). The way the state developed emerged from the contemporary situationof the Arabs and from the culture they had created (Kennedy 15). 'Ali came to power in Medina and marched on Kufa,which he made his capital. Bedouintribalism marks the people of this region, with a rudimentary politicalorganization. Arabia has long served as a transit area between theMediterranean and the Further East. The caliph was a ruler and also the commander of thefaithful and the imam, or guide, of the community: The caliphate in its heyday was a powerful instrument working for the solidarity and coherence in Islam. The city of Mecca came into being with its owngovernment, a merchant republic governed by a syndicate of wealthybusinessmen. Religion and empire were the two majorcultural forces in the Middle East leading to the Islamic era (Lapidus 3-4). The administration was now decentralized and in disorder, and aprocess of centralization was necessary if the Arab Empire was to survive.This involved various steps that were effected, and a new moral bond was tobe forged to replace the religious bond to attach the people to the Caliph. Several rulers followed until the second civilwar, more complicated and dangerous than the first, began. Umayyad societywas based on the domination of the Arabs. Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was born into this world. London: Longman, 1986.Lapidus, Ira M. Intime, the ideological struggle between the Meccans and the Muslimsdeveloped into an armed conflict, beginning when Mohammed raised a party of3 to set an ambush at the well of Badr on the road to Syria: The Battle of Badr is a landmark and had far reaching consequences. Works CitedArkoun, Mohammed. The Empire grew larger under Mu'awiya. Islam. The caliph enforced legal decisions, safeguarded the divinely revealed restrictive ordinances, maintained the armies and guarded the community of Islam from external attack, enforced order and security, meted out justice, received and distributed the zakah and other alms, maintained the Friday services and public institutions, decided between disputants, served as supreme judges in matters bearing legal claims, married minors who had no guardians, distributed booty gained in war, and generally catered to a variety of needs brought before him by the faithful (Farah 155). . A History of Islamic Societies.
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