Political Ramifications of Muhammad’s death

Political Ramifications of Muhammad’s death

The Last Decade of Muhammad’s Life:

622	The hijra (flight) to Medina — marks year 1 on the Islamic calendar
630	The conquest of Mecca with other Bedouin (pastoral Arab) tribes
632	Mohammed dies with no clear heir
	*All dates are in the Common Era (C.E.)

First two major political crises:

Selection of a leader: Abu Bakr vs. Ali

Abu Bakr	Ali
Not a member of the Hashim clan (Muhammad’s clan) or the Umayyad clan	Muhammad’s cousin and member of the Hashim clan
Converted as an adult	First male convert (9 years old)
Muhammad’s friend and father-in-law	Despite the age difference, Muhammad and Ali were raised as brothers by Ali’s father
A respected older Companion	A youthful and respected Companion
Order to lead the last prayer survive before Muhammad died	Some indication that Muhammad might have favored Ali

Four Rightly Guided Caliphs (Rashidun)

Abu Bakr (r. 632-634)

632 — Elected by a majority of the Companions to be the first Caliph (deputy) to lead the Umma
633 — The Riddah (Apostasy) is crushed
634 — Calls for the jihad
Appointed Umar as his successor on his deathbed

Umar (r. 634-644)

Continued the jihad — Syria, Ctesiphon, Palestine (including Jerusalem), and Egypt

Ordered the construction of garrison towns at Kufa, Basrah, and Fustat on the borders of the Caliphate

Sets up the mawli (client) system for non-Arab convert to Islam

Sets up the jizyah (poll tax) that non-Muslims must pay for protection

Appointed talented individuals to important administrative posts, e.g., Mu’awiyah of the Umayyad clan placed as governor of Syria

Fatally wounded by a Persian Christian

On his deathbed:

He inquires about the identity of his assassin, and is relieved to learn it was not another Muslim
forms the shura, an electoral college of six, to select the next Caliph

Uthman (r. 644-656)

Ali (r. 656-661)

Umayyad Caliphate or The Arab Empire (661-750)

Established by Mu’awiyah (r. 661-680), cousin of Uthman by bribing Ali’s eldest son - Hasan

Moved capital to Damascus

Mu’awiyah selected his son, Yazid, as his heir, beginning the hereditary system of legitimacy

680 — Husayn’s Rebellion: his martyrdom at Karbala marks the beginning of Shi’ism

680-692 — Second Civil War (fitnah)

697-705 — Arabic became the official language of the bureaucracy, forcing the Persians to systematize it.

The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)

Abu Muslim, a Persian mawla, successfully overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate and established a new one in the name of Abu al-Abbas of the Hashim clan

762 — Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph, built a new capital called Baghdad
Introduction of a Persian word into Arabic: Vizier (Chief Minister)
945 — The Persian Buyid Dynasty effectively controls the Abbasid Caliph until the arrival of the Saljuq Turks
969 — Egypt falls to the Shi’i Fatimid Caliphate
1055 — The Saljuq Turks enter Baghdad and "restore" the authority of the Caliphate, but a Turkish "Sultan" is given secular authority

The Abbasid Caliphate survives until the Mongol invasion, which establishes the Il-Khanid Empire