Islâm

by Syed Ameer Ali

CHAPTER III

Islâm after Mohammed.—Nothing gives a better idea of the hold Mohammed possessed over the hearts of his people than their sorrow when he lay sick and dying, or the outburst of grief which rent the city at the news of his death. At first they could hardly believe that the Master who had led them from darkness into light, from death unto life, could really be subject to the same laws as other beings. The words of the venerable Abû Bakr allayed the excitement: ‘Mussulmans,’ said he, ‘if you adored Mohammed, know that Mohammed is dead; if it is God that you adore, know that He liveth, He never dies. Forget not this verse of the Koran, “Mohammed is only a man charged with a Mission; before him there have been men who received the heavenly mission and died”; nor this verse, “Thou too, Mohammed, shall die as others have died before thee.”’

A great fabric had been built up, under divine guidance, by a master-mind; its foundations were laid in the conscience of mankind. But Islâm was yet in its infancy, at the mercy of hostile forces bent on its destruction. To keep alive the Faith and maintain intact the structure raised by him, it was necessary to elect, with all despatch, a successor to the Prophet.

Election of Abû Bakr as the Prophet’s Vicegerent.—The choice fell on Abû Bakr, who, by virtue of his age and position in Mecca, held a high place in the estimation of the Arabs.

His Allocution.—After his election the venerable patriarch addressed the following allocution to the people: ‘Ye people! now verily I am charged with the cares of government over you, although I am not the best amongst you. I need all your advice and all your help. If I do well, support me; if I mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance; to conceal it is perfidy. In my sight the powerful and the weak are alike, and to both I wish to render justice.... Wherefore obey ye me, even as I obey the Lord and His apostle: if I neglect the laws of God and the Prophet, I have no more right to your obedience.’

Revolt of the Tribes.—No sooner was the death of the Prophet bruited abroad than the tribes who had only recently adopted Islâm broke out in revolt. The discipline of Islâm and its rules and principles were too irksome to them. They repudiated their adhesion to the new religion and reverted to paganism. Medîna was hemmed in again by surging hordes of angry idolaters. Undaunted by his own danger, the aged Caliph sped on the expedition to Syria the Prophet had prepared to seek reparation for the murder of the Moslem envoy. Before sending them forth on their distant errand, in the spirit of the Master, he gave to the captain of his army the following injunction:—

His Injunction to the Troops.—‘See that thou avoidest treachery, injustice, and oppression. Depart not in any wise from the right. Thou shalt mutilate none, neither shalt thou kill child or aged man, nor any woman. Destroy no palm-tree, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut not down any tree wherein is food for man or beast. Slay not the flocks or herds or camels, saving for needful sustenance. When thou makest a covenant, stand to it, and be as good as thy word. Ye may eat of the meat which the men of the land shall bring unto you in their vessels, making mention thereon of the name of the Lord. As you go on you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries. And the monks with shaven heads, if they submit, leave them unmolested. Now march forward in the name of the Lord, and may He protect you from sword and pestilence!’

How different this sounds to the command given to the ancient Jews: ‘Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.’[36]

The Moslems believed in the righteousness of their cause, and in divine help in defence of their Faith; they were surrounded by formidable enemies; the very existence of their new life depended on their energy and self-sacrifice, but trust in God and enthusiasm led them to victory. The Syrians received a well-merited chastisement, whilst the revolted tribes were beaten back and gradually reduced to submission. Within the space of a few months the entire peninsula acknowledged once more the creed of Islâm.

Death of Abû Bakr and Election of Omar.—Abû Bakr held the reins of office for less than two years. He died on the 22nd August 634 A.C., and the great Omar was elected to the vicegerency of the Prophet.

War with Persia—Its Cause.—The pacification of the north-eastern corner of Arabia brought the Moslems into collision with the kingdom of Hira, a feudatory state subject to Persia. The raids from Hira led to an expedition into that country which ended in its annexation. The subjugation of Hira and Chaldæa brought the Persian forces into the field.

Battle of Kâdessia, 636 A.C.—The king of Persia was not willing to let a valuable part of his kingdom go into the hands of the despised Arabs. His pride was broken on the field of Kâdessia.

One of the first acts of the new Caliph was to prohibit any expedition beyond the Zagros Mountains, which he considered should always form the boundary between the Caliphate and the Persian dominions; but the subjects of the King of Kings had not laid to heart the lessons of Kâdessia, and harassed the Moslem territories by constant raids. The Caliph was compelled to withdraw his prohibition, and an army marched into Persia.

Battle of Nehâwand, 642 A.C.—The battle of Nehâwand shattered for ever the empire of the Chosroes. ‘The administration of Persia was regulated by an actual survey of the people, the cattle, and the fruits of the earth; and this monument which attests the vigilance of the Caliphs might have instructed the philosophers of every age.’[37]

A similar survey was made, under the Caliph’s orders, of Chaldæa and Mesopotamia; peasants and proprietors alike were guaranteed in the possession of their lands and in the free enjoyment of their religion; the assessment was revised, and a network of canals for the improvement of irrigation was taken in hand.

War with Byzantium.—In the west the defeat of the Syrians had led Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, to send large armies to drive back the Arabs.

Battle of Yermuk, Aug. 634 A.C.—Battle of Ajnâdin, 636 A.C.—The victories of Yermuk and Ajnâdin put an end to Byzantine rule in Syria.

Capitulation of Jerusalem.—Jerusalem submitted to the Caliph in person. Travelling with a single attendant, without escort and without any pomp or ceremony, Omar arrived at Jâbia, where he was met by a deputation of Christian notables. To them he accorded the free exercise of their religion, and the possession of their churches, subject to a light tax. Accompanied by the deputation, he proceeded towards Jerusalem, where he was received by Sophronius the Patriarch. The Chief of Islâm and the head of the Christians entered the sacred city together, conversing on its antiquities. The Caliph declined to perform his devotions in the church where he chanced to be at the hour of prayer, ‘for,’ he said to the Patriarch, ‘had I done so, the Mussulmans in a future age might have infringed the treaty under colour of imitating my example.’[38]

The critics of Islâm have indulged in many theories to explain the marvellous victories of the Moslems over such great powers as Byzantium and Persia. ‘Rhetorical expressions about the decaying condition of both empires and the youthful energies of the Moslems are unsatisfying to the inquirer who keeps the concrete facts before him.’[39] ‘Both Byzantium and Persia had at their command genuine soldiers regularly armed and disciplined. The traditions of Roman warfare were not yet entirely lost, and the Persians still possessed their dreaded cuirassiers, before whom, in better times, even the armies of Rome had often fled.... The Emperor Heraclius was certainly the greatest man who had held the empire since Constantine and Julian. He was an astute diplomatist, a very competent general, and, as a soldier, bold even to rashness.’ How was it then that ‘the wretchedly armed Arabs, fighting not in regularly organised military divisions, but by families and clans, and under leaders who never before had faced disciplined troops,’ shattered the armies of both Chosroes and Cæsar? And be it noted that in every battle—at Kâdessia, at Nehâwand, Yermuk, and Ajnâdin—they were outnumbered sometimes as six to one.[40] The Moslem explanation is Biblical in its simplicity: ‘God took the heart out of the polytheists.’ The Christian historian offers divers explanations, ‘yet the phenomenon continues mysterious as before.’[41]

The conquest of Persia had brought to Medîna many Magian fanatics desirous of avenging on the Caliph the fall of their country. The simplicity of life led by Omar and the utter absence of guards and attendants favoured their design. One day, whilst sitting as usual in the mosque listening to the petitions of the people, he was attacked and mortally wounded by one of them.

Death of Omar, 644 A.C.—His death was an irreparable loss to Islâm. His knowledge of the character of his people, his extraordinary breadth of vision, his sagacity and vigour of mind, enabled him to exercise an influence over the Arabs which none of his successors ever achieved.

Election of Osmân.—An aged member of the family of Ommeya,[42] named Osmân, was now elected to the vacant chair.

His Death, 656 A.C.—His partiality for and favouritism towards his kinsfolk gave rise to a mutiny in which he lost his life.

Conquest of Egypt under Osmân.—During Osmân’s Caliphate Byzantine incursions from Alexandria into Syria had led the Moslem Government to despatch an expedition into Egypt, which completed its conquest in two battles. The addition of Northern Africa beyond Egypt was due to similar causes. The same destiny which led the English from Bengal to the Punjab, and still leads them on in Nigeria, led the Arabs from the confines of Egypt to the shores of the Atlantic.

On Osmân’s tragical death, Ali, the cousin of the Prophet and the husband of his daughter Fâtima, was elected to the Caliphate. The legitimate heir to the spiritual headship of Islâm, as a temporal chief, Ali came before his time. Chivalrous, brave, and gifted, his humanity and gentleness were mistaken for weakness; and his short government was disturbed by rebellions. The first was suppressed without difficulty; whilst engaged in dealing with the second, headed by Muâwiyah, a kinsman of Osmân, who held the governorship of Syria, Ali was assassinated by a zealot, one of a body who wanted to bring peace to Islâm by the murder of both the Caliph and the rebel governor.

Death of Ali, 661 A.C.—The latter escaped, but Ali fell a victim to their fanaticism.

On the murder of Ali his eldest son, Hassan, was elected to the Caliphate, but, fond of ease, he was easily induced to renounce the dignity in favour of Muâwiyah.

Accession of the Ommeyades to Power.—With the death of Ali and the renunciation of Hassan came to an end the Republic of Islâm. Up to this time the office of Caliph was elective, and the government essentially democratic. Muâwiyah, whilst retaining the form of election, made it in reality hereditary and autocratic. The seat of government was removed from Medîna to Damascus, where the head of the state surrounded himself by Syrian mercenaries.

The Butchery of Kerbela—The Martyrdom of Hussain.—Muâwiyah died in 680 A.C., and was succeeded by his son Yezîd, the Domitian of the Arabs. Hussain, the second son of the Caliph Ali, had never acknowledged the title of Yezîd, whose vices he despised and whose character he abhorred; and when the Moslems of Mesopotamia invited him to release them from the Ommeyade yoke he felt it his duty to respond to their appeal. Accompanied by his family and a few retainers he left for Irâk. On the way, at a place called Kerbela, on the western bank of the Euphrates, they were overtaken by an Ommeyade army, and, after a heroic struggle, lasting over several days, were all slaughtered save the women and a sickly child, also named Ali, who were carried as captives to Damascus.

The butchery of Kerbela caused a thrill of horror throughout Islâm, and gave birth in Persia to an undying national sentiment.[43]

Conquest of Spain, 712 A.C.—Under Walid the fifth sovereign of this family, Spain was conquered and added to the Caliphate. The seventh Ommeyade ruler was the pious Omar II., deservedly called the Marcus Aurelius of the Arabs.

The Ommeyades held the reins of government for nearly ninety years.

The Rise of the House of Abbâs.—In the middle of the eighth century of the Christian era Western Asia was the scene of a great revolution, which resulted in the downfall of the Ommeyades. The revolt was headed by a descendant of Abbâs, an uncle of the Prophet. The contest between the Ommeyades and Abbassides reminds us, in its bitterness and cruelty, of the later quarrel between the White and the Red Rose of England.

Foundation of the Ommeyade Caliphate in Spain, 756 A.C.—The Abbassides were successful and the Ommeyades were practically annihilated. Only one solitary scion of this ill-fated family escaped to Spain, where he founded the brilliant empire of Cordova. The Abbassides held the Eastern Caliphate with its seat in Bagdad from 756 A.C. to 1258 A.C.

Destruction of Bagdad.—When Bagdad was destroyed by the Mongols, a member of the Abbasside family succeeded in escaping to Cairo. Here he was recognised as Caliph by the Sultan of Egypt, and was surrounded by all the dignity attached to the pontifical office. The eighth Pontiff, by a formal act, renounced the Caliphate in favour of Sultan Selim, the great Ottoman conqueror.

The Title of the Ottoman Caliphs.—The title of the Sultans of Turkey to the spiritual headship of Islâm is based on this renunciation, and on the possession by them of the seal, mantle, and staff of the Prophet; and their claim is recognised as valid by the whole of the Sunni world.

Mansûr, the second Abbasside Caliph.—The first eight Caliphs of the house of Abbâs were men of great ability and force of character. Mansûr, the second sovereign, was the real founder of the Abbasside polity and system of administration, which became in after years the model for all civilised Mussulman States, and which were copied in later times by the Christian countries of Europe.

Hârûn-ar-Rashîd and Mâmûn.—Under Hârûn-ar-Rashîd, the hero of the Arabian Nights, and his son Mâmûn the Caliphate of Bagdad attained its zenith. It was indeed the Augustan age of the Arabs. But the achievements of the Moslems in the domain of intellect extend over the whole period during which the Abbassides exercised their suzerainty over Western Asia and Egypt.

The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain.—The Empire founded in Spain by the Ommeyade Abdur Rahmân, surnamed Dâkhil (the ‘Enterer’), rivalled that of Bagdad in the glory of arms and learning. The eighth sovereign of this dynasty, Abdur Rahmân (an-Nâsir), who assumed the title and dignity of Caliph, was the most gifted monarch who has ever ruled over Spain. With the disintegration of the Cordovan Caliphate, in the eleventh century of the Christian era, the country split up into several small kingdoms, until they were re-united under the ægis of the Almoravide monarchs of North Africa.[44]

The Fatimide Caliphate of North Africa.—In the beginning of the tenth century, a descendant of Ali, Obaidullah, surnamed al-Mahdi (the ‘Guide’), founded the great Fatimide Empire of Northern Africa.

The Fatimides conquered Sicily and Calabria and held Genoa for a considerable time. They were not only redoubtable conquerors but lavish patrons of learning, arts, and sciences. They established colleges, public libraries, and scientific institutes. To the central scientific institute at Cairo[45] was attached a grand Lodge for initiating candidates into the esoteric doctrines of Ismailism.[46] This Lodge became the model of all the lodges created afterwards in Asia and Europe. Among the Druses of Lebanon who follow this cult, the sixth Fatimide Caliph, the eccentric al-Hakam, believed by them to be still alive, receives divine honours.

With the death of the fourteenth sovereign of this house and the assumption of power in Egypt by Saladin[47] the Fatimide dynasty disappeared from the scene.

The Rise of Learning and Philosophy in Islâm.—Even in the early days of the Caliphate, the pursuit of knowledge was not neglected at Medîna, and all the energies of the Moslem nation were not taken up in the struggle in which they had become involved with the surrounding nations. The Caliph Ali lectured to large multitudes of people on various branches of learning.

The sack of Medîna by the Ommeyades destroyed the primitive school. It was revived by Ali’s great-grandson, Jaafar the Trusty, who died in 765 A.C. He is the real founder of speculative philosophy among the Moslems. The thinkers and scholars who flourished later derived their inspiration from him.

The Mutazalite or rationalistic school was founded by Wâsil, who died in 785 A.C. Mâmûn, the sixth Abbasside Caliph, was a strenuous upholder of his doctrines.

‘The Brothers of Purity.’—Towards the close of the tenth century a body of thinkers, whose researches extended to every department of the human mind, and whose great aim was to introduce a spirit of eclecticism in Islâm, established a brotherhood of intellect, which was to embrace all men animated with the single purpose of promoting the moral and intellectual welfare of the nation.

The Crusades.—The Crusades, which devastated Western Asia for two centuries, and inflicted untold miseries on the unfortunate people exposed to the merciless raids of the hordes of Europe who professed ‘the religion of peace,’ involved the Moslem nations in a life-and-death struggle, during which intellectual development came to a standstill.

Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, 1099 A.C.—Tripoli, a famous seat of learning in those days, was reduced to ashes; Antioch and other cities were turned into shambles. On the 15th July 1099 Jerusalem was taken by storm; and the triumph of the Cross was celebrated by a slaughter of over seventy thousand people. Neither age nor sex met with mercy. The squares, the streets, and the houses were strewn with the dead bodies of men and women, and the mangled limbs of children. Many were burnt alive under the portico of the principal mosque, the blood of the victims ‘reached the horses’ bridles.’ ‘The carnage,’ says Michaud, ‘lasted a week: the few who escaped were reduced to horrible servitude.’

Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.—In 1187 A.C. Saladin recaptured the city. He released all prisoners, supplied them with food and money, and allowed them to depart with a safe conduct; no woman was insulted; no child was hurt; no person was slain.

Eruption of the Tartars.—Hardly had the Moslems recovered from the destruction and havoc wrought by the Crusades, when the eruption of the Mongolian savages from the steppes of Tartary, falling like an avalanche, swept away all vestiges of culture and civilisation, and converted Middle and Western Asia into a charnel-house. And although centuries have passed since the sack of Bagdad and other famed centres of Moslem learning and arts, Islâm has not regained yet its true life and progressive vitality.

After the fall of Cordova the continuity of Islâmic civilisation in Spain was maintained, not only by the petty principalities which sprang up in its place, but also by the Almoravide and Almohade sovereigns, who reunited in their vigorous hands the greater part of the Ommeyade Caliphate.

Granada.—The break-up of the Almohade Empire, in 1227 A.C., led to the gradual destruction by the Christian hordes of the minor Moslem kingdoms. Granada alone, for nearly two centuries, held aloft the torch of knowledge and civilisation. But the fires of the Inquisition had already been lighted in Christian Spain by the ‘pious’ Ferdinand and the ‘saintly’ Isabella.

The Fall of Granada—Destruction of Moslem Civilisation, 1498 A.C.—And when, after a heroic struggle, the city of the Banu-Nasr, the home of culture, chivalry, and arts, capitulated to its Christian assailants, the glory of Moorish Spain died with the martyrs who were burnt at the stake or slaughtered like sheep regardless of age or sex, or suffocated in the caverns to which they betook themselves for refuge.

The Sunni Church.—The spiritual allegiance of Christendom is divided between four Churches; of the world of Islâm between two—the Sunni and the Shiah. The foundation of the Sunni Church, which owns nowadays the largest number of followers, was laid by Mansûr, the second Caliph of the House of Abbâs.[48] And although the superstructure was completed under his successors, its whole character and organisation are due to his genius.

The wide extent of the Abbasside Caliphate helped in the diffusion of its power and influence. At the present moment out of nearly seventy millions of Mohammedans in India subject to the British Crown, fifty belong to the Sunni Church. So do the Mussulmans of China, Tartary, Afghanistan, Asiatic and European Turkey, Arabia, Egypt, Northern and Central Africa, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Russia, Ceylon, the Straits and the Malayan Peninsula. And almost all acknowledge the spiritual headship of the Ottoman Sovereign.

Shiahism.—The Shiah Church traces its foundation to the Caliph Ali and the immediate descendants of the Prophet, regarded as the rightful expounders of his teachings. Some twenty millions of Indian Mussulmans are Shiahs; Shiahism is also the State religion of Persia. There are large numbers of Shiahs in the Hijaz, in Egypt and other parts of the world, but always in a minority. The question of the title to the spiritual and temporal headship of Islâm forms the chief point of difference between the two churches. The Sunnis are the advocates of the principle of election; the Shiahs of apostolical descent by appointment and succession; and this difference, which is essentially of a dynastic character,[49] gave birth to constant quarrels.

Signs, however, are not wanting that owing to the pressure of extraneous circumstances both Sunnis and Shiahs have begun to realise the necessity of greater harmony and goodwill.

The Sects of Islâm.—Difference of opinion concerning doctrines and dogmas has given birth in Islâm, as it has in Christianity, to numerous sects.

The Sunni Church is divided into four principal ‘persuasions’—the Hanafi, Shâfeï, Mâliki and Hanbali—designated after their respective founders. The followers of any one of these communions may validly offer their prayers under the leadership of a member of another. Hanafïsm is professed by the bulk of the Indian Mussulmans and Arabs, by the Afghans and almost all Central Asian Moslems, the Turks and Egyptians.

The Shiah Church also is divided into several sub-sects, of which the principal (the Asnâ-aasharia)[50] constitutes the state religion of Persia.

Ashaarïsm.—The philosophical side of Islâm is represented nowadays by Ashaarïsm and Mutazalaism. The first embodies the orthodox doctrines of the Sunni Church. It holds to the belief in corporeal resurrection at the Last Account, and affirms that the Koran is eternal and uncreated; and that God will be visible in the next world to human sight. Whilst maintaining that the evolution of principles ceased in the third and fourth centuries of the Hegira, in order to bring the rules enunciated by the great expounders of law and religion into conformity with the change of times and conditions of society, it generally allows the widest latitude in their interpretation and application.

With regard to the doctrine of free-will, it holds that there is neither absolute compulsion nor absolute freedom, but ‘God does whatever He pleases, for He is Sovereign Lord.’

Mutazalaism.—Mutazalaism, on the other hand, denies the doctrine of corporeal resurrection and corporeal vision. It enunciates that the Koran is the created word of God and not eternal, that God alone is Eternal, that man is the ‘creative efficient of his actions, good and bad, and gets reward and punishment in the future world by merit for what he does’; ‘that the All-Wise does only that which is beneficial and good.’ It further holds that the Divine ordinances which regulate the conduct of men are the results of growth and development. It maintains that the knowledge of God is within the province of reason, and with the exception of Himself everything else is liable to change or to suffer extinction.[51]