Muhammad, expecting the world to end any day now, didn't leave the Muslims any long term instructions or specify who should succeed him as ruler. So, after he died in 632 CE, there was a big debate/civil war about who should be the new ruler of Arabia. Many tribes seceded from the Muslim confederacy. Some Muslims thought Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, should rule. Others thought the new ruler should be elected; these were the majority; they elected the first caliph. During this period of strife, many people starting claiming to be the next prophet in an attempt to gain power; in response, the Muslims decided that Muhammad was the final prophet.
The first caliph succeeded in reuniting the Arab tribes under Islam. The second caliph started conquering bits of the Byzantine and Persian empires, who were weakened after having warred with each other. The Muslims did not forcibly convert people to Islam; they set up garrison towns in the conquered lands and left the conquered people to look after themselves, as long as they paid their taxes. Eventually, Muslims conquered Spain, parts of Eastern Europe, North Africa, much of continental Asia, and Anatolia. Muslim traders spread Islam to South East Asia and other parts of the world.
Ali, Muhammad's cousin, was elected as fourth caliph. Those who had supported him from the beginning thought history was now being put back on track. Four years later, Ali was assassinated. His supporters, calling themselves the Shiah i-Ali ('Partisans of Ali') retreated from politics and, being an oppressed minority group, developed Messianic expectations. Over the centuries, Shia Islam split into different sects: the most important of these are the 'Twelvers', who developed a clerical system of religious leaders called ayatollahs. Shia Muslims make up about 15% of Muslims today.
The rest of Muslims (those who liked the idea of elected caliphs) were eventually consolidated under Sunni Islam. Sunni Muslims make up the remaining 85% of Muslims today. Over the centuries, Sunni Islam split up into different sects.
In the 8th century there was widespread discontent with the caliph's rule. Sunni scholars went through the Qur'an and the Hadith (stories about Muhammad) and developed Shariah Law as a guide for all Muslims, including the caliph, to live by. This meant Muslims could hold the caliph accountable if they weren't ruling properly. Before Shariah, the caliph was pretty much an absolute monarch.
The Muslim Empire grew and broke. The Crusades happened. The Mongols took over. The Mongol Empire broke apart. Politics, politics, politics. From 1500 CE many of the Muslim countries became consolidated into three different empires: the Safavid Empire, the Moghul Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. There were also many independent Muslim countries.
The Safavid Empire covered Iran and nearby areas. The state religion was Twelver Shia Islam, and the rulers tried to eliminate the Sunni Muslims. Many Sunni Muslims fled the Safavid Empire to settle in the Moghul Empire.
The Moghul Empire was established in India, where Muslims were a minority and mainly lived in the north. The Moghul rulers did not try to convert everyone to Islam; there was a fair bit of admixture between Islam and the religions of India. Sikhism is one of the products of this period; Islam and Hinduism mixed together.
Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul. They claimed areas in North Africa, the Middle East (including Iraq), and Eastern Europe (including Greece, Serbia, and Hungary). The Ottoman Empire was another Sunni Empire. They ruled using Shariah Law, which was raised to a more exalted status than ever before. They also established an absolute monarchy in Istanbul. Shariah Law was therefore made to endorse the system of absolute monarchy which it had been designed to oppose. The Sunni rulers tried to eliminate the Shia Muslims, many of whom fled to the neighbouring Safavid Empire.
In the early 18th century, Muhammad al-Wahhab decided that the Ottoman Empire wasn't barbaric enough, so he and his followers broke away from the empire and set up their own state in the Arabia. His version of Islam, Wahhabism, stripped away centuries of reform and re-interpretation, going to a very literal interpretation of the Qur'an. He saw Wahhabism as true Islam; all other Muslims are apostates worthy of death.
From about 1750, Western countries started colonising the world. Many Muslim countries were the first to be colonised. Western Imperialism has a lot to answer for. When the West abandoned their colonies in the 20th century, they redrew much of the map. The Moghul Empire split into Muslim Pakistan, Hindu India, Afghanistan, and others. The Middle East was split up into the countries we know today: most of them are Sunni, Iran is Shia, Saudi Arabia is Wahhabist.
Hopefully with this brief survey you can see how diverse the Muslim world is, and how saying 'Muslims think/do X' is a massive over-generalisation. There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and there is no equivalent to the pope telling them what to do and believe. There are myriad sects and interpretations; many of these are happy to leave other people and religions alone, others think they are the One True Faith which needs to conquer the world.
I conclude with Muhammad's opinion on sectarianism in religion:
'As for those who divide their religion and turn themselves into sects, you have nothing to do with them. Their judgement is left to God, and it is He who will inform them of what they used to do.'
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