Period of Mid-Tenth to Mid-Eleventh Century that Referred to as the Shi'ii Century of Islamic History - Essay Example

? As early as 632 AD, after Muhammad died and Abu Bakr became the first caliph although there were divisions as to who should succeed Muhammad the Prophet. The term caliph refers to the Muslim Chief of religious and civil Muslim society. Abu Bakr was the father-in-law of Muhammad while Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin of Muhammad. He called himself “kalifat-rasul-Allah” or the successor of God’s messenger.1 The small group loyal to Ali believed that Muhammad’s wish for Ali to be the successor had been violated when Abu Bakr was made successor.2 An entire book entitled “Shiism: A Religion of Protest” 3 wrote of the perseverance of that belief in Ali as the right successor since 632 AD. The small group belonging to Ali grew to be known as Shiites of the present. The basis for succession in favor of Abu Bakr (means owner of camels) was close companionship with Muhammad. His original name was Abdul Ka’aba (slave of Ka’aba).4 Prophet Muhammad changed Abdul’s name to Abdullah (slave of God) and gave Abdullah the title “Siddiq” (testifier of the truth). Abu Bakr was among the first disciples of Muhammad. He was frequently with Muhammad and was chosen by Muhammad to accompany the Prophet in a “dangerous journey to Medina”.4 1.Bamber Gascoigne, History of the Caliphs. (HistoryWorldNet, 2001 onwards), Retrieved April 3, 2013 from http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=135&HistoryID=aa18>rack=pthc , 1. 2. Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival during the Buyid Age. ( USA: BRILL Studies in Islamic Culture Vol. 7 ), 78. 3.Hamid Dabashi, Shiism: A Religion of Protest. (USA: Harvard University Press, 2012), 344-345 4.IISNA, The First Caliph, Abu Bakr (632-634 AC). (Melbourne,Australia: Islamic Information and Network Services of Australasia, 2002 – 2013), Retreived April 3, 2013 from http://www.iisna.com/articles/biographies/the-first-caliph-abu-bakr-632-634-ac/ ) It is said that “Abu Bakr was always by his (Muhammad’s) side in numerous battles, and even sacrificed “his belongings to the Prophet” in order to raise funds to defend Medina.5 On the other hand, Ali was mentioned by Muhammad in his last sermon during the Final Pilgrimage to Mecca, wherein the Prophet told the people to “follow Ali as much as they had followed him”.6 Ali was respected “for his knowledge of the Quran and the events of the Prophet’s life”.7 In fact, he became the counsellor of the first two caliphs, Abu Bakr and his successor, Umar. Ali then called the attention of the 3rd caliph for having violated the teachings of Muhammad and the Quran principles. This led to the assassination of Uthman, the 3rd caliph. Ali was implicated in the death of Uthman right after he assumed the role of 3rd caliph. The clan of Umar (Umayyads) and Uthman vehemently disagreed. At that time, the governor of Syria, Mu’awiya, was said to be powerful and was leader of the Umayyads. Even the wife of Muhammad and daughter of Abu Bakr disagreed with Ali. But Aisha, Muhammad’s child wife when he was 52 years old, was considered a controversial wife because of her young age at the time of marriage. Aisha was between 6 to 9 years old when she became wife of Muhammad. There were earlier adult wives of Prophet Muhammad. Shi’i sects however believed Ali to be the divine descendant of Prophet Muhammad and “the sole legitimate leaders of the Islamic umma (community)”.7 Unfortunately, there was a group of Ali’s followers, the Kharjis, who did not respect Ali’s decision to make peace with Mu’awiya. The Kharjis believed that talking with 5.Ibid. 6.Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival during the Buyid Age. ( USA: BRILL Studies in Islamic Culture Vol. 7 ), 78. 7. Matthew Gordon, The Rise of Islam. ( USA:Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005), 105. Mu’awiya would strengthen the Umayyads and weaken followers of Ali, including the Kharjis. It was a member of the Kharjis who assassimated Ali in a mosque at Kufa in 661 AC.8 Thus the next caliphs were from the clan of Umayyads who built dynasties from 661 AC to 905 AC. In early 10th century, an influential Shi’i clan known as the Buyids gained power. Ahmad ibn Buyeh, a chief of the Buyids in 945 AC moved into Baghdad, Iraq, after being recognized by the Abbasid caliph as amir al-umaw (commander-in-chief). As early as 750 AD, the Abbasid caliph overthrew the Umayyad caliph and established its rule in Baghdad until 1258 AD. But as of 935 AD, Islamic Empire under caliph Abbasid was already disintegrating into smaller states. Much of the Executive Power of the Abbasid Dynasty was no longer centralized and the caliph was just a symbol of the unity of states under one empire. The Buyids belonged to the Shirdin Awandan clan whose members were Daylamis who worked for the Persian Armies as mercenary soldiers, and some were peasants and cattle raisers. 9 They became skilled foot soldiers since the Daylamis lacked horses. Buyids had Iranian origin.10 Their military might made Buyids strong enough to “prevail in central and western Iran and in central and southern Iraq for more than a century, and in their heyday. . .control also over Oman, across the Persian Gulf. . .Mosul (Al-Mawsil) and Northern Iraq”.10 The Buyids were in good terms with caliph Abbasid even while they were Shiites. Thus, they were given freedom to promote their faith and culture. Sometime in the 9th and 10th century, when the Shiite scholars also flourished, the Shiites 8.Ibid. 9. Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival during the Buyid Age. ( USA: BRILL Studies in Islamic Culture Vol. 7 ), 32. 10.John L. Esposito (Ed.), The Oxford History of Islam. (International: Oxford University Press, 1999), 42. presented what appeared to caliph Abbasid as an “ideological challenge”. 11 It involved recognizing only the descendant of Ali as Imman or religious leader for the Muslim communities. Shiite scholars believed that the line of Ali was divine or holy and not the line of Abu Bakr, the successor of Muhammad after his death. Two groups of Shiites split as a result. One group called “Twelvers Shiites” did not agree with the teaching of allowing only descendants of Ali to be Imams. They believed, the “line of visible Imams had ended in 874 when the twelfth Imam, still only an infant, had gone into hiding in Samarra. . .”11 Those who believed in a continuation of the line of Ali, the “Ismailis”, claimed that there is always a successor to the divine Imam. They propagated this teaching through secret missionary work (dawa) which reached “Yemen, North Africa, Iran, Southern Iraq, Eastern Arabia, and Syria”.11 Those who descended from the wife of Ali, Fatimi, were called Fatimids. Their Imam in 902 AD, Ubayd Allah, who claimed to be a descendant of Fatima, was jailed by the governor of caliph Abbasid, Aghlabid, and later freed only after the Ismaili movement overthrew Aghlabids in North Africa. By 969 AD – 1171 AD, Fatimids governed Egypt but failed to be accepted in Baghdad among Shiite Buyids.12 Logically, the reason why Shiites grew strong was through the military leadership of Shiite Buyids which came to be needed by the Abbasid caliphate in the light of its failure to maintain a strong armed force for a vast empire. In contrast, the Shiite Buyids were able to recruit Kurds and people in Daylam and Gilam provinces of Iran. Daylam was mountainous. It 11. Ibid., 44. 12. Ibid., 46-47. served as a place of refuge for people afflicted by wars.13 Aside from having a good hiding place, refugees encountered the leadership of Shiite Buyids who were skilled warriors-mercenaries, at the same time that Shiites were more spiritually inclined being descendants of Ali. Paragraph 3 of this research points out the reason why. Daylamites were able to recruit withdrawing soldiers and the “governor of Azarbayjan”, Ibn “Abi’l-Saj. Also, Iraq under Abbasid encountered an economic crisis then, while Daylams went to southwestern Iran mountains where the soil was fertile. That place was Fars. Shiites were able to convert more members into their religion in those mountains. By the time Ali b. Buya, leader of the Buyids, aimed to be established in Mardaviz, Zayd b. Ali al-Nawbandajani of Fars, also a descendant of Ali, communicated with Ali b. Buya. Since the people of Fars were prosperous while the Abbasid caliph was having an economic crisis, Ali b. Buya who worked for Abbasid caliph agreed to make an alliance with Zayd who financed the leadership of Ali b. Buya and his soldiers for 200,000 dinars.14 There were ups and downs for the Shiite Buyids as governors of Abbasid caliph. One more facilitating advantage was that Ali b. Buya had brothers, al-Hasan and Ahmad, who were able to continue his leadership even after his death. “Buyids themselves never ruled the Daylamite homeland.”15 One observation (which may be a coincidence although more probably founded on spirituality) is that the Shiites were able to eventually rule and prosper for many more years even if their preferred successor to Prophet Muhammad, Ali, was not chosen to 13. Huge Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates, 2nd Edition. (Malaysia: Pearson Education Limited, 2004), 211. 14. Ibid.,213 15.Ibid.,217 succeed the Prophet’s leadership. Apparently, the people wanted a political and materially rich leader who was Abu Bakr, over a spiritually richer leader who was Ali. Shiites who began with a small group loyal to Ali eventually experienced both growing in the mountains and in the developed regions, and became stronger according to chronological events shown in Appendix. Appendix A shows that from 632 AD to 1258 AD, the successors of Abu Bakr up to Abbasid caliph dominated the political arena. Technically, however, Shiites started to become stronger when the Buyids, under Abbasid caliph, became governors. The Buyid dynasty started in 932 AD to 1062 AD. But in Arabia and Persian Gulf, the Qaramita Shiites began their prominence as early as 894 AD while in al-Jazira and Syria, “the Hamdanid Shiite Dynaty” prevailed from 905 AD to 1004 AD; and in North Africa and Eqypt, the line of Fatima Shiites became a dynasty. These are all found in the Appendix Section chronology of events. In summary, therefore, the Shiites were greatly inspired by the Quran and teachings of Muhammad to the extent that they revered the words of their Prophet when they were told to follow Ali ibn Abi Talib just as they followed Muhammad. Ali was himself not power hungry but wanted obedience to the principles of the Quran and teachings of Muhammad. But the small group that came out of his followers who wanted him to be successor of Prophet Muhammad, and who came to be known as Shiites, persevered in their reverence for Ali and his legitimate successors. Through the prominence and leadership of the Shiite Buyids, their culture and Shiite teachings were facilitated even under Abbasid caliph for centuries until the end of the Abbasid dynasty in 1258 AD. When Ali b. Buya died as founder of the Buyid fortune in 949 AD, his brother, Rukn al-Dawla, took over his powers. After Rukn died by 977 AD, his son Adud al-Dawla became the next generation Buyids. By 983 AD after Adud’s death, the reign of leadership was passed on to Adud’s brother, Fakhr al-Dawla. This was then passed on to the son of Adud, Baha al-Dawla who died in 1012. Other Shiite Buyid followers from Fars and Daylam took over later on. 16. Ibid., 210-243. Bibliography Dabashi,Hamid. Shiism: A Religion of Protest. USA: Harvard University Press, 2012 Esposito, John L. (Ed.). The Oxford History of Islam. International: Oxford University Press, 1999 Gascoigne, Bamber. History of the Caliphs. HistoryWorldNet, 2001 onwards, Retrieved April 3, 2013 from http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=135&HistoryID=aa18>rack=pthc Gordon, Matthew. The Rise of Islam. USA:Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005 IISNA, The First Caliph, Abu Bakr (632-634 AC). Melbourne,Australia: Islamic Information and Network Services of Australasia, 2002 – 2013), Retreived April 3, 2013 from http://www.iisna.com/articles/biographies/the-first-caliph-abu-bakr-632-634-ac/ Kennedy,Huge. The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates, 2nd Edition. Malaysia: Pearson Education Limited, 2004 Kraemer, Joel L. Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival during the Buyid Age. USA: BRILL Studies in Islamic Culture Vol. 7 Appendix A [Source: Hamid Dabashi, Shiism: A Religion of Protest. (USA: Harvard University Press, 2012), 344-345] Read More