Religion - Islamic Studies - Essay Example

There are six discreet episodes within the first thirty years of the post-prophetic Islamic community that involved either violence or serious dissension among men and women who had embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohamed. Despite the fact that both classical Muslim historians and heresiographers have been forthright in their inclusion of these painful episodes in their books, only Madelung has investigated these conflicts thoroughly in his aforementioned The Succession to Mohamed . The first conflict, the incident of Saqifat Bani Saida, arose the day of the Prophet's death between the leaders of the ansar and three Muhajirun over the nature of the political leadership of the Muslim community. Abu Bakr's argument that the supreme leadership should be restricted to the Quraysh triumphed over the Ansari, al-Hubab b. al Mundhir's vision of "a commander (amir) from among us and a commander from among you."1 and the combination of Umar b. al-Khatab's oath of allegiance and the beating of the Khazraji leader Said b. Ubaida resolved the dispute.2 Despite the general baya that took place in the main mosque shortly after this event, several sahabi from Bana Hahim and al-Shams refused to give Aba Bakr the baya for six months. A significant reason for this delay may have been Abu Bakr's confiscation of the Prophet's significant revenue producing lands and the subsequent denial of the right of inheritance to his relatives on the basis of a purported prophetic saying that prophets "do not bequeath [to heirs." Ali, Al Abbas, Abu As b. Abi Rabia, Aban b'Said and Khalid b. Said are all reported to have delayed giving Abu Bakr the baya until after the death of Fatima, who was buried secretly without the knowledge of the caliph. Ibn Ubaida, the beaten Ansari, who was one of the prestigious twelve nuqaba who facilitated the emigration of the Prophet to Yathrib in his time of need, never gave the bya to Abu Bakr and may have been the only sahabi who withheld his allegiance to Umar.3 The second major conflict among the sahaba was the ridda wars whose execution was justified again on the basis of a prophetic hudith over the objections of Umar. These battles pitted Abu Bakr and his Muslim armies against tribes that ranged from advocates of the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylama to Muslims who did not wish to pay the alms tax to the caliph in Medina. Iba Said identifies six men of the fourth tabaqa of sahaba, namely those who embraced Islam after the conquest of Mecca, who participated in the ridawars against Abu Bakr's fiscal policy. Only one of these men, Malik b. Nuwayra. is reported to have been killed, despite his claim that he was not an apostate. All of the remaining five men were captured and pardoned by Abu Bakr, and two of them later played a role in the victory at Qadisiya against the Sasanids. Abu Bakr even married his sister Umm Farawa bint Abi Quhafa to the powerful Yemeni rebel al-Ash-ath b. Qays. who later served with distinction at the battle of Nihavand. Qays b. Makshub, who killed at least two Muslims in the riddo wars, was forgiven by Abu Bakr over Umar's objections. 'Uyayna b. Hisn. who had lied to the prophet during the campaign against Al Taif was "brought back to Islam" by the words of Abu Bakr despite having joined Tulayha's prophetic challenge. The third episode of intra-Moslem violence involved various members of the "pious opposition" Uthman's policies and the Egyptian delegation, some of whose partisans ultimately murdered him. The most flagrant confrontations include the beating of Abdallah b. Masud and Ammar b. Yasir, as well as the banishment of Abo Dharr al Ghifarri to Ribadha. Uthman's harsh treatment of these early sahaba was publicly condemned by Aisha; other sahaba who stirred up protests against the caliph included Talha b. Ubayd Allah and Amr b. As.4 Abdel al Rahman b. Awf, the sahabi on the shura who essentially appointed Uthman as Umar's successor, stipulated that Uthman was not to lead his funeral prayers, a request that was later honoured in 652 and adopted by Ibn Masud.5 It is further reported that the muhajir, Yehya b. Said al-Ghifari, threw stones at uthman at one of his repentance khutbas and the sahabi supervisor of the public treasury or bayt al mal, resigned in protest over Uthman's request to enrich his nephew and brother n law, Abdullah b. Khalid b. Asid. While these incidents were mild in comparison to the rida wars that preceded, and the civil wars that erupted after the killing of Uthman, they are partly responsible for the continued strife over the succession and for the resultant splintering of the umma into sects.6 In other words, there is a continuation of the differences and disputes which erupted at Saqifat Bani Saida. Five sahabi were involved in the Egyptian delegation and the masses who surrounded Uthman's palace demanding his abdication. Madelung reports that the first casualty of the "battle day of the palace" (yawm al dar) was the sahabi Niyar b. iyad who was killed by a rock dropped from the palace by a client of Marawan b. al Hakim. Rifa b. Rafi is also reported to have killed a partisan of Uthman outside the palace. And Amir b. Bukayr is said to have struck Said b. al As. Abdel Rahman b. Udays is considered to have been among the leaden of the Egyptian delegation, although it is not clear if he was present at the palace on the day of the assassination. Even one of the four identified killers of the caliph was none other than Amr b. al-Hamiq, a late convert to Islam, who, after his own assassination by Ibn Umm al-Hakam in northern Iraq, earned the dubious distinction of being the first man in Islamic history to have his decapitated head sent to a ruler.7 The fourth episode in the unravelling of the unity of the Muslim community during the age when numerous sahabi were still alive was the reluctance of numerous individuals to offer Ali the baya after the killing of Uthman. There are five reports found in al-Tabari's Tarikh al rasul wa al mulk that name individual sahaba who delayed giving Ali the baya or simply fled to Syria. These reports resurface in several later histories such as al-Masudi's Muruj al-dhahab, Ibn al-Jawzi's Muntazam and Ibn Khaldun's al-Ibar. There is a high degree of consensus regarding the identity of the sahabi who delayed in giving their oath of allegiance to Ali, fled to Syria, or simply refrained from doing so. Indeed, there also exists controversy regarding the ircumstances under which some of the sahabi who gave their oath, gave it. For example, it remains unclear whether Talha and al-Zubayr gave their baya under the sword of al Ashtar or by their own free well. Reports support both possibilities but what is clear is that ther departure from medina under subsequent armed insurrection left Ali in the awkward position of lacking the support of the only three surviving shura members who had elected Uthman to the caliphate, or of the Meccan Qurayshi aristocracy.8 The fifth and possibly most traumatic conflict between the sahaba was the Battle of the Camel in 656. Unlike the ridda wars, which involved large Muslim armies, against a few late-conversion sahaba, most of whom were subsequently forgiven, the Battle of the Camel involved prominent sahabi leaders and soldiers. Three groups of sahabi can be discerned in this conflict. The smallest group consists of Abu Musa al Ashari, Imran b. Husayn, and Abu Bakra al-Thaqafi, and several others, many of whom had refrained from giving their baya to Ali. This group refused to fight on either side of the conflict and, indeed, expressed their extreme dismay at what had become of inter-sahabi relations. The second group, of course, consisted of Ali and his supporters and the third of Aisha, Talha b. al-Zubayr and Abdullah b. al-Zubayr, half of whom perished in the event. Aisha's side was financed largely by Uthman's governors to Yemen, two sahabi named Yala b. Umaya and Abdallah b. Abi Rabia, who are reported to have seized the treasury upon hearing of their caliph's death and returned to Mecca. The leadership of Ali's camp who were sahabi included his sons al Hussan and al Husayn, his cousin Abuallah b. Abbas, and one of the early converts, Amar b. Yasr.9 The sixth internecine conflict followed upon the precedent of the Battle of the Camel and found two sahabi-led armies engaged in open warfare. The Battle of Siffin differed from that of the Camel in two important respects: first, it lasted several days and was inconclusive, and secondly, the opposition to Ali was led by a late convert to Islam and son of an enemy of the Prophet as opposed to two of the earliest Muslims and a widow of the Prophet. Despite these differences, the same three groups of Sahaba that we found at the Camel persisted. Numerous of the sahaba were killed, with this battle, despite its inconclusiveness, emerging as one of the bloodiest to date.10 The importance of the above stated historical introduction to the events which succeeded the Prophet's death is that they ultimately clarify the depth and extent over the succession which began at the Saqifa and persisted throughout the first three decades, prior to leaving indelible divisions within the umma. These conflicts effectively explain the sectarian divisions which have come to characterize the Islamic umma and it is within this context that we can best comprehend the rise of various factions, from the Zaydiya to the Shia, all of which shall now be discussed in turn. Khawarij In Arabic, the term Khawarij, a derivative from the Arabic verb kharaja, means 'to go out' or to secede. They were called Khawarij because they seceded from 'Ali's camp after the Battle of Siffin. It is also said that the Khawarij gave themselves the term because it dissociated them from the unbelievers ( kufar)by making the emigration (hijra) to God and his messenger. "Verily, those who have believed, and those who have emigrated (for Allah's religion) and have striven hard in the Way of Allah, all these hope for Allah's Mercy. . "11 They were also called al-Haruriyya in attribution to a place called Harura', where they retired after they defected from 'Ali's army. Also, some historians called them muhakima, those who say "la hukma illa lil'lah" when Ali accepted the arbitration of men to end the Battle of Siffin. "Mankind were one community and Allah sent Prophets with glad tidings and warnings, and with them He sent down the Scripture in truth to judge between people in matters wherein they differed. . . ." 12 They were also called shurat, or those who sold themselves to God. "And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the Pleasure of Allah. . . "13 Thus, all their names were taken from the Qur'an except al-Haruriyya. The Khawarij emerged as an opposition force to the arbitration after the battle of Siffin. Although they emerged as religious zealots who adhered strictly to the Qur'an and the Sunna, the Khawarij later adopted a political doctrine which concerned itself with the caliphate. They validated the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman's early reign, and Ali until the arbitration. They believed that the caliphate was a right to every free Arab, but later they modified their opinion and made the caliphate a right to every Muslim - free or slave. They contradicted the Shi'a who said that the caliphate is restricted to the family of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt). Towards the end of the Umayyads' rule, the Khawarij split into five major groups and some twenty subgroups. The five major factions were al-Muhakkima al-Ula, al-Azariqa, al-Najdat, al-'Ajarida, al-Ibadiyya, and alSufriyya.5 In spite of their ideological, political, and tribal differences, the Khariji splinter groups shared similar views regarding the unbelief (ikfar) of Ali, 'Uthman, the arbitrators, the people of the Camel and those who were satisfied with the arbitration.14 Al-Baghdadi writes, on the authority of the Mu'tazili Abu al-Qasim al-Ka'bi (d. 39 A H.), that all the Khariji splinter groups proclaimed the unbelief of 'Ali, Uthman, the arbitrators, the people of the Camel, and whomever agreed to the appointment of the arbitrators. They also proclaimed the ikfar of Muslims who committed a grave sin, and advocated revolt against a tyrant imam. Al-Baghdadi adds that Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 324 A.H.) disagrees with al-Ka'bi that the Khawarij proclaimed the ikfar of Muslims who committed a grave sin.15 There is a controversy as to when and how the Khawarij first emerged. The primary sources tell us that it was at the Battle of Siffin that the Khawarij first emerged as rejectionists to the arbitration between Ali and the Syrians. Al-Mubarrad reported that the first Khariji sword to have been drawn in Siffin was the sword of 'Urwa b. Udayya who said: "What kind of arbitration is this Is there a better arbitration than God's" Then a man from the Khawarij shouted his famous motto: 'no judgment but God's' (la hukma illa lillah). Modem historians have argued that the emergence of the Khawarij can be attributed ultimately to the unjust policy of Uthman, such as distributing the wealth amongst his relatives and clan. The Arab tribes from whom the Khawarij made their first emergence and who had fought on behalf of the Prophet felt that they were deprived of their share in the newly established Islamic umma. Resenting Uthmans policy on one hand, and unsatisfied with their deteriorating social and economic status on the other, the Khawarij rose in revolts to change the status quo. Moreover, recent analyses by contemporary Arab historians have argued that the roots of the Khawarij were detected during the life of the Prophet, while others saw their emergence in pre-Islamic Arabia (the jahiliyya). Read More