Transcript The Family & Mosque in Islam

Islamic History: the First 150 Years
The Succession to Muhammad
© 2006 Abdur Rahman
Session Plan
1. Understanding Muhammad’s Impact
2. The Death of Muhammad & the Election
of Abu Bakr
3. Opposition: the ‘Wars of Apostasy’
4. The Beginnings of the Conquests
Section I: The Impact of Muhammad
Muhammad’s Significance
Muhammad: the Final Prophet
‘Muhammad is not the father of any of your men,
but is the Messenger of God and the seal of the
Prophets (Khatam al-Nabiyyin)’ (33:40)
Bearer of the Quran
‘Your Companion [Muhammad] is neither astray
nor being misled, Nor does he speak from (his
own) desire. It is no less than Inspiration sent
down to him’ (53:3)
• Muhammad the Lawgiver
Muhammad’s Significance
Political Orientations
• Constitution of Medina
Political Sovereignty for God Alone…
• God invoked at beginning and throughout
‘Whenever a dispute or controversy likely to
cause trouble arises among the people of this
document it shall be referred to God and to
Muhammad, the Apostle of God’
• The Concept of Ummah (Nation)
Section II: The Succession to Muhammad
Issues
• The succession to Muhammad is perhaps the most
important episode to face the emerging Muslim community
• The deeper question lying behind these events can be
summarised thus…
• Who has the right/authority/legitimacy to take up
Muhammad’s legacy?
• As the last prophet, Muhammad’s legacy of crucial
importance in Islamic salvation history
• Given its importance, it is not surprising that it was an issue
of intense debate
• Indeed, this question was the primary issue during the first
150 years of Islamic history
• Virtually every school of thought can, in some way, trace its
origins to early debates regarding the succession to the
Prophet
The Sources
• As such, our sources all have opinions to offer
• Because, as we saw, Hadith style history
predominates at this time, most of the standard
works rely on certain groups of individuals
• Texts which take different viewpoints, use different
sources
• This means that there is a degree of confusion our
sources
• They often disagree on key points and it is not
always easy to reconcile them
Muhammad’s Death
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Muhammad dies in 11AH, at Medina
Buried in the Mosque at Medina
Removal of Muhammad’s authority crucial
For the nascent Muslim community, it meant an end to his
charismatic leadership
It also had an impact on internal and external relationships
Authority deeply personal in Arab society at this time
Removal of authority also behind Apostasy Wars
Umar’s threat
Abu Bakr:
‘Whoever worships Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is
dead. Whoever worships God, let him know that God lives and can
never die’
The Election of Abu Bakr
• The details of this event are complex, especially given the
unfamiliar names of people and tribes
• Although a detailed understanding is not necessary, the
importance of this event in later history makes
understanding it in outline essential
• During the funeral preparations, one of the tribes of the
Ansar (‘Helpers’), the Bani Sa’idah, meet to appoint a
leader
• Led by their chief, Sa’d b. Ubadah
• Disparate calls, though main emphasis on their leadership
of the community
• Umar ibn al-Khattab and Abu Bakr are informed of this and
rush to attend meeting
• Accompanied by Abu ‘Ubaydah al-Jarrah, another senior
Companion
• Ali busy preparing Muhammad’s body for burial
The Election of Abu Bakr
• Abu Bakr responds by pointing to Ansar’s rank
• An attempt at compromise:
‘We are the leaders, and the helpers; matters shall not be decided
without your consultation, nor shall we decide them without you’ (alTabari, I.1840)
• Differing reactions: some for and some against
• After subsequent argument, Abu Bakr attempts to pledge
allegiance to Umar
• Umar rejects this and gives bay’ah to Abu Bakr
• Umar’s justification noteworthy:
‘No, by God, we shall not undertake [to hold] this authority over you,
for you are the best of the Muhajriun, the ‘second of two when they
were in the Cave’ [9:40], and the Apostle of God’s deputy (khalifa)
over the prayer and prayer is the most meritorious obedience (din) of
the Muslim’ (I.1842)
The Election of Abu Bakr
• These remarks underline the later Sunni view of Abu Bakr’s
merit, and hence legitimacy
• There are other voices…
• Ali was not at the meeting and hence was not consulted
• He seems to have had some support there
• After the Saqifah meeting, some sources show Ali
withdrawing to Fatima’s house
• Accompanied by his clan (Bani Hashim) and al-Zubayr (a
notable companion)
• Umar is said to have threatened violence
• His strong reaction provoked by realisation of danger of
disunity
‘By God, there was nothing we could do better at that time than to
give bay’ah to Abu Bakr. We feared that if we had left the people
without concluding a bay’ah, they would have done so on their own.
Then we would have had to agree to something we did not like, or
risk dissension’ (Tabari, 3. p.203-206, quoted by Ayoub, 2003, 16)
The Reaction of Ali
•
•
•
•
Ali refuses to pledge support
Some reports put this at 6 months
The Oasis of Fadak
al-Bukhari: Vol. 4, Book 53, No. 325, Narrated
'Aisha:
– ‘After the death of Allah 's Apostle Fatima the daughter of
Allah's Apostle asked Abu Bakr As-Siddiq to give her, her
share of inheritance from what Allah's Apostle had left of
the Fai (i.e. booty gained without fighting) which Allah
had given him. Abu Bakr said to her, "Allah's Apostle
said, 'Our property will not be inherited, whatever we (i.e.
prophets) leave is Sadaqa (to be used for charity)."
Fatima, the daughter of Allah's Apostle got angry and
stopped speaking to Abu Bakr, and continued assuming
that attitude till she died. Fatima remained alive for six
months after the death of Allah's Apostle’
An Alternative Account
• Tabari’s account
• Abu Bakr says to Fatima…
– ‘I did hear the Messenger of God say, “We
prophets do not give any inheritance. Anything
we leave behind must remain as public charity
[sadaqah]” Still, the people of Muhammad’s
house will have their share of this wealth. By
God, I will never see anything that the
Messenger of God did, but that I will do the
same’ (Tabari, vol. 3, p.208; Ayouob, 2003, 21)
The Reaction of Ali
• Tabari: I.1869 states that she was buried
by her close family (Bani Hashim) as was
customary
• Ali’s (or later Shia) view interesting
The Reaction of Ali
‘I am the servant of God and the brother of the Messenger
of God. I am thus more worthy of this office than you. I shall
not give allegiance to you [Abu Bakr & Umar] when it is
more proper for you to give bay’ah to me. You have seized
this office from the Ansar using your tribal relationship to the
Prophet as an argument against them. Would you then
seize this office from us, the ahl al-bayt by force? Did you
not claim before the Ansar that you were more worthy than
they of the caliphate because Muhammad came from
among you – and thus they gave you leadership and
surrendered command? I now contend against you with the
same argument…It is we who are more worthy of the
Messenger of God, living or dead. Give us our due right if
you truly have faith in God, or else bear the charge of
wilfully doing wrong’
(Ibn Qutaybah, vol. 1, p.29; quoted in Ayoub, 2003, 18)
The Reaction of Ali
• Ali…
‘What prevented us from allegiance to you
was not our denial of your virtue, nor was it
envy of anything with which God has
favoured you. Rather we believe that we
have a rightful share in this affair, which you
have denied us’
(Tabari, vol. 3, p.208; Ayoub, 2003, 21)
The Election of Abu Bakr
• Abu Sufyan offers military support to Ali
• A reminder of pre-Islamic rivalries within the
Quraysh tribe
• Ali refuses to accept it:
‘Though you have always had nothing but
animosity towards Islam and its people, yet you
can cause it no harm. We consider Abu Bakr
worthy of the caliphate’ (al-Tabari, vol. 3, 209)
Other Voices
• There are a number of passages which reveal a
somewhat different picture
• Ibn Qutaybah records Ali as saying to Abu Bakr:
‘By God, we shall never excuse you, or be released from
our allegiance to you. The Messenger of God himself
brought you to the fore [to lead the prayer during his final
illness] in order to unite us in our religion. Who would then
dare remove you from the task of managing our worldly
affairs? (vol. 1, p.29)
• Sa’id ibn Zayd was asked when Abu Bakr was
decided upon and how:
‘It was on the day the Messenger of God died. This was
because the people did not wish to remain even for part of
a day without unity’ (Tabari, vol 3, p.208)
• Apparently unanimous, according to Sa’id
Reflections
• Not always clear what to make of such reports
• Emotions and tensions running high in the
aftermath of Muhammad’s death
• Abu Bakr & Umar motivated by desire for unity
• Ali keen to defend what he saw as his rights
• Some of the speeches seem to read like later
theological ideas of who should have been leader
and why
• In other words, there well have been some reediting
• Casting the views of later generations into the
mouths of the Companions (?)
A Brief Pause
• Turn to the person next to you and spend
a couple of minutes summarising the
lecture thus far.
• Questions?
Section III: The Apostasy Wars
The Apostasy Wars
• Arab authority deeply personal
• Prophet’s death caused a number of tribes to think
that their ties with Medina had lapsed
• Abu Bakr styles himself Khalifat Rasul Allah
(‘Successor of the Messenger of God’)
• Refusal to pay Zakat (the poor due)
• Abu Bakr responded with unexpected force,
declaring that those who refused to pay the Zakat
were to be considered apostates
• Abu Bakr insists on sending an expedition to
avenge Muslim defeat by the Romans at Mu`ta
• This expedition ordered by the Prophet
• Led by Usama ibn Zayd (son of Muhammad’s
freedman Zayd and formerly his ‘adopted’ son)
The Apostasy Wars
• ‘So the people said to [Abu Bakr], “These are the
majority of the Muslims. The Arabs, as you see,
have mutinied against you, so you should not
separate the troop of Muslims from yourself”. Abu
Bakr replied, “By Him in Whose hands is Abu
Bakr’s soul, even if I thought that beasts of prey
would snatch me away, I would carry out the
sending of Usama just as the Apostle of God
ordered. Even if there remained in the villages no
one but myself, I would carry it out’ (Tabari I. 1848)
• This left Medina poorly defended
The Apostasy Wars
• ‘`Ubaydallah b. Sa’d – his uncle – Sayf; al-Sari –
Shu`ayb – Sayf – Hisham b. `Urwah – his father:
After the oath of allegiance had been rendered to
Abu Bakr and the Ansar had come together on the
matter over which they had differed, he said that
Usama’s mission should be completed. Now the
Arabs apostasized, either generally or as particular
individuals in every tribe. Hypocrisy appeared, and
the Jews and Christians began to exalt
themselves, and the Muslims were like sheep on a
cold and rainy night because of the loss of their
Prophet and because of their fewness and the
multitude of their enemy’ (Tabari I.1848)
The Rise of ‘False’ Prophets
• Some of these rebellious tribes are led by claimants to
prophecy
• Although there were others, the most famous of these ‘false’
prophets was Musaylimah
• Known to Islamic tradition as al-Kadhab (‘the Liar’)
• Musaylimah said to have received ‘revelation’ and to have
issued a call to prayer
• Tabari apparently records some of this material:
‘By the blackest night, by the blackest wolf, by the mountain goat,
Usayyid has not defiled a sacred thing’ (I.1933)
• If this is an accurate record, Musaylimah is clearly trying to
copy the style of the Quran
• Musaylimah was active during Muhammad’s last years
The Rise of ‘False’ Prophets
• Reported to have said that God had made him a
Prophet and had given him one half of the earth
• The other half was for Muhammad and Quraysh
• Although these claims rejected, they are interesting
in highlighting just how large an impact
Muhammad’s success had had
• In other words, if Muhammad had not successfully
changed the face of Arab tribal politics,
Musaylimah’s claims would have had no meaning
Khalid ibn al-Walid
• Abu Bakr appoints Khalid ibn al-Walid to recruit
and lead a Muslim force in response to this ‘revolt’
• Khalid ibn al-Walid a member of the Quraysh
aristocracy
• Renowned military leader
• An opponent of Islam for many years, only
converting shortly before the conquest of Mecca
• Responsible for the stalemate at the Battle of Uhud
• Khalid sets about his work with gusto
• Defeats apostate tribes one by one, before
defeating and killing Musaylimah in battle
• However, Abu Bakr’s resolute action seems to
have been particularly important
Section IV: The Beginnings of the Conquests
Motivations?
• Within 100 years of Muhammad’s death, the Islamic empire
stretched from northern Spain to the borders of India
• Moreover, as we shall see, this outward expansion continued
almost to the end of our period
• What, then, were the drivers behind the conquests?
• Previous western scholarship has tended to focus on
economic and geographical factors
• That is, the conquests were either about seizing booty or over
population
• However, such arguments only offer a very partial explanation
• Ideological (religious) factors also need to be taken into
account
• Although some were probably influenced by material gain,
there can be no real doubt that emergent Islam also exercised
considerable influence
• Donner (in Early Islamic Conquests) that it was the coming
together of many different factors which produced this drive
Motivations?
• In the unstable environment of 7th century Arabia,
security was also an important factor
• Thus the early expeditions against northern tribes
should be understood as attempts to securely
establish the early Islamic state
• In the earliest period, manpower seems to have
been an issue
• Abu Bakr refuses to allow ‘apostate’ tribes to take
part
• This sanction remained in place until early in
Umar’s caliphate, when a serious military situation
made such measures necessary
• However, this will be the subject of the next session
Early Encounters
• Muslim emissaries to the Roman empire and the
Arab client kingdom of the Ghassanid tribe seem to
have been murdered
• Muhammad sent a punitive expedition
• Provoked Roman response: Mu’ta
• Early encounters in Syria little more than
skirmishes, but signs of a greater conflict building
• In Iraq, al-Muthanna ibn Haritha of the Banu
Shayban tribe had converted to Islam
• Began raiding the Arab fringes of Iraq on his own
intiative
Abu Bakr’s Ethics of War
'Oh army, stop and I will order you [to do] ten [things]; learn
them from me by heart. You shall not engage in treachery;
you shall not act unfaithfully; you shall not engage in
deception; you shall not indulge in mutilation; you shall kill
neither a young child nor an old man nor a woman; you shall
not fell palm trees or burn them; you shall not cut down [any]
fruit-bearing tree; you shall not slaughter a sheep or a cow
or a camel except for food. You will pass people who
occupy themselves in monks' cells; leave them alone, and
leave alone what they busy themselves with. You will come
to a people who bring you vessels in which are varieties of
food; if you eat anything from [those dishes], mention the
name of God over them. You will meet a people who have
shaven the middle of their head and have left around it [a
ring of hair] like turbans; tap them lightly with the sword. Go
ahead, in God's name; may God make you perish through
wounds and plague!‘
(Tabari I.1850)
The Death of Abu Bakr
• Abu Bakr dies after a mere two years in charge
• Again, this is another ‘crunch point’, in that a political vacuum
would have been dangerous
• Abu Bakr thus directly appoints Umar as his successor
‘I have chosen for the management of your affairs one who is the
best of you in my estimation. Yet you all feel slighted because
each one of you wanted this office for himself. You anticipate
great worldly wealth and prosperity, although prosperity has not
yet come. Indeed, it shall come, so that you will sleep on
cushions of silk brocade behind silk curtains. By God, it is better
for a man to have his own head cut off, without it being a
punishment for a transgression, than to be swept up in the
pleasures of this world! You shall be the first among the people to
go astray and to hinder others from the straight way’ (Tabari, vol.
3, p. 429-30, qutoed in Ayoub, 2003, 31)
• According to some sources, this move angered Ali and the
Hashim clan
• Umar an altogether different kind of person
• As we will see in the next session