Following the death of Mohammed, Islam was in a precarious position. If it followed the pattern of Middle Eastern history up to that point, Islam would have been virtually discarded after its leader’s death. Instead, the Rashidun, the “rightly guided” Muslim leaders who were closest to the prophet, namely Umar, Uthman and Ali, took the reins of Islam, beginning a campaign that would, within two centuries, make Islam the dominant religion in the Middle East. This was not an easy or untroubled undertaking.

Middle Eastern leadership, prior to Mohammed, was capricious at its best. Within a generation, a tribe or hamlet could ac

The problem was that nothing in Mohammed’s recitations dictated how leadership of the ummah should be determined. Ali, Mohammed’s cousin and son-in-law was chosen as caliph. He was the first Muslim leader to call for equality for non-Arab Muslims. His right to rule was contested by Mu’awiyah, then the governor of Syria. This led to Islam’s first civil war.

For the last 1,500 years, the Islamic state has flourished, declined, and flourished anew despite the Sunni / Shi’a split, tribal fighting, the marginalization of millets, and nationalization. Needless to say, the factioning of the Muslim people has posed a perpetual problem in forming any sense of oneness.

As Islam continued to grow, leadership continually came into question and eventually divided Islam into two major sects. Sunni Islam accepted the Rashidun caliphs and the caliphs that followed as temporal leaders of the ummah, or Islamic community. Under Sunni Islam, the caliph’s were responsible for dictating policy and implementation of the shari’ah, the code of Islamic law gathered from the Quran and three corollary sources that are based in Mohammed’s actions and recitations.

Non-Muslims could not serve in the military and would never become part of the Ottoman ruling elite (51.) Under Ottoman control, Christians and Jews were granted millet status. Under the millet system, non-Muslim peoples were allowed to have their own prayer houses and conduct business. Leaders of the three major non-Muslim religions, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Christianity, and Judaism, resided in Istanbul and collected taxes which were handed over to the state. This allowed practitioners to follow the religion of their choice, and the Ottoman ruling class to keep an eye on their affairs. Though the millet system differed from region to region, all operations were overseen by the Sultan.

Both agreeing to let Allah decide, they battled at Siffin. When the battle was inconclusive, it forged a schism through the Muslim people. Many thought that Ali was the rightful leader because of his connection to the prophet. When Ali died, it became a moot point, and Mu’awiyah started what would become the Umayyad dynasty.

The most remarkable and contradictory thing about the Islamic state is its abundance of good leaders and its desperate problem with leadership. Cleveland refers a “golden age of Islam” which was immediately before the battle at Siffin. This is quite a profound statement because, after that point, leadership was perpetually a divisive issue.

During the European Dark Age, life in the Islamic sphere of influence flourished economically, spiritually and scientifically. Though different regimes controlled the area at times, most, with the exception of the Mongols, embraced Islam and were a boon to the region. The Seljuks were invited to take administrative and military control in Baghdad in 1055, but did not negatively affect Islamic ways. In fact, though they were the military leader, the Seljuks were lieutenants of the caliph and helped expand Islamic hegemony into Iran and other Arab lands (37.)

Some topics in this essay:
Ottoman Empire, Middle East, Kavalla Ali, Mohammed Ali’s, Shi’a Islam, Ali Mohammed’s, British Russians, Christians Jews, Christianity Judaism, Despite Islam, ottoman empire, middle east, shi’a islam, mohammed ali’s, umar uthman ali, middle eastern, prosperity stability, sphere influence, muslim people, arab muslims, twelfth imam, ottoman empire successful,