A History of the Muslim World to 1405: The Making of a Civilization

by Vernon O Egger

  The zahir/batin polarity undergirds the exalted status of the Imam and of the religious hierarchy that came to characterize Isma‘ilism. The divinely guided, infallible Imam interpreted the true meaning of revelation to individuals who had proven their ability and integrity as bearers of the truth. Such intermediaries between the Imam and the ordinary proselyte became designated as a hujjas, or “proofs” of God’s presence. These representatives of the Imam taught the spiritual truths by means of allegorical interpretations to students who had committed themselves through a formal initiation into the serious work of the organization. The masses, meanwhile, continued to know only the zahir meaning. Isma‘ilis expected that, at the end of time, when the Imam returns as the Mahdi, he will abrogate the law of the Prophet. At that time, there will be no need for laws, because spiritual truth will be directly accessible to everyone.

  After a century of underground activity, the Isma‘ili movement suddenly reappeared in southwestern Iran and southern Iraq in the second half of the ninth century, just as the period of the Lesser Concealment began for the Imamis. The Isma‘ili movement emerged as a highly disciplined organization engaged in intensive missionary activity, and its members were uncompromising in their determination to create a new Islamic society characterized by justice and righteousness. They made impressive gains in Iraq and Syria and sent out missionaries all the way to Khorasan, Sind, Yemen, and the Maghrib. By the last decade of the ninth century, the Isma‘ilis had established their headquarters in Salamiya, Syria, and appeared to pose a formidable security threat to the Abbasids. In 902, however, ‘Abd Allah, the leader of the headquarters at Salamiya, suddenly left his base of operations and began making his way westward. In 910, he appeared in Ifriqiya, some 1600 miles from Salamiya. There he was welcomed by a Berber army that had recently seized power in Qayrawan. His supporters recognized him not merely as the spokesman for the Imam, but the Imam-caliph and Mahdi himself, returning to take over the leadership of the entire Muslim world. A major challenge had been issued to the weakening Abbasid caliphate. ‘Abd Allah’s movement at this point became historically known as the Fatimid empire. Because its subsequent narrative belongs as much to imperial history as it does to religious history, we will resume its story in the next chapter.

  The Shi‘ite Movement

  By the middle of the tenth century, Shi‘ism had spawned two major groups: the Twelvers and the Isma‘ilis. Several small Zaydi states continued in existence for many centuries, but they were always in remote, mountainous areas, quite removed from developments in the rest of the Muslim world. Ghulat sects continued to appear, but they discovered that they had to shed their extreme views if they wished to have an influence in the wider Umma.

  The label Shi‘ism slowly accumulated connotations that set Shi‘ites apart from the majority of Muslims. Some were subtle differences, while others were quite striking. As we shall see later, the Sunnis tended to agree that religious truth was what the majority of pious scholars said that it was, whereas both Isma‘ilis and Twelvers refused to admit that majority opinion is necessarily true or right. Because the two Shi‘ite groups were, in fact, usually embattled minorities, both came to advocate the inherent virtue of belonging to a militant minority. Both of these groups of Shi‘ites agreed that some truths can be known only by an elite and can be interpreted to the masses only by symbol and legend. Both groups tended to express emotion in their worship more than did the Sunnis. They focused on the persecutions they had suffered and the martyrdom of the heroes of the faith.

  Both Isma‘ilis and Twelvers believed that their respective Imams should be ruling the entire Muslim community. A latent corollary of that conviction was that all temporal authority in the absence of the Imam is illegitimate. The biggest difference between the Isma‘ilis and Twelvers was the identity of the Imam. An intriguing contrast between the two groups is the fact that, from the death of Ja‘far al-Sadiq to the late ninth century, the Imamis insisted on the need for a present, visible, Imam, but then accepted the doctrine of the Occultation after 874. The Isma‘ilis, on the other hand, had been comfortable with the idea of a concealed Imam until the beginning of the tenth century, when the loyal followers of ‘Abd Allah converted to the idea that he was the Imam. From the late ninth century until today, Twelvers have had a Hidden Imam, and the Isma‘ilis usually have had a visible Imam.

  The change in doctrine regarding the Imam had important political, as well as religious, consequences. As we shall see in the remainder of this volume, during the period from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, various groups of Isma‘ilis were active in attempting to achieve political power for their Imam. The Twelvers, on the other hand, were more ambivalent about the state during this period. There was no doubt that the Hidden Imam would soon be coming back to rule, but, in his absence, the practice of piety in this corrupt world was sufficient. God had His own plan for its purification, and any changes would be according to His timetable. As a result, Twelver Shi‘ites were able to coexist with both the political and religious establishments much better than Isma‘ilis or Zaydis did, and their persecution became a rare occurrence. The Isma‘ilis, on the other hand, became the target of violent persecution.

  The Sunni Consensus

  As the Shi‘ites were developing their characteristic doctrines and practices based on the conviction that the caliph should be a member of ‘Ali’s family, the majority of Muslims were also engaged in the process of developing their doctrines and institutions. We will examine this achievement in some detail in Chapter 5. At this point, it is useful to note that the Sunnis, as the majority are called, derive their name from their insistence on following the sunna, or path, of the Prophet. Whereas Shi‘ites are convinced that Muslims need the guidance of an Imam in order to follow God’s will correctly, Sunnis are satisfied that conscientious and pious Muslims can determine God’s will by means of a careful reading of the Qur’an and of authenticated accounts (the Hadith) of the Prophet’s behavior and teachings. In the eighth and ninth centuries, biographies of the Prophet were written and thousands of anecdotes of the Prophet’s actions and sayings were collected together, all for the purpose of using the Prophet’s life as a model of upright behavior. As we will see, enormous efforts were expended in order to develop reliable methods for obtaining spiritual guidance.

  These efforts were made with the goal of developing a comprehensive guide for determining godly behavior under all circumstances. It was a complex and arduous enterprise that only qualified scholars could adequately perform. For most Muslims, however, knowing the basic ritual obligations was sufficient. These rituals are known as the “Five Pillars.” The basis for all of them is to be found in the Qur’an, although many of the details as they are practiced today were elaborated over the course of many years. Their repetition cultivated in Muslims a sense of identity and purpose that gave believers the assurance that their cause was in accord with God’s will. Moreover, the rituals reinforced in the minds of Muslims the fact that Islam is a collective, rather than merely an individual, enterprise, thereby providing emotional support to individuals when their faith or their physical strength faltered. The description of the rituals in the discussion that follows reflects Sunni practice; Kharijites and the various Shi‘ite groups differ in some of the details.

  Shahada, or proclamation of faith. To become a Muslim, one recites, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His prophet.” Muhammad’s central teaching was that there is only one God, and that, therefore, the greatest sin is the denial of God’s singularity and unity, and the placing of some other being to be equal to Him. God is all-powerful, and created all life; it is the duty of His human creatures to give thanks to God for life itself and to submit their will and their lives to God through daily obedience. In the Arabic language, the word Islam denotes submission, and a Muslim is one who submits. Muslims believe that people are responsible for their actions; at the end of time, each person will account for all of her or his deeds at the Last Judgment an
d go to paradise or to hell on the basis of the accounting.

  Salat, or ritual prayer. One of the most powerful rituals that reinforces the collective nature of Islam is the salat, or ritual prayer. The sight of others—perhaps even thousands of others—performing the prayer in unison reminds the believer that untold millions of others are performing the ritual all over the world at the appointed times. The frequent repetition of the prayer is a strong reinforcement of the conviction that one is participating in the most important enterprise in the world.

  The salat is performed five times daily—dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and evening—and the invocations and ritual movements are carefully prescribed. The salat can be performed at home, in a school or factory, or outdoors, but Muslims consider a mosque to be the most efficacious place for prayer. The mosque is explicitly designed for the salat. The English word mosque derives from the Arabic word masjid, which means “place of prostration,” the name given to the pre-Islamic shrines. Mosques have always been constructed with the purpose of marking off space to consecrate for prayer. As a result, they do not have pews and they do not need to be tall or imposing, but simply large enough to serve the prayer needs of hundreds, or even thousands, of people.

  The call to prayer (idhan) is issued by the mu’adhdhin (frequently rendered muezzin) from the one or more minarets, or towers, that became a characteristic feature of mosque architecture. Before performing the prayer, the believer must enter a state of ritual purity by washing the face, feet and ankles, and the arms to the elbows. He or she then determines the qibla, or direction of the Ka‘ba in Mecca, which is marked in a mosque by the mihrab, a niche in the wall. After declaring to God the intention of making the prayer, the ritual begins. Of the thirty-five prayer times in the week, the Friday noon service is the one that Muslims make the most determined effort to perform at a mosque. That is the occasion when the khutba, or sermon, is delivered, and because of the large number of worshipers, it is the one that most effectively reinforces the sense of community.

  Zakat, or almsgiving. Concern for the poor, the widow, and the orphan is a constant refrain throughout the teachings of Muhammad. Since all humans are equally creatures of God, oppression of the poor and weak by the rich and powerful is therefore an affront to God himself. It is incumbent upon believers not merely to refrain from oppressing the poor, but to be active in sharing their wealth with them, as well. The zakat was the form of tax that Muhammad made mandatory upon new Muslims. In later centuries, Muslim jurists decided that the zakat should represent two percent of an individual’s wealth. It came to be understood as a form of self-purification: By giving away part of one’s property, one purifies the rest.

  A mihrab, the niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla.

  Sawm, or fasting. Ramadan, the ninth month on the Islamic calendar, is the month of fasting. From before dawn until sunset, Muslims do not drink, eat, engage in sexual relations, or, in modern times, smoke. Prepubescent children, the sick and infirm, and the pregnant are exempted from the obligation, and travelers can postpone it. Most Muslims continue their regular work schedule during the day, but some sleep during the day and sit up all night; others engage in around-the-clock reading of the Qur’an. The breaking of the fast in the evening is a festive occasion, and some families spend more on food during Ramadan than during the entire remainder of the year. Because Muhammad stipulated that Muslims use a lunar, nonintercalated calendar, each of the months begins eleven solar days earlier the next year. The impact of Ramadan on individual lives varies accordingly: The fast is shorter and less stressful during the short periods of sunlight in winter than during the long ones of summer.

  Ramadan is a month that mingles hardship with joy. Muslims have come to associate the month with the revealing of the Qur’an to Muhammad, and therefore it celebrates the beginning of Islam. It encourages reflection on human frailty and the believer’s dependence on God. Like the other rituals, it reinforces the collective, communal aspect of Islam, as participants encourage each other through the experience and make a special effort throughout the month to help the poor and the hungry. The hajj, or pilgrimage. According to the traditional account, Muhammad developed the rituals of the hajj after his conquest of Mecca. He combined elements of the pre-Islamic pilgrimage to the Ka‘ba with others from surrounding shrines, such as Mina and Arafat, and sanctified them as an Islamic practice dedicated to God. The new hajj became a complex event spread over an area twelve miles in extent that took several days to complete. Muhammad enjoined believers to fulfill the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime if at all possible. It is performed in the month of Dhu al-Hijja, the last month on the calendar. The event emphasizes the humility of the believer before God, and the equality of all humanity. Upon entering the sacred precinct, male pilgrims don two simple pieces of white cloth, and women dress in simple attire, as they dispense with all material goods that would establish ranks among them.

  The pilgrimage has an awe-inspiring effect upon the participants. In part, this is due to being present in the place that sacred history was made. Muhammad taught that Abraham and his son Isma‘il (Ishmael) built the Ka‘ba, which was also the center of Muhammad’s career; thus, pilgrims can imaginatively reenact momentous episodes in Islamic history. Another feature of the pilgrims’ experience is that, as Islam spread across the world, Muslims representing a wide variety of ethnic groups and geographical regions began coming on the hajj. The varieties of skin color and languages spoken were vivid statements of the powerful appeal of Islam and of its triumphal march across the world, reassuring the believer that he or she was participating in God’s plan. Precisely because Mecca was the meeting place for Muslims from all over the world, it soon became the logical site for scholars and travelers to meet and to exchange ideas. Throughout history it has served as a force for cosmopolitanism, the flow of ideas, and education.

  Conclusion

  The period between the Prophet’s death in 632 and the Abbasid revolution in 750 witnessed momentous events that shaped the future direction of Muslim history. The frontiers of the Muslim world were established by the Umayyad conquests and would change very little for the next several centuries. The Abbasid revolution then transformed the “Arab empire” of the Umayyads into a cosmopolitan state that consciously attempted to incorporate a variety of ethnic groups not only into the community of believers, but also into the ruling elite itself. These positive developments were countered by the emergence of profound differences among Muslims that proved impossible to breach. The different assumptions that would eventually crystallize into Sh‘ism, Kharijism, and Sunnism began making their appearance during the first century of Muslim history.

  Central to the emergence of both Shi‘ism and Kharijism was the figure of ‘Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and the husband of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. ‘Ali’s role in history is unusual. He must be regarded as one of the most important figures in Muslim history, and yet he led no major military campaigns, left no corpus of writings, and was totally preoccupied during his five years as caliph with defending his office—so much so that he was unable to accomplish any notable objectives. His importance lay in the perceptions and expectations that people had of him. He had many opponents among the Quraysh because of his criticism of the administrative practices of the new empire. On the other hand, the Muslims who would eventually become known as Shi‘ites saw in him the rightful successor to Muhammad as leader of the Umma, and they regarded the selection of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman as the first three caliphs to have been a plot against the implementation of God’s will. Still other Muslims enthusiastically cheered the beginning of ‘Ali’s caliphate, even though they did not regard him as having been divinely ordained as Muhammad’s successor: They were expecting him to reverse the policies of ‘Uthman and to implement justice. When he faltered, they felt betrayed and initiated the Kharijite movement.

  Most Muslims fell in between these two groups. They did not see evidence that ‘Ali
had been chosen as the Prophet’s immediate successor, and they did not believe that he had committed a grave offense in being willing to negotiate with an enemy when the alternative would be a bloodbath of Muslim against Muslim. Members of this third group—the Sunnis—regard ‘Ali to have been one of the four “rightly guided” caliphs—that is, the four caliphs who preceded the Umayyad dynasty.

  FURTHER READING

  ‘Ali and the Politics of Division

  Kennedy, Hugh. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century. London and New York: Longman, 1986.

  Watt, W. Montgomery. The Formative Period of Islamic Thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973.

  The Abbasid Revolution

  Lassner, Jacob. The Shaping of Abbasid Rule. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980.

  Sharon, Moshe. Black Banners from the East: The Establishment of the ‘Abbāsid State—Incubation of a Revolt. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, and Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1983.

  Sourdel, Dominique. “The Abbasid Caliphate.” In Cambridge History of Islam, I, 1970, 104–139.

  Shi‘ite Sectarianism

  Brett, Michael. The Rise of the Fatimids: the World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century Hijra, Tenth Century C.E. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2001.

  Brett, Michael. “The Mīm, the ‘Ayn, and the Making of Ismā’īlism.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 57, 1994, 25–39. Reprinted in Brett, Michael, Ibn Khaldun and the Medieval West. Ashgate/Variorum, 1999.