Board index Pak Vision The signs in the Heavens! 25

The signs in the Heavens! 25

Pak Vision is a platform where all are welcome sharing their version of dreams about Pakistan and it's future.
Unread post Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:36 am
A Century without a Caliph

After the death of the prophet, Abu Baker was chosen as a Caliph, who died after 27 months due to old age. He was succeeded by Umar, who reigned a decade. Uthman became the next Caliph and remained so for another twelve years. By the year 661, five years after the assassination of Uthman, even the last Caliph Ali was murdered. There came the end of the early Caliphs of Islam, three of four being murdered. The mystery man didn’t want to go into details as he wished to remain out from the sectarian differences existing out there in perception of the history. Who was wrong and who was right had nothing to do with him, he made clear. So the adherents of most revolutionary religion had failed to remain united and thus drifted apart within the thirty years from the death of their prophet. The center of the newly emerged Empire was to permanently shift away from the birthplace of Islam.

The rise of Umayyad dynasty was a fact in history and the new Capital was Damascus, which was to remain so for almost a century till the rise of a new dynasty, Abbasid, which shifted the capital to Baghdad. That was indeed the golden era of Islam, when the Muslims much to the world in all fields of life. The rulers were still called Caliphs but they had little to do with the religion or the teachings of Islam. These Caliphs were as worldly as were there temporal powers. This period however lasted for almost five hundred years and was utterly destroyed by Genghis Khan’s predecessors, the famous Mongol armies led by Halagu Khan. Year 1258 saw the end of Abbasid Empire but a new Muslim Empire was in the making in Minor Asia, where Ottoman Empire emerged in the end of the same century. This Empire lasted for about six hundred years and disappeared as a result of defeat in the First World War. He had kept his policy of not entering into details about these Empires, leaving up to me to read and find out if I was interested in the subject. What all the historical information had to do with our subject, I wondered but then smiled remembering that all the topic he had touched till then had also little relevance to our topic. The end of the Ottoman Empire came in 1923 and that was also the end of Caliphate in the Muslim world. From the ruins of this great Empire the modern Turkey was to get born, which quickly distanced itself from the religious bonds and declared itself a secular state.
The demise of the Ottoman Empire brought liberation to many former provinces and new states were born. Nowhere was the shock of fall of the Empire more visible than in the subcontinent, where a Caliphate movement was started but the history had decreed so there was little any movement could do to save the dead. His sigh indicated that he had come to the end of his brief introduction and thus our session could start.
“What’s the purpose of narrating all about the Muslim history?” I was prompt.
“Narrating all about the Muslim History!” He exclaimed before bursting into laughter. “Do you believe that the Muslim history is that short that we can discuss it in few minutes? What I briefly told you is nothing but a drop from the ocean,” he said and watched me carefully before continuing. “Obviously you have failed to see my point of telling you about these three most important Muslim Empires, so you may ask whatever question you wish about the subject and I’ll try to explain.”
Was there any special connection between the three Empires, I asked and he just smiled, I didn’t like that smile of his.
There was no connection between the three Empires except that all three were Muslim and had a head, who called himself as a Caliph, which was practically not different than any other king or the Emperor of that time. The Caliphs were Muslim kings, who inherited the Empire by birth right. The concept of choosing the Caliph had died away with the death of the last one of early Caliphs. The experiment of democratic elected Caliph simply couldn’t work with so early schism appearing among the Muslims. It was obvious that the political and the religious powers were not identical in nature and thus the strife between the two. The concentration of both worldly and spiritual powers in the hands of Caliph was too much a provocation for the opposing forces. If the pious companions of the prophet couldn’t hold the both powers successfully and rule in peace then no one in any times could do the same. The murders of three fourth of the early Caliphs was a clear message, the religion and the politics were not compatible, he stated.

Return to Pak Vision

cron