Caliph

the rightful Caliph once the prophet Muhammad dies? What makes a good Caliph? What is to be done with the non-Muslims? What does it mean to be a Muslim? One of the major themes that arose from these questions was the importance of being pious when holding some form of power, whether political or military. Primary sources demonstrate how this theme has come to fruition, such as in a letter to the Caliph Umar II, and Tabari’s The History of Prophet’s and Kings. The letter to Caliph Umar II is important

They were Umar Ibn Al Khattab, Uthman, and Ali Ibn Abi Talib. During the Caliphate of Ali there was much fighting and eventually the Muslim world fell into civil war. The later Caliphs had nominal control over the Islamic states, but interestingly none of them were brought to power by Shura; they all gained control via inheritance or force. Most of today’s Islamic countries have at least some aspects of their government or ruling

the ‘perfect man’, he had so completely given himself to his divine revelations that he influenced Muslim society so fully that it enabled his people to live in harmony (Armstrong 2002, p.24). The death of Muhammad in 632CE saw the emergence of caliphs (supreme religious and political rulers), the first four had all been close to the prophet and had learned directly from his

Baghdad and Istanbul, beautiful cities that both faced conquests from two different large and powerful empires, both were a tribe of nomads from Central/North Asia. The fall of these cities was separated by about 200 years, where Mongols took Baghdad in 1258 and ruled for about a hundred years, and the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453 and for about four hundred years. Although, these two great empires came from the same region, had very much in common, yet the way they treated the cities and

individual was the architect of the Abbasid victory, was put to death by the second Abbasid Caliph, Al- Mansur. However, the Abbasids did prove loyal to their Persian mawali allies. In fact, Abbasid culture would come to be dominated by the legacy of Persian civilization. The Abbasid court was heavily influenced by Persian customs, and members of the powerful Persian Barmakid family acted as the advisers of the caliphs and rivaled them in wealth and power. One of the earliest and most important changes

was the rightful heir to lead Muslims after the Prophet’s death. Abu Bakr was arguably his closest confidant throughout their lives, and Abu Bakr understood the Messenger teachings the best. It can also be argued that that Ali would be the fourth caliph instead of the first because choosing a successor to the Prophet based on bloodline could be seen as committing idolatry according to Islamic teaching. This difference among opinion started the day that Muhammad died. This death of the prophet created

allows them not only to get things done, but get them done efficiently. Whether we want to accept it, ISIS is a state, and we need to treat it as such. On the 29th of June in 2014, ISIS announced that a caliphate has been establish and the caliph was to be Caliph Ibrahim. The saying goes, “In order to kill a snake, one must cut off its head.” The head of ISIS is the caliphate in Iraq/Syria. I believe that collapsing the caliphate will collapse the organization. I have a proposed

Shia had an entirely different view on Abu Bakr, and on whom the next successor should be. The Shia’s emerged as a political division over who should lead the community. They believed that Ali, the Prophet’s son in law and cousin, should be the First Caliph. The word Shia quite literally means party of Ali. They wanted to keep the succession well in the family line, and had a tarnished view of Abu Bakr. The believed that Ali was a part of the Ahlul-Bayth -- people of the family or home. The Ahlul-Byath

to the Islamic religion. After Muhammad’s passing, he continued to spread the word through many friends and family members, who converted based off of his teachings. He became the first Muslim caliph, who helped further succeed the actions taken out by Muhammad. Umar, one of the most powerful Muslim caliphs in history, came to power after Abu Bakr’s death. Under his rule, the caliphate expanded exponentially, taking over more than half of the Byzantine empire. Umar expanded even further politically

cabinet of advisers, plus the Shura Council. The Shura Council is responsible for making sure ISIS’ actions all align with their original beliefs. Theoretically, the Shura council can overthrow Baghdadi (the Caliph); however, as they are all appointed by the Caliph they are unlikely to. Below the Caliph is the executive branch (Al Imara) and two deputies—one in Syria and one in Iraq. Beneath the deputies are 24 governors—twelve in Syria, and twelve in Iraq. Each governor is responsible for their own subset