The signs in the Heavens! 26

[resurrected]

“The history could have been different if Imam Hussain had not been martyred.” I said.
“Yes, it could have been but we don’t know.” He was trying to avoid any controversy by giving his opinion.
“The right of succession was on the side of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the prophet.” I provoked him once again. He ignored my remarks and continued giving me indirect answers to my questions. He believed that there were no rights or wrongs in the history just the bare facts. Who was right and who was wrong depended on the perceiver of the information, who could pass the judgment. According to him if the principle of electing a Caliph was adopted then there existed no hereditary rights, even if one had the blood relation to the prophet The office was for everyone to claim if one had enough support of the members of the council. The subject brought back some memories of direct and indirect selections but he ignored my request to explain his view about the choosing of Caliph, by simply adding that the system died away before it was developed.

He concluded that the failure of the original concept of Caliphate brought few valuable lessons, which he was ready to discuss with me. It proved that the art of governance couldn’t be developed overnight, regardless of how revolutionary the change one brought about, the early days of Islam just exhibited that truth. The expanding Empire couldn’t be controlled and sustained without a perfectly functioning system. It demanded competent and strong hands that could hold the enormous flow of power. It also made obvious that power struggle brought disaster and ultimately forcing the center to shift where there was peace. He also believed that the worldly people were more successful than the spiritual minded simply because they hunger for power was more than a content person and that alone could explain why Mu’aviah, the son of Abu Safyan, the founder of the Umayyad Empire, succeeded in frustrating Ali and his descendants. He belonged to a powerful family of Mecca and the conquest of Mecca didn’t bring any harm to the political power of that family. They were offered the governorship of Syria and that explained the power base they had established over there and where they moved their Capital to after the death of last Caliph Ali.
“Are you Sunni?” I asked.
“We aren’t here to discuss our sectarian belonging” he told me dryly.
“What do you think made Islam spread in the world so rapidly?”
“It must be its revolutionary spirit, its great message” I said and looked triumphantly at him.
“Good, now tell me what was unique in that message and why it was revolutionary?” he asked and made me fumble with the words. At times I really hated him. In his opinion the early conquests of Islam had little to do with the message but the fervor of its adherents and the decadency of the existing powers of the day, the Romans and the Persian Empires. Both of these had had seen their best days and were already on their knees, awaiting the last push before they crumbled and disintegrated. The Muslims had the conviction of fighting for the truth and for the sake of God, who was to take care of them if they perished and was to give them great reward if they succeeded. Such notions brought fearlessness and thus the higher Morales.
“So you also believe that Islam was spread by the sword?” I was a bit cross.
“What else? Don’t we cheat ourselves, let’s look at the reality and confess that what is true. That was the rule of the day. Did the Persians preached to become an Empire, were Romans pacifists when they conquered the world? What about Alexander, did he come all the way to India preaching unity? Come ‘on, don’t be an apologist here.”
He talked once again about the difficulties of early Islam and declared that the presence of strong personalities united the people and abridged the differences, while the opposite conditions were brought about when some charismatic personality departed. The Prophet was such a personality and when he was gone back to his source, it was never the same even though his Umma’h had his teachings with them. Islam was a code of life and yet just a few decades after its birth the separation of political and religious power was a fact.
Mecca and Medina were to remain the spiritual centers of Islam for all times to come but the political base was moved to more established and cosmopolitan city of Damascus. Perhaps it was all due to the divine will, which intended to retain the sanctity of the holy places by removing the cause of corruption somewhere else, he told me smilingly. I felt forced to ponder from his point of view and found it hard to reject the possibility. I tried to fancy and see what the land of the great cities would have looked like, had it been even a political center for centuries. Just the very thought made me dread. Personally I had not been to that part of the world and yet I knew much about that holy land and despised many of its policies and behaviors of its inhabitants. But I held my thoughts to myself, not giving him any chance to give me another lecture about how wrong I was in my judgments.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Excellent text. Your teacher above is a man of superlative vision but founds all his arguments on the basis of sheer hard facts, a rare combination which has something exhilirating about it.

[stingingnettle]

Often it is hard to see the truth unless you are staring at the the wrong end of a gun barrel.

The rise and fall of any nation of faith is dependent on it's understanding of what is more important; the message or the messenger. When a people or a nation answers this question correctly; then the next knock on their door is that of progress and redemption both spiritual and worldly.

[Shimatoree]

Quote " “What do you think made Islam spread in the world so rapidly?”


Simple answers..........

1. The clear decisive political and military leadership of Hazrat Umar and his sub ordinate commanders.

2.The utter degeneration and degradation of the two super powers of the time, Iran and Byzantium. If Julian in Byzantium had been alive or a Cyrus in Iran...........Arabia is where Islam would have remained for sometime.

3.The great military commanders on the ground starting with Khalid Bin Walid.

Oh yes to make it clear.........there were NO MULLAHS then to MUCK IT UP>

[resurrected]

MG,
All dreams remain just dreams but those of them that hold the logic should be followed.

SN,
The more I get to know your thoughts the clearer it gets that we suffer from the same reality. How very sad that we forget the message and place focus at the wrong end.
But that's just one half of the truth, the second half is that we are determined to remain blind, deaf and dumb.

Shim,
You're right about the possible causes that made the conquests possible.
You ended the comment by pointing out the Mullahs,
Just a few decades ago, they could be bought by good food alone, nowadays there are even billionaires among them who can feed tens of thousands.
Don't you agree we live in hilarious times?