The Prophet died without appointing a successor or advising his companions how to manage their affairs upon his death. He did not address the problem of succession or what form of a political system to adopt. He had sensed since the month of Dhul-Hijjah, in 11 AH, that he didn’t have much longer to live, and he was very ill for ten days, between the later part of Safar and the first part of Rabi al-Awwal, yet he made a conscious decision to leave the matter of succession in the hands of his followers. Most likely he believed that his companions, the shura (council) would follow the tribal tradition of electing new chief.
After Muhammad
As soon as the Ansar (Helpers) learned of the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the head of the Khazraj tribe, S’ad ibn Ubada, called for the shura to elect a successor. The call went out only to the leaders of the Ansar; the Muhajirun (Emigrants) were not invited. When the Muhajirun learned about the Ansar’s meeting, they turned up in force, led by Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, and gate-crashed the meeting to stop what they considered a plot to seize the succession and deprive the Muhajirun of their rights.
The debate between the Muhajirun and the Ansar took a long time and reached a deadlock. The debate became violent and physical. Loyalties shifted, and finally the two groups chose Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s best friend and closest companion, who had been among the first to adopt Islam and had emigrated with him. This choice was made for the sake of maintaining the unity of Islam and out of fear of discord and civil war.
Abu Bakr realized that it was essential for him to earn the support of the Meccans in order to save the Islamic Commonwealth. With the loyalty of the Ansar in doubt and many of the Arab tribes deserting, only Mecca, the former enemy city which had submitted to Muhammad just two years before, could provide the forces needed to put down the rebellion in Arabia. Since their surrender, the Meccans had done very well under the rule of Islam. Muhammad had treated them most generously and had appointed many of them to powerful positions as army leaders, governors, and almstax collectors. Now Abu Bakr had more to offer them than Muhammad ever have done. Abu Bakr had established their right to rule Arabia in the name of Islam, due to his claim that the Arabs would not obey anyone else. 344
The Burial of the Prophet’s Body
While the shura was taking place at the Saqifat Bani Sa’ida, Ali ibn Abi Talib, al–Abbas’s two sons al-Fadl and Qutham, Usama ibn Zaid, and Shaqran, the Prophet’s servant, were preparing the Prophet’s body for burial.345 Ali did not participate in the shura, but stayed in Aisha’s chamber with the body. To leave the man who had been father and mentor before consigning him back to the earth was out of the question.
By the time Ali and his kinsmen heard the news of Abu Bakr’s election, Muhammad had been dead a full day and a half; custom decreed that a body be buried within twenty-four hours. In the intense June heat, the matter of burial was becoming urgent. It must have crossed Ali’s mind at that moment, before he proceeded with the burial process: why was it urgent to convene the shura with such haste? What harm would have been done if those at the meeting had suspended their debate for a day to give their Prophet’s body what it deserved of honor before resuming their deliberation?
In the small hours of that Wednesday morning, Ali and his kinsmen dug the grave at the foot of the sleeping platform, honoring Muhammad’s wish to be buried, like all prophets, where he had died. When it was deep enough, they tipped up the pallet holding the Prophet’s body, slid it down into the earth, quickly covered it, and placed the stone slab of the platform on top. None of the wives was present, nor any of the other Emigrants, nor any of the Helpers. 346
The Public Oath of Allegiance to Abu Bakr
On the day after allegiance was sworn to Abu Bakr in Saqifat Bani Sa’ida, the Muslims gathered in the mosque. As Abu Bakr sat on the pulpit, Umar stood up and said: “Allah has left among you His book, which contains the guidance of Allah and His Messenger. If you adhere to it, Allah will guide you to that to which He guided him. Allah has united you under the leadership of the best among you, the Companion of the Messenger of Allah, the second of the two when they were in the cave; so get up and swear your allegiance to him.”
After the people in the mosque swore their allegiance, Abu Bakr spoke:
O people, I have been appointed over you, but I am not the best of you. If I do well, support me, and if I do wrong, correct me. Truthfulness is sincerity, and dishonesty is a betrayal. The weak one among you is strong in my eyes until I restore his rights, if Allah wills; and the strong one of you is weak in my eyes until I take what is due from him, if Allah wills. If people abandon jihad for the sake of Allah, He will humiliate them. If immorality becomes widespread among the people, Allah will send His punishment upon them all. Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His Messenger; if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, you have no duty to obey me. Get up and pray, may Allah have mercy on you. 347
Abu Bakr was the closest companion to the Prophet. His friendship with Muhammad was well established a long time prior to the revelation. He had been among the first to accept Islam, and was the most dedicated to the message of Islam. He had succeeded in bringing a large group of prominent and influential Meccans into the fold of Islam in the early phase of the message. He was closely involved in managing and planning the affairs of the Muslim community. As a trusted adviser to Muhammad, he was the most committed companion to the message of Islam and the expansion of its authority over all Arabia and beyond. No doubt Muhammad had shared with Abu Bakr his vision of conquering the Persian and Byzantine empires in order to bring both Syria and Mesopotamia under the mantle of Islam. Abu Bakr believed that the political successor to the Prophet must have a full understanding of this vision, as well as the ability to develop a clear plan of implementation. He was confident that he could be that man. Abu Bakr also recognized that, without a nomination by the Prophet, he would have to work hard to neutralize any potential opposition. 348
The initiative of the Ansar to choose a leader among themselves was a true stroke of luck for Abu Bakr. It gave him the chance to present himself as the spokesman for the unity of the Muslim community. The absence of the majority of the Muhajirun in that meeting had limited the choices and made him the most eligible for the post. If Ali had been in the meeting, he would have been accepted by the Ansar or even been proposed by them. Not only was Ali a Quraysh man, but he was also the closest relative of Muhammad. Abd Shams, one of the two most powerful clans of the Quraysh, would have backed Ali’s nomination, had he been present. Several prominent members of the Meccan clans refused to support Abu Bakr because of this. 349 Thus, in spite of Umar’s claim that the necks of all Muslims were stretched out for Abu Bakr, he did not have full support. The Muslim community in Madina was divided into different factions: the Ansar, Ahl al-Bayt (the Banu Hashim), the early Meccan companions, and the newly converted Meccans.
Umar took charge of securing the pledge of allegiance of all the residents of Madina. He dominated the streets of the city with the help of leaders of the Khuza’a and the Aws. Umar gathered a group of armed men and led them to Ali’s house. Umar threatened to set the house on fire unless they came out and swore allegiance to Abu Bakr. Al-Zubayr came out with his sword drawn, but stumbled and lost it, whereupon Umar’s men jumped upon him. When Ali refused to come out, Umar threw his whole weight against the door, and when the latches and hinges gave and it burst open, Umar rushed in and slammed with full force into the person standing on the other side of the door. That person was Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, several months pregnant with the Prophet’s third grandson. Fatima fell to the ground, doubled over in pain; her arm was broken and her chest was bruised. Umar retreated and left. A few weeks later, Fatima gave birth to a stillborn infant. 350
The failure of Umar’s mission to convince Ali and the Banu Hashim to pledge allegiance to the new ruler, Abu Bakr, prompted Abu Bakr to subject them to financial pressure and social boycott. When Fatima sent a message to Abu Bakr asking for her share of her father’s estate—date palm orchards in the oases of Khaybar and Fadak— his response was that the Prophet’s estate belonged to the community and not to his family. He claimed that the Prophet had confided to him: “We Prophets do not have heirs; whatever we leave is alms.” At the same time, he made a point of providing generously for Muhammad’s wives, particularly for his own daughter Aisha, who received valuable property in Madina as well as in Bahrain. 351
Ali was subjected to different kinds of pressure to bring him in line and force him to pledge to Abu Bakr. He was subjected to social boycott. People turned their backs, friends kept their distance, and acquaintances passed by in silence. Even in the mosque, Ali prayed alone. Fatima refused to bow to the pressure. When she got sick and knew that her death would come soon, she asked Ali for a burial like that of her father. She requested that Abu Bakr not be informed when it happened; he was to be given no chance to officiate at her funeral. She was to be buried quietly, with her close family, only Banu Hashim, in attendance. Ali honored Fatima’s wishes. He buried her in the dead of night, as he had so recently buried her father. Then he conceded and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. Ali had been loyal to Fatima to the end, but many tribes in northern and central Arabia were rebelling, so there was no time to hold grudges. He would pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr for the sake of unity in the face of the rebellion, for the good of the community, and to present a solid front against the forces of divisiveness. 352 Ali’s pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr put an end to the isolation of the Banu Hashim and, on the surface, closed the ranks of the Muslims in support of Abu Bakr. Yet there was no reconciliation, and there could not be. Ali knew that Abu Bakr would do all he could to keep the Banu Hashim away from power and influence. Abu Bakr likewise understood the insincerity of Ali’s pledge of allegiance. Ali stayed away from Abu Bakr, and the latter was hardly eager to draw him into his company.
Muhammad’s Vision
Muhammad’s message was one of social justice demanded by Allah, the creator. His message was aimed at establishing justice in Arabia and beyond. He was the messenger for all humanity. He was confident that his message would prevail in Arabia; he was also confident that the Muslim community of Arabia would spread justice throughout the world and the Arabs would lead a universal revolution aimed at justice for all.
In the first twelve years after he received the revelation, Muhammad was able to mentor a special group of companions in Mecca while he was preaching the entire community. He was hopeful of reforming the Meccan community and bringing his tribe, the Quraysh, to Islam as a first step toward reforming all Arabia. During these first twelve years, Muhammad faced strong resistance from the Quraysh aristocracy that forced him to flee with his companions from the city of Mecca, fearing for their safety and life. The city of Yathrib, al Madina al Munawwarah, became his new home where he carried out his reforms and established his Muslim community.
Over the eight years that followed, he was engaged in a series of wars defending his new city and spreading the message of Islam. In the eighth year, he returned to Mecca victorious. The Quraysh surrendered to Muhammad and accepted Islam. He was able to protect Mecca and retain its sanctity; he pardoned his tribe and accepted them as real Muslims and partners in his drive toward completing his mission. During the last two years of his life, he expanded his message to almost all Arabia and started preparing for the next phase of his mission: expansion to the north toward Syria.
Muhammad’s military expedition to Tabuk was a reconnaissance of the route to Syria, and an assertion that the Muslim sphere of influence extended beyond the borders of Arabia. The treaties with the Christian communities in the Gulf of Akaba region implied that this assertion of a sphere of influence was intended to be permanent. The Tabuk expedition was a major military project that required the Prophet to recruit all the forces he had at his disposal. He prepared the Muslims for a battle against the Byzantines and their Christian Arab allies who were planning to invade Arabia and attack Madina. When the Muslims found no traces of any Byzantine forces, the Prophet had the option to move on to Syria or return to Madina. It appears that the assessment of the situation by the Prophet and his companions led to a decision not to proceed with the invasion at that time. And when he returned to Madina, he started exploring what was needed for a successful invasion. Although the Prophet had received delegations from all over Arabia, the commitment of those delegates and the tribes they represented was not firm. Some of them pledged loyalty without committing themselves to being Muslims, while others declared their acceptance of the faith of Islam and told the Prophet that he could rely on their complete support. When Muhammad returned from Tabuk, he realized that the expansion to the north would require the full and complete submission of Arabia to Islam and to the authority of the Muslim state. This new policy became evident when he sent Ali ibn Abi Talib to Mecca during the pilgrimage of 9 AH to deliver the Declaration of No Place for Unbelievers in Arabia. The Prophet intended to unite Arabia under the banner of Islam, so that loyalty to Islam and the Muslim state superseded all others. He believed that the subjugation of all of Arabia to his rule had to materialize before he embarked on the Syrian adventure.
The Prophet was counting on the new converts of Mecca to assist in achieving this goal. He was also aware of the Meccans’ ability to control and utilize the power of the Bedouins of northern Hijaz in future wars. He utilized the Meccans’ talent, fully, to enhance the power of the Muslim state. He appointed many of their prominent men to important administrative and military positions. They accepted Islam and demonstrated their sincere loyalty and support for the Prophet’s policies and plans. As experienced merchants, they realized the potential material gains of the expansion of the Muslim state north to include Syria. Not only would the old trade route between South Arabia and Syria be revived, but Muslims would also be able to gain control of the trade routes of East Arabia (the Persian/Arab Gulf routes).
Abu Bakr Khalifat Rasul Allah
After taking power, Abu Bakr adopted the official title Khalifat Rasul Allah, Successor of the Messenger of God. As the new ruler of the Muslim state, two urgent issues need to be addressed immediately: The military campaign toward Syria that had been ordered by the Prophet, and the revolt of the Arab tribes against his authority (the Riddah, or the Apostasy).
The Army of Usama
An examination of the list of leaders whom Abu Bakr appointed to command the Muslim armies that conquered Arabia shows that he relied heavily on the Meccan aristocracy for the implementation of his plans. It is very important to mention here that the prominent military commanders who served during the life of the Prophet did not play a role in Abu Bakr’s wars. It is also important to note that these prominent early Muhajirun commanders played an important role during Umar’s reign after Abu Bakr.
Abu Bakr declared his intention as caliph to follow the policies and practices of Muhammad in every respect. So the day after he received the public pledge of allegiance in the mosque, in order to comply with the Prophet’s wishes, he ordered the planned campaign toward the Syrian border areas to go ahead. As ordered by the Prophet, all the distinguished companions who were available for war were sent to the army camp at al-Jurf to serve under the command of the youthful Usama. Even Umar was sent to the camp. For the next few days the preparation continued, even as reports of the rapid spread of the apostasy arrived.
The expedition had been decided by the Prophet a few weeks after he returned from the Farewell Pilgrimage. Abu Bakr’s decision to send the army of Usama was a clear message that he was following Muhammad’s policy of expansion, and that he was determined to implement this policy immediately and without any delay.
A group of prominent companions suggested to Abu Bakr that he should keep the army in Madina, saying: “This army has most of the Muslims; many tribes have rebelled against you; you should not send away the majority of the Muslims.” Usama himself sent Umar ibn al-Khattab from the camp with a message to Abu Bakr, asking him to permit the army to remain at Madina. He stated: “All the leaders of the community are with me; if we go, none will be left to prevent the infidels from tearing Madina to pieces.” As Umar was leaving the camp to deliver this message, he was met by a group of leaders who made the same suggestions, adding: “If he does not agree to our remaining in Madina, ask him to place an older commander than Usama.” Abu Bakr disagreed, and insisted that the military campaign should continue to move toward Syria under the command of Usama, no matter what the circumstances or the outcome. 353
On June 24, 632 CE, (the first of Rabi-al-Akhir, 11 AH) the army of Usama broke camp and moved out. Abu Bakr walked some distance beside the mounted Usama and refused to let the young commander dismount from his horse. Then he asked if he could keep Umar with him as adviser, to which Usama agreed.
On leaving Madina with three thousand men, Usama marched to Tabuk, where most of the tribes in the region had opposed Abu Bakr’s authority. He swept across the land with fire and the sword, and raided Quza’a and Daumat-al-Jandal. Next Usama marched to Mu’ta, fought the tribes of Kalb and Ghassan and avenged his father’s blood, and then returned safely to Madina, after being away for forty days, bringing with him large number of captives and a considerable amount of wealth, part of which comprised the spoils of war and part the taxes paid by the repentant tribes.
The Apostasy
As soon as the people of Arabia learned of the death of the Prophet, all the Arab tribes, with the exception of those in Mecca, Madina, and Taif, revolted against the political and religious authority of Madina and broke their oaths of allegiance. This revolt became known in the history of Islam as the Apostasy (al-Riddah).
Montgomery Watt, the Western historian, accepts the view of the Muslim historians that this movement is best described as apostasy: “In the Riddah the religious and political factors were inseparably mixed with one another The Riddah was a movement away from the religious, social, economic, and political system of Islam, and so was anti-Islamic In al-Bahrayn and ‘Uman there seems to have been little mention of religion; but elsewhere the special feature of the Riddah was the appearance of ‘false prophets,’ each preaching a new religion with himself as centre.” 354
Most of the tribes who had converted in the last two years of the Prophet’s life became Muslims mainly for political reasons. They saw Muhammad as powerful political leader, the head of the Muslim state of Madina, rather than a prophet, the Messenger of Allah. The victories Muhammad achieved over Khaybar, Mecca, and Hawazin made him the most powerful and influential leader in all Arabia. The true Muslims were the Muslims of Mecca and Madina who had been mentored by the Prophet for many years. They were the companions who defended the message of Islam from persecution and all attempts by the unbelievers to destroy their community. The tribes who revolted had not enjoyed this spiritual experience. In most cases, when a chief became a Muslim, the tribe followed him out of tribal loyalty rather than religious conviction. With the death of the Prophet, the tribes felt free to renounce their allegiance, as they considered their commitment to have been made to a person and not to the state or religion. 355
The traditional accounts of the Muslim historians concerning the Riddah state that it was a religious movement directed against Islam, and that the death of the Prophet signaled the beginning of the tribes’ break with Islam, change of belief, and revolt against the authority of Madina. Some of the leaders of the movement were “false prophets” who propagated a religion far inferior to Islam. Other tribal leaders were chieftains and elders who did not claim prophethood but united with the false prophets in their treacherous designs to extinguish the flame of Islam and return to tribal independence.
Bernard Lewis focuses on another dimension of the Riddah. He says:
The refusal of the tribes to recognize the succession of Abu Bakr was in effect not a relapse by converted Muslims to their previous paganism, but rather the simple and automatic termination of a political contract by the death of one of the parties. The tribes nearest Madina had in fact been converted and their interests were so closely identified with those of the Umma that their separate history has not been recorded. For the rest, the death of Muhammad automatically severed their bonds with Madina, and the parties resumed their liberty of action. Having taken no part in the election of Abu Bakr, they apparently felt no obligation to him, and at once suspended both tribute and treaty relations. To restore the hegemony of Madina, Abu Bakr had to make new treaties. While some of the nearer tribes accepted those, the more distant ones refused, and Abu Bakr was compelled to undertake the military subjugation of these tribes as a prelude to their conversion. 356
The obligation of Muslims to pay a regular annual tax, rather than giving voluntary alms, was initiated in the year 9 AH. At first, only a few loyal tribes were asked to pay the tax. The tax collectors were members of the tribes themselves. During the last year of the Prophet’s life, the enforcement of the alms-tax was handled with caution and discretion on the part of the Prophet. There are no reports of any force used against tribes failing to pay. Muslims were required to pray, to fast, to join collectively in jihad and to give voluntary alms. When the alms became an obligatory tax, it took on a different meaning to the Arab tribes; they felt that they had lost their autonomy, especially when the tax collectors started to inspect and assess private property. It meant the subjugation of the tribe to a ruler or government, something the tribes resisted. 357
At the beginning of the year 11 AH, just two months before his death, Muhammad sent out tax collectors to the tribes of Hijaz. On the other hand, in the outlying regions he asked the autonomous governors to collect the tax, which most likely was not as obligatory or accurate as it was from the Hijaz region. Upon the Prophet’s death, many of the loyal tribes who recognized Abu Bakr as the successor of the Messenger refused to pay the alms-tax. Umar and Abu Ubayda urged Abu Bakr to rescind the tax for the year and to treat the tribes loyal to Islam leniently in order to enlist their support for the fight against those who abandoned Islam. Abu Bakr rejected any compromise on the tax, making it the yardstick for the loyalty of the tribes to Islam itself. He insisted that those refusing payment of the tax were to be treated and fought as apostates, just like those who had abandoned Islam and those who never accepted it. He stated: “If they withheld only a hobbling-cord of what they gave the Prophet, I would fight them for it.” 358
The most immediate threat to Madina was posed by Tuleiha ibn Khuweiled, the chief of the Bani Asad, and the tribes of west-central and north-central Arabia that followed him. Tuleiha had opposed the Prophet for many years, but the Bani Asad had been forced to submit to Muhammad after the Battle of the Moat. During the Prophet’s illness, Tuleiha declared himself a prophet, and after Muhammad’s death, he intensified his efforts and gained the support of the Bani Asad, and severed his ties with Madina.
The concentrations of the Bani Asad nearest to Madina were located in two areas: Abraq, a hundred kilometers northeast of Madina, and Zu Qissa, forty kilometers east of Madina. A week or two after the departure of Usama’s army, the apostates at Zu Qissa sent a delegation to Abu Bakr and informed him that they would continue to pray, but they would not pay any taxes. Abu Bakr’s response was: “By Allah, if you withhold a single ounce of what is due from you, I shall fight you. I allow you one day in which to give your reply.” The following morning, before the end of the deadline given to them, they left Madina, indicating that they rejected Abu Bakr’s demands. Soon after their departure, Abu Bakr sent his own envoys to all the apostate tribes, stating his position and demanding their obedience. 359
The apostate delegation returned to Zu Qissa and told their people about Abu Bakr’s demands. They also told them that they had noticed no warriors present in Madina. Tuleiha, who was stationed at Sameera, sent his brother Hibal with a contingent to Zu Qissa for reinforcement in preparation for an attack on Madina. When Abu Bakr learned about the apostates’ plan, he mobilized the forces available in Madina. The Bani Hashim, who had remained behind in Madina, joined the Muslim forces. With Ali ibn Abi Talib, al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and Talha ibn Ubeidallah commanding this force, Abu Bakr launched a surprise attack on the apostate camp in Zu Qissa and drove them back. After the defeat of the apostates at Zu Qissa, several apostate clans turned viciously upon those of their members who remained Muslims and slaughtered them. The killing was done mercilessly; some Muslims were burnt alive and others thrown from the top of cliffs. On the other hand, the Muslims’ victory at Zu Qissa, though not decisive, had raised spirits. Some of the apostate tribes living near Madina repented, rejoined the faith, and paid their taxes. Shortly after the victory at Zu Qissa, the army of Usama was back with captives and wealth. 360
Abu Bakr decided that he needed more time before launching a general offensive. He made sure that the army was well rested and equipped. The target now was Abraq, where the apostate forces were gathered. Abu Bakr himself led the Muslim army toward Abraq, in the second week of August 632 CE, (third week of Jammadi- Al-Awwal, 11 AH). When the Muslims arrived in Abraq, they found that the enemy was already formed up in battle array. Without delay, Abu Bakr deployed his army and attacked the apostates. The apostates, who were numerically superior, initially resisted the Muslim attack, but at the end their defenses broke down and they were forced to flee to Buzakha. The clans living in the countryside of Abraq repented and paid the tax. 361
While these conflicts were initially defensive, aimed at preventing the apostates from attacking Madina, Abu Bakr realized that subjugation of the rebel tribes would require a powerful Muslim army and a detailed strategic plan. He had to fight not one but several enemies. He had to deal with widespread apostasy on the eastern and southern coasts of Arabia. There was also apostasy in the region south and east of Mecca. Quza’a in northern Arabia rebelled again after the return of the army of Usama.
While Abu Bakr was at Zu Qissa, in early August 632 CE after the battle in Abraq, he began the development of a strategic military plan, as well as the preparation of the Muslim army for the final war against the apostates who controlled most of Arabia. By the end of August 632 CE (early Jamadi-al-Akhir, 11 AH), he was ready to start the campaign of apostasy that would result in the liberation (or conquest) of Arabia.
The Conquest of Arabia
Abu Bakr formed eleven corps, each under its own commander. The available manpower was distributed among these corps; while some commanders were given immediate missions, others were given missions to be launched later so that previous campaigns could lend support. Diplomacy was used alongside military force to defeat the rebels and convince the tribes to commit to remaining faithful to Islam and to paying taxes. The commanders were also instructed to pick up brave men on the way as they marched to their objectives—from the northern borders of Syria and Tabuk through Medina, Yamama, Bahrain, Oman, Mahra, Yemen, and Kinda.
As soon as the corps were ready to march, Abu Bakr sent envoys to all apostate tribes with a final offer to submit. These envoys were given the instructions to call upon the tribes to return to Islam and render full submission; if they did so, there would be forgiveness and peace; those who resisted would be fought until no opposition remained, and their women and children would be enslaved. The commanders of the Muslim forces were asked to call the azan (the Muslim call to prayer) before the attack; if the tribe responded and attended the prayers, it would be assumed that it had submitted. The commander would then ask the tribe to confirm its submission by paying the taxes. If confirmed, there would be no attack. Those who did not answer the azan, or did not confirm full submission after the azan, would be dealt with by fire and sword. Abu Bakr also instructed the commanders to kill all apostates who had killed Muslims. As soon as the instructions were conveyed to the commanders, Khalid ibn al-Walid marched off, to be followed a little later by Ikrama and Amr ibn al-As. The other corps were held back to be dispatched weeks or even months later, depending on the progress of Khalid’s operations.
The Battle of Buzakha: The End of Tuleiha’s Campaign
The major battles against the apostates by the Muslim army were the Battle of Buzakha and the Battle of Yamama. With the spread of apostasy, Tuleiha received offers of support from the major tribes of north-central Arabia. He gathered his forces at Sameera, and after the Muslims’ operations against Zu Qissa and Abraq, he moved with his army to Buzakha. Contingents from the Ghatafan and Tayy tribes joined him in the new location.
Abu Bakr asked Adi ibn Hatim, the chief of the Tayy, who was a devout Muslim, to join Khalid’s corps. When Adi had tried to prevent the apostasy of the Tayy, they had renounced him, and he had been forced to leave the tribe along with a group of his faithful supporters. Abu Bakr asked Adi to try again to persuade the Tayy to abandon Tuleiha. As Khalid marched toward Buzakha, he turned left to the area south of the Aja Mountains, where the tribe of Tayy was gathered. This time, Adi succeeded in persuading his tribe to return to the fold of Islam and join Khalid’s army. Adi also persuaded another apostate tribe, the tribe of Jadeela, who lived close by, to return to Islam and join the Muslim army. Jadeela provided Khalid a thousand warriors. With the strength of his corps augmented by these men and five hundred horsemen from the Tayy, Khalid was now much stronger than when he had left Zu Qissa. His corps swelled to six thousand men.
The two forces met on the plain of Buzakha in the middle of September, 632 CE. Khalid’s forces dealt the rebels a decisive defeat, cutting down all who did not retreat; Tuleiha fled to Syria. Khalid pursued the apostates who had withdrawn to Ghamra and Naqra, defeating them and taking their commanders prisoner.
While the Battle of Buzakha was being fought, the tribes of Amir and certain clans of Hawazin and Bani Suleim stood aside and watched. These tribes came to Khalid and submitted after the battle had ended. Soon other groups of repentant Arabs began to pour into Buzakha. “We submit!” was the universal cry. But Khalid refused to accept their submission (which meant that they could be attacked, killed, or enslaved) until they had handed over every murderer in the tribe. To this the tribes agreed. All the murderers were lined up. Khalid’s justice was swift; each murderer was killed in exactly the same manner as he had employed to kill his Muslim victim.
At Zafar a large concentration of apostates had gathered: a clan of the Ghatfan tribe under the command of Salma (Umm Ziml), along with those who survived the battles at Buzakha, Ghamra and Naqra. Salma’s father, Malik ibn Huzeifa, was a prominent chief of the Ghatfan; her mother, Umm Qirfa, was also an important figure, well respected and admired by the leaders of the Ghatfan tribe. During the life of the Prophet, Umm Quirfa had fought against the Muslims and had been captured in battle and killed. Salma had been taken captive and led to Madina, where the Prophet presented her as a slave to his wife, Aisha, but Salma was not happy, so Aisha had set her free.
Khalid marched his corps from Buzakha to Zafar, where the army of Islam came face to face with Salma’s army. Khalid took the initiative and attacked the enemy. It was a hard battle for the Muslims. While Khalid was able to drive back the wings, he could make no progress against the center. Salma, who personally commanded the center of her army, surrounded by her bravest warriors, stood firm. Khalid realized that the fighting would continue as long as Salma was alive, so he led a group of exceptionally strong warriors and attacked Salma’s camel. As soon as the camel was brought down, Salma fell down too and was killed; with her death, all resistance collapsed. Salma’s father, Malik ibn Huzeifa, appealed to Khalid for clemency and pledged fealty to Islam, offering the taxes as proof of repentance, but his apostasy and support for the fighters at Zafar made his apostasy clear. Khalid put him to death in reprisal for his deeds.
The Battle of Yamama
Museilima was one of the prominent leaders of the Bani Hanifah, one of the largest tribes of Arabia who inhabited the region of Yamama. During the Year of Delegations, the Bani Hanifah had sent their representatives to Madina and submitted to Muhammad. Although Museilima accompanied the delegation to Madina, he did not meet Muhammad, as he stayed behind to guard his comrades’ mounts in their camp outside Madina. When the delegation returned home, the whole tribe converted to Islam. Museilima did not become Muslim, but proclaimed prophethood during Muhammad’s lifetime. After the death of Muhammad, Museilima gained the support of the whole Bani Hanifah tribe. Not all believed in his divine mission, but most of them accepted him for political reasons, motivated by tribal loyalty.
Abu Bakr had appointed Ikrama ibn Abi Jahl as commander of one of the eleven corps, instructing him to march toward Yamama and make contact with the army of Museilima, but not to get involved in battle with his forces. Abu Bakr was aware of the strength of the Bani Hanifah and did not wish to risk fighting them with insufficient forces. The purpose of establishing a Muslim base in Yamama was to keep Museilima occupied while Khalid was carrying out his missions in Buzakha and elsewhere. The caliph had decided that Khalid, his finest general, would command the Muslim forces against Museilima after he had finished with the other enemies. In preparation for the battle against the Bani Hanifah, Abu Bakr instructed Shurahbeel ibn Hasana to march toward Yamama and join Ikrama’s forces; again, he asked both commanders not to engage in any military action, and to wait for further instructions.
When Ikrama learned that Khalid had routed the two forces of both Tuleiha and Salma, he could not restrain himself from trying to seize glory as well. Without waiting for Khalid or Shurahbeel, he set his corps in motion and attacked Museilima’s position, but his offensive failed and the Muslims suffered a serious defeat. He had to retreat to his base after losing many men. Abu Bakr, who was extremely disappointed by Ikrama’s disobedience, changed Ikrama’s assignment and instructed him to leave Yamama and proceed with his forces to Uman to assist Huzeifa. Shurahbeel, now, was given the responsibility of remaining in contact with the forces of Museilima and waiting for further instructions. 362
Finally Khalid’s army arrived, and early on a cold morning in the third week of December 632 CE (the beginning of Shawwal, 11 AH) the battle of Yamama began. Khalid had thirteen thousand men, among them several famous Muslim leaders. Museilima commanded an army of forty thousand warriors. Both armies were organized into a center and two wings. In this battle, Khalid formed his men not in tribal groups, as had been the custom before, but in regiments with tribal contingents intermingled.
Khalid took the initiative to attack, throwing his opponent on the defensive. He led the center and cut down every man who came before him. But the enemy stood firm and fought fanatically, preferring death to giving up an inch of ground. Museilima fought defensively initially, but after some time, he ordered a general counterattack all along the front. The apostates moved forward like a tidal wave and forced the Muslims back. Some lack of cohesion was now felt in the Muslim regiments due to the mixture of tribal contingents, which were not yet accustomed to fighting side by side. Gradually the numerical superiority began to affect the fighting; the Muslims proceeded to fall back steadily and were forced to withdraw. As the apostates’ assault became bolder, the Muslim withdrawal turned into a confused retreat. Some Muslim regiments fled; others soon followed their example, causing a general exodus from the battlefield. The Muslim army passed through its camp and went beyond it before it stopped. 363
As the Muslims left the plain of Aqraba, the apostates, in an instinctive reaction, stopped at the Muslim’s camp and began plundering it. While his opponents were occupied with looting, Khalid had the time to prepare his army for the second offensive. He reformed his army in tribal regiments, and once the reorganization was complete, he advanced to the plain of Aqraba. The Muslims then launched violent assaults all along the front. The apostates resisted the attack, and the two fronts were locked in mortal combat. Many men from both sides lost their lives. Now Khalid realized that, with their fanatical faith in their false prophet, the apostates would not give in. It was evident that only the death of Museilima could break the spirit of the infidels. Khalid, who had picked a handful of warriors and formed them into a personal bodyguard, stepped out toward the enemy’s center and challenged them to single combat. Several champions came out of the apostate ranks to accept the challenge. Khalid took perhaps a minute to dispose of each opponent. Slowly and steadily he advanced toward Museilima, killing champion after champion until there were none left to challenge. But by now he was close enough to Museilima to talk to him without shouting. Khalid was determined to kill him; the purpose of initiating talks with Museilima was only an attempt to be close enough. As fast as Khalid moved toward him, Museilima was faster to run away. 364
The withdrawal of their prophet had a depressing effect on the spirit of his followers. So Khalid ordered an immediate renewal of the offensive. The apostates began to fall back as the Muslims struck with sword and dagger. Their front broke into pieces, and their top commanders were killed. The commander of the right wing then shouted: “O, Bani Hanifah! The gardens! The gardens! Enter the gardens and I shall protect your rear.” The commander of the right wing covered the retreat with a small rear-guard. This group of warriors was cut to pieces by the Muslims, including their commander. The Muslims pursued the fleeing apostates across the plain of Aqraba, striking down the stragglers left and right. Only a little over seven thousand men, Museilima among them, reached the gardens, and felt safe and secure after they closed the gate. Barra ibn Malik, a distinguished and well-respected companion, managed to climb the wall and jumped into the garden. In a minute or so managed to kill two or three men of the enemy who stood between him and the gate. As soon as he opened the gate, a new phase of the battle of Yamama began. The Muslims poured into the gardens through the gate. Both sides became engaged in vicious fighting. Museilima drew his sword and joined in the combat, surprising the Muslims with his strength and skills. Abu Dajana, the famous savage who had murdered Hamza in the battle of Uhud, tightened his grip on his javelin when he saw Museilima. From his position some distance behind the Muslim front, he moved forward to get within javelin range of his target; with a practiced eye, he measured the distance and then released his weapon. The javelin struck Museilima in the belly, and as soon as he fell, Abu Dajana was upon him. With one stroke, Abu Dajana’s sword severed Museilima’s head. The cry of Abu Dajana announcing the death of Museilima was heard by everyone, and it put an end to the fighting. 365
With the successful conclusion of the Battle of Yamama, most of Arabia was freed of the apostates. The battle of Yamama was the fiercest and the bloodiest battle fought in the history of Islam thus far. The apostates lost 21,000 men. Twelve hundred Muslims fell as martyrs, included three hundred of those who knew the Quran by heart. Two of the Muslim commanders were among the martyrs; Zayd (Umar’s brother), the commander of the right wing, and Huzeifa, the commander of the left wing.
The Collapse of the Apostasy
When the battle of Yamama was over, the caliph sent Shurahbeel ibn Hasana and his corps to assist Amr ibn al-As in the campaign against the rebels in northern Arabia. In few weeks the two commanders were able to crush the revolt in this region. All the tribes submitted and re-entered Islam. In Oman, the Azd tribe, upon the death of Muhammad, had revolted and renounced Islam. Abu Bakr ordered Huzeifa ibn Mihsan to march to Oman to deal with the revolt, and sent Ikrama to assist him. The combined forces attacked the rebels and defeated them in the battle of Daba at the end of November 632 (early Ramadan, 11 AH). Huzeifa was then appointed governor of Uman to restore law and order, while Ikrama carried out military operations against the Azd warriors who fled to the countryside. Then, following the orders of Abu Bakr, Ikrama marched to Mahra.
The rebels in Mahra consisted of two factions. One faction surrendered before the fighting and joined the Muslim forces against the other faction. The Battle of Jeirut took place in early January 633 CE. The leader of the rebels was killed, and Ikrama left with a great deal of plunder.
In Bahrain, Abu Bakr sent Ula ibn al-Hadrami to lead the corps assigned to deal with the rebels. The enemy forces gathered at Hajr and entrenched in a strong position. Ula mounted several attacks, and the battle continued for several days without success. Finally, a surprise nighttime attack succeeded in penetrating their defenses; Ula’s forces slaughtered many of them and pursued those who fled and defeated them. This operation was completed around the end of January 633 CE (the second week of Zu Qad, 11 AH).
Apostasy in Yemen had actually begun in the lifetime of the Prophet. Aswad al Ansi, the chief of the tribe of the Ans in the western part of Yemen, decided that he would become a prophet. He gathered his tribe, recited some verses, claiming that they were verses of the Quran revealed to him, and announced that he was a messenger of Allah. He gathered a force of seven hundred horsemen and captured Najran, then San’a.
The Prophet had sent a delegate to San’a to organize a resistance movement against Aswad. The resulting underground movement included Firoz al-Deilami, who managed to enter the fortified palace of Aswad and kill the imposter. The resistance forces then seized San’a and killed many of Aswad’s followers, forcing the rest to flee the city. News of these events reached Madina shortly after the death of the Prophet. Abu Bakr appointed Firoz as governor of San’a.
When word arrived that the Prophet had died, a man named Qeis ibn Abd Yaghus plotted to assassinate Firoz and other important Muslim leaders by inviting them to his house. Some Muslims fell in the trap and were killed. Firoz learned about the plot and managed to leave San’a, finding a safe refuge in the hills. For the next six months he succeeded in organizing an army composed of few thousand Muslims. Then he marched to San’a in mid-January 633 CE (late Shawwal 11 AH). The Muslims defeated Qeis, who escaped to Abyan and tried to organize a resistance, but failed. Qeis and other chiefs surrendered and were subsequently pardoned by the caliph. Later on, some of those who had returned to Islam fought in Iraq and Syria.
The last revolt in the south was that of the powerful tribe of Kinda, which inhabited the region of Najran, Hadramaut, and eastern Yemen. The governor of Hadramaut, Ziyad ibn Lubeid, was a devout Muslim who was strict in the collection of taxes, which caused resentment among the Kinda. A large section of the tribe revolted and began arming themselves. Several other dissident elements joined them and established military camps and prepared for war.
Ziyad sent a column on a night raid to one of their camps, killing some of the rebels and capturing others; the rest fled. However, Ash’as ibn Qeis, one of the prominent Kinda chiefs, set aside his pledge to Islam, intercepted the Muslim column, and liberated the captives. After this incident, many Kinda joined Ash’as.
Ziyad waited for the last of the corps to be dispatched by Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr directed Muhajir ibn Abi Umayya, who had just subdued some rebels in Najran, and Ikrama, who was in Abyan, to proceed to Hadramaut to join Ziyad. The battle against the rebels, in late January 633 CE (the second week of Zu Qad, 11 AH), did not last long. After his defeat, Ash’as retreated to the fort of Nujeir, where he was joined
by other followers, and prepared for a siege. The siege continued for several days as Ash’as negotiated the terms of surrender. He knew Ikrama well, for in their days of unbelief they had been good friends. The old friendship with Ikrama saved Ash’as’s life, as he was sent to Madina as a captive.
Ash’as was no stranger to Madina; he had visited the city during the Year of Delegation, when the Kinda submitted to the Prophet and embraced Islam. During that visit he had also married Umm Farwa, sister of Abu Bakr; but he had left her behind with Abu Bakr, promising to pick her up on his next visit. He was pardoned by the caliph, and stayed in Madina with Umm Farwa. In later years he fought with distinction in Syria, Iraq and Persia; and in the time of Uthman he was appointed governor of Azerbaijan.
With the defeat of the Kinda at Nujeir, the Campaign of the Apostasy was completed; and Arabia became united under the central authority of the Caliph in Madina on March 13, 633 CE. This campaign was Abu Bakr’s greatest achievement.
The Fall of Rome and the Spread of Islam
The early decades of the seventh century CE made up one of the most eventful periods in the history of the land of Palestine. Within the twenty-four years between 614 and 638, the country changed hands three times. The four-centuries-long conflict between Rome and Persia was to come to an end in a final collision of the Byzantine and Sassanid armies. Both these powers had attained great victories and suffered terrible defeats, and as they continued to enfeeble each other, they made way for the rise of a new power, the Islamic state, which would drive them both out of the region.
The two monotheistic religions claiming Palestine as their holy land were joined by a third faith, newly born and extraordinarily vigorous. The Muslim conquest was destined to shape the character of the entire Middle East for the thirteen centuries that followed, down to this very day.
Persia: The Sassanians (226–629 CE)
In April of 224 CE, the local ruler of the province of Persia, Ardashir, rebelled against the Arsacid king, extending his authority to neighboring provinces.366 After ten years of fighting, Ardashir declared a new dynasty, the Sassanian, named after his predecessor Sasan.
From the start of his rule, Ardashir was determined to establish a new regime that was completely different from the Parthian system. He devoted his efforts and attention to suppressing internal opposition, and as soon as he crushed the rebellions of the other local rulers, he prepared to go to war against the Romans to restore the territory that the Parthians had lost in previous wars. After his death in 241 CE, his son Shapur continued the same policy and carried out multiple military campaigns against the Romans.
The wars between Rome and the Sassanids (Persians) weakened both powers to the point that made it possible for a new power to emerge on the horizon of world powers: Islam.
The Precarious Balance between Persia and Rome
The events in Palestine during those years should be seen within the wider context of the relations between the powers in the Orient. Several centuries of struggle had created a sort of equilibrium: the Persians ruled east of the Euphrates, Rome ruled to its west, and the “buffer states”—Armenia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine— constituted the battlefield for their frequent wars. Khazaria at this time was also rising to power (see page XX), and as Islam became predominant to the east and Christianity to the west, it served as a buffer, its rulers choosing to convert to Judaism as a means of self-preservation.
Before the conquests of the areas immediately outside of Arabia, Muslim soldiers fought a number of historically important battles with their Meccan counterparts. In fact, there is little debate as to how momentous and decisive the earliest of Muslim-Meccan battles were in helping to cement Islam in the peninsula and forging a new and powerful Muslim identity in the heart of the Middle East. The battles of Badr (624), Uhud (625), and al-Khandaq (the Moat; 627) have been ingrained in the psyche of both early and modern Muslims as powerful historical achievements that allowed for the development of a new social order as well as the ascendance of a new religious movement. The early battles had definitive political, military, and psychological impact, and ultimately helped pave the way for Arab and Muslim expansion in Arabia and the rest of the region.
Palestine, in particular, appears to have occupied a truly meaningful religious space in the minds of the early Muslim rulers. The documentary record paints a portrait of early Muslim leaders, including the Prophet Muhammad himself, believing that the capture and liberation of Jerusalem symbolized the fulfillment of ancient biblical as well as Quranic prophecy. This infatuation with al-ard al-muqaddasa (the Holy Land) helped fuel Arab-Muslim ambitions to wrest Syria-Palestine from the Byzantines, and, by extension, from Christianity, operating under the belief that, as sons of Ishmael (or as members of millatu Ibrahim, the religion of Abraham),
Arab Muslims were entitled to the land, believing it to be their rightful earthly inheritance and a reward from God.
As recounted previously (see pages XXX), the Prophet Muhammad sent two military expeditions into Syria-Palestine. The first, at Mu’tah in 629 CE, was against the Ghassanid governor, a vassal of the Byzantian empire who protected its eastern border against the Persians, in response to the assassination of a Muslim emissary. The vastly outnumbered Muslim forces suffered a resounding defeat, although Khalid ibn al-Walid, who assumed leadership of the military after the three commanders before him were killed, managed to retreat with as few casualties as possible.
The second expedition, to Tabuk (a journey of a thousand kilometers), comprised a force of thirty thousand men, led by the Prophet on camelback in one of the hottest months of the year. The Byzantine army and its allies, intimidated by the size of the Muslim army, withdrew their forces without engaging, which was a great victory for Muslims. After lengthy consideration, the Prophet decided to return to Medina rather than continuing into Syria at that time.
Abu Bakr wasted no time in continuing the military policies of Muhammad, and under him, Arab-Muslim armies raided and penetrated further into Palestine and the rest of Syria, while the Hejaz and the remainder of the peninsula were incorporated into the growing Arab polity. He dispatched the Muslim commander Amr ibn al-As to fight a Byzantine force near the Dead Sea, which led to the defeat of the Byzantine governor of Palestine in 634. Khalid ibn al-Walid was then recalled from his expeditions in Mesopotamia to Palestine, where he defeated the Byzantine army at the Battle of Ajnadayn near Jerusalem, between al-Ramla and Bayt Jibrin. This consequential battle opened up all of Syria-Palestine to the Arab-Muslims.
By late 633 or early 634, the Muslim conquest of al-Shamm (Greater Syria) came into full swing. Baysan (Bet She’an/Scythopolis) fell in 634, and between 636 and 638 the major Syrian towns of Dimashq (Damascus), Baalbek (Heliopolis), and Homs (Emesa) were all conquered as well. In June or July of 637, the Muslims captured Gaza and Iliya (Jerusalem), and by 639/640 Asqalan (Ashkelon) and Qaysariyya (Caesarea Maritima) had fallen as well, thus concluding the capture and conquest of al-Shamm. The Arab-Muslims continued westward into Egypt, and by 642 Isqandariyya (Alexandria) was taken.
Two more monumental battles were also won by Umar’s generals. These included the Battle of the Yarmouk in 636, which ejected Heraclius and the Byzantines from much of the Near East, relegating them mainly to the western half of Anatolia. This was considered Khalid ibn al-Walid’s greatest victory.
The Battle of the Yarmouk was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. It consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River along what are now the borders of Syria-Jordan and Syria-Palestine, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The battle concluded in a complete Muslim victory that ended Byzantine rule in Syria. The Battle of the Yarmouk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then-Christian Levant. The battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 637, under commander Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, brought an end to the Sassanids’ rule in Iran. Much as the Battle of Yarmouk had opened the way to the conquest of Roman territory the Arabs in the West, this battle opened territories to the east all the way to Persia to the Muslim forces.
During the early 630s, under Abu Bakr, the Syria-Palestine region was divided into four main districts for administrative and military purposes. Later, under the Umayyad dynasty, a fifth region was added. Umar divided Palestine into two districts (junds), as had been the case under Roman and Byzantine rule. The province of Jordan (Jund al-Urdunn) included Galilee and Acre, while the province of Palestine (Jund Filastin), with its capital first in Lydda (Lod) and later in Ramla, comprised all the land south of the Plain of Esdraelon.
In 638, following the siege of Jerusalem, Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab and Sophronius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-‘Omariyya (the Umariyya Covenant), an agreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of all non-Muslims in Palestine. Christians and Jews were considered People of the Book, and enjoyed some protection. Jerusalem was declared the third-holiest place in Islam. The Temple Mount became al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). The Aqsa Mosque was built near the former temple. The process of Arabization of Palestine quickly set in; Islamization, however, took longer.
The Conquest of Iran and Iraq
During the early part of the Christian Era, Arab tribes migrated to Iraq from Yemen. One of the great chiefs of these tribes was Malik ibn Fahm, who proclaimed himself king and began to rule over the western part of Iraq. Two generations after him the throne passed to Amr ibn Adi, of the tribe of Lakhm, who established the Lakhmid dynasty. The kings of this dynasty ruled for many generations as vassals of the Persian Empire.
Abu Bakr decided to start a full military campaign against the Persian Empire and put Khalid ibn al-Walid in charge of preparations, ordering him to recruit volunteers rather than sending the regular army. Khalid began his march to Iraq with 18,000 men. Before doing so he wrote to Hormuz, the Persian governor of the frontier district of Dast Meisan:
Submit to Islam and be safe. Or agree to the payment of the jizya, and you and your people will be under our protection; else you will have only yourself to blame for consequences, for I bring a people who desire death as ardently as you desire life. 367
When Hormuz read the letter, he informed the Persian emperor, Ardashir, of Khalid’s letter, and made up his mind to teach the crude Arabs a lesson that they should never forget.
The battle at Kazima started in grand style with a duel between the two army commanders. Both dismounted and began to fight with sword and shield, then they dropped their swords after a long engagement, to start wrestling. Although Hormuz tried to trick Khalid by calling a group of his fighters to attack and capture him, Qaqa was ready, and jumped in with his horse in time to kill the attackers. Khalid was able to knock Hormuz down and kill him with a dagger.
Following the duel, Khalid ordered his men to attack the enemy. The fast-moving Muslims, with their iron discipline and courage, defeated the Persians who outnumbered them. This was the first of a series of victories by Khalid and his men over the Persian army, the most fearsome military machine of that time. 368 The decisive defeat of the Sassanids in Iraq by the Muslims came three years later, at the Battle of Qadissiyah, in 636, under command of Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, ending Sassanid rule in Persia.
By 651, most of the urban centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces and Transoxiana, had come under the domination of the Arab armies. Though conquered politically, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining their Persian language and culture. Regardless, Islam was adopted by many—for political, sociocultural, or spiritual reasons, or simply by persuasion—and became the dominant religion.
Transition and Political Intrigue
After the death of Muhammad, in June of 632, the Muslim state was led by the four Rashidun caliphs. In the years after Muhammad’s death, these leaders set out to subdue and Islamize the Arabian Peninsula and the eastern Byzantine provinces that made up al-Shamm (Greater Syria and Syria-Palestine), as well as Mesopotamia and Persia. They did so in astonishingly swift fashion.
Abu Bakr was the first caliph; upon his death in 634, Umar ibn al-Khattab was chosen. Umar expanded the empire from Syria to Iraq and Persia to Egypt. Before his death, he nominated six electors—one being Ali ibn Abu Talib—with the stipulation that his son not be elected to succeed him. Umar was assassinated in November 644, and was succeeded by Uthman (Osman) ibn Affan, who ruled until 656. Uthman, a member of the Umayyad aristocracy, was pious, but placed his own family members in positions of power, leading to discontent and uprisings, and eventually to his own assassination in 656. Members of several tribes shared in committing his murder in order to avoid blood libel.
The last of the Rashidun caliphs was Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. He was opposed by a coalition headed by Aisha and by Meccans Talhah and al-Zubayr. He defeated this coalition in the battle of al-Jamal (the Camel) in 656. 369 Once secure in his position, Ali shifted the capital to Kufa, in Iraq, and proceeded to dismiss most of the provincial governors that Uthman had appointed, demanding an oath of fealty from the others. This put him in direct opposition to Mu’awiya ibn Abi-Sufyan, Uthman’s kinsman, who had been appointed by Caliph Umar as governor of Syria. Mu’awiya was bent on seizing power and moving the capital to Damascus. The intrigue and maneuvering that resulted from this rivalry constitute an important chapter in the history of the Islamic world. It is classified as the first civil war in Islam.
Mu’awiya put Ali on the defensive by demanding that Uthman’s assassins be brought forth; if he failed to do so, Ali would be branded a conspirator unworthy of the position of caliph. Ali’s forces and Mu’awiya’s troops faced each other in 657, and after several weeks of skirmishing, when it appeared that Ali would prevail, Mu’awiya’s wily adviser Amr ibn-al-As suddenly proposed that Ali’s legitimacy be determined by arbitration rather than by fighting. For the purpose of the vote, both men would be stripped of their title.
Ali’s naïve acceptance of this proposal led to his downfall. Mu’awiya, a provincial governor, had previously been lower in status to Ali, as the succeeding caliph. When Ali assented to arbitration, however, he put himself on the same level as Mu’awiya— both being pretenders to the throne. Ali also unwisely chose a pious but uninspired representative, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, while Mu’awiya was represented by the brilliant and unscrupulous Amr. These poor choices alienated many of Ali’s followers, and he lost the support of Egypt. One disaffected group became known as the Kharijites (outsiders); 370 after just two years in power, Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite in 661. There was a brief period of civil war, but soon the caliphate of Mu’awiya, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty, was recognized.
The Umayyad Dynasty: 661–750 CE
The Umayyad caliphs, whose origins lay in the Bani Umayya clan of the Quraysh, established a strong and sprawling state whose territory stretched across three continents. The first caliph, Mu’awiya, made Damascus the capital of the Muslim empire rather than Kufa, which had been Ali’s seat of power. He took some aspects of governance and administration from the Byzantines, including making the caliphate hereditary. Before Mu’awiya died, he had assigned his son Yazid to succeed him as caliph; thus the Umayyad caliphate was the first in the history of Islam to become a dynasty. 371
In the early years of the Umayyad caliphate, however, the seeds of its downfall were planted. The sons of Ali and Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Hussein—the grandsons of the Prophet—lived quietly in Madina while Mu’awiya was alive. Hasan, who received a stipend from Mu’awiya, was poisoned by his wife and died in Madina— allegedly Mu’awiya bribed her to commit this deed. 372 After Hasan’s death, support for Ali’s younger son, al-Hussein, prevailed in Iraq, which was the only part of the caliphate not conquered by the Umayyad military. After Mu’awiya’s death, Hussein refused to acknowledge Mu’awiya’s son Yazid as the rightful successor to the caliphate. Hussein’s supporters in Iraq urged him to leave Madina and travel to Kufa.
In 680, Hussein left Madina with his family and supporters in a small entourage of some two hundred people. Yazid sent an army of four thousand headed by Umar, the son of the general Sa’ad ben Abi Waqqas. The Umayyad army easily defeated the small party, killing Hussein and his entire family and entourage; Hussein’s head was cut off and sent to Yazid in Damascus. This act, on top of Ali’s assassination and Hasan’s earlier murder, cemented the opposition of the Shia faction (as supporters of Ali became known) to those supporting Yazid’s caliphate, causing the great schism between the Shia and Sunni Muslims that still exists in Islam, separating countries and dynasties. 373 This was the beginning of a recurring pattern in history in which religious differences became political, and later on, political divisions were recast as religious schisms. Ali and his sons were canonized as saints and martyrs; every year, millions of Shia pilgrims visit al-Najaf, where Ali is buried, and Karbala, where Hussein is buried.
The third contender for the caliphate was Abdullah ibn-al-Zubayr, a nephew of Aisha. Ibn-al-Zubayr, whose father had been killed by Ali at the Battle of al-Jamal, also lived in Madina, and had encouraged Hussein to march to Kufa. Hussein’s death left al-Zubayr as the caliph favored by all Hijaz, South Arabia, Egypt, and parts of Syria. Following al-Zubayr’s open proclamation as ruler, Yazid immediately retaliated. Three years of fighting, with two military campaigns, followed. In 683, punitive forces from Damascus sacked Madina and then proceeded to Mecca, where al-Zubayr had taken refuge in the holy mosque. The invaders rained stones on the mosque, burned down the Kabah, and split the Black Stone into three pieces. During the two months in which these events took place, Yazid died, and his forces withdrew to return to Damascus. Al-Zubayr continued to oppose the Umayyad caliphs. Finally, the fifth Umayyad caliph, Abd-al-Malik, sent the ferocious general al-Hajjaj (also called al-Saffah, the butcher) to attack Mecca in 692. After a six-and-a-half-month siege, al-Zubayr was killed, and the Umayyad caliphate was able to turn its attentions outward. 374
From this point on, the territories of Islam were further consolidated. The Umayyad state reached its peak of power, grandeur, and breadth during the reign of the tenth caliph, Hisham bin Abdul Malik (691–743), extending from China and India in the east to France in the west, from the Caucasus, Anatolia (now Georgia and Turkey), and the coasts of Italy in the north, to the land of Ethiopia and the African forests in the south.
Palestine under the Umayyad Dynasty
In 680, under the second Umayyad caliph Yazid (son of Mu’awiya), a fifth military province was added. The ajnad, as these districts were called represented an attempt to organize settlements along the northern reaches of the new Arab polity—that is, the territories closest to Byzantium—so as to be able to quickly mobilize the garrisons for protection of the northern reaches of the burgeoning Arab state as the political center of gravity began to shift from Arabia and into Syria-Palestine.
In 691, the fifth Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, undertook the construction of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra), an impressive edifice in the Aqsa compound of Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, the third-holiest place for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. Umayyad rule ended circa 750, when the Abbasid dynasty from Baghdad took over, but from time to time there were uprisings by groups in Palestine which remained loyal to the Umayyads.
Spain under the Umayyad Dynasty
In 710 CE, the Muslims sent four hundred troops to Spain in preparation for their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and found conditions favorable. In the spring of 711 CE, a small Muslim force composed of twelve thousand soldiers under the command of Tariq ibn Ziad crossed the Straits of Gibraltar (Mount of Tariq) and advanced northward into the Iberian Peninsula. On July 19, Tariq’s army won a splendid victory over Roderick, the Visigoth king, that sealed the fate of Spain for many centuries.
By 715 CE, the Muslim army of Berbers and Arabs had conquered all of Spain except for the mountainous areas in the northwest. The Muslim army followed a tactic of moving fast from one city to the other; to guard the gates, the invading army established local garrisons made up mainly of Jews. The Jewish population cooperated because they regarded the invaders as liberators.375 Much of the Jewish population had fled to North Africa as a result of the persecution measures put in place against them since King Reccared’s conversion to Catholicism in 587 CE. Many of the Jews of North Africa welcomed the victorious Arab forces and joined the Muslim armies in their mission to control all the territories of North Africa.
Spain was formally annexed to the Umayyad caliphate in 713–714 CE; practically speaking, however, it was autonomous because of the distance from the central Muslim authority in Damascus. The mountainous geography of the country forced the new rulers to utilize a decentralized method of government; centralization and unification did not occur until the ninth century, under Abd ar-Rahman III. Christians continued to live willingly in their cities; initially only a small number of the indigenous Spanish population converted to Islam (mass conversion did not take place until the ninth century). The invasion promptly set off a wave of Jewish immigration from North Africa to the newly conquered territories. The new Islamic authority in Spain followed the same policies as in the East: Christians and Jews were protected by law and permitted to practice their beliefs freely.
In the year 750, the Umayyad dynasty in Damascus was crushed and the Abbasid Caliphate moved the capital to Baghdad. Abd ar-Rahman I escaped to Spain and reestablished the Umayyad emirate in Cordoba, which lasted from 756 to 1032. 376 The new rulers of Cordoba set up a strong central government backed by a strong army. They followed a policy of encouraging trade, arts, and industries to stand on an equal footing with Baghdad.
Under the Umayyads, Spanish cities emerged as centers of industry and trade. The markets were flooded with products from Italy, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, and even further east. Agriculture, the backbone of the economy, flourished. Gold and silver circulated throughout the country. Arabic travel increased during the eighth and ninth centuries. Arabs were also interested in education and enhancing their knowledge in all sciences. Scholars departed Spain to gain more knowledge from the famous schools of North Africa, Cairo, and Persia.
The Muslims who controlled the Mediterranean created a universal economy that included all the territories of the Mediterranean, and made the sea routes safer by constructing lighthouses along the shores and introducing new, improved naval vessels. The unity of the Mediterranean world under the Pax Islamica in the tenth century was reminiscent of its ancient unity under the Pax Romana in the first and second centuries. Muslims, Christians, and Jews enjoyed the prosperity of the new era. Mercantile families of all faiths dealt with each other in partnerships and formal friendship.
Cordoba was not the only seat of Andalusian culture. Other cities such as Seville, Granada, Malaga, and Lucena emerged. The middle classes of the Jews and Christians enjoyed the prosperity of Spain under Muslim rule. The Spanish Jews assimilated almost completely in Islamic Andalusia. Jews and Christians held prominent positions in the administration and participated in all cultural activities.
In 929, Abd ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph of Cordoba. He devoted his efforts to unifying the different Muslim factions and made peace with the Christians by offering them the opportunity to participate in state affairs and by granting them religious freedom. He established a lavish court in a suburb of Cordoba known as Madinat az Zahra, where he surrounded himself with a “wide circle of men of means and taste.” A talented Jew or Christian would be able to gain entree to this circle. Even a slave from Africa or Eastern Europe could also rise if he or she possessed special talent. 377
In the tenth century, the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba was one of the three great Islamic empires claiming legitimacy as the rightful heir to the office of caliph, alongside the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad and the Shi’ite (Fatamid) dynasty of Egypt and Palestine. Upon the death of Abd ar-Rahman III in 961, his son al-Hakam II continued his father’s policy toward the Christians and Jews of his kingdom and established a friendly relationship with Byzantium; however, he continued to be wary of the Christian kings in the north of Spain.
A number of Sephardic Jews gained a special position in the Muslim caliphate system of Cordoba, being educated in astronomy, geometry, philosophy, and medicine, as well as Arabic language and poetry. Several prominent Jews were notable figures in the Umayyad court. Hasadi ibn Shaprut (915–970) was a well-known physician who became a well trusted administrator in the court of Abd ar-Rahman III. Before long he was appointed as the head of the Jewish community, a position known as nasi (prince) among the Jews. Samuel ibn Nagrela (993–1055), another prominent Jew, attained the position of vizier in the kingdom of Granada. 378
In 1013 CE, the caliphate of Cordoba dissolved when Berber forces attacked the city. Three Berber groups parceled out the country into rival kingdoms. The Hammudids controlled the southern coast up to Granada, ruling Malaga and Algeciras. The Zirids took control of Granada. The Abbadids took control of Seville. These petty kingdoms lasted until 1091. The prince of Seville sought assistance from the Almoravid kingdom of Morocco in his fight against the Christian kings of the north. The Almoravid ruler succeeded in reuniting Andalusia under one crown. However, the new regime was not tolerant of the other religions. Christians and Jews began migrating to Christian Spain.
The intervention of the Muslim rulers of Morocco to stop the southward advancement of the Christian kingdoms did not last long. One city after another fell into the hands of the Christians. In 1248, King Ferdinand III (1199–1252) won a decisive victory when he added Seville to his kingdom. Only the small enclave of Granada remained in Muslim hands until 1492. During the long campaign of reconquest from the eleventh through the thirteen centuries, the Jews were constantly on the move in Christian Spain, migrating from areas of active intolerance into those that seemed to be somewhat tolerant. At first, they found themselves in favorable positions, as the Christian Spanish kingdoms offered Jews in Toledo, Saragossa, and Tortosa land grants, elective privileges, and tax exemptions to replace the fleeing Muslim population. The new rulers offered such incentives to all inhabitants of the conquered areas—Christians, Jews, and Muslims—to stay in the recaptured territories as artisans and tillers of the soil. Christian Spain offered the Jews an opportunity to flourish. The new kings installed Jews in prominent positions and encouraged other Jews to move to their kingdoms. This policy facilitated a smooth transition from Muslim to Christian rule.
However, the adoption of such policies by royal authorities created friction with the Church. In the thirteenth century, Ferdinand III felt that any humiliating restrictions imposed on the Jews would force them to flee to Muslim Granada, which would be disastrous for the revenues of his kingdom. For this reason, he refused Pope Honorius III’s request to force Jews to wear a special badge and clothing.
During the reign of Ferdinand III, Muslim culture was preserved and protected. Scholars were encouraged to translate Arabic classics into Latin; Jewish scholars played an important role in these activities. Astronomical tables were translated from Arabic. The entire Koran was translated into Latin, as well as the philosophies of Maimonides, Gabirol, Averroes, and al-Ghazzali.
Persecution of Jews and Muslims in Spain
The favorable position of the Jews in Christian Spain gradually was replaced by discriminatory policies of the church in response to proselytization by Jews. In 1378 CE all Seville’s synagogues were destroyed, and all Jews were confined to a ghetto. Prominent Jews were removed from all positions of influence. In June of 1391 CE, the Jews of Seville were attacked by rioters who set fire to the gates of the Jewish quarters and killed many of its residents. As the pogroms spread throughout Iberia, the Jews were given the choice between conversion or death. An estimated 100,000 Jews were converted; another 100,000 were murdered, and about 100,000 survived by going into hiding or fleeing to Muslim lands. 379
A significant number of the forcibly converted Jews (Conversos) emigrated to the eastern Mediterranean after 1391 CE, settling in Jerusalem, being moti-vated by their messianic religious beliefs. Other settled in Constantinople, Albania, Crete, and the Venetian islands. Many more emigrants settled in North Africa. The remaining Jews in Spain were divided into three groups: those who continued to practice Judaism; those who became Conversos and remained so; and those who privately renounced their forced conversion while secretly maintaining their adherence to Judaism—they were called Marranos, or turncoats.
The surviving Jews were devastated; their homes, synagogues, and workshops were destroyed. They were subjected to harsh measures and humiliation to push them toward the path of conversion to Christianity. The Conversos were referred to by practicing Jews as the anusim, or “forced ones.” Some of the Conversos who studied philosophy convinced themselves that no religion held the truth and practically ceased to be believing Jews. They were accepted by the Church and enjoyed all the privileges of other Christians. Economic restrictions were lifted, and they were allowed to hold high positions in administrative offices, in the military, or in religious orders. Conversion to Christianity continued throughout the fifteenth century, which led to a significant increase in numbers as well as in status. Although the Conversos were accepted by the Church, the common people mistrusted and rejected them. The relationship between the “old Christians” and the Conversos deteriorated over time; hostilities intensified and reached a pogrom level in Toledo in 1449. Many discriminatory regulations were issued by the Toledo authorities following the pogrom; however, these statutes were overruled by Pope Nicholas V. 380
In 1469, Ferdinand, king of Aragon, married Isabella, queen of Castile, ending serious conflicts between the two kingdoms. The union of the two kingdoms led to stability and a restoration of order in Spain. The status of the Jews improved in the new state. The Aragon and Castile rulers were supporters and defenders of the Jews and Muslims; they initially regarded them as lawful subjects who deserved protection. 381
The Inquisition
The status of Jews in the new kingdom changed when Queen Isabella received reports of alleged Judaizing activities by the Conversos. She was advised by Alonso de Hojeda, a Dominican prior of Seville, to start an Inquisition under royal control, which would bring more power to the monarchy and at the same time deal with Jewish proselytization. Muslims were also subjected to these trials. In 1478, the royal couple obtained from Rome the permission to establish their Inquisition proceedings, which began in Seville three years later and expanded during the decade that followed to include the entire country. It is estimated that over thirty thousand Conversos were burned. Water torture and hanging were used to extract confessions during painful interrogations. The guilty ones were paraded through the square where stages or scaffolds were erected, and the “honor” of lighting the pyre was usually given to some distinguished guest. The mode of operation of the Inquisition remained in place until its abolition in the nineteenth century. 382
In 1478, the war with the kingdom of Granada was rekindled. The battles continued for more than a decade, and at the end of 1491, King Muhammad XII agreed to surrender. The Muslims were temporarily allowed to retain their mosques and to emigrate freely, if they chose. In January 1492, the Spanish flag was raised over the tower of the Alhambra, the palace fortress in Granada that symbolized the former glory of the Islamic kingdom of Andalus. This victory gave the monarchs the chance to devote their efforts to deal with the unresolved question of the Conversos and Jews. 383
The Abbasid Caliphate: 750–1258
The Abbasid Caliphate is the second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim empire. It was founded by the descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the youngest uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Abbasids, in establishing their rule, relied on the Persians—who held a grudge against the Umayyads for excluding them from state positions and major centers while favoring Arabs—and also on the Shia Alawites, who helped them destabilize the Umayyad state.
The Abbasid revolution first broke out in Khorasan under the leadership of Abu Muslim, a Persian general who turned against the Umayyads. Its first caliph was Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah. However, al-Saffah’s successor, Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, is considered the true founder of the Abbasid state. He established a prosperous civilization and quickly controlled most of the Islamic areas that had been under the Umayyads. After the success of their revolution, the Abbasids moved their capital from Damascus to Baghdad, which flourished for two centuries and became one of the largest and most beautiful cities in the world. They left the Umayyad administrative structure unchanged, only installing new rulers over the different regions.
The golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate was the era under Sultan Harun al-Rashid (r. 786– 809), and after him, his son al-Ma’mun (r. 813–833). During this period, lanterns were used for the first time to illuminate roads and mosques; there was also a rapid development of the sciences, especially astrophysics and technology, as well as a number of inventions such as the water clock. Harun al-Rashid also took care of agriculture and institutionalized its systems. His regime built bridges and large arches, dug canals and streams connecting rivers, and established dedicated structures to supervise the implementation of these reform works. He also encouraged trade exchange between states and guarded trade routes between cities.
The Breakup of Abbasid Power and Saladin: The Ayyubid Dynasty
In the tenth century, the Abbasid empire began to fracture, and small autonomous dynasties began to assume power in different locations. In Mesopotamia, tribal forces seized control. In Transoxiana and Khorasan, the Samanids, a Sunni Muslim empire of Iranian origin, established their autonomy from the Abbasid Caliphate. In power from 819 to 999, the Samanids considered themselves descendants of the Sasanian Empire, and created a Persianate culture that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the Islamic world. At its greatest extent, the Samanid empire covered Persia and Central Asia.
In North Africa, the Fatimids emerged. This was a Shi’ite family of Arab origin that traced its ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima, and her husband Ali bin Abi Talib. From their base in North Africa, they challenged the power of the Abbasid dynasty, founding a state in Morocco in 909, and then in 969 transferring it to Egypt, where they built the city of Cairo and Al Azhar Mosque. Their state flourished for two centuries, until 1171, extending to Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Hijaz, Yemen, Iraq, Sicily, and Malta. Their reign ended when Saladin al Ayyub (1137–1193) declared independence and established the Ayyubid dynasty (1171–1260).
Saladin, a Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, had originally served the Fatimid king Nur ad-Din, leading his army in battle against the Crusaders, after which he was made vizier. In the wake of a family power struggle following the death of Nur ad-Din, Saladin was proclaimed as the first sultan of Egypt; he rapidly expanded the new sultanate, the Ayyubid dynasty, beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant. Because his sultanate included the Hijaz—the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina—he was the first ruler to be hailed as the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517.
Saladin’s military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin (in Palestine) in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
After his death in 1249, as-Salih Ayyub (the tenth Ayyubid ruler and the grandson of Saladin’s brother) was succeeded in Egypt by his son al-Mu’azzam Turanshah. However, the latter was soon overthrown by his Mamluk generals, who had repelled a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta. This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt in 1250. The Ayyubids remained in power in Syria until 1260, when the Mongols sacked Aleppo and took control of most of the area.
The Mamluk Dynasty
The Mamluks—whose name was the origin of the later Mamluk dynasty—were soldier-slaves who came from areas north of the Black Sea and a region of the Caucasus Mountains. They entered the Muslim world in the service of kings and sultans. There is a close link between the history of the Ayyubids and the history of the military Mamluks. Generally speaking, Mamluks were enslaved when they were young, and were raised to maintain absolute loyalty to the sultan. They were treated well by the Ayyubids and were educated and raised on the Quran, and they were taught the Arabic language. When their education was deemed sufficient, they were freed, but were expected to remain in the service of the sultanate for their lifetime. Saladin’s father, Najmuddin Ayyub, relied on Mamluks to retain his state, and the Ayyubids triumphed over the Crusade that threatened Egypt thanks to the power of the Mamluk soldiers.
After sacking Baghdad and defeating the Abbasid Caliphate, the Mongols intended to control the Levant and Egypt as well, but the Mamluks thwarted them. The Mongols were defeated in the battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine led by the Mamluk general Baybars under Sultan Qutuz in 1260. The Mongol leader Hulegu Khan ordered the execution of the last Ayyubid emir of Aleppo and Damascus, An-Nasir Yusuf, and his brother, who were in captivity, after he heard the news of the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut. However, the Mamluks captured Damascus five days later, followed by Aleppo within a month. They maintained power in Syria and Egypt for the next two centuries. The empire was at its height from 1260 to 1341, but when al-Nasir Muhammad (1310–1341) died, it quickly devolved into factional struggles. Nonetheless, the Mamluks maintained power until their defeat at the hands of the Ottomans in the battle of Marj Dabiq (near Aleppo) and the battle of Reidani (in Egypt) under Sultan Selim I in 1517. They remained as a political and social force in Egypt until they were finally defeated by Napoleon in 1798. Muhammad Ali, viewing them as a threat, massacred the last of the Mamluks in 1811 (see page XX).
The Crusades (1095–1291)
Viewed in their rightful setting the Crusades appear as the medieval chapter in the long story of interaction between East and West, of which the Trojan and Persian wars of antiquity form the prelude and the imperialistic expansion of modern Western Europe the latest chapter . . . [T]he Crusades represent the reaction of Christian Europe against Moslem Asia, which had been on the offensive since 632 not only in Syria and Asia Minor but in Spain and Sicily also An immediate cause of the Crusades was the repeated appeal made in 1096 to Pope Urban II by the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, whose Asiatic possessions had been overrun by the Saljuqs [Seljuks] as far as the shores of Marmora The pope possibly viewed the appeal as affording an opportunity for reuniting the Greek Church and Rome. 384
In the eleventh century, Western Europe had become a fragmented group of small polities controlled by warlords, nominally ruled by the crown monarch of the larger land. Despite the endemic lawlessness of society, Western civilization was beginning to develop and expand, with the growth of cities, the revival of a money-based economy, and the resurgence of long-distance trade. The Normans of northern France and the Christian rulers of Iberia began pushing out militarily; the former colonizing Anglo-Saxon England and the latter focusing on regaining territory from the Muslims of Spain. Forays in trade and conquest brought these rough, uncultured groups into contact with the long-established civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Byzantine Empire and the multifaceted Arab-Islamic world. 385
The embrace of Christianity by Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire, in the year 312 CE, was a catalyzing event in history. European rulers like Charlemagne adopted Christianity as a way of legitimizing their right to rule. The Pope, in Rome, could confirm (or deny) the legitimacy of the European kings. The Latin Christianity of the day, which pervaded almost every aspect of human life, emphasized the importance of sinfulness and the judgment that would come after death. The faithful were expected to confess to their sins and repent through prayer and the giving of alms, as well as the purgative devotional journey called a pilgrimage. Pilgrims traveled to certain shrines and churches, as well as major Christian centers like Rome—but the most sacred destination was the holy city of Jerusalem. 386
Jesus, in the Gospels, was explicit about Christianity being a religion of peace, but over the centuries Christian thinkers began rationalizing campaigns of aggression against unbelievers. The North African bishop St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) established the conditions under which a war could be lawful and justifiable, setting the template that eventually gave rise to the Crusades. These were carried out under the pretext of fighting a holy war, and were, like a pilgrimage, supposed to confer spiritual benefit to those who took part.
With Constantinople under threat of Muslim invasion, and seized by the possibility of reuniting the Greek Church with Rome, in 1095 Pope Urban gave a speech urging the faithful to “enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre, wrest it from the wicked race and subject it” (the “sepulchre” referred to was the remains of the cross on which Jesus had died, kept in Jerusalem). In response, between sixty thousand and a hundred thousand Frankish Christians set out to march to the east on the first Crusade. About half of them were knights and infantry troops; the rest were noncombatants, women, and children. 387 Setting out from Constantinople in 1097, they first besieged and ransacked Nicaea with the assistance of Byzantine troops. They then continued southeast, reaching Jerusalem in 1099 and taking control of numerous cities along the way. By 1099, four fiefdoms were under the control of the invaders: Al-Ruha (Edessa) and Jerusalem, which became Burgundian princedoms; Antioch, under Greek control; and Tripoli, which was Provençal. 388
The Muslim side fought back, however. Zangi, the governor of Mosul, was able to assume control of Aleppo in 1128; in 1144 he conquered Edessa, dealing a serious blow to the Christians who had controlled the city for nearly fifty years. 389 Fearing the loss of all Christian territory in the Near East, Pope Eugenius III declared the second Crusade—the largest one—in 1145. Under the leadership of Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany, some sixty thousand French and German knights, Knights Templar, and Hospitallers massed together, galvanized by the presence of Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, who traveled all over Europe recruiting knights, soldiers, and lay people to the cause. The army set out in early summer of 1147 and marched east. However, the troops were repeatedly repelled by the Turkish Seljuk forces, and thousands were killed or died of starvation; the kings had to resort to returning to the West by boat.
Zangi’s son, Nur-al-Din, succeeded his father, seizing Damascus bloodlessly and taking control of parts of the territory around Antioch. Nur’s lieutenant Shirkuh navigated military and diplomatic hurdles to attain the viziership of Egypt under the last of the Fatimid caliphs. Shirkuh’s nephew, Salah-al-Din Yusuf (Saladin), succeeded him in this office. Saladin had two overarching goals in life: to replace Shi’ite Islam in Egypt with the Sunnite faith, and to prevail in the holy war against the Franks. 390 Saladin eventually gained control of Syria in a battle with Nur’s son and successor; the Abbasid caliph then gave him a diploma of investiture over Egypt, al-Maghrib, Nubia, western Arabia, Palestine, and central Syria. In the next ten years, Saladin gained control over northern Syria as well. He recaptured Jerusalem in 1187, and then took most of the other towns and cities in the region, save only Antioch, Tripoli, and Tyre.
When Europe heard of the fall of Jerusalem, its rulers abandoned their petty quarrels and united to take arms against Islam. The legendary Third Crusade, declared by Pope Gregory VIII in 1187, was led by Frederick of Barbarossa (who drowned in a river shortly after starting out), Richard Coeur de Lion of England, and Philip Augustus, king of France. The Europeans decided to focus on ‘Akka (Acre), and embarked on a siege that lasted for two years before the Muslims finally surrendered. As Philip Hitti says, “Peace was finally concluded on November 2, 1192, on the general principle that the coast belonged to the Latins, the interior to the Moslems [sic], and that pilgrims to the holy city [Jerusalem] should not be molested.” 391
Saladin, who died not long after the truce was brokered, achieved a great deal in his lifetime, not least the founding of the Ayyubid dynasty that succeeded the Fatamids in Egypt. His heirs reigned in Egypt, Damascus, and Mesopotamia, and maintained generally friendly relations with the Crusaders. Over the next thirty years, however, all the cities conquered by Saladin reverted to Frankish rule—even Jerusalem, which fell in 1229. Saladin’s grandson, al-Kamil, set about clearing Egypt of Crusaders. Though he succeeded, he allowed free passage for trade ships from Italy and generally was favorably disposed toward Christians.
Al-Kamil’s second successor, al-Malik al-Salih Najm-al-Din Ayb, in 1244 encouraged Khwarizm Turks, whom the Mongols under Genghis Khan had rendered homeless, to restore Jerusalem to Islam. A sixth Crusade, led by Louis IX of France, marched on Egypt, but succumbed to illness; Louis and his surviving forces were taken prisoner. Meanwhile, after al-Salih’s death in 1249, the Mamluks finally took control of Egypt under their ruler Aybak, the founder of the Mamluk dynasty. The fourth Mamluk ruler, al-Malik al-Zahir Baybars, brought a final end to the Crusaders’ efforts. In 1260 Baybars had decisively defeated the Mongols at Ayn Jalut, ending their predations and protecting Cairo from being sacked. Baybars went on to raid Crusader towns, facing little to no opposition, finally evicting the occupiers from Antioch, Tripoli, and even Acre, after which all of Syria returned to Islamic control. Freed by the Mamluks, Jerusalem remained free until the Ottomans took over.
Consequences of the Crusades
The conquest of the Muslim-held territories in southern Italy, Sicily, and the Iberian Peninsula bolstered the sentiment that, despite differences between states, the people of Europe did share a common identity and cultural heritage. On the flip side, this resulted in an increase in xenophobia and religious intolerance. There were pogroms against the Jews (notably in northern France and the Rhineland in 1096–1097) and violent attacks on pagans, schismatics, and heretics across Europe.
The Crusades also caused a rupture in relations between the West and the Byzantine Empire. Horrified at the unruly groups of warriors causing havoc in their territory, the Byzantines grew mistrustful of European intentions. Outbreaks of fighting between Crusaders and Byzantine forces were common. The situation culminated in the shocking sacking of Constantinople on 1204 CE during the Fourth Crusade, which also saw the appropriation of art and religious relics by European powers. The Byzantine Empire became so debilitated it could offer little resistance to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
The Crusade movement spread to Spain, with attacks against the Muslim Moors there starting in the eleventh century. Prussia and the Baltic (the Northern Crusades), North Africa, and Poland, amongst many other places, would also witness crusading armies all the way to the fifteenth century, as the idea of a crusade as an expression of religious devotion continued to appeal to leaders, soldiers, and ordinary people in the West.
On the Muslim side, despite the religious significance of Jerusalem, the coastal Levant area was only of minor economic and political importance to the caliphates of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Though the Crusades offered an opportunity for greater unity in opposition to the invading Western forces, Muslim rulers often failed to take advantage of it. The Muslim world was itself divided into various sects and beset by political rivalries and competition between cities and regions. Only the Mamluks, facing the hazard of Mongol invasion, were able to unify the Islamic world, forging a military state under Baybars and Qalawun.
With the Allied occupation of Palestine in the First World War in the twentieth century, the ghosts of the Crusaders came back to haunt the present in the form of propaganda, rhetoric, and cartoons. By the Second World War, the very term “crusade” was, conversely, stripped of its religious meaning and applied to the campaigns against Nazi Germany. And in the current century, the fight against terrorism has frequently been couched in terms of a “crusade.” With the rise of Arab nationalism, the debate over the position and validity of the state of Israel, and the continued interventionist policies of Western powers in the Middle East, the secular goals of territorial control and economic power have been mixed and confused with divisions of religion so that terms such as “crusade,” “Christian,” and “Muslims” are used in political contexts and are being stripped of their religious meaning altogether.
The Mongols
In the twelfth century CE, there were about 700,000 Mongols scattered across the steppes of Central Asia. They were nomads who lived in small encampments, divided up into clans and tribes engaged in continuous wars with each other. By the late thirteenth century, however, the Mongols ruled an empire that covered 24 million square kilometers, making it the largest empire in human history. The founder of this empire was Genghis Khan, a man of tremendous ambition, great courage, and extraordinary insight.
Genghis, who had been born with the name Temujin, was elected as Khan of All Khans in 1206. Once he took his seat on the throne, he adopted the name Genghis Khan, which means Strong and Fearless. He devised new systems for organizing fighters and collecting and sending information that allowed him to conquer the tribes to the south and west, gaining access to the Silk Road, the fabled trade route between China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and the Jin empire of northern China.
The Mongol Invasion of the Muslim World
The Khwarazmian Empire (1077–1231) was a vast Islamic empire that covered large parts of modern-day Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. Culturally Persian and Sunni Muslim, it was founded by Turkic Mamluks, and was the successor to the Seljuk Empire, upon which its systems were modeled. From 1200 to 1220, it was ruled by Shah Ala ad-Din Mohammad II, whose capital was Samarkand, a prosperous city of more than half a million citizens. The empire was extremely wealthy, as it controlled several trade routes, including the Silk Road, and kept a standing cavalry army of 400,000 Turkic soldiers.
In 1216 Shah Mohammad reneged on a commercial treaty he had signed with the Mongols, murdering Genghis Khan’s representatives. In response, in the winter of 1219, Genghis Khan assembled four divisions of fifty thousand warriors and advanced towards Khawarazm. The Mongols conquered the cities of Otrar, Bukhara, and finally Samarkand, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people and sparing only strong young men and those with special skills. With the fall of Samarkand, Genghis Khan became the lord of the Khwarazm Empire. 392
Genghis Khan died in 1227 and was succeeded by his third-born son, Ogodei. The new khan started his rule with grand building projects that depleted the empire’s treasuries by 1235. Ogodei proposed to his generals that they invade India, their wealthy neighbor. However, Subotai, Genghis’s greatest commander, offered a fresh solution: an invasion of Europe. Ogodei assented, and the planning began. 393 Two years later, in the winter of 1237, the Golden Horde of Batu Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson, swept into Russia and began their subjugation of Europe.
The Mongol Invasion of Europe
Under the command of Subotai, the Mongols first put the town of Riazan to the sword, followed by three other small, fortified towns in the region. Early in January 1238, the Mongols overwhelmed Moscow’s defenses. Ordinary soldiers were killed quickly, but the officers and noblemen were crucified, burned, or flayed. Women were spared. Strong young men were also spared for slave labor. The following month, the Mongols besieged the city of Vladimir, treating it in a similar fashion. 394 In 1240 the Mongols conquered Kiev, the largest city in Russia and one of the largest cities in the Western world, within a single day.
With the conquest of Russia completed, the Mongol commanders gathered at Batu Khan’s camp outside Przemysl, today a city in southern Poland but part of Russia in 1240. Their respected leader Subotai presented a plan that he had developed for the invasion of Europe: Thirty thousand Mongol warriors would remain in Russia; another thirty thousand men would sweep into Poland and Lithuania; and the remaining ninety thousand would be divided into four columns of 22,500 each, which would advance through the Carpathian Mountains toward Hungarian cities of Buda and Pest. Once the Poles and the Lithuanians were defeated, those men would march from the north and rejoin the main army. 395
The plan was a complete success. The Mongols burned Polish cities and ravaged the countryside, burning down Krakow and Legnica and annihilating their armies. They defeated the Hungarian forces defending the city of Pest, entered the city, and burned it down to the ground. 396 They spent the remainder of 1242 conducting raids throughout central and eastern Hungary.
Many towns and villages were leveled; most of the farmlands were destroyed, and as much as half of its population was lost. The Mongols then controlled Eastern Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Danube River. When the winter came and the Danube froze, they rode across to bring their campaign to Western Europe. During January of 1242, the Mongols advanced through Croatia, Austria, and Italy. However, their campaign ended when Batu learned that Ogodei Khan had died. The Mongol armies in Europe broke camp and headed back to Mongolia. 397
Genghis Khan’s Successors
During the reign of Ogodei, three queens played an important role in governing the empire. Sorkhokhtani, the widow of Genghis Khan’s youngest son, Tolui, ruled northern China and eastern Mongolia. Ebuskun, the widow of Genghis Khan’s second son, Chaghatai, ruled Central Asia (Turkestan). Though Ogodei reigned as Great Khan, he was too drunk to lead the empire, and gradually he conveyed administrative power to Toregene, the most capable of his wives. Upon his death in 1241 she became the official regent. Eventually, however, Sorkhokhtani, with the assistance of Batu Khan, managed to have her oldest son, Mongke, elected as the great khan. A serious man, Mongke alone among members the Golden Family was not addicted to alcohol. To increase his legitimacy as the great khan of the Mongol Empire and to rewrite history, he retroactively awarded his father Tolui the title of great khan. He also transformed the modest city of Karakorum into an imperial capital of the empire. He was able to stabilize the economy and control government spending sufficiently to renew the Mongol invasions, this time in the direction of the Middle East and south China.
The Mongolian Invasion of the Middle East
In the spring of 1253, Mongke’s brother Hulegu was assigned to attack the Arab cities of Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo; Khubilai was assigned to conquer the Sung dynasty; the youngest brother, Arik Boke, stayed behind in Karakorum to assist Mongke in managing the empire.
Before he could conquer Baghdad, Hulegu had to reassert Mongol authority over several rebellious areas en route. He used subterfuge to defeat these groups fortress by fortress. This opened up the route to Baghdad, the largest and richest city in the Muslim world, known for its palaces, mosques, schools, private gardens, public fountains, luxurious baths, and overflowing bazaars. Besides being the capital of the Muslim empire, it was also a religious center for Christians, who erected many churches, and a cultural center for Jews, who built numerous synagogues and schools.
In November 1257, Hulegu began to march toward Baghdad. To supplement his own army, he summoned the armies of the vassal states of Armenia and Georgia, as well as a variety of Turkic tribes. While the main army was advancing from the north and the east, the others were approaching from the north and the west. By the final week of January 1258, the invading armies had encircled the city and occupied the suburbs beyond the city walls, filling the city to its maximum with refugees. Hulegu surrounded the city with a deep ditch and a rampart and began the assault with a terrifying bombardment of the city. 398
Because his mother and two wives were Christians, he had strong connections with the Christian communities in the Middle East. He also had maintained good relations with his Christian vassal kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia. Taking advantage of these connections, Christian envoys secretly slipped back and forth between the city of Baghdad and the Mongol camp, bringing vital information to Hulegu and securing promises of special treatment for the Christians in the city. 399
The population of Baghdad in the thirteenth century probably was over a million. The city was guarded by an army of sixty thousand troops. However, this army had been neglected, and at the time of the Mongol’s attack was ill-equipped, barely trained and of doubtful loyalty. While its commander demanded emergency defense measures and additional troops, Caliph al Musta’sim seemed more concerned with frivolous pleasure. The caliph lost the respect and loyalty of his close aides. Even the chief minister was in touch with the Mongols. Conditions inside the city were terrible, with hordes of refugees having flooded in from surrounding villages. Yet the defenders put up a determined resistance for almost a month. 400
The Mongols were equipped with special military devices and weapons that the defenders were not familiar with. The Mongol engineers bombarded the city from a distance, which confused the defenders, who had never before been attacked by an enemy far away. On February 5, 1258, the Mongol forces broke through the walls of Baghdad. The garrison was then murdered in cold blood, along with as many as a hundred thousand ordinary men, women, and children. 401
To prepare the city for looting, Hulegu ordered the people of Baghdad to surrender their weapons, abandon all their goods, and leave the city. He then sent his Christian troops into the city to collect the loot, but they found many people had refused the order to evacuate and were hiding in their homes. For disobeying the order, the invaders killed them. The Christians inside Baghdad joined the troops in slaughtering the Muslims and looting the city, and were allowed to destroy the tombs of the long line of Abbasid caliphs. The churches and Christian property in the city remained secure from plunder. One of the caliph’s palaces was given to the Nestorian patriarch Catholikos Makikha. 402
The Mongols destroyed libraries and schools; many teachers and scholars were killed or dispersed, and the irrigation system was almost completely ruined. 403 In less than two years, the Mongol army had accomplished what the European Crusaders from the West and the Seljuk Turks from the East had failed to do in two centuries of sustained effort.
While the Mongols defeated the Arabs, the Crusaders, who at this time occupied a series of castles and small cities along the Mediterranean coast, had watched the Mongol approach cautiously. Suddenly, with the fall of Baghdad, they saw an opportunity for themselves to ally with the Mongols and share in their victories. When the Mongols left Baghdad and headed further west toward Damascus, the Crusader knight Bohemond of Antioch came out with his army to attack Damascus from the Mediterranean side, and brought supplies and food to the Mongols. Similarly, the Seljuk sultan sent his army from Anatolia to join the Mongol assault. 404 Damascus surrendered and saved itself from sharing Baghdad’s fate.
In the seven years since Hulegu had left Karakorum, he had conquered everything along a distance of some four thousand miles, and he had added millions of Arabs, Turks, Kurds, and Persians to the Mongol Empire. Although it seemed at the time that the Mongols were on their way to swallow all of the Muslim world, the Mongols had, in fact, reached their limit in the West. The Egyptian Mamluk army marched toward Palestine and defeated the Mongol forces at Ayn al-Jalut near the Sea of Galilee on the morning of September 3, 1260, putting an end to the expansion of the Mongol Empire.
Although the early Mongol conquests mercilessly crushed Muslim cities and rulers, and seemed to aid the enemies of Islam, their presence eventually proved beneficial to the Muslim world. In fact, Berke, the khan of the Golden Horde, converted to Islam; less than a century later, Islam would be the religion of all the Mongol rulers of Western Asia. 405
Tamurlain (Timurlink): Restoring the Mongol Empire
Although he was not a Mongol, but a Turk of the Barlas clan—and a Muslim— Timur-I Link (1336–1405), saw himself as the heir of Genghis Khan, and established a dynasty that lasted from 1370 to 1526. After winning the Mongol western khanate in 1370 and emerging undefeated as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world, he set his sights on restoring the Mongol Empire. He was a ruthless warrior who inspired much terror through his campaigns and was called invader of the world. He invaded vast territories in Asia, Persia, south Russia, and India, causing the deaths of more than 17 million people—that is, 5 percent of the global population at that time. Despite his brutality, however, Timur was a devout Muslim and a patron of the arts and architecture.
Before the end of 1399, Timur set out on his last great expedition in order to punish the Mamluks and the Ottoman sultan Bayazit for seizing some of his territories. In a seven-year campaign, Timur asserted control over Baghdad and Kurdistan, then extended it further west, opposing the Mamluks in Syria and the Ottomans in Anatolia. In Syria, he captured Aleppo, Hims, and Damascus, among other cities. Aleppo surrendered without struggle, but he subjected Damascus us to looting and massacre. In 1402 he defeated the Ottomans in Ankara, taking Sultan Bayazid captive (Bayazid later died later in captivity). Satisfied at the blow to the Ottoman hegemony, he returned to his capital at Samarkand, and was preparing for the greatest exploit of his life—a campaign against China. He became ill and died in 1405 before he could fulfill his ambition. 406