.... beyond this first century, the history of the caliphate is far more troubled, bloody and contested than many realise. For most of Islamic history the title of caliph has been disputed by a succession of Muslim leaders who were anxious to give sacral legitimacy to conquests already achieved – what the Israelis like to call "facts on the ground". As ever in the Middle East, religion is a useful mask assumed by the powerful as a way of holding on to power.
[A COMMENT] The first century of the Caliphate was every bit as troubled, bloody and contested as the subsequent ones. Three out of the first four, "rightly-guided", Caliphs were murdered.
The nascent Umayyad empire went through two civil wars in its first fifty years of existence, and by the year 700 virtually the whole of Mesopotamia was being ruled as if it were a hostile territory on account of near-constant Shia and Kharijite rebellions.
The Islamic Golden age as an age of internal harmony and unity exists only in the imagination, though in the imagination of many. [Guardian Cif] Read more
