Thread: How did the Umayyad Caliphs understand & articulate their own religio-political status to their subjects & competitors? Crone & Hinds work remains one of the best resources in English for this. Below I share some excerpts from "God's Caliph".
Mu'awiya, the son of Abu Sufiyan who was the Prophet Muhammad's arch nemesis & adversary, styled himself as God's Caliph with no reference to Prophet Muhammad. Mu'awiya said: "The Earth belongs to God and I am the Deputy of God" per Balahduri.
Mu'awiya likewise styled his son Yazid, the killer of Imam al-Husayn, as God's Caliph "over His worshippers". Yazid was declared by his supporters to be "the Imam of the Muslims and Khalifa (deputy) of the Lord of the Worlds."
The Umayyads regarded themselves as divinely-appointed Caliphs in a divinely sanctioned line & as "tent pegs of religion". They saw Uthman as the 1st true Caliph, not Abu Bakr & 'Umar. Crone believes the Prophet's special prominence actually undermined Umayyad Caliphal claims
Umayyad al-Hajjaj reportedly said God's Caliph is greater in rank than God's Messengers: "Abd al-Malik is the Khalifa of God & he is more honored to God than His Messengers." (Hajjaj via Baladhuri). He said people should circumambulate 'Abd al-Malik instead of Prophet's tomb
Al-Hajjaj reportedly argued that a man's deputy is higher in status than his messengers. Khalid al-Qasri argued likewise: that God regards the Caliph as being higher than His prophets.
According to al-Walid's letter, the Caliphs are parallel to the Prophets in their divine authority; they lay down sunna, hukm, hudud, fara'id & huquq. The Caliphate is not a "second rate" successor to the Prophet; it is equal to Prophethood in manifesting God's authority & rule
Umayyad Caliph al-Walid in his letter stresses absolute unqualified obedience to the Umayyad Caliphs, who are God's chosen Caliphs and inheritors of the legacies of the Prophets. God gave the Caliph mastery over the people and no one can question the Umayyad Caliph's position.
Apart from claims to being God's Deputies on earth, the Umayyad poets styled the Umayyad Caliphs as Rightly Guided Mahdis: 'Umar II was called 'the blessed one' (mubarak) who is Mahdi; they were also called "just Imams" (imam 'adl) who fill the earth with justice, rahma & rain.
Umayyad supporters also described the Umayyad Caliphs as the Refuge ('isma) or secure Fortress by which people cling to God. This is close to the Imami Shi'i concept of the Imams being ma'sum. Umayyad supporters praise Mu'awiya, Yazid & Umayyads as the Rope of God (habl) in Quran
Finally, Umayyad poets & supporters refer to Umayyad Caliphs as being like the Qibla by which humans are guided to salvation; Farazdaq says the Umayyad ruler is the Imam of Guidance who gives God's guidance & light (akin to how Quran describes Torah & Injil), & rain for succor.
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@pearlythingz if you’re going to go based on accepting Sunni Muslim sources, the same sources tell us Aisha was not prepubescent when the marriage occurred. At best the sources contradict each other and the earliest Muslim sources negate her being 9 at marriage
One can also dispute and reject the story from a Sunni traditionalist point of view.
I’ve seen at least 3 Sunni scholars who respect their tradition offer alternatives by using a source l critical approach to their corpus of writings m.
Furthermore, medieval Tafsir spans hundreds of commentators with different views. Muslims aren’t beholden to imitating medieval Tafsir as Tafsir isn’t credal or prescriptive. Same with medieval Fiqh - even a Sunni can update many premodern Fiqh rulings with exception of ‘ibada.
Sunni Ottoman Caliphate abolished dhimmi status jizya in 19th century & granted equal status to Muslims / non-Muslims as Ottoman subjects. They weren’t deemed apostates for this reform. This shows you can be a committed Muslim - here THE Sunni caliphate - without dhimmi/jizya
So this idiotic claim that all traditionalist Muslims are waiting to turn Christians into dhimmi and charge them jizya is false; this claim fails to take into account the modernization of Muslim world, dynamism of Fiqh, & has no poll data to back it up.
Historically speaking, a plurality of Sunnis if not majority of Sunnis participated in the institutions of Sufism - by way of tariqa affiliation, shrine visitation or partaking in Sufi dhikr, Sama’, poetry sessions. NeoSalafis like FullMetal view many Sufi shrine rituals as shirk
Alexander Knysh, Islamic Mysticism: A Short History, 1-2
Sufism became a dominant feature of the Muslim social order…a spiritual & intellectual glue…Sufism retained its pervasive influence on the spiritual & intellectual life of Muslims until the beginning of the 20th century.
"The vast majority of the population of pre-modern societies of Muslims
participated in the normative truth- claims & vocabulary of the hierarchical cosmologies of Sufism…”
- Shahab Ahmed, What is Islam, 93
There’s ABSOLUTELY no scriptural or rational argument that women in Muslim society who don’t wear hijab should be criminally punished. Prophet never punished women for this. People like you are guilty of innovation & playing God when you implement Fiqh rules as nation-state laws
In fact, the Muslim jurists only mandated hijab for free Muslim women meanwhile slave Muslim women in Islamic society didn’t wear hijab & walked in public with uncovered hair, face & sometimes arms & legs. It’s bcuz hijab was very much a token of social status not exactly modesty
Sunni caliph Umar actually forbade a slave woman from wearing a veil and head covering because in doing l she resembled free women. In context Quranic dress like jilbab isn’t about modesty; it’s about showing Muslim women aren’t slaves or lower class so as to avoid harassment.