The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.55

c7.55

MUḤAMMAD welded into a polity the disorganized and warring Arabs by inculcating among them the necessity of unity. They were enjoined "to hold fast by the covenant of Allah" and to form a compact brotherhood.¹ This teaching was to play a great part in the history of Islam, for its logical consequence was the theory of an indivisible Muslim world. The death of the Prophet was a crucial test of the solidarity of Islam. The community had to choose a new head. The Qur'ān was silent beyond saying that Muslims should settle their affairs by mutual consultation.² The Prophet had abstained from nominating a successor or laying down any rules. Sectarian traditions to the contrary may be dismissed as later fabrications in face of the historical evidence that they were not advanced at the time of election. Nothing, however, could be more natural than what actually happened. The leaders met in their usual assembly house and chose one who, by his piety and eminence, seemed to be the natural leader. The most significant fact in the election is that the separatist tendency of the Anṣār who proposed that there should be two imāms, one for the Quraish and the other for themselves, was ruled out, because that would have divided Islam. The decision of the leaders, whose choice fell on Abū Bakr, was communicated to the people who confirmed it by giving allegiance. The importance of this election in Islamic history cannot be over-emphasized. It provided the later jurists with a precedent on which they could base their theories of succession not only to the caliphate, but also to kingship. The immediate significance, however, did not lie in the method of the election; the person elected was to exercise a deeper influence on the subsequent history of the Muslim world. Certain Bedouin tribes refused to pay zakāt. They did not forsake their belief in Islam; in refusing to pay the legal taxes they were only trying to revert to tribal anarchy; they wanted to break away from the central authority. This endeavour was considered an act of apostasy by the caliph who, in spite of the critical nature of the situation, decided to wage a jihād against the rebels to bring them back to their allegiance. He thus re-emphasized the principle of the indivisibility of Islam.