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Caliphates
Caliphates were Middle Eastern community jurisdictions headed by a caliph, the civil and religious leader.
754 Questions
What is the difference between Shi'ite views of Imam and the Sunni view of Caliph?
no especial difference.
Shia and Sunni have mostly same beliefs and both believe in fundamental beliefs of Islam. Today there is up to 260 sects in Islam that are in two main categories of shia and sunni.
the conflict of shia and sunni has been always amplified by world Imperialism to prevent Islam from gaining power.
Shia believes in Allah, prophet and all fundamentals of Islam.
Shia pray 5 times a day but usually do the 2, 3 and 4, 5 pray together and so may seem they do only 3 pray a day. there is some differences in details of pray like genuflect (for shia should be on a stone or part of earth and for sunni on carpet or floor ).
shia believe after death of prophet God selected the successive for prophet who is the political leader of Muslim community and people can not and does not the right to selected it.
Shia believes the Caliph (Representative of God in earth) is selected only by God and can not be selected by people because God said in Koran: "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority" (Quran 2:30) or "O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth" (Quran 38:26) also other verses.
Shia believes such verses means only God can select an Islamic political leader (Caliph).
In Shia Islam Caliphs after prophet are 12 Imams and all of them are the same and have no mistake and have the knowledge of everything (not absolute knowledge like knowledge of God) and they hear all sayings and even thinks of all humans after even after their death by permission of God and they are intermediates between God and human Shia Muslims always support them and forgive their lives for them.
Shia Muslims do not consider selection of Abubakr as Caliph by people valid because God did not select him. They believe God ordered prophet to declare people that Ali is selected as successor of prophet and prophet did this mission many times during his prophet-hood and mainly in Ghadir event after last Hajj of his life at a 3-4 hour speech in front of 120,000 Muslims at Ghadir in hot desert after 2 days stop of long caravan for gathering and 3 days after speech for congratulations and homage of Muslims to Ali. Islam at that time had high power in world and Some companions had high interest in leadership position after prophet. Muslims knew that it is the final Hajj of prophet (predicted by prophet) and were going along with prophet to hear what prophet says at end of his life. Shia believes Ghadir event is the most important event of Islam and is mentioned in Koran in many verses like "Today" (اليوم) in verse 5:3 of Quran is the day of Ghadir. Or Verse 5:67 (O Messenger! proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith) is revealed at Ghadir day and is about declaring political leadership of Ali after prophet.
Both Sunni and Shia Muslims accept happening of Ghadir event But different interpret. Some Sunni writers tried to reject the event of Ghadir as declare of leadership of Ali and said at Ghadir prophet only wanted to say Ali is my friend and no one should bother him. Ali had 3 different missions to Yemen by prophet during 10 years and in 2 of them some companions of prophet had some conflicts with Ali and and prophet said some sayings about Ali to solve conflicts and some sunni writers have mixed stories of missions of Ali to Yemen with story of Ghadir to prove Ghadir event is not about Leadership of Ali and is not important.
Shia scholars believe some Sunni writers have changed and deviated historical evidences about political leadership of Ali in old historical books and republished them to destroy evidences of leadership of Ali from old Sunni books.
The famous Shia book Al-Ghadir (الغدير) by Allameh Amini is a collection of evidences and proofs for Ghadir Events written after referring to 100,000 Sunni books and full reading of 10,000 sunny books. Allameh Amini is a famous Shia scholar and spent 40 years of his life in travelling to access original old Sunni books in libraries in different countries to write this 20 volume book only from Sunni books and not using any Shia book. Some Sunni scholars tried to reply this book but then said if we want to reply this book we should first destroy all books of ourselves.
Shia doctrine have root in Karbala tragedy. When tragedy of Karbala happened most of Iranians understood there is two different kinds of Islam and after happening of Karbala tragedy most of Iranians became followers of "Ahl al-Bayt" and forgive their lives for them like what they did in Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War. Shia Muslims have at least 120,000 Hadith (saying) from The Fourteen Infallibles that is the base of Shia Islam along with Quran. Shia believes according to " Hadith of the two weighty things" The Fourteen Infallibles are the only valid interpreters of Quran and sayings of them are from God because they are Representative of God in earth and they do not say anything from themselves. Shia believes 12th of them (Mahdi) is alive and because people have killed all 11 Imams before him, he is in hide like Jesus and will come out of hide toghether with Jesus when people become ready and want to accept his leadership. All 11 Imams have been killed and during their life thy all have been in prison or under hard control of government to not have any political action. They never had enough serious followers to can get political power. Among them only the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was relatively free in his life to have only scientific activities (but banned from any political action) and so only he is known in west because he established university and had students from all over the world. Westerns know him as a polymath: an astronomer, alchemist, Imam, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, writer, philosopher, physician, physicist and scientist. He was also the teacher of the famous chemist, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), and of Abū Ḥanīfa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He never wanted be a famous man and only shared his knowledge with who wanted to learn. Some researchers consider his teachings the root cause of renaissance.
Sunni Muslims also accept Mahdi and his worldwide leadership as Caliph of God in earth at end of world. There is a famous Hadith from prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that Mahdi at hide is like sun behind cloud, he is hidden from people but people receive his benefits. Shia Muslims say some faithful believers have connection with Mahdi and use his knowledge. Shia Muslims believe that it is proved at least 1000 persons have had connection and talk with Mahdi during his hide period but Any one having relation with Mahdi keep it and does not declare it in public until is alive.
What helped the Umayyads to succeed after losing power to the Abbasids?
They built a strong bureaucracy and huge standing army.
How was the economy in Umayyad period?
It was a very very very very good economy, that was very good. if you need more help just go to google and type in "umayyad period econmoy". have a good day.
What is the importance of Timur the Lame to the ottoman safavid or mughal empires?
Timur the lame halted the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in 1402 when he crushed ottoman forces in the battle of Ankara
What was the capital of the Safavid Empire?
According to http://www.answers.com/safavid, Isfahan was the capital
What event led to the fall of the Umayyads?
The defeat by the byzantine empire in 717 ; intertibal feuding , discontent among non Arab Muslim converts , and failure of financial reforms eventually led to their unseating by the " abbasid dynasty ".
What changes did the abbasids make during their rule?
They moved the capital from Damascus to Baghdad for the benefits of better control of trade routes and information.
"Guided Approach" is an approach proposed by Schmidt, that can be used for teaching office reading exercises. It allows an instructor to emphasize the thirteen component skills that are subsets of the two main skills, verifying and comprehending detail.
Why was the caliphate developed?
The Caliphate is a political system from the ideology of Islam that enshrines: the rule of law, representative government, accountability by the people through an independent judiciary and the principle of representative consultation. It is government built upon a concept of citizenship regardless of ethnicity, gender or creed and is totally opposed to the oppression of any religious or ethnic grouping.
Who were the Muslim rulers who moved the capital from Mecca to Damascus?
The Umayyads, specifically the first Umayyad ruler, Mu'awiya I.
What is the Most powerful Muslim empire?
Certainly, there have been many mighty empires of the Muslim faith such as the Abbasid, Umayyed, moghuls, or the Safavid no doubt the greatest would be the Ottoman Empire. 1299-1923.
What policies did Abbas the Great use to strengthen the Safavid empire?
Abbas reduced taxes on farmers and herders and encouraged the growth of industry. While earlier Safavids had imposed their faith on the empire, Abbas tolerated non-Muslims and valued their own economic contributions.
Yes, this is how the two empires were based. Each took what seemed the strongest to them in order to succeed in the world.
What was the status of artisans in abbasid cities?
Artisans were free men who owned their own tools and who formed guild like organizations to negotiate wages.
There are two questions. Let's answer them in turn.
How did the Mongols expand their empire through warfare?
The Mongols were very skilled in the art of war, especially cavalry movements. Mongols, by nature of their society in the Steppes, had become avid horsemen and were knowledgeable concerning battle since they often had fights with one another. When Genghis Khan was able to unite all of the Mongols under one banner, the amount of equipped Mongols was immense.
Light cavalry (which was the dominant Mongol attack force) easily routed armies by outmaneuvering them on the open plains and violently massacring all who opposed them. This increased the fear of non-Mongols of the Mongol advance and made them more willing to surrender. With the exception of the Ismailis in Iran and the Mamluks in modern Israel, they suffered no major loss and the Ismailis were later defeated anyway.
How did the Abbasid Caliphate expand using religion?
The Abbassid Caliphate did not expand their empire through religion. The Abbassid Caliphate fought several wars to maintain their borders and even enslaved Turkish boys to fight their wars for them. (These slaves were called the Mamluks and they eventually rose up against the Abbassids and created their own empires.)
The Abbassid Caliphate helped to expand the religion of Islam both through unequal policies towards non-Muslims (which can be read about in the Related Question below) and by engaging in trade and diplomatic missions to distant countries. These missions spread the concepts and beliefs of Islam to other countries.
How did the Umayyads unite the many peoples of the Muslim empire?
I think they let the non-muslims in their empire and they continued worshipping what they worship but they had to pay a special tax.
To what extent did urban quality of life mirror political developments during the Abbasid Empire?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Who defeated Abbasid Empire in 1258?
Hulagu Khan of the Mongols defeated Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta'sim in 1258 in Baghdad. He completely conquered the Abbassid Empire and made sure to raze every city to the ground that gave him one iota of resistance.
