Oduniyyad Caliphate: Difference between revisions
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===Decline=== | ===Decline=== | ||
Control of resources lost to the [[Alshar Caliphate]] until colonialism, sectarianism and infighting lead to problems in [[Audonia]] and [[ | Control of resources lost to the [[Alshar Caliphate]] until colonialism, sectarianism and infighting lead to problems in [[Audonia]] and [[Sarpedon]], open rebellion dismantles the Caliphate and the empire fractures into separate, smaller states | ||
==Geography== | ==Geography== | ||
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The Oduniyyad Caliphate (ٱلْخِلافَةُ ٱلأُدوِنَيَّة al-Khilāfatu al-'Oduniyyah) was the first Islamic empire, established by Muhammad in 624 CE on the continent of Audonia (al-Oduniye) and greatly expanded over the next half-millennium to become one of the largest empires in history. The Caliphate had always been religiously and ethnically diverse which created tension within the realm. In 1031, followers of the Shia sect who believed that Ali ibn Ali should have succeeded Muhammad rather than Caliph Abu Bakr seceded from the Caliphate, forming a rival empire in the conquered territory in Alshar. This was followed shortly by the Crusades, a series of religious wars waged by Christians to reclaim the southern lands of Sarpedon which had been under Muslim rule for centuries. Portions of the empire fractured gradually over subsequent centuries until the Caliphate eventually fell to infighting in 1517 CE.
History
Origins
Born circa 570 CE in Muqadas, Muhammad ibn Hāshim was sent to live with a nomadic family in the interior wastelands of Audonia following the death of his father at a young age. Later, Muhammad returned to the settlement and travelled with his uncle who was a trader. According to Islamic tradition, in his middle age Muhammad was visited by an angel while praying and he would come to be charged with spreading monotheism. After encountering resistance from the pagan Audonians in and around Muqadas while also accumulating a following who believed he was indeed a prophet of God and the merchant class protected him from the pagan tribal rulers in the region. However, in 617 CE mandated boycotts of merchants protecting Muhammad resulting in the rescinding of protection and the exile of Muhammad and his followers.
At the beginning of 624 CE, Muhammad led 300 Muslim raiders against a caravan from Muqadas headed towards the city of Al-Aqdis. The caravan was aware of the attack and evaded the warriors, drawing them into battle against a united army of Muqadi and Aqdi forces. Despite being outnumbered four-to-one the Muslims won, reaffirming their faith and placing them into direct conflict with two of the largest settlements in Audonia. Muhammad was able to secure the support of nomadic tribes in the region and led sieges on both Muqadas and Al-Aqdis. Both sieges saw the larger armies of each settlement sally forth against the Muslims, but Muhammad was undefeated. The tremendous defeats of both settlements brought great prestige to Muhammad who proclaimed himself Caliph before the end of the year. Many other settlements in Audonia pledged allegiance to Muhammad and converted voluntarily to the Islamic faith.
Early Conquests
Throughout the remainder of the 7th century, the Caliphate consolidated its hold over the islands of the Audonian plate before turning its attention to the continent of Sarpedon at the turn of the 8th century. Conquests of the tribal groups in southeastern Sarpedon occurred swiftly and many were proselytized at risk of death. Large swathes of the southeastern and southwestern extremities of the continent came under the direct administration of the Caliphate while neighbouring nations would gradually be proselytized and fall within its sphere of influence.
On 9th April, 631 AD, a commanding force of four thousand men was amassed to assist the separatist Caphivarian provincial governor in eastern modern-day Veltorina under Rogerius Ecdicius after pleading Arab military leader Daif el-Latif. It was the beginning on one of the many Arab military expeditions in Sarpedon. Although the region had enjoyed the blessing of the presence of many influential religious scholars and saints, the impact of these great leaders were unable to maintain a long-lasting effect as there was no sufficient, theological base in the works to resist the Islamic onslaught. Through a series of events, various heretical views had become prominent influencing the already complicated political scene. Separatism fueled by a newave of religious nationalism by the arrival of iconoclasm and rejection of traditional Trinity aspects paved the wave for eastern Sarpedonian being both emotionally and psychologically prepared to have traditional dogma replaced. Islamic ideals such as Jesus was only a great prophet and that Mohammed had come as an even greater, and final, prophet opened the door for Islam to nearly eradicate Christianity from the east.
Across the sea to the east, the continent of Punth was home to many different states, cultures, and religious beliefs. According to Islamic tradition, invasions of Alshar were motivated by the heretical and allegedly polytheistic faiths practised by early Vedic worshippers. This prompted cries of jihad in the 9th century, leading to the withdrawal of major military forces from Sarpedon and the large-scale invasion of Punth. Originally landing in what is modern-day Umardwal, the invasion force steadily conquered the disparate states of Alshar, reaching as far as the borders of Canpei and Wonjin before their forces became spread too thin. An alliance between the nascent kingdoms of Tapakdore and Pursat with the Asiatic nations to the east successfully stymied attempts to penetrate further into the region and regained ground in Khyarvi and Kulaparkar which was restored to its original rulers. Several more incursions by Caliphate jihadis were attempted, but little ground changed hands over the subsequent centuries.
Trade Empire
The conquest of most of Alshar endowed the Oduniyyad Caliphate with significant riches and resources. The Caliphate exploited their near-exclusive access to the production spices and silks from the East to trade with the West. Islamic laws regulated aspects of trade and commerce, offering superior exchanges with fellow Muslims. This created an impetus for peaceful conversion within trade centres of southern Sarpedon which combined with an influx of wealthy merchant-class Muslim immigrants instigated Islamic cultural dominance in the region from the 10th to 15th centuries. Several Muslim states emerged eternally from the Caliphate in southern Sarpedon during this period, independently ruled, but de facto subject to the authority of the Caliphate. These independent states often threatened and quarrelled with Christian states to the north as well as with Christian subjects within their territories. Due to the vast wealth of the Muslim states accumulated through trade and virtual monopoly over luxury goods, Muslim lords often employed foreign and/or pagan soldiers as mercenaries to consolidate control of trade overland as well as on the seas, engaging in trade wars with Christian neighbours. Despite the plausible deniability conferred by the use of mercenaries and privateers, Muslim lords earned the enmity of their Christian neighbours and this along with the inequitable treatment of Christian subjects would provoke conflict in the near future.
Shia Secession and the Crusades
In 1031, /succession of Mogul/Pakistan equivalent, Muslims in Punth, last for around as long as Oduniyyads before getting cleared out for colonialism or maybe as part of colonialism
Less than a century later in 1084 the First Crusade was launched in Sarpedon, the final realization of a call to arms which had been openly made since 1063. The Church-sanctioned campaign was one of the largest organized military actions in history at the time and called for all Christian knights who were able and willing to defend Christendom to unite and push back against the Muslim invaders of Sarpedon. Actual campaign and gains of crusade ought to be clarified.
Like every religion after it's original founder had died, likewise in Islam saw the rising the Shia were a political movement(Arabic shīʿat ʿAlī, literally meaning “party of ʿAlī”) - supporting ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammed(since none of his sons lived to adulthood) as rightful descendants since he was both a close confidant and son-in-law since the other Caliphs after Abu Bakr thought to be cursed and unfit for the place of the Prophet; since Umar al-Khaṭṭab was killed by a male slave(and possibly sex slave claimed by Shias) and Uthmān ibn Affān was killed by rioters for continuing massive war campaigns that resulted in overtaxation of the middle class. Many felt relieved of Ali's choice as Caliph and a natural outcome. Nevertheless he never quite received the allegiance of all the Muslims and in an effort to consolidate power, he was forced to wage the first fitnah (“trial”); a serious of campaigns. Ali’s main opponent were the Muslim governors in Punth, kinsmen of the murdered Uthman(many believe this antagonism was a long-aged rivalry pre-unification of the Arab tribes as they had waged religious wars between them as Jewish and Animinist hatred was common). The antagonism between Ali and these men culminated with Ali appeared to be winning until he agreed to a demand for arbitration between him and Muawiyah(Moab). The concession angered a large fraction within both men's forces, and the malcontents soon seceded (and were henceforth known as the Kharijites or “Seceders”), which ultimately both weakened and strengthened Ali’s position. Nevertheless Ali and his son betrayed by his officers were killed by Kharijites including some time later Moab himself but his son's political finesse allowed to quickly recuperate from his losses and reclaim the Prophet's land and allowing Kharijite malcontent to arise.
Western Division
Beginning in the 11th century, dynastic feuding within the Oduniyyads began to splinter the loyalties of the emirs of the Caliphate. By 1050, two brothers launched rival claims for Caliphal authority, and while that civil war would end by 1072, it proved to both the emirs and second sons of the dynasty that opposition to the sitting Caliph was feasible. Several dynastic feuds would divide the Caliphate during this critical era, as Occidental Crusaders would take advantage of the division and cleave off significant portions of land and many key strategic islands during this period. In 1130, the Caliphate divided into two persistent rival caliphates, with most of Audonia following the eastern Caliph while the traditional capital, western coast of Audonia, and all Sarpedon holdings recognized the western Caliph. In the fracture, many satellite territories and tributaries in eastern Audonia and Alshar broke away and began pursuing an independent foreign policy.
The Third Crusade would lead to disaster for the Caliph, as Crusader control over the Melian Islands and establishment of Qustantistan split lines of supply and communication from Audonia and Sarpedon in 1144. While the Islamic emirates in Sarpedon would continue to nominally recognize the authority of the western Caliph until 1153, it functionally dissolved into approximately 15 independent emirates on the continent.
The west-east divide would continue for several decades until 1153, when the eastern Caliph managed to broker a deal with powerful satraps in the east, agreeing to give them control over the entire western Caliphate in exchange for their lands. The satraps successfully destroyed the Western Caliphate two years later, governing its extensive lands in the name of the Caliph. The western satraps also began to exert increasing administrative control over the Caliphate, with Caliphal authority beginning to erode by 1160.
The Fourth Crusade entirely removed Caliphal authority from the west, with most islands in the Sea of Istroya returning to Christian hands. The independent emirs in Sarpedon would be gradually destroyed over the coming century.
Decline
Control of resources lost to the Alshar Caliphate until colonialism, sectarianism and infighting lead to problems in Audonia and Sarpedon, open rebellion dismantles the Caliphate and the empire fractures into separate, smaller states
Geography
Politics and society
Law and Religion
The Oduni code of law was directly inspired by the Quran; traditionally the word of God given to and transcribed by the Prophet Muhammad. Beyond the Quran however, the Caliphate saw the expansion of several laws and legal departments including one of the most advanced treasury departments in the medieval world with a progressive taxation system based on several factors including income, estate size, and social status with privileges granted to Muslims, especially those who descended from prestigious clans and clerics.
The enforcement of taxation policies and other laws was conducted by mercenary-slave armies maintained by Muslim lords known as the Ghilman. Despite their enslaved status, the Ghilman were privileged and respected in civil society within the Caliphate. A Ghulam (singular) was selected for service at young ages and raised separately in martial environments. The Ghilman did not mandate conversion to Islam, only the observance of Islamic laws. As such, often the highest status a Christian or other gentile could attain within the Caliphate would be as a Ghulam.
The criminal code of the Caliphate is more heavily based on the word of the Quran as well as Hadith: authoritative accounts of the words and deeds of Muhammad which are not included in the Quran as written by Muhammad. These accounts include specific punishments for various crimes with various definitions. Theft, for example, has 63 different possible counts depending on the value and nature of the goods stolen. As criminal law is inseparable from the theological and textual interpretation of the Quran, legal experts are by necessity also Islamic clerics. Despite legal privileges typically being proferred to high-status Muslims, protections were also extended to the poor including exemptions from extremely petty crimes which de facto resulted in a pseudo-welfare system by which the poor were frequently granted alms. This also resulted in an "upper-under-class," the category of people who earned enough not to be subject to exemptions, but still lived in poverty. Members of this class, as well as the extremely poor (due to their exemptions), composed much of an extensive criminal element which developed throughout the Caliphate which was partially exempt from law enforcement due to contemporary interpretations of the law.
The Caliphate's period is also important in religious history. With few and therefore notable exceptions, the Muslim rulers had originally seldom interfered with the lives of their Christian and Jewish subjects so long as these groups paid the special taxes (known as jizyah) levied on them in exchange for state protection. Indeed, both heretical Christians and Jews had always served in the Muslim bureaucracy, sometimes in the very highest administrative positions. Even the Crusades apparently failed to upset the delicate balance between Muslims and Christians. Trade with the various Sarpedon continental city-states had certainly continued, and there is no evidence that the local Christians were held accountable for the Crusader invasions of Egypt.
With the establishment of the Rhūm sultanate, however, it is generally agreed that the lot of the Christians took a distinct turn for the worse. One indication of this change is the increased production of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic polemics written by Muslim theologians. A possible reason for the change may have been the association of Jews with the Xazar peril as they employed Samaritan auxiliaries in their armies in particular—they often spared the Christian populations of towns they conquered, while slaughtering the Muslims. Also, the diplomatic efforts between Xazars and Crusaders to coordinate operations Caliphical and other independent Sultanates might have contributed to their distrust towards Christians. But the dissatisfaction seems to have originated not so much with the rulers as with the masses, and it seems to have been directed not so much against Christians sympathy for invading forces as against their privileged position and role in state apparatus case by case.
On several occasions popular resentment against Jewish conspicuous wealth claiming being usury collected and Christian employment in the government was manifested in public demonstrations. Muslims resorted to arson, burning sanctuaries to express their hatred. Under such pressure, the Rhūm government dismissed Christians from the bureaucracy and ordered all the churches to be closed. As a result of these intermittent persecutions and the destruction of churches, it is believed that the rate of conversion to Islam accelerated markedly in the period and many smaller old Christian sects disappeared. By the end of Caliphical rule, the Muslims reached the same numerical superiority that they enjoy in modern times.
Trade
Culture
Arabic had been the language of the bureaucracy since the late 7th century and the language of religion and culture. Moreover, the prevalence of Arabic as a written and spoken language is attested by the discovery of thousands of letters and documents from the 11th century written in Hebrew characters, the actual language of most of these documents is Arabic, which proves that Arabic was widely used even by non-Muslims. The main incentive for learning Arabic must have come from the desire of a subject population to learn the administrative and scholarly language of the ruling and learned elite. The immigration of tribesmen during the early centuries of the occupation, and their intermarriage with the indigenous inhabitants, must also have contributed to the gradual spread of Arabic.
The specific contribution to culture however, lay above all in military achievement. By invading eastern Sarpedon, the Caliphs provided a safe haven for an influx of scholars originally for religious dissenters later Muslim-converts from prosecution by early intra-Christian in-fighting.
This accidental displacement of scholars and artisans wholly account for the efflorescence of certain types of cultural activity. In the same way that they supported the caliphate as a visible symbol of their legitimate claim to rule Islamic territory by cultivating and patronizing religious leaders whose skills they needed in administering their empire and in directing the religious sentiments of the masses into nondisruptive channels. Those divines who cooperated with the state were rewarded with government offices in the case of the ʿulamāʾ and with endowed zāwiyahs (monasteries) in the case of the mystics; the Sufis in later years. On the other hand, those who dared criticize the prevailing social and moral order were thrown into prison; even famous legalists that would pave the wave for dissent to sprout out(Xazarites non-conformity despite prosylitazation and Shia early days rising).
Concrete evidence of the cultural life in an era tied with the economic prosperity can be found chiefly in the fields of architecture and historiography. Dozens of public buildings erected under their patronage are still standing: mosques, madrasahs (colleges), hospitals, zāwiyahs, and caravansaries. Historical writing is monumental, in the form of immense chronicles, biographical dictionaries, and encyclopaedias.
The Oduniyyad Caliphate at times tolerated non-Muslims through a status of dhimmitude, particularly Audonian Christians.
Legacy
It pertinent to note that even though the Islamic conquests had succeeded in establishing control over vast amounts of territory, it cannot be denied that the invasions had also contributed to the destruction of lives and properties that ensured drastic demographic changes. It led to the dispersal of many cultures and permanent settlement of nomadic tribals as most of them fled the region in fear of the Islamic incursion.
The long-lasting post-conquest contacts between invaders and local had no doubt transformed parts of both Sarpedon and Alshar into established Islamic centers, which attracted scholars of various communities from within and outside the region.