As Abraham, Moses, and King David, Buddha, Ānanda, and King Asoka, Jesus, St. Paul, and the Emperor Constantine, may, from the PRESENT historical point of view, be looked upon as the authors, founders, and establishers of the Jewish, Buddhist, and Christian religions, so Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and O’mar may be regarded as the authors, founders, and establishers of the faith of Islâm. The two preceding volumes of this part have given full details of the life of the prophet from his cradle to his grave; the present volume contains the lives of his four immediate successors, viz., Abu Bakr, O’mar, O’thmân, and A’li.
While traditions alone have to be depended upon in many matters connected with other religions, for Islâm, dates and facts supply the groundwork on which its rise and progress can be faithfully and historically recorded. It was providential in every way that the faith and zeal of Muhammad were followed by the loyalty and steadfastness of Abu Bakr and the boldness and determination of O’mar, rather than by the weakness, vacillation, and favouritism of O’thmân or the procrastination and mildness of A’li.
On the death of Muhammad, in June, A.D. 632, rebellions and insurrections arose throughout Arabia. It was due to the firmness of Abu Bakr that these were promptly put down. His faith in his great master was such that he determined to carry out the ideas and wishes of the prophet even as if he had been still alive. It was this faith which securely laid the foundations of Islâm.
Abu Bakr, duly elected as Khalifah, or successor, in June, 632, ruled for two years and nearly three months, dying of fever in August, 634. The principal events of his reign and of that of his successor, O’mar, may be summarised as follows:
Abu Bakr’s election to the Khalifate, June, 632. Expedition to Syrian frontier under the command of Asâmah B. Zaid, and his victorious return in two months, during which time Madinah had been threatened, but was saved by Abu Bakr’s exertions.
Expeditions despatched against the apostate tribes and rebel insurgents throughout Arabia—altogether eleven columns sent out under the commands of Khâled B. Alwolyd and others. All of these were successful in this and the following year, and Islâm was firmly established throughout the land.
Campaign in Chaldæa, or Arabian E’râk, first under Mothanna B. Hârethah, and then under Khâled B. Alwolyd, and the victories there.
Campaign in Syria, begun by Khâled Bin Said and others, who were defeated in one action, and did not make any progress against the enemy.
Khâled B. Alwolyd transferred from Chaldæa to take the command in Syria. His famous march across the Syrian desert, and reorganization of the armies. Wins a great victory in September, 634.
Further fighting in Arabian E’râk under Mothanna.
Death of Abu Bakr, August, 634. Is succeeded by O’mar B. Alkhattâb, named and appointed by Abu Bakr before his death. O’mar at once removes Khâled B. Al-wolyd from, and appoints Abu O’baydah B. Jurrâh to, the command of the armies in Syria.
Fresh levies for Arabian E’râk, and further fighting and successes there under Abu O’baydah B. Masu’d Thaqfy and Mothanna B. Hârethah. Defeat and death of the former at the Battle of the Bridge. Subsequent victories under Mothanna.
Campaign in Syria continues. Siege of Damascus, December, 634.
Capture of Damascus in the summer of 635, and further victories in Syria at Ba’lbek and on the Yarmûk.
Renewed campaign in E’rak. Sad B. Mâlek appointed commander there. Battle of Kâdesyah—a fearful struggle and great Arab victory, November, 635.
Occupation of Hira, January, 636.
More fighting in E’râk. Siege of Madâin, which lasted some months.
Campaign in Northern Syria continued. Hamss [Emessa], Aleppo, Antioch, and other towns taken. Heraclius returns to Constantinople. Palestine invaded. Jerusalem besieged and capitulated end of 636, O’mar having come from Madinah to receive the capitulation in person.
The campaign in E’râk continues. Madâin taken March, 637. Jalûlâ captured December, 637. The era of the Hejret, or Hegira, established.
Kûfah and Bossrah founded. The influence of these two towns on the future destinies of Islâm is described by Sir William Muir in ‘The Caliphate: its Rise, Decline, and Fall,’ p. 135, as follows:
‘Kufa and Bussorah, unique in their origin, had a singular influence on the destinies of the Caliphate and of Islâm at large. The vast majority of the population were of pure Arabian blood. The tribes which, scenting from afar the prey of Chaldæa and Persia, kept streaming into Chaldæa from every corner of Arabia, settled chiefly there. At Kûfa the races from the south of the peninsula predominated; at Bussorah from the north. Rapidly they grew into two great and luxurious capitals, with an Arab population each of from 150,000 to 200,000 souls. On the literature, theology, and politics of Islâm the two cities had a greater influence than the whole Moslem world besides. Service in the field was desultory and intermittent. The intervals were spent in idleness. Excepting when enlivened by the fruits of some new victory, secluded harems afforded their lords little variety of recreation or amusement. Otherwise, the time was whiled away in the converse of social knots; and in these, while they discussed the problems of the day, they loved still more to live in the past—to recall the marvellous story of their faith, and fight their battles over again. Hence tradition and the two great schools of Bussorah and Kûfa. But the debates and gossip of these clubs too often degenerated into tribal rivalry and domestic scandal. The people grew petulant and factious, and both cities became hotbeds of turbulence and sedition. The Bedouin element, conscious of its strength, was jealous of the Coreish, and impatient at whatever checked its own capricious humour. Thus factions sprung up, which, controlled by the strong and wise arm of O’mar, broke loose under weaker Caliphs, rent the unity of Islâm, and brought on disastrous days, that but for its marvellous vitality must have proved fatal to the faith.’
Rising in Northern Syria suppressed, and Cæsarea taken.
Famine and plague throughout the land. O’mar again goes to Syria. Moa’wiah Bin Abu Sofiân appointed to the chief command there on the death of Abu O’baydah B. Jurrâh.
Advance upon Persia. Sus, or Shushan, the ancient capital of Media, taken.
Conquest of Egypt commenced by A’mru Bin A´ass.
Alexandria taken and Egypt conquered.
Persian campaign continued.
Battle of Nehâwend. A great, decisive, and final victory over the Persians.
Conquest of the Persian Empire.
Consolidation of Syria by Moa’wiah, and of Egypt by A’mru.
Death of O’mar, assassinated by a Persian slave after a reign of a little more than ten years, November, 644. Is buried by the side of the prophet and Abu Bakr in A´ayshah’s house.
The conquests made during the Khalifate of O’mar are given at page 135 of this volume. It was these campaigns and conquests which established Islâm not only in Arabia, but also in Syria, Egypt, Chaldæa, and Persia. Had the Arabs remained inactive in Arabia, dissensions would have broken out among themselves. Conquest and victory, booty and plunder, brought the tribes together, consolidated them to a certain extent, and laid the foundations of that Arab Empire which, commencing with the foresight of Abu Bakr and O’mar in A.D. 632, ended with the Abbasides at the fall of Baghdad in 1258.
O’mar on his deathbed had named six of the companions as the electors of his successor. These, failing to agree among themselves, placed the election in the hands of one of their number—viz., A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf—who, after deliberation and consultation, appointed O’thmân B. O’ffan as Khalifah the beginning of A.H. 24, or November 7th, A.D. 644.
From the very first affairs did not run smoothly. The jealousy of the family of Hashem and of the family of O’mmaiyah* began to show itself, and O’thmân, weak and vacillating, treated his own relations with too much favour in appointing them to various posts. The recall of Merwân B. Hakum from exile, his marriage with O’thmân’s daughter, the largesses bestowed upon him, and the attention paid to his very bad advice on various occasions, caused great discontent. Again, many of the Bedouin tribes became impatient of the superiority of the Koraish, and factions in Bossrah and Kûfah increased these feelings. The frequent change of governors in these two towns, the inhabitants of which were becoming difficult to manage, also added to O’thmân’s troubles. The recension of the Korân, and a change in some of the ceremonies performed at the Mecca pilgrimage, further raised a feeling of discontent in some places, and added to his unpopularity, which eventually led to his murder after a reign of nearly twelve years, in A.H. 35, or June, 656.
During this period Moa’wiah had held Syria firmly, and consolidated his power there to such an extent that he began to consider himself more as the sovereign than the governor of that province. A’bdullah B. Sa’d Abu Sarj, the successor of A’mru B. A´ass in Egypt, made some conquests in Africa, and gained some naval victories off Cyprus and Alexandria, while A’bdullah B. A´amer conquered Khorâsân, including Nishâbûr, Sarakhs, Merv, Hirat, and other places, to all of which governors were appointed.
On O’thmân’s death A’li Bin Abu Ttâleb was requested by the companions and other notables to assume the reins of government and become their Emâm. To this he consented, and after a little by-play was installed as the fourth Khalifah on June 23rd, 656. His difficulties began at once, and the question as to the punishment of the murderers of O’thmân was continually being raised during the whole of his reign, and was to him a constant source of trouble, though he declined to move in the matter for fear of alienating many of his followers. Against the advice of his best counsellors, A’li determined to remove Moa’wiah and others from their posts without delay. This, and the refusal to punish the regicides, led to the struggles which terminated in the battles of Jamal [i.e., of the camel] and Ssafyn, full details of which, and the events that followed them, will be found in the pages of this volume. Towards the end of his reign the rebellion of the Khowârej, or Kharejites, and the loss of Egypt, wrested from him by A’mru B. A´ass for Moa’wiah, caused him much trouble, annoyance, and grief. But things might have settled down and satisfactory arrangements been made for the future, when A’li passed away, struck down by the hand of the assassin, Ebn Mulajjam, in A.H. 40, or January 25th, A.D. 661.
With the death of A’li ends the second part of Mirkhond’s voluminous history. The third part of it contains the adventures and doings of the twelve Emâms and of the O’mmayad and Abbaside Khalifahs, but it is not proposed to publish the translation of this at present. A summary of the lives of the Emâms, by Mr. E. Rehatsek, will be found in the Indian Antiquary of August, 1876, while Dr. Weil’s ‘Geschichte der Chalifen,’ and Sir William Muir’s ‘The Caliphate: its Rise, Decline, and Fall’ [1892], contain full and interesting information on the subject of the two dynasties mentioned above.
Further translations from Mirkhond may appear hereafter, but the two first parts of his great work are the most valuable. They show how one of the great religions of the world was established with a form of faith simple in the extreme and within the comprehension of even the uncivilized and the uneducated. The Moslem versions of our present Bible stories scattered throughout the Korân are collected and put together by Mirkhond in an interesting way, and show that Muhammad must have been well acquainted with the traditions of the Jewish and Christian religions; but whether he obtained these from oral tradition only, or from oral tradition and from such writings as may have been in existence at that period, it is difficult to say. Anyhow, at present more is supposed to be known about the Korân than about any other sacred writing of the East or West. It was promulgated between the years A.D. 610 and 632, and put together exactly as it is now between the years 632 and 650. We must not suppose that it contains the very words as they fell from Muhammad’s lips in chronological order, for the text was collated in rather a haphazard way, and many of the verses were, perhaps, inserted into chapters to which they did not really belong. Still, making allowance for mistakes, additions, and interpolations by the compilers and copyists, the Korân may fairly be considered as a representation of the ideas which Muhammad wished to convey to his followers and adherents, and as such it has remained unaltered for more than twelve hundred years.
For historical purposes it will be necessary to print and publish later on the biography of Muhammad the apostle according to the tradition of A’bdu-l-Malek B. Hisham as obtained from Muhammad B. Ishâk. These works, written in the eighth and ninth centuries, ought to be compared with Mirkhond’s work, written in the fifteenth century, and the influences of time upon history will then be clearly evident. Moreover, by following the later authors up to the earlier ones, we are brought within a reasonable distance of the life and death of the prophet and the promulgation of the Korân, about which matters the more reliable and trustworthy information we can obtain, the better will it be for general knowledge. The manuscript, containing a complete translation of Ibn Hisham’s work from the original Arabic into English, is now in my possession, and ready for the press.
But the next work to be published by the Oriental Translation Fund, New Series, will be a translation of the latter half of one of the most extraordinary Arabic books in existence; viz., Al-Harìri’s Mukāmāt,’ or Assemblies. The whole work contains fifty stories, or essays, showing the wonderful flexibility and the many-sided meanings of the Arabic language, the richness of its rhetoric, and the wonders of its philology. Of these fifty most interesting productions, twenty-six were translated and published by the late Mr. Thomas Chenery in 1867, and the remaining twenty-four have now been done into English by the well-known Arabic scholar, Dr. F. Steingass. These two volumes will supply a work in the English language which will be well worth the notice of Arabic scholars throughout the world.
F. F. ARBUTHNOT.
22, ALBEMARLE STREET,
LONDON, W.