The death of the prophet Muhammad Essay Example for Free

The death of the prophet Muhammad Essay Following the death of the prophet Muhammad, Islam rose to superiority in the first part of the 7th century as they expand throughout the lands. This introduced another great religion to the world; a religion that would later shape the history of man. This is a very important part in the history of the world, since this contributed a religion apart from the growing Christianity at that time. The rise and development of Islam made way to the formation of another way of life for the people, which until now is still in existence. However, the 7th century expansion for Islam has led to some events which negatively affected Islamic development at that time. These are internal disputes which lead to civil wars and other internal issues. These things occurred right after Muhammad’s death, where their main point of dispute was about the rightful leader that would be Muhammad’s successor. They are disputing about who will be the rightful Caliph, or the leader of the global Muslim community. These disputes between local Muslim heads became wars between clans and eventually getting blown into bigger proportions, leading to first Islamic civil war. The first four caliphs that emerged right after the death of Muhammad were considered to be the â€Å"rightly guided† successors, since they attained their position through nominations and acknowledgement of the local heads of the Muslim community. In their rule, they were able to expand Muslim territory into vast proportions. These leaders were able to conquer neighboring lands including the Persian and the Byzantine Empires. Some Roman established empires were also crushed by this new Muslim power, gaining more and more lands as they continued with their conquest for expansion. Even though the Muslims were successful in their military conquests, tensions flared between the leaders and those who think they are better than their leaders. Following the assassination of the second of the four â€Å"rightly guided† caliphs, choosing the successor became very controversial and has met much opposition. Even though the successor was competent enough and was able to continue the expansion, he was still assassinated. The last of the four took the position; the first civil war broke out. The opposing side was composed of the relatives of the third caliph, Uthman. They are all fighting to avenge the death of the previous caliph, wherein they blame the fourth, Ali, of plotting the assassination. Even though the fourth caliph was able to pacify the uprising, the events that followed favored the opposition. He was eventually fatally stabbed, where afterwards, Muawiyah, an opposition was ordained as the new caliph. This opens a new chapter in the Muslim history, which is the hereditary Umayyad Caliphate. The Umayyad caliphate can be considered as the first ever dynasty established in the history of Muslim Caliphates, all thanks to Muawiyah I, the first Umayyad caliph. The name Umayyad came from Muawiyah I’s great grandfather, Umayya ibn Abd Shams. It was a traditional belief saying that the Prophet Muhammad and the Umayyad family are related. It is because they both came from the same ancestor which is Abd Munaf. The Umayyads came from a son of Abd Munaf, which are Abd-Shams. Muhammad descended from another son, which is Hashim. These two branches formed different clans which eventually turned into great rivalries. However, when Muhammad established Islam, the other tribe succumbed to the new religion and was focused on becoming its leaders. This goal was attained by none other than Muawiyah I. He rose to power and started the great Umayyad dynasty. Muawiyah I excised his power by creating his personal dynasty, which is the Sufyanids, which has ruled from 661 to 684. During this time, Muawiyah’s reign was prosperous, being able to keep internal peace and security, as well as managing to expand its rule over other lands. Muawiyah was also able to establish a peaceful relation with its Christian neighbors in Syria, wherein they were peacefully coexisting despite the difference in religion. Muawiyah concentrated his wars on the Byzantine Empire. They are able to overwhelm and conquer Rhodes and Crete, as well as launched attacks on the newly established Constantinople. He also had his share on efforts to expand further to North Africa and towards Central Asia. When Muawiyah finally died, Yazid I succeeded his position. Yazid was Muawiyah’s son, and this hereditary passing of power was greatly contradicted by other well known Muslim personalities that time. This includes Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, son of one of the close people to the Prophet Muhammad, and Husayn ibn Ali, Muhammad’s grandson. Conflict again rose in the Muslim community, which eventually led to the coming of the Second Civil War. Several war encounters followed, and the caliph Yazid was killed. His son Muawiyah II became caliph but he was not recognized by most of the Muslim community. Anothr Umayya descendent came into the scene. He is Marwan, related to Umayya through Wail ibn Umayyah. Marwan became caliph by winning important battles at that time. However, Marwan’s reign was short lived, when he died just after nine months of becoming the caliph. He was then succeeded by his son, Abd al-Malik. Abd al-Malik’s sons then became the next line of caliphs, wherein the prosperity was kept at bay. The position of caliph has been passed from brother to brother, until it was passed to Hisham, the final son of Abd al-Malik to become caliph. Hisham reign for a very long time, however, there was no significant gain from his efforts of military expansion. He has suffered major defeats from attacks to conquer other lands. One of his main problems has been the difficulty of converting non-Muslims to Islam. The Arab army lost some of its most important battles, signaling the end of its western expansion. Further losses were experienced when non-Arab Muslims added problems regarding their rights. The one who succeeded the position of Hisham was Al-Wahid II, which is Yazid II’s son. However, the problem with the heir was that he was more focused on earthly pleasures than the expansion of their religion. This raised a lot of oppositions which was translated to another set of civil disputes. This led to successive changes in caliphs which has induced more was and the further destruction of the system of government of the Umayyad caliphate. The Umayyad caliphate was then overthrown by the Hashimiyya movement, which was spearheaded by that of the Abbasid family. The Umayyad caliphate is such an interesting aspect of Muslim history, since it is characterized by a lot of changes in its rulers, as well as disputes by relatives and clan rivals. Despite all the negative points it drew, it still marks the great expansion if has given the Muslim world. Despite its administrative and cultural problems, it was able to show the world that Muslims can stand up to its rivals and opponents, in terms of military capabilities and its rulers abilities. The Umayyads contributed so much to the early Islamic formation, and has literally introduced it to the world. The caliphate was not only for the aspect of religion, but it can also be a means of governance. Dynasties like the Umayyad caliphate are some of its manifestations.