Conflict in Islam

The rise of the Islamic world was a strong and powerful one in its beginning and much of this was due to the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad. The death of this prophet ultimately led to the question of who would succeed him to lead the faith, and how that person should be chosen. Herein lies the major conflict and division in Islam in its very early stages, and a conflict that still continues to this day in many ways. The two major sects of Islam known around the world are the Sunni’s and the Shiite’s and these two sects are a direct result of the debate and fighting that happened after the death of the first prophet of the Islamic faith, Muhammad. The fighting and conflict were one of succession very similar to those after monarchs pass away. The matter of succession was also used to address dissatisfaction with the structure of Islam and politics in the Caliphate under the four rulers that led after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

The prophet Muhammad and the state of the Arabian Peninsula that he lived in created an atmosphere that led to the ultimate creation of a new faith. Many loyal people were around the Prophet from the beginning and many of them had ties to him by blood or by both blood and marriage. Notable companions that would later come to represent the leadership of the Caliphate (Islamic Nation) were Abu Bakr, Ali Talib, Umar Al-Khattab, and Uthman Affan. Each of these individuals had close ties to the Prophet Muhammad and were close companions that stood with him during the many battles and trials that the Prophet and early Islam faced.

The important people who were close followers of the Prophet Muhammad came together soon after his death to determine the next leader of the Islamic faith. There was not to be another like the Prophet Muhammad, but there would be Caliphs that would represent his will and spirit while he himself was gone. The division in Islam starts from this point with the close meeting of a small number of the Islamic community who voted on who the Caliph would be. Abu Bakr was chosen, and as a companion and father in law to the late Prophet Muhammad he was accepted as the Caliph. Many believed that this was not a matter that could be voted on, and that rather this decision was already made by the Prophet Muhammad before he passed away. Ali Talib was a cousin of the Prophet, as well as a close companion who was also respected by many in the community. He was not at the voting and had no say in it while it was taking place. He did believe in his right to be Caliph and so did many others who stated that the Prophet Muhammad had dictated in front of a large group that this was to be his successor. Despite the strong belief that he should be the Caliph, Ali did not fight the status and election of Abu Bakr. Rather than start a conflict over his own personal desires and advancement, he stood aside and supported the man that was chosen. After the election of Abu Bakr there would be two more Caliphs before Ali would become the Caliph himself. Umar Khattab and Uthman Affan would be the next two Caliphs and Ali would support them as well so that there would be no conflicts and outright fighting within the Islamic faith.

The issue of Ali becoming a Caliph was exacerbated by the condition of the overall state of the Islamic community during these decades after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. During this time the condition resembled a feudal and aristocratic system that favored those who were close to the rulers of the Caliphate. Important posts and positions were filled with them and the original belief of unity and fairness for all Muslims was nothing more than a fiction. This created dissatisfaction and tension within the lower echelons of the society as well as many who simply did not believe that this new greedy and power-hungry elite system was what the spirit of the faith was ever supposed to be about. This all culminated in intense scrutiny during the reign of the third Caliph Uthman. The Hashimite and Umayyad clans grew in power and wealth considerably for many years and the class structures that were being set by them were being concealed by the fact that the ruling of the caliphate merged the spiritual and secular together. This meant that even though these values should not have been a part of the spiritual leadership of the Caliphate, they were because the overall leadership did not distinguish any separation between the spiritual and the secular. Many senior people in the Umayyad leadership were initially antagonist towards the faith or joined for political reasons. Their justification for their actions was therefore steeped in their desire to obtain and hold onto their power and wealth.

This all led to Ali’s name coming up again more frequently as a devout and true leader who should have been given the Caliphate from the start since he was dictated by the Prophet Muhammad to do so. Eventually, intense conflict broke out and led to the murder of Uthman and the placing of Ali as the Caliph. This itself led to more conflict as Ali was accused of being complicit in the murder of Uthman. More battles happened and more bloodshed occurred as the legitimacy of Ali was questioned by those of the Umayyad. This turned into a civil war with Ali on one side and Mu’awiya from Syria on the other side. Matters were further complicated when a group who felt that Ali was not being harsh enough split from him after the defeat of Mu’awiya in battle, and created the Kharijites. This civil war went on for some time and led to Ali being murdered just like the Caliph before him. It is important to note that Ali did not condone fighting with other Muslims or killing them to be an acceptable thing to do. In actuality, his leniency and indecisiveness were steeped in his extreme devotion to Islam. This inability to act with conviction when it came to making decisions that could hurt Muslims led to the creation of the Kharijites. The Kharijites, on the other hand, justified their aggression through religious misinterpretation of the faith that to them justified their intense reactions and decisions. These two used the same faith to justify different ends of the spectrum with violence against Muslims being a part of God’s will on one side and the refusal to shed Muslim blood on the other side.

Ali’s son Hasan did not battle intensely with Mu’awiya and Mu’awiya was left to rule the Caliphate, but with constant fighting and bloodshed with Shiite’s and Kharijites. Ali’s second son Husayn also died in a battle regarding the succession of the Caliphate, and this trend would continue for years with the Umayyad facing resentment and dispute from many different angles. The Shiites came to see legitimacy in Ali and his two sons as their first three Imams and they began tracing that legitimacy from there. This meant that although the started as a political faction they also morphed into a religious one as well. The Sunnis believed in the Caliphs that came after the death of the Prophet Muhammad and do not adhere to the belief in the twelve Imams that the Shiites do. The division is still alive today and the chasm between the Shiite and the Sunni only grew in the two centuries after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. This fighting would also involve the Kharijites who also became a faction that was different from the Sunnis and the Shiites with a combined belief in the first two Caliphs and the Imam Ali to a point.

Succession was the cause of centuries of fractions and division in Islam, which is still alive today. The seeds of this division came about very early on in the history of the faith and only got worse with the passing of time. The single group of Muslims under the Prophet Muhammad splintered over the centuries due to political, social and religious disagreements. This would be a battle that would go on not only for the two centuries after the inception of Islam but well into the entire history of Islam and the modern Islamic movement in various parts of the world.