History
Overview:
God sent the message of Islam at a chosen moment in the development of human history where the technological, scientific and intellectual understanding of humanity as a whole was reaching a stage of final maturation and ripening. Instead of geographically confined nations and tribal systems which all received their own messengers from Allah, the humanity was now ripe for one, universal, perfected and final message of Allah.
The development of the Islamic Ummah in history was amazingly rapid. It was full of trials and tribulations and encounters with other cultures and religious systems. As a result, the final message of Allah was embodied in a civilization that was enriched by all the great civilizations of the world. Within the first century of its birth, Islam spread across half the known and majority of the civilized world of that time. As different people became Muslims or came under the rule of Islam, the scholars and thinkers of Islam came from increasingly diverse regions, thus enriching the flowering and protection of Islamic scholarship and tradition with their own cultural strengths. The contributions of the Persians in bureaucracy and culture, the Hindus in mathematics, the Greeks in logic, the Turks in military and architecture fields, just to name a few, all became sources of strength of Islam. On the other hand, the previous philosophical and religious systems of the new lands both challenged and influenced the Muslim scholars and thinkers. All these factors make the history of Islam extremely fast moving, diverse and filled with conflicts, debates and upheavals. Each of these experiences, however, also helped it mature and develop.
What will be covered:
This excellent book "Tarikh ul-Khulafa" summarizes the history of Islamic Caliphate and caliphs up to the times of Imam As-Suyuti.
In this level, we will cover the detailed histories of:
- The Banu Ummayyah dynasty, sketches for each caliph, including summaries of their characters, how they came to power, key events during their rule and their demise.
- The Ummayad dynasty;
- Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, his son Yazid, his son Muawiyah who ruled for 40 days before civil disturbances led the companion Abdullah bin Zubayr to temporarily become Caliph.
- Abdul Malik bin Marwan and his until Marwan al-Himar.
- Abbasid Rulers starting with Abu’l Abbas al-Saffah.
- The Egyptian Caliphate following the Mongol occupation of Baghdad, ending with Al Mutawakkil A'la'llah Abu Izz who died in the year 903 Hijri .
- Imam Suyuti ends this book with a two page overview of the rulers of the Umayyad dynasty of Spain.
Textbooks Slated:
- Tareekh ul-Khulafa by Imam Sayuti (Part 2/2)