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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Some
PODs in early Islamic History First
of all, I apologize for not being a native English speaker. I’ll do my best,
but do not expect a grammatically perfect work. NOTE
: This AH implicitly assume that the Qur’an as we know it is a historical and
human product, linked to the events who accompanied His ( I guess it’s right
to use the personal pronoun) revelation. I suppose that some Muslim believers
could feel uncomfortable with such an assumption. I’m sorry, but I’m
thinking just from an HISTORICAL point of view, regardless anything God could
have had in His mind one thousand four hundred years ago. So I will treat
Muhammad and Ali as historical human figures and will evaluate the effects of
some changes without considering any divine intervention, or pre-existent divine
Spell and Will. In
no way anything I’m writing down should or is intended to offend the Muslim
faith (neither Sunni, Shi’a of whatever belief, Ibadi or any other group or
individual that identifies himself with Islam) its believers today or in the
past, its Prophet and Holy Book; IN NO CASE anything I’m writing could be
intended or employed to support even implicitly racist, anti-Muslim, supremacist
or clash-of-civilization ideologies. Expansion
of Arab-Islamic empire after Muhammad’s death was probably the most
significant event of its period, not to speak of the enormous long-term
consequences. A new, strong, rich civilization is born, and it is going to boost
the Christian Western Europe development, spreading westwards important Chinese
and Indian innovations like paper and decimal numerals, and preserving most of
the Greek philosophy’s heritage. At
the very beginning, all this comes from a single man – Prophet Muhammad. We
have many and rich accounts, even if partly legendary of course, of his life and
even more of his words. Around 610 A.D., while praying or meditating in a
lonesome cave, God made him to hear His voice, and started to reveal him
His holy Word – the Holy
Qur’an. Muhammad
started soon to spread the spell of God between his fellow citizens in Mecca,
beginning with his wife Khadigia and his father in law Abu Bakr. His
predication being mostly against oppression and immoral behavior of the rich,
who will be severely judged for their injustice in the Doomsday, most of the
chiefs of Meccan clans opposed him strongly. They could not hit Muhammad
himself, because his family was of the Quraysh, one of the dominant “tribal”
groups, and if he has been killed or injured, there could be a bloody feud. His
uncle Abu Talib, even if followed believing in ancient idols, was an important
and respected man and protected Muhammad and his followers from any serous
menace. Anyway
in 619 Abu Talib and Khadigia died, and Muhammad presumably fell in the deeper
desperation, having lost his beloved wife and his uncle – who was been like a
father for him; and he was also persecuted in his own town. At this point anyway
Muhammad had converted a group Meccan to his cause, and they were the early
Muslims. They constituted an adequate force of dissuasion against open and
violent religious persecution, in any case something quite alien from pagan
Arabs way of thinking. Muslims were often insulted, refused relationships, and
even beaten, but generally not killed. Sympathizers were pressured and paid in
order to make them stay Pagan. Being
Mecca a pan-Arabic religious center, Meccan aristocracy was deeply interested in
maintaining paganism. Some Muslims had to look for asylum in Ethiopia, a
Christian (then monotheistic) country which kept deep relationships with Arabia
at that time. This
is a good moment for a POD. ISLAM
MELTS WITH COPTIC CHRISTANITY Muslims
could induce the Ethiopian Negus (Emperor), who seemingly demonstrated them his
sympathy, to envoy troops in their support. Such an intervention could seem a
good way to extend Ethiopian influence and even Christian faith. In fact, a
former Ethiopian king had yet invaded Arabia and put siege into Mecca, but was
routed and went back. Maybe the new Negus was not eager to try the same way, but
now an apparently able and charismatic Arab leader could support him from inside
Mecca, and under the banner of the faith of Abraham. So
an Ethiopian expeditionary force guided by Muslims lands at Jidda on the Red Sea
and joins Mecca, easily defeating the Pagan army and leaving Muhammad as
governor of the conquered area in the name of the One God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful, who manifested Himself under the spoils of Jesus Christ and send
Muhammad as His Prophet to renew the faith of His church. Muhammad is likely to
be appointed archbishop of Mecca and Arabia, and Islam becomes an autonomous
church within the Coptic Monophysite church, i.e. nothing much more than the
Arab variant of Christianity. Jews are tolerated, but the birth of the concept
of dhimma ( tolerance towards other revealed faiths, typical in our OTL’s
Islam) is unlikely. The Ethiopian intervention in Arabia is good for the
Byzantine Empire, the main Christian power at the time, because ensures to
Christianity strategic caravan routes between Byzantine Syria and Himyar, in our
OTL today’s Yemen. Yemen is formally controlled by Persians, whose presence is
de facto very weak at this time. Muhammad easily takes control over the whole
Arabic Peninsula and obtains conversion of most tribes ( some of them yet were
Monophysite Christians, like Ethiopians were). To strengthen its relationship
with Ethiopia, he marries a daughter of the Negus. The
Christianization and unification of Arabia with Ethiopian support worries
Persians and to a less degree Constantinople itself. Persia cannot afford to
control Arabia itself, but is not likely to tolerate the Negus or the Caesar do
it. So the Shah moves war both to Arabia- Ethiopia and Byzantium. Byzantines can
do little. Border areas are heavily damaged because of previous wars and part of
the population sides with Persians, particularly the Jews. But Amr bin al-‘As,
the main Arab military leader, leads the Bedouins deep into Persian Mesopotamia
and routes heavily the enemy at Qadisiyya, goes on and takes the Persian
capital, Ctesiphon, near the ancient Babylon. The Prophet dies in time to be
informed of the glorious victory. His son in law and cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib,
is appointed archbishop, while his father in law, Abu Bakr, becomes governor.
Maryam , the smart Ethiopian princess who married Muhammad, controls both. She
has probably a clash with A’isha, Muhammad’s favorite wife, and Ali is
likely to support her. But internal troubles are overwhelmed by external
successes. Amr has conquered western Iran with the support of Armenian heavy
cavalry and secured Byzantine border. The last Shah, Yazdegerd, dies in 634, as
Abu Bakr does. Mazdeism WON’T be tolerated by the new rulers, and this
provokes deep unrest in Iran. Ali, Maryam, A’isha have their own candidates to
the governor’s charge, while the see is transferred from Mecca to the newborn
city of Kufa, south of Ctesiphon. Amr proceeds eastwards quickly, occupying
small Mazdeist or Buddhist principates, founding Roman-like colonial citiesuntil
River Oxus and Hindu-Kush (Afghanistan). Ali and Maryam ally against A’isha,
and finally the princess marries again, likely with a prominent Christian
aristocrat of Mecca like ‘Uthman ibn Affan, ‘Umar al-Khattab, Amr al-‘As
himself. The lucky husband is appointed Khalifa (substitute) of the Negus for
the new conquered Asia, Ethiopia being not strong enough to control directly
nothing more than southern Yemen. With Persians over, pacific coexistence
between Arabs and Greeks cannot endure. Monophysitic Christianity is seen as
heretical by Orthodox Byzantines, even while they are allied with Monophysite
countries like Ethiopia or Armenia. Many
Monophysites, anyway, live inside the empire, suffering heavy persecution. They
are the overwhelming majority in Egypt and Armenia, and significantly numerous
in Syria and Palestine. Maryam
and Ali, the true rulers of the Arabic-Coptic Empire, decide to free them, and
eventually conquer Armenia, Egypt, Syria, Palestine and most of North Africa by
660. With Armenians on their side, unlike in our OTL, they will have heavy
cavalry and camels enough to afford the mounts of Anatolia and occupy Ephesus
and Chalcedony, and wait there for
the fleet. Greek fire might have kept the Arabs off Constantinople itself, but
Greece and probably Thracia fall down as Sicily does. Slavs of the Balkans
convert to Monophysism in Muhammad’s sauce and join the growing Arab empire,
contributing to the final fall of Constantinople in 679. At
Ali’s death, the noble Quraysh Mu’awiya, who in our OTL succeeded to Ali in
Caliphate, could have no reasons to rebel, and far less power than in our OTL,
having been his family a first hour fighter of the Prophet. So he makes some
turmoil claiming for a more truly Arabic way of life and getting some tribes to
his side, but he’s probably easily rid of, and the succession problems are
likely to be solved with Hasan and Husayn, the two sons of Ali and Muhammad’s
daughter Fatima, appointed by the Negus after a quite manipulated shura (
freemen council ) respectively archbishop in Mecca (which stays the holy city)
and governor in Kufa or in the newly conquered Constantinople. Old Monophysite
believers feel anyway quite uncomfortable with their Arab religion fellows,
having Muhammad brought deep innovations. His thought was that dogmatic
discussions were of very little importance, and the long and theologically
complex Symbolum of Nikeia could substituted by a simple statement, the so called shahada: “ I attest that
there is no God but the One God, Jesus Christ is His Messiah, Muhammad His
Prophet.” Moreover, he inclined to deny the importance of collective mass in
favor of individual prayer, and favored a less hierarchical church organization.
In general, he anticipated Luther in emphasizing the single believer’s role
and duty towards God instead of sacerdotal charisma. Muhammad also reaffirmed
the Saturday’s rest as at least recommended, and circumcision, following
Ethiopian use. The
main question between Christians became about the prophecy of Muhammad. Most of
the Orthodox Churches denied it and
survived in Greece and Anatolia under a grudging tolerance of the Arab rulers.
Nestorians, Monothelets, and most of Monophysites outside Egypt felt freed and
grateful to the Arabs who defeated their Byzantine persecutors. Most of
believers of these churches entered the new Coptic Arab Muhammadi Church led by
the Abuna (archbishop) Hasan in Mecca. Ethiopia, Syria and Armenia vowed its
religious loyalty to him, while Egypt didn’t, and the Patriarch in Alexandria
declared himself the only legitimate leader of Coptic Christians. Being the
Meccan Abuna formally depending on him, there was a schism. Different Christian
credos realigned into three fields. Some stayed Orthodox, under the high guide
of the Orthodox Patriarch in Constantinople. They were most of inhabitants in
southern Balkans, Greece and Anatolia, and a minority in Syria. Muhammadi
government allowed them to pursue their faith an use in exchange of an extra pro
capite tax. The patriarch of Alexandria became the leader of the Coptic Church,
who now grouped those Syrians, Egyptians, Armenians who were determined to
pursue old Monophysite faith, and also gained a small part of Nestorians who
weren’t disposed to join Muhammadi Church.
Copts were majority only in Egypt. In the West, the Pope of Rome accepted
Muhammad’s predication and became the only recognized leader of Western
Christians, maintaining rituals and theological positions formerly professed in
the West, and his authority was recognized only second to the Mecca Abuna. This
happened when in 683 Arabs took control over Byzantine territory in Italy and
defeated Longobards. Full Arab control over the peninsula was established after
the fall of the Longobard capital, Pavia, in 691, soon followed by other western
capitals. Toledo in Spain fell in 698, Arles in Southern Gaul ( formerly ruled
by the Franks ) in 709, Cartage in 711 after a long North African
resistance, religiously carried on by Berber tribes converted to Judaism.
Austrasia, the core of the Frank kingdom, is conquered by Armenian cathaphracts
by 730. by this time, the Pope of Rome has gained temporal power over the
entire West but the British Isles, were a mainly Irish derived Christian
tradition overcomes the Latin Catholic one even in Anglo Saxon area, marking the
independence of those countries from the Arab-Romans. The Pope acts a governor
for the Caliph, staying de facto independent. It is likely that in Rome
Pontifical dignity becomes hereditary, like it is in today’s OTL Nestorian
Patriarchate, from the uncle to the nephew. An Arab governor with military power
for the West sides the Pope, but he soon becomes useless, and the Easterners
have no power to take effective control, and are also little interested in the
poor faraway Western lands. A definitive schism is likely later.
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