Caliphs in Islam -- Reply to Mansoor

Submitted by Romesh Chander (United States), Apr 20, 2008 at 01:42

Most muslims argue that rule by the Taliban in Islam was the purest type of Islamic rule, as close as is possible to the rule of the first 4 caliphs. In your post, you describe Islamic Caliphate to be the golden days of Islam. So, I am assuming that you want a Taliban style rule in your own country, Pakistan. If that is the case, then, I say, you can have it in Pakistan.

Now talking about the caliphs. The first 4 caliphs are called Rightly Guided ones. Guess what, their rule was considered so rightly guided and were loved so much that 3 of them (including your favourite caliph Haroon-ur-Rasheed),were assasinated and the 4th one was poisoned.

Caliphs were at Damascus, then at Baghdad, and simultaneously at Cordoba (Spain). So, at times there were more than 1 caliph. Then Mongols destroyed Baghdad, killed caliph's family; the caliph himself fled to Egypt. So, caliphate went to Cairo (under the tutelage of Shia muslims). Then Ottoman sultans started becoming caliphs till the last one lost the entire Ottoman empire in 1918. Indian muslims during Mughal times looked towards Cairo, not Istanbul.

Surprising part of Ottomans is that once the Sultan got on the throne, he made sure that all competing relatives of his brothers and their families were eliminated physically, so that nobody could challenge him for the throne. What a glorious character of those caliphs that every muslim is proud of.

Well, Islamic Caliphate has certainly a glorious history. If I were a muslim, I would definitely not be proud of it.

Mr Mansoor, some of us have studied enough of islamic history that you cannot fool us with your statements and comments. Moreover, we did not attend any Madrassa schools.

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