The Prophet Muhammad teachingHans Küng's Der Islam (2004) suggests that Islām has gone through six historical/religious "paradigms" in its development. He calls the period of the Prophet's life and the time just after the "original Islāmic community" paradigm, the "golden age" of Islām (622-661). This period is especially important because Muslims look to events and interpretations of the Prophet's thought from this period to derive Islāmic positions on theological and social issues, as seen in the paper I referenced earlier on Islām and war.
I know that a list of dates is inherently boring. But I want to sketch out a framework of dates for Islam to which I can refer back.
Ira Lapidus in A History of Islamic Societies (2002 edition) provides the following table of "Islam in World History":
- Early village farming communities (c. 7000 BC)
- Cities (c. 3000 BC)
- Empires (c. 2400 BC)
- Axial-age and monotheistic religions (c. 800 BC)
- Muhammad (c. 570-632 [CE])
- Middle Eastern Islamic societies (622-c. 1200)
- Worldwide diffusion of Islam (c. 650 to present)
- Rise of European world empires (1200-1900)
- Modern transformation of Islamic societies (1800 to present)
Muhammad's lifetime: ca. 570 CE - 632
The four Rightly Guided Caliphs (Rashidun Caliphs): 632-661
These four are particularly important. With the time of their rule, there are Abū Bakr (632-634), ‛Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb (634-644), ‛Uthmān ibn Άffān (644-656), and Άlī ibn abī Tālib (656-661).
The 14 Umayyad caliphs: 661-750
The most important Umayyad caliphs historically were Mu'āwiya ibn abī Sufyān or Mu'āwiya I (ruled 661-80), Άbd al-Malik (685-705) and ‛Umar II. ibn Abd al-Άzīz or ‛Umar II (717-20).
Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus: 756-1009
The Umayyad dynasty continued, however, in al-Andalus (Spain). During its early years under Muslim rule, al-Andalus was ruled by a governor responsible to the caliph. Άbd-ar-Rahmān was proclaimed as the first emir in 756, founding the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus. The Umayyad dynasty exercised effective power there until 1009. After that time, political authority in al-Andalus seriously fragmented (though the Umayyads continued to hold some power). The period of 1009-1091 (or sometimes 1031-1091) is known as the time of the "party kings" - party as in the sense of "partisan."
The 21 Άbbāsid caliphs: 750-945
The most significant ‛Abbāsid caliphs were al-Ma'mūn (ruled 813-833), al-Mu‛tasim (833-42) and al-Wātiq (842-847).
The Άbbāsid dynasty founded Baghdad as their center of power as soon as they took control of the caliphate.
There were 16 additional Άbbāsid caliphs after al-Muttaqī (940-944). But they ruled largely as figureheads. The Buwayhids or Iran seized control of Baghdad in 945. As Ira Lapidus says, "The Caliphs were allowed to continue in nominal authority - indeed, the Άbbāsid dynasty lasted until 1258 - but they no longer ruled; the Άbbasid empire had ceased to exist." The real power was now held by local rulers of the various parts of the formerly unified empire.
There were also three Muslim civil wars during this period:
First civil war: 656-61
Second civil war: 680-92
Third civil war: 744-50
The paradigm periods
In Küng's model of Islāmic paradigms, as noted above, the "original Islamic community" paradigm corresponded to the time of Muhammad and the four "right guided" caliphs. Küng gives particular attention to the confrontation of Islām and Christianity, which in this period was largely with the Eastern Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire.
The period of the Umayyad caliphate (661-750) produced what Küng calls the "Arabian empire" paradigm. The most important clash with Christendom in this period was in al-Andalus (Spain).
Küng sees the period of the Άbbāsid caliphate up to the Mongols conquered and sacked Baghdad in 1258 as embodying the "classical Islāmic world-religion" paradigm. The main confrontation with Christians during this period was the Crusades.
Tags: hans küng, hans küng's der islam, islam
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