66
TheIslamicateContext
dynasties
tofar-flung
empires,
rulersfrom
militaryconquerors
to
religious
revivers,warfarefromtribalskirmishesto
sieges
of
manyyears.
Withinthis
largediversity,
onefundamentalpattern
prevailed:political
and
military
realities
virtually
never
mettheideals
established
by
Islam.Theactual
courseofIslamicate
history
com-
pares
sadly
with theidealofaunifiedumma underacaliph
wagingjih(dagainst
non-Muslims
only.
Bothof
theseidealswere
transgressedagainstearly
and
permanently.
The
unity
ofthe
ummadidlast,admittedly,
forabout
thirtyyears(until
themur-
derofUthmin in 35/656),
but
major
intra-Muslim
warfare
began
in
37/657
with
thecivilwarbetweenCAliandMueRwiya;
a
centurylater,
in138/756,theummawasformally
split
whenthe
Umayyad
rulerof
Spain
refused
to
recognize
theAbbasid
caliph
as
sovereign;
from
thattimeonforabouta
century,
anewre-
gion
becameindependentevery
five
years.
24
The
unity
ofthe
ummawasneverreestablished.Perceived
commonenemies
(for
example,
theCrusaders,Mongols,Zionists)
could
produce
local
feelings
ofsolidaritythereafter,
butno
positive
bondseffectively
unitedMuslims.Furthermore,thesizeoftheumma
anditsdiver-
sity
made
unityimpossible;
theever
expanding
area
ofDiral-
Islimwas
simply
too
large
to
remain
politically
unified.
The
caliphate
endureda
slowerdecline.Itwithstoodthevicis-
situdesofthefirstthreecenturies,
remaining
powerful
andvir-
tuallyunchallenged.
Shfefs,
Khrijfs,
andrebelliousgovernors
had
only
limited
impact,
andevenwhen
the
caliphs
fellunder
thecontrolof
military
slaves
inthemid-3d/9th
century,
their
prestige
survived.
Thenthefirstrival
caliphemerged
in
297/
909,whentheShfCfFatirnidstook
power
in
Tunisia;
not
long
after,in316/929,therulerofUmayyadSpain
alsodeclaredhim-
self
amgral-mu’mingn
("Commander
of
theFaithful," another
termfor
"Caliph").
More
serious
yet,
theShfCr
Buyidsconquered
Iraq
in
334/945
andheldtheAbbasid
caliphs
near-captive
fora
century;
fromthisdateonthe
caliphs
becamemere
figureheads.
Seljuk
substitution
for
Buyidoverlordship
in
447/1055
didnot
change
this, though
the
Seljuks
were Sunnis. Aside
from a
purely
local revivalat theend ofthe
6th/12th
century,
the
24.Alistofthebreakawaydynastiesmay
befoundon
pp.
178.