Islam. 77far from the first little beleaguered ummah in Medina. Their
philosophy, fiqh and mystical disciplines were rooted in the
Quran and in the beloved figure of the Prophet, but because
scripture was God's word, it was thought to be infinite and ca-
pable of multiple interpretation. They were thus able to make
the revelation speak to Muslims who lived in a world that the
Prophet and the rashidun could not have imagined. But one
thing remained constant. Like the religion of the very first
ummah, the philosophy, law and spirituality of Islam were pro-
foundly political. Muslims were acutely aware-in a way that
was admirable-that for all its glittering cultural attainments,
the empire they had created did not live up to the standards
of the Quran. The caliph was the leader of the ummah, but he
lived and ruled in a way that would have horrified the
Prophet. Whenever there was a marked discrepancy between
the Quranic ideal and the current polity, Muslims would feel
that their most sacred values had been violated; the political
health of the ummah could touch the deepest core of their
being. In the tenth century, the more perceptive Muslims
could see that the caliphate was in trouble, but so alien was it
to the spirit of Islam that Muslims would experience its de-
cline as a liberation.