We patch our world by tearing apart our religion… So neither our religion remains nor what we patch.
These are lines composed by the Christian poet Adi ibn Zayd, about six centuries after the mission of our Master Jesus, peace be upon him, narrating and lamenting the deviations from religion in pursuit of a worldly gain they did not achieve.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun cited this verse about eight centuries after the message of our Master Muhammad ﷺ, in a time following the fall of Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate. He lived through the consequences of the Mongol and Crusader invasions, the disintegration of Arab rule, and the further fragmentation of the Islamic world, witnessing its decline. Ibn Khaldun included this verse in his introduction as he delved into the deviations occurring with the transformation of the caliphate into a monarchy. He saw that the religious motive, which was the pillar of the caliphate, was receding and weakening with its transformation into the monarchy, favouring tribalism, the sword, and worldly deviations.
He believed that some discipline in religious adherence remained with Muawiyah, Marwan, and Abd al-Malik in the Umayyad state before the exacerbation of deviations, without mentioning the exceptional case of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz. Then, the aspects of discipline returned during “the first era” of the Abbasid caliphate, up to Al-Rashid and some of his offspring. But the meaning of the caliphate disappeared, leaving only its name. After them, they descended into “lusts and refugees,” and the caliphate’s form and impact disappeared with the demise of Arab tribalism, and their generation vanished… and the matter remained as kingship as it is with the kings of the Persians.
He concludes that those who pledge allegiance to the caliph from the states are merely “blessings.”
In my opinion, within the curve of civilization and its fluctuations, every youthful force that seizes power deviates from the ideal goal, either the caliphate’s methodology under justifications for retaining its rule, thus accumulating deviations leading to regression and civilizational decay.
Al-Azraqi, or Ibn Al-Azraq, who lived in the ninth century of the Hijra, was greatly influenced by Ibn Khaldun’s introduction, delves into it, elaborating on it in his book “Bada’i’ al-Silk.” He witnessed the decline of the Muslim rulers in Andalusia, and he concurs with Ibn Khaldun that “the motive during the days of the caliphate was purely religious,” and its transformation into a monarchy, especially its “undesirable aspects,” weakened that motive “to the point of almost losing it.” According to him, this led to the need for “more reverence.”
In the thirteenth century AH (nineteenth century CE), during the era of decay, Ibn Abi al-Dhiyaf in Tunisia, influenced by Ibn Khaldun’s introduction, argues that the time of the caliphate has passed, citing the Prophet’s saying “The caliphate after me will be for thirty years.” He does not mention the despotic monarchy but moves towards demanding a monarchy constrained by Sharia law. For all three of them, kingship is the natural path for any group, and they adopt Ibn Khaldun’s view of the necessity of regulating it, but with the supremacy of divine norms over statutory laws.
In the context of contemporary Tunisia, when the Muslim world had declined, Ibn Abi al-Dhiyaf, influenced by the introduction, concludes that Western systems do not align with the Islamic world. He advocates for the sincere application of Islamic law, asserting its effectiveness, comprehensiveness, and eternity. He speaks as if criticizing the Western-influenced elites desiring Western institutions over Sharia law, attributing this to ignorance of it.
However, with the accumulation of deviations and the tearing apart of the religion for a worldly gain that was not achieved, the Islamic world reached a point where it fell under Western occupation, which continued to concentrate its institutions and thought in Muslim countries. It struck at the core of Arab-Islamic civilization, striking the religion, the foundation of Arab-Islamic civilization. Here, I come to one of the late discourses that also included Ibn Khaldun’s view to demonstrate the extent of deviation therein.
In the presence of Habib Bourguiba, who Westernized Tunisia over three decades in a way that France could not achieve during three-quarters of a century of occupation, the virtuous preacher bin Ashur spoke about the austerity policy the state wanted, religiously cloaked, to make people accept it during the economic crisis caused by socialism. He mentioned the shift from a religious motive to nationalism and the sword but did not return it to the established monarchy that surpassed despotism in stages. He did not mention the caliphate or its connection to the strength of the religious motive. Instead, he attributed the responsibility for pushing towards it to the ruler and the state. However, he cannot speak about the deviations of the ruler and the state and their indulgence in tearing apart the religion, as he was a weak man who failed to make his descendants adhere to the religious motive, far from the best of struggles… from a word of justice in the face of an oppressive ruler. This is a situation not easy for scholars and politicians today.
