I'm not sure what his policy on succession was (or whether he did nominate a successor), but here goes.
What would have happened if Mohammed, seeing divisions among his people, prays to God and asks for a way to determine who should succeed him? He then receives this wisdom from God, and the information is then enshrined in the Qu'ran. Using this, he chooses a man (I would presume it's a man given the culture) to be his spiritual heir and tells his flock how the succession is to work and what is required for a man to be eligible for succession.
At first glance, this would head off the split between Abu Bakr and Ali at least at the start: no one in their right mind would go against a man chosen specifically by the Prophet.
Everything would depend on what the qualifications for succession would be. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is that the candidate must be deeply spiritual and capable of serving as the equivalent of a philosopher king, using the teachings of Islam to do the best good for the people of the community as stipulated in the Qu'ran (specifically, by understanding the ends and purposes to which the laws were intended to reach and using whatever means necessary to achieve those ends that does not violate the moral code described in the text). For some reason Augustine's City of God comes to mind.
The early Muslims have plenty to go on in this area. You can assume that there is at least one person in the inner circle who is well aware of the intricacies of Christianity and Judaism. One thing that one may want to think of is that the words of prior prophets like Moses and Jesus may be valid if no later prophet overrides them. After all, if Mohammed's mission was to remind the world of what the God of Abraham originally intended, not complaining about something implies that it was right.
Keep in mind I'm not THAT familiar with Islam, so I hope I don't upset anyone by asking this.
What would have happened if Mohammed, seeing divisions among his people, prays to God and asks for a way to determine who should succeed him? He then receives this wisdom from God, and the information is then enshrined in the Qu'ran. Using this, he chooses a man (I would presume it's a man given the culture) to be his spiritual heir and tells his flock how the succession is to work and what is required for a man to be eligible for succession.
At first glance, this would head off the split between Abu Bakr and Ali at least at the start: no one in their right mind would go against a man chosen specifically by the Prophet.
Everything would depend on what the qualifications for succession would be. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is that the candidate must be deeply spiritual and capable of serving as the equivalent of a philosopher king, using the teachings of Islam to do the best good for the people of the community as stipulated in the Qu'ran (specifically, by understanding the ends and purposes to which the laws were intended to reach and using whatever means necessary to achieve those ends that does not violate the moral code described in the text). For some reason Augustine's City of God comes to mind.
The early Muslims have plenty to go on in this area. You can assume that there is at least one person in the inner circle who is well aware of the intricacies of Christianity and Judaism. One thing that one may want to think of is that the words of prior prophets like Moses and Jesus may be valid if no later prophet overrides them. After all, if Mohammed's mission was to remind the world of what the God of Abraham originally intended, not complaining about something implies that it was right.
Keep in mind I'm not THAT familiar with Islam, so I hope I don't upset anyone by asking this.