WI: Rashidun Caliphate survives

GauchoBadger

GauchoBadger

What if, due to some PoD, the Ummayyad takeover of the early islamic caliphate never happens, and the Rashidun line of caliphs survived?
Were there any structural differences between the politics of the Ummayyad and Rashidun caliphates?
If so, then how will they affect the territorial expansion of islam?
 
GauchoBadger

GauchoBadger

Tripledot said:
Weren't the Rashidun Caliphs elected? So it wouldn't really be right to call them a "line" would it?
Click to expand...
That's right, my bad.
Albeit i think it'd be interesting to see the consequences of a caliphate that is administered more like the Papal States than the Byzantine Empire.
 

Flocculencio

Donor
I think one problem here is the lack of a clergy structure in early Islam.

The trouble with election in a hierarchy essentially based on (a) proximity to the Prophet, and (b) personal power, is that in the end you see what we saw in OTL- a power struggle followed by an outright military coup against the Caliph.

The necessary POD should be the institution of some form of hierarchical structure, separate from the military hierarchy of the Caliphate.
 

PhilippeO

Banned
even if Caliph continue to be elected, later Caliph would not know Muhammad personally, so they would need find other way of gain legitimacy and would be different than Rashidun Caliphate.
 
IchBinDieKaiser

IchBinDieKaiser

If you want to prevent the Umayyads from coming to power, than you need to prevent Uthman from becoming Caliph.

The Umayyads were the dominate power in Mecca before Muhammad conquered Mecca. Afterwards, the Prophet dismantled the Umayyad's power structure, and gave control of the Kaaba to his own clan, the Hashemites. After the death of Caliph Umar, a council of six was chosen to elect a new Caliph. Both Ali and Uthman were on this council. Each of them were asked who they would vote for. When Ali was asked, he abstained, while Uthman voted for Ali. If Ali had voted for himself instead of abstaining, than he would have been elected Caliph. But IOTL Uthman was elected, and during his reign he indulged in a lot of nepotism, appointing his close relatives as governors across the Caliphate, which put the Umayyads in position to revolt against Ali when he was elected after Uthman's murder.

The PoD is simple. Have Ali vote for himself instead of abstaining after the death of Umar. The difficulty with this, however, is that Ali is young. He would have been 43 when elected. This means that he would probably have a long reign, if he doesn't step on too many toes, and brings in as many elders into his decision making process as possible.
 
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