Dilly Hussain – AlSham in Islamic History
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AI: Transcript ©
Dear brothers and sisters,
I want to begin by thanking UCI ISOC
for inviting me today to deliver this lecture
on the history of
or
the lay one in his in Islam.
And when brother Abdul Rahman first approached me
regarding this lecture,
he wanted initially for me to give a
talk on the golden era of a sham.
Now depending on who you talk to, depending
on which scholars or historians, academics you speak
to, they will give you
different eras, which they regard to be the
golden era.
Fundamentally, this breaks down this comes down to
what metrics or what criteria you use
to determine
what constitutes as a golden era.
Let me give you an example.
Within academic
circles,
there's a conception that the golden era of
Islam
was either Muslim Spain
or Abbasid Bakr,
and the metrics they use to
come to this decision
is the advancement of
arts,
philosophy,
technological advancements,
respective to those times,
as well as the flourishing of thinking and
education and so forth.
However, from an an Islamic standpoint,
if you speak to many
of Islamic scholars above classical and contemporary, that's
it you will know.
The golden era of Islam has to be
in the period of the whole of
and the first three generations of Islam because
they were regarded as the best generation. So,
surely,
that is the golden era because their governance,
their justice,
the man in which they ruled
in the man in which they gave Dawah
was the most closest to the prophetic model.
So that's an example as to
why there's not a consensus
on things like what's a golden era.
Personally, I believe
the land that is known as
Ashan has played,
is playing,
and will continue to play a key role
in the direction of this from
until the day of judgment.
Another point I want to add is that
when we discuss history, brothers and sisters,
we have to be mindful that we do
not present
a utopian
romanticized
version of our history.
At the time of the beloved prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, were problems.
There were feuds. There were wars. There were
arguments. There were disagreements.
Some of them continued
through to the.
They were the best
people, the best generation who
walked on this earth.
And therefore, when we talk about Islamic history,
as nostalgic as it may be, we have
to appreciate
it wasn't all hunky dory.
However, since we're discussing the golden era
today, you know, I will be highlighting,
you know, the the vast majority of the
positives
that have
emerged emerged from this region
as well as the fact that
I'm gonna whisk through 1400 years of issue
when entire studies,
books
have been dedicated to
certain periods,
certain dynasties,
certain states.
And I'm literally just gonna give you guys
a overview
of the history of Ashan.
So
where is Ashan?
Now
in the in the classical
European term,
it was regarded as the Levant, and the
regarded as the levant.
And the levant
constitutes
as Greece,
Anatolia,
modern day Turkey,
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and generally anything east
of Venice.
At that time, was regarded as the Levant.
In European colonial
language,
the Levant was more restricted to just Egypt,
Syria, and Palestine.
However,
in Islamic discourse,
or at least within the discourse of the
Arabs,
literally just meant the land to the north,
the land to the north of Hejaz.
And there is a very well known hadith
of the beloved prophet, which there are different
variations, where
he
said
that Asham is a blessed land.
And within Asham,
Jerusalem
is its most blessed city.
And within Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the most blessed location
is Masjid al Aqsa.
I think
we need to first understand why
this land,
this region
is so central
dear to Muslims. 1st and foremost, it was
the first qibla of the Muslims before
the Kaaba or Makkah.
It was the station of Al Isla Al
Miraj, the famous night journey of the prophet,
which I will discuss in a later slide.
It was the second house of Allah built
on earth after the Kaaba.
It was the place where hundreds of prophets,
alayhis salaam, are all buried.
It's a place where many of the companions
are buried.
It's a place where miracles have taken place
with Allah's permission.
It's a place which Allah himself has referred
to as a blessed place in the Quran.
There are also 70 direct or indirect references
to this region called
in the Quran.
And it's also a place where angels have
descended with Allah's message
for the.
It's the only place on Earth where all
the prophets prayed behind in jama'ah,
behind prophet Muhammad
in the night journey.
And it's the only Masjid, Masjid Al Aqsa.
It's the only Masjid mentioned by name in
Quran besides the Kaaba.
So when I'm so in today's lecture, when
we when we refer to Ashan, we are
talking about modern day Syria,
Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.
So what was the situation of Ashan during
the time of the prophet?
Well,
this region was under the control and authority
of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantines.
And there you see an original transcript, a
letter,
which
the prophet sent to emperor Heracles
inviting
Medina period.
But there are 3 events which stand out
during the time lifetime of the prophet.
1st and foremost was the night journey, al
Isra al Miraj, in 6/21.
The reason why this particular event
is so important in Islam
is because it confirmed a few things. Number
1,
when the prophet,
peace be upon him, went from Makkah to
Jerusalem and ascended to the heavens,
all the prophets
prayed behind
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
in congregation, which proved the following, that he
was the seal of the prophets. He was
the last messenger of Allah.
Was either the last messenger. He was the
greatest of the messengers. He was the leader
of all the prophets.
And then from there, he ascended to the
heavens
where he
met a number of prophets,
where he met Allah,
and the famous dialogue took place between the
prophet Musa alayhi salam about the obligatory prayers
that would
be put on the Muslims. That famous dialogue
about 50 and then reducing it to 10
and then and then to 5. That took
place in the night journey,
which is also mentioned in the Quran.
Then in 6 29, we had the battle
of Muta. Muta is in Jordan.
And this was the first time
the Islamic army
confronted the Byzantines,
the first ever conflict.
And
it was neither a victory and neither was
it a defeat.
Many of the companions
were killed in this battle.
Amongst the companions, 3 particular companions,
Zayd ibn Haifa, who was the adopted son
of the prophet and then freed later,
prophet and then freed later, Ja'far ibn Abutali,
the first cousin of the prophet and the
brother of Imam Ali, and Abdullah ibn Rawah.
These 3
companions, amongst others, were killed in, which is
in
modern day Jordan.
And then we had the expedition of Tabuk
in 6:30, where the prophet himself led an
army of 30,000
to meet the Byzantines,
but no battle took place.
After 6:30,
the prophet had commissioned another expedition
to be led by Osama bin Zayed,
the son of Zayed bin Khalifa,
to follow in the footsteps of his father.
And at that time,
some of the companions were not happy with
this decision
because Osama bin Zayd was a very young
man. He was 17 years old.
And both were the, essentially, key events which
took place during the time of the prophet,
Hashem. Hashem
under the khulafa or Rashidin, between 632 to
661,
Abu Bakr, he
continued
the wishes
or the wish of the prophet,
and he sent Osama bin Zayed
off to the expedition
to meet the byzan times,
in battle. And, again, a number of companions
at the time were not happy because Osama
bin Zayed was very
young. Many felt that he was inexperienced, didn't
have the the
the military experience to lead such an army
in such an expedition.
Yet Abu Bakr, he fulfilled
that wish of the prophet.
Osama bin Zayed in his expedition was successful.
He defeated the byzantine in 632.
In 634,
Damascus
fell to the Muslims
under the.
During the,
we had the battle of Yarmouk.
Now there is a near consensus
that the battle of Yarmouk was such a
decisive battle in Islamic history that from this
point onward,
no other
empire or state,
or any other religion for that matter
had ever regained control of the Levant or
Ashaun from this point onward.
After had
happened, and we were victorious in that,
it was basically consolidated. The entire region was
consolidated
under Islamic rule. And, of course, we had
Jerusalem,
which came under Islamic rule in 637.
And we know that when the patriarch of
Jerusalem,
when he gave the city, he refused to
hand over the keys until he met Omar
Ibn Khattab in person, and he handed over
the keys. And then, of course, the famous
treaty of
was born out of Jerusalem
whereby Jews and Christians were given security,
and they were allowed to practice their religion
freely in the holy city.
And the entire of Hashem had fallen under
Islamic rule by the by the time of
the death of Imam Ali in 6/61,
the entire region. So modern day Syria, Jordan,
Lebanon, Palestine was all under Islamic rule by
6/61.
And just on this point,
there are many companions
who are buried in a shan.
And to name just a few,
the Abyssinian companion of the prophet, the first
of
Medina.
He's buried in Damascus.
Khalid ibn Walid.
He's buried in Homs,
arguably one of the greatest
military generals in human history, not even Islamic
history, in human history, who played a key
role in the advancement of Islam both in,
ibn al Jarrah,
he's buried in modern day Jordan.
He was one of the,
one of the 10 companions
who were granted Jannah on earth.
Always al Arni. He's buried in Raqqa
in Syria. And, of course, we have
the Sahabi Salman al Farsi,
whose very famous journey to Islam from slavery
to liberation
after seeking the truth.
And, obviously, he also played a key role
in the back of a humdock. He is
buried in Palestine.
After the death of
and what was regarded as the first fitna,
the Islamic empire or the had
moved under the control of the Umayyad dynasty.
The one Umayyad was from the family of
Uthman ibn Affairn, the third rightly guided caliph,
and they made Damascus
the capital of their state.
Now one of the predominant,
views is that the Umayyad period
was the golden era of Hashem.
Why? Because they were the only dynasty or
the only state to have made
Damascus, Syria, and the surrounding areas as the
centrality of their state. And by default, Damascus
became the political and military center of the
Islamic empire.
And it was also during the Umayyad period
that a number of deaths of the companions
sadly took place under the Umayyad period, and,
of course, they were buried
in Syria and the surrounding areas. In 750,
the
Umayyads were overthrown by Banu Abbasiye.
Now the Abbasids,
they trace their lineage back to the prophet's
uncle,
and they overthrew the Umayyads
with the help of a number of powerful
Turkic and Persian
tribes and dynasties.
And they moved the capital from Damascus to
Baghdad, though Damascus and Jerusalem remained
important cities of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Also, during the Abbasid period, we had the
death and, of course, the burial of many
of Tabi'un and Tabi'un,
the students
of the companions and their students.
However, during the Abbasid period,
there was a huge process
of decentralization
whereby all those entities and factions that helped
the Abbasids remove the Umayyads,
they were
very quickly given,
autonomy.
And so from 887 onwards,
there was this period of decentralization
whereby the Abbasid side granting,
we could say, independence to different,
states and dynasties who had assist had assisted
them overthrowing the
Umayyads.
And from the period of 887
onwards,
what happened to, let's say, 12 50
was perhaps one of the most politically unstable
periods of.
Why?
Because there were so many different dynasties and
states fighting over this region.
There was, like, basically a scramble for Hashem
between different warring factions and dynasties.
So in 8887
to 905, we had the rule of the
Tulaneids. The Tulaneids were
a Turkic,
dynasty
who were initially very loyal to the Abbasids.
They
took over the region of Assam and basically
declared themselves
as the de facto rulers, though nominally
accepting the authority of the Abbasids.
But then the Abbasids
retook recaptured,
Assam in 9:0:5,
and they held it until 9:49.
Then in 9:49, the Abbasids again
granted autonomy
to the Ikshadids.
Now the Ikshadids were another
Turkic,
dynasty,
and I will I will go on to,
in a later slide, explain why different Turkic
dynasties played a very key role in Islamic
history.
And then we had
the rule of the Hamdanids.
The Hamdanids
were
Arab Shias from Iraq, a dynasty from there,
and they power shared with the Ixhidids.
The Hamdanids ruled northern Syria, so Aleppo,
Idlib, whereas the
ruled Damascus
on behalf of the Abbasids.
And then after nearly 300 years of Islamic
rule, the Byzantines in 9 69
captured the entirety
of Syria,
and that occupation lasted around 30 years, 28
to 30 years.
The period between 996
to 1084, which is 88 years,
it was a period that was known as
nonstop war
between 4
dynasties. Number the Fatimids. The
Fatimids were an Ismaili Shia dynasty who established
their own caliphate based in Cairo.
Of course, you had the Byzantines.
You had the Buyids.
Buyids were a Persian Shia dynasty,
and you had the Seljuks
who were Turks.
These 4 dynasties
fought for 88 years
in Asham,
and the Seljuks were victorious in 10/84,
and they ruled Asham,
modern day Syria and Jordan, with exception to
Jerusalem
up until 11/75.
And from that point onwards, we saw the
rule of the Ayyubid dynasty,
which began form.
Whilst all this was happening,
a major calamity took place
in 1096
when the 1st crusade was launched,
and the 1st crusade lasted for around 3
years. Now you all have timelines in front
of you. I hope, you know, you guys
can make sense of everything that was happening
in this particular period.
So once all this was happening,
you had
the campaign of the first crusade.
And within 3 years,
the European crusaders
had occupied
a number of key cities
within the Islamic world,
Antioch,
Edessa,
Tripoli,
but most importantly,
Jerusalem fell under the occupation
of the Crusaders
in 1096 or 1097.
And he remained
under crusader occupation for nearly a century
until
managed to unite
the different war in factions
of Egypt and Syria,
and he united them on a single cause
to liberate Jerusalem.
And in 11/87,
with the permission of Allah,
Jerusalem was liberated from the occupation of the
Crusaders,
and Jerusalem remained
under Islamic authority or different Islamic dynasties right
up until 1918.
However,
between 1096 to 12/72,
72, nearly a 180 years
not a 100 and 80 years. Yeah. About
a 100 and 80 years. There were 9
crusades,
9 campaigns led by,
Europe
to regain control of the holy lands. But
in essence, only the first crusade was really
successful,
and they never managed to take over Jerusalem.
The Mamluks.
Now
during the period of the Abbasids,
it was a strategy,
and a policy rather
that the Abbasids
had employed
and brought thousands,
thousands
of Turkic slave warriors
were known as Mamluks.
These were essentially they're the predominantly Turkic, but
they're also Kurdish,
Caucasian,
some were of African descent, but they were
predominantly Turkic.
And these were slave warriors
who went on to become kings of sultans,
who went on to become governors, who went
on to rule their own sultanates and emirates.
And the Mamluks
were always a loyal fighting force of the
Abbasids.
And under their rule,
after the Ayyubid dynasty
lasted barely 80 or 90 years, they were
also an effective fighting force for the Ayyubids.
So after the Ayyubid state had declined,
the Mamluks assumed authority over the former Ayyubid
lands.
What happened under the Mamluk rules? 3 things
happened.
The Mamluks,
they revived
the policy of jihad against the Mongols.
Everyone knows of the
unfortunate incident of 1258 when Baghdad was,
looted and ransacked by the Mongols,
and the last Abbasid Khalif was killed.
And then the remaining family members were put
into exile.
It was the Mamluks who gave them protection
in Cairo,
and in 12/16,
the Mamluks defeated the Mongols in a very
famous battle called under
the leadership of Sayyid Qutuz,
And this battle was so decisive
that the Mongols
never
really stepped into the region of Assam beyond
that point.
But another thing which the Mongols did was
that they preserved
the lineage of the dynasty of the Abbasids.
Now
the Abbasids after 12 50, 12 50 8,
after loss of Baghdad,
they were just their position was merely ceremonial.
They never really held any
central or legislative
power within the Islamic world. However, the Mamluks,
due to their long history of loyalty to
the Abbasid household
as well as granting them
political and religious legitimacy in the eyes
of the other,
states of the time, they preserved
the Abbasid,
lineage
and nominally
caliphate alive in Cairo
right up until 15/17
even though they were the real,
holders of power.
In 15/17,
the Mamluks were defeated
by the Ottomans
in a famous battle called,
Marj Dabik.
The Ottomans defeated the Mamluks
and then Sultan Salim Avaz,
the 9th sultan of the Ottomans and the
1st caliph of the Ottoman dynasty,
he made the last Abbasid caliph, the
third, forcibly abdicate.
And then from 15/17
onwards, the Ottomans assumed the position of the
caliphate in the Muslim majority
world. Another viewpoint
of what is regarded as the golden era
of Asham is the Ottoman period.
Why?
Because they ruled
this region
for 4 100 years uninterrupted.
And for this reason alone,
many ulama and historians have said, no. It
wasn't the Umayyad period that was the golden
era. It's in fact the Ottoman period
because the metrics and the criteria they used
was security.
The fact that for 400 years,
there was no invading force. Of course, the
Ottomans had some problems,
during this period of, but there was nothing
major,
to symbolize that there were
internal feuds happening with different states or dynasties.
So
many would argue that,
the Ottoman period was, in fact, one of
the golden eras.
And this region was actually a jewel in
the eyes of the Ottomans.
It is recorded that they invested
so much money,
in the infrastructure and development of this region.
For those of you who have been to
Palestine or to or to Syria before the
war, you will still see a number of,
Masajid, a number of madrasas, a number of,
the works that was done,
to the Dome of the Rock and Masjid
al Aqsa, which is carried out
by the Ottomans right from
Khalif Suleiman the Magnificent right up until Sultan
Abdul Hamid the second up until, you know,
the early 20th century. The Ottomans invested a
lot
in this region because of its religious significance
as well as having control of this region
as well as the Hejaz
gave them the kind of religious authority to
assume,
rulership of the.
And there you see a map
of of where Sham was split into 4,
or or or provinces. You have the of
Aleppo, Northern Syria,
of Deir ezul, the
of Syria or Damascus,
the of Beirut, and then the holy cities
there.
And that remained like that,
right up until the end of World War
1.
And the reason why it's so important, brothers
and sisters, to understand at least this period
of history of Ashon is because it's the
period which is most closest to us.
Our great grandfather
would definitely remember
or recall who the Ottomans were.
Or for those of of those of you
who whose great grandparents may have fought in
the colonial effort for Britain or France would
have known who the Ottomans were.
The very situation that we see this region
today
was as a result of what took place
in 1917
after the Sykes Picot agreement
and after the defeat of the Ottomans in
World War 1. And it says to you,
they were the last Islamic legacy
of this region.
So while we may discuss the
life of the prophet,
the sira,
the companions
right through to the medieval period, sometimes
it's difficult to connect
because you think these these periods were sold
a long time ago. Can't can't really connect.
But
the
Ottomans survived less than a 100 years ago,
and they had authority over this region less
than a 100 years ago.
And the situation in Syria,
the situation in Palestine,
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,
the sectarian issues in Lebanon
were all born
out of
what happened in 1917
when they were defeated,
by the allies
in World War 1.
Now
I can stand here, and I can
relay to you all dates and incidents and
events and make this entire lecture all about
data.
Right?
But, truly, we wanna be able to
take some lessons away
from
the region of Assam or most importantly, its
region.
When we look at Assam today, what do
we see?
We see that Palestine is occupied,
and we see a firm resistance
in Gaza and in Syria.
And what this region has
shown
us, generation after generation,
period after period,
is that when the stacks have been weighed
against the people of Assam, that they have
always
overcome tyranny, oppression, and occupation.
Whether it was during the time of the
prophet and the companions in facing the Byzantines
when they were just a mere,
you know,
little state in the
Arabian Peninsula.
They've
faced off one of the biggest superpowers at
the time, the Byzantines, and they were victorious.
Whether it was
liberating Jerusalem from the grips of the Crusaders
under Salahuddin,
whether it was
repelling
the Mongol invasion
by the Mamluks,
although he's a valiant efforts by the Ottomans
before
Jerusalem and Hashem was lost to Britain and
France.
We can take
from the history of Hashem
that the people of this region, the Muslims
of this region, have always shown
patience and perseverance
as steadfastness.
And after everything they have faced under different,
periods,
they always overcame
the enemies
with the permission of Allah.
And today is no different.
Today is no different.
So, therefore, therefore, the characteristics that we can
at least agree upon
of this region is one of hope,
is one of revival.
Hope because
when
the rest of the Muslim majority world appears
to be so apathetic,
so spineless,
comfortable in their own ways,
that Hashem
seems to be that beacon of hope for
the with
the very little that they have in terms
of resources,
in terms of support,
that they still remain steadfast in facing oppression
and injustice.
And it's a place of revival.
There are many statements of the prophet
where he particularly
specifically
refers to Asham,
Jerusalem,
Damascus,
to be places
of
very, very important events,
of key battles towards the end of times
between
the camps of good and evil,
truth and falsehood.
It would be the place where Isa alaihi
salam
will descend
in his coming towards the end of times.
It is a place where
said he is protected by the angels.
And therefore, it is a place of revival.
There are so many prophecies about liberation and
victory regarding this region.
Now whilst we're all here
in the UK are not warriors,
are not physically fighting oppression or occupation,
we can take lessons from the people of
Hashan in the way we go about our
daily lives and struggles,
whether it be the way we interact
with our non Muslim peers and colleagues,
whether it be the way in which we
face some of the issues as a community,
a time of heightened Islamophobia
and anti Muslim hatred.
Whether it be the resilience and the that's
required in your own respective fields of studies
and dawah and activism,
we can take all these lessons from the
people of shaman,
internalize them,
actualize them, and learn from them.
That if they,
people in Gaza and Palestine and Syria as
we speak,
are being bombed, killed,
maimed,
that at least we all with the comforts
of our lives here,
are able to implement some of these values,
which they have shown over the course of
1400 years.