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Tensions between Religious and Political Authority in the
Umayyad Caliphate
Religious Studies 180
14 October 2008
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In the wake of Muhammad’s death the Muslim world began to splinter into various
factions. In order to create solidarity among the fractious umma, those that were close to the
Prophet founded the caliphate. This new authority immediately began to cause tension between
the religious and political aspects of leadership that the Muslim people expected from the
successor of Muhammad. However, one group in particular, the Umayyad, best demonstrates
the division and escalating tension between the religious and political authority of the caliphal
office. Through the shunning of custom established by the Rashidun and Muhammad and the
alienation/exclusion of specific Muslim factions, the Umayyad dynasty highlights the tension
between the religious and political authority of the caliphate.
To best understand the tension and division of roles in the caliphate, one must first
understand the origin of the word. This is because the word Caliph has a divided meaning. It
comes from the Arabic word khalifa. According to Vernon Egger, the word “can denote both
deputy and successor; which are clearly distinct meanings” (46). However, in Mark Wegner’s
study of the word “both [in] Arabic and Hebrew the first form of the root commonly denotes
succession in time, place, or function, it has come in the former to be applied to the thing
succeeding and in the latter to the thing succeeded” (652). This double meaning is important
because it leads to confusion as to what role the leader should play in guiding the Muslim
community; i.e. should the Caliph be simply a deputy that guides military and political affairs or
a full successor to Muhammad that is both a military and religious figure? Also important, is
that the word itself may not have been used by the first four caliphs. But, it did attain use in the
Umayyad dynasty specifically used as the title “khalifat Allah” which means “deputy of God”
(Egger 46). Wegner proposes that this “Umayyad claim to the caliphate” is simply one that
signifies the dynasty as legitimate “avengers of the blood of ‘Uthman” because “they had been
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installed in their position by God” (652). This certainly adds to the religious claim to authority
for the dynasty. Nevertheless, these interpretations of the word’s origin suggest that the duality
of roles was an important feature of the caliphal office to the umma. As shall be discussed,
though, this was not the case in practice.
According to Wegner, when considering the history
of the Arab empire, there is the “the conventional picture of the entire Umayyad period as an
interval of secular kingship between the perfect theocracy of the Rashidun and the less perfect
theocracy of the Abbasids” (652). The Umayyad dynasty from the beginning of their rule began
to shift the nature of the caliphate into a primarily political authority.
The Umayyad dynasty was founded by a man named Mu’awiya in 661. While he mostly
adhered to the policies set forth by the first four caliphs or “Rashidun,” he also differentiated his
rule from that of the Rashidun by installing his son as heir to the title (Zaman 119). By doing
this, he supplanted the previous custom of a caliphal selection based on the consensus of high
ranking tribal and religious (119). In this regard, the political authority began to overshadow the
religious authority. This is not to say that the council selectors only focused on religious aspects
when choosing the next Caliph, but the process of consensus was one in which the Caliphs were
chosen by their adherence and closeness to the Prophet and their piety towards Allah. The
Rashidun were all men that had been around Muhammad and were close supporters and family
members (Egger 28, 63).
In addition, the Umayyad dynasty began to lose contact with the rest of the Muslim
community. The first Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, Mu’awiya, was one of the last caliphal
leaders to hold an open court that allowed the public to access the Caliph (Egger 66). Thus, from
the beginning of the dynasty, a gulf was forming between the caliphate and the rest of the umma.
This division is profound if one considers that a religious leader must be present with the people
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in order to be gain the full support of his people. Another way the Umayyad dynasty lost contact
with the umma was through the excessive luxury and opulence of these Caliphs. Egger claims
that over time “it became clear that the new rulers were not as pious as their forebears had been,”
because of alcohol consumption and grand palaces (66). For the devout Muslim, alcohol
consumption was strictly forbidden and contemptible
One of the greatest ways in which the Umayyad dynasty created tension between the
religious and political authority was the relocation of the imperial capital from the holy city of
Medina to the city of Damascus in Syria. Muhammad had moved to Medina from Mecca in
order to turn “his attention to spreading the message of Islam to frontiers beyond the Arabian
Peninsula,” (Farouk-Alli 313). With a firm power base, Muhammad was able to carve out his
Arab empire. Later, the first four caliphs continued in the tradition of the Prophet by leaving the
capital of the empire in Medina (313). The capital of the Arab empire had been firmly set in
Medina for 39 years before the installation of Mu’awiya in 661 C.E. (Farouk-Alli 313 & Egger
66). Mu’awiya's relocation of the capital caused religious tension, because the “pious
Muslims… considered Medina and Mecca to be the center of the world” (Egger 66). The
relocation also caused political tension, because the elite of Medina were suddenly left out of
imperial affairs. Mu’awiya’s disdain for tradition was the result of politics. He stayed in
Damascus to remain in his base of power, Syria (66). This decision, based strictly on political
stability, would have great ramifications in the realm of religious authority and was one factor
that would lead to the weakening of the religious character of the caliphate during the Umayyad
rule. The relocation showed the neglect, if not disrespect, for history of the Prophet and his
institution of ritual prayers that tied Muslims to the important mosques of Medina (Farouk-Alli
314). Eventually, the Umayyad dynasty fell out of favor due to its lack of religious authority. In
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fact, “anti-Umayyad sentiments were extensive, particularly among the emerging religious class”
(Teipen 223).
Another testament to the tension between religious and political authority during the
Umayyad rule was the schism between Muslims over the idea of caliphal succession. This
schism was such a major feature of early Islam that its effects persist today. The controversy in
ideology derives from the period before the creation of the Umayyad dynasty, when Mu’awiya
and Ali’ were fighting for the caliphate. Each man had strong support for their claim to the
office. The followers of Ali’ were so convinced of his divine right to power that when Ali’
conceded arbitration to Mu’awiya at the battle of Siffin a group abandoned Ali’ and labeled him
a heretic, thus forming the faction of Muslims known as the Kharijites (Egger 65). However,
this is only the first point of ideological controversy. At this point in time, the groups were
mainly focused on the superficial political succession. It is the successor to Mu’awiya, Yazid,
who ossified the division of umma as having two separate, but parallel, doctrines of Islam. It
happened as a result of Ali’s second son, Husayn, challenging the authority of Yazid. Yazid sent
his army out to quell the rebellious Husayn. When the two armies meet at the battle of Karbala
Husayn was killed (Stewart 623). With Husayn’s death, the umma was forever rent into the two
major groups of Muslims—the Sunni and the Shi’i. The people that supported Ali’ and his
lineage were driven into secrecy and persecuted by the Umayyad rulers. In their exclusion, this
new community formed their own customs and beliefs, such as the idea of an Imam as the
“divinely appointed and guided leader” (Egger 75). In this respect, the Imam is considered the
heir of Muhammad both as a religious and political leader. On the other hand, the Sunnis did not
accept this idea of the Imam. According to Carl Ernst, the Sunnis “accepted the political status
quo, regardless of the justice of the case” and simply followed the rule of the Umayyad caliphate
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(169). As a result of the differing ideologies, “the Shi‘a engaged in periodic uprisings against
what they viewed as the illegitimate caliphs” throughout the Umayyad rule (Stewart 623). This
ideological split between the Sunni and Shi’i is one that perfectly demonstrates the tension
between religious and political authority of the caliphate for the umma at large. The Shi’i
believed that the Caliph should be an Imam directly linked to Allah as a full successor to the
Prophet, whereas Yazid and subsequent Umayyad Caliphs simply wanted to maintain their
political authority regardless of religion or religious conviction. The Sunnis were unobligated to
resist the Umayyad authority.
The Umayyad Caliphate from the mid-seventh to mid-eighth century was one of the best
examples of how the caliphate experienced tension between religious and political authority.
The Rashidun, following in the direction of Muhammad, managed to keep the office as both a
religious and political institution. Tensions existed in the early stage, but it was not until the
Umayyad dynasty took control of the caliphate that major divisions and tensions arose in the
umma. Specifically, the fight between Ali’ and Mu’awiya and later Yazid and Husayn created a
tremendous division in the umma both in political and religious aspects, but also the opulence
and neglect of tradition by the Umayyad Caliphs led to a profound tension in the community
over the role of the caliph as a political and religious authority.
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Works Cited
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