Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-05-16

was a bona fide caliph, and in later
years a reading of the historical facts
about the caliphate furnishes no fewer
thrills than the immortal tales.
The Early Caliphs.
When Mohammed died his counselor,
Abu Bekr, the companion of his flight,
or Hegira, became caliph, meaning, lit
orally, successor. ADu Bekr means
father Of the virgin" He was Mo-
hammed's father-in-law. The second
caliph, or successor, was Omar, anoth-
er father-in-law of the prophet, who
started organizing armies and began
spreading Islam over the map in a
very literal sense. Omar was the first
to bear the title Emir al Moumenin,
prince Of the Faithful"
From the first, Ali, husband of Mo-
hammeds daughter, Fatima, consid-
cred himself the logical successor to
the caliphate. Not until Abu Bekr and
Omar had ruled, and another caliph,
Gilman, had his day and had been
murdered as was Omar before him, did
Ali become caliph.
Certainly Mohammedanism can be
termed emphatically a mans re-
ligion." Yet at this early date two
women were the moving spirits in
splitting it into the Sunnite and Shiite
divisions which have prevailed ever
since. Ayesha, favorite wife of the
prophet, always had been jealous of
his daughter, Fatima, and on the sue
cession Of Fatimas husband directed
all her efforts upon an anti-Ali party.
Meantime the group which, all along,
had regarded Ali as the legitimate sue
cessor, gained strength during his rule
but were kept busy fighting to hold
the sway Omar had established.
When Ali's son and successor, Has
san, was murdered, probably by the
hand of his wife at the behest kof
Moawiyah, this Moawiyeh assumed the
caliphate, removed its seat to Dan1as-
Gus, and began the series of rulers
known as Ommiades. Henceforth the
Shiites were alienated from the Sun
mites, or orthodox Mohammedans, be-
cause of their reverence for Ali and
Hassan, and their belief that the first
Of the Ommiades and his successors
were usurpers and pretenders. Arabian
and Persian Mohammedans inclined
toward the Shiite faction.
Iraq's First Rebellioy
Away back in the days Of the sue
cessor to Moawiyah the inhabitants Of
Iraq rebelled-the same IFaq which
only year or so ago launched out
again on it's national course after
electing Emir Feisal asking. Feisal
is the third son of tne Grand Sheriff
of Mecca.
1t was during another series of cali
pilates, that of the Abbasid nlonarchs,
that arun-al-Rashid ruled. And 1t
was after his reign that the division
Of the caliphate among his three sons
made the caliphate into sort of COM
mission form of government. One son
was to hold sway over Arabia and
Syria; another in Persia ard Turke
stan; and a third in Asia Minor and
the, Black sea region.
At another time, toward the end of
the tenth century, Bagdad, cairo and
Cordova, Spain, all were thel seats OF
separate ruling caliphs; though this
was no amiable division. Each caliph
declared the other a hereto aAd held
himself the lone head of all Islam.
How Abul Abbas, first of the Abba
sid monarchs, had every living male
of the Ommiades thrown into prison,
killed them all, and then gave a ban
quet on a great cloth thrown over their
bones, is but one example Of the fan
tastic cruelty of the centuries-long
struggle to be caliph.
The story of the caliphate would fill
has filled-volumes. The assumption
Of the title by the sultans of Turkey
is modern and perhaps minor
chapter in the struggle to be "The
Successor" and thus to hold sway over
this mighty force of Islam. Points OF
special interest are that force often
has played a major part in assump-
ton of the role, that there have been
several caliphs both by mutual agree
ment and also by rivalry, and that &C
curing the title of caliph by no means
guarantees it's recognition by the Mos
lem world