It is important to note that some of the WCW wrestlers' absences were out of the WWF's control. Many of WCW's top wrestlers had contracts with AOL Time Warner, WCW's parent company, and were willing to sit at home rather than wrestle for less money. Ric Flair and Rey Mysterio were not signed until the end of the Invasion because they were tied to their contracts, and therefore their absence was out of the WWF's control. In addition, Scott Steiner was recovering from an injury. Others, such as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Goldberg, were not signed until well after the storyline finished. Because of this, the WWF's opponent allegedly lacked the strong identity of WCW.
To bolster the ranks of WCW (in lieu of big WCW names), some WWF wrestlers (such as Stone Cold Steve Austin) defected and joined the Alliance. Although both WWF and WCW featured talents who had worked for both companies, wrestlers such as Stone Cold had their greatest success in WWF and were seen by fans as WWF wrestlers. Kurt Angle had never wrestled a match for either WCW or ECW, but was a main player for the Alliance towards the end of the storyline. In fact, despite both being viewed as prominent WWF wrestlers, they ended up not only being main players of the Alliance, with Stone Cold being the leader that carried championship gold, but also playing a bigger role than the WCW and ECW stars during the Invasion. For example, the final two Alliance members were Stone Cold and Angle at Survivor Series 2001—Booker T and Rob Van Dam were eliminated only after Shane McMahon.
Several top WCW and ECW talent who were top superstars in their previous company such as Diamond Dallas Page, Justin Credible, Raven and Tazz were put down into low-mid card matches, while lesser-ranked WWF wrestlers who defected to the Alliance, such as Test, were given a greater push.
Caliphate
A caliphate ( "khilāfa") is a state ruled by an Islamic leader known as a caliph ( "" ). This is a person considered a political-religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community.
The Rashidun caliphs directly succeeded Muhammad as leaders of the muslim community. They were chosen through ", "a process of community consultation that some think is an early form of Islamic democracy. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many muslim states, mostly hereditary monarchies, have claimed to be caliphates. Caliphs were not thought of as having the same prophetic power as Muhammid did.
In the Sunni branch of Islam a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an imam chosen by God from the "Ahl al-Bayt" (the "Family of the House", Muhammad's direct descendants).
Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, and there was consensus in the Muslim community to his choice. His successor, Uthman Ibn Affan, was elected by a council of electors (Majlis). But soon he was seen by some more as a "king" than as an elected leader. Uthman was killed by members of an opposition group. Then Ali took control. He was very popular with many, but he was not accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt. Later on even some of his own guard were against him. He had two major rebellions and was assassinated after a tumultuous rule of only five years. This period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war.
Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman, and governor "(Wali)" of Syria became one of Ali's challengers. After Ali's death he became Caliph. Under him, the caliphate became a hereditary office for the first time. He founded the Umayyad dynasty.
In areas which were previously under Persian or Byzantine rule, the Caliphs lowered taxes, provided greater local autonomy, greater religious freedom for Jews, indigenous Christians, and brought peace to peoples that were demoralized and disaffected by the casualties and heavy taxation that resulted from the years of Byzantine-Persian warfare.
Under the Umayyads the Caliphate grew rapidly geographically. Islamic rule expanded westward across North Africa and into Hispania and eastward through Persia and ultimately to Sindh and Punjab in modern-day Pakistan. This made it one of the largest unitary states in history and one of the few states to ever extend direct rule over three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia). Although not ruling all of the Sahara, homage was paid to the Caliph by Saharan Africa usually via various nomad Berber tribes.
Largely due to the fact that they were not elected via , the Umayyad dynasty was not universally supported within the Muslim community. Some supported prominent early Muslims like Al-Zubayr; others felt that only members of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, or his own lineage, the descendants of Ali, should rule. There were numerous rebellions against the Umayyads, as well as splits within the Umayyad ranks (notably, the rivalry between Yaman and Qays). Eventually, supporters of the Banu Hisham and the supporters of the lineage of Ali united to bring down the Umayyads in 750. However, the "", "the Party of Ali", were again disappointed when the Abbasid dynasty took power, as the Abbasids were descended from Muhammad's uncle, `Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib and not from Ali. Following this disappointment, the finally split from the majority Sunni Muslims and formed what are today the several denominations.
The Umayyad Caliphate emerged as the rulers of the Islamic world. Although they maintained the Sasanians' administrative practices, the Umayyads considered Islam as primarily an Arab religion and were wary of Persian culture. They enforced use of the Arabic language in Persia, leading to the demise of the Middle Persian or Pahlavi alphabet in favor of the new Arabic/Persian alphabet in use to this day. They attempted to assimilate Persians as they had "Arabized" and assimilated the Egyptians and the Assyrians, but with much less success.
During the Umayyad period Hispania was an integral province of the Umayyad Caliphate ruled from Damascus, Syria. Later the caliphate was won by the Abbasids and "Al-Andalus" (or Hispania) split from the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad to form their own caliphate. The Caliphate of Córdoba (خليفة قرطبة) ruled the Iberian Peninsula from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in technology, trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Spain were constructed in this period, including the famous Great Mosque of Córdoba. The title Caliph (خليفة) was claimed by Abd-ar-Rahman III on January 16, 929; he was previously known as the Emir of Córdoba (أمير قرطبة). All Caliphs of Córdoba were members of the Umayyad dynasty; the same dynasty had held the title Emir of Córdoba and ruled over roughly the same territory since 756. The rule of the Caliphate is known as the heyday of Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula, before it split into taifas. Spain possessed a significant native Muslim population until 1610 with the success of the Catholic-instigated Spanish Inquisition, which expelled any remnants of Spanish Muslim (Morisco) or Jewish populations.