Muhammad built the
early Islam for around 23 years. Many scholars believe that his era is the best
era, based on his hadith about the level of the best era in Muslim community’s
history. I really curious about this term, is it religious term or
anthropological term? As far as I know as Muslim, there is no debate about the
truth of this hadith as the basic of theological justification. But how this
hadith will be applied when we examine the problem in the early Islamic era,
especially started at caliph era (the companions).
The succession of
Muslim leader after Muhammad firstly became the hottest issue. This could
separate muslim in Medina into two groups, Muhajirin and Anshor. Every group
claimed that they are the one group who deserved being caliph. Fortunately,
that conflict can be finished by Abu Bakar by saying that only Quraish group
deserves being leader. For me, it is more political than theological because
Muhammad never directly pointed his successor.
The second caliph, Umar
bin khatab did not get any conflict when being chosen to be caliph. But, when
Uthman changed Umar, the old friction about tribalism had arisen and it is more
complicated then Abu Bakar era, because it carried the tribal and religious
understanding about leader and truth. The chaos had escalated till Uthman dead
by killed. Ali then continued the caliphate but he just got little support from
his followers, especially people from Basra (now Iraq). Then Ali also had been
killed after facing many wars with Aisha, Muhammad’s wife (Jamal War), some
companions of prophet such as Talhah and Zubair ibn Awwam, and the last with
Muawiyah.
Until this era,
actually the problem is about political, not religious factor. Until this time
also I try to relate those “political” incidents with the claim that the best
umma is the early umma of Islam. It is still confusing then to describe what
the real history of the early Islamic era, is it about political or purely
religious thing? I do not. Surely we need a more contemplation and also
research to know 1) what is the core thing in that era, 2) how the
justification of Hadith is used, and 3) what is the implication of the Islamic
development today.
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