the Ka‘ba (the Ṭawāf) seven times, three times running, four times
slowly, the visit to the Maqām Ibrahīm, the ascent of Mount Ṣafā
and running from it to Mount Marwa seven times, the run to Mount
‘Arafāt, hearing a sermon, and going to Muzdalifa, where he stays the
night, the throwing of stones at the three pillars in Minā on the great
feast day, and the offering of sacrifice there (for the localities see
Mecca). After the accomplishment of these ceremonies the ordinary
dress is resumed, the pilgrimage is finished, but the pilgrim usually
remains another three days in Mecca, then visits Medina to pay his
respects to the tomb of Mahomet. Beside the hajj (great pilgrimage)
Islam also recognizes the merit of the ‘umra (or lesser pilgrimage),
i.e. a religious visit to Mecca at any time accompanied by most of
the ceremonies of the hajj.
The ceremonies of the hajj have been described by several European travellers who have witnessed them, such as J. L. Burckhardt in 1814, Sir Richard Burton in 1853 (see bibliography to Mecca). A concise account of them is given in T. P. Hughes, Notes on Muhammadanism (3rd ed., London, 1894). Details in vol. i. of Bukhārī’s traditions (Houdas and Marcais’s French translation, i. 493–567).
The Development of Islam.—The battle of Siffīn (657) between ‘Ali and Moawiya was the occasion of the first breach in the unity of Islam, and the results remain to this day. The occasion was in the first case political, but politics were at that time too intimately connected with religion to be considered apart from it. After the battle (see Caliphate) ‘Alī was practically compelled to submit his claims to arbitration, whereupon a number of his supporters broke away from him, saying that there should have been no appeal save to the Book of God. These men were for the most part country Arabs, and, inspired by the free spirit of the desert, were democratic, claiming that the caliph should be elected by the whole community from any family (and not from the Koreish alone), and that the caliph might be deposed for sin. A few extremists were republicans and would do without a caliph altogether. The whole party was known as the Kharijites (Khārijiyya or Khawārij). The Moslems who disagreed with them were regarded by them as renegades and were to be put to death. They were soon divided into extremists and moderates. The former put to death the children of unbelievers and refused to hold intercourse in daily life with unbelievers. The moderates, who came to be known as Ibadites (from their leader ʽAbdallah ibn ʽIbād), would allow the children of unbelievers to grow up, and would then deal with them according to their choice. In ordinary life they would mix with all men, but marriage with other Moslems outside their own ranks was forbidden. These still remain in Oman, parts of Algeria and East Africa.
Another party, consisting mainly of city Arabs infected with Persian ideas as to the divinity of the ruler, clung to ʽAlī with inconvenient affection. They regarded ʽAlī and his descendants as the only legitimate caliphs, and came to be known as Shiʽites (q.v.). They remain to-day the largest part of Islam outside orthodoxy. During the Omayyad caliphate (661–750) there were three centres of religious thought and influence; students and teachers often passed from one to the other, thus making universal the teachings which in their origin were due to local circumstances. These centres were Damascus (the seat of the caliphate), Medina and the East (Irak, &c.). In Damascus the court was worldly and indifferent to the interests of Islam. The early Omayyads were distinguished for their striving after dominion (mulk). Instead of attempting to propagate Islam, they tolerated other religions and favoured Christians who were distinguished as poets (e.g. Akhtal) or officials (John of Damascus), or men likely to be of use to them in any way. The doctrines of Christianity began to influence even serious Moslems and to affect their way of stating Moslem belief. John of Damascus (d. before 767), the Greek theologian, and his pupil, Theodorus Abucara (d. 826), have written controversial works on Islam, from which it seems probable that disputations on subjects pertaining to religion were held between Christians and Moslems. Two schools of heretical Moslem sects arose under these influences—that of the Murjiites and that of the Qadarites. The Murjiites (“postponers”) were so called because they postponed the judgment of human actions until the Day of Judgment. In politics they accepted the Omayyads as de facto rulers, since they were Moslems, and left the judgment of their actions to God. As theologians they taught that religion consists in belief (imān) in the unity of God and in his apostle, and in that alone, consequently no one who held this faith would perish eternally, though he had been a sinner. This was opposed to the Khārijite doctrine that the unrepentant sinner would perish eternally, even though he had professed Islam.
The Qadarites were concerned with the doctrine of predestination and free-will. So long as Moslems were fighting the battles of Islam they naturally paid most attention to those revelations which laid stress on the absolute determination of a man’s destiny by God. They fought with great bravery because they believed that God had foreordained their death or life and they could not escape His will. In the quieter realm of town and court life and in their disputations with Christians they were called upon to reconcile this belief with the appeals made in the Koran to man’s own self-determination to good, to courage, &c. Mahomet was not a systematic theologian and had done nothing to help them. The Qadarites declared that man had power over his own actions. But the teaching of predestination had gained too great a hold on Moslems to be thus displaced. The teaching of the Qadarites was held to be heresy, and one of its first professors, Ma‘bad ul-Juhānī, was put to death in 699.[1] During this period Medina was the home of tradition. Those who had been in closest relation with the Prophet dwelt there. The very people of the city derived a certain splendour and authority from the fact that Mahomet had lived and was buried there. Free thought in religion had little chance of arising, less of expressing itself, in the holy city. But the Koran was diligently studied, traditions were collected (and invented) though not yet written in books, and innovation (bid‘a) was resolutely avoided. At the same time it really did contribute a new element to religious practice, for the custom (ijmā‘, see above) of Medina gained a certain authority even in Syria and the East.
In the East, on the other hand, there was more mental activity, and the religious teachers who came from Medina had to be prepared to meet with many questions. The wits of the Moslems were sharpened by daily contact with Christians, Buddhists, Manichaeans and Zoroastrians. Ḥasan ul-Baṣrī (q.v.), who has been claimed as one of the first mystics, also as one of the first systematic theologians of Islam, was remarkable alike for his personal piety and his orthodoxy. Yet it was among his pupils that the great rationalist movement originated. Its founder was Wāṣil ibn ‘Atā, who separated himself (whence his followers were called Motazilites, strictly Mu‘tazilites, “Separatists”) from his teacher and founded a school which became numerous and influential. The Mu‘tazilites objected to the attributes of God being considered in any way as entities beside God; they explained away the anthropomorphisms used in speaking of the deity; they regarded the Koran as created and as a product of Mahomet writing under the divine influence. Briefly, they asserted the supremacy of reason (‘aql) as distinct from faith received by tradition (naql). They also called themselves “the people of justice and unity” (Ahl ul-‘adl wat-tauḥīd). Such a faith as this naturally found favour rather with the thinking classes than with the uneducated multitude, and so went through many vicissitudes. At the time of its appearance and until the reign of Maʽmūn its adherents were persecuted as heretics. After discussions among the theologians Ma‘mūn took the decided step of proclaiming that the Koran was created, and that a belief in this dogma was necessary. Other Muʽtazilite doctrines were proclaimed later. Muʽtazilites were appointed to official posts, and an inquisition (mīḥna) was appointed to enforce belief in their doctrines. This movement was strongly opposed by the orthodox and especially by Aḥmad ibn Hanbal (q.v.). By him the founding of theology on reason was rejected, and he suffered persecution for his faith (see W. N. Patton, Aḥmed ibn Hanbal and the Miḥna, Leiden, 1897). Muʽtazilism retained its sway until 849, when the caliph Motawakkil again declared the Koran uncreate and restored orthodoxy. It was during the early years of the Abbasid
- ↑ For the doctrines of these two sects see Shahrastānī’s Book of Sects, and for the Qadarites, A. de Vlieger’s Kitāb ul-Qadr, matériaux pour servir à l’étude de la doctrine de la prédestination dans la théologie musulmane (Leiden, 1903).
