Book Review: 'The Caliph’s Splendor'

Book: The Caliph’s Splendor
Author: Benson Bobrick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 294 pages
Price: Rs699

Muslim extremists have for a long time now been deluding themselves of establishing a global caliphate. A Taliban “commander” in Pakistan was recently quoted as saying that his outfit would wage jihad until “the caliphate is established across the world.” In his 2005 book, Al-Zarqawi – al-Qaeda’s Second Generation, Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein revealed that al-Qaeda had plans to declare a caliphate by 2016 and impose it by 2020.

What is it about the caliphate that makes extremists so obsessed with the idea? Benson Bobrick’s The Caliph’s Splendor suggests some answers. Bobrick documents how the West “reaped the harvest of what the Arabs had achieved” and there is enough material in his captivating account of Islam’s augustan age to examine the possibility of a modern day caliphate.

Bobrick, in his epilogue, asks, “Is there any aspect of life it [Islam] has not touched?” He answers it himself, saying: “…by trade, diplomacy, war and other forms of engagement, the abstract learning and practical achievements of Islam had a tremendous impact on the West.”

There can be no doubt that insofar as scientific, literary and philosophical development is concerned, the immense contributions of the caliphs, particularly Harun al-Rashid and his son Mamun of the Abbasid dynasty, constitute one of the greatest and most golden periods in human history.

The Caliph’s Splendor is a touching tribute to the colossal accomplishments of Harun and his son’s inclusive caliphate (and, to some extent, the equally grand Ummayad caliphate in Spain) which would later bring Europe out of its Dark Ages.
Bobrick compares the tenth century “shabby towns” of London and Paris with “the most civilized city” of Cordoba, which contained — apart from 300 mosques — 2,00,000 houses, 50 hospitals and 70 libraries (the biggest one among them boasting of a collection of 225,000 books).

In Cordoba, “every boy and girl of twelve was able to read and write — at a time when the barons and ladies of Christendom were scarcely able to scrawl their names.” To illustrate the importance Abbasid caliphs gave to acquiring knowledge, Bobrick cites the offer of 2,000 pounds of gold and “eternal peace” made by Mamun to Byzantine Emperor Theophilus for a Christian scholar named Leo the Mathematician, which of course was promptly rejected. Mamun’s period was also the time when Muslim rationalism was at its peak, a fact left out by Bobrick.

But he does note how Christians, Hindus, Persians, Zoroastrians and many others were “welcomed in an ecumenical spirit” to Baghdad, which also contained ethnic quarters for Greeks, East Indians, Chinese and Armenians. Baghdad even had 10 rabbinical schools, 23 synagogues and a Talmudic institute.

Bobrick’s chapter on Baghdad is an absolute treat to read.
These remarkable aspects of the caliphate together constitute the first reason why militant evangelists of a modern-day caliphate will not be able to realise their dreams. How could fanatical puritans ever think of presiding over a social order that is founded on the Quranic principles of reason, logic, education, scientific inquiry and religious equality?

The second reason why a global caliphate is difficult to establish is the moral inappropriateness of emulating “the intrigue, betrayal, depravity and violence worthy of the Roman Empire’s darkest days” which also characterised the caliphate. Barring the glorious 30-year caliphate of Abubakr, Umar, Usman and Ali, no Muslim political rule measured up to the standards laid down by the Quran and the Prophet. Syed Amir Ali writes in A Short History of the Saracens that “with the establishment of an autocracy under Muawiyah”, the founder of the Damascus-based Umayyad caliphate, “the revenues of the empire became the private property of the sovereign, and subject to his absolute control.”

Then there’s the brutality of Abbasids who massacred the entire Umayyad house. Bobrick narrates how the first Abbasid Caliph, Abul Abbas, “held his victory feast on a field full of corpses which he covered with a heavy carpet, like a table cloth.” Harun al-Rashid, in an act of ruthless ingratitude, beheaded his confidant, Jafar al Barmak, and incarcerated the entire Barmak family despite the critical role the Barmaks played in Harun becoming the Caliph.

Bobrick also mentions of the Abbasids’ belief in astrology and horoscopes (a clear violation of Islamic precepts) and their hedonistic pursuits which include erotic poetry, music, late night drinking sessions and extramarital concubinage.
Perhaps this degeneracy was what Allama Iqbal had in mind when he wrote:
 

Main tujhko batata hoon taqdeer-e-umam kya hai
Shamsheer-o-sana awwal, tawoos-o-rubaab aakhir.

(Let me tell you about the fate of Muslim nations,/ They begin with war and end in sensual indulgences.)