This essay argues that the Arab prophetic identity rooted in the Koran covenant was undermined by imperial expansion, especially during the Abbasid Caliphate, which assimilated foreign legal, philosophical, and cultural traditions at the cost of prophetic justice.
The Rashidun Caliphate represents the apex of Arab prophetic sovereignty, where territorial expansion was inseparable from fidelity to Koranic revelation and Meccan-Medinan prophetic law. The conquest of Iraq by Arab forces, which included both Sunni and Shiite Arabs, occurred during the early Islamic expansion following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. The Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 CE) rose after Muhammad’s death. The Rashidun Caliphate, led by the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali), initiated a series of military campaigns to expand the Islamic state beyond the Arabian Peninsula.
The conquest of Iraq began during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-644 CE). The Battle of the Bridge (634 CE) marked the initial confrontation between Saudi Arabs and the Sassanian Empire of Persia. The Battle of Qadisiyyah (636 CE) Arabs achieved a decisive victory against the Sassanian Army. This victory opened the way for early Arab armies, their conquest of the Sassanian Capital, Ctesiphon, and much of Iraq, which fell a year thereafter.
After the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib in 661 CE, the Umayyad Caliphate arose to power. The Umayyads continued to consolidate control over Iraq and other regions, promoting a pseudo-Arab identity and culture. While the Umayyads maintained Arab supremacy, their departure from Meccan-Medinan prophetic legitimacy and their adoption of dynastic kingship marked the beginning of Arab disempowerment through imperial logic.
Iraq’s identity as an Arab country with a significant Shiite Arab population has historic cultural, and religious Arab roots. The legacy of the early Arab period, the radically degenerate ideologies that separated the Umayyad and Abbasid regimes; coupled with the ongoing political dynamics, all contributed to the prominence of Shiite Arabs in Iraq. This complex interplay of history and identity continues to shape the social and political landscape of the country today.
Iraq, particularly the region of Mesopotamia, a historically strong center of Arabic civilization. It served as home to early Arabic developments and significant events, including the rise of Arabic Umayyad, contrasted by the assimilated Islamic Abbasid Caliphate(s). A substantial portion of Iraq’s population identifies as Shiite Arab. This demographic, primarily concentrated in southern Iraq, including cities like Najaf and Karbala, which remain important religious centers for Shiite Islam unto the present day.
The presence of Shiite Arabs in Iraq, traced back to the early Arabic Koran covenant, conjoined with the historical significance of Ali and his descendants. Key events, such as the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (the grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali) at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, have deeply influenced Shiite identity and annually commemorated during Ashura. This Battle, it represents a pivotal moment in the early Arabic Koran covenant based history together with its profound implications for the development of Shiite Arab identity.
This disaster, central to Shiite beliefs, has solidified the cultural and religious identity of Shiite Arabs. The battle occurred against the backdrop of a political and religious struggle over the rightful leadership of the Arab community following the death of the Prophet Muhammad. After the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph and the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, the Umayyad Caliphate seized power under Yazid ibn Muawiya. Imam Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali, refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, whom he viewed as an illegitimate ruler both corrupt and unjust. Hussein believed that Yazid’s rule, simply contrary to the principles of the Koran covenant. Hence Hussein violently opposed Yazid’s illegal seizure of power; he sought to uphold the true teachings of the Prophet’s Koran covenant.
Imam Hussein received messages from the people of Kufa, a city in present-day Iraq, urging him to come and lead them against Yazid’s rule. Believing he had the support of the people, Hussein set out for Kufa with his family and a small group of followers. As Hussein and his caravan approached Kufa, they were intercepted by Yazid’s forces, led by Umar ibn Sa’ad. Hussein and his followers were encircled at Karbala, where they were denied access to water and faced overwhelming odds.
The battle which ensued took place on the 10th of Muharram, known as Ashura. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Hussein and his companions, according to tradition, fought valiantly. The battle, marked by intense fighting, and many of Hussein’s family members and supporters – brutally killed. Imam Hussein himself martyred in that tragic battle, along with most of his male companions. His martyrdom, symbolizes the Shiite struggle against tyranny-injustice, and utterly rejects the Umayyad betrayal of the Koran covenant.
The Battle of Karbala its profound disastrous consequences on the development of Shiite-Sunni Arab split identity. Hussein’s martyrdom, commemorated annually every Ashura, a day of mourning and reflection for Shiite Muslims. The event serves as a powerful symbol of resistance against oppression and injustice represented through the Umayyad dictatorship. The battle permanently divided Sunni and Shiite Arabs. Shiites mourn Hussein as a martyr and their symbol of Koran covenant righteousness. The events at Karbala have inspired countless works of literature, art, and religious observance within the Shiite Arab communities. The Battle of Karbala represents the struggle for justice, the importance of moral integrity, and the consequences of political power struggles within the early Arabic Koran covenant communities.
The distinction between the pseudo Koran covenant Umayyad and utterly assimilated Abbasid regimes, the differences between Sunni and Shiite Muslims all deeply interconnected to the Koran covenant. The split between Sunni and Shiite Arabism originated over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632 CE. The Prophet Muhammad commanded the Koran covenant to Arab believers of Allah. The Sunnis branched away from the Koran covenant, they believed that the community should select the leader (Caliph), while Shiites believed that leadership should remain inherited within the Prophet’s family, specifically through his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Sunnis belief that the community should select the leader (Caliph) defines the pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate. The latter transferred its Capital away from Mecca or Median to Damascus, despite it being part of the eastern Roman empire.
The pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate dictatorship, established after the assassination of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph and the last of the “Rightly Guided” caliphs. The Umayyads, a powerful clan within the Quraysh tribe, a prominent Arab tribe that played a significant role in the history of the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in Mecca. Muawiya I seized the caliphate, and became the first pseudo-Umayyad caliph. The Umayyads promoted the idea that the leader of the Arab nation (Ummah) chosen based on consensus or election. Herein defines a key Sunni principle of governance. This idea replaced the priority of “governance”, and devalued the prime importance of the Koran covenant – to rule the nation with justice.
Their dictatorship likewise marked a shift towards hereditary succession, a departure from the earlier caliphate model. This foundation set the stage for Arabs to denounce the Umayyad Caliphate as unjust. Under the Umayyads, leadership became hereditary, primarily passing through the family of the ruling caliph, which established a dynastic rule. This shift led to a more centralized and bureaucratic form of governance, as the Umayyads sought to consolidate power and maintain control over their vast empire.
Many Arabs began to view the Umayyad Caliphate as unjust, particularly due to perceived corruption, favoritism, and the concentration of power within the Umayyad family. The Shiite branch of the Koran covenant prioritizes the importance of leadership being derived from the Prophet Muhammad’s family, specifically through Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. They advocate for a direct line of succession, the divine right of kings. This opinion openly clashed with the pseudo-Umayyad usurpation of power. For Shiites, the legitimacy of a caliph\leader – rooted in their connection to the Prophet’s lineage, which they believe the pseudo-Umayyads lacked. This belief, it defines a fundamental aspect of Shiite identity and has tremendously influenced their historical and political narratives.
Moving the Capital of the Arab Caliphate to Damascus, then part of the Byzantine Empire, in 661, further estranged and undermined Arab support. Establishing the capital in Damascus allowed the Umayyads to exert greater control over the vast territories they governed, which extended from Spain in the west to India in the east. The move to Damascus also symbolized a shift towards a more cosmopolitan and administrative approach to governance, integrating various cultures and traditions within the empire. It exposed the true colors of the pseudo-Umayyad dictatorship, in reality no different than the Abbasid assimilated Muslim revolution.
Arab armies brought with them not only Koran monotheism theology, but also the Arabic language and cultural practices. Over time, the adoption of Arabic became a significant marker of identity. In Egypt and Syria, for example, the local populations gradually adopted Arabic as their primary language, this greatly facilitated deeper cultural integration into the Koran covenant. The process of Arabization essentially involved assimilation of alien foreign cultures and customs, traditions, and languages homogenized into the Arab cultural framework. This embracement of an ערב רב/mixed multitude cultural heterogeneous societies into the Koran covenant identity, where slowly the local populations began to identify more closely with Arab culture, something akin to the Samaritans to Judean society.
The Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE), decision to establish Damascus as their Capital, and built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, this planted the seeds of assimilation and rebellion to honor the Koran covenant. This pseudo-Caliphate introduced the marginalization of Shiite communities, leading to resentment and hatred among Arab Koran covenant nationals. Umayyad rule actively promoted strong incentives for the local populations to adopt Arab Sunni identity, as a means to gain access to political power and social mobility. The Umayyads conquered Egypt in the 7th century. The presence of Arab tribes in these regions prior to their conquests created a foundation for cultural integration into the Koran covenant national identity.
The transformation of alien conquered nations in Egypt and Syria unto Arabs, rather than lower class Muslim – non Arabs, primarily attributed to a combination of cultural integration, political incentives, and historical context. The policies of the pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate, its prioritization that conquered nations adopt the Arabic language, combined with the historical ties to Arab identity, all these factors played significant roles in the homogeneous conversion process, leading to a distinct Arab identity, closely intertwined with the Arab covenant identity. In contrast, the experiences of Persians and Turks involved a more complex interplay of heterogeneous local identities resulting in a different religious faith outcome. Gone, the Arabic Koran covenant faith which defined the nation lead by Muhammad prophetic vision.
While the administrative structures established by the pseudo-Umayyads often required local leaders to align themselves with Arab identity to maintain their positions and influence within the new Islamic state. Confronted by growing crisis of dissatisfaction among various groups due to perceived injustices, favoritism, and the concentration of power among the Umayyad Arab feudal aristocracy. Many non-Arab Muslims (mawali) felt marginalized and discriminated against. The pseudo-Umayyads superficial lip service favored Arab over peasant-Muslims in political and economic matters. Much as did the Turkish land laws, in their turn, rejected Arab ownership of Turkish lands.
While Islam proclaimed itself as a unifying religion, the process of conversion did not necessarily lead to a complete cultural transformation. In regions like Persia or the Turks – Islam – often adopted alongside the retention of local languages and cultural practices, leading to a distinct Muslim identity that did not equate to the Arab Koran covenant national identity. In Persia and among Turkic peoples, the conversion to Islam often occurred through different means, such as trade, Sufism, and the influence of local leaders, which allowed for the preservation of local identities alongside Islamic faith. Much like the Catholic church converted radically divergent European countries to embrace belief in their form of Monotheism. Religious beliefs do not exchange, supplant, or reform national identities of different peoples.
The Umayyad regime condemned for its unjust favoritism of Arab national identity aroused the indignation of other ethnicities within the Islamic empire. This led to resentment among non-Arab Muslim peasant populations, including Persians, Berbers, and others, who sought greater representation and rights within the feudal Koran covenant society. Many supporters of the Abbasids sought reforms in governance, administration, and social justice. They aimed to create a more equitable and just Mawali-non Arab society, addressing the grievances that had accumulated under the pseudo-Umayyad dictatorship.
Consequently, the biased injustice of the Umayyad regime set the stage for the Abbasid revolt. The most significant of these was the Abbasid Revolution, which culminated in the Battle of the Zab in 750 CE, where the Umayyad forces suffered decisive defeat. The Abbasids rhetoric propaganda framed their revolt as a “religious movement”, emphasizing their lineage from the Prophet Muhammad. They sought to present themselves as the rightful leaders of the Mawali-non Arab Muslim community. They argued that the Umayyads had betrayed the “true” Islamic principles.
The Umayyad Caliphate, centered in Damascus, while characterized by a strong Arab identity and governance which favored Arabs over Muslims. The Abbasids, by stark contrast, sought to create a more inclusive empire that represented the diverse populations within the Islamic world, including non-Arab Muslims, viewed as aristocratic equals.
The Abbasid revolution marked a significant shift in the character of the Koran covenant empire. The vision of the prophet Muhammad switched from an Arab-centric rule under the Umayyads to a more inclusive and diverse governance that included non-Arab Muslims, now views as aristocratic inheritors of the Koran covenant which preaches strict monotheism and Muhammad as the final prophet as the central tenants of Islamic belief.
The Abbasid Caliphate represented a significant shift from the Arab-dominated empire to a more inclusive and diverse Islamic multi-state, which allowed for the participation and influence of non-Arab Muslims in both governance and culture. Herein explains why the Abbasid Caliphate moved their Capital to Baghdad. This transformation played a crucial role in shaping the identity of the Islamic world, which by definition included the collapse of the Arab Koran covenant – during the Abbasid period.
The Abbasids built a broad coalition of support among various discontented groups, including non-Arab Muslims, Shiites, and other factions opposed to the pseudo-Umayyad rule. This coalition utterly crucial in mobilizing support for their cause. This new Caliphate significantly shaped non Arab Islamic history through the revival and integration of ancient Greek philosophical thought into Islamic scholarship. The Abbasids, while their rhetoric claimed their descent from the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle Abbas, they positioned themselves as champions of the far larger non Arab Islamic community. The Koran covenant Arab identity, Islam – like a snake – swallowed its prey completely whole.
The Abbasid Caliphate replaced the judicially unjust Umayyad Caliphate in 750 CE after a successful revolution. The Abbasids validation of non Arab Muslims set the stage for publication and research in the newly discovered ancient Greek writings, particularly during the 8th through 10th centuries, known for the Islamic Golden Age. Scholars in the Abbasid Caliphate translated and preserved many works of ancient Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Galen. This intellectual revival played a crucial role in the development of philosophy, science, and medicine in the Islamic world and later influenced the European Renaissance.
The Abbasid Caliphate expanded the Muslim empire through a combination of military conquests, political alliances, and cultural integration. They successfully conquered Persia (modern-day Iran) after the fall of the pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate. The Persian territories became integrated, but not homogenized into the Abbasid Caliphate. Persian culture and administrative practices significantly influenced the Abbasid governance and culture. The Abbasids continued military engagements with the Byzantine Empire, similar to their predecessors. These conflicts, part of the ongoing struggle for control over territories in the eastern Mediterranean. The theology of Islam changed the Koran covenant of Arab nationalism unto the belief that Allah lives as the Universal God of all Humanity. Rather than the God which Muhammad’s Arab tribes embraced as their Deity.
The Abbasids focused on trade, culture, and scholarship, which helped to unify the diverse regions of their huge expansive empire. They established Baghdad as their cultural and intellectual center, attracting scholars, scientists, and philosophers from various backgrounds. The Abbasid Caliphate, known for its cultural and intellectual flourishing, which included the translation and study of ancient Greek texts. This assimilation of Greek culture represents a key part of a broader effort to create a cosmopolitan society that included diverse ethnicities and cultures, not just local Arab feudal peasants.
The Abbasids essentially diminished the Arab-centric focus of the pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate, which claimed to have favored Arab identity and interests. By promoting a more inclusive approach, they aimed to unify the diverse populations within the empire, including non-Arab Muslim aristocrats. Such a divergent shift away from the Tribal Arab Koran as “the revelation” of the Prophet; the definition of Arab identity within the Tribal Arab Koran covenant republic/empire. This new cultural synthesis, which openly embraced Greek, Persian, and Indian influences integrated into into the heart and soul of non Arab Muslim “Islamic thought”. This new, vastly expanded cultural legacy, contributed to the decline of Arabia as the center of the non Arab Muslim world. The Abbasid impact on Europe, its service as the Prime Cause of the Renaissance revival; the resurrection of dead European culture and customs – marked by the Dark Ages. It undermined the revelation of Muhammad as the final prophet, of Tribal Koran covenant feudalism.
Assimilation to ancient Greek writers directly compares to the Hanukkah Civil War which pitted the P’rushim/pseudo-Umayyads against the Tzeddukim/assimilated Abbasid revolution. This Jewish Civil War pitted Torah purists, only committed to interpret the intent of the Torah through reliance upon the Oral Torah logic system, codified through the kabbalah of rabbi Akiva’s פרדס four part inductive reasoning. The assimilated Tzeddukim/assimilated Abbasid sought to abandon Oral Torah logic in favor of turning Jerusalem into a Greek polis City State. Much like the assimilated Abbasids moved their Capital distant from Mecca and Medina. Just as the Tzeddukim sought to remake Jerusalem unto the image of Athens; so too did the assimilated-Abbasids turn Baghdad into a cosmopolitan empire hostile to the Arab covenantal identity expressed in the Koran. Both rejected their respective “oral Torah/Hadith” interpretive revelation central to their respective national yet Tribal traditions.
Muslim universalism rejects the Torah revelation at Sinai which only Israel accepted, much the same way as the assimilated Abbasid ‘Golden Calf’ imposed a Muslim replacement theology which competed foreign alien Greek thinkers as equals to Muhammad the final prophet. Abbasid law schools (madhabs) no longer based solely upon prophetic or tribal adjudication, but systematized like Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis—foreign in form and hostile to Arab oral precedent. The Abbasid revolution, like the ‘Golden Calf’, did not openly reject Muhammad—it honored him in rhetoric while replacing the foundations of his Koran covenant with foreign structures.
The assimilated Tzeddukim likewise wanted Jews to forget the revelation of the Oral Torah at Horev. The ‘Golden Calf’ represents the idea of “replacement theology”. This defines the theology expressed by both Xtianity, the Arab Koran, and the Muslim theological belief in a Universal Allah, God to all Humanity. Abbasid scholars chose to ignore the Talmud. They rejected the revelation of the Oral Torah/פרדס logic just as surely as did the Tzeddukim reject the Oral Torah. The Koran represents a national revelation to the Arab people through the prophet Muhammad. In effect the Abbasids replaced their Koran covenantal specificity with abstract universality, undermining the very revelation they claimed to protect.
The Abbasid “revolution” utterly failed to establish righteous courts which could correct the pseudo-Umayyad judicial injustice. Unlike the American revolutionaries who rejected the vertical British Star courts with the lateral jury system, the Abbasid “revolution”, their corrupt vertical courts no different from the vertical British Star courts. The government bribed the Judges and prosecuting attorneys by paying their salaries.
Abbasid religious rhetoric propaganda (half-truths) declared their “belief” in Muhammad as the final prophet. But in actual fact their cultural synthesis of non Arab, Greek and other foreign cultural influences directly compares to the ancient Israelite sin of the Golden Calf – replacement theology.
The Abbasid period, which lasted from 750 to 1258 CE, represents a transformative era for Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and the codification of Islamic law. Scholars began to organize and systematize the principles of Islamic law, moving beyond the earlier, more Hadith common law precedent interpretations; which required a rigorous analysis of the Quran and Hadith. Assimilated Abbasid legal scholars organized fiqh into codes, which closely resembled the style of Greek and Roman law. Like as codified by Pope Gregory IX (c. 1170–1241) or Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). The latter best known for his works “Summa Theologica” and “Summa Contra Gentiles”, which synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Xtian theology, addressing issues of ethics, law, and the nature of God.
The four major Sunni schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali, directly influenced by Greek and Roman legal traditions, particularly in their approach to legal reasoning and the structure of legal codes. This cross-pollination of ideas contributed to a break down which attempted to unify Arab and non Arab Muslims as feudal equal aristocrats. Effectively, this estranged the rule of Mecca and Medina as the Government authority of the Arab empire/republic.
The Koran all together supplanted as the basis of Islamic law, in the sense that assimilated Abbasid law codes based their organization upon non Arab Muslim thinkers. The House of Wisdom in Baghdad, this institution promoted the translation and study of various texts, including those from Greek and Roman traditions. The failure of the assimilated Abbasid “revolution”, not merely political—but judicial, theological, and civilizational. By abandoning the Arab identity rooted in Meccan-Medinan Tribal justice, and replacing it with the foreign Hellenistic universalism together with Aristotle’s syllogism logic, the assimilated Abbasids traitors repeated the ancient sins of the Tzeddukim, together with the ערב רב builders of the Golden Calf. They all share a common foundation, they have no real fear of the אלהים. The task remains to recover the Arab prophetic covenant—as a national revelation with judicial integrity—restoring what was lost in the cosmopolitan mirage of Baghdad.
The assimilated Abbasid Caliphate dramatically weakened Arab identity. The Arab pseudo-Umayyad Caliphate, inherently unstable. Herein explains the prime reason for its short rule. The expansion of Muhammad’s Tribal Koran covenant nation, came at the expense of sacrificing the Arab identity which originally accepted Muhammad as its prophet. The spread of Islam came at the expense of the diminishment of Arab identity subsumed by a Islamic cosmopolitanism domination; which introduces many and multiple foreign cultures and customs into the Catholic\Islamic Universal faith. Where Greek and Roman legal tradition served as the basis which established a systematic approach to Islamic jurisprudence. Alas neither Greece nor Rome civilization gendered a Good Name reputation concerning the achievement judicial justice rule of law. The Abbasid legal codes, while more organized than the Hadith, influenced by non-Arab traditions, which some argue diluted the original Tribal Arab Koran covenant principles.
The Abbasid Caliphate rebelled against the Meccan-Medinan Koranic covenant. The assimilated Abbasids, despite their rhetorical white-wash allegiance to Muhammad and the Koran covenant, ultimately introduced a form of “replacement theology” akin to the biblical Golden Calf, which diluted the Arab prophetic foundation of the Koran covenant replaced by the charms of cosmopolitan inclusivity and Hellenistic legalism.
The Koran itself functioned as replacement theology for the T’NaCH. “We have not sent you except as a mercy to all the worlds” (Koran 21:107). It too likewise failed to respect that only Israel accepted the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. Just as only Muhammad alone received the visions from an Angel within a cave. There in the Koran, Muhammad interpreted – by Islamic theology – as the Seal of the Prophets, for humanity, not just the Arabs.
Islamic scholars to their credit sought to systematize Islamic law based on the Quran and Hadith, leading to the formation of distinct legal methodologies. The Quran and Hadith are the two primary sources of Islamic law. The Quran is considered the literal word of God, while Hadith comprises the sayings, actions, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. Scholars relied on these texts to derive legal rulings and principles. The Abbasid scholars emphasized that Islamic law should be grounded in divine revelation rather than solely relying on pre-Islamic customs or foreign legal systems.
Al-Shafi’i is renowned for his work in systematizing the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. His seminal book, “Al-Risala,” laid out a comprehensive framework for understanding the sources and methods of deriving legal rulings. Al-Shafi’i identified four primary sources of Islamic law: the Quran, Hadith, consensus (ijma), and analogy (qiyas). He argued that these sources should be used in a systematic manner to ensure that legal rulings are consistent with Islamic teachings. Al-Shafi’i placed a strong emphasis on the importance of Hadith as a source of law, advocating for the rigorous authentication of Hadith to ensure their reliability in legal reasoning.
In the early years of Islam, particularly during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, there were instances of coexistence and cooperation between Muslims and Jewish communities. The Constitution of Medina, for example, established a framework for mutual rights and responsibilities among Muslims and Jews in Medina. Yet the Almohad dynasty in the 12th century, when Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face expulsion definitively proved the shallow realities of justice achieved through Muslim courts.
Conflict Resolution 