“Muslims had a golden age, ruled the world and created a great civilization when
they lived under an Islamic caliphate that ruled by Islamic law. In modern times
imperialism succeeded in overthrowing the caliphate and polluting the minds of
Muslims with Western ideas when they fell on hard times and were weak and backward.
The only way to bring about a Muslim renaissance is to restore the Islamic
caliphate.”

I’ve often heard this line from preachers in mosques and from members of Islamist
groups, and no doubt many people in Egypt and the Arab world believe the argument,
which makes it necessary to discuss it. The fact is that Islam really did create a
great civilization for the world and for centuries Muslims excelled in every field
of human endeavour - art, philosophy, even chemistry, algebra and geometry. I
remember when I was studying Spanish literature in Madrid and the teacher was
teaching us Andalusian history, and at the start of his lecture he realized there
were three Arab students in the class. He smiled and said: “You should be proud of
the civilization your ancestors achieved in Andalusia.” The first part of the
argument, the part about the greatness of Islamic civilization is quite correct. The
problem lies in the second part. Did the successive Islamic dynasties apply the
principles of Islam, either in the way they came to power, the way that power
changed hands or the way they treated their subjects? A reading of Islamic history
suggests a different answer. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic
world experienced good governance for only 31 years, the sum of the lengths of the
reigns of the four “rightly guided” caliphs - Abu Bakr, Omar ibn al-Khattab, Othman
bin Affan and Ali bin Abi Talib - plus the reign of the Umayyad caliph Omar bin
Abdel Aziz, who ruled for only two years in the early 8th century. Out of 14
centuries, there are just 31 years when there was sound and equitable government in
line with the real principles of Islam. For the rest of Islamic history government
was not at all in accordance with religious principles. Even during the best 31
years there were shortcomings on the part of Caliph Othman, who did not treat
Muslims equally but favoured his relatives with jobs and grants. In the end people
rebelled against him and killed him. Not only that but they attacked his funeral,
got hold of his body and manhandled it, crushing one of his ribs. Then there was the
great civil war which divided Muslims into three camps - Sunnis, Shiis and
Kharijites - and which ended in the murder of Ali bin Abi Talib, a great and learned
Muslim who was close to the prophet, at the hands of Abdel Rahman bin Muljam the
Kharijite. Muawiya bin Sufyan then set up a despotic and bloody system of government
and forced people to pledge allegiance to his son Yazid as his heir, abolishing
forever the right of Muslims to choose their rulers, and changing the caliphate from
an office to ensure justice into a predatory kingship. Anyone who reads the history
of the Umayyad dynasty will be surprised to learn that the Umayyads had no scruples
about committing the most heinous crimes in order to stay in power. At the battle of
Harra the Umayyads attacked the city of Madina and killed many of the inhabitants to
subdue them. Caliph Abdel Malek bin Marwan sent an army under Hajjaj bin Youssef to
subjugate Abdallah bin al-Zubair, who had rebelled against Umayyad rule and taken a
stand in the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Hajjaj surrounded Mecca with his army and
damaged the Kaaba by shooting boulders at it with catapults. He then stormed the
mosque and killed Abdallah bin al-Zubair inside it. Everything was legitimate in
order to stay in power, even attacking the Kaaba, the most sacred place in Islam. If
we then move on to the Abbasid dynasty, we come across further massacres by which
the Abbasids seized and retained power. The Abbasids tracked down and killed all the
Umayyads without charge or trial. They dug up the graves of the Umayyad caliphs and
desecrated their bodies out of vengeance. The second Abbasid caliph, Abu Jaafar
al-Mansour, killed his uncle Abdallah in case he might challenge his authority. He
then turned against Abu Muslim al-Khorasani, the architect of the Abbasid
revolution, and killed him. The first Abbasid caliph was Aboul Abbas al-Saffah, who
acquired the nickname Saffah (butcher) because of the number of people he killed. In
one famous story he gathered together the remaining Umayyad princes and ordered them
executed in front of his eyes. He then had their bodies covered with a carpet,
called for food and proceeded to eat and drink while the princes were still in their
death throes beneath. Then he said: “By God, I’ve never had such a delicious meal.”
With the exception of a few kings who were famous for their piety, most of the
Umayyad and Abbasid kings drank alcohol ope