The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 676] PRECEDENT FOR SUCCESSION 303
ever and anon exposed from a contested succession. Others A.H. 56.
then spoke thus:— " W'e consent," the)' said, "to any one
of these three thini^s. l^irst, do as the Prophet did, and
lea\-e the election to the citizens of Medina. Or, secondly,
do as Abu l^ekr did, and nominate a successor from amongst
Koreish.^
Or, thirdly, like 'Omar, appoint electors who shall,
from amongst themselves, choose a candidate to succeed
thee. Only, like them, thou must exclude thine own sons
and thy father's sons." " As for the first course," replied
Mu'awiya, "there is none now left like unto Abu Bekr,
that the people might choose him. And for the rest,
verily I fear the contention and bloodshed that would
follow if the succession be not fixed aforchand." Then
finding his arguments of no effect, he called out the
bodyguard, and at the point of the sword caused the city
to take the oath.
The example of Syria, Al-'Irak, and the Holy Cities was Mu'awiya's
^'^'°" b,^-
followed throughout the Empire without reserve. And ever
comes
1 .,
the
,
after, the precedent more or less prevailed. The fiction of received
an elective right vested in the whole body of the Faithful of
P''f_«^^'^*^"'
-^
' Islam,
though still observed more or less in form, ceased now to
have reality, and the oath of allegiance was without hesitation
enforced by the sword against recusants. The reigning
Caliph thus proclaimed as his successor the fittest of his
sons, the one born of the noblest mother, or otherwise most
favoured, or (in default of issue) the best qualified amongst
his kinsmen. To him., as heir-apparent, an anticipatory oath
of fealty was taken, first at the seat of government and then
throughout the Empire, and the succession followed as a
rule the choice. Sometimes a double nomination was
made, anticipating at once thus two successions : but such
attempt to forestall the distant future too often provoked,
instead of preventing, civil war. The practice thus begun
by the Umeiyads was followed equally by the 'Abbasids,
and proved a precedent even for later times.
Mu'awiya had other sons, but Yezld's mother, Meisun, Yezid and
his mother.
'
That the Caliph must Ije of Korcisli stock was axiomatic, excepting
w iih the Khawarij, who denounced all privilege. The stricter Khawarij
lield tliat there should be no Caliph, but only a Council of .State.
If there were a Caliph, they were indififerent as to what stock he came
from.