ISLAM, HEGEMONY AND EXPANSION comments

How has the Islamic religion managed to become so widespread in many parts of the world, including Asia, North Africa, and many other regions? Why was the Islamic empire so successful in its initial expansion, and what led to the expansion and cohesion that allowed this religion to withstand the tests of time? These questions will be thoroughly analyzed to reveal that it was Islam’s initial hegemonic nature that allowed for its expansion and cohesion and that without this hegemony that existed Islam would have never made it to the prominent religion it is today.

Through analyzing hegemony theory, providing a brief history on the beginning of Islam and looking at concrete examples from the time of the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, this paper will argue that Islam empire was indeed a hegemony, and one that brought forth much change to the world.

Firstly, one must examine the notion of hegemony. What is hegemony, and how does it become such an integral part of society, or religion in this case? Typically, hegemony is “leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation” – a vague definition, one could argue. To Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci, however, hegemony was a far more thought-out concept, one that included politics, economics, power, and most importantly culture, as it is the acceptance of a people’s culture that makes or breaks hegemony.

The cultural hegemony that Gramsci discusses is, simply put: “By hegemony, Gramsci meant the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations. Hegemony in this sense might be defined as an ‘organizing principle’ that is difused by the process of socialization into every area of daily life. To the extent that this prevailing consciousness is internalized by the population it becomes part of what is generally called ‘common sense’ so that the philosophy, culture and morality of the ruling elite come to appear as the natural order of things.”

Gramsci writes ever so eloquently on this detailed analysis of what hegemony is, not simply confining it to mere political or economic aspects, as other philosophers have done. Now that we’ve established what hegemony is, one must examine Islam exercise hegemony, and what preconditions allowed for such an Islamic hegemonic nature to exist. To answer these questions, one must look back to the very beginnings of Islam, to the coming of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Prior to the call of the Prophet (PBUH) to Islam, people lived in a very unequal merchant-dominated society, where the rich eat extravagantly, and the poor were left to pick up their leftover bones. The merchants roamed the deserts making their profit and monopolizing the trade routes, while the poor and the weak were but a shadow in the city corners. A strong, compassionate group feeling of solidarity or ‘asabiyah existed between the many divided clans and tribes that allowed no outsider, no matter how eligible he/she was, to become integrated into their elitist systems. This ‘asabiyah was based on blood ties or family relations, and is a concept that is widely discussed and theorized by Ibn Khaldun, who saw it as an obstacle to creating a more advanced society.

However, it is none but the presence of such a divided and capitalistic society that paved the way for the coming of Islam. Islam preached equality, fairness and equal consideration for others, which seemed but a dream for those peasants and orphans. It also overshadowed this concept of ‘asabiyah that existed among the clans. As the Quran commends “those who show their affection to such as came to them for refuge and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves”. This is further emphasized by the famous hadith in al-Bukhari, which is taken as the Golden Rule of Islam, “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

It is therefore evident that Islam brought forth a new way of life, one that offered the weak, poor and disadvantaged – the majority – in society the equal rights that were long due. As Islam grew and became a greater empire, under the caliphs that succeeded Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), people became more and more infatuated with the spreading of the religion, as they whole-heartedly believed that it was only Islam that was good for the world, and only Islam that would bring everyone into the light and out of ignorance or jahiliyyah. So with this engrained social and cultural belief, many of the followers of Islam sought to expand geographically, to conquer more lands and convert as many people as possible, for in their minds the more believers, the stronger an Islamic empire would be.

One way of examining the practice of this hegemonic society comes from examining the roles of the caliphs and the policies that the Islamic society complied while under them. One of the most notable caliphs, in which we see a tension between personal beliefs and those of the hegemony, was Omar ibn Al-Khattab. Under his reign as caliph we see that the greatest expansion of the Islamic empire happened under him and his vast army, although he himself was very reluctant and hostile towards the spreading of the Islamic empire outside Arabia. To him, the spreading of Islam over a vast geographical area threatened not only the central control he wanted to maintain over the Ummah, but more importantly, it was a question of maintaining the purity of the religion.

How could one guarantee that the integration of different cultures and mindsets would not tamper with the purity of Islam and the very core principles it preached?

Before properly understanding the hegemony that he was merely a part of, we see the commitment Omar had to maintaining the purity of Islam from the very beginnings of his reign, which was made obvious by his decision to demote Khalid bin Al-Walid, one of the greatest Muslim generals that ever lived. It would seem that demoting the strongest military mind in the Islamic world was a foolish action, but after inspection one realizes that Khalid posed a threat to the purity of Islam, in Omar’s view, because of the many controversies that he was involved in. It was said that the immense power that Khalid b. Al-Walid had been entrusted with had gotten to his head and taken its toll on him, which is why the first thing Omar did was to relieve him of his rank and appoint ‘Abu ’Ubaydah instead. “The first letter written by ‘Umar when he took charge was to ‘Abu ‘Ubaydah, putting him in charge of Khalid’s army and [saying]: I admonish you to fear God, Who lasts while what is other than Him perishes, Who has guided us from losing our way and brought us forth from darkness to the light. I have put you in charge of the army of Khalid b. al-Walid. Therefore, take on their work, which is a responsibility for you…. Do not by any means expose the Muslims to destruction. God has tested you through me and has tested me through you. Therefore, shut off your sight from this world and divert your heart from it. Do not at all let it destroy you as it destroyed others before you [perhaps making a reference to his predecessor, Khalid?], whose deaths you have seen.”

But despite these few instances of autonomy which Omar expressed, such as demoting Khalid b. Walid and sending Quran reciters to the armies to keep them informed of their religion, he had to (overwhelmingly) carry out the desires of the people he was ruling and their culture of expansion and according Ibn Khaldun, culture is an aspect that cannot be ignored. Why? Because that’s what the people wanted – he was only part of a greater hegemony that sought to expand its reach and sphere of influence, which didn’t allow for him to rule with his own individual ideas, which is why a dictatorship would have never worked in Islam. This is a clear example of how discourse and reality turn out to be completely different things. It is for these reasons that Omar, although reluctant, was forced to go forth with the vast expansion of the empire.

And so the culture of expansion persisted, one conquest after another, each with feelings of victory that accompanied the scramble for war spoils. Al-Tabari, in many cases, discusses the events of these expansions and highlights the victories of wars for the army: “The Muslims and the Romans met in the environs of Damascus and fought a severe battle. Then God defeated the Romans, so that the Muslims made gains at their expense. The Romans went inside Damascus and shut its gates. The Muslims settled down before it, besieging it, until Damascus was conquered and its inhabitants payed the jizyah [the poll tax imposed on non-Muslims].”

So with such a strong, all-encompassing hegemony, we see the decisions being made not by a sole individual, but by the will of a people, and as Gramsci makes explicit, people always need to be taken into account, for they bring forth the culture and values of that hegemony.

From analyzing the decisions made in the times of Umar and those of other caliphs, it is made obvious that a dictatorship would have never worked in Islam, as it was the role of the people and the overarching hegemony that existed – because of the strong culture and society – that ruled and expanded the Islamic empire to the major extent it reached. Islam is a religion that is inclusive to all people, regardless of their social class, economic view, or socio-political standing. It is for this reason that Islam became the widely influential religion that it was then, is today, and will continue to be so in the future.

[From Aya Elwadia | QW Magazine]