GROWTH OF ISLAM --- Episode 4

                ISLAM CEASED SPREADING IN THE 700s 

   The caliph's position as the religious leader of Islam became a purely nominal one. By the end of the ninth century three distinct traditions and groups had emerged within the Moslem religious community, which by and large still prevail. First of all, there was the orthodox position , which had an overwhelming superiority in the size of its following. The orthodox position depended strictly on the Koranic revelation ; the Traditions of the Prophet, which were additional doctrinal pronouncements attributed to Mohammed and a vast complex of religious, moral, and social law derived from the Koran and the semicanonical Traditions. The caliph was supposed to be the defender of orthodoxy, but this task was actually assumed by a group of religious teachers whose attitude and professional status closely resembled that of the Talmudic Jewish rabbis, who, indeed, they may have originally emulated. There was no overriding central authority in the Moslem religious fellowship ; there was no pope in Islam. In each Moslem country the orthodox teachers banded together to proclaim the truths of revelation and religious law, and the extent of their power and influence depended largely on whether they could obtain the support of the state. Until the eleventh century the Arabic princes were frequently much more liberal and secular in their attitudes than were the leaders of the orthodoxy, and hence the latter, while they had great influence, generally lacked the power to persecute those who dissented from their doctrines and precepts. 
   The two other traditions in medieval Islamic religion were the MESSIANIC and the MYSTICAL. The Messianic form of Islamic thought involved the belief in a continuing revelation expressed by new prophets who claimed to be descendants of Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. The supporters of these successor prophets [ Shiites ] were naturally bitterly opposed by the orthodox [Sunnis] who regarded Mohammed as the ultimate prophet. But occasionally, in the Middle East and northern India, messianic leaders succeeded in transforming their theocratic claims into actual political power and thereby provided isolated areas in which supporters of a continual revelation found refuge. 
   The MYSTICAL TRADITION in Islam, as in medieval Judaism, was a reaction against the stultifying confines of orthodoxy. The Moslem mystics [ Sufists ] sought a direct personal relationship with God and an intense religious experience as an escape from the heavy legalism of orthodoxy.