How to Rule in the Islamic World Al Muqaddimah

How to Rule in the Islamic World Okay, so, let’s say that you’re monarch in the Medieval Islamic world. You are the head of state. You could be an Amir, Sultan or Caliph. How do you make sure that you and your children remain in power? This video is sponsored by Magellan TV. Magellan TV is streaming service that hosts over 3,000 documentaries and shows in various genres, from History to Science as well as travel and art. They’re adding new shows all the time which you can enjoy on all sorts of devices. Also, best of all, there are no ads and an increasing percentage of shows is available in 4k, with no additional cost. They were kind enough to offer Al Muqaddimah viewers an extended, free, month-long trial. You can go to try.magellantv.com/almuqaddimah to take advantage of that. Since we’re talking about kings and power, would recommend Alexandria: The Greatest City which talks about the history of this fascinating city which was home to countless rulers and still remains vital to its home country. The second documentary I’d recommend is Ripple of Hope which shows how Bob Kennedy navigated racial tensions and violence after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It shows how good leader can bring nation together even in the darkest times. Again, you can take advantage of month-long free trial by clicking the link in the description. It would also help support the channel. Back to the video. First, let’s talk about how you came to power. Your dynasty might’ve come out of the ashes of former empire that collapsed which means you or your ancestors held some lower titles. Maybe they were generals like we saw happen after the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate in India or maybe they were governors of some region like we saw with the collapse of the Almohad Caliphate in Morocco. It’s also possible that your dynasty actually overthrew the former empire. You could’ve been disgruntled former vassal that managed to accumulate enough power to destroy their former liege like we saw with Ghurids destroying the Ghaznavids in India and Afghanistan. You could also have been reformist religious movement that saw the former rulers as corrupt and sinful like what happened with the Abbasid Revolution. You could also have been member of tribe living on the outskirts of an empire and you just wanted to settle down and enjoy some of that city life like we saw with the Almoravids. In any case, you won out because you had greater Asabiyyah than your rivals. Asabiyyah is the cohesion that keeps group together. It is an important concept and keeps appearing again and again in Islamic political literature. It was first written about by Ibn Khaldun. The old rulers were weak and couldn’t keep their empire together so, you rose up and now, you don’t wanna repeat their mistakes. So, where do you get your power from? mean, what gives you the right to rule? Legitimacy was very important in Medieval Islamic Society. Since, Islam made everyone equal, theoretically, everyone was eligible to be ruler so, why, then, should people follow you? You could answer the question by saying that you're descendant of the Prophet, which, if true, is really good answer. Although, if it’s not true, lying is probably gonna work out just as well. If you’re not claiming the caliphate yourself, you could ask the ruling caliph to legitimize you as his “protector” or Sultan. In any case, be sure to keep some holy men around. Maybe Sufi Khawaja to bless your rule and your decisions or some actual descendants of the Prophet for the same reason. Also, depending on how people feel about it, you can also draw some links to prestigious pre-Islamic empires in the region such as was the case with many Islamic Persian Empires. Another thing, depending on whether or not Genghis Khan has destroyed half the world and mated with the other half yet, you could draw links to him. Maybe marry descendant of his, like Timur the Lame did. Once you’ve established yourself as the monarch, you have to make sure that it remains that way. You draw your power from many channels, which CGP Grey calls Keys to Power. You have to keep all or some of them loyal to you. Some of the most important channels are: The military, which protects and expands the empire. The clergy, which keeps God’s favor on your side. The bureaucracy, which keeps the empire running smoothly. The vassals, who rule on your behalf. The intellectuals, who provide new technology and research. Finally, the public, without whom, there will be no one to rule. There’s other channels too but these are the most important ones. They might vary from empire to empire but generally speaking, this is it. As the ruler, your duty is to balance your reliance on these channels. If you rely on one too much, you might become their puppet if not worse. Luckily, these channels have their own Asabiyyah which can give you an idea of how dangerous or useful they might be to you. For example, the intellectuals are always disagreeing with each other and have principles and morals and other fictional stuff, so they’d never come together against you. The clergy is bit more dangerous because they might unite behind charismatic leader who claims you’re dooming their souls. Soul dooming usually gets people’s attention really quickly. The greatest intrafaction Asabiyyah exists in the military, though. These are men who literally rely on each other to keep them alive. The Arabs say that brothers in the covenant of blood are closer than brothers at common breast. Friendships forged in the heat of the barracks are stronger than relations forged in mother’s womb. Hence, if the military comes for you, I’m sorry to tell you this, but the only thing you can do is bend over. This happened again and again and again and again and again in the Islamic world. From Cordoba, Cairo, and Baghdad to Damascus, Constantinople, Isfahan and Delhi. In some places, the military took over directly and ruled as Mamluk Sultanates while in others, they controlled the monarch, such as in the Abbasid Caliphate. It’s not just limited to Muslims. The Maratha Emperors or Chatrapati became puppets of the Peshwas who in turn became puppets of the Gardis. Once you’re puppet of the military, there’s no coming back. Although, you could’ve prevented this. While the military is strong faction, it can be split up into smaller factions. You can divide the military by recruiting soldiers from varied sources. You can have some mercenaries, some slave soldiers, some peasant soldiers provided by vassals, some retinue directly paid by you, some tribal forces and some localized religious Militias. It’s up to you to use them against each other. Another thing you can try is just keeping the military happy and loyal. Like everyone else, they like money so make sure you have enough. One common thing that Muslim rulers did was raiding. Harun al-Rashid used to take his military up to Byzantine Territory to loot them and enrich his soldiers. The Seljuqs started raiding Anatolia as well because their military was beginning to harass their own citizens. Although, in my opinion, the man who knew best how to keep the military loyal was Timur the Lame. There’s story that he was once besieging city and was challenged to one-on-one combat by the ruler of that city. Timur, despite being lame and even missing some fingers, went to the city’s gate to accept the challenge. He would certainly have died if the other guy had shown up or if city guard had just shot an arrow. He risked his life to show his men that they weren’t fighting for him, they were fighting with him. Also, he regularly raided and he never fought defensive war because there’s no loot in protecting your own cities. When attacked, he went on the offensive and pillaged the enemy’s cities. As result of all this, Timur could put his army through anything and they would not hesitate. The military is made up of men who are physically active and usually have disdain for lazy commanders so, if you want their respect, lead them personally from the barracks and not from the palace. Even when the Abbasid Caliphs had become puppets of their military, the military still respected prince named al-Muwaffaq simply because he led them personally. Okay, while trying to come to and retain power, don’t forget to actually rule your empire. Again and again in Islamic Political Literature, we find this or similar quote. Royal authority comes from the army. Army comes from money. Money comes from trade & production. Both of those come from stability. Stability comes from Justice. Justice from Improvement of officials. Improvement of officials through forthrightness of Wazirs and the whole thing has to be actively supervised by the caliph. This is my own paraphrasing of various quotes from various people at various times. From Khosrow Anushirwan to Ibn Khaldun. This quote puts justice in the middle which shows how important the ruler’s duty as law enforcer was. Muslim ruler, theoretically, had two duties above all, provide justice and keep pilgrimage passages safe. Adapt the Iqta to your realm. Iqta has been used throughout the Islamic world. Basically, you grant land to someone making them an Iqta-holder or Muqti. In return, you expect money or men from them. The land grant is not permanent and can not be inherited. Other than produce, the men working the land have no obligations towards the Muqti. This system has been used with modifications everywhere in the Islamic world from the Buyids in Iraq to the Mughals in India. Although, since the Muqtis don’t have personal stake in the land, they won’t develop it for long-term gains and would just try to get what they can short-term. Although, be careful with the Muqtis. Keep an eye on them and don’t let them build too much power in one place. If that happens, they can challenge you and even carve out an independent state. On the other hand, if you change the Muqtis too much, they might start getting tired of being moved around all the time and revolt. That’s the mistake Muhammad ibn Tughlaq made. good example of contrast here would be the one between Akbar, the 3rd Mughal Emperor with his great grandson, Aurangzeb. They were both great conquerors but Akbar, along with conquering, knew how to rule. Akbar personally knew everything about his Muqtis (or Zamindars, as they were called in Mughal India). He moved them around but not too much and not to place too different from what they previously controlled. If he moved someone to totally different geographical region, they might have difficulty managing that land and it would lead to decreased revenue. On the other hand, Aurangzeb was always too busy conquering and never stopped to manage the land. Under him, his Zamindars got too powerful and eventually led to the downfall of the empire. Although, do take lesson from Aurangzeb and oppress the political minorities little bit. If you get too cozy with them, the political majority might feel betrayed. You might be called bigot in history books but who cares what happens after you’re dead, right? good example of someone oppressing the minorities for political gain would be al-Mutawakkil who oppressed the Christians and the Jews to gain support of the Muslims against his military establishment. Although, if the political minority is the demographic majority, as was the case in India where the Hindus were the majority and the ruling Muslims were small minority, you definitely have to cozy up to them. If they’re different religion, try to adjust your religion to accommodate their beliefs as well. Finding common ground would go long ways in making them accept you. Finally, now that you have an empire that you’re ruling very nicely and money is flowing into the capital, you have to think about succession. Mostly, you’d wanna leave your throne to your own son. The problem is that you might have too many sons, compared to those European barbarians who always run out of sons. mean, has anyone recommended polygamy to them? That might solve the problem. Before you have son or sons, you need wife or… do you? Only take wife if you’re trying to build an alliance with someone or trying to legitimize yourself or guess, if you fall in love with someone, you can also marry them. If you take wife, she might start thinking that she’s the ruler and that leads to uncomfortable pillow talk. Still, if you marry for alliances, you can marry four women but if they’re all from influential families, that leads to separate set of problems which is why almost no rulers did that. Instead, might recommend concubines? They’re slave women taken from the frontiers during warfare and raids. Not only do you have ethnic variation, you also get no existing political ties in your realm. They’re pretty much just baby making machines and their sons have the same status as you so, they can inherit as well. This became the norm in almost all Islamic Empires, where early rulers took wives but slowly transitioned to only taking concubines. Since later rulers usually had standing, mercenary or slave army, they didn’t need to marry someone to form an alliance. Okay, now that you have wives and/or concubines and bunch of sons, you have to train them to become good rulers. You can try what the Ottomans did and give them city to govern on their own. You can also give them command of an army and order them to raid foreign territory. Although, if you train them too much and they get too powerful, they might want to overthrow you like Aurangzeb did with his father, Shah Jahan. Children are the worst, you can’t win with them. Just don’t have children. Although, if you have made the mistake of having children, you have to pick your favorite to succeed now. You can maybe choose an heir and spare. This was the approach by Harun al-Rashid and his father, both of whom chose son to succeed and then another son to succeed that son. This worked out zero times but who knows, you can try it. You can also just pick one and go with that one but statistically speaking, the son who gets to the capital first and manages to collect oaths of allegiance will succeed no matter how much you try. As you’ll be dead when succession happens, there’s no way to guarantee that it goes smoothly. One thing you can guarantee, though, is that your family tree is gonna be kinda truncated because your sons will end up killing each other. If they don’t kill each other at the moment of succession, like the Ottomans did, they might end up killing each other later during war of succession or coup, attempted or successful. That is, if succession to son happens at all. Remember, your generals might still find an opening and jam sword in your son’s throat to seize power for themselves. This happened again and again and again and again and again in the Islamic world. From Cordoba, Cairo, and Baghdad to Damascus, Constantinople, Isfahan and Delhi. Whatever you choose to do, whatever road you choose to take, May Allah be with you and watch over your dynasty. Just be careful of the Europeans and build navy, that’s gonna be really important when the colonizers come. See you next time. Thank you for watching this video. It’s new Video Essay format I’m trying. This video is basically compiled with my knowledge of Islamic history along with the works of Nizam al-Mulk and Ibn Khaldun. Nizam al-Mulk’s Siyasatnama is especially considered very good guideline for rulers so, did rely on that lot. Basically, this is the story of various patterns that appear again and again in the Islamic world. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. 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