Also remember that Islam and Christianity have been shown to be a very mallable tool for political power. The upper echelons were those who controlled the religion, state, and military.
In all islamic and Christian countries, the state religion was essentially a branch of the government.
I know this was the case for Christianity, but was it for Islam? AFAIK in Muslim lands religion was more of a grassroots thing since there wasn’t a capital C Church like in Europe. Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but if I’ve got my history right Islam served as a justification for a caliph’s claim to power but wasn’t really bent by individual rulers, as the most influential scholars (and the, again, mostly grassroots scholarly community at large) were their own people and not beholden to the state more than an average citizen.
Also remember that Islam and Christianity have been shown to be a very mallable tool for political power. The upper echelons were those who controlled the religion, state, and military.
In all islamic and Christian countries, the state religion was essentially a branch of the government.
I know this was the case for Christianity, but was it for Islam? AFAIK in Muslim lands religion was more of a grassroots thing since there wasn’t a capital C Church like in Europe. Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but if I’ve got my history right Islam served as a justification for a caliph’s claim to power but wasn’t really bent by individual rulers, as the most influential scholars (and the, again, mostly grassroots scholarly community at large) were their own people and not beholden to the state more than an average citizen.