Omar, Spahetch. “Political Transformations in the Era of Muʿāwiyyah Ibn Abī Sufyān: A Study of the Nature of Relations between the Political and Scholarly Leaderships,” Year 5, Issue 20 (Spring 1421 AH/ 2000 CE), Pp. 61-107.

Abstract

Spahetch Omar’s article discusses Muʿāwiyyah’s reliance on power and craft in governance, showing the relationships between the political and scholarly leaderships during his reign, and how these relations aggravated at his initiative to give allegiance to his son Yazīd as his successor. He tells us that Muʿāwiyyah was qualified for the position of Caliph, yet he relied on power and craft in governance. Omar notes that the split between the two leaderships led to the ignorance of the political leadership of its need for an intellectual base to serve it, help it cope with changes, and provide it with ideas, policies, and the alternatives.  As a result, the political leadership transformed into an authoritarian one that lacked the practice of consultation (shūrā).