Chapter 703 Great Voyage (22)
Autumn of the ninth year of Republic 480 (699)
White food
West Zhenghe Trading Post
"We will not end well if we offend the Caliphate. Handing over these Shiite rebels is the best option."

One of the managers of the trading post advised the governor of the trading post.

The governor of the trading post took in some Shia believers from Dashi because the other party gave them too much.

This frightened one of the managers who knew Dashi better.

Shiites and Sunnis are incompatible within the empire. The caliphate now in power is a Sunni and has brutally suppressed Shiites.

In the beginning, Shias were Muslims who supported the hereditary power of the Prophet's family, and Sunnis were Muslims who supported the powerful.

This has to start with the origin of Dashi.

After the Prophet Muhammad established the Arab Empire, he died soon before he had time to arrange a successor.

Therefore, the Muslims argued for a long time and finally decided to elect a caliph through elections to lead all Muslims and continue to expand the great cause of Islam.

This is similar to the Wang family in the past. A long time ago, the Wang family often had situations where the monarch/head did not have time to appoint an heir, so the family members would spontaneously elect a head/monarch. For example, Wang Changzhi was elected by the family members. from.

In the process of expansion, the Muslims absorbed a large number of ethnic groups, including the former enemies of the Muslims.

These local nobles who were conquered by Islam were forced to convert to Islam in order to preserve their families. At the same time, in order to legally obtain power, they also put forward the slogan "the capable ones will occupy it". They believed that as long as they were Muslims who believed in Islam, no matter who they were. No matter which family or ethnic group you come from, you can hold a high position.

This is the origin of Sunniism, which advocates that the most capable person takes over and relies on the election of the caliph.

At first, the two successive generations of caliphs after the death of the Prophet, in order to unite these local nobles and let them help their expansion, recognized the idea of ​​"the capable ones occupying the places" and allowed foreigners who believed in Islam to occupy high positions.

This is like the emperor of the Central Plains allowing those Chinese barbarians to occupy high positions.

However, when a feuding family of the Prophet was elected by the new Muslims as the third caliph, the old Muslims couldn't stand it anymore.

They were all old Han people, with the right flag, so naturally they couldn't bear the feud in the past, so they were actually elected as the caliph.

Therefore, they assassinated the third generation caliph, elected the descendants of the prophet to become the new caliph, that is, the fourth generation caliph, and supported the hereditary caliphate of the descendants of the prophet.

This is the origin of Shiaism, which relies on hereditary blood to produce the caliph.

Of course, these are just the beginning.

Now, after decades of development, both Sunni and Shia sects have hereditary caliphs.

The Umayyad family used to be Sunni Muslims who advocated relying on the election of caliphs. However, when they actually became caliphs, they immediately established a hereditary caliphate and established the Umayyad dynasty.

In the face of the temptation of power, thoughts can be easily changed. In the life-and-death struggle, Muslims can follow the prophet, and Sunnis who advocate elections can also practice hereditary feuds.

Old Muslims are very disgusted with the Umayyad family, because the Umayyad family was once the feud of the Prophet Muhammad and massacred many followers of the Prophet.

But the Prophet Muhammad, in order to unite the war, forgave this feuding family and allowed them to convert and become his followers.However, the Prophet could forgive this family of executioners who massacred Muslims, but the old Muslims could not.

The Umayyad family, the executioner family that once massacred Muslims, has now become the rulers of the Islamic world, and has also become the caliph of the Muslims, establishing the Umayyad dynasty/white food. This is simply a big joke.

This kind of thing, in the Central Plains, is like the Huns becoming the emperor of the Han Dynasty, which will naturally arouse resistance from many people.

All in all, the Umayyad dynasty was naturally unorthodox in the Islamic world and was hated by many Shia Muslims.

The current caliph [Melik Caliph] is another hero of the Umayyad family after [Ottoman Caliph].

His policies over the years were actually similar to those of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, which included attacking local nobles, strengthening centralization, expanding territory externally, unifying ideas internally (mainly referring to the elimination of factions other than Sunnis), unifying currency, unifying weights and measures, and revising Straight road, blah blah blah.

Depose hundreds of factions and respect only Sunnis!

The Divine Right of the Caliphate!
Such a hero would naturally not tolerate the existence of Shias and suppressed Shia believers many times.

It can be seen that Islam in this period was not necessarily more backward than Confucianism in the East. It can be said that each has its own merits.

At this time, the Islamic world was in a period of vitality, almost at the same level as the Chinese civilization in the east and the Roman civilization in the west.

"We are here to do business, not to interfere in Dashi's internal affairs, and we don't have the ability to interfere."

"Don't get involved in the cannibalistic power struggle, just make money quietly."

At this stage of the Republic, the principle of foreign trade is to be an honest person and try not to get involved in other people's internal power struggles, so as not to cause disaster.

Under the persuasion of this manager, the governor of the West Zhenghe Trading Post finally tied up all the Shia believers who came to the trading post to take refuge and sent them to the Sunni Caliph Melik.

"You took my money, but you still tied us up. What do you mean?"

A Shiite swore loudly, speaking in Arabic.

Among the members of the trading post present, only the manager just now knew a little bit of Arabic.

The manager's name was Li Zhizao, a language genius who could learn any language very quickly. He was also the only talent in the entire republic, except Zheng He, who knew Arabic.

"Sorry, we are businessmen and do not want to get involved in the power struggle within your country. All of this is just following the will of the Caliph."

When these Shia believers were sent back to the feast, local officials praised Li Zhizao and others: "You have made the right decision. The Caliph has noticed the movements of these Shia rebels long ago and is just waiting." Your choice is to cooperate with the Empire or to be an enemy of the Empire?"

"Now, you have made the right choice. The Caliphate is willing to meet you and discuss more in-depth trade cooperation."

After hearing the words of the diplomat who beat him up, Li Zhizao replied excitedly: "The great caliph, the real sun!"

(End of this chapter)

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