rashidi

What is a "rashidi calif"? I came across this in French:
Ali, le Premier Imam des chiites et le quatrième calife rashidi des sunnites avait, selon lui, appris le syriaque à Kufa et le pratiquait avec ses visiteurs.

In English it's usually translated the rightly-guided caliphs. The first four, the ones whose names you see hanging at Aya Sofia: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. The Shiites regard the first three as illegitimate.

The Rashidi Calif is trying to bring the Arabic in it. In Arabic we say "Khulafa Rashideen". However, the statement is interesting since it claims that Ali spoke Syriac in Kufa. I would be interested in looking at their referrence list for that statement.

The difference between those four and the rest of Muslim rulers is that those four were religious and political leaders, something they shared with the prophet (pbuh). All the rest of the muslim rulers that came after them, except for one Umar bin Abdul Azizi, were political leaders but not religious leaders. So, in effect it lead to a sort of separation between the politicians and the religious leaders as represented by judges/scholars.

Of course this is the Sunni version of muslim history.

Hussein

Yes, mathilda, who is the lui according to whom Ali learned Syriac?

#2, I don't understand your statement that only the first four caliphs were both religious and political leaders. As far as I know the Ottoman sultans were also caliphs. And the same can be said about Umayyads and Abbasids until the 10th century. Even the present-day king of Morocco claims to be the spiritual leader of this people (commander of the faithful) and a family link to the prophet Mohammed.

who is the lui according to whom Ali learned Syriac?

Mohammed Al-Bandar, an Iraqi writer who spoke at a conference in paris at the beginning of this month

Number 4, yes the Umayyads, Abbasids and Ottomans were all called Caliph, but they were mainly political leaders and were respected as commanders of the faithful or defenders of the faith and faithful. However, that was the extent of their religious significance. They generally left matters of religious scholarship and the judiciary to the scholars and judges and therefore had some sort of separation of those two powers.

There are two main exceptions. One is Umar bin Abdul Aziz the Umayyad and he was a political leader and a scholar at the same time. Some may call him the fifth Rashid Caliph. The other exception is Mamoun the Abbasid who tried to impose his own Mutazila theology on the scholars. He died and left the work to be completed by his brother Mutasem who persecuted the scholars with differing theology until he died.

After those two, the scholars regained their independance in thought until the present time when they fell somewhat under some form of state control or censorship.

I hope that I did not digress too much.

Hussein

Thanks, mathilda.

And thanks also to you, Hussein. Interesting.

Thanks for clarifying, #6