Implicating the Umayyads-Abbasid phenomenological transformation in addressing the contemporary woes of the Muslim ummah

Abstract

This study explores the instrumentality of the Qur`anic philosophy of history, al` itbar, in thinking how the quandary trailing the Muslim ummah may be addressed. In this sense, history is conceived as a tool through which one can seek the understanding of the present through the past, in order to create a better future. This theoretical foundation was then used in hypothesizing that, in studying the fall of the Umayyads and the rise of the Abbasids, insight might be gained into how the prevailing ummah `s problems can be possibly addressed. This was done with a taken for granted supposition that there are similarities yet differences in the nature of the problems which led to the crumbling of the Umayyads and those which have now rendered Muslims befuddled. Suggesting a way out of these predicaments thus necessitated deciphering the lessons of history out of the early Abbasid caliph`s response to the Umayyad`s challenges. Thus, achieving this objective obliged the use of explorative, contracting, analytical and synthetic methodology in digesting existing sources and the nature of the problems to be addressed. With the veracity of the study`s hypothetical foundation established, ameliorative way forward which is based on the concept of changing the hands that rules Muslim ummah is therefore suggested.