Political and religious authority separated de facto within the early Muslim empires

Evidence

Within a century of Mohammad’s death, Muslim armies went on to conquer vast areas and to establish a powerful empire. It was in this context that a de facto separation of religious and political power began to take shape. While the heirs to the Prophet, or the caliphs, held religious authority, it was the monarchs, sultans, and emirs who wielded political power. Ayoob and Lussier trace the continuity of this practice over many centuries and note that “the distinction between temporal and religious affairs and the temporal authority’s de facto primacy over the religious establishment continued throughout the reign of the three great Sunni dynasties—the Umayyad, the Abbasid, and the Ottoman.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 318

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the common talking point that Islam has no separation of church and state — here the historical record shows a de facto separation emerged with empire. — connects to: Religious institutions were instruments of imperial political consolidation, not faith — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 117; Early Islamic empire required separating clerical from political authority — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 322; Muslim empires separated religious from political authority from their start. (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Empire-building forced a de facto separation of religious and political power in Islam. #expands (0.92)
• Religious claims overstated the unity of religion and politics in Islam #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 294
• Muslim empires separated religious from political authority from their start. #corroborates (0.85)
• Classical Islam recognized one religious-political power rather than a church-state division #contradicts (0.80) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1474
• Islam has practiced de facto separation of religion and politics since the eighth century #corroborates (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 284
• Traditional Islamic states divided governance between military and bureaucratic elites #expands (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 388
• Early Islamic tradition sharply distinguished kingship from lawful caliphate #complicates (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 527