Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Absolutism
The old harmless Usman (Rad.A) imagined that he was a full sovereign and began disposing of the Fay of the Muslims as he liked. He gave the whole of the Khums of Tripoli to Marwan. who was his son-in-law and an evil counselor of his. To Ibn Abi Sarh, he gave one-fifth of the Khums and to Abdullah bin Khalid 50,000 pieces. Such presents were never given by the previous Caliphs. He gave a beautiful camel belonging to the State to a relative of his in an irregular way. Abdur Rahman bin ’Awf, the companion who was solely responsible for Usman’s (Rad.A) election, took forcible possession of the animal, slaughtered it and distributed the meat among the citizens of Medina. Usman (Rad.A) was old and weak, his counselors selfish and unscrupulous; so the Caliphate took a worldly turn. Nor did things improve under Mu’awiya who was himself the recipient of several irregular gifts from Usman (Rad.A). As we have already seen, most of the vast crown lands were given to Mu’awiya by ’Usman (Rad.A). Mu’awiya began enjoying and bestowing them as he pleased. Under him the rules of pension were manipulated to suit the royal interests. Many names disappeared from the register while many new ones were inserted. The stipends of many were discontinued or reduced. Many favourites received enhanced stipends. Thus Mu’awiya became the ruler over the Arabs and the absolute disposer of the Fay’ of the Muslims. Money means power. Full control over the purse of the Muslims gave Mu’awiya absolute power, and the later Umayyads clung to it.2
The Court
It was quite natural that with wealth and absolute power a court should spring up. The great ’Umar I (Rad.A), even if he had
Muhammad Ah, Early Caliphate, P. 104.
Administrative Structure Under the Umayyads 467
wanted to have a court, could not have afforded the luxury out of his

5000 dirhams per year (about Rs.100 per month) with his several wives and numerous children. It was under Usman (Rad.A) that the beginnings of a court appeared. His pompous life and costly surroundings, so vehemently denounced by Abu Zar Ghifari, were the precursors of the Umayyad court. Even in ’Umar’s (Rad.A) days, Mu’awiya, his young viceroy in Syria, could afford to maintain a small court because he was not as scrupulous with public money as his conscientious master. After the attempt on his life, Mu’awiya instituted guard (al-Haras) and even in the mosque, he constructed a small partition known as the hujrah (room) to protect himself from intending assassins. It was this very same Caliph of the Holy Prophet who set up a throne and sat on it like a king. From these beginnings a veritable royal court developed at Damascus under the worldly Umayyads with all the attendant evils. Thus the great successorship of the Holy Prophet of God was, under Umayyads, converted into a grand monarchy with absolute powers and all its accompaniments.

The heroic and saintly Umar II did a good deal to eliminate the riot that had entered the sacred institution. He returned all his wealth and that of his wife to the State treasury, led a simple life and was content with the meal served in the State Kitchen for the poor and the helpless. The coungries, songsters, poets, musicians and others were turned out of the court. He sat on the floor as his greatgrandfather Umar I (Rad.A) had done. As the Shura could not be restored again in the old form, he tried to get round him as many scholars and divines as possible to advise him, and kept himself in touch with great scholars like al-Hasan al Basri. After the death of Umar II the grand court of the Umayyads was revived. The old pomp and gay life of the palace was restored. Poets, musicians,’ songs tresses and others returned. The Umayyad royalty was restored with great pomp and show. The ruler of the Muslim Empire was no more the de-facto Caliph of the Holy Prophet of God, but he became worldly emperor like the Khusro and the Caesars with unlimited power over his subjects.