Between Muḥammad's migration to Medina in 622 and his death in
632 he was able to build up a state of considerable power. A measure
of the size of the state is that on an expedition towards Syria at the end
of 630 Muḥammad had 30,000 men behind him. Many, perhaps most,
of the nomadic tribes of Arabia were in alliance with him, the chief
exceptions being those in the Byzantine sphere of influence. The
immediately following period, from 632 to 661, is known as that of
the 'rightly-guided caliphs'. Abū-Bakr (632-4) was mostly occupied
in quelling the revolt of certain tribes against the Medinan political
system. Under ' Umar I (634-44) a phenomenal expansion took
place; Syria and Egypt were wrested from the Byzantine empire and
Iraq from the Persian. For the first half of the reign of ' Uthmān
(644-56) expansion continued into North Africa and Persia; but
about 650 it slowed down, discontent appeared among the troops
(who were identical with the citizen body), and in 656 ' Uthmān was
killed by mutineers. ' Alī, the cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad,
was then acclaimed as caliph in Medina, but Mu'āwiya, governor of
Damascus, among others, refused to recognize him. In the struggle
between ' Alī and Mu'āwiya the latter was slowly gaining the upper
hand when in 661 ' Alī was murdered for a private grievance. Mu'ā-
wiya's caliphate was then generally recognized, and the Umayyad
dynasty thereby established.

This recital of historical events is not irrelevant to our theo-
logical concern. Exponents of the sociology of knowledge would hold
that all theological and philosophical ideas have a political or social
reference; and the standpoint of this survey is in accordance with
such an outlook. The connection between theology and politics is
particularly close and obvious in the Middle East. The Old Testament
is full of it. In the early seventh century the disaffection of the native
Christians of Syria and Egypt to the Byzantine emperor found a focus
in the Monophysite and Nestorian heresies. It is therefore not sur-
prising that in the discussions in chapters 1-3 it will be difficult to

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