blog #9

The tribe has always been an important concept in Arabian and Islamic history, creating divisions among its dwellers and followers. How has this caused problems in the history of Islam? 

When Muhammed died, the truces between different clans broke. Some tribes even rebelled, these rebellions ruined most of Islamic peace. Although the Tribe played a big role in Islamic and Arabian history, it has often also been one of the greatest problems.  An example of this is in the beginning of Muhammed's life. He is born into a  tribe that was very wealthy and privileged. Later in his life, this caused problems because all rich people were against the idea of Islam, and none of them wanted any part of it. Since Muhammed really wanted to be Islam this caused a sort of rivalry in which end with Muhammed getting kicked out of his tribe, and losing all protection. These wealthy clans would be the worst enemies of Islam until the last few years of Muhammed's life. Another example of this rivalry between tribes is in the struggle to find successors, or caliphs, to Muhammed. Every time a caliph died or was killed, there was a whole new argument over who would be the next caliph. What ended up happening was that two groups were formed over this issue, the Sunni and the Shi'a. Even to this day, there are lots of arguments between these two groups in Islam.  So we can see that although the Tribe has always been an important part of the infrastructure of Islam, it has also caused most of the problems throughout the history of the religion.