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the Faithful

The forms of Islam present on Ishtar describe themselves as "The Faithful".

The Faithful first appeared around Long Count 870, but spread rapidly beginning around 880, under Hassim Sulamid, conquering much of the land around what they named the "Ocean of Faith". By 890 the conquest subsided, and the Ocean was renamed the "Ocean Haram", and would remain for 50 trisdekads an Islamic lake. In 901.2 they conquered Kentaurus the great portage point between the Mer Centralis and the Ocean Haram. The fateful decision was made to move the capital to Kentaurus, then the largest city in the world. The size and scope of the empire was, by Ishtari standards, enormous - encompassing the Vedic kingoms, parts of the old Hellenic world, islands which were once ruled by Norse Thains, and even parts of what had been the state of ChiShan.

However, at the time of the Great Schism [951.2], the nominally unified Islamic empire fell apart. The Schism began when the government proclaimed a radically new calendar, which many of the faithful regarded as being against scripture. But the new doctrine spread rapidly among the elites - many of which spoke Farsi as their native language - and formed the basis of "Sufi" Islam. The "New Calendar" spread rapidly, and was the basis of civil administration.

The New Way became the dominant faith of the literate and educated, as well as those who converted to Islam to rise in society, while the old way became the dominant mode of much of the original faithful and their descendants. The Great Schism lead to "The Throne Wars", a series of short brutal uprisings, usually centered on a cycle of a Dawa - a call - a Hajj - a march on a particular city or enemy, and then a Jihad, a struggle. Each one lasted between 1 and 4 annae, and some 8 have been identified. By the end of this, the empire was much reduced, as ChiShan took the chance to go on the offensive, and divided into four Caliphates, each of which owned nominal allegience to the Shahenshah. The Shahenshah had, by law, to be a believer in the old way, but by the Caliph of Kentauri openly proclaimed himself a follower of the new way. The Shahenshah then fled the city, though maintaining a nominal claim to it as his capital, and set up his court at the ancient fortress of Al Salem - which had been the capital of old empire, and the sight of the beginning of the traditional pilgrimage called "The Hajj".

But the arrangement was unstable. The Vedic Revolt [[966.5?]] - [[966.10?]] tore sections of the north eastern subcontinent, and two of the caliphates collapsed outright. In 969.0 the Caliphate of Oyyamikir collapsed into disunity of a dozen different states, and the remnants of the Caliphate of the Islands surrendered to ChiShan's admiral [[Hong_Dakou?]]. They would rebel in 971.1 and in 972.4 the reconstitutied Caliphate of the Islands was formed. ChiShan collapsed into another one of its "Flower Wars", or ritualized civl war.

The Caliph of Kentaurus then took advantage of three deaths among the old Imams, and bribed the election of three young replacements who were completely loyal to him. They declared the Shahenshah heretic, pronounced a Fatwa, and allowed the Caliph, now calling himself Wakeem I, to overthrow and execute him. The last stand for the loyalists was al Al-Quareshi in a battle of the two fleets.

For a moment it seemed he would take the title of Shahenshah himself, but, instead, he was even more clever. A new Shahenshah was proclaimed, who renounced all titles to this world, and became the "spiritual" king of The Faithful on Ishtar. Who then installed himself, not at the imposing fortress of Al Salem, but in the city of Kentaurus.

At this point only two of the old Caliphates still stood: Kentaurus, and the Caliphate of the islands, strung across the south of Ocean Haram. There were a dozen small states between them, and three states ruled over by "Sultans" in the Vedic areas, but who were increasingly regarded as suspect. It seemed set for another round of wars, but, instead, Wakeem I settled down to rebuilding trade and commerce, and went to war only once in the rest of his life.

In 989, a reforming movement began sweeping the Faithful, and a renewed agressiveness. Sultan and Caliph alike were required to appoint military Vizier's who had previous been called "Al Ansar" - the helper. The disenfranchisement of the academic and intellectual class set off unrest, particularly after the military debacles in the Vedic Wars, culminating with the defeat at Pradesh, but this was brutally quelled in 994.2 and 994.9 in various cities.