Caliphate and Ecumene: Understanding the Global Future by Examining the Historic Past
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58932/MULF0031Keywords:
Ecumene, economy, sharia, caliphate, empireAbstract
It has been the dream of prophets and philosophers since ancient times that at some culmination of history a new order of human life will envelop the earth. It would establish peace and prosperity for all, a new Golden Age. In fact, it now seems possible that because of technological advance some form of that dream might soon be realized. The elements of authority and compliance essential to its foundation have been brought into existence. The purpose of this paper is neither to endorse nor condemn the various projects to extend a Rule of Law, a unified Economic order, or an Ecumenic atmosphere of thought that would include all peoples and regions of the earth. Yet even though these new structures of global governance are coming to encircle the world, they have also become invisible because of their excessive familiarity. One way to gain perspective on this way of understanding is to provide a context historically, comparatively, and in a legal way. This paper is intended to provide a perspective on what has become an enveloping influence from which it is difficult to find a detached and impartial understanding. It will do so in two ways: First, by looking at moments of incremental development through the historic past. Second, it will view the Western components of global rule by viewing them in comparison with their Islamic counterpart. In what follows, we will examine the two parallel strands of historical development in terms of what was basic to the nature of each. That is, to show how the two realms of Muslim Caliphate and Christian Ecumene operated on almost precisely opposing principles, and how comparing them can give us perspective on the project of global governance today.
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