People asked him as to what prayers and how much prayers are to be performed...

People asked him as to what prayers and how much prayers are to be performed, as they did not practice any such prayers during the Prophet’s time. Thus, arose the practice of Tarawih prayers during the month of Ramadan. The lofty matter of prayers was utilized to conceal the real intent of putting down any discussion about the Caliph.

Till this day, there is raging controversy among the Sunnis as to the number of Raka’s to be recited in Tarawih and whether the Tarawih is not in fact the Tahajjud (Midnight) Prayers. The Caliph was fully aware of the fact that the foundation of his Caliphate was raised on wobbly and suspect grounds and that a popular revolt was likely to erupt any moment, seeking to restore the Caliphate to Imam Ali (a.s.).

Therefore, the need for wars and expeditions had, perforce, to be invented and declared, so that men might be sent away to far-off places on expeditions and wars. Thus, public criticism about the competency and legitimacy of the person occupying the seat of the Caliph was avoided and the possibility of immediate revolt averted.

Gilman wrote:“ Despots have always found it necessary to employ their subjects in foreign wars from time to time, in order to keep them away from feeling the galling chains by which they are bound, or to hear their clanking; and it came to pass that when the Caliph had all the tribes of Arabia under control, he saw no better way to retrain them from new revolts than by tempting them to make inroads upon their neighbors.

Nothing could have been better planned by a ruler acquainted with the volatile nature of his subjects .”[^7] On similar lines is the opinion of the great scientist, philosopher Aristotle, whom the Prophet (S) identified as one among the Apostles of God.[^8] The sending of foreign expeditions by the first two Caliphs was never a religious movement, but the political expediency that the situation demanded to safeguard their precarious perch on the Caliphate .

What was then sought to be disseminated by the sword was the political sovereignty of the Arabs and not Islam the religion. Coupled with this, was the greed to subjugate the rich resources of opulent neighboring countries. The principal reason for the wars was to divert the attention of Muslims from the inefficiency of the persons heading the State, by taking advantage of the Arab’s greed for loot. The historian K.