CW CLASSWORK #1

FINALS PERIOD
APRIL 20, 2022

NAME: JULKIFLI I. JULHANI

NOTE: USE A FEW MINUTES OF THIS CLASS PERIOD TO REVIEW FOR A WHILE PROF.
GUPTA’S VIDEO CLIP AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW. SUBMIT YOUR OUTPUT
IN PDF FORMAT NOT LATER THAN OUR CLASS PERIOD TODAY.

QUESTION:

PROF. GUPTA MENTIONED ABOUT FEATURES OF A PRE-MODERN STATE BOTH IN THE

EUROPEAN AND NON-EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES.. BASED ON THE RESEARCH YOU
MADE ON YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT, IDENTIFY WHICH AMONG THESE FEATURES
WERE OBSERVABLE IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF YOUR CHOSEN COUNTRY. WHAT
FACTORS OR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS CONTRIBUTED TO THAT COUNTRY’S EVOLUTION
INTO A MODERN STATE? DISCUSS YOUR ANSWERS THOROUGHLY.

The Muslim Rashidun Caliphate is my chosen country. Based on my research, it is a

political-religious state comprising of Muslim community and the lands and peoples under its
dominion in the centuries following the death (632 ce) of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Medina
was the capital of the empire and the seat of the caliph, whereas the Mosque of the Prophet
was set up as the house of the Parliament where the council and the caliph would discuss the
matters of the state. This suggests that Bureaucracy was present in the state. Although the
power to make decisions is entrusted to the caliph. The senate and the public opinion was
highly welcomed and they would decide the most beneficial actions for the Ummah or the
population. Therefore the state is not as centralized unlike how monarchs rule. Wherein the
leader has ultimate power to make decisions without the need of public approval or input. One
feature of the state that corresponds to the features of non-european states is that they are
predominantly ruled by, or guided by, or influenced by a notion of divine authority. In this case it
is by the words of Allah SWT through the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW. It was
also then that the government did not have a monarch form but rather it had a sort of
meritocracy. The caliphs were not chosen because of their birth or lineage but rather in their
capacity to lead. It did also had a modern state feature which includes Taxation through what
they call Zakah, Citizenship through the Ummah, Consensual Operation as Muslims were not
forced to participate in Jihad but rather voluntarily during the Rashidun Caliphate and the state
also has a form of constitution that is based on Sharia Law. The Caliphate grew its power
through the vast Arabian peninsula and was required to have a public bureaucracy. The caliph
itself appoints officers and governors. It was this time that the whole Arab soon became united
and formed its sovereignty that was recognized by the world during that period.