The Democratic Caliphate.

Al-random al-Balayizi was a simple man who came from humble beginnings in the city of al-Quds. Ever since he was a teenager, he was actively involved in his community and often sat with community leaders, discussing several issues and whatnot. Eventually, he realized that being involved in the political sphere was what he wanted to do, and with a bit of help from his community, he was able to make a trip to Makkah.

Being a smart and educated man, he intrigued the council members with his ideas, and the council elected him as Caliph. As Caliph, he wanted to fund current research projects, keep government deficit at a decent level and further protect the frontiers of the country.

Before I continue.

For some reason, I am not able to upload my images onto imgur. For some reason, when I press upload images from computer, select the images and press ok, nothing ends up happening. Can anyone tell me what is happening, or suggest a different image uploader for me to use? Thanks.

You can just upload the image on to CivFanatics and use the link to that for your image links.

Sanguivorant said:

Al-random al-Balayizi was a simple man who came from humble beginnings in the city of al-Quds. Ever since he was a teenager, he was actively involved in his community and often sat with community leaders, discussing several issues and whatnot. Eventually, he realized that being involved in the political sphere was what he wanted to do, and with a bit of help from his community, he was able to make a trip to Makkah.

Being a smart and educated man, he intrigued the council members with his ideas, and the council elected him as Caliph. As Caliph, he wanted to fund current research projects, keep government deficit at a decent level and further protect the frontiers of the country.

Before I continue.

For some reason, I am not able to upload my images onto imgur. For some reason, when I press upload images from computer, select the images and press ok, nothing ends up happening. Can anyone tell me what is happening, or suggest a different image uploader for me to use? Thanks.

Click to expand...

That happened to me a couple of days ago, all i did was postpone the update by a day or two, and eventually imgur sorted itself out

Okay, this would be a great time to introduce my idea of changing the system.

Currently, what we do is have a few members elect a leader and that leader then carries out what they wish to do, without any body's consent. In a way it is democratic, but it was not how it was done in the Rashidun Caliphate.

Basically, how the early Muslims governed was by consensus decision making. The Caliph would sit down with chosen leaders, ministers and governors, and they would all have to agree on a plan. There was no voting involved. Discussion was made until everyone was satisfied with the policy.

I want a democratic system like that to guide this story, so that it better resembles how leaders like Abu Bakr and Umar ruled, and to make it a bit more unique. It would be like a realpolitik, but there are no political parties; each council member have interests and must negotiate with other members to reach a favorable conclusion for all. This is what Shura is and it is the closest Islamic concept to democracy.

How I would set this up for convenience is make myself the Caliph. I would basically be a figurehead and carry out the policies that council members agree upon.

The Council members should have different titles, so one might be a minister of economy, another might be a minister of military, or a governor of a certain province.

That is all I propose for now. When I am able to finish this update, we will discuss how this plays out, if we want it like this of course.

So this would be one of those Realpolitik things?

Almost. The exception is that people won't form political parties or vote. Everyone belongs to the same political power, but hold different titles and therefore have different interests. Instead of voting, council members must negotiate, give and take to form a policy that every council member consents to. There is a slight variation, but it is ultimately the same thing.

Balayizi started the term under favourable conditions. The Ummah had just finished their war with the Ethiopians and the economy was okay, though increasing the research budget caused the country to go into a deficit that the Caliph did not favour. He would resolve this eventually:


Balayizi felt that the situation in Misr (Egypt) was safe enough and that Iraq needed more fortification. So the Horde of the Rashideen and another cavalry regiment was relocated to Babil:


After decades of peaceful cooperation in Zanzibar, many of the locals turned to Islam, and the Ummah welcomed its new brothers:


Meanwhile, the militarization of Mesopotamia continued. Armies are being trained in Ninawa and Babil at this very moment, in preparation for what Balayzi assumes will be an inevitable attack on the Ummah:


A Chinese embassy arrived in Makkah, demanding knowledge of one of the various economic systems that the Ummah knows of. Balayzi knew that Chinese goods and technology will be important in the future, so he shared some economic systems free of charge:


After a two-year long tour around the whole Ummah (With the exception of Zanzibar since the Ethiopians are blocking the colony from our reach), Balayzi returned to Makkah and re-assessed the taxes and where they are going towards. He brought in many economic reforms that decreased the nation's deficit:


The Dome of the Rock was finally constructed in his time, and the more efficient tax revenue, combined with the revenue from Christian and Jewish pilgrims to al-Quds got the Ummah out of deficit spending while still maintaining the desired research budget:



To be continued...

Flash floods occurred east of the Black Sea, destroying the roads that were plotted there. Because they had no use, Balayzi decided to not spend money on repairing the roads:


Balayzi's economic reforms encouraged trade, and the silk road expanded as west as al-Quds, his homeland:


Meanwhile, tensions in Zanzibar increased. The rebels that tried to sack Zanzibar have developed their own city of Quelimane, and seek to use it as a staging position to kick the Muslims out of their lands. The governor of Zanzibar dispatched a military to secure the borders, but is unsure of what he should do about the new problem:


A party of traders came to Anqarah from the lands West of Constantinople and East of the Franks. Balayzi, having read plenty of classical literature, recognized these people as the Alemanni, a group of peoples who have taken Rome from the Romans (In Arabic, we literally call Germans the Alemaniyyin):


They are a Christian peoples, so Balayzi exchanged some biblical literature to them for knowledge of their lands:





It appeared to have happened all of the sudden, but the Byzantine empire is no more. There are some obvious factors to its collapse, which include the conversion from Christianity to Buddhism as its state religion, the extensive loss of land from fighting against us and several other causes.

Persian Revolt of 1006:
This might have been the largest factor in the Byzantine empire's collapse. The Byzantine had no way to access Persia, but still grasped onto it. Much dissent came from the local Persian peoples, and they staged an uprising against the city guards and army.

It was a big success, but the problem is that the Persians immediately began to fight each other afterwards, under various Shahs who claim Persia as their Kingdom. It is very dangerous in Persia now, and not much is known of what happened after the Byzantine were kicked out:


Here is the last glimpse of Byzantium. The grand capital of Constantinopolis no longer has control outside its city borders. Each city was abandoned, and the local people decided to take power. Athens became another Persia, with various Kings contesting for the crown. As-salam alaikum, Byzantium:

Okay, now it is time to switch gears a bit. So as I have discussed, we could either choose to continue the democratic system we have right now, or change it to become a sort of realpolitik. So what will it be?

Keep the system as it is.
-I make up leaders with various policies, and people elect them. Leader with highest votes wins.


Consensus decision making, please.
-If this is chosen, I will make a group on Civfanatics for those who want to be involved, and I will explain how it will work.
-If you've read the Realpolitik's, it is very similar to that with some exceptions.

Consensus decision making, please. Though be warned, this would be the first time I would be participating in a realpolitik-like system.

Consensus decision making, please

Now you got me

Consensus decision making, (pretty) please. (with sugar on top)

Because of the overwhelmingly high support for consensus, this is what we will do and how our stories will develop from now on.

I am currently away from home, so if you would like to participate, send me a PM. When I complete the structure and make the group, I will then invite you.

In the meantime, I will read up on Shura and think of how we can apply it.

For those who don't want to participate but are interested in seeing the council make decisions in the future, here is the group:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/group.php?groupid=1068

I want to let everyone know that there are still 3 positions remaining. If you like the story, you should definitely consider joining the Shura so that you can be more engaged in its creation. Send me a PM if you are interested.

I have assembled the council of 1006. It is time for the Houses to decide on the direction that the Ummah should take.

Alhamdulillah, the council was a success. Every province has agreed on these policies:

Council of 1006 AD said:

Domestic Policies:
Sana'a: Whip granary, work tile 2N
Makkah: At least one engineer specialist
Anqarah: Pikemen->Worker->Trebuchet
-Improve river tiles to farm, have cottages in other spots.

Al Quds:
Works only coasts and cottages and the mine.
Build Pikeman->Galley->Market
Pikeman used by Caliph
Build mine on Cyprus.

As-Sur:
Works best available land tiles and scientists.
Build Forge->Market
Whip Forge for 3 pop.

-Build road between Al-Quds and As-Sur.
-Protect fish tile at all times.

Zanzibar:
Build harbour
Build farm 1SE, then cottage 1N. Workers work together.
Explore lake with trireme
Axemen defend workers.

Al-Uqsur:
Work cottages.
-Make cottage 1 SW of Al-Uqsur->Cottage 2S of Al-Uqsur
-Work quarry tiles and tile 1S.
Camel archer->Trebuchets until ordered not to.
-Camel archer that is built here guards the worker.
-Trebuchets gifted to Caliph

Abu Simbel:
Works at least two flood plains.
build courthouse->theater->Islamic Monastery
-Improve tile 2S, 1E after al-Uqsur improvements into cottage.

Ninawa:
Build Stable->Camel archer

Babil:
Build Islamic monastery->Camel archers

Al-Iskandariya:
Build crossbowman->Forge

Tell-Hisn:
Camel Archer->Crossbowman->Madrassah

Click to expand...

Actions the Caliph will take will primarily be based upon what is in this policy for the next 20 terms. The story will come soon.