He was their Imam, the leader of their prayer, and he was
their Emir and Kadi, prince and magistrate. Thus the supreme temporal
and spiritual authority became linked, and Islam was from its beginning
a nation no less than a church.
As long as Mohammed lived, this state of things remained unquestioned,
and difficulties began only at his death. It is a point which has been
much disputed what were the prophet's intentions regarding this event.
In early times the sect of Ali maintained that he had appointed his
son-in-law his heir, and others have held that Abu Bekr had the
nomination; but Sunites are now mostly agreed that no individual
appointment was made, and that the choice of a successor was left to be
decided by election. In any case the procedure followed by Mohammed's
bereaved followers was elective, and its details were in strict
accordance with that Arabian custom on which the Koranic law is mainly
built.
Now, in an Arab tribe, when the Sheykh dies, the elders of the tribe,
heads of its great houses and sections, assemble in one of their
number's tent and, sitting in a circle, discuss the subject of his
succession. Theoretically, the choice of a successor is open to any one
of them, for the tribe, however large, is all one great family,
descended from a common ancestor, and though no one from without could
be admitted to the supreme rule, any one from within the tribe can hold
office.
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