AzerDream1

Yesterday, Azerbaijan launched its first satellite in space. I enjoyed watching it online as I think that there is something magical about satellite launches -- taking off with an enormous speed and destroying everything on its way just to reach its dream, to reach the stars!
Although this is Azerbaijan's first satellite in space, it is not Azerbaijan's first encounter with space. Karim Karimov, a Soviet Azerbaijani scientist was one of the men behind the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. Karim Karimov was the chairman of Soviet Aeronautics Committee who name was kept secret for a number of years due to his work with nuclear missiles.
After his retirement in 1990, he wrote a book - The Way To Space: The Notes of the Chairman of the State Committee. The book describes his work with famous Russian scientist Korolyov, their competition with the United States, the failures with the spaceships and the loss of astronauts.

Karimov was one of the many scientists who worked to make Gagarin possible. I like the fact that he was Azerbaijani, it makes me feel proud and it gives me faith that one day, there will be new Azerbaijani scientists who will send an Azerbaijani astronaut into space in a spaceship called AzerDream1.  

Adding faith to faith

How did the Muslim rulers see themselves after Prophet Muhammad? I was trying to find this out last week and came across something I was not expecting. They considered themselves as deputy's of God on Earth -- no more nor less. 

In their mind, God continued to keep the Muslim community under his protection by having his deputies implement his laws on earth.

This approach however changes as we see the scholars stepping into the scene and depriving the Caliphs of their spiritual role by nominating themselves as the spiritual leaders.

What does all this tell us about the positioning of the early rulers vis-à-vis Prophet Muhammad?

From the sources that we have, it is clear that the early Caliphs were positioning themselves on the same level and possibly higher than Prophet Muhammad and considered themselves to be as important for the Muslim community as Prophet Muhammad, whose task was to bring the message of God to the Muslims and empower them to continue the implementation of the divine law on earth.