The fourth and last of the Rashidun caliphs, Ali's reign was engulfed by a civil war, the First Fitna, between him and the supporters of Mu'awiya, governor of Syria and a member of the Banu Umayya clan. The biggest battle of the war, fought at Siffin, ended in a stalemate thanks to a call for religious arbitration, robbing Ali of what could've been a decisive victory for his cause.
The next few years were marked dissensions within the Alid camp, with the rise of the Kharijites, and enemy raids that went deep into Iraq and Yemen. Ali was in the midst of preparing a new campaign against Syria when he was murdered by a Kharijite in January 661 AD, and Mu'awiya became the new caliph in the following months, establishing the Umayyad Caliphate.
Assuming Ali avoids his untimely death, could he defeat Mu'awiya for good, or was the window of opportunity for him to do so closed by then? If he wins, what would this Alid Caliphate look like? My first guess is that its capital would be located somewhere in Iraq (perhaps Kufa, which would take Baghdad's place as the center of the Islamic world ITTL?), since Syria was an Umayyad stronghold. Would Muslim doctrine and philosophy be affected by this, and could the Alids eventually embark on the discriminatory policies the Umayyads enacted during their rule?
The next few years were marked dissensions within the Alid camp, with the rise of the Kharijites, and enemy raids that went deep into Iraq and Yemen. Ali was in the midst of preparing a new campaign against Syria when he was murdered by a Kharijite in January 661 AD, and Mu'awiya became the new caliph in the following months, establishing the Umayyad Caliphate.
Assuming Ali avoids his untimely death, could he defeat Mu'awiya for good, or was the window of opportunity for him to do so closed by then? If he wins, what would this Alid Caliphate look like? My first guess is that its capital would be located somewhere in Iraq (perhaps Kufa, which would take Baghdad's place as the center of the Islamic world ITTL?), since Syria was an Umayyad stronghold. Would Muslim doctrine and philosophy be affected by this, and could the Alids eventually embark on the discriminatory policies the Umayyads enacted during their rule?