TUS
Tusis the name of a valley district and a
town near Mashhad in Khurasan in northeast Iran. Already in pre-Islamic times,
several towns existed. In early Islamic times, the main towns were Tabaran,
which changed into the later town of Tus, Nawqan, and Radkan. Nawqan was
integrated in the growing village of Sanabad, later called Mashhad, and since 203
AH/818 CE the burial place of the eighth Shi‘i imam ‘Ali al-Rida. The town of
Tus was finally destroyed in AH/1389. The waters that supplied it were diverted
to Mashhad, which became, in Safavid times (1501–1736), the capital of the
district of Tus and of all Khurasan. However, the name of Tus was mentioned
still in the seventeenth centuries on Persian astrolabes.
In the sources about Tus, it is not always clear
if the authors are speaking about the district or the town. According to the
historian al-Baladhuri, the Sasanian governor of Tus invited the Arab governors
of the Iraqi towns Kufa and Basra to Khurasan; Tus was then conquered by the
latter one. During Arab and Samanid times, Tus was involved in some civil wars
but did not constitute a significant local center. The ‘Abbasid Caliph Harun
ar-Rashid died during one of these uprisings in Sanabad in 193/809, and he was
buried near the tomb of imam ‘Ali al-Rida. His tomb has vanished but was still
mentioned by the traveler Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth century. The main town
in Samanid times was Tabaran. The Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi mentioned in 985
its citadel, main mosque, large market, and subterranean water pipes. According
to him, the Muslim people were following the Shafi’i rite. Tus was also
mentioned by the later geographers like Idrisi (1154), Yaqut (d. 1229) and Ibn
Battuta (fourteenth century), who did visit it.
After 995, the district of Tus became part of
the Ghaznavid empire, but after 1030 the Turk Seljuks penetrated into it. Tus
was conquered in 430/ 1038–1039, and, in 1072, it was given as a fief to the Seljuq
vizier Nizam al-Mulk, who had been born there. During the second half of the
twelfth century, Tus was ruled by a local dynasty, the al-Mu’aiyad family. The
Mongols arrived in Tus by 1220 and raided it one year later, killing most of
the inhabitants. The Mongol governor of Tus, a Buddhist by the name of Ku¨rku
¨z, ordered the rebuilding of the city in 1239.
In 497, the sources mention a Nestorian
bishop of Tus and Abarshahr (Nishapur), but, for Islamic times, there is little
information available about the plight of Christianity in that district. Only
from the Mongol period is there some news about Christians: the future
Jerusalem patriarch Yahballaha visited Tus during his travel to Jerusalem in
1278 and was saved by the monks and the bishop in the cloister Mar Sehyon. One
year later, the bishop of Tus was ordained as the metropolitan of China. In
1381, Timur came to Tus. After revolts, the town was ravaged completely by the
Timurid Miran Shah in 791/ 1389, and it is said that ten thousand people were killed.
Although the town was ordered rebuilt by Shah Rukh in 1405 (and again by Ulugh
Bek in 1407), it never did recover, and it was reduced to a small village. This
decline was mainly connected with the uprising of Mashhad as a main pilgrim
town for the Shi‘is.
The district of Tus was the birthplace of the
Persian poet Firdausi. In the town of Tus itself, Nizam al-Mulk, the polymath
and astronomer Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi, and also the Shi‘i scholar Muhammad bin al-Hasan
at-Tusi (d. 1065 or 1067) were born.
The district of Tus was producing wheat,
stone vessels, mats, and special striped clothes. It was famous for its special
trouser bands, which were regarded as well as the most famous Armenian ones. During
the thirteenth century, the stone vessels are still mentioned, and Idrisi also
mentions mines for turquoise, silver, copper, iron, and rock crystal. Only a
few archaeological monuments of the town of Tabaran/Tus survived. The city
walls made from mud brick enclose an area of approximately one kilometer
across, sporting nine gates and more than a hundred towers. North of the city
lies the citadel, with twelve towers, and a castle with nine towers inside.
Within the city walls is the tomb of Firdausi
(the modern tomb was constructed during the early twentieth century, during the
Pahlavi period), and a monument with a central dome and minor cupolas remained,
the so-called Haruniya Mausoleum. Its architectural and stucco decoration style
recall the Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum in Merv (built 1157).
Further Reading
Minorsky,
V., and C.E. Bosworth. ‘‘Tus.’’ InThe Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 10, Leiden,
1999.
Pope, Arthur
U.A Survey of Persian Art, vol. 2, 1072–4;tome 5, plate 380. 1939.
TUSI, AL-, MUHAMMAD IBN
HASAN
Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Tusi, Shaykh
al-Ta’ifa (d. AH 460/1067 CE), was a Baghdad-based Twelver Shi‘i jurisprudent
and compiler of two well-known collections of the imams’ traditions, Tahdhib alAhkam (The Rectification of
Judgments) and the later al-Istibsar fi ma Ukhtulifa Fihi min al-Akhbar (The
Consideration on Those Traditions Which are Disputed), which, together with
al-Kulayni’s al-Kafi and Ibn Babawayh’sal-Faqih,have come to be called ‘‘the
four books’’ that are the key compilations of the imams’ traditions that were
compiled after the disappearance of the twelfth imam in 260/873–874.
Despite the tolerance of the Buwayhid
regents, during this period Baghdad was experiencing yet another resurgence of
Sunni traditionism and, specifically, anti-Shi‘i feeling and a wave of
Sunni-Shi‘i ‘‘incidents.’’ At the same time, the small Twelver community
itself, one of many contemporary Shi‘i groups, was accepting that the Imam’s
absence (occultation) from the community would be prolonged.
Al-Tusi
himself had studied with key rationalist and traditionist scholars who,
respectively, favored increasingly less and increasingly more reliance on the
imams’ hadith (tradition) to adjudicate issues of doctrine and practice in the
interim (until the imam’s return).
Al-Tusi, through these two hadith collections
as well as other key works of theology and fiqh, charted a middle course between
these two extremes. In the process, he commenced the process of devolving to the
faqih (the jurisprudent), whom he
postulated as trained in both the rationalist and traditionist sciences, and
increasing responsibility for a growing number of the imam’s theological and
practical duties during the occultation. The latter process culminated in the
doctrine of wilayat al-faqih (deputy-ship of the jurisprudent) as enunciated by
the late Ayatallah Khomeini (d. 1989).
Further Reading
Momen,
Moojan.An Introduction to Twelver Shi‘ism, 79–80. New Haven, Conn: Yale
University Press, 1985.
TUSI, AL-, NASIR AL-DIN
(1201–1274 CE)
The continuity of philosophical and
scientific inquiry in medieval Islam coupled with the material resources offered
to it by official patronage owe much to the role and efforts of the Shi‘i
philosopher, scientist, and polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi during the thirteenth
century. He defended Ibn Sina from the criticisms leveled against him from the
direction of theology (most notably by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi), he made a significant
contribution to the acceptance of metaphysical argumentation and terminology in
Twelver Shi‘i theology, he brought the ethical tradition of Ibn Miskawayh and
the philosophers into the center of Islamic ethical discourse, and he had a
lasting effect on the study of the exact sciences in Islam through both his
original contributions to mathematics and astronomy and the observatory at
Maraghah, which the Mongol Khan Hu ¨legu ¨ established for him.
Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi was
born in Tus in Khurasan in northwest Iran in 1201 into a Twelver Shi‘i learned
family. Along with his studies in jurisprudence, he developed an interest in
philosophy and was attached to the Nizamiyya madrasa in Nishapur, studying with
Farid al-Din Damad al-Nisaburi (d. ca. 1221), a thinker whose philosophical
lineage stretched back to Ibn Sina. Damad had been a student of Fakhr al-Din
al-Razi as well, and so al-Tusi became acquainted with the ideas of the famous
Sunni theologian. The Mongol sack of the city in 1221 forced him to move. He
proceeded to Mosul, where he studied mathematics, astronomy, and logic with
Kamal al-Din Musa ibn Yunus alShafi’i (d. 1242). As a result of his studies, in
1233 he wrote Asas al-Iqtibas, a
pioneering work of Avicennan logic in Persian. His intellectual and spiritual curiosity
and growing renown drew him to the attention of the Nizari Isma‘ilis of
Quhistan. He attached himself to the court of ‘Ala’ al-Din Muhammad and wrote
major works of Isma’ili theology and mysticism (e.g. Rawdat al-Taslim, Sayr va
Suluk), a pioneering work of ethics entitled Akhlaq-i Muhtashami (later edited and renamed during his
post-Isma‘ili period), and his influential commentary on Ibn Sina’s al-Isharat wa-l-Tanbihat (Pointers and
Reminders).
For about twenty years, he remained a
faithful follower and contributor to the cause, despite his later allegation
that he was held against his will in the fortress of Alamut. The Mongol defeat
of the Isma’ilis in 1256 brought this to an end. He became a negotiator and advisor
to the Mongol conquerer Hu¨legu ¨ at the sack of Baghdad in 1258 and was later
put in charge of religious endowments. At this point, he reverted back to
Twelver Shi‘ism. The Mongols had a great observatory and library at Maraghah in
Azerbaijan built for al-Tusi, where he led a team of scientists and mathematicians.
It is clear that immense resources were put at his disposal for this project, where
the teaching and study of philosophy went on hand in hand with that of the
exact sciences. The codices that have survived from that period testify to the
intimate complementarity of philosophy and science in the curriculum and
intellectual curiosity of the time. He signaled his change of religious
affiliation by writing a critique of the crypto-Isma‘ili theologian al-Shahrastani
(d. 1153) entitled Musari‘ al-Musari‘ (Wrestling
With the Wrestling)and penned a short but influential metaphysical exposition
of Twelver theology, Tajrid al-I‘tiqad (Sublimation
of Belief). He trained a number of important thinkers, including the
illuminationist philosopher and scientist Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1310) and
the Twelver theologian al-‘Allama al-Hilli (d. 1325). He died in Baghdad in
1274, and, in accordance with his wishes, was buried in the precinct of the
shrine of the seventh Imam Musa al-Kazim in Kazimayn on the southern outskirts
of the city.
He made a wide-ranging contribution to the
pursuit of knowledge. His commentary on Ibn Sina’s al-Isharatwas the basis of
his philosophical reputation, and it was in part a refutation of the hostile commentary
of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. His major ethical work was a manual that developed
from an early draft dedicated to precepts to a major work of philosophical
ethics that was divided into three parts: (1) ethics (akhlaq), (2) domestic economics(tadbir-i manzil), and (3) politics (siyasat-i mudun). This scheme set the pattern for subsequent works
about practical philosophy in the Islamic tradition. The first part on ethics
is modelled on Ibn Miskawayh’s Tahdhib
alAkhlaq (Cultivation of Morals), of which the work was initially commissioned
to be merely a Persian translation. The sources of the second part about domestic
economics are the Arabic translation of Bryson’sOikonomikos and a text by Ibn
Sina, Kitab al-Siyasa (Book of Politics),
whereas the third part, about politics, goes back to al-Farabi’s Kitab alSiyasa al-Madaniyya (The
Political Regime) and Fusul al-Madani
(Aphorisms of the Statesman). The concern with justice and love in this work
illustrates his continuing affiliation with and interest in mysticism and Twelver
theology.
Throughout his life, al-Tusi was a prolific
writer in mathematics and the natural sciences, and he made advances in
trigonometry, mathematics, and astronomy. This aspect of his intellectual
endeavor was eventually rewarded with the foundation of the Maraghah observatory.
The result of the astronomical observations and calculations made there was the
famous tables of the Zij-i Ilkhani
(in Persian, but also translated into Arabic). The setting up of the
observatory and the institutionalization of the rational sciences created a
demand for teaching materials; al-Tusi was himself the author of a number of
recensions (tahrir) of scientific
texts as well as summaries and abridgments of theological, logical, and
philosophical texts, which were clearly intended to supply this teaching need.
Al-Tusi’s lasting influence can be seen in the subsequent surge of activity in
the rational sciences in the Islamic east as well as in their absorption into
religious education, which in turn affected the development of theology,
particularly among Shi‘i scholars.
Primary Sources
Akhlaq-i
Nasiri (The Nasirean Ethics), transl. G.M. Wickens. London: George Allen &
Unwin, 1964.
‘‘Rawdat
al-Taslim (The Garden of Submission)’’, transl. C. Jambet. InLa Convocation
d’Alamuˆt: Somme de Philosophie Ismae´lienne (Rawdat al-Taslı ˆm: Le Jardin de
Vraie Foi.). Paris: E ´ditions Verdier and E´ ditions UNESCO, 1996.
Sayr wa
Suluk (Contemplation and Action), ed. and transl. S.J.H. Badakhchani. London:
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1997.
al-Tadhkira
fi ‘Ilm al-Hay’a (Nasir al-Din al-Tusi’s Memoir on Astronomy), 2 vols., ed. and
transl. F.J. Ragep. New York: Springer Verlag, 1993.
The
Metaphysics of al-Tusi (Including Risala dar Ithbat-i Wajib, Risala dar Jabr va
Qadar, Risala dar Qismat-i Majwudat), transl. P. Morewedge. New York: Society for
the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science, 1992.
Further Reading
Dabashi, H.
‘‘Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: The Philosopher/Vizier and the Intellectual
Climate of His Times.’’ InHistory of Islamic Philosophy, eds. S.H. Nasr and O.
Leaman, vol. I, 527–84. London: Routledge, 1996.
———. ‘‘The
Philosopher/Vizier: Khwaja Nasir al-Din alTusi and the Isma‘ilis.’’ InMedieval
Isma‘ili History and Thought, ed. F. Daftary, 231–46. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.
Madelung, W.
‘‘Nasir al-Din Tusi’s Ethics Between Philosophy, Shi‘ism, and Sufism.’’
InEthics in Islam, ed. R.G. Hovannisian, 85–101. Malibu, Calif: Undena, 1985.
Morewedge,
P. ‘‘The Analysis of ‘Substance’ in Tusi’s Logic and in the Ibn Sinian tradition.’’
InEssays on Islamic Philosophy and Science, ed. G. Hourani, 158–87. Albany, NY:
State University of New York Press, 1975.
Pourjavady,
N., and Z. Vesel, eds. Nasir al-Din Tusi: Philosophe et Savant du XIIIe
Sie`cle. Tehran: L’Institut Franc¸ais de Recherches en Iran, 2000.
UMAR IBN ‘ABD AL-‘AZIZ
‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was the Umayyad
caliph who ruled from 717 until 720 CE. His popularity with his subjects and
his pious persona make him a unique figure in the Umayyad dynasty. Before
becoming caliph, he served as governor in Medina and in Mecca and Ta’if from
706 to 712. Here his leniency toward his subjects brought objections from
harsher Umayyad officials, particularly al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, he governor of the
East. He became a confidant to his predecessor as caliph, Sulayman ibn ‘Abd
alMalik, who overturned his father’s wishes by naming `Umar instead of his brother
Yazid as his successor. The circumstances of ‘Umar’s appointment were quite
unusual. Sulayman conveyed his deathbed wish to substitute ‘Umar for Yazid to
his trusted advisor Raja’ b. Haywa, who then convinced the assembled Umayyad
leaders to accept Sulayman’s choice without actually revealing whom he had
designated. The peculiar rise of ‘Umar has brought speculation that Raja’
orchestrated a coup d’e ´tat, or that the Umayyad family was uncomfortable
empowering the more wanton Yazid.
As caliph, ‘Umar instituted significant
policy changes. He severely curtailed military operations on the frontiers and
abandoned the expensive and unsuccessful siege of Constantinople that was begun
by Sulayman. Whether these choices reflect a different philosophy about expansion
or a recognition of fiscal realities is debated. ‘Umar also restructured the empire’s
tax regime, lightening the tax burden on new, predominantly non-Arab converts
to Islam. His ‘‘fiscal rescript’’ is often cited as evidence of his pious
insistence that all Muslims be treated equally, regardless of financial
consequences for the treasury. The ambiguity of both the existing taxation
system and ‘Umar’s reform make it difficult to assess the degree of tax relief
he provided. Some modern studies suggest that his objective was to standardize
and centralize taxation rather than to lessen the burden on new converts.
Although ‘Umar’s reforms were short-lived,
his image as a pious leader continued to grow after his death. Later ‘Abbasid
historians treated him as the single exception to the Umayyad tendency toward depravity
and even elevated him to the ranks of the Rashidun(the
Rightly-Guided Caliphs). Hints of messianic expectations of ‘Umar also appear
in the sources; the unusual nature of his rise to power, his uniquely pious
persona, and the fact that he reigned during the centennial of the hijra
certainly contributed to such speculation.
Primary Sources
Ibn ‘Abd
al-Hakam. Sirat ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz,ed. Ubayd. Cairo, 1983.
al-Tabari,
Muhammad b. Jarir. Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa-lMuluk,ed. M.J. de Goeje. Leiden,
1879–1901.
Further Reading
Hawting,
G.R.The First Dynasty of Islam.London: Croom Helm, 1987.
Wellhausen,
Julius.The Arab Kingdom and its Fall,transl. Margaret Weir. Calcutta, 1927.
‘UMAR IBN AL-FARID
Ibn al-Farid is one of the greatest mystical
poets of Islam. He was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1181 CE, and was raised by his
father, who was a respected farid (an
advocate for women in legal cases), hence ‘Umar’s title Ibn al-Faridor ‘‘son of
the women’s advocate.’’ Ibn al-Farid studied Sufism and Arabic literature, and
he memorized the traditions of the prophet Muhammad s.a.w (hadith) with
al-Qasim ibn ‘Ali Ibn ‘Asakir (d. 1203). Like his father, ‘Umar was a member of
the Shafi‘i school of jurisprudence. As a young man, Ibn al-Farid went on
pilgrimage to Mecca, where he stayed for about fifteen years. He then returned
to Cairo, where he taught the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and poetry at the al-Azhar congregational mosque.
Ibn al-Farid married and had at least two
sons and a daughter. He died in Cairo in 1235 CE. Ibn alFarid’s diwan (collected poems) is composed of more
than a dozen poems, including love poems and odes, together with several dozen
quatrains and riddles. The spiritual dimension of this verse is suggested by
Ibn al-Farid’s frequent allusions to God, the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, and
Sufi doctrines. His al-Khamriyya
(Wine Ode)in particular has been regarded for centuries as one of the finest
Muslim allegories about mystical love. However, even more celebrated has been
Ibn al-Farid’s Nazm al-Suluk (Poem of
the Sufi Way), also known as the
al-Ta’iyya al-Kubra (Ode Rhyming in T-Major), the longest and most famous
Arabic mystical poem. Within this poem’s 760 verses, Ibn al-Farid addressed a
number of religious and, especially, mystical themes centered on the love between
human beings and God. Often taking the role as a guide for the perplexed, the
poet offers instruction and advice on such matters as unselfish love, spiritual
intoxication and illumination, the pains of separation from the beloved, and
the indescribable joy of union.
Ibn al-Farid portrays creation as intimately involved
with its divine creator. Thus, when seen aright, everything in life reveals a
ray of supernal light. This mystical view is mirrored in the refined and
sophisticated beauty of Ibn al-Farid’s verse, which strongly influenced later
generations of medieval Arab poets and led to his veneration as a saint known assultan al-‘ashiqin (‘‘the sultan of
lovers’’).
Further Reading
Homerin, Th.
Emil.From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn al-Farid, His Verse, and His
Shrine,rev. ed. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2001.
Ibn
al-Farid. Diwan,ed. ‘Abd al-Khaliq Mahmud. Cairo:Dar al-Macarif, 1984.
———.The Mystical
Poems of Ibn al-Farid,2 vols., transl. A.J. Arberry. London: Emery Walker,
1952–1956.
———.The Poem
of the Way, transl. A.J. Arberry. London: Emery Walker, 1952.
———.‘Umar
Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verse, Saintly Life, transl.Th. Emil Homerin. New York: Paulist
Press, 2001.
Nicholson,
R.A.Studies in Islamic Mysticism. Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press,
1921
UMAYYAD MOSQUE, DAMASCUS
Built between 705/706 and 715 CE, the Umayyad
Mosque in Damascus was considered one of the wonders of the medieval Islamic
world. The mosque was the epitome of an architectural program sponsored by the
Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715), son of ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), who
built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (692). The mosque appropriated the site
of the Christian cathedral of St. John, which had itself replaced a temple of
Jupiter Damascenus; some of the columns reused in the mosque bear inscriptions
attesting to different phases of use in temple and church.
Despite frequent fire damage and multiple
restorations, the basic details of the eighth-century mosque have been preserved.
The church, which probably stood at the center of the pre-Islamic sanctuary,
was demolished, but the massive rectangular outer stone walls of the sanctuary
were retained, as were its two southern corner towers, which formed the bases
of two minarets. Access was via three monumental gates located in the centers
of the eastern, western, and northern walls of the sanctuary. The space
enclosed by the walls was occupied by a hypostyle mosque consisting of a courtyard
surrounded on three sides by a narrow riwaq
(arcade), which led to a prayer hall about 120 meters long that was built
against the south side of the ancient enclosure wall. The fac¸ade of the prayer
hall was distinguished by a monumental gabled entrance similar to the fac¸ades
of earlier Syrian basilicas but comparable also to the entrance to the palace
of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople.
The prayer hall consisted of three bays
running parallel to the south wall, which was approximately aligned toward
Mecca, its superstructure borne on a double arcade. The aisles were bisected at
their center by a wide axial nave leading from the courtyard fac¸ade to a
monumental dome that preceded the mihrab
(a concave niche). A private entrance by the mihrab led directly into the
Umayyad palace, which lay behind the southern wall. The two were also connected
by an extensive arcade that led from the Bab alZiyada, a gate at the eastern
end of the south wall of the mosque that contained a monumental water clock that
featured automata.
In its original form, the mosque was lavishly
decorated with gilded carved marble, including a famous vine scroll and epigraphic
bands. It was embellished throughout with glass mosaics, the surviving portions
of which depict pastoral scenes, multitiered buildings, pavilions, bridges over
rivers, and gigantic trees. Their high quality and references in the medieval
sources to assistance from the Byzantine emperor have led to speculation about
the involvement of craftsmen from Constantinople in the mosaic decorations.
Their meaning has long been a matter of contention, with scholars split between
a paradisal interpretation and one that sees them as continuing a tradition of
topographic representation known from the floor mosaics of Jordanian churches.
The Damascus mosque witnesses a reconfiguration
and reformulation of formal and decorative elements drawn from a local Syrian
as well as an imperial Byzantine repertoire, continuing a trend begun a
generation earlier in the Dome of the Rock. The introduction of common features
such as the axial nave, mihrab, dome, and glass mosaics in the mosques rebuilt
by al-Walid in Arabia, Syria, and North Africa amounts to the dissemination of
an imperial architectural style designed to project both the ascendancy of the
new religion and the political aspirations of the Umayyad dynasty.
Even after 750 CE (when the seat of the
caliphate Even after 750 CE (when the seat of the caliphate moved to Iraq), in
places as diverse as Cordoba in Andalusia and Ghazna in Afghanistan, the
Damascus mosque provided the standard against which many medieval mosques were
measured. Moreover, its characteristic three longitudinal aisles and gabled
fac¸ade set the tone for medieval mosque architecture in Syria and the Jazira.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the mosque inspired the
decoration of a series of monuments built by the Mamluk sultans of Egypt and
Syria.moved to Iraq), in places as diverse as Cordoba in Andalusia and Ghazna in
Afghanistan, the Damascus mosque provided the standard against which many medieval
mosques were measured. Moreover, its characteristic three longitudinal aisles
and gabled fac¸ade set the tone for medieval mosque architecture in Syria and
the Jazira. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the mosque inspired
the decoration of a series of monuments built by the Mamluk sultans of Egypt
and Syria.
Further Reading
Brisch,
Klaus. ‘‘Observations on the Iconography of the Mosaics in the Great Mosque at
Damascus.’’ In Content and Context of Visual Arts in the Islamic World,ed.
Priscilla P. Soucek, 13–20. University Park & London: The Pennsylvania
State University Press, 1988.
Creswell,
K.A.C.Early Muslim Architecture, Volume 1, Part 1: Umayyads A.D.
622–750,151–210. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.
Flood,
Finbarr Barry.The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Making of an Umayyad
Visual Culture. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
Georgopoulou,
Maria. ‘‘Geography, Cartography and the Architecture of Power in the Mosaics of
the Great Mosque of Damascus.’’ InThe Built Surface, Volume 1: Architecture and
the Pictorial Arts from Antiquity to the Enlightenment,ed. Christy Anderson,
47–74. Aldershot:Ashgate, 2002.
Grabar,
Oleg. ‘‘La Grande Mosque´e de Damas et les Origins Architecturales de la
Mosque.’’ InSynthronon: Art et Arche´ologie de la fin de l’Antiquite´ et du
Moyen Age, ed. A. Grabar, 107–14. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck, 1968.
Rabbat,
Nasser. ‘‘The Dialogic Dimension in Umayyad Art.’’Res43 (2003): 78–94.
UMAYYADS
The Umayyad dynasty of caliphs ruled all of
the lands conquered by the Arab Muslims from 661 until 749/ 750 CE. Following the
overthrow of the dynasty and the killing of several members of the Umayyad
family, ‘Abd al-Rahman, a grandson of the caliph Hisham (724–743), established
himself as ruler of Islamic Spain (al-Andalus). He became the ancestor of a long
line of Umayyad rulers of al-Andalus, who, between 929 and 1027, used the title
of caliph.
Origins
According to the Islamic genealogical
tradition, the Umayyad family was a part of Quraysh, the clan that dominated
Mecca before Islam and to which the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and many other prominent early Muslims
belonged. The Umayyads descend from a certain Umayya, son of ‘Abd Shams of Quraysh.
‘Abd Shams was the brother and rival of Hashim, the ancestor not only of the
Prophet s.a.w but also of the ‘Abbasid
family that seized the caliphate from the Umayyads in 749/750. The Umayyad
family had become rich and powerful during the lifetime of the Prophet and was
prominent in the Meccan opposition to him. The leaders of the family only
submitted to the Prophet and entered Islam toward the end of Muhammad’s life, when
it had become clear to them that he was going to be victorious.
Mu‘awiya, the first of the line, was
generally accepted as caliph after the killing of ‘Ali in 661. ‘Ali, the cousin
and son-in-law of the Prophet, had himself claimed the caliphate after the
murder of the caliph ‘Uthman in 656. Like his cousin Mu‘awiya, ‘Uthman had been
a grandson of Umayya, and there are some grounds for seeing him as the first
Umayyad caliph, although the historical tradition only begins the line with
Mu‘awiya. The latter had been governor of Syria since 636, and he refused to
accept ‘Ali ra claims to the caliphate. He put himself forward as having the
right to seek vengeance on those who had murdered his cousin, and a period of
civil war (the fitna) followed the
killing of ‘Uthman. Mu‘awiya and ‘Ali fought against each other indecisively,
but, when ‘Ali himself was assassinated
in 661, Mu‘awiya was best placed to take over the caliphate.
For the next ninety years or so, all of the
caliphs were descendants of Umayya, and Muslim tradition contrasts this introduction
of the dynastic principle unfavorably with the pre-Umayyad caliphate, when, it
claims, caliphs were chosen according to merit and after some consultation. The
Umayyad caliphs are divided traditionally into two branches. The first three
caliphs (Mu‘awiya, his son Yazid I, and the latter’s short-lived son and
successor Mu‘awiya II) are referred to as Sufyanids, after Mu‘awiya’s father, Abu
Sufyan. After the death of Yazid I in 683, another period of civil war saw the
caliphate pass into the hands of Marwan I, the leader of a collateral branch of
the Umayyad family. All of the remaining Umayyad caliphs were descendants of
Marwan and are therefore referred to as Marwanids.
Significance
The Umayyads ruled at the crucial time when
important cultural developments arising from the Arab Muslim conquest of the
former Byzantine and Sasanid territories were taking effect. Those developments
may be summarized as the emergence of Islam as the religion and culture of the
region extending from Central Asia through North Africa into parts of southern
Europe. That process was certainly not complete by the time the Umayyad
caliphate was overthrown, but, in general, the period of the Umayyad caliphate
can be understood as one that saw the transition from the world of Late
Antiquity to that of Islam.
Essentially, the period saw the formation of
a new society with an Islamic and Arabic identity in which the original separation
of Arab Muslim conquerors from the non-Arab, non-Muslim subjects was broken down.
Arabs and non-Arabs began to be assimilated so that the majority of people
identified as Muslims, and Arabic became the dominant language of both high
culture and everyday communication. That did not happen everywhere to the same
extent or at the same speed, but by the end of the Umayyad period the process
was under way. Its outcome was the emergence of a distinctive Arabic and
Islamic civilization, many aspects of which were developed from the preconquest
Middle East and the Mediterranean world.
Much of that occurred independently of and
even in contradiction to the intentions of the Umayyad rulers. Originally the
Arab empire had assumed the more or less complete separation of the Arab Muslim
conquerors from the subject peoples; the latter were expected to contribute the
taxes that would support the Arab elite. Islam was viewed as the prerogative of
the Arabs, and it was not expected that many
non-Arabs would enter it; however, right from the start, there were some who
did.
The mechanism by which they could do so was
that of clientage (wala’). Islam and
Arab identity were so closely tied together that, in order for a non-Arab to become
a Muslim, he in effect had to become an Arab. He did that by becoming the
client(mawla)of an Arab patron and thus acquiring an Arab identity. Both the patron
and the client assumed certain duties to one another and obtained certain
advantages. For the client, those advantages included protection from the
fiscal demands of the Umayyad authorities and employment; naturally that would
make the status attractive to those among the conquered who lacked social
status and economic power. As the idea grew that Islam should be open to all,
regardless of ethnic origin, the attempts by the Umayyads to prevent the movement
into Islam of their non-Arab subjects came to be seen as un-Islamic, and that
has much to do with the reputation for impiety that they have in the Muslim
historical tradition.
Alternatively, the Umayyads did much to establish
the conditions necessary for the development of the new Arab Muslim civilization.
When Mu‘awiya took over the caliphate, Arab rule did not reach much beyond
Libya in the west and the eastern parts of Iran in the east, and even much of
that territory must have been held only insecurely. By the end of their
caliphate, it had been extended, as a result mainly of centrally organized
campaigns, from central Asia to the Atlantic. In the armies of the Umayyads, the
Arabs were supported by increasing numbers drawn from the non-Arab subjects.
The territories thus conquered were
controlled by an administrative system that was centered on governors and tax
collectors and that intended to funnel revenues from the provinces to the
center. Much of the administrative system had been taken over from the two
empires that the Arabs had displaced, but, by the time of the caliph ‘Abd
al-Malik (685–705) and his son al-Walid (705–715), a significant Arab and Muslim
character was evident. It was around that time that Arabic was adopted as the official
language of the administration (although the situation did not change
overnight), and a new and distinctive Islamic coinage was introduced. Those two
caliphates also saw the first major achievements of a new style of
architecture, with the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and
the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.
Downfall
The Umayyad caliphs saw themselves as the
absolute leaders of Islam, subject only to God. The caliphal title for them meant
‘‘Deputy of God’’ (khalifat Allah), and obedience to them was a religious duty.
Their opponents, too, usually expressed their protests in religious terms, and
both Kharijite and Shi‘i rebels rejected the legitimacy of the Umayyads. Their overthrow,
which was facilitated by rivalries within the family and factionalism in the
army, was brought about by a Shi‘i revolt that began in Khurasan in northeastern
Iran and that aimed to establish the caliphate in the family of the Prophet.
The Sunni tradition of Islam also grew out of circles that had been opposed to
the Umayyads. The result, therefore, is that the Islamic historical tradition,
which crystallized after the overthrow of the Umayyads, tends to look upon them
with disfavor, ranging from the complete rejection of them by the Shi‘is to a
more ambiguous disapproval on the part of most Sunnis. This attitude has often led
to the view that their rule was not a real caliphate but merely a kingship.
Further Reading
Crone,
Patricia.Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of the Islamic Polity. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Hawting,
G.R.The First Dynasty of Islam,2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.
Kennedy,
Hugh.The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the
Sixth to the Eleventh Century. London and New York: Longmans, 1986.
Wellhausen,
Julius.Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz. Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1902. (English
translation:The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall.Calcutta, 1927.)
URBANISM
The Muslim conquest occurred in two stages.
The first one was led by Arab armies, assisted by Islamized Iranians or Berbers,
and began in 635 CE. Within a century, Islam spread all over western Asia (with
the exception of Anatolia), reaching the edges of Indian, Chinese, and Turkish
territories; it also spread over the whole of northern Africa and the largest
portion of the Iberian Peninsula. After 750, the massive quest to expand
slowed, and then it stopped for three centuries. The second conquest, led
predominantly by Turkish armies, began in about 1040 in Armenia, Caucasus, and
Anatolia. It continued for five centuries, alternating between successes and
failures, until the sixteenth century, when the Ottoman Empire controlled
Anatolia, the Balkans, and the greatest part of the Arab-speaking countries
around the Mediterranean Sea (except for Morocco). At the same time, Safavid
rule dominated Persia, and the Mughals ruled the Indian Peninsula. Conversely,
the Arab and the Jewish populations were driven away from the Iberian Peninsula
by the Catholic kings of Castilla.
In this immense Muslim area that stretched
from the Atlantic Ocean to the deserts of Central Asia, the climate was
relatively homogenous: quite hot and dry. Numerous towns thrived; most of them
were more or less devoted to trade. Ancient cities were Islamized or new cities
were established by the Muslims; all of these were suitable to the climatic
environment and moving toward a model that was unique for the time.
Usually the towns that were grouped together were
protected with fortification, with convenient access to water, rivers, underground
canals, springs, wells, or tanks. Until the twelfth century, towns were often protected
by a great wall, but this was more symbolic than effective against invasions. A
green belt of orchards, market gardens, and kitchen gardens irrigated by shrewd
hydraulic techniques enclosed most of the urban territory; this ensured city
dwellers a large part of their sustenance and offered them a shaded paradise
for their leisure time during summer.
The town’s layout was haphazard, and the most
frequent layout was a great intersection of narrow lanes that crossed at the
center of the town, near the Friday mosque. Between these radiating streets, which
were often lined by the souk (market)
stalls, each inside quarter was inhabited by extended patriarchal families
living in single-story houses (although occasionally the houses had two or
three floors) built around open courtyards. The local community was homogeneous,
closely linked by blood, tribal, ethnic, linguistic, or religious relationships.
Strict politeness protocols dictated the notables’ inter-quarter visits to avoid
clashes between passionate youth.
Close attention was paid to a family’s honor,
the result of a strict endogamy that forbade women to go outside of the close
community neighborhood. A wooden screen (mushrabiyya)
of intricate geometric lattice work on windows allowed a woman inside to see
out without being seen. Only dead-end streets with semi-private status led from
the main streets inside the quarter; this prevented anyone from crossing the quarter
from one radiated lane to another. Thus, one wishing to travel from one quarter
to another had to cross through the center of the town.
The inside courtyard, open to the sky, was
the domain of women; here grew flowers and ornamental or fruit trees. A pond
with fish provided an image of nature in the countryside. A staircase allowed a
woman to climb to the flat roof (sath),
where she could speak to neighboring females. In the rainy countries, ridge
roofs (saqf) were often built. In Yemen,
high tower houses were devoid of this type of courtyard. In overcrowded harbors
(e.g., Eastern Tripoli) and large towns (e.g., Baghdad, Basra, Mamluk Cairo), a
lack of space forced inhabitants to build many-storied buildings with
independent flats (Egyptian rab‘).
In the streets, there were no carts; huge
bundles were carried on camels from outside to the large khans set up near the
doors in the city walls. Donkeys then carried goods from the khans to the
shops, stalls, or houses. Although the lanes were tortuous, with reed hurdles,
pedestrians could enjoy cool shade, and there was no dusty desert wind. Ancient
Roman avenues, broad and straight, were not so suited to this dry and hot
climate. As seen by a pedestrian, the city looked like a labyrinth inside blank
walls; however, upon ascending a minaret, one could see many open spaces, the
courtyards of mosques and houses, and dark green vegetation enveloping nearly
every building.
Unlike Italian medieval towns, the street
fac¸ades outside of the houses of nobles were neither high nor monumental. The owner’s
fortune was measured by the expanse of the plot, allowing a large family to
live with an extensive household staff; this is why a long distance between the
main entries of houses on a street was the sign of a wealthy quarter. In these
little palaces, there were many courtyards, some being strictly domestic (haramlik), whereas others were open to
visitors (salamlik). According to the
local supplies and customs, builders used stone, mud, wood, cob, and crude or
baked bricks. The frame of the building was fitted more to the comfort of the inhabitants
than to an orthogonal, geometric, and symmetric pre-established drawing.
Changing with the seasons, furniture (trays used as portable tables, mats,
rugs, or mattresses) could be carried easily from one room to another. Roofed
spaces with three walls (iwan) gave
everyone shelter from sun or wind and opened onto the courtyard, with free
access to the view, the light, and the fresh air. On the walls, one could see
many kinds of artistic decorations: carved stones or stuccoes, colorful
frescoes or ceramic tiles, and sometimes skillful games created with plain building
materials.
The vast public square inside a city, around
which was organized the Italian medieval town, was generally absent from the
Muslim medieval town (apart from the courtyard in the Friday mosque). Outside of
the city, near the external walls, themaydanwas an empty area devoted to
military training for the cavalry that was also suitable for the weekly animal
markets and to set up camps for the caravans for a few days. This area was
often located at the confluence of wadis’ valleys; this area was wet and of
easy use, unless an unexpected flood devastated everything. During the first
centuries of Islam, this danger was sometimes forgotten, and, because of the
quick expansion of cities, permanent structures were erected. Arab historians
report that hundreds of inhabitants drowned during the first huge rainstorm in
this type of suburb.
The nobles’ houses were generally in the
center, near the Friday mosque. In the souks nearby, one could find Christian
or Jewish jewellers or money changers; Muslim manuscript copyists and binders; and
merchants of precious goods such as medical drugs, scents, fine leather
slippers, and books. In the area of town closer to the external walls, the
social status was lower; cheaper goods or objects that were considered unpleasant
because of the noise or the stench and pollution linked with their production were
offered in these remote souks. Near the city’s gates or in the suburbs, one may
find prostitutes, rowdies, poor villagers, army deserters, and also Bedouins
without tribe or slaves without masters. They lived in huts around large clay
courts (hawsh) that were used for livestock
farming. Near the city’s doors, city inhabitants were buried in cemeteries, according
to their family, tribal, religious, or Sufi affiliation. The Qarafas (vast areas allocated to the tombs
around Fustat and Cairo) were often colonized by provincial families looking
for work in the capital. Everywhere, nearby suburbs and cemeteries were built
when the growth of the number of inhabitants forced to the walls of the city to
come down and urban territory to spread.
The primary duties of a Muslim sovereign were
to protect the community from outside enemies and to maintain Islamic law and
public order. Alternatively, there were also minimal edilitary duties, such as
water irrigation and mending the lanes and the sewage systems, which allowed
city dwellers to wash themselves. These duties began to be put in the control
of the private sector; the nobles held them financially through the waqf system.
Out of their purses, they built schools (kuttab
for little children, madrasas for students), hospitals (bimaristan), convents for Sufis (khanaqah), drinking fountains (sabil),
baths (hammam) public hostels for
travelers, and warehouses for goods (funduq, khan, wikala). In addition, they rented
out houses, shops, and gardens to pay the expenses for the waqf’s work. Often a
waqf monument distinguished itself by having a finely wrought fac ¸ade and a
huge carved wood door. Until recent times, the numerous Zankid, Ayyubid, and
Mamluk Waqf buildings lent their charm
to the ancient town centers in Damascus, Aleppo, and the Arab part of Jerusalem.
From the seventh to the seventeenth century,
Muslim towns evolved significantly. During the twelfth century, political power
was in the hands of the military. Huge citadels dominated towns and symbolized a
new order, violent and unequal. In Cairo, under the Mamluk dynasty (thirteenth–sixteenth
century), the palaces of the emirs show a beautiful fac ¸ade with high door
that one can cross without coming down from his or her horse. The Friday mosque
was no longer a symbol of the unity of a city’s people; now, even Friday at
noon, most male inhabitants prayed in their quarter mosque.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
Muslim territories were divided into three major groups. The Turkish Ottoman Empire
dominated the Balkans in Europa, Turkish-speaking Anatolia, and all
Arabspeaking countries around the Mediterranean Sea (except Morocco). Here the
greater mosques were built in stone and covered by high domes that were modeled
on the Byzantine tradition. Slim pencil minarets dashed toward the sky;
courtyards were external, around the mosque.
The Iranian Sasanian Empire overcame the Persian-speaking
territories and some neighboring Turkish-speaking provinces. Here greater
mosques were built with mud bricks but decorated with marvelous glazed tiles.
Four high pishtaq iwans opened onto a vast inside courtyard. Minarets were as
high as the Ottoman ones but quite larger and not so strictly cylindrical.
The Indian Peninsula was for the most part
under the rule of the Mughal sultans. In their beautiful mosques, they skillfully
mixed Persian and Indian decorating styles. Despite these differences, many of
the characteristics of Muslim cities continued throughout the whole of Dar
al-Islam until the middle of the nineteenth century.
Further Reading
Beg,
M.A.J.Historic Cities of Asia.Kuala Lumpur, 1986.
Behrens-Abouseif,
Doris, ed.The Cairo Heritage. Papers in Honor of Layla Ibrahim.Cairo, 2000.
Bonine, M.,
et al., eds.The Middle Eastern City and Urbanism. Bonn, 1994.
Creswell,
K.A.C.The Muslim Architecture of Egypt,2 vols., reprint. New York, 1978.
Garcin, Jean-Claude,
dir.E´ tats, Socie ´te ´s et Cultures duMonde Musulman Me´die´val.Paris: PUF,
1995 and 2000.
———.Grandes
Villes Me´diterrane´ennes du Monde Musulman.Rome: E´cole Franc¸aise de Rome,
2000.
Gaube, H.,
Wirth, Eugen.Aleppo.Wiesbaden, 1984.
Ibn Khaldun.
The Muqaddimah,2 vols., transl. Franz Rosenthal. Princeton, NJ, 1967.
Lapidus,
Ira, ed.Middle Eastern Cities.Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969.
Nicolet,
Claude, dir.Me´gapoles Me´diterrane´ennes, Ge´ographie Urbaine
Retrospective.Rome: E´ cole Franc¸aise de Rome, 2000.
Serjeant,
R.B.The Islamic City.Paris, 1980.
Wirth,
Eugen.Die Orientalische Stadt,2 vols. Mainz. 2000.
USAMA IBN MUNQIDH
A twelfth-century Syrian Muslim warrior and
man of letters, Usama ibn Munqidh was best known for his poetry and, above all,
for his autobiographical anecdotes and his observations about the customs of the
Frankish Crusaders who settled in the Levant.
Born on July 4, 1095 CE at the family castle
of Shayzar in northern Syria, Usama ibn Munqidh (or Usama ibn Murshid ibn ‘Ali
ibn Munqidh) was the most famous member of the Banu Munqidh, a small Arab clan
that became influential in the affairs of northern Syria starting in the middle
of the eleventh century. Usama’s early years were some of the most momentous
decades in Syrian history, a period that saw the arrival of the First Crusade
(1097–1099), the consolidation of Seljuk authority, and the spread of the
Nizari Isma‘ilis into Syria. These first decades at Shayzar were for Usama his
golden years, when he learned to acquire all the manly polish expected of an amir
of his day, fighting Muslim and Crusader enemies, hunting, and trying his hand
at poetry. Unfortunately, Usama’s uncle later exiled Usama from Shayzar in
1131, seeing in him a rival to his plans to place control of Shayzar solidly in
the hands of his own sons.
After leaving Shayzar, Usama sought service
in the nearby principality of Homs, which was just then under attack by the
ambitious atabeg of Mosul, the warlord Zanki (see Zankids). When Homs finally
fell to Zanki, Usama was captured, and it appears that he entered the service of
the atabeg. In 1137, however, Usama was obliged to return to Shayzar first upon
news of his father’s death and later in 1138 to help defend his family home
from a joint Byzantine– Crusader siege.
It was at this point, after the siege had
lifted, that Usama left the service of Zanki and made for Damascus and the
court of Mu‘in al-Din Unur, the atabeg of the Burid prince Mahmud. One of
Unur’s principal concerns was establishing a truce with the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem so that he might better focus his resources on the growing threat of
Zanki in the north. As part of that goal, Usama and Unur made many visits into
Crusader territory, and these form the background of his celebrated
observations about the Frankish character in his later ‘‘memoirs.’’ Usama eventually
found himself caught up in the intrigues of the court in Damascus, however,
and, by 1144, he had fled the city for the more sophisticated world of Fatimid
Cairo.
Usama’s decade of service (1144–1154) to the
Fatimid caliphs of Egypt was the pinnacle of his political career. While there,
his skills as a soldier, boon companion, and adviser were richly rewarded, and
Usama himself experienced a level of personal influence that he had never
before tasted. His diplomatic skills were also of use, as in the (failed)
Fatimid attempt to enlist the support of Zanki’s son and heir Nur al-Din in Damascus
to fight a joint war against the Crusaders of Ascalon. However, Usama’s rise to
power ended in an equally abrupt fall, when, implicated in the plot to murder
of the caliph al-Zafir in 1154, Usama fled with his family into the desert,
abandoning most of his property to rioting troops in Cairo. After narrowly escaping
capture by Crusaders, Usama made his way to Damascus, where he enlisted in the
service of Nur al-Din.
In Damascus, Usama found a new patron in Nur
alDin and a position from which to reconstitute his life as best he could. He
settled into a new home, served his master on campaign, ransomed captive family
members, carried on poetic correspondence with friends in Egypt, and even reopened
communications with his cousins at Shayzar, humbly asking them to bury old family
squabbles and to have him back. As it happened, however, Usama could never
return to Shayzar, because, in 1157, a massive earthquake struck northern Syria
and leveled the castle; almost every member of the Banu Munqidh household was
killed. Usama, exiled in Damascus, could only mourn for his kin and decry the
vicissitudes of fate. In 1164, Usama joined his lord Nur al-Din in a victorious
campaign against the Franks and, for reasons that remain unclear, promptly took
up with one of Nur al-Din’s allies, Qara Arslan, Lord of Hisn Kayfa.
Although next to nothing is known about his
time spent under Qara Arslan at Hisn Kayfa, it was during this decade (1164–1174)
that Usama produced most of his literary works. For Usama, Hisn Kayfa was a terribly
provincial place in far northern Iraq, and his literary activity may have been
some attempt to stay connected to the more urbane worlds with which he was more
familiar. Of the many works that Usama composed there, only a few have
survived. He seems to have specialized in topical anthologies: collections of
anecdotes, poetry, hadith, and other lore organized around common themes, such
as his entertaining Book of the Staff,devoted to famous staves and walking
sticks; hisKernels of Refinement,a manual of ideal conduct (adab); and his Creator of High Style,a manual about poetic
criticism. He also composed works (now lost) about women, castles, dreams,
rivers, and old age. His massive examination of the erotic prelude in classical
Arabic poetry, the Book of Dwellings and
Abodes, could well be considered his masterpiece.
For modern readers, Usama’s greatest fame
stems from his collection of poetry and above all his autobiographically inclined
Book of Learning by Example, often
inaccurately called his ‘‘memoirs.’’ These he finished at the end of his
unusually long life in Damascus, where, in 1174, he returned at the summons of
his last patron, Saladin. The book is remarkable by any standards. Ostensibly a
reflection upon the inevitability of fate, the work artfully uses examples
drawn almost entirely from Usama’s long and adventurous life and so is filled
with details of daily life, high politics, and witty observations of the men and
women of Usama’s world. It is a compelling testament of one medieval Muslim’s
presentation of his world and the manner in which God’s will has intersected
with it.
Usama ibn Munqidh died in 1188 at the age of
ninety-three, and was buried in Damascus.
Primary Sources
Usama ibn
Munqidh.Kitab al-I‘tibar (Book of Learning by Example). Ed. Philip K. Hitti.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1930. (Translated by Hitti asAn
ArabSyrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1929. [reprinted 2000].)
———.Kitab
al-‘Asa (Book of the Staff),ed. Hasan ‘Abbas. Alexandria: al-Hay’at al-Misrya
al-‘Amma li’lKitab, 1978. (For translated excerpts, see Cobb,Book of the
Staff.)
———.Lubab
al-Adab (Kernels of Refinement),ed. A.M. Shakir. Cairo: Maktabat Luwis Sarkis,
1935. (For translated excerpts, see Cobb, Kernels of Refinement.)
———.Kitab
al-Manazil wa’l-Diyar (Dwellings and Abodes),ed. Mustafa Hijazi. Cairo: Lajnat
Ihya’ alTurath al-Islami, 1968.
———.Al-Badi‘
fi’l-Badi ‘(Creator of High Style),ed. A.A. Muhanna. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub
al-‘Ilmiya, 1987.
———.Diwan Usama
ibn Munqidh,eds. A.A. Badawi and H. ‘Abd al-Majid. Cairo: al-Matba‘a
al-Amiriya, 1953.
Further Reading
Cobb, Paul
M.Usama ibn Munqidh: Warrior-Poet of the Age of Crusades. Oxford: Oneworld,
2005.
———. ‘‘Usama
ibn Munqidh’sBook of the Staff (Kitab al-‘Asa): Autobiographical and Historical
Excerpts.’’ AlMasaq17 (2005): forthcoming.
———. ‘‘Usama
ibn Munqidh’sKernels of Refinement (Lubab al-Adab): Autobiographical and
Historical Excerpts.’’Al-Masaq18 (2006): forthcoming.
Derenbourg,
Hartwig.Ousaˆma ibn MounIˆ idh. Un Emir Syrien au Premier Sie `cle de Croisades
(1095–1188),2 vols.
Paris:
Ernest Leroux, 1889.
Irwin,
Robert. ‘‘Usamah ibn Munqidh: An Arab-Syrian Gentleman at the Time of the
Crusades Reconsidered.’’ In The Crusades and Their Sources. Essays Presented to
Bernard Hamilton, eds. J. France and W.G. Zajac, 71–87. Aldershot: Ashgate,
1998
VIZIERS
The term vizier
is derived from the Arabic term wazir,
the core meaning of which refers to ‘‘bearing a load.’’ This is an apt definition,
because the viziers were those that headed the administrations of caliphs, amirs,
and sultans throughout the continuum of medieval Islamic history. The modern
studies of viziers have focused on a number of key questions: the origins of
the office and its early duties; the varied roles played by viziers over the
centuries; and case studies of important families of viziers ranging from the
‘Abbasid period through the Ottoman era. One theme that runs throughout the
history of the vizierate in Islamic history is the personal nature of the power
dynamics in Islamic administrations. Viziers could rise from humble secretarial
posts or even slavery to the extreme heights of wealth and power, only to be removed
from office and/or killed by the whims of caliphs or sultans. This ‘‘hire and
fire at will’’ nature of the post did not deter many from seeking it for themselves
and their family members. As is seen in the examples of the Barmakids and the
Banu ’l-Furat of the ‘Abbasid period and the Candarli and Ko¨pru¨lu ¨ families
of the Ottoman Empire, the personal nature of the vizierate also helped create
dynasties of capable administrators.
The origin of the vizierate in Islam is hard
to pinpoint accurately, because the sources are vague regarding the development
of early Islamic administration. From the rudimentary structure of the diwan system
during the Islamic conquests through the Umayyad dynasty, the officials who
helped the caliphs with the running the government were often typified as being
freedmen, boon companions, or aides-de-camp. It is not until the ‘Abbasid
period that clear references to the term vizier are found; even then key questions
remain regarding whether the use of the word stemmed from traditional Persian practices
or from other cultures and when exactly the ‘Abbasids began to use the term
exclusively. By the end of the eighth century, however, viziers were the
central component of ‘Abbasid administration, taking on the important tasks of
overseeing the various ministries (e.g., chancellery, tax, mazalim [courts of
justice]). The Barmakids, a Persian family who had converted to Islam from
Buddhism, rose to prominence during the late eighth century and played a variety
of roles: patronizing scholars, tutoring princes and caliphs, overseeing
‘Abbasid affairs, and creating their own cadre of supporters within the
government. By the beginning of the ninth century, it appeared that the
Barmakids were indispensable elements of the ‘Abbasid system, but their famous
fall from grace in 803 CE, replete with arrests, confiscation of wealth, and
executions, underscored the fact that they, as was true of all government
officials, were working at the will of the caliphs. The example of the
Barmakids’ rise and fall would become a staple in many works written about the
nature and duties of the vizierate for centuries to come.
As the ‘Abbasid caliphs began to weaken in power
during the ninth century, the viziers took stronger roles within the
government, often rivaling the caliphs when it came to determining policies or even
succession issues. Such regional dynasties as the Fatimids, Buyids, and Saljuqs,
which arose during the tenth and eleventh centuries, had strong vizierates of their
own, although the personal power dynamics between the ruler and his viziers in
these cases were similar to those of the earlier ‘Abbasids. Ibn Killis was a
key vizier for the Fatimids during the ninth century, whereas Nizam al-Mulk,
who worked for the Seljuk sultans Alp Arslan and Malikshah, would become the
most famous vizier in Islamic history. Nizam al-Mulk, who was Persian by birth,
was instrumental in developing the administrative structure of the Seljuk
system in addition to helping found the state-sponsored madrasa educational
institution. His ideas about government and rule are found in his work titled Siyasat-name (The Book of Government), a
‘‘Mirror for Princes’’ guide that is akin to Machiavelli’s The Prince. Nizam
al-Mulk uses historical examples to argue his points on justice, effective rule,
and the role of government in Islamic society. After his assassination in 1092
at the hands of assassins, members of his bureaucratic entourage, the Nizamiyya,
played key stabilizing roles in the chaos that accompanied the gradual breakup
of Seljuk control in Iraq and Iran. Another notable development in eleventh-
and twelfth-century vizierial history is that there was a blending of
administrations that involved viziers who would work for the revitalized
‘Abbasid vizierate at one point and then work for other regional dynasties.
Because viziers would often work for a variety of regional powers throughout
their careers, the idea of separate or parallel administrations is undermined,
whereas the personal, individualized nature of the administrative system is
again underscored.
During the Ottoman period of expansion, the
roles of viziers remained largely unchanged from the past; they were tutors,
administrators, military figures, and confidantes. In addition, the grand
viziers would often be linked to the Ottoman family through marriages to
Ottoman princesses. This familial tie was not unprecedented, however; numerous
examples abound from earlier centuries of viziers marrying into regional dynasties’
families. The most famous vizierial families of the Ottoman eras include the Candarli
family, who aided the fifteenth-century Ottoman sultans until the reign of
Mehmed II, and the Ko ¨pru¨lu ¨ family, who were instrumental in stabilizing
Ottoman rule during periods of crisis during the late seventeenth century. Individual
viziers also made their mark in history: Ibrahim Pas¸a rose from slavery to
become the boon companion of Suleyman (r. 1520–1566) and eventually to become
Grand Vizier until his fall from grace in the
1530s; Sokollu Mehmet Pas¸a, who at the end of Suleyman’s reign
attempted to stabilize the government, fought against rival factions within the
imperial courts of Suleyman’s successors. Their careers and those of the
viziers before them clearly show that, however bureaucratized and formalized
the system of Islamic administration would become, at its core the nature of
the administration and delegation of power and authority from caliphs and
sultans was highly personal in nature.
Further Reading
Bravmann,
Meir M. ‘‘The Etymology of Arabic Wazir.’’ In Islam37 (1961): 260–3.
Fodor, P.
‘‘Sultan, Imperial Council, Grand Vizier: The Ottoman Ruling Elite and the
Formation of the Grand VizieralTelkhis.’’ Acta Orientalia(Budapest) 47 (1994): 67–85.
Imad, Leila
S. The Fatimid Vizierate, 969–1172. Berlin: Schwarz, 1990.
Kennedy,
Hugh. ‘‘Central Government and Provincial Elites in the Early ‘Abbasid
Caliphate.’’Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies44 (1981):
26–38.
———. ‘‘The
Barmakid Revolution in Islamic Government.’’ InHistory and Literature in Iran:
Persian and Islamic Studies in Honour of P.W. Avery,ed. C. Melville. London:
British Academic Press, 1990.
Lambton,
A.K.S.Continuity and Change in Medieval Persia: Aspects of Administrative,
Economic and Social History, 11–14th Century. London: Tauris, 1988.
Sourdel,
Dominique.Le Vizirat ‘Abbaˆside de 749 a `936,2 vols. Damascus: Institut
Franc¸ais de Damas, 1959–1960.
Tyan,
Emile.Institutions du Droit Public Musulman,2 vols. Paris: Recueil Sirey,
1954–1957.
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