ENCYCLOPEDIA MEIEVAL ISLAMIC PART 4

CAIRO

  Cairo is the best documented and best preserved of the medieval Islamic capitals and, for most of this period, its largest city.

  Originally, Cairo (Ar.Al-Qahira) referred only to a small part of the Egyptian capital, although it later developed into a term for the whole medieval city. In 641 CE, soon after the conquest of Egypt, the Arabs

established a new garrison city known as al-Fustat next to the old Roman city of Babylon at the southern tip of the Nile Delta. The new settlement resembled other early Islamic cities, such as Basra and Kufa, with a congregational mosque and Dar al-‘Imara at its center. In 750, the ‘Abbasids built a new administrative center to the north called al-‘Askar (‘‘the soldier’’) in reference to the troops stationed there. More than one hundred years later, in 870, the semiindependent Tulunids established another city on higher ground to the northeast, which was called alQata’i‘ (‘‘the wards’’). The last of the four cities that comprised medieval Cairo was established one hundred years later by the Fatimids to mark the completion of their conquest of North Africa. The city, which was completed in 971, was originally named al-Mansuriyya by the caliph al-Mu‘izz after his father al-Mansur, though it was later changed to al-Qahira (‘‘the victorious’’) both as a signal that the Fatimids had achieved their objective and because the planet Mars(al-Qahir) was in the ascendant when work started on the construction of the city.

  The first three early Islamic cities were located on the west bank of the Nile and merged into each other to form a single city. However, al-Qahira (Cairo) was farther to the northeast and for some time remained separate from the other cities, which were known by the collective name of al-Fustat. Under the early Fatimids, al-Qahira remained a palatial city closed

to the general public, housing the caliph, royal officials, and the administration. Both al-Qahira and Fustat each had their own port on the Nile and functioned as separate cities. In the twelfth century, this situation changed when Fustat entered into a period of decline caused by famines, earthquakes, and other natural and manmade disasters. One of the most significant factors was that the Nile was gradually moving westward, leaving the port facilities of Fustat high and dry. The decisive change came when the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali allowed the transfer of some markets from Fustat and also permitted inhabitants of Fustat to build houses within al-Qahira. In order to accommodate the increasing population, the walls of the Fatimid were expanded, first by Badr al Jamali between 1087 and 1091 and later (1176–1193) by Salah al-Din. From this point on, al-Qahira became the main focus of activity and the heart of the later medieval metropolis.

  The transfer of power to the Ayyubids consolidated these changes, although it is notable that Salah al-Din attempted to enclose both Fustat and al-Qahira within one massive defensive wall, with the citadel occupying the area in between. Under the Mamluks, al-Qahira continued to develop outside the old walls mainly in the area to the south of the old city and to the west of the Ayyubid citadel. There was also some expansion to the north of the city chiefly around the Mosque of Baybars (1266–1269), which was built on the site of the former royal polo ground. After the Ottoman conquest in the sixteenth century the direction of expansion was toward the west, following the westward deflection of the Nile. The nucleus of the Ottoman expansion was the mosque of Sinan Pasha built in 1571.

  The transfer of power to the Ayyubids consolidated these changes, although it is notable that Salah al-Din attempted to enclose both Fustat and al-Qahira within one massive defensive wall, with the citadel occupying the area in between. Under the Mamluks, al-Qahira continued to develop outside the old walls mainly in the area to the south of the old city and to the west of the Ayyubid citadel. There was also some expansion to the north of the city chiefly around the Mosque of  Baybars (1266–1269), which was built on the site of the former royal polo ground. After the Ottoman conquest in the sixteenth century the direction of expansion was toward the west, following the westward deflection of the Nile. The nucleus of the Ottoman expansion was the mosque of Sinan Pasha built in 1571.

  The early expansion of Cairo (including Fustat)

was characterized by the construction of congregational mosques, which became nuclei for settlement. The principal monuments of Fatimid Cairo are the mosques of  al-Azhar and al-Hakim. Soon after its construction in 970–972, the al-Azhar mosque became a teaching institution propagating the Fatimidda‘wa (propaganda). The increasing educational importance

of al-Azhar may have been the impetus for the construction of al-Hakim’s mosque in 990–991 (completed under al-Hakim by 1012). Under the Ayyubids a new factor was introduced in the form of small religious foundations such as madrasas and zawiyas, which formed the focal points of smaller local communities. This process continued under the Mamluks

and, with the exception of the Mosque of  Baybars, all of the Mamluk mosques appear to have formed part of a religious complex, which may have included a tomb, madrasas, or khanqah. Under the Ottomans the situation was reversed and mosques once again became the principal type of religious architecture.

Further Reading

Behrens-Abuseif, D.Supplement to Muqarnas. Leiden: E.J.

Brill.

Creswell, K.A.C.Muslim Architecture of Egypt2 Vols. Oxford, 1952–1960.

Rogers, M. ‘‘Al-Khaira.’’ inEncyclopaedia of Islam, 424–441

CARTOGRAPHY

  Contrary to the impression that one receives from scholarship on the history of cartography, the richest, largest, and among the earliest extant collections of maps hails from the medieval Muslim world, neither from ancient Greece nor medieval Europe. It is generally held that Ptolemy and the Greeks were the earliest constructors of cartographic images. However, the earliest surviving ‘‘Ptolemaic’’ manuscript incorporating maps dates backonlyto the thirteenth century. This glaring discrepancy in the extant record has been the subject of heated debates in the history of

cartography circles, yet the master narrative remains unaltered.

  At a time when Europe was producing rudimentary T-O maps of the world, the geographical scholars of  the Muslim world, drawing upon knowledge acquired during conquests and extensive travel and trade, naturally influenced by the ancient Greek, Babylonian, Egyptian Sasanian, Indian, Chinese, and Turkish learning traditions, among others, were producing detailed images of the world and various regions in the Islamic world. There exist thousands of traditional Islamic cartographic images scattered throughout the medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscript collections worldwide. Yet, until recently, most of these maps have lain virtually untouched and have often been deliberately ignored on the grounds that they are not ‘‘mimetically’’ accurate representations of the world. What many failed to see is that these schematic, geometric, and often perfectly symmetrical images of the world are iconographic representations of the way in which the medieval Muslims perceived their world. Granted, these are stylized amimetic visions restricted to the literati the readers, collectors, commissioners, writers, and copyists of the geographical texts within

which these maps are found. Yet the plethora of extant copies produced all over the Islamic world, including India, testifies to the enduring and widespread popularity of these medieval Islamic cartographic visions for not less than eight centuries.

Fons Et Origo

  What is the source of this rich and widespread medieval Islami propensity to map?  Some scholars believe that the answers lie in the earliest Arabic textual references to maps. For instance, consider the incredible silver globe (al-Sura[h] al-Ma’muniyya[h])that the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun (r. 813–833) is said to have commissioned from the scientists working in his Bayt al-hikma (House of Knowledge), or the maps of  the eastern part of the Muslim empire, specifically of the region of  Daylam, as well as the city of Bukhara, that the Umayyad governor, al-Hallaj ibn Yusuf, commissioned toward the end of the first century hijra (ca. 702 CE). In Kitab al-Buldan (Book of Countries), Ahmad ibn Abi Ya‘qub al-Ya‘qubi (d. ca. late ninth century) reports that a plan of the round city of Baghdad was drawn up in 758 for the ‘Abbasid caliph

al-Mansur (r. 754–775). The Egyptian chronicler al Maqrizi mentions that a ‘‘magnificent’’ map on ‘‘fine blue’’ silk with ‘‘gold lettering’’ upon which were pictured ‘‘parts of the earth with all the cities and mountains, seas and rivers’’ was prepared for the Fatimid caliph al-Mu‘izz (r. 953–975) and entombed with him in his mausoleum in Cairo.

  A few scholars assert that versions of the mid-ninthcentury al-Ma’munid world map can be found in later works, such as Ibn Fadl Allah al-‘Umari’s (d. 1349) Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar (Ways of Perception  Concerning the Most Populous/Civilized Provinces), or the recently discovered thirteenth-century Fatimid geographical manuscript, Kitab ghara’ib al-funun wa mulah al-‘uyun (Book of Curiosities).

The problem with the al-Ma‘munid silver globe is that it is probably mythical. Other than an extremely vague passage cited in Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn al Husayn al-Mas‘udi’s (d. 956) Kitab al-tanbih wa-lishraf (Book of Instruction and Revision), we have no other descriptions of it. Al-Mas‘udi’s description  is very confused. It suggests an impossibly complicated celestial map superimposed on a globe that is, an extremely sophisticated armillary sphere of which we have no extant example until the fourteenth century. David King provides the most likely explanation when he reads al-Mas‘udi’s description as an astrolabe with world map markings superimposed on it.

  In fact, to date, the earliest extant medieval Islamic source containing maps is a ninth-century copy of Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarazmi’s (d. 847 CE) Kitab Surat al-Ard (Picture of the

Earth). Composed primarily of a series of zijtables (that is, tables containing longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates), it also includes four maps. Of these, two have been identified: one as a map of the Sea of Azov and the other as a map of the Nile.

Islamic Atlas Series

  The four maps of al-Khwarazmi’s manuscript copy appear to be related to the earliest cartogeographical atlas tradition, best known by the title of its most prolifically copied version: al-Istakhri’s Kitab al Masalik wa al-Mamalik (Book of Roads and Kingdoms). Most of the maps in this earliest-known atlas like mapping tradition occur in the context of geographical treatises devoted to an explication of the world, in general, and the lands of the Muslim world, in particular. These map-manuscripts are sometimes called Surat al-Ard (Picture of the Earth) or Suwar al-Aqalim (Pictures of the Climes/Climates). They emanate from an early tradition of creating lists of pilgrim and post stages that were compiled

for administrative purposes. They read like armchair travelogues of the Muslim world, with one author copying from another.

  Beginning with a brief description of the world and theories about it—such as the inhabited versus the inhabited parts, the reasons why people are darker in the south than in the north, and so on these geographies methodically discuss details about the Muslim world, its cities, its people, its roads, its topography, and more. Sometimes the descriptions are interspersed with tales of personal adventures, discussions with local inhabitants, debates with sailors as to the exact shape of the earth and the number of seas, and so forth. They have a rigid format that rarely

varies: first, the whole world, then the Arabian peninsula, then the Persian Gulf, then the Maghrib (North Africa and Andalusia), Egypt, Syria, the Mediterranean, upper and lower Iraq, and twelve maps devoted to the Iranian provinces, beginning with Khuzistan and ending in Khurasan, including maps of  Sind and Transoxiana. The maps, which usually number precisely twenty-one—one world map and twenty regional maps follow exactly the same format as the text and are thus an integral part of the work. The earliest extant Islamic cartogeographical map atlas comes from an Ibn Hawqal manuscript housed at the Topkapi Saray Museum Library (Ahmet 3346) firmly dated to AH 479/1086 CE by an accurate colophon. Counterintuitively, this earliest extant manuscript also containsthe most mimetic maps of all the existing copies. The striking mimesis of the maps in the earliest extant copy stands in stark contrast to the maps of the later copies, which abandon any pretense of mimesis. As the maps of the later copies become more and more stylized, they move further into the realm of objects d’art and away from direct empirical

inquiry. By the nineteenth century some of these maps became so stylized that, were it not for the earlier examples, they would be unrecognizable as maps.

Popularization of  the Book of Roads and Kingdoms Mapping Tradition

  This form of geographical text became extremely popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the original tenth-century geographical texts, along with enhanced and more colorful versions of the maps, were copied prolifically right up until the late seventeenth century. The Ottomans Safavids, and Mughals were all interested in commissioning copies, and

many famous scholars, such as the Ilkhanid scholar Nasiruddin Tusi, used versions of these earlier map forms in their work.

  The popularization of illustrated geographical manuscripts also influenced the works of late medieval Islamic scholars, such as al-Qazwini (d. 1283) and Ibn al-Wardi (d. 861), authors of ‘Aja’ib al-Makhluqat wa ghara’ib al-mawjudat (The Wonders of Creatures

and the Marvels of Creation) and Kharidat al-‘aja’ib wa faridat al-ghara’ib (The Unbored Pearl of Wonders and the Precious Gem of Marvels),respectively. Judging by the plethora of pocketbook size copies

that still abound in every Oriental manuscript collection, the Kharidat al-‘Aja’ib must have been a bestseller in the late medieval and early-modern Islamic world. It is therefore significant that copies always incorporated, within the first four or five folios, a classical Islamic world map.

  Eventually the classical Islamic world maps also crept into general geographical encyclopedias, such as Shihab al-Din Abu ‘Abdallah Yaqut’s (d. 1229) thirteenth-century Kitab Mu ‘jam al-Bldan (Dictionary

Of  Countries).The earliest prototype of the Yaqut world map is found in a copy of Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni’s (ca. d. after 1250 CE) Kitab al-tafhim (Book of Instruction). World maps were also used to open some of the classic histories. Copies of such well-known works as Ibn Khaldun’s (d. 1406) al-Muqaddimah  (The Prologue) often begin with an al-Idrisi type of world map, whereas copies of the historian Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari’s (d. 923) Ta’rikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk (History of Prophets and Kings)sometimes include a Ptolemaic ‘‘clime-type’’ map of the world as a frontispiece. Similarly, classical Islamic maps of the world find their way into sixteenth-century Ottoman histories, such as the scroll containing Seyyid Lokman’s Zubdetu¨’t-tevarih (Cream of Histories) produced in the reign of Suleyman I (1520–1566) .

Other Mapping Traditions

  There are other more mimetic and better-known Islamic mapping traditions, such as the work of the well known twelfth century North African geographical scholar al-Sharif al-Idrisi (d. 1165). The Norman

King, Roger II (1097–1154 CE) commissioned alIdrisi to produce an illustrated geography of the world: Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq (The Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands), also known as theBook of Roger. Al-Idrisi divided the world according to the Ptolemaic system of seven climes, with each clime broken down into ten sections.

The most complete manuscript (Istanbul, Koprulu ¨ Kutu ¨phanesi, Ms. 955, 1469 CE) contains one world map and seventy detailed sectional maps.

  The sixteenth century Ottoman naval captain, Muhyiddin Piri Re’is (d. 1554) is another Muslim cartographer who is world famous. Renowned for the earliest extant map of the New World, Piri Reis and his incredibly accurate early sixteenth century map of South America and Antarctica has been the subject of many a controversial study. Piri Reis also produced detailed sectional maps but—like the Italian isolarii—he restricted himself to the coastal areas of the Mediterranean. The second version of  his Kitab-i bahriye (Book of Maritime Matters) contains 210

unique topocartographic maps of important Mediterranean cities and islands.

  This is but a brief summary of the incredible depth and variety of the rich medieval Islamic mapping traditions. Those interested in learning more should consult the ‘‘Further Reading’’ section.

  What all these extant maps say is that at least from the thirteenth century onward, when copies of Islamic map-manuscripts began to proliferate—the world was a very depicted place. It loomed large in the medieval Muslim imagination. It was pondered, discussed, and copied with minor and major variations again and again.

Further Reading

Edson, Evelyn, and E. Savage-Smith.Medieval Views of the

Cosmos. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2004.

Harley, J.B., and David Woodward, eds. ‘‘Cartography in

Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies.’’ InHistory of Cartography. Vol. 2, Book. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

King, David A.World-Maps for Finding the Direction and

Distance to Mecca: Innovation and Tradition in Islamic

Science. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999.

Pinto, Karen. ‘‘Ways of Seeing. 3 Scenarios of the World in

the Medieval Islamic Cartographic Imagination.’’ Doctoral Dissertation. New York: Columbia University,

2002.

Sezgin, Fuat:Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol.

XII:Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im

Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland. KartenbandFrankfurt: Institut fu¨r Geschichte der ArabischIslamischen Wissenschaften, 2000.

CENTRAL ASIA, HISTORY (750–1500 CE)

  Modern Central Asia comprises the territories that are occupied by Asiatic Russia and the republics of the former Soviet Union: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uighuristan (Xingjian in China), countries that are predominantly populated by Iranian and Turkic Muslims. In premodern times, Arab and Persian authors used various terms to refer to this continent.

  Some ‘Abbasid period sources combine it with the province of Khurasan (East, or Land of the Rising Sun) and refer to ‘‘the eastern region’’( iqlim

al-mashriq).However, the great majority of  Muslim authors distinguish between Cisoxiana and Transoxiana. They regarded the Oxus River (Jayhunin Arabic; Amuyaor Amu Daryain modern Persian) as the

border between the Iranian plateau and the vast land that they called (in Arabic) mawara al-nahr (the land beyond the Oxus river), namely Sogdiana (Sughdin Arabic) in the Hellenistic sources. They divided it into five major zones: Khwarazm (modern Khiva) around the Oxus delta and the shores of the Aral Sea; the upper Oxus region; Sughd along the

Zarafshan valley, where the major cities Bukhara and Samarqand are located; Fraghana; and Shash (Tashqent).

  The relationships between Eurasia (including Central Asia) and the Fertile Crescent were established immediately after the emergence of the Islamic caliphate. An important source of goods and manpower,

Central Asia attracted the attention of  Muslim authors. The bonds that connected the urban hubs in the Central Islamic lands with Eurasia are clearly reflected in the ‘Abbasid age literature. Several writers report the chronicles of Muslim conquests and chapters on the history of ma wara al-nahar down to the sixteenth century. ‘Abbasid administrative and

geographical volumes contain information on locations, population, commerce, and goods. Various accounts, including mythological narratives, linked the landscape and people of  Central Asia with those of the Central Islamic lands. Some commentators related the mysterious Gog and Magog with the Turks and other Steppe peoples.

  Following the flight of the last Sasanid king (in 651), the Arab forces reached Turkmenistan. A settlement was probably reached early on with Mahoye, the ruler of Marv (Merv), who bore the title marzaban (marzuban; the warden of the march). However, the actual conquest of the lands beyond the Oxus River started during the governorship of al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf (d. 95/714). This energetic vice royal dispatched Qutayba b. Muslim to capture the Zarafshan basin (87–90/706–709). Yet the Umayyads’ grip was not firm. Turkic forces inflicted a heavy defeat on the Islamic armies (106/724). Under the command of Nasr b. Sayyar (d. 131/748), the tide was reversed. Heading the Muslim fighters, he was able to infiltrate the ethnic mosaic of Central Asia and succeeded in

embedding Islam deeply in ma-wara-al-nahr’s soil. The Arabs were the backbone of a bureaucratic empire and adherents of a new universal religion, while the success of their competitors, the Steppes peoples,

was limited to a short-lived nomadic empire.

  Several religious uprisings led by radical rebels  (ghulat) are recorded in the Arabic and Persian sources during the late Umayyad and early ‘Abbasid periods. Although these revolts were directed against the caliphate and as such voiced social discontent with the government and taxation, nevertheless, the rebels did not attack the very idea of an Islamic world order but rather adopted heterodox views. Syncretism enabled the forging of alliances between Zoroastrians, Mazdakites, and Shi‘is.

  Iranians had played an important role in the army and administration of the new ‘Abbasid order. With time, some of the local Iranian forces accumulated strength. The first significant force was the Tahirid dynasty. They boasted a double noble lineage, claiming to be the descendants of Rustam b. Dustan (alshadid,‘‘the Strong Man’’), the ancient Iranian hero,

as well as of the Arab tribe Khuza`a. Tahir changed the residence of Khurasan’s governors from Merv to Nishapur (in 821), and this seems to have been a turning point in the administrative history of the oasis of  Bukhara. Following this alteration, the city acquired a new importance and became a governmental center at the edge of the caliphate, which affected developments all over Transoxiana.

  This facilitated the rise to prominence of a local force in Transoxania that came under the rule of the Samanids (203–395/819–1005). Although the Samanids claimed to be the off spring (farzand) of  Bahram Jubin (Chubin, Chobin), the great mythological Iranian hero, the Samanid family probably had a more humble background. In 204/819, four sons of Asad b. Saman were appointed governors of various districts in Central Asia: Nuh (d. 227/842) governor of Samarqand, Ahmad (d. 846) of Fraghana, Yahya of Shash (Tashqent), and Ilyas (d. in 856) of Herat. The country under their rule was known as the Turk Barrier (sadd al-ghuzz),a name that referred to their role in fighting against the polytheistic nomads of Eurasia.

  The Saman family reached the zenith of its power during the governorship of Isma‘il b. Ahmad, who had conquered Bukhara (in 262/875). The caliphs alMu‘tadid (279–289/892–902) and al-Muktafi (289–295/ 902–908) further rewarded him with the governorship of Khurasan. This development opened a new chapter in the history of Transoxiana and the neighboring Eurasian steppes. The Samanids conducted an offensive policy toward the steppes people, as a result

of which Islam spread among the population of Central Asia.

  At the zenith of their power the Samanids had command of a large professional army. They recruited Turkic slaves outside the Abode of Islam, and these recent converts made up the fighting battalions of the

Samanids. This was in line with steps taken by the caliphs from the days of al-MaÆmun (d. 833), if not earlier. The historical contribution of the Saman house was the establishment of an Islamic and Iranian presence in Transoxiana and Inner Asia. Their achievements did not save the Samanids from breakdown. The deep demographic and cultural changes

that swept across the Eurasian steppes cast a shadow over the history of ma wara-al-nahr. This Iranianspeaking land underwent a process of Turkification.

  With the collapse of the Samanids a cultural chapter in the history of Central Asia came to an end. The Qarakhanid state (the Ilek or Ilig-khan Khanate) was active in Central Asia from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. The nucleus of the state was the Qara-luq Turk tribal confederation. Following clashes with the Samanids of Bukhara, Sabuq (or Satuq) Bugha (Bog˘ra) Khan converted to Islam and even assumed the Arab–Islamic name ‘Abd alKarim (d. 344/955).

  Led by Shihab al-Dawla Harun b. Sulayman b. Bughra Khan Ilek, the Qarakhanids attacked (in 382/992) Nuh b. Mansur, the Samanid ruler of the Syr Darya valley (366–387/976–997). If the fragmented information is accurate, it was during these years (probably in 382/992) that the Qarakhanids gained control over Fraghana and Bukhara. Like other steppes empires, the Qarakhanid armies consist of two kinds of soldiers: a small troop of retinues and a large body of nomadic Turk tribesmen (turkmen). The Qarakhanids accepted the authority of  Baghdad In as much as the ‘Abbasid caliph was the only source of legitimacy. The historical importance of this Turk dynasty stems from their role in leading the way for the conversion of Turkic people in the Eurasian steppes. In addition to this, they were patrons of Islamic institutions.

  Corresponding to the disintegration of the Samanid regime and the emergence of the free Qarakhanid power in Central Asia, another Turkic dynasty played an important role in shaping the history of this vast territory. An ex-slave of the Samanids, the Turkish commander Alp-Takin (tegin),who was their commander in chief, left Khurasan and established himself in Ghazna near Kabul (in present-day Afghanistan, in

350/961). He was succeeded by Nasir al-Dawla SebukTakin, another slave-soldier of Turkic origin, whose son, Yamin al-Dawla Mahmud (388–421/999–1031), was the founder of the Ghaznawid dynasty and bore the title Sayf al-Dawla (Sword of the State; r 388(421/ 998–1030). For a short period the Ghaznawids played a role in the history of Central Asia.

  The lofty position of the Ghaznawids suffered a deadly blow from a new power that arose in Central Asia during the last quarter of the tenth century. Various Turk ( Turkmaniyyah )tribes, among them the Ghuzz (Oghuz) nomads, crossed into the districts of Transoxiana and Khwarazm. At this stage in their history the Ghuzz were led by the house of Saljuq (Seljuk), at least according to late Saljuq sources. The Saljuqs, almost from the very beginning of their presence in the land south of the Oxus River, clashed with the Ghaznawids (about 416/1025). When Yamin al Dawla Mahmud died (in 421/1031), the Turks constituted a threat that his heirs found difficult to ignore. The crucial clash took place in Dandanqan (near Merv in 431/1040), where the Ghaznawid forces

were routed.

  The Saljuqs reduced the Qarakhanid rulers of Transoxiana and Sinkiang to vassalage. Sanjar, the great Saljuq, took Merv as his capital city, and it

flourished as a center of art and commerce. However, the Qarakhitay, a force that emerged in northern China, advanced westward and near Samarqand were able to defeat the great Saljuqs in 1141. The

  success of these steppe nomads did not last long, however. ‘Ala al-Dim Muhammad (1200–1220), the Khwarazm-Shah, advanced from Urgench, his capital city (Chorasmia, in the delta oasis of Khiva, where the Amu Darya and the Shavat canal flow into the Aral Sea in contemporary Uzbekistan), eastward and defeated the Qarakhanids. He then turned his

attention southward to the Iranian plateau.

  After conquering northern China (Beijing, 1215), Genghis (Temujin) Khan turned his attention westward to the territories controlled by the Khwarazms. The Mongols did not stop at the Aral Sea (1219–1225) but swept on to Anatolia, Iran, Baghdad, and Syria (1234–1258). Following the death of Genghis Khan (in 1227), Central Asia became the territory of his son Chaghatay. With the conversion to Islam of the Mongol Chaghatay people (ulus), a new Mongol–Islamic culture developed in the land between the Oxus and Sinkiang.

  After their disintegration, a new force emerged in Central Asia. Timur Lenk (Tamerlane, 1335–1405) succeeded in establishing a new nomad empire. He became the de facto ruler of ma-wara-al-nahr, leaving

the Chaghatay dynasty as the nominal rulers and the source of his legitimacy. Tamerlane proceeded to conquer all of western Central Asia, Iran, and Asia Minor. In his capital of Samarqand, Timur gathered

numerous artisans and scholars from the lands he had conquered and imbued his empire with a very rich culture.

  After the death of Timur, the Timurid state quickly broke in two. His youngest son and successor, Shah Rukh (1407–1447), crossed the Oxus southward to the Iranian area and established his headquarters in

Herat. Babur, the last representative of the Timurid dynasty, was driven out by the Uzbek Shibanid dynasty (in 1501) to seek his fortune in India.

Further Reading

Bartold, Vasilii Vladimirovich. (W. Barthold).Turkestan

Down to the Mongol Invasion. London: Luzac, 1968/

1977.

Dankoff, Robert, trans.Compendium of the Turkic Dialects

(Diwan lugat At-Turk by Mahmud ibn al-Husain alKashgari). Harvard University Print Office, 1982–1984.

Darke, R., trans.Nizam al-Mulk: The Book of Government.

London, 1960.

Hamada, M. ‘‘Le Mausolee et le cults de Satuq Bughara

Khan.’’Journal of the History of Sufism3 (2001): 63–87.

Hamilton A. R. Gibb.The Arab Conquests in Central Asia.

London, 1923. (Reprint New York, 1970.)

Khadr, M., and Cahen, Cl. ‘‘Deux actes de waqf d’un

Qarahanide d’Asie centrale,’’JA255 (1967): 305–334.

Bosworth, C. E. ‘‘A propos de l’article de Mohamed

Khadr—Deux actes de waqf d’un Qarahanide d’Asie

centrale.’’JA256 (1968): 449–453. [Reprinted in hisThe

Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

London: Variorum Reprints, 1977, art. 21.]

Le Strange, Guy.The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate.

London, 1905.

Manz, Beatrice Forbes.The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Minorsky, V., trans.Hudud al-Alam: The Regions of the

World—A Persian Geography 372AH/982 AD.London:

Luzac, 1970.

Richards, D.S., trans.The Annals of the Saljuq Turks:

Selections from al-Kamil fi

0 l-Tarikh of Izz al-Din Ibn alAthir [1160–1233]. London: Routledge Curzon, 2002.

Thackston Jr., W. M., trans.Baburname, Vol 1. Harvard

University, 1993

CHESS

  The words for the game of chess in Middle Persian (catrang) and in Persian and Arabic (satrang / satranj) are derived from (Sanskrit) caturanga,meaning army consisting of four divisions (Falkner 1892, 125). This is because the Indian army consisted of four groups: hasty asva nau kapadata,which translates as ‘‘elephant, horse, ship, foot soldiers.’’ Thus the game was meant to be a simulation for battle. The game entered the Near East, specifically to Persia in the sixth century CE during the rule of the Sasanian king, Khosrow I (Arabic Kisra) (530–571). The game was meant to be part of princely or courtly education in acquiring (Middle Persian) frahangor (Persian) farhang,which means culture. The playing of the game as part of princely education continued in the Medieval Islamic period, as is attested in such works as the Qabus-nameh of  Ibn Wasmgir (Yusefı¯1375, 77), and Chahar  maqala by Samarqandi (Qazvini 1331, 68–69).

  The games of chess and backgammon, along with a variety of literary works, were introduced to Persia from India, including the Pancatantra,which, according to tradition, was translated into Middle Persian by a physician named Burzoe. The Middle Persian

version is lost, but a Syriac translation of it was made in 570 under the name Kalılag wa Damnag. These stories were taken from another Indian text called the Hitopades´a (Book of Good Counsel).This book was part of the Indian genre known asnıtis astra (‘‘mirror for princes’’), which also existed in Persia, and in Middle Persian was known as ewen namag (Persian) ayın name (Book of Manners), which is mentioned in the earliest text on the games of chess and backgammon. These books were also commonly known as ‘‘Mirror for Princes’’ or Siyar  al-muluk

or Nasıhat ’al-muluk in the Medieval Islamic period (Daryaee 2002, 285–286).

  The earliest text on the games of chess and backgammon is found in Persia in Middle Persian, and it is known as Wizarisn ı Catrang ud Nihisn ıNe wArdaxsır (The Explanation of Chess and the Invention of Backgammon). According toWizaris nı Catrang ud Nihis nı New Ardaxsır, there are four major personages involved in making the game; Dewis arm /Sac idarm, the Indian king and his minister, Taxtrıtos, sent

the game to Persia. On the Persian side, Khusrow I and his minister, Wuzurgmihr/(Arabic and Persian) Buzarjumihr / Bozorgmihr were to decipher the game. The wise Persian minister Wuzurgmihr gives an explanation of the game, making an analogy to war or battle between two armies: ‘‘He made the king like the two overlords, the rook (on) the left and right flank, the minister like the commander of the warriors, the elephant is like the commander of the bodyguards, and the horse is like the commander of the cavalry, the foot-soldier like the same pawn, that is at front of the battle(field)’’ (Daryaee 2002, 304).

  The earliest surviving chess pieces are also from Persia. These include an elephant carved from black stone (2 7/8 inches). The piece is from the late sixth or seventh century, which corresponds to the time when the Middle Persian text was composed (Dennis and Wilkinson 1968, xxxvii). A fourteenth century manuscript of the Sahname contains two scenes, one at the court of  Khusrow I and the second at the court of  Dewis arm. In the scene Wuzurgmihr is seated on the floor with three other Persians, all with white turbans. In front of the Persian sage is a board game where by

taking into account the story, we can see that the board game is a backgammon board. The Indian king is seated on his throne and is surrounded by the Indian sages who are painted darker and have

darker turbans. Wuzurgmihr has his right hand pointing on the backgammon board, which probably means that he is either challenging the Indian sages or explaining the rules of the game after the Indian

sages have been dumbfounded. It is particularly interesting to note that one of the two older Indian sages with a white beard has his hand by his mouth, symbolizing his amazement or perplexity (Dennis and Wilkinson 1968, xii). What can be concluded from these representations and our text is that board games such as chess were likened to battle and the struggle in life. These board games were sports that were meant to train the mind in order to be a wellrounded person, namely someone who has acquired

frahang/farhang(culture).

 

  During the early ‘Abbasid period, the game of chess was seen as a form of gambling by some Muslim scholars. This argument was put forth based on two reasons: first, there was betting placed on the game,

and so it was considered to be a form of gambling, which made it haram (illicit). Second, enthusiasts would spend so much of their time playing chess that they forgot to pray and participate in the religious lif (Rosenthal 1975, 37–40). Some authors justified the game by stating that as long as it was played for mental exercise it would be beneficial. The Qabusna mededicates a chapter to the games of chess and backgammon, detailing the proper etiquette of playing and when one should win and to whom one should lose. It is strictly stated that one should not make bets

on the games, and only then does playing the game become a proper activity (Yusefı¯1375, 77). The game of chess entered Europe, specifically Andalusia, with the Muslim conquest of the region. When the Christian Spaniards were able to beat back the Muslims, the

game had already become popular (in Spanish,ajedrez), except that one piece of the game was changed, that of the Queen for the Wazır.

Further Reading

Daryaee, T. ‘‘Mind, Body and the Cosmos: The Game of

Chess and Backgammon in Ancient Persia.’’Iranian

Studies35, 4 (2002): 281–312.

Falkner, E.Games of Ancient and Oriental and How to

Play them Being the Games of the Ancient Egyptians,

the Hiera Gramme of the Greeks, the Ludus Latrunculorum of the Romans and the Oriental Games of Chess,

Draughts, Backgammon and Magic Squares. New York:

Dover Publications, 1892.

Rosenthal, F.Gambling in Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975.

‘Umar b. ‘Alı ¯Nizami Samarqandi.Chaha¯r maqa ¯la. Edited

by M. Qzvini. Tehran, 1331.

‘Unsur al-ma ‘a ¯lı ¯ Kai-Ka¯wu¯ s b. Iskadar b. Qabu ¯s b.

Wasˇmgı¯r b. Ziya ¯r.Qa¯bu¯sna¯me. Edited by Q.-H. Yusefı ¯.

Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publishers, 1375.

Wilkinson, C. K.Chess: East and West, Past and Present, A

Selection from the Gustavus A. Pfeiffer Collection. New

York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1968.

CHINA

  The history of Islam in China is, naturally, intertwined with the historical development of a Muslim presence there. It is also connected, albeit to a much lesser extent, to the history of relations between China

and the Muslim world. A Muslim presence has been recorded in China as early as the seventh century, when Muslim envoys visited Chang’an, then the capital of the Tang dynasty. As early as the eighth century there is evidence of a more permanent Muslim presence, as merchants settled in China’s larger cities and established communities there. Both Chinese

and Muslim records speak of these communities, which maintained regular contacts with the Muslim world. Al-Sirafi, the tenth-century author of Akhbar al-Sin wa’l-Hind, mentions a community of more than

one hundred thousand Muslims in Khanfu (Canton). While it is clear that this number is quite exaggerated, it indicates that the community must have been fairly significant in size. Over the years, Muslim quarters

were established elsewhere in the major Chinese cities and in the northwestern and southwestern regions of China, which were closer to the Muslim territories of Central Asia. The highlight of these settlements was

‘‘Zaitoon’’ (Quanzhou), a city on China’s southeastern coast where large numbers of  Muslim merchants resided during the times of such travelers as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta (both of whom wrote extensively

about the city).

  The main bulk of Muslims, however, came to China along with the occupying Mongols, for whom Muslims served as soldiers, administrators, tax collectors, and scientists. The brief integration of China with the rest of the world during the days of the Mongol empire intensified the trade with Muslim regions even further. When the Mongols left China and the Chinese Ming dynasty was founded in 1368, these Muslims remained in China and settled in different parts of the empire, creating an array of forms of Muslim presence in the country from Muslim villages in the rural northwest to Muslim quarters within the large Chinese urbanities of the east. The early years of the Ming period (roughly from the fourteenth through sixteenth century) saw also the transformation of these people from ‘‘Muslims in China’’ to ‘‘Chinese

Muslims,’’ a new and diverse social entity that used Chinese as its language and had some form of Islam as its religion.

  This wide range of forms of Muslim life in China gave rise to an equally diverse range of forms of Chinese Islam in the following centuries. The Northwest saw the appearance of menhuan (saintly lineage), devout Sufi orders organized around the cult of Sufi saints and the practice of Sufi rituals such as the vocal and the silentdhikr(remembrance). The urban communities of eastern China gave rise to a textual canon known as the Han Kitab (Chinese book), a sophisticated amalgamation of Islamic thought and neoConfucian philosophy. In both of these forms we can

see a distinctive form of Islam, which can be termed ‘‘Chinese Islam.’’ The emergence of these distinctive forms of Chinese Islam is traced back to roughly the end of the sixteenth century, although they reached

their peak during the eighteenth century.

  Of the numerous Sufi orders of northwestern China the most influential was the Naqshbandiyya, whose masters moved their activities from Central Asia into China during the seventeenth century. Shortly thereafter, local Chinese forms of these grew up around northwestern Chinese leaders such Ma Laichi (1673–1753), founder of the first indigenous Chinese order, and Ma Mingxin (1719–1781), who formed a

rival order with different practices. Ma Mingxin’s career led him and his followers to serious clashes with the Chinese authorities that in turn resulted in a series of violent outbreaks in the Northwest that lasted, off

and on, for more than a century and devastated the Muslim communities of the region.

  The Han Kitab scholars of eastern China emerged from an education system that was in structure very much like the Confucian education system and which espoused similar values, such as textual learning

and scholarly perfection. The first Han Kitab texts appeared in the early seventeenth century and were mainly translations into Chinese of Sufi texts such as the Mirsad al-‘Ibad. Shortly thereafter, original works

appeared. This tradition reached its peak with the career of  Liu Zhi (ca. 1755–1730), whose work created a coherent philosophical system that combined key neo-Confucian and Sufi concepts. The cornerstone of Liu’s thought was the identification he made between Ibn-‘Arabi’s concept of Insan Kamil (Ar., perfect man), with the Confucian concept of Shengren(Ch., sage). The Prophet Muhammad, according to this

formulation, was the ultimate Confucian sage.

  Both of these distinct forms of Chinese Islam disappeared, or were radically transformed, during the twentieth century. However, their legacies of the Sufi orders in particular still persist in China.

Further Reading

Benite (Ben-Dor), Zvi.The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural

History of Muslims in Late Imperial China. Cambridge:

Harvard University Asia Center, forthcoming.

Broomhall, Marshall.Islam in China: A Neglected Problem.

London: Morgan and Scott, 1910.

Chu, Wen-djang. The Moslem Rebellion in Northwest

China: A Study of Government Minority Policy. The

Hague: Mouton, 1966.

Fletcher, Joseph.Studies on Chinese and Islamic Inner Asia.

London: Variorum, 1995.

Gladney, Dru.Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the

People’s Republic. Cambridge: Harvard University

Press, 1991.

Israeli, Raphael. Islam in China: A Critical Bibliography.

London: Greenwood Press, 1994.

———.Muslims in China: A Study in Cultural Confrontation. London: Curzon, 1978.

———. Canberra: Canberra College of Advanced Education, 1981.

Leslie, Donald.Islam in Traditional China: A Short History.

Canberra: Canberra College of Advanced Education,

1986.

Lipman, Jonathan.Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle: Washington University

Press, 1998.

CHISHTI, MU‘IN AL-DIN (C. 1141/2–1236)

  One of the eponymous founders of the Chishti Sufi order in India, Khwaja Mu‘in al-Din Hasan Sijzi was born in Sistan around 1141 or 1142. Following political upheavals in Sistan and his father’s death, Mu‘in al-Din Chishti set out on his travels, linking up in Nishapur with the wandering circle of Khwaja ‘Uthman, a Sufi master from Chisht near Herat. We know little about his travels before he moved to India;

certainly, hagiographies that describe his meetings with other founders of famous Sufi orders, such as ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166), Najib al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1168), and Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1221), have little basis in history. Our earliest sources for the life of Mu‘in al-Din are Amir Khwurd’s Siyar alawliya’, a collection of Chishti hagiographies, and

Surur al-sudur, conversations (malfuzat) of  Hamid al-Din Nagawri penned posthumously some two hundred years later. Contemporary accounts such as Minhaj’s and Fakhr-i Mudabbir’s do not mention

him, nor do the earliest Chishti works, namely the Fawa’id al-fu’ad, the conversations of  Nizam al-Din Awliya’ penned by Amir Hasan Sijzi (d. 1336), and the Khayr al-majalis, the conversations of  Nasir al-Din

Chiragh-i Dihlavi (d. 1356) compiled by Hamid Qalandar. It is thus unclear when exactly he moved to Delhi and then Ajmer. The hagiographies often stress that he settled in Ajmer when it was still nonMuslim territory (and the center of the Rajput Chauhan realm, as well as a religious place of significance), and through his spiritual power and example brought the natives into the fold of Islam; the date given is

usually before 1192. In other accounts, he moved to Ajmer after the Muslim conquest of  Rajasthan in the 1190s and settled after the death of the Ghurid sultan Mu‘izz al-Din in 1206. He is said to have married locally and been revered as a holy man, gathering around him disciples such that when he died in 1236, his tomb became a place of pilgrimage.

  Although Mu‘in al-Din Chishti left no writings, some of his key doctrines are recorded by Amir Khwurd. First, he stressed that seekers should be like lovers and when they gain insight and experience, they realize that love, lover, and beloved are all one. This monism may account for the later successful spread of the influence of Ibn ‘Arabi’s ideas among the Chishtis. Second, serving humanity and, in particular, the poor was actually true service to God and defined the very essence of religion. Chishti centers became known for their open-door policy and their doctrine of universal peace. Third, generosity, love, and hospitality were the key virtues to be inculcated. Religious parochialism and exclusivism were to be avoided. Chishti shrines embodied this ethos in their daily functions and provided shelter and sustenance for the poor and destitute, encouraging non-Muslims and Muslims to benefit from the spiritual power of the Sufis.

  We know much about the development of the cult of  Khwaja Mu‘in al-Din, who became known as the stranger who is generous (gharib navaz), through the patronage of the later Delhi sultans and the Mughals, especially Akbar. The spread of the Chishti order throughout India is credited to his disciples and the Sufis in the two generations after him, in particular Farid al-Din Ganj Shakar (d. 1265), whose shrine is at Ajodhan, Nizam al-Din Awliya’ of Delhi (d. 1325), Qutb al-Din Bakhtiyar of Mehrauli (d. 1235), and Hamid al-Din of Nagawr (d. 1274). The cult of the shrines of the famous Chishti Sufis, encouraged by the

Mughals through endowments and bequests, established the Chishti order as the most widespread, wealthy, and influential Indian Sufi order.

Further Reading

Currie, P.M.The Shrine and Cult of Mu‘in al-Din Chishti of

Ajmer. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Ernst, C., and B. Lawrence.Sufi Martyrs of Love. London:

Palgrave, 2002.

Farooqi, N.R. ‘‘The early Chishti Sufis of India I and II.’’

Islamic Culture77.1 (2003): 1–29, 77.2 (2003): 1–33.

Haeri, M..The Chishtis. Karachi: Oxford University Press,

2001.

Nizami, K.A.Religion and Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century. New Delhi: Oxford University Press,

2002 [1961].

CIRCASSIANS

  Circassians is the general name for the group of peoples in the northwestern Caucasus region who speak a language of the Abazgo–Circassian branch of the Caucasian languages. In Arabic, they are usually referred to as Jarkash (pl. Jarakish); in Turkish, Cerkes; and in their own language, Adygei. The Circassians were renowned for their military skills and played an important role in the history of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, and to a certain degree later in the Ottoman  Empire and the Safawid Empire. The territories inhabited by the Circassians are today part of the Russian Federation, and people of Circassian descent also live in Turkey, Jordan, and Israel.

  Circassians and their lands were known to the early Arab geographers but were generally off the main path of early Muslim history. Their territory was ruled by the Khazars in the seventh to eleventh centuries, and the Mongol Golden Horde in the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Throughout this period, the Circassians followed their indigenous pagan traditions, although Christianity made some inroads among them. The Circassians began adopting Islam starting around the sixteenth century. The fact that they were pagans, along with their prowess, made them ideal candidates for military slavery (see Slavery, Military), not the least since at times it was difficult to procure Mamluks from the traditional Qipchaq Turkish areas farther north. Circassians

first achieved prominence in the Mamluk Sultanate under Sultan Qalawun (1279–1290), who enrolled them in his Burjiyya regiment, named after the towers (abraj) of the Cairo citadel in which they resided.

The members of this formation were only part of the large number of Mamluks whom this sultan purchased, and besides their military skills and availability, another reason for their purchase appears to have been a desire to counterbalance the influence of the Turkish Mamluks. The Circassians at that time, as well as later, showed a great degree of ethnic solidarity(jinsiyya),and rallied behind their compatriot Baybars al-Jashnakir (the taster), one of the strongmen of the Sultanate after Qalawun’s death who was briefly sultan (r. 1309–1310), known to modern historians as Baybars II. While not disappearing, the power of the Circassians was subsequently weakened in the following generations but was to reemerge after the rise to power of Sultan Barquq (r. 1382–1406),

a Circassian who made a special effort to import Mamluks from among his countrymen, at the expense of Turks and other groups. In fact, the second half of the Mamluk Sultanate is known by contemporary sources as the ‘‘Circassian State/Dynasty’’ (dawlat al-jarakisa), reflecting the predominant role of this group. Modern historians and students often mistakenly call this time the Burji period and its rulers Burji sultans, probably unintentionally (but still falsely) seeing a connection between the Circassian Burjiyya regiment of the late thirteenth century and

the Circassian rulers, officers, and common Mamluks of a century later.

  The Circassian period was generally one of economic decline and political disorder. Certainly there was a growing lack of discipline among the Mamluks. Contemporary writers, sometimes followed by modern historians, have attributed this to the character of the Circassians. It probably has more to do with a declining economy (a legacy of the middle fourteenth century), which in turn generated problems with paying the army, as well as the necessity of importing older Mamluks, meaning less education for the common soldier and future officer; he was therefore less formed than his predecessor and more prone to rioting and other forms of lack of discipline. There was a notable tendency for the Circassians to bring over family members once they were well established, breaking a long-held tradition of the Mamluk system,

where the young military slave lost contact with his family, thus becoming dependent on his new patron and fellow Mamluks. Interestingly enough, during the Circassian period there was a certain flowering of Mamluk Turkish literature in the Sultanate, indicating that perhaps Turkish remained the lingua franca of the Mamluk class in spite of demographic changes. Circassians remained among the Mamluks

of Egypt in the Ottoman period and were settled in Palestine and Jordan in the nineteenth century by the Ottoman authorities as part of the effort to increase control in the area, as well as to provide a solution to

the thousands of Circassians who fled their homeland after the Russian conquest.

Further Reading

Ayalon, David. ‘‘The Circassians in the Mamlu¯ k Kingdom.’’

Journal of the American Oriental Society. 69 (1949):

135–147. (Reprinted in D. Ayalon.Studies on the Mamlu¯k

of Egypt [1250–1517]. London: Variorum Reprints,

1977.)

Flemming, Barbara. ‘‘Literary Activities in the Mamluk

Halls and Barracks.’’ InStudies in Memory of Gaston

Wiet, ed. Myriam Rosen-Ayalon. Jerusalem: Institute

of Asian and African Studies, Hebrew University of

Jerusalem, 1977.

Manz, Beatrice. ‘‘Cˇ

arkas.’’ Encyclopaedia Iranica.4:

816–818.

Quelquejay, Ch et al. ‘‘Cˇ

erkes.’’ Encyclopaedia of Islam,

new edition. 2: 21–26

COPTIC LANGUAGE

  The latest stage of the Egyptian language, Coptic emerged in the second century CE and lasted as a spoken and written language until the eleventh century, after which it remained in use only for liturgical purposes by the Copts of Egypt. From the ninth century onward, Arabic gradually replaced Coptic; today, Arabic is the primary language used in the

Coptic Church.

  The termCopticis derived from Greek word Aiguptios (Egyptian), which was subsequently brought into Arabic asqibt. After the conquests of

Alexander in 332 BCE, Greek became the administrative language of Egypt and eventually superseded the use of the Egyptian language, which came to exist only in spoken form. Greek language had the advantage of a simple alphabet (the Demotic script had already supplanted the traditional hieroglyphic script); its practical advantage was significant. By the end of

the first century CE, in unknown circumstances, the Coptic alphabet had emerged. The Coptic alphabet borrowed the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet and added seven letters from Demotic (Egyptian)

for sounds found in Egyptian but not in Greek. Although the vocabulary of Coptic was largely Egyptian, many words were borrowed (especially in biblical and liturgical texts) from Greek. Some ten major regional dialects of Coptic have been identified among these, the Sahidic Coptic of Upper (that is, southern) Egypt and the Bohairic dialect of Lower (that is, northern) Egypt are most important. Sahidic Coptic was the primary dialect for written literary texts (and documents such as contracts, wills, and letters) until the eleventh century; Bohairic emerged somewhat later, was the only dialect to survive after the ninth century, and continues in limited liturgical use until today.

   Of the diverse texts produced in Coptic (including documentary and literary texts), the vast majority pertain to Christianity in Egypt; indeed, many of the earliest extant texts in Coptic are Sahidic translations

from Greek of biblical books (from both the New Testament and the Septuagint). In addition, apocryphal works, martyrologies, monastic rules and letters, hagiographical literature, patristic works, and other ecclesiastical texts came to be translated into Coptic during the third century and beyond.

  One of the most important discoveries for the study of Coptic and the history of Christianity was a cache of thirteen codices (containing fifty-two individual works) found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. Many of the texts in this collection of fourthcentury CE Coptic translations of Greek works (which came to be called the Nag Hammadi Library) have been associated with a form of Christianity loosely identified as gnostic in orientation. In texts such as The Apocryphon of John, the Testimony of Truth, the Gospel of Thomas, and many others, there emerges a privileging of esoteric knowledge necessary

for salvation.

  Literary works originally composed in Coptic began to appear in the fourth century Pachomian monastic literature and, more importantly, in the writings of the fifth-century abbot of the White Monastery, Shenoute. Although the large literary corpus of Shenoute has yet to be published in a critical edition, much debate has circled around his pioneering use of Coptic for his theological compositions. Was his decision, for example, influenced by his hostility to classical Greek culture? Or was it motivated

by his desire to reach a local population that could not understand Greek? When so much of our knowledge of Coptic is mediated through a bilingual lens (as in the many Greek–Coptic bilingual manuscripts),

Shenoute’s choice of Coptic over Greek deserves continued study.

  After the Arab conquests of the seventh century, the subsequent increased Muslim immigration to Egypt, and the conversion of many Copts to Islam, Coptic gradually gave way to Arabic. The transition is readily apparent in the numerous extant Coptic Arabic bilingual manuscripts. Such manuscripts have provided an important source for the study of ancient Egyptian and Coptic. Today the academic study of Coptic is particularly vibrant among scholars in the fields of religion (especially the history of early Christianity) and papyrology

(the study of ancient papyrus remains). Among the Copts of Egypt today, there have been attempts to revive the use of liturgical Coptic, but Arabic continues to be the primary language of Egypt, even in the Coptic Church.

Further Reading

Bagnall, Roger S.Egypt in Late Antiquity. Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press, 1993.

Bishai, Wilson B. ‘‘The Transition from Coptic to Arabic.’’

The Muslim World53 (1963): 145–150.

Metzger, Bruce M.The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origins, Transmission and Limitations.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.

Pagels, Elaine.The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Random

House, 1979.

Watterson, Barbara.Coptic Egypt. Edinburgh: Scottish

Academic Press, 1988.