GHANA
Drawing on both written sources and oral
sources (the so-called Epic of Wagadu), Levtzion (1980) dates the origins of
Ghana to the first millennium CE: ‘‘By the end of the eighth century, Ghana was
known in the Muslim world as ‘the land of Gold’. Al-Ya‘qubi, a widely-traveled
official in the service of the ‘Abbasid caliphs during the ninth century
described the Kingdom of Ghana ‘whose king is also powerful. In his country are
the gold mines, and under his authority are a number of kings. Among them are
the kingdom of ‘Am and the kingdom of Sama. Gold is found in the whole of the
country’ ’’ (Hopkins and Levtzion 1981, 21).
According to the written sources, in the
second half of the ninth century,Kawkaw
an early version of the modern term for Gao, and a predecessor of the Songhay
Empire) and Ghana were the two most powerful kingdoms of western Sudan, each
with vassal chiefdoms under its dominion (Levtzion 1980, 22). In 1067–1068, the
Arab geographer al-Bakri, drawing on accounts by travelers and other written
sources,
wrote
an oft-cited description of the capital of
Ghana. The city was divided into two towns, one for the Moslems, the
other, ten kilometers away, for the ruler and his entourage. Archaeological work
points toward the remains of Ghana at Kumbi Saleh in southeastern Mauretania.
Note that there is no historical or cultural connection between medieval Ghana
and the present-day Republic of Ghana.
Medieval Ghana lay far inland from the west
coast of West Africa; its main cities were Awdaghost, situated almost five
hundred kilometers from the ocean, and Kumbi Saleh, the capital, three hundred kilometers
farther east. It sat astride the trade routes for gold shipped from the sources
of the Senegal and Niger rivers northward via Walata to the Maghreb, and for
salt from the city of Teghazza (six hundred kilometers to the north), which was
transported throughout the region. It is to be noted that presentday
archaeologists hesitate to point to Kumbi Saleh
as
the capital of an empire, since it has no hinterland; archaeologists have
increasingly had more difficulty in finding proof of ‘‘empires’’ in the Sahel,
because excavations give increasingly more and diverse data.
(A
revision of Levtzion 1980 is in process.) Current scholarship pictures in this
part of West Africa, in the Middle Ages, a trend toward the creation of state organizations
with central agencies of redistribution
possessing
a majority or monopoly of power and authority, at least episodically, for the
duration of one or more regimes. Rulers accomplished centralization by
absorbing, first politically (through conquest or vassalage) then culturally,
regions into the empire.
Probably because of its location and its
powerful army, Ghana seems to have been able to remain unaffected by the wars
and social dislocation caused by the migrants and influence of the Almoravids
until the middle of the eleventh century. By controlling trade in the region,
the empire developed a reputation for prosperity throughout the Sahel and the
larger
Islamic
world. The rulers of Ghana maintained their own belief system while allowing
that of Islam to develop in their cities; al-Bakri underscores the freedom
allowed to believers of Islam and those of the
local
religion. The degree of Islamization
probably remained low until the nineteenth century. Ghana’s decline can be
dated by the late twelfth century, and in the thirteenth century Mali developed
as the second
great
empire of the Sahel.
Further
Reading
Hopkins, John F.P., and Nehemiah
Levtzion.Corpus of
Early Arabic Sources for West
African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Levtzion, Nehemia.Ancient Ghana
and Mali. 2nd ed. New
York: Africana, 1980.
Masonen, Pekka.The Negroland
Revisited: Discovery and
Invention of the Sudanese Middle
Ages. Helsinki: The
Finnish Academy of Science and
Letters, 2000.
GHASSANIDS
A branch of the Azd tribal group, the
Ghassanids (or Banu Ghassaan) migrated into northern Arabia at the end of the
fifth century. They quickly superseded the dominant Banu Salih as the principal
local tributary of the Byzantine Empire. Thus Ghassanid history is to be
situated against the backdrop of competing efforts by the Byzantine and
Sasanian empires to win supremacy over southern Syria/northern Arabia.
By
the turn of the fourth century, a new policy of direct ties to nomadic powers
of the region involved the distribution of treaties, subsidies, and formal titles.
In the case of Byzantium, the rewards included security along the southern
Syrian frontier from nomadic forces; protection of imperial commercial and political
interests, particularly those related to trade in spices, aromatics, and other
luxury goods; and auxiliary military strength against the Sasanians.
The Ghassanids played their part ably. Their
alliance with Byzantium was formalized around 502 CE by Jabala, the first
Ghassanid phylarch (Greek, tribal chief
). From their principal residence, al-Jabiya, located in al-Jawlan, a district
of southern Syria (modern-day Golan), the Ghassanids are reported to have
conducted regular campaigns as far south as the Hijaz and central Najd. The
principal phase of their history
involved the career of al-Harith ibn Jabala (d. 569), known in Roman sources as
‘‘Arethas’’ and head of the Jafna, chief clan of the Ghassanid confederation.
He is reported to have fought with distinction against the Sassanids during
Justinian’s reign (527–565) and, at a later point, against forces led by Mundhir
ibn Nu‘man (d. 554), head of the Lakhmid state, the principal Sassanid client
in the region. His son, Mundhir ibn al-Harith, later sacked the Lakhmid capital
of al-Hira (570), a near-fatal blow to the standing of the Lakhmids. At an
early point in his career, al-Harith was rewarded for his efforts on behalf of Byzantium, with the rank of king (basileus) and
various titles including patrikios and
gloriosissimus.
Historians part ways in explaining subsequent
strains in Ghassanid–Byzantine relations. The arrest of Mundhir ibn al-Harith
in 580, and of his son, Nu‘man ibn Mundhir, in 583, clearly signaled imperial displeasure.
One explanation holds that the Byzantines deeply resented the Ghassanid embrace
of the Monophysite form of Christianity. Efforts by al-Harith proved vital to
the survival of the Syrian Monophysite (Jacobite) church in its confrontation,
in the mid-sixth century, with Byzantine orthodoxy. These efforts were pursued,
in particular, by Mundhir ibn al-Harith as described in a long biographical
notice by John of Ephesus (d. ca. 589), a leading sixthcentury Monophysite
historian. A second explanation is that the Byzantines sought to curtail the
ambitions
of
an emerging regional power. The Ghassanids, routed by Sassanid forces during
the invasion of Syria (613–614), took part in the Byzantine counterinvasion
under Heraclius (r. 622–628). As Byzantine llies, they then confronted the
initial Arab–Islamic campaigns. In 634, at Marj Rahit outside Damascus, Ghassanid
forces were overrun by a force led by Khalid ibn al-Walid (d. 642). The
remaining Ghassanids either dispersed to Anatolia or settled in Syria, many of
them as converts to Islam.
Further
Reading
Hoyland, Robert G.Arabia and the
Arabs from the Bronze
Age to the Coming of Islam.
London: Routledge, 2001.
Muraviev, Alexei. ‘‘Ghassanids.’’
InLate Antiquity: A Guide
to the Postclassical World, ed.
G. W. Bowersock et al.,
468–469. Cambridge, MA: The
Belknap Press, 1999.
GHAZALI
Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali was one of the most
prominent theologians, jurists, and mystics of Sunni Islam. He was born in 1058
CE in Tabaran-Tus (fifteen miles north of modern Mashhad in northeastern Iran),
where he received his early education with his brother Ahmad (1061–1123 or
1126), who later became a famous preacher and Sufi scholar. Muhammad went on to
study with the influential Ash‘ari theologian al-Juwayni (1028–1085) at the
Nizamiyya Madrasa (q.v.) in nearby Nishapur. This brought him in close contact
with the court of the Grand Seljuk Sultan Malikshah (r. 1071–1092) and his
grand vizier
Nizam
al-Mulk (1018–1092) (q.v.). In 1091, alGhazali was appointed professor at the
prestigious Nizamiyya Madrasa in Baghdad. In addition to being a confidante of
the Sultan in Isfahan, he became closely connected to the caliphal court in Baghdad.
He was undoubtedly the most influential intellectual of his time, when in 1095
he suddenly gave up his
posts
in Baghdad and left the city. Despite the information al-Ghazali gives in his
autobiography The Deliverer from Error
(al-Munqidh min al-dalal),itis still not known what led al-Ghazali to leave
his posts. This decision has become the subject of wide-ranging speculations about a drastic
change in his intellectual outlook. Al-Ghazali went on to teach in Damascus and
Jerusalem. At the tomb of Abraham in
Hebron, he vowed never to return to the services of political authorities.
After performing the pilgrimage in 1096, al-Ghazali returned via Baghdad to his
hometown
of
Tus, where he founded a small private
school. In 1106, al-Ghazali broke his vow and returned to teach at the
Nizamiyya Madrasa, apparently succumbing to pressure from the authorities at
the Seljuk court. After teaching for a couple of years in Nishapur he again
retired
to Tus, where he died in 1111.
Al-Ghazali is a towering figure in Sunni
Islam, active at a time when Sunni theology had just passed through its
consolidation and entered a period of intense challenges from Shi‘i Ismaili
theology (see
Shi‘i
thought) and the tradition of Peripatetic philosophy (see Aristotle and
Aristotelianism). Al-Ghazali understood the severity of the confrontation with these
two movements and devoted his early works to
addressing
the challenges presented by these schools of thought. He closely studied the
works of the Peripatetic philosophers Ibn Sina (d. 1037) (q.v.) and al-Farabi
(d. 950) (q.v.) and wrote The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa),a book he later
described as a ‘‘refutation’’ (radd ‘ala)
of the philosophical movement. His
critique is focused on epistemology. The scholars versed in the philosophical
sciences are convinced, al-Ghazali complains, that their way of knowing by
‘‘demonstrative proof ’’ (burhan) is
superior to the kind of knowledge drawn from revelation and its interpretation.
Discussing 20 positions from the teachings of the philosophers, al-Ghazali
attempts to show that their conclusions are not based on demonstration but
often rely on unproven premises concealed within their arguments. The
philosophers therefore have no more certain knowledge than the theologians.
Both groups’ convictions rely on unproven premises that are accepted only
within that group. However, while the unproved premises of the philosophers are
based on no more than their school tradition, those of the theologians
are
rooted in divine revelation and must be given preference. Incoherence of the Philosopher sends with the legal condemnation
of three teachings of the philosophers as apostasy from Islam, punishable by death.
Al-Ghazali argues similarly against the
Ismaili Shi‘is, criticizing the fact that they base their faith on the
teachings of the living imam rather than on accepted interpretations of
revelation. In this instance, his attacks have a distinctly political
component, since the Ismaili Shi‘is, whom al Ghazali called ‘‘Batinites’’ (meaning those who
arbitrarily follow inner meaning), challenged the authority of the ‘Abbasid
Sunni caliphate. Their movement undermined the credibility of Sunni theology, claiming its
interpretation
of scripture is arbitrary. The Sunni theologians submit God’s word to seemingly
reasonable judgments, the Ismailis said, that are purely capricious.
Subsequently, al-Ghazali found himself criticizing one kind of reliance on
reason, practiced by the philosophers, while defending another kind in the
Muslim theologians’ reliance on reason against
Ismaili
attacks.
Al-Ghazali’s departure from his academic and
political career in 1095 led him to focus on ethica subjects, a topic barely
touched upon in earlier works. It is at this point that he starts to write his
most influential book, the voluminous Revivication of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din),a comprehensive
guide to ethical behavior in the everyday life of
Muslims.
He severely criticizes the coveting of worldly matters and reminds his readers
that human life is a path toward Judgment Day and the reward or punishment
gained through it. He vigorously attacks
his
colleagues in Muslim scholarship, questioning their intellectual capacities and
independence, as well as their commitment to gaining reward in the world to come.
This increased moral consciousness brings al Ghazali in close connection to
Sufi attitudes (Sufism), which have a profound influence on his subsequent writing,
most notably on his autobiography and on The Niche of Lights (Mishkat al-anwar),a commentary on the
Light-Verse (Q 24:35) in the Qur’an.
Further
Reading
Frank, Richard M.Al-Ghazali and
the Ashfiarite School.
Durham/London: Duke University
Press, 1994.
Al-Ghazali.Freedom and
Fulfillment: An Annotated Translation of al-Ghazali’s al-Munqidh min al-dalal
and
Other Relevant Works of
al-Ghazali. Transl. Richard
J. McCarthy. Boston: Twayne,
1980. Reprinted:Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual
Autobiography al-Munqidh min
al-Dalal. Louisville, KY:
Fons Vitae, 2000.
———.The Incoherence of the
Philosophers/Tahafut al-falasifa, a Parallel English-Arabic Text. Transl.
Michael E.
Marmura. Provo, UT: Brigham Young
University Press,
1997.
———Faith in Divine Unity and
Trust in Divine Providence
[Book 35 of Revivication of
Religious Sciences]. Transl.
David Burrell. Louisville, KY:
Fons Vitae, 2001.
———.The Niche of Lights: A
Parallel English-Arabic
Text. Transl. David Buchman.
Provo, UT: Brigham
Young University Press, 1998.
‘‘Gazali.’’Encyclopeadia Iranica.
Ed. Ehsan Yarshater. Vol.
10. New York: Bibliotheca Persia
Press, 2001, 358–377.
Watt, William M.Muslim
Intellectual: A Study of alGhazali. Edinburgh: University Press, 1963.
GHAZNAVIDS
The Ghaznavids (r. 977–1186 CE) established
the largest empire in the eastern Muslim world since the ‘Abbasids. The dynasty
was of Turkish slave origin, first ruling on behalf of the disintegrating
Samanid Empire of Transoxiana and Khurasan, later as independent sovereigns. In
962, the rebel slave commander Alptigin established himself at Ghazna. His
slave
Sebuktigin (r. 977–997) lay the foundations of the empire; he was awarded
governorship of much of present-day Afghanistan (including Ghazna) by the
Samanids in 977, annexed Khurasan, Sistan, and
Lamghan,
and, crushing offensives by the Hindushahi Raja
Jaipal (979 and 988), conquered territory up to Peshawar.
Sebuktigin’s son Mahmud (r. 998–1030)
declared independence, with nominal loyalty to the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Qadir. He
extended the empire from western Persia to the Ganges valley, financing his
army
and
sophisticated bureaucracy by campaigns against wealthy Hindu religious centers
and excessive taxation of Khurasan and
Afghanistan. The religious impetus of Mahmud’s Indian forays was minimal; he
fought
equally tenaciously against rival Muslim rulers and established permanent
dominion in India only up to Lahore.
Mas’ud (r. 1030–1041) had to contend with the
rise of the Seljuks in the eastern Muslim world, losing much of Iran and his
Central Asian territories in 1040 and shifting the dynasty’s orientation toward
India. Fleeing to Lahore, he was overthrown by mutinous palace guards. Though
Mawdud (r. 1041– 1050) stabilized the Ghaznavid position, chaos reigned until 1059,
with power contested by various governors, the loss of some Hindu centers, and
the siege of Lahore by the raja of Delhi.
Ibrahim (r. 1059–1099) ushered in a golden
era marked by treaties and cultural interaction with the Seljuks. His army
crossed the southern border of Punjab,
and Lahore became a major cultural center. By Bahram’s reign (1118–ca. 1152),
however, the Ghaznavids were little more than Seljuk vassals. Furthermore,
long-standing trouble with Ghur, near Herat, came to the forefront. Bahram’s
injudicious poisoning of a The Ghaznavids inherited Samanid administrative, political,
and cultural traditions and laid the foundations for a Persianate state in
northern India. Under Mahmud, Ghazna approached Baghdad in importance, hosting
luminaries such as al-Biruni and Ferdowsi. Though the Ghaznavids initially
spoke Turkish, Persian literature was promoted at both Ghazna and Lahore,
encouraging poets such as Unsuri, Farrukhi, Manuchihri, Runi, Sana’i, Masud Sa‘d
Salman, and the Sufi al-Hujwiri. The dynasty
presided
over new developments in Persian literature, notably in lyrical romances and
romantic epics, as well Ghuri chief led to the destruction of Ghazna around the
year 1150 and its occupation by the Oghuz in the early 1160s. Khusrau Shah (r.
ca. 1152–1160) most likely escaped to the Punjab, the sole remaining Ghaznavid
possession. After Khusrau
Malik’s
rule (r. 1160–1186) in Lahore, the city was annexed and Khusrau captured by
Muhammad Ghuri, bringing the end of the Ghaznavid dynasty.
The Ghaznavids inherited Samanid
administrative, political, and cultural traditions and laid the foundations for
a Persianate state in northern India. Under Mahmud, Ghazna approached Baghdad
in importance, hosting luminaries such as al-Biruni and Ferdowsi. Though the
Ghaznavids initially spoke Turkish, Persian literature was promoted at both
Ghazna
and Lahore, encouraging poets such as Unsuri, Farrukhi, Manuchihri, Runi,
Sana’i, Masud Sa‘d Salman, and the Sufi al-Hujwiri. The dynasty presided over
new developments in Persian literature, notably in lyrical romances and
romantic epics, as well as a budding Turkish literature. Art and architecture also
flourished. In jurisprudence, the early Ghaznavids were Shafi‘i, but Hanafism
gained ascendancy by
Mas‘ud’s
time. Though their campaigns against the Ismailis, Shi‘i Buyids, and Hindus
were driven by material considerations and imperial ambition, the early rulers
often styled themselves as Sunni champions of
the
faith.
Successful Ghaznavid military strategy
involved small forces, mounted archers, and lightning raids, and the army’s
most important components were the Turkish slave elite and Hindu Indians. In
India, Hindu chiefs usually became tributaries in a system of indirect rule.
There was no significant loss of population through conquest and negligible
conversion to Islam. Some scholars maintain that the large transfer of wealth
under the Ghaznavids facilitated trade between India and the Muslim world. Much
of this was later passed to the Seljuks as tribute payments, expanding circulation
of precious metals to the Levant and Asia Minor.
Further
Reading
Bosworth, Clifford E.The
Ghaznavids. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1963.
———. ‘‘The Development of Persian
Culture Under the
Early Ghaznavids.’’Iran6 (1968):
33–44.
———.The Later Ghaznavids:
Splendour and Decay. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977.
———.Medieval History of Iran,
Afghanistan, and Central
Asia. London: Variorum Reprints,
1977.
Wink, Andre.Al-Hind: The Making
of the Indo-Islamic
World, Vol. 2, The Slave Kings
and the Islamic Conquest,
11th–13th Centuries. Leiden:
Brill, 2002.
GIBRALTAR
The city of Gibraltrar is located to the
southeast of the Spanish province of Cadiz and to the east of the Algeciras
Bay. It dominates the Strait of Gibraltar, the necessary gateway from Europe to
Africa, from which stems its strategic value. Gibraltar has been under British
sovereignty since 1704. The Arabs called it Jabal Tariq after Tariq ibn Ziyad,
who disembarked there in AH 92/711 CE, starting the conquest of al-Andalus from
this spot (see Andalus).
Although Gibraltar was used as a naval base
for the armies that crossed the Strait in one direction or the other, it was
Algeciras, on the other side of the bay, that became the most prosperous center
of the southern extreme of al-Andalus. Almohads built a new city in Gibraltar,
named Jabal al-Fatih, with a congregational mosque, a palace (some remains of
its fortifications remain), and vast dwellings for taking in high government
officials. In 709/1309, Gibraltar fell into the hands of the Castilians, but it
was recaptured by the Marinids of Morocco (see North Africa) in 733/1333, and
later on by the sultan of Granada, in 813/1410. The Marinids, well aware of the
importance of their bases on both sides of the Straits, reinforced the
defensive installations of Gibraltar and built another congregational mosque
and some dockyards. In 866/1462, Gibraltar definitively passed into Christian
hands.
Further
Reading
Castillo, C. ‘‘La Conquista de
Gibraltar en elDiwande
‘Abd al-Kariim al-Qaysi.’’
Miscela´nea de Estudios A
´
rabes y Hebraicos42–43/1
(1993–1994): 73–80.
EI
2
, s.v. ‘‘Djabal Tarik’’ (Seybold,
C.F.- [Huici Miranda,
A.]).
Gozalbes Busto, G. ‘‘Gibraltar y
el Estrecho en las Fuentes
A´
rabes.’’Almoraima21 (1999):
397–410.
Manzano Rodrı´guez, M.A.La
Intervencio´n de los Benimerines en la Penı ´nsula Ibe´rica. Madrid: CSIC,
1992,
223–232 y 305–307.
———. ‘‘Abu Malik ‘Abd al-Wahid,
Conquistador de Gibraltar, Rey de Algeciras y Ronda.’’ InActas XVI Congreso
UEAI. Ed. C. Va ´zquez de Benito and MA.
Manzano Rodrı´guez, 309–322.
Salamanca, AECICSIC-UEAI, 1995.
Norris, H.T. ‘‘The Early Islamic
Settlement in Gibraltar.’’
Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute91 (1961):
39–51.
Rosenberger, B. ‘‘Le Controˆle du
De ´troit de Gibraltar aux
XII–XIII Sie`cles.’’ InL’Occident
Musulman et l’Occident
Chretien au Moyen Age, Rabat,
Faculte ´ des Lettres et
des Sciences Humaines, Serie:
Colloques et seminaires,
no. 48.
Vallve´ Bermejo, J. ‘‘Las Relaciones
entre Al-Andalus y el
norte de Africa a Trave´s del
Estrecho de Gibraltar:
(siglos VIII–XV).’’ In Actas del
Congreso internacional
El Estrecho de Gibraltar, Ceuta
noviembre 1987, ed.
E. Ripoll Perello´, 9–36. Madrid,
1998.
GNOSIS
Gnosisis a Greek term meaning knowledge. When
used in a theological discourse, its meaning becomes synonymous with knowledge
of the deity and the spiritual realm. Therefore, a gnostic system aspires to
define the composition of the realm of the divine and the agents that
communicate between the spiritual realm and the physical world. In Islamic
religious
thought,
gnosis corresponds to the Arabic ma‘rifa,
specifically the knowledge of (1) the nature and attributes of God and (2) the
ways He communicates with this world. The association of gnosis with ma‘rifa is
largely
championed in Sufism and Shi‘ism, but one has to be careful here for there are
certain differences in the way gnosis is conceptualized by these groups. However,
in a strictly traditional Sunni context, there
is
no such thing as gnosis: neither the concept nor its theological implication is
recognized.
In Sufism the entire mystical experience
starts as a quest through several stages of spiritual progression o attain
gnosis, and from there to the spiritual unity with God. However, gnosis is not
achieved by the power of reason alone, which can barely touch the surface. It
is God who plants gnosis in the heart of the Sufi. For that matter, what the
Sufi has to do is to be completely obedient and turn himself entirely to God (tawakkul) and be patient (sabr). According to the celebrated Sufi
Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240), it is the force of obedience (al-ta‘a) that prepares the Sufi to receive the seed of gnosis where
God becomes his raison d’eˆtre; for then he knows God and all other things through
God. The light of gnosis illuminates for the Sufi the various aspects of the
nature and attributes of
the
deity and allows him to witness the divine through the senses. Once gnosis is
entrenched in the Sufi’s heart, he becomes one of God’s hands in this world: He
will be entirely consumed with the divine and has no concern for his own self
any longer. Those who attain that stage are usually referred to as ‘‘the ones who
witnessed Him’’(ashab al-mushahada).
The miracles that a Sufi saint performs are proofs that he
attained
that stage. In this respect, the following hadith attributed to the Prophet
Muhammad is especially praised by the Sufis: ‘‘If you truly know God you can
say to the mountains move and they will move at
your
command.’’ One of the notable Sufi movements that formulated a gnostic system
is the Ishraqi school—founded by the mystic Shihab al-Din ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi
(d. 587/1191). For the Ishraqis, gnosis is a light revealed by the Angel
Gabriel, the same angel who revealed the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad.
Gnosis is equally celebrated within Shi‘ism,
precisely by the Ismailis and the Twelvers. For both of these sects, the world cannot exist without
an imam to lead in matters of life and religion. Like prophets, imams are
infallible (ma‘sum). In Twelver
theology, the imam is the proof (hujja)
that God exists, and hence it is the divinely revealed gnosis that empowers the
imam to know God, interpret God’s revealed scripture, and do God’s work in this
world, even if the imam is a minor. Thus the imams are the lights of God, and,
subsequently, the references in the Qur’an to the light of/from God (see Q
4:174; 5:15; 9:32) are understood as references to the Twelvers’ imams.
In an Ismaili context, gnosis is a much more
sophisticated system. It comprises a cosmological order of Intellects and
Emanations, along with a cyclical vision of sacred history that revolves around
seven prophets, each of whom brings a revelation. The first six prophets are
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isa, and Muhammad, and the qa’imormahdiis
Muhammad
ibn Isma‘il (grandson of Ja‘far alSadiq), who is in a stage of occultation.
Each prophet ushers in an era that features several imams who assume his role
and function until the coming of the following prophet. But in an Ismaili
context, the prophet is also the Logos: an emanation from the Active Intellect
(one of the Intellects that form
the
Islamili cosmological system). Hence, with the power of gnosis, the prophet or
imam defines the exoteric meaning of the revealed scriptures for his era (which is assumed to change over time)
but maintains the fixed esoteric meaning (which is assumed to be unchangeable).
Generally, three angels mediate between the physical world and the spiritual
world until the completion of the seventh and last cycle of
human
history, when the last prophet returns to bring an end to human history. These
angels are Gabriel (Jibra’il), Michael (Mika’il), and Raphael (Israfil).
Further
Reading
Corbin, Henry.Cyclical Time and
Ismaili Gnosis. London:
Kegan Paul, 1983.
———.Histoire de la Philosophie
Islamique. Paris: Gallimard, 1986.
Knysh, Alexander.Islamic
Mysticism: A Short History.
Leiden: Brill, 2000.
GRANADA
Granada (Arabic, Gharnata) is the capital of
the homonymous district(kura)and kingdom, situated on the banks of the Darro
River, near its confluence with the Genil.
The first Muslim governors of the area lived
in the Roman settlement of Illiberris, which they Arabicized into Ilbira or
Elvira, until they moved to a new foundation in its neighborhood, Granada. The
district continued to be named kura of Elvira, until the name was replaced by
that of Granada. The administrative and
military territory of the kura of Elvira corresponds roughly to the present
Spanish province of Granada, to the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. At the
beginning of the eleventh century, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate of
Cordoba, Granada
gained
prominence at the cost of Elvira. During that time, it became the capital of an
independent kingdom ruled by the Zirids, a branch of the Berber Sanhaja tribe.
Until then, mainly Jews and Christians had occupied the city. When the Zirids
consolidated their power, Granada was the scene of a pogrom against the Jewish
community, some of whose members had managed to exert political influence with the
amirs Habus and Badis ibn Ziri. Of the Zirid palace, situated on the side of a
hill sloping down toward the Darro, only a cistern and several pieces of wall
remain. The site is known today as the Alcazaba qadima.
In AH 483/1090 CE, ‘Abd Allah, the last Zirid
king of Granada, was dethroned by the Almoravids. They governed in the city
until 551/1156, when it was surrendered to the new lords of al-Andalus, the Almohads.
In the interval between 557/1162 and 561/1166, Granada was under the control of
the Andalusian rebel Ibn Hamushk, who had taken the city with the help of the
Jewish and Christian population. Subsequently, the city fell in the hands of Ibn Hud al-Judhami, under whose leadership a
general insurrection against the Almohads took place. In 635/1237, Ibn Hud was assassinated and a year
later, his former enemy and founder of the Nasrid dynasty, Muhammad Ibn
al-Ahmar, took possession of
Granada.
The Nasrid kingdom of Granada included the old
provinces of Elvira-Granada, Almerı´a, Malaga, Ronda, and part of Algeciras.
The Nasrids maintained constant economic relations with their Christian
neighbors, with whom they managed to keep a precarious political balance until
897/1492, when the city was conquered by the Catholic monarchs. The
fall
of Granada put an end to Muslim political power in the Iberian Peninsula.
Representative of the high level reached by
the Arabo-Islamic civilization of Granada are the Maliki jurist al-Shatibi, who
in the fourteenth century elaborated a new legal methodology that has been a
source
of inspiration for reformist thinkers of
the contemporary Islamic world, and the polymath Ibn al-Khatib.
The most remarkable example of Nasrid
architecture, the famous palace of the Alhambra, has been defined as the final
outcome and the supreme
flowering
of Andalusi art.
Further
Reading
Arie´,R.Espan˜a Musulmana, Siglos
VIII-XV. Barcelona:
Labor, 1993.
———.L’Espagne Musulmane au Temps
des Nasrides
(1232–1492), reimpression suivie
d’une postface et
d’une mise a` jour par l’auteur.
Paris: De Boccard, 1990.
El Siglo XI en 1
a
Persona: Las ‘‘Memorias’’ de ‘Abd
Allah,
U´
ltimo Rey Zirı ´de Granada
Destronado por los Almora´vides (1090). Traducidos, con introduccio ´n y notas
por
E. Le´vi-Provenc¸al y Emilio
Garcı´aGo´mez. Madrid:
Alianza, 1982.
EI
2
, s.v. ‘‘Gharnatta.’’ [A. Huici
Miranda]. Monuments
[H. Terrace].
Hoenerbach, W. ‘‘Was bleibt uns
vom arabischen Granada?’’Die Welt des Islams23–24 (1984): 388–423.
‘Inan, M.A.A. Lisan al-Din Ibn
al-Khatib: Hayatuhu waTurathu-hu al-Fikri. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanyi, 1968.
Masud, M. Kh.Shatibi’s Philosophy
of Islamic Law. Islamabad, 1995.
Molina Lo´pez, E.Ibn al-Jatib.
Granada: Comares, 2001.
Orihuela Uzal, A. ‘‘Granada,
Capital del Reino Nazarı´.’’ In
La Arquitectura del Islam
Occidental,R.Lo´pez Guzma´n
(coord), 195–209. Barcelona:
Lunwerg, 1995.
De Santiago Simo´n, E.El
Polı´grafo Granadino Ibn al-Jatib y
el Sufismo: Aportaciones Para su
Estudio. Granada:
Diputacio´n Provincial, 1983.
Viguera, M.J., coord.El Reino
Nazarı´ de Granada (1232–
1492). Historia de Espan ˜a
Musulmana Mene´ndez Pidal,
vols. VIII-3 and VIII-4, Madrid,
2000.
GREEK
After Alexander the Great, Greek language and
culture began to spread over large sections of the previously non-Greek
conquered regions in the Levant and southwest Asia. Centers where Greek science
and philosophy came to be studied and further developed were established and
continued to exist even after those areas of the world had become part of the
Roman
later Byzantine and Sasanian empires, and eventually, the caliphate. Such
centers included Alexandria, Antioch, Qinnesrin, Harran, Edessa, Nisibis,
al-Hira, Jundaysabur, and Marw. In addition to Greek works on theology, books
on medicine, logic, and astrology were translated into Syriac and Persian
(Pahlavi). Farther east, in India, Pataliputra, the capital of the Gupta
kingdom, and the port of Ujjain were centers where Greek mathematics and astronomy
were studied and developed from the fifth to seventh centuries.
When the Arabs had conquered Damascus and the
caliphate of the Umayyads had been established, they were confronted with the
existing Greek–Christian culture. Muslims became acquainted with Greek
philosophy and Christian theology. The cities al-Basra and al-Kufa became
centers of study of disciplines such as Arabic grammar and lexicography,
jurisprudence, and theology, and there is evidence of the
influence
of Greek philosophy on Muslim theology. However, only scant evidence of any
translation activity of Greek scientific or philosophical works during the
Umayyad caliphate has come down to us.
This changed with the establishment of the ‘Abbasid
caliphate and especially after the foundation of Baghdad as the capital in 762; until around
1000, a majority of Greek scientific and philosophical works
were
translated into Arabic, either via Syriac or Pahlavi, or directly. The
translators were, for a large part, Syriac-speaking Christians who also knew Greek
and Arabic. This translation movement was supported and funded by the elite of
‘Abbasid society: caliphs, viziers, merchants, and scholars. Caliphal support
was initially motivated by interest in astrology, a legacy of Sasanian culture.
Another motivation was the obvious need for knowledge of medicine and the
knowledge of accounting and surveying for the secretaries that administered the
empire. Indeed, works on astrology and medicine were among the first Arabic
translations, soon to be followed by books on arithmetic, geometry, and
astronomy. Translations were patronized by the Bukhtishu¯ ’ family, who had been heads of the hospital of Jundaysabur and were called to Baghdad as
physicians at the caliphal court. The Barmakid family, originally from Balkh
(Bactria), later living in Marw, came to Baghdad as caliphal viziers. They took
an interest in Greek science with which they had become acquainted in Marw. The
three Banu Musa brothers also patronized the translation of Greek works; they
built an observatory
in
Baghdad and wrote several works on geometry.
Among the most important translated works
were Euclid’s Elements, Ptolemy’s Almagest,
nearly the entire collections of Aristotle and Galen, and major Hippocratica.
Arabic translations from Greek science and philosophy formed the basis for the
further elaboration of these disciplines in the Arabic–Muslim world.
Further
Reading
Gutas, Dimitri.Greek Thought,
Arabic Culture. London:
Routledge, 1998.
O’Leary, De Lacy.How Greek
Science Passed to the Arabs.
London, Boston, and Henley:
Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1979 (first edition 1949).
Rosenthal, Franz.The Classical
Heritage in Islam. London
and New York: Routledge, 1992;
reissue of the first
English edition, 1975
(translation of the German edition,
Zu¨rich, 1965).
HAFSA BINT AL-HAJJ AL-RUKUNIYYA
Hafsa Bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya was a
Granadan Arabic poet who died in AH 586/1190–1191 CE. Louis di Giacomo suggests
that she was perhaps the most celebrated Andalusian woman poet of her time. In
his view, only two others warrant comparison: her eleventh-century Cordoban
predecessor Wallada Bint al-Mustakfi and her twelfth-century Granadan contemporary
Nazhun Bint al-Qila‘i. Indeed, this supposition has some merit. Hafsa’s love
affair and dialogue with fellow poet Abu Ja‘far Ibn Sa‘id may be less legendary
than Wallada’s romantic liaison
with
the poet Ibn Zaydun, but Hafsa seems to have been more prolific. Only Nazhun’s
extant corpus, which includes an oft-overlooked strophic poem (muwashshaha), can quantitatively
compare to that of Hafsa, which contains about sixty lines of verse set among
nineteen compositions. Furthermore, her biography is somewhat less sketchy than
those of many
female
poets of her era, although the details of her childhood (e.g., her date and
place of birth) are elusive, and little is known about her family other than
that her father was Berber. However, once she establishes her relationship with
Abu Ja‘far at about the time that the Almohads come to power in 1154 CE, her
historical personage becomes more defined, and she begins to be linked to
specific people, places, and dates. The figure of Abu Sa‘id ‘Uthman, an Almohad
prince, patron of poets, and rival of Abu
Ja‘far
for Hafsa’s affections, is particularly significant in this regard. The rivalry
between prince and poet turned deadly when Abu Ja‘far joined his extended family,
the Banu Sa‘id, in their political opposition to the reign of Abu Sa‘id’s
father ‘Abd al-Mu’min Bin ‘Ali. For this infraction, Abu Ja‘far was imprisoned and
eventually executed in 1163 CE. At some point after this, Hafsa seems to have
made a career change, establishing herself primarily as a pedagogue rather than
a poet. In later life, she was hired by the Caliph Ya‘qub al-Mansur to educate
his daughters in
Marrakech,
where she died.
One of the most famous poems attributed to
Hafsa perhaps incorrectly is a succinct panegyric addressing ‘Abd al-Mu’min in
which she cleverly alludes to her patron’s official insignia. Another is her
response to a poem by Abu Ja‘far. In his piece, Abu Ja‘far personifies a garden
where the lovers met and implies that its scents and sounds were expressions of
its delight in their rendezvous. In her reply, Hafsa accuses her beloved of
misinterpreting the garden’s motives, asserting that it acted not out of
admiration
but rather out of envy and spite. Her corpus also features a rather intriguing
scatological invective that she is said to have co-composed with Abu Ja‘far,
each poet extemporizing alternate lines.
Although
many Andalusian women poets composed amatory, satirical, and obscene verse,
Hafsa is additionally remembered for her elegies devoted to Abu Ja‘far; hence
her poetic output had a thematic variety
and
depth that make her a distinctive figure in the history of women’s writing.
Primary
Sources
Al-Maqqari, Ahmad Ibn
Muhammad.Nafh al-Tib min
Ghusn al-Andalus al-Ratib, 8
vols., vol. 4, 172–8, ed.
Ihsan Abbas. Beirut: Dar Sadir,
1968.
Al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din.Nuzhat
al-Julasa’ fi Ash‘ar al-Nisa’,
ed. Salah al-Din al-Munajjid,
32–7. Beirut: Dar al-Kitab
al-Jadid, 1978.
Further
Reading
Arberry, A.J.Moorish Poetry: A
Translation ofThe Pennants,an Anthology Compiled in 1243 by the Andalusian
Ibn Sa‘id, 94–5. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University
Press, 1953.
Di Giacomo, Louis.Une Poe´tesse
Grenadine du Temps des
Almohades: Hafsa Bint al-Hajj.
Collection Hespe ´ris.
Paris: Larose, 1949.
Gruendler, Beatrice. ‘‘Lightning
and Memory in Poetic
Fragments from the Muslim West:
Hafsah Bint al-Hajj
(d. 1191) and Sarah al-Halabiyyah
(d.c.1300).’’ InCrisis
and Memory: Dimensions of Their
Relationship in Islam
and Adjacent Cultures, eds. A.
Neuwirth and A. Pflitsch,
435–52. Beirut/Stuttgart: Steiner
BTS, 2001.
Pellat, Ch. ‘‘Hafsa Bint
al-Hadjdj al-Rukuniyya
(al-Rakuniyya).’’ Encyclopaedia
of Islam. CD-ROM
Edition, vol. 1.1. Leiden: Brill,
2001.
HAFSIDS
The Hafsids were a Berber dynasty of
governors of Ifriqiyya that stopped paying allegiance to the Almohad caliph and
that started to rule independently from AH 627/1229 CE. Together with the Banu
‘Abd al-Wad of Tlemcen and the Marinids
of Morocco, they exerted control over
the African part of the former Almohad empire, whose unity they all
tried
to restore, the Hafsids with the argument that they were the legitimate heirs
of the Almohad caliphs. The civil and military administration of the Hafsids and
their official ideology was based on the Almohad model, without this fact
having interfered with the spread of Malikism and mysticism (see Sufism). They
made Tunis their religious, political, and economical capital a situation that
has prevailed to the
present
day and filled it with monuments.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century,
Hafsid Tunis received a wave of Andalusi Muslims who fled the lands conquered
by the Christians. Among them the writer Ibn al-Abbar (d. 658/1260) and the
ancestors of the historian Ibn Khaldun are to be counted. A second wave of
Andalusi immigrants arrived by the end of the fifteenth century, after the fall
of Granada to the Catholic monarchs. In their new destination, Andalusis made
up a powerful social group whose influence is visible in Tunisian architecture.
The Hafsids kept commercial relationships
with Provence, Languedoc, the Italian republics, Sicily, and Aragon. These
relationships experienced occasional setbacks (e.g., in 668/1270, when the
crusade of St. Louis attacked Tunis). Despite its short duration, the presence
of the crusaders gave a serious blow to Hafsid prestige and opened a period of
disturbance
and
secession that culminated in 693/1294. In this year, Abu Zakariyya’, a nephew
of the amir Abu Hafs (683–694/1284–1295), gained control over the Western part
of the territory, including Bougie and Constantine (and later over Gabes). The
Hafsid emirate enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity with Abu
’l-Abbas (772–796/1369–1370) and
his
successors. However, by the end of the fifteenth century, internal division
allowed first the Spaniards and, subsequently, the Turks to take hold of the land.
In 982/1574, Tunis became part of the Ottoman Empire.
Further
Reading
Annabi, H., M. Chapoutot-Remadi,
and Samia Kamarti,
eds.Itineraire du Savoir en
Tunisie: Les Temps Forts de
l’Histoire Tunisienne. Paris,
CNRS, 1995
Brunschvig, R.La Berbe´rie
Orientale sous les Hafsides: Des
Origines a` la Fin du XVe `me
Sie`cle, 2 vols. Paris, Adrien
Maisonneuve, 1940–1947.
Daoulatli, A.Tunis Sous les
Hafsides: E´
volution Urbaine
et Activite´ Architecturale.
Tunis: Institut National
d’Arche´ologie et d’Art, 1976.
Idris, H.R. ‘‘Hafsids.’’ InEI
2
Julien, Ch.A.Histoire de
l’Afrique du Nord: Tunisie, Alge´rie,
Maroc: De la Conqueˆte Arabe a
1830. Paris, Payot, 1969.
———.Histoire de l’Afrique du
Nord: Des Origines a` 1830.
Paris, Payot, 1994.
Van Staevel, J.P. ‘‘Savoir Voir
et le Faire Savoir: L’Expertise Judiciaire en Matie `re de Construction,
D’Apre`s
un Auteur Tunisois du viiie/xive
Sie`cle.’’ Annales
Islamologiques35 (2001).
Le Tourneau, R. ‘‘North Africa to
the Sixteenth Century.’’
InThe Cambridge History of Islam,
Vol. 2., The Further
Islamic Lands, Islamic Society
and Civilization, eds.
P.M. Holt, A.K.S. Lambton, and B.
Lewis, 211–37.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1970.
HAKIM, AL-, FATIMID CALIPH
Al-Hakim bi-amr Allah, Abu ‘Ali Mansur, was
the sixth of the Fatimid caliphs, whose quite unusual reign featured a range of
odd even bizarre acts that have left a strange enigmatic historical record not
easily explained or fairly judged. As imam of the Ismaili Muslims, he was the
divinely ordained successor of the Prophet Muhammad, with full and exclusive
authority over his followers. Accordingly, his word was law; Islam would be
defined by his words and actions. In practice, his various attempts at reform
through legal restrictions on, among other things, the consumption of certain
foodstuffs and alcoholic beverages, games of chance, religious rites he did not
approve of, the public movements of
women,
the appearance of Jews and Christians without markers to identify them as such,
and public expressions of veneration for the Companions of the Prophet were
never accepted by the majority in his
realm
and were anathema to most. To enforce his order, he had many killed, especially
from the higher elite of his government; he commanded the destruction of a
large number of churches and synagogues, the most famous of which was the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (destroyed in 1009 CE). However, he
was well known for his generosity and beneficence and his support of the sciences
and learning. Above all, after he reached maturity, he conducted the affairs of
government personally and circulated at will among the populace both by night and
by day, riding a donkey with little or no escort.
Born in Egypt in 985, al-Hakim assumed the
caliphate upon the unexpected early death of his father, al-‘Aziz, in 996 at
the age of eleven. Initially he was under the constraint of the powerful
commander of his Berber troops, Ibn ‘Ammar, and his tutor, the eunuch Barjawan.
One by one he rid himself of these men and emerged on his own, when he began
the series of legal enactments for which he is famous. Many of these acts both
came into effect and were later rescinded. Cursing of the Prophet’s Companions because
they had failed to uphold the right of ‘Ali to succeed ended with an order to
remember them for the good they had done before that fateful betrayal. In 1005,
al-Hakim created a public academy and library, the Dar al-‘Ilm, which was
staffed with Sunni professors. The Isma‘ilis had their own teaching
institution, the Majlis al-Hikma. Churches and synagogues once looted and torn
down were given
permission
to reopen; Christians formerly oppressed were allowed to emigrate, and those
who had converted to Islam could return to their original faith.
At least twice al-Hakim faced quite serious
revolts on the fringes of his domain. In 1005, an Umayyad pretender, Abu Rakwa,
rallied tribal forces in the Libyan desert and marched into the Delta. At first
he succeeded in defeating the Fatimid armies sent against him, although
eventually he fell himself and was executed in Cairo two years later. In 1011
and 1012, previously loyal tribesmen in southern Palestine rose to establish,
in conjunction with the amir of Mecca, a counter-caliphate. Skillful negotiations
and the payment of bribes by al-Hakim to the leading
men
involved eliminated this threat. Despite these signs of resistance, in general,
al-Hakim’s rule prevailed; the Fatimids lost no territory during his reign,
preserving their hold on much of Syria and the Hijaz and the titular
overlordship of North Africa and Sicily.
On one occasion in 1010, al-Hakim was even acknowledged albeit briefly as
caliph throughout northern Mesopotamia.
During the final seven years of his life,
al-Hakim adopted a style of rule that was increasingly more ascetic and less
regal. He began to ride in public exclusively on a donkey, he let his hair and
nails grow, he wore rough black clothing, and he tried to delegate official
functions to a cousin that he appointed as his heir apparent. His most ardent
supporters confirm that many became perplexed as a result, so unaccustomed were
they to such behavior by a supreme leader and imam. By 1017 or possibly
even
earlier, others turned more enthusiastic, declaring that al-Hakim was in fact
divine, a god whose actions were not to be judged by human standards. That same
year, Hamza ibn ‘Ali, the eventual founder of the Druze, and al-Darazi, the man
whose name provided the word Druze itself, both began to preach openly that al-Hakim
was God Himself, appearing in human form. Whether the caliph actually
encouraged these men is doubtful; those who held official positions under
al-Hakim fought as forcefully as they could against such tendencies. However,
in 1021,
al-Hakim
disappeared mysteriously during the course of one of his nightly excursions,
leaving those who considered him to be God even more convinced of that fact and
the rest of his followers scrambling to
arrange
for the succession of his son, al-Zahir;
this feat was engineered under these unusual circumstances by the absent
caliph’s powerful sister, Sitt al-Mulk.
Further
Reading
Canard, M. ‘‘Al-Hakim bi-Amr
Allah.’’ InEncyclopaedia of
Islam, New Edition.
Halm, Hainz.Die Kalifen von
Kairo: Die Fatimiden in
A¨
gypten, 973–1074, 167–304.
Munich: C.H. Beck, 2003.
Walker, Paul E. ‘‘The
IsmailiDa‘wain the Reign of the
Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim.’’Journal
of the American
Research Center in Egypt30
(1993): 161–82.
———. ‘‘Fatimid Institutions of
Learning.’’Journal of the
American Research Center in
Egypt34 (1997): 179–200.
———.Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani:
Ismaili Thought in the
Age of al-Hakim. London: I.B.
Tauris, 1999.
HAMADHANI, BADI‘ AL-ZAMAN
Abu al-Fadl Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadhani (968–1008
CE) was given the nickname ‘‘Badi‘
alZaman’’ (‘‘The Wonder of the Age’’) in recognition of his mastery of
Arabic prose writing in the high style. Among his teachers was the illustrious
grammarian Ibn Faris (d. 1004), and he spent the earlier part of his career as
a litte´rateur in Rayy at the
renowned
court of al-Sahib ibn ‘Abbad (d. 995) before moving further East.
Al-Hamadhani was, it appears, a complete
master of the Arabic and Persian languages, able to translate instantaneously
between the two and to improvise elaborate exercises in verbal virtuosity.
Although he wrote a number of works, including a set of rasa’il (epistles), he is remembered chiefly as the writer who managed
to combine different narrative features into an entirely new genre: the maqamah (the name of the genre being
derived from the idea of ‘‘standing,’’ and thus perhaps contrasted with the
institution of majlis,a name that implies an ‘‘evening session’’). The
primary
element involved in the emergence of this new genre was the ancient style known
assaj‘,
a form of rhyming and cadenced prose that finds its most notable place of
expression in the text of the Qur’an itself. The revival (and elaboration) of
this style of writing in al-Hamadhani’s time was one of the consequences of a
conscious decision on the part
of
those udaba’ (litte´rateurs) in the
chancelleries (diwan al-rasa’il) of the Islamic courts to develop a more
elaborate form of prose style. Al Hamadhani’s invocation of this style was
coupled with another
element:
anecdotes concerning the daily life of the inhabitants of the cities and
regions of the Arab Islamic world and in particular the underworld inhabited by
beggars and tricksters. These elements
were
combined into a set of fifty maqamat in which two principal characters, a
narrator named ‘Isa ibn Hisham and a perpetually shifting rogue figure named Abu
al-Fath al-Iskandari, are placed into a variety of
venues
throughout the Islamic regions of West Asia and ply their routines of trickery.
The denouement of each episode involves the disclosure of the true identity of
Abu al-Fath who, up to that point, has been playing any one of a wide variety
of roles, thus allowing for a good deal of pastiche of different genres critical
debate, sermon, will and testament, and so on before the truth is revealed.
Although the above description covers a good
percentage of the maqamat included in al-Hamadhani’s collection, there is
nevertheless considerable diversity in narrative approach and content. Some
examples
have
‘Isa ibn Hisham, the narrator, acting as his own trickster (the Baghdad
maqamah, for example), whereas, in the famous al-Maqamah al-Madiriyyah (a masterly and insightful commentary on
middle-class
values
reminiscent of Petronius’s ‘‘Cena Trimalchionis’’ in the Satyricon), the narrator does not appear at all. The Saymari
maqamah is an elaborate morality tale that points out the dangers of excessive
luxury
and
indulgence. The maqamah of Hulwan consists of two separate sections (as do
several other examples): in the first, a truly farcical situation in a barber’s
shop emerges as a parody of judicial practice, whereas, in the second, the
reader/listener is treated to a wonderful
exercise
in malapropism.
The pioneer status of al-Hamadhani’s set of
maqamat was to be acknowledged many years later by his successor, Abu Muhammad
Qasim al-Hariri (d. 1122). However, it is this latter figure who is still one
of the
most
celebrated figures in the history of Arabic prose writing; his own stylistic
virtuosity exceeded even that of al-Hamadhani and took the maqamah genre to even
greater linguistic and rhetorical heights.
Further
Reading
The Maqamat of Badi‘ al-Zaman
al-Hamadhani, transl. W.J.
Prenderghast. London: Curzon
Press, 1973.
Makamat or Rhetorical Anecdotes
of Al-Hariri of Basra,
transl. Theodore Preston. London:
Gregg International
Publishers, 1971.
Bosworth, C. Edmund.The Mediaeval
Islamic Underworld.
Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1976.
Hameen-Anttila, Jaako.Maqama: A
History of a Genre.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002.
Kilito, Abdelfattah.Les Se´ances.
Paris: Sindbad, 1983.
Monroe, James.The Art of Badi‘
az-Zaman al-Hamadhani.
Beirut: American University in
Beirut Press, 1983.
HAMDANIDS
The Hamdanids are an Arab (i.e., Bedouin but
not nomadic) family from the Banu Taghlib tribe that has been recorded in the
Djazira since pre-Islamic times. Although initially Bedouin, the Hamdanids established
an urban regime. Their headquarters were located in the ancient cities of
Mesopotamia and Northern Syria, and they replaced their tribal armies with
slave soldiers.
The first member of the family and the person
after whom the family was named was Hamdan ibn Hamdun, who played a minor role
in ‘Abbasid politics during the second half of the AH third/ninth CE century.
His descendants established two minor dynasties in Mesopotamia and Aleppo that
survived until the second half of the fourth/tenth century. In addition, they
gained fame for their cultural role, particularly in Arabic poetry.
Three stages can be differentiated in the
history of the Hamdanids. The first took place in northern Iraq and Baghdad
during the final decades of the third/ninth century. Hamdan b. Hamdun and his son
Husayn were involved in fighting against the Khawaridjs as well as battling the
armies of the ‘Abbasid caliphate. This stage ended with the incorporation of
the Hamdanids into the coalition that converged around the ‘Abbasid family. Abu
Muhammad al-Hasan, who succeeded his father (317/929), became the head of the
Hamdanid family.
At that junction, he served as the governor of
Mawsil (Mosul) in northern Mesopotamia. Taking advantage of the violent
struggle within the ‘Abbasid court (which led to the murder of the caliph by
his
Turkish
guards and the emergence of a military regime headed by the commander in chief
(amir alumaraa’) in 324/936), al-Hasan was able not only to maintain his
position in Mawsil but also to extend his influence southward, along the Tigris
River. During these troubled years, his achievements peaked. Al-Hasan had
Muhammad ibn Ra’iq assassinated
and
forced the caliph al-Muttaqi to bestow on him the royal title (laqb) Nasir
al-Dawla (defender of the ‘Abbasid dynasty). Later, in 330/942, he married the caliph’s
granddaughter.
The second chapter in the history of the
Hamdanids began after their withdrawal from Baghdad, which was taken over by
the Buwayhids. During this period, they failed to hold onto their possessions
in
the
Djazira, and the emirate of Mosul was seized by the Buwayhids (367/978). They
were more successful in the land west of the Euphrates, extending their rule to
new territories.
This development is related to Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali
Sayf al-Dawla (the sword of the ‘Abbasid dynasty). Taking advantage of the
complicated political conditions in Northern Syria, a land that was out of reach
of the three major forces in the Middle East (the fragile ‘Abbasids in Baghdad
and the Ikhshids in Egypt and Byzantine [who were gaining new lands
in
Asia Minor]), he was able to become the master of Aleppo (333/944). The
fighting against the Byzantines served one of Sayf al-Dawla’s legitimacy
claims. However, his delicate position was clearl demonstrated when the
Byzantine armies succeeded in temporarily conquering Aleppo (351/962).
The emirate that Sayf al-Dawla established
gained fame primarily because of its role in the history of Arabic literature.
The circle of poets that congregated in Sayf al-Dawla’s palace spread his name.
Among the
prominent
intellectuals in his court were his cousin Abu Firas, al-Mutannabi, Abu
al-Faradj al-Isfahani, and al-Farabi.
After Sayf al-Dawla’s death (356/967), Aleppo
became the seat of his son Sa‘d al-Dawla Abu alMa‘ali, who was challenged by
his uncle Abu Firas and who, because of inner opposition, had to fight his way
into the city. This marked the beginning of the third stage of the history of
the Hamdanids. It ended with the advance of the Fatimid armies (406/1015)
and
the emergence of a new Bedouin dynasty, Banu
Kilab
(414/1023).
Further
Reading
Canard, Marius.Histoire de la
Dynastie des Hamdanides de
Jazira et de Syrie. Algiers,
1951.
Smoor, Peter.Kings and Bedouins
in the Palace of Aleppo as
Reflected in Ma’arri’s Works.
Manchester, UK: University of Manchester Press, 1985.
HARAWI, AL-, ‘ALI B. ABI BAKR
Al-Harawi (d. 1215 CE) was an ascetic, a
Sufi, a scholar, a preacher, a poet, a pilgrim, an emissary, and a counselor to
rulers. He was born in Mosul, Iraq, possibly to a family from Herat, in
present-day Afghanistan, and he later settled in Baghdad, where he was a protege´ of the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir
li-Din Allah, who appointed him to the post of preacher in the congregational
mosque of Baghdad. Al-Harawi was among a number of prominent Sufis and ascetics
who were intimates of the Caliph, who was instrumental in consolidating his spiritual
authority over the Sufi
orders
of Baghdad and facilitating
rapprochement between the Sunnis and the Shi‘is. It is alleged that alNasir
gave al-Harawi charge over regulating the moral conduct of the markets in all
of Greater Syria, reviving the uncultivated lands, and serving as preacher in
the congregational mosque of Aleppo.
Although an ascetic, al-Harawi was very much involved
in diplomacy and warfare by serving as an emissary during the reign of Saladin,
and he most likely joined the ruler on military campaigns. In this role,
al-Harawi met with the Muslim ruler of Sicily and, in 1179 or 1180, with the
Byzantine Emperor Emmanuel Comnenos. From 1173, he even visited
Jerusalem
and other cities in Palestine that were under Crusader rule and the Muslim and
Christian holy sites therein. In 1192, King Richard the Lionheart requested an
audience with al-Harawi to return to him his stolen writings and recompense him
after his troops set upon al-Harawi’s convoy at the outskirts of Palestine near Gaza. Circumstances did not
permit
al-Harawi to meet him.
Al-Harawi eventually came to reside in
Aleppo, where he served as an advisor to Saladin’s son alMalik al-Zahir Ghazi,
who endowed a madrasa
(teaching
college) for him. His detractors falsely accused al-Harawi of being a Shi‘i,
and he was also accused of being a conjurer and magician who exercised undue
influence over his patron, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi.
Al-Harawi is the author of the only
pilgrimage guide to the shrines, holy places, and antiquities of the entire
medieval Islamic world: Kitab al-Isharat
ila Ma‘rifat al-Ziyarat (Guide to Pilgrimage Places).AlHarawi’s guide is a
testament to the diversity of Muslim—and, to a lesser extent, Christian and Jewish
holy places and to the antiquities of ancient civilizations. Al-Harawi also
authored a manual on warfare entitled al-Tadhkira
al-Harawiyya fi ’l-Hiyal alHarbiyya (Memoirs of al-Harawi on the Stratagems
of War),which he wrote for the ruler of Aleppo and which focused on the
etiquette of waging war. The inscriptions on his Aleppo mausoleum that alHarawi
built during his lifetime attest to his longing
for
the hereafter and meeting the Creator and his lack of faith in his fellow man.
Further
Reading
Guide de Lieux des Pe`lerinage,
transl. Janine SourdelThomine. Damascus, 1957.
A Lonely Wayfarer’s Guide to
Pilgrimage: ‘Ali b. Abi Bakr
al-Harawi’s Kitab al-Isharat ila
Ma‘rifat al-Ziyarat,
transl. Josef W. Meri. Princeton,
NJ, 2004.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar