ENCYCLOPEDIA MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PART 35

WAQIDI, AL

  Born in Medina during the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Marwan ibn Muhammad (AH 26/744–133/ 750 CE), just before the ‘Abbasid Revolution (130/ 747), Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn ‘Umar was better known as al-Waqidi, after his grandfather alWaqid, mawla (client) to ‘Abd Allah ibn Burayda of the Banu Aslam of Medina. According to Abu Faraj al-Isfahani, al-Waqidi’s mother was the daughter of ‘Isa ibn Ja‘far ibn Sa’ib Khathir, a Persian, and the great granddaughter of Sa’ib, who introduced music to Medina.

  These is no information about al-Waqidi’s early education. Yaqut tells us that al-Waqidi was appointed judge over eastern Baghdad by the caliph Harun al-Rashid. In around 204/819, al-Ma’mun, son and heir to al-Rashid, appointed him to the position of qadi over the military camp of the prince al-Mahdi at Rasafa. Here he was able to accumulate a considerable collection of books and even to produce a large volume of writing, aided by his well-known amanuensis, Ibn Sa‘d (d. 230/845).

  Ibn al-Nadim gives a long list of the numerous works authored by al-Waqidi. The majority of his writings are devoted to excerpts from the history of Islam after the death of the Prophet, and, although none of these are extant, quotations from these works have been preserved in the works of later historians: accounts of the murder of ‘Uthman are cited by both al-Tabari and Ibn Hubaysh (d. 584/1188) from the Kitab al-Dar; accounts from Ta’rikh al-Kabir,in which Waqidi listed all of the important events of history in the form of annals up to the year 179/795, have been cited by other scholars. As for hisKitab alTabaqat,it served as the basis of Ibn Sa‘d’s biographical dictionary and provided information about the Companions of the Prophet and their descendants.

  Al-Waqidi is best known for his compilation, the Kitab al-Maghazi,which is his only work that survived. It tells of the last ten years of the Prophet’s life and is an important source for the historical writings of al-Baladhuri (d. 279/892) and al-Tabari (d. 310/ 923), entitled Futuh al-Buldan and Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa-l-Muluk,respectively. Al-Waqidi wrote his Kitab al-Maghazi roughly a generation after Ibn Ishaq had composed his. According to al-Tabari, al-Waqidi had read Ibn Ishaq’s biography of the Prophet and had gone so far as to commend his knowledge of the maghazi and ayyam al-‘Arab. Nevertheless, alWaqidi never cites even one of Ibn Ishaq’s traditions in his compilation.

  Sadly, al-Waqidi was a spendthrift by nature and generous to a fault. He died a pauper during the fourth year of his judgeship at the age of seventyeight, in Baghdad, in the year 207/822 or 823, and he was buried at the Khayzuran cemetery. It is said that even the shroud for his burial had to be purchased by the caliph al-Ma’mun, whom al-Waqidi had appointed as executor of his will.

Further Reading

Abbas, Ihsan, et al., eds.The History of al-Tabari, vols. 6–9. SUNY Press, 1985.

Rippin, Andrew.Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, 2001.

WEATHER

  One of the most neglected aspects of medieval Islamic and Middle Eastern history is the role of the physical environment in economic and demographic issues important to the affected societies. In any serious study of the environment, weather and the fluctuations of the weather can be regarded as an obvious issue for the researcher or the analyst. Even the most cursory examination of the chronicles—whether Syriac, Arabic, or Persian—offers ample evidence of the role played by weather events or disturbances in the Near East and in neighboring Islamic lands, such as Spain and North Africa.

  The evidence afforded by these sources describes damage or destruction that was wrought by four major types of weather disturbance: (1) damaging winds and/or dust storms; (2) severe cold and/or freezing precipitation in the form of hail, sleet, or snow; (3) rainstorms or inundations; and (4) droughts and excessive heat. The remainder of this article will address the nature and effects of such inclement weather.

  Numerous windstorms, occasionally bearing damaging dust, struck at the core lands in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Egypt, and greater Syria, throughout the period from 600 to 1500 CE In some cases, hot, dusty winds withered crops, disrupted cultivation and commerce, and uprooted valuable trees (e.g., in Iraq and Iran in 848–849). In other instances, strong winds even sank boats (e.g., on the Tigris) and destroyed buildings (e.g., Iraq in 1051). The great windstorms thus ruined goods and infrastructure and thoroughly disrupted normal life, even causing apocalyptic reactions (e.g., end of the world or Resurrection fears in Mosul in 931 and in Egypt in 1038) among the affected populations.

  Although popular perceptions of the Middle East have focused on desert heat and associated aridity, the fact is that one can find numerous examples of devastating hailstorms, damaging cold outbreaks, and even of snow and sleet (especially in Iraq in 748/49, Iran in 1014, and greater Syria in 682/83). The hailstorms could be especially dangerous, because they destroyed crops, damaged houses, and occasionally killed people and animals. Freezing temperatures and ice or snow wrought havoc on agricultural enterprises (e.g., in the case of ruined vineyards and olive groves in Syria in 748/49), killed animals, and caused mortality from apparent hypothermia or cold-related maladies (e.g., in Syria in 768).

  The rain associated with severe thunderstorms also contributed to loss of life and property. Flooding rains, which could cause tremendous damage, ravaged houses, shops, orchards, and crops. In particularly severe downpours, people were killed by raging waters (e.g., in Khuzistan in 904), collapsing buildings, or even by mud slides (e.g., in Mecca in 894). Water, which was always a precious commodity in the Middle East, became a deadly foe when severe storms battered such areas as Iraq, Arabia, and Egypt. Not surprisingly, the destruction from these storms was compounded by lightning strikes, wind, and hail (e.g., lightning damage in Mosul in 1130).

  Less-surprising weather-related disasters in the context of the Middle East were, of course, the numerous episodes of excessive heat and severe drought that swept through the region and occasionally through Andalusia. The most obvious consequence in these instances was food shortage and, in severe cases, famine. Although numbers of people perished at times from heat exhaustion or thirst, the most common form of mortality associated with drought was either outright starvation during famines or mortality associated with epidemics sparked by droughtrelated food shortages. As is indicated elsewhere (see Secondary Sources below), nutritional deficiencies can be especially dangerous, subverting health and causing sickness or death. In this respect, one sees an important feature of climatic and other disasters: they tend to frequently occur in clusters and in related sequences—the common nexus of drought, food shortage, and famine, followed by disease epidemic.

  More than thirty years ago, the French social historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie published the seminal workTimes of Feast, Times of Famine: A History of Climate Since the Year 1000,in which he amply demonstrated the importance of climate and weather disturbances throughout human history. Obviously, much of Le Roy Ladurie’s work specifically addressed French climate history and thus had a more limited applicability for Middle Eastern societies. However, it clearly demonstrated the decisive role of environmental conditions in shaping the evolution of human societies, whatever the region.

Primary Sources

Anonymous.Tarikh-i Sistan, transl. Milton Gold. Rome, 1976.

Bar Hebraeus, Gregory. Chronography, transl. E.A.W. Budge. London, 1932.

Dionysus of Tell-Mahre.Chronique, transl. J.B. Chabot. Paris, 1895.

Ibn al-Athir, ‘Izz al-Din.al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, VIII. Beirut, 1966.

Ibn al-Dawadari. Kanz al-Durar wa Jami’ al-Ghurar, VI. Cairo, 1961.

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani. Inba’ al-Ghumr bi-Abna al-‘Umr.Bibliotheque Nationale Ms. Arabes, 1602.

Ibn Iyas. Histoire des Mamlouks Circassiens, II. transl. Gaston Wiet. Cairo, 1945.

Ibn al-Jawzi.al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa al-Umam,V. Beirut, 1967.

Ibn Kathir.al-Bidayat wa al-Nihayat, XII. Cairo. Michel le Syrien.Chronique, transl. J.B. Chabot. Beirut, 1963.

al-Nuwayri, Muhammad.Kitab al-Ilman. Hyderabad, 1970.

Sibt ibn al-Jawzi.Mir’at al-Zaman. British Library Ms. Or.4619.

al-Suyuti.Husn al-Muhadara fi Akhbar Misr wa al-Qahira,Pt. 2. Cairo, 1981.

al-Tabari.Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, X. Cairo, 1965.

Secondary Sources

Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel.Times of Feast, Times of Famine: A History of Climate Since the Year 1000, transl. Barbara Bray. New York, 1971.

Melville, Charles. ‘‘Meteorological Hazards and Disasters in Iran: A Preliminary Survey to 1950.’’ Iran22 (1984): 113–50.

Rabie, Hassanein. ‘‘Some Technical Aspects of Agriculture in Medieval Egypt.’’ In The Islamic Middle East, 700– 1900: Studies in Social and Economic History, ed. A.L. Udovich. Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press, Inc., 1981.

Tawwa, Fadi Ilyas.al-Manakh wa al-As’ar wa al-Amrad fi Bilad al-Sham fi ‘Ahd al-Mamalik (642–922 H./1250– 1516 M.). Beirut, 1998.

Tucker, William F. ‘‘Natural Disasters and the Peasantry in Mamluk Egypt.’’JESHOXXIV (1981): 215–24.

———. ‘‘Environmental Hazards, Natural Disasters, Economic Loss, and Mortality in Mamluk Syria.’’Mamluk Studies ReviewIII (1999): 109–28.

WOMEN, JEWISH

  Until the late Middle Ages, most of the world’s Jewish population lived in Islamic lands such as Babylonia (Iraq), Persia (Iran), Syria-Palestine, and Egypt, and they also lived in the non-Arab Islamic countries of Spain and Sicily. The major sources of information about their lives in general—and about women’s lives in particular—were the Geniza (Storage) documents, which were discovered in 1896 in a synagogue in Cairo. These documents reflect international commercial, intellectual, and family connections throughout the Muslim world. Later documents from Ottoman archives and shari’a court records were added to the various Hebrew preliminary sources, thus expanding modern knowledge of social and family life.

  Jews and Muslims in Islamic lands shared a common urban cultural world. Jewish customs were influenced by the frequent social interaction between the two ethnic groups. There was great similarity between Muslim and Jewish wedding ceremonies, and polygamy was practiced by both Muslim and Jews, even being adopted by Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews who immigrated to Muslim lands during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from Christian countries where polygamy was outlawed. In addition, both Jews and Muslims kept concubines. Child marriage—especially of young girls—was normal in both cultures, designed to ensure the girl’s chastity and for social and economic reasons; however, unlike what was seen in Muslim society, the Jewish kidushin (wedding ceremony) was considered a sacred act, and it was very difficult to release a girl from its bonds if a marriage was unsuccessful. Because the commercial character of Jewish families and their frequent migration, marriages between individuals from different countries, which were contracted to extend and strengthen contacts between business partners, were common. Another phenomenon resulting from the mobility of Jewish society was the voluntary or involuntary neglect of wives. The problem of agunot (deserted wives) caused many halakhic (legal) discussions throughout the Middle Ages. Alternatively, husbands’ absences, which sometimes extended over very long periods of time, enabled women to enjoy relative independence in managing their households and their children’s educations. Jewish and Muslim women shared popular customs and beliefs, frequented the same holy places, and practiced the same methods and formulas to ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth.

  Unlike those that were seen in Muslim homes, there were no separate quarters for women in Jewish homes. The ‘‘Geniza women,’’ as described in Shlomo D. Goitein’s monumental works, were expected to look after their young children and do the household chores, but these duties were apparently not very demanding: almost all households consisted of more than one female adult, and most urban middle-class families employed at least one maidservant. Older women were often assisted by their daughters-in-law, because, as was also done in Muslim society, newlywed brides usually moved in with the husbands’ families. Women of well-to-do families passed their time sewing or embroidering textiles for their homes. The daily routine of lower-class women included communal cleaning, laundering, cooking, and baking. Accordingly, women’s education normally did not exceed the essential domestic skills. Although there are a few examples of women teachers during the Middle Ages, their activities caused personal and halakhic controversies, and they did not represent the norm. A girl’s education depended entirely on her father’s whim, and, even among the upper classes, most women were illiterate. Among thousands of letters from the Geniza, only a couple of dozen were sent by women; these were probably dictated to a professional scribe or a male acquaintance, and they deal with personal matters.

  There is no single document about any spiritual or religious subject written by a woman. In addition to the halakhic restrictions, it seems that the crucial reason for women’s illiteracy was the prevailing view that women do not need scholarly education, because they were meant to dedicate themselves to looking after their husbands and homes and to enable their menfolk to study. Halakhic and kabbalistic writings about this matter promised the ideal wife—the ‘‘Woman of Valor’’ (Proverbs 31:31)—a share in the world to come. However, in daily life, women’s illiteracy maintained their dependency and ensured men’s supremacy.

  In external appearance, Jewish women were not distinguishable from their Muslim counterparts. They even wore a veil, in accordance with local customs, although women of the non-Muslim minorities (dhimmi) were not required—and were sometimes even forbidden—to do so. According to Jewish and non-Jewish travelers, all women were so heavily draped that even their husbands could not recognize them; the exposure of even a tiny bit of flesh was considered a disgrace.

  Alternatively, as revealed by lists of trousseaus, wills, and inventories, middle-class Jewish women had a variety of weekday and Sabbath dresses, as well as gowns, veils, scarves, belts, and jewelry. One gets the impression that the objects were so thoroughly itemized mainly because of their investment value. The beautiful costumes and other items were not displayed outdoors, not only because women were covered with gowns but also for fear of inciting the authorities’ attention. During the late Middle Ages, Jewish communal regulations went so far as to forbid excessive extravagance. From time to time, dhimmis—both male and female—were required to wear a distinctive color or sign.

  Although modesty was required of Jewish women and women lived in relative seclusion, they were allowed freedom of movement, and they routinely took advantage of it. They worshipped at the synagogue; visited relatives; attended funerals, weddings, and other celebrations; and made pilgrimages to holy sites. Their outings led to many ‘‘immoral’’ incidents, which were often denounced by local sages. Regulations enacted by Jewish communities in Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Jerusalem, Safed, and other Jewish centers tried to prevent women from mingling with men on such occasions. A regulation from Jerusalem, for instance, instructed women to leave the synagogue a while before the ceremony ended to prevent them from encountering men on the way out. In Cairo, a pre-Ottoman regulation was reinstated during the mid-sixteenth century: ‘‘Men and women embroiderers are henceforth forbidden to sit at the same working table...only older women, aged forty or over, are allowed’’ (Rabbi David ben Zimra,Responsa, III, no. 919).

  Usually, aside from philanthropy, women’s economic activities in Islamic lands were restricted to money lending and real estate transactions. These financial activities enabled them to preserve both the value of their money and their modesty, and they were common even among the more secluded Muslim women of the Middle Ages. However, Jewish women were also active in business and commercial transactions outside of their homes. They traded textiles, precious stones, perfumes, spices, foodstuffs, wine, and other items. Those who had no property or money to finance such enterprises took to crafts and other professions, becoming weavers, embroiderers, wine and cheese producers, brokers, cosmeticians, healers, and town criers. The majority of working women, however, were widows and divorcees.

  Jewish women were aware that, in some aspects of marital and inheritance laws, the Islamic legal system was more favorable to women than Jewish halakha. For fear that women would seek justice in non-Jewish courts, a regulation (enacted already by the late seventh century) enabled women to receive a divorce upon their request; this procedure was otherwise most difficult according to Jewish law. Over the years, this legal ‘‘breach’’ became more and more popular, especially among upper-class women. Shari’a court records testify that Jewish women applied to the qadi in matters concerning inheritance, divorcing recalcitrant husbands, family disputes, collecting Ketuba (marriage contract) money, guardianship of children, and ensuring commercial transactions and the priority of a wife as compared with other creditors or debtors. Quite often, these women appeared personally in court to demand their rights.

  Goitein described women in the early geniza period as living in a ‘‘world within a world,’’ meaning that, within a world dominated by men, there was another, secluded world that was created by women for themselves. As far as Jewish women were concerned, their world was much more complicated: not only were they living as dhimmis in an Islamic traditional society, they were also subjected to Jewish halakhic and moral obligations. There was, however, a gap between theory and reality. It seems that many Jewish women found ways not only to lead a parallel world but also to take an active part in the economy and in social activities and to insist on their legal rights.

Further Reading

Assis, Yom Tov. ‘‘Sexual Behaviour in Mediaeval HispanoJewish Society.’’ InJewish History, Essays in Honour of Chimen Abramsky, eds. A. Rapoport-Albert and S.J. Zipperstein, 25–59. London, 1988.

Bashan, Eliezer.Studies in the History of the Jews in the Orient and North Africa, 147–67. Lod, 1996.

Ben-Ami, Issachar. ‘‘Customs of Pregnancy and Childbirth among Sephardic and Oriental Jews.’’ InNew Horizons in Sephardic Studies, eds. Y.K. Stillman and G.K.Zucker, 253–67. New York, 1993.

Cohen, Amnon.Jewish Life Under Islam. Cambridge, Mass,1984.

Friedman, Mordechai A. ‘‘The Ethics of Medieval JewishMarriage.’’ InReligion in a Religious Age, ed. S.D.Goitein, 83–102. Cambridge, Mass, 1974.

———.Jewish Polygyny in the Middle Ages. Jerusalem,1986.

———. ‘‘Marriage as an Institution: Jewry Under Islam.’’In The Jewish Family, Metaphor and Memory, ed.D. Kraemer, 31–45. New York and Oxford, 1989.

Gil, Moshe.In the Kingdom of Ishmael: Studies in Jewish History in Islamic Lands in the Early Middle Ages, vol. I. Israel, 1997.

Goitein, Shlomo D.Jews and Arabs. New York, 1955.

———.A Mediterranean Society, Volume III: The Family.Berkeley, 1978.

Grossman, Avraham. ‘‘Changes in the Status of Jewish Women in 11th Century Spain.’’ InMe’ah She’arim, Studies in Medieval Jewish Spiritual Life in Memory of Isadore Twersky, ed. E. Fleischer et al., 87–111. Jerusalem, 2001.

Guthrie, Shirley.Arab Women in the Middle Ages, Private Lives and Public Roles, 209–17. London, 2001.

Kraemer, Joel. ‘‘Spanish Ladies from the Cairo Geniza.’’ Mediterranean Historical Review6 (1991): 237–66.

Lamdan, Ruth.A Separate People, Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria and Egypt in the 16th Century. Leiden, Boston, and Ko¨ln, 2000.

———. ‘‘Female Slaves in the Jewish Society of Palestine, Syria and Egypt in the 16th Century.’’ InThe Days of the Crescent, ed. M. Rozen, 355–71. Tel-Aviv, 1996.

Levine, Melammed Rene´e. ‘‘Sephardi Women in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods.’’ InJewish Women in Historical Perspective, ed. J. Baskin, 115–34. Detroit, 1991.

Lewis, Bernard.The Jews of Islam. Princeton, NJ, 1984.

Marmer, David. ‘‘Patrilocal Residence and Jewish Court Documents in Medieval Cairo.’’ InJudaism and Islam, Boundaries, Communication and Interaction, Essays in Honor of William M. Brinner, ed. Benjamin H. Haryet al., 67–82. Leiden, Boston, and Ko¨ln, 2000.

Stillman, Yedida K. ‘‘Attitudes Toward Women in Traditional Near Eastern Societies.’’ InStudies in Judaism and Islam Presented to S.D. Goitein on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, ed. S. Morag et al., 345–60. Jerusalem, 1981

WOMEN, PATRONS

  Some of the greatest Islamic works of art and architecture were commissioned by women. The most prolific patrons were usually members of the royal family: the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters of rulers who built handsome mosques and tombs as public signs of dynastic and political power and amassed personal wealth in the form of art objects and coin.Members of the elite class, possessing wealth and social connections, could likewise commemorate themselves and their family members while performing an act of public charity to benefit their community. For relatively well-to-do women, property might consist of land and a house, a commercial venture, or farmland; at any economic level, it might include household goods such as jewelry, pots, bedding, and especially textiles (the Cairo Geniza documents show that textiles were one of most traded and collected items in the medieval Mediterranean). Although any woman with sufficient funds and autonomy could commission public and private art and architecture, generally the acts of patronage deemed important enough for historic record were those of politically prominent women whose names were inscribed on the works themselves.

  The mothers, wives, and concubines of rulers were the most prolific patrons, both because they might have inheritance, state stipends, and gifts and because their construction of mosques, schools, hospitals, and communal fountains was a public demonstration of the ruling family’s piety and generosity. Thus, in Ayyubid Damascus and Aleppo, numerous madrasas (theological colleges) and khanqahs (Sufi convents) were built by the regent queen Dafiya Khatun. In Cordoba, neighborhood mosques and a leper hospital were built by women of the Umayyad house. Because Islamic law protected a woman’s right to inheritance and to the ownership of her dowry, in theory any women could own land and buildings and gain income from it by leasing her land or operating a business. Such rental income might go towards a waqf (perpetual endowment) for providing a mosque or public institution with support for upkeep and management. Thus, a woman’s patronage could take the form of building a structure, collecting valuable objects, or creating endowments for charitable activities that might include building maintenance for a mosque, Qur’an recitation, alms, or providing dowries for orphan girls. Of course, in practice, not all societies within the medieval Islamic world granted women sufficient autonomy to exercise this right.

  In regions in which male mortality was high as aresult of war (e.g., Ayyubid and Mamluk Egypt), the family wealth was often held by women, because women provided stability and continuity for the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. Female patronage typically benefited the family more than the women as individuals, and probably some buildings that were attributed to individual women patrons were in fact collaborative enterprises in which the woman’s name, as a representative of her family, was more prominent than her actual financial or architectural contribution. This was also true of smaller works of art. For example, the inscription on an ivory game box from tenth-century Cordoba states thatit was made for the daughter of ‘Abd al-Rahman III. However, the name of the woman is not given, and, because that ruler had numerous daughters, the specific recipient of the box remains unknown. Furthermore, if she received it as a gift, the commission reflected little or nothing of her artistic taste.

  In Islamic societies that engaged in diplomatic marriage between parties of equal status, the wife built in her own name, identifying herself  by her paternal genealogy. Hence, at the madrasa/mausoleum/mosque complex (completed in 1438 CE in Herat) of Gawhar Shad, the powerful wife of Shah Rukh, the dedication inscription names her as the daughter of her father, a prominent noble from an allied clan. However, in the case of a slave-concubine, a woman might identify instead with her ‘‘adopted’’ family, which gave her status and rank as the mother of sons that would continue the family line. This was the case in the Ottoman Empire, where monumental mosques were typically built by the sultan’s mother in her official capacity asvalide sultan(queen mother). These concubines were not Muslim by birth, because the law forbade the enslavement of Muslims; however, they became politically powerful women, especially when they gave birth to an heir. Although the royal concubine mothers in the Ottoman and Mughal Empires and Umayyad al-Andalus came from ethnic and religious backgrounds that differed from those where they came to live, rarely can any cultural difference be discerned in their built works.

  In general, female patronage must be contextualized within familial politics and the diverse cultural milieux in which choices were limited by the skills of the available artisans and the state of architectural technology. However, there are several outstanding instances of women whose patronage was remarkably innovative, evincing unusual personal taste that changed the history of Islamic architecture. For example, the women of the Timurid royal family built aseries of diminutive mausolea at the Shah-i Zindeh complex (ca. 1350–1450) in Samarkand with lively tile revetment. Because these were small, quickly built works of individual commemoration, they reflected the various tastes of individuals rather than an official architectural style, and thus they were sites for experimentation in architectural ornament. Perhaps the most innovative early female patron was Shajar al-Durr, who, after the death of her consort, the Ayyubid Sultan Negm al-Din, in 1249, ruled as the legitimate sultan of Egypt for several months. Her major work was the addition of a monumental tomb to the mosque/madrasa complex of Negm al-Din (1250, Cairo). Standing prominently at one end of the fac¸ade of this complex, the tomb firmly linked the identity of the sultan with his major foundation, and thereafter the addition of the patron’s tomb to an endowed complex became standard practice.

  All patronage can be viewed as a reification of family and especially dynastic identity; however, because women and men played distinctly different roles within the family structure, their motivations for commissioning art and architecture differed accordingly.

Further Reading

Atil, Esin, ed. ‘‘Patronage by Women in Islamic Art.’’Asian Art6:2 (1993).

Hambly, Gavin, ed.Women in the Medieval Islamic World: Power, Patronage, and Piety. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Humphreys, R. Stephen. ‘‘Women as Architectural Patrons of Religious Architecture in Ayyubid Damascus.’’ Muqarnas11 (1994): 35–54.

Petry, Carl. ‘‘Class Solidarity Versus Gender Gain: Women as Custodians of Property in Later Medieval Egypt.’’ In Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, ed. Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron, 122–42. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.

Ruggles, D. Fairchild, ed.Women, Patronage, and SelfRepresentation in Islamic Societies. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000.

WOMEN POETS

  Women poets of classical times were far fewer in number than their male counterparts, and their poetic domain was relatively restricted. Women were largely excluded from the ‘‘high’’ poetic genres of panegyric and satire, probably because of their social roles: mandatory seclusion in the case of freeborn women, and the providing of entertainment in the case of slave girls. The majority of extant women’s poems are in the genres of elegy (ritha’) by the former group and of erotic love song (ghazal) by the latter. In addition, there are some Sufi poems composed by women and sporadic compositions of nostalgia verses, wisdom verses, and children’s lullabies; these last are often in the rajaz meter, which is generally not considered suitable for true poetry. The restriction of genre simultaneously denotes a restriction of form, whereby women’s poetic production has usually been in the form of the more informal monothematic qit‘a (short piece) generally used in elegies and love songs rather than the long, formal, polythematic qasida (ode) that is reserved mostly for the panegyric. It also denotes simplicity of language, which is a hallmark of the genres of elegy and love song.

  The poetry composed by pre-Islamic women was almost wholly limited to marathi(sing. marthiya; elegy). Suzanne Stetkevych (1993, 161–6) argues that this limitation of poetic domain reflects the limitation of the role played by women in the public (which is equated with male) ritual life of the tribe, of which it was the function of poetry to record; this meant that there was limited occasion—the death of a warrior kinsman upon which free women were allowed public voice. Indeed, at these occasions, it was their obligation to lament their fallen warriors and incite their remaining kinsmen to vengeance(tahrid); it was their duty to shed ritual, poetic tears to redeem their fallen menfolk, just as it was the men’s duty to redeem the death of kin by shedding blood.

  Al-Khansa’ (d. 24/645) was a preeminent mukhadrama poetess (one who straddled the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods) who excelled in the genre of elegy. She composed more than a hundred short or medium-length elegies in which she elegized her brothers Sakhr and Mu‘awiya and incited her tribesmen to take blood vengeance. A large number of her opening lines, and, indeed, the opening lines of most elegies by women, contain the ‘‘eyes shedding tears’’ motif, often in an exhortation by the poetess to herself to weep. The medieval anthologist Ibn Sallam alJumahi placed al-Khansa’ second within the four great poets of ritha’; she was the only woman to make it into his ranks of 110 outstanding poets of pre-Islam and early Islam.

  Layla al-Akhyaliyya (d. ca. AH 85/704 CE) was an Umayyad poetess whom critics often ranked close to al-Khansa’. Layla composed almost fifty short poems, particularly elegies for her slain kinsman and her lover, Tawba ibn Humayyir. She also composed an elegy for ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan. However, ‘‘challenging gender-prescribed literary norms’’ (al-Sajdi, 143), Layla also exchanged some lewd satires with the poet al-Nabigha al-Ja‘di and composed a few panegyrics for the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj and the Umayyad Caliphs Marwan I and ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. Her panegyric about ‘Abd al-Malik is particularly noteworthy for its tripartite nasib-rahilmadih qasida form, traditionally a form that was squarely in the male poetic domain but that was reworked by her into a female version.

  The other important genre of women’s poetry was the love lyric. During the Umayyad and ‘Abbasid periods, there were large numbers of professional singing slave girls (qiyan; sing.qayna) who often composed the love songs that they sang to the accompaniment of musical instruments. The line between musical and sexual entertainment was not always clearly drawn—singing girls were courtesans and many eventually became concubines of the ruling elite. In his treatise about singing girls entitled Risalat al-Qiyan (Epistle of the Singing-Girls), al-Jahiz (d. 255/868–869) stated, without referring to composition of poetry, that an accomplished singing girl had a repertoire of more than four thousand songs. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. ca. 363/972) composed a different kind of treatise about singing girls entitled alIma’ al-Shawa‘ir (Slave-girl Poets), in which he focused on their poetry. On the basis of this text, Hilary Kilpatrick (1991, 175) explains that three genres of poetry were preeminent among singing girls: (1) love poetry(ghazal); (2) verse-capping competition with fellow poets, particularly other singing girls; and (3) short, informal panegyric verse for their masters. Three early ‘Abbasid singing girls were particularly famous for their poetry: ‘Inan (paramour of al-Rashid, r. 786–809), al-‘Arib (concubine of al-Ma’mun, r. 813– 817), and Fa-dl (concubine of al-Mutawakkil, r. 847– 861). Additionally, literary anthologies attribute some courtly love poetry (most likely spuriously so) to Layla, who was the beloved of Majnun.

  The ‘Abbasid princess ‘Ulayya (d. 210/825), daughter of al-Mahdi and half-sister of Harun alRashid, was also a singer-poet, although her social status was far above that of the singing girls. Her poetry and songs dealt mostly with the themes of courtly love and wine. She was trained by her mother, Maknuna, who, before being purchased by al-Mahdi, had been a professional singing girl. ‘Ulayya, in turn, trained singing girls for al-Rashid’s palace.

  Also said to have had her origins in the world of the singing girl was the famous mystic and poet of Basra, Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya (d. 185/801). She transmuted the love poetry of the singing girls to Sufi love poetry. Rabi‘a is believed to have secured her freedom through her sanctity and, from that point on, to have lived an ascetic and teaching-oriented life. Several short pieces of Sufi love poetry are attributed to her.

  Almost eight centuries later in the Mamluk period flourished another female Sufi master and poet named ‘A’isha al-Ba‘uniyya (d. 922/1517). A’isha, who lived in Syria and Egypt, belonged to the ‘Urmawi branch of the Qadiriyya order and came from the distinguished Ba‘uni family of judges and scholars. She composed more than a dozen books in prose and poetry, and was, according to Emil Homerin, the most prolific woman author before the twentieth century. More than 300 of her long poems have been collected in a yet unpublished anthology entitled Fayd al-Fadl wa Jam‘ al-Shaml. In them, she described mystical states and praised variously the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, the founder of her order ‘Abd al-Qadir Jilani, and her own Sufi shaykhs. She used technical Sufi terminology and typical Sufi poetic motifs such as wine and love in her poems, sometimes in the strophic form and once in an eminent badi‘iyya (long poem in which each verse uses a different rhetorical trope to praise nabi Muhammad s.a.w).

  In addition to the East, women poets also composed love lyrics in the Muslim West. One such Andalusian poet is the Umayyad princess, Wallada (d. 484/1091), daughter of al-Mustakfi (r. 1024–4) and lover of the renowned poet Ibn Zaydun. Wallada was a literary force in Cordoba and hosted an important literary salon. Her extant oeuvre is made up of two short love poems for her lover and several obscene verses of invective addressed to him that were composed after their relationship had ended. Her models are believed to be not Western but Eastern, particularly Abu Nuwas. Anthologies also contain several poems by other Andalusian women, such as the courtesan Nazhun bint al-Qala‘i (fifth/eleventh century), the teacher Hafsa bint al-Hajj (d. 585/1191), and the Jewish lady Qasmuna bint Isma‘il (sixth/twelfth century); these were written in a similarly popular love-lyrical and satirical vein.

  The classical Arabic library features three (extant) anthologies of poetry dedicated to women that provide their biographies and cite their poetry: Abu al-Faraj’s above mentioned al-Ima’ al-Shawa‘ir; al-Marzubani’s (d. 384/994)Ash‘ar al-Nisa’ (Verses by Women;this volume is partially extant, with works by thirty-eight mostly obscure ancient women); and al-Suyuti’s (d. 911/1505) Nuzhat al-Julasa’ fi Ash‘ar al-Nisa’ (Recreation for Boon-Companions a propos Poems by Women,a collection of works by forty ‘‘modern’’ women). The citation of women’s poetry in the general medieval anthologies is sporadic and sparse. The earliest anthologists either ignored women poets or made disparaging remarks about them (see Ibn Sallam’s upbraiding of Ibn Ishaq for citing women’s poetry in his Sira Tabaqat Fuhul alShu‘ara’,vol. 1, 8. Cairo, 1974.). However, most of the later anthologists—such as al-Jahiz, Abu Tammam, Ibn al-Mu‘tazz, and Abu al-Faraj in the East and Ibn Bassam and al-Maqqari in the West—do cite some poetry by women. In addition, historians such as al-Tabari, Yaqut, and Ibn ‘Asakir cite verses by Women such as elegies for the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w by his daughter Fatima al-Zahra’ Ra and his aunt Safiyya bint ‘Abd al-Muttalib Ra—as part of their historical narratives. Most anthologies of classical women poets are modern compilations and rather short. In modern times, Arabic scholars have put together from the medieval sources several anthologies dedicated to women’s poetry.

  In his introduction to the Nuzhat al-Julasa’, alSuyuti refers to a large (at least six-volume) anthology—now lost—of ‘‘ancient’’ women’s poetry by an anthologist named Ibn al-Tarrah (d. 720/1320) and titled Akhbar al-Nisa’ al-Shawa‘ir (Accounts of Women Poets). It would seem from this that women poets may have formed a more dynamic part of the poetic landscape, at least in the earliest classical period, than is generally believed.

Primary Sources

Diwan al-Bakiyatayn: al-Khansa’, Layla al-Akhyaliyya, ed. Yusuf ‘Id. Beirut, 1992.

Diwan Fatima al-Zahra’, ed. Kamil Salman al-Juburi. Beirut, 1999.

Diwan al-Khansa’, ed. Ibrahim Shams al-Din. Beirut, 2001.

Diwan Layla al-Akhyaliyya, eds. Khalil al-‘Ac ¸tiyya and Ibraim al-‘Atiyya. Baghdad, 1967.

Diwan Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya wa Akhbaruha, ed. Muwaffaq Fawzi al-Jabr. Damascus, 1999.

Al-Isfahani, Abu al-Faraj.Al-Ima’ al-Shawa‘ir, ed. Jalil al-‘Atiyya. Beirut, 1984.

Al-Marzubai.Ash‘ar al-Nisa’, eds. Sami Makki ‘Ani and Hilal al-Naji. Baghdad, 1976.

Shi‘r-Safiyya bint ‘Abd al-Muttalib, ed. Muhammad al-Basyuni. Cairo, 2002.

Al-Suyuti, Jalal al-Din.Nuzhat al-Julasa’ fi Ash‘ar al-Nisa’, ed. Salah al-Din al-Munajjd. Beirut, 1984.

Modern Anthologies Garulo, Teresa, ed.Diwan de las Poetisas de al-Andalus. Madrid, 1985.

Al-Hayali, Layla Muhammad Nazim, ed.Mu‘jam Diwan Ash‘ar al-Nisa’ fi Sadr al-Islam. Beirut, 1999.

Mardini, Raghda.Shawa‘ir al-Jahiliyya: Dirasa Naqdiyya. Damascus, 2002.

Muhanna, ‘Abd, ed.Mu‘jam al-Nisa’ al-Sha‘irat fi alJahiliyya wa al-Islam. Beirut, 1990.

Saqr, ‘Abd al-Badi‘, ed.Sha‘irat al-‘Arab. Doha, 1967.

Al-Wa’ili, ‘Abd al-Hakim, ed.Mawsu‘at Sha‘irat al-‘Arab (min al-Jahiliyya hatta Nihayat al-Qarn al-‘Ishrin), vol. 1. Amman, 2001.

Wannus, Ibrahim, ed.Sha‘irat al-‘Arab. Antelias, Lebanon, 1992.

Further Reading

Di Giacomo, Louis.Une Poetesse Grenadine du Temps des Almohades: Hafsa bint al-Hajj. Paris, 1949.

Homerin, Th. Emil. ‘‘Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ‘A’ishah al-Ba‘uniyah (d. 922/1516).’’ Mamluk Studies Review7 (2003): 211–34.

Khulayf, Yusuf.Al-Shi‘r al-Nisa’i fi Adabina al-Qadim. Cairo. 1991.

Kilpatrick, Hilary. ‘‘Women as Poets and Chattels. Abu lFarag˘ al-Isbahani’s ‘al-’Ima’ al-Sawa‘ir’.’’Quaderni di Studi Arabi9 (1991): 161–76.

Nichols, J.M. ‘‘Wallada, the Andalusian Lyric, and the Question of its Influence.’’Literature East and West21 (1977): 289–91.

———. ‘‘Arabic Women Poets in al-Andalus.’’Maghreb Review4 (1979): 114–7.

Al-Sajdi, Dana. ‘‘Trespassing the Male Domain: The Qasidah of Layla al-Akhyaliyyah.’’Journal of Arabic Literature31:2 (2000): 121–46.

Shamsi, Mas‘ud Hasan. ‘‘‘Ulayya: A Less Known ‘Abbasid Princess.’’Islamic Culture21 (1947): 114–22.

Smith, Margaret.Rabi‘a the Mystic and her Fellow Saints in Islam. Cambridge, 1928.

Stetkevych, Suzanne. ‘‘The Obligations and Poetics of Gender: Women’s Elegy and Blood Vengeance.’’ InThe Mute Immortals Speak: Pre-Islamic Poetry and the Poetics of Ritual, 161–205. Ithaca, NY, and London, 1993.

See entries on al-Khansa, Layla al-Akhyaliyya, Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, ‘Ulayya, and Wallada in theEncyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., and theEncyclopedia of Arabic Literature.

WOMEN WARRIORS

  In pre-Islamic Arabia, women are said to have customarily taken part in warfare, infrequently as combatants themselves but more often as inciters of the men of their tribes and as providers of succor and aid to the wounded. This situation continued through the early period of Islam. Biographical works document the presence of women on the battlefield during the time of the Prophet, including some of his wives. Ibn Sa‘d (d. AH 231/845 CE), in his famous al-Tabaqat alKubra (The Great Generations),records the activities of some of these remarkable women, including their martial exploits in some cases, as does Ibn Hisham (d. 218/833) in his celebrated biography of nabi Muhammad s.a.w. More frequently, the women companions accompanied the men to battle to nurse the wounded and feed the thirsty. For example, Umm Ayman, the nurse and freedwoman of the Prophet, was present at the battle of Uhud in 4/625, at Khaybar in 7/628, and at Hunayn in 8/630, primarily in her capacity as a nurse. The pre-Islamic custom of goading the men to battle, especially by uttering imprecations on the enemy, appears to have been discouraged during the Islamic period. Ibn Sa‘d mentions that, when Umm Ayman invoked God’s curse on the opposing army, she was gently reprimanded by nabi Muhammad s.aw. Several other women companions, such as Umm Sinan alAslamiyya and Ku‘ayba bt. Sa‘d al-Aslamiyya, are mentioned as having been present during a number of battles, primarily to tend to the sick and the wounded. The latter is said to have set up a tent in the mosque at Medina to serve as a makeshift hospital for the wounded.

  There were actual female combatants as well: Safiyya bt. ‘Abd al-Muttalib, for example, is reported to have descended on the battlefield at Uhud with a weapon in her hand. However, the most famous female warrior of the early Islamic period is the Ansari woman Nusayba bt. Ka‘b, also known as Umm ‘Umara. She was present at Uhud, al-Hudaybiyya (9/630), Khaybar, Hunayn, and al-Yamama (12/633– 34). At Uhud, she valiantly defended nabi Muhammad s.a.w (along with her mother, according to some accounts) when the tide began to turn against the Muslims. She fought with a sword and a bow and arrow, sustaining severe injuries in the process. Her assailant was a man named Ibn Qumi‘a from the opposing Makkan side, who had loudly declared his intention to kill the Prophet. Umm ‘Umara would later proudly state that she had managed to strike at Ibn Qumi‘a, ruing, however, the fact that ‘‘the enemy of God had on two suits of armor.’’ She would later lose a hand at al-Yamama during the battle against the false prophet Musaylima after the fall of Mecca in 9/630.

  The early biographers speak approvingly of these heroic women; for example, Ibn Sa‘d gives a fulsome and laudatory account of Umm ‘Umara’s martial feats. The twelfth-century memoirs of Usama b. Munqidh (584/1188), a Syrian notable, contain references to women combatants during his own time, including his mother, which indicates that this practice had not become completely extinct during the later medieval period. However, Mamluk biographers like Ibn Hajar (d. 852/1449) tend to display ambivalence toward the martial activities of early women warriors. Ibn Hajar, in fact, considers the case of an obscure woman companion by the name of Umm Kabsha, who is said to have been denied permission to accompany nabi Muhammad s.a.w  to an unspecified battle, as rescinding the earlier permission given to women to participate in battles, either as active combatants and/ or as providers of humanitarian services. Ibn Hajar’s opinion is to be regarded as being in accordance with the changed sensibilities of the Mamluk period, which involved a much more circumscribed public role for women.

Primary Sources

An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades: Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh, transl. Philip K. Hitti. New York, 2000.

Ibn Hajar, Ahmad b. ‘Ali. Al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba, vol. 8. Beirut. Ibn Sa‘d, Muhammad. Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 8, ed. Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qadir ‘Ata. Beirut, 1997.

Further Reading

Afsaruddin, Asma. ‘‘Reconstituting Women’s Lives: Gender and the Poetics of Narrative in Medieval Biographical Works.’’The Muslim World92 (2002): 461–80.

Ahmed, Leila.Women and Gender in Islam: Historical roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992.

Lichtenstadter, Ilse.Women in the Aiyam al-‘Arab: A Study of Female Life During Warfare in Pre-Islamic Arabia. London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1935.

YA‘QUB IBN KILLIS

  Abu ’l-Faraj Ya‘qub ibn Killis—statesman, administrator, and intellectual—was born a Jew in Baghdad in 930 CE and died in Cairo in 991. During his youth, his family settled in Ramle, Palestine, where he engaged in commerce, achieving the important post of wakil al-tujjar (representative of the merchants). Bankruptcy forced him to flee to Egypt, where he entered the service of the regent Kafur and worked his way up to chief financial administrator. After Kafur remarked that, were Ibn Killis a Muslim, he would be worthy of being vizier, Ibn Killis converted to Islam in 967 and became an avid student of scripture and law.However, his patron’s death the following year and the jealousy of the vizier Ibn al-Furat caused him to seek refuge in the Maghreb,where he entered the service of the Fatimid caliph al-Mu‘izz. Ibn Killis’s first hand knowledge of Egyptian affairs proved invaluable to the Fatimids, who were planning an invasion of Egypt.

  After the conquest and transfer of the seat of Fatimid power to the new capital of Cairo, Ibn Killis reorganized the financial administration of the country. He instituted a highly successful monetary reform that greatly increased state revenues and made the Fatimid dinar the standard currency of the Mediterranean. In 977, he became vizier under the young Caliph al-‘Aziz. During his administration, the Fatimid Caliphate reached the height of prosperity and power. On his deathbed, Ibn Killis advised al-‘Aziz to keep peace with Byzantium and to eliminate the unruly Bedouin in Palestine; this policy was followed. When Ibn Killis died in February 991, the young caliph himself led the funeral prayers and openly wept.

  In addition to being an architect of Fatimid administration, Ibn Killis was a patron of scholarship and the arts. He conceived of making the Azhar mosque into a great institution of higher learning and was himself an expert on Isma‘ili jurisprudence.

Further Reading

Fischel, Walter J.Jews in the Economic and Political Life of Mediaeval Islam,2nd ed. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1969

YAQUT

The word yaqut, via the Syriac Arabicized Greek (hyakinthos), means corundum. It became the name of at least five well-known Muslim scholars who were slaves that were taken into captivity by Muslims during the Holy War; two of them became famous. The first is Yaqut al-Mu‘tasimi (d. AH 698/1298 CE), who was native of Abyssinia or a Greek of Amasia. His ‘‘noun of relation’’ (nisba)al-Mu‘tasimi, is derived from his master, the last ‘Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, al-Mu‘tasim, who had him educated; he became a librarian and a famed calligrapher.

  The second of these slaves is the celebrated encyclopedist Yaqut al-Rumi al-Hamawi (575–626/ 1179–229). He was born in Byzantine territory (hence his ethnical-Rumi). He was captured as a boy and purchased by a merchant of Hama in Syria, who added to his name the ethnical-Hamawi.Al-Rumi’s master sent him to school so that he could help the master in his trade in the Persian Gulf. After his master died, al-Rumi settled in Baghdad and became a bookseller.

  Al-Rumi traveled to many lands: Syria, Mosul, Egypt, Khorasan, and others. He benefited also from the assistance of important personalities, like the vizier Ibn al-Qifti in Aleppo. As a result of his journeys, he met a lot of scholars and came across many libraries, and he was very active in the copying of books. Of his numerous works, two should be mentioned. First,The Dictionary of Learned Men, which contains, in alphabetical order, biographies of grammarians, philologists, men of letters, poets, and so on. The second one is the Geographic Dictionary, which contains not only geographical information but also, under each place name, historical data, a list of eminent natives of the place, and other pertinent information.

Further Reading

Canby, Sheila. ‘‘Yakut al-Mu‘tasimi.’’ InEI, vol. XI, 265. Gilliot, Claude. ‘‘Yakut al-Rumi.’’ InEI, vol. XI, 265–66

YAZIDIS

  Yazidiyya is a syncretistic sect, mainly made up of Kurdish speakers, whose adherents live mostly in Iraq (in the Jabal Sinjar and Sheikhan regions, north of Mosul). Small communities of Yazidis live also in northern Syria, southern Turkey, and Armenia. The size of the sect is estimated to be around two hundred and fifty thousand. Apart from Iraq, the derivation of the sect’s name is obscure; the prevalent view among Western scholars is that it is related to Yazid ibn Mu‘awiya, the second caliph of the Umayyad dynasty (r. 680–683 CE). Others believe the name to have been derived from the Persian wordyazad(‘‘divine being’’).

  The Yazidis consider the founder of their religion to be a certain Shaykh ‘Adi b. Musafir (of Umayyad descent), who is reported to have settled in the Kurdish mountains of northern Iraq at the beginning of the twelfth century.

  Despite some external resemblance to Islam, the Yazidi cult shows no real affinity to Muslim beliefs or rituals. Its terminology and imagery both point to the mainly Iranian nature of this religion. The Yazidis believe in one God, who, after having created the world, delegated it to seven archangels, known also as ‘‘The Seven Secrets’’(haft sirr), the most powerful of whom is the Peacock Angel (ta’us-e malak). Adversaries of the sect claimed that the latter was identical to the devil; it is from this that the abusive appellation ‘‘Devil worshippers’’(‘abadat al-shaytan) came to be used by which the sect’s opponents.

  The syncretistic nature of the Yazidiyya cult is reflected in its rich mythology, which is made up of elements of Iranian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim origins.

  The sacred scriptures of the Yazidis include two major books, the Mashaf-a Rashand the Kitab-i Jilwa.These texts are commonly believed to have been composed by non-Yazidis who nevertheless relied on Yazidi traditions.

Further Reading

Ebied, R.Y., and Young, M.J.L. ‘‘An Account of the History and Ritual of the Yazidis of Mosul.’’Le Museon85 (1972): 481–522.

Guest, J.Survival Among the Kurds: A History of the Yezidis.London and New York, 1993.

YEMEN

  Yemen’s early Islamic history continues to suffer from a dearth of information. During the first two centuries AH (seventh and eighth CE), the administration of Yemen was directly dependent on the central caliphate, first in Medina and then in Damascus and Baghdad. The country was divided into three mikhlafs (administrative regions), each of which was overseen by a governor appointed by the caliph (the senior governor was the one appointed to San‘a’): the mikhlaf of San‘a’, which included a large part of  highlands from Sa‘ada and Najran in the north to al-Janad; the mikhlaf of al-Janad, which included the southern region as well as the coastal plain of Aden and Lahij; and the mikhlaf of Hadramawt, which was limited to the district bearing that name, with Shibam as its principal town.

  The weakening of the ‘Abbasid ca1iphate during the ninth century led to the rise of several local and foreign dynasties in Yemen, with conflicting territorial, political, and religious interests. The first of these dynasties was the Ziyadids (819–1012), whose founder Muhammad ibn Ziyad was sent by the caliph alMa’mun to quell a rebellion in the Tihama region. There, he founded the city of Zabid, which became his capital and that of his descendants. During the same period, a local dynasty known as the Yu‘furids (847– 997), which was centered in Shibam-Kawkaban and occasionally in control over San‘a’, reigned over the territory extending south until al-Janad. However, parts of the northern highlands escaped all control until the arrival of Yahya ibn al-Husayn in 897, who came from Tabaristan at the invitation of several tribes. He chose Sa‘ada in north Yemen as his capital, where he established the Zaydi imamate. However, for several centuries, the authority of his descendants did not go beyond the region of Sa‘ada.

  From the beginning of the eleventh century until the middle of the twelfth century, Yemen continued to be fragmented among several competing dynasties. The Najahids (1021–1156), who took over Zabid, were opposed to the Sulayhids (1047–1138), who held close relations with their co-religionists, the Isma‘ili Fatimids of Egypt, and who were able to impose a certain political unity over southern Yemen, the Tihama, and the Hadramawt. Reigning at first from San‘a’ and then from their new capital in Dhu Jibla, the Sulayhids were able to restore commerce between the Orient and the Mediterranean basin, which became a source of prosperity for the country. Thus, the port of Aden, which was run by the Zuray‘ids (1080–1173) in the name of the Sulayhids, became an important center for international commerce. The Sulayhids lost control over San‘a’ at the end of the eleventh century to the sultans of Hamdan, the local tribal leaders of that region; the Hadramawt was ruled by a number of local dynasties of tribal origins (e.g., the Banu Rashid in Tarim, the Banu Daghar in Shibam, and the Banu Iqbal in the port of al-Shihr).

  The conquest of Yemen in 1173 and 1174 by the Ayyubids, who were successors of the Fatimids in Egypt, included the Hadramawt, where they succeeded briefly in eliminating the mini states of that region; the inhabitants of the highlands of the north, who were generally loyal to the Zaydis, rebuffed them. The Tihama and the southern parts of Yemen formed a single political unit after their regional dynasties were eliminated. San‘a’, which fell under their hegemony for a while, reverted to the control of Banu Hatim, a branch of the Hamdan, whereas the north continued to be loyal to the Zaydis. Equipped with an efficient army and a competent administration, the Ayyubids introduced numerous reforms, most notably in the fields of agriculture and commerce. They also brought to Yemen the institution of the madrasa, which their successors, the Rasulids, developed further in an effort to counter the Zaydi doctrine. Having arrived in Yemen with the Ayyubid army, the Rasulids (1229–1454) gained control of the country and established their authority as far as San‘a’. They chose Ta‘iz in the southern highlands as their capital, and Zabid became their winter residence. Under their impetus, the capital of the Tihama became a major center for the teaching of the Sunni doctrine.

  The weakening of the Rasulids presented the opportunity to the Tahirids, the governors of Aden, to take over and establish themselves as the new rulers of southern Yemen in 1454. They were also keen builders (as were their predecessors), allocating much of their building activity to their capital, al-Miqrana, and to Rada‘, Juban, and Zabid. The Tahirids were equally interested in developing the agriculture of the area, and they established new palm groves in the irrigated regions of the coastal plains. They also tried to extend their authority over the Hadramawt, where political instability continued. Their hold on that region, much like that of their predecessors, was short lived, because they were faced with strong opposition from local dynasties, who would accept only nominal allegiance. Thus, the Al Yamani dynasty that was established in Tarim in 1224 remained on the political scene until the sixteenth century (it ended in 1714) before it was eliminated by the Kathiris. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, a new political power appeared in the region: the Yafi‘is, a large tribe from the northeast of Aden whose influence extended over the ports of Mukalla and Shihr. They created a new sultanate, first under the name of the Qasidis and then under that of the Qu‘aytis, whose seat of power was in Qatn.

  After the demise of the last Tahirid sultan in 1517, a group of mercenaries from Egypt, known as the Lewend, became the rulers of lower Yemen during a brief period (1521–1538) before the Ottomans put an end to their presence. The arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea also had strong repercussions throughout the country. Increasingly worried about the security of the Holy Cities of Arabia as well as about maintaining control of the international trade between the East and the Mediterranean, the Ottomans, who had conquered Egypt in 1517, decided to take hold of Yemen in 1538. However, their presence there rapidly provoked revolts, led by the Zaydi imams of the Qasimi dynasty, who were able to liberate the country in 1635; they then extended their control to most of Yemen from Najran to the Hadramawt.

Further Reading

Daum, Werner, ed.Yemen: 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix.Innsbruck: Pinguin, 1988.

Kay, H.C.Yaman. Its Early Mediaeval History.London: Edward Arnold, 1882

Al-Mad‘aj, ‘Abd al-Muhsin M.The Yemen in Early Islam, 9–233/630–847: A Political History.London, 1980.

Serjeant, R.B., and Lewcock, R., eds.San‘a’, an Arabian Islamic City.London: Festival of Islam Trust Foundation, 1983.

Schuman, L.O.Political History of the Yemen at the Beginning of the 16th Century.Groningen, 1960

ZANKIDS

  The Zankids were a Turkmen dynasty, several branches of which ruled in Jazira and Syria between 1127 and 1251 CE. Zanki, the founder of the dynasty, was the son of Aqsunqur, a military slave of the Seljuk sultan Malikshah and ruler of Aleppo between 1087 and 1094. In 1127, Sultan Mahmud made Zanki ruler of Mosul and atabeg (guardian and tutor) for his two sons. In 1129, the sultan appointed him malik (king) of the West. Zanki took advantage of the struggles for succession of the Seljuk sultans and their problems with the ‘Abbasid caliphs to solidify his own base of power in Mosul. By 1128, he controlled Aleppo and then campaigned in Syria, attacking the atabeg state of the Burids in Damascus and seizing territory in southeastern Anatolia. He won his greatest fame in 1144, when he conquered the Crusader County of Edessa, which provoked the Second Crusade.

  When Zanki was murdered in 1146, his two sons divided his realm. Ghazi took Mosul and the territories in Jazira, whereas Nur al-Din Mahmud took Aleppo and the territories in Syria. Zanki’s most renowned descendant was Nur al-Din, in whom he inspired a Sunni religious zeal against both the Shi‘is and, especially, the Crusaders. In 1154, Nur al-Din captured Damascus, putting an end to the Burids and uniting most of Syria against the Crusaders. His army entered Egypt several times, and, in 1169, its commander, Shirkuh, became vizier to the greatly weakened Fatimid caliph. Shirkuh’s nephew Saladin abolished the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and acknowledged the authority of Nur al-Din. Around the same time, Nur al-Din conquered Jazira and established suzerainty over Mosul. He died in 1174 at the height of his power.

  Nur al-Din’s state did not long survive him. Saladin immediately invaded Syria and took Damascus. By 1183, he had conquered all of the Zankid territory in Syria. The descendants of Ghazi managed to retain Mosul somewhat longer. Saladin attacked Ghazi in 1175–1176, and he invaded Jazira in 1182–1183 and 1185–1186. This fragmented the Zankid territory into five principalities that acknowledged Saladin’s suzerainty. Saladin’s Ayyubid successors maintained supremacy in that region. In 1209, his brother al-‘Adil annexed part of Jazira. In 1211, Mas’ud II became atabeg of Mosul. Mas’ud’s father had chosen a military slave, Badr al-Din Lu’lu’, to serve as regent. Badr al-Din eventually became so powerful that he could depose the Zankid atabegs while keeping the Ayyubids in check. In 1233, the last Zankid claimant to Mosul died, and the caliph recognized Badr al-Din as the new ruler of that city. Minor branches of the Zankids at Sinjar and Jazirat Ibn ‘Umar fell under Ayyubid dominion in 1220 and 1251, respectively. The branch at Shahrazur was destroyed by the Mongols in 1245.

  The Zankids did much to encourage the economic and cultural revival of Jazira and Syria. They rebuilt cities, established such institutions as hospitals and madrasas, ensured the supremacy of Sunnism over Shi‘ism in their territory, and played a critical role in repelling the Crusaders.

Primary Sources

Ibn al-Qala ¯nisı¯. The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades, transl. H.A.R. Gibb. London: Luzac, 1932.

Further Reading

Alptekin, Cos¸kun. The Reign of Zangi (521–541/1127– 1146). Erzurum, Turkey: Atatu¨rk University Press, 1978.

Elisse´eff, Nikita.Nu¯r ad-Dı¯n, un Grand Prince Musulman de Syrie au Temps desCroisades,3 vols. Damascus: Institut Franc¸ais de Damas, 1967.

Patton, Douglas.Badr al-Dı¯n Lu’lu’: Atabeg of Mosul, 1211–1259. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991.