KALILA WA DIMNA
There once lived a lion who terrorized the
animals of the jungle by hunting them, until one day they agreed to supply him
daily with an animal as long as he stopped his cruelty. The animals continued
to cast their lots every day until one day it was the hare’s turn. The crafty
hare arrived late to the hungry and angry lion and explained to him, ‘‘I was
bringing another hare for your lunch, but on our way here another lion snatched
the hare from me, proclaiming that he is the true king of the jungle.’’ The
furious lion wished to confront his adversary, and so he followed the hare to a
deep well full of clear water. ‘‘Look here, my king!’’ said the hare, perched
over the well. The lion saw his reflection and, thinking it was the other lion,
leaped in and drowned. Thereafter, the animals lived happily ever after.
This is just one of the many ‘‘nested’’
stories from the tales of Kalila wa Dimna,
adapted and translated into Arabic from the Pahlavi in the eighth century by Ibn
al-Muqaffa‘ (d. c. 757 CE). The ultimate source of the Kalila wa Dimna can be traced to an original Sanskrit ‘‘mirror for
princes’’ that was compiled by an unknown author around 300 and entitled the Pancatantra (Five BooksorFive Cases of
Cleverness). The Sanskrit tales were translated in the sixth century into
Middle Persian (Pahlavi) by the physician Burzuya (or Burzoy) at the behest of
the Sasanian King Khusraw Anushirwan (r. 531–579). In addition to the tales of
the Pancatantra, Burzuya incorporated
various other stories into his corpus, principally from the Mahabharataepic and
other Hindu and Buddhist sources. Burzuya’s Pahlavi title,Karirak ud Damanak,
was derived from the names of two jackals, Karataka and Damanaka, the principal
characters in the first book of the Pan˜catantra. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘’s Kalila wa
Dimnais therefore an Arabic recension of
Burzuya’s now lostKarirak ud Damanak, although the Arab author also
inserted a number of additions into his final work.
The earliest surviving manuscripts of
theKalila wa Dimnadate from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the
widespread popularity of this work is clearly attested to by references to it
in other medieval literary works, including the Shahnamaof Firdawsi. However,
the Kalila wa Dimna was never seen as
a fixed corpus of stories, and later authors and editors felt free to add to,
subtract from, and otherwise alter its contents. Scholars from the nineteenth
century onward have attempted to trace the complex history and origins of the Kalila
wa Dimna through both literary and art historical analysis. The tradition of
illustrating the tales of the Kalila wa Dimna is probably based on older,
well-established traditions of illustrating the animal fables of the Pancatantra.
Eighth-century frescoes found at Panjikent, near Samarkand, that include
depictions of the Pancatantra tales attest to a well-established iconographic
tradition that was later absorbed and adapted in the Muslim Near East.
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ states in his introduction
the fourfold purpose of the Kalila wa Dimna: (1) to engage the youth through
the vehicle of animal fables; (2) to delight the hearts of princes through
richly illustrated depictions of the tales; (3) to entice kings and common folk
everywhere to acquire their own copies and benefit the painters and scribes;
and (4) to engage the philosophers in the wisdom of its tales. Were he alive today,
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ would not have been disappointed in the least. Throughout the
ages, the Kalila wa Dimnahas been reworked and translated, as both prose and
poetic verse, into Persian, Mongol, Malay, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Spanish, Italian, French, German, and several Slavonic languages. The most
famous Persian recension from the Timurid period is the Anvar-i Suhayli, which was later translated into Ottoman rhymed
prose as the Humayunnama for Sultan Suleiman
the Magnificent. A new version of the Timurid work entitled Iyar-i Danish was commissioned by the
Mughal emperor Akbar.
Further Reading
Atil, Esin.Kalila
wa Dimna: Fables from a FourteenthCentury Arabic Manuscript. Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
Brockelmann,
C. ‘‘Kalila wa-Dimna.’’ In Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, vol. 4, 503–6.
Leiden: E.J. Brill. De Blois, Franc¸ois.Burzoˆy’s Voyage to India and the
Origin of the Book of Kalıˆlah wa Dimnah. London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1990.
Grube, Ernst
J., ed.A Mirror for Princes from India: Illustrated Versions of the Kalilah wa
Dimnah, Anvar-i Suhayli, Iyar-i Danish,andHumayun Nameh. Bombay: Marg
Publications, 1991.
O’Kane,
Bernard.Early Persian Painting: Kalila and Dimna Manuscripts of the Late
Fourteenth Century. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003.
Raby,
Julian. ‘‘The Earliest Illustrations toKalila wa Dimna.’’ In A Mirror for
Princes from India, ed. Ernst J. Grube, 16–31.
Walzer,
Sofie. ‘‘An Illustrated Leaf from a Lost Mamluk Kalilah wa-Dimnah Manuscript.’’
Ars Orientalis 2 (1957): 503–5.
KARAITES
A Jewish sect, the Karaites emerged in the
Islamic East during the eighth and ninth centuries CE. The Hebrew name qara’im (Arabic qara’iyun) probably derives from miqra, or ‘‘scripture,’’ because the Karaites are scripturalists
who deny the authority of the rabbinic tradition embodied in talmudic and
midrashic literature, depending instead directly on the Bible, which they
interpret rationally. Although the sect’s origins remain obscure, medieval
sources connect its rise with a certain Anan ben David (active in Iraq during
the middle of the eighth century). During the late ninth century, Karaite
ideology crystallized around three principal ideas: (1) opposition to rabbinic
teachings and leadership; (2) an apocalyptic worldview; and (3) the physical
return to Zion. Daniel al-Qumisi of Damaghan argued that the Jews’ suffering in
exile was divine punishment for their having instituted rabbinic legislation of
human origin. Reading scripture prognostically, he referred prophecies to
contemporary times, identifying biblical names, places, people, and images with
the world he knew. Assuming a central role in the unfolding eschatological
drama, his followers called themselves ‘‘Mourners for Zion’’ (Isa. 61:3).
Settling in Jerusalem, they studied and recited scripture, observed vigils, and
fasted.
The Karaites elicited firm opposition from
rabbinic leaders, notably Sa’adyah Gaon.
Polemics between Rabbanites (adherents of rabbinic Judaism) and Karaites were
harsh, but competition between the two groups undoubtedly contributed to the
intellectual flowering of eastern Jewry. During the tenth century, Karaite
scholars stood at the forefront of Jewish learning. Like Sa’adyah, they wrote
extensively in Arabic on a range of subjects, including law, biblical exegesis,
grammar, lexicography, and theology. Most of the leading figures hailed from
Iran and Iraq, but, with the notable exception of the exegete and codifier Ya’qub
al-Qirqisani (d. c. 938), they migrated to the Holy Land.
During the tenth and eleventh centuries,
Jerusalem became the Karaites’ intellectual center. Among the foremost scholars
of the city were the commentator Japheth ben Eli, the grammarian Abu’l-Faraj
Harun, and the theologian and jurist Yusuf al-Basir. Writing mostly in Arabic,
they adapted Mu’tazilite theology, Islamic legal theory, Qur’anic hermeneutics,
and Arabic grammatical terminology to their own sectarian needs.
Meanwhile, new Karaite centers developed in Egypt,
Byzantium, and Andalusia. In Egypt, where members of the Karaite Tustari family
served the Fatimid caliphs, Rabbanite and Karaite Jews maintained cordial
relations, even intermarrying. With the extinction of the Jerusalem community
(late eleventh century), the Egyptian center became the most important in the
Islamic lands, surviving until the end of the twentieth century. In Spain, Ibn
Hazm documented the presence of Karaites during the mid-eleventh century. Andalusian
Rabbanites, such as Judah Halevi, Abraham Ibn Daud, and Maimonides, sharply
condemned Karaite teachings, and they recorded efforts to suppress the sect. In
Byzantium, the sectarians translated a large body of scholarship from Arabic to
Hebrew, adapting Karaite teachings and practices to a new Christian
environment. The communities that later developed in the Crimea, Poland, and
Lithuania originally looked to Constantinople for spiritual guidance. Today,
there are perhaps twenty-five thousand Karaites in the world; most are of
Egyptian extraction and reside in Israel.
Primary Sources
Nemoy,
Leon.Karaite Anthology. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1952.
Further Reading
Ankori,
Zvi.Karaites in Byzantium: The Formative Years, 970–1100. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1959.
Baron, Salo
W.A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2nd ed. 18 vols., vol. 5, 209–85.
New York: Columbia University Press; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society
of America, 1952–1983.
Frank,
Daniel.Search Scripture Well: Karaite Exegetes and the Origins of the Jewish Bible
Commentary in the Islamic East. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004.
Polliack,
Meira, ed.Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources. Leiden:
Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.
KARBALA
Karbala is the site of one of the earliest
tragedies in Muslim history, where Husayn (grandson of the Prophet Muhammad
s.a.w) and several members of his family and supporters were killed in 680 CE.
It became in time a place of pilgrimage for the Shi’is and other devotees and
the location of the mausoleum of Husayn. At present, it is one of the largest
towns in southern Iraq, located some sixty miles southwest of Baghdad, and it
has grown to become one of the most important pilgrimage centers for Shi’i
Muslims.
More recently, after the fall of Saddam
Hussein and his regime in 2003, Karbala became the scene of battles and
conflict for control by various Shi’i groups and others, but it has also
regained its significance as a pilgrimage site for the global Shi’i community
after a long period of the suppression of devotional practices associated with
its historical significance. Its many seminaries attract Twelver Shi’i students
for study and training as religious teachers and leaders.
In 680 CE, after the death of Muawiyah, who had
forcibly assumed the role of caliph and established his rule based in Damascus,
Yazid, his son, whom he had nominated as his successor, faced opposition from
several quarters. Many Muslims saw an opportunity to restore just and
legitimate rule though Husayn, whose accession to power they supported. He set
out from Medina to Kufa to build further support and to challenge Yazid.
However, he and his band of followers and family members were intercepted by
Yazid’s troops and forced to camp at Karbala. The battle or, more
appropriately, the massacre—that ensued at the hands of Yazid’s army is
recorded by Muslim historians as an event of tragic proportions and as an act
of brave defiance, leading to the martyrdom of Husayn. The event and the site became
reference points for commemorating the tragedy and elaborating a set of ritual
acts and remembrances that reflect themes of suffering, persecution, oppression,
and martyrdom that have since dominated Shi’i writings and rituals.
Husayn and his brother Abbas, as well as
others killed in the battle, were buried in Karbala, and soon members of his
family and followers visited Karbala for prayers and remembrance. Over the
course of Muslim history, several rulers opposed to its significance as a
pilgrimage site either attempted to destroy the site or to restrict access to
it, and the tomb was also destroyed by fire. The great fourteenth-century traveler
Ibn Battuta describes his visit to Karbala and the site of the tomb as well as
the presence of a mosque and madrasa. Over the course of subsequent history,
Safavid rulers from Iran and the Ottoman sultan visited the site to pay homage
and to endow improvements and enhancement of the shrines of Imam Husayn and his
brother Abbas. The present gold covering of the dome of the mausoleum was donated
by the Iranian Qajar ruler toward the end of the eighteenth century.
In 1801, Karbala was taken by the new Wahhabis
from Arabia, who destroyed and looted the shrine, sacking the town in the
process. However, the shrine was restored in due course through donations from the
devout, and it has undergone continuous refurbishment and expansion since that
time. During the regime of Saddam Hussein (1979–2003), the Shi’is of Karbala
and other groups who were opposed to Hussein were severely persecuted, and
heavy restrictions were placed on visits to the shrine as well as on scholarly
activity in Karbala. Karbala is surrounded by a number of cemeteries,
reflecting the wish of many devout Shi’is to be buried near Imam Husayn and other
martyrs. It is also the seat of several places of learning, and, after its
recent turbulent history, Karbala is struggling to revive its traditional role
as a pilgrimage city and a seat of religious learning and scholarship.
Further Reading
Ayoub,
M.Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of Ashura in
Twelver Shiism. The Hague: Mouton, 1978.
Cole, Juan.Sacred
Space and Holy War. London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.
Jafri, S.M.
The Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam. London and New York: Longman,
1979.
Litvak,
Meir.Shii Scholars of Nineteenth Century Iraq: The Ulama of Najaf and Karbala.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Pinault,
D.Horse of Karbala: Muslim Devotional Life in India. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
KHALID IBN AL-WALID
Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most famous
military commander of early Islamic times. He was a member of the powerful Makhzum tribe, who converted to Islam
after the hijra. He fought against Muhammad at Uhud in AH 3/625 CE, where his
tactical brilliance played a significant role in Muhammad’s first military defeat.
After his conversion, Khalid assisted Muhammad in taking Mecca in 9/630. He
then subdued the Hawazin and the Thaqafis, who continued to defy Muhammad after
his success at Mecca. During the ridda
wars, Khalid aided Abu Bakr in preserving the community by defeating the
false prophet Musaylima at Akraba in 12/633.
Khalid is most famous for his leadership of
campaigns against the Byzantines and Sasanians to the north. Abu Bakr sent a
force under Khalid’s command to Iraq in 12/633. There, Khalid subdued al-Hira
and other important cities along the Euphrates. In 13/634, he was ordered to
turn his forces to the west to reinforce the Muslim armies fighting the
Byzantines in Syria. His six-day march through the waterless Syrian desert is
one of the most daring and celebrated exploits of the Muslim conquests. After
successfully crossing the desert, he led Muslim forces at Bostra and Yarmuk,
and he then negotiated the surrender of Damascus in 14/635. ‘Umar ibn
al-Khattab dismissed him from his command soon thereafter. Khalid continued to
campaign on the Byzantine frontier until his death in 21/642.
Like ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and others, Khalid was
an elite Meccan who joined Muhammad s.a.w
movement rather late but rose to prominence despite his earlier opposition
to Muhammad. The historical sources display a certain ambivalence about him,
reflecting the distrust many of the ansar held for the Meccan latecomers who
supplanted them in leadership positions. Consequently, his tactical brilliance
and martial valor were tainted by suspicions about his morality and the sincerity
of his faith. His moral shortcomings were apparently sufficient to persuade
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab to dismiss his most successful general.
There is also some debate among scholars
about details of Khalid’s famous journey across the Syrian desert. It is
impossible to reconcile contradictions in his itinerary, which has him taking
either a northern or a southern route through the desert. However, details of
his route are less important than the evidence of the centralized command
presented in the stories. The caliph’s orders to his army in Iraq to reinforce
his army in Syria suggest a high degree of coordination of forces under the
command of the caliph. Khalid’s willingness to submit to the command of other
generals in Syria and to accept the caliph’s dismissal also suggest that the
command structure of the conquering armies was more sophisticated and
hierarchical than is sometimes suggested.
Primary Sources
Al-Baladhuri,
Amad ibn Yahya.Futuh al-Buldan, ed. M.J. de Goeje. Leiden, 1866.
Al-Tabari,
Muhammad ibn Jarir. Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa-l-Muluk, ed. M.J. de Goeje. Leiden,
1879–1901.
Further Reading
Donner,
Fred.The Early Islamic Conquests. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1981.
Kennedy,
Hugh.The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. London: Longman, 1986.
KHARIJIS (768 CE)
The Khariji ‘‘seceders’’ or ‘‘those who go
out’’ (khawarij) were a sect that arose at the time of the first Rashidun
(Rightly Guided) Caliphate and during the struggles over succession between the
companions of the Prophet. Kharijis who had initially supported ‘Ali’s
(656–661) accession to the caliphate found that his compromises with Arab
interests after the battle of Siffin (in 657) against Mu’awiya after the murder
of
‘Uthman were a violation of religious
principles. Kharijis rose against ‘Ali at Nahrawan in 658 and were defeated,
but a Khariji later assassinated ‘Ali in 661, indirectly leading to the Arab
succession of Mu’awiya and the Umayyad dynasty.
The Khariji opposition centered on the
political leadership of Islam and the rejection of the worldly authority of the
(initially) Umayyad caliphal regime. They maintained that there was no
precedence in Islam except for virtue (the fulfillment of all laws and duties
incumbent on Muslims as individuals), and, by committing a sin, sinners had
apostatized, renounced their faith, and some extreme Kharijis said thus
incurred the penalty of death. The Kharijis thus rejected the hereditary
succession to the caliphate and the restriction of it to Arabs; rather,
Kharijis held that the head of the Islamic community was the imam elected on
the basis of religious learning and piety. Ultimately, the Kharijis contributed
to the emergence of a self-conscious Islamic identity.
With such an uncompromising stance,
especially toward the incumbent caliphal regime, the Kharijis became a
disparate and persecuted group with rebellious and fanatical inclinations, and
they often found refuge in the peripheral regions of the empire. Initially based
in Basra, the Kharijis inspired numerous rebellions against Umayyad rule in the
Arab east (Mashriq) from the 660s. In Iraq, Kharijis led by Ibn al-Azraq (known
later as Azariqa) gained the support of non-Arab Persian Muslims and propagated
the most extreme form of Khariji doctrine. However, from 675 to 684, the
Umayyad Governor ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad undertook a bloody campaign against the
Kharijis, supplying numerous martyrs to the sect. From their ideological
epicenter in Basra, the Kharijis gradually divided into three distinct groups
named after their eponymous leaders: the extremist Azariqa (‘‘blues’’), the
radical Sufriya (‘‘yellow’’), and the moderate Ibadiya (‘‘whites’’). In the Arab
peninsula, Najda ibn Amir in particular used Kharijism as a banner for
rebellion in the empire, and the Najdites controlled large territories in
eastern Arabia, Yemen, and the Hadramawt until they were finally defeated by
‘Abbasid power. Later in the ninth century, Khariji doctrine inspired a revolt
of African slaves (the Zanj) in southern Iraq. At times and places in which the
caliphate was weak, Khariji leadership filled the void.
Khariji Islam had its most profound influence
in North African Maghrib. Political fugitives from the Arab east (Mashriq)
brought the Khariji teachings and found a receptive audience in the
independently minded Berber populations in the Maghrib. Khariji missionaries
(both Sufrite and Ibadite Khariji) are reputed to have appeared in Qayrawan
(Ifriqiya) at around 719. Sufrite Khariji influence in the Maghrib is
attributed to a Berber missionary, ‘Ikrima. Berbers used the Khariji doctrine
against the remote and sometimes oppressive rule of their Arab conquerors, denouncing
caliphal rule as having departed from the true Islamic path. At issue were the
demands that the Arab conquerors of the Maghreb made on the Berber populations,
who, as well as the usual and Islamic principles of jizya (poll tax) and kharaj
(land tax), also bore the unlawful levying of human tribute, especially of
slave girls. Moreover, as non-Arab converts to Islam (mawali; clients of Arab
tribes), Muslim Berber recruits to the Muslim army were given a status that was
inferior to Arabs.
The Berbers, who were initially under the
leadership of the Sufrite Maysara, a ‘‘water carrier from Qayrawan’’ who was
influenced by ‘Ikrima, rebelled
against caliphal rule in 739 and 740 in Tangier. In 741, they destroyed a large
Umayyad army in North Africa, but they were prevented from taking Qayrawan.
Only in 756 did the Sufrite Kharijis (and the Warfajuma Berbers who dominated
the ranks) conquer Qayrawan. Ibadi Kharijis then briefly conquered Qayrawan in 758
and installed the (Iranian) Imam Ibn Rustman, who was forced westward by the
consolidation of the new ‘Abbasid dynasty over the empire.
Resistance and recalcitrance continued, which
brought about the foundation of small sectarian Khariji states in Algeria and
Morocco. The western Maghrib became a stronghold for independent Khariji Berber
leaders. Berber-Khariji states were founded at Tlemsen (under the Sufrite
leadership of Abu Qurra), Tahert (Ibadite Rustamids), and Sijilmassa (Sufrite Midrarids).
The Berber Kharijis also founded small trading oases, and they developed trade
routes with the Sudanic African kingdoms and were among the first carriers of
Islam into Sudanic Africa.
Further Reading
Abun-Nasr,
Jamil M.A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Princeton, NJ: 1987. Berkey,
Jonathan P.The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East
600–1800. Cambridge, 2003.
Brett, M.
‘‘The Arab Conquest and the Rise of Islam in North Africa.’’ InThe Cambridge History
of Africa, Vol. 2., From c. 500 BC to AD 1050, ed. J.D. Fage. Cambridge, 1978.
Hourani,
Albert.A History of the Arab Peoples. London, 1991.
Lapidus, Ira
M.A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge, 2002.
Lewicki,
Tadeuz. ‘‘The Ibadites in Arabia and Africa.’’ Journal of World HistoryVol.
XIII (1971)
KHATIB AL-BAGHDADI, AL
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn
‘Ali ibn Thabit ibn Ahmad ibn Mahdi al-Shafi’i, the ‘‘Preacher of Baghdad’’ and
the ‘‘Traditionalist of the East,’’ was born in 1002 CE in a village in the vicinity
of Baghdad, and he died in the city in 1071. Beginning his studies very early
with his father and other local sheikhs, he soon immersed himself in the science
of the prophetic traditions (hadith), which remained the focus of his
intellectual pursuits thereafter. His keen interest in the hadith led him to
undertake long journeys to several centers of learning, reaching as far as Nishapur
in search of knowledge. He sought to hear Islamic traditions directly from the lips
of various authorities and, through them, become a link in the chain of
transmission extending back to the Prophet. During the years after his first return
to Baghdad in 1028, he became a great authority on hadith, and his fame spread
far beyond the city’s walls.
Al-Khatib’s life belonged to a particularly
crucial period in the history of Baghdad and the eastern part of the ‘Abbasid
caliphate as a whole, a period marked by the expansion of Shi’ism under the
Buyids and the restoration of Sunnism under the Seljuks. During the ‘‘Shi’i
century’’ as well as the period immediately after, Ibn al-Hanbal’s pupils, who
were numerous and powerful in Baghdad, not only took it upon themselves to
persecute the Shi’is, but they were also occupied in fighting rationalism of
all types. At first a Hanbali like his father, al-Khatib later followed the Shafi’i
school of jurisprudence and adopted the Ash’ari opinions, thereby entering upon
the clashes between the Hanbalis and the ‘‘masters of opinion’’ over the status
of rational investigation. The religious and political turmoil in Baghdad at
his time further encouraged him to embark on long journeys to several Syrian
towns and on a pilgrimage and long sojourn to Mecca. Finally, in 1059, he
returned to his native city after the Seljuks restored order there.
Al-Khatib’s magnum opus is Ta’rikh Baghdad, an immense biographical
dictionary containing more than 7800 entries about scholarly, pious, and famous
men and women connected with Baghdad from the earliest times. Prefaced by a
substantial topographical introduction, the History of Baghdad was intended by its author to convey
the imperial splendor of the city’s physical image and the intellectual climate
created by its thousands of noted scholars and pious individuals. In the view
of the famous preacher, Baghdad was the geographical center of the Islamic
empire and the most important center of Islamic thought. At the same time, his
monumental work set the model for the genre of local history, one of the most
productive genres of Arabic and Persian historiography during the Middle
Periods (950–1500).
For all its value as a local history and for
furthering the evolution of this genre, Ta’rikh Baghdad should not be regarded
merely as a panegyric of local intellect. The accuracy with which al-Khatib reconstructed
the chains of transmission over the generations and the judicious care with
which he recorded and narrated the transmitters’ lives and activities resulted
in a comprehensive work of scholarship and the product of a renowned
traditionalist. His extensive work on hadith demonstrated his profound erudition
in this science and established his authority as one of the greatest critical
experts of hadith methodology throughout the Islamic medieval period.
Further Reading
Al-Khatib
al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Thabit ibn Ahmad ibn Mahdi.Ta’rikh
Baghdad aw Madinat al-Salam, 14 vols. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1931.
———.Ta’rikh
Baghdad. (Topographical introduction.)
a) Arabic
text: Vol. 1 of 1931 Cairo Edition.
b)
Translated by G. Salmon asL’Introduction Topographique a` L’Histoire d’Abou
Bakr Ahmad ibn Thabit al-Khatib al-Baghdadi. Paris: Bouillon, 1904.
c)
Translated by Jacob Lassner asTopography of Baghdad in the Early Middle Ages:
Texts and Studies.
Detroit,
Mich: Wayne State University Press, 1970.
Ahmed, Munir
ud-Din.Muslim Education and the Scholars’ Social Status up to the 5th Century
Muslim Era (11th Century Christian Era) in Light of Ta’rikh Baghdad. Zurich:
Verlag ‘‘Der Islam,’’ 1968.
Cahen,
Claude. ‘‘L’Historiographie Arabe: Des Origins au VII e S. H.’’Arabica33
(1986): 150–198.
Humphreys,
R. Stephen, ‘‘Historiography, Islamic.’’Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 13
vols., ed. Joseph R. Strayer, vol. vi, 249–55. New York: Charles Scribner &
Sons, 1982–1989.
Sellheim,
R.Arabische Handschriften, Materialien zur Arabischen Literaturgeschichte.
Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1974.
KHURASAN
One of the most important cradles of the
Iranian civilization, the province of Khurasan (also called Khorasan) has been
a crossroads of cultures since antiquity. The cultures of Iran during the
pre-Islamic, Islamic and Pahlavi (ca. 1925–1979 CE) periods, the cultures of
Central Asia up to China, and the cultures of India encountered each other
constantly. The name is probably a contraction of Khur andi stan, literally the ‘‘place of the sun.’’
The province’s borders have blurred and
changed with time. One can, however, roughly delineate them during the
classical and medieval eras from the southeast of the Caspian Sea to the center
of modern Afghanistan and from the upper Oxus River in Central Asia up to the
north of Sistan.
During the Middle Ages and up to the Mongol invasion
at the beginning of the AH seventh/thirteenth century CE, the city of Marw and
the capital city of Nishapur were two of the biggest metropolises of the Islamic
empire. Both were almost entirely destroyed by the Mongol troops, and even if
historians have possibly exaggerated, it seems that about 1.5 million people
were massacred there. The devastation of Khurasan would last for more than a
century, and it would not be until the arrival of the Timurids in the mid-eighth/fourteenth
century that both great cities and others, such as Herat and Bayhaq—would
gradually recover their former prosperity.
What was once the village of Sanabad became
the city of Mashhad (‘‘place of martyrdom’’), which was built around the mausoleum
of the Twelvers’ eighth imam ‘Ali al-Rida; the mausoleum was already richly decorated
by the time of Ilkhanid Iran. Mashhad began to grow more and more, starting
with the Safavid era (tenth/sixteenth century) and the proclamation of Shi’ism
as the state religion in Iran. To this day, Mashhad remains the capital city of
Khurasan, with more than two million inhabitants.
The population of Khurasan has always been mixed. The Iranian
substratum has of course always been its main component. After the Arab
conquest, however, under the reign of the third caliph ‘Uthman, expatriates
from Yemen’s Qaysite and Azdite tribes settled there permanently. In addition, Turkmens,
Kurds, Baluches, Hazaras, and Central Asian nomads contributed to make the
population a rich ethnic melting pot.
Around 130/748, Khurasan became the center of
the ‘Abbasid revolution, and the Khurasanian troops of the famous Abu Muslim
were its main participants. Al-Ma’mun acceded to the caliphate from Marw in 193/813.
This explains, at least in part, the great influence of the Iranians under the
first ‘Abbasid rulers.
During the Islamic era, Khurasan was indeed
the heart of what could be called ‘‘Iranity.’’ The Samanids from Khurasan,
succeeding two other Iranian dynasties, the Tahirid and Safavid, started in the
third/ninth century the great movement to preserve Persian culture and
language. Thus, Persian became the second language of Islam, after Arabic.
To illustrate this Irano-Islamic Renaissance,
one need only recall the great numbers of scholars, learned persons, and
intellectuals that came from Khurasan: Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Sina (Avicenna),
Ghazali, Bayhaqi, Nasir-i Khusraw, the authors of the great classics of Sufism
(Sarraj, Kalabadhi, Qushayri, Ansari, and Jami), and the founders of Persian
mystical poetry (Abu Sa’id Abu ’l-Khayr, Sana’i, and ‘Attar).
Further Reading
Cambridge
History of Iran, vol. I, ed. W.B. Fischer. Cambridge, 1968. vol. IV, ed. CE
Bosworth. Cambridge, 1975.
Bosworth,
C.E. ‘‘Khuraˆsa ˆn.’’ InEI2, vol. V, 57–61. Herzfeld, E. ‘‘ Khorasan:
Denkmalsgeographische Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Islams in Iran.’’Der
Islam11 (1921): 107–194.
Shaban, A.
‘‘Khurasan at the Time of the Arab Conquest.’’ In Iran and Islam. In Memory of
the Late Vladimir Minorsky, ed. C.E. Bosworth, 479–90. Edinburgh, 1971
KHUZA’I, AHMAD IBN NASR
Ahmad ibn Nasr al-Khuza’i died in 846 CE at
the hands of the Caliph al-Wathiq. Of the different versions of this story,
al-Tabari presents the most complete account. Ahmad’s execution is usually
pointed to as being the result of a steadfast refusal to acquiesce during the
Mihna (the Inquisition of 833 through 848 or 851); however, when his activities
are considered in context, this assessment seems to be less certain. The basic
outline of events is that, in 846, Ahmad, at the prodding of a group of
prominent hadith (tradition) scholars, proclaimed his vehement opposition to
the createdness of the Qur’an, and followers quickly gathered around him.
Al-Tabari, in an aside, tells us that Ahmad was one of the members of the
‘‘vigilante’’ movement in Baghdad from 813 to 819; however, he does not mention
this in his recounting of those troubles. One suspects that this information
was added to enhance Ahmad’s prestige as one who had a long history of
commanding good and forbidding evil.
Ahmad gathered followers and prepared for a
revolt. There is disagreement about the particulars, but his attempt to rebel was
discovered, and the plotters were rounded up. Evidence was found to implicate some
of them, but not Ahmad. He and five other conspirators were sent off to Samarra
to face trial in front of the caliph. At this point, the narrative turns to
focus on Ahmad exclusively. The Caliph al-Wathiq (r. 842–847) tried Ahmad himself.
Asked twice about his position on the createdness of the Qur’an, Ahmad responded
twice saying that it is ‘‘the word of God’’ and refused to go any further.
Next, Ahmad was questioned about the beatific
vision—that is, whether one would be able to see God on the Day of Judgment.
His response did not mollify the caliph. The caliph then turned and asked those
around him for their verdict. Ahmad’s blood was declared forfeit, and the
caliph moved to enforce the verdict. However, it is made clear that the caliph was
in charge the entire time. Al-Wathiq called for his sword and proceeded to
implement the sentence. It took a series of blows, but the job was eventually done.
This, however, leaves the central question unanswered: for what was Ahmad
convicted that incurred the death penalty? There were many others tried during
the Mihna, but very few were actually executed. In all versions of the
narrative, Ahmad’s body was then gibbeted next to the notorious rebel Babak. His head was sent to
Baghdad to be put on display, with a description of his crime hung on his ear. This
gives us some clues as to what al-Tabari perceived to be his crime. He was clearly
tried and convicted as a rebel against the community of believers as embodied in
the caliph. His association with rebellion established a case against him, and
his refusal to answer the caliph correctly under questioning defined and proved
his rebellion. Some sources characterize him as a steadfast defender of the
faith in the same vein as Ibn Hanbal; other versions characterize him as a
rebel worthy of his punishment. Al-Tabari includes the removal of Ahmad’s body
from the gibbet in 851 as part of his notation that al-Mutawakkil forbade any
debate about the createdness or uncreatedness of the Qur’an, thus indicating
that the Mihna had come to an end.
Primary Sources
Al-Khatib
al-Baghdadi.Ta’rikh Baghdad, vol. 5. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1931.
Al-Tabari,
Abu Ja’far. Incipient Decline, transl. J.L. Kraemer, vol. 34. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1989.
Al-Ya’qubi,
Ahmad ibn Abi Ya’qub.Ta’rikh al-Ya’qubi, ed. ‘Abd al-Amir Muhanna. Beirut:
Mu’assasa al-‘Ulami li’l-Matbu‘at, 1993.
KILWA (KILWA KISIWANI)
Kilwa is an island off the coast of southern
Tanzania. The urban settlement located there and known by the same name (also
known as Kilwa Kisiwani; ‘‘Kilwa on
the island’’) was one of the earliest Swahili trading towns. From approximately
the tenth century CE, stone structures were erected, as were sea barriers. Iron
was used, and it was also an important trade item. During the following
centuries, because of its safe harbor and good fresh water supply, Kilwa rose
to become the foremost entrepot of East
African coast goods such as gold, slaves, and ivory from the interior. Imported
goods included cloth, beads, furnishings, and pottery, mainly of Asian origin.
Chinese pottery and Persian earthenware have been excavated from the early
Kilwa settlements.
Like many of the Swahili cities, Kilwa
mythological origins are recorded in a chronicle. The oldest recorded version
of the Kilwa chronicle was recorded by the Portuguese de Barros during the
sixteenth century. This was called the Cronica dos Reyes de Quiloa,and it
referred to the arrival of kings from Shiraz, Persia, who set up kingdoms in
Kilwa, as well as other places. Later research has interpreted the chronicle as
the arrival of social and political hierarchical structures related to the
emergence of Kilwa as a Muslim society as well as the transition from hunting
and fishing to trade.
Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that
the minting of coins took place at Kilwa and in the northern islands of Pemba,
Zanzibar, and Mafia in the period from about 1000 to 1150. There is also
architectural evidence of a uniform layout of mosques and prayer rooms. On this
basis, Horton and Middleton have suggested that a closely related Muslim
dynasty may have lived on these islands during the period before 1200, thus
adding some substance to the mythical origins related in the chronicle. There
exists also a corresponding Arab foundation myth, which is also found in the
chronicles. Here, the newcomers arrive from Arabia (most likely Yemen or
al-Hasa near Bahrain), and they are Zaydis. Here, too, archaeological and
historical evidence suggest some truth to the myth, revealing information about
ruling houses of Arab origin that ruled from approximately 1300 to 1600.
By the time the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta
visited Kilwa in 1331, it was a well-established city with one- or two-story
houses and a Friday mosque that was first constructed during the eleventh
century and expanded during the 1300s. Between about 1100 and 1500, Kilwa remained
one of the principal ports for Indian Ocean trade.
Starting in the late fifteenth century, Kilwa
went into a decline. This was marked by the arrival of the Portuguese on the
coast and later by the rise of the northern cities of Mombasa, Lamu, and
finally, during the nineteenth century, under Omani rule Zanzibar. After a brief
period of revival based on slave trade, Kilwa, by the late eighteenth century, had
become an outpost of the Omani empire. By the mid-nineteenth century, it was
abandoned. In 1981, the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani were named a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
Further Reading
Freeman-Grenville,
G.S.P.The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to the Earlier
Nineteenth Century. London, 1962.
Chittick,
H.N.Kilwa: An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast,2 vols., memo 5.
Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1974.
Hamdun, S.,
and N. King.Ibn Battuta in Black Africa. Princeton, NJ: Marcus Wiener
Publications, 1998. (First edition: 1975.)
Horton,
Mark, and John Middleton.The Swahili. Blackwell Publishers, 2000.
KINDI, AL-,
Al-Kindi was a tenth-century Arab–Muslim
historian of Egypt who died in 961 CE. There is little available information on
the life of Abu ‘Umar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi apart from that transmitted
by a contemporary, the historian Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Farghani
(d. 973). The latter’s writings, in turn, are known only from quotations in later
Arab-Islamic sources, most notably the Kitab
al-Muqaffa al-Kabir of al-Maqrizi (d. 1441), which contains a short biographical
note about al-Kindi with material from al-Farghani. A small amount of information
can also be culled from al-Kindi’s two surviving works (see below). Born in
Egypt in 897, al-Kindi was of Arab descent. He received a classical education
that consisted mainly of Qur’anic exegesis, study and transmission of hadith
(tradition), and the law. Al-Maqrizi identifies him as an historian (mu’arrikh) and legal scholar (faqih)
and adds that he belonged to the Hanafi legal school. Among those from whom
al-Kindi learned hadith were the prominent scholar and author of one of the
canonical Sunni collections of hadith, Abu ‘Abd al-Rahhman alNasa’i (d. 915).
Another teacher, ‘Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Qudayd (d. 925), was a key historical
informant judging from the frequent citations of his name in alKindi’s
writings.
Al-Kindi is credited with at least eight
works, only two of which appear to have survived. These two works, preserved in
a British Museum manuscript, are Tasmiyat
Wulat Misr (The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt), usually called Umara’ Misr (The Governors of Egypt), andal-Qudat (The Judges). These were edited
and published in 1912 by Rhuvon Guest. Both works are used extensively by later
writers, most notably al-Maqrizi who, in many instances, is content to do so
without acknowledgment.
The
Governors,in its extant form, covers the period from the Arab-Islamic
conquest of Egypt (641) to the end of
the reign of Muhammad ibn Tughj (d. 946), the first of the Ikshidid rulers of
Egypt. A later unknown writer added material to the manuscript that brings the
work up to the arrival of the Fatimids (969). The book, arranged
chronologically, is divided into sections that are each devoted to a particular
governor or ruler. It consists largely of political and administrative history,
although it provides valuable details about the lives of the officials themselves.
It is often cited as a key example of provincial histories from the early Islamic
period that provide counterweight to the sources generated in Iraq, most
notably al-Tabari’s Ta’rikh (History).
Among the sections of greatest value are those devoted to al-Sari ibn al-Hakam (d.
820), an early ‘Abbasid governor, and to Ahmad ibn Tulun (d. 884), head of the
Tulunids (868–905), the first autonomous dynasty in Egypt. Al-Kindi’s lost
works apparently included a biography of
Sari ibn al-Hakam.
The second work,The Judges,concludes around 861
(with the appointment of a certain Bakkar ibn Qutayba) and is similarly
supplemented by two continuations, one attributed to an Ahmad ibn Burd and the
second by an anonymous author, that bring the work into the eleventh century;
it is organized chronologically as well. Information, often given in anecdotal
form, sheds valuable light on the judicial and legal history of Egypt during
the early Islamic period.
Further
Reading
Guest,
Rhuvon. ‘‘Introduction.’’ In al-Kindi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf. The Governors and
Judges of Egypt, ed. R. Guest. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1912
Rosenthal,
Franz. ‘‘Al-Kindi, Abu ‘Umar Muhammad.’’ In The Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed
KINDI, AL-, PHILOSOPHER
Al-Kindi, Abu Yu suf Ya’qub ibn-Ishaq
ibnal-Sabbah (d. ca. AH 252/865 CE), was a scientist and philosopher. Coming
from a distinguished family of the Kinda Arabs, he was connected with the
caliphal court of Baghdad until the
political changes of the mid-century. He was tutor to the ‘Abbasid Prince Ahmad
ibn al-Mu’tasim (son of the Caliph al-Mu’tasim, r. 833–842). Both as a
scientist and as a literary figure, he reflected the practical and intellectual
interests of the autocratic aristocracy and its administrative elite. His
enormous oeuvre encompasses the whole range of the Hellenistic sciences, which
were made accessible during his lifetime through translations from Greek and
Syriac, where al-Kindi appears to have been directing his own circle of
translators. His activity marks the taking over after the predominantly Iranian
bias of the early ‘Abbasid administration of Hellenism (allied with Arabism in
literary erudition [adab]) during the formative period of classical Islamic
culture; this earned him the byname of ‘‘Philosopher of the Arabs’’(Faylasu¯f al-‘Arab).
In astronomy, his writings attended the final
success of Ptolemy’s Almagest (e.g., his Book on the Great Art[k. Fı Sina‘a al-‘Uzma ; dependent on Theon’s
commentary]), and descriptions of observational instruments. In astrology,
while applying the Iranian ‘‘world year’’ model, he used it for predicting the
continuance of the Arab caliphate(Epistle on the Kingdom of the Arabs and Its
Duration [Risala fı Mulk al-‘Arab
wa-Kammiyyatihı]). In optics, he contributed to the Euclidian geometry of
vision and perspective in hisRevision of Euclid’s Book on Optics (Islah al-Manazir).
In musical theory, he presented the Greek doctrine of harmonic proportions
(e.g., in his Risala fı Khubr ta’lıf al-Alhan). In pharmacology, he applied
Galen’s doctrine of the forces of the simplicia to develop a theory of the action
of composite drugs (K. Fı Ma’rifat Quwal-Adwiya
alMurakkaba and other works on pharmacy and perfumes). His works on magic
and the occult (e.g., De Radiis,which is extant in a Latin version) and also
his doctrine of the immortal soul and its return to the ‘‘world of intellect’’
are based on a system of cosmic sympathy in which the gnostic and hermetic. tendencies
of late Neoplatonism survive in a religion for intellectuals.
His philosophy is based on the physics and
metaphysics of Aristotle as well as on the Neoplatonic sources transmitted
under Aristotle’s name, all of which were translated in his circle. In his
treatise On the First Philosophy, which was dedicated to the caliph al-Mutasim (K. ilal-Mu’tasim bi-Llahfıl-Falsafa al-ula
), he demonstrated that the First Cause the cause of being and the highest
object of knowledge must, by necessity, be one. With this, he legitimized the
rational sciences by exposing their consistency with the Islamic creed, the
unity of God (tawhıd Allah). Employing the creationist Neoplatonism of his
sources, he built a philosophical ideology that was in harmony with Islam and
in which the revelation to the Arabic Prophet serves as a necessary mediator of
absolute knowledge to all of mankind.
Further Reading
EI2 s.n.;
Sezgin,GAS, iii: 244 –7, 375–6 (medicine), v: 117, 255–9 (optics, mathematics),
vi: 151–5 (astronomy), vii: 130–4 (astrology).
d’Alverny,
M.-Th., and F. Hudry. ‘‘al-Kindi: De Radiis.’’ Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale
et Litte´raire du Moyen Aˆ ge41 (1975): 139–267.
Endress, G.
‘‘Die Wissenschaftliche Literatur.’’ InGrundriss der Arabischen Philologie,
vol. iii, 3–152. Wiesbaden, 1992.
Endress, G.
‘‘Al-Kindı U¨ ber die Wiedererinnerung
der Seele.’’Oriens34 (1994): 174 –221.
Farmer, H.
G.The Sources of Arabian Music, 45–56. Leiden, 1965.
Ivry,
A.L.Al-Kindıˆ’s Metaphysics. Albany, 1974.
Jolivet,
J.L’Intellect Selon Kindıˆ. Leiden, 1971.
Jolivet, J.,
and Roshdi Rashed, eds.Œuvres Philosophiques et Scientifiques d’al-Kindı¯.
Leiden, 1997–1998).
Lindberg,
D.C. ‘‘Alkindi’s Critique of Euclid’s Theory of Vision.’’Isis62 (1971): 469–89.
Loth, O.
‘‘Al-Kindıˆals Astrolog.’’ InMorgenla¨ndische Forschungen, 261–309. Leipzig,
1875.
Rescher, N.
Al-Kindıˆ: An Annotated Bibliography. Pittsburgh, 1964.
Rosenthal,
V.F. ‘‘Al-Kindıˆand Ptolemy.’’ InStudi Orientalistici in Onore di G. Levi Della
Vida, vol. ii, 436–56. Rome, 1956.
Ullmann,
M.Die Medizin im Islam, 123, 301f, 314. Leiden, 1970.
———.Die
Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam, 313f. Leiden, 1972.
Walzer,
R.Greek into Arabic, 172–205. Oxford, UK, 1962
KIRMANI, AL-, HAMID AL-DIN
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani was a major Islamic
theologian–philosopher who was the most prominent voice of the intellectual
tradition among the Ismailis at the time of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (r.
996– 1021). A substantial number of his writings survive, although typically
almost no information about his life and career is available. In fact, all of
the details available now derive from chance comments made by him in his own
books and treatises. They indicate that he was originally active in Iraq and
that later he visited Egypt and taught there before ultimately returning eastward
again. The only dates known for him range from 1007 CE, when the earliest of
his works was written, to 1021, the year of his last known work; all carry an explicit
dedication to al-Hakim.
In his exposition of Ismaili doctrine,
al-Kirmani followed his predecessors in that movement except with regard to the
exceptional rigor that he himself brought to the explanation of it. In matters
of philosophy, by contrast, he tended to steer away from the Neoplatonism of
the earlier Ismaili writers, such as alSijistani and al-Nasafi, and instead to
favor of a more Aristotelian approach. In doing so he was evidently influenced
by the famous philosopher Abu Nasr al Farabi, many of whose ideas were
reinterpreted by alKirmani to create an Ismaili version of them. In his adoption
of such elements from the thought of alFarabi, he resembles his contemporary
Abu ‘Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
His most important teachings include the
following: a radically austere concept of God’s absolute, unqualified unity that
excludes the supreme deity from any form of intellectual apprehension; a scheme
of ten angelic intellects that correspond with the heavenly spheres that together
govern the physical realm; a doctrine of human soul that has it commence its existence
as the first perfection of the natural body, then be devoid of knowledge but
able thereafter both to learn and to perform worthy acts, if properly guided,
and finally to achieve a second perfection when it survives the death of its
body; and a doctrine of prophecy that considers the prophets to be the
intermediaries between the higher intellects and the human community, making of
them those who are responsible for conveying the enduring reality of the world
of intellect to mankind and thus lead the latter to salvation and ultimate
bliss.
His major works are The Comfort of Reason (Rahat
al-‘Aql ); The Golden Sayings (al-Aqwal
alDhahabiyya); The Meadow (al-Riyad
); The Exhortation to the Guiders and the Guided(Tanbih al-Hadi wa’l-Mustahdi); The Pure Treatise Concerning the Hallmarks
of Religion (al-Risala al-Wadi’a fi
ma’Alim al-Din); The Protecting Links to Guidance and the Validation of the
Superiority of ‘Ali Over the Companions (Ma’asim
al-Huda wa’l-Isaba fi Tafdil ‘Ali ‘ala al-Sahaba); and Lights to Illuminate
the Proof of the Imamate (Masabih fi Ithbat al-Imama).
All of these survive, although several have
not been published; others exist in unreliable editions. A number of his minor
treatises are also important, but to date none have been translated.
Although a towering figure in his own time,
alKirmani’s subsequent influence during the era of Fatimid rule was not as
remarkable. Among the later Tayyibi Ismailis of the Yemen and India, however, he
and his works rose once again to the highest levels.
Further Reading
De Bruijn,
M.T.P. ‘‘al-Kirmani.’’ InEncyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition.
De Smet,
Daniel.La Quie´tude de L’Intellect: Ne ´oplatonisme et Gnose Ismae´lienne dans
L’Oeuvre de Hamı ˆd ad-Dıˆn alKirmaˆnıˆ(X e/Xie s.). Leuven: Peters, 1995.
———.
‘‘Perfectio Prima—Perfectio Secunda, ou les Vicissitudes D’Une Notion, de S.
Thomas aux Ismae´liens Tayyibites du Ye´men.’’Recherches de The´ologies et de Philosophie
Me´die´vales66 (1999): 254–88.
Walker, Paul
E.Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim. London,
1999.
KONYA
The modern town of Konya in Turkey is
dominated by the green cupola of the shrine marking the torbat (grave) of its
most illustrious son, Jalalal-Dın Rumı¯, Maulana. Today Rumı is big business,
and the Rumı industry pervades the town as once the spirit of the Mevlevi
dervish order did Konya’s mosques and bazaars. Although Konya, which was named
Iconium in Roman times, has a long history, it was the Seljuk sultans of Rum
that saw the city in its heyday, and it was the Seljuk sultans under Mongol
domination that nurtured the creative and vibrant milieu in which Rumı and the
ethnically and culturally diverse citizens of Konya thrived.
The apogee of the Seljuk state in Anatolia
with its capital in Konya occurred during the thirteenth century. Under the reign
of Kay Khosrow I (1205–1211 CE) through to that of his grandson Kay Khosrow II (1237–1246),
the city blossomed. The battle of Kose Dag in 1243 saw the Mongols defeat the
heterogeneous Seljuk armies. Using classic Mongol maneuvers of feigned retreats, Baiju Noyen, the Mongol
commander, achieved so overwhelming a victory that he felt he could afford to be
gracious in his triumph, and he allowed negotiations to decide the fate of
Anatolia. Batu Khan of the Golden Horde, the kingmaker of the Mongol Empire,
recognized the Seljuk sultans and endorsed their continued rule from Konya as Mongol
vassals. Real power, however, was exercised by the Mongols through their own
appointee, the pervane: Mu’ın al-Dın Suleyman, governor of the province.
Medieval Konya reflected the cultural,
religious, and ethnic diversity that made up the Anatolian peninsula during the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Turcomans, Mongols, and other nomadic
elements usually kept to the mountains and hills outside of the city. In the
city, Greeks, Turks, Arabs, Persians, Jews, Europeans, and the Mongol elite
each had their own quarters. Emigre´s, refugees, religious exiles, wandering dervishes,
qalandars (antinomian heterodox dervishes), poets, and Sufis all found a home
in this spiritually and culturally vibrant city. The Mongol–appointed pervane maintained
the delicate balance between representing the interests of the citizens and
satisfying the mainly monetary demands of the Il-Khans (the Mongol dynasty
ruling greater Iran from 1256 to 1335) in their capital, Tabriz. His moral
dilemma is recounted by Rumı in the poet’s book
Discourses.
Medieval Konya acted as a beacon of hope and
a symbol of enlightenment in what was often a chaotic and violent period in
western Asia. By being in but not of the Mongol Empire, the Seljuk Sultanate of
Rum with its capital of Konya gained all of the advantages of inclusion in the
greatest contiguous land empire ever while retaining enough independence to
fully exploit the cultural and economic benefits that the empire bestowed on
those it encompassed.
Further Reading
Cahen,
Claude.The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rum; 11th to 14th
Century, transl. P.M. Holt. Harlow: Longman, 2001.
Lewis,
Franklin D.Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. Oxford, UK: Oneworld, 2000.
Holt,
P.M.The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the 11th Century to 1517.
Harlow: Longman, 1986
KUFA
After the defeat of the Iranian Sasanian
dynasty in 637–638 CE, the conquering Muslim army occupied Iraq and established
on the banks of the Euphrates a garrison town called Kufa. The new province
would henceforth be ruled from this newly founded settlement. In time, it grew into
a major administrative capital that had a mosque, a governor’s palace, markets,
and accommodation for a growing population of soldiers and immigrants.
As the diverse population of Kufa that included various Arab groups as
well as converts of Iranian origin increased, it also grew as a center of
learning, attracting scholars and also becoming a commercial center for trade
and agriculture. The expansion of the economy of the growing Muslim state and
the rise of a cosmopolitan Muslim community were largely under the control and
direction of the caliph in Medina. Under Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), growing
differences and an increasing pattern of decentralization of authority often caused
conflicts with regard to official appointments and the distribution of land and
wealth, mirroring emerging tensions within the Muslim community based in
Medina.
Opposition to Uthman’s policies, emanating
from Kufa, erupted into conflict and resulted in his assassination, throwing the
young Muslim community into turmoil. Ali, the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, whom
many regarded as the originally designated successor to the Prophet, received
majority support and became the new caliph. He shifted his headquarters to
Kufa, effectively making it the new center of authority. He was opposed by
several leaders in Medina but supported by the Prophet’s wife Aisha. He was
forced to put down the revolt, but he faced a more serious challenge from the
governor of Syria, Muawiyah, an appointee as well as a close relative of Uthman
who was putting pressure on Ali to execute those he held to be responsible for
the murder. These divisive events are recorded by Muslim historians as fitna (civil disorder), and Ali
eventually found himself having to confront Muawiyah in battle as the governor’s
larger ambitions for power became apparent.
After attempts were made to prevent
bloodshed, hostilities were ended, and arbitration was agreed upon. However, emotions
ran high on the part of some of Ali’s followers who were adamantly opposed to Muawiyah
and to arbitration, and the group seceded, turning its wrath on both armies.
One of the secessionist murdered Ali while he was at prayer in the mosque in
Kufa in 661.
After Ali’s death, Muawiyah succeeded in
gaining power and eventually control of many of the new Muslim dominions, and
he imposed his authority in all regions. He appointed a new governor for the region
that included Kufa, who was ordered to institute public cursing of Ali’s name
during the Friday prayers in the mosque of Kufa and to brutally suppress all
partisan support in favor of Ali. During the Ummayad period to 751 and later
under the ‘Abbasids, Kufa had evolved into a major city, particularly as the, ‘Abbasids
made it their headquarters while awaiting the construction of Baghdad, their
new capital.
As other towns and cities developed and the
focus of trade and political power shifted to other regions, Kufa declined in
importance. However, as a center of Shi’i influence and scholarship and as the
city closest to Najaf, where a mausoleum was erected over Ali’s grave, Kufa
continued to be influential as a center of learning and Shi’i activity
throughout the period of later Muslim history. In particular, Kufa became well known
as a center for Arabic literature, language, and grammar. It gave birth to a
new Arabic script called Kufic, and it continued to attract important scholars,
jurists, historians, and poets. In addition, it remains to this day a major site
for visits and remembrance, including to the grave of Muslim b. Aqil, a cousin
of Husayn who was executed by the Ummayads for supporting the Ali cause. In
modern times, Kufa has continued to be a cultural and religious center and a home
to various scholars and centers of Shi’i learning and scholarship.
Further Reading
Djait,
Hickem.Kufa, Naissance de la Ville Islamique. Paris: Maissoneuve, 1986.
Morony,
Michael G.Iraq After the Muslim Conquest. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1984.
Zaman,
Muhammad Qasim.Religion and Politics Under the Early Abbasids. Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1997.
KULAYNI, AL
Muhammad b. Ya’qub al-Kulayni (d. AH 329/941 CE)
was a Twelver Shi’i compiler of al-Kafi
fi ‘Ilm al-Din (What is Sufficient in the Knowledge of the Faith),a
collection of more than sixteen thousand hadith (traditions) attributed to the
Shi’i imams of whom the twelfth had disappeared in 260/873–874. A native of
Kulayn, near the Iranian city of Rayy, al-Kulayni resided in Qum for some years
before relocating to Baghdad, where he assembledal-Kafi.
Although the bulk ofal-Kafi’s traditions come
from a handful of members of Qum’s Ash’ari tribal elite, the collection speaks
to an effort to strike a balance between conflicting tendencies within the contemporary
Shi’i community.
Traditions circulating in Qum, the region’s only
Shi’i city-state that had withstood repeated challenges from Sunni Baghdad,
presented the imams as possessing near-miraculous knowledge and powers and depicted
the twelfth imam’s return as imminent. In Baghdad, the Shi’i minority, facing
rising Sunni traditionism (typified by the appearance of such great Sunni
hadith collections as the Sahih of
al-Bukhari [d. 256/870]) and hostility to Shi’i messianism, were disavowing
the imams’ traditions as the source of knowledge and inspiration in favor of
rationalist and politically quiescent discourse.
Al-Kafi’s traditions downplayed the
separatist and messianic tendencies of the previous century, rejected the
anti-traditionist tendencies of Baghdadi Shi’is, and countered rising Sunni
traditionism with a collection of texts that at once addressed both theological
issues and, on a par with contemporary Sunni collections, practical issues.
Further Reading
Newman. AJN.
2000.
