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THE

OXFORD

HISTORY of I S L A M

EDITED

BY

John L. Esposito OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS

OXTORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford Athens Cape Town Karachi Nairobi

Auckland

Chennat

Bogota

Dar es Salaam

Kuala I u m p u r Paris

Hew York

Bangkok

Delhi

Madrid

Sao Paulo

Buenos Aires Florence

Melbourne

Singapore

Taipei

Calcutta

H o n g Kong

Mexico City Tokyo

Istanbul

Mumbai

Toronto

Warsaw

utul asioemttd lumponip in Berlin

lhadan

Copyright <' 1999 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford Univcrsit) Press. Inc. 198 Madison Avenue. New York, Now York I 0 0 I 6 - + 3 1 4 O x f o r d is a registered trademark ot O x f o r d University Press All rights reserved N o part o f this publication ma) be reproduced, stored u i a retrieval sjslem. or transmitted, in an)' f o r m or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy iug. recording, or otherwise, w i t h o u i the prior permission o f O k ford University Press. l ibrary o l Congress Cataloging i n Publication Datd The Oxford History o f Islam/[edited by J John Esposito. p

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. I S B N - l i : 97H-0-l9-510790-s> ISBN 0-19-510799 i (alk. piper) I , Islam--History, BPS0 095 1999 297.09

[. Hsposito, John. 1 99-13219

dc21

99-1*219 Design by P O L L E N

9 8 Printed in Hong Kong on aiid-free paper

For H a s i b Sabbagh Builder of bridges of steel and of mutual understanding and I s m a i l R. a l - F a r u q i scholar and pioneer in Muslim-Christian dialogue

CONTENTS Introduction i.\ CHAPTER

ONE

M u h a m m a d and the Caliphate POLITICAL

HISTORY

OF

THE ISLAMIC

EMPIRE

UP

TO

THE

MONGOL

CONQUEST

Fred M. Donner I CHAPTER

TWO

F r u i t o f t h e Tree o f K n o w l e d g e THE

RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN

FAITH

AND

PRACTICE

IN

ISLAM

Vincent J. Cornell CHAPTER

THREE

Law a n d Society THE

INTERPLAY

OF

REVELATION

AND

REASON

IN

THE

SHARIAH

Mohammad Hashim Kamali 107 CHAPTER

FOUR

Science, M e d i c i n e , a n d T e c h n o l o g y THE

MAKING

OF A SCIENTIFIC

CULTURE

Ahmad Dallai CHAPTER

FIVE

Art and Architecture THEMES

AND

VARIATIONS

Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom 21c CHAPTER

SIX

Philosophy and Theology FROM

THE EIGHTH CENTURY

C E .

TO

THE

PRESENT

Majid Fakhry 269 CHAPTER

SEVEN

Islam and Christendom HISTORICAL, FROM

CULTURAL,

THE SEVENTH

TO

AND

RELIGIOUS

THE FIFTEENTH

INTERACTION CENTURIES

Jane L Smith CHAPTER

EIGHT

Sultanates a n d G u n p o w d e r E m p i r e s THE

MIDDLE

EAST

Ira M. Lapidas Ï47 vii

CONTENTS CHAPTER

NINE

T h e Eastward J o u r n e y o f M u s l i m K i n g s h i p ISLAM IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST

ASIA

Bruce B. Lawrence

395 CHAPTER

TEN

C e n t r a l Asia a n d C h i n a TRANSNATIONALIZATION, ISLAM1ZATION, AND ETHNICIZATION

Dru C. Gladney

433 CHAPTER

ELEVEN

I s l a m i n A f r i c a t o 1800 MERCHANTS,

C H I E F S , A N D SAINTS

Nehemio Levtzion

CHAPTER

TWELVE

Foundations f o r Renewal and R e f o r m ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS

IN T H E EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH

CENTURIES

John Obert Vbll

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

E u r o p e a n C o l o n i a l i s m a n d t h e Emergence o f M o d e r n M u s l i m States S.V.R. Nosr

549 CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

The Globalization o f Islam THE RETURN

OF MUSLIMS

TO THE WEST

YvonneYa2beck Haddad

6oi CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Contemporary Islam REFORMATION

OR REVOLUTION?

John L.EspositO

64? Chronology 691 Select Bibliography 697 Contributors 708 Image Sources 710 Index 7»

Introduction

John L . Esposito

A l t h o u g h Islam is the youngest o f the m a j o r w o r l d religions, w i t h i .2 b i l l i o n f o l lowers, Islam is the second largest and fastest-growing r e l i g i o n i n the w o r l d . To speak o f the w o r l d o f Islam today is to refer n o t o n l y t o countries that stretch f r o m N o r t h Africa to Southeast Asia b u t also t o M u s l i m m i n o r i t y c o m m u n i t i e s that exist across the globe. Thus, for example, Islam is the second or t h i r d largest r e l i g i o n i n Europe and the Americas. Both the M u s l i m w o r l d and the West have experienced the i m p a c t o f Islam politically, culturally, and demographically. Events i n the c o n t e m p o r a r y M u s l i m w o r l d have led to an explosion o f interest and scholarly w o r k o n Islam and the M u s l i m w o r l d . M u c h o f this w o r k i n r e l i g i o n , history, and the social sciences has c o n t r i b u t e d t o w a r d the redressing o f earlier imbalances o f coverage and stereotyping. The Oxford History of Islam is part o f this process. The c o g n i t i v e , i d e o l o g i c a l , p o l i t i c a l , and d e m o g r a p h i c m a p o f the M u s l i m w o r l d c h a n g e d d r a m a t i c a l l y i n the second h a l f o f the t w e n t i e t h century. M o d e r n nation-states e m e r g e d f r o m centuries o f European c o l o n i z a t i o n , often as a result o f successful independence movements. However, contemporaryM u s l i m h i s t o r y challenged the expectation that m o d e r n i z a t i o n w o u l d result i n the progressive w e s t e r n i z a t i o n and secularization o f societies. Secularization o f society has n o t p r o v e d a necessary p r e c o n d i t i o n for social, e c o n o m i c , and political development.

ix

X

INTRODUCTION

Islam today is the d o m i n a n t symbolic and ideological force i n the M u s l i m w o r l d , i n f o r m i n g social institutions (education, clinics, hospitals, social welfare services, and banks) and politics. I n contrast to the expectations o f only a few decades ago, Islam (Islamic symbols, ideology, organizations, and institutions) has reemerged as a significant force i n public life. Mainstream Islamic organizations have become major social and political actors i n society. The reassertion o f Islam produced n e w Islamic republics i n Iran, Sudan, andAfghanistan. At the same time, Islamic movements emerged as the major o p p o s i t i o n i n Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine/Israel, Kaslirnir, Central Asia, and elsewhere. Radical Islamic movements have used violence i n attempts to destabilize and topple governments and attack M u s l i m elites as w e l l as Western governments and interests. O f equal importance, M u s l i m s are a significant presence i n the West.

INTRODUCTION

XI

In the 1950s and 1960s large numbers o f M u s l i m s emigrated to Europe and America as laborers, students, and professionals. Today they are a significant m i n o r i t y , addressing issues o f identity (assimilation or integration), values, p o l i t ical and social participation, and pluralism i n Western secular societies. The Oxford History of Islam is designed to provide ready access to the history o f Islam. W r i t t e n for the general reader but also appealing to specialists, o u r goal is to present the best o f scholarship i n a readable style, c o m p l e m e n t e d by a r i c h use o f illustrations. Technical terms have been severely l i m i t e d and diacriticals o m i t ted. The approach to understanding Islam and M u s l i m history and c i v i l i z a t i o n is interdisciplinary, relying o n historians o f Islamic r e l i g i o n , history, art, and science as w e l l as social sciences. C o n t r i b u t o r s represent different disciplinary perspectives and include scholars f r o m diverse national and religious traditions. As w i t h The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, it has been especially i m p o r t a n t to include M u s l i m as w e l l as n o n - M u s l i m scholars. W M e it is not possible to cover this topic exhaustively i n a single volume, The Oxford History is comprehensive i n its coverage. The first part o f die book provides an overview o f the origins and development o f classical Islam: its faith, community, institutions, sciences, and art. It also surveys the liistoric encounter o f Islam and Christianity, critical to w o r l d history and to relations between the M u s l i m w o r l d and the West. The M o n g o l invasion and destruction o f the Abbasid e m p i r e i n the thirteenth century appeared to b r i n g to an end Islam's p h e n o m e n a l expansion as faith and as empire. Instead, as seen i n the next chapters, the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries saw a p e r i o d o f sultanates and empires, extending f r o m T i m b u k t u to Mindanao. Sultanates f r o m Africa to China and Southeast Asia emerged alongside great e m p i r e s — t h e O t t o m a n and Safavid empires i n the M i d d l e East and the M u g h a l i n South Asia. W i t h i n each, Islam expressed itself i n diverse ways and flourished

as b o t h a faith and a c i v i l i z a t i o n . However, by the eighteenth century,

across the M u s l i m w o r l d the fortunes o f M u s l i m societies were i n decline. The next group o f chapters tracks the domestic and international challenges faced by premodern and m o d e m M u s l i m societies, i n particular movements o f Islamic renewal and reform. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed the rise o f premodern reform movements f r o m Africa to Southeast Asia, m d u d i n g theWahhabi, M a h d i , and Sanusi, w h i c h responded to internal causes o f stagnation and decline. By the nineteenth century, m u c h o f the M u s l i m w o r l d faced an external threat, the onslaught o f European colonialism. The colonial legacy and the history of M u s l i m responses to the political, economic, and religious challenges o f European i m p e r i alism i n the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have had a p r o f o u n d impact o n M u s l i m societies and u p o n relations between the M u s l i m w o r l d and the West. The final chapters o f the b o o k provide perspectives o n the c o n t e m p o r a r y landscape. The resurgence o f Islam i n the late t w e n t i e t h century has been a test i m o n y to the vitality o f Islam. At the d a w n o f the twenty-first century, Islam is

Xii

INTRODUCTION

indeed a global presence chat blurs o l d distinctions between the M u s l i m w o r l d and the West. Islam is t r u l y a w o r l d r e l i g i o n , necessitating coverage o f b o t h Islam and the West and Islam in the West. Islam is t o be f o u n d n o t o n l y i n the m o r e than çc M u s l i m countries o f the w o r l d b u t also i n significant M u s l i m m i n o r i t y c o m m u n i t i e s i n Europe and America as w e l l as such diverse countries as China, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines. As a result, Islam and M u s l i m history have played a n d continue t o play a dynamic and m a j o r role i n w o r l d history. I w i s h t o especially acknowledge m y colleagues, the c o n t r i b u t o r s t o this v o l u m e , w h o have been responsive t o m y requests for revision and additions. I a m i n d e b t e d t o James Piscatori ( O x f o r d U n i v e r s i t y ) , Tamara Sonn (College o f W i l l i a m and M a r y ) , and John O. Voll (Georgetown U n i v e r s i t y ) for their invaluable assistance. Natana DeLong-Bas, m y senior research assistant, was especially helpful i n gathering the chronology. Sheila Blair and Jonathan B l o o m were a pleasure t o w o r k w i t h , invaluable i n i d e n t i f y i n g the many illustrations t o be f o u n d i n this volume. Jean Esposito, as always, was there w i t h advice and encouragement.

T H E O X F O R D H I S T O R Y of

ISLAM

CHAPTER

ONE

Muhammad and the Caliphate P O L I T I C A L H I S T O R Y OF T H E I S L A M I C E M P I R E UP T O T H E M O N G O L C O N Q U E S T

Fred M . Donner

Islam as a r e l i g i o n and c i v i l i z a t i o n made its entry o n t o the w o r l d stage w i t h the life a n d career o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d i b n A h d A l l a h (ca. 5 7 0 - 6 3 2 ) i n western Arabia. After his death, a series o f successors called caliphs claimed political a u t h o r i t y over the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . D u r i n g the p e r i o d o f the caliphate, Islam grew i n t o a religious tradition and civilization o f w o r l d w i d e importance. A p r o p erly h i s t o r i c a l v i e w o f Islam's appearance and early d e v e l o p m e n t ,

however,

demands that these processes be situated against the cultural b a c k g r o u n d o f sixth-century Arabia and, m o r e generally, the Near East.

Historical Setting The Near East i n the sixth century was d i v i d e d between t w o great empires, the

(Left) Pilgrims to Mecca

Byzantine o r Later Roman Empire i n the west and the Sasanian Empire i n the east,

worshiping around the

w i t h the k i n g d o m s o f H i m y a r i n southern Arabia and A x u m i n the H o r n o f Africa

Kaaba, the cubical stone

constituting smaller players i n the political arena. This Byzantine-Sasanian rivalry-

structure covered with cloth,

was merely the most recent phase i n a l o n g struggle between Rome and Persia that

which stands in the middle

had lasted for m o r e than five h u n d r e d years. The t w o empires n o t only raised c o m p e t i n g claims to w o r l d d o m i n i o n , they also represented different cultural traditions: the Byzantines espoused Hellenistic culture, w h i l e the Sasanians looked to ancient Iranian and Semitic cultural traditions and rejected H e l l e n i s m as alien.

1

of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. Muslims revere the Kaaba as the House of God and direct their prayers toward it five times a day.

2

THE OXFORD

HISTORY

OF

ISLAM

This cultural antagonism was specifically exacerbated by religious rivalry; i n the t h i r d and f o u r t h centuries the Byzantine emperors had declared themselves c h a m pions o f Christianity, w h i c h itself had been heavily i m b u e d w i t h Hellenistic c u l ture, whereas the Sasanian Great Kings espoused the I r a n i a n faith k n o w n as Zoroastrianism (Magianism) as their official r e l i g i o n . O n the eve o f Islam, r e l i gious identities i n the Near East, particularly Greek o r Byzantine Christianity and Zoroastrianism, had thus acquired acutely political overtones. A l t h o u g h both the Byzantine and Sasanian empires espoused official religions, neither empire had a religiously homogeneous p o p u l a t i o n . Large populations o f Jews were scattered t h r o u g h o u t the Near East; they were especially numerous i n such cities as Alexandria, Jerusalem, A n t i o c h , Hamadan, Rayy, Susa, the Byzantine capital at Constantinople, and the Sasanian capital at Ctesiphon. Many m o r e Jews were setded i n places like Tiberias i n Palestine and i n southern Mesopotamia, where Jewish academies c o n t i n u e d a l o n g tradition o f religious learning and c o n t r i b u t e d to p r o d u c i n g the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds (the authoritative bodies o f Jewish tradition) d u r i n g the f o u r t h , fifth, a n d sixth centuries. Christians were numerous, perhaps the m a j o r i t y o f the Near Eastern p o p u l a t i o n i n the sixth century", b u t they were d i v i d e d i n t o several sects that differed o n points o f theolThe great church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was built

ogy. Each sect viewed itself as the t r u e or o r t h o d o x

("right-confessing")

Christianity a n d dismissed the others as heterodox. The Byzantine (or Greek

by the Byzantine emperor

O r t h o d o x ) faith, the official c h u r c h o f the Byzantine Empire, was w i d e l y estab-

Justinian in the sixth cen-

lished i n Greece, the Balkans, and a m o n g the large Greek-speaking populations o f

tury. It was transformed into

Anatolia (Asia M i n o r ) . I n Syria-Palestine

a mosque after the Ottomans

c h u r c h was m a i n l y l i m i t e d to the towns. A few Byzantine Christians were even

conquered Constantinople in 1 4 5 3 , and the minarets were added then.

a n d Egypt, however, the Byzantine

f o u n d i n the Sasanian Empire, mainly i n Mesopotamia, but their p o s i t i o n was precarious. Christians f o l l o w i n g the teachings o f Bishop Nestorius (Nestorianism)

M U H A M M A D

AND THE CALIPHATE

3

had been forced to leave the By zantine Empire after Nestorius was deposed for heresy by the C o u n c i l o f Ephesus i n 431. They had to take refuge i n the Sasanian Empire, scattered w i d e l y between Mesopotamia, Iran, and the fringes o f Central Asia. A n o t h e r Christian sect, the Monophysites, had been declared a heresy by the C o u n c i l o f Chalcedon i n 451, but M o n o p h y s i t i s m was nonetheless the creed o f most i n d i g e n o u s Christians o f A x u m , Egypt, Syria-Palestine,

Mesopotamia.

A r m e n i a , and Iran, particularly i n the countryside. Zoroastrians were f o u n d m a i n l y i n Iran and southern Mesopotamia; few lived outside the Sasanian Empire. C o m m u n i t i e s o f all three religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Z o r o a s t r i a n i s m ) — w h i c h are called the scriptural religions because they shared the idea o f a divinely inspired, revealed scripture—were also found i n Arabia. The Byzantines and Sasanians fought many wars between the f o u r t h and sixth centuries i n an effort to secure and extend their o w n territories. They competed w i t h particular intensity for key border zones such as upper Mesopotamia and Armenia. They also tried to seize key towns f r o m one another to gain control over, and therefore to tax, the lucrative " O r i e n t trade." This commerce b r o u g h t southern Arabian incense, Chinese silk, Indian pepper and cottons, spices, and other goods f r o m the Indian Ocean region to die cities o f the Mediterranean basin. The Byzantines and Sasanians also attempted to gain the advantage by establishing alliances w i t h lesser states i n the r e g i o n . The most i m p o r t a n t o f these client states was the Christian k i n g d o m o f A x u m , w i t h w h i c h the Byzantines established an uneasy alliance. Both Byzantines and Sasanians also f o r m e d alliances w i t h tribal groups w h o lived o n the Arabian fringes o f their territories. Arabia was wedged between the t w o empires. The Sasanians established a series o f protectorates over tribes and small states o n the east Arabian coast and i n O m a n , whereas the Byzantines b r o u g h t tribes o n the fringes o f Palestine and Syria i n t o their o r b i t . Arabia occupied a strategic p o s i t i o n i n relation to the O r i e n t trade, a fact that led b o t h empires to intervene decisively i n its affairs d u r i n g the sixth century. I n 52c the Byzantines persuaded A x u m to invade and occupy the k i n g d o m o f H i m y a r i n Yemen and its i m p o r t a n t trading ports, thus b r i n g i n g the Red Sea trade to the I n d i a n Ocean securely w i t h i n the Byzantine o r b i t . I n 57c, however, the Sasanians, i n v i t e d by the Himyarites, sent an e x p e d i t i o n to oust the A x u m i t e s f r o m Yemen, w h i c h for the next several decades was a Sasanian province ruled The Sasanians, rulers of Iran a n d adjacent areas in the centuries before I s l a m ,

p'\

111

m i n

ffi'itiiiiEüti •;

I IIIIII M i l l '

J l l j m i j r ' i i !'• I

maintained their capital at Ctesiphon, near present-day Baghdad. The main room of their palace was a giant iwan, a barrel-vaulted space,

'ft-

under which the ruler sat.

c

4

T H E OXFORD

HISTORY

OF

ISLAM

by a governor appointed by the Great King. Some t i m e later, the Sasanians i n a u gurated the last and greatest o f the Sasanian-Byzantine wars by l a u n c h i n g a series o f assaults o n Byzantine t e r r i t o r i e s farther n o r t h . Between 611 and 620 the Sasanians seized most o f Anatolia, all o f Syria-Palestine, and Egypt f r o m the Byzantines. But i n the next decade the Byzantine e m p e r o r Heraclius regained these territories, and i n 628 he was able t o conquer the Sasanians' Mesopotamian heartlands, depose the Great K i n g , and install another, m o r e docile king. These dramatic events f o r m e d the political backdrop t o the career o f Islam's Prophet M u h a m m a d i n the western Arabian towns o f Mecca and M e d i n a . A l t h o u g h distant from the m a i n centers o f h i g h civilization i n the Near East, .Arabia was n o t isolated. The Arabian peoples were aware o f and affected by p o l i t i cal, economic, and cultural developments i n the more h i g h l y developed surrounding lands o f the Near East. Trends i n religion i n particular resonated i n various parts o f Arabia. Many religions had established themselves i n Arabia o n the eve o f Islam. Christianity was well-established i n parts o f eastern Arabia along the Persian G u l f coast and i n O m a n as w e l l as i n Yemen. The Yemeni city o f Najran i n particular later became famous because o f the m a r t y r d o m o f Christians there d u r i n g the sixth century. Christianity had also spread among some o f the pastoral nomadic tribes that occupied the northern fringes o f the peninsula, where i t bordered o n Syria and Mesopotamia, and may also have been current among some pastoral groups farther south, i n n o r t h e r n and central Arabia itself. Judaism was similarly widespread; important Jewish c o m m unities existed i n the string o f oasis towns stretching southw a r d along the n o r d i e r n Red Sea coast o f Arabia, i n c l u d i n g the towns o f Khaybar andYathrib (later called Medina, the Prophet Muhammad's adoptive home). Jews were also found i n eastern Arabia and especially i n Yemen. Zoroastrianism was far less widespread i n Arabia than either Christianity or Judaism, but a small f o l l o w i n g existed, particularly i n parts o f eastern Arabia and O m a n , where the Sasanian Empire had established protectorates among the local populations. Arabian communities o f all Uiree scriptural religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism—sometimes maintained contact w i t h their co-religionists i n the lands surrounding Arabia, where these religions were m u c h more firmly established. For example, bishops from lower Mesopotamia were sent to Yemen, and .Arabian Jews ma)- have had some contact w i t h the great academies o f Jewish learning i n Mesopotamia. In a d d i t i o n t o the scriptural religions, Arabia also was h o m e t o a host o f local animist cults, w i n c h attributed d i v i n e powers t o natural objects—the sun, the m o o n , Venus, certain sacred rocks o r trees, and so o n . These cults seem t o have been late vestiges o f the animist religions once widespread a m o n g the peoples o f the ancient Near East, such as the Babylonians and Canaanites. A l t h o u g h anim i s m still existed in Arabia i n the sixth century, i t was being supplanted by the scriptural religions i n many areas. The r e m a i n i n g strongholds o f these animistic cults were i n central and western Arabia, especially i n t o w n s such as Taif and

MUHAMMAD

A N D THE CALIPHATE

C

Mecca, w h i c h contained sanctuaries (harams) w i t h i n whose confines members o f the cult were f o r b i d d e n to fight and had to observe other rules o f the c u l t — a feature that made such harams i m p o r t a n t centers for markets and for social transactions o f all kinds. I n Mecca the cultic center was a cube-shaped b u i l d i n g called the Kaaba, embedded i n w h i c h was a m e t e o r i c black stone a r o u n d w h i c h cult members p e r f o r m e d circumambulations to gain the favor o f the cult's dieties. The religious, cultural, economic, and poUtical environment i n Arabia and the Near East was thus a very complex one. Before examining Islam's rise, however, i t is i m p o r t a n t to note a feature o f the Near Eastern landscape that profoundly i n f l u enced the course o f the region's history, i n c l u d i n g its history d u r i n g the early Islamic centuries. There are extensive tracts o f agriculturally marginal land i n the Near East; these marginal lands consist either o f arid steppe and desert, as i n m u c h o f Arabia, or o f semiarid mountainous terrain, as i n parts o f Iran and Anatolia. I n these regions settled life, particularly larger towns and cities, tended to be w i d e l y scattered and i n some cases virtually nonexistent. Some such areas, however, could sustain thinly scattered populations o f pastoral nomads o r mountaineering peoples l i v i n g i n small settlements and relying o n a m i x t u r e o f subsistence agriculture and herding. These nomadic or m o u n t a i n e e r i n g peoples were often outside the effective c o n t r o l o f any state, and they organized themselves pohtically i n kinship-based entities (tribes) or i n larger confederations o f tribes. I n many cases they also had strong martial traditions, apparently rooted i n such diverse factors as their skill w i t h r i d i n g animals and a culturally based attitude o f superiority toward nonpastoralists o r lowlanders. The result was that for several m i l l e n n i a the history o f the Near East was marked by the repeated i n t r u s i o n o f powerful pastoral nomads or m o u n tain tribespeople i n t o the richer, settled lands and towns belonging to the various states o f the region. Sometimes diese intrusions were merely raids along a state's borders, usually undertaken w h e n a state was n o t strong enough to defend a district effectively. D u r i n g other intrusions, however, nomads or m o u n t a i n tribes toppled the r u l i n g dynasties o f m o r i b u n d states and supplanted the rulers w i t h members o f their o w n group, w h o became a new r u l i n g dynasty—-usually settling d o w n i n the state's heartlands i n the process, but keeping a power base i n the marginal region from w h i c h they had come. This process o f periodic i n t r u s i o n by peoples f r o m the marginal regions i n t o the state--dominated areas o f the Near East is one o f the m a i n themes i n the area's history.

The Prophet Muhammad and the Nascent Community of Believers The h i s t o r i a n , w h e t h e r M u s l i m o r n o n - M u s l i m , w h o wishes t o w r i t e about the life o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d faces grave problems o f b o t h d o c u m e n t a t i o n a n d interpretation. The first r u l e o f the h i s t o r i a n is t o rely whenever possible o n c o n -

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t e m p o r a r y documents-—yet for the life o f the Prophet these are virtually nonexistent. Fortunately, many accounts p r o d u c e d w i t h i n the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y i n later times provide us w i t h copious i n f o r m a t i o n about the Prophet. W h e n deali n g w i t h such accounts, however, the h i s t o r i a n must t r y t o i d e n t i f y and set aside those features that reflect n o t the Prophet's life and times b u t later attitudes and values o f all kinds that have been interpolated i n t o the story o f his life b y subsequent w r i t e r s , w h e t h e r consciously or unconsciously. This is never an easy task, and a significant measure o f honest disagreement inevitably emerges a m o n g historians engaged in the w o r k o f evaluating the r e p o r t e d events and p r o v i d i n g a sound i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e m . The b r i e f sketch o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d ' s life and career that follows is d r a w n largely o n the basis o f the t r a d i t i o n a l narratives, but the choice o f traditional materials selected, and the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f their overall m e a n i n g , reflect m a i n l y the author's general concerns as an h i s t o r i a n interested i n questions o f social and p o l i t i c a l i n t e g r a t i o n and i n the e v o l u t i o n o f religious movements. Little is k n o w n w i t h certainty about the Prophet M u h a m m a d ' s early life. H e was b o r n M u h a m m a d i b n (son o f ) A b d Allah i n the small western Arabian t o w n o f Mecca some t i m e a r o u n d 570 c.E. (traditional accounts differ o n the date). H e belonged to the H a s h i m clan, one o f the smaller segments o f the tribe o f Quraysh that d o m i n a t e d Mecca. A t an early age M u h a m m a d was orphaned and came under the guardianship o f his paternal uncle, A b u Talib, head o f the H a s h i m clan, Mecca was the site o f an i m p o r t a n t pagan shrine, the Kaaba, d u r i n g M u h a m m a d ' s y o u t h . The Quraysh tribe served as guardians and stewards o f the cult o f H u b a l , centered o n this shrine. The tribe was also involved i n trade; although they p r o b ably dealt m a i n l y in h u m b l e goods such as hides, their commercial activity gave t h e m contact w i t h m u c h o f Arabia and the s u r r o u n d i n g lands, and i t p r o v i d e d t h e m w i t h a measure o f experience i n the organization and management o f people and materials. T r a d i t i o n a l sources portray M u h a m m a d as having been a p r o m i s i n g and respected y o u n g m a n w h o participated i n b o t h Mecca's cultic activities and its commerce. He also seemed to have had an i n w a r d , contemplative side, however, w h i c h expressed itself i n his periodic w i t h d r a w a l to secluded spots for p r o l o n g e d periods o f m e d i t a t i o n and reflection. It was d u r i n g such a retreat, i n about 610, that he began to have religious experiences i n the f o r m o f visions and sounds that presented themselves as revelations f r o m God. These experiences initially so terrified h i m that he sought comfort f r o m his first wife, Khadijah, but the visions occurred again and slowly M u h a m m a d came to accept b o t h the message itself and his o w n role as God's messenger. The revelations, c o m i n g to M u h a m m a d as sonorous utterances, were eventually collected to f o r m the Quran (sometimes spelled " K o r a n " i n earlier English w r i t i n g s ) , w h i c h is sacred scripture for Muslims.

To M u h a m m a d and. to all w h o have since followed his message, the Q u r a n is l i t -

In the first centuries of Islam,

erally the w o r d o f G o d , God's o w n eternal speech.

many fine manuscripts of the

The message M u h a m m a d received i n these revelations was a w a r n i n g that only t h r o u g h devotion t o the one and only God a n d through righteous observance o f the revealed law could people attain salvation i n the afterlife. Some revelations thus

Quran were copied on parchment in the distinctive angular script known as Kufic and embellished with gold

emphasized the oneness and omnipotence o f God, Creator o f the w o r l d and o f chapter headings. everything i n i t , including h u m a n k i n d . Others warned that the Last Judgment was near; and then those w h o had lived righteously w o u l d be sent to heaven and those w h o had lived evil lives w o u l d be sent to eternal damnation i n hell. Other revelations laid out the general guidelines for a righteous existence. These included w o r ship o f the one God and rejection o f idols and false gods; regular prayer; almsgiving and charitable treatment o f the poor, w i d o w s , orphans, and other unfortunates; observance o f strict modesty i n dealing w i t h the opposite sex, a n d o f h u m i l i t y i n all one's affairs; the need t o w o r k actively for the g o o d and to stand u p against evil w h e n one sees i t ; and many other injunctions. Still other revelations retold stories o f earlier prophets (among t h e m Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus) w h o , like M u h a m m a d , had been charged w i t h b r i n g i n g God's t r u t h to their people, and w h o provided for Believers inspiring models o f righteous conduct: as the Quran put i t , "Surely i n this there is a sign for y o u , i f y o u believe," Many aspects o f M u h a m m a d ' s message were conveyed i n concepts a n d sometimes i n w o r d s that were already familiar i n Arabia. I n part, this was what made M u h a m m a d ' s message comprehensible to his first audience. The ideas o f

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m o n o t h e i s m , a Last Judgment, heaven and hell, prophecy and revelations, and the emphasis o n intense, even m i l i t a n t , piety were widespread i n the Near Eastern scripturalist religions i n the sixth century. I n this sense Muhammad's message can be seen as an affirmation and refinement o f certain trends among the scripturalist religions o f the late antique era, perhaps as an effort at their reformation. To adherents o f the pagan cults o f western Arabia, however, i n c l u d i n g M u h a m m a d ' s fellow tribespeople o f Quraysh, his message came as a b l u n t repudiation o f all they stood for. He proclaimed their p o l y t h e i s m as incorrect and p r o f o u n d l y sinful, an affront to the one God's unity, i n itself sufficient t o c o n d e m n t h e m eternally to hellfire. He made i t clear that i n their behavior, they failed i n many ways to meet God's demands for h u m i l i t y , for modesty, for charity for the less fortunate, and especially

for

pious

dedication

to G o d

h i m s e l f t h r o u g h regular

prayer.

M u h a m m a d p o i n t e d o u t that the tribe's pagan ancestors, even his o w n grandfathers, were similarly destined for p e r d i t i o n — a n idea certain to generate outrage i n a tribal society that h i g h l y revered ancestors. The Quraysh were aghast. M u c h o f M u h a m m a d ' s prophetic career, f r o m the t i m e he began p u b l i c l y preaching i n about 613 u n t i l his death i n 632, was consumed w i t h w a r d i n g off and eventually o v e r c o m i n g the o p p o s i t i o n o f his o w n t r i b e , the Quraysh. H i s early followers i n c l u d e d some close relatives, such as his paternal cousin, A l i i b n A b i Talib (ca. 6 0 0 - 6 1 ) , as w e l l as a few p r o m i n e n t Meccans o f leading clans, such as U t h m a n i b n Affan (ca. 575-656) o f the Umayya clan. H e was also j o i n e d at first by many people o f l o w e r social stature i n Mecca—clients, freed slaves, and individuals o f lesser clans o f Quraysh—perhaps because their weaker family ties made it easier for t h e m to act i n accordance w i t h their conscience. As his f o l l o w i n g grew, however, the o p p o s i t i o n and abuse by the r e m a i n i n g Quraysh h a r d ened; c o n d i t i o n s became so bad for some that M u h a m m a d arranged for a n u m b e r o f t h e m to take refuge w i t h the r u l e r o f A x u m i n perhaps about 615. His situation i n Mecca became critical w i t h the death, i n close succession, o f his w i f e Khadijah and his uncle A b u Talib, i n about 619; almost simultaneously, he had lost his m a i n source o f e m o t i o n a l support and his m a i n protector, because A b u Talib, although he never embraced the Prophet's message, had nonetheless used the solidarity o f the H a s h i m clan to defend M u h a m m a d . As M u h a m m a d ' s situation worsened, he began to l o o k to other t o w n s i n western Arabia for supporters. It was a r o u n d 620 that M u h a m m a d w o n over a few people f r o m Yathrib, an oasis t o w n about 250 miles ( 4 0 0 k m ) n o r t h o f Mecca. For some years the p o p u l a t i o n o f Yathrib, w h i c h i n c l u d e d t w o p r e d o m inantly pagan tribes and a n u m b e r o f Jewish tribes, had been r i v e n by intractable internal strife. C )ver the next t w o j cars m o r e people ot Yathrib agreed u 11 ibserve the Prophet's message, u n t i l finally a large delegation o f people f r o m Yathrib

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agreed t o f o l l o w his teachings a n d invited h i m t o c o m e t o Y a t h r i b as arbiter o f their disputes a n d de facto r u l e r o f the t o w n . M u h a m m a d gradually sent his beleaguered followers f r o m Mecca t o safety i n Y a t h r i b . f o l l o w i n g t h e m h i m s e l f and taking u p residence i n 622.Yathrib henceforth came t o be k n o w n as Medina ( f r o m the Arabic madinat al-nobi, " t h e Prophet's c i t y " ) . The Prophet's move (the hijra, e m i g r a t i o n ) t o M e d i n a m a r k e d the b e g i n n i n g o f a n e w chapter i n his life and that o f his followers. They were n o longer a small, oppressed religious g r o u p i n Mecca; they were n o w an a u t o n o m o u s r e l i g i o - p o l i t i c a l c o m m u n i t y o f Believers that d o m i n a t e d the oasis o f Medina. M u h a m m a d ' s hijra t o M e d i n a i n 622 was thus the b e g i n n i n g o f Islam's l o n g life as a political force, a fact s y m bolized by the selection o f that year t o serve as the first year o f the Islamic era. D u r i n g his roughly ten years i n Medina ( 6 2 2 - 3 2 ) , M u h a m m a d consolidated his control over the town's disparate p o p u l a t i o n , and he extended Medina's power and influence i n Arabia. W h e n M u h a m m a d first arrived, Medina was still full o f smould e r i n g rivalries: between the town's t w o m a i n Arab tribes; between the muhajirun ("emigrants," the Believers w h o h a d emigrated to Medina f r o m Mecca or elsewhere) and the ansor ("helpers," Muhammad's first followers i n Medina, w h o had invited h i m and his Meccan followers to find refuge w i t h them); and between some o f Medina's Jews and the n e w Believers. W h i l e some o f Medina's Jews appear to have supported M u h a m m a d , those w h o challenged M u h a m m a d ' s claim t o prophecy, and i n some cases cooperated w i t h his political enemies (or whose leaders d i d ) , were handled harshly i n a series o f confrontations—exiled w i t h loss o f

R. J. Burtons nineteenthcentury drawing of Medina with the Mosque of the Prophet in the center. The Prophet settled here in 622. and his new house became the first mosque in Islam and later served as his place of burial.

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their lands, enslaved, or executed, depending on the case. Beyond Medina the most determined opponents o f Muhammad's efforts to extend his influence and his message were his erstwhile fellow citizens, the Quraysh o f Mecca. Mecca and Medina became locked i n an intense struggle to w i n over other towns and groups o f nomads, a struggle in w h i c h Mecca, w i t h its established commercial and tribal tics, initially appeared to have the advantage M u h a m m a d , however, launched raids against Meccan caravans, seizing valuable booty and hostages, and, more important, disrupting the commercial lifeblood o f Mecca. After a series o f raids and battles against the Quraysh that seem to have been indecisive i n their results (at Badr in 6 2 4 ; U h u d , 625; and Khandaq, 627), M u h a m m a d negotiated a truce w i t h the Quray sh at Hudaybiya i n 628. I n exchange for some short-term concessions, the truce gave M u h a m m a d and his followers the right to make the pilgrimage to Mecca's shrine, Kaaba, i n the f o l l o w i n g year. The treaty also gave M u h a m m a d a free hand to subdue one o f Mecca's key allies, the oasis o f Khaybar n o r t h o f Medina, whose large Jewish population (some o f them refugees from Medina) was hostile to the Prophet. This done, i t was relatively easy for M u h a m m a d to t u r n o n Mecca itself, w h i c h submitted virtually w i t h o u t bloodshed i n 630. Aware o f h o w dangerous the Quraysh could be i f their o p p o s i t i o n continued, and w i s h i n g to w i n their support, M u h a m m a d was careful to spare their pride. He tied t h e m to his movement by awarding many o f their leaders important commands and positions o f authority. W h i l e M u h a m m a d was engaged i n his struggle against Mecca, he was also slowly w o r k i n g to b r i n g more and m o r e n o m a d i c groups and towns w i t h i n Medina's orbit, either as loose allies or as full-fledged members o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers. I n d o i n g so, he used the appeal o f his religious message, promises o f material gain, or, o n occasion, o u t r i g h t force to b r i n g recalcitrant groups under Medina's sway. His conquest o f Mecca opened the way for victorious campaigns— w i t h the help o f the Quraysh—against the other m a i n t o w n o f western Arabia, Taif, and against the remaining groups o f powerful nomads i n the region. By this t i m e Muhammad's position as the most powerful political leader in western Arabia had become apparent to all, and tribal groups that had until then tried to h o l d Medina at arm's length n o w sent delegations to tender their submission. By Muhammad's death in 632, his c o m m u n i t y had expanded—more by religious persuasion and political alliance than by force—to include all o f western Arabia, and he had made fruitful contact w i t h some groups i n the n o r t h e r n Hijaz, N e j d , eastern Arabia, O m a n , and Yemen.

Early Expansion of the Community and State U p o n Muhammad's death i n 632, the y o u n g c o m m u n i t y o f Believers faced a set o f difficult challenges. The first and most basic challenge was to resolve the ques-

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t i o n : Were the Believers to f o r m a single p o l i t y under one leader even after M u h a m m a d ' s death, or were they to b e l o n g t o separate c o m m u n i t i e s , each headed by its o w n political leader? I n the end the Believers chose t o r e m a i n a single c o m m u n i t y and selected the Prophet's father-in-law and staunch supporter, A b u Bakr, to be his first successor. A b u Bakr and subsequent successors as leaders o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y are k n o w n i n Islamic tradition as caliphs ( f r o m the Arabic khalifa, m e a n i n g "successor" or "representative"). A b u Bakr and the Believers i n Medina faced a second i m m e d i a t e challenge. A l t h o u g h the t o w n s o f Medina, Mecca, andTaif and the nomadic groups between t h e m were for the most part quite steadfast i n their support o f A b u Bakr, many groups i n Arabia that had once tendered their submission to M u h a m m a d t r i e d to sever their political or religious ties w i t h M e d i n a once the Prophet was dead. Some claimed that they w o u l d remain Believers b u t contended that they d i d n o t owe the tax that the Prophet had collected, w h i c h A b u Bakr c o n t i n u e d t o demand. Other groups gave n o assurances that they w o u l d remain Believers. I n still other cases religious leaders arose c l a i m i n g t o be prophets themselves. Against these threats, A b u Bakr acted quickly and decisively i n w h a t is usually called the Apostasy (or Ridda) wars, d u r i n g w h i c h he sent armed bands o f Believers to the m a i n centers o f o p p o s i t i o n i n Arabia: Yemen, N e j d , andYamama. By maki n g shows o f force first among wavering tribes, these campaigns picked u p allies as they proceeded, and grew large e n o u g h to defeat the m o r e serious opponents, such as the "false p r o p h e t " Musaylima o f Yamama. These campaigns were f o l lowed by incursions i n t o O m a n and n o r t h w a r d t o w a r d the Arabian fringes o f Syria and Mesopotamia (what is n o w Iraq). I n 634, at the end o f t w o years o f camp a i g n i n g , A b u Bakr and the Believers o f Medina had b r o u g h t the entire Arabian peninsula under their c o n t r o l , opening the way t o further conquests that w o u l d , w i t h i n a few m o r e decades, make the Believers the masters o f a vast empire. This was possible partly because the almost ceaseless m i l i t a r y activity o f the Ridda wars p r o v i d e d the setting i n w h i c h the loosely organized war parties f o r m e d at the b e g i n n i n g o f the Ridda wars began t o assume the character o f a standing army, w i t h a core o f devoted supporters ( m a i n l y t o w n s m e n o f M e d i n a , Mecca, andTaif) leading a larger mass o f allies d r a w n f r o m a w i d e variety o f Arabian tribes. It also represented the d o m i n a t i o n o f the pastoral and mountaineer populations o f Arabia by the e m b r y o n i c n e w state i n Medina, w h i c h was headed by an elite g r o u p c o m posed almost exclusively o f settled t o w n s m e n . The Ridda wars b r o u g h t the Believers to the very doorsteps o f the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, but they also d i d m o r e . The emergence i n Arabia o f a state where n o n e h a d been before, one that c o u l d harness the m i l i t a r y potential o f the Arabian p o p u l a t i o n , made i t possible for the Believers to organize campaigns o f conquest that penetrated the great empires a n d wrested vast territories f r o m

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t h e m . The great wave o f early conquests was the m a i n w o r k o f the second caliph, U m a r i b n al-Khattab (r. 6 3 4 - 4 4 ) , w h o m A b u Bakr u p o n his deathbed selected to lead the Believers. The conquests were further c o n t i n u e d d u r i n g the first years o f the reign o f the r i i i r d caliph, U t h m a n i b n Affan (r. 6 4 4 - 5 6 ) . The caliphs launched one set o f offensives against the Byzantine-controlled territories o f Palestine and Syria, h o m e to many Arabic-speaking tribes (part o f the p r i m a r y audience to w h i c h the Q u r a n had been addressed). These incursions elicited defensive reactions f r o m the Byzantine authorities i n Syria, against w h o m several battles were f o u g h t . Eventually, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius sent a large army f r o m Anatolia to secure Syria against the threatening Believers, b u t to n o avail; his force was decimated at a battle along theYarmuk valley (east o f the Sea o f Galilee) i n 636. Most o f the countryside and towns o f Syria and Palestine fell to the Believers shortly thereafter; the o n l y exceptions were some coastal t o w n s such as Ascalon and T r i p o l i , w h i c h h e l d o u t for years longer because the Byzantines c o u l d supply t h e m by sea. F r o m Syria the Believers sent campaigns i n t o n o r t h e r n Mesopotamia, A r m e n i a , and against the Byzantine frontier i n southern Anatolia. A n e x p e d i t i o n a r y force f r o m Syria also wrested the r i c h province o f Egypt f r o m the Byzantines, c o n q u e r i n g the c o m m e r c i a l and cultural h u b o f Alexandria i n 642. At the same time as the offensives i n Syria and Palestine, the Believers were faced w i t h i m p e n d i n g clashes w i t h the Sasanian Empire i n w h a t is n o w southern Iraq. The early contacts o f the Believers w i t h the Arabic-speaking pastoral nomads o f this r e g i o n , and their increasing boldness i n penetrating Iraq's interior, had caused the Sasanians to m o b i l i z e their armies to resist t h e m , b u t they fared n o better than the Byzantines. I n a great batde i n 637 at abQadisiyah ( m o d ern Kadisiya) i n southern Iraq, the Sasanians were decisively broken, o p e n i n g the r i c h alluvial lands o f Iraq to occupation by the armies o f the Believers. F r o m southern Iraq the Believers sent campaigns i n t o Khuzestan and Azerbaijan, and others pursued the fleeing Sasanians i n t o the Iranian highlands. Gradually the m a i n t o w n s o f western Iran, and w i t h t i m e areas farther east, fell to the Believers. By the m i d - 6 c o s the Believers r u l i n g f r o m Medina had loose c o n t r o l over a vast area stretching f r o m Yemen to A r m e n i a and f r o m Egypt to eastern Iran. A n d f r o m various staging centers i n this vast area, the Believers were organizing raids i n t o areas yet further afield: f r o m Egypt i n t o Libya, N o r t h Africa, and Sudan; f r o m Syria and n o r t h e r n Mesopotamia i n t o Anatolia; f r o m A r m e n i a i n t o the Caucasus region; f r o m lower Mesopotamia i n t o many unconsolidated districts i n Iran and eastward t o w a r d Afghanistan and the fringes o f Central Asia. A n i m p o r t a n t feature o f the early expansion o f the Believers was its quality as a religious m o v e m e n t , b u t this was colored by the presence o f the state. The caliphs and their followers believed, o f course, i n M u h a m m a d ' s message o f the

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need to acknowledge God's oneness and to live righteously i n preparation for the i m m i n e n t Last Day. They saw their m i s s i o n as jihad, o r m i l i t a n t effort to combat evil and to spread M u h a m m a d ' s message o f m o n o t h e i s m and righteousness far and w i d e . But their goal seems to have been to b r i n g the populations they encountered i n t o submission to the righteous order they represented, n o t to make t h e m change their r e l i g i o n — n o t , at least, i f they were already m o n o t h e ists, such as Christians and Jews. For this reason the early Believers collected t r i b ute f r o m conquered populations but generally let t h e m w o r s h i p as they always had; o n l y pagans and at times Zoroastrians appear to have been coerced i n t o embracing Islam o r had their places o f w o r s h i p sacked. The astonishing extent a n d r a p i d i t y o f this process o f expansion a n d c o n quest can o n l y be u n d e r s t o o d i f the nature o f the expansion i t represented is recognized. It was, first a n d f o r e m o s t , the expansion o f a n e w state based i n M e d i n a . The r u l i n g elite of this state were m o s t l y settled t o w n s m e n o f Mecca, M e d i n a , and Taif, w h o c o m m a n d e d g r o w i n g armies c o m p o s e d m a i n l y o f pastoral n o m a d s f r o m n o r t h e r n and central Arabia o r m o u n t a i n e e r s f r o m Yemen. It was n o t an expansion o f n o m a d i c o r m o u n t a i n e e r i n g peoples as such. The state-sponsored q u a l i t y o f the expansion is reflected i n a significant measure o f centralized d i r e c t i o n o f the expansion m o v e m e n t by the caliphs a n d their circle, w h o appear to have c o o r d i n a t e d strategy between various fronts, as w e l l as i n certain bureaucratic i n s t i t u t i o n s that were established d u r i n g the early conquests. The i n s t i t u t i o n s i n c l u d e d the c r e a t i o n o f a regular p a y r o l l (diwan) for the soldiers, as w e l l as the g a t h e r i n g o f the e x p e d i t i o n a r y forces i n distant areas i n t o t i g h t l y clustered g a r r i s o n settlements that became the nucleus o f n e w cities: Kufa and Basra i n s o u t h e r n M e s o p o t a m i a , Fustat i n Egypt, and s o m e w h a t later, M a r v i n northeastern Iran (651)

a n d Qayrawan i n Tunisia

( 6 7 0 ) . These garrisons h e l p e d the Believers live apart f r o m the vast conquered p o p u l a t i o n s they r u l e d , and so to avoid assimilation; later, as cities, these garrisons w o u l d be a m o n g the m o s t i m p o r t a n t centers i n w h i c h early Islamic c u l ture was elaborated. The consequences o f the conquests were m o m e n t o u s . They established a large new empire i n the Near East, destroying the Sasanian Empire completely and occup y i n g i m p o r t a n t parts o f the Byzantine Empire. Moreover, the leadership o f this new empire was c o m m i t t e d to a n e w religious ideology. N e w economic structures were created w i t h the demise o f the o l d r u l i n g classes and the rise o f a new one, consisting at first largely of people o f Arabian o r i g i n . Property and wealth—as w e l l as political p o w e r — w e r e redistributed o n a grand scale. Most i m p o r t a n t , the newly emergent state provided the political framework w i t h i n w h i c h the religious ideas o f the r u l i n g Believers, w h o were but a small part o f the p o p u l a t i o n , could gradually spread a m o n g the conquered peoples. The many captives taken d u r i n g

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the conqtiests came to be integrated i n t o the tribes and families o f their captors as clients (mmvali), a fact that facilitated this transformation.

The Early Caliphate and the Question of Legitimacy It was w i d e l y accepted i n the early c o m m u n i t y o f Believers that M u h a m m a d could have n o successor i n his role as Prophet. But the early Believers decided that someone should succeed M u h a m m a d as t e m p o r a l head o f the c o m m u n i t y . The first d o c u m e n t a r y references call the leader o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers n o t caliph but amir al-mu minin ( " c o m m a n d e r o f the Believers"), and this may be the

Interior of the Great Mosque at Qayrawan in Tunisia. Founded in the late seventh century, the mosque owes much of its present aspect to extensive rebuilding by the Aghlabid governors in the ninth century

M U H A M M A D

AND THE

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IC

o r i g i n a l t e r m for the heads o f the c o m m u n i t y , replaced only some t i m e later by the t e r m caliph, w h i c h was seen as synonymous but had the advantage o f being f o u n d i n the Quran. Whatever i t was called, c o m m u n i t y leadership was at first i n f o r m a l a n d personal, m u c h like t r i b a l leadership. O n l y gradually d i d the caliphate acquire greater prestige and formality, as the o r i g i n a l Islamic state grew i n t o a far-flung e m p i r e d u r i n g the early conquest era. A l t h o u g h the first t w o caliphs, A b u Bakr and Umar, appear to have enjoyed widespread support among the Believers, dissension arose under the t h i r d caliph, U t h n i a n . The reasons for this discontent probably included practical concerns, such as a tapering o f f i n the ready supply o f conquest b o o t y for i n d i v i d u a l soldiers, o r feelings that newly conquered lands outside the garrison t o w n s were not being made available for settlement by the soldiers and were instead being d o m i n a t e d by wealthy families. But they also seem to have involved perceptions that U t h m a n was n o t r u l i n g w i t h the fairness and disdain for private gain that most p i o u s Believers expected o f t h e i r c o m m a n d e r . U t h m a n was accused ( w h e t h e r rightly, i t may never be k n o w n ) o f favoring his relatives w h e n m a k i n g i m p o r t a n t and sometimes lucrative appointments, o f d i v e r t i n g monies f r o m the treasury, and o f other transgressions, some fiscal, some m o r a l . This dissension grew i n t o a violent u p r i s i n g , w h i c h culminated i n the m u r d e r o f the caliph i n 656. These developments began the complicated series o f events k n o w n as the First C i v i l War ( 6 5 6 - 6 1 ) , w h i c h was a struggle for leadership o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers waged by the p r o m i n e n t heads o f several families w i t h i n the Prophet's tribe, the Quraysh. This is a chapter o f the u t m o s t i m p o r t a n c e i n Islamic history, because this is w h e n the m a i n subgroups o r sects that have con¬ stituted the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y u p to the present day first emerged. After Uthman's m u r d e r the people o f M e d i n a , i n c l u d i n g some o f the c o n spirators, recognized as the next caliph Ah' i b n A b i T a l i b — c o u s i n and son-in-law o f the Prophet, therefore a m e m b e r o f his clan, the H a s h i m . Ali's acclamation as caliph was opposed by significant segments o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers, h o w e v e r — i n particular by U t h m a n ' s k i n s m e n o f the U m a y y a d clan, led by M u a w i y a h , and by leading members o f some other Quraysh families, i n c l u d i n g the Prophets favorite w i f e , Aishah, and t w o o f M u h a m m a d ' s early supporters, Talha i b n Ubaydallah and al-Zubayr i b n a l - A w w a m . The b i d for power by Talha, al-Zubayr, and Aishah was t h w a r t e d w h e n their forces were decisively defeated at the "batde o f the camel" near Basra i n southern Iraq by the supporters o f Ali (shial Ali, Arabic for "party o f A l i . " often referred to simply as the Shia o r Shiites). A l i and his backers established their base i n the garrison t o w n o f Kufa. They eventually felt strong enough to march n o r t h w a r d along the Euphrates River, i n t e n d i n g to take the war to Muawiyah's base i n Syria. Armies o f the t w o sides met at Siffin along the m i d d l e Euphrates, near the frontier o f Syria

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and Iraq, but many o n b o t h sides were uneasy about launching an attack against m e n w h o also considered themselves Believers, and w h o u n t i l recently had been their o w n comrades-at-arms. Skirmishing gave way, after many days, to a battle that was broken o f f w h e n A l i and M u a w i y a h agreed that the matter should be setUed by arbitration rather than fighting and w i t h d r e w to Kufa and Syria, respectively, to await the arbiters' decision. Eventually neither side was satisfied w i t h the arbitration results, and a p e r i o d o f desultory raiding between Syria and Iraq ensued. D u r i n g the p e r i o d o f arbitration and thereafter, Ali's situation was weakened by the w i t h d r a w a l f r o m his camp o f some militant pietists, w h o came to be k n o w n as Kharijites ( f r o m the Arabic khawarij, possibly meaning "seceders"). Some o f t h e m may have broken w i t h A l i because they feared that i f he reached an a c c o m m o d a t i o n w i t h M u a w i y a h , they w o u l d be called to account for their participation i n the m u t i n y against U t h m a n . Others may have fell that Ali's agreement to arbitrate revealed an i m p i o u s lack o f trust i n God's ability to render a just verdict between the t w o rivals o n the battlefield. As they said i n their battle cry, " O n l y G o d has the r i g h t to decide." A h was forced to massacre many Kharijites i n a batde at Nahrawan i n eastern Iraq, an event that shocked many and d i d little to advance his cause, because many Kharijites were r e n o w n e d for their piety. The First C i v i l War finally came to an end i n 661, w h e n a Kharijite assassin killed A l i (another was t h w a r t e d before he c o u l d assassinate M u a w i y a h ) . Shortly thereafter, the m a j o r i t y o f Believers agreed to recognize M u a w i y a h as caliph, perhaps less because they t h o u g h t h i m the ideal r u l e r than because, after five years o f t u r m o i l , they yearned for stability and u n i t y a m o n g the Believers. Muawiyah's r e c o g n i t i o n as caliph marks the b e g i n n i n g o f the Umayyad caliphate (661—750). D u r i n g his t w o decades as caliph, M u a w i y a h relied o n careful d i p l o m a c y and strong governors, especially i n Iraq and the east, to m a i n t a i n an uneasy peace i n the c o m m u n i t y . He kept discontented Shiite supporters o f Ali's family under cont r o l , and either subdued small uprisings o f rebellious Kharijites or forced t h e m to take refuge i n frontier zones, beyond the effective reach o f the caliph's agents. The relative stability o f his reign enabled the M u s l i m armies once again t o embark o n raids and campaigns o f conquest against n e i g h b o r i n g areas. But the issues that were at the heart o f the First C i v i l W a r — h o w leaders o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers were to be selected, and above all w h a t were the criteria for leadership—remained unresolved. It is hardly surprising that a n e w wave o f internal t u r m o i l , the Second C i v i l War (680—92), broke out u p o n Muawiyah's death. The Second C i v i l War was a c o n t i n u a t i o n o f the first, because the same groups were involved, at the remove o f one generation. The Umayyads, whose h o l d o n the caliphate f r o m their capital i n Damascus was being challenged, were represented first by Muawiyah's sonYazid (r. 6 8 0 - 8 3 ) ,

a

n

d t h e n , afterYazid's early

death and a p e r i o d o f confusion w i t h i n the Umayyad family, by another relative,

MUHAMMAD

A N D THE CALIPHATE

I7

the caliph A b d al-Malik i b n M a r w a n (r. 685-705-). The Umayyads faced w i d e spread o p p o s i t i o n . F r o m Ali's o l d s t r o n g h o l d i n Kufa, the Shiites, w h o claimed that the caliphate s h o u l d belong to someone o f Ali's family, rallied first a r o u n d Ali's younger son, al-Husayn. After al-Husayn and his family were massacred i n 680 by U m a y y a d t r o o p s at Karbala i n I r a q , the Shiites c o n t i n u e d to resist Umayyad r u l e i n Kufa under the leadership o f a charismatic leader n a m e d alMukhtar, w h o claimed to be acting i n the name o f one o f Ali's sons. A b d Allah i b n al-Zubayr ( 6 2 4 - 9 2 ) , son o f that al-Zubayr whose b i d for the caliphate had been so quickly ended i n the First Civil War, established himself i n Mecca and was recognized by many i n the empire as caliph. His determination and broad support made his resistance to the Umayyads as formidable as his father's had been ephemeral. Meanwhile, several groups o f Kharijites took advantage o f die political disarray prevailing i n the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers to establish themselves i n various parts o f Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. I n the end, after a dozen years o f bitter strife, A b d al-Malik and his ruthless lieutenant, al-Hajjaj ibnYtisuf, were able to pacify first Iraq, then Arabia, and to b r i n g die w h o l e empire under Umayyad control. The road the Umayyads had f o l l o w e d to victory, however, was littered w i t h

The golden dome of the shrine at Karbala in Iraq marks the burial site of the Prophet's grandson Husayn

m a n g l e d dreams, m e m o r i e s o f w h i c h w o u l d haunt the dynasty's future and c o n -

and his family, who were

tribute to its downfall. Yazid's generals, i n the first unsuccessful efforts to subdue

murdered by the Umayyads

A b d Allah i b n al-Zubayr i n Mecca, had ruthlessly crushed an u p r i s i n g i n Medina w h i l e en route, and had even laid siege to the sacred precincts i n Mecca, i n the

in 680. This act of martyrdom marks the beginning of the separation of Shiites as a

process starting a fire that destroyed part o f the Kaaba. The Shiites had seen their

political party and distinct

hopes dashed, b u t the pitiless slaughter o f Ali's son al-Husayn and his family at

subgroup within the Islamic

Karbala p r o v i d e d t h e m w i t h an act o f m a r t y r d o m o f m y t h i c a l p r o p o r t i o n s .

community.

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N u r t u r i n g the m e m o r y o f this m a r t y d o m deepened their hatred o f the Umayyads and started a process whereby the Shiites began to feel themselves to be n o t merely a political party but a distinct subgroup w i t h i n the Islamic c o m m u n i t y . I n the course o f w o r k i n g out the differences w i t h i n their o w n house, the Umayyads had even managed to set some Syrian tribes against others i n a way that w o u l d later u n d e r m i n e their efforts to b u i l d a cohesive army o n these tribal groups. The i m p o r t a n c e o f the t w o civil wars goes far b e y o n d their i m m e d i a t e p o l i t ical impact, however. These c i v i l wars represented the arena i n w h i c h Believers first openly debated the ways i n w h i c h a u t h o r i t y to lead the Islamic c o m m u n i t y could be legitimately claimed. Kharijites h e l d that true piety and impeccably righteous behavior were the only qualities that p r o v i d e d true l e g i t i m a t i o n i n an Islamic context. Others, notably the Alids and their Shiite supporters, w h o contended that o n l y a m e m b e r o f Ali's family or o f the Prophet's clan o f H a s h i m should h o l d power, argued that legitimacy was essentially genealogical. Still o t h ers—such as the Umayyads-—claimed that the consensus o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers (jarruia, or c o m i n g together) was the most i m p o r t a n t element i n establishing a legitimate c l a i m to head the Islamic c o m m u n i t y . Later, some ( i n c l u d i n g the Umayyads)

w o u l d argue that their very ascent to p o w e r was

an

expression o f God's w i l l and therefore legitimate i n its o w n r i g h t . These claims and counterclaims w o u l d be raised repeatedly i n the centuries ahead. It is therefore d u r i n g the c i v i l wars that the m a i n sectarian subdivisions o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y first emerged: the Shiites, the Kharijites, and (retrospectively, t h r o u g h an ephemeral g r o u p k n o w n as the M u r j i a ) the Sunni or o r t h o d o x m a j o r i t y sect o f Islam, w h i c h came to be defined as m u c h as anything by their rejection o f the central beliefs o f the Shiites and Kharijites. A l l members o f these subgroups w i t h i n the Islamic c o m m u n i t y justify their particular identity o n the basis o f their differing readings o f the events o f the c i v i l wars, particularly the first war. The c i v i l wars are thus the lens t h r o u g h w h i c h radiates the spectrum o f groups m a k i n g u p the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . The ideal o f a politically u n i f i e d c o m m u n i t y o f Believers (ummafi) headed by a caliph eventually became unrealizable i n practice, as the empire came to span thousands o f kilometers and the c o m m u n i t y to embrace m i l l i o n s o f people. Nonetheless,

the i n s t i t u t i o n o f the

caliphate (and indeed, the caliph h i m s e l f ) played an i m p o r t a n t role because i t stood as a symbolic e m b o d i m e n t o f M u s l i m religious unity. For this reason the i n s t i t u t i o n was retained l o n g after it had ceased to have real political meaning.

Apogee of the Caliphal Empire (700-950 C.E.) The age o f the first conquests and the civil wars ( r o u g h l y 6 3 0 - 7 0 0 C.E.) had seen the establishment o f the c o m m u n i t y o f Believers as a loosely organized political

M U H A M M A D

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ig

entity headed by the first caliphs. The early c o m m u n i t y and state had been united ( w h e n they were u n i t e d ) n o t so m u c h by institutional structures, most o f w h i c h were still e m b r y o n i c , but m a i n l y by i d e o l o g y — t h a t is, by the Believers' convict i o n that they were engaged i n a c o m m o n effort to establish, i n God's name, a n e w and righteous regime o n earth. The d e p t h o f this c o n v i c t i o n underlay the intensity w i t h w h i c h the Believers had disagreed over the legitimacy o f various rivals for the caliphate d u r i n g the c i v i l wars; but their c o m m i t m e n t to a c o m m o n cause also enabled the Believers to come together once again as a single political u n i t after the wars. By the end o f the second war i n 692, the Believers had embraced more clearly than before their identity as Muslims—that is, as a monotheist confession f o l l o w i n g the teachings o f M u h a m m a d and the Q u r a n , and for this reason distinct f r o m other monotheists such as Jews o r Christians. D u r i n g the t w o and a half centuries that followed the second w a r (ca. 700-ca. 950 C . E . ) , the rudimentary institutional structures o f the early c o m m u n i t y o f Believers fully matured, providing the caliphs w i t h the irhlitary and administrative machinery needed to contain the divisions that have reverberated d o w n through the subsequent history o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y since the civil wars. The p e r i o d o f 700 to 950, then, represented the apogee o f the caliphal empires—an age o f political and c o m m u n a l expansion, great institutional and cultural development, and economic g r o w t h . The Umayyad dynasty was overt h r o w n i n 750 C . E . by a military uprising organized by the Abbasid family, descen-

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dants o f the Prophet Muhammad's uncle al-Abbas i b n A b d al-Muttalib (ca. c66-ca. 653), resulting i n a shift o f the i m p e r i a l capital eastward f r o m Damascus, i n Syria, to Iraq, where the early Abbasids founded a new capital, Baghdad. But several keyaspects o f the evolution o f the caliphate and the empire continued under b o t h the late Umayyad and the early Abbasid caliphs, and for this reason, despite the change o f r u l i n g dynasty, i t is fair to v i e w the p e r i o d o f 700 to 950 as a single phase i n the history o f the caliphate and o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y . The most basic fact about this p e r i o d is that the caliphal empire and the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y continued to expand. The early conquests had g r o u n d to a halt d u r i n g the Second C i v i l War, as the Umayyads and their rivals devoted m i l itary resources to fighting each other. After the war, however, the Umayyads i n a u gurated a second phase o f i m p e r i a l expansion (the first h a l f o f the e i g h t h century). Some o f the conquests sponsored by the later Umayyads were m o t i vated by a desire to extend Islamic rule. For example, expansion seems to have been the objective o f the great ( i f unsuccessful) campaigns by land and sea against Constantinople, the capital o f the Byzantine Empire (669, 6 7 4 - 8 0 , and 716—17), as w e l l as the annual s u m m e r raids i n t o Byzantine border territories (a The mighty land walls of

p o l i c y c o n t i n u e d under the Abbasids u n t i l the m i d d l e o f the n i n t h c e n t u r y ) . The

Constantinople, built in the

caliphs also doubtless h o p e d to a f f i r m their legitimacy a m o n g M u s l i m s by spon-

centuries preceding the rev-

soring such campaigns o f j i h a d against n o n - M u s l i m states. The incentive for

elation of Islam, protected the city against repeated invasions, including the unsuccessful Arab campaigns

launching other campaigns, however, seems to have been the desire to benefit f r o m the seizure o f booty, particularly captives w h o c o u l d be e m p l o y e d or sold as slaves; this may have been the case w i t h many raids i n N o r t h Africa organized

in the seventh and eighth

by the later Umayyads. The throngs o f recruits w h o participated i n these cam-

centuries.

paigns were, o f course, responding to a w i d e range o f m o t i v a t i o n s — f r o m zeal

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to spread the faith or the hope o f attaining m a r t y r d o m o n the battlefield (and hence eternal salvation), to lust for b o o t y or hope o f f i n d i n g new lands to settle, to a simple thirst for adventure. W i t h o u t the organizing activity o f the caliphs and their governors, however, most o f these campaigns w o u l d not have occurred. Whatever the motivations, the scope o f the second phase o f conquests was astonishing. I n N o r t h Africa the M u s l i m s , w h o d u r i n g the c i v i l wars had stayed close to their strong points, such as the garrison t o w n o f Qayrawan, finally dislodged the last Byzantine outposts, such as Carthage, and pushed all the way to the Atlantic coast o f Morocco. The local Berber p o p u l a t i o n began to embrace Islam, and some were d r a w n i n t o the expansion process. I n 711 general Tariq i b n Ziyad led an a r m y consisting largely o f Berbers across the Straits o f Gibraltar (named after h i m ) i n t o Spain. Other troops, Berber and Arab, p o u r e d i n and w i t h i n a few b r i e f years seized the southern and eastern t w o - t h i r d s o f the Iberian peninsula f r o m the faltering Visigothic k i n g d o m , w h i c h vanished, leaving small, i m p o v e r i s h e d Christian k i n d g o m s o n l y i n the n o r t h e r n mountains. F r o m Spain the M u s l i m s sent raids across the Pyrenees i n t o the Languedoc and adjacent regions o f France, reaching the h i g h water mark o f their expansion i n the west somewhere near the Loire r e g i o n , w h e r e i n 732 they were defeated by the Frankish ruler Charles Martel. A l t h o u g h the M u s l i m s held several cities i n southern France for a f e w decades, ultimately their conquests there were ephemeral; by the late e i g h t h century they seldom ventured n o r t h o f the Pyrenees. D u r i n g the n i n t h century theAbbasids' governors o f Tunisia, the Aghlabids, raided Sicily (starting i n 827), southern Italy, and the French and Italian Rivieras, and established over m u c h o f Sicily a M u s l i m political presence that endured u n t i l the arrival o f the N o r m a n s i n the mid-eleventh century. In the east, U m a y y a d governors launched renewed campaigns f r o m their garrisons i n Khurasan ( i n northeast I r a n ) , particularly M a r v and Balkh, i n t o the regions beyond the Oxus River o n the fringes o f Central Asia. Between 70c and 713, Bukhara i n Transoxiana, the region o f Fergana and its capital, Shash ( m o d ern-day Tashkent), the r i c h district o f K h w a r i z m ( m o d e r n - d a y K h o r e z m ) south o f the Aral Sea—all located i n w h a t is n o w k n o w n as Uzbekistan—and m u c h o f Sogdiana, i n c l u d i n g its capital at Samarqand, were b r o u g h t i n t o the Umayyad Empire. Despite numerous rebellions and efforts by local groups to o v e r t h r o w M u s l i m r u l e d u r i n g the early n i n t h century, these areas remained forever after part o f the Islamic w o r l d . M e a n w h i l e , between 711

and 713, the caliphate was

establishing its first permanent f o o t h o l d i n Sind ( p a r t o f the Indus River valley); the teenage c o m m a n d e r o f M u s l i m troops, M u h a m m a d i b n al-Qasim, marched t h r o u g h southern Iran to conquer and establish an initial base at D a i b u l , the m a i n city i n the Indus delta. F r o m i t he conquered other major cities i n the region n o w k n o w n as Pakistan, i n c l u d i n g the religious center at M u l t a n and the p o l i t i c a l cap-

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ital o f Sind, Brahmanabad (where the city o f Mansura w o u l d later be built u n d e r the Abbasids). These first M u s l i m colonies i n Sind lived o n , but little about t h e m is d o c u m e n t e d , and they were doubtless almost c o m p l e t e l y

autonomous.

Nevertheless, recent archaeological evidence suggests that they m a i n t a i n e d ties o f trade, at least w i t h other parts o f the Islamic w o r l d such as Iran and Syria. D u r i n g the expansion o f the caliphal empire, the Islamic c o m m u n i t y itself spread beyond the empire. Whereas the spread o f the empire was carried out m a i n l y by armies, the spread o f the Islamic faith beyond the caliphate's borders was usually the w o r k o f merchants and pious preachers. Kharijite merchants f r o m N o r t h Africa, for example, appear to have been the first t o b r i n g Islam to the populations o f subSaharan West Africa. The m a i n spreading o f die Islamic community, however, took place w i t h i n the caliphal empire itself. In many parts o f the empire, even i n those conquered early o n , such as Egypt or Iran, the population remained predominantly n o n - M u s l i m for centuries. W i t h time, m o r e o f these conquered peoples embraced Islam; estimates suggest that i n the Near Eastern provinces Muslims became the majority only after about 800 C.H. I n other words, d u r i n g the golden age o f the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates Muslims were still a m i n o r i t y i n the lands diey ruled. The empire's conquered populations were gradually w o n over to Islam for various reasons. Forced conversions were rare, but i n some cases the i m p o s i t i o n o f higher taxes o n n o n - M u s l i m s may have created an economic incentive for embracing Islam. For the most part, however, the gradual Islamization o f the empire's p o p ulations was part o f a complex transformation o f the w h o l e social environment, involving many factors that i m p i n g e d simultaneously o n the individual and the family; economic and political advantage, social mobility, linguistic and cultural affinities, marriage and kinship requirements, and, above all, the intrinsic appeal o f Islam as a belief system. A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t feature o f this p e r i o d was c o n t i n u i n g r i v a l r y f o r the caliphate itself, that is, for supreme p o l i t i c a l power i n the empire. O n the p r a g matic side there were g r u m b l i n g s or actual uprisings directed against established caliphs, and various measures (such as t r a n s f o r m i n g the a r m y ) were taken by the caliphs themselves to safeguard their power. But the ideological struggle over the m e a n i n g o f the caliphate and the legitimacy o f various contenders' claims to i t also c o n t i n u e d unabated i n this p e r i o d . A l t h o u g h the U m a y y a d caliph A b d alMalik and his successors were able to b u i l d a fairly f i r m support base f o r t h e m selves after the Second Civil War, they nonetheless faced widespread o p p o s i t i o n . The l o n g - s t a n d i n g o p p o s i t i o n o f the Shiites and Kharijites c o n t i n u e d . The Umayyads used garrison troops to c o n t r o l numerous small Kharijite insurrections as w e l l as m o r e serious uprisings such as that m o u n t e d by the A l i d leader Zayd i b n A l i i n Kufa i n 740. But the Umayyads were also opposed by many n e w converts to Islam, most o f t h e m mawali, o r clients, o f Arab tribes, w h o felt that

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their conversion s h o u l d have e n t i t l e d t h e m t o equal treatment w i t h other M u s l i m s , particularly the lower rate o f taxes that Arab M u s l i m s enjoyed. A n u m ber o f pious M u s l i m s backed the n e w converts i n this c l a i m , however, or felt that the Umayyads had discredited themselves i n some other w a y by their earlier actions. Such concerns may have u n d e r l a i n the obscure qadaiiyya m o v e m e n t ( o n the surface, a debate over the degree to w h i c h God's o m n i p o t e n c e l i m i t e d h u m a n independence and responsibility) that plagued the last decades o f U m a y y a d rule. O n a m o r e m u n d a n e level, the later Umayyads faced a crisis as agricultural lands were abandoned i n the t w o richest provinces o f the e m p i r e , Egypt and Iraq. The f u l l reasons f o r this p h e n o m e n o n are n o t k n o w n — i t was probably linked i n part to the conversion to Islam o f the indigenous peasantry—but whatever the causes, this abandonment disrupted the flow o f taxes and i n some cases was reversed o n l y t h r o u g h draconian measures that f u r t h e r enhanced the Umayyads' reputat i o n f o r harsh and unjust rule. The Umayyads were n o t b l i n d to their opponents' varied claims, and they made serious efforts t o establish themselves as legitimate heads o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y and rulers o f the state. They encouraged scholars to gather and c o m p i l e reports about the o r i g i n s o f Islam (the Prophet's life and career, the history o f the earlyc o m m u n i t y , and so o n ) . I n this way, the Umayyads played a central role i n establishing a M u s l i m identity, because the o r i g i n story a f f i r m e d that the Islamic c o m -

The Dome of the Rock in Terusalem is the third holiest site in Islam. Built over the remains of Solomon's temple, the structure is thought by many Muslims to mark the spot from which Muhammad began his night journey to heaven.

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m u n i t y they led was the direct descendant o f Muhammad's o w n , and diat i t f o l l o w e d his teachings and those o f the Q u r a n — p r o p o s i t i o n s to w h i c h Muslims still adhere. The Umayyads also asserted their legitimacy by continuing the ancient trad i t i o n o f royal patronage for sumptuous religious buildings, notably the D o m e o f Rock i n Jerusalem and the Umayyad mosque i n Damascus—two o f the first o u t standing examples o f Islamic architecture. The Umayyads' support for campaigns o f expansion and conquest also helped bolster their claim to b e i n g legitimate rulers o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y . Despite these efforts, however, o p p o s i t i o n to the Umayyads intensified d u r i n g the second quarter o f the e i g h t h century. At the same t i m e divisions w i t h i n their Syrian-based a r m y — t h e product o f clashes d u r i n g the Second Civil War and r i v a l r y over royal patronage—made the army an increasingly unreliable support for the U m a y y a d regime. Yet i t was just at this t i m e that ceaseless campaigning o n the Byzantine frontiers and stubborn internal o p p o s i t i o n made firm support indispensable. The Alids and their Shiite supporters proved especially t r o u b l e some to the Umayyads, f o m e n t i n g numerous uprisings i n the last decades o f Umayyad r u l e . Eventually, i t was another branch o f M u h a m m a d ' s f a m i l y (the Abbasids), however, that f i n a l l y o v e r t h r e w the Umayyads and o c c u p i e d the caliphate i n 750. U n l i k e the Alids and their Shiite partisans, the Abbasids had patiendy organized an u n d e r g r o u n d o p p o s i t i o n movement and b u i l t u p a secure p o w e r base before r i s i n g i n open revolt. Moreover, w h e n they organized their rebelhon against the Umayyads f r o m the province o f Khurasan i n northeastern

Courtyard of the Great Mosque in Damascus, founded in the early eighth century. The walls were once entirely covered with glittering mosaics, largely covered with whitewash in this photograph taken in the early

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Iran, the Abbasids carefully kept secret their o w n identity as claimants to the caliphate, rallying supporters instead i n the name o f "the family o f M u h a m m a d . " This vague appeal enabled t h e m b o t h to avoid detection by the Umayyads and to w i n the backing o f many a m o n g the Shiites ( w h o naturally assumed that the movement was i n favor o f an A l i d ) and o f m a n y other d i s g r u n t l e d groups w h o yearned for m o r e righteous leadership than they thought the Umayyads had p r o vided. O n l y after decisively defeating U m a y y a d armies i n several battles i n Iran and Iraq, and k i l l i n g the caliph and many U m a y y a d princes, d i d the Abbasid leader A b u 1-Abbas al-Saffah c o m e o u t i n the open and receive the oath o f allegiance as caliph. For several t u r b u l e n t years the Abbasid caliphs al-Saffah (r. 7 5 0 - 5 4 ) and A b u Jafar a l - M a n s u r (r. 7 5 4 - 7 5 ) c o n s o l i d a t e d t h e i r p o w e r against r i v a l s w i t h i n the Abbasid family, d i s g r u n t l e d A l i d s , and f o r m e r p o w e r f u l s u p p o r t ers s u c h as the Abbasids' agent A b u M u s l i m , w h o had largely engineered the r e b e l l i o n i n Khurasan. By about 756, however, the Abbasid dynasty's p o w e r was securely established, and the Abbasids w e r e to o c c u p y the caliphate f o r the r e m a i n d e r o f its existence (that is, f r o m 750 u n t i l 1258), a l t h o u g h after about 950 t h e i r real p o w e r was severely c u r t a i l e d by a succession o f secular p o w e r h o l d e r s . The first Abbasids c l a i m e d to be s t a r t i n g the caliphate anew, p u r g i n g i t o f the evils o f t h e i r U m a y y a d predecessors. Shortly after c o m i n g to p o w e r , the second A b b a s i d c a l i p h , al-Mansur, f o u n d e d a n e w i m p e r i a l capital at Baghdad, o n the T i g r i s River i n I r a q , t o s y m b o l i z e this break w i t h the i m p i o u s U m a y y a d past. M a n y Islamic r u l e r s o f later p e r i o d s w o u l d f o l l o w this precedent by f o u n d i n g n e w capitals to s y m b o l i z e the start o f w h a t they c l a i m e d to be a n e w era. Even the Abbasids' overthrow o f the Umayyads d i d not end the struggle over the caliphate, however. The Shiites sdll believed that only an A l i d could legitimately lead the c o m m u n i t y , so they were usually n o more favorably disposed to the Abbasids than they had been to the Umayyads. The complex relationship between these t w o branches o f the Prophet's family, the Abbasids and the Alids, is a central theme o f Abbasid history (and o f many historical texts w r i t t e n i n this and later periods). The reverence that many early M u s l i m s felt for the family o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , indeed for the entire H a s h i m clan, led some Abbasid caliphs, such as al-Mansur and al-Mahdi (r. 775-85), to favor their A l i d contemporaries by i n c l u d ing t h e m at court, seeking their advice, and otherwise t r y i n g to w i n their support. Other Abbasids, such as H a r u n al-Rashid (r. 7 8 6 - 8 0 9 ) , were suspicious o f the Alids, w h o m they assumed to be conspiring f o r the caliphate. For their part, the Alids were also divided i n dieir attitude toward the Abbasids, w h i c h naturally varied i n some measure w i t h the Abbasids' policies toward t h e m . Some A l i d s — s u c h as the brothers I b r a h i m and M u h a m m a d i b n A b d Allah ( d . 762-763) and al-

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Husayn i b n A h ( d . 786), and their m o r e radical s u p p o r t e r s — c o u l d not let go o f the idea that the)- were m o r e entitled to r u l e than the Abbasid "upstarts," and rose i n rebellion,

p a r t i c u l a r l y i f the

reigning

Abbasid had taken a h a r d l i n e t o w a r d them.

Others,

such

as

Jafar

al-Sadiq

(702/3—76c), were m o r e prudent i n deali n g w i t h the Abbasids and advanced a special A l i d claim to r u l e i n terms o f a strictly r e l i g i o u s leadership. By the late e i g h t h century, i f n o t earlier, some Shiites h a d developed a clearly articulated concept o f the imamate (the office o f the i m a m , or head o f the c o m m u n i t y ) , w h i c h posited The Abbasid capital at Baghdad, founded in 762 as reconstructed on the basis of medieval descriptions. The

that o n l y an A l i d i n a certain l i n e o f descent f r o m the Prophet's c o u s i n and

caliph's palace and mosque stood in the center of a vast

s o n - i n - l a w A l i i b n A b i Talib c o u l d r i g h t -

esplanade surrounded by shops and residences.

f u l l y c l a i m leadership o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . The social upshot o f this was a

gradually hardening sense a m o n g the Alids' Shiite supporters that they f o r m e d a distinct, separate g r o u p w i t h i n the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y , identified w i t h the f o r tunes o f the A l i d imams. This sense o f Shiite separateness f r o m w h a t was b e c o m i n g the Sunni m a j o r i t y i n the Islamic c o m m u n i t y begins to be visible by the b e g i n n i n g o f the n i n t h century at the latest; f r o m that t i m e o n , Shiites and Sunnis often appear as rival social and political factions i n the life o f Baghdad and many other places i n the Islamic w o r l d , independent o f the existence i n a particular historical m o m e n t o f an A l i d claimant to power. F o l l o w i n g the abortive rebellion o f al-Husayn i b n A l i i n the Hejaz i n 786, some Alids and their supporters seem to have decided that the Abbasids were too p o w e r f u l near the empire's centers o f p o w e r to be challenged there, and they established small, independent states i n inaccessible regions, such as the w i l d m o u n t a i n c o u n t r y south o f the Caspian Sea, i n Yemen, or in the far western reaches o f N o r t h Africa. F r o m these n e w bases, and f r o m u n d e r g r o u n d movements secretly organized i n the heart o f the e m p i r e , the Shiites eventually m o u n t e d m o r e effective challenges to Abbasid rule. This struggle for the position o f caliph also raged w i t h i n the r u l i n g dynasty (whether Umayyad or Abbasid), because there was n o clear tradition or rule o f succession. Many caliphs f o u n d themselves confronted by insurrections m o u n t e d by, or i n the name of, their o w n brothers, uncles, or other close relatives. Powerful

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factions i n the army, bureaucracy, caliphal court, and caliphal family (the different mothers o f t w o rival half-brothers, for example) lent their support to the claimant w h o m they t h o u g h t w o u l d best serve their o w n interests. Some caliphs, r e m e m bering their o w n close call at accession, hoped t o spare their offspring the same tribulations and drew u p detailed wills laying out the exact order o f succession o f several sons. Such arrangements seldom worked o u t as intended, however. A major example o f this was the bitter civil w a r that broke out f o l l o w i n g the death o f the Abbasid caliph H a r u n al-Rashid i n 809. Despite the fact that al-Rashid had made strenuous efforts to regulate the succession, al-Rashid's son M u h a m m a d a l - A m i n (r. 809-813) was o v e r t h r o w n by his brother a l - M a m u n (r. 813-33), w h o had been governor o f Khurasan. U n d e r l y i n g the dispute was a long-lasting tension between Baghdad and Khurasan, w i t h pro-Baghdad and pro-Khurasan factions i n the army, the court, and the landed aristocracy backing either a l - A m i n or a l - M a m u n . A l - M a m u n ' s attempt to govern the empire f r o m Marv, his capital i n Khurasan, aroused great discontent, and i n 819 he moved his court to Baghdad. By then, however, the civil war's disruptive events had done m u c h to u n d e r m i n e the Abbasids' legitimacy. These included not o n l y the l o n g siege o f Baghdad and its inhabitants and the execution o f a l - A m i n but also al-Mamun's effort to w i n Shiite support by backing, for a t i m e , an A l i d as his heir-apparent—only to d r o p h i m f r o m succession later, w h e n the idea proved a political embarrassment. This episode exacerbated tensions between Sunni backers o f the Abbasids and the Shiites, b o t h o f w h o m felt victimized i n ways that caused people to question Abbasid legitimacy. Abbasid legitimacy was also u n d e r m i n e d by clashes w i t h a religious elite increasingly jealous o f its r i g h t to interpret nascent Islamic law. By the n i n t h cent u r y religious scholars expert i n the Quran and the sayings o f the prophet had come to feel that they—not the caliphs—should be the final arbiters i n matters o f law. The mihna, or i n q u i s i t i o n , instituted by the Abbasid caliphs between 833 and 8 4 8 — w h i c h revolved a r o u n d a theological d o c t r i n e k n o w n as Mutazilism and focused o n the question o f whether the Quran text was created or eternal—was i n part an effort by the caliphs to enforce their claims to legal absolutism. The m a i n result o f this episode, however, was to make heroes out o f A h m a d i b n Hanbal (780-855) and other religious scholars i n Baghdad w h o had led the opposition.

Development of the Caliphal Army and Administration This p e r i o d ( 7 0 0 - 9 5 0 ) was also marked by i m p o r t a n t developments i n key i n s t i tutions o f the caliphate and the M u s l i m empire, particularly the army and the i m p e r i a l bureaucracy. The later Umayyads t r i e d to b u i l d a potent n e w army based o n the Arab tribes o f Syria, w h i c h they tied to their interests t h r o u g h

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lavish caliphal patronage. The early Abbasid armies, by contrast, relied especially o n soldiers f r o m Khurasan (often settlers o f Arabian o r i g i n ) w h o m the

first

Abbasids had r i d d e n to power. A l t h o u g h the Arabian and Syrian tribes that c o n stituted the core o f the Umayyad army were n o t completely swept away, i t was the Khurasanians and their descendants—the abnu al-dowla, or "sons o f the revol u t i o n , " n o w mostly settled i n I r a q — w h o d o m i n a t e d the Abbasid m i l i t a r y establishment for almost a century after the Abbasids' accession i n 750. But b o t h the Umayyad and early Abbasid armies were composed m a i n l y o f ordinary m e n w i t h ordinary social ties (that is, to their families, tribes, places o f o r i g i n , and so o n ) . I n many cases, soldiers were only o n d u t y part t i m e or were recruited by the army as auxiliaries as occasion demanded. Despite their loose structure and lack o f professional t r a i n i n g , such armies enabled the Umayyads and Abbasids to extend the empire's borders, quell dissident movements, and launch the annual s u m m e r raids against the Byzantines i n Anatolia. This pattern o f loose army organization was gradually replaced d u r i n g the n i n t h century by a n e w m o d e l b u i l t a r o u n d smaller, h i g h l y trained corps o f f u l l t i m e professional soldiers (ahulams), w h o lived and w o r k e d as tight cadres and w h o often had few permanent ties to the rest o f society (many were n o t even m a r r i e d ) . The change began w h e n the caliph a l - M u t a s i m (r. 833—42) assembled a b o d y g u a r d o f mercenaries—many

b u t not all o f t h e m slaves (mamluks) o f

Turkish o r i g i n , or recently freed slaves. The idea was that such soldiers w o u l d be completely loyal to the ruler w h o had raised i h e m to power, because they had few ties to the families, tribes, or institutions o f the capital and central lands o f the empire. Because these mercenaries were professionally trained, they were m o r e effective i n the field than other recruits, and they came to f o r m an increasingly large segment o f the army. They helped secure a l - M u t a s i m against p o t e n tial rivals and enabled h i m to impose m u c h tighter c o n t r o l over the provinces o f the empire (especially over their taxes). To reduce frictions between the Arabicspeaking p o p u l a t i o n o f Baghdad and the soldiery, w h o often d i d not even speak Arabic, al-Mutasim constructed an e n o r m o u s new capital at Samarra, r o u g h l y sixty-five miles (one h u n d r e d k m ) n o r t h o f Baghdad o n the east bank o f the Tigris. The vast scale o f the new capital offers some i n d i c a t i o n o f the size o f his army, and o f the wealth he was able to collect i n taxes to pay for i t . The g r o w t h o f the professional army c o n t i m i e d under al-Mutasim's successors al-Wathiq (r. 8 4 2 - 4 7 ) and al-Muta\vakkil (r. 847-61). Moreover, governorships o f i m p o r t a n t provinces were increasingly assigned to key commanders i n the n e w army rather than to the caliph's k i n s m e n or other civilian notables, and more traditional units o f the army were sidelined. Eventually, this m i g h t y m i l i t a r y machine got o u t o f h a n d , however, p r o v i n g itself m o r e effective as an agent o f factional politics than as a force o f i m p e r i a l defense. I n 861 army commanders

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conspired to assassinate the caliph a l - M u t a w a k k i l , ushering i n a decade o f chaos d u r i n g w h i c h m i l i t a r y factions fought a m o n g themselves for supremacy and for d w i n d l i n g revenues, m a k i n g and u n m a k i n g f o u r caliphs i n Samarra i n the process. M e a n w h i l e , the empire's affairs outside I r a q were neglected; many provinces were left o n their o w n , and n u m e r o u s rebellions sprang u p , some o f w h i c h seized entire regions and established virtually independent states, w h i l e others threatened to seize Baghdad itself. Under the late Umayyads and Abbasids the i m p e r i a l administration also underwent significant changes, aimed at creating a u n i f i e d bureaucracy under caliphal oversight that c o u l d manage the e m p i r e — a n d particularly its taxes—more effectively. Talented administrators such as A b d a l - H a m i d ibnYahya ( d . 750) and I b n alMuqaffa ( 7 2 0 - 7 5 6 ) oversaw the first efforts to professionalize the bureaucracy, i n c l u d i n g the development o f a new; l u c i d Arabic prose style. The Abbasids' rise to power b r o u g h t an increase i n the prominence o f individuals and families hailing f r o m Iran, especially Khurasan, not only i n the army b u t also i n the caliphal court and i n governmental institutions generally, i n c l u d i n g the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . The viziers or heads o f this administration, such as the famed viziers o f the Barmakid family, were h i g h l y educated, and as heads o f a vast bureaucracy, they often held great power i n the Abbasid government. At its height a r o u n d the m i d - n i n t h century the Abbasid a d m i n i s t r a t i o n was composed o f a large n u m b e r o f separate departments (divvans), staffed by thousands o f clerks or secretaries (kuttub) w h o ran this administrative machinery. The administration dealt w i t h assessment and c o l lection o f land taxes f r o m the various provinces, w i t h incomes f r o m state lands and confiscated property and w i t h other kinds o f i n c o m e , as w e l l as w i t h disbursements to the army and to administrators and others o n government salary. It included a treasury that balanced receipts and expenses, an accounting office, an intelligence service, a chancery office to handle official correspondence, and a department for the caliph's special court o f appeal (mcizalim). Eventually, the costs o f r u n n i n g such a vast bureaucracy outstripped revenues, however. Struggles arose between the caliphs and their increasingly petulant army commanders and troops for c o n t r o l o f the bureaucracy and the revenues i t c o u l d provide. I n a few cases, p o w e r f u l army chiefs actually secured appointments as viziers—usually w i t h disastrous results because most m i l i t a r y m e n lacked the extensive scribal training, i n everything f r o m tax assessment and accounting to literature and c o m p o s i t i o n , required o f an effective vizier. After the chaos o f the 860s, the caliphate enjoyed a temporary resurgence o f power because several caliphs had close ties to the army chiefs. W i t h the help o f some cooperative viziers, they were able to p u t d o w n the most threatening rebellions. The caliph a l - M u t a d i d (r. 8 9 2 - 9 0 2 ) was able to regain c o n t r o l over Iraq, n o r t h e r n Mesopotamia, Al-Jazirah, n o r t h e r n Syria, and parts o f western Iran.

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Other areas o f the e m p i r e — i n c l u d i n g m u c h o f A r m e n i a , Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iran, N o r t h Africa, and Y e m e n — w e r e effectively a u t o n o m o u s under their "govern o r s " or local dynasties, however, and made little or no real financial or m i l i t a r y c o n t r i b u t i o n to the caliphate. But even areas that were under Abbasid c o n t r o l at the b e g i n n i n g o f the tenth century n o w consisted o f a mosaic o f units headed by p o w e r f u l governors, tribes, or local families, and they were weakly integrated w i t h the caliphate. A vigorous and skillful caliph such as a l - M u t a d i d c o u l d rely o n t h e m for support, but w h e n the caliphal g r i p weakened again these areas also could venture to stand o n their o w n . The caliphal g r i p weakened decisively after 908, and the next forty years i n Baghdad were marked by continual i n f i g h t i n g o f bureaucratic and army factions for control o f the caliphs and whatever revenues c o u l d be raised by his bureaucracy, c u l m i n a t i n g i n a m i l i t a r y takeover i n 932. Thereafter the Abbasid caliphs had n o trustworthy units to rely o n , and key army factions ensured that the civilian bureaucracy paid t h e m first. The intensity o f the struggle was exacerbated by a general shortage o f money, generated by disarray and extravagance i n the bureaucracy, loss o f revenues f r o m independent provinces and recalcitrant tax farmers, and an unfortunate decline i n the agrarian p r o d u c t i v i t y o f Iraq itself, f o r m e r l y the caliphate's financial m a i n stay. To cope w i t h the revenue shortage, the Abbasids began to rely o n an i n s t i t u t i o n called iqw (loosely translated as "fief," although the t e r m had a w i d e and variable range o f meanings). Iqta was a k i n d o f administrative shortcut whereby a general or soldier was given the right to collect tax revenues directly f r o m a certain district. The advantage i n the short t e r m was that the troops were paid even i f the treasury was empty, and the relevant parts o f the bureaucracy c o u l d be eliminated. The disadvantages, however, particularly the potential for abuse o f the peasantry and loss o f administrative oversight, were significant. As a result o f these developments the once p o w e r f u l Abbasid caliphs were l i t tle m o r e than figureheads by the 940s, endowed w i t h symbolic religious authority, b u t lacking real political or military power or financial resources o f their o w n . That power and access to resources had passed to p o w e r f u l m i l i t a r y figures, especially the one w h o c o u l d occupy the coveted p o s i t i o n as the caliph's commanderi n - c h i e f (amir al-umara). As the power o f the caliphate was choked off, leaders o f the r e g i o n a l and local polities that emerged c o m p e t e d against one another for c o n t r o l o f Baghdad and the privilege o f being the caliph's "protector." The most n o t e w o r t h y o f these protectors were the chiefs o f the p o w e r f u l B u y i d family o f northwestern Iran ( w h o played this role f r o m 94c to 1055) and the sultans o f the Turkish Seljuk dynasty ( w h o d o m i n a t e d Baghdad f r o m 105c

u n t i l the m i d -

t w e l f t h c e n t u r y ) . F r o m the m i d - t e n t h century u n t i l the M o n g o l s ended the caliphate i n 1258, the Abbasid caliphs were recognized as overlords i n many parts o f the Islamic w o r l d , but only i n a symbolic sense. O n l y o n a few occasions d i d

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theAbbasids succeed i n regaining, albeit briefly, some o f their lost power. Knowledge o f the caliphs' eventual demise, however, must not overshadow the many positive achievements that t o o k place d u r i n g the age o f the i m p e r i a l caliphate. The expansion o f the empire created the p o l i t i c a l haven i n w h i c h the n e w faith o f Islam established itself a m o n g n e w populations f r o m Spain to India. Moreover, the i m p e r i a l caliphate gave b i r t h to a sophisticated and richly varied new civilization i n Eurasia, culturally the most advanced o f its day. This cultural genesis was linked to a n o t e w o r t h y process o f u r b a n i z a t i o n that took place d u r i n g the early Islamic centuries; a l t h o u g h u r b a n life i n the Mediterranean basin had declined sharply i n late antiquity, the early Islamic era saw a revival o f urban centers and o f the commerce and culture usually associated w i t h t h e m . The early m i l i t a r y garrisons o f the first conquest days—Kufa, Basra, Marv, H i m s , Fustat, Qayrawan—soon grew i n t o bustling t o w n s t o w h i c h M u s l i m s o f divergent c u l tural backgrounds, especially n e w converts, were d r a w n . I n the government offices, private salons, and marketplaces o f such t o w n s , as w e l l as o f the i m p e r ial capitals o f Damascus and Baghdad, a new Islamic literary culture i n Arabic began to crystallize—all the m o r e remarkable because before the rise o f Islam, Arabic had no t r a d i t i o n o f w r i t t e n literature. Poetry, grammar, Quranic studies, history, biography, law, theology, philosophy, geography, the natural sciences— all were elaborated i n Arabic and i n a f o r m that was distinctively Islamic. The social base supporting tins new Arabic-Islamic culture was to a certain extent bipartite. The religiously inclined cultivated such fields as Quranic studies, prophetic traditions, religious law, and theology, w h i l e topics such as history, philosophy, and statecraft were sponsored particularly by the scribes o f the imperial bureaucracy, w h o were often learned i n Sasanian and other traditions o f statecraft. Poetry, from the start the soul o f the Arabic literary tradition, was cultivated by botii groups i n religious and secular varieties. The full development o f Arabic-Islamic literary culture continued long after 950, o f course, but its foundations were laid, its first remarkable monuments completed, and many o f its distinctive genres and forms were first established d u r i n g the age o f the imperial caliphate. The caliphs also presided, w i t t i n g l y or n o t , over economic developments that had global repercussions. The vast extent and relative stability o f the empire over almost t w o centuries—as w e l l as the c o n t i n u o u s c i r c u l a t i o n w i t h i n i t o f soldiers, administrators, p i l g r i m s heading to or f r o m Mecca, and scholars w i s h i n g to study w i t h r e n o w n e d teachers—helped to keep routes open and made i t easier for merchants to travel far and w i d e . The rise o f Arabic as a c o m m o n w r i t t e n language made it easier for merchants f r o m distant parts o f the empire to c o m m u nicate. Moreover, merchants i n the Islamic domains i n this era were usually unencumbered by duties or the need f o r special travel documents. M e a n w h i l e , the rise o f large cities created a base o f d e m a n d for a variety o f products, as w e l l

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as centers o f culture. I n its heyday i n the early n i n t h century, Baghdad appears to have been a city o f about a m i l l i o n inhabitants—a staggeringly large size for preindustrial t i m e s — a n d had to i m p o r t even its basic f o o d supplies f r o m sources some distance away. Some l u x u r y goods i n d e m a n d i n Baghdad, particularly a m o n g the political and commercial elites, were b r o u g h t f r o m halfway a r o u n d the globe. Baghdad grew to a size unmatched by other cities, but smaller cities also c o n t r i b u t e d to the economic b o o m . The flourishing p o r t city o f Siraf, o n the eastern coast o f the Persian Gulf, symbolizes one d i m e n s i o n o f this c o m m e r c i a l activity. It was a key transit p o i n t for foodstuffs c o m i n g f r o m O m a n , as w e l l as textiles and other goods entering the caliphal domains f r o m east Africa, I n d i a , and beyond. In the other direction hoards o f Abbasid gold coins f o u n d around the Baltic Sea are silent reminders o f a once-thriving commercial connection that helped revitalize the economy o f n o r t h e r n Europe and may have helped stimulate the n i n t h century revival o f culture and economy c o m m o n l y called the Carolingian renaissance. The discovery o f N o r t h African coins i n Abbasid-period archaeological sites i n Jordan, or Iraqi (or Chinese) ceramics f o u n d i n Egypt, attest to yet other dimensions o f this thriving commerce. It is appropriate to think o f m u c h o f Eurasia i n this p e r i o d as a single, vast economic body, o f w h i c h Abbasid Baghdad i n particular was the heart, p u m p i n g the commercial lifeblood that kept the system alive. Iraq's prosperity i n particular, w i t h its r i c h tax base and t h r i v i n g commerce, was an i m p o r t a n t element c o n t r i b u t i n g to the political power and cultural brilliance o f the h i g h caliphate. W h e n Iraq's agrarian prosperity began to wane i n the tenth cent u r y — a result o f such varied factors as deterioration o f vital irrigation works, salinization o f the soil, and sheer administrative mismanagement—the caliphs f o u n d themselves increasingly unable to pay the bills o f their enormous government operations. This i n t u r n sparked the infighting among military and administrative factions that characterized the long decline o f Abbasid power.

Local Autonomy, Decentralization, and Regionalism Through I I O O The capture o f Baghdad by the Buyids in 94 c, and their reduction o f the caliphs to little more than figureheads, was merely the climax o f a long process o f change that saw ever more parts o f the Islamic empire gradual!) slip be) o n d the caliphs' real control. The emergence o n the former empire's terrain o f autonomous or independent political u n i t s — w h a t some historians call a " c o m m o n w e a l t h " o f regional M u s l i m states, united by their participation i n an emerging Islamic culture—makes tracing the political history o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y after about 900 C E . m u c h more difficult than i t is for earlier periods, w h e n there existed a single main center o f polit-

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teal power. This section mentions some o f the m a i n political units that emerged and gives a general idea o f their significance and o f larger patterns o f political and cultural evolution o f w h i c h these units were part. Given the nature o f communications and travel i n preindustrial times, many provinces o f the Islamic empire, particularly those distant f r o m the capital at Damascus or Baghdad, enjoyed a significant measure o f a u t o n o m y even at the apogee o f caliphal power. The caliphs i n Damascus or Baghdad simply d i d not have the means to keep lands as far away as Ifriqiya or Khurasan, not to m e n d o n Spain or India, under close supervision. The caliphs therefore had to rely o n strong governors to manage distant provinces. It was taken for granted that provincial governors w o u l d operate w i t h a good deal o f autonomy, and the caliphs were usually w e l l satisfied i f governors recognized their overlordship, contributed to the caliphal treasury, and put additional military units at their disposal w h e n they were needed. One important measure o f truly centralized control under such conditions, however, is whether governors, despite the great independence o f action they w i e l d e d w i t h i n their provinces, could effectively be replaced by the caliphs. I n this regard, i t is notew o r t h y that the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs engaged i n frequent (sometimes almost annual) rotation o f their governors. Even provinces i n w h i c h the governorship was granted for Ufe or made hereditary, however, c o u l d remain loyal to the caliphs and offer m e a n i n g f u l support i n the f o r m o f tax revenues, m i l i t a r y backing, and diplomatic support. The first province to be definitively detached f r o m the caliphate was Spain. After the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad caliphs and slaughtered many o f their k i n s m e n , one U m a y y a d prince w h o escaped made his way to N o r t h Africa, and i n 756 he invaded Spain. It then became an independent state under Umayyad rulers, w h o at first called themselves simply amir ( c o m m a n d e r ) . Eventually, i n 929, the greatest o f the Spanish U m a y y a d rulers, A b d al-Rahman I I I (891-961 ) , assumed the title o f amir al-mu'minin (caliph), i n defiance o f the Abbasids and o f the Ismaili Fatimids, w h o were closer and m o r e dangerous rivals. D u r i n g the n i n t h to the twelfth centuries a splendid and distinctive Islamic culture developed i n Spain, enshrined i n m a j o r w o r k s o f Arabic poetry and prose literature, i n signal c o n t r i b u t i o n s to Islamic philosophy, theology, and law, and i n m a j o r a r c h i tectural m o n u m e n t s such as the Great Mosque o f Córdoba and A b d al-Rahman's palace complex at Medinat al-Zahra. Many Christians and Jews i n Islamic Spain began to adopt their rulers' Arabic language and culture, and i n t u r n made their o w n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o the culture's b r i l l i a n c e . The great Jewish

philosopher

Maimonides, for example, w h o composed works i n b o t h Arabic and Hebrew, was as m u c h a product o f Islamic as o f Jewish culture. The Umayyads i n Spain faced significant challenges, however. Tension a m o n g Arab settlers, Berber settlers, and local converts (muwallads) sometimes resulted i n

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armed clashes. Some Christians steadfastly resisted b o t h acculturation and assimi l a t i o n , and tensions between M u s l i m s and Christians sometimes ran h i g h . Disaffected elements—whether Christian or M u s l i m — o f t e n d i d not hesitate to call o n the Christian k i n g d o m s o f n o r t h e r n Spain or even o n the Carolingians beyond the Pyrenees for aid, and this e m b r o i l e d the Umayyads i n persistent r a i d i n g and warfare along their n o r t h e r n borders. The p o w e r f u l strongman Abu A m i r al-Mansur ( c o m m o n l y k n o w n as A l m a n z o r ) , w h o came to p o w e r as protector o f a y o u n g caliph and remained i n c o n t r o l o f affairs u n t i l his death i n 1002, The Great Mosque of Córdoba, founded in the late eighth century, was repeat-

cam-

paigned tirelessly i n the n o r t h , using a new army composed o f Berber recruits. After Almanzor's death, however, the caliphate fell u n d e r dispute a m o n g various claimants, backed by d o m i n a n t families i n the m a i n cities o f Islamic Spain.

edly enlarged to meet the

Finally, i n 1031,

needs of the expanding

caliphate altogether, ushering i n the era o f the " p e t t y k i n g s " ( m t i M al-tmvoif i n

Muslim population.The

Arabic, reyes de taifas i n Spanish), d u r i n g w h i c h Islamic Spain was d i v i d e d i n t o an

ingenious system of two-

unstable aggregation o f c o m p e t i n g city-states: Seville, Córdoba, Toledo, Badajoz,

tiered supports allowed builders to create a forest of supports using the short

the leading families decided to abolish the Spanish Umayyad

Saragossa, Valencia, Granada, and others. A l t h o u g h the c o m p e t i t i o n a m o n g these local rulers was partly responsible for

stubby columns from

the brilliant cultural flowering o f Islamic Spain d u r i n g the eleventh century, the

Visigothic buildings.

same c o m p e t i t i o n , played out on the political plane, sapped the economic and m i l -

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itary strength o f each o f the petty kings, w h o often raided one another's territories or agreed to pay tribute to Christian k i n g d o m s o f n o r t h e r n Spain w h e n threatened w i t h attack. The era o f the petty kingdoms thus helped to make possible the relentless expansion o f the Christian k i n g d o m s o f n o r t i i e r n Spain at the expense o f the Islamic south that began w i t h the u n i o n o f Castile and Leon i n the late eleventh cent u r y — w h a t is k n o w n i n later Spanish historiography as the reconquisto. The first landmark i n the reconquista occurred i n io8c, w h e n Toledo fell to the astute and dynamic king o f Castile and Léon, Alfonso V I . The petty kings, recognizing that they were too weak to avoid suffering Toledo's fate, yet too divided by petty jealousies to agree o n any one o f t h e m as ruler o f t h e m all, invited the p o w e r f u l ruler o f the Almoravids i n Morocco, Yusuf ibnTashfin, to cross the Strait o f Gibraltar and lead their defense against Alfonso i n 1086. Thus began the p e r i o d o f A l m o r a v i d and Almohad d o m i n a t i o n , w h i c h delayed for m o r e than a hundred years the expansion o f the Christian kingdoms i n t o Islamic Spain. Parts o f N o r t h Africa also became independent o f the caliphate, i n fact or i n p r i n c i p l e , at an early date. U n l i k e Spain, w h i c h had a prosperous agrarian base and boasted numerous t h r i v i n g cities even i n early Islamic times, most o f N o r t h Africa was t h i n l y populated by pastoralists or marginal f a r m i n g c o m m u n i t i e s , and there were few large towns. U n d e r the Umayyad caliphs (before 750) the M u s l i m garrison center at Qayrawan—situated i n I f r i q i y a , the most fertile part o f N o r t h Africa, m o d e r n Tunisia—replaced Byzantine Carthage as the center o f government, and it l o n g remained the nucleus b o t h o f caliphal a u t h o r i t y and o f Islamic o r t h o d o x y i n N o r t h Africa. Even t h o u g h all o f N o r t h Africa was theoretically subject to the caliphate, vast areas, especially those m o r e distant f r o m Qayrawan, remained effectively outside the c o n t r o l o f the caliphs and their gov-

The Ribat at Monastir in

ernors. Moreover, d u r i n g the seventh and e i g h t h centuries, many Berbers were

Tunisia, founded at the end

w o n over to Kharijite Islam by Kharijite merchants, preachers, and refugees fleeing oppression i n their earlier centers i n Iraq and O m a n . Their egalitarian and puritanical variety o f Islam, w i t h its emphasis o n pious "bearers o f religious k n o w l e d g e , " seems to have struck a sympathetic c h o r d a m o n g the Berbers, i n w h o s e t r a d i t i o n a l beliefs h o l y (sometimes m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g ) m e n played a

of the eighth century, is one of a series of fortress/ monasteries established to protect the North African coast and extend Muslim power to Sicily.

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p r o m i n e n t r o l e . The Kharijites established n u m e r o u s small states i n L i b y a , Tunisia, and Algeria d u r i n g the e i g h t h and n i n t h centuries, such as that o f the Rustamids o f Tahert. Because many Kharijites were heavily involved i n commerce, they seem to have been the first to carry Islam across the Sahara to the peoples o f the western Sudan ( m o d e r n Chad, Niger, and M a l i ) . Other refugees f r o m Abbasid rule also f o u n d shelter i n die difficult m o u n t a i n terrain o f N o r t h Africa, i n c l u d i n g the A l i d prince Idris i b n A b d Allah, w h o fled after the abortive A l i d rebellion i n the Hejaz i n 786 and established a small state i n Morocco, w h i c h his successors r u l e d f r o m their n e w capital at Fez. By the late eighth century m u c h o f N o r t h Africa beyond the outskirts o f Qayrawan was a checkerboard o f independent tribes and small states that tendered neither recognition n o r taxes to the caliphs i n Baghdad. I n 800 C E . the Abbasid caliph H a r u n al-Rashid resorted to recognizing his governor, I b r a h i m i b n al-Aghlab, as hereditary governor o f Ifriqiya ( " A f r i c a , " as the province o f N o r t h Africa was then called) i n exchange for an agreed annual tribute. This arrangement had the advantage o f b r i n g i n g at least some revenue to Baghdad and o f preserving the appearance o f Abbasid rule. D u r i n g the century o f their rule the Aghlabid governors were often criticized by the strictly o r t h o d o x p o p u l a t i o n and religious scholars o f Qayrawan for their abuses o f power. Partly to quell such c r i t icism, they struggled m i g h t i l y against the Kharijite states a r o u n d t h e m , built mosques and i r r i g a t i o n w o r k s , and sponsored naval campaigns against Sicily, leadi n g to the establishment o f M u s l i m rule o n that island. Aghlabid Qayrawan also The Aghlabid basins at Qayrawan were among the

developed as a major center for theology and law, but m u c h o f N o r t h Africa nevertheless remained effectively beyond Aghlabid rule. Their r u l e was b r o u g h t to an

many waterworks built in

abrupt halt by the rise o f the Ismaili Fatimids i n Ifriqiya d u r i n g the first decade o f

the mid-ninth century by

the tenth century.

the rulers of present-day Tunisia. Water from aqueducts flowed into the smaller basin where the silt was

F r o m the t i m e o f its conquest i n 6 3 9 - 4 2 , Egypt was an i m p o r t a n t part o f the Islamic empire. The " p r o v i n c e " o f Egypt i n c l u d e d N o r t h Africa and Spain u n t i l these were split o f f to f o r m a separate province i n 70c. Despite a steady flow o f

deposited; the clear water

Arabic-speaking settlers t o Egypt, the local Copts ( M o n o p h y s i t e Christians)

then flowed into the adjoin-

remained the m a j o r i t y o f the p o p u l a t i o n f o r at least several centuries, and they

ing larger basin from which

l o n g remained i m p o r t a n t as administrators for their M u s l i m rulers. The ancient

it was distributed to the city.

city o f Alexandria c o n t i n u e d t o be a m a j o r trade e m p o r i u m , but the M u s l i m s

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developed their new g a r r i s o n t o w n o f Fustat ( O l d Cairo), w h i c h was f r o m the start the province's administrative center. By the n i n t h century Fustat was b e g i n n i n g to develop as an i m p o r t a n t economic and Islamic cultural center. The r i c h f a r m l a n d o f the N i l e valley made Egypt a m a j o r source o f revenue f o r the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs. Despite its i m p o r t a n c e , however, Egypt slipped o u t o f the effective grasp o f the Abbasid caliphs w h e n they were overw h e l m e d by m i l i t a r y factions i n Samarra and Baghdad; for most o f a century after 868, Egypt was virtually independent o f the caliphate u n d e r autonomous m i l i tary governors (the Tulunids, 8 6 8 - 9 0 5 , and the Ikhshidids, 935-69) or p o w e r f u l financial administrators (especially die Madharai family i n the early tenth century). D u r i n g this t i m e Egypt's economy seems to have suffered f r o m m i s management o f the tax system. But also d u r i n g this p e r i o d Egypt began to emerge, for the first t i m e since the Roman conquest almost a thousand years earlier, once again as an independent state. Egypt t o o k another giant step i n this d i r e c t i o n w h e n the Fatimid caliphs, c o m i n g f r o m I f r i q i y a , conquered it i n 969 and made i t the seat o f their caliphate shortly thereafter. M u c h o f n o r t h e r n and central Arabia was the preserve o f local pastoral n o m a d i c groups, over w h i c h the caliphs i n Baghdad often had m i n i m a l c o n t r o l . The caliphs d i d , however, endeavor to keep the h o l y cities o f Mecca and Medina, i m p o r t a n t for symbolic and cultic reasons as the focus o f the annual pilgrimage, firmly

under their governors' supervision, and to keep open the m a i n p i l g r i m -

The great Mosque at Sanaa in Yemen was founded in early Islamic times and repeatedly restored and repaired. The Sulayhids. adherents of Ismaili Shiism who ruled Yemen from Sanaa and Dhu Jibla from 1014 to 1138, were one of the many dynasties that established local control as the

age roads t h r o u g h tribal t e r r i t o r y f r o m Syria and Iraq. Southern Arabia (Yemen,

power of the Abbasid caliphs

Hadramawt, and parts o f O m a n ) was only loosely held by the caliphate even i n

declined.

38

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the best o f times. Under the Umayyads and early Abbasids, governors were regularly dispatched to Yemen, but generally they had little influence beyond the capital at Sanaa. Yemen's r u g g e d terrain was mostly d o m i n a t e d by various tribal chiefs, w h o often resided i n m o u n t a i n top castles and c o n t r o l l e d local market towns. Kharijism and particularly Shiism o f various varieties took h o l d at an early date a m o n g some groups i n this natural refuge zone. After the m i d - n i n t h century, as the p o w e r o f the Abbasid caliphs declined, local dynasties o f diverse o r i gins became established i n various centers, particularly Sanaa i n the m o u n t a i n s and Zabid along the Red Sea coast. Commerce w i t h the I n d i a n Ocean basin was an i m p o r t a n t clement i n the economic life o f the m a i n coastal towns, such as Sohar, A d e n , and Zabid. The rise o f local and regional a u t o n o m y o n the Iranian plateau occurred i n very diverse ways and at different times i n different parts o f Iran. The first trend t o w a r d autonomy (not yet independence) can be seen i n the career o f the Tahirid family, w h i c h rose to p r o m i n e n c e i n Abbasid service d u r i n g the c i v i l w a r o f 809-13. D u r i n g the m i d d l e o f the n i n t h century the Tahirids were recognized as hereditary governors o f m u c h o f eastern I r a n , centered o n the r i c h province o f Khurasan and i n c l u d i n g adjacent provinces

such as Sistan and m u c h

of

Transoxiana, w h i c h they governed by c o - o p t i n g i m p o r t a n t local families. The Tahirids ( w h o also h e l d i m p o r t a n t posts i n Baghdad and elsewhere) remained loyal to the Abbasid caliphs and consistently delivered considerable revenues to the caliphal treasury, i n exchange for w h i c h the Abbasids allowed the Tahirids virtually free rein i n their provinces. T a h i r i d d o m i n a t i o n o f eastern Iran was b r o u g h t t o an end a b r u p t l y i n 873 w h e n their capital N i s h a p u r ( i n the p r o v i n c e o f Khurasan) was conquered by the Saffarids o f Sistan, whose attitude t o w a r d the caliphate was as aggressive and hostile as the Tahirids' had been supportive. The r u g g e d and i m p o v e r i s h e d p r o v i n c e o f Sistan, t h o u g h conquered early by the M u s l i m s , had been o n l y m a r g i n a l l y integrated i n t o the caliphal e m p i r e . D u r i n g the U m a y y a d and early Abbasid periods, K h a r i j i t e bands and other local rebellions kept the r e g i o n t u r b u l e n t . The f r e e b o o t i n g Saffarid leaders, r i s i n g i n this context, expanded their c o n t r o l first i n t o Khurasan and western Afghanistan, t h e n i n t o the provinces o f K e r m a n ( i n southeast I r a n ) and Fars ( i n southwest Iran). By the 870s they had seized Khuzestan ( i n southwest Iran) and parts o f southern Iraq and came close t o o v e r t h r o w i n g the Abbasids i n 876, w h e n they were f i n a l l y t u r n e d back by the caliph's armies o n l y a few days' m a r c h f r o m Baghdad. For many years thereafter, however, the Saffarids r e m a i n e d p o w e r f u l and essentially i n d e p e n dent o f the caliphs, w h o were forced to recognize the Saffarids as " g o v e r n o r s " o f their h o m e province o f Sistan, as w e l l as o f Fars and K e r m a n ( u n t i l at least 898), and even awarded t h e m key posts i n Baghdad. A f t e r about 9 0 0 the

MUHAMMAD

A N D T H E C A L I P H AT t

39

Saffarids were restricted t o Sistan, as they were supplanted i n m u c h o f eastern Iran by the Samanids, a " l o y a l i s t " dynasty o f governors w h o had risen f r o m the w r e c k age o f the f o r m e r T a h i r i d d o m a i n s . The Samanid family came to prominence as subordinates o f the Tahirids, for w h o m they governed key towns o f Transoxiana. W h e n the Saffarids seized Khurasan, the Samanids retained control over Transoxiana. By about 900 the Samanids had reconquered Khurasan i n the name

of

the

Abbasids, w h o recognized them as governors, and extended their control over m u c h o f northern Iran, K h w a r i z m

(modern

K h o r e z m ) , and further east I n Transoxiana and Afghanistan as w e l l , paying special attention to w a r d i n g o f f depredations i n t o settled districts b y the n o m a d i c Turkish tribes o f Transoxiana. Like the Tahirids, the Samanids r e m a i n e d loyal t o the Abbasids, b u t they never c o n t r i b u t e d revenues to the caliphate and were, i n effect, an i n d e pendent state. They prospered especially because o f the lucrative trade i n slaves,

The tomb of the Samanids at Bukhara is one of the earliest mausolea to survive in the Islamic lands. It covers the graves of several mem-

captured a m o n g Turkish tribes l i v i n g o n

bers of the Samanid family, governors of Khurasan and Transoxiana

the f r i n g e s o f t h e i r d o m a i n s . M a n y o f

for the Abbasid caliphs in the early tenth century.

these slaves were trained i n m a r t i a l skills and sold as mercenaries or used to staff t h e i r o w n b u r g e o n i n g army. But the Samanid p e r i o d also saw the conversion o f parts o f Transoxiana's T u r k i s h p o p u l a t i o n t o Islam by i t i n e r a n t merchants and missionaries, and the b e g i n nings o f the peaceable m i g r a t i o n o f T u r k i s h converts i n t o Samanid d o m a i n s to settle. To manage their domains, the Samanids established an extensive bureaucracy, based o n the Abbasid m o d e l and staffed by cadres o f h i g h l y literate scribes. As earlier i n Abbasid Baghdad, the h i g h l y educated administrators i n the Samanid bureaucracy c o n t r i b u t e d to the development o f their m a j o r cities—Nishapur, Bukhara, Samarqand—as i m p o r t a n t centers o f Islamic culture. I n the Samanid case, however, this blossoming o f Islamic culture was not o n l y i n Arabic but also, for the first t i m e , i n Persian. This was a m o m e n t o u s development i n the history

40

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Mahmud of Ghazna crossing the Ganges, as portrayed in the Compendium of Chronicles composed and illustrated for the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid al-Din in the early fourteenth century.The Ghaznavids,Turkish military governors for the Samanids, were renowned in later times as the hrst to extend Muslim power into northern India

o f Islamic c i v i l i z a t i o n , w h i c h u n t i l t h e n had been elaborated exclusively i n Arabic. The development o f a Persianate variant o f Islamic culture broke this m o n o p o l y and opened the way for the development o f other Islamic languages i n later times, such as O t t o m a n Turkish and U r d u . ( A l l the Islamic languages, however, adopted a m o d i f i e d f o r m o f the Arabic script, closely i d e n t i f i e d w i t h Islam's sacred text, the Q u r a n , as the s y m b o l o f their religious i d e n t i t y ) The Samanids patronized such r e n o w n e d Persian poets as R u d a k i and F i r d o w s i , whose Shahnameh (Book of Kings), or Persian national epic, emphasized the " e t e r n a l " struggle between Iran, w h i c h was settled and agricultural, and Turan (the Turkish steppe), w h i c h was pastoral. This epic p o e m echoed the tense conditions o n the steppe f r o n t i e r over w h i c h the Samanids themselves r u l e d w h i l e saying little about the e c o n o m i c

interdependence

b e t w e e n settled people and pastoral

nomads that typified this frontier. I n the end the Samanids fell to just such a " T u r a n i a n " threat. The QaraKhanids, a confederation o f Turkish peoples l i v i n g east o f the Jaxartes River were the first p o l i t i c a l g r o u p i n g o f the i n n e r Asian steppe to be led by M u s l i m rulers. Crossing the Jaxartes, they entered Transoxiana f r o m the east, defeated the Samanids, and seized the province i n 999. Khurasan and parts o f Afghanistan

M U H A M M A D

A N D

T H E

C A L I P H A T E

4]

r e m a i n e d i n the hands o f the Samanids' Turkish m i l i t a r y governors o f Ghazni, w h o thus began their existence as an independent state. The Ghaznavids were a m o n g the first to regularly call themselves sultans, a Quranic w o r d that f r o m the tenth century was used t o refer to an Islamic secular m o n a r c h . (Other terms that came to be used i n this way were the Persian shah and the Turkish khan.) The Ghaznavid sultans, a l t h o u g h they m a i n t a i n e d a c u l t u r e d c o u r t that patronized some i m p o r t a n t authors ( i n c l u d i n g , i n his later years, F i r d o w s i ) , b u i l t a m i l i tary regime i n t e n t o n raising revenue t h r o u g h taxation and raiding. They frequently descended f r o m Afghanistan i n t o n o n - M u s l i m parts o f Sind ( m o d e r n Pakistan) to seize the r i c h b o o t y available there, particularly f r o m its many H i n d u temples. A f t e r 1040,

w h e n they lost Khurasan to the Seljuks,

the

Ghaznavids were l i m i t e d to Afghanistan and increasingly t u r n e d their attention to Sind. As a result o f this r e o r i e n t a t i o n , they c o n t r i b u t e d significantly to the spread i n India o f Sunni Islam, w h i c h had u n t i l then been restricted to relatively small c o m m u n i t i e s that were remote f r o m the rest o f the Islamic w o r l d . Some areas o f the Iranian plateau were f r o m the start beyond effective caliphal c o n t r o l because o f their difficult terrain, and they remained so even w h e n the caliphs were p o w e r f u l . The m a i n case o f such inaccessibility was the jungle-like r e g i o n along the slopes o f the Elburz M o u n t a i n s s o u t h o f the Caspian Sea (Daylam, Gilan, Tabaristan, Mazandaran). Here local chieftains, w h o at best paid l i p service to the caliphs, struggled w i t h one another for primacy. This area, like Yemen, served as a natural refuge zone and received several fugitive A l i d princes, w h o helped convert m u c h o f the p o p u l a t i o n o f Daylam, at least, to Shiism. This area also served as the initial base for the w a r l o r d Mardavij ( d . 93c), w h o made a s h o r t - l i v e d attempt to restore an Iranian m o n a r c h y and Zoroastrianism, and then for the Shiite B u y i d family, w h o emerged f r o m Mardavij's entourage to gain power i n m u c h o f central Iran—parts o f Daylam, Jibal, and the r i c h province o f Fars. By 94c one o f the B u y i d chiefs, A h m a d i b n Buyeh (later k n o w n as M u i z z al-Dawiah), had m o v e d his troops i n t o Iraq and taken possession o f Baghdad, where he was recognized by the Abbasid caliph as commander i n c h i e f (amir alumara). I n the process the caliphs were effectively reduced to figureheads, having significant religious a u t h o r i t y but usually little real power. The Buyids prevailed i n central and w e s t e r n Iran and i n central and s o u t h e r n Iraq for m o r e than a century, and i n t h e i r heyday they managed to exert their c o n t r o l also over O m a n , across the Persian G u l f f r o m Fars, and over M o s u l ( A l - M a w s i l ) and n o r t h e r n Iraq. T h e i r d o m a i n s , however, were not a u n i fied state b u t rather a loose confederation o f h o l d i n g s called appanages, each granted to a d i f f e r e n t m e m b e r o f the B u y i d family. A t times, a single B u y i d c h i e f was unquestionably head o f the f a m i l y — t h e most notable example b e i n g the ascendancy o f A d u d al-Dawlah (r. 9 4 9 - 8 3 ) — b u t

most o f the t i m e the

42

THE OXFORD

HISTORY

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ISLAM

B u y i d brothers and cousins were i n sharp c o m p e t i t i o n w i t h one another t o e x t e n d their appanages at the expense o f their relatives, or to oust t h e i r relatives a n d take over t h e i r appanages. The B u y i d princes w h o h e l d appanages i n I r a n usually established close relations w i t h the local l a n d h o l d i n g classes, w h i c h p r o v i d e d a s o l i d financial basis f o r their essentially m i l i t a r y d o m i n a t i o n . The m o s t prosperous o f the B u y i d appanages

was Fars, w h i c h had a

solid agrarian base and significant c o m m e r cial activity. Its capital at Shiraz also was h o m e to an extensive bureaucracy, a vestige o f Abbasid times, and an i m p o r t a n t c o u r t that sponsored a b r i l l i a n t l i t e r a r y c u l t u r e (always, despite the Buyids' Iranian o r i g i n s , i n A r a b i c ) . Other I r a n i a n appanages o f the B u y i d c o n f e d e r a t i o n , particularly Jibal and its

capital

Rayy,

were

relatively

stable

a l t h o u g h less w e l l developed than Fars. Baghdad under the Buyids, by c o m p a r i son, was an appanage o f q u i t e a different The Gunbad-i Qabus in northeastern Iran marks the grave of Qabus bin Washmgir, ruler of the focal

character. The presence o f the caliph and his court gave Baghdad great prestige and made i t

Ziyarid dynasty, who died in 1012. The flanged shaft

important as a center o f Arabic-Islamic c u l -

soars 52 meters above the artificial hillock on which

ture, b u t i t also meant that the Buyids and

it stands.

their Daylamite troops had to manage, and sometimes face the o p p o s i t i o n of, the t u r b u lent factions i n the Turkish army there. Moreover, the c o n t i n u i n g decline o f Iraqi agriculture deprived the Buyid amir i n Baghdad o f the k i n d o f agrarian base that c o n t r i b u t e d to the viability o f B u y i d appanages i n Iran and southern Iraq. The B u y i d era i n Baghdad proved to be o f great significance for the development o f Shiite culture, however. A l t h o u g h the Buyids were often o n g o o d terms w i t h the Abbasid caliphs, whose presence under their protection provided t h e m w i t h valuable Islamic legitimacy, as Smites they allowed Baghdad's large Shiite p o p u l a t i o n for the first t i m e to openly observe the major Shiite holidays. For the same reason Shiite scholarship entered its first great f l o w e r i n g d u r i n g the B u y i d p e r i o d , w h i c h saw the p r o d u c t i o n o f major w o r k s i n Shiite law, theology, and other disciplines. The Buyids f u r t h e r extended the use o f iqta, an i n s t i t u t i o n that had o r i g i n a t e d

M U H A M M A D

A N D

T H E

CALIPHATE

4<

under the Abbasids as a way o f paying troops w h i l e saving o n administrative costs. By letting soldiers and commanders collect tax revenues directly f r o m their iqta, the need for a costly tax bureaucracy was e l i m i n a t e d , and the troops got paid. But this system was prone to abuse by unscrupulous holders i f not closely supervised. Its extension i n t o n e w areas c o n t r i b u t e d b o t h to a general decline i n agrarian p r o d u c t i v i t y and to a loosening o f effective c o n t r o l by the r u l e r — w h o ever he was—over the districts assigned i n this way. The spread o f iqta was d i f ficult to reverse, however, for i t was the quickest way for a r u l e r to secure the soldiers' loyalty i n the competitive and increasingly m i l i t a r i z e d politics o f Iraq and Iran i n the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Buyids w o u l d be ousted f r o m most o f their territories i n Iran and Iraq by forces o f the Seljuk Turks between 1040 and i o c c , but the new masters—and their eventual successors—would rely even m o r e firmly o n the iqta system. As the Abbasid caliphs' real p o w e r contracted, even the central provinces o f t h e i r f o r m e r e m p i r e — I r a q , Syria, and n o r t h e r n A r a b i a — f e l l b e y o n d t h e i r grasp. Sometimes these areas fell u n d e r the sway o f p o w e r f u l rulers o f I r a n (such as the B u y i d s i n I r a q ) or o f Egypt ( s u c h as the T u l u n i d o c c u p a t i o n o f Syria i n the late n i n t h c e n t u r y ) . I n other cases, these areas were h e l d by a mosaic o f local powers. Some o f these were pastoral n o m a d i c tribes that t o o k advantage o f the empire's collapse t o establish t h e i r c o n t r o l over the key t o w n s w i t h i n or adjacent to t h e i r t r a d i t i o n a l grazing t e r r i t o r i e s , and so enter the consciousness o f the c h r o n i c l e r s as s h o r t - l i v e d "dynasties." The most i m p o r tant were the H a m d a n i d s o f M o s u l and A l e p p o (935-1016), i m p o r t a n t players i n I r a q i p o l i t i c s u n d e r the f a d i n g Abbasids and early Buyids, b u t they q u i c k l y outgrew- t h e i r o r i g i n s a m o n g the Tanukh t r i b e a n d a c q u i r e d the c r u cial trappings o f a settled state, i n c l u d i n g mercenary troops. The pastoral n o m a d i c base was m o r e essential to groups such as the Jarrahids o f t e n t h - c e n t u r y Palestine, the M i r d a s i d s o f A l e p p o ( 1 0 2 3 - 7 9 ) ,

m

e

Uqaylids o f M o s u l , and

the Mazyadids o f H i l l a i n central I r a q . The Q a r m a t i s — m o s t o f w h o m were bedouins o f Syria, s o u t h e r n I r a q , or eastern Arabia ( i n the late n i n t h t h r o u g h the late eleventh c e n t u r i e s ) — b e l o n g e d

t o an activist b r a n c h o f Shiism, the

Ismailis, and established an I s m a i l i state i n eastern Arabia. M e a n w h i l e , i n the nearby m o u n t a i n s o f w e s t e r n I r a n , Azerbaijan, eastern A n a t o l i a , A r m e n i a , and the Caucasus, K u r d i s h tribes i n several instances established

independent

M u s l i m states, such as the M a r w a n i d s a r o u n d A m i d a ( m o d e r n D i y a r b a k i r i n Turkey) and the Hasanuyids a r o u n d H a m a d h a n ( i n western I r a n ) . I n a f e w cases, g r o u p s w i t h n o n t r i b a l i d e n t i t i e s f o r m e d the basis o f small p o l i t i e s . The most interesting case is that o f the Zanj, A f r i c a n slaves w h o f r o m 869 u n t i l 883 revolted against t h e i r masters and d o m i n a t e d parts o f s o u t h e r n I r a q , i n c l u d i n g the c i t y o f Basra.

44

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The Ismaili Challenge The most effective ideological challenge to the Abbasid caliphate f r o m w i t h i n the Islamic c o m m u n i t y arose f r o m developments i n Shiism i n the n i n t h and tenth centuries. The Shiites had articulated the d o c t r i n e that o n l y a descendant o f the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, A l i i b n A b i Talib, c o u l d be i m a m or leader o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . Some Shiites argued that the imam's leadership was crucial because he possessed a secret knowledge. In their view this secret k n o w l e d g e , w h i c h each i m a m conveyed to his designated successor before his death, was vital to the proper guidance o f the c o m m u n i t y . This g r o u p split i n t o activist and quietist w i n g s . The quietists, usually called I m a m i or "Twelver" Shiites, believed that the line o f visible imams had ended i n 874 w h e n the t w e l f t h i m a m , still only an infant, had gone i n t o h i d i n g i n Samarra, f r o m w h i c h he w o u l d r e t u r n i n the fullness o f t i m e as the mahdi, a m i l l e n a r i a n figure expected to lead the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y i n righteous preparation for the Last Judgment. For many Twelvers, then, there was no longer any basis for political action after 874, because there was n o longer any i m a m i n whose name rebellion c o u l d be raised. A m o r e activist g r o u p , however, the Ismailis, argued that the imamate had not ended as the Twelvers c l a i m . Rather, i t continued i n a different line o f Ali's descendants. I n the Ismaili view, there never ceased to be a l i v i n g i m a m a m o n g M u s l i m s , even t h o u g h his identity at a particular m o m e n t m i g h t n o t be generally k n o w n . Periodically individuals emerged w h o claimed to be the i m a m . Clearly, this version o f Shiite d o c t r i n e was likely to appeal to those w i t h an activist t u r n o f m i n d . A t h i r d variant o f Shiism, called the Zaydiyya, argued that the imamate d i d not proceed i n a particular line o f descendants. Rather, i t resided i n the A l i d w h o was most capable o f p r o v i d i n g effective leadership for his generation. This variant became especially i m p o r t a n t i n Yemen. The Ismailis, w h o were initially a

LLnified

movement w i t h a secret, centralized lead-

ership, strove to w i n adherents by means o f dma (missionary w o r k ) carried out by agents highly trained i n theological argument. Their aim was to establish small groups or communities o f followers secredy pledged to follow the i m a m u p o n his appearance, even though his identity was for reasons o f prudence not divulged. By the late n i n t h century, as the Abbasid caliphate's power was d w i n d l i n g , Ismaili communities were established i n many areas: Yemen, N o r t h Africa, Iran, southern Iraq, eastern Arabia, and Syria. One group o f Ismailis, the Qarmatis, rebelled openly against the Abbasids i n die 890s and i n 899 established a small state i n northeastern Arabia; this state lasted until the 1070s and was for m u c h o f the tenth century a power to be reckoned w i t h i n northern Arabia and Syria. The most successful Ismaili m o v e m e n t , however, grew o u t o f the missionary w o r k o f a Yemeni agent i n N o r t h Africa, w h o d u r i n g the 890s established a strong

M U H A M M A D

AND

THE

CALIPHATE

I s m a i l i f o l l o w i n g a m o n g the Kutama Berbers, i n o p p o s i t i o n to the Abbasids' Aghlabid governors. By 899 a leader o f the Ismailis i n Syria, Ubayd Allah, had broken w i t h the Qarmatis, p r o c l a i m e d h i m s e l f to be the i m a m , and i n 902 made his way to I f r i q i y a to lead the n e w state. Because U b a y d A l l a h , as i m a m , claimed descent f r o m Ali's w i f e Fatima, he

and

his

descendants

are

called

Fatimids. Ubayd Allah was i m p r i s o n e d for a t i m e by the Aghlabids, but i n 909 the I s m a i l i m o v e m e n t i n N o r t h Africa succeeded

in

overthrowing

the

Aghlabids. U b a y d Allah was freed and assumed power, taking the regnal name a l - M a h d i (r. 9 0 9 - 3 4 ) and the title a m i r a l - m u m i n i n i n defiance o f the Abbasids. The Umayyads i n Spain responded t o the F a t i m i d c l a i m by also assuming this title i n 923. Ubayd Allah also f o u n d e d a n e w capital at M a h d i y a h , to symbolize his i n a u g u r a t i o n o f a n e w order. For sixty years ( 9 0 9 - 6 9 ) the Fatimids care-

The Great Mosque at Mahdiyah is the most important

f u l l y b u i l t u p a p o w e r f u l state i n N o r t h

structure to survive from the new capital established on

Africa, first consolidating their p o w e r

the Tunisian coast by the first Fatimid caliph al-Mahdi

against the very propaganda movement that had b r o u g h t t h e m to power, then

(r. 9 0 9 - 3 4 ) . The design of the portal was inspired by Roman triumphal arches and gateways in the region.

against w i d e s p r e a d local o p p o s i t i o n . The Sunni religious establishment i n Qayrawan and the Surrni p o p u l a t i o n o f I f r i q i y a generally were unsympathetic to the Ismaili's Fatimid claims. Even m o r e hostile were the large n u m b e r o f N o r t h African Berber tribes w h o had embraced K h a r i j i s m . These tribes m o u n t e d n u m e r o u s rebellions against the Fatimids, i n c l u d i n g a major one i n the 940s that nearly t o p p l e d the dynasty. I n the central and western Maghreb (northwest A f r i c a ) , the Fatimids had to face the resistance o f the small Rustamid and I d r i s i d states as w e l l as the challenge o f the m o r e p o w erful, but more distant, Umayyads o f Spain. The Fatimids overcame all these challenges, particularly d u r i n g the reign o f the great caliph a l - M u i z z (r. 953-75), whose b r i l l i a n t general, Jawhar, consolidated Fatimid rule as far as the Atlantic Ocean. A l - M u i z z also oversaw the construction o f a p o w e r f u l navy, w i t h w h i c h

46

T H F OXFORD

HISTORY

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ISLAM

the Fatimids established c o n t r o l over Sicily; i t also played a crucial role i n their conquest o f Egypt. As i m p o r t a n t as I f r i q i y a was t o t h e m , the Fatimids never seem t o . ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ B P

^ ^ ^ ^

have considered it as m o r e than an

W

i n t e r i m station o n the p a t h t o

l i

supreme

p o w e r i n the Islamic

w o r l d . A l m o s t i m m e d i a t e l y after their rise t o p o w e r i n 9 0 9 , they t r i e d unsuccessfully t o c o n q u e r Egypt. O n l y after the Fatimids had built a strong base i n I f r i q i y a and engaged i n extensive missionary w o r k i n Egypt was General Jawhar able t o organize a successful c o n quest o f Egypt i n 969. W i t h i n a few years the Fatimid c a l i p h left Ifriqiya

i n the hands o f t h e i r

Berber supporters, the Z i r i d s , and took u p residence i n a n e w capital i n Egypt at Cairo ( f r o m Arabic a\Qahira, m e a n i n g "the v i c t o r i o u s " ) , This ewer hollowed out from a single block of rock crystal epito-

a government a n d m i l i t a r y c o m -

mizes the luxury arts associated with the splendid court established

plex that they f o u n d e d

by the Fatimids after they conquered Egypt in 969. Texts desc ribe hundreds of such objects, but only a handful has survived.

beside

Fustat. The splendid mosque o f A l Azhar was b u i l t i n the n e w city t o serve as the center o f Ismaili w o r -

ship. The extensive education that underlay the Ismaili dawa was carried o u t at many locations. The Fatimids w o u l d govern Egypt f o r t w o centuries (969-1171). D t i r i n g the first century o f their r u l e there, they made impressive gains o n several fronts. They established a presence i n Syria and i n t e r m i t t e n t control over its m a i n towns. Damascus a n d Aleppo, but they continually faced o p p o s i t i o n f r o m the Qarmatis; f r o m bands o f Turkish mercenaries dislodged f r o m B u y i d Baghdad; f r o m local tribal powers, the Jarrahids i n Palestine and the H a m d a n i d s i n Aleppo; and f r o m the Byzantine Empire, resurgent under p o w e r f u l m i l i t a r y emperors f r o m 975 t o 1025. Their p o w e r was recognized i n the h o l y cities o f the Hejaz and by some Ismaili groups i n Yemen. F r o m Yemen, Ismaili agents established c o m m u n i t i e s o f supporters a m o n g the M u s l i m s o f I n d i a . Despite persistent d i p l o m a t i c a n d

M U H A M M A D

AND

THH CALIPHATE

47

propagnda efforts, however, the Fatimids failed to gain r e c o g n i t i o n i n Baghdad, then u n d e r c o n t r o l o f (Twelver) Shiite Buyids. U n d e r the caliphs al-Aziz (r. 9 7 5 - 9 6 ) , a l - H a k i m (r. 996-1021), and al-Zahir (r. 1021-36), the Fatimid caliphate i n Egypt became the most p o w e r f u l state i n the Islamic w o r l d and displayed a d u r a b i l i t y that enabled i t to weather n u m e r ous crisis—even the protracted chaos and terror unleashed by a l - H a k i m , whose repressions o f Egypt's large Christian p o p u l a t i o n , assassination o f many o f his key advisers and commanders, and many other unpredictable measures w o u l d have u n d o n e a less stable regime. Fatimid m i g h t was based o n a prosperous economy, an efficient, centralized a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , a p o w e r f u l army, and skilled use o f m i l itary governors to manage complex provinces, particularly Syria. The economy burgeoned parti}' because o f a f o r t u i t o u s increase i n international trade passing t h r o u g h Egypt. This q u i c k e n i n g o f trade was to some extent the result o f increasi n g d e m a n d i n Europe, w h i c h was reviving economically, but i t was also fostered by the instability o f Iraq at this t i m e , w h i c h caused merchants c o m i n g f r o m the east to favor the Red Sea route t o the Mediterranean. The Fatimids also had access to p l e n t i f u l g o l d supplies i n N u b i a (along the U p p e r N i l e ) , w h i c h helped t h e m to pay their armies and to m o u n t the ambitious p r o g r a m o f missionary w o r k a i m e d at spreading r e c o g n i t i o n o f the Fatimid caliphate. Egypt's r i c h f a r m l a n d p r o v i d e d a steady f l o w o f tax revenues, thanks to careful management by the Fatimid bureaucracy, supervised by a series o f tal-

48

T H EO X F O R D

HISTORY O F

ISLAM

enled viziers (some o f w h o m were native Christians, and some, such asYaqub i b n Killis and al-Jarjarai, were o f Iraqi o r i g i n ) . The Fatimid army consisted o f a core o f Kutama Berber units—heritage o f their N o r t h African origins and staunch I s m a i l i s — a n d units o f African slaves a n d "easterners," m a i n l y Turks b u t also i n c l u d i n g Daylamis, Armenians, and others. Key m i l i t a r y m e n became i m p o r t a n t pillars o f the regime, such as the Turk Anushtakin al-Dizbari, w h o i n the 1020s and 1030s helped contain the threat posed t o Syria by the Jarrahids and other b e d o u i n groups. After about 104c the power and stability o f Fatimid rule slipped rapidly because o f the rise o f factional

fighting

between Berber a n d "eastern" cliques i n the

bureaucracy and a m o n g Berber, Turkish, and African contingents i n the army. The earlier Fatimids had been careful to maintain a balance a m o n g different groups, but w h e n this balance was lost, i t proved impossible t o restore. This internal strife caused the Fatimids t o lose Syria to the Hamdanids and then, later i n the eleventh century, t o the Seljuk Turks, w h o had ousted the Buyids as protectors o f the Abbasid caliphs i n Baghdad. The Abbasids and their Seljuk guardians were also recognized i n the Hejaz, i n c l u d i n g the h o l y cities o f Mecca and M e d i n a , by the end o f the eleventh century. The Fatimids' weakening g r i p was symbolized by the decision o f their Z i r i d vassals i n Ifriqiya to repudiate the Fatimids and shift their f o r m a l allegiance t o the Abbasid caliphs i n 1044. The Zirids were i n effect declari n g themselves independent, because the Abbasids were too far away t o have any real control over t h e m . I n retaliation, the F a t i m i d caliph al-Mustansir (r. 1036-94) sent the bedouin tribes o f Hilal and Sulaym, w h o had proven troublesome in Egypt, to find new abodes i n Ifriqiya. The l o n g - t e r m impact o f the so-called Hilalian invasion has been hody debated, but the arrival o f these groups i n Ifriqiya d i d disrupt the region politically (they sacked Qayrawan i n 1057) and hastened the spread o f Arabic as a spoken language i n parts o f the N o r t h African countryside. In 1073 the caliph al-Mustansir, facing grave civil disorder i n Cairo, called o n his military governor i n Syria, an Armenian named Badr al-Jamali, to restore order. Badr (r. 1073-94) and his son al-Afdal i b n Badr (r. 1094-1121) d i d restore order, but i n the process they reduced the Fatimid caliphs t o figurehead status, similar t o that occupied by the Abbasids d u r i n g the Buyid p e r i o d . Henceforth, real power i n the Fatimid domains was held by viziers and by key army chiefs, w h o were often engaged i n complex intrigues and factional fighting. The presence o f the Crusaders i n Syria after

1099 o n l y f u r t h e r complicated the situation o f the Fatimids.

Eventually, a desperate vizier called for support f r o m Saladin ( k n o w n i n Arabic as Salah al-Din i b n Ayyub), a Kurdish military commander w h o had risen i n the service o f a Seljuk successor state i n Syria, the Zangids. I n 1171, Saladin himself acceded to the vizierate. One o f his first acts after d o i n g so was to renounce the Fatimids and recognize the Abbasids once again—in theory at least—as the overlords o f Egypt.

M U H A M M A D

A N D T H E CALIPHATE

49

Despite the Fatimids' concern for the Ismaili dawa, Ismailism made surprisi n g l y little progress i n Egypt d u r i n g their r u l e . W h e n the dynasty fell i n 1171, Egypt's M u s l i m p o p u l a t i o n was still staunchly Sunni, and Christian and Jewish c o m m u n i t i e s were still strong. The Ismaili n o t i o n o f the imamate as a linear p r o gression made i t prone t o schism; several o f these shook the Fatimid caliphate. One offshoot was the Druze faith, whose adherents considered the caliph alH a k i m t o be d i v i n e ; they established themselves (and are still to be f o u n d ) i n Lebanon and Syria. The so-called Assassins were another offshoot; i n the eleventh and t w e l f t h centuries they became the radical terrorists o f the Islamic w o r l d , striking d o w n selected political and cultural leaders to advance the cause o f an Ismaili r e v o l u t i o n . The positive accomplishments o f the Fadmids, however, were significant. The brilliance and prosperity o f Fatimid Cairo attracted many talented people i n the arts, architecture, literature, a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , and m i l i t a r y service. Consequently Fatimid Cairo replaced Baghdad as the most i m p o r t a n t cultural, and t o some extent political, center o f the eastern Arabic-speaking w o r l d , a posit i o n i t has never relinquished.

Islamic Revivalism in the Maghreb F r o m the late eleventh t o the early t h i r t e e n t h century, the Maghreb (Islamic west) was d o m i n a t e d i n succession by t w o states: the Almoravids (al-murabitun) and the Almohads (al-muwahhidun), b o t h o f w h i c h began as Sunni revivalist m o v e ments a m o n g the Berbers o f N o r t h Africa. I n about

IOÇO

N o r t h Africa was p o l i t -

ically fragmented a m o n g rival tribes i n the wake o f the collapse o f Fatimid power and the Hilalian invasion, and M u s l i m Spain was d i v i d e d i n t o many small petty k i n g d o m s . Furthermore, N o r t h Africa still displayed a great religious diversity; Sunni Islam was strong i n the o l d bastion at Qayrawan, b u t K h a r i j i s m was still widespread, a n d many areas ( p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the m o u n t a i n o u s far Maghreb, where large towns were f e w ) were still o n l y n o m i n a l l y Islamized. The A l m o r a v i d s began as a Sunni r e f o r m m o v e m e n t a m o n g the l o w l a n d Sanhaja Berbers o f the Sahara, sparked by a scholar w h o had become filled w i t h an austere religious zeal f r o m his p i l g r i m a g e t o Mecca and his studies i n Sunni Qayrawan. He r e t u r n e d t o his people i n the Sahara to r e f o r m their Islam, f o u n d i n g a " p u r e " M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y somewhere near the Senegal River i n the 1040s. Alliance w i t h Sanhaja tribal chiefs gave the A l m o r a v i d m o v e m e n t the m i l i t a r y base needed t o expand n o r t h w a r d , w i t h the a i m o f establishing proper Islamic practice as they u n d e r s t o o d i t . U n d e r their greatest leader, Yusuf i b n Tashfin (1061-1106), the Almoravids subdued send-Islamized Berber groups, w h o m they v i e w e d as heretical, as w e l l as tribes w h o had been political rivals o f the Sanhaja d u r i n g the 1060s a n d 1070s. I b n Tashfin thus c o n q u e r e d m u c h o f

CO

T H EO X F O R D HISTORY

OE ISLAM

M o r o c c o and western Algeria. I n about 1060 I b n Tashfin established the settlement oí Marrakesh as a k i n d of m i l i t a r y camp; i t grew rapidly and became the A l m o r a v i d capital. I b n Tashfin emerged as the most p o w e r f u l figure i n the western Islamic w o r l d , just w h e n the petty k i n g d o m s o f Islamic Spain w ere c o n f r o n t e d by the threat o f the reconquista. The resurgent Christian k i n g d o m s o f n o r t h e r n Spam, led by Alfonso V I , had already seized Toledo and were pressing o n the M u s l i m city-states o f Andalusia. I n desperation, several o f the petty kings called o n I b n Tashfin to enter Spain and w a r d o f f the Christians. His decisive defeat o f Alfonso's army at the Battle o f Zallaqa i n 1086 kept southern Spain o u t o f Christian hands f o r the m o m e n t , but the various M u s l i m kings o f Spain were gradually deposed and the area was i n c o r p o r a t e d i n t o the s p r a w l i n g A l m o r a v i d e m p i r e , w h i c h n o w extended f r o m central Spain t o the Senegal River. Further Almoravid victories o n the battlefield helped to keep the Christian k i n g d o m s o f n o r t h e r n Spain at bay; yet many Spanish M u s l i m s resented the hegemony o f the Almoravids. I n part, this reflected a l o n g t r a d i t i o n o f hostility t o the Berbers i n Spain, legacy o f their frequent use as mercenaries; i n part, it was because the M u s l i m s o f Spain considered the Almoravids culturally unsophisticated; and finally, i n part it was because they were repelled b y the A l m o r a v i d s ' harsh enforcement o f Islam, w h i c h i n c l u d e d persecution o f Sufis and the b u r n i n g o f religious books deemed heretical. Widespread rebellions against the Almoravids i n the 1140s heralded the c o l The mosque at Tinmalla! ( u c j - 4 ) , located high in the Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh, is the sole

lapse o f their r u l e i n Spain. M e a n w h i l e , i n N o r t h Africa another

revivalist m o v e m e n t ,

that o f the

Almohads, was already challenging the Almoravids by about 112c. The founder

vestige of the Almohad

o f the A l m o h a d m o v e m e n t , M u h a m m a d I b n Tumart (ca. 1080-1130), was a

capital established there by

h i g h l a n d Berber o f the Masmuda tribe w h o , after study i n Cordoba a n d the

IbnTumart around 1125.

Islamic east, had r e t u r n e d t o the Maghreb t o preach a message o f strict piety,

MUHAMMAD AND THE CALIPHATE

£1

declaring h i m s e l f to be the mahdi, the eschatological just ruler, and c l a i m i n g that the Almoravids were i m p i o u s and c o r r u p t . I n about 112c he established a base at Tinmallal i n the Atlas M o u n t a i n s ( m o d e r n M o r o c c o ) and began to conquer nearby areas, having w o n many followers a m o n g the h i g h l a n d Masmuda Berbers. The speed w i t h w h i c h I b n Tumart w o n support may have been because his actions c o n f o r m e d to the traditional Berber concept o f a charismatic h o l y m a n . His attack o n the Almoravids and their Sanhaja supporters may also have articulated the h i g h l a n d Berbers' t r a d i t i o n a l d i s d a i n f o r l o w l a n d e r s , such as the Sanhaja. I n the 1130s

and early 1140s

I b n Tumart's successor, A b d a l - M u m i n

(1145-63), defeated the last Almoravids i n battle and seized m u c h o f n o r t h e r n Morocco and western Algeria, taking Marrakesh i n

1147.

The collapse o f A l m o r a v i d rule resulted i n a renewed p e r i o d o f political d i v i sion a m o n g the M u s l i m city-states i n Spain, w h i c h Alfonso V I I , the k i n g o f Castile, attempted to exploit. But the Muslims invited A b d a l - M u m i n to send an army to relieve t h e m , so that between

1147

and 1157

the f o r m e r A l m o r a v i d

domains were recovered f r o m Alfonso by A l m o h a d forces. M e a n w h i l e , A b d alM u m i n organized t w o massive expeditions i n the eastern Maghreb. The w h i c h began i n 1151,

first,

b r o u g h t A l m o h a d rule to the central Maghreb, ending the

reign o f local powers such as the Banu H a m m a d , a family that had established a small state i n the mountains o f w h a t today is Algeria. The second campaign was directed against I f r i q i y a , w h i c h had been seized by the N o r m a n s o f Sicily. By d r i ving them out o f M a h d i y a h i n 1160 and b r i n g i n g the region under Almohad cont r o l , A b d a l - M u m i n u n i f i e d the w h o l e Maghreb f r o m Tunisia to the Atlantic Ocean, as w e l l as the Islamic regions o f Spain. D u r i n g the last decades o f the t w e l f t h c e n t u r y the A l m o h a d s had t o overcome the s t u b b o r n resistance m o u n t e d by the last A l m o r a v i d h o l d o u t s f r o m the Balearic Islands (near the eastern coast o f Spain), w h o had seized m u c h o f I f r i q i y a . I n Spain the A l m o h a d s were engaged i n a c o n t i n u i n g struggle against the C h r i s t i a n k i n g d o m s , p a r t i c u l a r l y those o f Castile and Portugal. Despite

p r o m i s i n g offensives i n t o Castilian t e r r i t o r y i n the

A l m o h a d s w e r e c r u s h i n g l y defeated i n 1212

1190s, t h e

by a C h r i s t i a n c o a l i t i o n at Las

Navas de Tolosa ( i n s o u t h e r n Spain), the battle that really sealed the fate o f Islamic Spain. A l m o r a v i d c o n t r o l i n Spain u n r a v e l e d over the next

two

decades, and C h r i s t i a n forces seized i n r a p i d succession the m a j o r cities o f Andalusia: M e r i d a (1231), C o r d o b a (1236), Valencia (1238), Seville ( 1 2 4 8 ) , M u r c i a (1261), and Cadiz (1262). V i r t u a l l y a l l that r e m a i n e d o f M u s l i m Spain thereafter was the small, b r i l l i a n t k i n g d o m o f Granada, w h i c h h u n g o n u n t i l 1492, partly because o f the s k i l l o f its r u l e r s , the Nasrids, and p a r t l y because i n 1244 one o f the rulers had signed a treaty r e c o g n i z i n g the vague o v e r l o r d ship o f the k i n g d o m o f Castile.

C2

T H E

O X F O R D

HISTORY

OF

ISLAM

Matters d i d not go better for the Almohads i n N o r t h A f r i c a , where their empire gradually devolved i n t o several independent states. I n I f r i q i y a a former A l m o h a d viceroy o f Tunis, M u h a m m a d i b n Hafs, became effectively independent by 1235, b e g i n n i n g the Hafsid dynasty; I b n Hafs even dared to take for h i m self the title a m i r a l - m u ' m i n i n . The Banu M a r i n nomads o f the Sahara graduallyseized eastern Morocco f r o m the Almohads, o c c u p y i n g Marrakesh i n 1269; their capital at Fez w o u l d become an i m p o r t a n t cultural center i n their day. Southern M o r o c c o saw the rise to p o w e r o f the Zayyanid dynasty. The Almoravids and the Almohads b o t h demonstrated once again the power that could be built o n a combination o f tribally based military units and compelling Islamic religious ideologies. Their key leaders may also have w o n support among die Berbers because they fit the Berber tradition o f miracle-working holy men (igurramen). The fact diat the Almoravids, at least, sat astride important Saharan trade routes and controlled valuable sources o f gold i n western Africa also contributed to their ability to project their power. The seemingly evanescent nature o f the Almoravid and Almohad empires should not mask the fact that they helped create the Maghreb*—both as a political unit, w h i c h they unified for the first time, and as a distinct zone o f Islamic culture. Despite the presence i n their religious beliefs o f numerous idiosyncratic features, both movements were staunchly Sunni, and their piety-mindedness and intolerance o f other religious views caused them to repress many o f the remaining Kharijite, Shiite, and other heterodox forms o f Islam that were widespread in the Maghreb u n t i l die eleventh century. In cultural terms, too, their rule was important to the development o f the Maghreb, w h i c h had been a cultural backwater before the eleventh century. After their occupation o f Spain, w i t h its richly developed Islamic culture, the Almoravids i m p o r t e d many scholars and learned men o f religion f r o m Spain to their N o r t h African cities, particularly their capital at Marrakesh, w h i c h became a new center for the elaboration o f Islamic civilization o n the highly sophisticated Andalusian model.

The Turks Enter the Mashriq The eleventh century brought p r o f o u n d and e n d u r i n g changes to the eastern Islamic lands, or mashriq ( r o u g h l y Egypt and Islamic southwestern Asia). These changes were associated w i t h the arrival o f n e w populations o f Turkish-speaki n g peoples, w h o migrated i n t o the region f r o m the Central Asian steppe that had u n t i l then been their homelands. Turks had long been familiar i n the eastern Islamic lands as slaves, soldiers, and m i l i t a r y governors. By the early eleventh century some Turks had even succeeded i n establishing m i l i t a r y regimes that were essentially independent states, such as that o f the Ghaznavids i n Khurasan and Afghanistan. I n the early eleventh cen-

M U H A M M A D

A N D T H E CALIPHATE

Ç3

tury, however, another k i n d o f Turkish presence began t o make itself felt i n eastern I r a n : n o t i n d i v i d u a l slaves o r soldiers, o r even companies o f soliders, b u t T ü r k m e n — w h o l e tribes o f Turkish-speaking people, m a i n l y n o m a d i c or semisedentary, m o v i n g w i t h their flocks and possessions. D u r i n g the tenth century merchants, preachers, and border raiders f r o m the Samanid domains h a d converted Turkish tribesmen o n their frontiers t o Islam, some o f w h o m settled o r migrated i n t o K h w a r i z m ( m o d e r n Khorezm) and Transoxiana. D u r i n g the early eleventh century branches o f the Oghuz tribe o f Türkmen, facing desperate c o n d i t i o n s i n Transoxiana and the Central Asian steppe, began t o m i g r a t e i n t o Khurasan, across n o r t h e r n Iran, and i n t o Jibal and Azerbaijan, many u n d e r the leadership o f members o f the Seljuk family. I n Khurasan the Ghaznavids'

field

armies failed t o stem the arrival o f these u n w e l c o m e migrants, w h o d i s r u p t e d the towns and countryside, and i n 1040 the Seljuks' Türkmen followers decisively defeated the Ghaznavid army i n battle at Dandanqan, near the o l d M u s l i m g a r r i son t o w n o f Marv. The Seljuks were n o w n o t o n l y tribal chiefs b u t masters o f a setded state based i n Khurasan. After 1040 m o r e n o m a d i c or seminomadic Türkmen m o v e d across Iran i n t o the Jibal r e g i o n , Azerbaijan, and A r m e n i a ; others m i g r a t e d s o u t h w a r d i n t o K e r m a n a n d elsewhere i n Iran. The m i g r a t i o n o f large populations o f Turkishspeaking peoples i n t o Iran and Anatolia, and the establishment o f Seljuk r u l e i n Iran, Iraq, Anatolia, and Syria, were t w o different but related historical processes. They were related because the Seljuks relied t o some extent o n the Türkmen f o r their armies, and because many Türkmen recognized the Seljuks as their " r o y a l house." Seljuk sultans, however, continually faced the p r o b l e m o f t r y i n g t o c o n t r o l , o r at least influence, the r u g g e d Türkmen, whose migrations and r a i d i n g often had a m o m e n t u m o f their o w n that generated u n w a n t e d p o l i t i c a l a n d diplomatic problems for the sultans. For this reason soon after 1040 the Seljuks acquired mercenaries (often slave troops) t o serve as the core o f their army. This freed t h e m o f the need t o rely totally o n the Türkmen, and gave t h e m an i n s t r u m e n t t o c o n t r o l u n r u l y Türkmen w h e n necessary. A r o u n d this core they added groups o f allies, i n c l u d i n g Türkmen and others, t o construct large armies for specific campaigns. Seljuk c o n t r o l o f an area therefore usually f o l l o w e d the m i g r a t i o n i n t o i t by large numbers o f Türkmen, as was the case i n Khurasan, Kerman, Jibal, Azerbaijan, and m u c h o f Anatolia. I n other cases the Seljuks strove t o keep the Türkmen out o f certain areas, such as prosperous f a r m i n g districts o r those near cities that became i m p o r t a n t centers o f Seljuk power-—Baghdad, Hamadan, Isfahan, and so o n . They d i d this b y encouraging the Türkmen to engage i n r a i d i n g elsewhere, particularly i n frontier zones ( f o r example, against the Christian k i n g d o m s o f A r m e n i a and Georgia). As the Seljuks m o v e d i n t o western Iran, they overpowered o r outmaneuvered

Ç4

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Church of the Holy Cross on Aghtamar, an island in Late Van. Built between 91c and 921, the palace church of the Armenian king Gagik epito mizes the beautiful stone architecture encountered by the Seljuks when they con quered the region in the late eleventh century.

the B u y i d amirs there. Staunch Sunnis, like most o f the Türkmen they led, the Seljuks portrayed their struggle against the Shiite Buyids as a restoration o f Sunni Islam. I n ı o ç c sultan T o g h r i l Beg (r. ca. 1040—1063) entered Baghdad and e l i m inated the B u y i d "protectorate" o f the caliphate. The caliph's " p r o t e c t o r " was n o w the Sunni Seljuk sultan, w h o r u l e d over a loose empire stretching f r o m Transoxiana to Iraq ( k n o w n as the Great Seljuk domains). M e a n w h i l e , the Türkmen had continued pushing northwestward i n t o Armenia, the Caucasus, and Anatolia, eventually p r o v o k i n g a reaction f r o m the Byzantine Empire, w h i c h like the Ghaznavids f o u n d that their fixed border fortresses and armies were incapable o f stopping the i n f l u x o f nomads. The decisive defeat o f the Byzantine emperor and his vast army at Malazgirt ( f o r m e r l y Manzikert) near Lake

M U H A M M A D

A N D T H E CALIPHATE

SS

Van i n 1071 by the Seljuk army sent by sultan A l p Arslan (r. 1063-72)

ended

all hope

of

Byzantine resistance i n eastern Anatolia and A r m e n i a . Leaders f r o m a rival branch o f the Seljuk family, w h o came to be k n o w n as the Seljuks o f R u m , established themselves i n Konya, w h i c h by the 1070s had become the focus o f a p o w e r f u l state i n western Anatolia.

Princes

of

another

Turkish family, the Danishmendids, f o r m e d another p o w e r f u l T u r k m e n sultanate i n central and eastern Anatolia. For die next sev enty-five years Anatolia was the arena o f a complex struggle for political supremacy a m o n g the R u m Seljuks, the Danishmendids, a n d the Byzantines,

with

lesser roles played by the Great Seljuks, local Kurdish, Turkish, and A r m e n i a n chieftains, and the European Crusaders, w h o arrived İn Anatolia i n the 1090s. By the m i d d l e o f the t w e l f t h century, however, the R u m Seljuks were b e c o m i n g the d o m i n a n t power

The portal of the madrasa known as the Ince Minareli ("Slender Minaret") in Konya. Built in the mid-thirteenth century, the building was one of many theological schools built there.

i n Anatolia. The Danishmendids effectively collapsed, and the defeat o f the Byzantine army at M y r i o k e p h a l o n i n 1176 ended the threat o f serious Byzantine intervention i n central and southwest ern Anatolia. Under sultan Kilij Arslan I I (r. ı ı ç c - 9 2 ) , the R u m Seljuks built a pros perous state, commerce flourished, and Konya especially became an important center o f Sufism (Islajnic mysticism), fine arts, and literature—mainly i n Persian, because the Turks' first intimate contact w i t h refined Islamic culture had taken place i n Iran. Above a l l , the chaotic century between the battles o f Malazgirt and Myriokephalon saw Anatolia begin its decisive transformation f r o m an area that was p r i m a r i l y Cliristian i n faith and Greek or A r m e n i a n i n language, t o one that was primarily M u s l i m i n faith and Turkish in language. The Kurdish populations o f east-

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ern Anatolia and the Zagros Mountains o f western Iran, M u s l i m i n faith and tribally organized, sometimes fought and sometimes allied themselves w i t h the Turks, but survived, w i t h changes. The Great Seljuk domains were conceived as c o n s t i t u t i n g a collective Seljuk family possession, parts o f w h i c h were parceled o u t as appanages to i n d i v i d u a l princes under the loose c o n t r o l o f the sultan. As w i t h the Buyids, however, the appanage system led to intrigues and strife between rival princes. The early Seljuk sultans—Toghril Beg, A l p Arslan, and Malik Shah (r. 1 0 7 2 - 9 2 ) — m a d e significant efforts to create a m o r e centralized, bureaucratic regime by relying especially o n skilled administrators f r o m Khurasan w h o c o n t i n u e d the Samanid and Ghaznavid bureaucratic traditions. The great vizier N i z a m a l - M u l k (1018

or

1019-92, died at the hands o f an Assassin), w h o w r o t e a famous Persian h a n d book o n statecraft for sultan Malik-Shah, was the m a i n architect o f this effort. To encourage the study o f Islamic law and a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , the Seljuks and their viziers also e n d o w e d special schools (madrasas), an i n s t i t u t i o n they had discovered i n eastern Iran that soon spread t h r o u g h o u t the Islamic w o r l d . Their goal i n d o i n g so was partly to strengthen Sunni Islam against Shiism, but also to help train administrators, and by dispensing patronage to make the religious elite responsive to their wishes. Despite these strivings t o w a r d centralization, by the early t w e l f t h century the various appanages o f the Great Seljuk " e m p i r e " — p a r t i c u l a r l y i n its western parts—were increasingly b e c o m i n g independent states. This tendency to decentralization was reinforced by the Seljuks' heavy reliance o n assignment o f lands as iqta to pay commanders and bureaucrats, and by the practice o f a p p o i n t i n g m i n o r sons as appanage holders under the p r o t e c t i o n o f experienced m i l i t a r y m e n (awbegs, tutor-guardians). Frequently, the atabeg pushed his charge aside and ended u p r u l i n g the appanage for h i m s e l f D u r i n g the t w e l f t h and first h a l f o f the thirteenth centuries the territories once claimed by the Great Seljuks i n Syria, Mesopotamia, and the mountains b o r d e r i n g Mesopotamia o n the n o r t h and east were held by m o r e than a half-dozen small atabeg states, such as the U r t u q i d s o f A m i d a ( m o d e r n Diyarbakir) and M a r d i n and the Zangids o f M o s u l and Aleppo. The European Crusaders, by their sheer g o o d f o r t u n e , happened to arrive i n the Near East at a t i m e w h e n the eastern Mediterranean coast and h i n t e r l a n d were fragmented i n this way, a fact that facilitated their advance and ultimate conquest o f A n t i o c h , Edessa, T r i p o l i , Acre, and Jerusalem i n 1098 to

1099.

Toward the m i d d l e o f the t w e l f t h century the Zangids succeeded i n consoli d a t i n g their h o l d over Mesopotamia and most o f Syria's i n t e r i o r against the Crusader k i n g d o m s . As the p o w e r o f the Zangids grew, they became entangled i n the factional intrigues that marked the last years o f the F a t i m i d caliphate i n Egypt. As a result o f this i n v o l v e m e n t , a K u r d i s h officer i n Z a n g i d service,

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57

Saladin (Salah a l - D i n i b n A y y u b , 1169-1193), seized effective c o n t r o l o f Egypt i n 1169 and abolished the F a t i m i d caliphate i n 1171. D r a w i n g o n his p o w e r base i n Egypt, Saladin was able t o establish h i m s e l f as master o f the f o r m e r Z a n g i d territories i n Syria a n d Mesopotamia. T h e n i n 1187 he decisively defeated the Crusaders at the Battle o f H a t t i n a n d reconquered Jerusalem. F r o m this t i m e u n t i l their v i r t u a l e x t i n c t i o n a century later, the Crusader " k i n g d o m s " typically led a tenuous existence i n some t o w n s along the Syrian coast. The A y y u b i d s , as Saladin's descendants are called, c o n t i n u e d to d o m i n a t e Syria u n t i l the m i d - t h i r teenth century. A l t h o u g h o f K u r d i s h o r i g i n , i n politics and statecraft they were truly products o f the e n v i r o n m e n t i n w h i c h they had r i s e n , the Seljuk atabeg states, and so helped t o b r i n g many i n s t i t u t i o n s t y p i c a l o f the Seljuks t o Syria and Egypt, particularly heavy reliance o n i q t a , a n d the e n d o w m e n t o f many madrasas. The appanage-type politics o f the Ay y u b i d s resulted i n almost c o n -

The Citadel of Cairo, founded by Saladin in the

tinuous internecine strife a m o n g A y y u b i d princes. The last A y y u b i d sultan b u i l t

late twelfth century, under-

a p o w e r f u l contingent o f Turkish slaves, h o p i n g thereby t o give h i m s e l f the m i l -

went its greatest expansion

itary advantage, but u p o n his death i n 1249 these slave troops seized p o w e r for

during the period of

themselves, m a r k i n g the b e g i n n i n g o f a p o w e r f u l new r e g i m e based i n E g y p t — the M a m l u k s (1250-1517). The one area o f the Great Seljuk e m p i r e that f o r a t i m e escaped the f r a g m e n tation o f the early t w e l f t h century was Khurasan, w h i c h under sultan M u i z z a d -

Mamluk rule (1250—1517). The citadel not only protected the capital but also symbolized the power of the military state.

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O F [SLAM

D i n Sanjar (r. 1118-57) enjoyed a p e r i o d o f relative stability and prosperity However, Transoxiana fell u n d e r the c o n t r o l o f the n o n - M u s l i m Kara-Khitai i n the 1140s. This weakened Sanjar's r u l e and forced i n t o Khurasan many restless O g h u z tribesmen, w h o o v e r t h r e w Sanjar i n 1153. I n the v a c u u m that resulted there arose the meteoric " e m p i r e " o f the K h w a r i z m s h a h s — T u r k i s h amirs w h o had governed the r i c h K h w a r i z m basin for the Seljuks and n o w were independent. U s i n g a large mercenary army, they conquered Transoxiana, Khurasan, central Iran, and m u c h o f Af ghanistan i n the second half o f the t w e l f t h century and first decade o f the t h i r t e e n t h ; they even intervened i n Anatolia and began t o plan an invasion o f Iraq. The e m p i r e o f the Khwarizmshahs, even their army, was p o o r l y integrated and overextended, however. It q u i c k l y collapsed before the M o n g o l forces o f Genghis Khan (ca. 1162-1227),

w

n

o

arrived o n the borders o f

Transoxiana i n 1219. As the real power o f the Great Seljuk sultans i n the western parts o f their domains weakened, the Abbasid caliphs began to reassert themselves. I n 1152 the caliph was able to eliminate the last vestiges o f Seljuk control i n Baghdad, and he r u l e d at least part o f Iraq as independent m o n a r c h for the first t i m e i n over t w o centuries. The caliph al-Nasir (1180-1225), the most capable o f the late Abbasid caliphs, became the most p o w e r f u l political figure o f his day i n Iraq. His ineffectual successors d i d little to enhance the p o w e r o f the caliphate, however. They proved utterly incapable o f w i t h s t a n d i n g the most terrible threat the Islamic w o r l d had ever faced: the M o n g o l s .

The Mongols and the End of the Caliphate in the East In the early thirteenth century the M o n g o l leader Genghis Khan embarked o n his career o f w o r l d conquest, w h i c h w o u l d eventually b r i n g inner Asia, China, Russia, Iran, Anatolia, and Iraq under his family's d o m i n a t i o n . The M o n g o l s tolerated n o o p p o s i t i o n and were careful to destroy any centers o f political power independent o f their o w n . Moreover, for some t i m e they clung to the pastoral traditions o f the steppe and had little interest i n , and n o sympathy for, cities o r agricultural areas, except as revenue sources. These factors, coupled w i t h their perhaps intentional use o f terror as a means o f social c o n t r o l , may explain the destructiveness o f the M o n g o l invasions, w h i c h saw the obliteration o f many cities and their inhabitants and the destruction or neglect o f many i r r i g a t i o n w o r k s o n w h i c h the agrarian prosperity o f the countryside depended. The M o n g o l forces arrived i n Transoxiana, o n the steppe fringes o f the Islamic w o r l d , i n 1219. Shortly thereafter they conquered Khurasan and K h w a r i z m , after w h i c h they swept t h r o u g h n o r t h e r n Iran and the Caucasus Mountains, leaving devastation i n their wake. The M o n g o l s ' consolidation o f power i n inner Asia led t o a

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59

massive migration o f T u r k m e n refugees i n t o Anatolia, w h i c h upset the prosperity that the Rum Seljuks had overseen there. Sensing die R u m Seljuks' weakness, the Mongols then invaded Anatolia, defeated the Seljuks i n 1243 at the Batde o f Kosedag, and reduced the Seljuks to a protectorate o f the M o n g o l Empire. I n i2c6 the Mongols, led by Genghis' grandson H i i l e g u (r. 1256-65), once again invaded Iran. After subduing eastern Iran and the Jibal region and systematically ehminating the Assassin centers i n n o r t h e r n Iran, H i i l e g u seized Baghdad and had the last Abbasid caliph executed i n 1258, along w i t h a good part o f the city's population. His armies then marched across n o r t h e r n Mesopotamia i n t o Syria. Their advance i n this direct i o n was finally stopped w h e n the newly established M a m l u k regime defeated the Mongols i n 1260 at the Battle o f Ayn Jalut i n Palestine. This victory spared Cairo, w h i c h was at this time the m a i n center o f Arabic culture, f r o m M o n g o l devastation. But Hiilegu's forces then controlled the majority o f the Islamic east. The advent o f the M o n g o l s m a r k e d a t u r n i n g p o i n t i n the history o f the Islamic Near East i n several ways. Their arrival accelerated the i m m i g r a t i o n o f Turkish-speaking peoples f r o m the steppes i n t o Anatolia and parts o f Iran. The strong n o m a d i c o r i e n t a t i o n o f the early M o n g o l s at first dealt a severe b l o w to city life and to r u r a l agriculture alike, b o t h o f w h i c h were slow to recover to f o r mer levels o f prosperity. Recovery, w h e n i t came, o f t e n f o l l o w e d n e w patterns: different cities rose to p r o m i n e n c e (such as Ardabil and Q a z v i n ) , w h i l e some f o r m e r l y i m p o r t a n t ones l a n g u i s h e d or v a n i s h e d (such as Baghdad

and

N i s h a p u r ) . Some once i m p o r t a n t regions, such as Khurasan, also w a n e d to r e l ative insignificance. N e w patterns o f c o m m e r c i a l activity were established, some o f w h i c h were related to the fact that the territories conquered by H i i l e g u were f o r a t i m e part o f the vast M o n g o l e m p i r e that extended f r o m Russia to China. I n intellectual terms, t o o , the M o n g o l invasions represented a watershed i n the history o f the Islamic w o r l d . It was the first t i m e , since the establishment o f the caliphate m o r e than six h u n d r e d years earlier, that a significant part o f the Islamic w o r l d had been subjected to the d o m i n a t i o n o f a n o n - M u s l i m p o w e r — a fact that must have called i n t o q u e s t i o n the a s s u m p t i o n made by m a n y M u s l i m s that God's favor for their c o m m u n i t y was revealed i n its c o n t i n u i n g political superiority. The M o n g o l s b r o u g h t n e w concepts o f legitimacy, such as descent f r o m Genghis Khan and the n o t i o n o f the ruler's decree as law. These concepts were w i d e l y emulated by many later dynasties i n the eastern Islamic w o r l d , even those that also appealed to Islamic traditions o f legitimacy.

The Caliphate as Agent of Political and Cultural Change The preceding pages have traced the simultaneous spread o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y f r o m its o r i g i n s to the t h i r t e e n t h century and the rise and fall o f the

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caliphate. M u h a m m a d ' s c o m m u n i t y i n M e d i n a had been at once a small r e l i gious c o m m u n i t y and an e m b r y o n i c state or p o l i t i c a l c o m m u n i t y . The p o l i t i c a l entity, under caliphal leadership, grew i n t o a vast e m p i r e w i t h explosive speed, but the religious c o m m u n i t y grew m u c h m o r e slowly. The early Believers were at first a small m i n o r i t y i n the e m p i r e they r u l e d , but they were politically d o m inant. The caliphate thus p r o v i d e d the sheltering aegis and a p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y that enabled the small Islamic religious c o m m u n i t y to survive, along w i t h the political and social c o n d i t i o n s w i t h i n the e m p i r e that attracted n e w converts to the faith. W h e n the caliphs lost real power i n the tenth century, moreover, the a u t o n o m o u s or independent states that sprang u p i n their f o r m e r territories, f r o m Spain to I n d i a , were also self-consciously M u s l i m regimes. U n d e r these M u s l i m successor states, Islam continued to p u t d o w n deep roots t h r o u g h o u t the Near East and N o r t h Africa. The caliphate also played another i m p o r t a n t role. By p r o v i d i n g a political and social haven for M u s l i m s , the caliphate also allowed the development o f a r i c h n e w culture, o f w h i c h the Islamic r e l i g i o n was the distinguishing element. The rise o f Islamic culture was even m o r e i m p o r t a n t than political and social factors i n d r a w i n g new people to the Islamic c o m m u n i t y , w h i c h n o w began to spread beyond the confines o f the caliphal empire. W i t h the political regionalism o f the tenth and f o l l o w i n g centuries came c u l tural regionalism. Spain, N o r t h A f r i c a , Egypt, Syria and Iraq, Iran, Anatolia, Yemen, and other regions developed distinctive variants o f a recognizably c o m m o n Islamic culture, focused particularly i n the m a i n cities: Córdoba, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Isfahan, Samarqand, Konya, and others. Changes i n d e m o graphic patterns and linguistic usage contributed to this cultural regionalism. The rise o f the new Persian language i n Iran, the flow o f Turkish-speaking peoples f r o m Central Asia t h r o u g h Iran i n t o Anatolia, the interplay o f Arabic and Berber i n N o r t h Africa, and many other phenomena all played their part. Needless to say, this process o f cultural evolution and diversification continued i n the later Islamic centuries, as Islam spread to many n e w areas and as new cultural developments took place i n the Islamic heartlands. By 1258, w h e n the M o n g o l s executed the last Abbasid caliph, the caliphate had effectively spent itself as a physical s y m b o l o f Islam's u n i t y and identity. Several o t h e r r u l e r s — i n c l u d i n g the Fatimids, the Umayyads o f Spain, one o f the Almohads, and even the Hafsid governor o f I f r i q i y a — h a d taken for themselves the once coveted titles o f amir al-mu'minin or caliph, and the Shiite development o f the rival concept o f i m a m (head o f the Islamic c o m m u n i t y ) had also called the caliphate's meaning i n t o question. But by this t i m e the Islamic c o m m u n i t y was no longer defined merely by p o l i t i c a l boundaries and hegemony. M o r e

M U H A M M A D

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6[

i m p o r t a n t n o w were a c o m m o n set o f religious beliefs, an elaborate system o f religious law and practice, and other elements o f Islamic culture, and this i d e n tity was firmly e n o u g h established to survive even r u l e by n o n - M u s l i m s such as the M o n g o l s . Above all, i t was this solid cultural basis, first fostered by the i m p e rial caliphate, that made possible Islam's survival over fourteen centuries and its spread to every corner o f the globe.

CHAPTER

TWO

Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND P R A C T I C E I N I S L A M

Vincent J. Cornell

Knowledge without practice is like a tree without fruit. — T h e M o r o c c a n Sufi A h m a d i h n A s h i r o f Sale

Faith i n Islam is never b l i n d . A l t h o u g h belief i n the unseen is just as important i n Islam as i t is i n other religions, there comes a point at w h i c h the spiritually aware h u m a n being transcends the level o f simple faith. At this p o i n t the person is m o r e

(Left) Thousands of Muslims gather for communal worship at the Badshahi

than just a believer, for his or her spiritual consciousness has penetrated the fog o f

Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan,

the unseen, leading to knowledge o f the true nature o f things. The Quran speaks

to celebrate the Feast of the

o f this progression f r o m faith to knowledge as an i n w a r d metamorphosis i n w h i c h

Sacrifice that commemo-

belief (iman) is transformed i n t o certainty (vfltjin). This certainty is expressed i n the Quran i n terms o f three types o f knowledge o f G o d , w h i c h were discussed by philosophers, mystics, theologians, and jurists d u r i n g the Islamic Middle Period (the runth through fifteenth centuries C.E.).

63

rates the willingness of Ibrahim (the Biblical Abraham) to sacrifice his son and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

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God's word, as rev ealed in the Quran, is the centerpiece of Muslim faith. Copying the Quran was the noblest of arts and luxury manuscripts were produced at all times.This copy, transcribed in 1491 by the noted Ottoman calligrapher Shaykh Hamdullah and lavishly decorated with arabesque designs, is a worthy testament to Muslim faith.

Modalities of Certainty The most basic and fundamental type o f k n o w l e d g e is the " k n o w l e d g e o f cert a i n t y " (ilm al-yonin, Q u r a n 102:5). This type o f certainty, w h i c h is analogous t o Aristotle's concept o f intellectual k n o w l e d g e , refers to the k n o w l e d g e that results f r o m the h u m a n capacity for logical reasoning and the appraisal o f w h a t the Q u r a n calls the "clear evidences" (bayyinot) o f God's presence i n the w o r l d . It is also the k n o w l e d g e that comes f r o m the study o f Islam t h r o u g h the Q u r a n , the

FRUIT

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traditions o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d (hadith), and books o f theology a n d exegesis. By nature, the " k n o w l e d g e o f certainty" is rational and discursive, a p o i n t that the Q u r a n acknowledges w h e n i t admonishes h u m a n beings to "travel t h r o u g h o u t the earth and consider h o w [Allah] i n i t i a t e d the Creation" ( Q u r a n 29:20). The same type o f knowledge is involved w h e n the Q u r a n presents rhetorical arguments f o r the existence o f G o d : " I t is [Allah] w h o brings things to life a n d causes t h e m to die, and [Allah's] is the alteration o f the n i g h t and the day. W i l l y o u n o t understand?" ( Q u r a n 23:80). Over t i m e and under the influence o f contemplation and spiritual practice, the " k n o w l e d g e o f certainty" may be transformed i n t o a higher f o r m o f k n o w l e d g e o f G o d , w h i c h the Q u r a n calls the "eye o f certainty" (ayn al-yaqin, Q u r a n 102:7). This t e r m , w h i c h broadly corresponds to Plato's concept o f the " v i s i o n " o f the intellect, refers to the k n o w l e d g e that is acquired by the spiritual intelligence, w h i c h Islam locates metaphorically i n the heart. Before attaining this type o f know-ledge, the heart o f the believer must first be " o p e n e d to I s l a m " ( Q u r a n 39:22). Once opened, the heart receives k n o w l e d g e as a type o f d i v i n e " l i g h t " or i l l u m i n a t i o n , w h i c h leads the believer t o w a r d remembrance o f the Creator. Just as w i t h the " k n o w l e d g e o f certainty," w i t h the "eye o f certainty" the believer apprehends God's existence t h r o u g h God's presence i n the w o r l d . I n this latter case, however, w h a t leads the believer to the k n o w l e d g e o f G o d are n o t arguments to be u n d e r s t o o d by the rational intellect, b u t rather theophanic "appearances" (also called bayyinat) that strip away the veil o f w o r l d l y phenomena to reveal the d i v i n e reality beneath. The metaphor o f the "eye o f certainty" is thus m o r e than just a simple gloss o n the a x i o m "seeing is believing." F r o m a spiritual perspective the one w h o holds k n o w l e d g e o f G o d , w h o perceives reality i n this way, is the true "intellect u a l . " U n l i k e the scholar, w h o develops his o r her skills t h r o u g h years o f f o r m a l study, the spiritual intellectual does n o t need b o o k - l e a r n i n g to apprehend the d i v i n e l i g h t . A l t h o u g h the Prophet M u h a m m a d was barely able to read o r w r i t e , he has always been regarded by M u s l i m s as the greatest intellectual o f Islam. A spiritual intellectual can be anyone, scholarly or otherwise, whose k n o w l e d g e extends b o t h o u t w a r d , to take i n the physical w o r l d , and u p w a r d , to realize his o r her ultimate transcendence o f the w o r l d t h r o u g h his o r her l i n k w i t h the Absolute. W i t h o u t such a vertical d i m e n s i o n o f the spirit, the scholar's k n o w l edge, whatever its extent may be i n academic terms, is o f l i t d e w o r t h . By being b l i n d to d i v i n e i l l u m i n a t i o n , such a person is bereft o f real w i s d o m , and accordi n g to a famous prophetic t r a d i t i o n amounts to little m o r e than "a donkey carr y i n g a load o f books." The t h i r d and most advanced type o f knowledge builds o n the transcendent nature o f knowledge itself. This highest level o f consciousness is called the " t r u t h

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o f certainty" (haqq al-yaqin, Q u r a n 69:5"!). Also k n o w n as ilm ladunni ( " k n o w l e d g e by presence," Q u r a n 18:65), this f o r m o f k n o w l e d g e partakes directly o f the d i v i n e reality and leaps across the synapses o f the h u m a n m i n d to transcend b o t h cognitive reasoning and intellectual v i s i o n at the same t i m e . The " t r u t h o f cert a i n t y " refers to that state o f consciousness i n w h i c h a person k n o w s the " r e a l " t h r o u g h direct participation i n i t , w i t h o u t resorting to logical proofs and w i t h out o b j e c t i f y i n g either subject or object. Viewed i n terms o f Islamic sacred history, this type o f knowledge characterizes God's Prophets and Messengers, whose consciousness o f the t r u t h is b o t h i m m e d i a t e and participatory, because the k n o w l e d g e o n w h i c h i t is based comes f r o m direct inspiration. A l t h o u g h M u h a m m a d is the final Prophet o f Islam, many scholars i n the Islamic M i d d l e Period were o p e n to the p o s s i b i l i t y that d i v i n e i n s p i r a t i o n c o u l d r e m a i n accessible to believers even after M u h a m m a d ' s death. This poss i b i l i t y is s y m b o l i z e d i n Islamic t r a d i t i o n by the figure o f a l - K h i d r (Green O n e ) . A p p e a r i n g first i n the Q u r a n as an u n n a m e d servant o f G o d a n d c o m p a n i o n o f the Prophet Musa (Moses), a l - K h i d r is e n d o w e d w i t h a k n o w l e d g e o f the unseen that Musa h i m s e l f lacks. The Q u r a n describes this enigmatic sage, w h o is n o t a p r o p h e t yet partakes o f d i v i n e i n s p i r a t i o n , i n the f o l l o w i n g w a y : " W e have bestowed u p o n h i m a m e r c y f r o m Ourself, and have taught h i m a k n o w l e d g e f r o m O u r o w n presence" ( Q u r a n 18:65). Traditions o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d w o u l d later h i g h l i g h t the difference between a l - K h i d r s k n o w l edge and the k n o w l e d g e o f prophets, w h i l e at the same t i m e a f f i r m i n g its c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y t o prophecy. For e x a m p l e , i n the Sahih al-Bukhari, or " s o u n d c o l l e c t i o n " o f p r o p h e t i c t r a d i t i o n s by M u h a m m a d a l - B u k h a r i (810—70), a l K h i d r is depicted as saying to Musa: "Verily, I act o n k n o w l e d g e f r o m the k n o w l e d g e o f A l l a h , w h i c h He has made k n o w n t o m e b u t has n o t made k n o w n t o y o u , w h i l e y o u act o n k n o w l e d g e that He has made k n o w n to y o u b u t has n o t taught t o m e . " Thus, according to b o t h the w o r d o f God as expressed i n the Q u r a n a n d the traditions o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , faith i n Islam has as m u c h to d o w i t h w h a t today w o u l d be called theoretical and experiential k n o w l e d g e as i t does w i t h simple belief. This m u l t i d i m e n s i o n a l conception o f k n o w l e d g e comprehends a reality that lies h i d d e n w i t h i n the phenomenal w o r l d yet can be revealed by the h u m a n m i n d and the v i s i o n o f the s p i r i t u a l intellect t h r o u g h the signs o f God that are present i n the w o r l d itself. I n the Q u r a n , G o d calls o n h u m a n i t y to "bear witness to w h a t y o u see and w h a t y o u d o n o t see . . . a Message sent d o w n f r o m the L o r d o f the W o r l d s . . . verily this is the T r u t h o f Certainty" ( Q u r a n 69:3 8 - 3 9 , 43. 5i)The Quranic n o t i o n o f religious belief as dependent o n knowledge is actualized i n practice i n the t e r m Islam. I n Arabic islam is a verbal n o u n that is derived

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f r o m the root aslama, w h i c h means "he gave u p , surrendered, or s u b m i t t e d . " I n purely etymological terms, islam thus signifies the idea o f surrender or submission. F o l l o w i n g this logic, the r e l i g i o n o f Islam can be characterized as the r e l i g i o n o f self-surrender: Islam is the conscious and rational submission o f the contingent and l i m i t e d h u m a n w i l l to the absolute and o m n i p o t e n t w i l l o f God. Such a complete surrender o f one's personal w d l clearly is n o t easy for everyone and is likely to be resisted by the h u m a n ego. Islam's advocacy o f self-surrender should n o t be t h o u g h t o f as i r r a t i o n a l , however, or dismissed as the p r o d u c t o f a passive or fatalistic mentality. O n the contrary, the type o f surrender Islam requires is a deliberate, conscious, and rational act made by the person w h o k n o w s w i t h b o t h intellectual certainty and spiritual v i s i o n that Allah, the G o d w h o is the subject o f the Quranic discourse, is reality itself. This k n o w e r o f God is the muslim (fern, muslimah), " o n e w h o s u b m i t s " to the d i v i n e t r u t h , and whose relationship w i t h G o d is governed by taqwa, the consciousness o f h u m a n k i n d ' s responsibility t o w a r d its creator. But consciousness o f God alone is n o t sufficient to make a person a M u s l i m . Neither is i t enough to be merely b o r n a M u s l i m or to be raised i n an Islamic c u l tural context. The concept o f taqwa implies that the believer has the added responsibility o f acting i n a way that is i n accordance w i t h the three types o f knowledge previously discussed. The sincere believer must endeavor at all times to m a i n t a i n herself i n a constant state o f submission to God. By d o i n g so, she attains the h o n ored title o f "slave o f G o d " (abd Allah, fern, amat Allah), for she recognizes that all p o w e r and all agency belong to God alone: " A l l a h has w i l l e d i t . There is n o p o w e r but Allah's" (Quran 18:39). Trusting i n the mercy o f her divine master, yet fearing God's w r a t h , the slave o f God walks the road o f life w i t h careful steps, maki n g her actions deliberate so that she w i l l n o t stray f r o m the path that God has laid out for her (Quran 1 -.5-7). Such is the epistemological "leap o f f a i t h " that Islam requires o f its believers. It is an all-encompassing and h i g h l y personal type o f c o m m i t m e n t that has little i n c o m m o n w i t h the academic understanding o f Islam as a civilization or a cultural system. Rather, this "leap o f f a i t h " has m u c h m o r e i n c o m m o n w i t h the spiritual perspective o f the " b o r n - a g a i n " Christian or the mystic w i t h i n a traditional r e l i g i o n , whose heedless soul is "resurrected" or awakened by the l i g h t o f the t r u t h . This s i m i l a r i t y between the spiritual knowledge o f M u s l i m s and the adherents o f other religions is a r e m i n d e r that religious experience is not h m i t e d to specific peoples or cultures; it is universally h u m a n i n nature. The universality o f r e l i g i o u s experience is an i m p o r t a n t premise o f the Quran's argument against the profane or secular life. Taking a different tack f r o m the h a d i t h (the corpus o f prophetic traditions that provides detailed instructions o n h o w to act as a M u s l i m i n specific r i t u a l or moral contexts), the Q u r a n is less concerned w i t h d e f i n i n g creedal boundaries than w i t h a f f i r m i n g the universal

When praying, worshipers separate themselves from the ground with a mat or rug. Wealthy people might use a beautiful prayer carpet, such as this exquisite wool and siLk example made in the seventeenth century under the Mughal emperors.

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o b l i g a t i o n to believe i n one God. The Q u r a n thus speaks o f broad verities o f religious experience to w h i c h every h u m a n being can relate. Similarly, w h e n dealing w i t h religious practices, the Q u r a n is less concerned w i t h the details o f r i t u a l than w i t h the m e a n i n g that lies b e h i n d the rituals i t prescribes. The details o f r i t u a l practice, w h i c h serve to define Islam for most believers, are usually left for t r a d i t i o n t o define. By speaking i n a transcendental voice and presenting a discourse that is relevant to h u m a n experience i n general, the Q u r a n overcomes the cultural l i m i t a t i o n s o f the Arab c i v i l i z a t i o n i n w h i c h i t was o r i g i n a l l y revealed and makes its message accessible to peoples o f different cultural backgrounds. This u n i versalism has never been m o r e i m p o r t a n t than i n the present day, w h e n the m a j o r i t y o f M u s l i m s are South or Southeast Asian i n o r i g i n a n d w h e n o n l y o n e - f i f t h o f t h e m are Arabs. Such a transcendence o f culture is necessary for any religion that aspires to universal validity. As the vehicle for the w o r d o f God, it is necessary for the

The majority of Muslims today live in south or southeast Asia.

Q u r a n to overcome linguistic and cultural differ-

The universalism of Islam transcends the cultural boundaries

ences and express itself i n a metalanguage that can be understood even w h e n its o r i g i n a l Arabic is translated i n t o a non-Semitic

tongue

such

of Arab civilization for these children studying the Quran in Malaysia.

as

English or Indonesian. A n example o f this metalanguage can be f o u n d i n the t r i partite m o d e l o f knowledge previously discussed. Despite the exceptionalism o f postmodern philosophy, w h i c h accentuates cultural boundaries by hypostasizing the n o t i o n o f difference, the comparative study o f h u m a n societies reveals that most people—whatever their experiences and regardless o f variations i n c u l t u r e — t h i n k i n similar ways and have similar wants and needs. Responding to this fact, the Quran seeks to establish a c o m m o n f o u n d a t i o n for belief that is based o n such shared perceptions and experiences. Over and over again, the Quran reminds the reader to t h i n k about the truths that he behind the familiar or mundane things o f the w o r l d , such as the signs o f God i n nature, the practical value o f virtue, and the cross-cultural vahdity o f fundamental moral principles. What is good for Muslims is meant to be good for all h u m a n beings, regardless o f gender, color, or o r i g i n . The Quran thus appeals to b o t h reason and experience i n determining the criteria f o r differentiating between t r u t h and falsehood.

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The most i m p o r t a n t theological p o i n t made by the Q u r a n is that there is one G o d — A l l a h (The G o d ) — u n i v e r s a l and beyond comparison, w h o creates and sustains b o t h the material universe and the w o r l d of h u m a n experience: " [ A l l a h ] has created the heavens and the earth i n T r u t h ; exalted is He above the partners they ascribe to H i m ! " ( Q u r a n 16:3). A l l other f o r m s o f so-called t r u t h are either false i n their i n i t i a l premises or contingently true only i n l i m i t e d situations. The recognition o f this fact produces an alchemical effect o n the h u m a n soul that f o r ever transforms the o u t l o o k o f the believer. This is eloquently described i n the f o l l o w i n g passage f r o m Fi Zilal al-Quran ( I n the shade o f the Q u r a n ) , a c o m m e n tary by Sayyid Q u t b ( 1 9 0 6 - 6 6 ) , the Egyptian activist and c h i e f ideologist o f the Muslim Brotherhood: When a conception that sees nothing i n the world but the reality of Allah establishes itself i n the human mind and heart, it is accompanied by the vision of this genuine, permanent reality i n every other being that has sprung from it. This is the stage at which the heart feels the hand of Allah in everything and beyond which it feels nothing bul Allah i n the whole u n i verse. There would be no other reality to be felt. It is also accompanied by the attribution o f every event and every movement i n this life and i n this universe to the first and only cause, that is, Allah, that brings other causes about and influences their effectiveness. The Quran takes great care to establish this truth in the Muslims' concept of faith. It has always put aside apparent causes and associated events directly w i t h the w i l l of Allah. It says, "When you threw (a handful o f dust) it was not your act, but Allah's" [Quran 8:17]. "There is no triumph except that given by Allah" [Quran 8:10 and Quran 3:126]. "You have no w i l l except as Allah wills" [Quran 76:30].

A f a i t h such as Islam, based o n certain k n o w l e d g e , is b o t h a l i b e r a t i o n a n d a l i m i t a t i o n . It is a l i b e r a t i o n i n the sense that certainty o f the d i v i n e reality allows the h u m a n s p i r i t t o expand b o t h o u t w a r d and u p w a r d , so that the c o n sciousness becomes three d i m e n s i o n a l . But i t is also a l i m i t a t i o n , because w i t h the k n o w l e d g e o f God comes a c o n c o m i t a n t awareness o f the l i m i t s and responsibilities i m p o s e d o n the person as a created being. U n l i k e the secular h u m a n i s t , the true M u s l i m w h o submits to G o d cannot delude herself b y c l a i m i n g that she is the sole author o f her destiny. She k n o w s that such a statem e n t is absurd, f o r a person's fate is r o u t i n e l y i n f l u e n c e d by factors b e y o n d her c o n t r o l . This t r u t h has even been recognized b y some thinkers i n the Western secular t r a d i t i o n . The German p o l i t i c a l p h i l o s o p h e r Karl M a r x , f o r example, a c k n o w l e d g e d that a person's destiny is t o a large extent dependent on external factors. For the M u s l i m , however, the " h i d d e n h a n d " that guides

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a person's fate is n o t some idealized construct such as p o l i t i c a l economy, class, or i d e o l o g y ; rather, i t is the d i v i n e w i l l that governs b o t h the social and the material universes. I n Islam it is n o t r e l i g i o n that is the " o p i u m o f the masses" but the heedless arrogance o f the h u m a n ego, w h i c h deludes itself by c l a i m ing that i t can be all things to all people: " [ A l l a h ] created the h u m a n b e i n g f r o m a tiny d r o p [ o f s p e r m ] ; yet see h o w he has b e c o m e a brazen d i s p u t e r ! " ( Q u r a n 16:4). A m i d d l e p o s i t i o n between the l i m i t s and possibilities o f h u m a n agency can be f o u n d i n the doctrine o f choice (ikhtiyar), w h i c h has become an i m p o r t a n t part o f Shiite theology. A c c o r d i n g to this d o c t r i n e , the overall fate o f the h u m a n b e i n g , like that o i all creatures, is governed by the f o r e - k n o w l e d g e (qada) o f an a l l - p o w e r f u l and all-just G o d . This does n o t mean that the believer must t h r o w u p his hands i n resignation and d o n o t h i n g o n his o w n behalf, however. Q u i t e the opposite. A c c o r d i n g to this perspective, God's d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f affairs is i m m u t a b l e o n l y on the universal level, the level o f the w h o l e . O n the level o f the part, the necessity o f a m e a n i n g f u l choice between g o o d and evil demands that absolute predestination be replaced by the possibility o f h u m a n agency, w h i c h allows the h u m a n being to choose between ethical alternatives. O n the personal level, an individual's fate (qadar) is to a large extent dependent o n the choices that he makes d u r i n g his life. These may be m o r a l choices such as seeki n g v i r t u e rather than vice, p o l i t i c a l choices such as w h o m to regard (the f a m i l y o f the Prophet

or subsequent dynasties o f caliphs)

as

Muhammad's

successors, or eschatological choices such as w h e t h e r to believe that the Shiite " H i d d e n I m a m " w i l l r e t u r n at the e n d o f t i m e . I n other w o r d s , each person's fate is the result o f an o n g o i n g and c o n t i n u o u s i n t e r a c t i o n , o n many levels and over many years, between the h u m a n w i l l and the w i l l o f G o d . Each i n d i v i d u a l makes his o r her choices freely, b u t the o p t i o n s f r o m w h i c h to choose are d i v i n e l y d e t e r m i n e d , and thus b e y o n d the i n d i v i d u a l ' s a b i l i t y to c o n t r o l . For the M u s l i m , belief i n God's d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f affairs is n o t fatalism b u t c o m m o n sense. A believer feels liberated i n k n o w i n g his or her l i m i t s , because the acceptance o f w h a t can never be changed removes the w o r r y and frustrat i o n o f striving i n vain and opens the d o o r t o constructive engagement w i t h the possible. Just as knowledge o f the t r u t h compels a person to accept God as the Creator and Sustainer o f the universe o n the level o f the m a c r o c o s m , the same k n o w l e d g e requires h i m or her t o accept the givens o f material l i f e o n the level o f the m i c r o c o s m . Either a person puts her m i n d at ease by practicing w h a t some Christians refer to as " l e t t i n g go and letting G o d , " or he suffers the e n d less f r u s t r a t i o n o f the "secular

fideist"

or d o c t r i n a i r e secularist, w h o vainly

believes that h u m a n k i n d can overcome all obstacles, o n l y to f i n d that no strategy can save h i m f r o m death. The Q u r a n admonishes such people i n the f o l -

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l o w i n g verse: " D o n o t be like those w h o forgot God so that [ G o d ] made t h e m forget

their o w n

souls"

( Q u r a n 59: 19). In

this

sense

Frithjof

S c h u o n , the n o t e d w r i t e r on

comparative

religion,

defines Islam i n his w o r k Comprendre I islam

(Under-

standing Islam) (1976) as " t h e juncture between G o d as such and m a n as such." Schuon adds that w h e n the M u s l i m conceives o f G o d , i t is n o t " i n the sense that [ G o d ] can manifest

Him-

self i n a certain way and i n a certain t i m e , b u t i n d e pendendy f r o m history i n The doctrine of choice (ikhtiyar) plays an important role in the ethical philosophy of Shiite Islam. Shiism is prevalent in modern Iran, where clerics often meet to discuss religious affairs in local shrines, as at the Imamzada Sayyid Ali in Nain.

that [ G o d ] is w h a t H e is, and also that He creates and is revealed by His nature." Conversely,

when

the

M u s l i m is c o n c e i v e d as a rational agent, i t is n o t " i n

the sense that he is lost and is i n need o f a saving miracle, b u t i n the sense that he is created after the image o f G o d (deiforme), is given an intelligence capable o f conceiving o f the Absolute, and a w i l l capable o f choosing that w h i c h w i l l guide i t . " I f h u m a n k i n d is to be saved tiirough faith, and the essence o f faith is k n o w l edge, t h e n i t is i n c u m b e n t u p o n G o d as the source o f all k n o w l e d g e to p r o v i d e h u m a n i t y w i t h the knowledge that w i l l enable i t to apprehend the t r u t h and thus save itself. I n this sense the message o f Islam echoes that o f the Gospel: "Ye shall k n o w the T r u t h , and the T r u t h shall make y o u free."

From the Knowledge of God to the Practice of the Sunna As a revealed text, the Q u r a n is God's b o o k , n o t the Prophet

Muhammad's.

A l t h o u g h one o f the discourses (surah) o f the Q u r a n is n a m e d after M u h a m m a d

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( Q u r a n 33) and the Prophet is often addressed directly by God i n the Quran, he is m e n t i o n e d by name only four times ( Q u r a n 3: i 4 4 ; 3 3 : 4 o ; 4 7 : 2 ; 4 8 : 9 ) . M o r e often die Q u r a n expresses itself i n the first-person o r imperative voice. I n all such cases, the voice that speaks i n the text is God's, not that o f the Prophet. This firstperson perspective imparts an i m m e d i a c y t o the Quranic discourse that is somew h a t similar to the tone used i n the N e w Testament. Also like the N e w Testament (and parts o f the Hebrew Bible), the Q u r a n is n o t o n l y didactic b u t " a u t o b i o graphical," because G o d is often depicted as speaking about God's o w n d i v i n e nature. Thus, t o assert that the authorship o f the Q u r a n is a n y t h i n g b u t divine is to strip the Q u r a n o f the very reality that i t claims for itself. Such a stance w o u l d never be acceptable t o a believing M u s l i m . W h i l e i t w o u l d be a travesty o f Islam's claim t o the t r u t h t o call the religion " M u h a m m a d a n i s m " o r to say that i n the Quran " M u h a m m a d says such-and-such," it is equally w r o n g to say that the Prophet had n o t h i n g whatsoever to d o w i t h the Quran. First, the Quranic revelation came o u t o f the Prophet's m o u t h and i n his o w n A r a b i c language, either as the result o f a direct revelation f r o m God or through the mediation o f the angel Gabriel. I n addition, d u r i n g more than t w e n t y - t w o years o f revelation, the Prophet was the p r i m e interpreter o f the Quran, and his recorded statements about h o w its teachings are t o be p u t i n t o effect f o r m the basis o f the Sunna, the paradigm o f behavior that every M u s l i m must follow. As God says to the Prophet: " W e have revealed u n t o y o u the Remembrance, so that y o u may explain to people that w h i c h has been revealed for t h e m " (Quran 16:44). The

c o n c e p t o f t h e Sunna is based o n the b e l i e f that t h e Prophet

M u h a m m a d is a role m o d e l f o r a l l M u s l i m s , b o t h male a n d female. This is c o n f i r m e d by the Q u r a n i n the f o l l o w i n g verse: " A g o o d example y o u have i n Allah's Messenger, f o r all w h o s e h o p e is i n A l l a h a n d i n the Final Day a n d who

r e m e m b e r A l l a h f r e q u e n t l y " ( Q u r a n 33:61). Besides b e i n g the h u m a n

vehicle o f revelation, the Prophet is also m e n t i o n e d i n the Q u r a n as the execut o r o f God's laws. For this reason the Prophet's orders m u s t be obeyed by M u s l i m s as i f those orders came f r o m G o d H i m s e l f : " O b e y A l l a h and the Messenger so that y o u may f i n d m e r c y " ( Q u r a n 3:132). Finally, b y e x t e n d i n g the w o r d o f G o d t h r o u g h t h e process o f Q u r a n i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , the Prophet acts as a legislator f o r the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y : " [ T h e P r o p h e t ] w i l l make l a w f u l f o r t h e m all g o o d things and p r o h i b i t t h e m o n l y the b a d , and w i l l relieve t h e m o f t h e i r burdens a n d t h e fetters w h i c h they used t o w e a r "

(Quran

7:157). These Prophetic roles o f m o r a l exemplarity, executive decision m a k i n g , a n d legislative l a w m a k i n g all have an i m p o r t a n t bearing o n r e l i g i o u s practice. T h u s , i t is n o t s u r p r i s i n g t o discover that there are m o r e statements about practice i n the Sunna than i n the Q u r a n .

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D u r i n g his l i f e t i m e the Prophet's a u t h o r i t y was accepted w i t h o u t dispute, because i t was already c o n f i r m e d by G o d i n the Q u r a n and thus d i d n o t depend o n the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y ' s assent. The question o f the Sunna's a u t h o r i t y after M u h a m m a d ' s l i f e t i m e , however, was n o t e x p l i c i t l y discussed i n the Q u r a n . I n the first century after the Prophet's death, many M u s l i m s preferred to f o l l o w local or regional interpretations o f Islamic practice rather than uncertain accounts o f M u h a m m a d ' s behavior that were orally passed d o w n t h r o u g h the generations. I n the second and t h i r d centuries o f Islam, t r a d i t i o n - m i n d e d legal scholars such as Malik i b n Anas (ca. 715—795) a n d M u h a m m a d i b n Idris al-Shafii (767—820) argued t h r o u g h analogical reasoning that the collective example o f the Prophet, his Companions (al-Sahabah), and their followers (collectively k n o w n as al-Salaf aiSalih, " T h e V i r t u o u s Forerunners") was to be accepted along w i t h the w o r d o f G o d as a p r i m a r y and thus n o r m a t i v e source o f practice. This extension o f the l i v i n g a u t h o r i t y o f the Prophet and his Companions i n t o f u t u r e generations became so w i d e l y accepted i n the M u s l i m w o r l d that all pious M u s l i m s n o w see themselves as f o l l o w i n g the Sunna i n one way or another. Today the Sunna enjoys near canonical status as a source o f Islamic precedent—so m u c h so that i n the hands o f politically motivated Islamists, those w h o f o l l o w the doctrines o f the Wahhabis o f Saudi Arabia, and other so-called M u s l i m fundamentalists, the Sunna has been denuded o f ah historical contextualization and stands nearly equal to the Q u r a n as a source o f t r u t h . The r a w material o f the Sunna is the corpus o f hadith ( p i . ahadith). This consists o f collected accounts o f the Prophet's deeds and sayings, w h i c h are at times supplemented by the actions and comments o f the Prophet's Companions. The w o r d hadith means " r e p o r t o r saying." I n Sunni Islam this t e r m most o f t e n refers to a consensually legitimated b o d y o f sayings and reports about M u h a m m a d ' s behavi o r that was c o m p i l e d i n six m a j o r collections (the Six Books or al-Kutub al-Sittah) i n the late n i n t h to tenth centuries, about t w o and a h a l f centuries after the Prophet's death. These collections are seen today as p r i m a r y sources o f b o t h j u r i d i c a l and m o r a l precedent and are second o n l y to the Q u r a n i n their p r a c t i cal significance and authority. D u r i n g the p e r i o d i n w h i c h they were c o m p i l e d , the h a d i t h were classified according to the soundness o f their chains o f transmission and the character, piety, trustworthiness, and r e p u t a t i o n o f their transmitters. The Six Books o f Sunni h a d i t h attained their status as n o r m a t i v e sources because f e w i f any o f the traditions contained therein were f o u n d 10 be spurious. Two o f these collections have been designated by a consensus o f scholars as particularly s o u n d (sahih). These works—Sahih al-Bukhari ( m e n t i o n e d earlier) and Sahih Muslim (named after M u s l i m i b n al-Hajjaj al-Nisaburi, ca. 817—875)—are the most authoritative books

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o f Suririi h a d i t h . The r e m a i n i n g books are also n a m e d after their compilers a n d are k n o w n either as collections o f precedents (surion)—such as the Sunan o f A b u D a u d al-Sijistani (817-88), the Sunan o f I b n Majjah a l - Q a z w i n i ( 8 2 2 - 8 7 ) , and the Sunan o f al-Nasai (830—91c)—or as a collection (jami), such as Jami al-Titmidhi (named after a l - T i r m i d h i , 8 2 4 - 9 2 ) . Shiite Muslims consider the traditions o f their i m a m s (spiritual leaders descended directly f r o m the Prophet M u h a m m a d ) to be equal i n i m p o r t a n c e to those o f the Prophet h i m s e l f The most significant collections o f Shiite h a d i t h are those o f A b u Jafar M u h a m m a d al-Kulayni ( d . 9 4 0 ) , A b u Jafar M u h a m m a d i b n Babuyah, also k n o w n as Shaykh Saduq (ca. 923-91) and al-Hasan al-Tusi ( 9 9 5 - 1 0 6 7 ) . I n Sahih Muslim is a t r a d i t i o n k n o w n as the H a d i t h o f Gabriel (Hadith Jibril), w h i c h has l o n g been regarded by M u s l i m s as o n e o f the most i m p o r t a n t statements o n Islamic faith and practice. Like other traditions o f its k i n d , i t originates w i t h U m a r i b n al-Khattab (ca. 5 8 6 - 6 4 4 ) , a close c o m p a n i o n o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d a n d the second khalifa (caliph or successor t o M u h a m m a d ) o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . For many M u s l i m scholars the H a d i t h o f Gabriel constitutes the d e f i n i n g statement o f the Islamic creed (aqidah), because i t appears as a sort o f catechism o f Islamic d o g m a . Because i t is n o t part o f the Q u r a n , this h a d i t h is not f u l l y equivalent t o the w o r d o f G o d . I t enjoys a particularly h i g h status, h o w ever, because i t depicts the Prophet as being tested o n matters o f doctrine by the angel Gabriel, God's messenger i n the w o r l d o f spirits and the m a i n c o n d u i t o f the Quranic revelation. Because o f its importance t o the d e f i n i t i o n o f Islamic practice, the f u l l text o f this h a d i t h is reproduced below, except for the last sect i o n (probably added at a later date), w h i c h discusses the signs and portents o f the e n d o f the w o r l d and the advent o f the Day o f Judgment: [Umar ibn al-Khattab reported:] One day, while we were sitting w i t h the Messenger o f God (may God bless and preserve h i m ) , there came upon us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black. No dust of travel could be seen upon h i m , and none of us knew h i m . He sat down i n front of the Prophet (may God bless and preserve h i m ) , rested his knees against [the Prophet's] knees and placed his palms on [the Prophet's] thighs. " O h Muhammad, tell me about Islam," he said. The Messenger of God (may God bless and preserve him) replied: "Islam means to bear witness that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to maintain the [required] prayers, to pay the poor-tax, to fast [ i n the month of | Ramadan, and to perform the pilgrimage to the House [of God at Mecca] i f you are able to do so." "You are correct," [the man] said. We were amazed at his questioning [ o f the Prophet] and then saying that [die Prophet] had answered correctiy. Then

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he said, "Tell me about faith." [The Prophet] said: " I t is to believe i n Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe i n Allah's determination of affairs, whether good comes of it or bad." "You are correct," he said. "Now- tell me about virtue (ihsan)." [The Prophet] said: "It is to worship Allah as i f you see H i m ; for i f you do not see H i m , surely He sees you." . . . Then [the man] left. I remained for awhile, and [the Prophet] said to me: " O h , Umar, do you know- who the questioner was?" "Allah and His Messenger know best," I replied. He said: " I t was [the angel] Gabriel, who came to you to teach you your religion." A n i m p o r t a n t aspect o f the H a d i t h o f Gabriel is that the expected p o l a r i t y between f a i t h and practice is reversed. Instead o f faith b e i n g a prerequisite for practice, i t is practice that defines faith. This reversed p o l a r i t y is a r e m i n d e r that Islam is defined n o t o n l y as a set o f beliefs but also as a b o d y o f actions that reveal the i n n e r convictions o f the believer. This practice-oriented v i e w o f Islam is t y p i c a l o f the h a d i t h genre i n general. Each n o r m a t i v e p r e s c r i p t i o n o r explanatory statement that one finds i n these traditions acts as a c o m p l e m e n t to one o r m o r e verses o f the Q u r a n . A n o t h e r way to describe the relationship between the h a d i t h and the Q u r a n is to say that traditions such as the H a d i t h o f Gabriel express a " n o m o c e n t r i c " o r law-centered perspective o n Islam, i n w h i c h k n o w l e d g e o f spiritual realities is less i m p o r t a n t than the performance o f a p p r o priate behavior. This stands i n contrast t o the Quran's m o r e " l o g o c e n t r i c " o r w o r d - c e n t e r e d approach to Islam, i n w h i c h the d i v i n e w o r d arouses k n o w l e d g e o f G o d i n the h u m a n consciousness. This shift i n emphasis f r o m i n n e r belief to o u t w a r d practice is less s u r p r i s i n g w h e n n o m o c e n t r i c traditions such as the H a d i t h o f Gabriel are v i e w e d i n their historical context. The H a d i t h o f Gabriel was originally passed d o w n by Abdallah i b n U m a r , the son o f U m a r i b n al-Khattab, some t i m e after his father's death. The caliph U m a r is a central figure i n Islamic history, because i t was he w h o initiated the M u s l i m conquests o f Palestine, Syria, and Iran. Just before these conquests, the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y was forced to undergo the so-called Apostasy (Riddo) Wars, i n w h i c h Arab tribes used the death o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d as an excuse to reassert their independence f r o m the Islamic state. D u r i n g this t i m e o f transition, w h e n f o r m e r apostates were being taken back i n t o the Islamic fold and many n o n - M u s l i m s sought to avoid the social and economic disadvantages o f conquest by converting to the new r e l i g i o n , it was imperative for the Islamic state to define the m i n i m u m requirements for b e c o m i n g a believer. Once i d e n tified as a M u s l i m , the convert became exempt f r o m the jizyah (the p o l l - t a x levied against n o n - M u s l i m s ) and c o u l d claim a share o f the stipends that were paid o n an annual basis to participants i n the jihad or war o f Islamic expansion. This need for a creedal d e f i n i t i o n o f Islam is amply served by the H a d i t h o f Gabriel, w h i c h defines Islam i n three ways: ( i ) theologically, by asserting that Allah is the One G o d and n o t part o f a pantheon; (2) historically, by asserting

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that the Prophet M u h a m m a d is the messenger o f G o d , thus separating the nascent era o f Islam f r o m the previous era o f t h e o l o g i cal ignorance (Jahiliyyab); and ( 3 ) doctrinally, by m a n d a t i n g five basic and f u n d a m e n t a l pillars o f Islamic practice that f o r m a l l y d i f ferentiate Islam f r o m Christianity, Judaism, and the other religions o f the M i d d l e East.

The Five Pillars of Islam The Five Pillars o f Islam (arkan al-Islam), w h i c h are presented systematically for the first t i m e i n the Hadith o f Gabriel, are relatively simple to carry out and can easily be learned by the person w h o wishes to convert to Islam. The tirst pillar o l Islam is to openly proclaim and bear witness that there is no g o d but Allah and that M u h a m m a d is the messenger o f Allah. This is k n o w n as the Shuhadah (the act o f bearing witness). It may also be caUed al-

Five fundamental tenets, often described as the pillars

Shahadatayn (the t w o wimessings), because it

of Islam, distinguish Islam from other religions. The

consists o f t w o separate acts o f bearing w i t ness. The first witnessing, "There is n o g o d but A l l a h , " affirms the acceptance o f the divine reality by the h u m a n intellect. As a formal

proclamation

of

divine

singularity

first is the shahuda, or profession of faith, which attests that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is Gods messenger. In this modern Moroccan calligraphic panel embroidered in gold thread, the words of the profession of faith have been given the form of a human figure at prayer.

(tavvhid), i t is the creedal equivalent t o the " k n o w l e d g e o f certainty" discussed earlier. The second witnessing, " M u h a m m a d is the messenger o f A l l a h , " affirms one's submission to God, w h i c h is the meaning o f the w o r d islam itself. Here, the h u m a n being responds to the divine w i l l by acknowledging the Prophet M u h a m m a d as both the vehicle o f the Quranic revelation and the paradigmatic muslim or " s u b m i t t e r " to God. By stressing the sources o f b o t h the theoretical and the practical knowledge o f religion (i.e., Allah and the Prophet), the " t w o wimessings" o f the Shahadah thus reaffirm the complementarity o f faith and practice i n Islam. The second pillar o f Islam is to make the required five prayers each day i n the d i r e c t i o n o f the Great Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram) i n Mecca. These prayers, c o l lectively k n o w n as al-Salat, are p e r f o r m e d just before d a w n , at n o o n , at m i d - a f t e r n o o n , just after sunset, and i n the evening, f r o m an h o u r after sunset t o a r o u n d m i d n i g h t . I n the h a d i t h , prayer is depicted as the quintessential act o f submission to God and the m a i n p r o o f o f Islam. I n Jami aJ-Tirmidhi, the Prophet is q u o t e d as saying: "Prayer is the p r o o f [ o f I s l a m ] . " T h e central importance given to prayer

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i n Islam is due t o the r e c o g n i t i o n that the performance o f al-Salat forces the h u m a n body to respond to the reality that has first been acknowledged by the heart and the tongue i n the Shahadah. I n a d d i t i o n , the

essential

contrast

between

the

absolute independence o f God and the o n t o l o g i c a l dependency o f the h u m a n b e i n g is r e a f f i r m e d i n the actions and attitudes o f the prayer. To p e r f o r m the prayer, the believer must first put herself i n a state o f p u r i t y by p e r f o r m i n g either a ritual ablution

(wuclu)

or a bath (ghusl). The symbolic nature o f the ablution is illustrated by the fact that either clean water or clean sand may be used to p e r f o r m this ritual. The full bath, i n w h i c h water is p o u r e d over b o t h the bod)' and the head, is needed only i n cases The second pillar of Islam is to worship God five limes a day in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. To determine

o f serious ritual p o l l u t i o n or after sexual intercourse.

In

general,

the a b l u t i o n

the direction of Mecca, known as the qibla, Muslims

should be seen as an expression o f respect

developed the science of astronomy. Twentieth-century

for God's majesty and as a means o f

worshipers can use this qibla compass.

preparing the believer f o r meeting and addressing the Lord and Creator.

The movements o f the M u s l i m prayer are patterned after attitudes o f obeisance that were associated i n late a n t i q u i t y w i t h entering i n t o the presence o f a great ruler. To visualize h o w the prayer movements correspond to the act o f greeting such a ruler, imagine a petitioner standing outside a king's throne r o o m . The first t h i n g that the petitioner is likely to d o before entering the royal presence is to s u m m o n the resolve to enter the throne r o o m . This corresponds to the act o f a f f i r m i n g the i n t e n t i o n (niyyah) that precedes not o n l y the canonical prayer b u t all other ritual observances i n Islam as w e l l . Next the petitioner enters the throne r o o m itself. After stepping over the threshhold she stops, raises her hands to her ears, and proclaims the g l o r y and majesty o f the r u l e r for all to hear. This corresponds to the act o f " m a g n i f i c a t i o n " (takbir), w h i c h begins the prayer. To p e r f o r m the takbir, the M u s l i m w o r s h i p p e r raises her hands to her ears and proclaims i n Arabic, " A l l a h is most great!" (Allohu akbur!). The petitioner then bows before the king i n an attitude o f reverence and uses a ritual formula to address the king. This corresponds to the next stage o f the prayer.

Before worship, Muslims must put themselves in a state of ritual purity, and many mosques, such as the Kairouiyyin in Fez, Morocco, provide fountains for ablution.

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i n w h i c h the worshipper recites Surat al-Fatihah, the Quran's opening discourse. This surah, w h i c h is translated below, has often been described by M u s l i m theologians as summarizing i n a few lines the essential message o f the Quran: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds; the Beneficent, the Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment. You alone do we worship and from You alone do w e seek aid. Show us the StraightWay, the way o f those upon w h o m You have bestowed Your grace, not of those w h o have earned Your

wTath

or who go

astray (Quran i ; i - 6 ) . After reciting the Fatihah, the w o r s h i p p e r recites another verse f r o m the Q u r a n , w h i c h is chosen at her i n d i v i d u a l discretion. A l t h o u g h any verse f r o m the Q u r a n may be used, this second recitation is often used by M u s l i m s to further magnify God by recounting some o f the d i v i n e attributes. After greeting the k i n g f r o m the threshhold o f the throne r o o m , the petitioner next approaches halfway to the throne itself. At this points, she stops, bows, and utters another ritual f o r m u l a . This corresponds to the t h i r d part o f the prayer, w h i c h is called the " b o w i n g " (ruku). After again saying " A l l a h is most great!" the w o r s h i p p e r bows f r o m the waist and proclaims three times, " G l o r y to the Greatest L o r d ! " After raising herself to an u p r i g h t p o s i t i o n , she next utters: " A l l a h hears the one w h o praises H i m . " After this the w o r s h i p p e r immediately adds, " O u r L o r d , all praise belongs to Y o u ! " In the final act o f approaching the k i n g , the petitioner is s u m m o n e d to the foot o f the throne and falls prostrate before the ruler. This expression o f subm i s s i o n — w h i c h the secular individualist often sees as b o t h repellant and a n t i thetical to the concept o f personal d i g n i t y — w a s c o m m o n practice i n late antiquity. W h e n Islam first appeared i n the M i d d l e East, petitioners were expected to prostrate themselves before b o t h the Byzantine emperor (a Christian) and the Shah o f Persia (a Zoroastrian). This was because these rulers p e r f o r m e d the dual role o f k i n g and h i g h priest, exercising political a u t h o r i t y as heads o f state and religious a u t h o r i t y as heads o f their respective religious institutions. I n b o t h cases as w e l l , they were t h o u g h t to be the vicegerents o f G o d o n earth: the Byzantine emperor r u l e d over the lands o f " N e w R o m e " (the o n l y " R o m e " k n o w n to M u s l i m s ) as b o t h Caesar and Vicar o f Christ, w h i l e the Shah o f Persia r u l e d over Ins k i n g d o m as the semidivine representative o f the g o d Ahuramazda. I n Catholic Christianity i t is still required for those j o i n i n g monastic orders to prostrate themselves before the altar o f Christ. This religious attitude o f h u m i l ity is i n f u l l agreement w i t h the perspective o f the Islamic prayer. I f a person is w i l l i n g to h u m b l e h i m s e l f before the secular kings o f the w o r l d , is it not m o r e fitting

to h u m b l e h i m s e l f before G o d , w h o is the King o f Kings? Because Muslims

readily prostrate themselves before G o d , however, it does not mean that they are

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After raising his hands in lakbir, the petitioner bows his head in an attitude of reverence while reciting the faliha, the opening chapter of the Quran. The final two steps are bowing (ruku) and prostration (sajdah).

similarly i n c l i n e d to s u b m i t to w o r l d l y a u t h o r i t y figures. I n the first century o f Islam, M u s l i m s were notably s t u b b o r n i n their refusal to prostrate before anyone o r a n y t h i n g b u t Allah. The arrival i n the mid-seventh century o f a M u s l i m deleg a t i o n to the emperor o f Clhna was recorded as a remarkable event i n T'ang dynasty chronicles, because these Arab o r Persian visitors (called Ta-Shih by Chinese historians) refused to prostrate themselves before the emperor, w h o was believed to be the "Son o f Heaven." Before commencing the act o f prostration (sajdah or sujud), the worshipper must first repeat the takbir, "Allah is most Great!" At this point she falls to her knees and prostrates herself before God, placing both hands flat o n die g r o u n d and touching her forehead between t h e m . W h i l e i n the b o w i n g position she recites three times, " G l o r y to the Lord Most H i g h ! " After once again saying "Allah is most Great!", the worshipper sits back o n her heels and asks for God's mercy, saying, " O h God, forgive me and show me mercy." Repeating the f o r m u l a "Allah is most Great!" one m o r e time, she again resumes the attitude o f prostration and recites three rimes, " G l o r y to the Lord Most H i g h ! " After this, she stands up and repeats the entire cycle o f prayer, starting w i t h anotiier magnification o f God.

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Each cycle o f the M u s l i m p r a y e r — f r o m the initial takbir through the recitation o f the Quran, the b o w i n g , the prostration, the sitting, and the second prostration—is k n o w n as a rakiih ( p i . rakat). Every canonical prayer requires f r o m t w o to four rakat t o complete:

t w o for the d a w n (fajr)

prayer, four for the n o o n (zuhr) prayer, four for the mid-afternoon (asr) prayer, three for the sunset (maghrib) prayer, and four for the evening (isha) prayer. I n all, the total number

o f cycles p e r f o r m e d for

the

prayers is seventeen. After every t w o cycles and after the t h i r d cycle o f the sunset prayer, the worshipper sits back o n her heels i n an attitude k n o w n as the " s i t t i n g " (jalsoh).

While

in

this

position,

she

addresses God w i t i i a formula k n o w n as the "greeting" (tahiyyah). At this time she also calls f o r t h God's blessings o n the Prophet M u h a m m a d . A l t h o u g h the actual The third pillar of Islam is to pay a yearly poor-tax (zakah)

w o r d s o f this

greeting

vary

shghdy

to a religious official or a representative of the Islamic state.

according

to the different schools

of

Personal charity, such as almsgiving to this blind beggar in

Islamic law, the meaning is essentially the

Gambia, is an important article of faith.

same i n all cases.

After all o f the cycles o f the canonical prayer have been completed, the w o r shipper sits back o n her heels once again and recites a f o r m u l a k n o w n as the " w i t n e s s i n g " (tasnahhud), because it contains the w o r d s o f the "profession

of

f a i t h " (Shahadah). Outwardly, this witnessing acts as a f o r m a l reaffirmation o f the t r u t h o f Islam. Inwardly, i t is the p o i n t at w h i c h the w o r s h i p p e r engages i n her most direct c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h God. M u s l i m scholars consider this to be the most intimate part o f the canonical pray er, w h e r e the w o r s h i p p e r privately p e t i r

tions the favor o f her l o r d , w h o responds by sending d o w n d i v i n e mercy as a relief for her w o r l d l y cares. The witnessing is followed by a formal supplication that asks God's blessings for the Prophets M u h a m m a d and Ibrahim (Abraham), the last and first o f Allah's messengers, whose purpose was to bring salvific t r u t h to humanity t h r o u g h a revealed book. Finally, the prayer is ended w i t h an invocation o f peace (salam). To make this invocation, the worshipper turns her head first to the right and then to the left, utteri n g , "May the peace, mercy, and blessings o f Allah be u p o n y o u . " A l t h o u g h the most

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The fourth pillar of Islam is to fast during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month according to the Islamic lunar calendar. Muslims abstain from food and drink during the daylight hours. Here a family in Bahrain breakfasts in the predawn darkness.

probable objects o f this invocation are the fellow believers w h o sit at the w o r s h i p per's r i g h t and left d u r i n g die congregational (jamaa) prayer, Muslims have l o n g believed that w i t h this f o r m u l a they are also addressing their guardian angels, w h o hover over their shoulders as they pray. The t h i r d pillar o f Islam is to pay the yearly tithe to a religious official or a representative o f the Islamic state. This tithe is k n o w n as al-zakah (the purification) and is levied o n each i n d i v i d u a l believer. The official level o f this tithe, w h i c h is set at o n e - f o r t i e t h (2.5 percent) o f the value o f all l i q u i d assets and income-generating properties i n the worshipper's possession, is based o n a hadith text and was c o n firmed

by M u s l i m scholars f o l l o w i n g the usage o f the Prophet's Companions and

their successors. A c c o r d i n g to the Q u r a n , the tithe may be used to feed the poor, to encourage conversion to Islam, to ransom captives, to relieve debtors o f their b u r d e n , to help wayfarers, and to support those w h o devote themselves to the cause o f G o d (Quran 9:60). It may also be used i n defense o f the faith and for anyother purpose deemed appropriate by the ruler o f an Islamic state. I n Shiite Islam another tithe, called "the fifth" (khums), is also required o f believers. This consists o f a 20 percent tithe o n all n e w i n c o m e for the year a n d is used to support the juridical and educational institutions o f the Shiite c o m m u n i t y . The f o u r t h pillar o f Islam is t o observe the m o n t h - l o n g fast o f Ramadan, the n i n t h m o n t h o f the Islamic lunar calendar. D u r i n g the t w e n t y - n i n e or t h i r t y days

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o f the fasting p e r i o d , the believer m u s t abstain f r o m f o o d , d r i n k , and sex d u r i n g d a y l i g h t h o u r s . This pillar is k n o w n as al-Smvm o r Siyam Ramadan and is seen

by

M u s l i m s as b o t h a purificatory act o f sacrifice and an a f f i r m a t i o n o f ethical awareness. The sacrificial aspect o f Ramadan is reflected i n the Sahih Muslim hadith m e n t i o n e d earlier.

Just

after

stating that

prayer is the p r o o f o f Islam, the Prophet M u h a m m a d adds that "fasting is [the key t o ] heaven." The Ramadan fast is a key t o heaven because i t involves the sacrifice

o f a person's

bodily-

desires and is p e r f o r m e d for the sake o f G o d alone. By also denyi n g h i m s e l f d r i n k , the believer further ensures that the sacrifice w i l l be felt by the body. The pain that is felt by the believer d u r i n g The fifth pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage to Mecca, which takes

the Ramadan fast acts as a b r i d g e

place during the first ten days of the twelfth month in the lunar

that links the sacrifice to a larger

year. In medieval times pilgrims traveled together to Mecca in cara

sense

vans, as depicted in this illustration from a thirteenth-century manuscript of al-Hariri's Maoamal.

o f social responsibility.

Inwardly, the believer purifies the body by consecrating i t to G o d .

O u t w a r d l y ; the believer uses the fast to recall the responsibility that must be felt t o w a r d his f e l l o w h u m a n beings. By u n d e r g o i n g the pain o f h u n g e r and thirst for an extensive yet l i m i t e d p e r i o d o f t i m e , the believer recalls the pain o f the person w h o s e "fast" never ends because his stomach is never free f r o m w a n t . The fifth pillar o f Islam is the p i l g r i m a g e t o Mecca. This takes place i n the first ten days o f the m o n t h o f D h u l - H i j j a h (the t w e l f t h m o n t h o f the Islamic calendar) and is obligatory f o r every believer w h o is physically and financially able to make the journey and p e r f o r m the prescribed rites. This pillar o f Islam is called al-Hajj. Its n i n e essential rites are as f o l l o w s : i . To p u t o n the " g a r m e n t o f consecration" (ihram), w h i c h consists o f t w o pieces o f unsewn c l o t h for m e n and covers all parts o f the body except the face, hands, and feet f o r w o m e n . W h i l e i n the state o f

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i h r a m , i t is n o t permissible to have sexual relations, to k i l l animals o r insects, or to remove any hair f r o m the b o d ) 2. To circumambulate the Kaaba (literally, " c u b e " ) , also k n o w n as the House o f G o d (Bayt Allah), at the center o f the Grand Mosque o f Mecca. This is done seven times i n a counterclockwise direction. W h i l e c i r c u m ambulating the Kaaba, many p i l g r i m s also attempt to t o u c h the "Black Stone" (al-Hajar alAswad), a meteorite considered to be sent f r o m heaven and originally placed by the Prophets I b r a h i m and Ismail (Ishmael) i n one o f the comers

The pilgrim arriving in Mecca dons a special garment of consecration (ihrora), worn throughout the pilgrimage. For men this comprises two seamless lengths of white cloth; women must cover the entire body except hands, face, and feet.

o f the Kaaba. Pilgrims may also p e r f o r m the act o f " r u n n i n g " (say) seven times along a c o r r i d o r o f the Grand Mosque, i n c o m m e m o r a t i o n o f the Prophet Ibrahim's slave w o m a n Hajar (Hagar), w h o searched for water for her infant son, the Prophet Ismail. A l t h o u g h these last t w o rites are p e r f o r m e d by many i f not all p i l g r i m s , they are n o t official parts o f the pilgrimage. 3. To stand at Arafat, a plain southeast o f Mecca, o n the n i n t h day o f the m o n t h o f D h u l - H i j j a h , even i f i t is only for a short time. Those w h o have staked o u t a place for themselves and are able to remain for a longer p e r i o d listen to a sermon delivered f r o m the heights o f M o u n t Arafat. Tins commemorates the final pdgrimage o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , w h o delivered his farewell sermon f r o m this site. 4. To spend the n i g h t at an e n c a m p m e n t near Mecca called Muzdalifah. c. To t h r o w stones at the three places where, according to M u s l i m trad i t i o n , Satan t r i e d to tempt the Prophet Ismail. This is to be done once before the sacrifice at M i n a h , and then again o n the t w o days f o l l o w i n g the sacrifice. 6. To sacrifice an a n i m a l (usually a sheep o r a goat, b u t sometimes a

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c o w o r a camel) at the place called M i n a h . This commemorates God's acceptance o f a sheep as a sacrifice i n place o f the Prophet Ismail. M u s l i m s disagree w i t h Biblical traditions about Ismail, w h i c h assert that this ancestor o f the Arabs c o u l d n o t have been the " f i r s t - b o r n " son and heir ( i f the Prophet I b r a h i m because he was b o r n f r o m Hajar the slave rather than f r o m Ibrahim's free w i f e Sarah. I n Islam, unlike either Christianity o r Judaism, the c h i l d o f a female slave and the c h i l d o f a free w o m a n are equally legitimate and b o t h can claim shares o f their father's inheritance. For this reason M u s l i m s believe that it was Ismail, the Prophet Ibrahim's firstb o r n son, and not his second son Ishaq (Isaac), w h o m I b r a h i m intended to consecrate to G o d as a sacrifice. They further believe that the Kaaba was a temple that I b r a h i m and Ismail built for G o d i n Mecca w h e n Ismail had reached a d u l t h o o d . The rites of the pilgrimage take the pilgrim to several sites in and around Mecca. Here, on the stony slopes of

7. To repeat the c i r c u m a m b u l a t i o n o f the Kaaba seven m o r e times. 8. To d r i n k the water f r o m the w e l l called Zamzam (literally, " b u b b l i n g " ) i n the precincts o f the Great Mosque o f Mecca, w h e r e

Mount Rahma overlooking

M u s l i m s believe G o d p r o v i d e d water for Hajar and her infant son

the plain of Arafat, where

Ismail d u r i n g their w a n d e r i n g s i n the desert.

the Prophet gave his farewell sermon, an Iranian pilgrim

9. To p e r f o r m t w o cycles o f the canonical prayer at a place k n o w n as the

beseeches God while others

Station o f Abraham (Maqam Ibrahim), w h e r e the Prophets I b r a h i m and

shelter from the blazing sun.

Ismail are believed to have prayed together after b u i l d i n g the Kaaba.

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While on the pilgrimage to Mecca, most pilgrims include a visit to the city of Medina, where Muhammad emigrated in 622. The most important spot there is the Prophet's mosque and tomb, represented here in a sixteenth-century religious texi from Morocco.

The m i n i m u m requirements o f the Hajj are the w e a r i n g o f the i h r a m , the standing at Arafat, and the second c i r c u m a m b u l a t i o n o f the Kaaba. A l t h o u g h the Hajj may be completed w i t h o u t p e r f o r m i n g the r e m a i n i n g rites, the p i l g r i m is r e q u i r e d to pay expiation (kaffarah) for his failure to complete t h e m . D u r i n g the entire H a j j the p i l g r i m must avoid t h i n k i n g about a n y t h i n g other than the remembrance o f G o d and the rites o f the p i l g r i m a g e itself. This is because circ u m a m b u l a t i n g the Kaaba, like the canonical prayer, symbolizes the believer's entry i n t o the divine presence. The earthly House o f G o d (Bayt Allah) that the p i l g r i m visits i n Mecca is believed by many M u s l i m s to replicate the cosmic House o f G o d i n the Seventh Heaven, w h i c h contains the d i v i n e t h r o n e and is c i r c u m ambulated by the angels and all o f the archetypes o f creation.

The Six Pillars of Faith The Five Pillars o f Islam are f o l l o w e d i n the H a d i t h o f Gabriel by another g r o u p o f creedal principles k n o w n as the Six Pillars o f Faith (arkan al-iman). Despite the Quranic l i n k between k n o w l e d g e and faith, these pillars o f faith are n o t associ-

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ated w i t h the highest levels o f knowledge that were discussed earlier. Like the Pillars o f Islam, they instead comprise a practice-oriented approach to r e l i g i o n because they are meant to be r i t u a l l y a f f i r m e d at the t i m e o f conversion or whenever one's doctrinal o r i e n t a t i o n is called i n t o question by the religious authorities o f the Islamic state. Like the pillars o f Islam, the pillars o f faith are thus associated o n l y w i t h the most p r i m a r y level o f k n o w l e d g e m e n t i o n e d i n the Q u r a n — i l m al-yaqin (the rational or d o c t r i n a l k n o w l e d g e o f the t r u t h ) - — a n d d o n o t involve the most advanced states o f k n o w l e d g e (ayn al-yaqin and haqq al-yaqin). The Six Pillars o f Faith i n Islam are as f o l l o w s : 1. To believe i n God (Allah). 2. To believe i n Allah's angels. 3. To believe i n Allah's revealed books, w h i c h include the Q u r a n , the N e w Testament, also k n o w n as the Evangel ( a l - I n j i l ) , the Psalms o f David (al-Zabur), the Torah (al-Tawrat), and the Pages o f Abraham (Suhuf I b r a h i m ) . 4. To believe i n Allah's messengers, w h i c h i n c l u d e many o f the prophets o f the H e b r e w Bible as w e l l as Jesus (Isa), John the Baptist (Yahya), and such previous Arab prophets as H u d and Salih. c. To believe i n the Last Day (al-Yavvm al-Akhir, also k n o w n as Yowm alQiyoma). Islamic eschatology is close to that o f Christianity and even includes an intercessory role for Jesus. Many M u s l i m s also believe i n a quasi-prophetic figure called the M a h d i ( G u i d e d O n e ) , w h o w i l l come after Jesus and usher i n a p e r i o d o f peace and justice that w i l l last u n t i l the Day o f Judgment. This figure does n o t appear i n the Q u r a n but is a later a d d i t i o n f r o m the h a d i t h . Significantly, the Mahdi's first appearance i n the h a d i t h is to be f o u n d , like the H a d i t h o f Gabriel, i n Sahih M u s l i m . 6. To believe i n Allah's determination o f affairs, whether g o o d or bad. This is a reaffirmation o f the concepts o f divine fore-knowledge (qada) and fate (qadar) discussed earlier. Were i t n o t for the details added to the Six Pillars o f Faith i n the h a d i t h , i t w o u l d be theoretically possible for most Christians or Jews to a f f i r m the Islamic pillars o f faith and still r e m a i n w i d l i n their o w n religions. This is w h y the p u b lic a f f i r m a t i o n o f the pillars o f faith is n o t accepted by most M u s l i m jurists as a sufficient p r o o f o f Islam w i t h o u t also being accompanied by the Five Pillars o f Islam. The first o f the five pillars, the witnessing or Shahadah, unequivocally

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requires the believer to accept the prophet M u h a m m a d as the messenger o f Allah. I n d o i n g so, the prospective believer must also acknowledge the t r u t h o f the Quranic revelation as w e l l as the normative nature o f the Sunna. Whenever the teachings o f the Q u r a n or the Sunna d i f f e r f r o m those o f the Hebrew Bible o r the N e w Testament, M u s l i m s are required to favor the later Islamic i n t e r p r e t a t i o n over the earlier doctrines o f Judaism o r Christianity. The p r i m a c y o f practice over faith that is reflected i n such traditions as the H a d i t h o f Gabriel is so w i d e l y accepted i n the M u s l i m w o r l d that some Western scholars have erroneously asserted that Islam has n o orthodoxy. I n their view, there is n o single creed o r b o d y o f doctrine—apart f r o m the Shahadah—that all M u s l i m s regard as n o r m a d v e . I n the absence o f such a d o c t r i n e , these scholars posit an orthopraxy, a f o r m o f Islam that is defined almost entirely i n terms o f ritual observance. F r o m a comparative perspective, however, this stance is difficult to justify. First, all M u s l i m s d o not pray i n exactly the same way. The schools o f Islamic j u r i s p r u dence differ o n m i n o r points o f what is to be said or done i n the canonical prayer. Second, n o o r t h o d o x y is static; all orthodoxies are " o r t h o d o x i e s i n the m a k i n g . " Official interpretations o f doctrine tend to fluctuate over t i m e and may be transf o r m e d i n response to changing social conditions or relations o f power. This can even happen i n a h i g h l y centralized institution such as the Catholic C h u r c h . It is n o coincidence, for example, that the doctrine o f papal infallibility was p r o m u l gated i n the m i d - n i n e t e e n t h century, at the very t i m e w h e n the ideals o f n a t i o n alism and participatory democracy were u n d e r m i n i n g the papacy's influence. Likewise, i t is n o coincidence that the official doctrine o f the V i r g i n M a r y is currently u n d e r g o i n g a review process i n the Catholic C h u r c h , at a t i m e w h e n f e m i n i s m has revolutionized the status and role o f w o m e n i n Western society. Islamic orthodoxies are n o different. Doctrines have changed repeatedly i n the fourteen h u n d r e d years o f Islamic history. For example, the theological rationali s m o f the Mutazilite school o f theology—a dogma that was officially i m p o s e d o n M u s l i m s by the caliph and enforced by an i n q u i s i t i o n — w a s replaced as " o r t h o d o x " doctrine after less than a century by its antithesis, the tradition-based fideism o f the A h l al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa (the people o f the Sunna and the m a j o r i t y ) . One may also recall h o w the mystical interpretations o f Sufism, once w i d e l y accepted as an alternative approach to Islamic theology, have recently been replaced and even anathematized by the hadith-driven scripturalism o f Wahhabism (a practiceoriented sect f r o m Saudi Arabia that advocates a literal interpretation o f the Q u r a n and hadith) and other movements o f Islamic r e f o r m . Today, the m o r e innovative aspects o f Sufism have been driven so far o f f the historical stage that even many Sufis themselves n o w differ little f r o m their reformist opponents i n adhering to a hadith-based approach to theology and Quranic exegesis.

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Yet t o give the advocates o f o r t h o p r a x y their due, i t must be admitted that the outcome o f b o t h o f these d o c t r i n a l disputes depended to a large extent o n the b e l i e f i m p l i e d i n the Hadith o f Gabriel, that practice is the c r i t e r i o n o f faith and not the other way around. Despite the Quran's emphasis o n the primacy o f k n o w l edge, the Sunna's emphasis o n the p r i m a c y o f practice has clearly prevailed among most M u s l i m s . Today, " o r t h o d o x " Islam is m o r e than anything else a " n o m o c e n t r i c " or law-centered religion. As the H a d i t h o f Gabriel illustrates, this trend began quite early i n Islamic history. Another early example can be f o u n d i n the t h o u sand-year-old creed o f the Tunisian jurist A b u M u h a m m a d i b n A b i Zayd alQayrawani (922—96). This creed, w h i c h appears i n the i n t r o d u c t o r y section o f i b n A b i Zayd's Ristilah, or treatise o n Islamic law, is n o w regarded as d o g m a by the adherents o f the M a l i k i school o f jurisprudence i n N o r t h and West Africa. I f a M a l i k i M u s l i m f r o m this region is asked to discuss the subject o f faith and practice i n Islam, he o r she is likely to respond by reciting one or m o r e passages f r o m the RisaJah. I n the passage reproduced below, a strong echo o f the H a d i t h o f Gabriel can be f o u n d i n i b n A b i Zayd's contention that faith is subject to increase and decrease according to the level o f a person's practice: Faith consists of a declaration by the tongue, sincerity i n the heart, and practice through the limbs. It increases through an increase i n practice and decreases through its decrease. Thus, both decrease and increase pertain to it. The declaration of faith is not completed except through practice. Also, neither the declaration [ o f faith] nor practice [is sufficient] except through the mediation of intention, and neither declaration, practice, nor intention [is sufficient] unless it is i n agreement w i t h the Sunna.

The Institutionalization of Islamic Practice in the Shariah I n creeds such as that o f ibn A b i Zayd al-Qayrawani, the concept o f practice becomes m o r e tiian just a matter o f doctrine; it also becomes a matter o f law. The n o t i o n o f the law i n Islam is expressed by t w o different but semantically related terms: shariah (the " w a y " or m e t h o d set o u t by God) and hqh (the "understanding" or application o f this m e t h o d i n specific cases). I n theory, all Islamic law is divine i n o r i g i n because i t is rooted i n God's commandments i n the Quran. I n practice, however, most o f the precedents for Islamic legal decisions are f o u n d not i n the Quran but i n the S u n n a — particularly i n that portion o f the haditii that reflects the prophet Muhammad's interpretations o f Quranic rulings. Despite this apparent discrepancy, i t is n o t correct to assume diat Islamic law is extrascriptural like the Western system o f secular laws. A l t h o u g h n o t all o f the content o f Islamic law comes direcdy f r o m the Quran, the Quran still retains its scriptural nature for Muslims because the Prophet's precedentsetting judgments are believed to be divinely inspired.

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W h e n speaking about Islamic law, i n f o r m e d M u s l i m s use the t e r m shariah to connote the sacred law as a global concept o r ideal, w h i l e fiqh is used to connote the o n g o i n g interpretation o f die law t h r o u g h the schools ( f o u r Sunni and one Shiite) o f juridical practice (madhhab, p i . madhahib). F r o m the earliest days o f Islamic history, knowledge o f the law was regarded by M u s l i m s as essential knowledge, the very epitome o f "science" (ilm) itself. But the science o f the law, like any other science, does n o t stand still. Ideal principles are useless unless they are p u t i n t o practice, and the changing conditions o f Islamic society demanded n e w interpretations and applications o f the way set f o r t h by G o d and the Prophet M u h a m m a d . For this reason the interpretive science o f huh was developed i n the first Islamic century. F r o m an historical perspective the relationship between shariah and f i q h can be summarized by saying that the shariah developed as the paradigm or m o d e l o f the Islamic way o f life, whereas fiqh, the application o f the shariah to specific cases, developed as the paradigm o f Islamic reasoning. I n these t w o concepts, one normative and ideal and the other hermeneutical and practical, a true c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y between d i e o r y and practice is achieved. W i t h o u t the open-ended interpretive process o f fiqh, the shariah is n o m o r e than an i m m o bile edifice, unresponsive to changing times. W i t h o u t the anchor o f tradition e m b o d i e d i n the shariah, the interpretive process o f fiqh is liable to cut itself o f f f r o m its scriptural roots and reduce Islamic law to a system o f situational ethics. As an institution, Islamic law has been weakened considerably over the past century. A c o m b i n a t i o n o f debilitating factors, i n c l u d i n g the substitution o f Western notions for Islamic conceptions o f justice under colonialism, attempts by authoritarian regimes to bypass the judicial process, the rise o f Islamic p o p u l i s m under various forms o f Islamic m o d e r n i s m , and the trivialization o f religious training i n m o d e r n secular education have conspired to undermine the status o f the four Sunni schools o f fiqh. Today, few Muslims can claim to be true scholars o f the law (fuqaha, sg. faqih), and most believers are confused about w h a t the shariah really means. A c o m m o n belief fostered by m o d e r n political Islamists is that o n l y the shariah—but not

fiqh—constitutes

the true law o f G o d . According to this perspective, the c o n -

tent o f the shariah is to be f o u n d i n the Quran, the Sunna, and i n cases i n w h i c h consensus has been reached among the four Sunni schools o f fiqh. However, the interpretive methodologies o f these schools—their very reason for being—are to be ehminated as sources o f dissension that u n d e r m i n e M u s l i m unity. This negative view o f Islamic j u r i s p r u d e n c e — w h i c h is advocated by such groups as the M u s l i m Brotherhood, the Jamaat-i-Islami o f Pakistan, and the Taliban o f A f g h a n i s t a n — ignores the essential complementarity o f shariah and fiqh and threatens to deny Islamic law the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Even worse, the refutation o f f i q h has o f t e n led to a travesty o f the Islamic practice o f justice hy opening the process o f legal reasoning to the influence o f political demagoguery.

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Partisans o f hadith and other scriptural literalists see fiqh as an extrascriptural (and hence, invalid) f o r m o f law because it entails the extension o f rulings f r o m the Q u r a n and Sunna i n t o n e w domains o n the basis o f analogical reasoning. Some rulings i n Islamic law come direcdy f r o m the Quran; these are seldom disputed. Others come f r o m the hadith and are usually held to be b i n d i n g i f they are transm i t t e d f r o m reliable sources. Still other rulings, however, are f o u n d neither i n the Quran n o r i n the hadith but are analogically derived f r o m similar or comparable cases f o u n d i n these p r i m a r y texts. This last category o f rulings provides most o f the differences o f o p i n i o n that separate the schools o f Islamic jurisprudence f r o m one another. This is also where culture and hermeneutical methods play their most significant roles in the process o f interpretation. The m e t h o d o l o g y o f each school o f fiqh is f o u n d e d o n the concept o f l i v i n g t r a d i t i o n , w h i c h consists o f a c o m b i n a t i o n o f the Sunna o f the Prophet and the practice (amaJ) o f a particular legal school. The m e t h o d o l o g i c a l perspective o f each school has been refined over centuries o f legal research and dialectical disputation and holds the status o f a canon to w h i c h all jurists i n a particular school adhere. This canon, or " i m i t a t i o n " (taqlid) o f the decisions and i n t e r p r e t i v e m e t h o d o l o g y o f a particular legal school, s h o u l d n o t , however, be t h o u g h t o f as a f o r m a l law code. Very few decisions o f Islamic jurists attain the status o f b i n d i n g consensus (ijma). Instead, j u r i d i c a l o p i n i o n (ijtihod) is likely to coalesce a r o u n d a m a j o r i t y interpretation or r u l i n g , w h i l e m i n o r i t y positions continue to exist as alternative interpretations. A l t h o u g h the o p i n i o n o f the m a j o r i t y may attain the status o f de facto consensus i n certain regions, the fiqh system, as traditionally applied, remained open to differences o f o p i n i o n and even allowed later revisions o f the m a j o r i t y o p i n i o n . Cases even exist i n w h i c h practices perm i t t e d by the Q u r a n or the Sunna were abandoned by M u s l i m s i n later generations, according to the needs o f e q u i t y (istihsan) or legitimate public interest (miLslahiih

mursalah). Such is the case, f o r example, w i t h the practice o f slavery.

A l t h o u g h the effects o f slavery are clearly m i t i g a t e d i n the Q u r a n , the practice itself was never abolished i n Islam. Slavery has become so abhorrent to m o d e r n sensibilities, however, that n o M u s l i m c o u n t r y officially allows i t w i t h i n its b o r ders. To justify this change o f o p i n i o n , M u s l i m jurists used the concept o f gradualism to argue that the m i t i g a t i o n o f slavery's cruelty i n the Q u r a n i m p l i e d God's i n t e n t i o n that the practice be ultimately abolished. The actions o f individuals i n Islamic law are judged o n the basis o f five valuations, w h i c h rate each act accorcling t o its p e r m i s s i b i l i t y i n a specific context. Most r e l i g i o u s obligations, such as the Five Pillars o f Islam, are regarded as obligatory (fard or wajib). These are acts whose c o m m i s s i o n is rewarded by God and whose omission may be punished by G o d , the Islamic state, or b o t h . I n many M u s l i m countries, for example, wailful neglect o f the fast o f Ramadan may result

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i n fines o r even i m p r i s o n m e n t . I n some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, parajudicial organizations exist whose purpose is to ensure that people make their five daily prayers at the proper times and adhere to consensual standards o f decency. Most acts i n Islamic law, however, a l t h o u g h still ethically valued, are n o t considered obligatory. Instead, they fall under the three central categories o f m o r a l valu a t i o n : approved (mandub o r mustahabb), m o r a l l y neutral (mubah), and m o r a l l y reprehensible (makruh or mahzur). A l t h o u g h the o m i s s i o n o f o b l i g a t o r y acts may b r i n g about p u n i s h m e n t f r o m the state, this is n o t the case for acts that are merely approved; conversely, the c o m m i s s i o n o f acts that are disapproved is n o t likely to b r i n g about p u n i s h m e n t . I n such cases, whatever r e w a r d or p u n i s h m e n t accrues f r o m the act is a matter for G o d t o decide, w h i l e the c o m m i s s i o n o r o m i s s i o n o f an act is a matter for each person's conscience. The neutrality or p e r m i s s i b i l i t y (ibaha) o f an act means exacdy w h a t i t says: neither r e w a r d n o r p u n i s h m e n t accrues to the perpetrator. At times, members o f the p u b l i c may seek an o p i n i o n (fatwa) about the permissibility o f an act f r o m a specialist i n Islamic law (faqih or mufti). I n c o m i n g u p w i t h his o p i n i o n , the legal expert is likely to collapse the three m i d d l e categories o f m o r a l valuation i n t o t w o : permissible (jaiz) f o r acts that are either approved or neutral, and impermissible (ghayr jaiz) for acts that are either disapproved o r f o r b i d d e n (harom). For the most part, acts that are clearly f o r b i d d e n are m e n t i o n e d i n the Q u r a n and include such vices as murder, sexual license, cheating, g a m b l i n g , eating p o r k , c o n s u m i n g alcohol, and taking usury. I n such cases the opposite o f the rule applied to o b l i g a t o r y acts pertains: the comission o f a f o r bidden act is likely to be punished by b o t h God and the state, w h i l e its o m i s s i o n is r e w a r d e d by G o d . F o r b i d d e n acts o f a p a r t i c u l a r l y severe nature, w h i c h threaten the social and m o r a l order o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y , are seen as transgressing the limits

(hudud,

sg.

hadd)

set by G o d H i m s e l f and thus have punishments

that are mandated i n the Q u r a n . I n such cases, w h i c h include the crimes o f m u r der, theft, and (by analogy) adultery, n o t only the rights o f the v i c t i m b u t also the " r i g h t s o f G o d "

(huquq

Allah) are violated.

The "five values" o f Islamic law were never meant to be abstract ideals, totally divorced f r o m the contexts i n w h i c h they occurred. This point is often forgotten by contemporary M u s l i m politicians, w h o seek to create legal mandates for m o r a l or ethical ideals w i t h o u t the benefit o f juridical training or experience. I n earlier, more judicious times a n u m b e r o f i m p o r t a n t questions were asked about h u m a n actions before they were assigned a specific stams i n die hierarchy o f values. Such questions included: W h i c h is the p r i m a r y valuation to be used w h e n judging an act: permissibility o r prohibition? I f an act is not explicitly p r o h i b i t e d i n the Quran or the Sunna, is it automatically permissible? O r should it be deemed forbidden until proven otherwise? W h i c h actions are obligatory for every M u s l i m (fard ayn) and

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w h i c h are obligatory only for the comrnunity i n general (fard kifoyah)? I f an act is fard kifayah, what is the r r h n i m u m number o f people required to p e r f o r m it? Questions such as these were often asked about Islamic rituals. For example, the five canonical prayers are required for every M u s l i m and thus are considered fard ayn. But the t w o festival (Id) prayers, w h i c h are performed i n commemoration o f the end o f Ramadan and the sacrifice made by the hajj pilgrims after the "standing" at Arafat, are fard kifayah. A l t h o u g h b o t h prayers are to be held congregational!); it is not required that every M u s l i m attend them. Similarly, w h i l e attendance at the Friday congregational prayer (salat al-jumu ah) is fard ayn for all Sunni men, for w o m e n it is fard kifayah. For Shiite Muslims the Friday prayer is fard ayn for m e n only w h e n the I m a m is present. I n the absence o f the I m a m ( w h o is presendy believed to be i n a state o f occultation), it is fard kifayah. This is w h y i n a Shiite country such as Iran the Friday prayer is often held i n only a single location i n each city Furthermore, is forbidden the opposite o f lawful? Does a rule apply i n all cases or must the jurist first investigate the merits o f each case before m a k i n g a decision? Is i t possible to f o r b i d an act because o f its consequences, even i f i t is n o t f o r bidden per se? What makes a t h i n g forbidden? Is it f o r b i d d e n intrinsically, i n that it is bad i n and o f itself, or is it f o r b i d d e n extrinsical])', i n that it is bad o n l y because o f the way i n w h i c h i t is used? Such questions are often asked about such f o r b i d d e n substances as p o r k or alcoholic beverages. Many I n d i a n and Pakistani M u s l i m s , w h o still preserve the notions o f i n t r i n s i c p u r i t y and i m p u r i t y held by the H i n d u r e l i g i o n , consider not o n l y the flesh but all other parts o f the swine to be f o r b i d d e n . Thus, they f o r b i d the use o f such products as pig-bristle hairbrushes or p i g s k i n footballs. I n the M i d d l e East and N o r t h Africa, however, it was usually not the p i g itself that was deemed f o r b i d d e n but o n l y the act o f eating its flesh. Ln these regions grafts made o f p i g skin m i g h t even be used to treat head w o u n d s . At w h a t p o i n t d o circumstances change the v a l u a t i o n o f an act? A l t h o u g h the flesh o f swine and c a r r i o n are f o r b i d d e n for M u s l i m s , it is permissible to eat t h e m i f the alternative is starvation. But w h a t about the Quranic order to " c o m m a n d the g o o d and f o r b i d evil?" ( Q u r a n y. 104). W h e n should this be applied? A n d m i g h t the imperative to enforce the good cause an even greater evil than the o r i g i n a l sin itself i f this leads to social unrest, t e r r o r i s m , or r e v o l u tion? Such questions are all too pertinent today i n such countries as Algeria and Egypt, where this i n j u n c t i o n has been applied by M u s l i m insurgents i n an especially severe and uncritical manner. The answers t o such questions he at the heart o f the differences between Islamic schools o f law. Other differences are methodological i n nature and revolve around the assessment o f tradition. The Hanafi school o f jurisprudence, for example, founded by the Iraqi jurist A b u Hanifa (699—767), tends to be somewhat distrustful o f the h a d i t h as a source o f law and gives greater weight to the analogical

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reasoning (ray or qiyas) o f jurists i n the f o r m a t i o n o f legal opinions. This stance has led to b o t h a greater flexibility i n decision m a k i n g and a potential for p o l i t i cal abuse. The M a l i k i school o f jurisprudence, f o u n d e d by the Medinan scholar Malik i b n Anas (ca. 715-795), is also somewhat critical o f the h a d i t h but still prefers to g r o u n d its decisions i n tradition. Malik chose to take the collective trad i t i o n o f the Prophet's city o f Medina as his m a i n source o f precedent, w h i l e later M a l i k i scholars saw this tradition continued i n the decisions made by Maliki jurists i n N o r t h Africa and M u s l i m Spain. A l t h o u g h i t was respected for its c o n sensual approach to tradition, the M a l i k i school o f law was often criticized for g o i n g its o w n way i n the M u s l i m West and i g n o r i n g a w i d e r consensus that may have f o r m e d i n other parts o f the M u s l i m w o r l d . The Shafii school o f l a w — f o u n d e d by the successors o f M u h a m m a d i b n Idris al-Shafii ( 7 6 7 - 8 2 0 ) , the first systematic legal theorist i n Islam—sought to balance reason and t r a d i t i o n by p r i o r i t i z i n g sources o f knowledge. For al-Shafii the p r i mary source o f legal decisions is the Q u r a n , f o l l o w e d by the Surma o f the Prophet, analogical reasoning, and b i n d i n g consensus. This m o d e l is n o w accepted by all schools o f jurisprudence i n Sunni Islam. The Hanbali school, founded by alShafii s student A h m a d i b n Hanbal ( 7 8 0 - 8 5 5 ) , also adheres to this m e t h o d , but it depends more o n tradition and uses analogical reasoning only as a last resort. The d o m i n a n t Shiite school o f jurisprudence, the Jafari, named after the sixth Shiite i m a m Jafar al-Sadiq (ca. 6 9 9 - 7 6 5 ) , adheres for the most part to the methodology associated w i t h the Hanbali school o f law, but i t includes traditions o f the twelve Shiite imams a m o n g its corpus o f hadith. Each o f these last three schools o f law can be criticized for reifying and idealizing t r a d i t i o n t o such a degree that the corpus o f hadith is not subjected to rational analysis or content criticism. Individual ahadith are accepted as true by these schools even i f only one transmitter links these traditions to either the Prophet or an i m a m and regardless o f whether they agree or disagree w i t h an apparent r u l i n g i n the Q u r a n .

From Shariah to Taqwa: Islam and Ethics The Islamic n o t i o n o f h u m a n responsibility is e p i t o m i z e d i n the Q u r a n by a covenant struck between G o d and h u m a n i t y before their placement o n earth. I n this Quranic covenant the archetypal (or " A d a m i c " ) h u m a n b e i n g — p r i d e f u l o f h u m a n superiority over all other creatures but u n m i n d f u l o f h u m a n l i m i t a t i o n s as a created being—assumes the responsibility o f the heavens and the earth and all that they c o n t a i n : " W e offered the trust o f the heavens, the earth, and the m o u n t a i n s [ t o the jinn and angels], but they refused t o undertake i t , being afraid [ o f the responsibility t h e r e o f ] ; but the h u m a n being undertook i t ; however, he was unjust and f o o l i s h " ( Q u r a n 33:72).

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The state o f m o r a l responsibility that is i m p l i e d i n this p r i m o r d i a l covenant is referred to i n the Quran as the vicegerency (khilafah) (Quran 2 : 3 0 - 3 3 ) . Those w h o u p h o l d the requirements o f the covenant are k n o w n as God's vicegerents (khulafa, sing, khalifah) o n earth. I n the Quran they are described as those w h o must "Fear Allah [ittaqu Allah] and speak the appropriate w o r d s , so that He may make y o u r conduct sound and forgive y o u r sins" (Quran 33:70—71). The society that is made u p o f such God-fearing people (muttaqin) constitutes a " m i d d l e n a t i o n " or "axial c o m m u n i t y " (ummah vvasat), whose collective responsibility is to bear witness to the t r u t h and act as an example for the rest o f h u m a n i t y (Quran 2:143). This c o m m u n i t y maintains itself i n a permanent state o f surrender to God (ummah muslimah) and is e x e m p l i f i e d historically by the p o l i t y f o u n d e d by the prophet M u h a m m a d and his companions in Medina between 622 and 632 C E . Evident i n the previous discussion o f the Sunna, the relationship between faith and practice i n Islam is e x e m p l i f i e d by the judgments, interpretations, and personal behavior o f the prophet M u h a m m a d . This example is canonized i n the Sunna and codified i n the shariah. Yet despite the o f t e n obsessive attention that is paid to the outer f o r m o f the Prophet's behavior by contemporary M u s l i m s , the inner state that influences this behavior is often overlooked. This subtle but crucial aspect o f the Sunna warrants further examination. This aspect is epitom i z e d i n w h a t the Prophet's w i f e Aishah once said w h e n s u m m i n g u p her husband's character. " H i s nature was the Quran [khuluquhu al-Quran]; he approved what it approved and he hated what it hated." In this famous h a d i t h the idea o f practice i n Islam intersects w i t h the concepts o f God-consciousness (taqwu) and ethics. A l l ethical systems, w h e t h e r religious or philosophical i n nature, must start by explaining what is meant by "the g o o d . " As w i t h so m u c h else i n Islam, the ultimate d e f i n i t i o n o f the g o o d is seen to reside i n the Q u r a n . A l t h o u g h the Q u r a n refers to the g o o d i n many ways, only a few Quranic terms, such as al-khayr (the g o o d ) and al-haqq (the t r u t h ) , deal w i t h w h a t m i g h t be called p h i l o s o p h i c a l principles. For the most part the Q u r a n does not so m u c h define the g o o d as illustrate it w i t h repeated examples o f v i r t u o u s behavior. This indicates that f r o m the Quranic perspective, ethics is m o r e a matter o f practice than o f philosophy. One o f the most i m p o r t a n t terms used t o describe the practice o f " g o o d " i n the Quran is maruf (virtue). This is expressed most significantly i n a Quranic verse that was previously alluded t o i n the discussion o n Islamic l a w : "Let there be a m o n g y o u a c o m m u n i t y that calls to the g o o d (al-khayr), c o m m a n d i n g virtue (yamuruna bi-l-maruf ) and f o r b i d d i n g vice (yanhawna an al-munkar); these are the ones w h o have attained f e l i c i t y " ( Q u r a n 3:104). I n Arabic, the m e a n i n g o f maruf is essentially social i n nature. It derives f r o m the root arafa (to k n o w ) and literally means "that w h i c h is k n o w n . " As an ethical t e r m , it signifies " k n o w n " or v i r t u -

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ous acts that are p e r f o r m e d i n the f u l l light o f day and thus d o not need to be h i d d e n away f r o m a neighbor's sight. This socially contextualized d e f i n i t i o n o f the g o o d comes q u i t e close to a practice that can be f o u n d i n Mexico and parts o f Central America, where the doors to village houses are left open so that n e i g h bors can see that n o t h i n g shameful is g o i n g o n inside. The antithesis o f maruf, the semantic d o m a i n o f secrecy and hypocrisy, is expressed by the Quranic t e r m munkar (vice). Literally meaning "that w h i c h is hated or despised," m u n k a r c o n notes those behaviors that w o u l d r u i n a person's reputation i f they were perf o r m e d i n the o p e n . A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t ethical t e r m i n Islam is salah (social v i r t u e ) . A l t h o u g h the w o r d itself does n o t appear i n the Q u r a n , there are n u m e r o u s references to this concept, as i n the verse that depicts m o r a l l y u p r i g h t M u s l i m s as r e s i d i n g " i n the c o m p a n y o f those w h o m A l l a h has favored: the prophets, the t r u t h f u l [siddiqm], the m a r t y r s , and the v i r t u o u s [salihin]" ( Q u r a n 4 : 6 9 ) . The p r a c t i t i o n e r o f salah is referred to i n the Q u r a n as a solih (fern, saliha) or a muslin, a m o r a l l y u p s t a n d i n g i n d i v i d u a l w h o w o r k s f o r the b e t t e r m e n t (islah) o f h i m s e l f and his f e l l o w M u s l i m s . By u p h o l d i n g the Sunna, he stands i n o p p o s i t i o n t o the fasid (the " r u i n e r " ) o r selfish i n d i v i d u a l i s t , w h o jeopardizes the m o r a l i n t e g r i t y o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y by u n d e r m i n i n g the standards o f v i r t u e that the salih seeks to establish. I n Islam this m o r a l d i s t i n c t i o n between socially conscious v i r t u e and asocial i n d i v i d u a l i s m replicates the d i c h o t o m y between f a i t h and u n b e l i e f that separates the social e n v i r o n m e n t o f Islam f r o m that o f n o n M u s l i m s . A l t h o u g h most M u s l i m s w o u l d hesitate to repudiate the faith o f a f e l l o w believer s i m p l y because he o r she has s i n n e d , the venal sinner or social deviant m i g h t w e l l be ostracized f r o m the c o m m u n i t y as a " r u i n e r . " The sinner w o u l d still theoretically retain the o p t i o n o f r e t u r n i n g to the f o l d , h o w ever, once he or she had stopped s i n n i n g and h a d sincerely resolved never t o sin again. M u c h o f the appeal o f contemporary reformist movements i n Islam is a result o f their advocacy o f social v i r t u e . Indeed, the Arabic t e r m for " r e f o r m i s t " (islahi) is related to the concept o f salah. T h r o u g h o u t the M u s l i m w o r l d reformist organizations, such as the M u h a m m a d i y a h o f Indonesia, devote a considerable percentage o f their budgets to social welfare projects, such as b u i l d i n g hospitals and medical centers and p r o v i d i n g various kinds o f family and social services. I n Egypt the Mustapha M a h m o u d Society, f o u n d e d by a reformist physician, p r o vides some o f the best medical care i n Cairo; the fee charged is based o n the patient's ability to pay. I n countries i n w h i c h state-supplied services are either lacking or inadequate, the honesty, selflessness, and dedication to the c o m m o n people displayed by such reformist activists count for m u c h m o r e than the theological or philosophical deficiencies that may exist i n their doctrines.

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Ethical terms such as maruf and salah recall the t h i r d d i m e n s i o n o f Islamic practice that was m e n t i o n e d earlier i n the discussion o f the H a d i t h o f Gabriel: the d o i n g o f g o o d or active v i r t u e (ihsan). A l t h o u g h this t e r m has been interpreted i n many different ways, i n the Q u r a n the concept o f active virtue is specifically linked to the concept o f justice (adl). This connection between v i r t u o u s and just forms o f action is clearly expressed i n one o f the most famous ethical verses o f the Q u r a n : "Verily Allah c o m m a n d s justice [adl], the d o i n g o f g o o d [ihsan], and g i v i n g to one's near relatives; He forbids acts o f wickedness, vice [munkar], and lust [bagha]" ( Q u r a n 16:90). I n a later verse o f the Q u r a n , the concept o f justice is expanded to include the n o t i o n o f epistemological t r u t h , This occurs i n a discussion o f the ends for w h i c h God created the universe: " N o t but for just ends [ilia bi-l-haqq] d i d Allah create the heavens and the earth and all that is between t h e m " ( Q u r a n 30:8). I n this verse al-haqq not only expresses the idea o f t r u t h i n an abstract sense, but i t also implies the n o t i o n o f collective and i n d i v i d u a l rights (huquq). as i n " h u m a n r i g h t s " (huquq al-insan) or even " d i v i n e r i g h t s " (huquq Allah). Therefore, w h e n the H a d i t h o f Gabriel defines active virtue as w o r s h i p i n g G o d "as i f y o u see H i m ; for i f y o u d o not see H i m , surely He sees y o u , " i t is clear that this involves m u c h m o r e than mere perfection i n the ritual observances o f Islam. In this statement the epistemological and behavioral c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y o f faith and practice coincides w i t h the m o r a l c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y o f t r u t h and justice. This is one o f the m a i n reasons w h y b o t h Sufis and politically active Islamic reformists have taken the t e r m ihsan to connote the highest degree o f Islamic practice. One Sufi social critic was so impressed by the c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y o f t r u t h and justice that he chose to conceptualize nearly all o f Islam a r o u n d it. This was A b u 1-Abbas al-Sabti ( d . 1204), the patron saint o f Marrakesh and the N o r t h African equivalent o f M o t h e r Theresa or St. Francis o f Assisi. I n a hagiographic w o r k that was w r i t t e n by one o f his disciples, al-Sabti discusses the social m e a n i n g o f ihsan and its importance to the spiritual life o f M u s l i m s : I found a verse in the Book of God that had a great effect on both my heart and my tongue. It was, "Verily, God commands justice and ihsan." I pondered this and said [to myself], "Perhaps [finding] this is no coincidence and I am the one w h o is meant by this verse." I continued to examine its meaning in the books of exegesis until I found [a work] which stated that [the verse] was revealed when the Prophet established brotherhood between the Emigrants and the Helpers [upon moving to Medina]. They had asked the Prophet to establish a pact of brotherhood between them, so he commanded them to share proportionately among themselves. In this way, they learned that the justice commanded [by God] was to be found through sharing . . . I understood that what [the Prophet] and his Companions adhered to were the practices of sharing in proportionate measure (mushatara) and selfless devotion to others [ithar]. So I vowed to God Most High that when anything

Islamic law was initially taught in mosques, but with time a new institution, known as a madiasa, or theological college, developed. This madrasa built in late fifteenth-century Cairo combined spaces for leaching with a small mosque where students and teachers could perform daily prayers.

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came to me, I would share it with my believing brethren among the poor. I followed this practice for twenty years, and this rule affected my ideas to the point where nothing dominated my thoughts more than [the concept of] absolute sincerity [sidq]. After reaching forty years of age, another idea occurred to me, so I returned to this verse and [again] meditated upon it, and discovered that justice was [indeed] in sharing but that ifasan went beyond that. I thought about it a third time and vowed to God that if anything, small or large, came to me, I would keep one-third o f it and expend two-thirds for the sake of God Most High. I followed this practice for twenty years, and the result of that decision among humankind was [both] respect and repudiation; I was respected by some but repudiated by others. After twenty [more] years, I meditated on the first requirement of the station of ihsan required by G o d Most H i g h for His servants, and found it to be gratitude for His bounty. This is proven by the emergence of the instinct toward good at birth, before the acquisition of either understanding or intellect. I then found that eight grades of behavior were required for charity and that seven other grades [were required] for ihsan in addition to [what was required for] justice. This is because there is a right for oneself, a right for the wife, a right for what is i n the womb, a right for the orphan, and a right for the guest [these rights are detailed in the S u n n a ] . . . . Once I arrived at [the station o f ihsan], I vowed to God that whatever came to me, whether it be little or m u c h , I would keep two-sevenths o f it for myself and my wife and [give up] five-sevenths to the one for w h o m it was due [i.e., the poor].

Toward the end o f his life, after al-Sabti had become a w i d e l y revered advocate for the poor and enjoyed the patronage o f the ruler o f Marrakesh, he refined his pracdee o f ihsan even further. I divide everything that comes to me into seven portions. I take one seventh for myself and the second seventh for that w h i c h I am required to spend on my wife and the small children under her care, as well as the slaves and slave girls [in our household], all of w h o m number thirty-two individuals. T h e n I look after those w h o have lost their sustenance; they are the neglected orphans w h o have neither mother nor father. I take them i n as my o w n family and see to it that not one of them lacks a [proper] marriage or a burial, unless someone else provides it for them. Then I look after my kinfolk, w h o number eighty-four individuals. They have two rights: their right as family members and their right as residents [in my household]. Then come those w h o have been deprived of their support as m e n tioned in the Book of G o d Most H i g h . They are the poor w h o have fallen into hardship on the Way of God—those w h o are unable to work the land

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and are thought o f as ignorant but w h o are rich i n patience and restraint; they are the ones unable to manage their own affairs . . . I take them i n as i f they are my own relatives, and when one of them dies, I replace h i m w i t h another. I carried out these obligations for fourteen years without respite. It is i m p o r t a n t to reproduce al-Sabti's comments i n detail because his discussion o f ihsan so clearly illustrates the interrelationship i n Islam between t r u t h and knowledge o n the one hand and justice and practice o n the other. A l t h o u g h manyother M u s l i m s , b o t h Sufi and n o n - S u f i , also discussed the Quranic notions o f t r u t h and knowledge and h o w they related to b o t h i n w a r d and o u t w a r d practices, f e w were as s i n g l e - m i n d e d as this Sufi o f Marrakesh i n f o l l o w i n g the relationship between knowledge and practice to its logical conclusion i n the d o m a i n o f social action. I n this regard, the trivialization by many Sufis o f the social aspect o f Islam comes as something o f a surprise, because Islamic law clearly recognizes that religious practice involves b o t h acts that are ritual i n nature (ibudat) and those that have a bearing o n social life (muamalat). For al-Sabti, r i t u a l acts c o u l d never be p e r f o r m e d correctly i f they were divorced f r o m their larger ethical and social

Prayers held to commemo-

contexts. Therefore, he set o u t to reestablish the connection between the r i t u a l

rate the end of Ramadan and

aspects o f the five Pillars o f Islam and their ethical implications. W h e n dealing w i t h the first pillar o f Islam, al-Sabti passes over the ritualized

the sacrifice made by hajj pilgrims are traditionally celebrated in an outdoor

aspect o f the Shahadah i n favor o f the m a i n p o i n t o f the declaration o f f a i t h —

praying place know- as a

the concept o f the oneness o f G o d (tawhid). As the witnessing o f the Shahadah is

musalla or idgaii. Like this

seen as the f o r m a l means o f entry i n t o Islam and the prerequisite for each o f the

twelfth-century example

f o u r other pillars, a f u l l understanding o f t a w h i d is seen by al-Sabti as the essential prerequisite for ihsan. For al-Sabti, t a w h i d as an ethical concept involves m o r e than anything else the r e l i n q u i s h i n g o f all sense o f personal o w n e r s h i p or pos-

from Bukhara, these were normally located on the outskirts of cities in order to hold all the men who were

session. This is because the a f f i r m a t i o n o f d i v i n e reality that is expressed i n the

old enough to engage in

declaration o f God's oneness implies the negation o f all f o r m s o f contingent exis-

prayer.

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tence. I f the goods o f the material w o r l d become the goals o f a person's life, they are functionally equivalent to idols. The material w o r l d thus becomes an object o f w o r s h i p whose mastery o f the h u m a n being increases i n direct p r o p o r t i o n to the i m p o r t a n c e i t is given. " E v e r y t h i n g that masters a person is his g o d , " says alSabti. For this reason to be a true muwahhid or affirmer o f God's oneness, the h u m a n b e i n g m u s t divest h i m s e l f o f e v e r y t h i n g but A l l a h — t h e One G o d , Absolute and U n i q u e . Al-Sabti gives a s i m i l a r l y ethical i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the concept o f prayer. Like the Shahadah (the act o f bearing witness), the p e r f o r m a n c e o f al-Salat (the r e q u i r e d five prayers) is m o r e than a mere r i t u a l . It is also a s y m b o l i c act o f divestment i n w h i c h a w o r s h i p e r renounces before the Creator e v e r y t h i n g that he or she has vainly acquired and presumes t o o w n . " H e w h o does not u n d e r stand the [ e t h i c a l ] m e a n i n g o f prayer has not prayed." says al-Sabti.

"The

b e g i n n i n g o f prayer is the ' M a g n i f i c a t i o n o f Consecration,' w h i c h involves raising y o u r hands and saying, 'God is Most Great.' The m e a n i n g o f ' G o d is Most Great' is that y o u d o not begrudge G o d anything. W h e n the person c o n siders a certain aspect o f the material w o r l d t o be most i m p o r t a n t f o r h i m , he has n o t consecrated h i m s e l f and thus has not m a g n i f i e d G o d i n his prayers. The m e a n i n g o f raising one's hands to m a g n i f y G o d is that y o u have been e m p t i e d o f e v e r y t h i n g and are saying, ' I possess neither m u c h n o r a little.' " Such a person, w h o k n o w s w i t h certainty that the h u m a n being i n reality possesses n o t h i n g o f one's o w n , is the t r u e "slave o f G o d . " What is true for the canonical prayer is even m o r e true for the Ramadan fast: "The secret o f fasting is that y o u are h u n g r y , " says al-Sabti. " W h e n y o u are h u n gry y o u remember the one w h o is always h u n g r y and k n o w the strength o f the fire o f hunger that afflicts h i m , so that y o u become charitable t o w a r d h i m . Thus, i f y o u deny yourself f o o d but have n o compassion for the h u n g r y and y o u r fasti n g does n o t cause this idea to occur to y o u , y o u have not [ t r u l y ] fasted and have not understood the intended meaning o f the fast." The same is the case for the poor-tax (al-Zakah), a pillar o f Islam that is ethical by its very d e f i n i t i o n . Here, alSabti agrees w i t h the m a j o r i t y o f M u s l i m scholars, w h o h o l d that the poor-tax is made obligatory for M u s l i m s every year so that they become accustomed to spending o n others instead o f themselves. Also pertinent are al-Sabti's i n t e r p r e tations o f the p i l g r i m a g e to Mecca and w h a t Islamic activists o f t e n call the sixth pillar o f Islam: the concept o f struggle or j i h a d . For al-Sabti the p o i n t o f the hajj pilgrimage is not the c i r c u m a m b u l a t i o n o f the Kaaba. Instead, i t is that the p i l g r i m "appear i n the dress o f the poor, w i t h a shaved head, u n k e m p t , and wearing sandals, [after] having divested h i m s e l f o f fine c l o t h i n g , expending his efforts for the sake o f God Most H i g h , and s h o w i n g worshipfulness [ t o w a r d H i m ] . " As for the t e r m jihad, its real meaning is not h o l y war against the unbelievers, as

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M u s l i m exoterists believe, but rather, as al-Sabti says, "the expenditure o f oneself for the pleasure o f G o d Most H i g h , e m p t y i n g oneself o f everything f o r H i s sake, and divesting oneself o f reliance o n the material w o r l d . " Al-Sabti's interpretation o f the Five Pillars o f Islam t h r o u g h the conceptual lens o f ethics was meant to restore a sense o f balance t o w h a t scholar Charles Eaton has termed die " h u m a n paradox." A l t h o u g h the h u m a n being was created as the

In addition to upholding the Five Pillars of Islam, Muslims are exhorted to go beyond the miminum. For example, they should practice good deeds or active virtue (ihsan) to enrich their spiritual lives. In 1905 beggars gathered near the tomb of the great Persian poet Saadi in Shiraz in the expectation of receiving munificence from their brethren.

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vicegerent o f G o d o n earth, m o r e often than n o t she fails t o live u p t o the responsibilities o f the vicegerency because o f heedlessness o r vice: " A n d w h e n your L o r d said t o the angels, 'Verily I shall place o n the earth a vicegerent,' they said, ' W i l l Y o u place u p o n i t one w h o w i l l make m i s c h i e f therein and shed b l o o d w h i l e we praise You and g l o r i f y Y o u ? ' " ( Q u r a n 2:30). Al-Sabti r e m i n d e d his a u d i ence t h r o u g h his teachings that by i g n o r i n g the ethical d i m e n s i o n o f Islamic practice, the salvation o f b o t h society and the i n d i v i d u a l may be lost and its antithesis, social discord o r p e r d i t i o n , may be f o u n d . I n a d d i t i o n , t h r o u g h his selfless devotion to the poor, he shamed those w h o neglected their responsibility t o their fellow M u s l i m s and r e m i n d e d t h e m t h r o u g h his acts o f charity that the greatest losers by their w o r k s are "those whose effort is wasted o n the life o f the w o r l d , a l t h o u g h they believe that they are d o i n g g o o d " ( Q u r a n 18:104). For those w h o d i d not heed his w a r n i n g , al-Sabti reiterated the Quran's stern a d m o n i t i o n : "Those w h o desire the life o f the w o r l d and its glitter w i l l pay the price o f their deeds i n [this w o r l d ] w i t h o u t any alleviation" ( Q u r a n 11:15). One can therefore c o n c l u d e — f r o m the discourses o f the Q u r a n to the Sunna o f the Prophet, the laws o f the shariah, and the ethical teachings o f al-Sabti and other Islamic reformers—that the truest means to happiness is t o be f o u n d i n the proper balance between knowledge film) and practice (amal). This applies equally to acts that are purely religious i n nature and t o those that are essentially social. Faith, like speech, is b o t h social and i n d i v i d u a l . Acts o f faith always involve a dial o g u e — e i t h e r between the worshiper and the object o f her w o r s h i p , o r between the actor and his fellows i n a religious c o m m u n i t y . This is w h y , f o r b o t h the Sufi Abu-l-Abbas al-Sabti a n d the non-Sufi jurist i b n A b i Zayd al-Qayrawani, a faith that is n o t expressed i n the context o f structured social relationships is n o faith at all. According

t o the n o t e d

M u s l i m theologian

Abu Hamid

al-Ghazali

( i o c 8 - m i ) , m o r a l character (khuhiq) is n o t t o be f o u n d i n the knowledge o f good or evil o r even i n the capacity f o r g o o d o r evil; rather, i t is a state o f the h u m a n s p i r i t (nafs). Character thus precedes action for al-Ghazali and is a sort o f gestalt that enables m o r a l l y valued acts to occur immediately, w i t h o u t the need for reflection o r deliberation. This gestalt o f the soul reflects the vision o f the heart and is g o o d or bad t o the extent that the heart "sees" w i t h the Quranic "eye o f certainty." Herein

lies

the i m p o r t a n c e

o f Aishah's

statement

that

the p r o p h e t

M u h a m m a d ' s character "was the Q u r a n . " I f character refers t o an inner state or c o n d i t i o n o f the h u m a n being, then each person inclines t o w a r d g o o d o r evil t o the extent that his inner self has assimilated the m o r a l o u t l o o k o f the Quranic concept o f vicegerency. To say that a M u s l i m ' s character " i s the Q u r a n " is t o say

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that he is a complete vicegerent o f G o d : his intellect understands reality t h r o u g h the " k n o w l e d g e o f certainty," his eyes c o m p r e h e n d b o t h h i m s e l f and God's creation t h r o u g h the "eye o f certainty," and his spirit finds its center t h r o u g h the " t r u t h o f certainty." This assimilation o f the Quranic perspective is the practical essence o f the prophetic Sunna and the basis o f Islamic ethics. Because i t is rooted i n God's o w n " k n o w l e d g e f r o m the d i v i n e presence," it is the tree o f knowledge o u t o f w h i c h all ritual and ethical practices grow.

CHAPTER

THREE

Law and Society T H E I N T E R P L A Y OF R E V E L A T I O N AND R E A S O N I N T H E S H A R I A H

Mohammad Hashim Kamali

This chapter is d i v i d e d i n t o several sections, each addressing an aspect o f Islamic law that relates to the concerns o f M u s l i m society. The chapter begins w i t h an explanation o f the t w o terms, Shariah and fiqh, w h i c h are often used interchangeably b u t are not identical. A b r i e f explanation o f the differences between these terms sets f o r t h the context for the rest o f the chapter. The next section discusses the history and sources o f Islamic law. A review o f the distinctive c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f the leading schools o f law t o the development o f fiqh follows. Next is a general characterization o f the Shariah, b e g i n n i n g w i t h a discussion o f its religious and m o r a l dimensions, f o l l o w e d by explorations o f c o n t i n u i t y and change, the scope o f interpretation, and rational analysis (talil). The Shariah is also characterized as pragmatic, and the d o c t r i n e o f siyaso shariyya (Shariah-oriented p o l i c y ) is explained as an i n s t r u m e n t o f pragmatism i n Shariah. This is f o l l o w e d by a discussion o f the status o f the i n d i v i d u a l and the c o m m u n i t y i n Shariah. The chap-

(Left) The Imam al-Shafii (d. 8 2 0 ) founded one of the four major Sunni schools of law. His tomb in the southern cemetery of Cairo became a focus of venera-

ter ends w i t h a survey o f recent reforms i n M u s l i m countries that are seeking to

tion; a large mausoleum,

adapt Islamic law to the concerns o f m o d e r n society.

covered with a wooden

Shariah and Fiqh: The Duality of Islamic Law

dome, was erected over it in the early thirteenth century. The Shahi school of law is prevalent in Lower Egypt,

Islamic law originates i n t w o m a j o r sources: divine revelation (wahy) and h u m a n

southern Arabia, East Africa,

reason (aql). This dual identity o f Islamic law is reflected i n its t w o Arabic desig-

Indonesia, and Malaysia.

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nations, Shariah and fiqh. Shariah bears a stronger affinity w i t h revelation, whereas f i q h is mainly the p r o d u c t o f h u m a n reason. Shariah literally means "the r i g h t p a t h " or " g u i d e , " whereas fiqh refers to h u m a n understanding and knowledge. The d i v i n e Shariah thus indicates the path to righteousness; reason discovers the Shariah and relates its general directives to the quest for finding solutions to particular or unprecedented issues. Because the Shariah is m a i n l y contained i n divine revelation (that is, the Q u r a n and the teachings of the Prophet M u h a m m a d or the Sunna), i t is an integral part o f the d o g m a o f Islam. F i q h is a rational endeavor and largely a p r o d u c t o f speculative reasoning, w h i c h does not c o m m a n d the same a u t h o r i t y as Shariah. To say that the Shariah is contained i n the Q u r a n and Sunna, however, w o u l d exclude the scholastic legacy o f fiqh and its vast literature f r o m the Shariah. I n fact, i t is the clear i n j u n c t i o n s o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna that provide the nucleus o f the Shariah. The parts o f the Q u r a n that consist o f historical data and parables, for instance, are not included. The specific rules o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna—collectively k n o w n as the nusus, w h i c h are relatively small i n n u m b e r — The Shariah provides clear

represent the core o f the Shariah. Shariah is a w i d e r concept than fiqh, however;

rulings on ihe fundamentals

i t comprises the totality o f guidance that G o d has revealed to the Prophet

of faith and practice, includ-

M u h a m m a d relating to the d o g m a o f Islam: its m o r a l values and its practical legal

ing prayer, fasting, and other

rules. Shariah thus comprises i n its scope not only law but also theology and

devotional matters. At the Haydar Mosque in Kuliab, Tadjikistan, devout Muslims

m o r a l teaching. Dogmatic theology (ilm al-kalam) is p r i m a r i l y concerned w i t h l i b erating the individual f r o m belief i n superstition and inculcating faith i n God and

prostrate themselves in

a sense o f enlightened c o n v i c t i o n i n the values o f Islam. M o r a l i t y (ilm al-akhlaq)

prayer towards the Kaaba in

educates the i n d i v i d u a l i n m o r a l v i r t u e , the exercise o f s e l f - d i s c i p l i n e a n d

Mecca.

restraint i n the f u l f i l l m e n t o f natural desires. Fiqh is concerned w i t h practical

legal rules thai relate to an individual's conduct. Fiqh is thus " p o s i t i v e " law, and

Other devotional matters

a l t h o u g h m u c h o f i t is i n c o m m o n w i t h the Shariah, i t does n o t i n c l u d e general

covered by the Shariah

guidelines o n m o r a h t y and dogma that are not legally enforceable. Yet jurists agree about the p r i m a c y o f m o r a l i t y and d o g m a i n the d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f basic values. By c o m p a r i s o n , fiqh is described as a mere superstructure and a practical manifestation o f c o m m i t m e n t to those values. The Shariah provides clear r u l i n g s o n the fundamentals o f Islam: its basic m o r a l values and practical duties, such as prayers, fasting, legal alms (zakah), the hajj ( p i l g r i m a g e to Mecca), and other devotional matters. Its i n j u n c t i o n s o n w h a t is l a w f u l and u n l a w f u l (haloi and haram) are o n the w h o l e definitive, and so are its rulings o n some aspects o f civil transactions (muamalut). But the Shariah is generally flexible w i t h regard to most c i v i l transactions, such as c r i m i n a l law ( w i t h the exception o f the prescribed punishments or hudud), government policy and c o n s t i t u t i o n , fiscal policy, taxation, and economic and international affairs. I n many o f these areas the Shariah provides o n l y general guidelines. Fiqh is defined as the k n o w l e d g e o f the practical rules o f the Shariah, w h i c h are derived f r o m the Q u r a n and the Sunna. The rules o f fiqh are thus concerned w i t h the manifest aspects o f individual conduct. The practicalities o f conduct are evaluated on a scale o f five values: obligatory, r e c o m m e n d e d , permissible, reprehensible, and f o r b i d d e n . The d e f i n i t i o n o f fiqh also implies that the d e d u c t i o n o f the rules o f fiqh f r o m the Q u r a n and the Sunna is t h r o u g h direct contact w i t h the source evidence and necessarily involves a certain measure o f independent

include burial. Outside a small mosque at Marbat, Oman, the graves of pious Muslims are aligned so that the deceased can rise and face Mecca on the Day of Final Judgment.

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reasoning and intellectual exertion (ijtihad). The ability to use the Q u r a n therefore necessitates the knowledge o f Arabic and a certain degree o f insight and e r u dition

that

an

" i m i t a t o r , " or

one

who

memorizes

the

rules

without

understanding their implications, c o u l d not achieve. A jurist (faqih) w h o fulfills these requirements and has the ability to deduce the rules o f the Shariah f r o m their sources is a mujtahid, one qualified to exercise independent reasoning. The rules o f fiqh may be divided i n t o t w o types. First, there are rules that are conveyed i n a clear text, such as the essentials o f w o r s h i p , the validity o f marriage outside the p r o h i b i t e d degrees o f relationship, the rules o f inheritance, and so f o r t h . These are self-evident and therefore independent o f interpretation. This part o f fiqh is simultaneously a part o f the Shariah. Second, there are rules that are f o r m u l a t e d t h r o u g h the exercise o f independent reasoning i n that part o f the Quran and the Sunna that is not self-evident. Because o f the possibility o f error, the rules that are so derived are not i m m u t a b l e . They are not necessarily an integral part o f the permanent Shariah, and the m u j t a h i d w h o has reason to depart f r o m t h e m i n favor o f an alternative r u l i n g may d o so w i t h o u t c o m m i t t i n g a transgression. O n l y w h e n juristic o p i n i o n and independent reasoning are supported by general consensus (ijma) does that reasoning acquire the b i n d i n g force o f a r u l i n g (hukm) o f Shariah. The schools o f law vary i n their treatment o f the contents o f fiqh. Broadly speaking, the body o f law is d i v i d e d i n t o t w o m a i n categories: devotional matters (ibaddt) and c i v i l transactions (muamdaf). The devotional matters are usually studied under the six m a i n headings o f cleanliness, ritual prayer, fasting, the hajj, legal alms, and jihad (holy struggle); the schools o f law d o n o t vary m u c h i n their treatment o f these subjects. Juristic differences a m o n g the schools occur m a i n l y i n the area o f the c i v i l transactions, w h i c h are generally studied under the five headings o f transactions i n v o k i n g exchange o f values, equity and trust, m a t r i m o n i a l law, c i v i l l i t i g a t i o n , and administration o f estates. Crimes and penalties are often studied under a separate heading (uqubat) next to these t w o m a i n categories. The most detailed exposition o f the entire range o f fiqh remains the t h i r t y - v o l u m e Kitab al-Mabsut by Shams a l - D i n al-Sarakhsi ( d . 1083).

The History of Islamic Law Islamic legal history is i n a sense the history o f fiqh rather than o f the Shariah. The Shariah had a short history, as its development began and ended i n just over t w o decades d u r i n g the Prophet's mission i n Mecca and Medina. Only the r u d i ments o f fiqh were laid d o w n d u r i n g this p e r i o d , and there was no d i s t i n c t i o n between the legal subject matter o f Islam and its other parts at this early stage. Fiqh i n this p e r i o d referred to the knowledge o f r e l i g i o n i n general; the distinc-

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A N D SOCIETY

I I I

t i o n that confined fiqh to practical legal rules was made by the ultima (religious scholars) o f later periods. This was to a large extent stimulated by the d o c u m e n tation o f hadith (a verified account o f a statement

or

action

of

the

Prophet

M u h a m m a d ) and the extensive materials that were consequently made available for fresh i n q u i r y a n d research. Legal h i s t o r i ans have distinguished six periods i n the development

of

fiqh.

In

the

initial

phase—the prophetic p e r i o d (ca. 610-32 C . E . ) — t h e Q u r a n was revealed a n d the Prophet

explained

and

reinforced it

t h r o u g h his o w n teaching and practice, the Sunna. There was a general preoccupation w i t h the Q u r a n and the emphasis was not as m u c h on law as o n the d o g m a and m o r a l i t y o f Islam. The legal r u l i n g s of

the

Quran,

which

were

mainly

revealed d u r i n g the second decade o f the prophetic m i s s i o n , were p r i m a r i l y issueoriented and practical. There was n o need f o r speculative legal reasoning (ijtihdd) s i m p l y because the Prophet h i m s e l f p r o -

Devotional matters (ibadat), including cleanliness and ritual

v i d e d definitive r u l i n g s o n issues as and

prayer, are treated much the same by all schools oflaw. For

w h e n they arose.

example, everyone must remove shoes before prayer. Here,

The second period o f the development o f fiqh—die

era o f the Prophet's Companions

a group of Muslim men put their shoes back on outside a London mosque as they return to their daily lives.

(ca. 632-61)—is one o f interpretation and supplementation o f the textual subject matter o f the Shariah. In this period fiqh and i j t i h a d find their historical o r i g i n s . The Companions o f the Prophet took a r a t i o nal approach t o w a r d the textual materials—the Q u r a n and the Sunna. Their understanding and interpretation o f the texts were n o t confined to the m e a n i n g o f w o r d s ; rather, the Companions sought to understand their u n d e r l y i n g r a t i o nale, effective cause, and purpose. The C o m p a n i o n s ' interpretations are generally considered authoritative, n o t only because they were the direct recipients o f prophetic teachings but also because o f their participation a n d insight i n t o the Quran's p h e n o m e n o l o g y (usbab al-nuzul). The Companions frequently resorted to personal reasoning and consultation i n the d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f issues. The first f o u r

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c a l i p h s — A b u Bakr, U m a r i b n al-Khattab, U t h m a n i b n Affan, and Ah" i b n AbiTalib, collectively k n o w n as the " r i g h t l y g u i d e d caliphs"—are particularly noted for their interpretations. The t h i r d phase i n the development o f fiqh, k n o w n as the era o f the successors, began w i t h the Umayyads c o m i n g to power a r o u n d 661 and ended w i t h that dynasty's demise i n 750. Because of the territorial expansion o f the Umayyad state, n e w issues arose that stimulated significant developments i n fiqh. This p e r i o d is marked by the emergence o f t w o schools o f legal t h o u g h t that left a lasting impact o n the subsequent development o f fiqh: Traditionists ( A h l alH a d i t h ) , w h o were centered m a i n l y i n Mecca and Medina i n the Hejaz, and the Rationalists ( A h l al-Ray), w h o were active i n the Iraqi cities o f Kufa and Basra. Whereas the Traditionists relied m a i n l y o n textual a u t h o r i t y and were averse to the use o f personal o p i n i o n (ray), the Rationalists were i n c l i n e d , i n the absence o f a clear text, t o w a r d a m o r e liberal use o f personal reasoning. A l t h o u g h the Traditionists opposed the approach, the Rationalists maintained that the rules o f the Shariah, outside the sphere o f devotional matters, pursued objectives and were f o u n d e d i n causes that p r o v i d e d the jurist and mujiahid w i t h guidelines for f u r t h e r i n q u i r y and research. The secession o f the Shiites f r o m the m a i n body o f M u s l i m s , the Sunnis, w h i c h took place as a result o f disagreement over political All schools require ritual

leadership, led to the emergence o f the Shiite school o f law d u r i n g this p e r i o d .

ablution (wufhi) before

The Shiites maintained that A l i , the cousin and s o n - i n - l a w o f the Prophet, was

prayer, and the Muslim must

the r i g h t f u l caliph and leader, but that his predecessors, A b u Bakr, Umar, and

wash the face, hands and arms, head, and feet. Most congregational mosques provide water for washing.

U t h m a n , denied Ali that r i g h t . The Shii school advocated doctrines that are significant!) different f r o m those o f their Sunni counterparts. The next t w o centuries (ca. 750-950), k n o w n as the era o f independent rea-

Here men are washing

soning, marked the f o u r t h phase i n the history o f f i q h . This phase saw major

before entering the mosque.

developments that were later manifested i n the emergence o f the legal schools

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Civil transactions (muamalot), including matrimonial law and civil litigation, vary significantly according to the different schools of law.This scene shows the bride carried to the groom's car in a traditional doli as she begins her married life with his family in Kashmir.

that have survived today: the Hanafi, M a l i k i , Shafii, and H a n b a l i . The Hanafi school, named after A b u Hanifah a l - N u m a n i b n Thabit ( 6 9 9 - 7 6 7 ) , presently has the largest f o l l o w i n g o f all the s u r v i v i n g schools, i n part because o f its official a d o p t i o n by the O t t o m a n Turks i n the early sixteenth century. A b u Hanifah advocated legal reasoning by analogy (qiyas), w h i c h gained general acceptance over t i m e , but his liberal recourse to personal o p i n i o n and juristic preference (istihson) were criticized by the Traditionists. To this day the Hanafi school has retained its relatively liberal stance. The M a l i k i school, f o u n d e d by M a l i k i b n Anas alAsbahi (ca. 7 1 C - 9 C ) , led the Traditionist m o v e m e n t i n Mecca and Medina and advocated the n o t i o n that the M e d i n a n consensus (ijmo) was the o n l y valid c o n sensus. Despite its traditionalist leanings, however, the M a l i k i school over t i m e has embraced a n u m b e r o f i m p o r t a n t doctrines that are inherently versatile, and its jurisprudence is i n many ways m o r e o p e n than that o f the other legal schools. It is the only school, for instance, that has accepted almost all the subsidiary sources and proofs o f the Shariah, about w h i c h the other schools have remained selective (accepting some and rejecting or expressing reservations about others). The M a l i k i school is p r e d o m i n a n t today i n M o r o c c o , Algeria, Tunisia, n o r t h e r n

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Egypt, Sudan, Bahrain, and Kuwait; the Hanafi school prevails i n Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. M u h a m m a d i b n Idris al-Shafh ( 7 6 7 - 8 2 0 ) is also a leading f i g u r e i n the Traditionist camp, b u t he tried to reconcile the various trends and strike a m i d dle course between the Traditionists a n d Rationalists. The controversy between the Traditionists and Rationalists h a d by al-Shafii's time accentuated the need for methodology. Al-Shafh saw the need to articulate the broad o u t l i n e o f the legal theory o f the sources, the usul al-fiqh. He spent the last five years o f his life i n During the era of independent reasoning (ijlihad), four major schools of Islamic law developed—the Hanifi,

Egypt, where he f o u n d the customs o f Egyptian society so different f r o m those o f Iraq that he changed many o f his legal verdicts. The Shafu school is n o w prevalent i n s o u t h e r n Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, East A f r i c a , Indonesia, and Malaysia, and i t has many followers i n Palestine, Jordan, and Syria. Even al-

Maliki, Shafii, and Hanbali.

Shafii's degree o f emphasis o n t r a d i t i o n and his strong advocacy o f the Sunna d i d

Most madrases, or theological

n o t satisfy the u n c o m p r o m i s i n g Traditionists, w h o preferred n o t to rely o n

colleges, are devoted to a

h u m a n reason and chose instead to base their doctrines as m u c h as possible o n

single school, but occasionall)' all four were included in a single building. The huge

the precedents established i n the Quran and the hadith. This was the avowed p u r pose o f the t w o n e w schools that emerged i n the n i n t h century. The first (and

funerary complex founded

the o n l y successful) o f these was the Hanbali school, founded by .Ahmad i b n

by the Mamluk Sultan Hasan

Hanbal (780-855-). The other was the Z a h i r i school o f D a w u d i b n A l i al-Zahiri

in the mid-fourteenth cen-

(819-91), n o w extinct. The n u m b e r o f i b n Hanbal's followers declined u n t i l the

tury in Cairo, seen in David Roberts' nineteenth-century lithograph, has a cruciform congregational mosque with a madrasa for each of the

eighteenth-century Wahhabi puritanical m o v e m e n t (named after the scholar M u h a m m a d i b n A b d al-Wahhab) i n the Arabian Peninsula gave i t a fresh i m p e tus. The Hanbali school is n o w p r e d o m i n a n t i n Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and O m a n . The fifth phase i n the formative history o f f i q h began around 950. This p e r i o d

four schools in the corners

is characterized by the institutionalization o f the d o m i n a n t schools, w i t h empha-

of the courtyard.

sis n o t o n n e w developments but o n f o l l o w i n g precedent (taqlid). The jurists

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occupied themselves w i t h elaboration and commentaries o n the w o r k s o f their predecessors. By far the longest phase, this p e r i o d lasted for about n i n e centuries and witnessed the d o w n f a l l o f the Abbasid and O t t o m a n Empires, the expansion i n the m i l i t a r y and political powers o f the West, and the industrial r e v o l u t i o n and colonial d o m i n a t i o n o f M u s l i m lands by European powers. The colonial powers propagated their o w n doctrines and legal codes i n almost every area o f the law. As a result, f i q h lost t o u c h w i t h social reality and u n d e r w e n t a sustained p e r i o d o f stagnation. O r i g i n a l t h i n k i n g and direct recourse to the sources o f the Shariah, w h i c h had characterized the first three centuries o f development, were n o longer encouraged. A climate o f o p i n i o n prevailed that the early predecessors had exhaustively used and developed the resources (the Q u r a n and the Sunna), and the digested version o f fiqh that they had p r o d u c e d was to be strictly f o l l o w e d . I m i t a t i o n and f o l l o w i n g precedent thus gained g r o u n d , and the so-called " c l o sure o f the gate o f i j t i h a d " f o l l o w e d .

Madrasas were initially established by Sunnis to combat the spread of Shiism, but with time, Shiites established madrasas of their own. The Madar-i Shah Madrasa in Isfahan, seen in this early photograph by Captain G. C. Rigby, was built by the Safavid Shah Husayn ( 1 6 9 4 - 1 7 2 2 ) . Since the Islamic Revolution, it has been returned to its original function as a theological college.

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The s i x t h and final phase i n the development o f fiqh began at the t u r n o f the t w e n t i e t h century. It is m a r k e d by less emphasis o n precedent and greater emphasis o n o r i g i n a l t h i n k i n g and the quest to make the Shariah once again relevant to the social reality and experience o f c o n t e m p o r a r y M u s l i m s . The revivification o f fiqh and its necessary adjustment to respond to the prevailing needs o f society is generally seen as an i m p o r t a n t c o m p o n e n t o f the Islamic resurgence o f the recent decades. A large number o f Sunni jurists have acknowledged the so-called "closure o f the gate o f i j d h a d " and die onset o f imitation around the m i d - t e n t h century'. The Sliiite jurists have held, alternatively, diat ijtihad is a collective obligation o f all Muslims in the absence o f the i m a m (the divinely appointed leader and successor o f M u h a m m a d ) . Independent reasoriing is thus viewed not simply as a meritorious endeavor that m i g h t succeed or fail but as an effort to reach the highest possible degree o f objective truth in the absence o f the infallible i m a m . This effort must constantly be renewed i n the hope o f c o m i n g ever closer to objective truth. Intellectual exertion thus remains an open process u n t i l the return o f the i m a m , w h o alone can offer certainty and truth. Furthermore, the Sliiite imams have gone o n record to instruct their disciples to remain dihgent i n ijtihad, especially regarding the i m p l e mentation o f the general principles o f Shariah. I n time, Shiite jurisprudence adopted the n o t i o n that a fully qualified mujtohid (one qualified to exercise independent reasoning) is a representative (naib) o f the i m a m and performs the functions o f the i m a m

Before the establishment of madrasas, mosques were the traditional setting for leaching and learning, and much instruction still takes place in mosques.Traditionally, the teacher sits against a column or wall surrounded by his students, as here at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

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The mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo, founded under the Fatimids in the tenth century, became a major center of learning in the Arab world. The curriculum there was reformed at the turn of the twentieth century, the time depicted in this photograph, and legal opinions issued by the shaykh there exemplify one type of independent reasoning (ijtihad).

regarding judgment and administration o f the people's affairs. The leading Shiite m u j tahids w h o expounded Shiite principles included Seyyed Morteza Alam al-Huda (d. 1060), Abu A b d Allah a l - M u f i d (d. 1044), M u h a m m a d ibn Hassan al-Tusi ( d . 1067), and Morteza al-Ansari (d. 1864). Morteza al-Ansari's t w o major words, Fdraid al-Usul and Makasib, are currendy used as textbooks o n Shiite law. I n m o d e r n times legal i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o r reasoning has o c c u r r e d i n the f o l l o w i n g three ways: statutory legislation, j u d i c i a l decision and learned o p i n i o n (fatwa), a n d scholarly w r i t i n g s . Instances o f legislative i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , w h i c h N o e l Coulson referred t o as " n e o - i j t i h a d , " can be f o u n d i n the m o d e r n r e f o r m s o f f a m i l y law i n m a n y M u s l i m c o u n t r i e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y w i t h reference t o p o l y g yny a n d d i v o r c e , b o t h o f w h i c h have been made c o n t i n g e n t u p o n a c o u r t order, a n d therefore are n o l o n g e r the unilateral p r i v i l e g e o f the husband. C u r r e n t r e f o r m i s t legislation o n these subjects derives some support f r o m the jurists' doctrines o f the M a l i k i and Hanafi schools, but these r e f o r m s are essentially based o n novel i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the Quran's relevant p o r t i o n s . N u m e r o u s instances o f i n d e p e n d e n t reasoning are also f o u n d i n the views o f the u l a m a , such as the collections o f p u b l i s h e d o p i n i o n s o f M u h a m m a d Rashid Rida i n the 1920s and those o f the late shaykh o f Azhar, M a h m u d Shaltut, i n the 1950s. I n

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the 1967 case o f Khursid Bibi vs. Muhammad Amin, the supreme c o u r t o f Pakistan's decision to validate a f o r m o f divorce, k n o w n as khula, that can take place at the wife's initiative, even w i t h o u t the consent o f the husband, can be cited as an example o f j u d i c i a l i j t i h a d . A n o t h e r example o f o n g o i n g r e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is the scholarly c o n t r i b u t i o n o f the Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, w h o validated air travel by w o m e n unaccompanied by male relatives. A c c o r d i n g t o the rules o f f i q h that were f o r m u l a t e d i n p r e m o d e r n times, w o m e n were n o t perm i t t e d to travel alone. A l - Q a r a d a w i based his c o n c l u s i o n o n the analysis that the i n i t i a l r u l i n g was i n t e n d e d to ensure w o m e n ' s physical and m o r a l safety, and that m o d e r n air travel f u l f i l l s this r e q u i r e m e n t . He f u r t h e r s u p p o r t e d this v i e w w i t h an analysis o f the relevant hadiths o n the subject and arrived at a r u l i n g better suited to c o n t e m p o r a r y c o n d i t i o n s .

Sources of Shariah: The Quran, the Sunna, and Independent Reasoning As noted earlier, the sources o f the Shariah are o f t w o types: revealed and n o n revealed. There are o n l y t w o revealed sources—first, the Q u r a n ; second, the teaching and exemplary conduct (Sunna) o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , i n c l u d i n g his sayings, acts, and tacit approval (or lack o f condemnation) o f the conduct o f his Companions and some o f the customs o f Arabian society. The a u t h o r i t y o f the Sunna as a source o f Shariah as next to the Q u r a n is indicated i n the Q u r a n itself. Some disagreement, however, prevailed over the precise meaning and a u t h o r i t y o f the Sunna u n t i l the theologian and jurist al-Shafii addressed the issue i n the early n i n t h century. The legal theory that al-Shafii articulated underscored the normative status o f the Sunna as a source o f revelation that explained a n d supplemented the Q u r a n . The nonrevealed sources o f Shariah are generally f o u n d e d i n juristic reasoning (ijtihad). This reasoning may take a variety o f f o r m s , i n c l u d ing analogical reasoning (qjyas), juristic preference (istihsan), considerations o f public interest (istislah), and even general consensus (ijma) o f the learned, w h i c h basically originates i n i j t i h a d and provides a procedure by w h i c h a r u l i n g o f juristic reasoning can acquire the b i n d i n g force o f law. Analogy and consensus have been generally recognized by the vast m a j o r i t y o f ulama, but there is disagreement over the validity and scope o f many o f the rational proofs that o r i g i nate i n ijtihad. The Quran, by its o w n testimony, consists o f the w o r d s o f God as recited i n Arabic to the Prophet M u h a m m a d t h r o u g h the angel Gabriel (Quran 26:193). M u c h o f the Q u r a n was revealed t h r o u g h actual events encountered by the Prophet, and questions asked and answered by h i m . The Prophet also used the Q u r a n as a basis o f his o w n teaching and adjudication. Nevertheless, the Q u r a n

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The Quran, God's word as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, is the basis of Muslim law. The text is divided into 114 chapters of unequal length. Eighty-five chapters, mostly short, were revealed in Mecca, as shown by the word Mecca written in gold in the margin near the gold chapter heading in this copy of the Quran transcribed by the famous calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab at Baghdad in 1000-1001.

is neither a legal n o r a constitutional d o c u m e n t , a l t h o u g h legal materials occupy a small p o r t i o n o f its text; less than 3 percent o f the text deals w i t h legal matters. The legal contents o f the Q u r a n were m a i n l y revealed f o l l o w i n g the Prophet's m i g r a t i o n f r o m Mecca to M e d i n a , w h e r e he established a government and the need therefore arose for legislation o n social and governmental issues. The c o n tents o f the Q u r a n are n o t classified according to subject. Its pronouncements o n various topics appear i n unexpected places and i n n o particular thematic order. This fact has led many thinkers to conclude that the Q u r a n is an indivisible

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w h o l e , and its legal parts should n o t be read i n isolation f r o m its religious and m o r a l teachings. O f the i£0

legal verses i n the Q u r a n , k n o w n as ayat al-ahkam, close t o

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relate to d o g m a and d e v o t i o n a l matters, i n c l u d i n g such practical r e l i g i o u s duties as r i t u a l prayer, legal alms and other charities, fasting, p i l g r i m a g e , and so f o r t h . A n o t h e r seventy verses are devoted to marriage, d i v o r c e , paternity, c h i l d custody, i n h e r i t a n c e , and bequests. Rules c o n c e r n i n g c o m m e r c i a l transactions, such as sale, lease, loan, usury, and mortgage, constitute the subject o f another seventy verses. There are about t h i r t y verses o n crimes and penalties, another t h i r t y o n justice, equality, evidence, citizens' r i g h t s and duties, and c o n s u l t a t i o n i n g o v e r n m e n t affairs, and above ten o n e c o n o m i c matters. The ulama are n o t , however, i n agreement o n these figures, as calculations o f this nature tend to d i f f e r according t o the criteria and approach o f one's i n q u i r y . It is possible, f o r instance, to derive a legal r u l i n g f r o m the parables and historical passages o f the Q u r a n . Some o f the earlier r u l i n g s o f the Q u r a n were also abrogated and replaced because o f n e w circumstances, a l t h o u g h the scope o f these abrogations and their precise i m p o r t is a matter o f disagreement a m o n g scholars. As p r e v i o u s l y n o t e d , the u l a m a u n a n i m o u s l y believe that the n o r m a t i v e teachings (the Sunna) o f the Prophet are a source o f Shariah and that the Prophet's r u l i n g o n w h a t is l a w f u l and u n l a w f u l (halal iva haram) stands o n equal f o o t i n g w i t h the Q u r a n . The w o r d s o f the P r o p h e t , as the Q u r a n declares, are d i v i n e l y i n s p i r e d ( Q u r a n 53:3), and obedience to t h e m is every M u s l i m ' s d u t y ( Q u r a n 4 : 8 0 ; S9-7)-

Thus the Prophet's w o r d s were n o r m a t i v e

f o r those w h o actually heard t h e m . Subsequent generations o f M u s l i m s , w h o have received the Prophet's w o r d s t h r o u g h various verbal and w r i t t e n records, however, had t o ascertain t h e i r a u t h e n t i c i t y before accepting t h e m as n o r m a tive. The evidence o f a u t h e n t i c i t y may be d e f i n i t i v e , because it relies o n n u m e r o u s sources o f recurrent and c o n t i n u o u s t e s t i m o n y (tawatur), o r it m a y consist o f solitary reports that may n o t appear to be entirely reliable. One o f the first k i n d o f h a d i t h ( k n o w n as mutawatir) is a verbal m u t a w a t i r , a w o r d - f o r w o r d transmission o f w h a t the Prophet said. This is v e r y rare. There are n o m o r e t h a n ten such hadiths. A n o t h e r k i n d o f h a d i t h is k n o w n as the conceptual mutawatir, w h e r e i n the concept is taken f r o m the Prophet but the w o r d s are s u p p l i e d by a narrator. W h e n the reports o f a large n u m b e r o f transmitters o f h a d i t h c o n c u r i n their p u r p o r t b u t d i f f e r i n w o r d i n g , this is considered

as

m u t a w a t i r . This k i n d o f m u t a w a t i r is q u i t e frequent and is f o u n d i n reference t o the acts and sayings o f the Prophet that e x p l a i n the essentials o f the f a i t h , the rituals o f w o r s h i p , the rules that regulate the a p p l i c a t i o n o f certain p u n ishments, and so f o r t h . The C o m p a n i o n s o f the Prophet and subsequent gen-

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erations o f M u s l i m s have c o m p l i e d w i t h the Prophet's teachings o n these matters, and vast n u m b e r s o f people t h r o u g h o u t the ages have consistently adhered to t h e m . M a n y hadiths o n w h a t is l a w f u l a n d u n l a w f u l , as w e l l as those that e x p l a i n and s u p p l e m e n t the i n j u n c t i o n s o f the Q u r a n , are also classified as this type o f mutawatir. The Sunna relates to the Quran i n various capacities. It may consist o f rules that merely corroborate the Q u r a n , it may clarify ambiguous parts o f the Q u r a n , or i t may qualify and specify general r u l i n g s o f the Q u r a n . These three varieties comprise a m o n g t h e m the bulk o f the Sunna, and the ulama are i n agreement that they are integral and supplementary to the Q u r a n . The Sunna may also consist o f r u l i n g s o n w h i c h the Quran is silent, i n w h i c h case the Sunna represents an independent source o f Shariah. There are a n u m b e r o f hadiths that fall under this category; this type o f Sunna, k n o w n as " F o u n d i n g Sunna" (Sunna muassisa), is the m a i n argument i n support o f the generally accepted v i e w that the Sunna is not o n l y an explanation and supplement to the Q u r a n , but it is also an independent source o f the Shariah. For the Sunnis, the possibility o f d i v i n e revelation (vvahy) ended w i t h the death o f the Prophet. For the Shiites, however, d i v i n e revelation c o n t i n u e d to be transmitted after the Prophet's death, t h r o u g h the line o f their recognized leaders or imams. Shiite jurists have thus maintained that i n a d d i t i o n to the Q u r a n and the Sunna, the pronouncements o f their imams constituted d i v i n e revelat i o n and therefore b i n d i n g law. This is reflected i n the Shiite d e f i n i t i o n o f Sunna, w h i c h under Shiite law includes the sayings, acts, and tacit approvals o f the Prophet and the imams. The same d o c t r i n a l o u t l o o k is reflected i n the Shiite perception o f ijma (consensus), w h i c h is n o t possible w i t h o u t the imam's approval. I n other w o r d s , the consensus o f the jurists demonstrates the views o f the imams. Consensus thus becomes a part o f the Sunna as w e l l as a means o f discovering i t . I n some cases, this means that consensus becomes a carrier o f the decrees o f the i m a m . These are u n d o u b t e d l y i m p o r t a n t d o c t r i n a l differences, yet since the last i m a m (according to the m a j o r i t y o f Shiites) w e n t i n t o occultation and "disappeared" i n 874, Shiite jurists have carried the imam's mantle and have played a similar role to that o f their Sunni counterparts i n e x p o u n d i n g and interp r e t i n g the Q u r a n and the Sunna. Another source o f Shariah is ijtihad, w h i c h literally means " s t r i v i n g . " It is defined as exertion by a qualified scholar to the best o f his or her ability to deduce the r u l i n g o f a particular issue f r o m the evidence f o u n d i n the sources. U n l i k e the revelation o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna, w h i c h ended w i t h the Prophet's death, juristic reasoning continues to be the principal source and instrument that keeps the law consistent w i t h the realities o f social change. I t is a collective obligation (fard kifai) o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y , meaning that the obligation has been met i f

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performed sufficiently by at least one jurist (mujtahid) qualified to exercise i n d e pendent reasoning. It becomes a personal o b l i g a t i o n (ford ayn) o f all mujtahids w h e n it appears that the obligation has not been met and there is fear that justice may be lost i f ijtihad is not immediately attempted. Historically, analogical reasoning (qiyas) represented the most c o m m o n — according to the theologian al-Shafh, the o n l y v a l i d — f o r m o f ijtihad. As a p r i n cipal m o d e o f i j t i h a d , analogy ensured the c o n f o r m i t y o f juristic o p i n i o n w i t h the textual rulings o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna, w h i c h i t sought to extend to s i m ilar cases. Personal reasoning plays a role i n the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f analogy t h r o u g h the identification o f an effective cause (illah) beween an o r i g i n a l case and a n e w case. For example, the Q u r a n ( 2 4 : 4 ) calls for penalizing anyone w h o slanderously accused chaste w o m e n o f adultery by eighty lashes o f the w h i p . This p u n ishment was then analogically extended to those w h o accused innocent m e n o f the same offense because o f the c o m m o n a l i t y o f the effective cause—namely o f d e f e n d i n g the h o n o r o f an i n n o c e n t p e r s o n — b e t w e e n

the o r i g i n a l case

( w o m e n ) and the new case ( m e n ) . A n a l o g y was thus seen t o be the surest w a y o f developing the law w i t h i n the guidelines o f the text. But analogy was not altogether devoid o f difficulty, especially i n cases i n w h i c h the analogical extension o f a given r u l i n g to a similar but n o t identical situation c o u l d lead to undesirable results. Therefore, some felt the need for a n e w f o r m u l a to overcome the r i g i d i t i e s o f analogy. The Hanafis developed the d o c t r i n e o f juristic preference (istihsan), w h i c h enabled the jurist t o search for an equitable s o l u t i o n i n the event i n w h i c h strict analogy c o m p r o m i s e d the ideals o f fairness and justice. Al-Shafii, w h i l e strongly i n support o f analogy, totally rejected the n o t i o n o f juristic preference, c o n s i d e r i n g i t to be n o m o r e than an arbitrary exercise i n questionable o p i n i o n s . Shiite law does not recognize analogy as a source o f law. The s i x t h Shiite i m a m , Jafar al-Sadiq ( 6 9 9 - 7 6 5 ) , equated such analogical reasoning w i t h pure conjecture and thus rejected i t . Shiite law recognizes h u m a n reason as a source o f law a n d a means o f discovering the Shariah. Reason can thus d e t e r m i n e that f o r certain issues a permissive or p r o h i b i t i v e law necessarily exists. For e x a m ple, i f the revealed law is silent o n a certain matter, reason may d e t e r m i n e , by reference to the general p r i n c i p l e s o f Shariah and the best interest o f h u m a n beings, that a certain law exists c o n c e r n i n g that matter, especially w h e n jurists realize that the Shariah s i m p l y cannot r e m a i n i n d i f f e r e n t c o n c e r n i n g the m a t ter. A d d i c t i o n to o p i u m was not an issue d u r i n g the t i m e o f the Prophet, f o r example, a n d n o r u l i n g was issued o n it. Yet experience shows w i t h certainty that a d d i c t i o n to o p i u m causes h a r m and c o r r u p t i o n . Because the Shariah f o r bids c o r r u p t i o n , t h r o u g h the a p p l i c a t i o n o f reason, c o n s u m p t i o n o f o p i u m is therefore considered f o r b i d d e n . I n this manner, reason tells M u s l i m s that w h e n

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s o m e t h i n g is f o r b i d d e n by law, the means t o w a r d p r o c u r i n g it is also f o r b i d den. H u m a n reason thus becomes a p r o o f and source o f the Shariah and an i m p o r t a n t t o o l i n the service o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n and i j t i h a d . Compared w i t h analogical reasoning, h u m a n reasoning is a m o r e o p e n c o n c e p t — i t is n o t e n c u m bered by the sort o f technicalities that are involved i n analogical reasoning. Analogies cannot be constructed w i t h o u t the p r i o r existence o f an o r i g i n a l case, a r u l i n g (hukm) i n the sources, and an effective cause that l i n k s the o r i g inal case to the n e w case. H u m a n reasoning basically consists o f unrestricted reasoning, w h i c h does n o t depend o n such requirements. For example, the Q u r a n p r o h i b i t s alcohol because i t is an i n t o x i c a n t . This p r o h i b i t i o n can be extended, by analogy, to narcotic drugs. But no such analogy can be extended to a d r u g that o n l y causes lapse o f m e m o r y or blurs the eyesight, f o r w a n t o f the effective cause, i n t o x i c a t i o n . But these can be p r o h i b i t e d by recourse t o h u m a n reasoning. A l t h o u g h the leading schools have also recognized considerations o f public interest (istislah) as a source o f law, they have generally tended to impose a variety o f conditions o n i t because o f its strong utilitarian leanings. O n l y the theo l o g i a n Malik advocated i t as a source o f law i n its o w n r i g h t , w h i c h is w h y the considerations o f public interest are seen as a M a l i k i c o n t r i b u t i o n to the legal theo r y o f the sources, the usul al-fiqh. Whereas analogy operated w i t h i n the given terms o f the existing law, and juristic preference basically corrected the rigidities o f analogy, public interest was not b o u n d by such l i m i t a t i o n s . Furthermore, i t vested the r u l e r and m u j t a h i d w i t h the initiative to take all necessary measures, i n c l u d i n g n e w legislation, to secure w h a t he considered to benefit the people. A l m o s t every m a j o r school o f law p r o p o s e d a p r i n c i p l e or m e t h o d to r e g u late i n d e p e n d e n t reasoning and to ensure its c o n f o r m i t y w i t h the o v e r r i d i n g a u t h o r i t y o f d i v i n e revelation. Whereas s o m e u l a m a , such as the Z a h i r i s , c o n f i n e d the sources o f law to the Q u r a n , the Sunna, and consensus, the Hanafis added analogy, j u r i s t i c preference, and c u s t o m , and the M a l i k i s added p u b l i c interest and the n o t i o n o f " b l o c k i n g the m e a n s " (sadd al-dharui), w h i c h ensured the consistency o f means and ends w i t h the Shariah by b l o c k i n g the attempt to use a l a w f u l means t o w a r d an u n l a w f u l e n d . Examples o f this i n c l u d e bann i n g the sale o f arms at a t i m e o f c o n f l i c t o r f o r b i d d i n g a sale that may merely disguise a usurious transaction. This practice also provides preventive measures that are taken even before the actual occurrence o f a feared event, such as b a n n i n g an assembly that is likely to lead to violence. A l t h o u g h some o f the o b v i ous applications o f this d o c t r i n e were generally accepted, the M a l i k i school has applied i t m o r e w i d e l y than m o s t . The Shafii school c o n t r i b u t e d the d o c t r i n e o f istishab ( p r e s u m p t i o n o f c o n t i n u i t y ) , w h i c h safeguards c o n t i n u i t y and pred i c t a b i l i t y i n l a w and i n court decisions b y p r o p o s i n g that facts and rules o f

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law and reason are presumed to r e m a i n v a l i d u n t i l there is evidence t o establ i s h a change. For example, certainty may not be o v e r r u l e d by d o u b t , and an u n p r o v e n c l a i m s h o u l d not affect the basic p r e s u m p t i o n o f innocence and c o n t i n u i t y o f the existing r i g h t s o f the people u n d e r the Shariah. These doctrines are all designed, each i n its respective capacity, t o regulate independent reasoning and to p r o v i d e f o r m u l a s f o r f i n d i n g solutions to n e w issues. The m e t h ods p r o p o s e d by these d o c t r i n e s also ensure the c o n f o r m i t y o f h u m a n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n and a p p l i c a t i o n to the basic p r i n c i p l e s and objectives o f the Shariah. The idea that the law must evolve and develop w i t h i n the f r a m e w o r k o f a certain m e t h o d o l o g y lies at the r o o t o f these doctrines. Historically, i j t i h a d has been perceived as a concern p r i m a r i l y o f the i n d i v i d ual scholar and m u j t a h i d . But i n m o d e r n times, ijtihad has become a collective endeavor that combines the skills and c o n t r i b u t i o n s not o n l y o f the scholars o f Shariah, but o f experts i n various other disciplines, because a c q u i r i n g a mastery o f all the skills that are i m p o r t a n t to society is difficult for any one person. Ideally, independent reasoning s h o u l d be c o m b i n e d w i t h the Quranic p r i n c i p l e o f c o n sultation (shura), m a k i n g it a consultative process, preferably as an integral part o f the w o r k i n g s o f the m o d e r n legislative assembly. Ijtihad has also been seen i n the past as a juristic concept, a preserve o f the jurist to the exclusion o f specialists i n other disciplines. But as a m e t h o d by w h i c h to find solutions to new issues, ijtihad s h o u l d be exercised by the scholars o f Shariah as w e l l as by experts i n other disciplines, p r o v i d e d that those w h o attempt this independent reasoning acquire mastery o f the relevant data, the Quaran, and the Sunna. There is thus no reason w h y experts i n Islamic economics and medicine, for example, c o u l d not carry out ijtihad i n their o w n fields.

Scholastic Contributions to Legal Thought Hanafi application and i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f l a w is d i s t i n g u i s h e d by its rationalist tendency and to some extent by its theoretical leanings i n that it deals n o t o n l y w i t h actual issues but also w i t h theoretical problems that are based o n mere supposition. Because he was a merchant, A b u Hanifah's c o n t r i b u t i o n s to the law o f c o m m e r c i a l transactions are particularly n o t e d . A b u Hanifah's legal t h o u g h t is also d i s t i n g u i s h e d by his emphasis o n personal l i b e r t y and his reluctance to impose u n w a r r a n t e d restrictions o n i t . H e thus m a i n t a i n e d that neither the c o m m u n i t y n o r the g o v e r n m e n t is entitled to interfere w i t h the personal l i b erty o f the i n d i v i d u a l as l o n g as the i n d i v i d u a l has n o t violated the law. H a n a f i fiqh thus entitles a w o m a n to conclude her o w n marriage contract w i t h o u t the consent o f a g u a r d i a n , whereas the other schools have stipulated the consent o f a g u a r d i a n as a r e q u i r e m e n t o f valid marriage. The Hanafis have reasoned that

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the Q u r a n ( 4 : 6 ) has e n d o w e d the adult female w i t h f u l l a u t h o r i t y to manage her o w n financial affairs. This r u l i n g has been extended by way o f analogy to marriage. The m a j o r i t y o f jurists o f the leading schools, however, have considered this an "analogy w i t h a d i f f e r e n c e " (qiyas ma al-fariq), w h i c h treats t w o d i f ferent things ( p r o p e r t y and m a r r i a g e ) o n the same f o o t i n g , and therefore i n v a l i d . But A b u H a n i f a h called f o r equality (kafaa) i n marriage a n d entitled the w o m a n ' s guardian t o seek a n n u l m e n t o f a marriage i n the event o f a w i d e discrepancy i n the s o c i o e c o n o m i c status o f the spouses. Equality is n o t a r e q u i r e m e n t according to the other leading legal schools s i m p l y because the guardian's consent is, according t o t h e m , a prerequisite o f a v a l i d marriage

contract.

Moreover, A b u H a n i f a h refused t o validate i n t e r d i c t i o n o f the f o o l i s h (safih) or the insolvent debtor o n the analysis that restricting the f r e e d o m o f these i n d i viduals is a h a r m greater than the financial loss that m i g h t otherwise occur. A b u H a n i f a h also held that no one, i n c l u d i n g a judge, may impose restrictions o n an owner's r i g h t to the use o f his or her property, even i f that p r o p e r t y i n f l i c t e d harm

on

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p r o v i d e d that

the

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exorbitant.

F u r t h e r m o r e , because the judge cannot restrict the owner's l i b e r t y , the o w n e r w o u l d not w a n t to restrict his o r her o w n l i b e r t y either. A charitable endow¬ m e n t (waqf) o f one's personal p r o p e r t y is consequently

not b i n d i n g o n the

owner, nor o n his or her legal heirs. I n other w o r d s , the o w n e r o r dedicator o f e n d o w e d p r o p e r t y is at l i b e r t y t o revoke the e n d o w m e n t and thereby remove the self-imposed r e s t r i c t i o n o n his or her r i g h t o f o w n e r s h i p . The other legal schools disagree, m a i n l y because they consider a charitable e n d o w m e n t as a b i n d i n g c o m m i t m e n t that the dedicator o f the p r o p e r t y must observe, once i t has been d u l y i n s t i t u t e d . I n one o f his w i d e l y q u o t e d statements, w h i c h represents a d e f i n i n g p r i n c i ple o f the Hanafis, A b u Hanifah declared: "Whenever the authenticity o f a h a d i t h is ascertained, that is w h e r e I stand." A m o r e general statement, also attributed to A b u H a n i f a h , is: " W h e n y o u are faced w i t h evidence, then speak for i t and apply i t . " Consequently, i t is evident that o n occasions A b u Hanifah's disciples have differed w i t h some o f the r u l i n g s o f the i m a m o n the basis o f newdy uncovered evidence, often stating that the i m a m h i m s e l f w o u l d have f o l l o w e d i t had he k n o w n o f it. A r u l i n g by a disciple that differs f r o m that o f the i m a m is thus still regarded as a r u l i n g o f the school, sometimes i n preference to that o f the i m a m . Another saying o f Abu H a n i f a h that represents another Hanafi p r i n c i p l e is: " N o one may issue a verdict o n the basis o f w h a t w e have said unless he ascertains the source o f o u r statement." These eminently objective guidelines were u p h e l d d u r i n g the era o f i j t i h a d , but the ulama o f subsequent periods departed f r o m the spirit o f that guidance. The early nineteenth-century Hanafi jurist I b n A b i d i n thus stated the n e w p o s i t i o n o f the school i n the f o l l o w i n g terms: " A

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jurist o f the later ages may not abandon the r u l i n g s o f the leading i m a m s and ulama o f the school even i f he sees h i m s e l f able to carry out i j t i h a d , and even i f he thinks that he has f o u n d stronger evidence. For i t w o u l d appear that the predecessors have considered the relevant evidence and have declared their preference." The o n l y exception here is made for "situations o f necessity," i n w h i c h case the jurist may give a different verdict to that o f the established r u l i n g o f the school, i f this provides a preferable s o l u t i o n to an urgent issue that is not adequately covered by an established precedent o f the school. The r e n o w n e d w o r k Al-Muwatta (The Straight Path) o f the eighth-century theologian M a l i k i b n Anas al-Asbahi is the earliest complete w o r k o f fiqh o n record. It relies heavily o n the h a d i t h , so m u c h so that many have considered i t to be a w o r k o f h a d i t h . Because i t uses the h a d i t h as basic evidence f o r juristic c o n c l u sions, however, i t is r i g h t l y classified as a w o r k o f fiqh. N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g his leading p o s i t i o n i n the Traditionist camp ( A h l a l - H a d i t h ) , M a l i k relied extensively o n o p i n i o n ( r a y ) — i n some cases he d i d so even m o r e than representatives o f the other leading schools. M a l i k is the c h i e f source o f the t w o i m p o r t a n t doctrines o f p u b l i c interest and b l o c k i n g the means, b o t h o f w h i c h are e m i n e n t l y rational and rely m a i n l y o n personal reasoning. M a l i k i j u r i s p r u d e n c e also attempted to forge a closer l i n k w i t h the practicalities o f life i n M e d i n a and attached greater w e i g h t to social customs than other jurists d i d . This is borne out by its r e c o g n i t i o n o f the M e d i n a n consensus as a source o f law, a concept that is advanced o n l y by the M a l i k i school. M a l i k thus validated, o n this basis, using the testimony o f c h i l d r e n i n cases o f injury, p r o v i d e d they have not left the scene o f the i n c i d e n t . He also held that the w i f e o f a missing husband mayseek j u d i c i a l separation after a four-year w a i t i n g p e r i o d . M a l i k i law also recognized indicia I divorce on the grounds i >{ .1 husband's I n j u r i o u s treatmenl o f his w i f e . The m a j o r i t y r u l i n g entitles the w i f e to j u d i c i a l relief, whereby the court may p u n i s h the husband; M a l i k i law r u l e d that i f the treatment i n question a m o u n t e d to i n j u r y (darar), the w i f e c o u l d request d i s s o l u t i o n o f the marriage o n that basis. A n o t h e r M a l i k i c o n t r i b u t i o n i n this area is a type o f divorce k n o w n as khul, i n w h i c h the w i f e proposes d i s s o l u t i o n o f marriage against a financial

consideration, usually by r e t u r n i n g the d o w r y she received f r o m her

husband. Because the Q u r a n validates k h u l ( 2 : 2 2 9 ) ,

11

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recognized by all the

legal schools, but i t can o n l y be finalized w i t h the husband's consent. M a l i k i fiqh took this a step f u r t h e r by r u l i n g that i f there are irreconcilable differences the court may finalize the divorce even w i t h o u t the husband's consent. By the late t w e n t i e t h century the M a l i k i law o f divorce had generally been adopted i n the reformist legislation o f many M u s l i m countries. M u h a m m a d i b n I d r i s al-Shafii's impact, as founder o f the Shafii school o f law; o n the development o f Shariah is most noticeable i n the area o f the m e t h o d o l -

The Maliki school of law, which is prevalent in North Africa, prohibits an individual from appointing himself the administrator of a pious endowment, and most madrasas there were sponsored by the ruler, the only person who could afford such large sums.The BenYusuf Madrasa at Marrakesh, the largest in the Maghreb, was founded by the Saadian ruler Abdallah al-Ghalib in 1564-65.

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ogy o f law. His c o n t r i b u t i o n is manifested by his p i o n e e r i n g w o r k , the Risalnh, i n w h i c h he articulated the legal theory o f usul al-fiqh, w h i c h consequently emerged, a r o u n d the early n i n t h century, as one o f the most i m p o r t a n t disciplines o f learni n g i n the h i s t o r y o f Islamic scholarship. Al-Shafii's role i n articulating the m e t h o d o l o g y o f law has often been compared w i t h that o f Aristotle i n logic. He m a i n t a i n e d that the Sunna was a logical extension o f the Q u r a n and vindicated the exclusive a u t h o r i t y o f the prophetic Sunna as a source o f Shariah next to the Q u r a n . Al-Shafii's v i s i o n o f the basic u n i t y o f the revealed sources came close to saying that rejecting the Sunna also amounted to rejecting the Q u r a n , and that accepting the one and rejecting the other was untenable. He took his teacher, the theologian M a l i k , to task for placing undue emphasis o n the M e d i n a n consensus and the precedent o f the Prophet's Companions at the expense o f the Sunna o f the Prophet. In its general orientation Shafii law takes an intermediate posture between the Traditionist stance o f the M a l i k i school and the pragmatism o f the Hanafis. A l Shafii took an objective stand o n issues at a t i m e w h e n the Traditionists and Rationalists were engaged i n bitter controversies. He was critical o f Malik's validation o f unrestricted public interest and o f A b u Hanifah's frequent concession to specific at the expense o f general principles. Al-Shafii's approach to the interpretation o f contracts and verification o f their validity was almost entirely based o n the f o r m rather than the intent o f a contract. He thus overruled i n q u i r y i n t o the i n t e n t i o n o f the parties, even i n circumstances that m i g h t arouse suspicion. For example, a m a n is thus w i t h i n his rights i n b u y i n g a s w o r d , even i f he intends to k i l l an innocent person w i t h i t . A m a n may likewise buy a s w o r d f r o m someone he saw using that sword as m u r d e r weapon. Contracts and transactions are therefore to be judged by their obvious c o n f o r m i t y to the law, not by a mere susp i c i o n that they may have violated i t . Al-Shafii thus understood the Shariah t o be concerned w i t h the evident manifestation o f h u m a n conduct and maintained that the judge and jurist were n o t under d u t y to i n q u i r e i n t o the h i d d e n meani n g o f the text or i n t o the thoughts and motives o f individuals. This reliance o n the manifest f o r m o f conduct, contracts, and transactions is not peculiar to alShafii, as the Hanafis have also s h o w n the same tendency, but al-Shafii e x h i b i t e d it m o r e frequently than most. Al-Shafii maintained that a jurist should not hesitate to change his previous verdict (fatwa) i f that w o u l d make a better c o n t r i b u t i o n to the quest for t r u t h . Thus, it is noted that he frequently changed his verdicts, and he sometimes recorded d i f ferent rulings o n the same issue. If, for example, a m a n deceives a w o m a n by presenting her w i t h a false family pedigree, the m a n is liable to a deterrent (tazir) p u n i s h m e n t , such as being w h i p p e d , i m p r i s o n e d , or fined. Then t w o additional views are recorded o n the same issue f r o m the i m a m and neither is given prefer-

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ence. The first view entitles the w i f e to choose either to continue the marriage or to separate. The second v i e w says that the marriage is n u l l and void. N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g the c o m m o n p e r c e p t i o n or stereotype o f the H a n b a i i school as the most restrictive o f the leading legal schools, Hanbaii jurisprudence is i n some respects m o r e liberal than most. This is indicated by its extensive reliance o n considerations o f p u b l i c interest. The i m a m i b n Hanbaii issued a verdict, for example, that p e r m i t t e d c o m p e l l i n g the o w n e r o f a large house to give shelter to the homeless. H e also validated c o m p e l l i n g workers and craftspeople w h o j o i n together t o deprive the p u b l i c o f their services to continue t o provide those services at a fair wage to avoid i n f l i c t i n g hardship o n society. The H a n b a i i school also takes a considerably m o r e o p e n view o f the basic freedom o f contract than other schools do. The legal schools d i f f e r o n w hether the n o r m i n contract is permissibility, p r o h i b i t i o n , or an intermediate p o s i t i o n between the t w o . The m a j o r i t y tend to be restrictive i n m a i n t a i n i n g that the agreement o f parties creates the contract, but the contract's requirements and consequences are independently d e t e r m i n e d by Shariah. The parties therefore are not at l i b erty t o alter the substance o f these n o r to c i r c u m v e n t t h e m i n a w a y that w o u l d violate their purpose. The parties m a k i n g the contract d o n o t create the law but o n l y a specific contract; t h e i r stipulations and terms o f agreement s h o u l d therefore be i n c o n f o r m i t y w i t h the provisions o f Shariah. The schools d i f f e r over details, however. The M a l i k i s and Hanafis tend to take a moderate p o s i t i o n by m a k i n g many exceptions t o the basic n o r m o f p r o h i b i t i o n . Similarly, the Shafii p o s i t i o n , like that o f the Zahiris, tends to proscribe altering the basic postulates and attributes o f contracts t h r o u g h m u t u a l agreement. The Hanbalis m a i n t a i n that the n o r m regarding contracts is p e r m i s s i b i l i t y (ibaha), w h i c h prevails i n the absence o f a clear p r o h i b i t i o n i n the Shariah. The reason is that the Q u r a n has o n l y laid d o w n the general p r i n c i p l e that contracts must be f u l f i l l e d ( Q u r a n 5:1), and that they must be based o n m u t u a l consent ( Q u r a n 4:19). Because the Lawgiver ( G o d ) has not specified any requirements other than consent, consent alone is the validating factor. The w i l l and agreement o f the parties can therefore create b i n d i n g rights a n d obligations. The principle o f permissibility under Hanbaii law can also f o r m the basis for unilateral obligation, w h i c h means that the individual is free to c o m m i t himself or herself i n all situations i n w h i c h this principle can apply. Thus a m a n may validly stipulate i n a marriage contract that he w i l l not marry a second w i f e . Because polygyny is only permissible (that is. it is not required) under the Shariah, the i n d i vidual is free to make i t die subject o f stipulation. The other legal schools disallow this, say i n g that the Shariah has made polygyny lawful, a position that should not be circumvented or nullified t h r o u g h contractual stipulation. Therefore, any stipulation that seeks to do so is not binding. I b n Hanbal slated that stipulations i n a

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marriage contract must be strictly observed, even more so than i n other contracts. Consequently, w h e n one spouse fails to c o m p l y w i t h the terms o f the agreement, the other spouse is entitled to seek the annulment o f the contract. Shiite law permits temporary marriage (mutah) for any p e r i o d o f t i m e up to die m a x i m u m o f ninety-nine years. Under Shiite law, temporary marriage is a contractual arrangement whereby a w o m a n agrees to cohabit w i t h a m a n for a specified period o f t i m e i n return for a fixed remuneration. This arrangement does not give rise to any right o f inheritance between the spouses, but the children are legitimate and entitled to inheritance. Sunni law prohibits temporary marriage altogether. The differential rulings o f Sunni and Shiite law relate to the interpretation o f verses i n the Quran (2:236; 4:24); because mutah can mean b o t h " t e m p o r a r y marriage" or a " g i f t o f consolation" given to a divorced w o m a n , the Sunnis have upheld die latter meaning and the Shiites the former. The Prophet himself p e r m i t ted m u t a h i n the early years o f Islam, but he later declared it f o r b i d d e n , according to Sunni but not according to Shiite reports i n the Prophetic hadith. Anodier area i n w h i c h Shiite law differs significantly f r o m its Sunni counterpart is the system o f priorities i n inheritance. Male agnates—such as the father's father, germane brothers ( w h o share b o t h parents) and consanguine brothers ( w h o share a father but have different mothers), and paternal uncles o f the deceased—are often entitled to a share o f the inheritance, even i f there are closer female relatives, under Sunni law, but they are likely to be excluded f r o m inheritance under Shiite law. Whereas Sunni law tends to u p h o l d the basic concept o f the extended family, Shiite law rests o n the n o t i o n o f the nuclear family, consisting o f parents and lineal descendants. Under b o t h systems the son o f the deceased enjoys the same entitlement, but all other male relatives, particularly the collaterals, are often m u c h less favorably placed under the Shiite law. The divergent systems o f Sunni and Shiite succession are premised on their respective political and theological doctrines. For example, the principle o f Shiite succession that any lineal descendant, particularly the c h i l d o f a daughter, has complete p r i o r i t y over all collaterals reflects the Shiite view that the political title o f the Prophet was properly inherited by his lineal descendant, t h r o u g h his daughter Fatima, not by the agnate collaterals t h r o u g h the Prophet's uncle al-Abbas i b n Abd al-Muttalib (c66-ca. 653).

Salient Features of the Shariah: Religious and Moral Dimensions and Continuity and Change This section draws attention to some o f the characteristic features o f die Shariah, such as its identity as a religious law and its capacity to adapt t h r o u g h interpretation and rational analysis. The Shariah is characterized as pragmatic, especially i n the area o f public policy, and it favors a gradual approach to social r e f o r m . The Shariah advo-

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cates the moral autonomy o f the individual and visualizes a basic harmony between private and public interests, and so the Shariah's orientation toward the concerns o f the individual and those o f the c o m m u n i t y as a w h o l e is also discussed. To say that Islamic law is God-given and an integral part o f the r e l i g i o n is to say that adherence to its rules is b o t h a legal and a religious d u t y o f Muslims. Related to this are the concepts o f halal and haram, the permissible and the p r o hibited. These are legal and religious categories that involve duty toward both God and fellow h u m a n beings. The religious and civil aspects o f the Shariah tend to enforce one another i n that legal compliance, as far as Muslims are concerned, is a religious duty. But for n o n - M u s l i m s l i v i n g under Islamic law, the law takes o n a civilian character. It is o f interest to note, however, that even w i t h regard to M u s l i m s , the jurists have d r a w n a distinction between the religious and the c i v i l ian aspects o f the Shariah, especially i n the area o f civil transactions. I n this area the rules o f the Shariah are enforced o n the basis only o f w h a t is apparent, whereas r e l i g i o n decrees based o n true reality and i n t e n t i o n . Thus the legal status o f one act may differ i n the judicial context f r o m what i t m i g h t be i n a religious perspective. Judges do not issue judgments o n religious considerations alone. This is w h y M u s l i m jurists often define their legal status i n relationship to particular cases, but religiously i t is the reverse. For example, assume that someone denies that he is a debtor, and the creditor is unable to prove the debt i n the court o f law. I f some property o f the debtor comes i n t o the creditor's possession, r e l i g i o n w o u l d entitle the creditor to take the equivalent o f what is due to h i m w i t h o u t the debtor's permission. But i f the matter is b r o u g h t before the court, the creditor w i l l not be allowed to take anyt h i n g unless he proves the c l a i m t h r o u g h legal methods. Consider a situation i n w h i c h the creditor first waives the debt by g i v i n g it to the debtor as charity w i t h out actually i n f o r m i n g the debtor o f the decision, and then changes his m i n d and sues the debtor for the gift. I n this case the creditor is entitled to receive payment judicially but n o t o n religious grounds, as charity may not be revoked and the debtor does not o w e the creditor anything i n the eyes o f God. The d i s t i n c t i o n here between religious and juridical obligations (vvajib dini and wajib qadai) also signifies the difference between adjudication (qada) and a juristic o p i n i o n (fatvra). The judge (qadi) must adjudicate o n the basis o f apparent evidence and disregard the religious position o f the dispute before h i m , whereas a mufti investigates b o t h the apparent and the actual positions and b o t h are reflected i n the verdict. I f there is a conflict between the t w o positions, the m u f t i pronounces his o p i n i o n o n religious considerations, whereas the j u d g e considers objective evidence only, regardless o f the religious motives or personal disposition o f the litigants. A pious i n d i v i d u a l i n a court case is n o t to be treated differently f r o m one o f questionable piety or o f n o apparent dedication to r e l i g i o n .

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The scholastic manifestation o f this dual approach to rights and duties can also be seen i n the different orientations o f the legal schools w i t h regard to external ity and intent, and the question o f the relative value that is attached to the m a n i fest f o r m as opposed to the essence o f conduct. As previously noted, the Shafiis and Hanafis tend to stress the externality o f conduct w i t h o u t e x p l o r i n g the intent behind i t , whereas the Malikis and Hanbalis are inclined t o w a r d e x p l o r i n g the intent. These different approaches can be illustrated w i t h reference to the i n t e n t i o n behind a marriage contract. I f a m a n marries a w o m a n w i t h the sole i n t e n t i o n o f sexual gratification followed by a q u i c k divorce, the marriage is invalid according to the Malikis and Hanbalis but l a w f u l according to the Hanafis and Shafiis. W h e n the legal requirements o f a valid marriage contract are objectively fulfilled, that is all that is necessary according t o die Hanafis and Shafiis, whereas the Malikis and Hanbalis base their judgments o n the u n d e r l y i n g intent and maintain that evil and abuse should be obstructed whenever they become k n o w n . A consequence o f this attitudinal difference can also be seen i n the approval or disapproval o f legal stratagems (al-hiyal aJ-fiqhiyyah) i n such cases as a catalyst mar riage (tahlil) and usurious sale (inalı). The former involves a m a n m a r r y i n g a w o m a n w h o has been divorced i n order to allow her to remarry her first husband. This is a perversion o f the requirement that there be a genuine intervening marriage before a divorced couple can remarry. I n usurious sale, person A sells a piece o f cloth to person B for S100, payable i n one year, and then immediately buys the cloth back for S8o, paid then and there. The difference İs a disguised usury (riba), as it amounts to charging an interest o f S20 for a loan o f S80 for one year. In b o t h examples, the acts are designed to circumvent the rules o f Shariah by violating their intention. Malikis and Hanbalis reject such stratagems altogether, but the Hanafis and Shafiis have upheld t h e m and recognize the legal consequences that flow f r o m them. The Maliki jurist A b u Ishaq I b r a h i m al-Shatibi (d. 1388) stated the Maliki position as f o l lows: "Anyone w h o seeks to obtain f r o m the rules o f Shariah something w h i c h is contrary to its purpose has violated the Shariah and his actions are null and v o i d . " The Hanbali scholar I b n Q a y y i m al-Jawziyyah ( 1289-1349) held substantially the same p o s i t i o n . Al-Shatibi added that the r u l i n g s o f Shariah regarding w h a t is permissible and p r o h i b i t e d generally consider b o t h the acts and their u n d e r l y i n g i n t e n t i o n . The M a l i k i - H a n b a l i p o s i t i o n is also upheld i n a hadith-cum-legal m a x i m that declares, "Acts are judged by the intentions b e h i n d t h e m . " A M u s l i m therefore must n o t seek to legalize for h i m s e l f or herself something that is p r o h i b i t e d even i f he or she obtains a judicial decree to that effect. This conclusion is based on the hadith in w h i c h the Prophet adjudicated a case o n the basis o f apparent evidence, but then said: I am but a human being. When you bring a dispute to me, some o f you may be more eloquent in slating your cases than others. I may consequently

According to Muslim law, a market supervisor, known in Arabic as muhtasib, is in charge of monitoring business transactions in the market. He was authorized, for example, to intervene and stop instances of cruelty to animals. Markets like this one in Kirman in central Iran were typically housed in vaulted structures that protected produce and people from the strong rays of the sun.

adjudicate on the basis of what I hear. I f I adjudicate i n favor o f someone something that belongs to his brother, let him not take it, for it would be like taking a piece of fire. This h a d i t h is p r e m i s e d i n the b i n d i n g force o f j u d i c i a l orders i n that n o one is at l i b e r t y to defy t h e m o n the basis m e r e l y o f a m o r a l a r g u m e n t . I f a miscarriage o f justice is due to false evidence, however, the person w h o w i n s the case

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because o f the false evidence bears a m o r a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y n o t to insist o n e n f o r c e m e n t . The Shariah also contains p r o v i s i o n s o n expiations (kaffarat), w h i c h are self-inflicted punishments o f a religious character that the courts are not authorized to enforce. I f a person breaks a solemn oath, for example, he may expiate for i t by g i v i n g charity sufficient to feed ten p o o r people or fasting for three days. Other expiations have been p r o v i d e d for i n the Q u r a n , but none are legally enforceable. M o r a l i t y and r e l i g i o n are thus closely interrelated. The Prophet declared i n a h a d i t h that " I have n o t been sent but to accomplish m o r a l virtues." The m o r a l overtones o f the Shariah are clearly seen i n its propensity t o w a r d d u t y (taklif), so m u c h so that some commentators have characterized the Shariah as "a system o f d u t i e s " as compared w i t h statutory law, w h i c h often speaks o f rights. The Shariah clearly recognizes b o t h d u t y and r i g h t , b u t i t is nevertheless indicative o f the m o r a l u n d e r p i n n i n g s o f the Shariah that i t speaks m a i n l y o f d u t y rather than r i g h t . The fact that the Shariah proscribes usury, w i n e d r i n k i n g , and g a m b l i n g , proclaims legal alms as one o f its major duties, and encourages " l o w e r i n g o f the gaze" between m e m b e r s o f the opposite sex, as w e l l as declaring divorce as " t h e w o r s t o f all permissible t h i n g s " all reflect the Shariah's m o r a l o u t l o o k . This is also evident i n the rules p e r t a i n i n g to war, i n w h i c h the Shariah f o r b i d s m a i m i n g , i n j u r i n g c h i l d r e n , w o m e n , and the elderly, as w e l l as damagi n g animals, crops, and b u i l d i n g s . The Prophet and the early caliphs c o n d e m n e d cruelty to animals and took to task those w h o caused hardship to animals and neglected their needs. A l t h o u g h these are n o t justiciable i n the court o f law, the market controller (muhtasib) is nevertheless authorized to intervene and to stop instances o f c r u e l t y t o animals. The muhtasib, w h o became k n o w n i n the Abbasid p e r i o d (749—12c8) as market controller, m a i n l y i n charge o f price regulations, was i n i t i a l l y the officer i n charge o f the m o r a l and religious duties o f Islam, i n c l u d i n g the hisba (that is, c o m m a n d i n g g o o d and f o r b i d d i n g e v i l ) . Some o f the hisba f u n c t i o n s — s u c h as those relating to the observance o f r e l i gious duties i n the fasting m o n t h o f Ramadan, attendance o f Friday congregat i o n a l prayer, and so o n — w e r e gradually abandoned or taken over by o t h e r g o v e r n m e n t agencies. This d i s t i n c t i o n between the Shariah's m o r a l and legal precepts is also reflected i n its scale o f five values—obligatory, desirable, neutral, reprehensible, f o r b i d d e n . O n l y the t w o extremes—the obligatory (wajib) and the f o r b i d d e n (haram)—are legal categories. The r e m a i n i n g three categories, w h i c h cover a m u c h larger area, are basically m o r a l and n o t justiciable. A substantive distinction between the religious and legal aspects o f conduct can be seen even w i t h i n the t w o categories o f obligatory and f o r b i d d e n . Religious obligations, such as prayer, fasting, and the hajj, are classified as " p u r e r i g h t o f G o d " (haqq Allah) and

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are n o r m a l l y n o t justiciable. They d i f f e r i n that respect f r o m those obligations that fall under the r i g h t o f h u m a n beings (haqq flJ-addmi), such as debt repayment o r spousal support. These rights can be made the subject o f a j u d i c i a l order. I t is o f t e n said that Islamic law is i m m u t a b l e because it is d i v i n e l y ordained. Yet, i n its p h i l o s o p h y and o u t l o o k , d i v i n e law itself integrates a certain a m o u n t o f adaptability and change. Some o f the basic principles o f the Shariah, such as justice, equality, public interest, consultation, e n j o i n i n g g o o d , and f o r b i d d i n g evil, are inherently d y n a m i c . They are therefore i m m u t a b l e i n p r i n c i p l e , b u t they r e m a i n open to adaptation and adjustment o n the level o f i m p l e m e n t a t i o n . The fundamentals o f the faith and the practical pillars on w h i c h those fundamentals stand—the basic m o r a l values o f Islam and its clear i n j u n c t i o n s — a r e o n the w h o l e permanent and unchangeable. But i n many other areas o f the law, the Shariah only provides general guidelines, the details o f w h i c h may be adjusted and m o d i f i e d t h r o u g h the exercise o f h u m a n reasoning. The o v e r r i d i n g objectives o f Shariah are the p r o m o t i o n o f h u m a n dignity, justice, and equality; the establishment o f a consultative government; the realization o f the l a w f u l benefits o f the people; the prevention o f h a r m (darar); the removal o f hardship (haraj); and the education o f the i n d i v i d u a l by inculcating i n h i m o r her a sense o f punctuality, self-discipline, and restraint. I n their broad scope these objectives are permanent and unchangeable. W h e n the Q u r a n and the Sunna i d e n t i f y a certain objective to be o f o v e r r i d i n g importance, then all measures that can be taken t o w a r d its realization are automatically protected by the Shariah, p r o v i d e d that they are clear o f d i s t o r t i o n and abuse. I n other w o r d s , the means

The basic objectives of the Shariah are conveyed in the Quran and the Sunna.They include establishing a consultative government. Many modern Muslim states have parliaments.The Kuwait Parliament building was

t o w a r d attaining those ends are o f as m u c h value as the ends themselves. The

designed by the Danish

ulama have attempted to classify the basic benefits (masalih) i n t o the three broad

architect J. Utzon.

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yet interrelated categories: essential interests (daruriyyat), c o m p l e m e n t a r y interests (hajiyyat), and desirabilities (tahsiniyyat). The c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f the M a l i k i jurist al-Shatibi to these, and to the p h i l o s o p h y o f Shariah i n general, are particularly n o t e d . O n l y the m a i n categories o f benefits are predictable i n advance; their details are changeable according to the circumstances o f t i m e and place, h o w ever. They need therefore to be i d e n t i f i e d and pursued as and w h e n they arise. The means t o w a r d securing the Shariah's recognized objectives are flexible, as they are not specified i n the sources and therefore remain open to considerations o f public p o l i c y and justice. For example, vindicating the t r u t h is an objective i n its o w n r i g h t . T r u t h may be established by the testimony o f u p r i g h t witnesses or by other means as they become available, such as sound r e c o r d i n g , p h o t o g r a p h ) , and laboratory analysis, w h i c h are perhaps even m o r e reliable than verbal testimony. The Shariah only specifies the end that must be sought, but i t leaves open the means by w h i c h the ends are achieved. Another example is the issue o f female witnesses and the fiqh rule that the testimony o f t w o females is equal to that o f one male. This was the conclusion o f the ulama o f the past, whose readi n g o f the Quranic text i n l i g h t o f the prevailing conditions o f earlier times was generally accepted and perhaps also justified i n the Q u r a n . There is a reference i n the Q u r a n that validates the testimony o f m e n and w o m e n , i n that order, but the text does not preclude the testimony o f female witnesses. The reading o f the Q u r a n should be goal-oriented and responsive to the realities o f contemporary M u s l i m society. I f the o v e r r i d i n g objectives o f the Q u r a n , t r u t h and justice, are n o w better served by a d m i t t i n g equally the testimony o f female witnesses, especially w h e n they might be the only witnesses available in a particular case, the judge w o u l d not hesitate to a d m i t t h e m ; the rules o f fiqh o n this subject may also be adjusted i n the f u t u r e to that effect.

The Scope of Interpretation and Reasoning There are t w o types o f rules o f Shariah that occur i n the Quran and the Sunna: definitive (qati) and speculative (zanni). Definitive rules refer to injunctions that are self-evident and need n o interpretation. Some o f the injunctions o f the Quran are conveyed i n this f o r m ; they are definite and self-contained. There are also instances i n w h i c h the Quran lays d o w n a basic rule, w h i c h , however definitive, needs to be supplemented; i n this case, the necessary details are often supplied by the Sunna. The definitive injunctions o f the Quran and the Sunna constitute the c o m m o n core o f u n i t y among the various legal schools and among Muslims i n general. It is thanks mainly to definitive injunctions that the Shariah is often described as a diversity w i t h i n u n i t y : unity i n essentials but diversity in details; u n i t y o n matters o f belief, o n what is permitted o r p r o h i b i t e d , but diversity i n values that fall below

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these categories. A legal text is classified as speculative w h e n it is conveyed i n a language that leaves r o o m for interpretation and h u m a n endeavor. Also i n the Q u r a n and the Sunna are instances i n w h i c h a legal text may be definitive i n some respects but speculative i n others. For example, the Quran i n j u n c t i o n " f o r b i d d e n to y o u ( i n marriage) are your mothers and y o u r daughters . . ." (4:23) conveys a definite meaning o n the basic p r o h i b i t i o n i t contains, but questions arise about whether the w o r d daughters includes, i n addition to legitimate biological daughters, illegitimate daughters, stepdaughters, granddaughters, and foster daughters. A n d i f so, are they all entitled to inheritance? Because daughters is a general w o r d , i t includes all o f its possible meanings; this is the Hanafis' interpretation. But the m a j o r i t y o f legal scholars m a i n t a i n that this is conjectural and the application o f all o f its possible meanings is not a matter o f certainty. A l t h o u g h the Hanafis conclude that daughters includes all daughters, the majority o f legal scholars d o n o t , for example, include illegitimate daughters i n that meaning. There is a similar debate w i t h regard to the ablution (wudu) for ritual prayer. This is necessary, as the Quran says, w h e n one touches (lomastum) a m e m b e r o f the opposite sex ( Q u r a n 4:43). The precise meaning o f the w o r d — w h e t h e r it means merely t o u c h i n g or sexual intercourse—is a matter o f disagreement among the leading legal schools. The scope o f such interpretations is not confined to words but extends to entire sentences and the meaning conveyed i n a partictilar context. Even w i t h regard to such basic p r o h i b i t i o n s as m u r d e r and theft, questions arise as to the precise d e f i n i t i o n i n the Q u r a n . For example, does stealing f r o m a deceased person or p i c k i n g pockets f i t the standard d e f i n i t i o n o f theft? By far, the larger p o r t i o n o f the Quran's legal content is speculative i n this sense, although the w h o l e o f the Q u r a n is definitive i n respect o f authenticity The jurists have d i f f e r e d i n their approach to interpretation. A l t h o u g h some schools like the Zaliiris t o o k a literalist approach to interpretation, the m a j o r i t y have i n c l u d e d allegorical i n t e r p r e t a t i o n (tawil) i n a d d i t i o n to i n t e r p r e t a t i o n proper (tofsir). They have validated interpretation based o n personal o p i n i o n (tafsir bil ray) i n a d d i t i o n t o interpretation f o u n d e d o n valid precedent (tafsir hil mathur) i n their understanding o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna. Whereas interpretation proper signifies interpretation based o n the actual w o r d s o f the text, allegorical i n t e r p r e t a t i o n includes the m o r e remote interpretations, such as the i m p l i e d and metaphorical meanings that fall b e y o n d the confines o f the text. Because the Quran is characteristically devoted to broad guidelines and p r i n c i ples, its language is often versatile. Because o f this versatility, "every scholar w h o has resorted to the Quran i n search o f solution to a p r o b l e m , " commented the jurist alShatibi i n Muwufaqai, "has f o u n d i n the Quran a principle that has provided h i m w i t h some guidance o n the issue." Al-Shatibi also observed that the specific rulings o f the Quran are often related to a better understanding o f its general principles. For exam-

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pie, the f o l l o w i n g proclamations i n the Quran lay d o w n basic values rather than specific rules and procedures: " G o d permitted sale and prohibited usury" (Quran 2:275); " G o d does not intend to impose hardship u p o n people" (Quran 5:6); the charge to believers to "cooperate i n pursuit o f good works and piety and cooperate not i n hostility and s i n " (Quran 5:2); another charge to believers to "obey G o d and obey the Messenger and those w h o are i n charge o f affairs" (Quran 4 : 5 9 ) , or the precechng text i n the same chapter (Quran 4:58), addressing believers to " r e n der the trust al-amanat to w h o m that they belong and w h e n y o u judge among people, y o u judge w i t h justice"; and the proclamation regarding punishment " a n d the recompense o f evil is an evil equivalent to it, but one w h o forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is w i t h G o d " (Quran 42:40). (Arnonat here include a variety o f public functions—a witness i n court, a judge, the guardian o f a m i n o r , or a holder o f public office—and also an object that is b o r r o w e d o n trust. Because a reference to justice immediately follows i n the verse, justice is understood to be one o f the most important amanat.) I n each case, the text is concerned w i t h laying d o w n a basic n o r m and a general principle, w h i c h may w e l l relate to new developments and be given a fresh interpretation i n light o f unprecedented issues. This is evident i n the f o l l o w i n g commands and statements: to "consult t h e m [the c o m m u n i t y ] i n their affairs" (Quran 3:159), to " f u l f i l l your contracts" (Quran 5:1), to "devour not each other's property i n vain, unless it be through lawful trade by your m u t u a l consent" (Quran 4:29), and the statements that everyone is responsible for his o w n conduct and " n o soul shall be burdened w i t h the burden o f another"

(Quran

6:164), the statement that " G o d commands justice and fairness" (Quran 16:90), the statement that "one w h o is compelled w i t h o u t intending to violate or revolt is not to be blamed" (Quran 2:173), and so

forth.

Ratiocination (exact reasoning) is a step beyond interpretation i n that i n t e r pretation is c o n f i n e d to the w o r d s and sentences o f the text, w h i l e ratiocination looks i n t o the text's rationale and purpose. W h e n the Quranic legislation is c o m pared w i t h m o d e r n statutes, it is notable that the textual r u l i n g s o f the Q u r a n are not confined to a series o f commands and p r o h i b i t i o n s ; rather, they are an appeal to the reason and conscience o f its audience. The Quran o n numerous instances expounds the rationale, cause, objective, and purpose o f its r u l i n g s , the benefit or reward that accrues f r o m c o n f o r m i t y to its guidance or the h a r m and p u n ishment that may f o l l o w f r o m defying it. This aspect o f the Q u r a n , k n o w n as talil (rational analysis), is also manifested i n the affirmative stance that the Q u r a n takes to the exercise o f reason and i n the frequent references that it makes to those w h o t h i n k , w h o i n q u i r e i n t o the w o r l d a r o u n d t h e m and investigate, those w h o possess k n o w l e d g e and draw rational conclusions f r o m their observations. Rational analysis is an essential component o f analogical reasoning i n that analogy cannot be constructed, as previously noted, w i t h o u t the identification o f an

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effective cause that is i n c o m m o n between the o r i g i n a l case and the n e w case. Rational analysis is n o t valid w i t h regard to devotional matters, b u t outside this sphere the Shariah

encourages investigation a n d i n q u i r y

i n t o its

rules.

Ratiocination i n the Q u r a n means that the laws o f the Q u r a n are n o t i m p o s e d f o r the sake o f mere c o n f o r m i t y to rules, b u t that they a i m at the realization o f certain benefits and objectives. W h e n the effective cause, rationale, and objective o f an i n j u n c t i o n are properly ascertained, they serve as basic indicators o f the cont i n u e d validity o f that i n j u n c t i o n . Thus w h e n a r u l i n g o f the Shariah outside the sphere o f w o r s h i p n o longer serves its o r i g i n a l i n t e n t i o n and purpose, it is the proper role o f the scholar to substitute a suitable alternative. I n the precedent o f the Companions o f the Prophet, instances can be f o u n d i n w h i c h some o f the rulings o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna were suspended or replaced because they n o longer served the purpose for w h i c h they were initially i n t r o d u c e d . Thus the second caliph, U m a r i b n al-Khattab, suspended the share o f the muallafah al-qulub (friends o f the faith) i n the tax revenues o f zakah. These friends were people o f influence, not necessarily devout M u s l i m s , whose c o o p eration was i m p o r t a n t for the v i c t o r y o f Islam. The Quran ( 9 : 6 0 ) had assigned a share for t h e m , w h i c h the caliph discontinued o n the g r o u n d that " G o d has exalted Islam and i t is n o longer i n need o f their s u p p o r t . " The caliph thus departed, o n purely rational grounds, f r o m the letter o f the Q u r a n i n favor o f its general purpose, and his r u l i n g is generally held to be i n h a r m o n y w i t h the spirit o f the text. Also noted i n the hadith is a case i n w h i c h the Prophet declared a request by some Companions, made at a time o f price hikes i n c o m m o d i t i e s , to i n t r o d u c e price c o n t r o l i n the M e d i n a n market o n the g r o u n d that this m i g h t a m o u n t to an unfair i m p o s i t i o n o n the traders. But changed circumstances some sixty years later p r o m p t e d the M e d i n a n ulama to validate price c o n t r o l , c o m i n g to the opposite c o n c l u s i o n based o n the same concerns the Prophet

had

expressed—to prevent unfair trading and abuse—although this t i m e the h a r m was likely to affect the c o m m u n i t y as a w h o l e . A c c o r d i n g to another report, the Prophet's w i d o w Aishah reversed the r u l i n g o f the h a d i t h that had a l l o w e d w o m e n to attend the mosque for congregational prayers, stating that o w i n g to the spread o f c o r r u p t i o n , the Prophet w o u l d have done the same were he alive. Because o f changing c o n d i t i o n s i n m o d e r n times, the prevailing custom permits w o m e n ' s participation i n almost all walks o f life, a n d i t w o u l d n o t make sense n o w i f the mosque were t o be the o n l y place where w o m e n c o u l d not go. The specific cause and argument may vary i n each case, b u t the basic rationale i n these examples is the concern that the people benefit and the aversion t o irrational c o n f o r m i t y to rules that is at the r o o t o f the idea o f t a l i f Rational analysis is therefore indispensable to the n o t i o n o f independent reasoning. Only the Zahiris opposed i t , b u t the m a j o r i t y o f jurists u p h e l d i t o n the analysis that a m e c h a n i -

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According to one report, the Prophet's widow Aishah reversed the practice that had allowed women to attend the mosque for congregational prayer. In many places, including this mosque in Regent's Park, London, women still pray in a separate area.

cal reading o f the Q u r a n , o b l i v i o u s o f p u b l i c welfare and d r i v e n only by considerations o f c o n f o r m i t y a n d i m i t a t i o n , should be avoided.

Graduality and Pragmatism: Shariah-Oriented Policy Islamic law favors a gradual approach to social r e f o r m to avoid hardship that may be caused by c o n f r o n t a t i o n w i t h the existing reality a n d customs. This is illustrated by the fact that the Q u r a n was revealed over a p e r i o d o f twenty -three years, and m u c h o f i t was revealed i n relation to actual events. The Meccan p o r t i o n o f the Q u r a n was devoted m a i n l y to m o r a l teaching and i n s t r u c t i o n i n the new r e l i g i o n , a n d it contained little legislation. Legislation i n social affairs is almost entirely a M e d i n a n p h e n o m e n o n . Even i n M e d i n a , some o f the Quran's laws were revealed i n stages. The final ban o n d r i n k i n g w i n e , for instance, was preceded by t w o separate declarations—one merely referred to the adverse effects o f i n t o x i -

The rules governing the dress appropriate for women vary according to different interpretations of the Shariah by the various schools of law In the Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, women must cover their entire bodies except their faces, and many women there wear a chodor or full veil.

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cation and the other proscribed d r i n k i n g d u r i n g r i t u a l prayer. Both measures prepared the g r o u n d f o r the final step that banned d r i n k i n g altogether. This m a n ner o f legislation can also be seen i n reference to the five daily prayers, w h i c h were initially fixed at t w o and later were raised t o five, and the legal alms, w h i c h was initially an o p t i o n a l charity and became obligatory after the Prophet's m i g r a t i o n to Medina; fasting was also o p t i o n a l at first a n d was later made i n t o a religious duty. Some o f the Quran's earlier r u l i n g s were subsequently abrogated and replaced i n l i g h t o f n e w circumstances that the c o m m u n i t y experienced. Islamic law therefore advocates realistic r e f o r m , but i t does n o t favor abrupt revolutionary change. This is conveyed i n the response, f o r example, that the Umayyad caliph U m a r i b n A b d al-Aziz (682 o r 6 8 3 - 7 2 0 ) gave to his ambitious son A b d a l - M a l i k , w h o suggested to his father that G o d had granted h i m the p o w e r to decisively fight c o r r u p t i o n i n society once and f o r a l l . The caliph advised his son against such a course, saying that A l m i g h t y G o d H i m s e l f denounced w i n e d r i n k i n g twice before he banned i t . The caliph said: " I f I take sweeping action even i n the r i g h t cause and i n f l i c t i t o n people all at once, I fear revolt and the possibility that they may also reject i t all at once." C o m m e n t i n g o n this.Yusuf al-Qaradawi w r o t e : "This is a correct understanding o f Islam, the k i n d o f understanding that is i m p l i e d i n the very m e a n i n g o f fiqh and w o u l d be unquestionably upheld by i t . " The pragmatism o f the Shariah is also manifested i n the frequent concessions it makes concerning those w h o face h a r d s h i p — f o r instance, difficulties the sick, the elderly, pregnant w o m e n , and travelers m i g h t f i n d i n daily prayers and fasting. It also makes provisions f o r extraordinary a n d emergency situations i n w h i c h the rules o f Shariah may be temporarily suspended o n grounds o f necessity. Thus, according to a legal m a x i m , the verdict o f the m u f t i must take i n t o consideration the change o f time and circumstances. For instance, people w ere r

not allowed i n the early days o f Islam to charge a fee f o r teaching the Q u r a n , as this was considered an act o f spiritual m e r i t . But w h e n people d i d not volunteer and the teaching o f the Q u r a n suffered a decline, the jurists consequently issued a verdict that reversed the p o s i t i o n a n d allowed teachers to be p a i d . Another example is the pragmatic verdict o f I m a m M a l i k that p e r m i t t e d the pledging o f allegiance (bayah) to the lesser qualified o f t w o candidates for leadership, i f that were deemed to be i n the public interest. The n o r m a l rule r e q u i r e d , o f course, that allegiance should only be given to the best q u a l i f i e d candidate. Similarly, n o r m a l rules require that a judge must be a qualified jurist and scholar, but a person o f lesser qualification may be appointed should there be a shortage o f q u a l ified people f o r j u d i c i a l posts. This also applies to a witness, w h o must be an honest person. If, however, the o n l y witness i n a case is a less-than-honest person the judge may admit the witness and adjudicate the case i f this is the only

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reasonable alternative available. Finally, the Prophet's w i d o w , Aishah, reported that "the Prophet d i d n o t choose but the easier o f t w o alternatives, so l o n g as i t d i d not a m o u n t to a s i n . " Thus the judge, jurist, and ruler are advised n o t to o p t for m o r e onerous decisions i f easier o p t i o n s c o u l d he equally justified. I n its broad scope, Shariah-oriented p u b l i c p o l i c y (siyasah shariyyah) authorizes government leaders to conduct government affairs i n h a r m o n y w i t h the spirit and purpose o f the Shariah, even at the expense o f a t e m p o r a r y departure f r o m its specific rules. The t w o most i m p o r t a n t objectives o f this p o l i c y are the reali z a t i o n o f social benefit and the prevention o f evil. Shariah-oriented policy is an i n s t r u m e n t o f good government, and it applies b o t h w i t h i n and outside the parameters o f the established Shariah, a l t h o u g h some ulama have h e l d that there is n o p o l i c y outside the Shariah itself. A c c o r d i n g to the H a n b a l i scholar I b n Q a y y i m al-Jawziyyah i n Al-Turuq ai-Hukmiyyah (Methods o f J u d g m e n t ) : Siyasah shariyyah includes all measures which bring the people closer to beneficence and furthest away from corruption, even i f it has not been approved by the Prophet (peace be upon him) nor regulated by divine revelation. Anyone who says that there is no siyasah shariyyah where the Shariah itself is silent is wrong. . . . A n y measures taken by a l a w f u l ruler that i n his j u d g m e n t secure a benefit o r repel a m i s c h i e f fall w i t h i n the a m b i t o f siyasah. The scope o f public p o l i c y (siyasah) is therefore exceedingly w i d e , as i t encompasses matters o f concern n o t o n l y to law but also to economic development, a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , and politics. The Quranic a u t h o r i t y for siyasah is f o u n d i n its p r i n c i p l e o f e n j o i n i n g g o o d and f o r b i d d i n g evil, w h i c h is enunciated i n several places i n the Q u r a n . There are also numerous instances o f siyasah i n the Sunna o f the Prophet and i n the precedent o f the pious caliphs (the f o u r caliphs w h o r u l e d d u r i n g the forty years i m m e d i ately after the Prophet's death). Siyasah thus enables government leaders a n d judges to be effective i n responding to circumstances, b o t h under n o r m a l c o n ditions and i n emergency situations. I b n Q a y y i m thus observed that whoever sets free the accused for w a n t o f witnesses after he takes an oath swearing his i n n o cence, even t h o u g h he has the reputation for c o r r u p t i o n and robberies, verily acts contrary to siyasah. Conversely, it w o u l d be contrary to siyasah for a judge to treat a first offender w i t h the same degree o f severity as a recidivist w h o has an established record o f c r i m i n a l i t y and violence. Shariah-oriented policy may operate i n any o f the f o l l o w i n g f o u r ways: First, it can restrict what is permissible i n order to secure a benefit o r to prevent h a r m . A n example o f this is the caliph U m a r i b n al-Khattab's decision to ask the people n o t to consume meat o n t w o consecutive days i n a week at a t i m e w h e n meat was i n short supply i n M e d i n a . Other examples m i g h t be to specify a m a x i m u m

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acreage for certain agricultural crops o r to restrict i m p o r t s o f certain items i n order t o protect national industries. Second, it can legislate b o t h w i t h i n and outside the Shariah-regulated areas. This is an extensive field i n w h i c h p o l i c y can be used to great advantage, n o t only i n the sense o f administering the existing Shariah but also i n i n i t i a t i n g n e w law i n other areas. Legislation may be i n t r o d u c e d to i m p l e m e n t the Quranic i n j u n c tions o n consultation, equality, and justice—subjects o n w h i c h basic guidelines are f o u n d i n the Q u r a n but that must be adequately regulated i n l i g h t o f prevailing conditions. The r u l e r may also initiate new legislation. A n example o f this is the precedent set by the caliph Umar, w h o was once m a k i n g one o f his n i g h t tours o f Medina w h e n he heard the persistent cries o f a c h i l d . He alerted the child's m o t h e r but later he heard that the infant was still crying. U p o n f u r t h e r i n q u i r y , i t t u r n e d out that the w o m a n had weaned the c h i l d too early, because the caliph had allowed o n l y c h i l d r e n w h o had been weaned to o b t a i n welfare assistance. Consequently, the caliph issued orders that entitled c h i l d r e n o f all ages to welfare assistance. T h i r d , there is the possibility o f selecting one o f several available solutions. Should there be several juristic views o n a certain issue, the r u l e r may select one that he considers to be most suitable. W h e n he does so, his r u l i n g becomes the authoritative r u l i n g o f the Shariah to the exclusion o f all other interpretations. This is the subject o f a legal m a x i m that reads: "The c o m m a n d o f the i m a m puts an end t o disagreement." A n d finally, i n the area o f penal law, a p p l y i n g the deterrent p u n i s h m e n t (tazir), w h i c h is an i n s t r u m e n t o f siyasah, enables the judge t o exercise

flexibility

in

selecting b o t h the type and the q u a n t i t y o f p u n i s h m e n t that m i g h t seem suitable i n a case before h i m . This p u n i s h m e n t may vary f r o m a mere verbal a d m o n i t i o n to c o r p o r a l p u n i s h m e n t to i m p r i s o n m e n t and fines. It may be ordered o n l y by competent authorities and o n l y as a result o f conduct that amounts to a violation.

I n other w o r d s , the judge may not create the offense and may o n l y penal-

ize w h a t is a v i o l a t i o n under Shariah i n the first place.

The Coirirnuriity Versus the Individual Many commentators have held the v i e w that the d i v i n e Shariah does n o t relate to the concerns o f society i n the way that h u m a n - m a d e laws are expected to do. Instead o f taking its o r i g i n f r o m the needs and aspirations o f society, Islamic lawexpects the society t o c o n f o r m w i t h its mandate. I n this view. Islamic law is s h o w n to be nonparticipatory and authoritarian. But attention must be given to a different side o f this picture: Islamic legal theory also incorporates general c o n sensus (ij'ma), considerations o f p u b l i c interest (istisloh), and social c u s t o m (urf)

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a m o n g the recognized sources o f

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Consensus is particularly i m p o r t a n t because i t is the b i n d i n g source that ranks i n a u t h o r i t y next to the Q u r a n and the Sunna. F u r t h e r m o r e , the Q u r a n proclaims consultation as a p r i n c i p l e o f g o v e r n m e n t and a m e t h o d that m u s t be applied i n the administration o f p u b l i c affairs. Islamic legal theory thus recognizes a n u m b e r o f nonrevealed sources that are eminently participatory and founded i n social need and c o n sensus. F r o m this perspective.

Islamic l a w

responds positively to the prospect o f legislat i o n o n rationalist and u t i l i t a r i a n grounds that accommodate social change. The populist base o f Islamic law is strong e n o u g h to persuade many M u s l i m c o m m e n t a tors t o embrace the m i n o r i t y v i e w that sovereignty

i n an Islamic state belongs

to

the

M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y (ummoh). This is because i n the c o n s t i t u t i o n a l theory o f the Shariah, t h e head o f state acts i n his capacity as the representative (wakil) o f the people, and he may be deposed by the people i n the event o f a flagrant v i o l a t i o n o f the Shariah. Legal theory recognizes general consensus as a b i n d i n g source o f law, and the government is also b o u n d by the Quranic mandate to consult the c o m m u n i t y i n public affairs. The conclusion is dial the M u s l i m

Muslim law extends into many areas of finance and banking. Muslims are obliged to pay alms and are forbidden to practice

c o m m u n i t y is the repository o f w h a t is k n o w n

usury. Islamic banks, as in this example from Doha, in Qatar,

as executive sovereignty. The m a j o r i t y v i e w ,

combine modern finance with the requirements of Muslim law.

however, is that sovereignty i n the Islamic state belongs exclusively to G o d , whose w i l l and c o m m a n d , w h i c h is the Shariah, binds the c o m m u n i t y and state. The d i g n i f i e d status o f the c o m m u n i t y finds supp o r t i n its Quranic designation as the vicegerent o f G o d i n the earth ( Q u r a n 22:31) and the declaration that G o d has subjugated the earth and the entire created universe for the benefit o f h u m a n beings (Quran 45:12). Public interest is n o t o n l y recognized as a source o f law, but Islamic law f u r ther requires that governmental affairs must be conducted i n accordance w i t h public interest. This is the subject o f a legal m a x i m that declares: "The affairs o f the i m a m are d e t e r m i n e d by reference to p u b l i c interest." A c c o r d i n g to another

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legal m a x i m , instances o f conflict between public and private interests must be determined i n favor o f public interests. Public interest is thus the c r i t e r i o n by w h i c h the success or failure o f government is measured f r o m the perspective o f the Shariah. Furthermore, the Q u r a n and the Sunna are emphatic o n solidarity w i t h the vast m a j o r i t y o f the c o m m u n i t y o f believers (jamaa). I n a n u m b e r o f places the Quran simultaneously praises and defines the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y as "a m i d most n a t i o n " (2:143),

a

nation o f m o d e r a t i o n that is averse to extremism; " i t

enjoins g o o d and forbids e v i l " (3:109); a c o m m u n i t y that is c o m m i t t e d to the t r u t h and administers justice o n its basis (7:181); a c o m m u n i t y that advocates u n i t y and shuns separation (3:102 and 21:92); and a c o m m u n i t y that i n its advocacy o f t r u t h is a witness u n t o itself and over m a n k i n d (16:89

a n

d

2 :

The

jurists have consequently f o r m u l a t e d the doctrine o f the i n f a l l i b i l i t y o f the c o l lective w i l l o f the c o m m u n i t y , w h i c h is the d o c t r i n a l basis o f consensus. A l t h o u g h consensus consists o f the agreement o f the jurists, they must act i n the capacity o f the representatives o f the c o m m u n i t y . Representation as such does not change the o r i g i n a l locus o f authority, w h i c h still remains the M u s l i m c o m m u nity. The Sunna is also emphatic o n solidarity w i t h the c o m m u n i t y , w h i c h is the subject o f numerous hadiths, i n c l u d i n g the f o l l o w i n g : " W h o e v e r separates h i m self f r o m the c o m m u n i t y and dies, dies the death o f ignorance [jahiliyyah]"; and "Whoever boycotts the c o m m u n i t y and separates himself f r o m it by the measure o f a span is severing his b o n d w i t h Islam." N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g the concern o f the Shariah for social w e l l - b e i n g , the Shariah is also inherently i n d i v i d u a l i s t . Religion is a matter p r i m a r i l y o f i n d i v i d u a l c o n science. As religious law, the Shariah exhibits the same tendency. The i n d i v i d u alist o r i e n t a t i o n o f the Shariah is manifested i n a variety o f ways, i n c l u d i n g the fact, f o r instance, that the rules o f Shariah are addressed directly to the legally competent i n d i v i d u a l . The Shariah's focus o n the i n d i v i d u a l was evidently strong enough to persuade the Kharijites (literally, "outsiders"), w h o boycotted the c o m m u n i t y i n the early decades o f Islam, and the Mutazilite followers o f A b u Bakr al-Asamm i n the late eighth-century e m i g r a t i o n to embrace the minorityv i e w that f o r m i n g a government was not a religious o b l i g a t i o n . For the Shariah addresses the i n d i v i d u a l directly; i f every i n d i v i d u a l c o m p l i e d w i t h the Shariah, justice and peace w o u l d prevail even w i t h o u t a government. These and similar views were expressed w i t h i n a context that assumed basic h a r m o n y between the interests o f the i n d i v i d u a l and those o f the c o m m u n i t y . This is a corollary o f the Quranic doctrine o f m o n o t h e i s m (tawhid), that is, the oneness o f being that encourages u n i t y and integration i n Islamic t h o u g h t and institutions and discourages duality and conflict: God created the universe and every part o f i t is reflective o f the u n i t y o f its source and consequently synchronized w i t h every

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other part. Religion is inseparable f r o m politics, morality, and economics, just as the h u m a n personality cannot be compartmentalized i n t o religious, political, and economic segments. Broadly speaking, Islam pursues its social objectives t h r o u g h r e f o r m i n g the i n d i v i d u a l . The ritual ablution before prayer, the five daily prayers, fasting d u r i n g the m o n t h o f Ramadan, and the o b l i g a t o r y g i v i n g o f charity all encourage punctuality, self-discipline, and concern f o r the w e l l - b e i n g o f others. The i n d i v i d u a l is also seen not just as a m e m b e r o f the c o m m u n i t y and subservient to the c o m m u n i t y ' s w i l l , but also as a m o r a l l y a u t o n o m o u s agent w h o plays a distinctive role i n shaping the c o m m u n i t y ' s sense o f direction and purpose. This can be seen, f o r example, i n the c o n d i t i o n s that the Q u r a n and the Sunna have attached to the individual's d u t y o f obedience to the government, and the r i g h t the i n d i v i d u a l is simultaneously granted to dispute w i t h the rulers over governm e n t affairs ( Q u r a n 4:5-9). The i n d i v i d u a l obeys the ruler o n the c o n d i t i o n that the r u l e r obeys the Shariah. This is reflected i n the declaration o f the h a d i t h that "there is no obedience i n transgression; obedience is only i n righteousness." The citizen is thus entitled to disobey an oppressive c o m m a n d that is contrary to the Shariah. The hadiths convey a general r u l i n g that applies to all contexts, m i l i t a r y or otherwise. But the general r u l i n g o f the Q u r a n and the Sunna, according to the m a j o r i t y ( e x c l u d i n g the Hanafi school), is speculative and may be specified or qualified o n rational grounds. Other hadiths substantiate the m o r a l a u t o n o m y o f the i n d i v i d u a l . One o f these instructs the believers to " t e l l the t r u t h even i f i t be unpleasant"; the other declares that "the best f o r m o f jihad [ h o l y struggle] is to tell a w o r d o f t r u t h to an oppressive ruler." Because these hadiths are also conveyed i n general terms, their messages are not confined to m o r a l teaching; rather, they may be adopted i n t o legal rules. The d i g n i t y o f the h u m a n being is a central concern o f Islamic law. This is the clear message o f many o f God's proclamations i n the Q u r a n : " W e have bestowed d i g n i t y o n the progeny o f A d a m " (17:70), " W e created humans i n the best o f f o r m s " (95:17), and i n the a f f i r m a t i o n that " I breathed i n t o A d a m o f M y s p i r i t " (38:71) and " e n d o w e d h i m w i t h a s p i r i t u a l rank above that o f the angels" (2:30 and 17:70). The five essential values o f Shariah, o n w h i c h the u l a m a are i n agreement—-faith, l i f e , i n t e l l e c t , p r o p e r t y , and

lineage—are

premised o n the d i g n i t y o f the h u m a n being, w h i c h must be protected as a matter o f p r i o r i t y . A l t h o u g h the basic interests o f the c o m m u n i t y and those o f the i n d i v i d u a l may be said to coincide w i t h i n the structure o f these values, the focus is nevertheless o n the i n d i v i d u a l . The Quranic p r i n c i p l e o f e n j o i n i n g g o o d and f o r b i d d i n g evil is supportive o f the m o r a l a u t o n o m y o f the i n d i v i d u a l . This p r i n c i p l e authorizes the i n d i v i d u a l to act according to his or her best j u d g m e n t i n situations i n w h i c h his or her

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i n t e r v e n t i o n w o u l d advance a good purpose. The individualist m o o r i n g s o f this p r i n c i p l e can be seen i n a h a d i t h that addresses the believers i n the f o l l o w i n g manner: " I f any o f y o u sees an evil, let h i m change i t by his h a n d , and i f he is unable t o d o that, let h i m change it by his w o r d s , and i f he is still unable to d o that, then let h i m denounce i t i n his heart, but this is the weakest f o r m o f belief." This principle assigns to the i n d i v i d u a l an active role i n the c o m m u n i t y i n w h i c h he or she lives. It also validates i n p r i n c i p l e the citizen's power o f arrest, but i t is only o n grounds o f caution that the police have been made the exclusive reposi t o r y o f this power. The jurists have dealt w i t h the details o f this concept at length. Suffice i t to say that a person must act o u t o f c o n v i c t i o n w h e n he believes mat the initiative taken is likely to achieve the desired result. H e is advised n o t to d o anything i f he is convinced that his i n t e r v e n t i o n , however w e l l intended, m i g h t cause a h a r m equal to or greater than the one he is t r y i n g to avert. Another Quranic p r i n c i p l e that supports m o r a l autonomy o f the i n d i v i d u a l is that o f sincere advice (nosihah), w h i c h entitles everyone to advise and to alert a fellow citizen, i n c l u d i n g the head o f state and his officials, to w h a t she considers to be o f benefit or to w h a t may rectify an error o n her part. The m a i n d i f f e r ence between the p r i n c i p l e o f e n j o i n i n g g o o d and f o r b i d d i n g evil and that o f sincere advice is that the former is concerned w i t h events that are actually w i t nessed at the t i m e they occur, but the latter is n o t confined to the actual m o m e n t o f direct observation. Therefore i t is m o r e flexible. The broad scope o f sincere advice is clearly depicted i n a h a d i t h i n w h i c h die Prophet declared that " r e l i g i o n is good advice." Religion, i n other w o r d s , is meant to be the agent o f benefit and a r e m i n d e r to g o o d . These individualist leanings o f the Shariah are also evident f r o m the familiar tone o f the Quranic address to the believers to "take care o f y o u r o w n selves. I f y o u are righteous, the m i s g u i d e d w i l l not succeed i n t r y i n g to lead y o u astray . . ." (Quran 5:10c). W i t h i n the context o f m a t r i m o n y , f o r example, the Shariah opts f o r the separation o f property, and the wife's r i g h t to manage her o w n financial affairs remains unaffected by her marriage. Once again, although Islam encourages the call to r e l i g i o n (dawa), i t proclaims nevertheless that "there shall be n o c o m p u l s i o n i n r e l i g i o n " ( Q u r a n 2:256). For example, a husband is required to respect the i n d i v i d u a l i t y o f his n o n - M u s l i m w i f e ; he is therefore not allowed to press her i n t o embracing Islam. The individualist propensities o f Islamic law can also be seen i n the history o f its development. For instance, Islamic law is often characterized as the jurists' law, developed m a i n l y by private jurists w h o made their c o n t r i b u t i o n s p r i m a r i l y as pious i n d i v i d u a l s rather than as government functionaries and leaders. This aspect o f Islam's legal history is also seen as a stabilizing factor i n that i t was not particularly dependent o n government participation and support. Governments came and w e n t but the Shariah remained as the c o m m o n law o f the Muslims.

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A n o t h e r d i m e n s i o n o f Islam's individualist propensities is that relations between governments and the ulama remained generally less than amicable ever since the early years o f the U m a y y a d r u l e (661-750). The secularist tendencies o f the Umayyad rulers marked the end o f the "Righteous Caliphate"; the ulama became increasingly critical o f this change o f d i r e c t i o n i n the system o f government. The ulama retained their independence by t u r n i n g to p r o m i n e n t individuals a m o n g t h e m , w h i c h led eventually to the f o r m a t i o n o f the schools o f law that bore the names o f their founders (Hanafi, M a l i k i , and so o n ) . One o f the consequences o f this pattern o f development was that Islamic law made few concessions to the g o v e r n m e n t . The i m m u n i t i e s against p r o s e c u t i o n , f o r example, w h i c h are enjoyed to this day by the m o n a r c h , the head o f state, state assemblies, and d i p l o mats in other legal systems, are totally absent in Islamic law. N o one can claim any i m m u n i t y for his or her conduct merely o n account o f social and official status. Trial procedures i n the courts o f Shariah consequently d i d not p e r m i t the judge to treat the head o f state, i f he were involved i n a dispute, any differently than other citizens. There have been many instances o f this i n legal history. The schools o f law f u n c t i o n e d as g u i l d s and professional associations i n w h i c h o u t s t a n d i n g c o n t r i b u t i o n s f o u n d r e c o g n i t i o n and s u p p o r t , even i f they w e n t against o f f i c i a l policy. The t w o most i m p o r t a n t p r i n c i p l e s o f Islamic law-—personal reasoning (ijtihad) and general consensus (ijma)—can be c o n d u c t e d by jurists w i t h o u t d e p e n d i n g o n the p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f the g o v e r n m e n t i n power. These t w o p r i n c i p l e s manifested the nearest equivalent o f parliam e n t a r y legislation i n m o d e r n times. Personal reasoning has almost always been practiced by i n d i v i d u a l jurists. General consensus is broadly described as the u n a n i m o u s consensus o f the q u a l i f i e d scholars (mujtahidiin) o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y o n the r u l i n g o f a particular issue. As such, consensus can be i n i tiated by i n d i v i d u a l jurists, c o n c l u d e d , and made b i n d i n g o n the g o v e r n m e n t even w i t h o u t the latter's p a r t i c i p a t i o n . N e i t h e r i j t i h a d n o r i j m a were i n s t i t u tionalized and have r e m a i n e d u n i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d to this day. The j u r i s t w h o carries o u t i n d e p e n d e n t reasoning i n theory enjoys c o m p l e t e

independence

f r o m g o v e r n m e n t and is o n l y expected t o act o n the substantive m e r i t o f each case i n l i n e w i t h the correct procedure o f i j t i h a d . It is n o t s u r p r i s i n g therefore t o see that c o m m e n t a t o r s have described Islamic law and its m a i n advocates, the u l a m a , as c h a m p i o n s o f the r i g h t s o f the i n d i v i d u a l and bulwarks against arbitrary exercise o f o f f i c i a l power.

Consolidation, Reform, and the Current Status of Islamic LawPoor access t o Islamic law has been one o f the problems that has hampered efforts t o w a r d the revival o f rational and independent reasoning. The bulk o f

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scholastic Islarriic law is contained i n v o l u m i n o u s w o r k s o f medieval o r i g i n i n Arabic, w h i c h are p o o r l y classified and d i f f i c u l t t o use; this scholarship tends t o w a r d scholastic exclusivism and isolation. The 1876 O t t o m a n w o r k entitled Mejelle was an attempt by the Turkish government and the ulama t o c o d i f y the Hanafi law o f c i v i l transactions. It contains 1,8çi

articles that p r i m a r i l y address

contracts and transactions, evidence and c o u r t procedures, b u t i t excludes f a m ily law. It was f o l l o w e d i n 1917

b y the p r o m u l g a t i o n i n Turkey o f the Law o f

Family Rights. This law used Hanafi fiqh as w e l l as that o f the other three legal schools m o r e w i d e l y than the Mejelle. A l t h o u g h Turkey itself abandoned these laws, the w o r k s remained influential nevertheless. The 1929 Egyptian Law o f Personal Status d r e w not o n l y f r o m the justice legacy o f the f o u r leading schools but also f r o m the o p i n i o n s o f i n d i v i d u a l jurists, w h e n these issues were deemed to be conducive t o p u b l i c interest. The 1953 Syrian Law o f Personal Status was another step i n the d i r e c t i o n o f a t t e m p t i n g independent reasoning t h r o u g h the m o d a l i t y o f statutory legislation. This n e o - i j t i h a d i approach to legislation was f o l l o w e d by similar attempts i n M o r o c c o , Tunisia, Iraq, and Pakistan, w h e r e statutory reforms were i n t r o d u c e d i n the traditionally Shariah-dominated laws o f marriage, polygyny, and divorce. The Islamic Law Conference that was held i n Paris i n 19Ç1 called for the c o m pilation o f a comprehensive encyclopedia o f fiqh, and several projects were undertaken t o w a r d that end. The University o f Damascus began a project i n 1956, and the governments o f Egypt and Kuwait started their o w n projects i n 19Ç1 and 1971, respectively. The Egyptian and K u w a i t i encyclopedias, b o t h beari n g the title al-Mawsua uI-Fiqhiyya, have each exceeded t h i r t y volumes. The K u w a i t i e d i t i o n is soon to be completed, but its Egyptian counterpart is far f r o m ready. These and other c o m p i l a t i o n projects have s h o w n latitude by treating the major schools o f fiqh strictly o n the m e r i t o f their contributions. The i n f o r m a t i o n c o m piled is relatively free o f sectarian bias. Yet by the very terms o f their reference, the encyclopedic collections were designed to consolidate rather than to r e f o r m existing Islamic law. U n d o u b t e d l y they provide valuable resources, but they c o n sist basically o f an uncritical description o f the scholastic heritage o f fiqh. The need was then felt to supplement and e n r i c h the scope o f these endeavors by estabhshing a f o r u m to facilitate collective interpretation o n new issues. A project was undertaken by the Organization o f Islamic Conference, w h i c h led to the f o r m a t i o n o f the F i q h Academy i n Jidda, Saudi Arabia, i n 1981 and another Fiqh Academy i n Mecca b y the M u s l i m League. India and Pakistan have each established fiqh and Shariah academies o f their o w n . There are also a n u m b e r o f international institutes and organizations that undertake specialized research i n Islamic legal themes. A n even earlier attempt along these lines was made by ah Azhar University i n Cairo, w hich set u p the Islamic Research Academy i n r

1961.

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F o l l o w i n g that. King A b d u l Aziz U n i v e r s i t y i n Jidda established its International Center f o r Islamic Economic

Research i n 1977.

The I n t e r n a t i o n a l Islamic

University o f Malaysia and that o f Islamabad started operations i n the early 1980s and b o t h institutions are currently b u i l d i n g a stronger and m o r e balanced i n f r a structure for specialized research efforts i n Islamic law. Islamic law relates to society m o r e effectively i n some areas than others. I n the areas o f m a t r i m o n i a l law and inheritance, the Shariah has remained i n force w i t h revisions and has been adopted by statutory legislation i n almost every M u s l i m country. Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have generally retained the Shariah. I n most other areas, however, the Shariah has been marginalized for many reasons. Some o f the earlier distortions, such as the closing o f the d o o r o f ijtihad and the ensuing prevalence o f the imitative t r a d i t i o n o f taqlid, were exacerbated by persistent alienation between the ulama and government. This was condoned and reinforced by the subsequent d o m i n a t i o n o f Western colonialism and the ascendant secularity that came w i t h i t . Western law d o m i n a t e d almost every aspect o f the law, f r o m constitutional to c o m m e r c i a l law, to c i v i l l i t i g a t i o n , c r i m i n a l p r o cedure, and evidence. The a b o l i t i o n o f Shariah courts i n Egypt i n the late n i n e teenth century was f o l l o w e d by similar developments i n other countries and the prevalence o f national courts that often c o m b i n e d elements o f b o t h Western and Shariah laws. This pattern is c u r r e n t l y prevalent i n most M u s l i m countries, a l t h o u g h some countries, such as Malaysia, operate a dual system o f national and Shariah courts, each h a v i n g separate j u r i s d i c t i o n s . I n recent decades many M u s l i m countries have attempted to revive the Shariah o n a selective basis and i n v a r y i n g degrees. O n l y Iran has adopted i t generally. Measures have also been taken i n M i d d l e Eastern countries, Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt, and elsewhere to c o n f i r m that their constitutions and laws o f court procedure, property, and evidence are acceptable to the Shariah. The latest development i n Malaysia was the government's announcement i n early 1997 that they w o u l d raise the status o f the Shariah courts, to b r i n g t h e m u p to that o f the c i v i l courts. Islamic laws o f transactions have also seen a concerted revivalist effort i n the wake o f successful experiments i n Islamic banking. Considerable interest is also taken by Islamic institutions o f higher learning i n the Islamization o f disciplines, w i t h a v i e w to h a r m o n i z i n g the teaching o f social sciences and humanities w i t h Islamic values and o u t l o o k . These efforts continue, but they have not been devoid o f difficulties because o f p o l i t i c a l upheavals and unrest that have been a feature o f the Islamic resurgence movement i n recent decades. Governments i n M u s l i m lands are apprehensive o f these m o v e m e n t s and the prospect o f the ulama and Islamist ascendancy to power. The Algerian experience i n the mid-1990s, w h i c h has involved violent c o n f r o n t a t i o n between the religious strata and government, and

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T H F OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

the collapse i n June 1997 o f the Islamist government i n Turkey are cases i n p o i n t . Iran's example o f Islamic r e v o l u t i o n evidently has not been f o l l o w e d i n other M u s l i m countries. To a large extent, this revolution has remained a significant but nonetheless exceptional development. The i n d i v i d u a l i s t propensities o f the Islamic legal t h e o r y have already been discussed i n this chapter. The q u e s t i o n n o w is w h e t h e r the c o n t e m p o r a r y M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y has i n h e r i t e d a legacy that is o f t e n at odds w i t h t h e i r p r e v a i l i n g p o l i t i c a l reality and experience. Perhaps Islamic legal t h o u g h t has traveled t o o far i n its i n d i v i d u a l i s t , even a n t i g o v e r n m e n t , o r i e n t a t i o n t o offer easy o p t i o n s i n an era i n w h i c h the nation-state a n d its legal m a c h i n e r y have become increasingly collectivist and representative. Unless r e f o r m i s t measures The community of believers is exemplified by the gathering of Muslims for communal prayer in the congregational mosque at

are i n t r o d u c e d to make i n d e p e n d e n t reasoning a c o n c e r n o f the legislative assembly and p a r l i a m e n t , its practice by the p r i v a t e j u r i s t is n o l o n g e r a realistic alternative. Regarding the p r i n c i p l e o f consensus, i t basically envisioned the agreement o f private jurists w h o are relatively u n i n v o l v e d i n state affairs.

noon on Fridays and for

As such, the m a i n issue is also one o f i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z a t i o n and the prospect o f

major religious holidays.

m a k i n g i t a part o f the n o r m a l f u n c t i o n o f the state m a c h i n e r y , measures that

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have been suggested m o r e than h a l f a c e n t u r y ago but that have r e m a i n e d u n f u l f i l l e d . The secularist o r i e n t a t i o n s o f the nation-state i n present-day M u s l i m c o u n t r i e s are n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y c o n d u c i v e to the revival o f consensus and independent reasoning as the p r i n c i p a l modes o f statutory legislation. But even so, a basic change o f d i r e c t i o n appears to have taken place, as there is n o w greater awareness o f Islamic values. F u r t h e r m o r e , the pressure o f p u b l i c o p i n i o n i n c o u n t r i e s w i t h m a j o r i t y M u s l i m p o p u l a t i o n s is likely to i n f l u e n c e g o v e r n m e n t p o l i c y i n m a k i n g the Shariah a reality o f M u s l i m life. The era o f r e v o l u t i o n seems to be w a n i n g , and it is increasingly g i v i n g way t o selective a n d gradual restoration o f the Shariah t h r o u g h the recognized channels o f legal r e f o r m .

CHAPTER

FOUR

Science, Medicine, and Technology THE MAKING OF A SCIENTIFIC CULTURE

Ahmad Dallai

Science was an extensive cultural undertaking that occupied the m i n d s and energies o f many o f the leading intellectuals i n medieval M u s l i m societies. Indeed, science was practiced o n a scale unprecedented i n earlier or contemporary h u m a n history. I n urban centers f r o m the Atlantic to the borders o f China, thousands o f scientists pursued careers i n diverse scientific disciplines. Countless artifacts, rangi n g f r o m architectural m o n u m e n t s to intricate automata and instruments provide a v i v i d testimony to the scientific and technological achievements o f these scientists. Their w r i t t e n contributions are equally c o m p e l l i n g : thousands o f scientific manuscripts, f r o m various regions o f the medieval Islamic w o r l d , are scattered i n m o d e r n libraries all over the globe. Considerable resources were also devoted for

(Left) Astromony, one of the

the support o f scientific activity i n M u s l i m societies. U n t i l the rise o f m o d e r n sci-

oldest and most esteemed

ence, n o other civilization engaged as many scientists, produced as many scientific books, or provided as varied and sustained support for scientific activity.

exact sciences in antiquity, flourished in the Islamic lands from the ninth cen-

The study o f the history o f Islamic science is itself an extensive endeavor: i t calls

tury, when major Greek

for an examination o f wide-ranging cultural activities, i n a vast geographical area,

astronomical texts were

under different historical conditions, and for a period o f at least seven centuries. The sources for the study o f this subject are equally daunting, even w h e n only w r i t t e n evidence is examined. Historians o f Islamic science are fortunate to have a large number o f extant scientific manuscripts that promise to shed light o n its history. This abundance gives rise to a number o f methodological difficulties, however. Earlier

translated into Arabic. Manyastronomers served the court, as in this depiction of the observatory established by the Ottomans in 1575 at Istanbul.

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surveys o f the history o f Islamic science were based o n a handful o f random studies o f scientific treatises. Some o f the actual studies were o f a h i g h quality; yet i r o n ically, the paucity o f hard evidence available to early scholars often enabled them to cover all the fields o f science i n all-inclusive and often reductive narratives. I n the past few decades many more scientific treatises have been critically examined, w i t h the dual effect o f providing detailed i n f o r m a t i o n about die various scientific disciplines and highlighting the peculiarity o f the history o f each separate discipline or even fields w i t h i n disciplines.

The Cultural Context of Early Muslim Science Despite the significant increase i n studies o f Islamic science, the vast m a j o r i t y o f scientific manuscripts r e m a i n unexamined. Consider the example o f a l - B i r u n i ( 9 7 3 - 1 0 4 8 ) , one o f the greatest M u s l i m scientists o f all t i m e . A l - B i r u n i w r o t e more than 150 w o r k s , o f w h i c h only a t h i r d are extant. A l t h o u g h he is the most studied o f all M u s l i m scientists, about half o f his w o r k s have yet to be edited or to receive t h o r o u g h analysis. Other scientists are less fortunate, and many are k n o w n o n l y by name. This s h o r t c o m i n g n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g , the recent accumulat i o n o f studies has enabled several historians o f Islamic science to provide m o r e i n f o r m e d and differentiated accounts o f the scientific disciplines. D r a w i n g o n these historical overviews, this chapter provides an account o f the scope and c u l tural significance o f scientific activity i n Islamic societies, and o f the m a i n trends i n the development o f specific scientific disciplines. Like most histories o f science, this chapter traces scientific developments under a succession o f famous scientists. The focus o n individuals may give the misleadi n g impression o f a linear course o f f o r w a r d progress that connects the various individuals u n d e r e x a m i n a t i o n . The advance o f science, however, is s e l d o m orderly or predictable: new theories often coexist w i t h o l d ones for l o n g periods o f t i m e before they succeed i n replacing the o l d theories; the importance o f a new idea may sometimes go unnoticed for decades or even centuries before i t is revived and adopted; and scientific progress i n general seems to occur i n leaps rather than i n a s m o o t h f o r w a r d flow. It w o u l d be more misleading to suggest that the scientific developments i n Islamic societies were isolated occurrences, h o w ever, or to attribute such advances simply to the personal genius o f individual scientists. For every celebrated scientist k n o w n to have conducted rigorous research i n any field, there are many more practitioners w h o — a l t h o u g h they may not have made significant advances i n their

fields—provided

the context w i t h o u t w h i c h

such advances w o u l d have been impossible. Therefore, i t is essential to recognize the existence o f a scientific culture that enabled seemingly disjointed leaps f r o m one invention to another, and o f communities o f scientists that provided t e m p o -

S C I E N C E , M E D I C I N E , AND T E C H N O L O G Y

ral and spatial c o n t i n u i t y for the culture o f science. Recent research has p r o v i d e d c o m p e l l i n g evidence f o r the c o n t i n u i t y and coherence o f Arabic scientific traditions. Examples can be f o u n d i n the t r a d i t i o n o f r e f o r m i n g Ptolemaic astronomy that started i n the eleventh century and c o n tinued u n t i l at least the sixteenth, and that spanned most o f the Islamic w o r l d . Similarly, research o n the various disciplines o f Arabic mathematics has revealed that for each instance o f seemingly isolated scientific breakthrough, there are i n fact precedents and successors as w e l l as a c o m m u n i t y o f interested scholars and intellectuals. A l m o s t invariably, o r i g i n a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s emerge f r o m and enhance a large body o f methodical research generated w i t h i n different traditions. I n some cases certain scientists may have been accorded a p r i v i l e g e d p o s i t i o n s i m ply because they were accidentally discovered by m o d e r n scholars, or because their works happened to be translated i n t o European languages. Moreover, certain w o r k s may not be impressive w h e n considered i n isolation, w h i l e their real significance lies i n t r i g g e r i n g new trends o f research or i n laying the f o u n d a t i o n for future developments w i t h i n a particular discipline. Such is the importance o f a l - K h w a r i z m i ' s (ca. 7 8 0 - 8 5 0 ) Kitab al-Jabr wal-Mtiqabalo (The b o o k o f c o m p u l s i o n and c o m p a r i s o n ) , w h i c h i n t r o d u c e d the t e r m al-jabr (algebra). Despite its lack o f sophistication i n comparison to later w o r k s o f Arabic algebra, this treatise was the indispensable prerequisite for advanced future research i n the

field.

The cultural coherence o f scientific traditions is not merely a factor o f their o w n internal workings. Science flourished i n the heart o f Islamic urban centers, not only as an integral part o f Islamic civilization but also as one o f its social institutions. I n this sense it w o u l d be accurate to call this science "Islamic science." A l t h o u g h Islam played a role i n denning the position and role o f science i n society, i t d i d not define the cognitive content o f the sciences. Religious discourses o n science advocated its separateness f r o m religion. As a result, a concept o f value-free or ethically neutral scientific knowledge that is not specific to any one particular culture was able to develop. I n distinction f r o m religious knowledge, the exact sciences were often called "the sciences shared a m o n g all the nations." I n his masterly w o r k , the Muqciddima (Introduction [to the science o f h i s t o r y ] ) , the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun ( i 3 3 ~ i 4 - o 6 ) eloquently s u m m e d u p this universal conception o f science: 2

The intellectual sciences are natural to man, inasmuch as he is a thinking being. They are not restricted to any particular religious group. They are studied by the people of all religious groups who are all equally qualified to learn them and to do research in them. They have existed (and been known) to the human species since civilization had its beginnings in the world.

This ideal o f cultural neutrality was greatiy enhanced by the use o f Arabic as the language o f a n e w universal scientific culture. Science i n Islamic societies was

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international; it i n h e r i t e d all the earlier scientific traditions and fused t h e m i n t o one new w h o l e . The large geographic area under Islamic rule d u r i n g this p e r i o d enjoyed a h i g h degree o f cultural unity. W i t h i n this area, scientists f r o m diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds participated i n the p r o d u c t i o n , exchange, and dissemination o f scientific knowledge. The most i m p o r t a n t factor c o n t r i b u t i n g t o the universality o f this Islamic scientific culture was the emergence o f Arabic as the universal language o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n , not o n l y for the elites but for all peoples w i t h i n the Islamic empire. Most i m p o r t a n t , this enabled a level o f scientific exchange unprecedented i n earlier civilizations. Many o f the scientists w h o w r o t e i n Arabic were not themselves Arabs. I n later periods a few scientists w r o t e some o f their scientific w o r k s i n their national languages, most notably Persian. I n such cases, these scientists also often produced Arabic translations o f their works. Still, the vast m a j o r i t y o f scientific w o r k s p r o duced i n the p e r i o d between the n i n t h and sixteenth centuries were w r i t t e n i n Arabic. Because o f the preponderance o f Arabic scientific works, and because o f the crucial role played by the Arabic language i n the subsequent development o f the scientific t r a d i t i o n , i t is perhaps m o r e accurate to call the scientific traditions o f Islamic societies "Arabic sciences" rather than Islamic. I n fact, the first m a i n cultural t r a n s f o r m a t i o n that occurred after the establishment o f the Islamic empire had m o r e to d o w i t h language than w i t h r e l i g i o n . After the early c o n quests most o f the regions and peoples o f the ancient w o r l d came under Islamic political rule. Outside Arabia, conversion to Islam was gradual and preceded at a slow pace. The linguistic conversion o f the conquered lands was m u c h faster, however. W i t h i n one century, Arabic became the official language o f the state and its bureaucracy, either completely replacing older languages or coexisting w i t h t h e m as the universal language o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h i n the empire's vast domains. References i n this chapter to Arab scientists are not necessarily to ethnic Arabs (or even Muslims); rather, these references are to scientists w h o adopted Arabic as a language o f scientific expression and c o m m u n i c a t i o n . I n a d d i t i o n to religious w o r k s , the earliest scholarly c o n t r i b u t i o n s a m o n g M u s l i m s were o f a linguistic nature. O f particular relevance to the later development o f science was the extensive c o m p i l a t i o n efforts by Arabic philologists and lexicographers. The specialized lexicons that were produced i n the eighth and n i n t h centuries represent a large-scale attempt at collecting and classifying Arabic knowledge. These attempts were not always "scientific," and they were eclipsed by later, more systematic achievements. Nonetheless, these encyclopedic efforts provided a linguistic f o u n d a t i o n that fostered the development o f various i n t e l lectual disciplines. W h i l e the peoples o f the Byzantine and Sasanid (Persian) empires were u n d e r g o i n g a gradual l i n g u i s t i c conversion under the n e w Islamic rule, a d e l i b -

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erate e f f o r t was made to appropriate the cultures o f these ancient civilizations. I n its most o b v i o u s manifestation, this e f f o r t , once again, was l i n g u i s t i c . As early as the e i g h t h century, but p r i m a r i l y i n the n i n t h , scientific w o r k s were translated i n t o Arabic. The m a i n reason o f t e n adduced for the rise o f Arabic science is the translation i n t o Arabic o f scientific w o r k s f r o m Persian, I n d i a n , and Greek ( i n this order o f occurrence and i m p o r t a n c e ) . Q u i t e the reverse is true, however: translation was not the source o f the g r o w i n g interest i n science at the t i m e b u t a consequence o f this interest. Like all e m e r g i n g social p h e n o m ena, the rise o f science i n Islamic societies is historically c o n t i n g e n t , o w i n g as m u c h to active agency as t o external determinants. The most i n f l u e n t i a l body o f scientific k n o w l e d g e was u n d o u b t e d l y the Greek. Yet before the rise o f Islam, the existence o f the same Greek scientific w o r k s a m o n g a Greek-speaki n g p o p u l a t i o n was not i n itself sufficient to preclude a p e r i o d o f several centuries o f steady decline i n scientific activity. Therefore, other factors must have c o n t r i b u t e d to the emergence o f Arabic science. One factor was the g r o w i n g awareness i n the n e w society o f the status o f Islamic c i v i l i z a t i o n as h e i r to w o r l d civilizations. At a m o r e tangible level, the increasing c o m p l e x i t y o f social organization and the subsequent social d e m a n d for professional expertise p r o vided o p p o r t u n i t i e s and incentives f o r a s p i r i n g professionals to cultivate scie n t i f i c k n o w l e d g e . The f o u n d a t i o n a l p h i l o l o g i c a l w o r k d o n e by the early lexicographers was itself a first step i n the p r o d u c t i o n o f a scientific culture. This w o r k also e n r i c h e d Arabic technical d i c t i o n and effectively t r a n s f o r m e d Arabic i n t o a language o f science. Evidence f r o m the earliest extant scientific sources indicates that the translat i o n m o v e m e n t was concurrent w i t h , rather than a prerequisite for, scientific research i n the Islamic w o r l d . Simultaneous research and translation d i d not takeplace i n just one field; rather, such research was the d r i v i n g force b e h i n d the translation o f n u m e r o u s astronomical, mathematical, and m e d i c a l texts. The massive transfer o f scientific knowledge i n t o Arabic is a complex p h e n o m e n o n that cannot be reduced to a mechanical process o f translation. The translation movement was itself an aspect o f the emergence o f Arabic science rather than its sole cause. This emergence was not accidental; i t was a result o f deliberate and persistent efforts undertaken by professionals w h o were r e s p o n d i n g t o the demands o f their society—efforts that were supported by different segments o f society and stimulated by the internal needs o f scientific research. Most o f the translations were p r o d u c e d i n Baghdad i n the course o f the n i n t h century. D u r i n g the r e i g n o f the Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n (r. 813-33), translation activities gained considerable m o m e n t u m , and they c o n t i n u e d under several o f his successors. Translations were frequently p r o d u c e d at the request o f patrons w h o c o m m i s s i o n e d and financed t h e m . I n a d d i t i o n t o such

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rulers as a l - M a m u n , these patrons i n c l u d e d g o v e r n m e n t officials and c i v i l servants as w e l l as scientists and physicians o f t e n e m p l o y e d by members o f the p o l i t i c a l elite. Some o f the officials w h o c o m m i s s i o n e d translations w e r e involved i n c o u r t politics as w e l l as large-scale development projects u n d e r taken i n the rapidly g r o w i n g u r b a n centers. The most famous example o f this g r o u p are the Banu Musa brothers, w h o i n a d d i t i o n to their p o l i t i c a l involvement were a m o n g the leading p r a c t i c i n g scientists o f the t i m e . Some translations were also prepared for various members o f the social elite. A n o f f i c i a l l i b r a r y n a m e d the Boyt al-Hikma (the house o f w i s d o m ) was established i n Baghdad u n d e r the Abbasid c a l i p h H a r u n al-Rashid (r. 7 8 6 - 8 0 9 ) , but gained its r e p u t a t i o n i n the context o f the translation movement d u r i n g the reign o f his son a l - M a m u n . Many o f the acquired and translated scientific and p h i l o sophical w o r k s were collected i n this library, and they were i n t u r n made available to the researchers and translators o f the p e r i o d . The most famous o f these translators was a Nestorian (Christian) Arab by the name o f H u n a y n i b n Ishaq al-Ibadi (808—73). Together w i t h a h a n d f u l o f students, he is responsible for the translation o f most o f the Galenic medical corpus, as w e l l as many other Greek philosophical and scientific treatises. H u n a y n left an autobiography i n w h i c h he lists a large n u m b e r o f the w o r k s that he translated f r o m Greek i n t o Syriac or Arabic. H e also describes some o f the circumstances o f his early career. H u n a y n started as a disciple o f a Baghdad-based Nestorian physician n a m e d I b n Masawayh. I b n Masawayh belonged to a g r o u p o f Nestorian families, o r i g i n a l l y f r o m the c i t y o f Gundishapur, that effectively m o n o p o l i z e d the practice o f m e d i c i n e i n the Abbasid court. The a m b i t i o u s H u n a y n — w h o at the t i m e k n e w o n l y Arabic and Syriac—was rebuffed by his teacher w h e n he i n q u i r e d about Greek medical texts. Disheartened by this experience, H u n a y n set o u t to study Greek o n his o w n to gain access to this medical knowledge. I n due t i m e he mastered Greek and was able t o o u t d o his teacher I b n Masawayh w i t h n e w l y acquired linguistic skills. Thus it was professional c o m p e t i t i o n that dictated the course o f Hunayn's career. W h e n he demonstrated the use o f this n e w skill, even members o f the small g r o u p o f Syriac-speaking physicians started requesting translations o f n e w Greek medical texts. These physicians c o u l d no longer m a i n t a i n their privileges by simple m o n o p o l y ; to survive i n an increasingly competitive e n v i r o n m e n t , they had to raise their standards. To d o so they needed m o r e books. Some o f the Syriac translations were also used as stepping stones for the preparation o f Arabic translations. W h e n the Arabic translations were p r o d u c e d , the Syriac intermediaries rapidly fell i n t o disuse. It was the professional demands o f the expanding Islamic society, therefore, that gave rise to this sudden and b r i e f surge i n Syriac scientific activity i n the n i n t h century.

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The context for n i n t h - c e n t u r y scientific translations f r o m Greek i n t o Syriac was decidedly Islamic. The rise o f Arabic science cannot be attributed to the agency o f a Syriac scientific culture; rather, this Syriac scientific culture itself received a significant—albeit b r i e f — i m p e t u s f r o m the emergence o f Arabic scientific activity. Despite the p a r a m o u n t importance o f Greek traditions i n the development o f the Arabic sciences, Arabic science was not a mere m u s e u m o f Greek scientific knowledge. Arabic science d i d more than simply preserve the Greek scientific legacy and pass i t to its European heirs. The complex process o f cultural transmission necessitates that this legacy, even as its texts were being translated, was reformulated and transformed. The final outcome o f this transf o r m a t i o n was a new science that was i n f o r m e d by (but not reducible to) its i n d i v i d u a l components. To appreciate the significance o f the emergence o f this n e w scientific t r a d i t i o n , the r e m a i n i n g part o f this chapter examines some episodes i n the development o f various Arabic scientific disciplines.

Astronomy Astronomy was one o f the oldest, most developed, and most esteemed exact sciences o f antiquity. Many o f the mathematical sciences were o r i g i n a l l y developed to facilitate astronomical research. Initial interest i n astronomy had its roots i n astrology and the fascination w i t h the powers and mysteries o f the heavens. Practical considerations, such as finding one's direction d u r i n g n i g h t travel or understanding the correlation between the seasons o f the year and the positions o f the planets, provided additional incentives for the study o f astronomy. The Babylonians, Greeks, and Indians had devised elaborate systems for the study o f astronomy that w e n t b e y o n d simple empirical observation and were characterized by various degrees o f mathematical r i g o r and sophistication. Before Islam, however, the Arabs had n o scientific astronomy. Their knowledge was e m p i r i c a l , and i t was l i m i t e d to the d i v i s i o n o f the year i n t o precise periods o n the basis o f the r i s i n g and setting o f certain stars. This area o f astronomical knowledge was k n o w n as anwa; it continued to attract attention under later Arab astronomers after the rise o f Islam, and its study gained m u c h f r o m the mathematical methods employed by these astronomers. F r o m its beginnings i n the n i n t h century t h r o u g h its m a t u r i t y i n the sixteenth century, astronomical activity was widespread and intensive. This activity is reflected i n the large n u m b e r o f scientists w o r k i n g i n practical and theoretical astronomy, the n u m b e r o f books w r i t t e n , the active observatories, and the n e w observations. Astronomy, i t should be n o t e d , was unambiguously differentiated f r o m astrology. Astrology c o n t i n u e d to be practiced and to draw o n and encourage astronomical knowledge. I n fact, a g o o d p o r t i o n o f the f u n d i n g for astro-

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n o m i c a l research was motivated by the desire to make astrological predictions. Nevertheless, a clear line was d r a w n between the t w o disciplines. The vast m a j o r ity o f the thousands o f w r i t t e n w o r k s are o n astronomy, whereas o n l y a h a n d f u l deal w i t h astrology. Many astronomers served as court astrologers, but many more c o n d e m n e d astrology and distanced themselves f r o m i t . Distinct terms were also used to refer to either field: ilm ahkam al-nujum or simply tonjim referred to astrology, whereas ilm ol-falak, ilm al-haya, or ilm al-azyaj referred to the science o f the celestial o r b , the science o f the c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f the heavens, and to major astronomical treatises c o n t a i n i n g tables for the m o t i o n o f the stars and instructions o n using these tables. The first astronomical texts that were translated i n t o Arabic i n the e i g h t h century w ere o f Indian and Persian o r i g i n . The earliest extant Arabic astronomical r

texts date to the second half o f the e i g h t h century. Two astronomers, M u h a m m a d i b n I b r a h i m al-Fazari ( d . a. 777) andYaqub i b n Tariq (eighth c e n t u r y ) , translated an eighth-century Indian astronomical w o r k k n o w n as Zij al-Sindhind (a zij being an astronomical handbook w i t h tables). Sources indicate that they produced this translation after 770, under die supervision o f an Indian astronomer visiting the court o f the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754-75). Extant fragments o f the works o f these t w o astronomers also reveal a somewhat eclectic m i x i n g o f Indian parameters w i t h elements o f Persian o r i g i n as w e l l as some f r o m the Hellenistic prePtolemaic p e r i o d . These fragments also reflect the use o f I n d i a n calculation methods and the use o f the Indian sine f u n c t i o n i n t r i g o n o m e t r y , i n place o f the cumbersome chords o f arc used i n Greek astronomy. Late Arabic sources also contain references to Zij al-Shah, a collection o f astronomical tables based o n Indian parameters, w h i c h was compiled in Sasanid Persia over a period o f t w o centuries. Arab astronomers were first exposed to Persian and Indian astronomy, and they continued to use some o f the parameters and methods o f these t w o t r a d i tions, yet the greatest formative influence o n Arabic astronomy was u n d o u b t e d l y Greek. I n the early n i n t h century astronomers realized that the Greek a s t r o n o m ical t r a d i t i o n was far superior to that o f Persia or India, i n b o t h its c o m p r e h e n siveness and its use o f effective geometrical representations. One particular second-century Greek author, Ptolemy, and m o r e specifically one w o r k by this author, the Almagest, exerted a d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e influence o n all o f medieval astronomy t h r o u g h the Arabic p e r i o d and u n t i l the eventual demise o f the geocentric astronomical system. That this text exerted so m u c h influence is neither accidental n o r s u r p r i s i n g , for i t is the highest achievement i n Hellenistic m a t h ematical astronomy and one o f the greatest achievements o f all o f Hellenistic science. Other w o r k s by Ptolemy, commentaries o n his w o r k s , and several treatises by other authors were also used i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h the Almagest and as i n t r o ductions to it. These include eleven short treatises i n Greek, by different authors,

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called the "Small Astronom) Collection," w h i c h were all translated into Arabic d u r i n g the n i n t h century. I n the Almagest, Ptolemy synthesized the earlier k n o w l e d g e o f Hellenistic astronomy i n l i g h t o f his o w n n e w observations. The book's m a i n purpose was to establish the geometric models that w o u l d accurately account for observational phenomena. A large part o f the w o r k is dedicated to the methods for c o n s t r u c t i n g various models and f o r calculating their parameters. Ptolemy also provided tables for planetary m o t i o n s to be used i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h these m o d els. O f all the books o f antiquity, the Almagest represents the most successful w o r k o f mathematical astronomy: its geometric representations o f the universe p r o vided the most accurate and best predictive accounts for the celestial p h e n o m ena. The Greek tradition o f physical astronomy is reflected i n the Almagest and i n Ptolemy's other influential w o r k , Planetary Hypothesis. According to this p r e d o m i nantly Aristotelian t r a d i t i o n , the universe is organized i n t o a set o f concentric spheres, each carrying a star and rotating a r o u n d the stationary earth at the center o f the universe. Ptolemy a d o p t e d , at least i n theory, these t w o basic Aristotelian principles: that the earth is stationary at the center o f the universe and that the m o t i o n o f heavenly bodies o u g h t to be represented by a set o f perfectly u n i f o r m circular m o t i o n s . I n practice, however, mathematical considerations often forced Ptolemy to disregard these principles. Arabic sources report at least f o u r Arabic translations o f the Almagest, o f w h i c h t w o are extant. The first is a translation by al-Hajjaj i b n Matar i n the first half o f the n i n t h century. The second is a translation by Ishaq, the son o f the famous translator H u n a y n ; this second translation was revised by Thabit i b n Q t i r r a t o w a r d the end o f the n i n t h century. Separated by m o r e than fifty years, the seco n d translation reflected the m a t u r i t y o f Arabic technical t e r m i n o l o g y ; whereas certain parts o f the first translation lacked f u l l clarity, the second translation p r o v i d e d a coherent text that e l i m i n a t e d any need for f u r t h e r reference t o the Greek o r i g i n a l . The first extant o r i g i n a l w o r k o f Arabic astronomy is al-Khwarizmi's ( f l . 830) Zij al-Sindhind ( w h i c h is unrelated to the translation o f the I n d i a n text m e n t i o n e d earlier w i t h same name). This w o r k contains tables for the movements o f the sun, the m o o n , and five planets, w i t h explanatory remarks o n h o w to use these tables. Most o f the parameters used by a l - K h w a r i z m i are o f Indian o r i g i n , but some are derived f r o m Ptolemy's Handy Tables, and no attempt is made to h a r m o n i z e the t w o sources. This w o r k is significant not o n l y for its content but also because i t was w r i t t e n simultaneously w i t h the earliest translations o f the Almagest. The

first

i n t r o d u c t i o n o f Ptolemaic astronomy i n t o Arabic science thus occurred i n the context o f t w o significant trends. First, research i n Arabic astronomy w e n t hand i n hand w i t h translation; despite its manifest superiority, Ptolemaic astronomy

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d i d not exclusively set the agenda for future research i n Arabic astronomy. The second trend was the selective use o f parameters, sources, and methods o f calculation f r o m different scientific traditions. As a result, the Ptolemaic t r a d i t i o n was rendered receptive f r o m the b e g i n n i n g to the possibility o f observational refinement and mathematical restructuring. These revisionist tendencies characterize the first p e r i o d o f Arabic astronomy. A significant part o f the intensive n i n t h - c e n t u r y astronomical research was dedicated to the dissemination o f Ptolemy's astronomy, not just by translating parts or all o f his w o r k i n t o Arabic, but also by c o m p o s i n g summaries and c o m mentaries o n i t . Ptolemy's w o r k was thus made available and accessible to a large audience a m o n g the educated classes. I n the first half o f the n i n t h century, alFarghani ( d . ca. 8co), f o r example, w r o t e Kitab fi Jan-ami Ilm al-Nujtim (A c o m p e n d i u m o f the science o f the stars). This book was w i d e l y circulated i n the Arabic version and also i n later Latin translations. This w o r k provided a b r i e f and s i m p l i f i e d descriptive overview o f Ptolemaic cosmography, w i t h o u t mathematical computations. U n l i k e the Almagest, however, it started w i t h a discussion o f calendar computations and conversions between different eras. A l t h o u g h its p r i m a r y purpose was to introduce Ptolemaic astronomy i n a s i m p l i f i e d way, i t also corrected Ptolemy based o n findings o f earlier Arab astronomers. Al-Farghani gave revised values for the o b l i q u i t y o f the ecliptic, the precessional m o v e m e n t o f the apogees o f the sun and the m o o n , and the circumference o f the earth. This critical approach, thus far restricted to the c o r r e c d o n o f constants and parameters, had already been set by earlier astronomers at the b e g i n n i n g o f the n i n t h century. Under the Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n , a p r o g r a m o f astronomical observations was organized i n Baghdad and Damascus. Like any organized research project, this p r o g r a m endowed astronomical activity i n the Islamic w o r l d w i t h f o r m a l prestige. It also set a precedent for future support o f scientific activity by other rulers and established patronage as one o f the modes o f supporting such activities. The professed purpose o f this p r o g r a m was to verify the Ptolemaic observations by c o m p a r i n g the results derived by calculation, based o n Ptolemaic models, w i t h actual observations conducted i n Baghdad and Damascus some seven h u n d r e d years after Ptolemy. The results were c o m p i l e d i n al-Zij al-Mumtahan (The verified tables), w h i c h is n o longer extant i n its entirety but is w i d e l y quoted by later astronomers. The most i m p o r t a n t correction i n t r o d u c e d was to show that the apogee o f the solar o r b moves w i t h the precession o f the fixed stars. O n a more general note, this p r o g r a m stressed the need for c o n t i n u i n g verificat i o n o f astronomical observations and for the use o f m o r e precise instruments. The p r o g r a m also represented the first recorded instance i n history o f a collective scientific undertaking.

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F r o m its beginnings, Arabic astronomy set o u t to rectify and c o m p l e m e n t Ptolemaic astronomy, Having n o t e d several discrepancies between n e w observations and Ptolemaic calculations, Arab astronomers then proceeded to reexamine the theoretical basis o f Ptolemy's results. This critical reexamination took several f o r m s . One example o f the critical w o r k s o f the n i n t h century is Fi Sana! al-Shoms (The book o n the solar year), w h i c h was w r o n g l y attributed t o the mathematician Thabit i b n Q u r r a h , but was produced a r o u n d his time. This w o r k corrected some o f Ptolemy's constants, and although i t retained Ptolemy's geometrical representations, i t questioned his observations and calculations. Other astronomers devised enhanced methods o f calculation. N e w mathematical tools were i n t r o d u c e d to m o d e r n i z e the c o m p u t a t i o n a l procedures. For example, i n his al-Zij al-Dimashqi (The Damascene zij) w r i t t e n a r o u n d the m i d d l e o f the n i n t h century, the mathematician Habash al-Hasib ( d . between 864 and 874) i n t r o duced the t r i g o n o m e t r i c functions o f sine, cosine, and tangent, w h i c h were at that t i m e u n k n o w n to the Greeks. Habash also w o r k e d o n a p r o b l e m that was n o t treated i n the Greek sources: he examined the visibility o f the crescent m o o n and produced the first detailed discussion o f this complicated astronomical p r o b l e m . Habash is an example o f an astronomer w h o u n d e r t o o k his study to verify the results o f the Almagest, but i n the process he expanded these results and applied t h e m t o n e w problems. A l t h o u g h the general astronomical research o f this p e r i o d was largely conducted w i t h i n the f r a m e w o r k o f Ptolemaic astronomy, this research reworked and critically examined the observations and the c o m p u t a tional methods o f Ptolemaic astronomy and i n a l i m i t e d way was able to explore problems outside its f r a m e w o r k . One o f the m a i n n i n t h - c e n t u r y scientists f r o m w h o m several extant astron o m i c a l manuscripts exist today is Thabit i b n Q u r r a (ca. 836-901). Thabit was a pagan f r o m Harran ( i n southeast Turkey); his native language was Syriac, b u t he was fluent i n Greek and his w o r k i n g language was Arabic. Thabit j o i n e d the Banu Musa circle i n Baghdad, and p r o d u c e d n u m e r o u s w o r k s o n several scientific disciplines. O f about f o r t y treatises o n astronomy, o n l y eight are extant. A l l the treatises reflect Thabit's f u l l c o m m a n d o f Ptolemaic astronomy and illustrate the level t o w h i c h

this a s t r o n o m y

was

t h o r o u g h l y absorbed

by Arab

astronomers. A few o f these are o f particular interest. I n one treatise, for example, Thabit analyzed the m o t i o n o f a heavenly body o n an eccentric, and the m o d e l he used was Ptolemaic. I n contrast to Ptolemy's d e s c r i p t i o n , w h i c h was stated w i t h o u t proof, Thabit p r o v i d e d a r i g o r o u s and systematic mathematical p r o o f w i t h the aid o f the theorems o f Euclid's Elements. I n the course o f this proof, Thabit i n t r o d u c e d the first k n o w n mathematical analysis o f m o t i o n . For the first t i m e i n history, he also referred to the speed o f a m o v i n g body at a particular p o i n t . I n another w o r k , Thabit p r o v i d e d general and exhaustive proofs

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f o r problems that Ptolemy examined o n l y f o r special cases o r for b o u n d a r y c o n ditions. A n o t h e r w o r k is exclusively devoted t o lunar visibility. Thabit's s o l u t i o n , w h i c h was far m o r e complex than that o f Habash, e x h i b i t e d the same mathematical r i g o r apparent everywhere i n his w o r k : he p r o v e d the general law that applies to the visibility o f any heavenly body, t h e n he applied this law to the special case o f the crescent m o o n . Thabit's w o r k is significant because i t illustrates the h i g h creativity o f Arabic astronomy i n its earliest periods. The roots f o r this creativity lie i n the application o f diverse mathematical disciplines to each other. This application had the i m m e d i a t e effect o f expanding the frontiers o f various disciplines a n d i n t r o d u c i n g n e w scientific concepts and ideas. T h e use o f systematic m a i h e m a t i z a t i o n transformed the m e t h o d s o f reasoning and enabled further creative developments i n the diverse branches o f science. Another famous astronomer o f this early period is A b u A b d Allah M u h a m m a d ibn Jabir al-Battani (ca. 858-929), w h o originally came f r o m Harran but lived in Raqqa i n northern Syria. At Raqqa, al-Battani conducted observations for more than thirty years. The results o f his research were recorded i n al-Zij ul-Sabi (The Sabian tables), w h i c h was translated into Latin i n the twelfth century and into Spanish i n the thirteenth. Although al-Battani d i d not contribute significantly to theoretical astronomy, his meticulous observations enabled h i m to make some important discoveries. For example, he noted the variations i n the apparent diameters o f the sun and the m o o n and deduced, f o r the first time i n the history o f astronomy, the possibility o f an annular eclipse o f the sun. I n the n i n t h century, t h e n , Arabic a s t r o n o m y had already struck deep roots. It integrated a l l the k n o w l e d g e there was t o integrate f r o m earlier t r a d i t i o n s and was justly p o s i t i o n e d t o surpass this k n o w ledge. T h e achievements o f the n i n t h c e n t u r y laid the f o u n d a t i o n f o r the h i g h - q u a l i t y w o r k i n the f o l l o w i n g t w o centuries. The t e n t h a n d eleventh centuries witnessed i m p o r t a n t developments i n t r i g o n o m e t r y , w i t h dramatic effects o n the accuracy and facility o f a s t r o n o m i c a l calculations. I n this p e r i o d steps w e r e taken t o w a r d the f o r m a l establishment o f large-scale observatories. A l t h o u g h the i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m these t w o centuries is spotty and f r a g m e n t e d , several extant sources p r o vide evidence f o r significant attempts to reevaluate Ptolemaic astronomy. I n the t e n t h and eleventh centuries the earlier e x a m i n a t i o n s o f Ptolemaic astrono m y led t o systematic projects that rather than addressing the f i e l d i n its t o t a l ity, focused o n specific aspects o f astronomy. T h e w o r k o f A b d al-Rahman al-Sufi ( w h o was b o r n i n Rayy and w o r k e d i n the Iranian centers o f Shiraz and Isfahan, 9 0 3 - 8 6 ) illustrates this tendency. I n his famous b o o k , Kitab Stnvar alKawakib al-Thabita (Book o n t h e constellations), al-Sufi r e w o r k e d the star catal o g o f the Almagest o n t h e basis o f a corrected value o f i ° / 6 6 years f o r the precessional m o v e m e n t ( i n the place o f Ptolemy's 1 V 1 0 0 years), as w e l l as

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi ( 9 0 3 - 8 6 ) reworked the star catalogue of Ptolemy's Almagest, and his book on the fixed stars, Kitab Suvvar al-Kavvakib al-Thabiic, became a standard work. This illustration of the constellation Centaurus, from a copy of the text made for iheTimurid prince Ulughbeg ibn Shahrukh, probably in Samarqand in the

14JOS,

transforms the centaur of

classical mythology into a turbaned man-horse.

several other n e w observations and verifications. A l - S u f i p r o d u c e d an accurate representation o f the constellations and their coordinates a n d magnitudes. His w o r k was translated i n t o Latin a n d is the source o f many Latin star names o f Arabic o r i g i n . A n o t h e r example o f the tendency t o synthesize is A b u al-Hasan A l i I b n Yunus' (Cairo, d . 1009)

al-Zij al-Hakimi al-Kabir (The H a k i m i z i j ) , a

m o n u m e n t a l w o r k i n e i g h t y - o n e chapters, o f w h i c h o n l y about o n e - h a l f is preserved. The b o o k is a c o m p l e t e treatise o n astronomy, w h i c h contains

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tables f o r the m o v e m e n t o f the heavenly bodies, their various parameters, and i n s t r u c t i o n s o n the use o f these tables. Here, t o o , the objective o f the w o r k was to p r o v i d e an exhaustive d o c u m e n t a t i o n o f previous observations, subsequent verifications o r corrections o f these, and n e w observations recorded by the author. Some o f the astronomers o f this p e r i o d were k n o w n as i n s t r u m e n t builders and for their association w i t h observatories. The astronomer A b u M a h m u d H a m i d a l - K h u j a n d i ( d . a. 1000), for example, w r o t e several w o r k s o n scientific instruments and b u i l t a large sextant at Rayy. The astronomer A b u al-Wafa alBuzjani (940—98) w o r k e d i n a large observatory b u i l t by the B u y i d ruler Sharaf al-Dawla i n the gardens o f the royal palace i n Baghdad. Like A b u Nasr Mansur i b n Iraq ( d . a. 1036)

o f Ghazna, al-Buzjani was a mathematician-astronomer

w h o made great c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n the field o f t r i g o n o m e t r y . A l t h o u g h m u c h o f the t r i g o n o m e t r i c w o r k s o f these early scientists is lost, ample i n f o r m a t i o n exists f r o m the extensive discussion o n these w o r k s by the i l l u s t r i o u s scientist al-Biruni. A l - B i r u n i was b o r n i n 973 i n K l i w a r i z m (modern-day Khorezm) and died i n 1048 i n Ghazna ( i n eastern Afghanistan). A m o n g other places, he w o r k e d i n Rayy, where he collaborated w i t h a l - K h u j a n d i . H e also studied w i t h A b u Nasr Mansur i b n Iraq, w h o was a student o f al-Buzjani. A l - B i r u n i considered these t w o scholars as his teachers, and w i t h t h e m he shared a focused interest i n t r i g o n o m e t r y and its application to astronomy. A l - B i r u n i ' s native language was Persian, but he composed the vast m a j o r i t y o f his w o r k s i n Arabic. He also k n e w Sanskrit, and as a result he had f u l l c o m m a n d o f I n d i a n astronomy i n a d d i t i o n to the w e l l established Greek and Arabic traditions. A l - B i r u n i w r o t e m o r e than 150 w o r k s o n most o f the k n o w n sciences o f his t i m e , i n c l u d i n g astronomy, mathematics, mathematical geography, mineralogy, metallurgy, pharmacology, history, and p h i l o s o p h y A l t h o u g h only a t h i r d o f his w o r k s are extant, these contain a w e a l t h o f scientific and historical i n f o r m a t i o n . His al-Oantin al-Masudi (Canon Macudicus) is a veritable treasure, w h i c h , as a great synthesis o f the Greek, I n d i a n , and Arabicastronomical traditions, has been compared to the synthesis produced i n the Almagest by Ptolemy. The book is also a history o f Arabic astronomy t h r o u g h the early eleventh century, and it provides the o n l y extant source o f i n f o r m a t i o n o n many o f the contributions o f earlier astronomers. The value o f this and other historical works by a l - B i r u n i is further enhanced by his keen historical consciousness and cultural sensitivity. Advances i n t r i g o n o m e t r y resulting f r o m the f u l l integration o f the I n d i a n achievements i n the field, as w e l l as f r o m n e w discoveries i n the tenth and eleventh centuries, played a central role i n the development o f Arabic astronomy. This tendency is itself part o f a larger phenomenon whereby the systematic m a t h -

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ematization o f disciplines c o n t r i b u t e d to the expansion o f their frontiers. Equipped w i t h new and m o r e rigorous mathematical tools, a l - B i r u n i , like man) o f his predecessors and contemporaries, p r o v i d e d exhaustive studies o f specialized topics w i t h i n astronomy. His "exhaustive" treatises cover such topics as shadows; the theory, construction, and use o f astrolabes; the coordinates o f geographical locations; and many more. I n most o f these monographs, a l - B i r u n i starts w i t h a t h o r o u g h critical overview o f older theories and mathematical m e t h ods for solving the particular problems i n question; he then proceeds either to choose one o f these theories or to propose his o w n alternative theory. Al-Biruni's w o r k as a w h o l e represents a critical assessment o f the state o f mathematical astronomy t h r o u g h the early eleventh century. Such comprehensive surveys o f earlier knowledge exhausted the possibilities o f expanding the astronomical disciplines f r o m w i t h i n ; to achieve further progress, scientists needed to move i n new directions, devise new strategies, and explore n e w research programs. Another characteristic o f this p e r i o d is the seemingly r a n d o m use o f o l d as w e l l as n e w mathematical methods i n the solution o f astronomical problems. Thus the same author may have used an archaic m e t h o d i n one place and an advanced m e t h o d i n another. A l - B i r u n i , for example, used b o t h the o l d , c u m bersome Menelaus theorem as w e l l as the new, elegant sine rule i n several solutions t o the p r o b l e m o f d e t e r m i n i n g the qibla, the d i r e c t i o n that M u s l i m s have to face i n prayers. This simultaneous use o f different mathematical procedures cannot be attributed to the slow dissemination o f scientific knowledge or to the l i m ited c i r c u l a t i o n o f this knowledge. There is ample evidence for a h i g h level o f m o b i l i t y and o f efficient and speedy c o m m u n i c a t i o n a m o n g scientists w o r k i n g i n various regions o f the M u s l i m w o r l d . A l - B i r u n i h i m s e l f d i d not travel to Baghdad, but he apparently corresponded w i t h scientists there and was fully aware o f scientific developments there and elsewhere. The use o f different m e t h ods is likely a result o f the increasing d i f f u s i o n o f scientific k n o w l e d g e a m o n g large segments o f the educated elites. W i t h i n the broad ranks o f these elites, " f u l l t i m e " scientists were expected to keep u p w i t h the latest research i n their fields, w h i l e scholars w i t h partial interest i n science w o u l d be familiar o n l y w i t h older theories and methods. The use o f a variety o f mathematical methods is thus an i n d i c a t i o n o f the degree to w h i c h scientific culture had filtered i n t o society, and the extent to w h i c h it became available to average members o f the educated class.

Expanding the Frontiers of Theoretical Astronomy A t h i r d , less noted aspect o f al-Biruni's w o r k attests to the emergence o f a n e w understanding o f the relationship between science and other f o r m s o f k n o w l edge. A b o o k entitled al-Asila wal-Ajwiba (Questions and answers) preserved an

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exchange between a l - B i r u n i and his c o n t e m p o r a r y I b n Sina ( 9 8 0 - 1 0 3 7 ) , the most celebrated M u s l i m philosopher o f all t i m e . I n this exchange, a l - B i r u n i presented I b n Sina w i t h a set o f questions i n w h i c h he criticized Aristotle's p h y s i cal theory, especially as i t pertained to astronomy. I b n Sina responded and a lively debate ensued. I n the course o f this debate, a l - B i r u n i questioned almost all o f the fundamental Aristotelian physical axioms: he rejected the n o t i o n that heavenly bodies have an inherent nature, and he asserted that their m o t i o n c o u l d very w e l l be c o m p u l s o r y ; he m a i n t a i n e d that there is n o observable

evidence

that rules out the possibility o f v a c u u m ; he further asserted that a l t h o u g h observation corroborates Aristotle's c l a i m that the m o t i o n o f heavenly bodies is c i r cular, there is n o inherent " n a t u r a l " reason w h y this m o t i o n cannot be, a m o n g other things, e l l i p t i c a l . W h a t is m o r e significant than the actual objections alB i r u n i raised is the argument he e m p l o y e d i n the course o f the debate. He drew a sharp and u n a m b i g u o u s d i s t i n c t i o n between his profession and that o f Aristotle and I b n Sina as philosophers. He argued that the metaphysical axioms o n w h i c h philosophers b u i l d their physical theories d o not constitute valid e v i dence for the mathematical astronomer. I n other w o r d s , a l - B i r u n i clearly dist i n g u i s h e d between the p h i l o s o p h e r and the mathematician, the metaphysician and the scientist. He conceived h i m s e l f as a mathematical astronomer f o r w h o m the only valid evidence is observational or mathematical. A l - B i r u n i ' s example illustrates h o w the systematic application o f rigorous mathematical reasoning led to the mathematization o f astronomy and, by extension, t o the m a t h e m a t i zation o f nature. Rather than s u b s u m i n g the various sciences u n d e r the allencompassing

u m b r e l l a o f p h i l o s o p h y , many scientists

considered

their

professions as a u t o n o m o u s mathematical enterprises, separate f r o m and o n par w i t h philosophy. To be sure, not every exact scientist c o n f o r m e d to this view. There existed a plurality o f viable possibilities that allowed scientists m o r e f r e e d o m to question the fundamental assumptions o f their disciplines. Philosophy, for such scientists, was not discarded: rather, i t was no longer sacred. After the eleventh century the efforts o f most theoretical astronomers were directed t o w a r d p r o v i d i n g a t h o r o u g h evaluation o f the physical and philosophical u n d e r p i n n i n g s o f Ptolemaic astronomy and proposing alternatives to it. The emergence o f this tendency i n astronomical research d i d not represent a move away f r o m the t h o r o u g h m a t h ematical examination o f astronomy, but i t was an o u t c o m e o f this increasing mathematization. Between the n i n t h and eleventh centuries Arab astronomers moved back and f o r t h between mathematical theory and observation. U s i n g r i g orous mathematical reasoning, they systematically e x a m i n e d every aspect o f Ptolemaic

a s t r o n o m y ; they recorded

possible

n u m e r o u s anomalies

and

attempted to rectify t h e m or to eliminate their causes. I n the course o f this activ-

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ity, these astronomers amassed a large n u m b e r o f critiques o f Ptolemaic astronomy. A r m e d w i t h a t h o r o u g h mathematical conceptualization o f their discipline, Arab astronomers were n o w ready to b o l d l y question its fundamental p h i l o sophical f r a m e w o r k . This line o f research was pursued by several eleventh-century scientists. In his b o o k Tarkib ol-Aflak ( C o m p o s i t i o n o f the heavenly spheres), A b u Ubayd al-Juzjani ( d . a. 1070) indicated that b o t h he and his teacher, I b n Sina, were aware o f the so-called equant p r o b l e m o f the Ptolemaic m o d e l . Al-Juzjani even proposed a solution for this p r o b l e m . The anonymous author o f an Andalusian astronomical manuscript referred to another w o r k that he composed entitled al-Istidrak ala Batlamyus (Recapitulation regarding Ptolemy), and indicated that he included i n this later b o o k a list o f objections to Ptolemaic astronomy. The most i m p o r t a n t w o r k o f this genre, however, was w r i t t e n i n the same p e r i o d by I b n al-Haytham ( 9 6 5 - 1 0 3 9 ) . In his celebrated w o r k Al-Shukuk ala Batlamyus (Doubts o n Ptolemy), I b n al-Haytham s u m m e d u p the physical and philosophical problems inherent i n the Greek astronomical system and p r o v i d e d an inventory o f the theoretical inconsistencies o f the Ptolemaic models. B u i l d i n g o n the cumulative achievements o f Arabic astronomy, the eleventh century witnessed the emergence o f a n e w t r a d i t i o n o f astronomical research, a t r a d i t i o n that thrived i n the thirteenth century, climaxed i n the fourteenth, and continued well i n t o the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Most astronomers o f this p e r i o d t o o k u p the theoretical challenge o u t l i n e d by I b n a l - H a y t h a m and attempted t o r e w o r k the models o f Ptolemaic astrono m y and to p r o v i d e , w i t h varying degrees o f success, alternatives to these m o d els. The list o f astronomers w o r k i n g w i t h i n this t r a d i t i o n comprises some o f the greatest and most o r i g i n a l M u s l i m scientists. Most o f the current i n f o r m a t i o n o n these scientists derives f r o m studies that were p r o d u c e d i n the past f e w decades; f u r t h e r research w i l l u n d o u b t e d l y expand the list o f reformers and p r o v i d e a m o r e detailed p i c t u r e o f t h e i r t r a d i t i o n o f r e f o r m . The astronomers w h o have received m o d e r n scholarly a t t e n t i o n i n c l u d e : M u a y y a d a l - D i n a l U r d i ( d . 1266), Nasir a l - D i n al-Tusi ( 1 2 0 1 - 7 4 ) , Q u t b a l - D i n al-Shirazi ( d . 1311), Sadr al-Sharia a l - B u k h a r i ( d . 1347), I b n al-Shatir ( d . 1375), and Ala alD i n a l - Q u s h j i ( d . 1474). I n his Almagest, Ptolemy used the results o f earlier Hellenistic astronomy and incorporated t h e m i n t o one great synthesis. O f particular geometrical u t i l i t y was the concept o f eccentrics and epicycles developed i n the second century B.CE. by Hipparchus and adopted by Ptolemy. I n an astronomical representation e m p l o y i n g the eccentric m o d e l (figure 1 ), a planet, P, is carried o n the circumference o f an eccentric circle that rotates u n i f o r m l y a r o u n d its o w n center, G. This center, however, does n o t coincide w i t h the location, O, o f an observer o n the earth. As

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a result, the speed o f the planet appears to vary w i t h respect to the observer at p o i n t O. I n an epicyclic m o d e l , the planet is carried o n the circumference o f an epicycle, whose center is in t u r n carried o n a circle called the deferent, w h i c h rotates u n i f o r m l y a r o u n d the center o f the universe, the earth. Viewed by an observer at p o i n t O, the c o m b i n a t i o n o f the t w o u n i f o r m m o t i o n s o f the deferent and the epicycle produces a n o n u n i f o r m m o t i o n that is mathematically equivalent to the m o t i o n o f the eccentric m o d e l .

Ptolemy's model for the sun employing either an eccentric or a deferent and an epicycle.

The Ptolemaic m o d e l for the m o t i o n o f the sun u t i l i z e d either a simple eccentric m o d e l or the equivalent c o m b i n a t i o n o f a deferent and an epicycle. O t h e r Ptolemaic models f o r planetary m o t i o n s were considerably m o r e c o m plex. For example, i n the m o d e l f o r the l o n g i t u d i n a l m o t i o n o f the upper planets, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (figure 2), the center, G, o f the deferent circle n o longer coincides w i t h the earth, O. Moreover, the u n i f o r m m o t i o n o f the center o f the epicycle o n the circumference o f the deferent is measured a r o u n d the p o i n t E, called the equant center, rather than the center, G, o f the deferent. Ptolemy proposed this m o d e l because it a l l o w e d for fairly accurate predictions of planetary positions. However, circle G i n this m o d e l is made t o rotate u n i f o r m l y a r o u n d the equant E, w h i c h is n o t its center. This represented a v i o l a t i o n o f the Aristotelian p r i n c i p l e o f u n i f o r m circular m o t i o n that Ptolemy had adopted. I n other w o r d s , for the sake o f observation. Ptolemy was forced to breach the physical and philosophical principles o n w h i c h he b u i l t his astron o m i c a l theory. Still other Ptolemaic models were even m o r e complex, and w i t h each a d d i t i o n a l level o f c o m p l e x i t y , n e w o b j e c t i o n s Ptolemaic astronomy.

were raised

against

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Ptolemy's model for the longitudinal motion of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Other objections raised by I b n al-Haytham and taken u p by later astronomers include the p r o b l e m o f the prosneusis point i n the m o d e l f o r the l o n g i t u d i n a l m o t i o n o f the m o o n ; the p r o b l e m o f the i n c l i n a t i o n and deviation o f the spheres o f Mercury and Venus; the p r o b l e m o f planetary distances, and so o n . I n the case o f the m o o n , additional difficulties arise because Ptolemy's m o d e l has a deferent center that is itself m o v i n g . Moreover, the m o t i o n o f the center o f the epicycle o n this deferent is not u n i f o r m around the deferent's center; rather, i t rotates u n i f o r m l y a r o u n d the center o f the universe. To complicate matters further, the anomalistic m o t i o n o n the epicycle is measured away f r o m the mean epicyclic apogee, w h i c h is aligned w i t h a movable p o i n t called the prosneusis p o i n t , rather than being measured f r o m the true apogee, w h i c h is aligned w i t h the center o f the universe. This prosneusis p o i n t is the point diametrically opposite to the center o f the deferent o n the other side o f the center o f the universe. The model for the l o n g i t u d i n a l m o t i o n o f M e r c u r y contained complex mechanisms that were equally objectionable. A d d i t i o n a l complications also resulted f r o m the m o t i o n o f the planets i n latitude: the m o t i o n i n l o n g i t u d e is measured o n the plane o f the ecliptic, w h i c h is the great circle o f the celestial sphere that traces the apparent yearly path o f the sun as seen f r o m the earth. The deferents o f the Ptolemaic m o d e l s , however, d i d not coincide w i t h this plane. The least problematic is the case o f the lunar m o d e l , i n w h i c h the deferent has a fixed i n c l i n a t i o n w i t h respect to the ecliptic, and the epicycle lies i n the plane o f the deferent. The epicycles o f the upper planets d o n o t l i e i n the plane o f the deferent, however, and they have a variable deviation w i t h respect t o i t . I n the case o f the l o w e r planets, b o t h the i n c l i n a t i o n o f the deferent w i t h respect to the ecliptic and that o f the epicycle w i t h respect to the deferent are variable. It is easy to i m a g i n e the c o m p l e x i t y a n d

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potential problems o f the Ptolemaic models that attempted to account f o r these seesaw and oscillation m o t i o n s . The astronomers w h o attempted to solve these problems are classified i n t o t w o general schools: a mathematically oriented school p r e d o m i n a n t l y based i n the M u s l i m w o r l d ' s eastern parts, and a philosophically oriented school based i n the M u s h m empire's western regions. The Maragha school is the name often given to the eastern reformers, i n recognition o f the achievements o f a n u m b e r o f astronomers

working

i n an observatory established

at Maragha

(near

Azerbaijan). The c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f these astronomers were n o d o u b t m o n u m e n tal, but the r e f o r m o f Ptolemaic astronomy started before the establishment o f the Maragha observatory i n the thirteenth century. This r e f o r m reached its h i g h est p o i n t i n the fourteenth. I n fact, some o f the astronomers o f the Maragha g r o u p seem to have started their r e f o r m projects even before they j o i n e d this observatory; perhaps they were invited to j o i n the observatory team because they were already engaged i n such research. The eastern r e f o r m tradition was too d i f fused t o be associated w i t h any one geographical area or p e r i o d ; rather, i t includes several centuries o f Arabic astronomical research t h r o u g h o u t the eastern domains o f the M u s h m w o r l d . Astronomers o f the eastern r e f o r m tradition adopted several mathematical strategies i n their attempts to solve the theoretical problems o f the Ptolemaic models. One o f their m a i n objectives was to come u p w i t h models i n w h i c h the m o t i o n s o f the planets could be generated as a result o f combinations o f u n i f o r m circular m o t i o n s , w h i l e at the same time c o n f o r m i n g to the accurate Ptolemaic observations. Two useful and extremely influential mathematical tools were invented by the t h i r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y astronomers al-Tusi and a l - U r d i . The first t o o l , k n o w n i n m o d e r n scholarship as the Tusi couple, i n effect p r o d u c e d linear oscillation as a result o f a c o m b i n a t i o n o f t w o u n i f o r m circular motions. This tool was used i n various ways by many astronomers, i n c l u d i n g the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The Urdí lemma was an equally versatile mathematical tool used by a l - U r d i and his successors. To apply this lemma to the m o d e l o f the upper planets, f o r example, a l - U r d i reversed the directions o f m o t i o n and d i v i d e d the eccentricities o f the Ptolemaic m o d e l . H e was thus able to produce u n i f o r m m o t i o n a r o u n d the geometric center o f the sphere, w h i l e at the same time r e p r o d u c i n g the u n i f o r m m o t i o n a r o u n d the Ptolemaic equant center. To produce o p t i m a l representations that are physically and mathematically sound, other astronomers used various combinations o f these t w o tools and devised additional tools o f their o w n i n v e n t i o n . The most comprehensive and successful models were i n t r o d u c e d i n the fourteenth century by the Damascene astronomer I b n al-Shatir; his models for all the planets use combinations o f perfect circular m o t i o n s i n w h i c h each circle rotates u n i f o r m l y a r o u n d its center. I b n al-Shatir

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was also able to solve problems o f planetary distances and to provide m o r e accurate accounts for observations. A n u m b e r o f I b n al-Shatir's models were r e p r o duced a century and a half later by Copernicus, clearly situating the latter w i t h i n the eastern Arabic t r a d i t i o n o f astronomical r e f o r m . The development o f Arabic astronomy i n the M u s l i m states o f Andalusia and N o r t h A f r i c a f o l l o w e d different routes. T h e beginnings o f significant scientific activity i n Andalusia started i n the n i n t h century, yet this activity was almost c o m pletely dependent u p o n and lagging b e h i n d the sciences o f the eastern part o f the M u s h m w o r l d . Between the n i n t h and eleventh centuries, however, a f u l l fledged

scientific t r a d i t i o n emerged. Many scientists traveled east t o study sci-

ence; scientific books were systematically acquired and large private and public libraries were established. A c c o r d i n g t o t r a d i t i o n , under the patronage o f a h H a k a m I I (r. 9 6 1 - 7 6 ) , the Umayyad caliph o f Córdoba, o n e royal library is said to have amassed f o u r h u n d r e d thousand books. A solid f a m i l i a r i t y w i t h the eastern astronomical t r a d i t i o n led, i n the eleventh century, t o intensive and at times o r i g i n a l astronomical activity i n Andalusia. The m a i n astronomers o f this p e r i o d include Maslama a l - M a j r i t i ( d . 1007) o f Córdoba, his student I b n al-Saffar, and al-Zarqiyal ( k n o w n as Zarqallu, d. a. 1100). Zarqallu, was one o f the m a i n c o n tributors to the c o m p i l a t i o n o f the celebrated Toledan Tables, w h i c h greatly i n f l u enced the development o f Latin astronomy. The emphasis o f the activity o f these and other astronomers was focused o n the c o m p i l a t i o n o f tables and o n spherical astronomy. Their p r i m a r y o r i g i n a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n c l u d e d some n e w observations, but most o f their w o r k concerned the mathematics o f the trepidation m o v e m e n t o f the stars and the i n v e n t i o n o f h i g h l y sophisticated astronomical instruments. D u r i n g this p e r i o d , however, little w o r k o f significance was devoted to planetary theory. I n t h e t w e l f t h century, however, the focus o f a s t r o n o m i c a l research i n Andalusia shifted t o planetary theory. T h e names associated w i t h this research i n c l u d e the Andalusian philosopher I b n Bajja (ca. 1095-1138), the Andalusian astronomer Jabir i b n Aflah ( f l . 1120), the Andalusian philosopher and physician I b n T u f a y l ( d . 1185), the Islamic philosopher I b n Rushd (1126-98, k n o w n i n the west as Averroës), and the Andalusian astronomer A b u Ishaq a l - B i t r u j i ( f l . 1190). O f these, a l - B i t r u j i was the only one t o formulate an alternative t o Ptolemaic astronomy, w h i l e the others produced philosophical discussions o f this astronomy. These discourses o n Ptolemaic astronomy, as w e l l as al-Bitruji's actual p r o posed m o d e l , conceived o f astronomical r e f o r m i n reactionary t e r m s — t h a t is, i n terms o f a d o p t i n g older and mathematically i n f e r i o r models i n place o f the ones used since Ptolemy. The a i m o f this western school o f astronomical r e f o r m was to reinstate Aristotelian homocentric spheres and to completely eliminate any use o f eccentrics and epicycles. I n accordance w i t h the most stringent and literal

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interpretations o f Aristotelian principles, the western researchers demanded that the heavens be represented exclusively by nested homocentric spheres and perfectly u n i f o r m circular motions. Even epicycles and deferents that rotated u n i f o r m l y around their centers were n o t tolerated, because their use entailed an a t t r i b u t i o n o f compoundedness

t o heavenly phenomena, w h i l e according to

Aristotelian principles, the heavens are perfectly simple. Because the predictive power o f the Ptolemaic models and their ability to account for the observed phenomena relied o n the use o f epicycles and eccentrics, however, the western models were strictly qualitative and philosophical and were completely useless f r o m a mathematical perspective. These models were neither numerically v e r i f i able, n o r could they be used for predicting planetary positions. It is n o wonder, therefore, that all but one o f the western philosophers d i d not bother to produce actual geometrical models. The significance o f the difference between the eastern and western r e f o r m traditions o f Arabic astronomy cannot be overemphasized. The prevalent v i e w i n contemporary scholarship attributes the steady decline o f the intellectual sciences i n Andalusia and N o r t h Africa to the rise o f the so-called fundamentalist states o f the Almoravids (1091-1144) and Almohads (1147-1232). Precisely d u r i n g this p e r i o d , however, the greatest Andalusian philosophers w o r k e d under the patronage o f the rulers o f these t w o states. What transpired, therefore, was not a steady decline o f the intellectual disciplines b u t the rise o f some disciplines at the expense o f others. The decline o f mathematical astronomy had n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h the Almoravids or the Almohads or w i t h an alleged theological counterrevo l u t i o n . Rather, the decline was a result o f the adoption o f a specific research p r o g r a m o f astronomical research, a p r o g r a m that was driven by the untenable, and by then outdated, Aristotelian philosophical concerns that proved incompatible w i t h astronomy's advanced mathematical and scientific aspects. U n l i k e the western school, the eastern school o f Arabic astronomy d i d n o t favor philosophy at the expense o f mathematics. The objections o f the eastern school were mathematical and physical, and as the comparison w i t h their western counterpart clearly illustrates, these objections were certainly n o t p h i l o sophical. A c o m m o n v i e w prevalent i n earlier studies maintains that the eastern r e f o r m tradition o f Arabic astronomy was d r i v e n by philosophical considerations, a n o t i o n that is often used t o u n d e r m i n e the mathematical and scientific significance o f this t r a d i t i o n . Given the o v e r w h e l m i n g evidence o f detailed research o n this t r a d i t i o n , such a v i e w is n o longer tenable. The alternative solar m o d e l proposed by I b n al-Shatir is an example i n w h i c h r e f o r m was motivated purely by observational considerations, even t h o u g h the Ptolemaic m o d e l was completely unobjectionable f r o m a physical or philosophical perspective. M o r e generally, the eastern tradition o f astronomical r e f o r m had its roots i n the sys-

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tematic mathematization o f astronomy, and to some extent o f nature itself. A recent study o f dl-Takmila fi Sharh al-Tadhkira (The c o m p l e m e n t t o the explanation o f the m e m e n t o ) o f Shams a l - D i n al-Khafri ( d . after 1525) clearly illustrates one o f the m a i n characteristics o f this t r a d i t i o n . A l - K h a f r i was p r i m a r i l y a religious scholar w h o w r o t e a h i g h l y sophisticated commentary o n al-Tusi's Tiiilhkim, one o f the classics o f the eastern r e f o r m t r a d i t i o n . I n this w o r k A l - K h a f r i presented t h o r o u g h accounts f o r the various alternative m o d e l s proposed by earlier astronomers. The purpose o f this w o r k , however, was not to look for a correct m o d e l , n o r to decide w h i c h m o d e l c o n f o r m e d w i t h an ideal or preferred cosmology, but to establish the mathematical equivalence o f all o f these models.

Practical Astronomy A l t h o u g h the most i m p o r t a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f Arabic astronomy were i n the held o f theoretical astronomy, practical astronomical problems occupied a great many astronomers, w h o were responsible for significant advances i n the field. Some o f these problems had a specific Islamic character; other problems had to d o w i t h society's practical needs, i n c l u d i n g such problems as finding the direction o f one locality w i t h respect to another, a p r o b l e m that required d e t e r m i n i n g the l o n g i tudes and latitudes o f these localities as w e l l as other aspects o f mathematical geography. The " I s l a m i c " problems were those related to Islamic w o r s h i p , such as d e t e r m i n i n g the times o f prayer; the t i m e o f sunrise and sunset i n relation to fasting; the d i r e c t i o n o f the qibla; crescent visibility i n connection w i t h the d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f the b e g i n n i n g o f the lunar m o n t h ; and calendar computations. The methods e m p l o y e d to solve these problems varied f r o m simple approximative techniques t o complex mathematical ones. For the more c o m p l e x mathematical m e t h o d , studies often occasioned complex theoretical analysis that far exceeded the i n i t i a l scope o f the examined problems. One o f the m a i n topics addressed i n various astronomical treatises is the probl e m o f crescent visibility. The official Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, w i t h die first year coinciding w i d i the year 622 c.E. The lunar m o n t h begins right after sunset w i t h the sighting o f the crescent. The visibility o f this crescent, however, is itself a function o f many variables, some o f w h i c h are more relevant than others. These variables include, for example, the celestial coordinates o f the sun and die m o o n , the latitude o f die place at w h i c h the crescent is sighted, and the brightness o f the sky. Various methods were devised to determine the conditions under w h i c h the crescent w o u l d be visible. Some o f these methods accounted for a l i m i t e d number o f variables i n the special case o f the m o o n , w h i l e other methods exhausted all possible factors that affect the visibility o f any heavenly body on the h o r i z o n just after sunset and treated the p r o b l e m o f crescent visibility as a special case.

Muslims use a lunar calendar, and the new month starts just after sunset with the sighting of the new crescent moon. This illustration from a sixteenth-century poetical text shows the sighting of the new moon that marks the feast of Id al-Fitr and celebrates the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan.

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Finding the direction o f the qibla is another case i n w h i c h complex mathematical methods were employed. Muslims are enjoined to face Mecca d u r i n g their five daily prayers, and at least i n theory all mosques are supposed to be oriented t o w a r d the Kaaba, i n Mecca. Before mathematical methods were available, M u s l i m s d e t e r m i n e d the direction o f the qibla based o n the practices o f M u h a m m a d ' s early Companions and their successors. They also made use o f traditions o f folk astronomy and o f the fact that the Kaaba itself is astronomically aligned. Many early M u s l i m s , therefore, used the same astronomical alignment adduced for the Kaaba to orient themselves d u r i n g prayers. This m e t h o d p r o v i d e d a reasonable a p p r o x i m a t i o n i n locations close to Mecca, but it was quite inaccurate i n such far-away places as N o r t h Africa and Iran. Many o f the mosques that were built i n the early p e r i o d were misaligned, and although some retained their orientation, others were rebuilt to face the correct direction o f Mecca. N u m e r o u s simple, nonmathematical methods were employed i n the early p e r i o d and continued to exist even after the emergence o f mathematical sciences. W i t h this emergence, however, new methods were devised to compute the qibla for any locality o n the basis o f the geographical coordinates o f that locality and Mecca. The p r o b l e m o f d e t e r m i n i n g the direction o f the qibla was treated as one o f mathematical geography: the purpose is to find the direction o f Mecca along the shortest arc o f the great circle j o i n i n g the locality o f Mecca to the locality f r o m w h i c h the measurement is made. To solve this p r o b l e m , it is necessary to k n o w the geographical coordinates o f both Mecca and the locality i n question. Various methods c o u l d then be used to calculate the direction o f the qibla. Most astron o m i c a l handbooks contained chapters o n finding this direction by one o r more approximative or accurate methods. Separate treatises were also composed o n the subject. Approximative methods involved the use o f cartography to represent o n a plane o r t h o g o n a l g r i d o f latitude and longitude the relative location o f Mecca w i t h respect to a particular locality. The analemma solutions are accurate project i o n methods in w h i c h the meridian, celestial equator, and h o r i z o n planes are represented o n one plane, and the problem is solved by a series o f rotations o f these planes. I n the accurate s o l u t i o n , the p r o b l e m is transferred to the celestial sphere where the p o s i t i o n o f the zenith o f Mecca relative to the zenith o f the locality is determined. The direction o f the qibla is then calculated as the a z i m u t h (arc) o f the zenith o f Mecca o n the local h o r i z o n . As i n many other fields o f astronomy, attempts were made at devising universal solutions for all possible cases, and mathematical procedures o f considerable sophistication were used. Starting i n the n i n t h century, tables were c o m p u t e d displaying the d i r e c t i o n o f the qibla as a f u n c t i o n o f terrestrial l o n g i t u d e and latitude. These computations were based o n b o t h approximate and accurate methods. I n a d d i t i o n to the qibla tables, different tables were c o m p i l e d i n connection w i t h timekeeping and

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Constructing scientific instruments was particularly important to Muslim astronomers who needed to pinpoint the location and movement of the heavenly bodies in order to determine the direction of Mecca and the times of prayer. The astrolabe, a versatile observational instrument and calculator, was particularly useful in this respect. Some of the most beautifully decorated examples were made for the Safavid rulers of Iran, such as the one on the left, made for Abbas II in 1647-48. The astrolabe on the right was made by Abu al-Aimma in 1712-13.

other astronomical functions. Timekeeping received particular interest because o f its relevance to the regulation o f the times o f prayer. Each o f the five daily prayers that are r e q u i r e d o f M u s l i m s c o u l d be p e r f o r m e d w i t h i n set t i m e l i m i t s , w h i c h vary t h r o u g h o u t the year and i n different localities. These l i m i t s are defined i n terms o f the apparent position o f the sun i n the sky relative to the local h o r i z o n . I n other w o r d s , they vary as a f u n c t i o n o f the solar altitude and l o n g i tude as w e l l as the latitude o f the locality. I n the attempt to c o m p u t e the times o f prayers, extensive literature was generated o n various aspects o f timekeeping and o n the theory and construction o f sundials. The earliest k n o w n text o n timekeeping was composed by a l - K h w a r i z m i i n the earl) n i n t h century, and a comprehensive w o r k o n sundial theory was composed by the mathematician Thabit Ibn Q i u r a h . Standard works on timekeeping, such as the famous Jami al-Mabadi wal-Chayat fi Ilm al-Miaat (The comprehensive principles and objectives o f the science o f timekeeping) w r i t t e n i n Cairo by A b u A h al-Marrakushi around 1280, often included theoretical treatments o f spherical astronomy and sundial theory, discussions o f the construction and use o f various instruments, and extensive tables. Several such tables were universal, and they were compiled for all terrestrial latitudes. These tables were often augmented w i t h auxiliary trigonometric

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tables to facilitate the solution o f problems o f spherical trigonometry. The tables o f the fourteenth-century Damascene timekeeper al-Khalili are examples o f the finest accomplishments w i t h i n this tradition. They are the most accurate and exhaustive numerical solutions for all timekeeping problems and for die direction o f the qibla. Such problems gave a great impetus to the science and art o f i n s t r u m e n t b u i l d i n g . Astrolabes, quadrants, compass boxes, and cartographic grids o f varying degrees o f sophistication were designed and i n t r o duced t o solve some o f these problems. Many o f these i n s t r u m e n t s were also used for other astron o m i c a l observations and computations. The most i m p o r t a n t o f these is the astrolabe, w h i c h was a versatile medieval observational i n s t r u m e n t and calculator. Eleventh-century Andalusian astronomers

in

particular c o n t r i b u t e d i m p o r t a n t innovations i n the field o f astronomical instruments. The i n v e n t i o n o f the universal astrolabe and the simpler Shakkaziyya plate are rare examples o f creative activity that started

This horizontal pin gnomon and qibla indicator was used

i n Andalusia and later influenced the eastern part o f

t o

d e t e r m i n e

t h

* direction and times of prayer,

the M u s l i m w o r l d . I n s t r u m e n t s o f d i f f e r e n t sizes were also designed and used i n connection w i t h programs o f astronomical observation and w i t h i n the confines o f organized observatories. The earliest p l a n n e d and p r o g r a m m e d observations

were p r o d u c e d i n Baghdad and

Damascus d u r i n g the last years o f the reign o f the Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n (r. 813-33). Since then, many other observations were recorded. Many o f these were conducted i n private observatories, where relatively small instruments were often used. Official observatories that enjoyed financial support tended to use larger instruments, w h i c h had the advantage o f p r o d u c i n g m o r e accurate observations. Toward the end o f the tenth century i n Rayy, for example, under the patronage o f the B u y i d r u l e r Fakhr al-Dawla (r. 9 7 8 - 9 7 ) the astronomer alKhujandi designed and b u i l t a large sextant that had a radius o f t w e n t y meters. A degree o f arc o n this sextant measured about t h i r t y - f i v e centimeters, enabling m u c h m o r e accurate solar observations. Another large instrument is described by the M u s l i m philosopher I b n Sina; a m o d i f i e d version o f this i n s t r u m e n t was later used i n the Maragha observatory. A n i m p o r t a n t development took place i n eleventh-century Isfahan, where a large and h i g h l y organized observatory was established under the patronage o f

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the Seljuk ruler Malikshah (r. 1072-92). The observations there were planned over a thirty-year p e r i o d , w h i c h is the t i m e taken by Saturn, the furthest planet f r o m the earth, to complete one f u l l revolution. The observatory f u n c t i o n e d f o r o n l y eighteen

years,

however, and was shut d o w n w h e n its founder d i e d . Nonetheless, this represented the first official observatory to last for such a l o n g p e r i o d o f t i m e . The observatory thus acquired the status o f a l o n g - l i v i n g scientific i n s t i t u t i o n . The most famous o f these institutionalized observatories was established i n the t h i r t e e n t h century i n Maragha under the patronage o f the Ilkhanid Hulagu and the directorship o f Nasir a l - D i n al-Tusi. It was built o n a large piece o f land and was financed by assigning

vvaqf ( r e v e n u e - y i e l d i n g source

often

endowed for a religious institution or charity) revenues to support i t . Because o f its financial a u t o n omy, the observatory was able to survive after the In addition to the astrolabe, many other

death o f its f o u n d e r H u l a g u , and it was active f o r

instruments were constructed for astronomi-

m o r e than f i f t y years. The Maragha observatory

cal observations and computations. This illustration to an Ottoman manuscript from the second half of the sixteenth century shows

served as a center o f astronomical research a n d attracted a large team o f astronomers f r o m all over

four scientists taking observations using a

the M u s l i m w o r l d . These were the most talented

giant armillary sphere made of wood.

astronomers o f the t i m e , and their collaboration, despite t h e i r diverse r e g i o n a l backgrounds, is a

c o m p e l l i n g illustration o f the h i g h m o b i l i t y o f scientists and the universality o f Arabic scientific culture. The Maragha astronomers engaged i n various kinds o f scientific research, i n c l u d i n g the b u i l d i n g o f specialized observational i n s t r u ments and the c o m p i l a t i o n o f n e w tables (Ilkhanid Zij), as w e l l as the m o s t advanced w o r k o n planetary theory. The Maragha observatory also served as a model for the organization o f the large

fifteenth-century

Ulegh Beg observatory

i n Samarqand, the sixteenth-century Taqi al-Din observatory i n Istanbul, and the eighteenth-century Jai Singh observatory i n Jaipur. Several sciences were m e t h o d o l o g i c a l l y allied to astronomy. Mathematical geography, for example, required the d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f latitudes as w e l l as l o n gitude differences between localities; the l o n g i t u d e difference was often calculated by measuring the difference i n the t w o places between the respective local times o f occurrence o f the same astronomical p h e n o m e n a , such as a lunar eclipse. N u m e r o u s sources give lists o f place names and their terrestrial c o o r d i -

The most famous observatory founded by the Muslims was established in the thirteenth century in Maragha under the directorship of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. It served as a model for the large observatory that was built by theTimurid prince Ulugh Beg in Samarqand in the early fifteenth century and has been recently restored.

nates. A n o t h e r aspect o f mathematical geography is cartography. Advanced research o n p r o j e c t i o n theory was conducted by Arab scientists; as a result, several new theories were i n t r o d u c e d . I t seems, however, that there was little systematic application o f these theories i n the construction o f w o r l d maps. The extant examples o f such maps-—including the famous t w e l f t h - c e n t u r y map o f the Arab geographer a n d cartographer A b u A b d A l l a h M u h a m m a d a l - I d r i s i ( 1 1 0 0 - 6 6 ) that was c o m m i s s i o n e d by the N o r m a n K i n g Roger I I (1095-1154) o f Sicily—are h i g h l y schematized. The nautical sciences were also dependent o n astronomy. I n a d d i t i o n t o the experience o f the navigators, these sciences d r e w o n k n o w l e d g e o f astronomy, geography, a n d m e a s u r i n g a n d observational instruments. The o n l y s u r v i v i n g texts i n this field were w r i t t e n by I b n M a j i d and Sulayman a l - M a h r i toward the end o f the fifteenth and b e g i n n i n g o f the sixteenth centuries. The real nautical know ledge, however, was more dependent o n shipm a k i n g technology and practical experience i n navigating the I n d i a n Ocean than on purely scientific knowledge.

Mathematics The Arabs i n h e r i t e d and developed several arithmetic n u m e r a t i o n systems. Finger reckoning was used by the Arabs before Islam. It is also k n o w n as hisab al-jummal (sentence a r i t h m e t i c ) , i n reference t o the use o f a fixed order o f the letters o f the Arabic alphabet t o denote numerals. Because it is p r i m a r i l y mental, addition and

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subtraction i n this system are fairly simple, whereas various cumbersome schemes are employed for m u l t i p l i c a t i o n , d i v i s i o n , and ratios—complicated computations are especially difficult to p e r f o r m . This is w h y finger reckoning started to disappear w i t h the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f H i n d u arithmetic, the base for the current scheme o f n u m e r a t i o n and calculation. I n the H i n d u arithmetic system, any n u m b e r can be denoted using only nine digits and a zero. Its great versatility derives f r o m the use o f the decimal scale and the idea o f a place value. The sexagesimal system is also a place-value system, but i t is based o n a scale o f sixty. O f ancient Babylonian origins, this system was used extensively i n connection w i t h astronomy. Even after the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f decimal fractions, Arabic computations often m i x e d bases and systems. I n astronomy the c o m m o n practice was to use the decimal system f o r integers and the sexagesimal system for fractions; for b o t h integers and fractions the letters o f the Arabic alphabet were n o r m a l l y used instead o f numerals. Numerals took different forms i n different regions, w i t h a marked difference between the eastern and western parts o f the M u s l i m w o r l d . These numerals were k n o w n a m o n g Arabs as Indian numerals; the western version o f these numerals passed i n t o Europe and became k n o w n as Arabic numerals. The p h e n o m e n o n o f the reorganization and reconstruction o f disciplines by The tradition established by

cross-application was as true o f the fields o f mathematics as i t was for astronomy.

the Maragha observatory

The foundations o f each discipline were t h o r o u g h l y reorganized by systemati-

continued into the eigh-

cally applying other fields to i t and by generalizing its concepts and methods. The

teenth century, as shown by

three mathematical disciplines that interacted i n this generative way were a r i t h -

the one Jai Singh established in Jaipur, India. He modeled some of his instruments after

metic, algebra, and geometry. The n e w Arabic discipline o f algebra played a central role i n this process. Older mathematical traditions p r o v i d e d case-by-case

those of Maragha, including

solutions for specific equations. The equations themselves, however, were never

hemispherical and equinoc-

the autonomous object o f study. The first w o r k to consider algebraic expressions

tial sundials.

irrespective o f w h a t they may represent was a l - K h w a r i z m i ' s Kitab ol-Jabr wal-

Muslims developed several sciences related to astronomy, such as mathematical geography and cartography. One of the most important world maps of medieval times was drawn by al-Idrisi for the Norman King Roger II of Sicily (r.

109C-11C4).

The original has been lost, but this twentieth-century re-creation shows how

sophisticated it was, with seventy sectional maps covering the seven climes in ten columns. Like most maps made in the Islamic lands, this one has south at the top.

Muqabala ( k n o w n as The book o f algebra, literally "the book o f c o m p u l s i o n and c o m p a r i s o n " ) . W r i t t e n i n the first quarter o f the n i n t h century, this w o r k was considered by Arab mathematicians as w e l l as by early and late historians as an outstanding achievement i n the history o f mathematics. A I - K h w a r i z m i h i m s e l f was aware o f the novelty o f his w o r k : he used a title never used before i n earlier disciplines, and he p r o v i d e d an innovative technical t e r m i n o l o g y often w i t h o u t parallel i n earlier traditions. The objectives o f al-Khwarizmi's w o r k were equally o r i g i n a l : t o provide, f o r the first t i m e , a theory for the solution o f all types o f l i n ear and quadratic equations by radicals, w i t h o u t restricting the s o l u t i o n t o any one particular p r o b l e m . Thus, the subject o f al-Khwarizmi's n e w discipline was equations and roots: all geometric o r arithmetic problems were reduced, t h r o u g h algebraic operations, t o n o r m a l equations w i t h standard solutions. The w o r k o f a l - K h w a r i z m i was only the first i n a l o n g and increasingly more sophisticated t r a d i t i o n o f algebraic research. Almost immediately after the emergence o f this new field, other mathematicians started developing it and e x p l o r i n g the possibilities for applying it t o other mathematical disciplines. I n the tenth and eleventh centuries A b u Bakr M u h a m m a d al-Karaji ( f l . 1010) i n t r o d u c e d n e w research focused o n the systematic application o f the laws o f arithmetic t o algebraic expressions. I n the second half o f the n i n t h century, the Arab scientist Qusta i b n Luqa al-Balabakki

( d . a. 912) h a d translated the first seven books o f

Diophantus' Arithmetica i n t o Arabic. Significantly, the Arabic translation was given the title The Art of Algebra. The translator's use o f the language and conception o f the n e w field o f algebra reoriented the Arithmetica and provided instead an algebraic interpretation o f this arithmetic. I n this particular instance, the translation f r o m Greek i n t o Arabic was b o t h motivated and conditioned by the earlier o r i g i n a l research i n Arabic algebra. Thus, the Greek arithmetic that al-Karaji applied t o

,•

r $

Al-Khwanzmi s book Kitab ol-Jabr wd-Muqabala, written in the first quarter of the ninth century, is the oldest Arabic work on algebra. In it, al-Khwarizmi tried to provide a theory for the solution of all types of linear and quadratic equations. Partially translated into Latin by Robert of Chester, the text served to introduce the science of algeb ra to Europe.

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algebra had already been m o d i f i e d , even as i t was being translated, under the influence o f the w o r k o f a l - K h w a r i z m i and his successors. After al-Karaji's w o r k , the central efforts i n algebraic research focused o n the arithmetization o f algebra, a genre o f research that was new b o t h i n its contents and in its organization. For six centuries most of the i m p o r t a n t mathematicians continued to b u i l d o n and to develop the w o r k o f al-Karaji. The w o r k o f I b n Abbas al-Samawal a l - M a g h r i b i ( d . a. 1175) is o f particular importance w i t h i n this tradition. I n his al-Bahir fi al-Jabr (The splendid o n algebra), al-Samawal defined algebraic power, studied a r i t h metical operations o n polynomials, and examined the m u l t i p l i c a t i o n , division, a d d i t i o n , subtraction, and extraction o f roots for irrational quantities. W h i l e the application o f arithmetic t o algebra occupied center stage i n algebraic research, the theory o f algebraic equations also continued to develop. The mathematician Thabit i b n Q u r r a , f o r example, provided systematic geometrical interpretations o f algebraic procedures and explained quadratic equations geometrically. Other mathematicians attempted t o d o the reverse and explain geometrical problems i n algebraic terms. Aware o f the difficulty o f solving cubic equations by radicals and demonstrating such solutions geometrically, A b u A b d Allah M u h a m m a d i b n Isa al-Mahani ( d . a. 880) introduced the first algebraic f o r m u l a t i o n o f a solid p r o b l e m . Mathematicians then increasingly resorted to conic sections to solve cubic equations that could not be solved by radicals. U n l i k e earlier attempts t o geometrically demonstrate equations whose roots are k n o w n t h r o u g h algebraic solutions, the objective o f this last research was to find, w i t h the help o f geometry, the roots o f equations that are not solvable numerically. A continuous t r a d i t i o n o f partial c o n t r i b u t i o n s to this field began i n the n i n t h cent u r y and culminated i n the systematic w o r k o f the Persian mathematician U m a r al-Khayyam ( 1048-1131 ). A l - K h a y y a m elaborated a geometrical theory for equations o f degree equal to or less than three. For all types o f third-degree equations, he p r o v i d e d a f o r m a l classification according to the n u m b e r o f terms; he then solved these equations by means o f the intersection o f t w o conic sections. These solutions, as w e l l as al-Khayyam s m e t h o d o f using auxiliary curves and geometric figures t o solve third-degree equations, are often w r o n g l y attributed to the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650). Al-Khayyam's m o n u m e n t a l contributions to the theory o f algebraic equations were not isolated, as general surveys o f the history o f mathematics often assert. I n fact, his w o r k constituted only the beginning o f a long and continuous tradition that was further transformed, a half century later, by Sharaf a l - D i n al-Tusi ( b o r n before

1135-d. a. 1213). I n its analytic approach, al-Tusi's w o r k o n equations

marks the b e g i n n i n g o f the discipline o f algebraic geometry: the study o f curves by means o f equations. Like al-Khayyam, al-Tusi continued to solve equations by auxiliary curves; unlike his predecessor, however, al-Tusi algebraically proved the

t 88

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A l . »LU1 '

\ i ¿ — ^ "T^p^t

Al-Khwarizmi is often considered the founder of algebra, and his name gave rise to the term algorithm.This page is from a manuscript of his treatise on algebra.

intersection o f curves by means o f their respective equations. Before al-Tusi, alKhayyam had already n o t e d , i n his classification o f third-degree equations, that some o f these equations are impossible; that is, they have n o positive solutions. Al-Khayyam only examined the equations that allow possible cases, however. A l Tusi also examined these cases, but i n the course o f his treatment o f the impossible cases, he i n t r o d u c e d new concepts and methods and charted even more n e w

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directions for mathematical research. Several n e w concepts usually attributed to later European mathematicians were introduced by al-Tusi. For the first time i n history, he formulated the concept o f a m a x i m u m o f an algebraic

expression,

w h i c h is often w r o n g l y attributed to the French mathematician François Viète (1540-1603): to f i n d the value o f an u n k n o w n x for w h i c h a cubic f u n c t i o n o f that u n k n o w n is a m a x i m u m . To do this, al-Tusi calculated the value o f the v a r i able x for w h i c h the derivative o f the above f u n c t i o n is equal to zero. Al-Tusi d i d not use the Arabic equivalent for the w o r d derivative, but he clearly introduced local analysis, the study o f m a x i m a , and the n o t i o n o f a derivative—all o f w h i c h were crucial concepts for the development o f algebraic geometry. Starting w i t h a l - K h w a r i z m i , and o n to al-Khayyam and al-Tusi, these mathematicians were fully aware o f the novelty o f their w o r k . They concocted unfam i l i a r titles f o r t h e i r books, c o i n e d technical t e r m i n o l o g y u n i q u e to their disciplines, organized their works i n decidedly different ways, and invented o r i g inal mathematical algorithms to solve the problems o f their disciplines. Above all, they conceived o f totally new subjects and mathematical concepts. Such innovations were made possible by the deliberate and systematic application o f three mathematical disciplines to each other: algebra, arithmetic, and geometry. The effect o f these trends was n o t restricted to the restructuring o f Hellenistic m a t h ematical k n o w l e d g e ; rather, it extended to the creation o f new mathematical disciplines. The professional contexts for the emergence o f these disciplines are w i d e and diverse. Outside the three mathematical disciplines, scientists were i n f o r m e d by the results o f research i n a w i d e array o f fields. I n certain cases, m o m e n t u m f o r scientific research derived f r o m interests totally unrelated to the exact sciences. C o m b i n a t o r i a l analysis, for example, was one such field; i t developed not just i n connection w i t h algebraic research but also linguistics. To c o m pile an exhaustive Arabic lexicon, al-Khalil i b n A h m a d ( 7 1 8 - 8 6 ) , one o f the earliest Arab lexicographers, enumerated f o r all the letters o f the Arabic alphabet ah the possible combinations o f w o r d s w i t h a m a x i m u m n u m b e r o f five letters. O f these possible w o r d s , the actual lexicon includes o n l y those that are e m p i r i cally verifiable. C o m m u n i t i e s o f scholars that i n c l u d e n o t o n l y first-class mathematicians but also commentators o f lesser reputation, as w e l l scholars w o r k i n g i n other fields, c o n t r i b u t e d to the creation and d i f f u s i o n o f a m u l t i t u d e o f mathematical traditions. Methods used for the solution o f certain kinds o f problems became i n themselves subjects for further examination and systematization. I n a d d i t i o n to these disciplines, new fields o f research developed, i n c l u d i n g intermediate analysis, integer Diophantine analysis, and the study o f asymptotic behavior and o f i n f i n i t e s i m a l objects, a m o n g others. Even i n geometry, w h i c h was the most advanced b r a n c h o f the i n h e r i t e d Hellenistic mathematical sciences, Arabic

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geometry acquired its o w n characteristic features at an early stage i n its development. This t o o was a result o f c o m b i n i n g geometry w i t h algebra and a r i t h metic. A l t h o u g h most advances i n geometry were deliberate and p r o g r a m m a t i c , some were u n i n t e n d e d . The most notable example is the l o n g t r a d i t i o n o f exami n i n g Euclid's theory o f parallels (the fifth postulate o f Euclid's Elements), w h i c h was initially aimed at p r o v i d i n g better proofs for Euclid's theory. I b n al-Haytham, al-Khayyam, and al-Tusi were a m o n g the many mathematicians w h o tried to p r o vide such proofs. I n the course o f these attempts, some o f the theorems o f n o n Euclidean geometry were proved. A l t h o u g h M u s l i m mathematicians d i d not finally formulate such a geometry, they established a tradition o f research that was central to its later discovery. Trigonometry was another h y b r i d mathematical discipline i n w h i c h Arab scientists enriched, and eventually reoriented, earlier scientific knowledge. Initially developed i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h research i n astronomy, t r i g o n o m e t r y finally became an independent mathematical discipline i n its o w n right. W h i l e Ptolemy's astronomy was superior i n its models, it rested o n elementary geometrical p r o p o sitions. Ptolemaic astronomical computations were based on a single f u n c t i o n , the c h o r d o f a circular arc. Moreover, the only tool for spherical c o m p u t a t i o n was Menelaus' theorem—a cumbersome f o r m u l a for the relationship between the six segments that result f r o m the intersection o f four arcs i n a complete quadrilateral. Soon after translating Ptolemy and adopting his models, Arab astronomers augmented his geometry w i t h the p o w e r f u l sine f u n c t i o n o f Indian trigonometry. I n the n i n t h century the tangent f u n c t i o n was also introduced. The emergence o f t r i g o n o m e t r y as an independent science, however, required t w o additional developments: first, i d e n t i f y i n g the spherical triangle as the object o f study as opposed to the calculus o f chords o n the spherical quadrilateral; and second, i n c l u d i n g the angles o f triangles i n this calculus and not restricting it to the sides. The

first

accounts o f the spherical triangle appeared by the end o f the tenth century. I n a testimony to the universality o f the scientific culture o f the time, the general theo r e m o f sines, k n o w n as the Rule o f Four Quantities, was discovered simultaneously and independently by three astronomers f r o m K h w a r i z m , Baghdad, and Rayy ( A b u Nasr Mansur i b n Iraq, A b u al-Wafa al-Buzjani, and A b u M a h m u d H a m i d al-Khujandi). I n the eleventh century all six relations o f the right-angled triangle appeared i n various texts, i n c l u d i n g , among others, al-Biruni's Motjalid Ilm al-Haya. I n die thirteenth century Nasir a l - D i n al-Tusi WTote the first independent treatise o n t r i g o n o m e t r y w i t h o u t reference to astronomy, thus sealing the process by w h i c h another independent discipline was created.

Optics The Arabs also inherited a large body o f Hellenistic optical knowledge, w h i c h covered the physical as well as geometric study o f vision, the reflection o f rays o n m i r -

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rors (catoptrics), b u r n i n g m i r r o r s , and atmospheric phenomena such as the rainbow. W i d i i n t w o centuries, however, the field o f optics was radically transformed, and Arabic optics acquired the characteristics o f a new field o f study w i t h distinct methods and approaches. As i n other scientific disciplines, the first Arabic translations o f Greek optical texts were produced at the same time as the first research i n Arabic was being conducted. Arabic compositions i n optics started i n the eighth century and c o n t i n u e d t h r o u g h the n i n t h w i t h the works o f I b n Masawayh, Hunayn i b n Ishaq, Qusta i b n Luqa al-Balabakki, and Thabit i b n Q u r r a . I n addition to its p r i m a r y focus o n physiological optics, n i n t h - c e n t u r y works also treated, i n separate studies, the subject o f b u r n i n g m i r r o r s , reflection on m i r r o r s , and geometrical and physical optics. Yaqub i b n Ishaq a l - K i n d i (ca. 8 o i - c a . 866) is said to have produced ten treatises i n the latter fields, o f w h i c h at least four are extant. Bodi Qusta i b n Luqa and a l - K i n d i adopted a deliberate strategy i n their research: To rectify the results o f one particular subfield o f Hellenistic optics, they drew o n other subfields o f this research, w i t h the i n t e n t i o n o f c o m b i n i n g the geometry and the physiology o f vision. One o f the most immediate results o f this innovative approach was to integrate catoptrics, the stud)' o f the reflection o f visual rays o n m i r r o r s , i n t o the mainstream o f optical research. The greatest w o r k o f Arabic optics is u n d o u b t e d l y I b n al-Haytham's Ki tab alManazir. I n the tenth century the earlier w o r k o f A b u Sad al-Ala i b n Sahl ( f l . 9 7 0 - 9 0 ) expanded the horizons o f optics and p r o v i d e d an i m p o r t a n t link i n the line o f research that c u l m i n a t e d i n I b n al-Haytham's seminal c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n the eleventh century. One o f I b n Sahl's o w n additions was the creation o f the field o f dioptrics, i n w h i c h the study o f b u r n i n g instruments was n o longer restricted to m i r r o r s but also i n c l u d e d lenses. I b n Sahl produced a systematic theoretical study o f refraction i n lenses, i n w h i c h he i n c l u d e d an examination o f various kinds o f curves and o f geometrical methods o f d r a w i n g t h e m . He also i n t r o duced the n o t i o n o f a constant ratio, w h i c h is the inverse o f w h a t is n o w called the index o f refraction. This ratio measures the refraction o f a visual ray i n a particular m e d i u m w i t h respect to air. Its discovery represents the first instance o f a fundamental p r i n c i p l e o f d i o p t r i c s , w h i c h is often referred to as the law o f Snellius ( i n reference to the 1621 discovery i n Europe o f the same l a w ) . The creative trend o f expanding optical research i n all o f its subfields reached a peak under I b n al-Haytham ( k n o w n as Alhazan i n the west), w h o covered i n an integrated research project all o f the traditional themes o f optics as w e l l as those invented by his forerunners. This project effectively u n d e r m i n e d the basic premise and structure o f Greek optical research. At a basic conceptual level, I b n al-Haytham rejected the Hellenistic theories o f vision and i n t r o d u c e d a radically different theory. V i s i o n , according t o earlier theories, is considered a result o f contact between the eye and the object, either t h r o u g h a ray e m i t t e d f r o m the eye to the object (as i n the extramission theories o f Euclid and Ptolemy) o r t h r o u g h die transmission o f a " f o r m " f r o m the object to the eye (as i n the i n t r o -

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T H E OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

mission theories o f Aristotle and the atomists). I b n a l Haytham's remarkable insight was t o argue that w h a t is sensed is not the object itself and that an image o f the object is f o r m e d as a result o f the reflection

o f light

f r o m the object t o the eye. I b n al-Haytham c o u l d thus

'Li W%,/£iAfyj^*n?¿Att 2^

proceed t o study the geom e t r i c aspects o f the visual cone theories w i t h o u t havi n g t o explain at the same time the psychology o f perc e p t i o n . H e also benefited f r o m advances i n the study o f the eye's physiology, thus i n t e g r a t i n g i n t o his t h e o r y

^*'3C-

: tsS tt_/lj'j*^**> ?^/'* i

3

i

o f vision

the c u m u l a t i v e

results o f mathematical, physIbn al-Haytham (d. 1039), known in the West as Alhazan,

ical, and medical research.

was a leading Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physi -

This comprehensive

theory

cist. His optical compendium, Khab oI-Manazir, is the greatest

enabled I b n al-Haytham t o

medieval work on optics.

provide

various

levels

of

explanation. For example, the conditions o f the propagation o f light c o u l d be studied i n separation f r o m physical theories o f v i s i o n . Ibn al-Haytham b u i l t o n the already r i c h Arabic trad i t i o n and proceeded t o examine various aspects o f the rules o f propagation o f l i g h t . I n the course o f his systematic and integrated research, he conceived o f new problems that were n o t addressed i n earlier optical research. O n e such famous mathematical p r o b l e m is k n o w n as Alhazan's p r o b l e m : t o find the p o i n t o f reflection o n the surface o f a concave o r convex spherical m i r r o r , given the fixed positions o f the visible object and the eye. I b n al-Haytham's innovative conceptualization and approach also led t o the a d o p t i o n o f controlled experimentation as a practice o f investigation as w e l l as the n o r m f o r proofs i n optics and m o r e generally i n physics. M o r e systematic experimentation was employed by Kamal a l - D i n al-Farisi ( d . 1319), w h o pursued I b n al-Haytham's project o f r e f o r m i n g optics and w r o t e commentaries

on a

n u m b e r o f his works. To explain the f o r m a t i o n o f rainbows, al-Farisi i n t r o d u c e d

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an experimental setup i n w h i c h a glass sphere filled w i t h water simulated the water droplets suspended i n the atmosphere. He then proceeded to m a t h e m a t i cally justify the analogy between this artificial m o d e l and nature by arguing that a sufficiently t h i n glass sphere w o u l d produce negligible additional refraction. By c o n t r o l l i n g the m e d i u m i n w h i c h the experiment was conducted, al-Farisi was successful i n e x p l a i n i n g the shapes o f the p r i n c i p a l arc and the secondary arc o f the r a i n b o w as resulting f r o m t w o refractions and one or t w o reflections inside the sphere. It has often been argued that I b n al-Haytham's w ork had no effect o n Arabic r

optical research and was only appreciated i n later European scholarship. Yet the w o r k o f al-Farisi, i n a d d i t i o n t o recent evidence f o r an eleventh-century Andalusian version o f I b n al-Haytham's Manazir, seems to illustrate a c o n t i n u i t y i n the creative activity i n optical research not just before I b n al-Haytham but also after h i m . As i n all o f the other sciences considered thus far, c o m m u n i t i e s o f scientists always existed w i t h i n w h i c h n o r m a l science was practiced. These n o r malized practices p r o v i d e d the social and intellectual contexts for the exceptional m o m e n t s o f creativity i n the history o f Arabic science.

Engineering and Technology In a d d i t i o n to the classical scientific disciplines, great

energies—commensurate

w i t h the i m m e n s i t y and eminence o f the Islamic e m p i r e — w e r e b r o u g h t to bear o n technological developments. These developments c o n t r i b u t e d significantly to the material prosperity o f medieval Islamic societies and to the increased p r o d u c t i o n o f raw materials as w e l l as finished c o m m o d i t i e s . For most o f these techn o l o g i e s , o n l y samples exist o f the f i n a l products o f Arabic t e c h n o l o g i c a l knowledge. Buildings and fabrics, for example, provide l i v i n g evidence for a fine architectural t r a d i t i o n as w e l l as a developed textile industry. Yet there is little w r i t t e n material that describes the technological knowledge used i n such industries. As the field o f technology is a vast subject, this section provides only a b r i e f and selective overview, emphasizing technologies about w h i c h there are existi n g w r i t t e n documents. The Arabs i n h e r i t e d a n u m b e r o f Hellenistic theoretical studies o n g e o m e t r i cal statics, i n c l u d i n g , a m o n g other subjects, the mathematical study o f the laws o f e q u i l i b r i u m , the concept o f a center o f gravity, and hydrostatic studies o f the e q u i l i b r i u m o f bodies i n liquids. They also i n h e r i t e d practical studies o f simple machines for l i f t i n g and m o v i n g objects. The most famous Greek w o r k i n this field was that o f the mathematician and inventor Archimedes. B u i l d i n g o n this legacy, Arabic research i n statics was pursued o n three fronts. The first can be called practical statics, and i t includes the Arabic science (or art) o f designing

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ingenious mechanical devices (ilm al-hiyal). Several w o r k s were composed o n this subject, the most famous o f w h i c h are those o f Banu Musa ( n i n t h century) and i b n al-Razzaz al-Jazari ( f l . a. 1200). These w o r k s described several m e c h a n ical devices and automatic machines and p r o v i d e d diagrams illustrating h o w these devices operated. Some o f these machines had an obvious use, apparently designed i n response to general social needs; such devices include, for example, w a t e r - l i f t i n g machines. Other machines had a narrower use, designed at the d e m a n d o f smaller sectors o f society. Fine machines, water clocks, fountains, and various kinds o f automata w ere designed either for the entertainment o f r

affluent segments o f society, or to respond to the specialized needs o f professional groups. The second field o f research focused o n theoretical statics and hydrostatics and is best exemplified by A b d al-Rahman al-Khazini's t w e l f t h - c e n t u r y encyclopedia o f medieval statics, Kitab Mizan ctl-Hikma (The b o o k o f the balance o f w i s d o m ) . The t h i r d area focused o n the determination o f the specific weights o f metals and minerals. Scientists like a l - B i r u n i and al-Khazini p r o v i d e d t h o r o u g h theoretical treatment o f this p r o b l e m . They also invented practical machines and tools to easily determine the specific weights o f metals as w e l l as the relative compositions o f c o m p o u n d s and alloys. One o f the m a i n trends i n Arabic statics was the systematic use o f i n h e r i t e d as w e l l as n e w mathematical techniques, particularly algebra. This trend enabled b o t h a generalization o f Greek statics and the invention o f new fields w i t h i n the discipline. This dynamic approach to the study o f statics—itself a result o f the systematic application o f new mathematical s k i l l s — l e d to the emergence o f the science o f mechanics. The application o f this dynamic approach to hydrostatics, as reflected i n al-Khazini's study o f the m o t i o n s o f bodies i n fluids, led to the emergence o f the n e w field o f hydrodynamics. The discipline o f statics as a w h o l e represents a d o m a i n i n w h i c h theoretical science and technology clearly interacted. The findings o f the various theoretical sciences were continuously applied to develop innovative technologies and thus c o n t r i b u t e d i n the process to the development o f m o d e r n engineering, the art t h r o u g h w h i c h the results o f science are put to practical use. Many o f the c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f early Arabic statics were central to the development o f w h a t is k n o w n today as mechanical engineering. Many new mechanisms and machines were i n t r o d u c e d d u r i n g this time. To name only a few, these included the invention o f conical valves, the use o f complex gears to transmit h i g h torque, the i n t r o d u c t i o n o f double-acting p u m p s w i t h suction pipes, the use o f a crank mechanism i n a machine, and the i n v e n t i o n o f sensitive control mechanisms. The emergence o f mechanical engineering was equally dependent o n developing the procedures and techniques used i n the p r o d u c t i o n o f these

Al-Jazari s book on automata is the first mechanical engineering handbook thai provides full information for the construction of machines as well as illustrations of how they work.This artistic illustration from a copy of his text made in Syria in shows a handwashing device in the form of a servant pouring water from a ewer. When the water is poured, the servant offers ihe towel in his left hand.

The technology to handle and control water was of great importance in the arid regions where Islam flourished. In certain regions, such as Iran and Morocco, people tapped into underground aquifers to create conduits known as qanats or kholtatas, which are visible above ground by their crater-like cleanout holes.

n e w machines. Early descriptions o f mechanical devices were strictly schematic: diagrams were used to illustrate the theory u n d e r l y i n g a device, n o t to provide i n f o r m a t i o n o n its c o n s t r u c t i o n or relative dimensions. The first mechanical engineering h a n d b o o k was al-Jazari's fCitab fi Marifat al-Hiyal aJ-Handiisiyya (The book o f k n o w l e d g e o f ingenious mechanical devices). I n a d d i t i o n to schematic illustrations o f h o w machines w o r k , the book provided detailed instructions o n the dimensions o f their various parts; the materials to be used and their treatm e n t ; casting techniques; and i n f o r m a t i o n on f i n i s h i n g , calibration, and p r i m i n g procedures. I n short, this handbook p r o v i d e d all the i n f o r m a t i o n needed to manufacture a machine as w e l l as to understand its w o r k i n g s . Relatively elaborate and detailed guidelines for the application o f t e c h n o l o g ical k n o w l e d g e are preserved i n the field o f i r r i g a t i o n engineering. Many i r r i g a t i o n methods were i n h e r i t e d f r o m the practices o f agrarian-based ancient Near Eastern societies. The M u s l i m s also supported intensive agricultural development projects. Arabic chronicles provide considerable i n f o r m a t i o n o n the scale and significance o f such projects initiated by the Umayyads ( 6 6 1 - 7 5 0 ) , the Abbasids (750-1258), and others. These projects were crucial to the development o f the economies o f M u s l i m societies and for p r o v i d i n g the needs o f n e w l y established cities or expanded older ones. Many i r r i g a t i o n projects were o f a massive scale: they often involved the b u i l d i n g of dams to c o n t r o l and regulate the f l o w o f rivers; the use o f water-raising machines to transfer water for i r r i g a t i o n and water supply; and the b u i l d i n g o f extensive networks o f canals and qanats ( u n d e r -

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g r o u n d conduits) to divert water as necessary. H i g h l y advanced technical and administrative skills were needed to regulate large-scale i r r i g a t i o n and water supply projects. For example, Arabic chronicles report that a tenth-century s u p e r v i sor o f the i r r i g a t i o n system o f the city o f M a r v and its environs was i n charge o f m o r e than ten thousand workers w h o were e m p l o y e d i n the b u i l d i n g , m a i n t e nance, and c o n t r o l o f the i r r i g a t i o n system. Specialized technical skills, such as the surveying and excavation o f canals, were also developed i n connection w i t h i r r i g a t i o n . Several treatises were w r i t t e n d u r i n g this t i m e o n q u a n t i t y surveying methods, p r o v i d i n g detailed instructions for the management o f the construct i o n o f large-scale i r r i g a t i o n systems. O f particular i m p o r t a n c e was qonat i r r i g a t i o n , w h i c h r e q u i r e d the careful application o f standardized technologies. A qanat is an u n d e r g r o u n d c o n d u i t that runs almost h o r i z o n t a l l y and transfers water f r o m an aquifer to a specific locat i o n . This system was used extensively i n Iran and N o r t h Africa. A c c o r d i n g to some estimates, 70 percent o f all water use i n Iran u n t i l the m o d e r n p e r i o d came f r o m qanats, spanning a l e n g t h o f m o r e than one hundred thousand miles. The d i g g i n g o f an u n d e r g r o u n d c o n d u i t represented a m a j o r engineering undertaki n g that involved locating an u n d e r g r o u n d source, estimating its potential yield, surveying the land between the source and the surface outlet to determine the route, d i g g i n g vertical ventilation and cleaning shafts every t h i r t y to fifty yards along the desired route, and finally excavating the sections between these shafts

Large waterwheels, known as norias, were used to raise

at very slight inclinations to ensure s m o o t h water f l o w between the source and

water from rivers to a reser

the outlet. The procedure also required the application o f techniques to align the

voir level from which it

u n d e r g r o u n d tunnels and to test air quality for the safety o f workers. Other technologies were also used to handle, control, and divert water. Dams o f different designs, sizes, and purposes were constructed and often used to provide

would be distributed to sur rounding regions. The Syrian city of Hama on the Orontes River was famous

power for m i l l i n g or to drive waterwheels, w h i c h w o u l d raise the water to an ele-

for its enormous wooden

vated reservoir level so diat it could be used to supply a surrounding region. The large

waterwheels.

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wheel k n o w n as tile noria was such a water-raising machine. It was used i n the ancient Near East, but its hydrodynamk features were enhanced in the Islamic period and it was used extensively i n such places as Andalusia and Syria. The most popular o f diese machines was the saqiya, w h i c h was driven by animals. Many o f these machines are detailed i n al-Jazari's work. The w o r k o f the sixteendi-century mechanical engineer Taqi al-Din is also o f particular importance. He provided a description o f a six-cylinder p u m p , equipped w i t h one-way valves, pistons, and cams, w h i c h resembled, and may have influenced, later European machine teclmologies. A m o n g the most i m p o r t a n t o f the many technologies that developed i n the M u s l i m w o r l d are s h i p b u i l d i n g , m i n i n g , and metallurgy as w e l l as paper, textile, and military industries. The technological knowledge and practical skills amassed i n these crafts was not always recorded, but fortunately i n several cases w r i t t e n records exist. For example, many treatises discuss aspects o f the m i l i t a r y technologies, i n c l u d i n g such diverse topics as fortification, siege machines, weapons, s w o r d m a k i n g , g u n p o w d e r recipes, firepots and grenades, fuses for rockets and torpedoes, canons, and so o n . Many o f these technologies required an advanced level o f chemical knowledge. Yet chemistry, or rather alchemy, was not clearly and exclusively an exact science. At least i n part, it was an occult discipline w i t h metaphysical and spiritual concerns. Despite its ambiguous status, the field o f alchemy also had a strong technological d i m e n s i o n . Aside f r o m such questions as the transformation o f the spirit, a significant part o f alchemy dealt w i t h p u r e technological matters, i n c l u d i n g the preparation o f c o m p o u n d s and chemical p r o d ucts, chemical operations like distillation and crystallization, and the i n v e n t i o n o f technical apparatus for laboratory use. Most o f the k n o w n w o r k s o f alchemy, i n c l u d i n g those o f the celebrated Jabir i b n Hayyan (ca. 721-815) and A b u Bakr al-Razi (ca. 865-between 923 and 935), contain considerable sections o n practical chemistry. This aspect o f alchemy justifies its inclusion as one o f early Arabic technology's m a i n areas o f achievement.

Medicine Because o f its immediate social significance, medieval sources provide a wealth o f i n f o r m a t i o n o n the theory and practice o f Arabic medicine. I n a d d i t i o n to numerous medical treatises, many sources also shed light o n the lives o f scientists, the professional medical c o m m u n i t i e s , the social practice o f medicine, the various healing institutions, and the regulation o f the medical profession. Both t h e area and the p e r i o d i n w h i c h the Arabic m e d i c a l t r a d i t i o n evolved are immense. I n the n i n t h century Baghdad was the d o m i n a n t center for the p r o d u c t i o n o f the Arabic medical tradition. I n the tenth and eleventh centuries, h o w ever, many r e g i o n a l centers competed w i t h Baghdad. I n the t h i r t e e n t h and

The apparent uniformity of Arabic medicine can be traced to a shared Hellenistic heritage. This page from a thirteenthcenrury copy of Yahya al-Nahwi's summary of Galen's treatise show Andromachos and the eight Greek doctors of antiquity.

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fourteenth centuries, Syria emerged as the leading center i n medical activities. D u r i n g this p e r i o d many medical institutions were built there, and a large n u m ber o f physicians traveled f r o m all over the M u s l i m w o r l d to seek e m p l o y m e n t i n its institutions. A shared Hellenistic medical legacy accounts f o r the apparent u n i f o r m i t y o f Arabic medicine. The actual practice o f medicine produced diverse and at times c o m p e t i n g tendencies w i t h i n this t r a d i t i o n . Insights i n t o the rise o f such tendencies can be pieced together f r o m a variety o f sources, i n c l u d i n g medical treatises, specialized and general biographical w o r k s , vraqf charters,and

market

supervision manuals, as w e l l as man) anecdotes i n literary and historical sources. These sources contain references t o r u d i m e n t a r y medical practices a m o n g the Arabs before Islam, but an Arabic medical tradition per se, o r even quasi-scientific medicine, d i d not exist. The first references to learned medicine are under the Umayyad caliphate, w h i c h employed physicians trained i n the Hellenistic t r a d i t i o n . I n the eighth century a m e m b e r o f the Umayyad family is said t o have commissioned the translation o f medical a n d alchemical texts f r o m Greek i n t o Arabic. Various sources also indicate that the Umayyad caliph U m a r i b n A b d al-Aziz (r. 717-20) commissioned the translation f r o m Syriac i n t o Arabic o f a seventh-century m e d ical handbook w r i t t e n by the Alexandrian priest A h r u n . As i n the case o f the other sciences, these early activities increased dramatically under t h e A b b a s i d caliphs o f Baghdad, w h o employed Nestorian physicians f r o m the city o f Gundishapur. I n particular, eight successive generations o f the Bakhrishu f a m i l y were favored physicians i n the Abassid court w e l l i n t o the eleventh century. I n a d d i t i o n to the learned practice o f medicine, translations o f medical texts and n e w medical w r i t i n g s started t o appear i n the n i n t h century. Most o f these w r i t i n g s were based on Hellenistic medicine, but even i n the very early p e r i o d some n e w treatises contained o r i g i n a l features that were not f o u n d i n the earlier Greek sources. The most famous o f the early translators and physicians are Yuhanna i b n Masawayh (d. 857), the head o f Bayt a l - H i k m a , and H u n a y n i b n Ishaq ( 8 0 8 - 8 7 3 ) . W i t h his students, H u n a y n translated almost all o f the t h e n - k n o w n Greek medical w o r k s i n t o either Syriac o r Arabic. At the same t i m e these translations were made, o r i g i n a l w o r k s were c o m posed i n Arabic. H u n a y n , f o r example, composed a f e w medical treatises; o f these, al-Masail fi al-Tibb lil-Mutoallimin (Questions o n m e d i c i n e f o r students) a n d Kitab al-Ashr Maqalat fi al-Ayn (Ten treatises o n the eye) were b o t h i n f l u e n t i a l and considerably innovative. A l t h o u g h Hunayn's w o r k s i n c l u d e d very f e w n e w observations, their creativity lies i n a n e w organization, and i n the case o f the second book, i n its deliberate attempt t o exhaust all questions related t o the eye. I n any event, a solid c o m m a n d o f medical k n o w l e d g e was needed t o produce

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these w o r k s . The most famous w o r k o f the early p e r i o d was composed by A l i i b n Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (ca. 783-ca. 858), a Christian convert to Islam f r o m Marv. Al-Tabari's book Firdtms al-Hikmo (Paradise o f w i s d o m ) was the first c o m prehensive w o r k o f Arabic m e d i c i n e that integrated and compared the various m e d i c a l traditions o f the t i m e . This w o r k adopted a critical approach to enable readers to choose between different practices. A section o n I n d i a n m e d i c i n e p r o v i d e d valuable i n f o r m a t i o n o n its sources and practices. I n d i a n medicine was far less crucial than Hellenistic m e d i c i n e i n shaping the Arabic medical t r a d i t i o n , a l t h o u g h occasionally physicians w o u l d compare Greek and I n d i a n m e d icine and opt f o r the latter. This was the exception rather than the r u l e , however. The m a i n role o f I n d i a n m e d i c i n e was n o t to define the contours o f the Arabic medical t r a d i t i o n but to set the lone for some o f its initial interests and c u r i o s i ties. A l t h o u g h the Greek scientific legacy was d o m i n a n t , a mere awareness o f m o r e than one t r a d i t i o n encouraged a critical and selective approach that pervaded all fields o f early Arabic science. By the end o f the n i n t h century the Galenic h u m o r a l system o f pathology was completely integrated into Arabic medicine. A l t h o u g h extensive use was made o f the w r i t i n g s o f Hippocrates ( f o u r t h century B X . E . ) , they were used w i t h i n the m o r e systematic theoretical f r a m e w o r k o f Galenic medicine. H u m o r a l pathology was based on the n o t i o n o f four h u m o r s ( b l o o d , p h l e g m , y e l l o w bile, and black bile) and their relation to the f o u r elements (air, water, fire, and earth), as w e l l as to the f o u r qualities (hot, moist, c o l d , and d r y ) . The balance or e q u i l i b r i u m (itidal) o f these h u m o r s and qualities a m o u n t e d to health; imbalance, therefore, was considered to be the cause o f illness and disease. Emphasis i n treatment was placed o n m a i n t a i n i n g or reestablishing e q u i l i b r i u m by c o n t r o l l i n g the e n v i r o n m e n t and the internal constitution o f the body t h r o u g h the use o f certain kinds o f foods or medicines as w e l l as t h r o u g h bleeding and purgatives. This system o f medicine employed a significant degree o f logical reasoning along w i t h medical observation to explain illness and to devise treatment. Theoretical discourse was thus superimposed o n clinical observation, and theoretical considerations played a m a j o r role i n the s t r u c t u r i n g and organization o f medical knowledge. Arabic m e d i c i n e further developed this tendency to systematize and rationalize. For the first t i m e , attempts were made to organize the vast body o f medical knowledge i n all branches o f medicine i n t o one comprehensive and logical structure. A n equally i m p o r t a n t trend focused o n expanding empirical medical k n o w l e d g e — w i t h emphasis on clinical or case m e d i c i n e — a n d o n practical procedures for treatment, as opposed to the theoretical reflections on illness and health. One o f the greatest representatives o f this trend is the n i n t h - c e n t u r y scientist A b u Bakr al-Razi. I n his prolific w r i t i n g s , al-Razi generated various theoretical criticisms o f the body o f i n h e r i t e d medical knowledge. M o r e i m p o r t a n t than these c r i t i -

The Greek scientific tradition remained strong in Islamic times, and the theoretical framework of Galenic medicine of classical antiquity was integrated into Islamic practice. This illustration from a thirteenth-century Arabic translation of Dioscorides' Materia Medico shows a pharmacist preparing drugs.

asms, however, was his

focus o n m e t h o d and practice. T h r o u g h o u t his w o r k , al-

Razi p u t m o r e emphasis o n observational diagnosis and therapy than o n the theoretical diagnosis o f illnesses and their cures. Al-Razi surveyed all o f the available medical knowledge and then provided a critical review o f this i n h e r i t e d k n o w l edge o n the basis o f his o w n practice. His experience as a clinician was u n d o u b t edly w i d e and r i c h ; it was acquired i n a l o n g career as the head o f hospitals i n Rayya and Baghdad. Some o f al-Razi's most o r i g i n a l works also derived f r o m this p o s i t i o n . His Kitab fi a\-jadan WQ\-Hasba ( O n smallpox and measles) is the first thoro u g h account o f the diagnosis and treatment methods o f these t w o diseases and the differences between their symptoms. A focus o n clinical rather than theoretical issues is w h a t characterizes this w o r k and perhaps w h a t makes i t o r i g i n a l . A l -

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Razi w r o t e many other medical treatises o f considerable originality, covering such subjects as diabetes and hay fever. H e also w r o t e an influential general textbook o f medicine entitled Kitab al-Tibb al-Mansuri (The M a n s u r i book o f m e d i c i n e ) , w h i c h filled a vacuum because i t p r o v i d e d a concise overview o f medical theory that c o u l d be consulted by students and practitioners o f medicine. The reputat i o n o f this book, however, has less to d o w i t h its o r i g i n a l content than w i t h its brevity and organization. Al-Razi's most i m p o r t a n t work is his often mentioned but poorly studied book al-Hawi fi al-Tibb (The comprehensive book o n medicine), an enormous w o r k that i n one incomplete copy fills twenty-three volumes. The book is not organized according to f o r m a l theoretical paradigms; rather, i t is an encyclopedia o f clinical medicine, i n c l u d i n g earlier w r i t i n g s o n diseases and treatments as well as al-Razi s o w n clinical observations. I n several places, al-Razi criticized Galen and stated that the reason for this criticism was that his o w n clinical observations d i d not conf o r m w i t h Galen's assertions. Al-Razi's meticulous documentation o f his sources added to the m e r i t o f this w o r k and made it a veritable treasure for the history o f medicine. Al-Razi's p r i m a r y interest was therapeutics, not the theoretical classification o f medical knowledge. He d i d not devise treatments o n the basis o f l o g i cal inferences;

rather, he conducted w h a t o f t e n a m o u n t e d to c o n t r o l l e d

experimentation. I n the first volume o f the book, for example, he traced the exact effects o f bloodletting o n treating brain t u m o r (stirsam). To d o this, al-Razi divided his patients i n t o t w o groups; he treated one w i t h bloodletting and d i d not apply this treatment o n the other. He then recommended a treatment m e t h o d simply o n the basis o f the results o f his observations. This and other examples illustrate that although al-Razi proposed no alternative theoretical framework, a considerable part o f his research seems to have proceeded i n practical neglect o f Galenic theory. Theoretical medicine was simply irrelevant to al-Razi's rigorous research i n clinical medicine. His most original contributions are undoubtedly i n this field o f clinical medicine. The great aJ-Hawi o f al-Razi was not w i t h o u t fault, however. Its m a i n weakness was its enormous size and poor organization, w h i c h made the w o r k inaccessible even to expert physicians. Because o f these reasons, the w o r k was not able to fill the demand for comprehensive but structured medical handbooks. Later i n the tenth century Ah" i b n Abbas al-Majusi (ca. 9 2 5 - 9 4 ) w r o t e Kitab al-Kamil h al-Sinaa al-Tibbiya (The complete book o f the medical art), also k n o w n as Kitab al-Malaki (The royal book), w i t h the explicit intention o f filling this gap. Al-Majusi praised al-Razi's w o r k for its clinical comprehensiveness, but he noted its lack o f a theoretical framework that c o u l d have provided structure and an organizational principle. Al-Majusi thus set out to w r i t e an accessible book that people could easily copy, buy, read, and use. His w o r k was influential b o t h i n the M u s l i m w o r l d and later i n Latin Europe.

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In the same p e r i o d an equally influential w o r k was independently produced i n Córdoba by A b u al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (936-1013); Kitab al-Tasrif li man Ajiza an alTalif (Manual for medical practitioners), a large medical encyclopedia i n thirty books, was intended as a synthesis o f medical knowledge available at the t i m e . The largest part o f this w o r k deals w i t h symptoms and treatment, w h i c h reflects once again the increased interest a m o n g many Arab physicians i n clinical m e d i cine. The most popular and influential part o f this w o r k , however, is o n surgery; this part, w h i c h was often copied separately f r o m the rest o f the book, provided detailed descriptions o f medical operations, as w e l l as illustrations o f numerous surgical instruments. Further illustrating the practical trends i n Arabic medicine, al-Zahrawi maintained i n his w o r k that the active practice o f surgery was a prerequisite for theoretical k n o w l e d g e o f the

field.

A l t h o u g h al-Majusi's w o r k served as a popular handbook o f medicine, it was soon replaced by w h a t became the single most influential book on theoretical medicine i n the m i d d l e ages and u n t i l the seventeenth century: al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The canon o f medicine) by the celebrated M u s l i m philosopher and physician I b n Sina (981-1037). I b n Sina composed several short treatises o n medicine, i n c l u d i n g a popular didactic p o e m . His m a g n u m opus Canon was w r i t t e n w i t h the i n t e n t i o n o f p r o d u c i n g the definitive canonical w o r k o n medicine, i n terms o f both comprehensiveness and theoretical rigor. I n this book, I b n Sina provided a coherent and systematic theoretical reflection o n the inherited medical legacies, starting w i t h anatomy, f o l l o w e d by physiology, then pathology, and finally therapy. A l t h o u g h he included many bedside observations and a few o r i g i n a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f a purely practical nature, I b n Sina's m a i n achievement was n o t p r i m a r i l y i n the clinical d o m a i n . Rather, he produced a u n i f i e d synthesis o f medical knowledge, w h i c h derived its coherence f r o m the relentlessly sy stematic application o f logical and theoretical principles. The fame o f I b n Sina's school o f medical research often overshadows a significant tradition i n Arabic medicine that although not completely innocent o f p h i losophy practiced medicine essentially as a practical art. Medicine, according to this second tendency, was not p r i m a r i l y a matter o f reflection o n general rules and the deduction o f particulars f r o m them. Rather, for many Arab physicians, practice was the central concern o f medicine. It is hard to find a physician d u r i n g this time w h o promoted purely theoretical medicine w i t h o u t accounting for practical knowledge; it is equally hard to find advocates o f pure empirical medical knowledge w h o were free o f theoretical reflection. It is possible, however, to isolate tendencies that w e i g h i n favor o f either theoretical or practical medical knowledge. The careers o f manyphysicians seem to have been disproportionately devoted to the cultivation o f medicine as a practical scientific discipline. I n Andalusia and N o r t h Africa, for example, after the end o f the tenth century many physicians were also pharmacol-

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ogists. This was the case o f such famous physicians as I b n al-Jazzar ( d . 980) and Abu M a r w a n i b n Z u h r (ca. 1090-1162). I n fact, the first criticism o f Ibn Sina's Canon was w r i t t e n i n Andalusia by another Abu al-Ala i b n Zuhr ( d . 1131 ) o f the same family o f physicians, w h o objected mainly to the section that dealt w i t h pharmacology because its exclusive theoretical nature reduced its practical usefulness. A b u Jafar al-Ghafiqi (d. n 6 ç ) , another famous physician and pharmacologist, m e n tioned i n one o f his works that most physicians o f this period prepared medicines themselves, suggesting that such practical k n o w - h o w was part o f what constituted appropriate medical knowledge. I n contrast to abstract reasoning, experimenting w i t h medicines as w e l l as bedside observations was a c o m m o n occupation among a significant number o f physicians. Anatomy was another field i n w h i c h strong empirical tendencies were manifest. Quite understandably, the approach to surgery among most Arab physicians was cautious. Despite this caution, new surgical techniques were introduced i n many fields; i n ophthalmology, i n particular, entirely new methods were adopted. Yet this advanced status o f surgery does not i n itself constitute evidence for the existence o f a tradition o f experimental anatomical discovery. M o d e r n studies o n Islamic medicine often assert that because o f cultural taboos and religious restrictions anatomy was not pursued by Arab physicians, and that the notable anatomical observations were mere theoretical speculations o n inherited anatomical k n o w l edge. The most debated example o f Arabic anatomy is the thirteenth-century discovery by the M u s l i m physician Ala a l - D i n A l i ibn al-Nafis ( d . 1288)

o f the

pulmonary circulation o f blood. After obtaining his early education i n Syria, I b n alNafis moved to Cairo, where he pursued a career i n Islamic law and medicine. Ibn al-Nafis wrote several commentaries o n I b n Sina's Canon. I n his book Sharh Tashrih alQanun (Commentary o n the anatomy o f the Canon), he noted that Galen's and I b n Sina's assertions that blood moves between the right and left ventricles o f the heart through a hole between them was not correct. Anatomy, Ibn al-Nafis maintained, refutes this assertion because no such hole is detectable through anatomical observation. I b n al-Nafis dien argued that blood reaches the left ventricle t h r o u g h the lungs, thus providing the first explanation o f the m i n o r circulation o f blood. Despite some earlier reservations i n m o d e r n scholarship o n Islamic m e d i cine, there n o w seems to be n o d o u b t that the discoveries o f I b n al-Nafis had a d e f i n i t i v e and decisive influence o n the later European anatomical theories regarding b l o o d circulation. A m o r e controversial question is w h e t h e r these discoveries are scientifically significant. Many studies ( i n c l u d i n g those o f the hist o r i a n o f Arabic m e d i c i n e M a x M e y e r h o f ) have argued that I b n a l - N a f i s ' discovery was a "happy guess" and c o u l d not have been the result o f scientificanatomical e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n . The basis for this argument is that because Islam p r o h i b i t s dissection, I b n al-Nafis must have relied o n pure speculation. Yet even

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In addition to human anatomy, Muslim scientists also studied animals for practical and medical reasons.This illustration, from a

fifteenth-century

Egyptian manuscript, shows the skeleton of a horse.

a cursory reading o f I b n al-Nafis' w o r k suffices to disprove this c l a i m . I n the i n t r o d u c t i o n to his c o m m e n t a r y o n the anatomy o f I b n Sina's Canon, I b n al-Nafis stated that b o t h r e l i g i o n and general morality prevent h i m f r o m c o n d u c t i n g dissection. Yet the second chapter o f this same book was devoted to the theoretical and practical benefits o f dissection, and the f i f t h chapter discussed the m e t h o d s and tools o f p e r f o r m i n g dissection. M o r e i m p o r t a n t , I b n al-Nafis recurrently rejected or c o n f i r m e d earlier assertions by r e f e r r i n g to the results o f anatomical observation, using such expressions as "anatomy (tashrih) falsifies what they say" or "anatomy c o n f i r m s o u r findings and falsifies their view."

SCIENCE,

MEDICINE,

A N DT E C H N O L O G Y

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F u r t h e r m o r e , as an i n d i c a t i o n that he is n o t r e f e r r i n g m e r e l y t o i n h e r i t e d anatomical k n o w l e d g e , I b n al-Nafis o f t e n said that he observed certain things recurrently and d i d not find t h e m i n c o n f o r m i t y w i t h earlier accepted theories. There seems t o be n o d o u b t that despite some restrictions, early Arab physicians p e r f o r m e d dissection, and used i t t o develop medical knowledge. h i addition t o I b n al-Nafis, there are many other references t o practical anatomical observations.

Disagreements w i t h Galenic accounts o f muscle and bone

anatomy, for example, could not have derived f r o m pliilosophical speculation. I n the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi provided yet another model through w h i c h ancient anatomy was criticized and developed. Al-Baghdadi w r o t e a description o f a famine that occurred i n Egypt i n 1200. In that description he reported diat after examining a large number o f skeletons, and after asking other people to conduct their o w n independent examinations o n other skeletons, he arrived at the conclusion that Galen's description o f the bones o f the lower jaw was erroneous. Although this correction d i d not amount to a complete rejection or reformulation o f Galenic anatomy, it does demonstrate a readiness to question this anatomy o n the basis o f experimental anatomical examination. The significant contributions o f al-Baghdadi and I b n al-Nafis d i d not occur i n a vacuum. The t w e l f t h and t h i r t e e n t h centuries witnessed a surge i n medical activity, as physicians f r o m all over the M u s l i m w o r l d sought careers i n the m e d ical institutions at Damascus and Cairo. At the social level, physicians were closely integrated w i t h the rest o f society, and many o f t h e m were leading authorities i n the rehgious disciplines as w e l l , especially law. I b n al-Nafis, f o r example, was a scholar o f hadith (the verified accounts o f the actions and sayings o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d ) . Diya a l - D i n i b n al-Baytar (ca. 1190-1248), one o f the leading physicians and botanists o f the p e r i o d , was also a leading jurist w h o collaborated i n his medical research w i t h a circle o f Syrian and Egyptian Hanbali scholars (one o f four schools o f law o f Sunni Islam). I n Cairo this circle i n c l u d e d A b u al-Faraj A b d al-Latif i b n A b d a l - M u n i m al-Harrani, the leading Hanbali jurist o f the time. Such profiles suggest the increasing social prestige o f larger numbers o f physicians and a higher degree o f participation i n the profession by larger and m o r e representative sectors o f society The first references t o a madrasa-like i n s t i t u t i o n (a college whose p r i m a r y purpose is the teaching o f Islamic law) f o r medical learning

also came f r o m this p e r i o d . I n t h i r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y

Damascus,

M u h a d h d h a b a l - D i n al-Dakhwar e n d o w e d a school for the exclusive teaching o f medicine. The school was inaugurated by the city's leading religious authorities and attracted many rehgious scholars as students; leading religious figures filled the prestigious p o s i t i o n o f head administrator o f this school. There are also several references t o medical i n s t r u c t i o n i n religious schools. A l - D a k h w a r h i m s e l f was a distinguished teacher o f a generation o f accomplished physicians i n c l u d -

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i n g I b n al-Nafis. As a result o f the enhanced social status o f physicians i n this p e r i o d , another student o f al-Dakhwar, I b n A b i Usaybia, decided to c o m p i l e a bibliographical dictionary for physicians, w h o were n o w fully recognized as members o f the social elite. The prestige o f the medical profession increased but d i d n o t start i n the t w e l f t h and thirteenth centuries. This prestige was closely dependent on m e c h anisms o f social and professional integration, most notably t h r o u g h hospitals. The hospital is one o f the greatest institutional achievements o f medieval Islamic societies. Between the n i n t h and tenth centuries five hospitals were b u i l t i n Baghdad, and several others were built i n other regional centers. The most famous o f these was the A d u d i hospital established under B u y i d rule i n 982. After this p e r i o d the n u m b e r o f hospitals increased significantly, w h e n such famous institutions as the N u r i hospital o f Damascus ( t w e l f t h century) and the Mansuri hospital o f Cairo ( t h i r t e e n t h century) were built along w i t h others i n Qayrawan, Mecca, Medina, and Rayy, to name a few. These institutions were open to everyone w h o needed medical care, regardless o f gender, r e l i g i o n , age, or social class and wealth. Medical care was also p r o v i d e d to prisoners, and m o b i l e clinics were regularly dispatched to remote villages. Many o f these hospitals were d i v i d e d i n t o different sections: m e n and w o m e n were treated i n separate halls; special areas were reserved for the treatThe hospital is one of the greatest institutional achievements of medieval Islamic societies. Hospitals were often part of pious foundations endowed by rulers, as in the one attached to the mosque complex built for the Ottoman Sultan Bayezit II in Edirne between 1484 and 1488.

m e n t o f contagious diseases; there were also separate areas for surgical cases, and others for the mentally i l l . The hospitals also had l i v i n g quarters for the physicians i n attendance as w e l l as for other members o f the service team. Some hospitals had their o w n pharmacies and libraries that could be used for medical instruction. Clinical training and bedside i n s t r u c t i o n were o f t e n provided i n these hospitals. A chief administrator, w h o usually was n o t a physician, was i n charge o f hospital a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , w h i l e a chief o f staff, w h o was also the head physician, was i n charge o f r u n n i n g the medical operations. Many o f these hospitals had enormous operating budgets, w h i c h were usually derived f r o m the

As part of their medical facilities, hospitals often had their own libraries and pharmacies. This old dispensary in Zanzibar has recently been restored by the Aga Khan Foundation.

revenues o f waqf properties dedicated for hospitals. Such revenues were spent o n the maintenance o f the premise and the staff, as w e l l as o n the cost o f treatment, w h i c h was provided to patients free o f charge. A l t h o u g h hospitals provided the most structured framework for the regulation o f the m e d i c a l practices, there were other means t h r o u g h w h i c h such regulation was attempted. The muhtasib (market supervisor) was a public officer, w h o was i n charge o f guarding against fraudulent practices and cheating i n all p u b l i c p r o -

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THE O X F O R D HISTORY OF ISLAM

fessions and crafts, i n c l u d i n g medicine, surgery, and pharmacology. Hisba (market supervision) manuals were compiled,

outlining

the

duties

of

the

muhtasib.

References i n such manuals to the medical profession appear only after the eleventh century, but other sources refer to earlier instances o f testing o f medical doctors by a c h i e f physician (Ra'is al-Attiba) w h o w o r k e d i n collaboration w i t h the state authorities. Several treatises that outlined the subjects i n w h i c h the physicians ought to be tested were also composed. A l t h o u g h the sources do not m e n t i o n many actual cases o f testing and e x a m i n i n g , it is likely that at least some such testing must have taken place to generate the considerable literature on this subject. A l t h o u g h this testing d i d not a m o u n t t o an organized system o f licensing, it certainly p r o v i d e d theoretical n o r m s , the systematic application o f w h i c h depended o n the general stability o f social institutions at any particular historical m o m e n t . A n even less organized f o r m o f r e g u l a t i o n was p r o v i d e d t h r o u g h the abundant literature o n medical ethics. I n f l u e n c e d by Medicines were often stored and shipped in glazed cylindrical jars with concave

Hippocratic and Galenic w r i t i n g s , this literature dealt w i t h appropriate codes o f professional conduct. Such

sides and a rim for securing the cover.

nonenforceable but h i g h l y normative codes were also

These jars were particularly popular in

passed on t h r o u g h teaching i n hospitals, special schools,

Syria, and man)' were exported to the

madrasas, and mosques, and w i t h i n families o f physi-

West, hence their name albarelli (s. albarello). They were decorated like other Islamic ceramics.This example, made in the fourteenth century, is decorated with pseudoArabic in yellowish-green luster on blue.

cians. Taken together, these social practices afforded Arabic medicine a level o f organization unprecedented i n history that c o n t r i b u t e d to the f u r t h e r development o f the Arabic medical tradition.

The Life Sciences: Botany and Pharmacology Any discussion o f the Arabic life sciences w o u l d be incomplete w i t h o u t reference to botany and pharmacology. Initially botany was linked to agronomy, as were discussions o f n o u r i s h m e n t to the healing effects o f plants. The most influential ancient w o r k i n this genre was al-filaha al-Nabatiyya (Nabatean agriculture), w h i c h was translated f r o m Syriac to Arabic at the end o f the eighth century. U n d e r the influence o f t w o Greek w o r k s , botany was separated f r o m agronomy. O f these t w o w o r k s o n l y the Materia Medicu o f the first-century physician Dioscorides is extant. It was first translated under theAbbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-61)

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but was subsequently revised and retranslated. A t the same t i m e , these treatises were b e i n g translated, the Persian botanist A b u Hanifa al-Dinawari (ca. 815-95) was c o m p i l i n g his botanical lexicon Kitab al-Nabat (The b o o k o f plants), w h i c h represented the c u l m i n a t i o n o f a t r a d i t i o n i n w h i c h a u t o n o m o u s botanical w r i t i n g s were part o f the sciences o f the Arabic language. The later development o f Arabic botany was to a great extent a result o f medical and pharmacological research. Andalusia i n particular was ahead o f other regions i n the fields o f agronomy, botany, and pharmacology. I n the m i d d l e o f the tenth century the Umayyad caliph A b d alRahman I I I (r. 891-961) received an illustrated m a n u script o f Dioscorides* Materia Medica f r o m the emperor o f Byzantium. W i t h the help o f a Byzantine m o n k , a g r o u p o f Andalusian physicians set o u t to revise the earlier eastern translation o f this book by Istifan i b n Basil. The team successfully identified all but a h a n d f u l o f the s i m ple u n c o m p o u n d e d drugs (called simples) described i n Materia Medica. After this achievement, Andalusia w i t nessed a rapid and sustained expansion o f research i n pharmacology

and botany. I n a d d i t i o n ,

theoretical

efforts were undertaken to make agronomy a " t r u e " science by reference to the m o r e developed sciences o f

This albarello, made in Syria in the fifteenth century, is decorated with flowers underglaze-painted in blue.This is a local Syrian interpretation of a popular type of

botany, pharmacology, and medicine. Andalusian agron-

Chinese blue-and-white ware.The sur-

o m y thus achieved a h i g h technical level that was n o t

face is slightly cloudy and iridescent

surpassed u n t i l the nineteenth century.

because it was buried for a long time.

A n equally i m p o r t a n t development i n the M u s l i m west was i n the field o f pharmacology. I n the twelfth century several pharmacological encyclopedic w o r k s were c o m p i l e d by such scientists as A b u Jafar a l Ghafiqi and A b u al-Abbas al-Nabati. These w o r k s attempted to integrate the k n o w n traditions o f pharmacology and eventually culminated i n the great synthesis o f I b n al-Baytar, al-Jami li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wal-Aghdhiya (The dictionary o f simple medicines and foods). This is the most complete treatise o f applied botany produced i n the M i d d l e Ages; it drew i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m m o r e than 150 sources and listed m o r e than t w o thousand simples i n alphabetical order. I b n al-Baytar brought together the accumulated knowledge o f numerous inherited traditions i n a d d i t i o n to his o w n experiences. H e gave the names o f simple medicines i n all the w r i t t e n languages he knew as w e l l as i n several local dialects. He also succeeded i n finding the Arabic names o f almost all o f the simples listed i n the w o r k

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THE OXEORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

o f Dioscorides. I b n al-Baytar's m e t h o d o f research is as significant as the results o f this research: F o l l o w i n g the lead o f several Arab botanists i n c l u d i n g his o w n teacher, I b n a]-Bay tar traveled to conduct on-site research i n N o r t h Africa, Greece, Anatolia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Arabia, and finally Egypt. He then setded i n Egypt, w h e r e he was appointed as the country's head pharmacist. Even after he settled, he continued to conduct field trips to Syria to collect n e w data and examine or verify earlier findings. Together w i t h many other contributions i n this field, I b n al-Baytar's dictionary illustrates the tendency to simultaneously synthesize and to Tely on observation for the expansion o f scientific knowledge. I b n al-Baytar's descriptions were extremely accurate, but the primary purpose o f his book was medical. O f special interest is a w o r k by A b u al-Abbas al-Ishbili (d. 1239), al-Rihla alMashriqiyya (The eastern journey). This book is lost, but Ibn al-Baytar quoted it in full i n more than one hundred entries. Unlike other works diat contained botanical iiiformadon but were ultimately interested i n the medical use o f plants, the interests o f al-Ishbili's book were purely botanical. Although he was a famous physician, alIshbili provided meticulous descriptions o f plants as plants, not for their potential medical use. As i n many o f the subfields o f mathematics, al-Ishbili's w o r k illustrated the familiar process through w h i c h new disciplines emerged as a result o f die expansion and systématisation o f older ones.

The Arabic Sciences: Syntheses and New Creations By nature, theories that synthesize and supplant earlier knowledge have to be c o m prehensive and conceptually distinct, not just anomalies w i t h i n die older systems o f knowledge. The characteristics o f any new syndiesis cannot be explained merely i n terms o f some revived archaic traditions, but ought to be sought i n the historical details diat account for the emergence o f this syndiesis. The inherited traditions o f Galenic medicine, Ptolemaic astronomy and optics, Euclidean geometry, and Diophantine aritiunetic were all conceptually situated w i t h i n the u n i f y i n g context o f Aristotelian physics. In these fields the Arabic sciences simultaneously refined, deconstructed, expanded, and superseded the Greek traditions. The most notable characteristics o f the Arabic sciences are the generation o f syndieses and die related creation o f new sciences. W i t h many more disciplines that correspond to a m u c h larger range o f research interests, the Arabic sciences were not h o u n d by the r i g i d categories o f scientific tliinking diat prevailed i n the older traditions. These older traditions were transformed at the hands o f the scientists o f the M u s l i m w o r l d , not so m u c h tirrough abrupt revolutions but by means o f enlarging the scope and transf o r m i n g die mediods o f earlier sciences. The transformation process was accelerated by the extension and systematic application o f empirical research. I n a sea o f changes the strict hegemony o f Aristotelian physics over the large number o f o l d and newscientific disciplines was simply lost.

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Religion d i d not play a direct role i n this process o f transformation. It neither shaped the cognitive content o f the sciences n o r d i d i t impede their development. The overall o u t come o f the religious discourse o n science was not to subjugate science to religion but to separate the t w o enterprises. This meant that the criteria o f one were not to be used to judge the other. It was precisely t h r o u g h this separation that Islam played a role i n shaping the destiny o f science i n the medieval M u s l i m w o r l d . Two immediate results o f this separation were o f great consequence for the later development o f science. First, science was considered a valuefree undertaking that needed no ethical or religious justification. That is, scientists could pursue their specialized professional interests and at the same d m e be fully integrated w i t h i n the institutions o f society. A n d so it was, for example, that most o f the distinguished physicians and astronomers o f t w e l f t h - and t h i r teenth-century Syria and Cairo were employed as jurists, teachers i n madrasa-like medical

Following Greek precedent, Muslim scientists separated botany from agronomy. Dioskorides" treatise was translated during the ninth century and later revised. This page, from one of the oldest surviving copies, made in the eleventh century, has brief

institutions, or timekeepers i n the region's

descriptions of the individual plants accompanied by

major mosques. The second important conse-

schematic representations.

quence o f the separation o f religious and scientific k n o w l e d g e was to d d u t e the h o l d o f p h i l o s o p h i c a l systems o n the specialized sciences, w h i c h i n t u r n resulted i n the fragmentation and professionalization o f scientific activity. The ultimate meaning o f any particular science was no longer sought by necessity i n a higher philosophical t r u t h b u t mostiy w i t h i n its o w n disciplinary confines. In many ways science i n the M u s l i m w o r l d was a secular enterprise, and religion neither made an enemy o f science nor championed its cause to the extreme. The locus o f science was society: as long as general learning flourished i n society, so d i d scientific learning, and the decline o f one usually ushered the decline o f the other. To be sure, w i t h the absence o f definite religious guidelines regarding the scientific disciplines, there were diverse independent attitudes toward die sciences. Some religious scholars opposed the sciences, w h i l e others sanctioned them o n religious grounds. These view-s were personal, however, and ihey lacked the normative authority that w o u l d either pitch religion against science or subsume science under religion. Fortunately for die Arabic sciences, neither o f these scenarios prevailed.

CHAPTER

FIVE

Art and Architecture T H E M E S AND VARIATIONS

Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom

A l l cultures t h r o u g h o u t history have expressed themselves visually, and Islamic civilization was n o exception. One need t h i n k o n l y o f oriental rugs, Persian miniatures, and M o r o c c a n tiles, n o t to m e n t i o n the D o m e o f the Rock, the Alhambra palace, the Sclimiye Mosque, and the Taj Mahal, to see the great range o f visual expression i n the Islamic lands over the centuries. Islamic art e n c o m passes all these and m u c h m o r e . As used i n this chapter, the t e r m Islamic art refers to all the visual arts p r o d u c e d i n the lands i n w h i c h Islam was the d o m i n a n t relig i o n , regardless o f the confessional affiliations o f the individuals w h o made the art o r the purposes for w h i c h it was made. U n l i k e the t e r m Christian art, the term Islamic art is not restricted t o w o r k s made only for religious situations and functions, and many o f the most cherished examples o f Islamic art have little, i f anyt h i n g , to d o w i t h the r e l i g i o n o f Islam. A page f r o m a parchment manuscript o f the Q u r a n is obviously considered a w o r k o f Islamic art, b u t so is a bronze b o w l inlaid w i t h Christian scenes f r o m thirteenth-century Syria.

(Left) A typical medieval library, as depicted in a

What Is Islamic Art? Islamic art could n o t have b e g u n , o f course, before the rise o f Islam i n early seventh-century Arabia, but i t was nearly a century after that before M u s l i m s began to be great and sophisticated patrons o f the arts. A t h o u g h Muslims began erect-

215

manuscript of al-Hariri's

Maqamat (Assemblies), transcribed in Baghdad in 1237. The leather-bound volumes were stacked flat in niches cut into the wall.

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T H E OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

i n g structures soon after the revelation o f Islam, the first example o f Islamic architecture is generally considered to be the magnificent D o m e o f the Rock i n Jerusalem, ordered i n 692 by the Umayyad caliph A b d al-Malik i b n Marvvan (r. 685-705). F o l l o w i n g this broad d e f i n i t i o n , Islamic art continues to be produced to this day; artists continue to w o r k i n a variety o f m e d i a i n all M u s l i m countries. Nevertheless, the emergence o f national i d e n t i t i e s , especially i n the n i n e teenth and t w e n t i e t h centuries, has changed the ways i n w h i c h people t h i n k about w o r k s o f art produced i n the Islamic lands i n m o d ern times. Thus, a portrait o f the Qajar r u l e r Fath A l i Shah (r. 1797-1834) is m o r e o f t e n considered to e x e m p l i f y a distinctly Persian style o f p a i n t i n g rather t h a n to illustrate Islamic or Iranian attitudes t o w a r d representation i n the nineteenth century. I n current usage c o n c e r n i n g

m o d e r n art, the t e r m

Islamic generally refers to p u r e l y r e l i g i o u s expressions such as calligraphy. Today, many museums i n N o r t h America, Europe, and the Islamic lands p r o u d l y display t h e n masterpieces o f Islamic art, but traditionally the visual arts played a relatively m i n o r role i n Islamic civilization, especially The broadest definition oflslamic art would include

compared w i t h the i m p o r t a n t arts o f poetry

this life-size oil portrait of the nineteenth-century

and music. For example, there is no w o r d for

Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah, although it can also be con-

art per se i n classical Arabic. The w o r d most

sidered to represent a distinctly Persian style of painting.

c o m m o n l y used today, farm, is a neologism because it traditionally

meant

" c r a f t " or

" s k i l l . " The same is true o f the Persian and Turkish w o r d s hunar and hiiner. I n addit i o n , artists d i d not usually enjoy h i g h status in Islamic society, and there were few i f any Michelangelos or Rembrandts, whose lives became the stuff o f legends. O f all the visual arts, the only one that was w i d e l y appreciated w i t h i n its o w n culture was calligraphy, the art o f beautiful w r i t i n g . The names and biographies o f calligraphers were collected and preserved, and treatises were w r i t t e n o n the aesthetics o f calligraphy Calligraphy was the exception rather than the rule,

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7

however, and there was n o Islamic equivalent to the first-century

B.C.E. R o m a n architect V i t r u v i u s or the

f i f t e e n t h - c e n t u r y Italian architect A l b e r t i ,

who

w r o t e treatises o n the theory o f architecture. N o r d i d Islamic civilization produce figures comparable to the Chinese literati, w h o w r o t e treatises o n the aesthetic appreciation o f Chinese p a i n t i n g as early as the p e r i o d o f the Six Dynasties ( 2 2 9 - 5 8 9 C.E.). Because M u s l i m s w r o t e so little about the aestheticappreciation o f their o w n visual culture, the study o f Islamic art dictates a positivist approach. It must be based o n the e x a m i n a t i o n o f the remains t h e m selves. Some present-day scholars have t r i e d to derive aesthetic principles for all Islamic art, but

This bowl, probably made in Iran or Central

these principles tend to reflect m o d e r n preoccupa-

Asia in the tenth century, is inscribed with the

tions, as they w e r e n o t generated by t r a d i t i o n a l Islamic society itself.

phrase "Blessings to the owner," followed by a proverb, "It is said that he who is content with his own opinion runs into danger."

Islamic art comprises an u n w i e l d y grab bag o f media, techniques, styles, periods, and regions. Its study, a relatively n e w discipline, developed n o t i n the Islamic lands b u t i n western Europe as an offshoot o f s t u d y i n g the history o f European art. F r o m the European perspective, Islamic art evolved i n the Near East o u t o f the remains o f ancient Near Eastern and late antique artistic traditions and b r i d g e d the gap between late classical and early medieval art. As Islam spread far beyond the geographical confines o f the Near East to western and Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, India, and Southeast Asia, and b e y o n d the t e m p o r a l confines o f the M i d d l e Ages, so d i d its visual expressions. The models created to understand the arts o f the Mediterranean r e g i o n i n the e i g h t h century thus are n o t necessarily valid for understanding the Islamic arts o f Indonesia or M a l i . The arts o f western civilization are traditionally understood i n a hierarchy, i n w h i c h architecture and the representational arts o f p a i n t i n g and sculpture have d o m i n a t e d the artistic landscape to this day. This hierarchy does not h o l d for Islamic art. A l t h o u g h architecture is equally i m p o r t a n t i n Islamic culture, Islam produced few- sculptures o r panel paintings. I n Chinese c i v i l i z a t i o n , another l o n g t r a d i t i o n o f artistic p r o d u c t i o n , there was a clear d i v i s i o n b e t w e e n

artists

(painters, calligraphers, and poets) and craftsmen (sculptors, potters, metalworkers, and so f o r t h ) , and therefore between art and craft. This d i v i s i o n does n o t h o l d i n Islamic art, because there was n o such d i s t i n c t i o n between art and craft. Indeed, a d i s t i n g u i s h i n g feature o f Islamic art was the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f utilitarian objects i n t o sublime works o f art. L o o k i n g at Islamic material culture,

2i8

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therefore, one should be prepared to find artistic expression i n a vast range o f situations, f r o m the h u m b l e s t o i l lamps to the most m o n u m e n t a l t o m b s . Nevertheless, Islamic art remains a useful r u b r i c under w h i c h to consider the visual cultures o f the past fourteen centuries i n m u c h o f Eurasia and Africa, because i t allows certain connections and relationships to be established. Architecture was universally the most i m p o r t a n t f o r m o f Islamic art. It cost the most, lasted the longest, and was seen by the widest audience. Buildings built for religious purposes, such as mosques and madrasas (theological colleges), are often the best k n o w n and best preserved because they c o n t i n u e d t o be used and m a i n tained over the centuries. Religious buildings may p r o v i d e the f r a m e w o r k for tracing the development o f Islamic architecture, but the conservatism inherent i n religious architecture means that these structures w o u l d have been slow to present innovations. It is more likely that architectural i n n o v a t i o n was i n t r o d u c e d i n secular b u i l d i n g s — s u c h as palaces, houses, caravanserais (medieval motels for caravans), bathhouses, markets, and the like—because they were constructed at the w h i m o f a particular person to meet his o w n needs. Far fewer o f these b u i l d ings, however, have s u r v i v e d : some literally have been w o r n to r u i n s , w h i l e o t h ers were deliberately destroyed. Few rulers, for example, saw any purpose i n preserving the personal fantasies o f their predecessors. Thus, the architectural sample available for study is skewed; i n attempting to reconstruct the shape o f the past, i t is i m p o r t a n t to r e m e m b e r that w h a t survives is n o t all that was made. As calligraphy and calligraphers were revered i n all Islamic societies, the arts o f w r i t i n g — a n d by extension all the arts o f b o o k m a k i n g — w e r e given extraordinary i m p o r t a n c e i n Islamic culture. I n the age before p r i n t i n g , all manuscripts, f r o m copies o f the Q u r a n to popular tales and scientific w o r k s , had to be laboriously transcribed by h a n d , first o n sheets o f papyrus and parchment and later o n paper. F r o m an early date, the w o r k s o f g i f t e d calligraphers were particularly appreciated and collected. The i n d i v i d u a l sheets were often embellished w i t h elegant decoration and, w h e r e appropriate, beautiful paintings, and then gathered together i n boxes or bindings made o f tooled and gilded leather. Books were pre served i n libraries attached to mosques and palaces. At a t i m e w h e n European monasteries m i g h t treasure a few dozen volumes, libraries i n the Islamic lands regularly contained hundreds, i f not thousands, o f volumes. A t h i r d m e d i u m that achieved preerninence i n Islamic art was c l o t h . The p r o d u c t i o n and trade o f fibers, dyes, and finished goods was a m a j o r source o f revenue i n many places. One m o d e r n historian has likened the textile i n d u s t r y i n medieval Islamic times to the heavy industries o f m o d e r n i n d u s t r i a l states, because textiles laid the economic foundations o f medieval Islamic society, The t w o major fibers were w o o l , produced f r o m sheep, and l i n e n , produced f r o m the flax plant. Silk and c o t t o n were also i m p o r t a n t because they, like w o o l , c o u l d be

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dyed relatively easily w i t h b r i l l i a n t colors. Manyother fibers were used where available. Perhaps the most telling image o f the centrality o f textiles i n Islamic culture is the kisvvti, the cloth veil covering the Kaaba i n Mecca, w h i c h may represent a vestige o f the sacred t e n t — s i m i l a r to the Israelites' tent for the A r k o f the Covenant (2 Sam. 6 : 1 7 ) — i n w h i c h G o d dwelled. A l t h o u g h today the kisvva is always black and e m b r o i d e r e d i n g o l d w i t h quotations f r o m the Q u r a n , i n the past it c o u l d be o f virtually any color, i n c l u d i n g w h i t e , green, o r even red. As in many societies, c l o t h i n g made the man or w o m a n . Dress distinguished not o n l y m e n f r o m A growing taste for abstract motifs was already

w o m e n and r i c h f r o m p o o r but also nomads f r o m

apparent by the ninth century, as in this bowl

t o w n s p e o p l e and M u s l i m s f r o m n o n - M u s l i m s .

decorated with a flowering plant painted in

Dress was also used to make countless other social

four colors of luster.

and r e l i g i o u s d i s t i n c t i o n s : green turbans w e r e w o r n by descendants o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d ,

turbans w r a p p e d a r o u n d a red baton signified followers o f the Safavid rulers o f Iran. A coarse cloak o f w o o l (suf i n Arabic) was o f t e n w o r n by mystics, whose very personal approach to r e l i g i o n became increasingly i m p o r t a n t alongside the c o m m u n a l practice o f Islam. These mystics became k n o w n as Sufis. Textiles were also used f o r f u r n i s h i n g s . There was little or n o need for the tapestries that kept d o w n the drafts i n the c o l d castles o f the medieval n o r t h , just as there was n o need i n the relatively d r y and w a r m climate that prevails i n most o f the r e g i o n for w o o d e n f u r n i t u r e to raise people o f f d a m p and c o l d floors. Most people sat o n mats o r carpets spread o n the g r o u n d , leaned against p i l l o w s or cushions, and slept o n rugs o n the floor. Meals were n o r m a l l y c o m m u n a l affairs; spread o n the carpet o r f l o o r was a washable cloth o n w h i c h diners w o u l d sit and serve themselves o f f c o m m u n a l trays laden w i t h f o o d , w h i c h were sometimes set o n a l o w stand. Perhaps most distinctively, textiles were also used for portable architecture i n the Islamic lands. The area i n w h i c h Islam originally spread encompassed the t w o great traditions o f tent construction. The bedouins o f the Arabian deserts used tents made f r o m l o n g strips o f woven cloth supported by posts and tied d o w n w i t h strings and pegs. By contrast, the Turkic nomads o f Central Asia used tents made f r o m self-supp o r t i n g w o o d e n frames covered w i t h felts. Under Islam b o t h types o f structures, the Arab tensile structure and the Turkic compression structure, spread i n t o the traditional regions o f the other group, and characteristic features were exchanged. Because o f the i m p o r t a n t and often p o w e r f u l roles played by nomads i n sedentary

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Islamic society, these h u m b l e d w e l l i n g s were adopted by rulers, w h o transformed the u t i l i t a r i a n structures w i t h l u x u r i o u s accoutrements made o f the finest and most costly materials. I n the study o f Islamic art, many o f its other aspects—such as m e t a l w o r k , ceramics, and glassware, ivory,

and

rock

a n d carved crystal—are

wood, usually

encompassed under the r u b r i c "decorat i v e " or " m i n o r " arts. I n Western art these terms have somewhat derogatory c o n n o tations because these media are considered less n o b l e than the m a j o r arts o f p a i n t i n g and sculpture. This is s i m p l y not true i n Islamic art. As i n many other c u l tures, craftsmen w o r k i n g for r i c h patrons transformed expensive materials, such as elephant tusks, g o l d , and precious stones, i n t o l u x u r y items. I n the Islamic lands, however, craftsmen also transformed the

Muslim artists transformed everyday objects into artistic

humblest materials, such as clay, sand, and

masterpieces. The Bobrinksi Bucket, cast of brass and

ores,

inlaid with copper and silver, was a bathpail made in

into

brilliantly

glazed

ceramics,

l i m p i d glasswares, and g l i m m e r i n g metal-

I 163 as a gift to the man who had everything.

wares used by m a n y classes o f society. These objects were o f t e n u t i l i t a r i a n , such as pitchers and basins for washing and trays and bowls for serving. It takes a great leap o f i m a g i n a t i o n to transport an earthenware b o w l , austerely displayed i n a m u s e u m case, to its o r i g i n a l setting as a serving dish at a medieval meal. The B o b r i n s k i Bucket, one o f the masterpieces o f Islamic art, exemplifies many o f these characteristics. Bought i n Bukhara ( n o w part o f Uzbekistan) i n 1885, it was later acquired by the Russian count A. B o b r i n s k i , f r o m w h o m the piece gets its name. The r o u n d cast-brass body is i n l a i d i n copper and silver w i t h h o r i z o n t a l bands o f inscriptions and figural scenes. A c c o r d i n g to the dedicatory i n s c r i p t i o n o n the r i m , the bucket was ordered by A b d al-Rahman i b n Abdallah al-Rashidi, f o r m e d by M u h a m m a d i b n A b d a l - W a h i d , and inlaid by Masud i b n A h m a d , the designer f r o m Herat ( i n present-day Afghanistan), for the merchant Rashid a l - D i n Azizi i b n A b u l - H u s a y n al-Zanjani. The handle is inscribed w i t h the date M u h a r r a m 559 o f the Islamic calendar, corresponding to December

1163.

N o n e o f the people m e n t i o n e d i n the i n s c r i p t i o n is k n o w n f r o m other sources,

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and the f u n c t i o n o f the bucket is somewhat o f a puzzle. It was once called a "kett l e " o r " c a u l d r o n , " but i t is t o o fancy to have been used for cooking. N o r c o u l d it have been i n t e n d e d for c a r r y i n g f o o d o r liquids, because contact w i t h the i n t e r i o r m i g h t have caused f o o d p o i s o n i n g f r o m verdigris ( c o r r o d e d copper). The most likely explanation is that the bucket was a bath pail, i n t e n d e d to h o l d water for washing w h e n the merchant w e n t t o the bathhouse. I n short, the B o b r i n s k i Bucket was a present for the m a n w h o had everything i n 1163,

the medieval

equivalent o f a costly gadget f r o m an expensive catalog store. Despite the e n o r m o u s variety i n Islamic art, w h i c h can range f r o m great structures to tiny objects p r o d u c e d between the Atlantic coast o f Africa and the islands o f Indonesia f r o m the e i g h t h century to the present, several themes have had universal and perennial appeal. I n the l i m i t e d space available i n this v o l u m e , it w o u l d be impossible to recapitulate the l o n g and varied history o f Islamic art over fifteen centuries and three continents. F u r t h e r m o r e , this approach tends to emphasize regional and c hronological

divisions

Instead, this chapter

lakes

a the-

matic approach that emphasises c o m m o n features that unite m u c h Islamic art over the continents and centuries. Five themes have been chosen: the art o f w r i t i n g ; a n i c o n i s m , the absence o f figures; the decorative themes o f arabesque and geometry; the exuberant use o f color; and the n o t i o n o f w i l l f u l ambiguity. Each o f these themes may not appear i n every w o r k o f Islamic art, but collectively they define an aesthetic approach that makes Islamic art distinct f r o m the artistic traditions o f s u r r o u n d i n g regions and cultures.

The Art of Writing W r i t i n g is the most i m p o r t a n t theme to r u n t h r o u g h all Islamic art. The use o f inscriptions is n o t u n i q u e to Islamic culture; the Islamic t r a d i t i o n developed i n part f r o m precedents i n the r e g i o n i n w h i c h Islamic civilization first developed. There was, for example, a l o n g t r a d i t i o n i n the classical w o r l d o f using inscriptions, particularly to decorate the fronts o f b u i l d i n g as w e l l as m o n u m e n t s , such as t r i u m p h a l arches, I n t u r n , this t r a d i t i o n passed to the Christian w o r l d , and Byzantine art was o f t e n decorated w i t h inscriptions ( a l t h o u g h pictures eventually became m o r e p o p u l a r ) . Similarly, i n the ancient Near East inscriptions were often used, as o n the w a l l reliefs at Bisitun (or Behistun) i n western Iran, where a t r i l i n g u a l i n s c r i p t i o n i n O l d Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian lauding the great Achaemenid k i n g o f Persia, Darius I (r. 5 2 2 - 4 8 6 B.C.E.), surrounds a m o n u mental relief s h o w i n g his t r i u m p h over the usurper Gaumata and the rebels. I n all these cases, however, w r i t i n g supplemented and explained the image. W h a t is different about Islamic art is that w r i t i n g became the m a i n , and sometimes the only, element o f decoration.

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This fundamental change was due, i n large part, to the pivotal role o f w r i t i n g i n the r e l i g i o n o f Islam. The first w o r d s that G o d revealed to M u h a m m a d were the five verses o p e n i n g chapter ninety-six o f the Q u r a n : Recite in the name of thy lord w h o created, Created man from a clot; Recite i n the name of thy lord, Who taught by the pen, Taught man what he knew not. I n other w o r d s , the k n o w l e d g e o f w r i t i n g distinguishes m a n f r o m God's other creatures. The i m p o r t a n c e o f w r i t i n g is stressed t h r o u g h o u t the Q u r a n . Chapter sixty-eight, another early revelation k n o w n either as surat al-Qtikim (The pen) or surat al-Nun (The letter n u n ) , opens w i t h the w o r d s " N u n . By the p e n and w h a t they w r i t e . " A c c o r d i n g to another pair o f verses revealed slightly later ( Q u r a n 5 0 : 1 7 - 1 8 ) , t w o n o b l e r e c o r d i n g angels sit o n

man's

shoulders to register his every action and t h o u g h t . The one o n the r i g h t w r i t e s d o w n g o o d deeds, the one o n the left evil ones. O n Judgment Day man's every deed w i l l be tallied for the final accounting i n the Book o f Reckoning ( Q u r a n 69:18-19). Given the i m p o r t a n c e o f w r i t i n g i n revelation, i t is n o surprise that w r i t i n g became such an i m p o r t a n t feature o f Islamic culture. Books and b o o k p r o d u c t i o n became m a j o r art f o r m s , a n d b e a u t i f u l l y w r i t t e n w o r d s became a m a j o r decorative m o t i f . Because the Q u r a n was revealed

Writing was one of the most common themes of Islamic art. Since Umayyad times, when the first Islamic coins were struck, almost all coins minted in the Islamic lands have been decorated exclusively with writing, as with this gold dinar minted for the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik in 696.

i n Arabic, the Arabic language a n d script q u i c k l y came to d o m i n a t e the languages that had been used i n the r e g i o n , b e c o m i n g the l i n g u a franca that u n i t e d the vast area. By the late e i g h t h century calligraphers were responsible for m a k i n g the Arabic script m o r e legible and b e a u t i f u l , and their efforts can be seen i n s u r v i v i n g examples r a n g i n g f r o m coins and milestones to b u i l d i n g s . Byzantine and Sasanian coins bore pictures o f the emperors under whose auspices the coins were struck. After a b r i e f p e r i o d o f e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n , M u s l i m rulers rejected this type o f figural c o i n i n favor o f one p u r e l y dependent o n words. Beginning i n 692, under the U m a y y a d caliph A b d a l - M a l i k , virtually all coins were exclusively decorated w i t h w r i t i n g . This is true, for example, o f early g o l d coins, k n o w n as dinars. O n the obverse or f r o n t , the center is filled by the

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profession o f f a i t h , w h i c h continues along part o f the edge; the rest o f the space contains a verse f r o m the Q u r a n ( 9 3 3 ) about t h e p r o p h e t i c m i s s i o n . :

O n the reverse the c o i n is inscribed i n the center w i t h a Quranic verse ( 1 1 2 ) stating God's oneness and r e f u t i n g the T r i n i t y ; the text a r o u n d the edge c o n tains the invocation, m i n t , and date. A l l o f this appears o n a c o i n less than twenty

millimeters

in

diameter

(smaller than a quarter). A l t h o u g h the style o f script changed

i n various

locales and periods, this type o f epi¬ graphic c o i n r e m a i n e d

characteristic

o f virtually all Islamic coinage t o m o d ern times, I n s c r i p t i o n s are f o u n d i n all media and materials, even those i n w h i c h the

technical

limitations

o f the

m e d i u m made i t extremely d i f f i c u l t t o i n c o r p o r a t e a r u n n i n g text. This is the case, f o r example, w i t h textiles. I t is relatively easy t o weave s y m m e t r i cal patterns o f repeating m o t i f s o n a The first great monument of Islamic architecture, the Dome

l o o m , b u t m u c h m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o set

of the Rock in Jerusalem, erected by the Umayyad caliph Abd

u p a d i r e c t i o n a l design that reads i n

al-Malik in 692. was decorated with writing. The top of the mosaic panels on the interior has texts from the Quran in gold letters set against a blue ground.

one d i r e c t i o n . B y the t e n t h century, however, Persian weavers h a d overc o m e the l i m i t a t i o n s o f the m e d i u m and f i g u r e d o u t h o w t o i n c o r p o r a t e

l o n g bands o f i n s c r i p t i o n s o n their elaborately patterned silks. A g o o d e x a m ple is the f r a g m e n t a r y silk textile k n o w n as the Shroud o f St. Josse, because i t was used i n medieval times t o w r a p the bones o f St. Josse i n the abbey o f St. Josse-sur-Mer, near Caen i n n o r t h w e s t e r n France, w h e r e i t w as probablyr

b r o u g h t b y a Crusader r e t u r n i n g h o m e f r o m the H o l y L a n d . I t shows h o w Islamic textiles were considered precious b o t h at h o m e and abroad. F r o m the t w o s u r v i v i n g pieces, the textile can be reconstructed as a large square meas u r i n g one and a h a l f meters (five feet) o n a side, w i t h a carpet-like design o f several borders s u r r o u n d i n g a central f i e l d . The borders c o n t a i n a train o f t w o -

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h u m p e d o r Bactrian camels, a n d the f i e l d w o u l d have had t w o i d e n t i c a l bands o f elephants. Beneath the elephants' feet is an i n s c r i p t i o n b a n d w r i t t e n i n Arabic. The animals are arranged s y m m e t r i c a l l y , b u t the i n s c r i p t i o n band can be read o n l y f r o m r i g h t t o left. T h e text invokes g l o r y a n d p r o s p e r i t y t o the c o m m a n d e r , A b u Mansur B a k h t i k i n , w h o is i d e n t i f i e d i n medieval texts as a Turkish c o m m a n d e r i n n o r t h e a s t e r n I r a n . H e was arrested a n d executed o n orders o f his Samanid sovereign A b d a l - M a l i k i b n N u h a r o u n d 9 6 0 . The silk had t o have been made before that, however, because i t invokes g o o d wishes o n a l i v i n g person. A l t h o u g h i t is the o n l y example t o survive, this silk m u s t have been o n e o f many i d e n t i c a l pieces. I t was extremely t i m e - c o n s u m i n g and expensive t o set u p a d r a w l o o m t o weave this c o m p l i c a t e d design i n seven c o l ors, b u t by weaving m u l t i p l e copies o f the silk squares the costs w o u l d have been spread m o r e reasonably. I t is n o t k n o w n exactly h o w the St. Josse silk was o r i g i n a l l y used, but i t probably was w o v e n t o be a saddlecloth f o r the troops serving u n d e r Bakhtikin's c o m m a n d . The St. Josse silk is just one example o f h o w artists i n medieval Islamic times used inscriptions t o decorate w o r k s o f art. O n objects made f r o m expensive materials, such as silk textiles o r jade cups, the inscriptions o f t e n name the patron or user w h o c o m m i s s i o n e d the object. O n objects o f m o r e h u m b l e materials or those made f o r the market, however, the inscriptions contain m o r e generalized texts. This is the case w i t h a b o w l w i t h f l a r i n g sides, p r o d u c e d , like the St. Josse silk, i n northeastern Iran i n the tenth century. Made o f b u f f - c o l o r e d earthenware covered w i t h a fine w h i t e slip, painted i n red and dark b r o w n slips, and covered w i t h a transparent colorless glaze, the deep b o w l is notable for its size and fine decoration o n the interior. I n the center the b o w l has an abstract p l a n t m o t i f o f a single stem w i t h five leaves, b u t the m a j o r d e c o r a t i o n is a w i d e b a n d o f elegant angular script encirc l i n g the walls. A s s u m i n g that the b o w l was meant t o h o l d f o o d , o n l y the scallops o n the edge w o u l d have been visible w h e n the b o w l was f u l l . As the f o o d was eaten, however, the i n s c r i p t i o n w o u l d have b e c o m e m o r e and m o r e visi b l e u n t i l all the d e c o r a t i o n w a s revealed w h e n the b o w l was empty. T h e Arabic text i n s c r i b e d o n the b o w l begins after a small decorative m o t i f set at about f o u r o ' c l o c k , w i t h the phrase "blessing t o its o w n e r . " A f t e r a small t e a r d r o p m o t i f set at about e i g h t o ' c l o c k , the text continues w i t h the proverb, " I t is said that he w h o is c o n t e n t w i t h h i s o w n o p i n i o n r u n s i n t o danger." A s s u m i n g that the b o w l was i n t e n d e d t o be h e l d a n d appreciated w i t h the stem o f the plant at the b o t t o m , closest t o the viewer, t h e n the most i m p o r tant part o f the i n s c r i p t i o n , the blessing t o the o w n e r , is i m m e d i a t e l y legible b e l o w i t . To read the proverb, the reader m u s t t u r n the b o w l a r o u n d i n a c o u n terclockwise direction.

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T H E O X F O R D HISTORY OF ISLAM

Other b o w l s and plates made i n the same m i l i e u are decorated w i t h similar aphorisms, such as "Planning before w o r k protects y o u f r o m regret; patience is the key to c o m f o r t , " or " K n o w l e d g e is an ornament f o r y o u t h and intelligence is a c r o w n o f g o l d . " The inscriptions o n these ceramics are t h o u g h t o u t extremely carefully, and the stylized script, quite distinct f r o m c o n t e m p o r a r y h a n d w r i t i n g k n o w n i n manuscripts f r o m that t i m e , justly deserves to be called calligraphy. M o d e r n viewers, even those w h o k n o w Arabic w e l l , find these inscriptions d i f ficult to decipher. It is likely that even i n their o w n t i m e they were meant to be entertaining puzzles for a sophisticated clientele, w h o n o t o n l y appreciated havi n g their dinnerware decorated w i t h stylized w r i t i n g b u t also k n e w the Arabic language w e l l enough to understand the m o r a l i z i n g aphorisms. I n tenth-century Iran and Central Asia, N e w Persian was c o m i n g to the fore as a popular language, but Arabic was m o r e appropriate f o r w r i t i n g . The earliest s u r v i v i n g manuscript w r i t t e n i n Persian dates o n l y f r o m the eleventh c e n t u r y These t w o inscribed wares—the s h r o u d and the b o w l — b o t h date f r o m the tenth century, b u t inscriptions are f o u n d o n objects created t h r o u g h o u t the history o f Islamic c i v i l i z a t i o n , f r o m the earliest times to the present. The earliest w o r k o f Islamic architecture, the D o m e o f the Rock i n Jerusalem, shows a sophisticated use o f inscriptions executed i n glass mosaic. I n the sixteenth century the O t t o m a n sultan Suleyman (r. 1520—66) had the mosaics o n the outside o f the

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusaleum was extensively decorated with glass mosaics like those that survive on the interior.Those on the exterior were replaced with tiles first in the sixteenth and again in the twentieth century; but it may well have had inscriptions like those on the interior.

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d o m e replaced w i t h tiles, w h i c h were themselves

replaced

again

in

the

t w e n t i e t h century, so it is impossible to say anything about the o r i g i n a l role o f i n s c r i p t i o n s there. The i n t e r i o r , however, preserves most o f its o r i g i nal aspect and is the most lavish p r o g r a m o f mosaics t o survive f r o m ancient or medieval times. T w o l o n g bands of inscriptions, w r i t t e n i n g o l d letters that sparkle against the deep blue g r o u n d , encircle the inner and outer faces o f the octagonal arcade. The texts contain pious phrases and verses f r o m the Q u r a n about God's omnipotence

and

Muhammad's

prophetic m i s s i o n as w e l l as the name

Writing remains a potent theme in modern Islamic art. The

o f the p a t r o n , the U m a y y a d c a l i p h

dome around the King Khalid International Airport, built in

Abd

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1984, is inscribed with verses from

al-Malik,

and

the

date

of

construction.

the Quran about God's glory.

As o n coins, the script used o n the D o m e o f the Rock is carefully t h o u g h t o u t and planned to fit the available space. The i n s c r i p t i o n s there p r o v i d e the first dated evidence for the w r i t i n g d o w n o f the Q u r a n , and they s h o w that there were already calligraphers t r a i n e d i n e x p l o i t i n g the decorative possibilities o f the Arabic script. N o manuscripts o f the Q u r a n have survived f r o m this early date, and some scholars have used this lack o f evidence to suggest that Arabic script evolved rather slowly over the centuries. Judging f r o m the inscriptions o n the coins and the D o m e o f the Rock, there can be n o question that the art o f w r i t i n g i n Arabic was already w e l l developed by the end o f the e i g h t h century. Inscriptions remain an i m p o r t a n t theme o f decoration i n m o d e r n Islamic architecture. They are p r o m i n e n t , for example, inside the mosque erected i n 1984 at K i n g K l i a l i d International A i r p o r t i n Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As at the D o m e o f the Rock, the i n s c r i p t i o n i n this mosque is w r i t t e n i n a large band a r o u n d the dome's base, b u t i n this instance the text is entirely f r o m the Q u r a n (57:1—7). The verses state that whatever is o n the earth or i n the heavens declares the g l o r y o f G o d , the A l m i g h t y w h o has power over all things. The verses conclude w i t h the statement that w h o e v e r spends m o n e y o n a p i o u s w o r k w i l l be justly rewarded. The text was clearly chosen as a reference to the motives o f the patron i n f o u n d i n g a mosque.

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THE OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

At all times and i n all places, Quranic verses were caref u l l y selected to fit a particular situation. Closely e x a m i n i n g the chosen verses can provide clues about the o r i g i n a l funct i o n or meaning o f a w o r k o f art. Tombs were often decorated w i t h verses referring to death and paradise, such as " A l l that dwells o n the earth w i l l perish, except the face o f thy L o r d " ( 5 5 : 2 6 - 2 7 ) . Doorways m i g h t be inscribed w i t h the verse asking God f o r a "just i n g o i n g and a just o u t g o i n g " (17:80). Other Quranic texts were chosen because certain w o r d s had particular resonance. For example, the f r o n t o f the t o m b i n the Shifaiye madrasa erected i n

1220

at Sivas by the R u m Seljuk ruler Kaykaus is inscribed w i t h a Quranic verse (69:28—29) that ends w i t h the w o r d sultaniyfl ( p o w e r ) , undoubtedly chosen as a p u n o n Kaykaus' most i m p o r t a n t title, sultan. W r i t i n g i n Arabic was also the means by w h i c h n o n Islamic f o r m s were made Islamic. This can be seen i n the arched screen that the M u s l i m r u l e r o f D e l h i , Q u t b a l - D i n Aybak (1206-10), added to the congregational there i n 1198.

mosque

K n o w n as Q u w w a t al-Islam ( " M i g h t o f

I s l a m " ) , the mosque had been b u i l t less than a decade earlier, f o l l o w i n g the Islamic conquest o f the r e g i o n . The screen, w h i c h stands i n the courtyard i n front o f the prayer hall, serves n o structural purpose and was apparently added to the hypostyle b u i l d i n g for aesthetic reasons, t o mask w h a t lay b e h i n d and to make the n e w b u i l d i n g look more attractive. The screen is r i c h l y decorated w i t h bands o f naturalistic vine scrolls and i n s c r i p t i o n s . The v i n e scrolls b e l o n g to the local t r a d i t i o n o f stone carving that can be seen o n H i n d u and Jain temples. There, the scrolls are usually accompanied by exuberant figural sculpture depicting the activities o f innumerable gods and goddesses w i t h m u l Medieval masons evolved sophisti-

tiple arms and legs. The new M u s l i m patrons f o u n d this

cated methods of laying bricks in

idolatry h o r r i f i c and had the local masons replace the

patterns. Contrasting light and shadow, these designs sometimes spelled out words and phrases. The

fig-

ures w i t h Arabic texts f r o m the Q u r a n . The desire to use w r i t i n g to decorate b u i l d i n g s and

minaret built around 1100 by the

objects i n the Islamic lands was o v e r w h e l m i n g , and

Ghaznavid sultan Masud III in

builders and designers, particularly i n medieval times, v i e d

Ghazna, Afghanistan, is the first sur-

t o create new styles and methods o f w r i t i n g out their mes-

viving example of this script.

sages o n buildings. I n some cases they added flowers and

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22

9

leaves a r o u n d and a m o n g the letters. This style was particularly popular i n Cairo, and many o f the stone b u i l d i n g s erected under the patronage o f the F a t i m i d dynasty, wealthy and sophisticated rulers there f r o m 969 t o 1171, have beautifully sculpted texts i n the style k n o w n as floriated Kufic. These are some o f the finest architectural inscriptions k n o w n f r o m the Islamic lands, because they judiciously balance the demands o f decoration and readability. I n I r a n a n d the adjacent r e g i o n , w h e r e baked b r i c k was the most c o m m o n m a t e r i a l o f c o n s t r u c t i o n , designers evolved other types o f script, p a r t i c u l a r l y those w i t h knots a n d o t h e r g e o m e t r i c elements o f d e c o r a t i o n . O n e o f the architectural styles that lasted t h e longest is k n o w n i n Persian as bannai o r builder's technique. The script developed o u t o f the techniques o f b r i c k l a y i n g , as b r i c k s a n d other elements o f c o n s t r u c t i o n were set i n r e l i e f t o spell o u t w o r d s and simple phrases. The earliest example o f this script survives o n the m i n a r e t erected

at G h a z n i

( i n eastern A f g h a n i s t a n )

about

1100 b y t h e

Ghaznavid r u l e r M a s u d I I I (r. 1098—1115). T h e panels o n the minaret's shaft spell o u t the ruler's n a m e a n d various titles. The text is u n u s u a l , as i t is one o f the o n l y examples k n o w n o f an i n s c r i p t i o n i n this t e c h n i q u e c o n t a i n i n g hist o r i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n . The text is also very d i f f i c u l t t o read, because the letters are f o r m e d by small pieces o f terra-cotta s a n d w i c h e d between larger b r i c k s that are l a i d vertically i n stepped b o n d . Designing and setting out this i n s c r i p t i o n m u s t have been extremely laborintensive (and therefore expensive), and builders and designers soon figured o u t h o w to adopt the technique to faster methods o f p r o d u c t i o n . They simplified the text itself, so that instead o f having the names and titles o f a specific ruler, the text contained sacred names o r a c o m m o n pious phrase, such as "There is n o prophet after M u h a m m a d " o r " D o m i n i o n belongs t o God." Builders and designers also

Builders also used colored bricks and tiles to spell out words and phrases. The walls of the shrine that Timur erected in the late fourteenth century in memory of the Sufi shaykh Ahmad Yasavi at Turkestan City in the Kazakh steppe glows with such sacred phrases.

2^0

THE

OXFORD

HISTORY

OF

ISLAM

simplified the technique. Instead o f setting pieces o f terra-cotta i n relief, they used the bricks themselves to spell out the text. They first exploited the spaces between the bricks so that the shadows cast i n the voids w o u l d f o r m the w o r d s or phrases. It was a short step for designers to fill the spaces between the bricks w i t h glazed elements, so that the w o r d s were spelled o u t by glittering surfaces that were flush w i t h the b r i c k bonds and contrasted w i t h the matte surface a r o u n d t h e m . This technique became widespread i n the eastern Islamic lands f r o m the t h i r teenth century, because i t was an ideal way o f covering large surfaces o f b r i c k b u i l d i n g s . A g o o d example is the s h r i n e that the Turkic c o n q u e r o r T i m u r (1336-1405-) b u i l t for the Sufi shaykh A h m a d Yasavi n o r t h o f Samarqand. The shrine is a huge rectangular block that floats above the flat, dusty steppe. The expanse along the side walls is d i v i d e d i n t o a g r i d o f cross shapes o u d i n e d i n bricks glazed dark blue. Each cross is filled w i t h l i g h t blue glazed bricks that spell o u t the names G o d , A l i , and M u h a m m a d . The technique w as n o t o n l y visually T

effective b u t also religiously resonant, because anyone staring at the b u i l d i n g f r o m afar could repeat the sacred names, just as a pious believer w o u l d repeat sacred names as part o f his o r her devotions. The b u i l d i n g was literally w r a p p e d w i t h sacred w r i t i n g .

Aniconism: The Absence of Figures I t is o f t e n said that the d e p i c t i o n o f l i v i n g things is f o r b i d d e n i n Islamic art, but this is s i m p l y n o t t r u e . The Q u r a n has very l i t t l e to say o n the subject o f f i g u r a l representation, a l t h o u g h i t does e x p l i c i t l y f o r b i d idolatry, d i v i n a t i o n , d r i n k i n g , g a m b l i n g , a n d other vices, w h i c h seem to have been c o m m o n l y practiced at the t i m e o f the revelation. M a k i n g pictures o f people was apparently n o t a t o p i c o f p a r a m o u n t i m p o r t a n c e i n Arabia i n the late s i x t h and early seventh centuries. F u r t h e r m o r e , there is n o reason to depict people i n Islamic r e l i g i o u s art, because M u s l i m s believe that God is u n i q u e and w i t h o u t associate a n d therefore that H e cannot be represented, except by H i s w o r d , the Q u r a n . G o d is w o r s h i p e d d i r e c t l y w i t h o u t intercessors, so there is n o place for images o f saints as there is i n C h r i s t i a n art. M u h a m m a d was God's messenger, but u n l i k e Christ, M u h a m m a d was n o t d i v i n e . H i s d e e d s — n o t his p e r s o n — represent the ideal to w h i c h M u s l i m s aspire. U n l i k e the Bible, l i t t l e o f the Q u r a n is narrative, so there was l i t t l e reason to use illustrated stories to teach the faith. I n t i m e , this lack o f m o t i v e a n d o p p o r t u n i t y hardened i n t o law, and the absence o f figures (technically k n o w n as aniconism) became a characteristic feature o f Islamic r e l i g i o u s art. Thus, few, i f any, depictions o f people can be f o u n d i n mosques and other b u i l d i n g s i n t e n d e d for religious purposes. Palaces, b a t h -

ART

A N D

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houses, a n d locales designed f o r other activities, h o w e v e r , may w e l l have h a d f i g u r a l d e c o r a t i o n , a l t h o u g h i n later p e r i o d s the a n i c o n i s m o i the r e l i g i o u s m i l i e u o f t e n s p i l l e d over i n t o the secular r e a l m . A c c o r d i n g t o the hadith ( t r a d i t i o n s o f the P r o p h e t ) , even M u h a m m a d was aware o f the d i f ference; he o r d e r e d all the i d o l s r e m o v e d f r o m the Kaaba i n Mecca, but he is recorded to have used c u r t a i n s and cushions decorated w i t h figures i n h i s house. Representations

o f people and animals were

used, o f t e n exuberantly, w i t h i n p r i v a t e settings. O n e example f r o m early Islamic times can be seen i n the r u i n s o f the U m a y y a d palace k n o w n K h i r b a t a l - M a f j a r near Jericho.

as

D e s t r o y e d i n an

earthquake i n the 740s, the b u i l d i n g was the retreat o f the playboy p r i n c e a l - W a l i d i b n Y a z i d , w h o part i e d w i t h his friends f o r t w o decades w a i t i n g to succeed his e l d e r l y u n c l e , the U m a y y a d c a l i p h H i s h a m i b n A b d a l - M a l i k (r. 724—43). The palace c o n t a i n e d an elaborate music h a l l , c o m p l e t e w i t h s w i m m i n g p o o l , h o t b a t h , and private audience r o o m . A l l that r e m a i n s intact is the e n o r m o u s mosaic floor, decorated w i t h an e x t r a o r d i n a r y array o f g e o m e t r i c patterns that resemble stone carpets. F r o m the many fragments o f stone and stucco that

Muslims disdained pictures or sculptures of living beings in religious settings, but they often used them in palaces and other secular

l i t t e r the site, the excavators were able to r e c o n -

settings.The entrance to the bath at Khirbat

struct m u c h o f the b u i l d i n g ' s superstructure. The

al-Mafjar near Jericho, a palace erected for

d o o r w a y , for e x a m p l e , was elaborately decorated w i t h a stucco statue, presumably representing the p a t r o n , and inside the p o r t a l m o r e stucco statues o f

the Umayyad prince al-Walid II in the eighth century, was decorated with stucco statues of bare-breasted dancers.

h a l f - n a k e d v o l u p t u o u s dancers suggested the pleasures that lay w i t h i n . The d o m e over the small audience r o o m c u l m i n a t e d i n a cap o f luscious acanthus leaves f r o m w h i c h p r o t r u d e d heads o f handsome y o u n g m e n and w o m e n , w h o peered d o w n over other carvings o f b i r d s a n d w i n g e d horses. Clearly, w h a t one d i d i n private c o u l d be q u i t e d i f f e r e n t f r o m w h a t one d i d i n p u b l i c . I n the same vein, German excavators i n the early t w e n t i e t h century f o u n d thousands o f fragments f r o m w a l l paintings that once decorated the houses, bathhouses, and palaces at Samarra, the site n o r t h o f Baghdad that served as the

232

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Abbasid capital i n the m i d - n i n t h century. The excavators were able to reconstruct some

o f the scenes f r o m the

palace,

w h i c h i n c l u d e d cornucopia scrolls i n h a b ited w i t h w i l d animals and naked ladies, h u n t i n g scenes, and one m u r a l s h o w i n g a pair of dancing girls. The t w o figures have interlocked arms; w h i l e they dance, each pours f r o m a long-necked bottle i n t o a cup h e l d by the other. The l i q u i d must surely be w i n e , because fragments o f painted w i n e bottles also littered the site. Official histories may chronicle the official acts o f the great and p o w e r f u l , but art, like p o e t r y a n d song, o f t e n shows aspects o f private life that are at variance Paintings of people decorated the walls of the ninthcentury palaces at Samarra, the Abbasid capital north of Baghdad. Excavators found one mural in the caliph's private quarters that shows two dancing girls with interlocked arms, pouring wine.

w i t h the official ideal. The same d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n

the

religious a n d the secular stands for b o o k d e c o r a t i o n . M a n u s c r i p t s of the Q u r a n were often embellished w i t h g e o m e t r i c or floral designs. Scholars d o n o t know-

o f any Q u r a n i c m a n u s c r i p t that was decorated w i t h paintings o f people, as were c o n t e m p o r a r y Christian manuscripts o f the Bible. By contrast, pictures were often i n c l u d e d i n other k i n d s o f books made i n the Islamic lands, i n c l u d i n g scientific treatises, literary w o r k s , epic poems, and histories. I n some cases these pictures were necessary t o make the text understandable, i n others, they made it pretty. O n l y fragments o f illustrated books survive f r o m the p e r i o d before i o o o C.E., but there is n o reason to d o u b t their existence, particularly because they are described i n other books. O n e o f the earliest illustrated manuscripts to survive is a copy o f A b d al-Rahman al-Sufi's treatise o n the fixed stars. The w o r k , u l t i mately derived f r o m classical w r i t i n g s , particularly Ptolemy's Almagest, was c o m posed around 96c by the astronomer al-Sufi ( 9 0 3 - 8 6 ) o f Rayy for the Buy i d ruler A d u d al-Dawla (r. 9 4 9 - 8 3 ) . The oldest s u r i v i n g copy was made f r o m the o r i g i nal by al-Sufi's son, and its illustrations show h o w classical traditions o f representing the constellations w ere adapted to M u s l i m taste. The figures, for example, T

wear turbans and robes w i t h l o n g f l o w i n g drapery. F r o m this t i m e , books o f all kinds, i n c l u d i n g illustrated ones, have survived i n greater n u m b e r s a n d represent a w i d e r range o f subject matter. One o f the

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This copy of al-Sufi's treatise on the fixed stars is one of the earliest Islamic manuscripts with illustrations to survive. It was transcribed from the original by the author's son in 1009. This illustration of Andromeda wearing a long flowing robe shows how classical traditions of representing the constellations were adapted to Muslim taste.

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T H E OXFORD HISTORY OF ISLAM

most

unusual is the Maqamat

(Assemblies), w r i t t e n by the Arab writer

al-Hariri

( 1054-1122),

w h o lived i n Basra. The Maqamat contains the merchant al-Harith's w i t t y account o f the rogue A b u Zayd's fifty adventures throughout the Islamic lands. Linguistically invendve and p u n n i n g i n style, die w o r k w a s i m m e n s e l y popular among the educated bourgeoisie o f the Arab lands. T h e verbal pyrotechnics o f the text d i d n o t lend themselves easily to illustrat i o n , b u t the d e m a n d f o r illustrated books was so strong that the w o r k was repeatedly illustrated. Eleven illustrated copies produced before 1350 have survived, suggesting that there were once many m o r e . T h e illustrations p r o v i d e rare glimpses o f daily

life

i n medieval

times,

s h o w i n g such scenes as markets Manuscripts of the Quran were never illustrated with human figures, but in addition to the beautiful calligraphy used to transcribe God's word, many manuscripts are decorated with plant and geo-

and libraries. While

books

metric designs, as with this fabulous thirty-volume copy made for

Maqamat w o u l d

the Ilkhanid ruler Uljaytu at Hamadan in 1313.

appropriate

such

as the

have been an

possession

for a

bourgeois b i b l i o p h i l e , u n d e r the M o n g o l rulers o f Iran w h o were k n o w n as the I l k h a n i d s , books were t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o a m a j o r art f o r m f o r r o y alty, p a r t i c u l a r l y after the M o n g o l rulers converted t o Islam at the very end o f the t h i r t e e n t h century. Books became p h y s i c a l l y m u c h bigger, p r o b a b l y because larger sheets o f finer and w h i t e r paper were available, and these large surfaces p r o v i d e d m o r e r o o m f o r elaborate d e c o r a t i o n . S u m p t u o u s m a n u scripts o f the Q u r a n were p r o d u c e d . These were o f t e n presentation sets c o m p r i s i n g t h i r t y v o l u m e s , w^hich w o u l d have been g i v e n t o a m o s q u e , shrine, o r t o m b c o m p l e x , w h e r e o n e v o l u m e w o u l d have been read a l o u d each day d u r i n g the h o l y m o n t h o f Ramadan. The largest m a n u s c r i p t t o survive (each page measures 72 x c o centimeters) was c o p i e d at Baghdad a n d e n d o w e d t o the

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m a u s o l e u m o f the sultan M u h a m m a d Khudabanda Lfljaytu (r. 1304-16) at S u l t a n i y y a . I t t o o k e i g h t years t o c o p y ; each page has three lines of majestic muhaqqaq script i n g o l d o u t l i n e d i n black, a l t e r n a t i n g w i t h t w o lines o f a m o r e f l u i d thuluth-muhaqqaq script i n black o u t l i n e d i n g o l d — o n e o f the m o s t spectacular examples o f monumental

Quranic

calligraphy.

Like the other t h i r t y - v o l u m e sets, i t has m a g n i f i c e n t d o u b l e frontispieces c o n t a i n i n g g e o m e t r i c designs. Large manuscripts o f other w o r k s were p r o d u c e d i n the I l k h a n i d p e r i o d . H i stories,

for

example,

were

extremely popular, probably because the f o r e i g n M o n g o l rulers were i n t e r ested i n f i t t i n g themselves i n t o the l o n g traditions o f Islamic and Persian history. The M o n g o l sultan M a h m u d Ghazan (r. 1295-1304) c o m m i s s i o n e d his vizier Rashid a l - D i n t o w r i t e a hist o r y o f the M o n g o l s , a n d Ghazan s successor U l j a y t u expanded the c o m mission t o make i t a universal history, the first k n o w n o f its k i n d . Rashid alDin's Jami al-tawtirikh ( C o m p e n d i u m o f

Islamic art transformed many of the subsidiary elements of pre-Islamic art into major themes.The mosaics on the walls of the Great Mosque of Damascus, erected by the Umayyad caliph al-Walid in the early eighth century, show a paradisial

chronicles) was a m u l t i v o l u m e w o r k ,

riverside landscape of fantastic buildings separated by trees.

c o m p r i s i n g histories o f the M o n g o l

In earlier times, such landscapes would have been peopled

a n d the n o n - M o n g o l Eurasian p e o -

with figures.

pies, a genealogy o f r u l i n g houses, and a geography. To make his b o o k m o r e attractive and comprehensible, Rashid a l - D i n h a d i t illustrated. His painters d r e w f r o m the w i d e range o f sources available i n this c o s m o p o l i t a n society. Sections o n Chinese history, for example, were illustrated f o l l o w i n g Chinese models, and sections o n b i b l i c a l h i s t o r y f o l l o w e d Byzantine manuscript prototypes. Perhaps most interesting and unusual i n this m u l t i v o l u m e w o r k is the set o f illustrations s h o w i n g events f r o m the Prophet's life. As there was n o earlier trad i t i o n o f representing M u h a m m a d i n Islamic art, a n d as Rashid al-Din's text

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p r o v i d e d o n l y the m o s t skeletal details o f events i n M u h a m m a d ' s l i f e , the painters h a d t o l o o k elsewhere f o r i n s p i r a t i o n . O n e p a i n t i n g f r o m the w o r k shows M u h a m m a d m o u n t e d o n a horse leading the M u s l i m s i n battle against the Banu Qaynuqa, a Jewish t r i b e o f Arabia. The Prophet is depicted against a u l t r a m a r i n e blue b a c k g r o u n d and s u r r o u n d e d by w h i t e clouds and angels. B e h i n d h i m are the M u s l i m forces, i n c l u d i n g his uncle Hamza, identifiable because he has a red beard and carries the Prophet's banner. The angels have bare heads w i t h tight curls and wear l o n g garments d e r i v e d f r o m the chiton, the basic garment w o r n by Greek m e n and w o m e n . I n M o n g o l Iran, there seems to have been quite a b i t o f interest i n d e p i c t i n g the Prophet, a n d several s u r v i v i n g manuscripts illustrate scenes f r o m his life. These depictions o f M u h a m m a d are n o t religious images; they are historical illustrations n o t i n t e n d e d f o r devotional use. Somewhat unusual i n the larger scheme o f Islamic art, these images nevertheless s h o w the c o n t i n u i n g d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n the r e l i g i o u s a n d secular realms o f Islamic art.

The Decorative Themes of Arabesque and Geometry Because f i g u r a l i m a g e r y was unnecessary i n I s l a m i c r e l i g i o u s art, o t h e r themes o f d e c o r a t i o n became i m p o r t a n t . Several o f these themes had been subsidiary elements i n the arts o f p r e - I s l a m i c times. I n Byzantine art, f o r example, d e p i c t i o n s o f p e o p l e had been set off, f r a m e d , o r l i n k e d by geom e t r i c elements (shapes and patterns) a n d vegetal designs (that is, stylized f r u i t s , f l o w e r s , and trees). I n early Islamic t i m e s these subsidiary elements were t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o m a j o r artistic themes. Thus, the mosaics decorating the Great M o s q u e o f Damascus,

erected by the U m a y y a d c a l i p h a l - W a l i d (r.

7 0 5 - i c ) i n the early e i g h t h century, were clearly d e r i v e d f r o m the t r a d i t i o n s o f late a n t i q u i t y . The panel that survives a l o n g the west w a l l o f the mosque shows a c o n t i n u o u s landscape o f fantastic b u i l d i n g s separated by trees and set above a f l o w i n g river. I n classical a n d Byzantine art these subjects w o u l d have been b a c k g r o u n d elements for large f i g u r e s , b u t i n this panel the landscape itself is the subject, p r o b a b l y meant to depict the garden paradise p r o m i s e d t o M u s l i m s i n the Q u r a n a n d described as a place o f l o f t y chambers

beneath

w h i c h rivers f l o w . I n the Damascus mosaics the trees and b u i l d i n g s are still readily recognizable, but w i t h the g r o w i n g reluctance to depict figures, such specific representations were replaced by m o r e stylized, abstract, and geometric m o t i f s . This style was already popular by the n i n t h century, evident i n a small ceramic b o w l f r o m this p e r i o d that is decorated w i t h f o u r colors o f luster. The m a i n m o t i f s h o w n i n the center o f the b o w l is a plant w i t h a central stalk and paired leaves. The basic

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237

design is quite simple, but i t has been elaborated w i t h many d i f f e r e n t geometric patterns—spots, herringbones, blots, peacock's eyes, and so f o r t h — t h a t cover as m u c h o f the surface as possible and negate the organic q u a l i t y of the m a i n m o t i f . I n short, naturalistic elements, such as the flowers and leaves, were b e c o m i n g increasingly stylized and subjected to the laws o f geometry. Little o f the decoration has survived f r o m the mosques i n the Abbasid capital at Samarra, b u t one can get an idea o f the abstract style o f decoration that m i g h t have been used o n the mosques there by l o o k i n g at copies erected elsewhere. The m o s q u e i n Cairo, c o m p l e t e d i n 879 o n the orders o f the Abbasid governor A h m a d i b n Tulun ( 8 3 5 - 8 4 ) , for example, is said to have been a close copy o f a mosque i n Samarra. I n contrast to the earlier Damascus mosque, the decoration at the mosque o f I b n Tulun is restrained. A l o n g w o o d e n i n s c r i p t i o n r u n s a r o u n d the b u i l d i n g under the ceiling, and the undersides and borders o f the heavy brick arches are embellished w i t h stucco carved w i t h simple elements to create patterns that c o m b i n e geometric and floral elements. The decorated surface is totally

An original style of Islamic art evolved in the ninth century, when artists abstracted

filled so that there is n o d i s t i n c t i o n between the background and the subject. This

organic forms into a geomet-

decoration, i n w h i c h organic elements are subjected to the rules o f geometry, can

ric style, in which there is no

be extended i n f i n i t e l y h i any d i r e c t i o n . A similar type o f decoration was used i n a small mosque at Balkh i n n o r t h e r n Afghanistan, datable o n stylistic grounds to the n i n t h century. A l t h o u g h badly

distinction between subject and background. This style was first developed in ninthcentury Iraq, as exemplified

r u i n e d , the small square b u i l d i n g has f o u r massive c y l i n d r i c a l piers that once

in the plaster panels discov-

supported the n i n e covering domes. Most o f the upper part was covered w i t h

ered at Samarra.

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T H E O X F O R D HISTORY OF ISLAM 1

stucco, carved i n g e o m e t r i c a l and vegetal patterns w i t h a distinctive slanted cut. The use o f a s i m i l a r style, d o c u m e n t e d

from

Cairo to eastern Iran i n the n i n t h century, suggests that i t must have had a c o m m o n source, u n d o u b t e d l y i n the Abbasid capitals i n Mesopotamia. Its widespread use shows h o w styles c o u l d be disseminated over w i d e areas d u r i n g

this p e r i o d o f

centralized

power. This type o f design, w h i c h is based o n such natural f o r m s as stems, tendrils, and leaves rearranged to f o r m i n f i n i t e geometric patterns, became a hallmark o f Islamic art and architectural ornament f r o m the tenth to the

f i f t e e n t h centuries.

Europeans

To

describe i t ,

c o i n e d the t e r m arabesque, first

used i n the f i f t e e n t h o r sixteenth century, when

Renaissance

artists

incorporated

Islamic designs i n book o r n a m e n t and decA more evolved stage i n the abstraction of vegetal

orative b o o k b i n d i n g s . Over the centuries the

motifs can be seen in the plaster decorating the arches

t e r m has been applied to a w i d e variety o f

ofthe mosque oflbnTulun (879) in Cairo.

w i n d i n g , t w i n i n g vegetal decoration i n art and meandering themes i n music and dance,

but properly i t applies o n l y to Islamic art. The mneteenth-century Viennese art historian Alois Riegl laid o u t the p r i n c i p a l features o f the arabesque: The tendrils o f its vegetation are heavily geometricized and d o n o t branch o f f as i n nature f r o m a single continuous stem; rather, the tendrils g r o w unnaturally f r o m one another. F u r t h e r m o r e , the arabesque has i n f i n i t e correspondence, meaning that the design can be extended i n f i n i t e l y i n any d i r e c t i o n . The structure o f the arabesque gives sufficient i n f o r m a t i o n so that the viewer can extend the design i n his or her i m a g i n a t i o n . Like the Samarra style o f o r n a m e n t , the arabesque was probably disseminated f r o m Iraq, the capital province o f the Islamic w o r l d i n the tenth century, and q u i c k l y spread to all Islamic lands. A n early stage o f this distinctive and o r i g i n a l development may be f o u n d i n carved marble panels

flanking

the mihrab (the

niche i n the w a l l facing Mecca) o f the Great Mosque o f Córdoba, w h i c h was completed i n 96c. A central stem, itself patterned, has tendrils g r o w i n g unnaturally f r o m its base and r i p ; the stem provides the armature for a symmetrical interlacing o f tendrils, leaves, and flowers that seems to press o u t against the c o n -

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fines o f the similarly patterned frame. I n Islamic art the arabesque's p o p u l a r i t y lasted u n t i l the fourteenth century, w h e n i t was slowly displaced by designs using the Chinese-inspired c h r y s a n t h e m u m , peony, and lotus m o t i f s that became p o p ular i n Iran and by the fantastic naturalistic foliage o f the saz style that became popular under the Ottomans. Even these designs retain some o f the arabesque's geometric u n d e r p i n n i n g s , however. The p o p u l a r i t y o f the arabesque was due n o d o u b t to its adaptability, because it was appropriate to virtually all situations, f r o m architecture to the i l l u m i n a t e d pages that were added to decorate the b e g i n n i n g and end o f fine manuscripts, particularly copies o f the Q u r a n . One small manuscript o f the Q u r a n , for exam-

The new style of geometricized vegetal designs was

ple, has five sets o f double pages, three at the b e g i n n i n g o f the manuscript and

widely popular. Here, in the

t w o at the end. Some manuscripts contain tables w i t h w r i t i n g added o n top o f

ruins of a small mosque

the geometric and floral o r n a m e n t ; others are purely geometric and vegetal. The designs are elaborately d r a w n i n b r o w n i n k and enhanced w i t h g o l d , blue, w h i t e , green, and red. The circles o n the vertical axis are self-contained, but those o n

erected at Balkh, Afghanistan, in the ninth century, artists carved these motifs into the wet plaster

the h o r i z o n t a l axis can be extended i n f i n i t e l y ; the design thus achieves an e q u i -

covering the piers and

l i b r i u m between static and d y n a m i c .

arches.

Arabesques, in which vegetal forms grow infinitely in all directions according to the laws of geometry, appeared in many media. In this detail of a carved marble panel, probably added to the Great Mosque of Córdoba in 965, the arabesque ornament betrays its early stage of development because it is still restrained by a frame.

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These pages are the w o r k o f a master h a n d , and according to the c o l o p h o n , this m a n u s c r i p t

was

c o m p l e t e d by the scribe A l i i b n H i l a l i n Baghdad i n 1 0 0 0 - 1 0 0 1 . He can be i d e n t i f i e d as the famous calligrapher c o m m o n l y k n o w n as I b n al-Bawwab, w h o refined the "proportioned

script"—devel-

o p e d a century earlier by the Arab calligrapher

Ibn

Muqla—in

w h i c h letters were measured i n terms o f dots, circles, and semicircles. The script used i n this manuscript

confirms

Ibn

al-

Bawwab's talents; the 280 folios arc transcribed i n a b o l d r o u n d e d h a n d o f the type called naskh. The script is remarkable for its clarity and

regularity,

all

the

more

impressive because there are n o traces o f b l i n d - t o o l e d lines o f the k i n d used by later calligraphers to guide their hands. The manuscript also represents a technical i n n o v a t i o n because i t is one o f the first s u r v i v i n g copies o f the Q u r a n

Arabesques were a major element used in decorating books, particularly manuscripts of the Quran. This page of illumination from the copy of the Quran transcribed by the noted calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab in Baghdad in 1000-1001 is one of the earliest examples to survive.

transcribed o n paper. The double pages o f i l l u m i n a t i o n w i t h geometric designs, o f t e n k n o w n as carpet pages, became increasingly splendid over the years. Some o f the finest were produced under the M a m l u k s , the sequence o f sultans w h o c o n t r o l l e d Egypt and Syria f r o m 1249 to 15:17. These rulers and their intimates commissioned elaborate copies o f the Q u r a n as furnishings for the large charitable foundations that they ordered i n Cairo and elsewhere to preserve their names and fortunes after their death. A c c o r d i n g to Islamic law, property endowed to institutions f o u n d e d for charitable purposes was safe f r o m seizure by the state. This type o f charitable e n d o w m e n t is k n o w n as waqf ( p i . awqaf) or, i n N o r t h Africa, as hobus. I n unsettled times, w h e n rulers fell like dominoes, such charitable foundations allowed f a m i lies to pass o n their fortunes safely, as the deed o f e n d o w m e n t c o u l d specify that the founder o r his descendants be appointed as trustee.

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To f u r n i s h these charitable foundations, the M a m l u k s o f t e n ordered large m a n u scripts o f the Q u r a n , typically embellished w i t h elaborate frontispieces decorated w i t h designs o f star polygons. The most famous is a manuscript commissioned by an amir o f Sultan Shaban, A r g h u n Shah al-Ashrafi, w h o was p u t to death i n 1376.

Its rectan-

gular frontispiece is d i v i d e d i n t o a square central field bordered by rectangular panels w i t h a stylized k u f i c script. The central square contains is a sixteen-pointed star set w i t h i n a geometric trelhs. This c o m p o s i tion, w h i c h is often likened to a sun, seems to explode f r o m the center but is actually closed and cannot be extended beyond the frame. The various frames are decorated w i t h arabesque and

floral

arrangements,

i n c l u d i n g many Chinese-inspired elements such as peonies and lotus flowers. C o m p l e x g e o m e t r i c effects were also achieved i n other media, i n c l u d i n g w o o d w o r k . W o o d was

o f t e n used

for fine

mosque f u r n i t u r e , such as Q u r a n stands, lecturns, and bookcases, b u t the largest Egyptian woodcarvers transformed the

pieces were minbars or pulpits. The m i n ¬

abstract curved forms of the beveled style

bar was the place i n the congregational

into birds and other animals, as on this

mosque f r o m w h i c h the weekly s e r m o n

ninth- or tenth-century panel of Aleppan

was

pine.

given d u r i n g

the Friday

bidding

prayer, so i t became a potent s y m b o l o f political authority. Patrons w h o ordered

n e w minbars wished to make t h e m as splendid as possible, b u t w i t h the deforestation o f the Mediterranean lands due to overharvesting i n medieval times, w o o d was increasingly scarce. To make the most o f this expensive material, n e w techniques o f w o o d w o r k i n g were exploited. One technique c o m m o n f r o m the eleventh century was marquetry, i n w h i c h large panels were f o r m e d o f angular interlacing strapwork radiating f r o m central stars. To make these large and i m p o r tant pieces even fancier, artisans used different colors o f exotic w o o d s , w h i c h were sometimes i n l a i d w i t h other precious materials, such as i v o r y and m o t h e r of-pearl.

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Aleppo (located i n modern-day Syria) became a center for w o o d w o r k i n g i n the m a r q u e t r y technique, and the finest and most famous piece p r o d u c e d there was the exquisite m i n b a r that the Zangid r u l e r N u r a l - D i n ordered i n 1168-69 for the Aqsa M o s q u e i n Jerusalem. The c i t y was then i n the hands o f the Crusaders, and N u r a l - D i n ordered the m i n b a r i n anticipation o f taking the city. It was installed i n its intended place t w o decades later after his nephew, the A y y u b i d sultan Salah a l - D i n (also k n o w n as Saladin), successfully conquered the city, i n 1187. This minbar, w h i c h was the most famous example o f this p r o l i f i c school o f w o o d w o r k i n g a n d signed by n o less t h a n f o u r craftsmen, destroyed by arson i n Nur

was

1969.

al-Din's m i n b a r f o l l o w e d the t y p i c a l t r i a n g u l a r f o r m . A l o n g the

hypotenuse was a n a r r o w flight o f steps leading to a p l a t f o r m at the t o p ; b o t h the steps and the p l a t f o r m were enclosed by railings, and the p l a t f o r m , evident i n many other examples, was s u r m o u n t e d by a cupola. The m a j o r fields o f deco r a t i o n w ere the large triangular sides. O n N u r al-Din's m i n b a r they were decor

rated w i t h e i g h t - p o i n t e d stars, and the extensions o f their sides were traced i n a net o f joinery. The p o l y g o n a l interstices were

filled

w i t h m i n u t e l y detailed

arabesques. The intricacy o f the design was matched by the expense o f the materials, for the m i n b a r showed an extensive use o f i n l a i d ivory, b o t h for the o u t lines o f the p o l y g o n a l figures and f o r some o f the smaller interstitial stars. The marquetry technique made the most o f expensive materials, but the geometric design, i n w h i c h the arabesques varied f r o m p o l y g o n to p o l y g o n , added to the aesthetic effect by i n v i t i n g c o n t e m p l a t i o n o f the design f r o m near and far. Geometric designs were also popular methods o f decorating buildings i n the Islamic lands. I n Iran and m u c h o f the eastern Islamic lands there was n o suitable stone for construction, so the typical b u i l d i n g material was b r i c k . M u d b r i c k had the advantage o f being cheap and remarkably serviceable i n areas w i t h little r a i n , and its fragile surface c o u l d be protected by plaster or stucco revetments, w h i c h c o u l d be carved or painted to enliven the inherent drabness of the material. I n the n i n t h century w h e n the Abbasids needed to decorate the e n o r m o u s palaces and other m u d brick structures i n their sprawling new capital o f Samarra, they used m o l d e d panels w i t h geometric designs that c o u l d be q u i c k l y executed i n stucco. Baked b r i c k was m o r e expensive because i t required scarce supplies o f f u e l f o r firing.

It had the advantage that i t was m u c h m o r e durable, however, and w h e r e

affordable, its d u r a b i l i t y was preferred, particularly i n regions w i t h greater precipitation and a m o r e extreme climate, such as the Iranian plateau. A l t h o u g h baked b r i c k c o u l d also be covered w i t h plaster, particularly o n i n t e r i o r s , i t was usually left exposed o n exteriors. W i t h the a d o p t i o n o f fine quality baked b r i c k , builders i n Iran and adjacent areas q u i c k l y t u r n e d the material o f c o n s t r u c t i o n i n t o the material o f decoration. By setting the bricks i n patterns, they c o u l d

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enliven the w a l l surface. These patterns were particularly effective i n a climate i n w h i c h b r i g h t sun often rakes over the b r i c k walls, and p r o j e c t i n g and recedi n g bricks c o u l d create patterns o f l i g h t and shade. One o f the earliest examples o f this decorative use o f b r i c k w o r k is the t o m b o f the Samanids i n Bukhara. Constructed and decorated w i t h baked b r i c k , the t o m b is a small cube w i t h sloped walls s u p p o r t i n g a central d o m e and little cupolas at die corners. Despite the s i m ple forms, the i n t e r i o r and exterior are elaborately

decorated

with

patterns

w o r k e d i n die cream-colored brick. The quality and h a r m o n y o f c o n s t r u c t i o n and decoration show that this b u i l d i n g , 7

although the first o f its type to have survived, could n o t have been the first to have been built. By the early tenth century there must have been a l o n g tradition o f b u i l d i n g ornate brick structures in the greater Iranian w o r l d . This so-called naked style o f b r i c k Builders in the Seljuk period exploited the decorative possibilities of light and shade on brick, particularly for the tall

w o r k became a h a l l m a r k o f medieval a r c h i t e c t u r e i n the r e g i o n . Builders

cylindrical towers known as minarets. Horizontal bands

e x p l o i t e d the decorative possibilities o f

with different brick designs decorate the shaft of the Kalyan

b r i c k p a t t e r n i n g , particularly for the tall

("tall") minaret finished in 1127 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

c y l i n d r i c a l towers k n o w n as minarets. These

towers,

often

attached

to

mosques and used as the place f r o m w h i c h the m u e z z i n gives the call to prayer (adhan), are o f t e n considered to be hallmarks o f Islamic architecture. A l t h o u g h a c o m m o n feature o f Islamic religious architecture, the m i n a r e t is neither a necessary o r u b i q u i t o u s one. M i n a r e t s w e r e apparently n o t used u n d e r the Umayyads, a n d o n l y u n d e r theAbbasids was the idea o f a single massive t o w e r located i n o r beyond the m i d d l e o f the w a l l opposite the m i h r a b disseminated t h r o u g h o u t the Islamic lands, perhaps as a sign o f caliphal authority. By the e n d o f the t w e l f t h c e n t u r y the m i n a r e t , i n the f o r m o f a slender freestanding shaft, had become the universal s y m b o l o f Islam f r o m the A t l a n t i c to

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the I n d i a n Oceans. M i n a r e t s were o f t e n added to mosques.

They

earlier

were

less

expensive than b u i l d i n g a new m o s q u e and were g r a t i f y i n g l y visible b o t h f r o m afar, w h e r e they indicated the presence o f a

town—or

from

nearby,

w h e r e they indicated the location

of

the

mosque.

They

served to advertise the presence o f Islam at the same t i m e that

they

demonstrated

the

piety o f the founder. M o r e than sixty towers dati n g f r o m the medieval p e r i o d still stand i n I r a n , Central Asia, and

Afghanistan,

either

attached to mosques o r isolated and

freestanding.

This

large

n u m b e r attests t o the explosion i n p o p u l a r i t y o f this f o r m , and the assurance o f their decorat i o n attests to the skill o f their builders

a n d the

esteem

in

w h i c h these tall towers were held. Their shafts are typically decorated i n b r o a d bands geometric

brick

of

decoration,

often separated by guard bands and

inscriptions.

Builders

exploited the decorative possibilities o f the g e o m e t r i c pat-

Muqarnas, tiers of superimposed niche-like elements, is a unique contribution of Islamic architects to the decoration of their buildings. Muqarnas half-vaults were often above important doorways, as on the entrance to the hospital Nur al-Din, founded in Damascus in 114Ç.

terns, dehberately w i d e n i n g the bands o r setting the bricks i n deeper relief along the height o f the tall shaft. Another f o r m o f architectural decoration diat developed at tins time is k n o w n as muqarnas. Sometimes likened to stalactites, muqarnas consists o f tiers o f niche-like elements that project out f r o m the r o w below. Apparendy developed i n the late tenth century, muqarnas was first applied to supporting elements inside domes, such as squinches or arches over the corners, and to d i v i d i n g elements between different

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parts o f buildings, such as cornices o n tombs or minarets. By the eleventh century muqarnas elements were used to cover the entire inner surface o f vaults. A l t h o u g h the earliest muqarnas may have had a structural role, diey increasingly became a purely decorative element. I n Iran and the eastern Islamic lands decorative muqarnas vaults were made o f plaster and suspended by w o o d e n beams f r o m the brick vault above, h i die Mediterranean region, where stone is the prevalent m e d i u m o f construction, muqarnas vaults, set over the portals o f i m p o r t a n t buildings, were often laboriously carved i n stone. Like w r i t i n g , muqarnas was adopted by builders f r o m Spain to Central Asia and beyond, so that it became the most distinctive decorative feature o f Islamic architecture. Unlike other decorative motifs, muqarnas was never applied to any m e d i u m other than architecture and such architectural fittings as m i n bars. The repeated m o d u l e typical o f b r i c k c o n s t r u c t i o n made geometric o r n a m e n t appropriate decoration; such ornament was equally appropriate to textiles, wdiere the crossing o f w a r p and w e f t threads also generates a geometric g r i d . N o w h e r e is this m o r e apparent than i n k n o t t e d carpets, where a weaver c o u l d easily create geometric designs by t y i n g knots o f different colors o n t o the w a r p threads. T h r o u g h o u t history, weavers w o r k e d to c o m b i n e more-or-less stylized floral and animal m o t i f s w i t h the geometric grids. K n o t t e d carpets have been produced for m i l l e n n i a i n the Near East and Central Asia. The oldest s u r v i v i n g example, perhaps dating to the f i f t h century B.C.E., is the carpet that was discovered i n a frozen t o m b at Pazyryk i n Siberia. Other fragments perhaps dating f r o m the n i n t h o r tenth century have been discovered i n Egypt. The oldest carpets to have survived i n significant quantities, however, were made i n Anatolia i n the early f o u r t e e n t h century, using a fairly l i m i t e d range o f strong colors, such as red, yellow, blue, b r o w n , a n d w h i t e . Some o f the carpets have designs o f repeated

geometric

m o t i f s , others have extremely stylized representations o f animals, but all have borders o f geometrical m o t i f s or stylized letter f o r m s .

The Exuberant Use of Color The epigraphic and geometric designs c o m m o n l y used i n Islamic art were often enhanced by color, and the exuberant use o f color is another h a l l m a r k o f Islamic art. The Arabic language itself has a particularly r i c h chromatic vocabulary, a n d i n i t concepts can easily be associated t h r o u g h similarities i n m o r p h o l o g y . The Arabic r o o t kh-d-r, for example, gives rise to khudra (greenness), akhdar (green), khudara (greens o r herbs), and al-khadra (the verdant, or the heavens). Blue, the color o f the sky i n the western t r a d i t i o n , is o f t e n conflated w i t h green i n the Islamic lands, w h e r e the spectrum is traditionally d i v i d e d i n t o yellow, r e d , a n d green. Tonality was less i m p o r t a n t than l u m i n o s i t y and saturation, probably

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247

Geometric designs were especially easy to execute in the traditional techniques of woven textiles and knotted carpets. One of the earliest carpets to survive, probably from the fourteenth century, shows four stylized quadrupeds.

because o f the sun-drenched e n v i r o n m e n t i n m u c h o f the r e g i o n . I n the early Islamic p e r i o d various p h i l o s o p h i c a l schools elaborated the Aristotelian theory o f color, and this interest i n color was taken u p by mystics, w h o saw parallels between the p h e n o m e n o n o f colors and the inner v i s i o n o f die divine. The symbolic use o f color runs t h r o u g h o u t m u c h Islamic literature. The

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great Persian poet Nezami (ca. 1141 — 1203 o r 1217), for example, structured his classic p o e m , Haft paykar (Seven portraits) around the seven colors (haft rang) t r a d i tional i n Persian t h o u g h t (red, yellow, green, and blue c o m p l e m e n t e d by black, w h i t e , and sandalwood). I n this p o e m the ideal ruler, e x e m p l i f i e d by the Sasanian k i n g Bahrain Gur, visits seven princesses, each housed i n a p a v i l i o n o f a different color; the princesses recount seven stories, w h i c h can be interpreted as the seven stations of h u m a n life, the seven aspects o f h u m a n destiny, or the seven stages along the mystical way. The seven colored pavilions o f the Haft paykar became favorite subjects for b o o k illustration i n fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Iran. One o f the m o s t famous manuscripts o f Nezami's p o e m has an unusually l o n g and w i t t y c o l o p h o n that recounts the manuscript's peregrinations and shows h o w i m p o r t a n t these illustrated manuscripts were to rulers o f the t i m e . The T i m u r i d p r i n c e A b u l - Q a s i m Babur, r u l e r o f Herat ( i n n o r t h w e s t e r n Afghanistan) f r o m 1449 to 14C7, c o m m i s s i o n e d the calligrapher Azhar to transcribe the m a n uscript, b u t i t was u n f i n i s h e d at the prince's death. After Jahan Shah (r. 1438-67), the Q a r a q o y u n l u r u l e r o f Azerbaijan, sacked Herat a year later, the manuscript passed to Tahan Shah's son Pir Budak. It then w e n t to the A q q o y u n l u r u l e r Khalil Sultan (r.

1478), w h o c o m m i s s i o n e d

the calligrapher A b d a l - R a h m a n a l -

K h w a r a z m i ( k n o w n as A n i s i ) to finish c o p y i n g the text and t w o artists, Shaykhi and Darvish M u h a m m a d , to illustrate i t . Still unfinished at Khalil Sultan's death i n 1478, the manuscript passed to his b r o t h e r Y a q u b (r. 1478—90). He also d i e d before the b o o k was finished, and the manuscript ultimately passed to the Safavid shah Ismail I (r. i c o i - 2 4 ) , f o u n d e r o f the Safavid dynasty, under w h o s e p a t r o n age the last o f the nineteen illustrations were completed. The p a i n t i n g Bahrain Gur in the Green Pavilion exemplifies the lush style o f m a n u script i l l u s t r a t i o n practiced at the A q q o y u n l u court. It was probably added by the artist Shaykhi w h e n the m a n u s c r i p t was i n the possession o f the sultan Yaqub. It shows the Sasanian m o n a r c h r e c l i n i n g w i t h his w r i t i n g table and books beside (Right) Color was used symbolically and extravagantly in much of Islamic art and culture.The Persian poet Nezami structured his classic poem, Haft paykar, around the

h i m , listening to one o f his ladies read a p o e m w h i l e another massages his feet. The r e c l i n i n g figure may actually represent the y o u n g A q q o y u n l u p r i n c e , w h o w o u l d have been less than t w e n t y years o l d at the t i m e . The n o m i n a l subject, the p r i n c e i n the p a v i l i o n , however, is engulfed i n a r i o t o f fantastic vegetation. Nature bursts f r o m the constraint o f the frame, as l o l l i p o p trees w i t h i m b r i c a t e d

seven colors traditional in

leaves sprout a m o n g rocks concealing h u m a n and a n i m a l faces. The colors are

Persian thought. In a fine

particularly v i v i d , w i t h acid greens set against rosy reds and b r i l l i a n t blues.

manuscript of the poem prepared for several fifteenth-century princes, the

This flamboyant color typical o f the A q q o y u n l u court style can be contrasted w i t h the carefully m o d u l a t e d style that is associated w i t h c o n t e m p o r a r y Herat

painter Shaykhi used bril-

and e x e m p l i f i e d i n the w o r k o f Bihzad (ca. 14CO-15-35) the most famous Persian

liant color to depict Bahrain

painter, and the one w h o s e n a m e is attached ( r i g h t l y or w r o n g l y ) t o m o r e p a i n t -

Gur in the Green Pavilion.

ings than any other artist. Bihzad's masterpiece is generally a c k n o w l e d g e d to be

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The Seduction of Yusuf The p a i n t i n g illustrates a manuscript o f the Persian poet Sadi

(ca.

1213—92)

entitled

Bustun

( O r c h a r d ) , transcribed i n 1488 for the l i b r a r y o f the T i m u r i d r u l e r Sultan Husayn M i r z a by the most r e n o w n e d calligrapher Mashhadi.

o f the Sadi's

age,

text,

Sultan A l i written

on

u n c o l o r e d paper i n c l o u d bands at the t o p , m i d d l e , and b o t t o m o f the illustration, mentions

the s e d u c t i o n

of

Yusuf, the biblical Joseph, by Potiphar's w i f e , k n o w n i n Islamic t r a d i t i o n as Zulaykha, b u t n o t h i n g i n the requires Bihzad's elaborate

text

architec-

tural setting. Instead, this setting is described i n the mystical p o e m , Yusuf and Zulaykha, w r i t t e n by the T i m u r i d Medieval potters revolutionized the industry by developing a

poet Jami (1414—92) five years before

technique to paint on the surface of a ceramic with designs

the Sadi manuscript was transcribed.

that did not run into the glaze. A black heron struts across the turquoise-glazed surface of this twelfth-century Syrian bowl.

Four

lines

from

Jami's

poem

are

inscribed i n w h i t e o n blue a r o u n d the arch i n the center o f the p a i n t i n g .

A c c o r d i n g to Jami, Zulaykha b u i l t a palace w i t h seven splendid r o o m s that were decorated w i t h erotic paintings o f herself w i t h Yusuf. She led the u n w a r y Yusuf f r o m one r o o m to the next, l o c k i n g the doors b e h i n d her u n t i l they reached the i n n e r m o s t chamber. There, she threw herself at Yusuf, but he fled f r o m her grasp t h r o u g h the seven locked doors, w h i c h miraculously opened before h i m . Just as Jami's text is an allegory o f the soul's search for d i v i n e love and beauty, Bihzad's image invites mystical c o n t e m p l a t i o n . The splendid palace stands for the material w o r l d , the seven r o o m s represent the seven climes, and Yusuf's beauty is a metaphor for God's. As there was n o witness, Yusuf c o u l d have yielded to Zulaykha's passion, but he realized that G o d was all-seeing and a l l - k n o w i n g . The seven locked doors, w h i c h f o r m the m a t r i x o f the c o m p o s i t i o n , can be opened o n l y by G o d . This brilliant image transcends the literal requirements o f the text and evokes the mystical themes that were p r o m i n e n t i n contemporary literature and society. Bihzad was obviously p r o u d o f his creation, because he signed it o n the architectural panel over the w i n d o w i n the r o o m o n the upper left and dated it 893 (corresponding to 1488) i n the final b l u e - a n d - w h i t e cartouche o n the arch f o l l o w i n g the verses f r o m Jami's p o e m .

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Metalworkers exploited the chromatic possibilities of metals by inlaying copper, silver, gold, and a black bituminous substance into brass and bronze.The master metalworker Muhammad ibn al-Zayn inlaid this large basin with an extraordinary range of figural scenes, many depicting life in the Mamluk lands around

I J O O .

Bihzad's masterpiece shows a sophisticated b u t subdued use o f color, i n w h i c h blues and greens p r e d o m i n a t e b u t are tempered by c o m p l e m e n t a r y w a r m colors, especially a b r i g h t orange. The carefully m o d u l a t e d use o f color leads the eye t h r o u g h the c o m p l e x architectural setting to focus o n Zulaykha, s t r i k i n g i n her flamboyant orange robe, a stark contrast toYusuf, w h o is dressed i n c o o l green. The colors are j e w e l - l i k e ; the fine q u a l i t y p i g m e n t s were made f r o m such expensive minerals as lapis lazuli and g o l d , w h i c h were carefully g r o u n d , m i x e d w i t h binder, and applied w i t h fine brushes. The colors appear all the m o r e b r i l l i a n t i n the d r e a m - l i k e w o r l d o f Persian book p a i n t i n g , as they were u n m o d u l a t e d by cast shadows o r atmospheric perspective, t w o p i c t o r i a l techniques that were o n l y i n t r o d u c e d i n t o Persian p a i n t i n g f r o m European art i n the seventeenth century. The use o f brilliant color was not l i m i t e d to fancy books made i n the Persian w o r l d i n the later centuries. The spirited use o f color is f o u n d i n most Islamic art f r o m an early date. Potters i n the Islamic w o r l d h i d drab earthenwares under cloaks of b r i g h t l y colored slips and glazes. The most significant i n v e n t i o n for the future history o f ceramics i n the Islamic lands, as w e l l as i n China and Europe, was underglaze decoration, i n w h i c h a fine and w h i t e ceramic body p r o v i d e d an ideal surface for p a i n t i n g i n colored metallic oxides. This painted surface was

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then covered by a transparent alkaline glaze, w h i c h protected the painted surface but, unlike lead glazes, d i d n o t cause the p i g m e n t s to r u n together d u r i n g

firing.

Similarly, one o f the most i m p o r t a n t contributions of medieval Islamic metalworkers was the development o f the inlay technique, i n w h i c h the m o n o c h r o m e object, usually made f r o m brass o r bronze, was enlivened w i t h inlays i n g o l d , silver, and copper, as o n the Bobrinski Bucket. Other objects, such as magnificent basins to be used for handwashing before and after eating, were inlaid w i t h inscriptions and figural scenes w o r k e d i n silver and a black b i t u m i n o u s substance. Color is also one o f the most distinctive features o f Islamic architecture, f o r g l i t t e r i n g azure domes and dazzling expanses o f m u l t i c o l o r e d tile decorate many o f the best k n o w n b u i l d i n g s . The first great m o n u m e n t o f Islamic architecture, the D o m e o f the Rock, o r i g i n a l l y had p o l y c h r o m e and g o l d glass mosaic coveri n g b o t h inside and outside. The coloristic effects o f the i n t e r i o r mosaics were enhanced by a brilliantly painted and gilded ceiling and a lavish use o f marble. The dadoes ( l o w e r walls) were decorated w i t h panels o f quartered marble, sliced and arranged so that the natural grain w o u l d f o r m symmetrical patterns. In some cases vegetal m o t i f s were inlaid i n black mastic to contrast against the w h i t e marble. The same color c o m b i n a t i o n was extended to the arches, w h i c h were c o n structed o f alternating black a n d w h i t e voussoirs (the wedge-shaped pieces f o r m i n g the arch). This b r i g h t l y colored style typical o f Umayyad architecture set a precedent that was o f t e n repeated by later patrons. But just as the fragile mosaics o n the exter i o r o f the D o m e o f the Rock suffered f r o m w e a t h e r i n g , the coloristic effects o n many other b u i l d i n g s , m u c h like those o n Greek temples and Romanesque churches, have o f t e n faded under a haze o f dust and smog to u n i f o r m earth tones, g i v i n g an erroneous impression that o n l y later b u i l d i n g s were b r i g h t l y c o l ored. I n other cases, as under the puritanical A l m o h a d dynasty, w h i c h r u l e d i n Spain and M o r o c c o i n the t w e l f t h and t h i r t e e n t h centuries, rather plain exteriors and w h i t e w a s h e d interiors were preferred f o r mosques. But many b u i l d i n g s were b r i g h t l y colored. In the tenth century, for example, whe n one o f the Umayyad cahphs o f Spain decided to enlarge the congregational mosque at his capital o f Córdoba, his builders attempted to imitate many o f the coloristic effects o f U m a y y a d architecture i n Syria, a l t h o u g h they k n e w these only at great remove. The o r i g i n a l Córdoba mosque, completed i n 7 8 6 - 8 7 , had

(Left) The coloristic effects

used an inventive system o f double-tiered c o l u m n s and arches to s u p p o r t the

of the mosaics decorating

w o o d e n roof, probably because o n l y short, stubby c o l u m n s were available f r o m abandoned Visigothic b u i l d i n g s i n the r e g i o n . By stacking t w o short c o l u m n s o n t o p o f each other, the mosque's designers could achieve the necessary height,

the interior of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem were enhanced by a brilliantly painted and gilded ceiling

although they needed to add intermediate arches to stiffen the i n h e r e n t l y unsta-

and lavish use of marble

ble c o n s t r u c t i o n . They u n i f i e d this motley collection o f columns and capitals

paneling.

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w i t h a striking design for the voussoirs o f the arches, w h i c h were alternately o f w h i t e stone and courses o f red brick. The striped effect o f the t w o - t i e r e d arches was m a i n t a i n e d by later builders, w h o enlarged the mosque i n the n i n t h and tenth centuries. These renovations culminated w h e n the U m a y y a d caliph al-Hakam I I (r. 961—76) expanded the prayer hall and added a d o m e over the center entrance to the a d d i t i o n and domes i n front a n d o n either side o f the n e w mihrab. The screened area, w h i c h was c o n nected to the palace by a passageway i n the w a l l o f the mosque facing Mecca, was a maqsura, an enclosure for the ruler, meant n o t to protect the caliph f r o m h a r m (as the early maqsuras were said to f u n c t i o n ) b u t to emphasize the great p o m p and ceremony w i t h w h i c h the Umayyad caliph s u r r o u n d e d himself. These areas were distinguished by elaborate screens o f intersecting arches and r i c h l y colored revetments i n glass mosaic; the glass mosaics were clearly meant to evoke the great mosaics that decorated the U m a y y a d b u i l d i n g s o f Syria. A c c o r d i n g to local Arabic histories, there were n o laborers i n Spain capable o f executing these mosaics, so the caliph sent an ambassador t o the Byzantine e m p e r o r i n Constantinople, requesting h i m to send a w o r k m a n to decorate the mosque. The

The area immediately in front of the mihrab added to the Great Mosque of Cordoba in 965 was elaborately decorated with intersecting arches supporting mosaic-covered vaults, clearly meant to recall the mosaic-covered buildings of Umayyad Syria.

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emperor c o m p l i e d , and the ambassador r e t u r n e d w i t h a master craftsman and sufficient mosaic cubes t o complete the job. A l t h o u g h the d i f f i c u l t technique of glass mosaic was i n f r e q u e n t l y repeated i n later centuries and usually w i t h some reference to the Umayyads o f Syria, m u l ticolor revetment i n glazed ceramic tile became a h a l l m a r k o f later Islamic a r c h i tecture f r o m Spain and N o r t h Africa to the borders o f India. By the late eleventh century builders i n the eastern Islamic lands had reached the u l t i m a t e exploitat i o n o f carved- and patterned-brick decoration and were ready to experiment w i t h glazed revetment. They began by i n c o r p o r a t i n g small pieces o f cut tile, m a i n l y colored a l i g h t (turquoise) blue, w h i c h was easy to make f r o m the readi l y available copper deposits i n Iran. Soon they expanded the surfaces covered, and by the fourteenth century the palette was extended to include dark blue (colo r e d w i t h cobalt), black (manganese), and w h i t e as w e l l as green and ocher. I n c l u d i n g the b u f f natural color o f the b r i c k surface, this b r o u g h t the total n u m ber o f colors to seven, the n u m b e r o f colors i n the traditional Persian palette. W i t h the expanded range o f color came the elaboration o f design, and geometric patterns gave w ay to naturalistic and floral designs, made by c u t t i n g small r

pieces f r o m m o n o c h r o m e tiles and fitting the irregular pieces together. The technique reached its apogee i n the late f o u r t e e n t h a n d fifteenth centuries, alongside the development o f Persian book painting. Some o f the finest tile panels were prepared for the gargantuan palace that the Turkic conqueror T i m u r erected i n his h o m e t o w n o f Shahr-i Sabz, b u t o n l y fragments r e m a i n to attest to its o r i g i n a l spendor. M o r e can be seen at the Blue Mosque, b u i l t by the Q a r a q o y u n l u i n their capital at Tabriz ( i n n o r t h w e s t e r n Iran) a r o u n d 146c. The mosque takes its name f r o m its superb tile revetment, w h i c h was never surpassed i n later m o n u m e n t s . A l t h o u g h i n r u i n s , the Blue Mosque displays an unusual variety o f tile decoration o f magnificent quality. Seven-color tile mosaic covers the exterior and m u c h o f the i n t e r i o r walls above a marble dado. Particularly striking are the f l u i d arabesque m o t i f s and the inscriptions, o f t e n set o u t i n w h i t e or g o l d against a deep blue or green b a c k g r o u n d . The b u i l d i n g is a virtual catalog o f tile techniques. Hexagonal dark blue glazed tiles covered the upper surfaces a n d vaults o f the m a i n chamber, and p u r p l e tiles overpainted i n g o l d were set i n the sanctuary. Luster tiles were set at the base o f the cable m o l d i n g o n the entrance p o r tal, one o f the very rare instances o f this technique i n the fifteenth century. H i g h l y embossed m o l d e d fragments o f underglaze-painted tile r e m a i n o n the corner buttresses. Tile mosaic is a laborious and expensive technique because i t is t i m e - c o n s u m i n g to cut a n d fit the tiny pieces together. I n the fifteenth c e n t u r y i t was gradually replaced by a cheaper technique i n w h i c h large tiles o f u n i f o r m shape

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were painted w i t h patterns w o r k e d i n d i f f e r e n t colors o f glaze. To prevent the glazes f r o m r u n n i n g together d u r i n g

firing,

they w e r e separated by a greasy

substance m i x e d w i t h manganese, w h i c h left a matte black line between the c o l ors after firing. The technique, k n o w n i n Spanish as cuerda seca, is m u c h faster t h a n tile mosaic, b u t the colors are not as b r i l l i a n t because they are all fired at one temperature. Tile mosaic was also popular at the other end o f the Islamic lands i n the Maghreb or Islamic west, w h e r e i t is k n o w n locally as zallij. The technique m a y have developed even earlier there, b u t i t f l o w e r e d d u r i n g the f o u r t e e n t h century u n d e r the M a r i n i d s i n M o r o c c o . I n the eastern Islamic lands the p r e d o m i n a n t c o l o r was blue, whereas i n the west the m a i n colors were green and tan, usually Builders enveloped their

on a w h i t e b a c k g r o u n d . Lower walls were covered by tiled dadoes, w h i c h w e r e

structures with glittering

n o r m a l l y s u r m o u n t e d by epigraphic friezes w i t h the black letters f o r m e d b y

webs of glazed ceramic tile.

scraping t h r o u g h the glaze to the clay body. U p p e r walls were covered w i t h elab-

Perhaps the finest example is the ruined Blue Mosque in Tabriz (ca. 146c), decorated

orately carved stucco decoration and capped by w o o d e n friezes, consoles, and cornices. Floors, unlike those i n the east, often had glazed h i g h l i g h t s or w e r e

with exquisite tile mosaic in

completely covered i n tiles. Even the piers and c o l u m n s i n courtyards were revet-

seven colors.

ted i n tile. The overall effect o f such i n t e r i o r s is glistening, and the tripartite c o m -

Builders in the western Islamic lands decorated interiors with tilework combined with carved plaster and wood, as in the courtyard of the Attarin Madrasa

(1325)

in Fez, Morocco.

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b i n a t i o n o f tiled dado, stucco w a l l , and w o o d e n superstructure remained standard i n the r e g i o n for centuries. Perhaps the most refined coloristic effects were achieved i n the b u i l d i n g s erected under the Mughals i n the I n d i a n subcontinent. Polished w h i t e marble that reflected l i g h t was played o f f against matte r e d sandstone that absorbed i t . The effect was heightened by the use of pietra dura, m u l t i c o l o r e d inlay i n such hard and rare stones as lapis, o n y x , jasper, topaz, carnelian, and agate, w h i c h e m p h a sized the jewel-like qualities o f the b u i l d i n g . The small t o m b o f I t i m a d al-Dawla, the minister o f finance to the emperor o f I n d i a , Jahangir (r. 1605-27), is like a jewelbox. Constructed by N u r Jahan, w h o was I t i m a d al-Dawia's daughter (and The Taj Mahal, the enormous tomb built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his

Jahangir's w i f e ) after her father's death i n 1622, the small t o m b is decorated w i t h traditional geometric designs and arabesques, c o m b i n e d w i t h representational m o t i f s o f w i n e cups, vases w i t h flowers, and cypress trees, visual allusions to the

wife, shows a sophisticated

Quran's descriptions o f Paradise. The intricate inlay i n yellow, b r o w n , gray, and

sense of color. The polished

black contrasting w i t h the s m o o t h w h i t e marble prefigures the later phase o f

white marble used for the

M u g h a l decoration i n w h i c h w h i t e marble was garnished w i t h g o l d and precious

tomb reflects light and contrasts with the red sandstone used for the outlying build-

stones. Elsewhere, particularly i n m o r e p u b l i c settings, the repertory o f designs and colors was somewhat narrower. For example, at the Taj M a h a l , the t o m b c o n -

ings and with the black inlaid

structed by Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan, this decoration is restrained and used o n l y

decoration of arabesques and

for slender arabesques and extensive inscriptions done i n black that constrast

inscriptions.

w i t h the polished w h i t e marble.

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Perhaps the most s u m p t u o u s o f the M u g h a l private quarters were at the Red Fort

in

Delhi.

They

were

part

of

Shahjahanabad, the quarter o f the city laid out under the emperor Shah Jahan's auspices f r o m 1639 to 1648. These palaces, n o w called the Rang

Mahal

(Painted

Palace) and the D i v a n - i Khass (Private Audience H a l l ) , are set b e h i n d the m a i n audience hall and overlook the river. They are decorated w i t h lavishly carved marble, paintings, and pietra d u r a inlay i n gold and precious stones. The extravagant use o f color i n Islamic art and architecture has been explained i n several ways. It is o f t e n t h o u g h t to be a reaction to the d u l l and m o n o c h r o matic landscape i n m u c h o f the t r a d i -

Mughal architects achieved some of the most refined col-

tional

oristic effects by inlaying white marble with semiprecious

heartland

of

Islam,

but

this

explanation is simplistic. Colors also had a w i d e range o f s y m b o l i c associations i n

colored stones, as on a panel from the Red Fort in Delhi, built by Shah fahan (r. 1 6 2 8 - 5 7 ) .

the Islamic lands, b u t these were often contradictory and m e a n i n g f u l o n l y i n specific geographical or c h r o n o l o g i c a l contexts. Thus, black was o f t e n associated w i t h the mysterious Black Stone embedded i n the Kaaba at Mecca t o w a r d w h i c h all M u s l i m s pray, b u t black was also associated w i t h vengeance and revolt, as i n the black flag that became the standard o f the Abbasid dynasty. I n the Maghreb black c o u l d be the accursed color o f hell, and i n order to avoid p r o n o u n c i n g the name, the opposite color ( w h i t e ) was substituted. Thus, t o this day coal is sometimes k n o w n i n N o r t h Africa as al-abyad ("the w h i t e [ t h i n g ] " ) . W h i t e generally conveyed a sense o f brightness, loyalty, royalty, and death, m u c h the same values as i n m a n y other cultures. Two seamless w h i t e lengths o f cloth made u p the garment w o r n by all male p i l g r i m s to Mecca, and these were often saved f o r use as a burial shroud. W h i t e was also the color associated w i t h the Fatimid caliphs, the opponents o f the Abbasids. Blue had prophylactic connotations, and many people w o r e blue, particularly beads, to w a r d o f f the evil eye. The magical power o f blue made i t the dispenser o f evil f o r t u n e and at the same t i m e a defense against i t . Green, the color o f plants, was t h o u g h t to b r i n g e q u i l i b r i u m , g o o d luck, fertility, and y o u t h . Green was the color o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d ' s flag and the cloak o f his son-in-law and successor A l i . I n later times

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green turbans were w o r n by descendants o f the Prophet, and the heavenly throne is said to have been carved f r o m a green jewel. Tiled domes and roofs were most often green o r blue, but the auspicious o r heavenly associations may have been o u t w e i g h e d by practical considerations, because copper oxide, a u b i q u i t o u s c o l o r i n g agent, produces a green color i n a lead glaze and a turquoise or blue color i n an alkaline one.

The Notion of Willful Ambiguity The changing and variable interpretations given to any particular color at any particular t i m e o r place e x e m p l i f y a final characteristic o f m u c h Islamic art: its w i l l f u l ambiguity. Because there is n o clergy i n Islam to prescribe or m a i n t a i n any given m e a n i n g for any particular s y m b o l or theme, there was m u c h m o r e latitude for the viewer to interpret i t at w i l l . One example is f o u n d o n a lusterware dish discovered i n the course o f the 1911-13 German excavations at the Abbasid capital o f Samarra. The design is caught somewhere between abstraction and representation. At first glance the design seems to be abstract, b u t o n closer observation i t can be interpreted as a plant or a b i r d . A circle i n the m i d d l e o f the dish is transformed i n t o the body o f a b i r d by adding palmettes at the sides to f o r m w i n g s and at the top to f o r m the bird's head h o l d i n g another sprig i n its m o u t h . Similar a m b i g u i t y marks m u c h o f the stucco decoration o f the c o n t e m p o rary Abbasid palaces at Samarra. Scholars have d i s t i n g u i s h e d three styles o f stucco c a r v i n g there. The first style is a carved t e c h n i q u e derived f r o m the geom e t r i c i z e d vegetal decoration used i n the U m a y y a d p e r i o d . The second style is characterized by the use o f crosshatching for details. Subjects are somewhat s i m p l i f i e d b u t are still d i s t i n g u i s h e d f r o m the b a c k g r o u n d . The t h i r d style, k n o w n also as the beveled style, is a m o l d e d t e c h n i q u e suitable for c o v e r i n g large w a l l surfaces. It uses a d i s t i n c t i v e slanted cut w h i c h allows the plaster to be released easily f r o m the m o l d . D e c o r a t i o n i n the beveled style is d i s t i n guished by r h y t h m i c a n d s y m m e t r i c a l r e p e t i t i o n s o f curved lines e n d i n g i n spirals that f o r m abstract patterns i n w h i c h the t r a d i t i o n a l d i s t i n c t i o n between subject and b a c k g r o u n d has been dissolved. The beveled style was u n d o u b t edly developed for stucco, but was soon a p p l i e d to w o o d a n d other carved media such as rock crystal, n o t o n l y i n the m a j o r cities o f Iraq b u t also i n p r o v i n c i a l centers. The transfer o f techniques and designs f r o m one m e d i u m t o another is another hallmark o f Islamic art. By contrast, i n pre-Islamic times specific designs had been used for different materials—one design was appropriate for textiles, another for metalwares, stLll others for architectural decoration or for glassware. This division

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does n o t h o l d i n Islamic art, w h e r e a textile design

m i g h t reappear

on

metalware

or

ceramics and an architectural m o t i f o n glassw a r e , despite the e n o r m o u s differences i n scale.

For

example,

the

same

design

of

roundels w i t h pearl borders enclosing m y t h i cal lion-headed birds, called simurahs, is k n o w n o n textiles, metalwares, and w a l l p a i n t i n g s made i n early Islamic times over a w i d e region f r o m Central Asia to the Mediterranean. The beveled style clearly d e r i v e d f r o m plant m o t i f s , b u t c o n t e m p o r a r y viewers, like m o d e r n ones, m u s t have seen that these repeated m o t i f s c o u l d also be interpreted as h u m a n faces o r other animate m o t i f s . A w o o d e n panel f r o m Egypt, for example, is carved i n a pure abstract beveled style, b u t the vegetal m o t i f s have been arranged i n such a

Ambiguity characterizes many of the designs decorating works of Islamic art. The figure on this ninthcentury luster-painted dish might be interpreted as as an abstract design, a plant, or a bird.

way that they can also be seen as representing a b i r d . A l t h o u g h i t clearly is n o t a b i r d , i t is m o r e than some abstract leaves. This

The interior walls of many

w i l l e d sense o f a m b i g u i t y is an essential part o f the object's artistic content.

residences at the Abbasid

W r i t i n g , t o o , c o u l d deliberately be made a m b i g u o u s , as o n the B o b r i n s k i Bucket. The b o d y o f the bucket is decorated w i t h five h o r i z o n t a l bands. The t o p , m i d d l e , a n d b o t t o m bands c o n t a i n Arabic i n s c r i p t i o n s b e s t o w i n g g o o d

capital at Samarra were decorated with molded decoration, characterized by a distinctive slanted cut that

wishes o n an ( a n o n y m o u s ) owner. The t w o bands i n between c o n t a i n f i g u r a l

allowed the panels to be

scenes. The second b a n d f r o m the t o p shows scenes o f e n t e r t a i n m e n t , i n c l u d -

released easily from the mold.

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i n g d r i n k i n g , music m a k i n g , a n d game playing such as b a c k g a m m o n , w h i c h was k n o w n i n the medieval Islamic lands as nard. The second band f r o m the b o t t o m contains scenes o f horsemen h u n t i n g a n d f i g h t i n g . U n l i k e the

dedicatory

i n s c r i p t i o n w r i t t e n clearly a r o u n d the r i m and handle i n Persian, the Arabic i n s c r i p t i o n s on the b o d y o f the bucket are e x t r e m e l y d i f f i c u l t t o read. I n the t o p a n d b o t t o m bands, the upper parts o f the letters are f o r m e d f r o m h u m a n f i g ures and some o f the l o w e r parts are f o r m e d f r o m animals. I n the m i d d l e b a n d the stems o f the letters are elaborately k n o t t e d . The text i n The design of a simurgh on an octagonal silver dish attributed to ninth- or tenth-century Iran probably derives from a textile pattern.

the a n t h r o p o m o r p h i c a n d k n o t t e d scripts is so b a n a l — " g l o r y ' a n d p r o s p e r i t y a n d p o w e r and t r a n q u i l i t y a n d happiness . . .

to its o w n e r " —

that any viewer c o u l d i m m e d i a t e l y guess its c o n tent. These i n s c r i p t i o n s were probably n o t meant t o be deciphered a n d read literally b u t rather taken metaphorically as representing the same g o o d life depicted i n the accompanying f i g u r a l scenes. Even architecture c o u l d be made ambiguous. Designers and builders juxtaposed and played w i t h the concepts o f i n t e r i o r and exterior. This is seen readily i n the A l h a m b r a , the medieval palace complex b u i l t o n the hills overlooking the city o f Granada i n southern Spain. One o f its most distinctive and attractive features is the c o m m i n g l i n g o f the outside and the inside. A courtyard is open to the sky b u t is inside a b u i l d i n g ; a p o r c h is covered o n three sides b u t opens to the courtyard. This a m b i g u i t y was enhanced by the use o f water to connect the exterior w i t h the interior. Water, carried by aqueducts f r o m the s u r r o u n d i n g hills, was p i p e d i n t o b u i l d i n g s , where it f l o w e d f r o m fountains t h r o u g h an elaborate system o f channels i n the floor. The u b i q u i t o u s sound o f flowing water f u r ther b l u r r e d the d i s t i n c t i o n between inside and outside. Vistas also b r o u g h t outside and inside together. Many r o o m s had w i n d o w s or loggias (roofed open galleries) designed to c o m m a n d an extensive o u t l o o k and f r o m w h i c h one could gaze o n gardens or the city below. Similar a m b i g u i t y can be seen i n muqarnas, the distinctive stalactite-like m o t i f used i n Islamic buildings f r o m Spain to Central Asia. The playful a m b i g u i t y inherent i n the f o r m often makes it difficult to determine its load-bearing capability i n i n d i v i d u a l cases. Just as its visual and structural roles were often ambiguous, so were its symbolic implications, and it may well have had different implications at different times. Some scholars have suggested, for example, that the fragmenta-

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t i o n and ephemerality i n h e r ent i n muqarnas were suitable metaphors for the atomistic t h e o l o g y o f Abbasid a p o l o gists. I n Iran and n e i g h b o r i n g areas muqarnas vaults were often used over the tombs o f saints and mystics, probably to enhance the sanctity of the specific site. At the shrine o f A h m a d Yasavi, for example, stunning

muqarnas

vaults

cover the t o m b r o o m and the mosque. The muqarnas m o t i f was also exploited as a metaphor for the d o m e o f heaven. This is clear at the Alhambra palace, w h e r e w r i t i n g drives h o m e the message suggested by the form.

Two

muqarnas

magnificent

vaults

are

sus-

pended over the r o o m s i n the center o f the l o n g sides o f the C o u r t o f the Lions. To the n o r t h is the so-called H a l l o f the T w o Sisters, a r o m a n t i c

This detail of a silk caftan worn by a prince in the Caucasus mountains in the eighth century shows the same design of a simurgh as seen on the octagonal silver plate.

name applied i n m e m o r y o f t w o captive sisters w h o are said to have perished f r o m love at the sight o f the amorous happenings they c o u l d witness i n the gardens below b u t i n w h i c h they could n o t participate. The m u q a r nas vault is set over an octagonal d r u m w i t h eight paired w i n d o w s , itself supported by muqarnas squinches over the square r o o m . O n the opposite side o f the court is the so-called H a l l o f the Abencerrajes, whose apocryphal name derives f r o m the famous family brutally m u r d e r e d at the end o f M u s l i m rule i n Spain. I n this case die muqarnas vault is set over an e i g h t - p o i n t e d star. The walls o f b o t h rooms are inscribed w i t h verses taken f r o m a longer p o e m by the fourteenth-cent u r y court poet I b n Zamrak. The verses describe the m o v e m e n t o f the celesdal bodies through their orbits i n the heavens and reinforce the metaphor o f the rotati n g d o m e o f heaven. As sunlight passed f r o m w i n d o w to w i n d o w i n the d r u m o f

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Writing could be ambiguous. The Bobrinski Bucket, for example, is decorated with an inscription band in which the letters end in human heads.They contrast with the figural scene of a game of backgammon below.

the muqarnas vaults i n these t w o r o o m s , the movement o f shadows w o u l d create the effect o f a rotating starry sky. Paradoxically, the a m b i g u i t y inherent i n many f o r m s a n d m o t i f s used i n Islamic b u i l d i n g s may have c o n t r i b u t e d to their survival, as they were reinterpreted to suit the needs and aspirations o f later users. This hypothesis of variable m e a n i n g and changing interpretation may i n part explain w h y the D o m e o f the

ART

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Muqarnas vaults were often used to sanctify the space underneath, as at the late fourteenth-century shrine of Ahmad Yasavi at Turkestan City

Rock i n Jerusalem, especially its i n t e r i o r mosaics, has survived so w e l l . Scholars are still at somewhat o f a loss to explain w h y the caliph A b d a l - M a l i k ordered its c o n s t r u c t i o n , a l t h o u g h several different and even c o n t r a d i c t o r y explanations were p u t f o r w a r d for its presence. One early explanation, k n o w n since the e i g h t h century, was that A b d a l - M a l i k had the D o m e o f the Rock erected as a substitute focus o f p i l g r i m a g e to replace the Kaaba i n Mecca, w h i c h at that t i m e was i n the hands o f his rival Abdallah i b n al-Zubayr. This heretical idea is discounted by many today, b u t it certainly carried currency for a l o n g t i m e . A second interpretation, still held by many today, connects the D o m e o f the Rock to Muhammad's miraculous n i g h t j o u r n e y (isra) f r o m Mecca to Jerusalem and his ascension fmiraj) i n t o heaven. This event is m e n t i o n e d i n the Q u r a n (17:1). A c c o r d i n g to the text, M u h a m m a d traveled f r o m the sacred m o s q u e (masjid al-haram) to the farthest mosque (masjid al-aqsa). The sacred mosque is c o m m o n l y taken to refer to the mosque i n Mecca, a n d by the m i d - e i g h t h century the farthest mosque was taken to refer to some location i n Jerusalem. Gradually, each o f the events i n the j o u r ney was related to a specific site i n the city, b u t only f r o m the t w e l f t h or t h i r teenth century can a direct association between the D o m e o f the Rock and the

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Muqarnas vaults could also be exploited as a metaphor for the dome of heaven. This one soars over the fourteenth-century' Hall of the Two Sisters at the Alhambra. the palace-city of the Nasrid rulers of Granada.

Prophet's j o u r n e y be d o c u m e n t e d . Regardless o f the u l t i m a t e t r u t h o f either explanation, w h a t is i m p o r t a n t is that variable explanations c o u l d be and were accepted by different audiences. The same is true o f the mosaic p r o g r a m i n the interior o f the D o m e o f the Rock. Some scholars have related the iconographical p r o g r a m o f trees and other vegetation to medieval stories about Solomon's temple, particularly his palace, and associated the mosaic decoration w i t h the garden paradise that is promised to believers. Similar eschatalogical explanations have been proposed for the contemporary mosaics i n the Great Mosque o f Damascus, and such an explanation fits Jerusalem, the t h i r d holiest city i n Islam. A second interpretation focuses o n the jewelry depicted i n the mosaics, particularly the crowns and other regalia. These are interpreted as trophies f r o m conquered enemies that were arranged as offerings i n a sanctuary or m e m o r i a l m o n u m e n t . However, none o f these explanations—pilgrimage, n i g h t journey, ascension, paradise, or victory—are m e n t i o n e d i n the contemporary inscriptions, w h i c h speak about Islam and Christianity Patrons, artists, and consumers i n the Islamic lands seem to have delighted i n such ambiguity. Just as the Arabic language encourages plays o n w o r d s , so too

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was Islamic art open to m u l t i p l e and even contradictory interpretations. W r i t i n g c o u l d i m p a r t i n f o r m a t i o n , b u t i t was also decorative. Geometry f o r m e d the architectural m o d u l e o f construction, b u t it was also used as a m a j o r theme o f decoration n o t only for biddings b u t also on objects. Color was attractive and enlivening to the eye, but i t also had symbolic overtones. The m u l t i p l e meanings and w i l l e d ambiguities are part o f the appeal o f Islamic art, w h i c h can be b o t h u n c h a n g i n g and variable to the m o d e r n eye.

CHAPTER

SIX

Philosophy and Theology FROM T H E E I G H T H CENTURY C . E . TO T H E P R E S E N T

Majid Fakhry

Islamic theology (kalam) was to a large extent a by-product o f Islamic philosophy To place Islamic philosophy i n its proper historical context, one must first review the various stages t h r o u g h w h i c h its predecessor, Greek-Hellenistic philosophy, passed, to the eventual capture o f Alexandria by Arabs i n 641 c . E . Founded by Alexander the Great i n 330 period (323-30

B.C.E.)

B.C.E.,

Alexandria had become d u r i n g the Ptolemaic

the heir to Adiens as the cultural center o f the ancient w o r l d .

By the beginning o f the c o m m o n era, Alexandria had become the major h u b o f philosophical, scientific, and medical studies, as well as the center o f the interaction o f Greek thought w i t h Near Eastern religions: Egyptian, Phoenician, Chaldean, Jewish, and Christian. By the t h i r d century c . E . a new brand o f philosophy k n o w n as Neoplatonism attempted to fuse the purely Greek legacy w i t h those o f the ancient nations o f the Near East. What characterized the new amalgam was the p r o f o u n d religious and mystical spirit that animated it and the urge to transcend the intellectual categories that Greek philosophy i n its greatest moments had consecrated as the chief channels for truth seeking. Identified w i t h Aristotle, k n o w n i n Arabic sources

(Left) Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. m i ) was the greatest

as the Master o f Logic and the First Teacher, tins ancient brand o f philosophy was

theologian of Islam, and his

n o w challenged by a new variety tiiat claimed Plato as its master and fully exploited

treatise \Uya ulum ol-din

the religious-mystical tendencies inherited f r o m Pythagorean ism.

enjoyed wide circulation.

The Egyptian-Greek philosopher Plotinus (205—70) is the accredited founder o f N e o p l a t o n i s m , but he made n o claims to originality. Plotinus contends i n his

269

The Mamluk sultan Qaitbay donated this fine copy to his

madiasa at Sahra in 149c.

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w o r k the Enneads, that his sole a i m was to c o m m e n t o n or interpret the w o r k s o f the " D i v i n e Plato." Plotinus' chsciple and editor, P o r p h y r y o f Tyre (ca. 2.34-305-), a Syrian, carried o n his teacher's legacy and pushed i t one step f u r t h e r i n the d i r e c t i o n o f m y s t i c i s m . Porphyry argued that the ultimate goal o f plulosophy is self-purification, or cleansing o f the soul f r o m w o r l d l y passions and t u r n i n g t o w a r d the i n t e l l i g i b l e w o r l d . One o f the most i n f l u e n t i a l figures i n the history o f Islamic logic and ethics, Porphyry was a great critic o f Christianity. He f o u n d support for this thesis i n Plato's Theaetetus, w h i c h describes p h i l o s o p h y as an attempt to rise above the material w o r l d and to seek "likeness u n t o G o d " (homoiosisTheo). Porphyry's successor was another Syrian, Jamblichus ( d . 330), a s h i n i n g star i n the Neoplatonic f i r m a m e n t . Jamblichus' disciple Syrianus ( d . ca. 430) was the teacher o f Proclus o f Athens (ca. 410—485"), w h o w r o t e Elements of Theology. This w o r k was partially translated i n t o Arabic i n the tenth century as the Pure Good and later i n t o Latin as Liber de causis (Book o f Causes), and it f o r m s a major l i n k i n the The Sasanian academy at Gundishapur, founded in southwest Iran around 555 by Anushirwan, continued in

development o f Islamic and Latin N e o p l a t o n i s m .

The Eclipse of Philosophy during the Byzantine Period

the early centuries of Islam to be a major center for the transmission of Greek science and medicine. Nothing is left at the site, but the nearby ruins of the Sasanian

The school o f Athens, w h i c h had been philosophy's h o m e f o r almost a thousand years, was the last bastion o f Greek paganism. I n 529 the Byzantine emperor Justinian, as defender o f the O r t h o d o x faith, ordered that school to be closed, because its teachings constituted a threat to Christianity. After the school's clos-

dam and bridge over the

i n g , seven o f its teachers, headed by Simplicius and Damascius, crossed the bor-

Juhayl River at Shushtar tes-

der i n t o Persia, l u r e d by reports o f the philhellenic sympathies o f the Persian

tify its importance.

emperor Khosrow I , k n o w n i n Arabic and Persian sources as Anushirvan (the

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I

Just). A r o u n d 555, A n u s h i r v a n f o u n d e d the s c h o o l o f G u n d i s h a p u r , w h i c h became a staging station i n the transmission o f Greek m e d i c i n e and science to the M u s l i m w o r l d . W h e n Baghdad became the capital o f the Abbasid Empire i n 762, Gundishapur p r o v i d e d the caliphs w i t h a l o n g list o f court physicians, such as the members o f the famous Nestorian family o f Bakhtishu. These physicians served the caliphs well and were i n s t r u m e n t a l i n setting up the first hospital and observatory i n Baghdad, m o d e l e d o n those i n Gundishapur d u r i n g the reign o f the caliphs H a r u n al-Rashid (r. 7 8 6 - 8 0 9 ) and his second son, a l - M a m u n (r. 813—33). M e d i c i n e , astronomy, and p h i l o s o p h y flourished i n Gundishapur, p r i m a r i l y because ofYahya al-Barmaki ( d . 80c), Harun's vizier a n d mentor, whose zeal for Hellenic studies was i n s t r u m e n t a l i n p r o m o t i n g the translation o f Greek philosophical w o r k s i n t o Arabic. The p r i m a r y channel t h r o u g h w h i c h Greek p h i l o s o p h y was transmitted to the M u s l i m w o r l d was Alexandria, w h e r e the study o f Greek p h i l o s o p h y and science was

flourishing

w h e n the Arabs conquered i t i n 641. I n Syria and Iraq the study

o f Greek was pursued by Nestorians and Jacobites, Syriac-speaking scholars i n the cities o f A n t i o c h , Edessa, and N u s a y b i n , w h o read or translated theological w r i t i n g s f r o m Alexandria. These w r i t i n g s i n c l u d e d Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, St. C l e m e n t s Recognitiones, the Discourses o f Titus o f Bostra against the Manicheans, and the w o r k s o f Theodore o f Mopsuestia and D i o d o r e o f Tarsus. The translations o f Greek logical texts often accompanied the translations o f these theological texts, to serve as preparatory instruction. Accordingly, Porphyry's Isagoge and Aristotle's Categories, Hermenéutica, and the first part o f Prior Analytics were translated i n t o Syriac, laying the g r o u n d w o r k for their eventual translation i n t o Arabic. There is no evidence that Syriac scholars were interested i n the other parts o f Aristotle's Organon—including the Posterior Analytics, w h i c h dealt w i t h demonstrative syllogisms, and Sophistica, w h i c h dealt w i t h sophistical arguments or fallacious modes o f discourse—perhaps because i t was feared that these parts constituted a threat to the Christian faith. It was left t o Baghdad's M u s l i m logicians some centuries later, w i t h the philosopher A b u Nasr al-Farabi (ca. 878—950) leading the way, to break this tradition. These logicians eventually c o m m e n t e d o n or paraphrased the range o f Aristotle's logical treatises, as w ell as his Rhetoric and Poetics, w h i c h were r

regarded as an integral part o f the Organon i n the Syriac and Arabic traditions.

The Arabic Translation of Greek Philosophical Texts It is significant that the first accredited Arabic translations o f Greek p h i l o s o p h i cal texts correspond to the same Syriac t r a d i t i o n o f logical scholarship, as attested by the logical translations f r o m Pahlevi by the e i g h t h - c e n t u r y Arab translator A b d u l l a h i b n al-Muqaffa or his son M u h a m m a d . These translations were c o n -

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fined to the first three parts o f Aristotle's Organon: Categories, Hermenéutica, and Prior Analytics. They were made d u r i n g the r e i g n o f the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 7S4--7S).

w r i

° is c o m m e n d e d i n Arabic sources for his frugality and love o f learn-

ing. Also translated i n t o Arabic d u r i n g al-Mansur's r e i g n was Ptolemy's Almagest, Euclid's Elements, and several o f Aristotle's treatises. This was f o l l o w e d , d u r i n g the caliph Harun's r e i g n , by the translation o f a variety o f astronomical and medical w o r k s , i n c l u d i n g Ptolemy's Quadripartius and the I n d i a n treatise Sidhanta, k n o w n i n Arabic as Sindhind, by Brahmagupla. The earliest translations f r o m Greek or Syriac o f philosophical texts (as a distinct f r o m logical and astronomical texts), however, appear to have started t o w a r d the end o f the eighth century. A n u m b e r o f Platonic Dialogues i n the synopses o f the great A l e x a n d r i a n physician-philosopher Galen (129—ca. 199), i n c l u d i n g Republic, Timaeus, and Laws, were translated by Yahya i b n a l - B i t r i q ( d . 820) and revised shortly thereafter by H u n a y n i b n Ishaq al-Ibadi ( 8 0 8 - 7 3 ) and his associates. This translation process was at first haphazard, but w i t h the accession o f the Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n i n 813, the picture changed dramatically. A poet and scholar i n his o w n r i g h t , a l - M a m u m appears to have had a passion f o r " f o r e i g n l e a r n i n g , " especially Greek p h i l o s o p h y and science. As a concrete expression o f this passion, i n 830 he f o u n d e d the House o f W i s d o m i n Baghdad to serve as an institute f o r translation and research; accordingly, the translation m o v e m e n t accelerated d u r i n g his r e i g n . Aristotle's Metaphysics and the apocryphal Theology of Aristotle, a paraphrase o f Plotinus' last three Enneads, were translated d u r i n g this p e r i o d . Before l o n g , the entire Aristotelian corpus was translated i n t o Arabic, w i t h the exception o f Politics, for w h i c h a fabrication by i b n a l - B i t r i q called Secret of Secrets was substituted and falsely attributed to Aristotle. In a d d i t i o n , a large n u m b e r o f Galen's ethical a n d logical treatises were translated along w i t h his vast medical corpus i n sixteen books, w h i c h f o r m e d the basis o f medical i n s t r u c t i o n for centuries. A n u m b e r o f Porphyry's logical, e t h i cal, and metaphysical treatises were also translated i n t o Arabic. Porphyry's w o r k s i n c l u d e d his famous Isagoge, or i n t r o d u c t i o n to Aristotle's logic; a lost twelve-book c o m m e n t a r y o n Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, k n o w n only f r o m the Arabic source; as w e l l as the already-mentioned paraphrase o f Plotinus' last three Enneads, attributed to Aristode and translated by I b n N a i m a h a l - H i m s i ( d . 83c) d u r i n g the reign o f a l - M a m u n . The u n k n o w n Greek author o f the Enneads c o u l d very w e l l have been P o r p h y r y himself.

The Beginning of Systematic Philosophical Writings Also d u r i n g al-Mamun's r e i g n , i n a d d i t i o n to these translations ( w h i c h f o r m e d the g r o u n d w o r k o f Arabic-Islamic p h i l o s o p h y ) , the first genuine philosopher o f

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Islam,Yaqub i b n Ishaq al-Sabah a l - K i n d i (79C-866), started his literary activity. A p r o l i f i c encyclopedic author to w h o m some three h u n d r e d w o r k s are attribu t e d , a l - K i n d i was the first c h a m p i o n o f Greek p h i l o s o p h y , w h i c h was approached w i t h some suspicion i n t r a d i t i o n a l and popular circles as a foreign and pagan i m p o r t . A l - K i n d i believed that the study o f philosophy, regardless o f its f o r e i g n extraction, should not be feared by the true believer, because philosophy's c h i e f subject o f i n q u i r y is the True One, source o f all being and unity. Rather than c o n f l i c t i n g w i t h religious or Islamic t r u t h , a l - K i n d i h e l d , p h i l o s o p h y actually reinforces that t r u t h . M o r e explicitly than any other M u s l i m philosopher before or since, A l - K i n d i p r o c l a i m e d his adherence to the p r i n c i p a l M u s l i m articles o f faith, i n c l u d i n g the existence o f G o d , the creation o f the w o r l d out o f n o t h i n g and i n time, the resurrection o f the body, and the truth o f prophetic revelation. A c c o r d i n g to a l - K i n d i , these articles, e m b o d i e d i n the Q u r a n , could be demonstrated p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y and their t r u t h dialectically r e i n f o r c e d . They belong to that body o f d i v i n e w i s d o m , w h i c h surpasses h u m a n w i s d o m but is perfectly compatible w i t h i t . As a p i o n e e r i n g w r i t e r on philosophical subjects— w h i c h covered the entire range o f classical learning, f r o m logic t o astronomy, ethics and metaphysics—al-Kindi was responsible for developing an adequate philosophical and scientific vocabulary that influenced his successors although it was later replaced by a more precise vocabulary. The next outstanding w r i t e r o n philosophical subjects was the great Persian physician-philosopher A b u Bakr al-Razi (ca. 86c—between 923 and 93c), w h o t o o k a diametrically opposite stand to a l - K i n d i o n the relationship between p h i losophy and revelation, generally referred to i n Arabic sources as " p r o p h e t h o o d . " Like a l - K i n d i , al-Razi was a great admirer o f Greek philosophy. In Platonic-Socratic fashion, al-Razi saw i n the study o f phdosophy the only means o f hberating the soul f r o m the bondage o f the body and its ultimate release f r o m the w h e e l o f b i r t h and rebirth. Accordingly, his chief ethical treatise is entided Spiritual Physic (therapy), to serve as a counterpart o f the b o d i l y physic (conventional medicine). The greatest n o n c o n f o r m i s t i n M u s l i m religious history, al-Razi repudiated the entire c o n cept o f revelation or p r o p h e t h o o d as superfluous, because for h i m reason was perfectly competent o n its o w n to lead to the discovery o f t r u t h and the cultivat i o n o f morals. More radical, perhaps, was his concept o f the five eternal p r i n c i ples f r o m w h i c h the w o r l d was o r i g i n a l l y fashioned: the Creator, the soul, matter, space, and t i m e . Because most o f these principles can be s h o w n to have a basis i n Plato's Timaeus, al-Razi should be regarded as Islam's greatest Platonist. He refers to Plato i n his Spiritual Physic as the "master and leader o f die philosophers," whose theories o f the soul, creation i n time, and the ultimate liberation o f the soul f r o m the bondage o f the body he incorporated i n t o his o w n system t h r o u g h the study o f philosophy. Al-Razi even defended i n the strongest terms the Platonic theory o f

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the transmigration o f the soul, w h i c h was never i n vogue i n pliilosophical or theological circles. The o n l y part o f Plato's philosophy that al-Razi overlooked is p o l itics. Later philosophers, such as A b u Nasr al-Farabi i n the tenth century and I b n Rushd i n the t w e l f t h century, inspired by Plato's Republic, either c o m m e n t e d o n or used it as a m o d e l i n their political w r i t i n g s . For reasons u n k n o w n , al-Razi also seems to have overlooked i n his some t w o h u n d r e d w o r k s another favorite Platonic discipline: mathematics.

Islamic Neoplatonism and Neopythagoreanism Neither the eclecticism o f a l - K i n d i n o r the Platonism o f al-Razi was destined to d e t e r m i n e the shape or d i r e c t i o n o f Islamic p h i l o s o p h y and give i t its characteristic stamp; rather, an Islamic b r a n d o f N e o p l a t o n i s m and Neopythagoreanism, whose foundations were laid i n the tenth century, played this role. A b u Nasr a l Farabi (ca. 8 7 8 - 9 5 0 ) , f r o m n o r t h e r n Persia and o f Turcoman o r i g i n , was the first truly systematic philosopher o f Islam and the founder o f Islamic N e o p l a t o n i s m . In his b e s t - k n o w n w o r k , the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City, he developed a cosmological and metaphysical system at the head o f w h i c h stood the First Principle or the One o f Plotinus, f r o m w h i c h a series o f t e n intellectual emanations arose, and generating i n progressive fashion the series o f heavenly spheres, beneath

w h i c h lay the w o r l d o f the elements.

I n this

system,

h u m a n k i n d , w h o marks the apex o f the terrestrial order o f generation and corr u p t i o n , is the highest b y - p r o d u c t o f the c o m b i n a t i o n o f the elements and for that reason is described as the m i c r o c o s m . U n l i k e inanimate objects or lower a n i mals, however, h u m a n k i n d possesses, i n a d d i t i o n to the n u t r i t i v e , sensitive, and appetitive faculties, the faculty o f reason w i t h its f o u r subdivisions: the theoretical, the practical, the deliberative, and the productive. The u l t i m a t e goal o f h u m a n activity is the " a c q u i s i t i o n o f happiness," w^hich al-Farabi discussed i n a n u m b e r o f treatises. This happiness consists i n the soul's total dissociation f r o m everything material or b o d i l y and as a result j o i n i n g the hosts o f "separate intelligences" i n the i n t e l l i g i b l e w o r l d , w h i c h , like Plato, alFarabi believed to be the u l t i m a t e abode o f the soul. Like Aristotle, however, alFarabi believed h u m a n k i n d to be a zoon politikon, or p o l i t i c a l a n i m a l , w h o cannot achieve the h u m a n goals o f happiness outside society. Al-Farabi rejected the s o l i tary l i f e advocated

by the Sufis, a n d postulated h u m a n association

as

h u m a n k i n d ' s natural c o n d i t i o n i n this life. O f the three f o r m s o f h u m a n assoc i a t i o n — t h e large, or inhabited w o r l d ; the intermediate, o r n a t i o n (ummah), and the small, or city-state—the last f o r m is the appropriate vehicle for achieving h u m a n k i n d ' s goal o f happiness or v i r t u e , w h i c h w h e n p r o p e r l y ordered may be called " t h e v i r t u o u s city." This v i r t u o u s city corresponds t o Plato's ideal state; all

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other f o r m s o f association are c o r r u p t i o n s t h e r e o f Because o f this p r o f o u n d preoccupation w i t h p o l i t i c a l association and the v i r t u o u s or ideal m o d e o f such association, to w h i c h al-Farabi r e t u r n e d i n a n u m b e r o f treatises, he is regarded as the f o u n d e r o f p o l i t i c a l p h i l o s o p h y i n Islam. H e was the first major logician o f Islam to c o m m e n t o n all parts o f Aristotle's Orgonon as w e l l as his Rhetoric and Poetics. Furthermore, better than any medieval l o g i c i a n , al-Farabi devoted a series o f treatises to the analysis o f logical terms i n a manner that was unequaled u n t i l m o d e r n times. Al-Farabi's emanationist scheme was f u r t h e r developed and refined by the b e s t - k n o w n Neoplatonist o f Islam, I b n Sina ( k n o w n i n the West as Avicenna, 980-1037). A l t h o u g h I b n Sina acknowledged his debt to al-Farabi, his style o f w r i t i n g was m o r e fluid and l u c i d than that o f his predecessor, w h i c h ensured a w i d e r d i f f u s i o n i n medieval learned circles, b o t h i n the East and the West. His greatest w o r k . Book of Healing, covered the entire range o f learning k n o w n i n his d a y — f r o m logic to physics, psychology, metaphysics, a n d astronomy. The w o r k consists o f some twenty volumes o f w h i c h he w r o t e an a b r i d g m e n t entitled alNajat (Salvation). In these t w o books and elsewhere, I b n Sina fully developed alFarabi's n o t i o n o f " c o n j u n c t i o n " o f humankind's material intellect w i t h the active intellect, or tenth emanation f r o m the One or Necessary Being. W h e n the soul has attained that stage, he wTote i n al-Najat, i t w o u l d become " a n intelligible w o r l d o f its o w n , i n w h i c h are inscribed the f o r m o f the w h o l e , the rational order o f that w h o l e , and the g o o d pervading i t . " I n other w o r d s , the soul w o u l d become a replica o f the i n t e l l i g i b l e w o r l d , f r o m w h i c h the w h o l e order o f i n t e l lectual, celestial, and terrestrial entities o r i g i n a l l y emerged b y w a y o f emanation. I b n Sina, w h o was b o r n i n Afshaneh i n n o r t h e r n Persia, m e n t i o n e d i n his autobiography that he was d r a w n to the study o f p h i l o s o p h y as a result o f discussions i n w h i c h his father and brother, w h o were addicted to reading Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, apparently engaged. His brother had been w o n over t o the Egyptian (Ismaili) cause that the Epistles advocated. W r i t t e n by a secret society called the Brethren o f Purity, these Epistles ( t o t a l l i n g f i f t y - t w o ) e m b o d i e d a p o p ular version o f Neopythagorean doctrine. A c c o r d i n g to the Brethren, this doctrine derived f r o m the teaching o f Pythagoras, " w h o was a monotheistic sage w h o hailed f r o m H a r r a n , " and his first-century disciple, Nicomachus o f Gerasa, w h o is sometimes confused w i t h Aristotle's son i n Arabic sources. The key to understanding the w o r l d , according to the Brethren, is the study o f " n u m b e r . " w^hich possesses certain physical and metaphysical properties. W h e n properly understood, this study w i l l lead the d i l i g e n t searcher to the knowledge o f the soul, the spiritual w o r l d , and ultimately God. For the Brethren, n u m b e r had m o r e than a numerical or arithmetical connotation; i t had a metaphysical and ethical connotation as w e l l , because i t reflected the very nature o f reality. N u m b e r

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The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity embodies a popular version of Neopythagorean doctrine. This fine illustrated copy made in Baghdad in 1287 has a double-page frontispiece showing the author and his attendants.

four, for instance, was intended by God to reflect the quadruple reality o f the spiritual w o r l d , w h i c h consists o f the Creator, the universal intellect, the universal soul, and p r i m e matter. Similarly, G o d caused the elements t o consist o f a total o f four or quadruples thereof: the basic natures or properties, the h u m o r s o f the body, the seasons, the corners o f the earth, and so o n . Even justice, according to the Brethren, corresponds to this p r i m o r d i a l number. The chief advantage o f the study o f number, according to the Brethren, is t w o f o l d : i t leads to the k n o w l e d g e o f the soul and this k n o w l e d g e leads i n t u r n to the knowledge o f G o d , as stated i n the prophetic t r a d i t i o n (hadith): " H e w h o knows his soul w i l l k n o w his L o r d . " This refers to the refinement o f character and the sharpening o f the m i n d . This double k n o w l e d g e w i l l lead one w h o is b o r n under an auspicious sign o f the zodiac to discover the true nature o f the soul as a spiritual substance. F u r t h e r m o r e , one w i l l then strive to assist the soul to regain its o r i g i n a l abode i n the intelligible w o r l d , " t h r o u g h the profession o f spiritual,

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religious creeds and the discourse o n noble philosophical matters according to the Socratic p a t h , w h d e practicing m y s t i c i s m , asceticism, and

monasticism,

according to the Christian path, and c l i n g i n g to the Hanafi r e l i g i o n (i.e., Islam)." The c h i e f m e r i t o f philosophy, then, is that it enables its adepts to probe the h i d den (batin) m e a n i n g o f revealed texts and teaches t h e m not to stop at their external (zahir) meaning i n the manner o f the ignorant and the vulgar. Ismailism, the extreme variety o f Shiite Islam, achieved political ascendancy i n the tendi and eleventh centuries, w h e n i t was proclaimed the official creed o f the Fatimid caliphate o f Cairo, w h i c h entered into violent confrontation w i t h the Sunni Abbasid caliphate o f Baghdad. I n this confrontation, the Brethren formed the philosophical arm o f Ismailism and the Assassins o f A l a m u t formed its militant arm. Those Assassins targeted the Crusaders, w h o gave them their infamous name i n the European languages, as well as important Abbasid statesmen such as the famous vizier o f the Seljuks, Nizam al-Mulk, w h o i n 1092 fell victim to die dagger o f an Ismaili Assassin.

Interactions of Philosophy and Dogma The chief merit o f the Brethren's teachings is that i t recognized no serious conflict between philosophical and religious t r u t h . The other philosophers discussed u n t i l n o w concurred i n principle i n the harmony o f the t w o forms o f t r u t h , but they developed elaborate cosmological and metaphysical systems inspired by the legacy o f the great Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus and his master Plato. Aristode figured prominently only i n those more discursive areas, such as logic, ethics, physics, and cosmology. A parallel development i n learned circles gaining g r o u n d i n the n i n t h century was systematic theology, generally referred to as the science o f dialectic (ilm al-K
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actions were part o f the ck'vine decree. Two leaders o f the Qadari movement, Ghaylan al-Dimashqi and Mabad al-Juhani, challenged those Umayyad claims and were p u t to death by order o f Umayyad caliphs i n 743 and 699, respectively. It is possible that al-Basri, k n o w n for his Qadari leanings, may have recanted out o f fear for his o w n life, as some sources m e n t i o n . Wasd i b n Ata, c o n t i n u i n g al-Basri's libertarian or the Qadari line, is generally regarded

as the f o u n d e r o f the greatest theological

movement

i n Islam:

M u t a z i l i s m . This movement reached its zenith i n the first half o f the n i n t h century, w h e n i t enjoyed the patronage o f the great Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n , whose passion for Greek philosophy and the "ancient sciences" was great, as well as his t w o immediate successors o n the caliphal throne, I n token o f his Mutazilite sympathies, i n 827 and 833 a l - M a m u n instituted the notorious mihna or i n q u i s i d o n , w h i c h stipulated that any religious judge (qadi) w h o refused to profess the Mutazilite thesis o f the "created" Quran w o u l d be dismissed or jailed. The most famous opponent o f this thesis was the r e n o w n e d scholar and Traditionist, A h m a d i b n Hanbal ( 7 8 0 - 8 5 5 ) , w h o was u n c o m p r o m i s i n g i n his conviction that the Q u r a n , as the w o r d o f God, was b o t h "uncreated" and eternal. T h r o w n i n t o jail and publicly scourged, he refused to relent but was eventually released and restored to favor by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil, w h o ascended the throne i n 847 and reversed i n a decisive way the religious policies o f his three predecessors. D u r i n g the first half o f the n i n t h century the leading Mutazilite theologians flourished.

They included AbuJ-Hudhayl al-Allaf ( d . 8 3 6 / 8 4 5 ) , I b r a h i m al-Nazzam

(ca. 775-ca. 8 4 5 ) , A m r i b n Bahr al-Jahiz (ca. 7 6 6 - 8 6 8 or 869), w h o belonged to the Basra branch o f M u t a z i l i s m , Bishr i b n a l - M u t a m i r (d. 825), A b u Musa alMirdar ( d . 841), Jafar i b n Harb ( d . 851), and A h m a d i b n A b i Duad ( d . 855), w h o belonged to the rival Baghdad branch. Despite their divergences o n certain p e r i p h eral points, these theologians were i n agreement o n five fundamental principles, as reported by the n i n t h - c e n t u r y scholar A b u Husayn al-Khayyat i n his Book of Vindication, one o f the earliest Mutazilite treatises. These five principles consisted o f God's justice, God's unity, the "intermediate position," God's irreversible threats and promises, and God's c o m m a n d i n g the r i g h t and p r o h i b i t i n g the w r o n g . These p r i n ciples can best be understood as Mutazilite responses to their rivals: the Literalists, (literal interpreters o f Quranic texts), the Determinists (believers i n unqualified predestination), and the Traditionists (specialists i n the study o f the hadith). These principles further illustrate the u n c o n d i t i o n a l c o m m i t m e n t to the rationalist and humanist perspective o f the philosophers and their n e w methodology, as developed by a l - K i n d i , whose Mutazilite sympathies are w e l l documented. The c h i e f a i m o f Mutazilite m o r a l theology was the v i n d i c a t i o n o f God's justice, w h i c h Determinists like Jahn i b n Safw an ( d . 7 4 c ) threatened, and w h i c h the :

Q u r a n a f f i r m e d i n n u m e r o u s verses. By r e d u c i n g h u m a n actions to natural or mechanical occurrences, the Determinists (Jabriyah) made a mockery o f the entire

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concept o f d i v i n e justice and religious o b l i g a t i o n (taklif). To be w o r t h y o f God's promises i n the hereafter-—which like His threats are b o t h true a n d irreversible, according to the M u t a z i l a h — h u m a n s must be able to discriminate rationally between r i g h t and w r o n g , even before revelation (sam), and m u s t be able to freely choose their actions. That d i s c r i m i n a t i o n is connected to the fact that right a n d w r o n g are i n t r i n s i c qualities o f h u m a n actions that are k n o w n i n t u i t i v e l y to be either commendable or reprehensible, susceptible o f r e w a r d and p u n i s h m e n t . God, b e i n g entirely w i s e and just, can o n l y c o m m a n d the f o r m e r and p r o h i b i t the latter. This is contrary to the claims o f the Determinists a n d Traditionists that as the L o r d o f Lords, G o d is n o t subject to c o m p u l s i o n o f any k i n d ; so that w h a t G o d c o m m a n d s is by d e f i n i t i o n r i g h t and w h a t G o d p r o h i b i t s is w r o n g . The Mutazilites disagreed w i t h those religious groups that like the Kharijites (the secessionists w h o broke away f r o m the ranks o f A l i , the f o u r t h caliph) c o n tended that a believer w h o c o m m i t s a grave sin (kabirah) ceases to be a M u s l i m and becomes t h e r e u p o n an i n f i d e l (kafir) deserving o f death. For the M u t a z i l a h , such a person is really i n an intermediate p o s i t i o n between s o u n d belief and i n f i delity and is i n fact s i m p l y a sinner (fbsiq) to w h o m the sanctions against apostates or infidels d o n o t apply. Regarding the second grand thesis o f God's unity, the

Mutazilite

theologians

vehemently

protested

the

Attributists

and

A n t h r o p o m o r p h i s t s , w h o h e l d that G o d possesses a series o f attributes, usually seven i n n u m b e r : k n o w l e d g e , power, life, w i l l , speech, h e a r i n g , and sight. These attributes were regarded by b o t h groups as distinct f r o m God's essence (dhat) and co-eternal w i t h G o d , so that H e was compared by some A n t h r o p o m o r p h i s t s (also called Corporealists i n some Arabic sources) to an "eternal m a n , " as the p h i l o s o p h e r I b n Rushd later w r o t e . For the M u t a z i l a h , apart f r o m its gross character, this v i e w entailed a p l u r a i t y of "eternal entities" a n d accordingly threatened b e l i e f i n God's unity. Their o w n v i e w was that i n God essence and attribute are i d e n t i c a l , a v i e w that corresponded to Aristotle's and Plod m i s ' , as w e l l as to those o f t e n t h - and eleventh-century M u s l i m philosophers, i n c l u d i n g al-Farabi and I b n Sina. The t w o attributes o f w i l l and speech presented the M u t a z i l a h w i t h a cluster o f problems, however. First, insofar as d i v i n e w i l l bears o n created accidents, i t was d i f f i c u l t to safeguard its eternity. Accordingly, some Mutazilites, like A b u l H u d h a y l , argued that the d i v i n e w i l l is a contingent accident that does n o t inhere i n any substratum and is i n fact reducible to God's c o m m a n d (omr), whereby G o d has created the w o r l d . Other Mutazilites, like Bishr i b n a l - M u t a m i r , argued that i t is necessary to d i s t i n g u i s h between t w o aspects o f the d i v i n e w i l l : essential and active. Essential w i l l includes God's essence, whereas active w i l l is s i m p l y the act o f creating the w i l l e d objects. Still other Mutazilites, like al-Nazzam, f o u n d the concept o f w i l l so b a f f l i n g that they decided that i t is n o t predicable o f G o d at all. They m a i n t a i n e d instead that the statement that G o d has w i l l e d an inanimate

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object means that He has created i t , and the statement that H e has w i l l e d the actions o f h u m a n agents means that He has c o m m a n d e d t h e m . For al-Nazzam and his followers, the question o f d i v i n e w i l l was a p u r e l y a semantic question. Tire problem o f chvine speech raised the same cluster o f difficulties. The Mutazilah argued that divine speech, manifested m divine utterances i n the Quran and elsewhere, was a created accident and for that reason could not be joined as eternal (qfldi'm). W h e n the caliph a l - M a m u n proclaimed the Mutazilite thesis o f the "created" Quran as die official doctrine o f the state, the tiieological batde was sparked i n a most violent way. The Hanbalites (followers o f the renowned Traditionist A h m a d i b n Hanbal) and the masses at large could not reconcile themselves to the n o t i o n tiiat the Quran, as God's w o r d (kalom), could be described as a created accident, because it has existed since die beginning o f time i n the Mother o f die Book or the Preserved Tablet, as stated i n the Quran i n a variety o f places, such as 13:39, and 85:22. The star o f the Mutazilites began to set w h e n the caliph al-Mutawakkil ascended the throne i n 847 and reversed state policy o n the question o f the created Quran and other Mutazdite propositions. T h r o u g h o u t the second half o f the n i n t h century, however, Mutazilite theologians, such as al-Jubai ( d . 915) and his son A b u H a s h i m ( d . 933), Abul-Husayn al-Khayyat ( d . 9 0 2 ) , and A b u l - Q a s i m al-Balkhi ( d . 931), continued to bear the Mutazilite torch. Before l o n g , however, a successor theological movement appeared o n the h o r i z o n : Asharism. Its founder, A b u al-Hasan al-Ashari ( 8 7 3 - 9 3 5 ) , had been a Mutazilah u p to his f o r t i e t h year, w h e n the Prophet appeared to h i m i n a dream, u r g i n g h i m to "take charge o f m y c o m m u n i t y [ummah]." After this, al-Ashari m o u n t e d the p u l p i t at the mosque at Basra and proclaimed his recantation o f the "follies and scandals o f the M u t a z i l a h . " The teachings o f the new theological movement that al-Ashari launched was eventually i d e n t i f i e d w i t h o r t h o d o x Sunni Islam. It d i f f e r e d radically f r o m the teachings o f earlier scholars or Traditionists, such as M a l i k i b n Anas (ca. 715—795) o f M e d i n a and A h m a d i b n Hanbal o f Baghdad. U n l i k e those t w o scholars, w h o f o u n d e d t w o conservative M u s l i m schools, the M a l i k i and the H a n b a l i , al-Ashari was n o t w i l l i n g to foreclose the use o f Kalam's dialectical methods and tended to tread a m i d d l e course between theology's conservative and liberal w i n g s . Thus i n methodology, he agreed w i t h the Mutazilites that i t was the d u t y o f every "reasonable M u s l i m , " as he w r o t e i n his Vindication of the Use of the Science of Kalam, to defer i n those matters that are the subject o f controversy " t o the body o f principles consecrated by reason, sense-experience or c o m m o n sense" as w e l l as to the explicit pronouncements o f the Q u r a n and the h a d i t h . O n all substantive issues, however, al-Ashari diverged f r o m his M u t a z i l i t e masters and embraced the trad i t i o n i s t or Hanbali perspective. Thus, he rejected the M u t a z i l i t e v i e w that a person is the "creator" o f his or her deeds o n the g r o u n d that this amounts to p o l y t h e i s m (ishrak) or d u a l i s m , charging the M u t a z i l a h f o r that reason as being

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the Magians or Manicheans o f Islam. For al-Ashari, God's p o w e r is u n l i m i t e d and His decrees irreversible, therefore " a l l g o o d or evil is the result o f God's decree and

f o r e - o r d i n a t i o n , " w h i c h n o h u m a n can escape or alter. Nevertheless, al-

Ashari, as m u c h as he rejected the libertarianism (qadariyah) o f the M u t a z i l a h , was not w i l l i n g to endorse the strict predestinadonism (jabriyah) of their opponents, the Traditionists and Hanbalites. He opted instead for a theory o f acquisition (kasb), for w h i c h he f o u n d a basis i n the Q u r a n , according to w h i c h G o d creates the actions o f h u m a n k i n d , but h u m a n k i n d acquires t h e m and becomes accordingly liable to p u n i s h m e n t or reward. Al-Ashari was n o t w i l l i n g to concede, however, that God's attributes are i d e n tical w i t h God's essence or distinct f r o m i t , because the m o d e o f predicating t h e m o f G o d is u n k n o w n . His chief objection to the Mutazilites and the philosophers' view that God's attributes are identical w i t h God's essence was that i t rendered those attributes identical w i t h G o d , so that h u m a n k i n d c o u l d address prayers o r petitions to God's power, God's know ledge, or God's life, instead o f G o d Himself. God's u n i t y was unquestioned, however, because His essence was u n k n o w n and must be believed w i t h o u t asking h o w (bila kayfa). As for God's justice, i t is n o t an object o f rational discourse either, because whatever G o d does o r commands is by d e f i n i t i o n just; whatever G o d prohibits is by d e f i n i t i o n unjust. To rationalize the way God operates i n the w o r l d , the Asharite theologians, starting w i t h A b u Bakr al-Baqillani ( d . 1013), developed an elaborate theory o f atoms and accidents. According to this theory, everything i n the w o r l d consists o f atoms (sg. juz), i n w h i c h a series o f accidents, whether positive or negative, inhere. The nature o f these accidents, however, is such that they cannot endure for t w o successive moments. Thus, God has to constantly create o r recreate them for as l o n g as G o d wishes the body i n w h i c h they inhere to endure. Otherwise, that body w o u l d cease to exist. Some Asharite theologians argued that the destruction o f the body i n question, however, requires that G o d create i n i t the accident o f cessation o r extinction (fana), w h e r e u p o n the body ceases to exist. The t r i u m p h o f Asharism i n subsequent generations was ensured by a long list o f outstanding scholars, the best k n o w n o f w h o m were al-Baghdadi (d. 1037), al-Juwayni (d. 1086), A b u H a m i d al-Ghazali ( I O C 8 - I I I I ) , al-Shahrastani

( d . nc/3), and Fakhr al-Razi ( d .

1209). These theologians laid the foundation for all subsequent theological discussion, and their w r i t i n g s continue to be studied today i n such major Sunni institutions as al-Azhar University i n Egypt.

The Assault on Islamic Neoplatonism The

flowering

o f Asharism i n the t e n t h and eleventh centuries signaled the

renewal o f the struggle between the Neoplatonic philosophers, represented p r i -

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m a r i l y by al-Farabi and I b n Sina, and the Asharite theologians. To begin w i t h , the Asharite theologians, as w e l l as the grammarians and legal scholars, l o o k e d w i t h suspicion o n the deductive methods o f the logicians a n d the philosophers and were content to apply the linguistic and explanatory methods o f interpretation to the sacred texts or juridical problems. Metaphysics, w h e t h e r i n its Neoplatonic o r Aristotelian forms, was deemed i n i m i c a l to the Islamic w o r l d v i e w and the teachings o f the Q u r a n because i t rested on the t w i n principles o f causal efficacy and the u n i f o r m i t y o f nature, w h i c h are irreconcilable w i t h the Quranic concept o f God's u i d i m i t e d power and inscrutable ways. A b u H a m i d al-Ghazali, the greatest theologian o f Islam and one o f its most fascinating figures, was the Asharite theologian w h o was the standard bearer o f The Seljuk vizier Nizam al¬

the assault o n philosophy i n the eleventh century. B o r n i n Tus, Persia, i n ioc8,

Mulk (d. 1092) founded the-

al-Ghazali started his studies o f logic, philosophy, m y s t i c i s m , and theology w i t h

ological schools known as

a series o f outstanding scholars, the most i m p o r t a n t o f w h o m was al-Juwayni.

Nizamiyah in the major

I n 1091 al-Ghazali was appointed by the vizier o f Persia, N i z a m a l - M u l k , as head

cities of the realm. The ruins of the one at Khargird in northeastern Iran are silent

o f the N i z a m i y a h school i n Baghdad, where he r e m a i n e d u n t i l 1095. The assassination o f N i z a m a l - M u l k i n 1092 by an Ismaili c o m m a n d o and the death o f the

testimony to the way it once

Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah shortly thereafter probably i m p e l l e d al-Ghazali to leave

flourished as a center of

Baghdad and travel t h r o u g h o u t the M u s l i m w o r l d disguised as a Sufi. Al-Ghazali

scholarship and teaching.

eventually r e t u r n e d to Nishapur, Persia, where he resumed his teaching u n t i l his

PHILOSOPHY

death i n 1111.

A N D THEOLOGY

283

Al-Ghazali was particularly w e l l e q u i p p e d to m o u n t the onslaught

o n N e o p l a t o n i s m i n the name o f Asharism and Sufism, because he was fully c o n versant w i t h the philosophers' teachings, evident i n his Intentions of the Philosophers, a succinct s u m m a r y o f Neoplatonic physics and metaphysics, w h i c h he w r o t e as a prelude to that onslaught i n the Incoherence of the Philosophers. His e p i t o m e o f l o g i c , the Criterion of Knowledge, w h i c h is a very l u c i d s u m m a r y o f Aristotelian logic, s h o u l d be added to this s u m m a r y as w e l l as his ethical treatise, The Balance of Action, w h i c h has an Aristotelian base and a Sufi capping. Al-Ghazali began Incoherence of the Philosophers by d e f i n i n g his strategy as clearly as possible, d i s t i n g u i s h i n g three parts o f the philosophical sciences: ( i ) a part that includes logic and mathematics and has n o direct " b e a r i n g o n r e l i g i o n " and should therefore not be questioned, except by " a n ignorant f r i e n d , w h o is worse than a learned f o e " ; (2) a part that deals w i t h political and ethical m a x i m s u l t i mately derived f r o m the teachings o f the prophets and the Sufi masters, w h i c h should not be questioned either b u t should be approached w i t h c a u t i o n ; and (3) a part that contains the b u l k o f the philosophers' errors, namely physics and metaphysics. Al-Ghazali then listed the three most pernicious questions o n w h i c h the philosophers deserve to be declared infidels (takfir); namely, the eternity o f the w o r l d , God's knowledge o f universals but n o t o f particulars, and the denial o f b o d i l y resurrection. O n all other issues, w h i c h he reduced to seventeen, the philosophers should be declared heretical (tabdi). The philosophers' thesis o f the eternity o f the w o r l d opens the list o f the t w e n t y " p e r n i c i o u s " questions o f Incoherence, because according to al-Ghazali this thesis entails that the w o r l d is uncreated and therefore the existence o f its Creator is indemonstrable. A l - K i n d i and the Asharite theologians had i n fact predicated the existence o f G o d o n the existence o f a created (hadith,muhdath) w o r l d ; because i t is created, the w o r l d necessarily requires a Creator (muhdith), as a l - K i n d i p u t i t . I n t i m e , this became the favorite argument o f the mutakallimun ( M u s l i m t h e o l o gians), both Mutazilite and Asharite, for the existence o f G o d . As for God's k n o w l e d g e o f universals but not o f particulars, al-Ghazali leveled his attack o n I b n Sina i n particular, because I b n Sina had contended that the k n o w l e d g e o f c h a n g i n g particulars entails change i n the essence o f the " k n o w e r " ; so that the o n l y k n o w l e d g e G o d can have o f the w o r l d is universal, bearing o n species and genera and n o t individuals. For al-Ghazali, however, n o t o n l y reason but the Q u r a n itself a f f i r m e d that " n o t a single atom's w e i g h t i n the heavens o r o n earth is h i d d e n f r o m H i m " ( 3 4 : 3 ) . To deny God's k n o w l e d g e o f particulars, t h e n , reduces God to the status o f the ignorant o r the dead. Regarding b o d i l y resurrection, al-Ghazali accused the philosophers o f having failed to prove demonstratively the i m m o r a l i t y o f the soul, let alone the resurrection o f the body. Because o f this failure, the only recourse open to the believer, he argued, is to defer to the a u t h o r i t y o f scripture, w h e r e i n b o t h the Q u r a n and

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the h a d i t h are explicit that o n the Day o f Judgment, souls shall be u n i t e d to the appropriate bodies, made u p of the same matter as the o r i g i n a l b o d y o r one o f a different nature. Once the soul has thus "repossessed the i n s t r u m e n t , " o r the material body to w h i c h i t was o r i g i n a l l y u n i t e d or its analog, the i n d i v i d u a l w i l l n o t o n l y revive, but he o r she w i l l i m m e d i a t e l y regain the ability t o experience those b o d i l y pleasures and pains o f w h i c h the Q u r a n has spoken so graphically. A f o u r t h m a j o r issue, assigned t o the physical part o f Incoherence, is that o f the Aristotelian concept o f necessary connection between causes and effects. Neither experience n o r reason, argued al-Ghazali, justifies the assertion o f necessary causal connection. Experience (mushohüdah) s i m p l y proves that the alleged effect occurs simultaneously w i t h the cause, not t h r o u g h i t (ma ahu la bihi). The associa t i o n between the t w o creates i n the m i n d the belief that the f o r m e r is indeed the effect and the latter the cause. Individuals should believe instead, he w r o t e , that effects i n the w o r l d are caused directly by G o d , w h o is the sole agent i n the universe, o r t h r o u g h the agency o f those angels "charged w i t h the affairs o f this w o r l d . " To assert that effects f o l l o w necessarily f r o m their antecedent causes, as Aristotelian physical theory stipulates, concluded al-Ghazali, is i n the end i n c o m patible w i t h the universal M u s l i m belief i n God's power for miracle making.

The Resurgence of Peripateticism in Muslim Spain Partly as a consequence o f the reverses i t received i n the East at the hands o f the Asharites, the Hanhalites, and others, and partly as a deliberate attempt t o rival the Abbasid caliphate o f Baghdad, p h i l o s o p h y i n M u s l i m Spain (Andalusia) received a new lease o f hfe under the aegis o f the U m a y y a d caliphs o f Córdoba i n the t e n t h century. The U m a y y a d caliph H a k a m I I , k n o w n as al-Mustansir (r. 961-76), ordered the i m p o r t o f scientific and philosophical books f r o m the East, so that w i t h its university and l i b r a r y Cordoba d u r i n g his r e i g n rivaled Baghdad. The three outstanding scholars d u r i n g this p e r i o d were I b n Masarrah ( d . 931), a l - M a j r i t i ( d . 1008), and a l - K i r m a n i ( d . 1068), whose interests were n o t confined to p h i l o s o p h y and included geometry, occult sciences, and mysticism. The first t r u l y eminent philosopher o f M u s l i m Spain was A b u Bakr i b n Yahya i b n al-Sayigh (ca. 1095-1138 o r 1139), better k n o w n i n Arabic sources as I b n Bajjah and i n Latin as Avempace. H e was b o r n i n Saragossa, i n northeastern Spain, lived i n Seville and Granada, and d i e d i n Fez, Morocco, probably by poison. I b n Bajjah was a versatile philosopher and physician w h o w r o t e significant c o m mentaries o n Aristotle's w o r k s , i n c l u d i n g Physics, De Anima, a n d Meteorológica. A l t h o u g h these extant commentaries reveal a sound philosophical acumen, they are n o t f u l l y developed. I b n Bajjah also w r o t e extensive interpretations o f all the parts o f al-Farabi s logic. Perhaps because o f al-Farabi's ethical and p o l i t i c a l inter-

PHILOSOPHY

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28c

ests, Ibn Bajjah singled h i m o u t as his c h i e f master. He exhibits a certain measure o f dependence o n al-Farabi i n his best-known w o r k , Conduct of the Solitary. I n that b o o k — w h i c h , like al-Farabi's Virtuous City, exhibits definite Platonic i n f l u ences—Ibn Bajjah's c h i e f p r o b l e m was not to delineate the type o f ideal city or m o d e o f association, w h i c h al-Farabi t r i e d to do i n his

Utopia.

Rather, as

the

title

o f this treatise implies, he examined the mode o f life suited to the solitary or true philosopher, w h o is destined to live i n a " c o r r u p t " city-state that has fallen short o f al-Farabi's ideal o f the " v i r t u o u s " city. I n this connection I b n Bajjah d i d not question Aristotle's (or al-Farabi's) m a x i m that h u m a n k i n d is a political a n i m a l by nature (a zoon politikon); rather, he observed that h u m a n k i n d may nevertheless be forced i n certain circumstances to shun this ideal and to seek f u l f i l l m e n t i n a life o f solitude. For h i m , this life is intellectual and is achieved ultimately t h r o u g h c o n j u n c t i o n or contact (ittisal) w i t h the active intellect. A l t h o u g h I b n Bajjah vacillates at this p o i n t between the mystical ideal o f the Sufis and the Aristotelian ideal o f the contemplative life, his basic sympathies r e m a i n Aristotelian and Neoplatonic. I n his Farewell Message, he stated categorically that "reason is God's dearest creation t o H i m . . . and to the extent m a n is close to reason, he is close t o G o d . This is possible only t h r o u g h rational k n o w l e d g e , w h i c h brings m a n close to G o d , just as ignorance cuts h i m o f f f r o m H i m . " The Neoplatonic tradition i n M u s l i m Spain was revived i n even more dramatic fashion by another physician-philosopher o f the A l m o h a d p e r i o d , A b u Bakr i b n Tufayl, w h o died i n 1184. U n l i k e most o f his predecessors, I b n Tufayi chose an o r i g i n a l literary f o r m , the philosophical novel, to express his ideas. The title o f

Cordoba, under the Umayyad caliphs in the tenth century, became a center of philosophy equal to Baghdad.The library of the caliph alHakam (r. 961-76) is reputed to have housed over four hundred thousand volumes. The city, with the Great Mosque at its center, grew

his famous novel is Risalat Hayy ibnYaqzan, w h i c h depicts the life and g r o w t h o f a

around a bridge crossing the

fictitious

Guadalquivir River.

figure,

b o r n o n a desert island i n the Indian Ocean. This figure is able

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to rise by degrees to the highest level o f philosophical insight or discovery. T h r o u g h observation and reflection, he is able, w i t h o u t any contact w i t h other h u m a n beings, to discover the t r u t h about G o d , the physical w o r l d , and the u l t i mate " c o n j u n c t i o n " w i t h the active intellect. U n l i k e his predecessor Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Tufayl argued that the contemplative or intellectual ideal o f the Neoplatonists is n o t e n o u g h , because i n that ideal the soul is not able to overcome the c o n sciousness o f its separate identity i n relation to the Necessary Being. I n Sufi fashi o n , I b n Tufayl argued instead that to achieve the c o n d i t i o n o f perfect u n i o n w i t h its source, the soul must rise to that level o f ecstasy that the Sufis have called e x t i n c t i o n (fana) i n u n i t y This represents the total a n n i h i l a t i o n o f selfhood and the r e c o g n i t i o n that i n reality n o t h i n g exists other than the True One; everything else, spiritual or corporeal, considered i n itself is n o t h i n g , as the Sufi masters, i n c l u d i n g al-Ghazali, had always contended. These Sufi overtones d i d not make m u c h headway i n Muslim-Spanish p h i l o sophical circles, as illustrated by the case o f the greatest Aristotelian o f Islam: I b n Rushd, k n o w n i n the West as Averroës. B o r n i n Córdoba i n 1126,

he was

i n t r o d u c e d at the age o f f o r t y to the c a l i p h A b u Yusuf Yaqub by I b n Tufayl, the caliph's court physician and minister. As a result o f this i n t r o d u c t i o n , the c a l i p h ordered I b n Rushd to e x p o u n d for h i m the w o r k s o f Aristotle, w h i c h the c a l i p h had

f o u n d " i n t r a c t a b l e . " I n a d d i t i o n to this c o m m i s s i o n , I b n Rushd was

appointed qudi (religious judge) o f Seville i n 1169 and t w o years later as c h i e f judge o f Córdoba. I n 1182

he was appointed physician-royal at the A l m o h a d

c o u r t i n Marrakesh. I n 119c, probably i n response to p u b l i c pressure i n c i t e d by religious conservatives and critics, the caliph A b u Yusuf Yaqub ordered I b n Rushd to be exiled to Lucena to the southeast o f Córdoba, his books to be b u r n e d i n p u b l i c , and the teaching o f p h i l o s o p h y and the "ancient sciences" w i t h the exception o f astronomy and m e d i c i n e , to be proscribed. I b n Rushd's disgrace d i d n o t last l o n g , however, because t w o years later he was restored to favor. He d i e d shortly thereafter i n

1198.

I b n Rushd's c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n philosophy, theology, medicine, and j u r i s p r u dence were v o l u m i n o u s and match i n scope and thoroughness those o f al-Farabi and I b n Sina, his only equals i n the East. H e outstrips t h e m b o t h , however, i n his thoroughness i n c o m m e n t i n g o n Aristotle's w o r k s and his serious attempt to grapple w i t h the perennial p r o b l e m o f reason and faith i n t w o o f his most i m p o r t a n t theological w o r k s : Decisive Treatise and Exposition of the Methods of Proof Concerning Religious Beliefs. Another i m p o r t a n t w o r k is his response to al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers. K n o w n i n the M i d d l e Ages as "the commentator," or as the Italian poet Dante called h i m che'I gran commento feo, I b n Rushd w r o t e three types o f commentaries o n Aristotle's w o r k s : large, i n t e r m e d i a t e , and small. Rather than c o m m e n t i n g o n Aristotle's Politics, w h i c h for an u n k n o w n reason was

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n o t translated i n t o Arabic u n t d m o d e r n times, I b n Rushd w r o t e a u n i q u e c o m mentary o n Plato's Republic. A l m o s t all his commentaries have survived i n H e b r e w o r Latin translations and a fair n u m b e r o f t h e m i n the o r i g i n a l Arabic. The Latin commentaries were reprinted i n 1967 as part o f the edition o f Omnra Opera Aristotelis Cum Commentants Averrois.

Ibn Rushd ( 1 1 2 6 - 9 8 ) , known

I b n Rushd stands o u t as the greatest advocate since the n i n t h - c e n t u r y p h i l o s o pher a l - K i n d i o f the h a r m o n y o f p h i l o s o p h y and r e l i g i o n , o r m o r e specifically o f Aristotle and the Q u r a n . A c c o r d i n g to I b n Rushd, the issues that had pitted the M u s l i m theologians against the philosophers o f Islam were o f t e n matters o f

in the West as Averroës, was the most important medieval commentator on the works of Aristotle. Ibn Rushd attempted to harmo-

semantics. Properly i n t e r p r e t e d , he believed, the statements o f the Q u r a n are

nize Aristotelian philosophy

readily reconcilable w i t h philosophy. The Q u r a n itself recognized this fact: i n

with the teachings of the

3 : ç—6, the Q u r a n distinguishes between those verses that are " s o u n d " and those

Quran. Raphael portrayed

that are ambiguous. The f o r m e r constitute the core o f the Q u r a n or the M o t h e r o f the Book, the latter are o p e n to various interpretations. O n l y God and those

Ibn Rushd wearing a green robe and white turban and standing behind Aristotle in

" w e l l - g r o u n d e d i n k n o w l e d g e , " I b n Rushd argued o n the basis o f his o w n read-

his painting The School of

ings o f these verses, k n o w its i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . By those " w e l l - g r o u n d e d i n k n o w l -

Athens in the Stanza della

edge,"

Signatura in the Vatican.

I b n Rushd

was

emphatic

that the

philosophers

or

"people

of

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d e m o n s t r a t i o n " should be understood. The o t h e r s — i n c l u d i n g the theologians or "people o f dialectic" and the masses at large or " r h e t o r i c a l " group)—are n o t c o m petent to engage i n this interpretation and are thus p r o h i b i t e d f r o m disclosing this i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , w h i c h can o n l y lead to dissension and strife a m o n g M u s l i m s . To demonstrate this p o i n t , I b n Rushd proceeded i n his Incoherence of the Incoherence and Exposition to rebut al-Ghazali's arguments against the philosophers. O n the first issue o f the eternity o f the w o r l d , he argued that contrary to al-Ghazali's cont e n t i o n , the philosophers d o n o t believe the w o r l d to be really eternal or really t e m p o r a l . A c c o r d i n g to I b n Rushd, the f o r m e r thesis entails that like G o d , the w o r l d is uncreated; the latter that i t is c o r r u p t i b l e . The genuine teaching o f the philosophers, he explained, is that the w o r l d is generated ab cteterno ( f r o m etern i t y ) . This is so because the c l a i m that i t was generated i n t i m e (muhdath) simply derogates f r o m God's p o w e r or perfection, because i t w o u l d entail that God c o u l d n o t have b r o u g h t the w o r l d i n t o being before the specific t i m e He created it and w o u l d raise the question w h y H e chose to create i t at that specific time and n o other. O n the second issue, that the philosophers deny God's k n o w l e d g e o f particulars, I b n Rushd reported that w h a t the philosophers i n fact deny is that God's k n o w l e d g e is analogous to that o f humans and thus divisible i n t o particular and universal. The t w o are radically different: h u m a n k n o w l e d g e is an effect o f the t h i n g k n o w n , whereas God's k n o w l e d g e is the cause o f the t h i n g k n o w n and a c c o r d i n g l y is n e i t h e r universal n o r particular b u t is o f its o w n k i n d . Moreover, its m o d e is u n k n o w n to us, because, like God's w i l l , i t is part o f the mystery o f God's creative power. O n the t h i r d issue o f resurrection, I b n Rushd explained, the philosophers and the religious creeds o f his day are i n accord regarding the fact o f resurrection, b u t they differ o n its m o d e . The philosophers, he h e l d , subscribe to spiritual resurrection or i m m o r t a l i t y (maad) and regard the Quranic references to corporeal resurrection and the pleasures and pains o f heaven and h e l l as so m a n y p i c t o r i a l or sensuous representations o f spiritual truths, i n t e n d e d to sway or deter the masses, w h o are unable to understand the subtle, s p i r i t u a l language o f revelation. I b n Rushd f u r t h e r i m p u g n e d al-Ghazali's sincerity i n d e n y i n g the necessary correlation between cause and effect, o n the g r o u n d that this denial is a sophistical gambit i n w h i c h " o n e denies verbally w h a t is i n his heart," that is, w i t h o u t serious c o n v i c t i o n or s i m p l y o u t o f malice. H e t h e n proceeded to r i d i c u l e alGhazali's n o t i o n that the alleged correlation between cause and effect is a matter o f habit, b o r n o f h u m a n k i n d ' s observation o f the recurrence o f cause-effect sequences. By habit, al-Ghazali c o u l d only mean God's habit, w h i c h the Q u r a n {Z5

:

4 5 ) denies o n the g r o u n d that God's ways are i m m u t a b l e ; that o f inanimate

objects, w h i c h is absurd; or finally, humankind's o w n habit o f j u d g i n g the correlation o f events i n the w o r l d . This is synonymous w i t h the activity o f reason,

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w h i c h is n o t h i n g other than the k n o w l e d g e o f the cause u n d e r l y i n g any given effect o r series o f effects. Thus, " h e w h o repudiates causality," I b n Rushd w r o t e , "actually repudiates reason." This r e p u d i a t i o n logically entails the r e p u d i a t i o n o f that d i v i n e w i s d o m that presides over creation and has ordered i t according t o a fixed causal pattern f r o m w h i c h the m i n d is able t o rise t o the discovery o f its Maker o r First Cause. I n the context o f European medieval t h o u g h t , I b n Rushd's standing was u n r i valed. W h e n his commentaries o n Aristotle were translated i n t o Latin i n the first half o f the t h i r t e e n t h century at the hands o f a galaxy o f European

scholars—

Michael the Scot, H e r m a n the German, Gundissalinus, and many others—-they caused a genuine stir i n intellectual circles. By the m i d - t h i r t e e n t h century a large contingent o f Latin Averroists, led b y the French philosopher Siger o f Brabant a n d the t h e o l o g i a n Boethius o f Dacia, were b a t t l i n g i n Paris against the Augustinian-Avicennian party, c h a m p i o n e d by the Franciscans. Eventually, i n 1270 a c o n d e m n a t i o n o f thirteen Aristotelian-Averroist theses was issued, at the insistence o f the Bishop o f Paris, Etienne Tempier, and was f o l l o w e d i n 1277 by a m o r e sweeping c o n d e m n a t i o n o f 219 theses, many o f w h i c h were o f Averroist inspiration. They i n c l u d e d the eternity o f the w o r l d , the double t r u t h , the denial o f d i v i n e providence, the u n i t y o f the intellect, the i m p o s s i b i l i t y o f i n d i v i d u a l resurrection, the superiority o f philosophical over religious t r u t h , and the i m p o s sibility o f miracles. A l t h o u g h I b n Rushd was innocent o f some o f these charges, especially that o f the double t r u t h , i t is a measure o f his intellectual impact that European philosophers a n d theologians d u r i n g the t h i r t e e n t h century, i n c l u d i n g Thomas Aquinas ( 1 2 2 5 - 7 4 ) , were actually battling u n d e r the strange banner o f pro-Averroists and anti-Averroists.

The Recrudescence of Literalism and Theological Reaction Al-Ghazali's assault o n p l u l o s o p h y i n the tenth century was devastating, b u t i t allowed for the r i g h t o f reason t o arbitrate i n theological conflicts. Even the f o u n d e r o f the Asharite school himself, A b u al-Hasan al-Ashari, had lauded " t h e merits o f engaging i n theological discourse [kalam]." Before l o n g , the antira¬ tionalist tide began t o swell, however, as illustrated by the cases o f I b n H a z m , the Zahirite ( o r literalist) ( 9 9 4 - 1 0 6 4 ) , I b n Taymiyah (1263-1328), and I b n Q a y y i m al-Jawziyah (1292-1350) i n the eleventh t h r o u g h the f o u r t e e n t h centuries. I b n H a z m was a leading figure i n the h i s t o r y o f Islamic literature, ethics, and historiography. His learning was vast, as s h o w n b y his Discriminations of Fancies and Religious Creeds, his Ethical Traits and Modes of Conduct, and his Book of Rebuttal. I n the Book of Rebuttal, he rejected, o u t o f h a n d , all f o r m s o f d e d u c t i o n , analogy, o p i n i o n , o r i m i t a t i o n o f authoritative masters (taqlid), w h i c h the various schools o f theology

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and jurisprudence had applied over the centuries i n some f o r m or other. He then proceeded to denounce all methods o f theological discourse, w h e t h e r Mutazilite or Asharite, and conceded o n l y the testimony o f sense experience, i n t u i t i o n , or the explicit statements o f the Q u r a n and the h a d i t h , literally interpreted. I b n H a z m was o u t s t r i p p e d i n his advocacy o f e m p i r i c i s m and literalism by a t h i r t e e n t h - and fourteenth-century scholar: I b n Taymiyah. Like I b n H a z m , I b n Taymiyah denounced all theological and philosophical m e t h o d s o f proof and called for a r e t u r n to the ways o f the " p i o u s ancestors" (al-salaf al-salih). This call was destined to become the slogan o f modernists i n the nineteenth century and is still a potent religious slogan today. A c c o r d i n g to I b n Taymiyah, the only genuine sources o f religious t r u t h are the Q u r a n and the h a d i t h , as interpreted by the Companions o f the Prophet or their i m m e d i a t e successors. The a u t h o r i t y o f Damascus was a center of

those interpreters, c o n f i r m e d by the consensus {ijma) o f the c o m m u n i t y , is i n f a l -

theology in medieval times.

lible. A l l subsequent interpretations or theological, p h i l o s o p h i c a l , and mystical

Sunni rulers of the Ayyubid

developments since that t i m e are deviations or heresies (bida). I n his Harmony of

and Mamluk dynasties built theological colleges around the Great Mosque, founded

Reason and Tradition, I b n Taymiyah attacked I b n Rushd for h r n i t i n g the n u m b e r o f theological groups to f o u r : the esoteric, the Literalist, the Mutazilite, and the

by the Umayyads in the early

Asharite. This excluded the creed o f the " p i o u s ancestors," w h i c h is the "best

eighth century. Al-Ghazali,

creed o f this ( M u s l i m ) c o m m u n i t y till the Day o f Resurrection."

the major figure in the assault against Neoplatonism. spent several years in meditation there, and IbnTaymiyya (d. 1328),

I b n Taymiyah also attacked the philosophers, but unlike al-Ghazali, he d i d not spare any o f the philosophical sciences, i n c l u d i n g logic, w h i c h al-Ghazali had regarded as an " i n s t r u m e n t o f t h o u g h t " and as such religiously neutral or i n n o c u ous. The Aristotelian theory o f d e f i n i t i o n , w h i c h is one o f the cornerstones o f

great champion of empiri-

logic, is untenable according to I b n Taymiyah because o f the difficulty o f deter-

cism and literalism, spent

m i n i n g the infinite n u m b e r o f species and the essential distinguishing traits u p o n

most of his life in the city.

w h i c h d e f i n i t i o n actually depends. The theory o f the syllogism is equally unten-

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able because the ultimate validity o f the syllogism depends on

self-evident p r o p o s i t i o n s i n t u i t i v e l y

apprehended.

Considering the diversity o f human aptitudes, such apprehension w i l l always remain dubious or questionable. Even demonstration (barbon), regarded by the philosophers as the highest f o r m o f reasoning, is vacuous because it bears o n universals that exist i n the m i n d and are far removed for that reason f r o m particulars that constitute the very fabric o f reality. I b n Taymiyah's b e s t - k n o w n disciple was I b n Qayyim al-Jawziyah, another key figure i n the history o f the reaction against philosophy and theology that was i n i tiated i n the n i n t h century by A h m a d i b n Hanbal. This reaction culminated i n the eighteenth century i n the rise o f the Wahhabi m o v e m e n t , founded by M u h a m m a d i b n A b d al-Wahhab (1703—92), w h i c h i n t i m e became the official creed o f the Saudi dynasty i n Arabia. The Wahhabis share w i t h I b n Taymiyah and his school, i n addition to literalism, strict observance o f the M u s l i m rituals and the condemnation o f the cult o f saints and w h a t they consider to be "similar excesses" o f the Sufi orders. The f o u r t e e n t h c e n t u r y is d o m i n a t e d by the Arab philosopher, historian, and sociologist I b n K h a l d u n , w h o was b o r n i n Tunis i n 1332

and d i e d i n Cairo i n 1406. A

versatile and encyclopedic genius, I b n K h a l d u n developed

Tunis, located near the ancient site of Carthage, was

the o n l y coherent p h i l o s o p h y o f history i n Islam that was

the birthplace of Ibn Khaldun ( 1 5 3 2 - 1 4 0 6 ) , the ency-

based o n the dialectic o f transition f r o m n o m a d i c life t o

clopedic genius who developed the only coherent

sedentary or u r b a n life and i n w h i c h geographic, ecological, and economic factors were the potent forces determ i n i n g the cyclical pattern o f social and political change i n the w o r l d . An e m p i r i c i s t by nature, I b n K h a l d u n agreed

philosophy of history in Islam. Religious learning there centered around the Zitouna Mosque, founded in the ninth century, particularly when Tunis became home to many scholars fleeing the Marinid invasion of Morocco in the mid-fourteenth century.

w i t h al-Ghaz.ali and I b n Taymiyah i n their r e p u d i a t i o n o f the p h i l o s o p h i c a l methods o f discourse, because their arguments t u r n o n universals or conceptual matters, whose

correspondence

w i t h reality cannot be conclusively demonstrated. I n fact, the " s p i r i t u a l entities" that f o r m the subject matter o f metaphysics can never be k n o w n rationally; thus the philosophers' conclusions regarding those entities are, at best, matters o f o p i n i o n (doxa), as Plato h i m s e l f acknowledges. As for their physical speculations, they are entirely futile, "because questions o f physics d o not concern us, either in o u r r e l i g i o n or o u r l i v e l i h o o d , and therefore w e should abandon t h e m , " as I b n Khaldun w r o t e i n his discussion o f the plulosophical sciences i n his famous

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Prolegomena. I b n K h a l d u n , w h o was mystically i n c l i n e d , also rejected the Neoplatonist concept o f happiness as l y i n g i n " c o n j u n c t i o n " w i t h the active intellect. This c o n j u n c t i o n , he believed, is purely intellectual and rests o n r a t i o nal deductions r o o t e d i n " b o d i l y cognitions." Genuine happiness is attainable o n l y t h r o u g h the practice o f the Sufi way and the m o r t i f i c a t i o n o f the self. To r e t u r n t o theological developments, the most i m p o r t a n t figure d u r i n g the t w e l f t h c e n t u r y was Fakhr a l - D i n al-Razi, w h o was b o r n i n Rayy i n 1149 and d i e d i n Herat i n 1209. U n l i k e al-Ghazali and I b n Taymiyah, al-Razi recognized n o serious c o n f l i c t between p h i l o s o p h y and t h e o l o g y and deferred constantly i n h i s discussion o f p h i l o s o p h i c a l and theological questions t o the a u t h o r i t y o f I b n Sina, w h o s e i n f l u e n c e o n al-Razi's t h o u g h t was p r o f o u n d . D u r i n g the t h i r t e e n t h and f o u r t e e n t h centuries t h e o l o g y began t o decline and the c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f scholars d u r i n g that p e r i o d and b e y o n d was l i m i t e d t o c o m m e n taries o r s u p e r c o m m e n t a r i e s

o n the w r i t i n g s o f the classical masters. T h e

n o t e w o r t h y theologians o f this p e r i o d i n c l u d e al-Nasafi ( d . 1310), a l - I j i ( d . 1355), al-Taftazani ( d . 1390), and al-Jurjani (1339-1413). The most i m p o r t a n t theologians o f the f i f t e e n t h and sixteenth centuries are a l - B i r g i l i ( d . IÇ70), a l Laqani ( d . 1621), and al-Sialkuti ( d . 1657). I n the n i n e t e e n t h century al-Bajuri (d.

i860)

h e r a l d e d the m o d e r n p e r i o d , o f w h i c h the E g y p t i a n scholar

M u h a m m a d A b d u h ( 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 0 5 ) , considered the f o u n d e r o f Islamic m o d e r n i s m , was the c h i e f representative.

The Ishraqi Movement in Persia A partial reaction against Aristotelianism, k n o w n as the " w i s d o m o f i u u m i n a t i o n " (ishraq), took i n the t w e l f t h century the f o r m o f a revised version o f Avicennian N e o p l a t o n i s m , w h i c h succeeded i n reconciling philosophy t o Sufism. I b n Sina h i m s e l f had expressed i n some o f his later works a certain dissatisfaction w i t h the purely discursive methods o f the Peripatetics and proposed to lay the g r o u n d w o r k o f an " O r i e n t a l w i s d o m " i n t o w h i c h certain " o r i e n t a l " (Eastern) elements were incorporated. He d i d not w o r k o u t the full implications o f this philosophy, how ever. It was left to another Persian philosopher-mystic to draw these implications. Shihab a l - D i n al-Suhrawardi was b o r n i n Aleppo, Syria, i n 1154 and was killed by order o f the sultan Saladin i n 1191 o n an undefined charge o f blasphemy. Like I b n Sina, al-Suhrawardi expressed his dissatisfaction w i t h the discursive m e t h o d o f the Peripatetics o f his day, w h o misunderstood the intent o f Aristotle, the First Teacher and Master o f W i s d o m , as he called h i m . Aristotle appeared t o al-Suhrawardi i n a dream and engaged h i m i n a discussion o f the nature o f knowledge, conjunction, and u n i o n , as w e l l as the status o f the philosophers o f Islam and the Sufis, w h o had attained the level o f "concrete k n o w l e d g e " and visual contact and were

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accordingly the true philosophers and sages o f Islam. W h a t distinguishes those sages, al-Suhrawardi believed, is that they have partaken o f an ancient w i s d o m that goes back to Plato, and beyond h i m to Hermes and the other ancient Greek, sages such as Empedocles and Pythagoras. I n addition, this w i s d o m has an Eastern source and rests on the dualism o f Light and darkness that was preached by such ancient Persian sages as Jamasp, Frashustra, Buzurgimhr, and their predecessors. The chief representatives o f this w i s d o m i n the West were Plato, Agathadaimon, The Syrian philosopher Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi ( ¡ 1 5 4 - 9 9 ) developed a revised version of Avicennian

and Ascelepius, and i t culminated i n the w o r k o f al-Bistami ( d . 876), the mystic al-Hallaj (ca. 855-922.), and al-Suhrawardi himself. The core o f the " w i s d o m o f i l l u m i n a t i o n " al-Suhrawardi proposed is the sci-

Neoplatonism, called the

ence o f l i g h t , w h i c h he defined as a substance diffused t h r o u g h o u t the universe

"Wisdom of Illumination"

that gives everything its reality and its capacity for self-manifestadon. At the t o p

(ishraq), which succeeded in

o f the scale o f b e i n g stands the L i g h t o f Lights, i d e n t i f i e d w i t h I b n Sina's

reconciling philosophy to

Necessary Being. It is the source o f all being and l u m i n o s i t y i n the w o r l d . The

Sufism. The walls of the Firdaws madrasa, built in his native city of Aleppo in 1236,

first emanation f r o m the Light o f Lights is the first l i g h t , corresponding to I b n Sina's first intellect, f o l l o w e d by the secondary lights that differ f r o m the L i g h t

are inscribed with texts that

o f Lights only i n the degree o f their p u r i t y or perfection. Then come the heav-

suggest Suhrawardi s philos-

enly bodies, physical objects and material compounds or simple elements, w i i i c h

ophy was studied there.

together constitute the physical w o r l d . A c o m b i n a t i o n o f l i g h t and darkness, this

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w o r l d may be described as the shadow or penumbra o f the w o r l d o f l i g h t . Like its o r i g i n a l source, this w o r l d is eternal. This Ishraqi w i s d o m became Persia's distinctive philosophy, i n response t o alGhazali's onslaught o n N e o p l a t o n i s m a n d the enthusiastic

patronage o f the

Safawid dynasty, inaugurated by Shah U s m a i l (r. i c o o - 1 Ç 2 4 ) , w h o c l a i m e d descent f r o m a Sufi family. A n u m b e r o f Shiite scholars distinguished themselves d u r i n g this p e r i o d , o f w h i c h M i r Damad ( d . 1631) a n d a l - A m i l i (ca. iÇ46-ca. 1622) are w o r t h m e n t i o n . They were teachers of Sadr a l - D i n al-Shirazi, w h o is generally regarded as the greatest philosopher o f m o d e r n Persia. Al-Shirazi, better k n o w n i n Persia as M u l l a Sadra, was b o r n i n Shiraz a r o u n d 1571 and died i n Basra i n 1640 o n his way back f r o m the seventh pilgrimage t o Mecca. Al-Shirazi's philosophical c o n t r i b u t i o n s were v o l u m i n o u s , b u t his most i m p o r t a n t w o r k is Transcendental Wisdom, i n t e n d e d as a c o u n t e r p a r t t o al-Suhrawardi's Wisdom of Illumination and better k n o w n as Four Journeys. These f o u r journeys are ( 1 ) f r o m cre-

Mulla Sadr-al-Din (1571-1640),

regarded as the

greatest philosopher of postmedieval Persia, left his native Shiraz for the new

ation t o the true reality, ( 2 ) t h r o u g h the true reality t o the true reality, ( 3 ) f r o m

Safavid capital of Isfahan,

the true reality t o creation, a n d ( 4 ) i n creation t h r o u g h the true reality.

where he studied for several

According t o al-Shirazi, the Necessary Being or Light o f Lights creates the w o r l d i n t i m e " b y o r d e r i n g it t o be and it becomes," as the Q u r a n 3142 and 16:42 state. Accordingly, it is far f r o m being eternal, as al-Suhrawardi, I b n Sina, and the

years with leading scholars attracted there by Shah Abbas' patronage.The great square with its new congre-

Neoplatonists generally held. Being a c o m b i n a t i o n o f l i g h t and darkness, the soul

gational mosque dates from

serves as a link between the intelligible w o r l d or " w o r l d o f c o m m a n d , " as the Sufis

this period.

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called i t , and the material w o r l d or " w o r l d o f creation." The w o r l d o f creation begins w i t h the universal sphere, w h i c h separates the w o r l d o f intelligible f o r m s or souls f r o m the material w o r l d o f sensible entities. Al-Shirazi is categorical that both soul and body w i l l rise f r o m the dead o n the Day o f Resurrection. Once resurrected, the b o d y w i l l assume an ethereal f o r m and thereupon become i d e n t i fied w i t h the soul, because " i n the Hereafter, everything is alive and its life is identical w i t h its essence," as he w r o t e i n his treatise, Mustering and Resurrection. A n o t e w o r t h y feature o f al-Shirazi's metaphysical a n d historical d o c t r i n e is the application o f p h i l o s o p h i c a l categories to Shiism. H e argued that w o r l d history's p r o p h e t i c stage came t o an end f o l l o w i n g the death o f M u h a m m a d , the Seal o f the Prophets, and t h e r e u p o n started the I m a m i t e stage, w h i c h is represented by the c h a i n o f twelve Shiite i m a m s . This stage c o n t i n u e d u n t i l the return o f the t w e l f t h i m a m , w h o was i n t e m p o r a r y concealment, according to Shiite d o c t r i n e . Since the seventeenth century Al-Shirazi's influence has c o n t i n ued to d o m i n a t e Persian t h o u g h t .

Modern Philosophical and Theological Developments As already m e n t i o n e d , the Ishraqi tradition, w h i c h culminated i n al-Shirazi's transcendental w i s d o m d u r i n g the Safavid p e r i o d , continued w e l l i n t o m o d e r n times. Al-Shirazi's disciples and successors include his t w o sons, I b r a h i m and A h m a d , and others: Fayaz al-Lahiji ( d . 1662), M u h s i n Fayd Kashani ( d . 1680), M u h a m m a d Baqir Majlisi ( d . 1700), and Nimatulla Shustari ( d . 1691). I n the nineteenth century, al-Shirazi's most i m p o r t a n t successor was the Persian philosopher Haji H a d i Sabzevari (1797

or 1798-1878), w h o c o m m e n t e d o n al-Shirazi's works. Other

commentators include such eminent philosophers and scholars as Mirza A b u l Hasam Jilwah, M i r z a h M a h d i Ashtiyani, and M i r z a Tahir Tunikabuni. In m o r e recent years, the Ishraqi t r a d i t i o n has c o n t i n u e d to f l o u r i s h i n Persia ( m o d e r n I r a n ) , as illustrated by the c o n t r i b u t i o n s o f M u h a m m a d Qasim Assar, Sayyid Abul-Hasan Q a z w i n i , a n d M u h a m m a d HusaynTabatabaii. A l t h o u g h these scholars have aligned themselves w i t h the Ishraqi t r a d i t i o n as represented by alShirazi, some have contended that al-Shirazi was far m o r e dependent o n I b n Sina's Peripetatic p h i l o s o p h y than most o f his disciples o r successors have been w i l l i n g to a d m i t . Other c o n t e m p o r a r y Persian philosophers w h o have c o m m e n t e d o n the w o r k s o f I b n Sina a n d al-Shirazi i n c l u d e M a h m u d Shahabi, M u h a m m a d M i s h k a t , the Persian Lady, Yak B a n u - y i I r a n i , a n d Sayyid Jalal Ashtiyani. Other philosophers, such as Murtada M u t a h h a r i , Akkamah Shaiati, and the Ayatollahs K h o m e i n i , M u n t a z i r i , a n d T a l i q a n i , have concentrated o n political subjects a n d the problems facing Islam today. Their t h o u g h t , however, continues to reflect the influence o f the Ishraqi-Shiite t r a d i t i o n . Sayyed Hossain Nasr is

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often m e n t i o n e d as the leading Persian philosopher t o w r i t e i n English and t o address the question o f the encounter o f Islam w i t h m o d e r n Western t h o u g h t . I n w h a t is n o w India and Pakistan, Islamic p h i l o s o p h y was i n t r o d u c e d by the Ismaili propagandists (dais) as early as the late n i n t h century. The Ismadis, w h o succeeded i n f o u n d i n g an I s m a i l i state i n Sind (part o f the Indus River valley) i n 977, were o v e r t h r o w n by the Ghaznavid dynasty. D u r i n g the Ghaznavid p e r i o d , the most n o t e w o r t h y scholar was Abul-Hasan a l - H u j w i r i ( d . 1072), author o f a famous mystical treatise entitled Uncovering the Hidden. D u r i n g the rule o f the successor dynasty, the Ghurids, the t w o most eminent scholars were Fakhr a l - D i n alRazi and A d u d a l - D i n al-Iji ( d . 1355), w h o were succeeded d u r i n g the M o n g o l p e r i o d by such scholars and theologians as Sadr a l - D i n al-Taftazani ( d . 1390), alSharif al-Jurjani ( 1339— H ^ ) . J

a i a i

al-Din al-Dawwani (d.

ICOI

), Shaykh A h m a d

Sirhindi ( i Ç 9 3 - i 6 2 4 ) , and A b d a l - H a k i m Siyalkuti ( d . 1657). T h e most famous I n d i a n scholar o f the eighteenth century was Shah W a l l i u l l a h ( d . 1762), w h o w r o t e i n b o t h Arabic and Persian. H e attempted to reconcile the f o u r schools o f Islamic law and t o b r i n g together the Sunni and Shiite branches o f Islam. As Islam came into contact w i t h Western t h o u g h t i n the nineteenth and t w e n tieth centuries, some I n d i a n scholars, such as the educator and jurist Sayyid .Ahmad Khan o f Bahador ( 1817-98), spearheaded a modernist movement that saw n o genuine conflict between Islam and Christianity because o f their c o m m o n m o r a l message. A h m a d Khan's disciple, Sayyid A m i r A h (1849-1928), believed the spirit o f Islam is ultimately reducible t o that cluster o f m o r a l ideas or principles that are at the basis o f m o d e r n Western liberalism and h u m a n i s m . The poetphilosopher M u h a m m a d Iqbal ( 1877—1938) continued essentially the same line o f speculation and attempted, m o r e seriously than his predecessors, t o interpret Islam i n contemporary philosophical terms. I n his famous Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Iqbal rejected the antirationalism o f al-Ghazali and I b n Taymiyah and argued that r e l i g i o n is n o t i n o p p o s i t i o n to philosophy but is rather the core o f that total experience u p o n w h i c h phdosophy must reflect, as b o r n o u t by the Quranic exhortation t o reflect u p o n God's creation and t o pursue knowledge for its o w n sake. For Iqbal the Quranic w o r l d v i e w is that o f a dynamic reality i n w h i c h the ideal and the real coalesce. It is n o t a " b l o c k universe" o r finished product; rather, i t is i n process o f constant actualization, at the hands o f h u m a n k i n d , the principal co-worker w i t h G o d . I n some respects, Iqbal's ideas appear t o be a n adaptation o f the "creative e v o l u t i o n " o f the French philosopher H e n r i - L o u i s Bergson, the "process p h i l o s o p h y " o f Alfred N o r t h Whitehead, and the "absolute i d e a l i s m " o f the German philosopher Georg W i l h e l m Friedrich Hegel. I n Southeast Asia, w h i c h came under Islam's influence as early as the t h i r t e e n t h century, a p r o f u s i o n o f w r i t i n g s o n jurisprudence, theology, and Sufism appeared d u r i n g the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries i n Malay. O f these w r i t i n g s , the

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works o f Hamzah al-Fanzuri ( d . ca. 1600), N u r a l - D i n al-Raniri ( d . 1666), Shams a l - D i n al-Sumatrani (d. 1630), and A b d al-Rauf al-Singkeli ( d . 1693) are p a r t i c u larly noteworthy. These w r i t i n g s reflected the p r o f o u n d impact o f Sufism o n the Malaysian m i n d , w h i c h tended to be less philosophical or discursive than the Indian or Persian. Interest i n Sufism began to decline d u r i n g the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, b u t the situation changed somewhat d u r i n g the twentieth century, as the w o r k s o f M u h a m m a d N a g u i b al Attas and others show. O f al-Anas' many w r i t ings i n English, The Mysticism of Hamzah al-Fanzuri, Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam, and Islam, Secularism, and the Philosophy of the Future are noteworthy. I n Islam, Secularism, and the Philosophy of the Future, al-Attas vehemently c r i t i c i z e d Western Christianity, w h i c h he said is not a revealed r e l i g i o n b u t a "sophisticated f o r m o f culture r e l i g i o n . " Like other fundamentalists, al-Attas dwelled o n Islam's superiority, as the only r e l i g i o n that is t r u l y global because i t encompasses every aspect o f h u m a n life, private or p u b l i c , spiritual and temporal, i n contradistinction to Christianity, w h i c h he claimed o n l y stresses the spiritual aspects o f life.

Philosophy in the Arab World Today W h e n the p o l i t i c a l activist and journalist Jamal a l - D i n al-Afghani (1838—97) visited Egypt for the first t i m e , he was struck by the fact that a l t h o u g h the study o f p h i l o s o p h y had continued i n Persia, i t was completely forgotten i n Syria and Egypt. His disciple, the Islamic m o d e r n i s t M u h a m m a d A b d u h ( 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 0 5 ) ,

was

actually the first M u s l i m scholar to lecture o n p h i l o s o p h y at al-Azhar University, w h i c h he sought to r e f o r m . Significantly, A b d u h chose as his theme the p h i l o s o p h y o f I b n K h a l d u n , the last great w r i t e r o n the history o f ideas and the o r i g i nal author o f Islam's o n l y p h i l o s o p h y o f history. A r o u n d the same t i m e , Farah A n t u n (1874—1922) w r o t e o n philosophical questions i n his Arabic magazine aljamiah, and i n 1903 he published the Philosophy of Ibn Rushd, one o f the first i m p r e s sive treatises o n the subject i n Arabic. Serious w o r k o n the history o f Islamic p h i l o s o p h y flourished d u r i n g the first decades o f the t w e n t i e t h century at the hands o f such eminent scholars as Jamil Saliba, I b r a h i m Madkour, Yusuf Karam, and Father George Anawati, w h o laid the f o u n d a t i o n o f historical scholarship i n Arabic. Their p i o n e e r i n g w o r k was c o n t i n u e d by such leading scholars as A b d alRahman Badawi and Zaki N a j i b M a h m u d . I n the 1970s, Badawi m a d e a valuable c o n t r i b u t i o n to philosophical scholarship w i t h his critical editions o f a vast n u m b e r o f Arabic p h i l o s o p h i c a l texts and his French Histoire de la Philosophie Musulmane. M a h m u d c o n t r i b u t e d to the critical reinterpretation o f the Islamic philosophical heritage w i t h his 1971 p u b l i c a t i o n o f Renewal of Arabic Thought. H i s Egyptian disciple, Fuad Zakariyah, carried the discussion and evaluation o f the

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Arabic philosophical heritage (ai-turath) one step further, calling for total c o m m i t m e n t to rationalism, p o s i t i v i s m , and m o d e r n scientific culture.

Modernism, Secularism, and Fundamentalism Today the major religious currents, w i t h their divergent theological presuppositions, take a variety o f rival f o r m s . M o d e r n i s m ( w h i c h calls for a m o d e r n interpretation o f Islam), secularism ( w h i c h calls for the separation o f r e l i g i o n and politics), and fundamentalism ( w h i c h is unwavering i n its c o m m i t m e n t t o trad i t i o n a l Islam and its anti-Western bias) are the major contending currents. The modernist (or reformist) m o v e m e n t was launched by Sayyid A h m a d Khan and Sayyid A m i r Ali i n the second h a l f o f the nineteenth century. Both o f these r e l i gious thinkers conceived o f m o d e r n i s m as a m o d e o f isolating the m o r a l and s p i r i t u a l core o f Islam, w h i c h A h m a d Khan believed to be analogous to Christianity and A m i r A l i believed to be timeless and universal. The philosopher M u h a m m a d Iqbal conceived o f Islam i n dynamic terms best understood i n l i g h t o f m o d e r n Western philosophical developments. I n Egypt the t w o c h i e f protagonists o f m o d e r n i s m were Jamal a l - D i n a l A f g h a n i and his disciple, M u h a m m a d A b d u h , w h o spearheaded a religious movement k n o w n as the Salafi movement. This movement aimed to modernize Islam, demonstrate its v i a b i l i t y for all times, and p r o m o t e social and political change w i t h i n the confines o f the Shariah. I n their defense o f Islam against its European detractors, such as the French politician Gabriel Hanotaux and the English L o r d Cromer, these Islamic modernists proclaimed, like their I n d i a n counterparts, Islam's global character and its complete c o m p a t i b i l i t y w i t h rational canons o f argument or debate. According to A b d u h , a l t h o u g h Christianity calls for g i v i n g to Caesar w h a t is Caesar's and to God what is God's, Islam calls for the s u b o r d i n a t i o n o f everything to God and thus rejects the separation o f the spiritual and the temporal. I n a d d i t i o n , unlike Christianity and other supernatural religions, Islam is f u l l y c o m m i t t e d to rationality and rejects any preternatural or supernatural explanations, such as miracles or mysteries. M o r e radical, and i n some cases m o r e violent, p o s t - m i d c e n t u r y f u n d a m e n talists, such as Sayyid Q u t b ( 1 9 0 6 - 6 6 ) i n Egypt and Mawlana Abul Ala M a w d u d i (1903—79) i n Pakistan, have tended to target Christianity and the West as the causes o f the decadence o f the M u s l i m people o n the one hand and the spread o f secularism and i r r e l i g i o n o n the other. Because o f its exclusive spiritual character, they have argued, Christianity has abandoned h u m a n k i n d to its egotistic and materialistic resources and has violated the supreme p r i n c i p l e o f d i v i n e u n i t y (tawhid), w h i c h stipulates that God's sovereignty and l o r d s h i p is not c o n fined to the spiritual aspects o f h u m a n life; rather, it dominates and regulates

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every aspect o f that life. I n his critique o f Western civilization, A b u l Ala M a w d u d i inveighed against Western nationalism, democracy, and secularism. A c c o r d i n g to Abul Ala M a w d u d i , nationalism culminates ultimately i n the cult o f the n a t i o n , democracy i n the tyranny o f the majority, and secularism i n the r e p u d i a t i o n o f God's universal l o r d s h i p and ultimately i n i r r e l i g i o n or atheism. To the extent that M u s l i m s are w i l l i n g to adopt Western democracy, nationalism, or secularism, he proclaimed, they are i n fact abandoning their r e l i g i o n , betraying their Prophet, and rebelling against G o d H i m s e l f . Based o n these sentiments, the Islamic Movement was f o u n d e d i n 1941 i n Pakistan; A b u l Ala M a w d u d i was its first president, and it was dedicated to leading the M u s l i m people back to G o d , to f i g h t i n g Western ideologies, and to r e n o u n c i n g c o r r u p t leadership. These aims c o u l d n o t be achieved w i t h o u t recourse to jihüd, w h i c h A b u l Ala M a w d u d i defined i n his Moral Foundation of the Islamic Movement (1976) as " t h e attempt t o establish the divine order," by wresting leadership f r o m the c o r r u p t and unbelieving m e n w h o are i n power. Islam demands f r o m its followers total submission to God and shuns every f o r m o f p o l y t h e i s m and materialism. It thus " p u r i f i e s the soul f r o m self-seeking, egotism, tyranny, and wantonness," he w r o t e , " I t induces feelings o f m o r a l responsibility and fosters the capacity for self-control." Sayyid Q u t b i n Egypt was as vehement as A b u l Ala M a w d u d i i n his critique o f Western civilization, w h i c h he said has led h u m a n i t y d o w n the road o f c o r r u p t i o n and i r r e l i g i o n , f r o m w h i c h only Islam can save it. As he w r o t e i n his Islam and the Problems of Civilization (1962), Islam, unlike Christianity, recognizes n o conflict between reason and faith, science and r e l i g i o n , and it conceives o f r e l i g i o n "as the crucible o f the w h o l e o f life i n w h i c h all its f o r m s and hues are fused." As the "global r e l i g i o n , " Islam was thus at peace w i t h science f r o m the earliest times and has paved the way for the rise o f the inductive m e t h o d and the scientific progress of modern

times.

As one w o u l d expect, secular inteUectuals have been at loggerheads w i t h the fundamentalists o n a variety o f issues. To begin w i t h , they challenge the concept o f theocracy u p o n w h i c h the medieval caliphate rested and call for the separat i o n o f the political and spiritual. I n that respect, they are unquestionably inspired b y Christian t h e o l o g y and Western p o l i t i c a l t h o u g h t . The most t h o u g h t f u l M u s l i m secularists have gone beyond this somewhat negative stand and have taken the line, c h a m p i o n e d i n the first half o f the t w e n t i e t h century by a learned Azharite scholar, A l i A b d al-Raziq. I n his classic w o r k , Islam and the Principles of Government (192c), A b d al-Raziq argued that Islam is essentially a religious call to the w h o l e o f h u m a n k i n d and as such a purely spiritual r e l i g i o n . The Q u r a n , the h a d i t h , and ijma (consensus o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y ) — t h e three p r i n c i p a l sources o f Islamic law and d o c t r i n e — a l l concur i n a f f i r m i n g the spiritual character o f Islam and the consequent separation o f r e l i g i o n and politics. D u r i n g the

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early decades o f Islamic history, the Prophet acted as the political head o f the nascent M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y i n Medina, not i n his capacity as Prophet or religious teacher but rather as the acknowledged leader o f that c o m m u n i t y . He was c o m pelled by circumstances to attend to legislative, j u d i c i a l , and m i l i t a r y matters peripheral to his prophetic office, w h i c h was purely spiritual. I n support o f these claims, A b d al-Raziq quoted a n u m b e r o f p r o p h e t i c traditions p u r p o r t i n g to stress the d u t y o f M u s l i m s to rely o n reason and c o m m o n sense i n the managem e n t o f their w o r l d l y affairs, rather than o n d i v i n e revelation, w h i c h legislates exclusively f o r spiritual matters and is addressed t o the w h o l e of h u m a n k i n d . I n that respect, the separation between the spiritual and t e m p o r a l is clearly recognized by Islam. In the m i d - t w e n t i e t h century, Khalid M u h a m m a d Khalid, a fellow-graduate o f al-Azhar U n i v e r s i t y i n Cairo, pursued and defended this secularist thesis m o r e radically i n his From Here We Begin (1950). I n this w o r k , he h i g h l i g h t e d , like A b d al-Raziq, the sharp d i s t i n c t i o n i n Islam between the truly spiritual, w h i c h is u n i versal and timeless, and the t e m p o r a l , w h i c h is susceptible to constant chatige or m o d i f i c a t i o n . U n l i k e his predecessor, K h a l i d sounded an anticlerical and socialist note, w h i c h has marked the t h o u g h t o f many contemporary secularists. Some secularists, like the Egyptian Zaki Nagib M a h m u d , aligned themselves w i t h l o g ical p o s i t i v i s m ; others, like the Moroccan A b d al-Aziz Larawi and the Syrian Sadiq a l - A z m , a l i g n e d themselves w i t h M a r x i s m . Still others, like Hasan Sab and H i s h a m Sharabi, took a liberal, pro-Western stand o n current political and r e l i gious issues. The list o f such liberal and secular intellectuals and scholars can o f course be expanded, but they continue today to be o u t n u m b e r e d by the m u c h larger contingent o f traditional fundamentalist M u s l i m apologists. These apologists have achieved great n o t o r i e t y t h r o u g h o u t the w o r l d , chiefly because o f their radicalism, anti-Westernism, and open espousal o f violence.

The Interactive Relationship of Philosophy and Theology Philosophy, w h i c h f o u n d its way i n t o the M u s l i m w o r l d as early as the eighth century, was i n constant interaction w i t h theology, A l t h o u g h as early as the first decade of the eighth century, theology (kakim) grew out o f mora! and political disputes, closely l i n k e d to the interpretation o f the Quran and the hadith i n Damascus and Basra, i n its m o r e sophisticated f o r m , theology i n the M u s l i m w o r l d was dependent to a large extent o n Greek philosophy. By the beginning o f the ninth century; a vast n u m b e r o f Greek and Syriac philosophical texts had become available to scholars i n Baghdad and elsewhere. This was s h o w n by the lively discussion i n b o t h Mutazilite and post-Mutazilite circles o f such questions as atoms and accidents, the "natures" or p r i m a r y qualities (tuboi), being and nothingness, causes and

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effects, and similar physical or metaphysical questions. D u r i n g the tenth and eleventh centuries, however, the most violent c o n t r o versies between Asharite theologians, such as al-Baghdadi and al-Ghazali, and the M u s l i m Neoplatonists, represented chiefly by al-Farabi and I b n Sina, began to rock the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . The upshot o f these controversies was the gradual eclipse o f phdosophical activity and the virtual t r i u m p h o f Asharite t h e o l o g y Attempts by such philosophers as I b n Rushd (Averroes) o r such theologians as Fakhr a l - D i n al-Razi to moderate the conflict between philosophy and theology were n o t entirely successful. Those attempts proved the vitality o f A r a b i c - M u s l i m philosophy, however, w h i c h received a n e w lease o f life i n M u s l i m Spain to the West and Persia to the East. The chief historical significance o f the Muslim-Spanish phase i n the rise and development o f M u s l i m p h i l o s o p h y is that i t served as a m a j o r l i n k i n the transmission o f Greek philosophy to western Europe. The M u s l i m s had been the c h i e f custodians o f that philosophy, w h i c h had been almost completely f o r g o t t e n i n western Europe since the s i x t h century, w h e n the Roman consul Boethius ( d . The Persian or Ishraqi tradition of philosophy that began in the twelfth century

c2c) was chiefly responsible for the I ^ t i n translation o f Aristotelian logic. By the end o f the t w e l f t h century the translation o f Arabic philosophical and medical w o r k s i n t o Hebrew or Latin, at the hands o f such eminent scholars as Gerard o f

has continued into modern

Cremona, Michael the Scot, and H e r m a n the German, w r o u g h t a genuine i n t e l -

times. It is still taught in

lectual revolution i n learned circles. The most influential M u s l i m philosopher to

theological centers such as

leave a lasting impression o n Western t h o u g h t was I b n Rushd, the great c o m -

Qum, the city in central Iran

mentator o n Aristotle. D u r i n g the t h i r t e e n t h century philosophers and t h e o l o -

that grew up around the tomb of Fatima, sister of the eighth Shiite imam, which

gians split i n t o t w o rival groups: the Latin Averroists w i t h Siger o f Brabant and Boethius o f Dacia at their head, and the anti-Averroist g r o u p w i t h Albertus

stands under the golden

Magnus and Thomas Aquinas at their head. The c o n f r o n t a t i o n between the t w o

dome.

groups became so violent that by the second half o f the thirteenth century the

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Bishop o f Paris, Etienne Tempier, had to intervene, and i n 1270

and 1277

303

he

issued an ecclesiastical c o n d e m n a t i o n o f a total o f 219 propositions that were o f Aristotelian o r Averroist i n s p i r a t i o n . Thanks to the Latin translations o f Averroes' commentaries, the rediscovery o f Aristotle i n western Europe and the concurrent emergence o f Latin Scholasticism, one o f the glories o f late medieval t h o u g h t , were made possible. The other phase o f the revival o f Islamic p h i l o s o p h y and theology was the Persian or Ishraqi t r a d i t i o n , w h i c h has c o n t i n u e d w e l l i n t o m o d e r n times. Inaugurated by al-Suhrawardi, this phase c u l m i n a t e d i n the rise o f the " t r a n scendental w i s d o m " o f al-Shirazi, a blend o f N e o p l a t o n i s m and Sunsm. A characteristic feature o f the Ishraqi t r a d i t i o n , w h i c h continues to be taught i n the theological centers o f Q o m , Meshhed, and Tehran i n northwestern Iran and Najaf i n I r a q , is that it recognizes no conflict or hostility between philosophy and theology o f the type that became the hallmark o f Asharite (Sunni) theology, I n fact, the Ishraqi t r a d i t i o n dwells o n the analogies between philosophical categories and Shiite ( I m a m i t e ) theology. In the Arab w o r l d o f today, controversy at the theological level has taken the f o r m o f m o d e r n i s m , secularism, or f u n d a m e n t a l i s m . At the philosophical level, t h r o u g h o u t the second h a l f o f the t w e n t i e t h century, the o u t p u t o f Arabic-speaki n g scholars has t u r n e d o n historical and textual research and p u b l i c a t i o n , a l t h o u g h a small n u m b e r o f Western-oriented authors have grappled w i t h contemporary philosophical and theological issues, either f r o m a logical-positivist, existentialist, or Marxist perspective. A l t h o u g h proscribed i n some parts o f the Arab w o r l d , such as Saudi Arabia, philosophy continues to be taught i n most educational institutions, secondary or collegiate, t h r o u g h o u t most o f the Arab c o u n tries. As the h a n d m a i d o f philosophy, theology tends to f o l l o w i n its footsteps: W h e r e philosophical activity proliferates, theology tends to proliferate; w h e r e philosophy is proscribed, theology (kalam) tends to be proscribed too.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Islam and Christendom HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, AND RELIGIOUS INTERACTION F R O M T H E S E V E N T H TO T H E FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

Jane I . Smith

The Christian w o r l d i n t o w h i c h Islam so unexpectedly burst i n the seventh cent u r y C . E . h a d undergone a succession o f divisions, controversies, and power struggles such that east and west were at serious odds, and each contained w i t h i n its regions deep tensions and disagreements. It is little w o n d e r that the new r e l i g i o n o f Islam, arising o u t o f the heart o f Arabia, appeared to those w h o k n e w o f its existence as another Christian heresy, n o t u n l i k e the many other heresies that had w r i n k l e d the face o f C h r i s t e n d o m since its i n c e p t i o n . The fact that w i t h i n a century o f the death o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d i n 632 Islam had spread across m u c h o f the k n o w n w o r l d was for many Christians inexplicable, f r i g h t e n i n g , and theologically incomprehensible. M u s l i m s , for their part, o n the basis o f the Q u r a n i c revelations, f o u n d i t impossible to understand w h y Christians insisted o n i m p u g n i n g the oneness o f G o d by their a f f i r m a t i o n o f the d i v i n i t y o f Jesus and use o f T r i n i t a r i a n f o r m u -

(Left) After the Christians reconquered Spain from Muslim rule, many mosques

las. I n the b e g i n n i n g o f his career, M u h a m m a d seems to have u n d e r s t o o d his

were changed into churches.

role as the final prophet o f a m o n o t h e i s t i c faith o f w h i c h Jews and Christians,

In Seville, for example, the

before their perversion o f the o r i g i n a l revelations given to t h e m by G o d , were

top of the fifty-meter-high

the earlier members. It was o n l y w h e n M u h a m m a d encountered

unexpected

resistance f r o m these c o m m u n i t i e s and their refusal to recognize his status as the final prophet o f t r u e m o n o t h e i s m that his c o m m u n i t y came to understand itself as the bearers o f a faith that was related to, b u t different f r o m , the extant

J O ?

minaret of the Almohed mosque, built from 1184 to 1198, was remodeled and transformed into a cathedral bell tower.

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religions o f the Jews and Christians. This f a i t h became k n o w n as Islam, submission to the one God.

The Effect of Early Islam on Christians and Christianity Arabia was the h o m e o f significant Jewish and Christian c o m m u n i t i e s , p a r t i c u larly i n the s o u t h . D u r i n g the Prophet's l i f e t i m e , Christians w e r e l i v i n g i n M e d i n a , Mecca, Khyber,Yemen, and Najran, although their numbers were small i n the areas i n w h i c h M u h a m m a d carried on his preaching mission. A l t h o u g h M u s l i m doctrine attests to the fact that the Prophet c o u l d not read or w r i t e , thus ensuring that he d i d not " c o p y " f r o m the scriptures or w r i t i n g s o f Christians and Jews, there is also a record o f his interaction w i t h Christians t h r o u g h o u t his life. One popular t r a d i t i o n records a meeting i n Syria between a y o u n g M u h a m m a d and a Christian m o n k named Bahira. The m o n k recognized the seal o f p r o p h e t h o o d between the boy's shoulders as attested to by scripture. The use o f Christian scripture to c o n f i r m M u h a m m a d ' s p r o p h e t h o o d was also evidenced w h e n a Christian cousin o f his first w i f e Khadijah, Waraqa i b n N a w f a l , acknowledged Muhammad's recitation o f the revelation to be identical w i t h that sent d o w n to Moses. D u r i n g the early prophetic p e r i o d i n Mecca, M u h a m m a d ' s small c o m m u n i t y was o f t e n persecuted by the Quaraysh tribe, w h i c h was concerned for the maintenance o f its h o l d over the city's ancient and lucrative h o l y places. At one p o i n t the Prophet sent a number o f his followers to Abyssinia ( w h a t is h o w Ethiopia) to find shelter. The Abyssinians are reported t o have listened to the preaching Prophet w i t h great respect and awe, especially the description o f Mary, m o t h e r o f Jesus, leading t h e m to a f f i r m that this indeed was God's revelation. These and other incidents c o n f i r m for M u s l i m s their belief that Islam is not a derivative o f Christianity but a divine revelation, a fact that at least some o f the Christians o f M u h a m m a d ' s lifetime recognized. The Q u r a n itself identifies Jews and Christians as the recipients of earlier revealed books or scriptures, namely the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel. These scriptures are believed to have been corr u p t e d by the c o m m u n i t i e s t o w h i c h they were sent and are thus abrogated and i n some senses superseded by the Q u r a n . They are nonetheless held i n esteem insofar as they were o r i g i n a l l y God's revelation, and the peoples to w h o m they were given are thus considered in a special category, namely the People o f the Book. A l l prophets are said to have taught the identical message that came f r o m God to M u h a m m a d . Perhaps because o f their greater resistance to the presence o f the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y i n M e d i n a , Jews are treated m o r e harshly i n the Q u r a n t h a n are Christians. The p r i m a r y offense o f the Christians is that they h o l d t o a T r i n i t a r i a n doctrine o f G o d and the d i v i n i t y o f Jesus. Jesus is referred to i n ninety-three

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verses o f the Q u r a n , a f f i r m i n g that he was b o r n o f M a r y the V i r g i n , that he was a righteous p r o p h e t , that he was given clear signs f r o m G o d , that he had disciples (helpers), that he p e r f o r m e d such miracles as healing the b l i n d and the lepers a n d raising the dead b y the power o f God, and that he w i l l be a sign o f the c o m i n g o f the h o u r o f j u d g m e n t . The Q u r a n also says very specifically that those w h o refer t o Jesus as God are blasphemers, and that Christians saying that Christ is the son o f G o d is an i m i t a t i o n o f Jews, w h o earlier had said that Ezra is the son o f God. According t o the Q u r a n Jesus was only a servant; Jesus the son o f M a r y was n o m o r e than an apostle o f God. Quranic verses dealing w i t h Jesus' death have been interpreted differently by commentators, b u t generally they have been taken t o mean that Jesus d i d n o t die by c r u c i f i x i o n . For Christians the Q u r a n has thus served as a denial o f Jesus' incarnation and death o n the cross and o f the reality o f the Trinity. About Christians themselves the Quran is quite charitable. Apart f r o m accusations o f heresy for their stand o n the Trinity and some c h i d i n g for their conviction that theirs is the true r e l i g i o n , the Q u r a n declares tiiat Christians are people o f compassion and mercy, that they w i l l be able t o enter paradise, and even that they are nearest i n love t o the ( M u s l i m ) believers. One Quranic verse is interpreted to mean that Jesus h i m s e l f foretold the c o m i n g o f a prophet called A h m a d ( f r o m the same root as M u h a m m a d ) . I n 632, only months before he d i e d , M u h a m m a d apparently m e t f o r the first t i m e w i t h a Christian c o m m u n i t y as such. A n official delegation o f Christians, probably led by a bishop, came to Mecca f r o m Najran i n Yemen. After engaging the Christians i n discussion, the Prophet is said t o have realized that Christian teachings are indeed incompatible w i t h Islam, after w h i c h the revelation f o l l o w e d that only Islam is acceptable t o God as a r e l i g i o n . The early c o m m u n i t y o f M u s l i m s i n Medina established its presence a n d extended its d o m a i n p r i m a r i l y t h r o u g h carrying o u t a series o f razzias or marauding expeditions against hostile tribes. These led to more serious encounters, d u r ing w h i c h Muslims were n o t always the aggressors. I n any case, i t was only the pagans t o w h o m the choice o f becoming M u s l i m or suffering serious consequences was given. As the so-called People o f the Book, Christians and Jews, along w i t h Magians, Samaritans, Sabians, and later Zoroastrians and others, were treated as rninorities under the protection o f Islam (dhirnrnis), believers i n God despite their refusal t o accept the p r o p h e t h o o d o f M u h a m m a d . Adult male Christians were thus not required t o convert (although that o p t i o n was always open to t h e m ) , but they were required t o pay a p o l l tax as the price for this protection. Because o f the income accrued f r o m this tax, Muslims i n general preferred that Cliristians (and Jews) n o t convert t o Islam b u t m a i n t a i n their status as protected m i n o r i t i e s . D h r m m i s were granted the right to practice their religion in private, t o defend themselves against external aggression, and to govern their o w n communities. Later

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they were exempted f r o m military service, although some Christians fought o n the side o f Muslims i n the early expansion o f Islam. I n fact. Christian subjects were often allowed a g o o d deal o f latitude i n paying their p o l l and other taxes. The specifics o f the requirements for Christians w h o enjoyed d h i m m i status were spelled o u t i n w h a t has come t o be referred to as "the covenant o f U m a r , " w h i c h exists i n several versions and most likely was attributed to rather than designed by the second caliph, U m a r i b n al-Khattab (r. 6 3 4 - 4 4 ) . The covenant stipulated p r o h i b i t i o n o f the b u d d i n g o f n e w churches or repair o f those i n towns inhabited by M u s l i m s , although i n some cases w h e n financing was available Christians d i d construct n e w places o f w o r s h i p . Beating the w o o d e n clapper that Christians used t o call people to prayer was f o r b i d d e n , as was l o u d chanting or carrying the cross or the Bible i n processions. D h i m m i s were allowed to keep their o w n c o m m u n a l laws, a l t h o u g h they c o u l d apply to a M u s l i m judge i f they w i s h e d . They were n o t , however, allowed to give testimony concerning a M u s l i m i n a c o u r t o f law. The r e c r u i t i n g o f n e w Christians was f o r b i d d e n , as was any insult about Islam or its Prophet. As a means o f identification, particular dress, such as a special girdle, was required for Christians. Over the first several centuries o f Islam, dress stipulations grew increasingly stringent for Christian m e n and w o m e n . A M u s l i m w o m a n was n o t allowed to m a r r y a Christian m a n , although the Q u r a n does allow marriage o f a M u s l i m m a n to a Christian w o m a n . Nevertheless, Islamic law f r o m early o n stipulated a great range o f conditions under w h i c h such a marriage m i g h t take place. The c h i l d r e n o f a m i x e d marriage were always considered M u s l i m . A M u s l i m c o u l d o w n a d h i m m i slave, but never the opposite. Some o f the judges and lawyers o f Islam were strict i n the interpretation "of d h i m m i status, especially i n reaction against Christians and Jews occupying h i g h administrative positions, w h i l e others showed m o r e

flexibility.

The different

legal schools were not i n complete agreement as to w h a t privileges should be allowed to d h i m m i s , and customs d i f f e r e d f r o m one place to another. The strictest interpretations were applied i n Baghdad and other major Islamic cities, w h i l e enforcement o f regulations i n small towns and rural areas was often more lenient. D h i m m i s were allowed to live anywhere except i n Mecca and Medina. I n actual practice. Christians and M u s l i m s o f t e n had very f r i e n d l y relations. M u s l i m s , for example, are said to have especially enjoyed the hospitality o f m o n k s i n C h r i s t i a n monasteries. Christians o c c u p i e d h i g h positions i n the caliphal courts as physicians, engineers, architects, and translators, and sometimes they were treated as having virtually equal rights w i t h M u s l i m s . M u s l i m writers and poets sometimes gave great t r i b u t e t o Christians i n their literature. The d h i m m i status seems to have been a changing one, i n that laws were made and either broken or forgotten, and relations between Christians and M u s l i m s

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obviously were dependent o n individual w h i m and personal advantage as w e l l as o n w h a t was stipulated by the law. A l t h o u g h Christians and Jews were often i n positions o f p u b l i c service i n M u s l i m c o m m u n i t i e s , and sometimes were a m o n g the ranks o f the very wealthy, they were never free f r o m the w h i m s o f i n d i v i d u a l rulers w h o m i g h t choose to enforce strict regulations, or f r o m the caprice o f mobs expressing their passions i n prejudicial and h a r m f u l ways. I n general, the first Arab M u s l i m dynasty, that o f the Umayyads, was fairly flexible i n terms o f its Christian citizens, but i n Islam's second century the laws became m o r e stringent. U n d e r the reign o f the caliph a l - M u t a w a k k i l (r. 847-61), laws against d h i m m i s were most severe, sometimes resulting i n persecution o f Christians as w e l l as o f Mutazilis, Shiites, and others considered opponents o f the state. T h r o u g h the M i d d l e Ages there was a hardening o f attitudes against d h i m m i s , due m o r e to political than to religious reasons, especially after the p e r i o d o f the Crusades.

The Expansion of Islam into Christian Territories The Christian w o r l d i n t o w h i c h Islam moved w i t h such rapidity was one that was far f r o m u n i t e d . The c h u r c h was d i v i d e d i n t o five apostolic sects, located i n

Christianity flourished in Syria in the centuries before

Rome, A n t i o c h , Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. A series o f c o n t r o -

the rise of Islam. A magnifi-

versies over the nature o f Jesus' relationship t o G o d had failed to b r i n g all

cent and extensive

Christians under one umbrella o f belief. The resulting sectarian divisions, p i t t i n g Christian against Christian, had significant consequences for the spread o f Islam. To n o small degree, these controversies served to exacerbate the already existing divisions between Greek-speaking and Syrian-, A r m e n i a n - , or Coptic-speaking Arab Christians.

monastery, for example, grew up around the site near Antioch where St. Simeon Stylites (d. 4 5 9 ) spent twenty-seven years in a small cell atop a pillar.

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The creed resulting f r o m the Council o f Nicaea i n 32c a f f i r m e d that Christ was one substance w i t h God, a perspective that d o m i n a t e d ensuing theological discussions. This was reaffirmed i n succeeding sessions at Constantinople, Ephesus, and finally at Chalcedon i n 45-1, and was h e l d by b o t h Latin-speaking Roman Catholic and O r t h o d o x Christians. This creed was opposed by dissenting groups such as the Arians, the Monophysites, and the followers o f the Antiocene theologian Nestorius, each w i t h their o w n subtle but distinctive theological interpretations. The Council o f Ephesus branded Nestorianism a heresy, but Nestorian missionary activity c o n t i n u e d to move eastward t h r o u g h inner Asia. The

c h u r c h o f Alexandria split between

the Copts, w h o held to

the

Monophysite doctrine condemned at Chalcedon, and the Melchites, w h o a f f i r m e d the o r t h o d o x y o f Chalcedon. I n Syria the Monophysites organized i n t o an i n d e pendent Jacobite c h u r c h , f o l l o w i n g one o f its leaders. Jacobus Baradaeus. A fifth Damascus was an important

c h u r c h c o u n c i l i n 556,

h e l d i n Constantinople,

basically

reaffirmed

the

center of Christianity before

Chalcedonian understanding, a p o s i t i o n held by b o t h the Roman Catholic and the

the Muslims took the city in

Greek O r t h o d o x c o m m u n i o n s . Arab Christians w h o affirmed this doctrine, mainly

63c, but many Christians

f r o m Syria, were also referred to as Melchites. I n the second half o f the sixth cen-

soon converted to Islam.The Umayyad mosque, founded by the caliph al-Walid in

tury, the M a r o n i t e c h u r c h came i n t o being, later to become the first eastern c h u r c h to accept the supremacy o f the Pope.

705, was built on the site of

This was the complex background of the Christian c h u r c h that the forces o f

the Byzantine church dedi-

Islam encountered. The Roman c h u r c h o f the West was i n an uneasy c o m p r o m i s e

cated to St. John.

w i t h the Byzantines; O r i e n t a l c o m m u n i o n s fragmented over l o n g - s t a n d i n g

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Christological controversies and were generally considered heretical by b o t h Romans and Greeks. The Byzantine state r u l e d its eastern subjects w i t h an authority that was o f t e n experienced as ruthless and oppressive. Thus it was that many Oriental Christians w e l c o m e d M u s l i m p o l i t i c a l a u t h o r i t y as a relief f r o m Byzantine oversight and cooperated w i t h their n e w M u s l i m rulers. This was one o f the most i m p o r t a n t factors i n the remarkable ease w i t h w h i c h Islam was able to spread across Christian lands. W i t h i n t w e n t y years o f the Prophet's death, the Byzantine Empire lost the provinces o f Palestine, Egypt, and Syria. For many Christians the arrival o f Islam was actually seen as a liberation f r o m the tyranny o f f e l l o w Christians rather than as a menace or even a challenge to their o w n faith. Such acquiescence, o f course, was encouraged by the fact that under Islam they were guaranteed the r i g h t to continue as independent c o m munities. The d h i m m i status, despite the obligations and lower status attached to i t , was for m a n y a preferable o p t i o n to Byzantine oppression. The grandfather o f John o f Damascus, f o r example, was i n s t r u m e n t a l i n the c a p i t u l a t i o n o f Damascus to the forces o f the M u s l i m c o m m a n d e r Khalid i b n a l - W a l i d i n 63c, signaling the e n d o f Byzantine r u l e i n Syria. Tensions between Syria and Constantinople had been h i g h because o f theological disagreements between the Monophysites and the Chalcedonians as w e l l as for reasons o f taxation and heavyhanded Byzantine rule. The arrival o f the M u s l i m s i n Damascus was w e l c o m e d by a significant p o r t i o n o f the p o p u l a t i o n , many o f w h o m were o n l y vaguely

Jerusalem is holy to the three great monotheistic religions. This nineteenth-century lithograph by David Roberts, seen from the Mount of Olives, shows sites venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

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aware that their n e w rulers represented another religious faith. The M u s l i m s , f o r their part, had little interest i n Christian theological disputes, and a l t h o u g h they forbade Christians f r o m b u i l d i n g new edifices, their rule was considerably m o r e benign than that o f the Byzantines. Significant numbers o f the members o f these eastern c o m m u n i o n s eventually converted to Islam, significantly r e d u c i n g the size o f the Nestorian and Jacobite c o m m u n i t i e s . It was because o f a c o m b i n a t i o n o f factors, then, that Islam spread so rapidly after the Prophet's death; Christian a c c o m m o d a t i o n for b o t h p o l i t i c a l and r e l i gious reasons was only one o f those reasons. The t w o major empires i n the M i d d l e East—the Persian Sasanian and the Greek Byzantine—were

exhausted

after m a n y years o f struggle, and Islam was able to occupy w h a t a m o u n t e d t o a power v a c u u m i n many o f the areas to w h i c h it spread. The r a i d i n g tactics that had w o r k e d so w e l l , as one after another Arabian tribe capitulated to the n e w faith, c o n t i n u e d to f u n c t i o n i n expanded ways, w i t h the p l u n d e r rendered i n goods and taxes. M i l i t a r y expeditions were political i n nature and not undertaken for the purpose o f f o r c i n g conversion to Islam as an alternative to the s w o r d . D h i m m i status was t o o profitable for this to have been the case. Conversion was accepted, o f course, but not encouraged, and for a n u m b e r o f centuries Christians remained the m a j o r i t y i n m u c h o f w h a t was n o m i n a l l y M u s l i m territory. O f the many victories enjoyed by M u s l i m s i n Christian territories soon after the Prophet's death none was to have m o r e significance for the relationship o f Islam and C h r i s t e n d o m than the taking o f Jerusalem shortly after the defeat o f Christians venerate Jerusalem

the Byzantine troops at the Battle o f Yarmuk i n 636. Always considered the H o i ) '

as the place where Jesus died

City by Christians, Jerusalem f r o m Islam's b e g i n n i n g was also a place greatly ven-

and was resurrected. The

erated by M u s l i m s . O r i g i n a l l y i t was the place t o w a r d w h i c h the Prophet

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, erected by the Byzantine emperor

M u h a m m a d asked his followers to t u r n i n prayer. A l t h o u g h he later changed the prayer d i r e c t i o n to Mecca, the city c o n t i n u e d to be a site o f p i l g r i m a g e and

Constantine in the early

prayer. For Christians, Jerusalem is the place o f the death and resurrection o f

fourth century and repeatedly-

Jesus. For M u s l i m s i t is venerated as the location f r o m w h i c h M u h a m m a d is said

restored and rebuilt, marks

to have ascended o n his miraculous " n i g h t j o u r n e y " t h r o u g h the heavens. The

the site of Christ's tomb. Its prominent dome is visible on the skyline of Jerusalem's Old

conquest o f the city was one o f the most peaceful o f its l o n g and p a i n f u l history. Shortly after its capture, the caliph U m a r h i m s e l f is said to have traveled to the

City as seen from the platform

H o l y C i t y t o establish a treaty w i t h the patriarch Sophronius, by w h i c h Christians

on which the Dome of the

l i v i n g there were allowed freedom o f life, property, and w o r s h i p i n r e t u r n for

Rock stands.

paying the poll-tax and h e l p i n g to fight o f f Byzantine raiders. U m a r ordered the

Temple M o u n t to be cleansed o f the piles o f garbage that had accumulated o n i t , and he had a temporary mosque built o n the site. Christians remained the majority p o p u l a t i o n i n Jerusalem for many years; the city thus consisted m a i n l y o f d h i m m i s . I n 661 M u a w i y a h (r. 6 6 1 - 8 0 ) was p r o c l a i m e d caliph i n Jerusalem, first ruler o f the near c e n t u r y - l o n g U m a y y a d dynasty. M u a w i y a h is said to have done the initial p l a n n i n g for the construction o f the D o m e o f the Rock o n the site o f Umar's mosque; the edifice was completed by his successor A b d al-Malik i b n M a r w a n i n 691. The oldest Islamic m o n u m e n t still existing, the D o m e has held a place o f e n o r m o u s importance i n the religious life o f Islam and was the scene o f great r e j o i c i n g w h e n i t was r e t u r n e d to M u s l i m hands after the defeat o f the Franks at the t i m e o f the Crusades. The adjacent mosque o f al-Aqsa, i n Islamic t r a d i t i o n the second and holiest sanctuary o n the Temple M o u n t , was b u i l t either by A b d a l - M a l i k or his son a l - W a l i d I , arid i t has served t h r o u g h the centuries as a preeminent place o f w o r s h i p and prayer. As M u s l i m s pushed the boundaries further i n virtually all directions, m i l i t a r y advances were made by b o t h land and sea. F r o m the m i d d l e o f the seventh cent u r y M u s l i m naval strength grew i n the Mediterranean, w h e r e the Byzantines had

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r u l e d supreme. O c c u p y i n g Cyprus and Rhodes, M u s l i m s besieged Constantinople u n t i l finally r e t i r i n g i n 667. O n the n o r t h e r n coast o f Africa they m o v e d again t o consolidate power, gaining c o n t r o l o f the major Mediterranean base o f Tunis at the t u r n o f the e i g h t h century. Resistance o r i g i n a l l y p u t u p by the Berbers o f N o r t h Africa was overcome w i t h their (at least n o m i n a l ) conversion to Islam, w h i c h was to prove key to the M u s l i m advance i n t o Spain and France. I n 711

an

army o f Berber converts crossed the Straits o f Gibraltar and soon took c o n t r o l o f southern Iberia. T w o years later the governor o f N o r t h Africa c l a i m e d Toledo to be u n d e r the sovereignty o f the caliph o f Damascus. The final advance o f the M u s l i m east i n t o the Christian west came w h e n M u s l i m armies crossed over the Pyrenees i n t o the south o f France i n 718. They took Bordeaux, destroyed the army o f the defending Duke Eudes o f Aquitaine, and pillaged Poitiers. Eudes then fled n o r t h to seek assistance f r o m the Frankish ruler Charles Martel, w h i l e the M u s l i m Jews venerate Jerusalem as

armies sacked and pillaged cities and abbeys. I n 732 the M u s l i m troops were met

the site of Solomon's Temple,

by Eudes and Charles M a r t e l near Poitiers, w h e r e Islam's advance i n t o western

which was repeatedly

C h r i s t e n d o m was finally checked. M u s l i m s c o n t i n u e d to foray i n t o Frankish

destroyed and rebuilt. In 70 C.E. the Romans destroyed the temple built by Herod the Great, and the site remained largely vacant until Muslims conquered the city in 638.They built the first mosque in the city, later known as the al-Aqsa, over

lands, m a i n t a i n i n g their h o l d o n the coast o f Provence u n t i l 759, w h e n Charles Martel's son Pepin was able to secure the city o f N a r b o n n e i n southern France, e l i m i n a t i n g the last outpost o f M u s l i m strength n o r t h o f the Pyrenees. The picture o f C h r i s t i a n - M u s l i m interaction d u r i n g this p e r i o d is far f r o m clear, as is the reality o f w h o the adversaries actually were. Accounts o f the events are sketchy f r o m b o t h western and Arab sources. What is n o w France was divided a m o n g the n o r t h e r n Franks, the southern Franks, and the Visigoths, w h o r u l e d

the huge stone blocks

parts o f Languedoc and Provence. The d r a w i n g o f lines o f allegiance was often

remaining from the walls of

complicated by the fact that rulers were generally n o t strong, court intrigues

the Herodian platform.

were commonplace, and the p o p u l a t i o n consisted o f many c o n f l i c t i n g elements.

Alliances were i n constant flux. Christian rulers, concerned w i t h m a i n t a i n i n g

Muslims from North Africa

their o w n power, are k n o w n to have invited M u s l i m forces to garrison their cities

conquered Sicily from the

for p r o t e c t i o n . Duke Eudes himself, for example, gave his daughter i n marriage

Byzantines in the ninth cen-

to the M u s l i m r u l e r of Cerdaha ( i n the eastern Pyrenees), thereby f o r g i n g an alliance to secure his southern borders. N o r t h o f Spain the M u s l i m s were never again serious o p p o n e n t s o f the

tury. After the Normans reconquered the island in the late eleventh century, a cosmopolitan culture devel-

Carolingian Christians, w h o under the r e i g n o f the e m p e r o r Charlemagne,

oped that merged Byzantine,

crowned i n 800, consolidated power d o w n to the Pyrenees. M u s l i m incursions i n t o

Islamic, and Latin Christian

the area i n the earl) part o f the n i n t h century were little m o r e than annoying. M o r e

elements.The twelfth-century palace chapel of the Norman rulers in Palermo, for example, is decorated with a typically Islamic muqarnas ceiling.

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troublesome were the raids o f M u s l i m pirates along the eastern coasts o f the Mediterranean. Attacks o n monasteries were sometimes devastating, w i t h the result that many monks abandoned them to move further inland. Monastic revival that had been g o i n g o n i n Provence was stopped, and there are records o f existi n g abbeys s i m p l y disappearing. I n the tenth century M u s l i m raids continued i n the i n t e r i o r o f Provence, causing considerable damage i n areas around Aix a n d Marseille. Ports and cities i n the western Mediterranean were virtually deserted because o f the raiding M u s l i m pirates. At the same t i m e that M u s l i m s were advancing t h r o u g h Spain i n t o France, M u s l i m s were also m o v i n g i n t o the Christian t e r r i t o r i e s o f Switzerland, n o r t h e r n and southern Italy, and Sicily. I n the early part o f the n i n t h century, M u s l i m s advanced w e l l i n t o Italy, m o v i n g t o the walls o f R o m e before b e i n g pushed back b y C h r i s t i a n forces. By this t i m e Christians h a d v i r t u a l l y lost c o n t r o l o f the

Mediterranean.

(>332 1406) —

As the m e d i e v a l

Muslim

historian

I b n Khaldun

r e m a r k e d , the Christians c o u l d n o l o n g e r float a plank u p o n the

sea. Christians o n l y navigated the ports o f the east, w h e r e the Byzantines effectively prevented M u s l i m s f r o m complete d o m i n a t i o n . W h a t had f o r m e r l y been the m o s t active part o f the e m p i r e h a d b e c o m e the most threatened a n d attacked, a n d thus the most economically devastated. O n land the M u s l i m s were stopped at the n o r t h e r n b o r d e r o f Spain i n the west a n d o n the b o u n d aries o f B y z a n t i u m i n the east. I n the m e a n t i m e they h a d taken m u c h o f w h a t had f o r m e r l y been Byzantine territory, i n c l u d i n g Syria, Egypt, a n d the A f r i c a n provinces. W h i l e Hispano-Romans i n Spain capitulated w i t h relatively little resistance, such relative ease o f conquest was never the case i n southern Europe. Several centuries o f repeated invasion o f the island o f Sicily, f o r example, were needed before i t finally became a M u s l i m territory. B e g i n n i n g i n 652 M u s l i m forces raided Sicily, first f r o m Syria and then f r o m the coast o f N o r t h Africa. I n 831 the citizens o f Palermo finally surrendered and accepted d h i m m i status. M u s l i m s q u i c k l y occupied nearly h a l f o f the island, t h o u g h i t was n o t u n t i l 966 that the Byzantines finally signed a peace treaty a c k n o w l e d g i n g complete M u s l i m sovereignty. Events t u r n e d a r o u n d completely w h e n a g r o u p o f N o r m a n Crusaders r e t u r n i n g f r o m Palestine began t o reconquer the island. I n 1072 the last small rebel states i n the i n t e r i o r had been subdued, Palermo yielded t o the N o r m a n s , and a n e w Christian Sicilian k i n g d o m was established. M u s l i m culture flourished i n Sicily i n the tenth a n d eleventh centuries, and was allowed t o continue even under N o r m a n rule. By the e n d o f the Crusades, however, most o f the oriental ethos o f the island had been destroyed. Despite the c o n t i n u i n g raids and pirate attacks, i n the early centuries o f Islam the Frankish Carolingian rulers were m u c h m o r e focused o n the possible expan-

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sion o f territories to the n o r t h , namely i n t o Saxon lands, than they were concerned about Arab advances. There was even some diplomatic exchange as relations began to develop between Baghdad and the French court. These began under the Carolingian House o f Pepin, w h o i n his zeal to be seen as a cosm o p o l i t a n r u l e r is said to have received embassies f r o m many Mediterranean nations i n c l u d i n g the Saracens (Arabs). The emperor Charlemagne, whose coronation was not recognized by the Byzantines, is said to have sought his allies further to the east. I n 797 an ambassador was sent f r o m the court o f Charlemagne to the caliph H a r u n al-Rashid, f r o m w h o m i t is reported that Charlemagne obtained precious gifts, i n c l u d i n g an elephant for the royal menagerie and a marvelous clock. Popular belief, based o n Frankish chroniclers, was that after a series o f m i s sions back and f o r t h between the east and the west by H a r u n al-Rashid and Charlemagne, somewhere i n the p e r i o d f r o m 797 to 802, the emperor traveled to the east to gain f r o m the caliph protective r i g h t s f o r Christian p i l g r i m s i n Jerusalem. This supposed journey o f the Frankish k i n g was recorded i n one o f the twelfth-century Chansons deGeste (literally "songs o f heroic deeds," a genre o f literature filled w i t h warfare and chivalry) entitled "The Pilgrimage o f Charlemagne." A l t h o u g h recent scholarship has disproved most o f this, i t does a f f i r m the fact that Charlemagne and the caliph were o n friendly terms and corresponded w i t h each other, and that t h r o u g h this an i m p o r t a n t c h u r c h i n Jerusalem was secured for the Latin clergy.

Christians and Muslims in Andalusia In the Iberian peninsula the establishment o f a M u s l i m presence d i d not take place w i t h o u t serious difficulties. The r u l i n g g r o u p was composed o f Arabs, Syrians, and Egyptians w i t h Berber troops, all uncertain o f the trustworthiness o f the other. Aside f r o m the Berbers, the actual n u m b e r o f invaders f r o m the east was very small. Nonetheless, i n the forty years i t took to set u p a stable a d m i n istration i n Spain, i t was clear that the Islamic presence was a reality and that their successes were not to be seriously reversed for a l o n g t i m e . I n 756, six years after the o v e r t h r o w o f the Umayyads by the Abbasids i n the eastern Islamic t e r r i t o ries, an U m a y y a d prince named A b d al-Rahman fled west to escape Abbasid persecution. H e established the emirate o f Cordoba, f o r m i n g an a d m i n i s t r a t i o n that w o u l d last f o r t w o and a half centuries. The t i m e d u r i n g w h i c h M u s l i m s and Christians, along w i t h Jews, lived i n p r o x i m i t y i n the Iberian peninsula has often been cited as a Icind o f ideal era o f interfaith harmony. To some extent that claim may be justified, but i f so the era was fairly short and was soon supplanted by the tensions, prejudices, and treatment o f m i n o r i t i e s by b o t h M u s l i m s and Christians that more often has characterized

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relationships between the communities. By the tenth century the chaos o f earlier invasions had settled, and the Iberian peninsula was pretty w e l l split between the Christian K i n g d o m o f Leon i n the n o r t h and the considerably larger M u s l i m alAndalus ( k n o w n as Andalusia) i n the south, w i t h a t h i n frontier zone i n between. D u r i n g the rule o f A b d al-Rahman I I I i n Córdoba (912-61, the first Andalusian caliphate officially b e g i n n i n g i n 929), the Spanish Islamic state reached the height o f power and fame. It was a t i m e o f great opulence and achievement, i n w h i c h intellectual circles o f M u s l i m s , Jews, and Christians u n d e r A b d al-Rahman's Córdoba was the capital of the Umayyad caliphate in Spain. Although Christians and Jews occupied high

patronage c o n t r i b u t e d to a flourishing o f the arts, literature, astronomy, medicine, and other cultural and scientific disciplines. M u s l i m tolerance o f the so-called People o f the Book was h i g h , and social intercourse at the upper levels was easy

positions at court in the

and constant. It was also a p e r i o d d u r i n g w h i c h a significant n u m b e r o f Christians

tenth century, many con-

chose to convert to Islam, although Christians continued to o u t n u m b e r M u s l i m s

verted to Islam. The center

i n Andalusia u n t i l the second half o f the tenth century.

of the Muslim community was the Great Mosque, founded in the eighth cen-

Christians l i v i n g i n Andalusia gradually became Arabized, a d o p t i n g certain elements o f the speech and dress o f their rulers, often i n c l u d i n g Arabic names.

tury and repeatedly enlarged

They were thus k n o w n by the designation o f Mozarabs. This was n o t alway s

and restored, as shown by

received w e l l by the jurists o f Islam, w h o saw i n this a danger o f c o n t a m i n a t i o n

this tenth-century portal.

and a threat to the f a i t h o f M u s l i m societies. Arabs, whether for reasons o f p r i d e

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o r disdain, refused to learn the language o f the populations they conquered, forcing the westerners to learn their language. Arabic words began to infuse the vocabulary such that some Arabic w o r d s still remain i n Spanish today and many have f o u n d their way i n t o the English language. Learned Christians, w h o had once w r i t t e n i n Latin, increasingly c o m posed their w o r k s i n Arabic. Eulogius, Bishc >p o f Toledo ( m a r t y r e d i n 859), is said to have complained

that

his

co-religionists

of

Cordoba k n e w the rules o f Arabic grammar better than the infidels, and that many a m o n g t h e m were ignorant o f Latin. A r a b i z a t i o n d i d n o t stop w i t h the l a n guage. Mozarab w o m e n o f a certain social status became accustomed to g o i n g o u t w i t h their faces veiled. M a n y Christians l i v i n g i n M u s l i m Spain gav e u p the practice o f eating p o r k and o f t e n refused even t o raise pigs. They f o u n d themselves increasingly appreciating

and

a p p r o p r i a t i n g Arabic

music,

Jewish culture nourished under Islamic rule in Spain The lavish carved plaster decoration of the thirteenth-century synagogue of Toledo, later converted into the church of Santa Maria la Blanca, attests to the intermingling of faith and culture in this period.

poetry, and other f o r m s o f culture. Popular pre-Islamic melodies were conserved i n Spain over the centuries. Records even tell o f Christians and M u s l i m s j o i n i n g together i n m e r r y m a k i n g and sexual indulgences. Christian moralists denounced as c o r r u p t i o n w h a t they saw to be the l i b e r t i n e nature o f the conquerors' manners, whereas i n fact b o t h M u s l i m clerics and Christian theologians were w o r r i e d that sensuality was t a k i n g over the culture. O n e i m p o r t a n t means o f rapproachment between the elites o f the t w o p o p u l a t i o n s was the marriage o f an Arabic-speaking Christian o f h i g h rank w i t h a M u s l i m . Nevertheless, records indicate that actual contacts between M u s l i m s and Christians were relatively l i m i t e d . Mozarabs o f the I b e r i a n peninsula, w h o were l i v i n g c o m f o r t a b l y i n the M u s l i m state, seemingly d i d not attach m u c h importance to the difference i n r e l i g i o n . Nonetheless, Arabization had its l i m i t s . As assimilated as he or she m i g h t be, the d h i m m i always r e m a i n e d an i n f i d e l i n the eyes o f the M u s l i m . N o matter h o w integrated Christians were i n the Arabo-Islamic culture, by virtue o f their Christian i d e n t i t y ultimately they remained strangers i n their o w n society. This became m o r e evident as the centuries o f M u s l i m rule i n Spain passed. I n the days o f the h i g h Cordoban caliphate under A b d al-Rahman I I I , Christians generally-

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were tolerated, protected, and treated w i t h charity. This began to change w i t h the rule o f A b u A m i r al-Mansur ( A l m a n z o r ) i n the late t e n t h century, w h o began a series o f ruthless campaigns against Christians, i n c l u d i n g the p l u n d e r i n g o f churches and other Christian sites. A l m a n z o r was regarded by Christian w r i t e r s as a k i n d o f satanic scourge. W i t h the decline o f the prestige o f the Cordobán caliphate, official policies became reflected i n social intercourse. The most pious M u s l i m s refrained f r o m speaking to the infidels except at a distance. I f a M u s l i m and Christian met o n a public road, the Christian always had to give way to the M u s l i m . Houses o f Christians h a d to be lower than those o f Muslims. A n " i n f i d e l " Christian c o u l d never e m p l o y a M u s l i m i n service. It was f o r b i d d e n for Christians to learn the Q u r a n o r to speak about it to their c h i l d r e n , as it was f o r b i d d e n for t h e m to speak about Christ w i t h M u s l i m s . Christians c o u l d not b u i l d new churches or monasteries o r repair o l d ones i f they deteriorated, a l t h o u g h they c o u l d provide m i n i m a l maintenance. Churches and chapels had to be kept open day and n i g h t s h o u l d a M u s l i m traveler w i s h to find l o d g i n g . C h u r c h bells c o u l d o n l y be sounded softly, voices c o u l d n o t be raised i n prayer, and n o cross c o u l d be placed outside o f any b u i l d i n g . A priest c o u l d not carry a cross or gospel i n a visible manner i n case he s h o u l d pass a M u s l i m . Christians were b u r i e d i n their o w n cemeteries, far f r o m M u s l i m s , and funeral processions c o u l d not pass t h r o u g h M u s l i m areas. A M u s l i m w h o converted to Christianity was i m m e d i a t e l y sentenced to death, even i f he had f o r m e r l y been a Christian w h o converted to Islam. Islamic authorities, concerned that M u s l i m society n o t be contaminated and i n the attempt to contain rebellions, forced Mozarabs to live i n special quarters. By 1250 most o f Iberia was r u l e d by the kings o f Aragón, Castile, and Portugal, w i t h only the M u s l i m p r i n c i p a l i t y o f the N a s r i d emirate o f Granada surviving. Schools o f Latin a n d Arabic were established i n Seville, especially to train missionaries to M u s l i m s . Rebellions o f mudejars ( M u s l i m s w h o s u b m i t t e d to Christian r u l e ) i n Castile and Aragón led to severe persecutions and expulsions. Thus the era o f h a r m o n i o u s interaction between M u s l i m s and Christians i n Spain came to an end, replaced by intolerance, prejudice, and m u t u a l suspicion. M u s l i m Almoravids and Almohads f r o m N o r t h A f r i c a , c o m i n g to power i n the eleventh century, represented a m u c h m o r e aggressive Islamic fervor, and relations w i t h Christians became increasingly hostile. Christian attitudes hardened against Islam, i n f l u e n c e d by the revival and spread o f the Catholic monastic houses o f Cluny. I n the m e a n t i m e Christian forces f r o m the n o r t h were m o v i n g gradually b u t steadily to recapture Andalusian territories. By 1212

the Almohads

were defeated by m a j o r C h r i s t i a n powers w h o then reconquered

Córdoba,

Valencia, and Seville. By the m i d d l e o f the thirteenth century M u s l i m control i n Spain was greatly reduced, and Christian fervor, k i n d l e d also by the temporary

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successes o f the Crusades i n the H o l y Land, led to persecutions, emigrations, and the e x p u l s i o n o f M u s l i m s f r o m n e w l y regained Christian t e r r i t o r i e s . Those M u s l i m s w h o remained were f o r b i d d e n f r o m g i v i n g the call to prayer f r o m minarets, f r o m going o n p i l g r i m a g e , and f r o m p u b l i c l y practicing their f a i t h . H i g h taxes led to an increasingly l o w standard o f l i v i n g for M u s l i m s . The g r o u n d was laid for the final expulsion o f Islam f r o m the land o f Andalusia at the end o f the fifteenth century.

Medieval Christian Views of Islam and Its Prophet It is clear that f r o m the earliest encounters o f the West w i t h Islam, the Arab (Saracen) invaders were not seen as essentially different f r o m any other m a r a u d ers or predators. For m o s t o f those w h o s e t e r r i t o r i e s were threatened

by

M u s l i m s , there was very little reference to the fact that the intruders represented a n e w r e l i g i o n . Clerics and those w h o were interested i n r e l i g i o n i d e n t i f i e d Islam as a Christian heresy, b u t f e w others took account o f its religious s i g n i f i cance. The names by w h i c h Christians k n e w and referred t o M u s l i m s changed over the centuries. D u r i n g the early p e r i o d they were often referred to as Agarenes, a r o u g h identification for Arab descendants o f Hagar. Later the Greek w o r d Saracen became m o r e popular. This was a t e r m that had been used f r o m the early centuries o f Christianity for all n o m a d i c people but came to be applied specifically to Arabs. F r o m the t w e l f t h century, w h e n w i t h the Crusades the " e n e m y " became better k n o w n to the Franks, the t e r m Saracen was an umbrella t e r m for any M u s l i m and i t n o longer applied to other Arabs. The t e r m Moor was used b o t h generally for M u s l i m s and specifically to refer to those w h o came directly f r o m Africa. Later, w i t h the advances o f the Turkish armies, Turk was the general t e r m applied to the followers o f " M a h o m e t " or M u h a m m a d . At times w h e n anger at M u s l i m aggression was the highest, as i n western Europe, the t e r m used to i d e n t i f y the aggressors was not Saracen but Barbari, m e a n i n g b o t h barbarian and enemy. D u r i n g the M i d d l e Ages the West i n general f o u n d i t very d i f f i c u l t to f o r m u late a coherent vision o f Islam, constrained by its o w n n a r r o w horizons as w e l l as by a lack o f sufficient and accurate i n f o r m a t i o n . For the most part Christians k n e w virtually n o t h i n g about the r e l i g i o n o f Islam, b u t saw the Saracens only as the enemy. It was only i n Spain, w h e r e the t w o c o m m u n i t i e s were i n close t h o u g h often hostile interaction, that a clearer picture o f the r e l i g i o n as such emerged. Two quite different populations i n the West expressed a v i s i o n o f Islam. One was that o f the c o m m o n people, fostered p r i m a r i l y by the propaganda that led u p to and supported the Crusades and fed by the largely inaccurate i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m the Chansons de Geste (the body o f literature filled w i t h adventure and romance, warfare and c h i v a l r y ) . The other was that o f the scholastics, emerging

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p r i m a r i l y i n the context o f Spain. A l t h o u g h sometimes i t was reactionary, seeing Islam as violent and fanatic, i n general the scholastics' -vision o f Islam was reasonably balanced and attempted t o portray Islam m o r e reahstically than was the case t h r o u g h the stereotypes that i n t r i g u e d Christian society at large. A l t h o u g h the factual i n f o r m a t i o n conveyed b y these t w o segments o f society differed considerably, westerners i n general shared an u n d e r l y i n g attitude toward those described as Saracens, M o o r s , and Turks. Governed by a " w e " and " t h e y " mentality, most Christians saw the lands o f Islam, despite their scientific and c u l tural advances, by d e f i n i t i o n t o be outside the civilized w o r l d as they k n e w it. The way i n w h i c h Islam was c o n d e m n e d was n o t unlike the w a y many i n the weste r n c h u r c h c o n d e m n e d Oriental churches as heresies, as beyond the bounds o f orthodoxy. Considered as alien peoples, M u s l i m s were natural candidates for the objects o f crusade at the t i m e w h e n that was called for. One o f the earliest Christians t o undertake a serious study o f Islam was John o f Damascus, a government official d u r i n g the r e i g n o f the U m a y y a d caliph A b d a l - M a l i k (r. 6 8 5 - 7 0 5 ) , w h o left his p u b l i c post to take u p a life o f c o n t e m p l a t i o n at a Greek O r t h o d o x monastery. Knowledgeable i n Arabic, he was w e l l versed i n the m a i n doctrines o f Islam, especially those relating to Jesus and Christianity His major theological w o r k contains a section dealing w i t h the so-called heresy o f the Ismailites ( M u s l i m s ) and his designation o f M u h a m m a d as the Antichrist. I n another m o r e moderate w o r k he presents a series o f supposed debates between a C h r i s t i a n a n d a M u s l i m , i n w h i c h the C h r i s t i a n ( n o t s u r p r i s i n g l y ) w i n s . A l t h o u g h n o t overly appreciative o f Islam, he nonetheless expressed a desire for b o t h sides t o reason together i n their debate. For his pains, despite his standing as a c h u r c h theologian, John was c o n d e m n e d at the iconoclastic s y n o d o f 754 for being "Saracen-minded" and i n c l i n e d t o w a r d the r e l i g i o n o f Islam. Scholastic w r i t i n g s c o m i n g o u t o f the eastern part o f the e m p i r e i n the n i n t h and t e n t h centuries, especially f r o m B y z a n t i u m , tended t o be contemptuous and even abusive o f the Prophet. I n general this p o l e m i c was apocalyptic (prophesyi n g the e n d o f the Arabs) and h i g h l y uncharitable. The w o r k p r o d u c e d i n Spain, such as the w r i t i n g o f Isadore o f Seville i n the m i d 800s, p r o v i d e d the first attempt at a comprehensive v i e w o f the r e l i g i o n o f the Saracens, despite its p r e d i l e c t i o n t o see Islam as a p r e p a r a t i o n f o r the f i n a l appearance o f the Antichrist. Spanish Christian apologetic q u i c k l y took o n m o r e o f the character o f p h i l o s o p h i c a l a r g u m e n t a t i o n , even u s i n g Islamic m e t h o d s

based o n

Aristotelian logic. Notable a m o n g several significant attempts i n the t w e l f t h cent u r y t o present Islam i n a somewhat m o r e tolerant, or at least realistic, way was that o f the French m o n k Peter the Venerable, A b b o t o f Cluny (ca. 1092-1156). After having visited the Cluniac monasteries i n Spain, Peter began a m o v e m e n t to better understand Islam, t o be able t o combat i t m o r e intelligently. As part o f

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this effort he engaged the English scholar Robert o f Ketton t o translate the Q u r a n , w h i c h he completed i n 1143. This first f u l l translation, despite its errors and omissions, p r o v i d e d the Latin West its first t o o l f o r significant study o f the r e l i g i o n o f the Saracens, an o p p o r t u n i t y that unfortunately f e w chose t o pursue. Despite the importance o f his p i o n e e r i n g efforts, Peter c o n t i n u e d like such earlier w r i t e r s as John o f Damascus t o v i e w Islam as a Christian heresy that must be combated, reflected i n the title o f his Latin p o l e m i c , Against the Loathsome Heresy of the Sect of the Saracens. The reality o f the Crusades i n the t w e l f t h a n d t h i r t e e n t h centuries a n d the a n t i - M u s l i m feelings encouraged i n the efforts t o s u p p o r t the wars d i d l i t t l e t o foster i n t e r f a i t h understanding. The fact is that Islam was never really believed t o be any k i n d o f alternative t o C h r i s t i a n t r u t h , a n d f o r the most part i t was n o t treated seriously b y t h e scholastics. I n t h e late 1200s, f o r example, t h e great I t a l i a n scholastic T h o m a s A q u i n a s ( 1 2 2 5 - 7 4 ) i n h i s Summa Contra Gentiles i n c l u d e d some p o l e m i c against M u h a m m a d , yet o n t h e w h o l e i t p a i d l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n t o Islam as a r e l i g i o n . The Andalusian p h i l o s o p h e r a n d t h e o l o g i a n R a m o n L l u l l (ca. 1235-1316), w r i t i n g at the same t i m e , again resorted t o t h e f a m i l i a r tactic o f p o s i t i n g dialogical a r g u m e n t a t i o n between Christians a n d M u s l i m s , i n w h i c h M u s l i m s never fared w e l l . O n e o f t h e f e w westerners o p p o s e d t o t h e Crusades as e v i l , L l u l l urged o t h e r means o f b r i n g i n g t h e Saracens t o " t h e t r u t h . " H e was p r o p h e t i c i n h i s concern that the Tartars, t h e n o n t h e m o v e i n t h e eastern lands, s h o u l d b e c o m e attracted t o t h e l a w o f M u h a m m a d , w a r n i n g that i t w o u l d be a great danger t o C h r i s t e n d o m . By the end o f the t h i r t e e n t h century R i c o l d o da Montecroce o f Florence, a D o m i n i c a n scholar a n d missionary i n Baghdad, was one o f the first t o r e p o r t the fall o f Acre t o the M o n g o l s and the reality that they were t u r n i n g t o Islam a n d n o t t o Christianity. R i c o l d o , u n l i k e m a n y other Europeans, k n e w Arabic w e l l and d r e w creatively o n the similarities he saw i n the Q u r a n a n d the Bible. Nevertheless, like others he c o u l d n o t resist l u m p i n g together all the heresies t o w h i c h he saw C h r i s t i a n i t y opposed, i n c l u d i n g N e s t o r i a n i s m a n d Islam, w i t h little c r i t i cal d i s t i n c t i o n d r a w n between t h e m . One o f the few medieval Christians t o take b o t h Islam and religious p l u r a l i s m seriously was the German philosopher Nicholas o f Cusa ( 1 4 0 1 - 6 4 ) i n the m i d dle o f the fifteenth century. A t a t i m e w h e n absurd stories were being spread about I s l a m a n d i t s founder, Nicholas t r i e d t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e f a i t h o f t h e Saracens. H e u n d e r t o o k a t h o r o u g h historical a n d literary study o f the Q u r a n , even t h o u g h i t was f o r purposes o f refutation. Such efforts at better understandi n g were n o t reflected i n the w o r k o f the giants o f the Protestant R e f o r m a t i o n i n the early 1500s. The German religious reformer M a r t i n Luther (1483-1546) saw the Turks, as they were then called, as God's rods o f chastisement, whose g o d was

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equal to the devil and whose so-called h o l y book was b o t h f o u l and shameful. The French theologian a n d r e f o r m e r John Calvin (1509-64), f o r his part, likened the Turks to his m o r e i m m e d i a t e enemies the Papists, a t t r i b u t i n g to b o t h the evils o f gross deception. Despite the fact that i n the understanding o f medieval Christian clergy Islam was a Christian heresy ( a l t h o u g h technically a heretic is one w h o has been baptized i n the f a i t h ) , i n the popular literature o f this t i m e M u s l i m s were clearly considered to be pagans. This tension between the necessity o f seeing Islam b o t h as " o t h e r " and at the same t i m e o f understanding i t as a deviation f r o m , a salacious heresy w i t h i n , the b o d y o f Christianity itself remained t h r o u g h o u t the M i d d l e Ages. Christians enjoyed feelings o f b o t h r e p u l s i o n for a n d fascination w i t h the Prophet and his r e l i g i o n . M u h a m m a d was almost universally t h o u g h t o f a m o n g Christians as a m a n o f depravity, d i s h o n o r , falsehood, and i l l i c i t power. I n a d d i t i o n , he was seen as a sexual l i b e r t i n e , demonstrated most specifically by the w e l l - k n o w n facts o f his o w n m u l t i p l e marriages and the details o f his (that is, the Quran's) d e s c r i p t i o n o f the pleasures o f the gardens o f paradise, w h i c h was seen by the west as b o t h material and carnal. Such rewards p r o m i s e d to the f a i t h f u l were c o n v i n c i n g p r o o f t o the Christians that Islam was a r e l i g i o n utterly devoid o f spirituality. The i l l regard w i t h w h i c h Christians held the Prophet o f Islam d i d n o t h i n g to prevent t h e m f r o m a fascination w i t h w h a t they deemed t o be the m o r e s o r d i d aspects o f his life and teachings. They saw h i m as having presented t h r o u g h o u t his l i f e a p r i m e example o f sensuality, violence, and i m m o r a l i t y , an example that guaranteed that his followers w o u l d d e m o n strate those same u n f o r t u n a t e qualities. Christians' o p i n i o n s about the Prophet a n d his r e l i g i o n had as their starting p o i n t the c o n v i c t i o n o f the depravity o f M u h a m m a d , b u t this never stopped t h e m f r o m analyzing whatever elements o f the f a i t h were familiar to t h e m and p r o n o u n c i n g t h e m t o be f u r t h e r p r o o f o f the absolute inadequacy o f Islam as a r e l i g i o n . I n western eyes, the other p r i m a r y offense o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d and his followers was the advocacy o f force and violence. This m o v e d f r o m the realm o f simple analysis o f the life and teachings o f the f o u n d e r o f Islam to the actual experiences that Christians had, or sometimes believed that they had, o f M u s l i m s invading their lands and p r o f a n i n g their churches. Such violence was seen as a natural o u t g r o w t h o f the Saracen terror that was associated w i t h Arab lands as a legacy f r o m the w a r r i n g tribes o f the O l d Testament. It was at once projected u p o n Islam and expected o f i t , fostered i n the awareness that M u s l i m s understood the w o r l d to be d i v i d e d i n t o w h a t they termed " t h e abode o f I s l a m " and that w h i c h is not M u s l i m , namely "the abode o f war." (One school o f Islamic law, the Shafu, added a t h i r d category, "the abode o f truce," for those territories w i t h w h i c h a M u s l i m government has concluded a treaty.) This was especially true i n

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Europe's southern regions, where the skirmishes c o n t i n u e d at such a pace that i t was d i f f i c u l t n o t to i m p u t e to the M u s l i m s marauders qualities o f violent behavior. The hardening o f this m i n d - s e t i n the European consciousness is at least part o f the explanation o f the apparent lack o f conscience displayed i n the acts o f aggression a n d violence perpetrated by the Franks at the t i m e o f the Crusades. A l t h o u g h i n reality a great deal o f reliable i n f o r m a t i o n was avadable about Islam and its Prophet, i t was fashionable and served the appropriate polemical purpose to circulate popular tales that ranged f r o m gross exaggeration to complete and baseless

fiction.

M u c h o f the i n f o r m a t i o n o f the medieval western w r i t e r s and poets came f r o m the Byzantines, whose hatred for the Prophet o f Islam h a d always been intense. It fueled the propaganda efforts o f those generating enthusiasm for the Crusades, b o t h i n the Chansons de Geste and i n the notably inaccurate histories o f such medieval w r i t e r s as H i l d e b e r t o f Tours, Walter o f C o m p i e g n e , a n d Vincent o f Beauvais. H i l d e b e r t was the author o f the eleventh-century Latin p o e m Historia de Muhamete, probably the most w i d e l y read medieval poetic w o r k dealing w i t h Islam. I t includes scurrilous narratives about the Prophet o f Islam, such as his h a v i n g r e t u r n e d h o m e i n a d r u n k e n stupor, fallen i n t o a d u n g h i l l , and been eaten by pigs. I n some versions o f the p o e m , i t includes the m e n t i o n o f M u h a m m a d having prophesied his o w n resurrection three days after he was to have d i e d , an o b v i o u s slander o f Islam based o n a Christian theme. After three days, the p o e m reads, M u h a m m a d ' s followers left, disgusted by the lack o f a miracle and nauseated by the stench o f putrefaction, and the b o d y was devoured by dogs. This is r e p o r t e d as the reason M u s l i m s d o n o t eat p o r k . Hildebert's Historia also contains

the tale, repeated

t h r o u g h o u t the M i d d l e Ages,

of

M u h a m m a d ' s remains being b u r i e d i n a t e m p l e o f marble a n d g o l d , w i t h his c o f f i n suspended by magnets to t r i c k his f o l l o w e r s i n t o believing he had m i r a c u l o u s powers. One o f the most i n f l u e n t i a l narratives about the Prophet o f Islam was the French Roman de Mahomet, w r i t t e n by Alexandre d u Pont i n 1258. This is a r h y m e d story based o n a Latin p o e m o f the same theme by a m o n k named Walterius (Gautier), w h i c h pretends to be the recitation o f a converted Saracen. I n Gautier's w o r k M u h a m m a d is portrayed as an imposter w h o f o u n d e d his r e l i g i o n w i t h the help o f c h i l d i s h trickeries. A l t h o u g h Hildebert and Gautier were clerics, d u Pont w r o t e f r o m a lay perspective and t u r n e d his w o r k i n t o a novel reflecting the ideals o f chivalrous life. His narrative is a k i n d o f c o m p e n d i u m o f the various stories that were current about the Prophet, nearly all o f i t repeated i n the p o p u l a r poetry o f the t i m e . I n c l u d e d are M u h a m m a d ' s marriage to a wealthy w i d o w o u t o f greed and a m b i t i o n , such false " m i r a c l e s " to dupe his followers as a trained calf appearing w i t h pages o f the Q u r a n fastened o n its h o r n s , his licentious rela-

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t i o n s h i p s w i t h w o m e n , a n d the magnet-suspended

coffin. This version o f

M u h a m m a d ' s life o m i t s the popular tale o f a dove trained to pick c o r n o u t o f his ear, w h i c h he pretends is the h o l y spirit g i v i n g h i m revelations, and o f his body having been devoured by swine. I n c l u d e d i n d u Pont's " b i o g r a p h y " is the o f t e n repeated story that M u h a m m a d was actually a Christian cardinal w h o had been p r o m i s e d the p o n t i f i c a l t h r o n e i f he converted the Saracens to Christianity. Having f u l f i l l e d that task, he was subsequently betrayed and as a result started the heretical sect o f the " M a h o m e t a n s . " M u c h o f this apocryphal narrative about the Prophet M u h a m m a d was available t h r o u g h the Chansons de Geste. For the most part, lay people were neither knowledgeable about n o r m u c h interested i n Islam, but they f o u n d the tales related i n the Chansons entertaining and reflective o f many o f the societal ideals that they most valued. The songs were w r i t t e n f r o m the eleventh t o the f o u r teenth centuries, many at the h e i g h t o f crusading fervor, b u t they p u r p o r t e d to be set i n the t i m e o f the e m p e r o r Charlemagne and his son Louis. There are three p r i n c i p l e cycles o f the Chansons i n w h i c h the Saracens appear, o f w h i c h the "Song o f R o l a n d " is considered to be the oldest. I n the first t w o cycles the action takes place m a i n l y i n Europe. The t h i r d cycle is situated entirely i n the east, w r i t ten after the Crusaders first took Jerusalem i n 1099. These songs became the vehicles for a k i n d o f revenge for the defeats suffered earlier at the hands o f the M u s l i m s , and i t is n o t s u r p r i s i n g that i n t h e m the Saracens are m i g h t i l y c o n quered. This literature was extreme!) popular i n the west, simple i n style and intended for a w i d e audience, reflecting sentiments and beliefs that were c o m m o n l y accepted. The context was one i n w h i c h Christians and Saracens b o t h shared i n a single chivalrous culture. The songs illustrate the religious faith o f the knights as w e l l as their desire for conquest, the spoils o f war, personal glory, romance, and v i c t o r y over their enemies. Descriptions o f Islam i n the Chansons are w i l d l y inaccurate, n o t reflective o f w h a t was certainly k n o w n i n the west at that t i m e but rather designed for p o p ular appeal and crusading fervor. Some descriptions relate that M u s l i m s w o r shiped a great n u m b e r o f gods, o f w h o m the most i m p o r t a n t and p o w e r f u l was " M a h o m e t " or " M a h o n . " Occasionally there was reference to his claim that he was a prophet sent by G o d w h o w o u l d become a g o d h i m s e l f w h e n he died. Other poets i m a g i n e d that Islam supported a t r i n i t y o f deities composed o f M a h o m e t ( M a h o n ) , Tervagent (Tervagan), and A p o l l i n . N o n e o f these n o t i o n s is f o u n d i n literature outside the Chansons. The "Song o f R o l a n d " knew o n l y the three i d o l s , but the list o f accompanying gods, to w h o m the Christian w r i t e r s assigned the names o f various devilish creatures, grew l o n g e r w i t h the other cycles. I n the songs the name o f G o d is never cited. I n fact, they p u t the expression "By M a h o n [ M u h a m m a d ] ! " i n the m o u t h o f the Saracens, suggesting that

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i t is he w h o is i n fact their g o d . The places o f w o r s h i p o f the Saracens often are referred to as "sinagogues," revealing a tendency to attribute to Islam some o f w h a t was k n o w n about Judaism, o r as " m a h o m e r i e s . " Images o f M a h o m e t were said to be huge, carved i n marble o r crystal, w i t h b r i l l i a n t colors,

sometimes

studded w i t h jewels, g o l d , and silver. As a g o d , M a h o m e t c o u l d be carried around by his people o n their expeditions o r i n battle and c o u l d be consulted for advice. There are even references to M a h o m e t having made an i d o l o f h i m s e l f w h i l e he was still alive and filling it w i t h a l e g i o n o f devils. Saracens c o u l d approach the i d o l safely, b u t should a Christian come near i t , the Christian w o u l d perish. A n u m b e r o f the songs note the anger w i t h w h i c h the Saracens treat the idols w h e n they have suffered losses o n the battlefield. A c c o r d i n g to the "Song o f Roland," they r u s h o n A p o l l i n i n his shrine, s t r i k i n g and cruelly shattering h i m , and t h r o w M u h a m m a d i n t o a d i t c h w h e r e hogs and dogs devour and trample h i m . This renunciation o f the idols is said to be i n contrast to the Christians, w h o never renounce their G o d u p o n defeat. O n the w h o l e the songs are far less interested i n M u h a m m a d either as a m a n or as a g o d than they are i n p o r t r a y i n g his followers. The Saracens themselves are often described i n grotesque terms, having huge noses and ears, blacker than i n k w i t h o n l y their teeth s h o w i n g w h i t e , eyes like b u r n i n g coals, teeth that can bite like a serpent, some w i t h horns like the antlers o f stags. Typically they are said to be e n o r m o u s i n size, n o d o u b t to make Christian victories over t h e m m o r e impressive. Despite the fact that there are various instances o f the poets referring to the Saracens as creatures o f Satan, i t is clear that M u s l i m s were n o t regarded as t r u l y diabolical beings. They were recognized as having souls, a l t h o u g h they c o u l d n o t go to paradise because they were pagans, a n d a f e w were even presented as having pure hearts, i n v i t i n g a d m i r a t i o n as w e l l as p i t y for the fact that they were n o t Christian. U n d e r l y i n g all the songs is the theme that i f the Saracens c o u l d be defeated o n the battlefield, they c o u l d be persuaded to accept the r e l i g i o n o f the vanquisher, namely Christianity. The goal was n o t the e x t e r m i n a t i o n o f the enemy, but the conversion o f as m a n y as possible. The Saracen soldiers themselves are o f t e n portrayed as brave a n d noble, w o r thy enemies o f the Christian k n i g h t s , whose p r i m a r y fault is that they f o l l o w such a depraved r e l i g i o n as Islam. The false references to bizarre Islamic practices were o n l y a small part o f this b o d y o f literature that was, i n fact, reflective also o f a deep respect f o r the m i l i t a r y skills and even the c h i v a l r y o f the Arab w a r r i o r s . This is especially t r u e i n the cycle that represents the w r i t i n g o f the second crusade, notably i n the p o e m e n t i t l e d "Saladin" after the great t w e l f t h century M u s l i m leader and hero Salah al D i n . Despite the e x t r e m i t y w i t h w h i c h M u h a m m a d and his r e l i g i o n are p o r t r a y e d , there was an understanding that Franks and Arabs shared a w o r l d and even a culture i n w h i c h certain ideals such

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I n t h e p o p u l a r m i n d , m e d i e v a l C h r i s t i a n s s a w M u s l i m w a r r i o r s as b r a v e a n d n o b l e , w o r t h y e n e m i e s o f C h r i s t i a n k n i g h t s . T h i s m a r g i n a l i l l u s t r a t i o n t o a psalter m a d e before 1 3 4 0 f o r Sir G e o f f r e y L u t t r e l l (1276-1345) s h o w s K i n g B i c h a r d I o f E n g l a n d o n t h e l e f t t i l t i n g at t h e g r e a t M u s l i m l e a d e r S a l a h a l - D i n , k n o w n a s S a l a d i n i n t h e

west.

as chivalry, loyalty, and bravery were reflected. Such qualities were thus appreciated i n b o t h the Christian heroes and the M u s l i m w a r r i o r s . The theme o f romance also r u n s t h r o u g h many o f the songs, o f t e n w i t h Saracen w o m e n falling i n love w i t h Christian k n i g h t s . The romance generally begins w h e n the French k n i g h t is a prisoner o f the Saracens, a n d he eventually regains his l i b erty, thanks to the efforts o f the M u s l i m princess. The r o m a n t i c c o n c l u s i o n was all the m o r e delicious for having been set i n the context o f battle and intercul¬ tural prejudices. The Saracen w o m e n w h o were w o o e d by the knights were p o r trayed as b e a u t i f u l , i n t e l l i g e n t , devoted, v i r t u o u s , h u m b l e , and courageous, w e l l w o r t h y o f the love o f t h e i r C h r i s t i a n consorts. The inevitable conclusion is the conversion o f the Saracen w o m e n to Christianity, o n l y after w h i c h is any sexual relationship allowed. Thus a l t h o u g h the Chansons de Geste and other f o r m s o f romance literature served as vehicles for Crusade propaganda, they also reflect attitudes that are m o r e generous t o w a r d M u s l i m s . O f t e n the stories were based o n real interactions and relationships w i t h those w h o m official d o g m a p r o c l a i m e d t o the ultimate enemies o f C h r i s t e n d o m . The m o r e charitable expressions were based o n the experience o f Frank to Arab, however, a n d n o t Christian to M u s l i m . Those w h o were most knowledgeable about I s l a m — t h a t is, those w r i t i n g for religious p u r poses—were generally the least charitable. The greatest falsehoods were c o n tained i n the literature o f those w h o were least knowledgeable about the faith, but w h o also expressed the greatest appreciation for the Saracens as w o r t h y participants i n a c o m m o n feudal and chivalrous culture.

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Medieval Muslim Views of Europe, Christians, and Christianity The vast m a j o r i t y o f M u s l i m s i n the eastern part o f the e m p i r e h a d little i f any knowledge o f the western regions o f C h r i s t e n d o m , as w e l l as little interest i n discovering a n y t h i n g about lands they considered bleak and r e m o t e , i n h a b i t e d by peoples they t h o u g h t to be little m o r e than barbarians. They considered the Europeans' manners and habits to be loathsome, their level o f culture exceedinglylow, and their r e l i g i o n superseded by Islam. The fact that Europeans spoke many different languages was regarded as a serious liability, a l l o w i n g n o n e to understand the other. The earliest available records o f any M u s l i m n o t a t i o n o f western Europe were i n the n i n t h century, taken p r i m a r i l y f r o m Greek sources. A century later the great M u s l i m geographer al-Masudi reported i n his Fields of Gold o n the peoples o f the n o r t h , listing sixteen Frankish kings, o f w h o m at least ten are authentic. I n his Book of Instruction he talked about the translation o f the Septuagint, the ecumenical councils o f the c h u r c h , Christian sects and heresies, and a n u m ber o f details o f Christian theology. A l - M a s u d i was one o f the f e w M u s l i m s w h o had any interest i n the west, however, and i t was really the o n l y t i m e that a m e d i e v a l M u s l i m h i s t o r i a n dealt w i t h any k i n d o f h i s t o r y o f the lands o f C h r i s t e n d o m . To the extent that M u s l i m s k n e w a n y t h i n g o f the papal city o f Rome at a l l , i t was o f t e n confused w i t h B y z a n t i u m , because b o t h were referred to as Rum. A f e w venturesome easterner travelers managed to visit the city, w h i c h served as the center o f R o m a n Christianity, but their records are meager. Most M u s l i m s preferred to go east, to areas that they considered m o r e civilized, than to venture i n t o the c o l d and inhospitable areas o f Europe. I n the m i d d l e o f the tenth century I b r a h i m i b n Yaqub al-Israili p r o v i d e d an interesting and at that p o i n t unprecedented account o f France, Germany, and the lands o f the Slavs, one o f the few personal descriptions given by a n a m e d M u s l i m visitor to Europe u n t d reports o f the O t t o m a n embassy centuries later. Even by the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries Muslims had little interest i n , and thus generally little knowledge of, the west. W h a t few reports are available come f r o m geographers f r o m the far western reaches o f the Islamic empire, namely Andalusia or N o r t h Africa. The eleventh century saw the p r o d u c t i o n o f the Book of the Categories of Nations by the Andalusian Qadi Said i b n A h m a d , i n w h i c h he discusses the Greeks, Romans, Franks, and a n u m b e r o f groups f r o m eastern Europe, categ o r i z i n g Frankish Europeans along w i t h Negro Africans as w h i t e and black barbarians o f the regions beyond the civilized w o r l d . I n 1154 a geography by the Arab geographer and cartographer al-Idirisi, w r i t t e n i n Sicily, gave some descriptions o f Italy and other parts o f western Europe, w h i c h was the basis for m u c h o f w h a t Muslims k n e w about die Franks. M u s l i m chronicles f r o m this p e r i o d treat the activities o f the Christian Crusaders i n some detail, but they contain little i n f o r m a t i o n

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o n w h a t motivated the invading armies o r what the differences were i n their national constituencies. W i t h very little exception, Muslims were quite unaware of, and clearly disinterested i n , the possibility o f any k i n d o f cultural developments i n the west i n the areas o f r e l i g i o n , philosophy, science, o r the arts. Even the great historian and philosopher I b n Khaldun d i d not give m u c h attention to areas n o r t h o f Spain except to note that some Slavs, other Europeans, and Turkish nations adopted Christianity; the qualities o f those l i v i n g t o the n o r t h , he noted, are akin t o w h a t one finds i n animals living i n savage isolation w h o have n o c o m m u n i t y and even eat each other. I n discussing Christianity itself, I b n Khaldun displayed his k n o w l edge o f the Bible and church organization. Virtually n o works i n Latin or any other western language were translated i n t o Arabic. By the f o u r t e e n t h century, w h e n the conversion o f many o f the M o n g o l tribes was greatly changing the face o f eastern Islam, the Persian physician and scholar Rashid a l - D i n (1247—1318) w r o t e his history o f the Franks (1305—06), part o f the second v o l u m e o f a larger w o r l d history. This w o r k deals w i t h ancient Rome and its m o n u m e n t s , miracles o f the saints, and some pagan traditions. It contains i n f o r m a t i o n about the b i r t h and y o u t h o f Jesus, the conversion o f the emperor Constantine, some o f the b e t t e r - k n o w n popes, and a g o o d deal o f legendary material concerning Christians i n the M i d d l e Ages. It was t h r o u g h Rashid al-Din's history that the eastern Islamic w o r l d learned for the first t i m e m u c h o f this Christian history and lore. O n the w h o l e , i t was v i e w e d as somewhat o f a curiosity, however, w i t h o u t significant i m p o r t a n c e o r influence. This general lack o f interest o n the part o f medieval M u s l i m s i n the lands o f western Christianity d i d n o t mean, however, that the Christian r e l i g i o n itself was n o t a matter o f concern for many Islamic theologians and scholars. A l o n g w i t h the development o f the schools o f law and exegesis o f the Q u r a n there developed a b o d y o f literature dealing w i t h Christian d o c t r i n e for reasons o f p o l e m i c and refutation. As was true w i t h Christian p o l e m i c against Islam, M u s l i m s sought t o support their refutation by l o o k i n g t o their o w n scripture. For b o t h sides o f the argument such retreat i n t o internal resources was d o o m e d t o failure. Christians c o u l d n o t be persuaded by the Q u r a n , a scripture that diey believed t o be false, as M u s h m s c o u l d n o t be persuaded by the Gospel, a scripture they believed t o be distorted f r o m its o r i g i n a l f o r m . The Bible itself, i n the f o r m held sacrosanct by Christians, received little attent i o n f r o m M u s l i m polemicists. A few used portions o f the Biblical text t o buttress their arguments, relying o n traditional M u s l i m exegetical style t o d o so. Their p r i m a r y interest i n the Bible was as a proof-text for predicting the c o m i n g o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , f i n d i n g occasional references t h r o u g h the text that c o u l d be employed for that purpose. I n rare instances p o r t i o n s o f the Gospel were translated i n t o Arabic and m o d i f i e d to make the text m o r e congenial to the tenets o f

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I

Islam. This was justified by the M u s l i m conviction that the Christian scripture had been changed and distorted and was thus fair game for revision to b r i n g i t closer to the o r i g i n a l revelation. After Islam had spread to Syria and Mesopotamia, Persia, N o r t h Africa, and Spain, the polemical debate between M u s l i m s and Christians was sparked by the different forms o f contact between members o f the t w o faiths. The Arabic language was adopted by g r o w i n g numbers o f Christian d h i m m i s , especially those l i v i n g i n urban centers, a l l o w i n g people to read the Q u r a n for themselves and p r o v i d i n g for the translation o f the Bible i n t o Arabic. Even w h e n b o t h sides were able to quote n o t o n l y their o w n scripture but that o f the other, however, i t was still difficult to move beyond attacking the texts held sacred by their opponents o n the basis o f their o w n texts. As early as the n i n t h century there were a n u m b e r o f M u s l i m efforts at r e f u tation o f the doctrines o f Christianity, particularly as they were k n o w n t h r o u g h Christians l i v i n g i n Arab lands. A l i al-Tabari (d. 855), a Nestorian Christian w h o converted late i n life to Islam, w r o t e a rebuttal o f Christianity that sounds like a version o f Nestorian polemics against other Christian sects. I n the 8 6 o s A b u Isa al-Warraq p r o v i d e d the most comprehensive o f the early anti-Christian p o l e m i cal w o r k s , entitled Reply to the Three Sects of the Christians. A i m e d especially at the Nestorians, Jacobites, and Melchites, i t deals particularly w i t h the "inconsistencies" o f the doctrines o f the T r i n i t y and the incarnation. Shortly after that A m r i b n Bahr al-Jahiz w r o t e a r e f u t a t i o n o f the Christians for the c a l i p h alM u t a w a k k i l , w h o was w a g i n g an offensive against the Christians. It is an especially b i t i n g attack o n the T r i n i t y a n d o n Christianity as a false r e l i g i o n , w h i c h , said al-Jahiz, is a sore and a social evil i n the midst o f the body p o l i t i c . W h e n the Abbasid caliph a l - M a m u n (r. 813-33) established the institute o f p h i losophy or "House o f W i s d o m " i n Baghdad i n 830, Greek and Syriac texts o n a range o f issues, f r o m philosophy to medicine to astrology and mathematics, were translated into Arabic. M u s l i m scholars soon became as well versed i n these materials as their Christian counterparts, often m o r e so, changing the playing field f r o m scriptural argumentation to the more c o m m o n l y agreed-on basis o f the authority o f Aristotelian logic and philosophy. I n some cases, such as that o f the ninth-centuryArab philosopher Abu YusufYuqub al-Kindi (795-866) i n his Refutation of the Christians, Aristotelian logic was used to combat the Christian idea o f the Trinity. (It is an interesting illustration o f the way i n w h i c h refutation was used to promote one's o w n interpretation that al-Kindi's w o r k , not itself extant, is k n o w n t h r o u g h the counteri n g arguments o f the Jacobite Christian scholar Yahya i b n A d i , w h o refuted these M u s l i m arguments i n making his o w n case for the Trinity.) The numbers o f scholars o n either side w h o were able to engage i n this k i n d o f intellectual debate were l i m i t e d , however, w h i c h is w h y b o t h Muslims and Christians for the most part carried out their polemic f r o m w i t h i n their o w n theological and scriptural frames o f

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reference. I n Islam most jurists and theologians were suspicious o f such philosophical methodology as somehow r u n n i n g counter t o the explicit revelations contained i n the Quran. Most o f the surviving Islamic w r i t i n g that has made u p the body o f anti-Christian polemics, then, is Quranically based apologetic not intended to debate any issues but simply to a f f i r m what Muslims already- believed to be true. Some M u s l i m speculative theologians made use o f f o r m s o f Aristotelian logic i n shaping their d o c t r i n a l arguments, however, still keeping w i t h i n the bounds o f w h a t was acceptable t o the m a i n schools o f Islamic theology. They used these arguments t o the extent t o w h i c h they were engaged i n c o m b a t i n g the ideas o f Christian w r i t e r s , especially regarding the doctrine o f the incarnation. The M a h k i jurist A b u Bakr al-Baqillani ( d . 1013), f o r example, w r i t i n g i n Baghdad i n the eleventh century, is said t o have effectively silenced the arguments o f Christians by means o f sophisticated p h i l o s o p h i c a l arguments, especially i n relation t o claims o f Jesus' divinity. Such a conclusion, o f course, was made b y his f e l l o w M u s l i m s , and f o r either side o f the debate the result was p r e d e t e r m i n e d by their unshakable faith i n the t r u t h o f their o w n dogmas. The eleventh century also gave birth

t o the w o r k o f the A n d a l u s i a n p h i l o s o p h e r - t h e o l o g i a n

I b n Hazm

( 9 9 4 - 1 0 6 4 ) , w h o attacked the Christian scriptures harshly o n the basis o f a very t h o r o u g h k n o w l e d g e o f the Bible. His w e l l - k n o w n and erudite Book of Sects, p u r p o r t e d t o be the first M u s l i m w o r k o n comparative r e l i g i o n , is really a defense o f Islam against the error o f other faiths, particularly Christianity. The most famous o f the late M i d d l e Ages critics o f Christianity was the f o u r teenth-century Hanbali jurist, theologian, and religious reformer Taqi al-Din i b n Taymiyah (1263-1329). H e was an independent thinker w h o was w e l l grounded i n a w i d e range o f religious and nonreligious sciences. His e n o r m o u s w o r k , m o r e than one thousand pages l o n g , entitled The Correct Answer to Those Who Have Changed the Religion of Christ, is a r e f u t a t i o n i n particular o f the w o r k o f a Transjordanian Melchite bishop named Peter w h o w r o t e at the end o f the n i n t h century. I b n Taymiyah argued against the possibility o f the incarnation o f God i n Christ, w h i c h he refuted b y using Peter's o w n arguments against h i m . A deeply scholarly a n d incisive w o r k , The Correct Answer provides a g o o d example o f the way i n w h i c h challenges between Christianity and Islam were m u c h m o r e often made by the process o f textual refutation than t h r o u g h actual face-to-face exchange.

The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe It has l o n g been recognized that one o f the most significant a n d lasting c o n t r i butions o f the medieval M u s l i m w o r l d t o C h r i s t e n d o m was t o p r o v i d e access f o r western scholars t o the great classics o f Greece and Rome by their translation i n t o Arabic, f r o m w h i c h they were rendered i n t o European languages. Most o f the

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w o r k s o f Plato and Aristotle were k n o w n to Arab M u s l i m s . A m o n g the earliest o f the translators was the Nestorian H u n a y n i b n Ishaq al-Ibadi ( 8 0 8 - 7 3 ) ,

w r i 0

was

active i n the court o f the Abassid caliphs i n Baghdad. H u n a y n i b n Ishaq and those w o r k i n g w i t h h i m i n this i m p o r t a n t school o f translators rendered m o r e than one h u n d r e d o f Galen's m e d i c a l and p h i l o s o p h i c a l treatises i n t o Arabic. The use o f Greek d i d n o t cease i n provinces that came under M u s l i m r u l e ; rather, i t c o n tinued

at least u n t i l the m i d d l e o f the n i n t h century, a l l o w i n g H u n a y n i b n Ishaq

to f u r t h e r his translation w o r k i n the early part o f that century w i t h manuscripts f r o m Egypt, Palestine, Syria, a n d Mesopotamia. A l t h o u g h i n the Latin-speaking west there h a d been little i f any i n t e r a c t i o n w i t h the Greek w o r l d f r o m the seco n d century, there was an u n b r o k e n c o n t i n u i t y i n the eastern Mediterranean i n terms o f p h i l o s o p h i c a l a n d m e d i c a l teaching t o w h i c h the Arab M u s l i m s were heir. There was also, o f course, n o lack o f struggle w i t h i n Islam itself between the basic Islamic f o r m u l a t i o n s o f faith a n d the traditions o f H e l l e n i s m , a n d the issues contained i n Greek p h i l o s o p h y were h o t l y debated a m o n g the scholars o f Islam. O n e o f the p r i m a r y tasks o f those w h o translated Greek texts i n t o Arabic was t o make available the body o f materials necessary f o r the p r o p e r u n d e r standing o f the issues and the r e s o l u t i o n o f conflicts. Transmission o f k n o w l e d g e f r o m Arabic t o Latin came close o n the heels o f the Christian reconquest o f Sicily a n d o f large

areas o f M u s l i m

Spain. W h e n Toledo was taken i n 108c, a major step i n the Christian reconquest o f Spain, a large n u m ber o f Arabic m a n u s c r i p t s were made available t o Christian scholars. By the t w e l f t h century Toledo had become a center o f study as scholars

from

a l l over

Europe

came t o w o r k w i t h native speakers o f Arabic. This served as an i n i t i a l foray i n t o the study o f Arabic a n d Arabic texts that f l o u r i s h e d i n later centuries. Missionary activities o f D o m i n i c a n a n d Franciscan friars,

Crusaders and other travelers to the Holy Land often brought back

based o n their hope o f the conver-

luxury objects and souvenirs, which became treasured in ecclesias-

sion

of

Muslims,

encouraged

m o r e serious study o f Islam a n d

tical and princely collections.This silk textile, made for a Samanid commander in eastern Iran in the mid-tenth century, was used in 1134 to wrap relics in the abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer in northern

Arabic. Before the sixteenth cen-

France.The cloth was probably brought back by Etienne de Blois,

tury, however, i t was very rare f o r

patron of the abbey and a commander of the First Crusade.

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European scholars to have acquired, or have had m u c h interest i n , Arabic m a n u scripts. Some exceptions were f o u n d at Gurry i n France, i n the episcopal library at York, i n England, and i n the Vatican library. By the tenth century most Arabic translators had lost the use o f Greek and w o r k e d exclusively f r o m Syriac translations. It is remarkable that the outstanding M u s l i m philosophers o f the M i d d l e Ages—notably a l - K i n d i , al-Razi, al -Farabi, I b n Sina, and I b n Rushd—all were ignorant o f Greek and relied completely on translations rendered for the most part by Jacobite or Nestorian Christians. Thus the survival o f Greek philosophy i n the w o r l d o f Islam came t h r o u g h the m e d i u m o f the Syriac language. Naturally enough, those d o i n g the translating used their o w n j u d g m e n t as to what was w o r t h y o f transmission, most often t u r n i n g to those works that appealed to their o w n philosophy and theology. Thus the w r i t i n g s o f Plato and Aristotle, as w e l l as the works o f Hellenistic scientific medicine, were preserved, w i t h the resulting achievements o f Arabs i n these sciences far surpassi n g those o f die Christian inheritors o f Greek civilization. By the b e g i n n i n g o f the twelfth century Aristotle's w r i t i n g s were being translated i n the west, both f r o m the Arabic and direcdy f r o m the o r i g i n a l Greek. It is n o t entirely true, therefore, that western scholars were w h o l l y dependent on Arabic versions o f these works. Some scholars have argued that it was chiefly for the sake o f their commentaries that the Arabic works were considered so important, especially those o f I b n Sina and I b n Rushd. It is clear that the medieval Catholic w o r l d o f the west was w i l l i n g , even eager, to take what it could t h r o u g h the mediation o f the Islamic east i n the areas o f science and technology, materials reasonably n e u tral i n content. For the most part the subject matters that i t absorbed and took i n t o its o w n culture were those that reinforced its o w n culture radier than threatened it. Europe was clear about what it wanted and needed and was free to leave the rest. As was the case earlier w i t h M u s l i m translators, little was taken that was i n conflict w i t h what European scholars and theologians believed and held dear. I n the western m i n d there was never an association between Arab science and the r e l i g i o n o f Islam. Those w h o advocated the use o f scientific principles gleaned f r o m the Arabic texts were never suspected o f being crypto-Muslims. Robert o f Ketton, k n o w n for his e m p l o y m e n t by Peter the Venerable as a translator o f the Q u r a n i n the t w e l f t h century, w o r k e d tirelessly i n die effort to translate f r o m Arabic i n t o Latin out o f the conviction that the knowledge o f the Latin west was greatly inadequate i n the scientific fields. By the thirteenth century Arabic thought was really more o f an influence than a direct source o f western intellectual speculation, as writers were better able to control and make use o f the material than i n the earlier centuries. Europe was n o longer dependent i n the same way o n the Arabs for knowledge o f the Hellenic w o r l d , and translation directly f r o m the Greek was more

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c o m m o n than translation t h r o u g h the m e d i u m of the Arabic, although Arabic remained a very strong influence o n Europe at that time. Europe had by then recovered what i t wanted i n terms o f philosophy and science, received initially i n a f o r m that had been m o d i f i e d by many centuries o f Arab reflection o n i t .

Christian Visitors to the Holy Land O n e o f the ways i n w h i c h Christians came to learn m o r e about the M u s l i m s w h o inhabited and r u l e d the Holy Land o f Palestine was t h r o u g h centuries o f visitations by explorers and p i l g r i m s . B e g i n n i n g as early as the f o u r t h century, after the t r i u m p h o f Christianity i n the R o m a n Empire, p i l g r i m a g e to the east was fashionable a m o n g Europeans, encouraged by the c h u r c h as a k i n d o f private penance. The arrangements made between the emperor Charlemagne and the caliph H a r u n al-Rashid for establishing a hostel i n Jerusalem gives evidence that there were significant numbers o f p i l g r i m s c o m i n g to the city. Most o f these visitors, whose numbers increased d u r i n g the f o l l o w i n g centuries, were motivated by a sincere desire to visit the holy places o f Jerusalem and its environs, for w h i c h they felt that they received special religious m e r i t . I n many cases an i m p o r t a n t person w o u l d make such a p i l g r i m a g e , accompanied by numbers o f followers w h o w o u l d take advantage o f the security p r o v i d e d by such g r o u p travel. The great abbey at Cluny i n France, established i n the early tenth century, sponsored significant n u m b e r s o f p i l g r i m s b o t h to Christian shrines i n M u s l i m Andalusia and to Jerusalem. The Cluny abbey was responsible for b u i l d i n g hostels along the eastern route to p r o v i d e shelter for p i l g r i m s . I n some instances p i l g r i m s came by sea, b u t most p i l g r i m s n o r m a l l y f o l l o w e d a route t h r o u g h the lands o f western C h r i s t e n d o m , t h r o u g h eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire. By the b e g i n n i n g o f the eleventh century the numbers o f p i l g r i m s to the H o l y Land increased considerably. This was due to a n u m b e r o f reasons, i n c l u d i n g the m o r e conciliatory attitude o f M u s l i m s t o w a r d Christians after the destruction o f the H o l y Sepulchre by the Fatimid caliph a l - H a k i m (r. 996-ca. 1021) i n 1009 (for w h i c h act he was designated by some western Christians as the Antichrist spoken o f i n the Apocalypse), and the o p e n i n g o f the overland route to Jerusalem t h r o u g h the conversion o f H u n g a r y to C h r i s t i a n i t y and the retrieval o f A n t i o c h i n t o Byzantine Christian hands. Most o f the p t i g r i m s , a l t h o u g h significant i n number, actually came f r o m a few provinces o f France and the Rhineland. The dukes o f N o r m a n d y were o n l y fairly new Christians by the eleventh century and were devoted to sending alms to the H o l y Land. Their subjects were k n o w n as the most enthusiastic o f p i l g r i m s , some o f w h o m became the leaders o f the early crusadi n g movements. D u r i n g the t i m e w h e n the Crusades were taking place it was d i f -

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ficult to distinguish the p i l g r i m s f r o m the crusader

c r o w d s , al-

t h o u g h Christian p i l g r i m s were generally motivated n o t by p o l i t ical b u t by votive purposes. Such visitors were p r i m a r i l y not interested i n the contemporary c o n d i tions o f the area but were attracted to the historical and religious significance o f the holy places o f the O l d and N e w Testaments.

The

i m p o r t a n c e o f p i l g r i m s i n the Christian K i n g d o m o f Jerusalem is attested to by the treaties c o n cluded w i t h the Muslims d u r i n g the t h i r t e e n t h century t o assure Medieval Christian rulers appreciated the luxury goods made by

Christians free access to the sacred

the Muslims. Hugh IV of Lusignan, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem

places w h e n those were reoccu-

(r. 1 3 2 4 - 5 9 ) , for example, ordered this splendid inlaid bronze basin

pied by Islam. Special roles were

from metalworkers in the Mamluk domains.

played by Christian saints w h o visited

the

Holy

Land,

most

notably Francis ofAssisi, w h o i n 1219—20 was one o f the first to attempt to convert the M u s l i m s to Christianity. It is reported that Francis was impressed by the piety and reverence o f those he came to missionize. For the most part the p i l g r i m s were f r o m the l o w e r classes o f European society, obscure m e n and w o m e n encouraged for reasons o f personal piety and hope for a b s o l u t i o n o f sins to undertake the arduous j o u r n e y east. Some represented m o r e educated and elite strata o f society, i n c l u d i n g d i s t i n g u i s h e d c h u r c h m e n and lay princes. N o matter w h a t their educational level, however, these e x p l o r ers and p i l g r i m s d i d not leave b e h i n d many records o f t h e i r observations. F r o m the available i n f o r m a t i o n it is clear that western Christians had n o m o r e expectation o f finding a n y t h i n g o f religious or p h i l o s o p h i c a l value i n Islam than d i d their M u s l i m counterparts i n reflecting o n the barren lands o f n o r t h e r n Europe and its m i s g u i d e d Christianity. U p t o the t h i r t e e n t h c e n t u r y these travelers r e m a i n e d strangers to the lands they v i s i t e d , r e c o r d i n g o n l y the vaguest i m p r e s sions o f the i n d i g e n o u s populations. K n o w i n g o n l y that M u s l i m s were outside the circle o f Christianity, and therefore generally to be despised, they e x h i b i t e d little interest i n Islamic r e l i g i o n and culture. This began t o change significantly by the t h i r t e e n t h century, w h e n as a result o f the Crusades, as w e l l as a r i s i n g interest i n Islam a m o n g the learned i n western Europe, visitors to the M i d d l e East began to talce m o r e notice o f the cultures to w h i c h they had traveled, and

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they thus p r o v i d e d better w r i t t e n records. By the fifteenth century and later, missionaries, p i l g r i m s , businessmen, explorers, and others were g i v i n g vohLrninous reports of their o w n journeys and o f the customs, habits, and religious practices o f M u s l i m populations. Such a visitor was Ghillebert de Lannoy, knight o f the court o f Bourgogne i n the early fifteenth century, w h o traveled to Andalusia, Egypt, and Syria and provided unusually detailed commentary o n M u s l i m dress, habits, and customs. Rarely u n t i l the latter centuries o f the second m i l l e n n i u m , however, were Christian travelers able to break free f r o m their o w n deep preconceptions about Islam. Pilgrims and scholars o u t d i d one another i n presenting Islam as an erroneous and idolatrous r e l i g i o n that must be condemned i n any way possible. Those w h o actually stayed for some period o f time i n M u s l i m lands, however, f o u n d themselves observing and even a d m i r i n g w h a t they saw o f M u s l i m piety and m o r a l conduct. Proceeding initially f r o m preconceived ideas about Islam as idolatrous, i m p i o u s , licentious, and i m m o r a l , by the end o f the medieval p e r i o d they o f t e n came to see the r e l i g i o n o f the Saracens as at least p r o v i d i n g a code o f behavior deserving o f praise.

The Crusades and Their Aftermath Many complex factors went i n t o the call o f Pope Urban I I for a crusade against the M u s l i m s , w h o since 638 had occupied Jerusalem. For m o r e than f o u r centuries Christians had been allowed to practice their r e l i g i o n freely i n that city. I n

1076,

however, Jerusalem was taken by the Seljuk Turks, w h o were said to have desecrated the holy places o f Christianity and treated the Christian p o p u l a t i o n w i t h brutality. Pilgrims r e t u r n i n g f r o m Jerusalem brought sad news o f their fellow Christians there. A l t h o u g h the n o t i o n o f avenging these w r o n g s and regaining the holy city for Christianity had been seeping i n t o western consciousness for some time, i t was not u n t i l the preaching o f such m o n k s as Peter the H e r m i t o f Amiens that popular o p i n i o n began to rise i n support o f such an effort. Encouraged by an appeal for assistance f r o m the emperor Alexis I i n Constantinople, Pope U r b a n I I p r o m i s e d his help and sent o u t the call f o r the first crusade. At the C o u n c i l o f C l e r m o n t i n 1095 the Pope was greeted w i t h great enthusiasm w h e n he called for an international crusade to recapture Jerusalem f r o m the infidels. Europe at that t i m e was generally ignorant o f the lands o f the east, w h e t h e r Christian or M u s l i m , and was intolerant and xenophobic. Narrowness o f m i n d met w i t h religious zeal for the liberation o f the Holy Land, d r i v i n g the Franks to a near frenzy o f enthusiasm and excitement. Virtually for the first t i m e since the early spread o f Islam, except f o r some movement against M u s l i m - h e l d territories i n the Iberian peninsula, Christians were i n a position o f reacting o f f e n sively and n o t just defensively to Islam. It was a heady venture, c o m b i n i n g centuries o f pent-up resentment against the Saracens w i t h the hope for spiritual

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regeneration b o t h o f the individuals w h o dedicated themselves to the venture and for a m o r a l l y lax Christendom itself. It was supported eagerly b y the medieval papacy and by the feudal knights and commoners alike. Many o f the crusading efforts were grossly m i s g u i d e d , however, a n d like the ill-fated "Children's Crusade" i n w h i c h numbers o f y o u t h were sold i n t o slave markets, they ended i n disaster. But i n the b e g i n n i n g , however, at least i n the eyes o f the west, there were crucial victories and the temporary attainment o f the prize o f Jerusalem. The first significant g r o u p o f crusaders t o arrive i n Palestine, consisting p r i m a r i l y o f knights and others f r o m France and Italy, set o u t i n 1096. They m o v e d In 109c, Pope Urban II

t h r o u g h the lands o f the Byzantines, w h o despite the emperor's plea f o r help

called for a crusade to liber-

greeted t h e m w i t h extremely m i x e d feelings and offered support and aid out o f

ate the Holy Land, especially

self-interest rather than enthusiastic approval. I n M a r c h o f 1098 the crusaders

the city of Jerusalem, from

captured A n t i o c h i n Syria, a n d b y July 1099 they were finally able to claim

the Muslims. One of the

Jerusalem. The victory, unfortunately, was accompanied b y a vicious and cruel

leaders of the First Crusade was Godfrey of Bouillon (ca. 1 0 6 0 - 1 1 0 0 ) , who was

elected first ruler of

slaughter o f Jews a n d M u s l i m s i n the city, c h r o n i c l e d b y b o t h Christian a n d M u s l i m w r i t e r s . Many M u s l i m w r i t e r s referred t o the arrival o f the Christians n o t as a crusade b u t as a Frankish invasion, a n d they described the carnage o f the

Jerusalem. He became the

Christian massacre o f M u s l i m s , i n c l u d i n g many religious leaders and Sufi mys-

hero of two French

tics, as the acts o f savage and cruel western barbarians. The sack o f Jerusalem is

Chansons de Geste dealing

often said t o be the effective b e g i n n i n g o f m a n y centuries o f an active m u t u a l

with the Crusades. This four-

hostility between east a n d west that was rarely k n o w n i n earlier days.

teenth-century illustration shows Muslims defending

D u r i n g the tenth century the Byzantines, taking advantage o f p o l i t i c a l disor-

their city against the

der i n the M u s l i m lands, h a d declared war against Islam and gained back m u c h

Christian invaders.

o f n o r t h e r n Syria w i t h the hope o f recovering Jerusalem. W h e n the F a d m i d

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caliphate was established i n 983, however, the tide began to t u r n and m u c h o f the t e r r i t o r y taken by the Byzantines was returned to M u s l i m hands. The violent attack f r o m the west i n the f o r m o f the c r u sading armies took the w o r l d o f Islam by surprise. I n a general state o f p o l i t i c a l disunity, i t was to be almost h a l f a century before the M u s l i m s gathered their forces to move against the Christian invaders i n a call for jihad o r h o l y war. The Latin K i n g d o m o f Jerusalem, a m o n a r c h y established u n d e r the leadership o f B a l d w i n o f Edessa, was established partly because o f the prevailing d i s u n i t y o f the M u s l i m w o r l d under the Seljuks, the Fatimids, and the w a n i n g Abbasid caliphate. The M u s l i m s attempted to restrain the invaders, but the crusaders were able to spread and consolidate their p o w e r i n the p r i n c i palities o f Edessa and A n t i o c h a n d f i n a l l y

the

K i n g d o m o f Jerusalem. This c o n q u e r e d t e r r i t o r y was referred to i n the west as " O u t r e m e r " (over the sea). The p r i n c i p a l i t y succeeded w e l l for some t i m e , but w h e n the Turks m o v e d i n t o Edessa i n 1144,

an

appeal was made for a second crusade. A n army consisting o f the rulers o f Germany and France set o u t i n 1147,

but after an unsuccessful attempt to

capture Damascus they were forced to r e t u r n h o m e . By this t i m e the M u s l i m Turks were g a i n i n g i n strength, w h i l e the Christians were starting to lose g r o u n d . Crusader zeal was g i v i n g way to l u x u r y and waste a n d t e r r i t o r i a l squabbling o n the part o f

In 1168-69 die Zangid prince Nur al-Din ordered woodworkers in Aleppo to make a splendid minbar for the al-Aqsa mosque at Jerusalem in anticipation of his reconquest of the city from the Crusaders. His successor, the Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din, installed the minbar in the mosque after his conquest

the Christian rulers. The death o f A m a l r i c I , k i n g o f

of the city in 1187. The minbar, one of the finest examples of

Jerusalem, t o w h o m n o successor seemed w o r t h y ,

medieval woodwork, was destroyed by arson in 1969.

came at the t i m e o f the rise t o p o w e r o f the A y y u b i d general Saladin. I n 1187 the C h r i s t i a n h o l d o n the H o l y Land was effectively ended w h e n Saladin defeated t h e m at H a t t i n , a l t h o u g h they c o n t i n u e d for some t i m e to m a i n t a i n a small p o r t i o n o f the area. The M u s l i m leader m o v e d s w i f t l y to gain c o n t r o l o f most o f the other t e r r i t o r i e s h e l d by Christians, a n d finally

he regained Jerusalem f o r Islam nearly a c e n t u r y after the first Christian

invasion. Records o f the t i m e indicate that Saladin's treatment o f the Christian p o p u l a t i o n was h u m a n e and reasonable, i n notable contrast to the w a y i n w h i c h Christians h a d earlier dealt w i t h M u s l i m s and Jews u p o n t h e i r a r r i v a l i n Jerusalem. A l t h o u g h he r e t u r n e d the C h u r c h o f the H o l y Sepulchre to Greek

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O r t h o d o x custody, however, a n u m b e r o f churches were t u r n e d i n t o mosques, and Jerusalem clearly was once again a M u s l i m city. The loss o f the h o l y c i t y p r o m p t e d a t h i r d crusade f r o m the west i n

1189.

A c c o m p a n i e d b y m u c h dissension w i t h i n a n d slaughter w i t h o u t , these c r u saders gained l i t t l e except for Christian possession o f coastal t o w n s i n Palestine a n d free access to Jerusalem for C h r i s t i a n p i l g r i m s . Further struggles represented i n the f o u r t h , f i f t h , a n d f i n a l s i x t h crusades c o n t i n u e d u n t i l

the

M a m l u k s , w h o h a d taken over c o n t r o l o f Egypt f r o m the weakened A y y u b i d s , finally drove the crusading Christians f r o m all o f Palestine. T h r o u g h o u t the t w o centuries o f active c o n f l i c t , m e m b e r s o f the eastern c h u r c h , Byzantines a n d Arab Christians, were caught i n a t e r r i b l e m i d d l e p o s i t i o n . A l t h o u g h part o f the crusader r h e t o r i c i n the west h a d to d o w i t h freeing the eastern Christians f r o m the yoke o f Islam, actual encounters w i t h the Byzantines l e d to increased p o l i t ical and c u l t u r a l h o s t i l i t y between the co-religionists. W h e n the Franks m o v i n g t h r o u g h eastern C h r i s t i a n lands f r o m H u n g a r y t h r o u g h Greece to Syria a n d Palestine were n o t m e t w i t h aid a n d s u p p o r t , they h a d n o c o m p u n c t i o n s about l o o t i n g a n d p l u n d e r i n g . C h r i s t i a n Arabs w e r e never any m o r e

sympathetic

w i t h , or loyal to, the Frankish k i n g d o m i n Palestine than they h a d been to the Byzantines. A l l parties to the years o f c o n f l i c t — R o m a n s a n d Byzantines, easte r n a n d western Christians, Christians and M u s l i m s — t o o o f t e n t h o u g h t o f each other as barbarians and f r e q u e n t l y h a d those prejudices c o n f i r m e d i n the

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reality o f hostile i n t e r a c t i o n . The Latin K i n g d o m o f Jerusalem itself d u r i n g the near century o f its greatest flourishing

saw most o f Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine i n Christian hands. The

M u s l i m p o p u l a t i o n was d i v i d e d a m o n g the farmers, the city dwellers, and the slaves. It was n o w the t u r n o f the Christians to exact o n the M u s l i m s a poll tax as w e l l as rental o f f a r m i n g properties. Those M u s l i m s w h o t r i e d to resist were treated harshly, and there were numerous attempts at rebellion. I n fact, treatment o f the subjugated M u s l i m p o p u l a t i o n differed a m o n g the various Frankish lords. B a l d w i n , k i n g o f die Latin K i n g d o m , was k n o w n for his h u m a n e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , and for many M u s l i m s life under the Franks was n o worse and perhaps better than they had k n o w n previously. The earliest o f the crusaders, w h o then became the long-standing inhabitants o f the Latin K i n g d o m , were generally m o r e tolerant o f the native p o p u l a t i o n than the newer arrivals and t r i e d to m a i n t a i n m o r e supportive relationships. Those m o r e recently arrived were intent o n expanding Christian t e r r i t o r y and thus o n seeing the M u s l i m s as the Saracen enemy. O f t e n the n e w arrivals forced their co-religionists w h o had become " n a t i v e " to revoke existing treaties made w i t h the M u s l i m s i n order to aid their aims o f expansion. Nevertheless, as i n Spain, the t w o c o m m u n i t i e s o f Christians and Muslims attempted to cooperate and coexist, although they constituted t w o separate societies w i t h their o w n laws and administration. Battles were pitched, but those w h o were not engaged i n fighting continued to live n o r m a l lives. Muslims and Christians traded w i t h each odier, rented properties f r o m each other, and generally carried o u t their commercial activities uninterrupted. Christians controlled the eastern coast o f the Mediterranean, but they allowed Muslims to sail their ships w i t h the appropriate passes. Piracy and pillaging continued as ever, o f course, w i t h all parties participating to some degree i n looting and taking prisoners to sell o n the slave markets. D u r i n g the t w o centuries i n w h i c h the Christians occupied Palestine, there was a constant pattern o f shifting alliances. M u s l i m rulers were played o f f against each other, and Franks were sometimes i n treaty w i t h one, sometimes w i t h another. This gradually changed as the disarray i n w h i c h the first crusaders f o u n d the Muslims was replaced by a more united front. Many prisoners f r o m among b o t h Muslims and Christians were taken, and elaborate negotiations often were made for their release. Trading i n prisoners was an active industry, w i t h many never returned to tiieir o r i g inal homes. W o m e n prisoners i n particular were victimized, often being taken into domestic service u p o n release, taken as wives o r concubines, or sold i n t o slavery.

The End of the Middle Ages The last several centuries o f the near m i l l e n n i u m o f interaction between Islam and Christendom saw a n u m b e r o f events that served as a k i n d o f transition f r o m the M i d d l e Ages to a new era o f international engagement. Two events i n particular, the

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fail o f Constantinople i n the m i d d l e o f the fifteenth century and the final expulsion o f M u s l i m s f r o m Andalusia at the end o f that century, illustrate this transition. Beginning i n the eleventh century the Turks, b o t h armies a n d tribesmen, had taken over a significant part o f Anatolia f r o m the Byzantines. The frontier between Islam and Christendom, defined for centuries by the Greek Christian h o l d o n the eastern borders o f Byzantium, began a process o f redefinition. The Turkish Empire, first under the Seljuks and then the Ottomans, grew i n t o one o f the three great empires i n the history o f Islam. M u c h o f that g r o w t h was at Christian expense. I n the m i d - 1300s a Byzantine contender to the throne b r o u g h t over a Turkish army as an ally, giving the Turks a h o l d o n the European side o f the Dardanelles. They occupied the ancient city o f Gallipoli as a garrison and m o v e d quickly over other parts o f w h a t was then k n o w n as Thrace. Soon they had gained c o n t r o l o f all o f the Balkan peninsula, and i n 1430

the Turks conquered the Byzantine city o f

Thessalonica. Less than a quarter century later, under the leadership o f the sultan M e h m e d I I , they were able to m o u n t their successful siege o f Constantinople. For some eleven h u n d r e d years o f its m o r e than t w o thousand years o f existence, Constantinople had stood as the capital o f the Byzantine Empire, an international city o f fame, beauty, and repute, and the seat o f eastern Christianity. It had been besieged many times i n its l o n g history, b u t d u r i n g the rule o f the Byzantines, Constantinople had been captured o n l y by western Christians i n the ill-fated F o u r t h Crusade. I n 1261, a half century later, i t was recaptured by the Byzantines. By the m i d d l e o f the fifteenth century the Byzantine Empire had l o n g been i n decline, caught i n the m i d d l e o f struggles b e t w e e n east and west. Suffering f r o m internal political strife, the p o p u l a t i o n o f Constantinople had shrunk drastically over the centuries. Nonetheless, i t r e m a i n e d a t e m p t i n g p l u m for M u s l i m m i l i t a r y objectives. Its fall to the i n v a d i n g Turks i n 1453

signaled a

dramatic change i n the p o w e r relationships between Islam and C h r i s t e n d o m . M e h m e d I I , as r u l e r o f Constantinople, became the titular heir o f the Roman Empire, and the specter o f a M u s l i m takeover o f all o f Europe was raised anew. This Anatolian base gave the O t t o m a n sultans the o p p o r t u n i t y t o lay siege o n Vienna i n 1529, and by 1542 they were i n c o n t r o l o f Hungary. They were perceived by western Christians to be a m o r e potent threat to the i n t e g r i t y o f Europe than the M u s l i m s w h o had been c o n f i n e d to the lower part o f the Iberian p e n i n sula were. I n the fifteenth and succeeding centuries M u s l i m naval forces r o a m e d the Mediterranean, attacking European ships as w e l l as coastal towns. By the b e g i n n i n g o f the seventeenth century, A l g e r i a n a n d M o r o c c a n sailors u n d e r O t t o m a n c o n t r o l raided as far as the southern coasts o f England and Ireland. M u s l i m fortunes w e n t otherwise i n Spain, w h e r e after the g l o r y o f n i n t h - and tenth-century Córdoba, and the succeeding rule o f the Almoravids a n d A l m o h a d s f r o m N o r t h Africa, they suffered a steady loss o f territories under the Christian

The conquest of the great Byzantine city of Constantinople had been the goal of Muslims since the seventh century. The city had been beseiged repeatedly but unsuccessfully and it remained a tempting plum for Muslim military commanders. Several decades after this drawing was made in 1422, the city was successfully conquered by the Ottoman sultan Mehmet I I .

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r e c o n q u e r i n g forces. Initially M u s l i m s under Christian r u l e , called mudejars, were the recipients o f a p o l i c y o f toleration for the so-called People o f the Book. They were p e r m i t t e d f r e e d o m o f w o r s h i p and the r i g h t to be governed under their o w n laws. Gradually, however, this gave way to increased f o r m s o f intolerance and persecution. M u s l i m s i n Christian territories were f o r b i d d e n f r o m m a k i n g the call to prayer, p e r f o r m p u b l i c sacrifice d u r i n g their feast days, or g o i n g o n p i l g r i m a g e , and many mosques were converted i n t o churches. M u s l i m s were forced to wear special k i n d s o f dress, as they h a d previously r e q u i r e d their Christian citizens to d o , and they had to prostrate themselves before the cross as i t was carried i n procession. The t w o c o m m u n i t i e s became completely segregated, and the death penalty was m e t e d o u t to Christians w h o t r i e d to convert to Islam. A r i s i n g tide o f anti-Semitism h a d serious consequences f o r b o t h M u s l i m and Jewish c o m m u n i t i e s i n Spain. I n 1474 Ferdinand I I o f Aragon a n d Isabella o f Castile, husband and w i f e , succeeded to c o n j o i n t b u t separate thrones. For the first t i m e i n nearly eight centuries the I b e r i a n peninsula was governed by one u n i t e d authority, the Christian k i n g d o m s o f Castile a n d A r a g o n . The k i n g and queen were to be r e m e m b e r e d as " t h e Catholic m o n a r c h s , " a measure o f their dedication to the r e u n i t i n g o f all o f Spain u n d e r C h r i s t e n d o m . By 1492 they h a d recovered Granada, the last s t r o n g h o l d o f M u s l i m occupation. W i t h that conquest the struggle for c o n t r o l o f Andalusia, w h i c h h a d c o n t i n u e d between M u s l i m s a n d Christians for some eight centuries, ended w i t h a v i c t o r y for C h r i s t i a n i t y and c o n t r o l o f the I b e r i a n peninsula. The takeover was f o l l o w e d by intense efforts at conversion, accomp a n i e d by translation o f the Christian scripture and l i t u r g y i n t o Arabic. Soon baptisms were n o l o n g e r o p t i o n a l b u t forced, a n d by the t u r n o f the f i f t e e n t h century n o t o n l y i n Granada b u t t h r o u g h o u t Castile M u s l i m s h a d to choose between conversion, e m i g r a t i o n , o r death. Because the emigrants h a d to leave their c h i l d r e n b e h i n d , most chose to stay and "convert." O f course m a n y c o n t i n u e d t o practice their Islamic f a i t h i n secret (thereby k n o w n as M o r i s c o s ) , r e m a i n i n g for generations to c o m e an unpersuaded, unassimilated, and unaccepted segment o f Spanish society. After a r e b e l l i o n i n the next century they were finally expelled f r o m the l a n d that earlier h a d seen, at least for awhile, one o f the f e w examples o f Christian and M u s l i m c u l t u r a l harmony. Despite the fact that the spread o f Islam was o f t e n peaceful a n d sometimes even received favorably by Christians i n t o whose t e r r i t o r i e s i t m o v e d , and despite the protected status a f f o r d e d by Islam to its f e l l o w "People o f the Book," the centuries o f Christian and M u s l i m i n t e r a c t i o n were m a r k e d as m u c h by strife a n d warfare as by h a r m o n i o u s relations. Yet o f f i c i a l tensions o r hostilities at the p o l i t i c a l level o f t e n were balanced by local cooperation a n d even f r i e n d ships between m e m b e r s o f the t w o faiths. Trade and c o m m e r c e between east

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and west c o n t i n u e d i n the same areas i n w h i c h parties were technically at war w i t h each other. Both c o m m u n i t i e s illustrated i n their respective leadership examples o f tolerance and o f p r e j u d i c e , sometimes

w i t h p r o t e c t i o n o f f e r e d to

their subject m i n o r i t i e s and other times subjection to the extremes o f persecution. By the close o f the M i d d l e Ages, hostilities between Islam and western C h r i s t e n d o m once again were intense, w i t h active warfare to c o n t i n u e o n a n u m b e r o f fronts for several centuries. Many factors c o n t r i b u t e d to this layered history

o f Christian a n d M u s l i m

interaction.

Territorial ambitions cut b o t h ways, as armies vied over territories h e l d by the other and the spoils o f w a r attracted mercenaries as w e l l as faithful to the attack. Cultural interactions sometimes fostered m u t u a l respect and even camaraderie, as i n Andalusia at the t i m e o f the Cordoban caliphate or a m o n g certain strata o f society i n Palestine under the Latin K i n g d o m . But deep-seated prejudices seldom fully abated, as M u s l i m historians, jurists, and clerics viewed w i t h disdain the barbarous and theologically m i s g u i d e d Christian p o p u l a t i o n o f the west,

Following the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula, many mosques were converted into churches. Around 1187, for example, the small brick mosque of Bab Mardum, built in Toledo in 999-1000, became the Church of Cristo de la Luz, and a voluminous apse was added to its east side.

and Christian theologians j u d g e d the w a r l i k e and deluded followers o f " M a h o m e t " by doctrine and deed alike.Yet a l t h o u g h the seeds o f mistrust and antipathy so often sown f r o m the rise o f Islam to the fail o f Constantinople c o n t i n u e d to g r o w i n the f o l l o w i n g centuries, new developments came to bear, such as the f o r g i n g o f significant changes i n the relationship o f Islam and C h r i s t e n d o m . The rise o f rationalism, a fascination o n the part o f the west w i t h the cultural trappings o f the east, and the necessities o f international p o l i t i cal a n d e c o n o m i c

exchange were soon to m o v e the w o r l d s o f Islam and

C h r i s t e n d o m inevitably closer.

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Sultanates and Gunpowder Empires T H E MIDDLE EAST

Ira M . Lapidus

The era o f gunpowder empires represents a new phase i n die development o f Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. The term gunpowder empires imputes a great importance to the innovative military technology o f infantry armed w i t h muskets, operating i n conjunction w i t h siege and batdefield artillery, diat allowed the new empires to sweep away their rivals and to establish a d o r n i n i o n that w o u l d last until the eve o f the m o d e r n era. Yet the achievements o f die Ottoman and Safavid empires were not merely technological or tactical. Their endurance and their success i n deploying new technologies was based o n a deeper structure o f political institutions. I n t u r n the political regimes must be understood as the embodiment o f a comprehensive civilization. The Ottoman and Safavid empires were the umbrellas, the holding companies, for complex societies. They represented novel military tactics, the consolidation o f political institutions, and the restoration o f imperial political controls over vast territories after centuries o f near anarchy. They also fostered important economic and urbanistic developments, new forms o f religious organization, and a fresh phase i n the history o f M i d d l e Eastern and Islamic cultures. Illustrated manuscripts and

(Left) The Ottoman sultans built great mosque and school complexes to adorn their cities and express their authority. The crowning

mosques f r o m the O t t o m a n and Safavid empires remain to the present day treasures

achievement of Ottoman

o f w o r l d civilization. Less w e l l - k n o w n but equally brilliant are die achievements i n

architecture is the immense

poetry, philosophy, and religious studies i n these empires. As comprehensive systems o f government, society, economy, and culture, the O t t o m a n and the Safavid empires represent a cTjhninating phase i n the history o f Middle Eastern civilization—the h i g h

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domed Selimiye mosque at Edirne designed by the architect Sinan for sultan Selim in 1574.

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imperial phase, w h i c h precedes the nineteenth-century transformations and the advent o f the m o d e r n era.

The Fundamental Structures of Middle Eastern Societies and the Early Islamic Era The basic features o f these empires derive f r o m the historical past. F r o m ancient times, and even i n t o the m o d e r n era, the small c o m m u n i t y has remained the focus o f the deepest loyalties, the basis for widespread, c o m m u n a l cooperation, and the w e l l s p r i n g o f c o m m o n identity. Those w h o f o r m e d a family, a lineage, a clan, or a clientele g r o u p loyal to a master—the people o f a hamlet, a village, a n o m a d i c camp, a t o w n quarter, l i v i n g i n close p r o x i m i t y to each o t h e r — c o n s t i tuted the c o m m u n i t y for r e p r o d u c t i o n , for n u r t u r i n g and educating the y o u n g , for earning a l i v i n g , and for defense and m u t u a l aid. Their story w i l l not be t o l d i n this history o f the O t t o m a n and Safavid eras, but nonetheless they were the fundamental entities i n the e m p i r e systems. Such groups sustained the m o r e encompassing domains o f the economy, the religious i n s t i t u t i o n s , and the state, and i n t u r n their w e l l - b e i n g was the u l t i m a t e measure o f the success and the value o f the e m p i r e systems. Small c o m m u n i t i e s were the b u i l d i n g blocks o f larger formations. Three such f o r m a t i o n s were o f particular historical i m p o r t a n c e : tribal organizations; r e l i gious c o m m u n i t i e s ; and political regimes, states, and empires. Tribal organizations consisted o f various g r o u p s — f a m i l i e s , lineages, clienteles, and political gangs—that coalesced under the leadership o f a patriarch o r other p o l i t i c a l o r religious chieftain. A l t h o u g h tribes have c o m m o n l y been t h o u g h t o f as extended families, i n reality they were alliances o f families, clientele groups, and bands o f w a r r i o r s w h o p r o m o t e d c o m m o n interests. The second large-scale c o m m u n a l institutions were religious c o m m u n i t i e s . Since ancient times, family, lineage, and tribal units h a d been affiliated i n c o m m o n w o r s h i p and in the shared c o n s t r u c t i o n , maintenance, and veneration o f shrines and temples. W i t h the emergence o f the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity, certain beliefs became virtually universal: belief i n the transhuman w o r l d o f spiritual forces, i n the sacred quality o f all being, a n d i n a supreme d i v i n e being, universal, transcendent, and unknowable; belief i n the ethical responsibility o f all h u m a n beings; and belief i n a life i n the w o r l d to come. These religions also taught the b r o t h e r h o o d o f m a n k i n d and p r o m o t e d the organization o f congregations for w o r s h i p and parishes for the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f their educational, legal, and charitable affairs. Jews and Christians i n particular, i n synagogues and churches, f o r m e d strong c o m m u n a l bodies and had a strong sense o f shared identity.

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The t h i r d agglomerating i n s t i t u t i o n — p o l i t i c a l regimes, states, and e m p i r e s — was the umbrella organization that r u l e d over the families, client groups, tribes, and religious bodies w i t h i n its t e r r i t o r i a l reach. The ruler was considered to represent the d i v i n e p l a n for order i n society. Rulers had a quasi-religious f u n c t i o n , i n that their g o o d behavior was supposed t o ensure the favor o f the gods. Empires were supposed to defend the realm o f civilization, p r i m a r i l y agricultural and urban, against the barbarians, w h o were usually nomadic peoples. Internally, the rulers were supposed to protect their subjects against injustice and to secure order i n society. I n practice, empires represented the d o m i n a t i o n o f the r u l e r — t h e ruler's household, courtiers, armies, and bureaucrats—over the rest o f the p o p u lation. Rulers policed, taxed, punished, and subdued their o w n peoples. At the same t i m e , the apparatus o f rule depended o n the resources i t c o u l d draw f r o m the subordinated political, religious, and c o m m u n a l units—revenues and supp o r t i n g labor from families, l e g i t i m a t i o n f r o m churches and religious groups, and m i l i t a r y support f r o m tribes. Rulers' relations w i t h tribal and religious bodies, however, were always contested. The struggle for power i n these societies t u r n e d o n the state's relations to these partly independent bodies. M i d d l e Eastern peoples also shared linguistic, cultural, or regional identities, but these identities d i d not necessarily have political meanings. Thus mere were Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Persians, Turks, and so o n and such cultural identities as those o f the Hellenistic, Iranian, and Semitic literary cultures, but i n premodern times the most important units were tribes, religious groups, and empires. Only i n the m o d e r n era have ethnicity and nationality become the basis o f m o d e r n states. Many technologies (such as those for p r o d u c i n g f o o d : agriculture and h e r d i n g ; the techniques for preparing c l o t i i i n g : spinning, weaving, and tanning; and m e t h ods o f construction) and institutions (such as the institutions o f money, markets, and commercial law) also derived f r o m ancient times. These were older and more widespread than either the O t t o m a n or Safavid empires. The Arab-Islamic conquests and the early Islamic empires perpetuated the basic constellation o f earlier institutions but redefined t h e m i n Islamic terms. F r o m the seventh to the tenth centuries die Arab empires created the first Middle Eastern-wide political regime, b r i n g i n g an overarching u n i t y into the region f r o m the Aral Sea to the Adantic Ocean. Regions that had been part o f the Byzantine and the Sasanian empires as w e l l as regions i n the far east ( i n Central Asia) and i n the far west ( i n N o r t h Africa and Europe) that had never been part o f a M i d d l e Eastern empire were brought under the reign o f Islam. The n e w unified Middle Eastern empire allowed for an expanded international trade and a larger arena for the cooperation o f local elites, t h e n integration i n t o the i m p e r i a l system, and the creation o f new elite i d e n tities o n the basis o f Islam and the M i d d l e Eastern high-literary cultures i n Arabic and Persian.

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A l t h o u g h the new empires i n h e r i t e d the i n s t i t u t i o n a l f r a m e w o r k o f the past, they gave i t a distinctly Islamic character. The Arab-Islamic empires b u i l t on the administrative mechanics o f their predecessors—the ruler's court, w h i c h was the empire's c o m m a n d center; the military, w h i c h was constituted i n part by a central army and i n part by tribal auxiliaries; and the bureaucracies developed for tax collection and c o m m u n i c a t i o n — b u t at the same t i m e they redefined their political identities. The new rulers were called caliphs, heirs and executors o f the r

teachings o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d , as w e l l as heirs t o the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. T h r o u g h patronage o f architecture and the visual arts, philosophy, science, and new literatures i n Arabic and Persian, they assimilated the heritage o f a n t i q u i t y i n t o their Islamic identity, creating a n e w f o r m o f M i d d l e Eastern courtly, aristocratic h i g h culture. I n the early Islamic era the n e w r e l i g i o n was established n o t o n l y i n court and r u l i n g circles b u t t h r o u g h o u t the M i d d l e East. Islam, w h i c h espoused religious beliefs analogous to those o f Judaism and Christianity, was at first the r e l i g i o n o f the i m p e r i a l elite and o f the Arab c o n q u e r i n g forces settled i n garrison towns and cities t h r o u g h o u t the empire. Gradually it became the r e l i g i o n o f converts w h o j o i n e d the Arab rulers i n their garrison centers. As late as the tenth century, h o w ever, Islam was still the r e l i g i o n o f urban elites and o f o n l y some peasant and b e d o u i n elements. The great masses o f the M i d d l e Eastern p o p u l a t i o n had yet to be converted. F r o m these M u s l i m populations emerged a new Islamic culture. M u s l i m s generated studies o f the Q u r a n and the hadith (verified accounts o f a statement or action o f the Prophet M u h a m m a d ) as w e l l as legal, theological, and mystical studies; they opened u p the study o f philology, grammar, and history as a u x i l iary subjects. M u s l i m holy m e n , readers o f Q u r a n , teachers o f h a d i t h , scholars o f law, and mystics gathered adherents and followers, and they created a plethora o f small c o m m u n i t i e s , sometimes sectarian, dedicated t o the study and l i v i n g out o f one or another variant version o f M u s l i m beliefs and practices. By the tenth century a M u s l i m literary-religious culture and many c o m m i t t e d c o m m u n i t i e s were i n f u l l b l o o m . Islam was established i n parallel to the previously existing Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish populations. A l t h o u g h the early Islamic era d i d not complete the process o f the Islamization o f the M i d d l e East, it p r o v i d e d the critical concepts and social models. The legacies o f this early era i n c l u d e d the concept o f the caliphate and the Islamic state as a u n i f i e d expression o f m o r a l and political interests; the system o f beliefs that constituted the Islamic r e l i g i o n ; such social organizations as schools o f law, Sufi coteries, and Shiite c o m m u n i t i e s ; the i n s t i t u t i o n a l f o r m s o f mosques and c o l leges; and the authority o f ulama (religious scholars) and Sufis, scholars, and holy m e n as leaders o f their people.

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The Sultanate Era, 950-1^00: Between the Abbasid Caliphate and the Gunpowder Empires The collapse o f the Abbasid empire i n the tenth century opened the way for the f u r t h e r transformation o f M i d d l e Eastern regimes, societies, and cultures and for a new and creative, albeit t u m u l t u o u s era i n the history o f the region. O n the surface the political changes were anarchic. W i t h the breakup o f the Abbasid empire, provinces and even small districts came under the r u l e o f new m i l i t a r y elites. N o m a d i c peoples broke t h r o u g h the f r o n t i e r defenses, invaded, and m i g r a t e d en masse i n t o the M i d d l e East. A g r i c u l t u r a l and trading economies were badly d a m aged, and the standard o f l i v i n g declined. Yet o n a deeper level this p e r i o d o f upheaval was also an era o f reconstruction. N e w f o r m s o f state and c o m m u n a l organizations were created and innovative variants o f culture and i d e n t i t y were expressed, setting the foundations for the later O t t o m a n and Safavid empires. The p e r i o d 9 5 0 - 1 coo fell i n t o f o u r phases. I n the first phase ( 9 5 0 - 1 0 5 0 ) , local elites took c o n t r o l o f the empire's f o r m e r provinces. I n Egypt and Syria, the Fatimids, a Shii, rival o f the Abbasids, came to p o w e r w i t h their o w n claims to the caliphate. I n Mesopotamia t r i b a l forces, i n c l u d i n g the H a m d a n i d dynasty, seized c o n t r o l . M i l i t a r y adventurers f r o m Daylam seized c o n t r o l o f western Iran, m u c h o f Iraq, and Baghdad, w h i c h were the heartlands o f the f o r m e r caliphate. Eastern Iran and Transoxiana were r u l e d by the Samanids, a local l a n d o w n i n g elite. They were partly supplanted by the Ghaznavids, a regime based o n slave m i l i t a r y forces, w h o for the first t i m e selected their o w n sultan. The second phase lasted f r o m about 1040 to 1200, w h e n the collapse o f a u n i fied central authority and the many regional power struggles allowed for the breakdown o f the eastern Iranian frontiers against nomadic invasions. Already i n the seventh century the T'ang rulers o f China had closed their frontiers to Central Asian nomads, thus setting i n m o t i o n a westward movement that w o u l d i n the tenth, eleventh, and later centuries spill over i n t o the M i d d l e East. Inner Asian nomads searching for pasturage m o v e d i n t o the regions n o r t h o f the Aral Sea and i n t o Transoxiana and Afghanistan. F r o m contact w i t h settled peoples, trade, a n d the activity o f missionaries, Turkish peoples began to convert to Islam, and t h e n chieftains became tutored i n the ways o f agriculture, city a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , and trade, and knowledgeable about the i m p e r i a l conception o f rule and order. By the end o f the tenth century the Qarakhanids, leaders o f the Q a r l u q peoples, established their regime i n Transoxiana, w h i l e the Oghuz peoples under the leadership o f the Seljuk family w e n t o n to conquer m u c h o f the f o r m e r Abbasid empire. The Seljuks took control o f Khurasan i n 1040; by 1055 they r u l e d over Baghdad. The migrations led to the f o r m a t i o n o f Seljuk offshoot states i n Mesopotamia, Syria, and eventually Egypt. Turkish peoples also m o v e d i n t o lands that had not been

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under caliphal c o n t r o l , w h i c h b r o u g h t Islamic d o n u n i o n to parts o f A r m e n i a , Georgia, and Anatolia at the expense o f the Byzantine Empire. A n i m p o r t a n t Seljuk offshoot state established i n Anatolia, the sultanate o f R u m , was the direct ancestor o f the O t t o m a n Empire. The Seljuk conquests lent but a temporary and superficial political u n i t y t o the M i d d l e East. The conflicts o f nomadic peoples seeking independence a n d r u l i n g families w i s h i n g t o subordinate the tribal forces, the rivalries among the members o f r u l i n g families for fiefdoms and independent territories, and the widespread d i s t r i b u t i o n o f iqtas (lands instead o f salaries) led to an ever greater decentralization, fragmentation, and dispersal o f political power. Seljuk-related regimes broke u p i n t o numerous independent states and tiny t e r r i torial fragments. The period after the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate in the tenth century led to the rise of new military elites, often of nomad origin.TheTurco-

The Seljuk decline opened the way t o a t h i r d phase i n the history o f the r e g i o n , f r o m about 1150 t o 1350. This was a p e r i o d o f f u r t h e r n o m a d i c invasion f r o m i n n e r Asia, c u l m i n a t i n g i n the M o n g o l invasions and the establishment o f M o n g o l regimes over m u c h o f the M i d d l e East. I n 1153 Ghuzz peoples destroyed

Mongolian conqueror known

the Seljuk r e g i m e i n eastern Iran. They were f o l l o w e d by the Naymans and then

as Timur or Tamerlane

the devastating M o n g o l invasions. T h e I l k h a n i d M o n g o l r e g i m e i n I r a n

(d. 1405) created a vast but

(1256-1336), however, b r o u g h t renewed stability a n d ushered i n a b r i l l i a n t

ephemeral empire centered on his capital at Samarqand. The Gur-i Mir, his majestic blue-domed tomb there, epitomizes the splendor of Timurid architecture.

p e r i o d i n Iran's art and culture. To the west, the slave rnihtary forces i n Egypt and Syria, the o n l y holdouts against M o n g o l rule, consolidated the M a m l u k regime (1250-1517). The f i n a l phase o f this i n t e r r e g n u m was the T i m u r i d p e r i o d i n Transoxiana and I r a n ( 1 4 0 0 - 5 0 0 ) . M o n g o l r u l e was succeeded by a n e w t i m e o f troubles

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and the e x t r a o r d i n a r y conquest o f the Turkic c o n q u e r o r T i m u r ( k n o w n i n English as Tamerlane,

1336-1405). A l t h o u g h T i m u r i d r u l e left a n u m b e r

of

unstable succession regimes, like M o n g o l r u l e i t also p r o m o t e d greatness i n architecture, the arts, and the sciences. This era o f repeated n o m a d i c invasions b r o u g h t p r o f o u n d d e m o g r a p h i c changes i n the ethnic and religious i d e n t i t y o f p o p u l a t i o n s . A n e w Turkic-speaking p o p u l a t i o n m i g r a t e d i n t o Transoxiana, the H i n d u Kush m o u n t a i n range, eastern and n o r t h w e s t e r n I r a n , the Caucasus, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

Large p o r t i o n s o f this n o r t h e r n t i e r became

Turkic-speaking. Turkish settlement l e d to the Islamization o f parts o f n o r t h eastern I r a n , A r m e n i a , and Anatolia, b o t h f r o m the settlement o f n e w c o m e r s and by the conversion o f existing populations. Islam was also carried i n t o Transoxiana and f u r t h e r parts o f i n n e r Asia and the n o r t h e r n steppes. Turkish m i g r a t i o n s meant an expansion o f the boundaries o f I s l a m d o m . Ethnic changes also led to important ecological changes. I n some regions the newcomers displaced

f o r m e r nomadic

populations, as i n Transoxiana and

Mesopotamia. I n other areas the Turkish migrations increased pastoralism at the expense o f agriculture. Turkish tribal formations also became a lasting part o f the political process. Under the leadership o f w a r r i o r chieftains and holy m e n , the migrations shifted the balance o f power i n favor o f tribes at the expense o f centralized states. These conquests are interesting to compare w i t h the Arab invasions o f earlier centuries. A l t h o u g h i n many ways die conquest process and the f o r m a t i o n o f new empires was m u c h the same, there is one striking difference. The Arab conquests brought a new linguistic and religious identity to the M i d d l e East that became the predominant identity o f later M i d d l e Eastern civilization, w h i l e the Turkish conquerors accepted Islam. W h i l e maintaining their Turkic language and identity, they became patrons o f Arabo-Persian civilization.

The New Political and Social Order The basic political facts make it hard to grasp tliat beneath the surface o f events, this was also a p e r i o d o f reconstruction and the creation o f new governmental and societal institutions. Everywhere the legacy o f the Islamic caliphate and the heritage o f Persian concepts o f imperial monarchy were blended w i t h Turkish concepts o f political chieftaincy, law, and w o r l d conquest. W h i l e regimes came and went, w h i l e conquerors succeeded each other, the system o f governing came to be fixed i n similar modes. The Seljuk period (1040—1200) was particularly i m p o r t a n t i n this regard. Seljuk institutions, first f o r m e d i n Khurasan and western Iran and Iraq, were carried westward to Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. Later M o n g o l and post-Mongol p e r i o d governments added additional elements f r o m their historical heritage to the synthesis o f new institutions.

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During the period when nomadic chieftans ruled, authority often passed to alabegs, guardians for princes who had not yet reached the age of majority. The Armenian-born convert Badr al - Din Lulu, for example, served as vizier to the last Zangid prince of Mosul in 1222 and then became regent of the city from 1234 until his death in 1259. Badr al-Din is depicted on a frontispiece from a multivolume copy of Kitab dl-Aghoni (The Book of Songs), aJ-Lsfahani's collection of early Islamic poetry, made in 1219.

The caliphate, a l t h o u g h d e p r i v e d o f a d m i n i s t r a t i v e and m i l i t a r y p o w e r , retained its s y m b o l i c i m p o r t a n c e as the e m b l e m o f a M u s l i m w o r l d order a n d as the bearer o f ultimate guarantees for religious belief, justice, and p o l i t i c a l order. For centuries all p r o v i n c i a l governors and w a r l o r d s l o o k e d to the caliphs for r e c o g n i t i o n o f their r i g h t to rule. Even after the extinction o f the Ahhasid line i n U ç 8 , regional substitutes emerged. The M a m l u k s i n Egypt c r o w n e d a surv i v o r o f the Abbasid family as their caliph. Great w a r l o r d s c l a i m e d i m p l i c i t l y and explicitly to e m b o d y the caliphate i n their o w n persons. The O t t o m a n sultans considered themselves caliphs, a n d the Safavids regarded themselves as descendants a n d e m b o d i m e n t s o f the Shiite i m a m s .

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At the same t i m e , the conquerors a n d warlords cultivated a parallel n o n M u s l i m concept o f authority. They gave themselves such titles as shah, malik, and sultan, all supreme rulers. They recalled historical tribal genealogies to guarantee their descent f r o m famous rulers o f the past; they patronized court cultures replete w i t h poets, scientists, philosophers, theologians, artists, and architects. They built magnificent mosques, t o m b s , colleges, minarets, caravanserais, and palaces i n the fashion o f past M i d d l e Eastern rulers, to say by their patronage o f culture that they were the protectors a n d overlords o f the d o m a i n o f h u m a n civi l i z a t i o n . They sponsored religious activities, schools, w o r s h i p , and charities, and gave gifts and pensions to scholars and h o l y m e n . I n practice, they made t h e m selves patrons o f r e l i g i o n and necessary to the success o f Islam. The governments established after the fall o f the Abbasid empire were o f t w o principal types. The most c o m m o n , represented by the Qarakhanids, Seljuks, and M o n g o l s , were nomadic chieftaincies transformed i n t o monarchies. The nomadic chief ruled by virtue o f his conquests o r descent f r o m conquerors. He was supported by a coalition o f aristocratic Lineages that was entitled to share i n the spoils o f victory. Nomadic states c o m m o n l y divided their territories into domains for the leading members o f the r u l i n g family. Family chieftains and the guardians o f chieftains w h o were still underage ( k n o w n as atabegs) became the provincial governors and tributaries o f the reigning sultans. The nomadic populations constituted a m i l itary elite that was c o m m o n l y moved toward die frontiers, b o t h to further the conquest o f new lands and to prevent further h a r m to the agricultural and urbanized societies that had become part o f the chieftain's domains. The post-Abbasid states were typically built o n the support o f tribal populations that extended the reach o f the r u l i n g circle beyond that o f the governing family coalition. A l t h o u g h the empires were conquered by nomadic peoples, they were ruled f r o m the center by quite different elites. Turkish chieftains c o m m o n l y built u p a governing apparatus that made t h e m independent o f their o w n nomadic supporters. A d o p t i n g historic mechanisms o f rule, they created court complexes o f familyretainers, servants, noble companions, m i l i t a r y officers, and h i g h - r a n k i n g a d m i n istrators that constituted the political elite o f dieir regimes. The sultans btuTt up slave m i l i t a r y corps to serve as praetorian guards and to serve i n battle against both foreign enemies and their o w n n o m a d i c supporters. These slaves were the best trained, best equipped, and were thought to be the most loyal subjects o f the ruler. The court and the slave m i l i t a r y apparatus were supported by a tax-collecting administration. Post-Abbasid rulers continued to use the bureaucratic techniques o f their predecessors, m a i n t a i n i n g scribal staffs for recordkeeping, tax collection, correspondence, and payment o f salaries and pensions, but bureaucratic a d m i n istration greatly shrunk i n the post-Abbasid era. Economic regression cut i n t o the cash flows that were essential for a centralized a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and forced post-

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Abbasid governments to rely m o r e and m o r e heavily o n decentralized f o r m s o f administration. The most c o m m o n m e t h o d came to be the direct assignment o f iqtfls—tax revenues f r o m specific territories paid as salaries to m i l i t a r y officers and often collected directly f r o m the peasants. The iqta system bypassed the c u m bersome process o f tax collection, sale o f produce, and r e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f the revenues i n the f o r m o f cash salaries, b u t i t also gave direct access to and c o n t r o l o f the land to the warlords. This was a quasi-feudal system o f government, but one i n w h i c h the central government retained a u t h o r i t y over the l a n d and the r i g h t to grant and w i t h d r a w grants o f land made i n r e t u r n f o r m i l i t a r y service. It was not feudal i n the European sense because i n p r i n c i p l e assignment o f a benefice d i d n o t i m p l y ownership o f the land, or judicial, administrative, or personal c o n t r o l o f the peasants. I n practice, i t o f t e n meant just that. The second type o f r e g i m e was the purely m i l i t a r y slave elite. I n the case o f the Ghaznavids i n Afghanistan or the M a m l u k s i n Egypt, the slave officers t h e m selves overthrew dynastic rulers and built governments solely o f slaves, f r o m o r d i n a r y soldiers to the heads o f states. The slave regimes, however, f u n c t i o n e d i n m u c h the same manner as the n o m a d i c chieftaincies i n terms o f court, m i l i tary, and bureaucratic structures. These regimes faced t w o political problems. The first p r o b l e m was the tendency toward progressive decentralization o f power. Control o f the provinces had to be delegated to family members and nomadic chieftains. Iqtas had to be assigned to the m i l i t a r y leaders. The weakness o f the bureaucratic apparatus prevented close control over these assignments. The result was usurpation o f power at both p r o v i n cial and local levels and the establishment o f independent microregimes, sometimes even hereditary regimes, w i t h i n the n o m i n a l territories o f the state. The second p r o b l e m was the paradoxical relationship o f the sultans and the central government to the nomadic forces. The nomads conquered the new territories, but they soon came i n t o conflict w i t h their o w n chieftains. The royal and w o u l d - b e royal families wanted to centralize power, protect the conquered and settled p o p ulations f r o m damage, and tax the productive economies, w h d e the nomadic interest lay i n obtaining booty, lands for pasturage, and f r e e d o m f r o m government control. I n the early phases o f a conquest, sultans channeled the nomadic m i g r a tions t o w a r d the frontiers; b u t as each wave o f conquerors settled, nomadic p o p ulations and their royal clueftains c o m m o n l y came i n t o conflict over territory, privileges, and taxation. Rulers tried to reduce the once c o n q u e r i n g peoples i n t o docile subjects. The success, power, and longevity o f their regimes depended i n g o o d measure o n the balance o f central and nomadic powers. I n m a n y respects the critical achievement o f the ephemeral post-Abbasid regimes was cultural. Each ruler m a i n t a i n e d a court as the center o f literary, artistic, and religious p r o d u c t i o n , as an indispensable sign o f his legitimacy and his

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claims to equal status w i t h other rulers. I n the post-Abbasid p e r i o d n o t only Baghdad b u t also Samarqand,

Bukhara, Ghazna, Nishapur, Isfahan, M o s u l ,

Damascus, Cairo, Fez, Córdoba, and many other cities became i m p o r t a n t centers o f M u s l i m learning, art, and literature. Political fragmentation fueled an extraordinary outburst o f cultural creativity. Many local courts became patrons o f architectural c o n s t r u c t i o n and producers o f books and illustrated manuscripts as w e l l as patrons o f such l u x u r y objects as fine pottery, metalware, rugs, glass, and other finely crafted materials. Courts were also often patrons o f scientific research, p h i l o s o p h i c a l speculation, literature, poetry, history, and religious subjects. Moreover, the courts c o m m o n l y patronized very similar, often the same, versions o f culture. Poets, w r i t e r s , and philosophers made their livings by m o v i n g f r o m court to c o u r t , creating the same achievements i n different places. Skilled craftsmen, seeking refuge f r o m the M o n g o l s , fled Mesopotamia for Cairo i n the m i d d l e o f the thirteenth century, r e v i v i n g the o l d regional arts i n a n e w location. Sometimes conquerors forcibly transferred skilled artists to their n e w capitals, as d i d the Turkic conqueror T i m u r w h e n he tried to b u i l d the g l o r y o f Samarqand. Also, rulers demanded similar products. Copies o f the History of Alexander the Great or the tales o f the Kalila wa Dimna were translated and illustrated for numerous courts, such as Samanid Bukhara, T i m u r i d Samarqand, and M a m l u k Cairo. By these processes a c o m m o n culture o f kings emerged, and w i t h i t the concept o f the f a m i l y o f kings and the b r o t h e r h o o d o f rulers w h o had the same responsibilities, the same status, and a c o m m o n lifestyle. Thus, o u t o f the conquest and fragmentation there developed broad zones o f c o m m o n culture. I n the courts o f the Samanids and Ghaznavids a n e w I r a n o Islamic language and Persian culture developed. It was characterized by the preservation o f the literary legacy o f ancient, pre-Islamic I r a n , and i t was deeply influenced by caliphal Arabic poetry a n d by the translation o f Literary and r e l i gious classics f r o m Arabic i n t o Persian. The new language had its o w n standard metrical f o r m s for odes and the c o m m o n Sufi love and w i n e poems. A standard a r c h i t e c t u r a l f o r m for mosques a n d madrasas also developed—a

building

arranged symmetrically a r o u n d a central d o m e , constructed o f b r i c k and decorated w i t h tiles and mutjcirnas (a decorative element that resembles a stalactite). The new Persian language, literature, and artistic style q u i c k l y became the c o m m o n c u l t u r a l i d i o m o f all the f o r m e r eastern lands o f the caliphate, i n c l u d ing Iran, Transoxiana. and inner Asia, and they eventually reached i n t o n e w l y conquered Islamic lands i n India and the East Indies. This Irano-Islamic culture i n t u r n fostered the creation o f a n e w Turko-Persian culture. The Qarakhanid rulers o f Transoxiana, f o l l o w e d by the M o n g o l s and the T i m u r i d s , sponsored the translation o f Persian classics i n t o Turkic languages. Variants spread t h r o u g h o u t i n n e r Asia u n d e r M o n g o l a n d Chagatay r u l e and later became the basis o f

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O t t o m a n culture. M e a n w h i l e , Arabic literature derived f r o m the caliphal era and f r o m Islamic religious studies became the c o m m o n language and literary m e d i u m o f the f o r m e r western territories o f the Arab-Islamic e m p i r e , f r o m Iraq to the Atlantic Ocean. Just as certain p o l i t i c a l i n s t i tutions had become by i m i t a t i o n and d i f f u s i o n the c o m m o n f o r m s o f state organization a m o n g the numerous regimes o f the i n t e r r e g n u m era, so t o o a c o m m o n h i g h culture had emerged i n A r a b i c , Persian, a n d Turkic versions,

despite

intense decentralization i n all the domains o f M i d d l e Eastern Islam. The political upheavals o f the intermediate era were also the impetus for a correspondingly p r o f o u n d transformation o f the social organization o f M i d d l e Eastern

populations. T h r o u g h o u t the

r e g i o n , the subject p o p u l a t i o n was exposed to extraordinary danger f r o m m a r a u d i n g armies, economic hardship, rapid changes o f p o l i t i c a l overlords, the decline o f older l a n d o w n i n g and bureaucratic elites, and the i m p o s i t i o n o f n e w foreign rulers. In response, people throughout the r e g i o n drew together i n defensive

movements

and created a new c o m m u n a l structure. This n e w order was based o n Islam. Paradoxically, the Abbasid e m p i r e i n m a n y The Persian language became

ways delayed the d i f f u s i o n o f Islam to the mass

the cultural idiom both of all

o f M i d d l e Eastern populations. A l t h o u g h the e m p i r e was the o f f i c i a l sponsor and

the former lands of the east-

protector o f Islam and p r o m o t e d Islamic law and w o r s h i p , the n e w r e l i g i o n

ern caliphate and of the

remained nonetheless the r e l i g i o n o f a m i n o r i t y . The Abbasid e m p i r e accepted

newly conquered regions of

the e x i s t i n g C h r i s t i a n , Jewish, a n d Zoroastrian c o m m u n i t i e s , accepted the

the Indian subcontinent. Arabic texts, such as Ibn Bakhtishu's bestiary, Manafi alHayawan (The advantages of animals), were translated into Persian, as in this illustrated copy made at Maragha in northwest Iran in the 1290s.

a u t h o r i t y o f c h u r c h elites, a n d cooperated w i t h n o n - M u s l i m administrators, landowners, and bankers i n the management o f the e m p i r e . The political system had thus removed the w o r l d l y incentives for conversion to Islam. W i t h the breakup o f the Abbasid empire, however, the o l d social elites were swept away. Churches c o u l d n o longer protect their peoples, l a n d o w n i n g f a m i lies were dispossessed, and the administration c r u m b l e d . The result was a vacuum

of

leadership

into

which

was

drawn

the

only

surviving

elite

e l e m e n t — M u s l i m scholars (ulama), teachers, preachers, a n d h o l y m e n . The

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Karramiya (a religious m o v e m e n t that c o m b i n e d theological principles, Sufi practices, and a social mission) established networks o f khanaqas or Sufi residences, w h i c h eventually became the basis o f c o m m u n i t y organization and c o n version i n eastern Iran. Sufis i n western Iran, for example, under the leadership o f the Sufi preacher Shaykh A b u Ishaq al-Kazeruni (963—1033), began to convert Zoroastrian villagers to Islam. Town quarters became organized under the aegis o f Islamic schools o f law, Shii c o m m u n i t i e s , or Sufi and other religious leadership. By the t w e l f t h century the m a j o r i t y o f M i d d l e Eastern populations was identified w i t h Islam; its c o m m u n a l leaders were M u s l i m ulama and Sufis; Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians had become demographic as well as political minorities everywhere. The n e w l y Islamized populations were p r o v i d e d w i t h new forms o f c o m m u nal organization. These forms had their o r i g i n s i n the earlier Islamic p e r i o d . As early as 660, M u s l i m s had begun to d i v i d e i n t o t w o camps: the Sunnis, supporters o f the existing U m a y y a d and later Abbasid caliphates, and the Shiites, w h o opposed the established regimes and h e l d that o n l y the descendants o f A l i had the r i g h t to the leadership o f the M u s l i m s . I n the tenth century the Shiites, by then deprived o f the l i v i n g i m a m s , codified their tradition i n books o f hadith, law, and theology, and elaborated a ritual calendar focused o n the veneration o f the tombs o f A l i at A n - N a j a f ( i n southern-central Iraq) and Husayn ( w h o was massacred by Umayyad troops at Karbala i n 680) at Karbala ( i n central Iraq). A m o n g the Sunnis a variety o f small religious c o m m u n i t i e s took f o r m as people gathered around readers o f the Q u r a n , reciters o f the h a d i t h , scholars o f law, and theologians and mystics, to w h o m they looked for religious inspiration and guidance. The legal schools evolved f r o m i n f o r m a l discussion groups o f scholars, students, and judges i n t o quasi-administrative bodies p r o d u c i n g codes o f law under slate patronage, staffing the judiciary, carrying on legal instruction, a d m i n istering c o m m u n a l and intestate properties, and p r o v i d i n g i n f o r m a l leadership and i n s t r u c t i o n for the c o m m o n people. By the n i n t h century the Hanbali school ( f o u n d e d by the theologian and jurist A h m a d i b n Hanbal) was already an organized pressure g r o u p t r y i n g to impose its concept o f Islam o n the caliphate. W i t h the breakup o f the Abbasid empire, the legal schools were m o d i f i e d to become the basis o f a mass Islamic society. Provided w i t h endowments, the schools created permanent institutions k n o w n as madrosas (teaching colleges and residences) as the basis o f their activities. The colleges provided b u i l d i n g s , residences, libraries, kitchens, a n d stipends for b o t h teachers and students. The ulama also assumed a larger role i n their c o m m u n i t i e s . They often m a r r i e d i n t o local l a n d o w n i n g and administrative families and organized gangs, quarters, and sectarian associations under their leadership. The ulama also represented

the

urban populations to the conquerors, p r o v i d i n g local a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and justice, arranging for local security, p u b l i c w o r k s , taxation, charities, and other services.

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At the same t i m e , a new f o r m o f Islamic c o m m u n a l organization under Sufi auspices came i n t o being. Sufis had for centuries coalesced a r o u n d charismatic h o l y m e n , sometimes taking u p residence i n khanaqas p r o v i d e d to shelter t h e m and facilitate their meetings, w o r s h i p , and i n s t r u c t i o n . I n the t w e l f t h century Sufi organizations, partly under the influence o f the legal schools and o f state supp o r t , became m o r e f o r m a l still. The a u t h o r i t y o f shaykhs over disciples became absolute; the rituals o f d e v o t i o n and transmission o f a u t h o r i t y were m o r e elaborate, as Sufis adapted the khirqa (the transmission o f the robes o f the master) and the silsila (the chain o f masters and disciples g o i n g back to the Prophet h i m s e l f ) as the badges o f their affiliation. Soon Sufis became organized i n tariqot ( b r o t h erhoods), as disciples and lieutenants created new branches to w h o m they transm i t t e d t h e i r particular f o r m s o f w o r s h i p . The t r a n s m i s s i o n o f dhikr (the Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, emerged as a basic socializing force during this period.The authority of shaykhs became

m e d i t a t i o n a l m e t h o d o f concentrating the soul o n the veneration o f G o d ) was the d e f i n i n g quality o f each b r o t h e r h o o d . As Sufi b r o t h e r h o o d s became m o r e formally organized, they t o o k o n m o r e i m p o r t a n t social roles. I n t o w n s and v i l -

absolute, and they passed

lages t h r o u g h o u t the M i d d l e East lay M u s l i m s came to the Sufis for supplemen-

their authority to their disci-

tary w o r s h i p , f o r spiritual consolation, healing, and charity, and for political

ples, who were organized

m e d i a t i o n o f problems between the people and the governments or between fac-

into brotherhoods.The shrine of Shaykh Nimatullah Vali (d. 14.31) at Mahan, for example, became a major

tional and tribal rivals. Alongside the legal schools, Sufi c o m m u n i t i e s emerged as a basic organizing social force a m o n g M u s l i m s . Sufism also p r o v i d e d the rationale for a looser type o f c o m m u n a l organiza-

Sufi center for southeastern

t i o n . The tombs o f famous ancestors and Sufi masters came to be venerated as

Iran and India.

the providers o f miraculous help, and shrines emerged as a focus o f M u s l i m w o r -

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ship. Descendants o f sainted Sufis, and their lineages and brotherhoods, became custodians o f the holy places to w h i c h thousands o f people w o u l d come, seeki n g the intercession o f the b u r i e d h o l y m e n and the transmission o f barako (God's power t h r o u g h the Sufi to his needy clients). Shrines became the focus o f p i l grimages and fairs. I n m a n y parts o f I r a n , Sufi brotherhoods organized m i l i t a r y defense and resistance to predatory nomadic clans and g o v e r n i n g chieftains. O f t e n espousing a m i x o f Shii and Sunni v i e w s — o r f r o m the perspective o f the governments and the urban ulama, heretical teachings—Sufi movements became the expression o f r e l i g i o - p o l i t i c a l protest against abusive elites. The consolidation o f Shhte sectarian communities, Sunni schools o f law, and Sufi lineages, brotherhoods, and shrine communities thus provided a c o m m u n a l structure for Muslims throughout the M i d d l e East. In this period oí upheaval, Islamic authority and Islamic religious bodies provided the basis for c o m m u n i t y order and solidarity. A new mass Middle Eastern society based o n Islam had come i n t o being.

The State and Religion The emergence o f n e w p o l i t i c a l and religious bodies raised again the p r o b l e m o f the d i v i s i o n o f a u t h o r i t y between the state and religious institutions. I n M i d d l e Eastern societies this issue goes back to the ancient temple c o m m u n i t i e s o f Mesopotamia and the emergence o f the first empires. Ever after, the boundaries o f a u t h o r i t y and f u n c t i o n s between rulers and priests w o u l d be an o p e n quest i o n . The Islamic era began w i t h its o w n p o s i t i o n o n this issue. For M u s l i m s the Prophet h i m s e l f e m b o d i e d b o t h religious and p o l i t i c a l authority. H e revealed God's w i l l and God's law for his people; he was the r u l e r o f the c o m m u n i t y , w h o also collected taxes, waged wars, and arbitrated disputes. The early caliphs also c l a i m e d religious a u t h o r i t y to make p r o n o u n c e m e n t s o n r e l i g i o u s law and beliefs as w e l l as the prerogatives o f emperors. I n the e v o l u t i o n o f the caliphate, however, the tendency t o separate p o l i t i c a l a n d r e l i g i o u s a u t h o r i t y seemed unavoidable. As conquerors and emperors, the caliphs increasingly became p o l i t ical leaders w i t h only a symbolic f o r m o f religious a u t h o r i t y ; the a u t h o r i t y to p r o m u l g a t e or discover law, t o make judgments o n matters o f belief, and to instruct o r d i n a r y M u s l i m s devolved o n the ulama and the holy m e n . By the t i m e o f the Abbasid empire's collapse, p o l i t i c a l and religious a u t h o r i t y thus belonged i n practice to different people, a l t h o u g h this was n o t yet recognized i n theory. The Turkish invasions and the establishment o f n o m a d i c o r slave m i l i t a r y regimes made acute the question o f religious or state a u t h o r i t y and functions. N o m a d s and slaves were foreigners i n o r i g i n and culture, w a r r i o r s i m p o s e d o n the civilian populations, w h i l e the t o w n and village elites o f the post-Abbasid era were M u s l i m religious leaders. The d i v i s i o n o f personnel and realms o f author-

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ity was patent. W h a t w o u l d be the relation between the t w o elites: state m i l i t a r y and administrative o n the one h a n d or local, c o m m u n a l , and religious o n the other? This p r o b l e m was solved i n the i n t e r r e g n u m p e r i o d by the creation o f t w o autonomous b u t cooperating elites. Turkish nomadic and slave m i l i t a r y authorities were eager to establish internal order, to facilitate taxation, and to m i n i m i z e resistance f r o m their subject populations. They needed the help o f educated f u n c tionaries and scribes. They needed the l e g i t i m a t i o n and r e c o g n i t i o n that o n l y the holders o f religious p u r i t y c o u l d supply. They wanted the presence o f cultivated scholars and h o l y m e n , poets, philosophers, historians, teachers, intellectuals, and artists to adorn and g l o r i f y tiieir courts. They craved to enter i n t o the fraternities o f cultured M i d d l e Eastern peoples. The m i l i t a r y elites thus sought the s u p p o r t o f the religious elites by u n d e r w r i t i n g t h e i r activities. They lent their forces to the suppression o f Shiism; they p r o v i d e d e n d o w m e n t s f o r mosques and khanaqas a n d stipends for teachers, h o l y m e n , a n d students. Seljuk rulers constructed a n d e n d o w e d madrasas i n every m a j o r city o f their empires. They endowed Sufi khanaqas to foster the h o l y m e n w h o served as missionaries f o r Islam. A l t h o u g h Seljuk rulers at first p a t r o n ized particular schools or factions, by the t w e l f t h and t h i r t e e n t h centuries. M i d d l e Eastern rulers had w o r k e d their way to a pan-Sunni policy, s u p p o r t i n g all the m a j o r schools o f law, h a d i t h , and theology. I n r e t u r n , the religious leaders accepted the Seljuk states, recognized their legitimacy, justified t h e m t o the subjects, and taught the necessity o f obedience. They cooperated i n r o u t i n e administrative matters, o c c u p y i n g an i n t e r m e d i a r y p o s i t i o n representing

the

regime to the people a n d the interests o f the people to the regime. By the t w e l f t h century the t w o elites o f state and r e l i g i o n h a d w o r k e d o u t a p o l i c y o f cooperation. A M u s l i m society became i n practice a society governed by state elites, w h o protected and p a t r o n i z e d Islam, and r e l i g i o u s leaders, w h o l e g i t i m i z e d alien states. This c o n d o m i n i u m o f elites a n d cooperative

relations

between i n s t i t u t i o n s w o u l d be for m a n y centuries the M i d d l e Eastern M u s l i m s o l u t i o n to the p r o b l e m o f state and r e l i g i o n . N o t all M i d d l e Eastern peoples accepted this arrangement, however. M o u n t a i n , nomadic, and tribal peoples sought to maintain political independence, avoid econ o m i c subordination, and cultivate cultural autonomy. To unite disparate small communities, to organize and justify resistance to sute control, many harked back to die image o f the Prophet, embodying b o t h political and religious authority, making political interests a holy cause and holy aspirations a w o r l d l y endeavor. Such groups often looked to Sufi holy m e n to provide t h e m w i t h u n i f i e d r e l i g i o - p o l i t i cal leadership, sometimes i n opposition to established states, sometimes i n conquering ventures o f their o w n . The Safavid empire had its origins i n this alternative concept o f Islamic religious leadership.

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The Safavid Empire The Safavid empire was strongly shaped by the political and religious instimtions and the cultural accomplishments o f the previous era. The Turkish and M o n g o l migrations had profoundly changed the character o f northern Iran. A large Turkish population had settled i n eastern Iran, i n the region o f the Oxus River, and i n northwestern Iran and eastern Anatolia. Turkish peoples constituted about 2c percent o f the total population, and the Turkish presence radically changed b o d i the economy and the society. Large districts were converted f r o m agriculture to pasturage, and a new political system was introduced. Turkish territories were parceled out among tribal chieftains, w h o gadiercd their families, clients, bands o f individual freebooters, and others into a single political unity. These units, c o m m o n l y called tribes or uymuq, used dieir power to bring lesser chieftains into line and to subdue and govern local towns and villages. They became the de facto government i n m u c h of northern Iran. I n reaction, religious leaders emerged t o shelter the local populations. Sufi preachers promised to invoke occult and mysterious powers that w o u l d protect their followers. Other leaders taught the doctrine o f the qutb (saintly pillar o f the w o r l d ) w h o w o u l d protect oppressed peoples. Still others taught that a savior w o u l d come t o redeem the g o o d people f r o m the traumatic upheavals o f the time. In these turbulent regions a n u m b e r o f Sufi-led religio-political opposition movements emerged t o contest the power o f Turkish and M o n g o l chieftains. One o f these Sufi leaders was the Persian mystic Shaykh Safi a l - D i n (1252-1334), based i n Ardabil i n northwestern Iran, w h o founded the Safavid Sufi b r o t h e r h o o d , provided schools and residences, and cultivated a hierarchy o f students, disciples, l i e u tenants, and missionaries. The heads o f the brotherhood brought uprooted i n d i viduals and small-lineage chieftains i n t o the order, and they occasionally m a r r i e d i n t o local tribal princely families. The Safavid followers, whatever their political o r i gins, considered themselves devotees (murshids). By the fifteenth century they had come t o believe that the head o f the order was their Sufi master, their shah or k i n g , the reincarnation o f A l i , and the h i d d e n i m a m w h o m they awaited as God's mes¬ siah. I n the turbulent fifteenth century; after the breakup o f the T i m u r i d empire, the Safavids turned to more m i l i t a n t political activities, attacking Christian p o p u lations i n Georgia and eastern Anatolia i n the name o f jihad (religiously sanctioned warfare against n o n - M u s l i m s ) . B o u n d together by religious belief, the Safavids waged war against other Turkish principalities and conquered Iran i n a rapid set o f victories between 1500 and 1510. O u t o f the conflict o f T u r k i s h tribal and religious movements came the first stable empire t o rule Iran since the Abbasid dynasty. This stability, however, was n o t based o n a direct c o n t i n u a t i o n o f the m o v e ment's o w n religious culture and organization. Rather, i n the very first Safavid postconquest reign, Shah Ismail (r. 1500-1524) began to replace his Sufi e n t h u -

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Ms

git LS. " *

„1

To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501-1752) developed a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To that end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the Shahnamch, the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for ShahTahmasp in the 1520s and 30s and illustrated with more than 250 exquisite paintings.

siasts w i t h the apparatus ot a centralized statu. For m o r e than a century, f r o m the reign o f Shah Ismail t h r o u g h the reign o f Shah Abbas I (r. 1588-1629), the successive leaders o f the dynasty b u i l t u p loyal slave cadres apart f r o m their tribal and religious supporters and tried t o establish a centralized bureaucratic apparatus to make possible direct taxation and a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f the area, The leaders also attempted to develop a cultural policy that w o u l d support the legitimacy o f the n e w regime, n o t just as a Sufi religious m o v e m e n t but as the

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reconstruction o f the historic Iranian monarchy. The shahs became the patrons o f those imperial arts that for centuries had been understood to be the hallmark o f kings. Shah Ismail transferred the T i m u r i d school o f p a i n t i n g f r o m Herat to the Safavid capital o f Tabriz. Safavid rulers endowed workshops to produce illustrated manuscripts and a royal library to house t h e m . Their patronage led to the product i o n o f the Shahnomeh (Book o f Kings), w h i c h contains paintings o f battles, h u n t i n g scenes, and royal ceremonies that are adorned w i t h exquisite animal images, real and mythical, and depictions o f gardens. There are some 250 paintings i n all; this w o r k is one o f the masterpieces o f Iranian and Islamic art. It is a celebration o f the glory o f Iranian monarchy and o f the Safavids as the heirs o f that tradition. I n the seventeenth century, however, a m o r e mature regime preferred realistic depictions o f daily life, paintings that bore emotional expression and secular scenes o f beauty and love. The first p e r i o d expressed the need for political l e g i t i m a t i o n , w h i l e the second era expressed the taste o f aristocratic soldiers, officials, and courtiers for the g o o d life. Safavid rulers also maintained workshops that produced famous carpets, silk cloth and hangings, and metalworks and ceramics to adorn the i m p e r i a l court, mosques, and shrines as a reminder o f the g l o r y o f the monarchy. Perhaps the supreme artistic creation o f the Safavid r e g i m e and the u l t i m a t e s y m b o l o f the restoration o f Iranian m o n a r c h y was the city o f Isfahan. Built as a great new capital, Isfahan was the geographic base for administrative centralizat i o n . It was also the locus o f a vibrant u r b a n economy whose products and rev-

Fearing the proximity of the Ottoman frontier, in the late sixteenth century the Safavids moved their capital from northwestern Iran to Isfahan in the center of the country. The Safavids extended the city with a new royal square surrounded by two stories of shops that symbolized the key role of trade in the centralized slate.

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enues were essential to i m p e r i a l finances. Isfahan's bazaars c o n centrated the p r o d u c t i o n and m a r k e t i n g o f goods, c o m p e t i n g w i t h the resources o f tribal chieftains; they were an essential river o f tax revenues t o s u p p o r t the central state a n d the basis o f Iranian international trade. Built w i t h unparalleled grandeur and beauty, Isfahan e m b o d i e d Safavid legitimacy. The new city was b u i l t a r o u n d a single great central square, the M a y d a n - i Shah, w h i c h measured m o r e than coo by 1600 feet and served as a market, p o l o g r o u n d s , and carnival arena. The square was surr o u n d e d by t w o - s t o r i e d r o w s o f shops and by great archways o n each o f the cardinal sides. M o n u m e n t a l b u i l d i n g s adorned the square. The Mosque o f Shaykh Lutfallah rose o n the east side (constructed f r o m 1603 to 161c); the royal mosque stood to the south (constructed f r o m 1611

to 1629). O n the west stood the A l i

Qapu or the royal palace, the Sublime Port o f the Safavids. To the n o r t h a m o n u m e n t a l arch marked the entrance to the m i l e - l o n g covered bazaar o f Isfahan, itself a g l o r i o u s achievement o f M i d d l e Safavid rulers maintained state workshops that produced fine carpets made of silk and metallic threads. Many of the finest carpets were made for export to Europe. This exam-

Eastern u r b a n design, w i t h its innumerable shops, caravanserais, baths, mosques, a n d schools. F r o m the central square the Chahar Bagh Avenue, b o r d e r e d by gardens

a n d the residences

of

ple, which retains its vivid colors, is one of a

courtiers and f o r e i g n ambassadors, ran t w o and a half miles to

pair once owned by the Doria family in Italy.

the s u m m e r palaces o f the shahs.

Shiism in Early Iran The most astonishing chapter i n the Safavid consolidation o f power was the decision to p r o m o t e Shiism as Iran's official religion. U n t i l the Safavid era, Iran was largely Sunni, although there was a m i n o r i t y Shiite presence i n Q u m and Isfahan. A l t h o u g h the Safavid shaykhs claimed descent f r o m the seventh i m a m and integrated Shiism i n t o their religious identity and authority, the o r i g i n a l Shiism o f the Safavids was a nrinority orientation. The murshids and loyalists understood Shiism as a claim to embody d i v i n i t y They w o r s h i p e d the master o f the order as the bearer o f the l i v i n g spirit o f God. The new official religion o f the shahs, however, was Twelver o r ithna ashari Shiism, a m u c h m o r e institutionalized and mainstream version o f Islam, but one that was neither g r o u n d e d i n Iranian culture and history nor even acceptable to their most devout followers. It w as a way o f elevating the shahs above b o t h their supporters and their subjects. The n e w Shiite establishment was b u i l t u p over the course o f a century. The process began w i t h the i m p o r t a t i o n o f Shiite scholars f r o m Syria, Iraq, Arabia, and Bahrain. The new cadres were organized i n t o an a d m i n i s t r a t i o n controlled

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by the state. A n official called the sadr was appointed to be the i n t e r m e d i a r y between the shahs and the ulama, and eventually this f u n c t i o n a r y was given responsibility for the a p p o i n t m e n t o f judges and teachers and for the a d m i n i s tration o f e n d o w m e n t s . A supreme religious court was created. The Safavids f u r ther extended t h e i r c o n t r o l over r e l i g i o n by e n d o w i n g the p r i n c i p a l Shiite shrines, f o u n d i n g the teaching colleges, and p r o v i d i n g grants o f i n c o m e f r o m landed estates for the leading ulama families. A n ulama landed aristocracy was created as a buttress o f the regime. The creadon o f this apparatus was i n some respects an extension o f earlier Iranian Islamic practices and i n other respects extremely innovative. The Scljuks had o r i g i nated the policy o f patronage for religious activisLs, w h o were all Sunni, as a way o f gaining influence over the religious elites. The Safavids adopted tins policy as well, but went m u c h further i n centralizing control o f the ulama i n the hands o f die shahs. They brought the ulama f r o m the position o f clients to that o f servants o f the state. The Safavids also suppressed all rival forms o f religion i n Iran. The Seljuks had waged war w i t h m i n o r i t y Shiite communities; the Safavids destroyed Iranian religious p l u ralism by the persecution o f Sunni, alternative Shiite, and Sufi rivals. Sufi shrines were destroyed; Sufi brotherhoods were banned. For example, tombs o f the Naqshabandi Sufi order were desecrated; khanaqas o f die Nimatullahi Sufi order were seized and turned over to Shiite organizations. The pilgrimage to Mecca was deemphasized and replaced by the visitation o f Shiite shrines.

I s f a h a n ' s r o y a l s q u a r e is d o m i n a t e d b y e n t r a n c e s to f o u r great b u i l d i n g s . O n the w e s t is the A l i Q a p u , o r " S u b l i m e P o r t , " t h e e n t r a n c e t o a v a s t p a l a c e p r e c i n c t . F r o m its v e r a n d a h o v e r l o o k i n g t h e g r e a t s q u a r e , a n d his c o u r t c o u l d v i e w the e v e r - c h a n g i n g pageantry below.

the

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The success o f Twelver Shiism i n I r a n , however, was n o t just a q u e s t i o n o f state power. Under Safavid sponsorship, Shiism entered a period o f exuaordinary religious, literary, and philosophical creativity and genuinely became the religious culture o f Iranians. Although die original Sufi—Shiite concepts o f the Safavids and the Sufi movement were proscribed, the veneration o f Ah and Husayn became an integral part o f Iranian Islam. The great shrines o f Mashad and Q u m were rebuilt d u r ing the reign o f die shah Abbas I (r. 1588-1629), generously endowed, and made an essential part o f die practice o f Shiism i n Iran. Shrines called imamzoddis were founded i n m e m o r y o f the imams or associates o f the imams; imombaros (sliines devoted to Husayn and Hasan) replaced villages shrhies. The pilgrimage to Karbala became for Iranian Muslims even more important than the pilgrimage to Mecca. The c o m m e m o r a t i o n o f the death o f Husayn i n the m o n t h o f M u h a r r a m (the first m o n t h i n the Islamic year) became the e m o t i o n a l core o f Iranian Shiism. I n the first ten days o f M u h a r r a m , Iranians gathered t o hear the heartrending stories o f the m a r t y r d o m o f Husayn at the hands o f the Umayyads i n 680 C . E . Sermons, recitations o f elegies i n m e m o r y o f Husayn, passion plays, and the processional m o v e m e n t o f shrines accompanied by columns o f m o u r n e r s and flagellants a n c h o r e d Shiism i n p o p u l a r feeling. N e i g h b o r h o o d g r o u p s , y o u t h gangs, and religious sects competed t o o u t d o each other i n the veneration o f Husayn. Shiism was n o t just a state-sponsored bureaucratic r e l i g i o n ; it had seized h o l d o f popular feeling to become the deeply felt religious i d e n t i t y o f the Iranian masses. At the same time, h i g h - c u l t u r e gnosticism a n d p h i l o s o p h y also flourished. The Iranian philosopher and teacher M i r Damad ( d . 1630) a n d his disciple M u l l a Sadra (1571-1640) sought t o integrate neo-Platonic ideas w i t h the mystical v i s i o n o f the Persian theologian and philosopher al-Suhrawardi, the sayings o f A l i , a n d the p h i l o s o p h y o f the Islamic m y s t i c I b n a l - A r a b i (1165-1240). Thus Shiism emerged as o n e o f the great p h i l o sophical religions o f the Islamic era. As a f o r m o f state r e l i g i o n , intellectual c u l t u r e , a n d mass passion, Shiism had become a comprehensive alternative version o f Islam. Despite this singular institutional creation, however, relations between the state and U n d e r che S a f a v i d s , T w e l v e r S h i i s m b e c a m e t h e state r e l i g i o n o f I r a n . T h e great s h r i n e s at Q u m a n d Mashhad were enlarged, a n d imamzaddis, s m a l l e r s h r i n e s i n m e m o r y o f

the religious establishment eventually became strained. Already i n the seventeenth century there were subtle shifts i n the posit i o n o f the religious elites. A l t h o u g h Shiism h a d been i n s t i t u -

other d e s c e n d a n t s o r associates o f the

tionalized b y the p o w e r o f the state, deeply h e l d religious values

i m a m s , b e c a m e the focus o f local piety a n d

encouraged an attitude o f w i t h d r a w a l f r o m w o r l d l y affairs a n d

veneration.

disdain f o r p o l i t i c a l engagement. As religious leaders w i t h d r e w

f r o m politics, they were n o longer w i l l i n g to passively accept the a u t h o r i t y o f the state. Shiite scholars began to contest the n o t i o n that the Safavid shahs were the representatives o f the h i d d e n i m a m . They claimed instead that the scholars t h e m selves were the highest religious a u t h o r i t y and the true representatives o f the i m a m o n earth. As the religious establishment separated itself f r o m political c o n t r o l , the scholars began to debate the basis o f t h e n o w n authority. The usuli school claimed that religious scholars knowledgeable i n the teachings o f the Q u r a n , the sayings o f A l i , and the historical consensus o f the c o m m u n i t y (ijma) were mujtahids (scholarsjurists) entitled to independent religious j u d g m e n t (ijtihad). Their opponents, the akhbaris, restricted the authority o f individual scholars and insisted o n literal adherence to the letter o f the tradition passed o n by the Prophet and the imams. By the eighteenth century the debate had sliifted f r o m the role o f the m o n a r c h to the l i m its o f ulama authority. The religious establishment, although b o r n as the creature o f the state, had effectively become independent, w i t h consequences that echo i n Iran to the present day. This transformation o f die religious establishment f r o m a servant o f the state to an independent i n s t i t u t i o n was actually the consequence o f

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a second aspect o f Safavid h i s t o r y — t h e relation o f the state to the tribes. As m u c h as the Safavid regime was able to build u p slave forces and a central tax administration, as m u c h as it created a religious organization, i t was n o t able to fully subordinate the tribal forces. I n northeastern and northwestern Iran, and to the south i n what is n o w Afghanistan, Turkish uymaqs (bands o f tribal chieftans, their clients, and individual freebooters organized i n t o a single political entity) remained p o w erful. I n many places they were able to rule independendy; i n other areas they were tributaries, but never were they crushed or eliminated. I n most parts o f Iran the m o n a r c h y had to relyo n quasi-independent intermediaries for the government o f the country. Apart f r o m the reign of Shah Abbas I , the Safavid state remained a court-centered regime w i t h relatively little power i n the countryside. For reasons that are still unclear, the late seventeenth cent u r y was a t i m e o f decay f o r the Safavid central state. The Safavid a r m y was n o l o n g e r a c o m p e t e n t m i l i t a r y m a c h i n e , and

central

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n fell

apart. The

uymaqs-—

Afghans, Afshars, Qajars, Zands, a n d others—rose u p a n d p a r t i t i o n e d the c o u n t r y a m o n g t h e m . I n Afghans seized Isfahan, a n d i n 1726

1722

Ghalzai

they e l i m i n a t e d the

dynasty that h a d r u l e d Iran f o r m o r e than t w o h u n d r e d years. I n some respects the Safavids were the direct c o n t i n u a t i o n o f the p o l i t i c a l system o f the M o n g o l s a n d the T i m u r i d s . A l t h o u g h they raised the concept

o f Iranian

i m p e r i u m to new level o f l e g i t i m a c y and c u l t u r a l brilliance and adapted the same i n s t i t u t i o n a l mechanisms t o centralize state power, like their predecessors they c o u l d n o t f u l l y succeed i n t a m i n g the T u r k i s h tribes. The Safavid state r e m a i n e d a c o u r t r e g i m e i n a f l u i d society i n w h i c h p o w e r was w i d e l y dispersed a m o n g c o m p e t i n g t r i b a l forces. These Safavid society was a courtcentered regime, and people

forces w o u l d i n the e n d o v e r t h r o w the dynasty. The Safavids differed p r o f o u n d l y f r o m their predecessors i n their relation t o

flocked to the capital to

Islam. W h i l e earlier states had been patrons o f Islamic activity, the Safavids cook

work for royal patrons. The

this further. Initially they claimed to be the l i v i n g representatives o f the d i v i n e

painter Reza (d. 1635), for

c o m m a n d . I n a later phase, however, they created a h i g h l y centralized and c o n -

example, earned his epithet "Abbasi" from his major patron. Shah Abbas, and earned his living painting portraits of Abbas' courtiers, such as this turbaned man in a blue coat.

trolled religious elite as the backbone o f their a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f Iran and their c l a i m to legitimacy as the defenders and patrons o f Islam. The Safavid state thus left as its legacy to m o d e r n Iran a Persian tradition o f g l o r i f i e d monarchy, a soci-

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ety p a r t i t i o n e d a m o n g tribal p r i n c i p a l i ties, and a m o n o l i t h i c b u t liberated and a u t o n o m o u s religious establishment.

The Ottoman Empire: Its Origins and World Conquests The O t t o m a n empire also had its origins i n the t w o great trends o f earlier centuries: the Turkish m i g r a t i o n s and the postAbbasid reconstruction o f state and society, w h i c h provided the institutional and cultural precedents for later O t t o m a n society. The legacy o f Persian monarchical, Byzantine and Roman, Seljuk Anatolian, and M o n g o l a n d T i m u r i d

precedents

interacting w i t h Turkish cultures and transformed by the O t t o m a n s)Tithesis led to the O t t o m a n version o f h i g h i m p e r i a l , late M i d d l e Eastern civilization. The Seljuk invasions had b r o u g h t O g h u z peoples i n t o Georgia, A r m e n i a , and Byzantine Anatolia i n f r o n t i e r c o n d i t i o n s similar t o those that existed i n n o r t h e r n Iran. I n the vanguard o f the c o n q u e r i n g forces were small bands o f n o m a d i c

At the time of the Ottoman conquest, the people of western Anatolia were slowly converting to Islam.The

peoples under the leadership o f beys ( w a r r i o r chieftains) and Sufi h o l y m e n

small mosque of Haci Ozbek,

(bubas). Like the tribes o f n o r t h e r n I r a n , these small bands were likely t o have

built at Iznik in 1335, two

been groups o f allied families and clients o f an a d m i r e d o r venerated chieftain.

years after the Ottoman sul-

The Sufi babas n o t o n l y p r o v i d e d m i l i t a r y leadership, they helped t o organize a viable c o m m u n i t y life i n the n e w territories. These holy m e n established residences, b r o u g h t lands i n t o c u l t i v a t i o n , built hospices, m i l l s , and schools, m e d i ated disputes, and created the infrastructure o f a settled life a m o n g m i g r a n t w a r r i o r s . I n the wake o f the c o n q u e r i n g bands came the Seljuk n o b i l i t y , w h i c h set about t o construct a centralized state o n the m o d e l o f those that had been created by Seljuk f a m i l y elites i n Iran and Iraq. The Seljuks b u i l t u p slave forces, administrative cadres, a n d an Islamic religious infrastructure. Scholars were i n v i t e d f r o m Iran; qadis (judges) were p u t i n t o office, colleges were b u i l t , a n d professorships were e n d o w e d . A consequence o f the activities o f b o t h the state a n d the m i g r a t o r y Sufi influences was the eventual t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f Anatolia i n t o a M u s l i m society. U n d e r Seljuk r u l e ( 1 0 7 1 - 1 2 4 3 ) , m u c h o f the Greek, A r m e n i a n , G e o r g i a n , a n d Syrian p o p u l a t i o n was progressively converted t o Islam. The weakening o f the

tan Orhan took the city from the Byzantines, exemplifies the combination of Muslim needs and Byzantine building techniques.

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The Ottomans ruled the

Byzantine state, the decline o f the o r t h o d o x c h u r c h , a n d the b r e a k d o w n o f

greatest of Muslim empires,

A n a t o l i a n society i n the face o f conquest facilitated the u l t i m a t e conversion o f

which extended into Europe, North Africa, Egypt, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Anatolia, In 1529 Ottoman

the r e g i o n . The socially constructive measures taken by the c o n q u e r o r s , their tolerance o f n o n - M u s l i m peoples, and the many c o m m o n p o i n t s o f p o p u l a r Islam a n d p o p u l a r C h r i s t i a n i t y — C h r i s t i a n s a n d M u s l i m s revered the same

forces unsuccessfully

saints and h o l y places and shared magical a n d superstitious beliefs as well as

besieged Vienna, and

c o m m o n m o n o t h e i s t i c and ethical p r i n c i p l e s a n d B i b l i c a l l o r e — w o r k e d over

Ottoman - Hapsburg wars

the centuries to create a M u s l i m m a j o r i t y .

continued for more than 150 years without major territorial change. In the summer

Sufis played an i m p o r t a n t role i n these conversions. They were generally m o r e accepting o f a great variety o f religious practices and beliefs, w h e t h e r M u s l i m o r

of 1683, an Ottoman army of

n o t , as possible routes to G o d . Sufis also organized residences as centers o f social

150,000 unsuccessfully

service and assistance to o r d i n a r y people. The Bektashi Sufi order i n the rural

attacked the city, marking the

areas, Mevlevi Sufis i n the cities, and i n the smaller t o w n s akhis ( y o u n g m e n p r o -

beginning of the end of

v i d i n g charity to the p o o r and to travelers) created the devotional, charitable,

Ottoman domination in eastern Europe.

educational, and c o m m u n a l e n v i r o n m e n t that led to the Islamic conversion o f

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Anatolia. A l t h o u g h there w o u l d later be substantial conversions i n the Balkans t o o , there the m a j o r i t y remained Christian, largely because o f the smaller Turkish p o p u l a t i o n and because o f the O t t o m a n p o l i c y o f s u p p o r t i n g a n d using the Balkan churches as an administrative convenience. A l t h o u g h effective i n its domains, the Seljuk Turkish system o f expansion and occupation generated chronic tension between the central state and a host o f peripheral nomadic principalities and w a r r i o r bands. A l t h o u g h the state tried to consolidate its power, the o u t l y i n g peoples sought to m a i n t a i n their autonomy. This i m p e l l e d many o f t h e m to f u r t h e r expansion i n western Anatolia at Byzantine expense, as the local chieftains sought to enhance their power, w i n g l o r y for Islam, and m a i n t a i n their distance and independence f r o m the Seljuk state. The O t t o m a n empire h a d its origins i n just such a band o f frontier w a r r i o r s operating i n late thirteenth-century western Anatolia. E r t u g r u l , w h o may have died around 1280, was the f o u n d e r o f a dynasty that over t w o centuries, n o t swifdy but ineluctably, first conquered Bursa i n western Anatolia i n 1326, crossed the straits o f Gallipoli i n 134c, conquered w h a t is n o w Bulgaria. Macedonia, and m u c h o f Greece, and defeated the Serbian e m p i r e at the Battle o f Kosovo i n 1389.

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O n the basis o f their Balkan conquests, the O t t o m a n s t u r n e d eastward and absorbed

M u s l i m - r u l e d Anatolia as w e l l .

In

1453

the

Ottomans

seized

Constantinople, b r i n g i n g to an e n d the eleven-hundred-year tenure o f the Byzantine Empire and establishing themselves as successors to the Roman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople was b o t h the capstone o f previous O t t o m a n achievements i n war and the o p e n i n g o f a n e w phase i n O t t o m a n ambitions. M e h m e d the Conqueror (r. 1444-46, 1451-81) saw h i m s e l f as successor to R o m a n emperors and Arab caliphs. His victories realized age-old Turkish ideas o f a destiny o f w o r l d d o m i n a t i o n , the i m p e r i a l a m b i t i o n s o f the R o m a n empire, and M u s l i m j i h a d and expansion o f the d o m a i n o f Islam. W i t h the conquest o f Constantinople, the Ottomans redoubled their ambitions. The conquest o f the Balkans opened the way for a t w o - c e n t u r y - l o n g struggle against the powers o f Europe. The Ottomans were opposed by the Habsburg emperors o f Spain, by the Netherlands, by Austria and Hungary, and by the czars o f Russia. The wars u n f o l d e d along three p r i n c i p a l fronts. I n central Europe the Ottomans pushed beyond the Danube River and absorbed Romania by 1504. Belgrade was taken i n 1520 and H u n g a r y came under O t t o m a n r u l e i n 1529, and i n the same year the Ottomans besieged but failed to take Vienna. W i t h o u t m a j o r t e r r i t o r i a l changes, O t t o m a n - H a b s b u r g wars c o n t i n u e d for another century a n d a h a l f u n t i l the seco n d O t t o m a n siege o f Vienna i n

1683.

I n the Mediterranean the Ottomans waged an equally vast struggle. They seized Algiers i n 1529 and Tunis i n 1574. I n 1580 they negotiated an historic truce w i t h Philip I I o f Spain that c o n f i r m e d the boundaries o f their domains. This was a fateful agreement because i t still marks the boundaries between the Christian and M u s l i m parts o f the Mediterranean. I n the n o r t h the Ottomans and Russia s t r u g g l e d for c o n t r o l o f the steppes beyond the Black Sea a n d the regions between the Black and the Caspian seas. W h i l e the Ottomans held Romania and the Crimea, the Russians d o m i n a t e d the lower Volga r e g i o n . The struggle c o n t i n u e d u n t i l 1676, w h e n f o r a short t i m e the Ottomans consolidated their c o n t r o l o f the Black Sea, the steppes, a n d part o f the Ukraine. This was the apogee o f their expansion i n n o r t h e r n Europe. M e h m e d and his successors b r o u g h t the O t t o m a n domains eastward to the borders o f Iran, absorbed the Arab provinces and N o r t h Africa and the h o l y places o f Arabia, and they carried their ambitions i n t o the I n d i a n Ocean,

fighting

the

Portuguese for control o f the spice trade. O t t o m a n expansion, b e g i n n i n g i n western Anatolia, continued for three centuries u n t i l the Ottomans had b r o u g h t southe r n and eastern Europe as far as Vienna; the n o r t h e r n steppes o f die Black Sea as far as the Ukraine; .Anatolia to the borders o f Safavid Iran; and the Arab countries, Egypt, Yemen, and N o r t h Africa as far as the borders o f M o r o c c o , under their c o n t r o l . This was the greatest o f the M u s l i m empires. M u c h o f O t t o m a n history was

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shaped by their extraordinary c o m m i t m e n t to conquest i n the name o f Islam. The O t t o m a n wars gave t h e m a reputation a m o n g M u s l i m s as the greatest o f M u s l i m states devoted to the j i h a d . In Europe they left the reputation of the scourge of God and a terror for centuries. The image o f the ferocious Turk lives o n today. The O t t o m a n success can be attributed to a n u m b e r o f considerations. The first was the tactical advantage o f their frontier location and the skill w i t h w h i c h they seized locations that were i m p o r t a n t to a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , and trade. Also the Ottomans kept their t e r r i t o r i e s intact u n d e r a single heir as opposed to the practice o f most o f the rival principalities, w h i c h d i v i d e d t e r r i tories a m o n g the descendants o f the ruler. Their political flexibility i n creating alliances across religious, ethnic, and tribal lines and a m o n g n o m a d i c and settled c o m m u n i t i e s was another factor i n their favor. So too was the ghazi ( f r o n tier w a r r i o r ) ideology, w h i c h motivated t h e m to wage jihad i n the name o f Islam and self-interest, and justified a flexible policy i n dealing w i t h allies and enemies. Yet i n the last analysis the O t t o m a n s o w e d their success to the p o l i c y o f strengthening the hand o f the dynasty and the central state as opposed to that o f the Turkish w a r r i o r leaders. The Ottomans were the greatest o f M i d d l e Eastern conquerors, i n part because they ran the most h i g h l y centralized i m p e r i a l state i n the region's history. They eliminated the frontier w a r r i o r s and w a r l o r d s , babas, and tribal chieftains. They suppressed independent local dynasties and replaced the p r e - O t t o m a n elites w i t h O t t o m a n f u n c t i o n a r i e s . W i t h the conquest

of

Constantinople, the centralist tendency w o n o u t completely. A nomadic conquest was transformed i n t o an Islamic monarchy. The ruler was reconceptualized f r o m patriarch and elder to m o n a r c h and emperor. The levee en masse o f tribal peoples was replaced by slave and client forces; the b o o n companions and w a r r i o r cohort o f early days by professional administrators.

The Ottoman State Apparatus and Religion The O t t o m a n state was built o n die very same institutional base as its M i d d l e Eastern predecessors. At the center was the court or palace apparatus, the household o f the ruler, comprising his family, his harem, his b o o n companions, and his highest ranking officers, administrators, and religious functionaries. The court served as an extended family and the government's nerve center, a training Institute for Ottoman cadres, and a theater o f cultural display. Centered at the Topkapi Serai, overlooking the Golden H o r n o f Istanbul, the court was divided i n t o t w o sections. The inner section was made up o f the residences o f the sultan and his harem, the treasury, and the school for pages and officers. In O t t o m a n society and politics the w o m e n o f the royal family were particularly important. I n the historic Turkish understanding, powers were vested not only i n the reigning prince but also collectively i n his fam-

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ily. W o m e n were therefore important i n the ceremonials o f the regimes, i n its charitable activities, and by their role i n negotiations and i n t r i g u e at court. They were important i n die selection o f o f f i cers and policies. The outer secdon o f the court was the administrative zone proper, including state offices and palace functionaries. The city o f Istanbul c o u l d be c o n sidered

an

extension

of

the royal

palace. After the conquest, the sultan M e h m e d f o u n d Constantinople r i c h i n history b u t virtually abandoned by its p o p u l a t i o n . The Ottomans resettled the c i t y and b u i l t u p its p o p u l a t i o n n o t only w i t h servants o f the state but w i t h useful c o m m u n i t i e s o f M u s l i m s and m i n o r i t i e s , w h o c o u l d d o the c o m m e r cial, craft, and other w o r k essential to an expanding society. Successive sultans b u i l t great m o s q u e and school c o m plexes, p r o v i d e d w i t h such facilities as hospitals, libraries, bazaars, bakeries, inns, residences, and soup kitchens. Such great complexes as the Selimiye and the Suleymaniye, n a m e d after the sultans w h o f o u n d e d t h e m , became n e i g h b o r h o o d c o m m u n i t y centers for Istanbul's The nerve center of the Ottoman capital at Istanbul

p o p u l a t i o n . Just

as

the

Safavids b u i l t Isfahan, so too d i d the Ottomans r e b u i l d Istanbul as an essential base o f operations and a d o r n m e n t for

was the palace known as

their e m p i r e . At its apogee, Istanbul had a p o p u l a t i o n o f about seven h u n d r e d

Topkapi Saray. Unlike

thousand, an e n o r m o u s n u m b e r for a sixteenth- and seventeenth-century city.

European palaces, it com prised a series of four con-

The m i l i t a r y was essential to O t t o m a n power, and as early as the reign o f the

centric courtyards of

sultan M u r a d I (r. 1360-89) they had b e g u n to b u i l d u p slave forces to supple-

ever-increasing privacy. In

m e n t , subdue, and replace free Turkish w a r r i o r s . The Ottomans w e n t further than

this depiction from the offi-

any previous M i d d l e Eastern regime to ensure the supply o f slave soldiers. I n the

cial history of Suleyman's reign, the sultan receives the admiral Barbarossa in the third court.

past, slave soldiers originally came f r o m the Caucasus o r f r o m Central Asia, o u t side the areas i n w h i c h they w o u l d serve. The Ottomans changed this by institut-

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i n g the devshirme, a tax i n m a n p o w e r o n the Christian p o p u l a t i o n o f the Balkans. This was b o t h the first systematic r e c r u i t m e n t o f slaves and the first recruitment f r o m w i t h i n the domains o f the state itself The Ottomans created a f u r t h e r i n n o v a t i o n i n slave armies. Whereas most M i d d l e Eastern slave forces were trained t o be elite cavalry, w i t h a keen sense f o r m i l i t a r y a n d tactical i n n o v a t i o n the Ottomans trained their most i m p o r t a n t units as infantry, p r o v i d e d t h e m w i t h firearms, a n d used phalanx tactics t o c o m b i n e massed musket firepower w i t h artillery. Thus were b o r n the famous janissaries and the tactics that made t h e m f o r centuries the most advanced o f European a n d M i d d l e Eastern armies. I n part a result o f this i n n o v a t i o n , the appellation G u n p o w d e r Empire applies above all to the Ottomans. The O t t o m a n s organized cavalry as w e l l as infantry forces, b u t the cavalry forces were completely d i f f e r ent i n character f r o m the janissaries. The cavalry were recruited a m o n g Turkish w a r r i o r s . They were n o t garrisoned as a central a r m y ; rather, they were p r o v i d e d w i t h incomes f r o m land grants t h r o u g h o u t the O t t o m a n domains. F r o m their

The fourth and most private of Topkapi courtyards con-

timars (the equivalent o f the Arab iqtos) the t i m a r holders p r o v i d e d local security

tained freestanding garden

a n d served i n O t t o m a n campaigns. They were an old-fashioned quasi-feudal

pavilions in which the sultan

rather than a centralized a r m ) . The slave system was also used t o b u i l d u p a p o w -

and his intimates lived.The

e r f u l bureaucratic apparatus. The Ottomans converted their y o u n g slaves t o Islam a n d educated t h e m i n the palace schools to be pages i n the royal h o u s e h o l d , o f f i cers i n the army, or g o v e r n m e n t officials. Whatever their o r i g i n , the slaves were u n i t e d by d e v o t i o n t o the sultan a n d by their u p b r i n g i n g i n the " O t t o m a n way."

Baghdad Kiosk, built in 1638-9 to commemorate the victory of Murad IV at Baghdad, overlooks a garden and the Golden Horn.

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Thus the regime was b u i l t n o t o n ethnic h o m o g e n e i t y but o n the slaves a n d clients o f the rulers, c o m i n g f r o m a variety o f backgrounds, w h o by t r a i n i n g a n d education were qualified as a r u l i n g caste. U n t i l the seventeenth century, w h e n the O t t o m a n system began to break d o w n , the political class was organized to prevent the accumulation o f private power and its transmission to later generations. The slave system was the key to this concept, because o n l y newly recruited slaves could be inducted i n t o positions o f power. Children o f slaves c o u l d n o t be. A l t h o u g h m i d d l i n g administrators, sons o f governors, and r i c h timar holders were sometimes able to pass estates to their c h i l The domed mosque with pencil-thin minarets

came

to s y m b o l i z e O t t o m a n

dom-

dren, O t t o m a n policies were inimical to the accumulation o f private property. Large private fortunes could be and were readily confiscated. U n l i k e the Safavids, w h o failed to suppress tribal resistance to the state, the Ottomans progressively

ination throughout their

eliminated all rival organized political bodies and imposed a salaried bureaucracy

real m.Thi s detailed

i n most o f their provinces. Most tributaries were annexed and subjected to cen-

1559

d r a w i n g o f the I s t a n b u l s k y -

tralized rule. Eastern tribal populations were subordinated. Independent r u r a l

l i n e b y the G e r m a n artist

landowners and Sufi leaders were incorporated into the O t t o m a n state. O n l y a few

Melchior Lorichs shows mosque complex

Mehmet

the C o n q u e r o r built

imme-

diately after he t o o k the in

1453-

the

city

remote provinces, such as Romania, the Crimea, and parts o f eastern Anatolia, remained i n the control of quasi-independent Greek. Turkish, and Kurdish t r i b u taries. M o r e than any other M i d d l e Eastern state, the Ottomans succeeded i n centralizing political power and overcoming tribal autonomy. They b r o u g h t to an end

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i n their r e g i o n the historical struggle o f tribes and states. The O t t o m a n drive t o w a r d centralization was particularly marked i n the d o m a i n o f r e l i g i o n . Like the Seljuks before t h e m , the Ottomans c o n t i n u e d the practice o f p a t r o n i z i n g the ulama and the Sufis. They built mosques and madrasas. They e n d o w e d teachers a n d students;

they o r g a n i z e d j u d i c i a l

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and e m p l o y e d religious scholars as judges and professors. They e m p l o y e d r e l i g i o u s functionaries,

such

as notaries,

registrars,

and

administrators o f orphans' and intestate properties. The Ottomans went f u r t h e r than their Seljuk predecessors, however, i n that they n o t o n l y patronized the religious elites, they i n c o r p o r a t e d t h e m i n t o a hierarchically ordered bureaucracy and made t h e m functionaries o f the state as w e l l . The p o s i t i o n o f shaykh al-Islam or c h i e f m u f t i (a mufti was an expert i n Islamic law and a m e m b e r o f the ulama establishment) dates to 1433. O r i g i n a l l y , the m a n h o l d i n g this p o s i t i o n was the personal religious adviser to the sultan, a n d his office may have been created to increase the religious l e g i t i macy o f the state—perhaps to parallel the ancient caliphate a n d to respond to c r i t i c i s m about the regime's secularization. The earliest m u f t i s had n o administrative functions; o n l y late i n the r e i g n o f

The sultans commissioned elaborate furnishings for their

M e h m e d I I was the c h i e f m u f t i recognized as the

mosque complexes.This magnificent walnut box, designed

head o f the ulama. The p o w e r o f a p p o i n t i n g other ulama seems to have been given to the c h i e f m u f t i i n the m i d d l e o f the sixteenth century.

hold a manuscript of the Quran in thirty volumes, was ordered by Bayezit in i ç o ç - 6 , probably for his mosque com plex in Istanbul completed in the same year.

The teaching system was also transformed i n t o state offices. Whereas previous regimes had endowed madrasas i n the i m p o r t a n t cities, the Ottomans gave t h e m a hierarchical rank: those o f the r e i g n i n g sultan at the top, f o l l o w e d by foundations o f earlier sultans, f o l l o w e d by madrasas f o u n d e d by government officials and religious functionaries. By the m i d d l e o f the sixteenth century the p r i n c i p l e that a scholar had to serve i n a graded series o f colleges was firmly established. Professors were n o longer merely appointed to teaching positions for life; n o w they c o u l d be p r o m o t e d f r o m one position to another. The schools were also organized by functions. The low est-level madrasas r

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were assigned to teach Arabic language and linguistic studies, astronomy, m a t h ematics, theology, and r h e t o r i c ; the m i d d l e - l e v e l colleges taught literature a n d rhetoric; and the highest-level subjects were law and t h e o l o g y The j u d i c i a r y was organized i n a similar way. The o r i g i n a l judicial positions were located i n Istanbul, Edirne, and Bursa, but many positions were added i n The Ottomans transformed the teaching system into a state bureaucracy. Madrasas were organized hierarchically,

other cities i n the late sixteenth century, probably to create new jobs for an ever larger cadre o f p o s i t i o n seekers. The positions i n Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne ranked at the t o p o f the hierarchy, f o l l o w e d by those i n Damascus, Cairo,

with those founded by the

Baghdad, M e d i n a , Izmir, and Konya. The shaykh al-Islam was the head o f the

reigning sultan at the top of

judicial a d m i n i s t r a t i o n as a w h o l e ; the qadi-askars ( c h i e f judges o f the m i l i t a r y ) o f

the system.The Suleymaniye

the Balkans and Anatolia ranked next. Judges were seasoned by a p p o i n t m e n t u p

complex (içsy) at Istanbul

the ladder o f positions. The judicial hierarchy and the teaching hierarchy were

was the largest in the empire, with four theological colleges, a medical school, and

linked i n that an appropriate level i n the teaching system was a prerequisite to appointment to a judicial p o s i t i o n . Qadis had considerable administrative i m p o r -

another school for prophetic

tance; their duties not o n l y included the j u d g i n g o f petitions but also inspection

traditions, as well as other

o f the military, oversight o f tax collection, supervision o f the urban economy, and

charitable institutions.

the application o f g o v e r n m e n t regulations i n all d o m a i n s o f state interest. To get

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a j o b i n this system, the student h a d to be sponsored by someone w h o h e l d a h i g h - r a n k i n g post. The student's first p o s i t i o n w o u l d as a repeater i n a college. H e w o u l d teach at a n u m b e r o f graded colleges, and eventually he c o u l d reach the level o f a judgeship. The p o s i t i o n o f a m u f t i was n o t reached t h r o u g h a hierarchical gradation o f " m u f t i - s h i p s " ; rather i t was approached t h r o u g h the c o l lege professorships and judgeships. The Ottomans thus gained c o n t r o l over the ulama and made t h e m f u n c tionaries o f the state, and they also co-opted the leading Sufi brotherhoods. Sufiled t r i b a l rebellions were crushed d u r i n g the f o u r t e e n t h to the sixteenth centuries. The Bektashis became the patrons o f the janissaries. U r b a n Sufis were provided i n the t i m e - h o n o r e d manner w i t h gifts, e n d o w m e n t s , and a place i n O t t o m a n court ceremony. The Mevlevi leaders had the ceremonial f u n c t i o n o f g i r d i n g a new sultan u p o n his accession w i t h a h o l y s w o r d . The representatives o f spiritual o t h e r w o r l d l y power thus became the protectors o f the state. I n c o m parison w i t h other M u s l i m societies this was an extraordinary organizational achievement, but i t came at a h i g h price. Insofar as the ulama and leading Sufis became functionaries o f the state, they ceased to represent the mass o f M u s l i m believers and c o u l d n o longer protect the people f r o m abuses o f political power. To the extent that they were the servants o f the state and the defenders o f O t t o m a n legitimacy, they c o u l d n o t effectively resist c o r r u p t i o n i n the g o v e r n m e n t . As m u c h as they became a class o f functionaries dependent o n government offices and o n offices for their c h i l d r e n and students, they became a self-interested and p o w e r f u l interest g r o u p w i t h i n the state itself. By the eighteenth cent u r y a closed aristocracy o f O t t o m a n ulama was i n existence. The ulama were particularly favored because they had considerable o p p o r t u n i t i e s to acquire p r o p erties t h r o u g h woofs ( e n d o w m e n t s ) , and they were not threatened w i t h confiscation o f property after death. Ulama families lasted longer i n power than any other element o f the g o v e r n m e n t elite, and a small g r o u p o f families d o m i n a t e d the religious establishment. F r o m 1703 t o 1839, eleven Istanbul families accounted for t w e n t y - n i n e o f the

fifty-eight

shaykh al-Islams.

But as the bureaucracy became ossified, the protest movement o f Kadizadeli developed. N a m e d after Kadizade M e h m e d ( d . 1635; he was a preacher at the mosque o f Aya Sofia), it was a p u r i t a n i c a l m o v e m e n t to r e f o r m b o t h the ulama and the general society. The movement was opposed t o the c o n s u m p t i o n o f coffee, tobacco, and o p i u m ; to s i n g i n g , m u s i c , and dancing i n Sufi ceremonies; and to pilgrimages to saints' tombs; they denounced the w r i t i n g s o f the t h i r t e e n t h century philosopher I b n al-Arabi and called o n g o o d M u s l i m s not o n l y to lead m o r a l lives b u t to force others to f o l l o w "the straight p a t h . " The m o v e m e n t i n many ways was i m p l i c i t l y a n t i - O t t o m a n , because the Ottomans had l o n g tolerated religious variation i n their e m p i r e and historically had parlayed religious

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spectacles i n t o O t t o m a n legitimacy. The m o v e m e n t was only partially successful, however, because the d o m i n a n t Istanbul families f o u g h t to keep c o n t r o l o f the bureaucracy. Their reaction led to m o r e conservative religious teaching and to the f u r t h e r consolidation o f a small religious elite. I m p e r i a l support was always f o r t h c o m i n g because it seemed that this was essential to the stability o f the empire. The r e l i g i o u s elites, once r e c r u i t e d to sustain the r e g i m e , h a d thus become a self-perpetuating body.

Ottoman Culture and the Concept of Empire: Rulers and Subjects The a u t h o r i t y o f the O t t o m a n sultans was derived f r o m several layers o f M i d d l e Eastern cultural tradition. The Ottomans p r i m a r i l y derived their legitimacy f r o m T u r k o - M o n g o l concepts o f royal family supremacy, w a r r i o r sovereignty, and w h a t they considered to be a divinely given m i s s i o n to conquer the w o r l d . This p a t r i m o n i a l conception, w h i c h based the r i g h t to r u l e o n aristocratic noble lineage c o m b i n e d w i t h victories i n battle, had its o r i g i n i n the O t t o m a n Turkish and Central Asian past. I n the early centuries o f O t t o m a n r u l e , this conception was dramatized by the open struggle for power a m o n g the sons o f a deceased ruler. The w i n n e r o f that struggle was considered to have been selected by G o d for his reign. F u r t h e r m o r e , the w h o l e o f the conquered d o m a i n was considered i n patr i m o n i a l terms to be the personal property o f the sultan. The state was his househ o l d ; the soldiers, courtiers, and a d m i n i s t r a t o r s were his slaves, personally devoted to h i m ; the subjects were his flocks. The t e r r i t o r y o f the e m p i r e was his to distribute a m o n g his f a m i l y and retainers. F r o m the Islamic tradition came the claim to be the protector and defender o f Islam and therefore successor to the caliphate. Suleyman I (r. 1520-66) took the title Halife-i Ru-i Zemin (caliph o f the w o r l d ) . The sultan was viewed i n Islamic terms as the defender o f Islam, the protector o f M u s l i m peoples; a ghazi, a w a r r i o r w h o waged jihad to expand the domains o f Islam. The sultan thus protected M u s l i m s against Christian enemies w i t h o u t and m a i n t a i n e d their supremacy over Christians w i t h i n the empire. The Ottomans were the defenders o f the t w o h o l y sanctuaries o f Mecca and M e d i n a . M u s l i m s outside O t t o m a n d o m a i n s appealed to t h e m for help against infidel enemies. F r o m Spain, f r o m A c h e h , o n the island o f Sumatra, and f r o m Central Asia came appeals for aid against n o n M u s l i m enemies. As the greatest c o n q u e r i n g state i n Islamic history, the O t t o m a n empire acquired an absolute legitimacy i n M u s l i m terms. Moreover, the O t t o m a n sultans were considered to be tantamount to caliphs, because they were the executors o f Islamic law. The rulers p r o v i d e d justice and protection for the c o m m o n people against the depredations o f government o f f i -

SULTANATES

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383

cials. They p a t r o n i z e d , s p o n sored, and organized M u s l i m judicial and educational affairs. T h e i r d u t y to i m p l e m e n t the Shariah gave t h e m the r i g h t t o issue

supplementary

regula-

t i o n s (firmans) that were later gathered (kanuns). decrees

into The

legal sultans

defining

the

codes issued status,

duties, and dress codes for all o f their functionaries; laws t o i m p l e m e n t the l a n d h o l d i n g and tax systems, economic regulations, m i l i t a r y and administrative matters, c r i m i n a l justice, the discipline o f officials, and the o r g a n i z a t i o n o f r e l i g i o u s affairs. The sultans' activities as lawgivers s u p p l e m e n t i n g Shariah

derived

from

the both

M u s l i m and Byzantine

tradi-

tions. This f u n c t i o n was itself a source o f legitimacy. It was an historical part o f the emperor's prerogative. O t t o m a n a u t h o r i t y was f u r ther based o n a cosmopolitan culture,

comprising

Arab,

Persian, Turkish, Byzantine, and European

elements.

From

M i d d l e Eastern monarchical concepts came the conception universal glory. F r o m Roman

tradition

of

eastern

came

the

Like the Safavids, the Ottomans were great patrons of the arts. Under iheir patronage, the tribal craft of carpet-weaving was transformed into a state industry. Some of the finest pieces, such as this small prayer rug knotted in wool and silk on a cotton ground, were made for the court.

notion o f the O t t o m a n ruler as emperor and heir to the Roman empire, causing Ottoman rulers to take the tide Padishah (supreme shall). Sultan M e h m e d I I generously patronized Persian poetry and European painting. Arab and Persian writers, Italian artists, and Greek and Serbian poets were part o f his entourage. Many o f the sponsored arts had themes that

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embellished royal claims. For example, illustrated m a n u scripts produced i n the sultans' o w n workshops, like those o f the Safavids and other rulers, depicted the greatness o f the monarchy. Histories o f the conquests o f Alexander the Great and o f past Persian emperors, mystical poetry, love stories, fables, and other works long part o f the repertoire o f royal patronage were produced to demonstrate the sophisücaüon, cultivation, and grandeur o f the Ottomans. I n the sixteenth century, O t t o m a n workshops turned f r o m classic works to the illustration o f contemporary history w i t h depictions o f court ceremonies, receptions o f ambassadors, conquests o f famous fortresses, festivals, and processions. In these m a n u scripts the sultans appear i n realistic fashion, directing their armies, presiding over the court, surrounded by their janissaries, viziers, scholars, holy m e n , merchants, craftspeople, and their subjects. These illustrated histories are a particular O t t o m a n contribution to the many varieties o f M u s l i m w o r l d artistic culture, self-consciously celebrating the O t t o m a n sultans and die Ottoman elite as rulers o f the w o r l d . The patronage o f philosophy, science, and other u n i versal subjects was also a way o f asserting the O t t o m a n c l a i m to universal authority. O t t o m a n architecture, w h i l e devoted to mosques and colleges, nonetheless b o r r o w e d the stylistic m o t i f s o f Aya Sofia and Greek ecclesiastical structures to symbolize the O t t o m a n t r i u m p h over and the a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f the genius o f C h r i s t i a n i t y and the Byzantine e m p i r e . The O t t o m a n palace itself was organized i n a way that s y m b o l i z e d the cosmic nature o f the

SVLIMAN'OTOMAN'REX The Ottomans manipulated

ruler's power. Both public ceremonies i n w h i c h the sultan spoke and his k n o w n private pleasures ( h u n t i n g , d r i n k i n g ,

ceremony to legitimize their

and dancing girls) were crafted to symbolize that he stood above o r d i n a r y m o r -

authority. They staged pro-

tals. I n the seventeenth century the increasing i m p o r t a n c e o f pleasure i n the

cessions and pageants in the

daily life o f sultans probably reflected the r i s i n g power o f an institutionalized

capital and received foreign ambassadors with elaborate ceremony. Although Muslim

bureaucracy that intensified the symbolic roles o f the sultanate. The Ottomans also sought to present their claims i n symbols derived f r o m

rulers traditionally wore tur-

Europe. M e h m e d I I had invited i m p o r t a n t Italian artists to Istanbul, and i n the

bans, Suleyman commis-

1530s Suleyman the Magnificent renewed this o r i e n t a t i o n . I n 1532 he acquired

sioned an extraordinary

an extraordinary Venetian-made g o l d and jeweled helmet o r c r o w n . Built w i t h

crown from Venetian goldsmiths whose four tiers were meant to outdo the crowns of the pope and the Hapsburg emperor.

f o u r c r o w n s s u p e r i m p o s e d , i t rivaled the papal tiara. O t h e r regalia, such as scepters, orbs, and ceremonial canopies i n t e n d e d to r i v a l those o f Western

SULTANATES

enemies, were also acquired i n this p e r i o d

A N D

GUNPOWDER

(15-32-36), even

EMPIRES

j8c

t h o u g h the posses-

sion o f such emblems was u n t i l this p o i n t outside the O t t o m a n t r a d i t i o n . This Western o r i e n t a t i o n s y m b o l i z e d the a m b i t i o n t o be recognized as a d o m i n a n t figure a m o n g European rulers and was connected to O t t o m a n claims to be heirs to the R o m a n Empire, the rulers o f Italy and indeed the w h o l e o f the Mediterranean basin. O t t o m a n p o w e r was f u r t h e r l e g i t i m i z e d by c e r e m o n i a l

demonstrations.

Istanbul, the capital, was used as the stage f o r demonstrations o f O t t o m a n authority. I m p e r i a l constructions and p u b l i c w o r k s u n d e r t a k i n g s , parades o f guilds and the m i l i t a r y and o f f o r e i g n ambassadors and their gifts, celebrations o f c a m p a i g n victories and feasts celebrating life events f o r the r u l i n g f a m i l y were all demonstrations o f O t t o m a n authority. Public festivals, especially at an O t t o m a n prince's c i r c u m c i s i o n , a princess's marriage, or a sultan's ascension, were a f o r m o f theater that renewed the p o p u l a t i o n ' s attachment to the ruler. Finally, the O t t o m a n rulers were t h o u g h t o f i n mystical terms as the viceroys o f G o d o n earth, w h o were meant to b r i n g o r d e r i n t o h u m a n affairs. The language o f d i v i n e selection and personal charisma was thus i n v o k e d to g l o r i f y each sultan as a q u a s i - d i v i n e being. This was the u l t i m a t e expression o f the s u l tans' a l m i g h t y supremacy. The O t t o m a n elite was a heterogeneous, cosmopolitan class recruited f r o m diverse o r i g i n s , but i t d i d not m i r r o r the empire's populations. The elites were a caste apart, elevated above the c o m m o n people b y their education, aristocratic manners, c o u r t and political functions, and personal devotion to the ruler. This elite g r o u p was m a i n l y Turkish, Arab, and Balkan M u s l i m , but the O t t o m a n Empire was n o t , strictly speaking, a regime o f M u s l i m s over n o n - M u s l i m s . The elite also i n c l u d e d Jewish bankers, Phanariot Istanbul Greek merchants, and European renegades. The subject p o p u l a t i o n belonged i n all respects to another and lesser o r d e r o f existence. The O t t o m a n s were the rulers o f an extremely heterogeneous, multiethnic, multilinguistic, multireligious, and multitribal population. A l l c o m m o n e r s , M u s l i m and n o n - M u s l i m , were considered the reava (the flocks), taxpayers t o be s h o r n i n the interests o f the p o l i t i c a l elite. B o t h M u s l i m and n o n - M u s l i m c o m m o n e r s were organized i n t o small religious c o m m u n i t i e s , w h i c h were p e r m i t t e d a considerable i n t e r n a l a u t o n o m y regulated by religious laws and values. For the M u s l i m s these i n c l u d e d the schools o f law and the Sufi fraternities. Most o f the n o n - M u s l i m s w e r e considered eastern O r t h o d o x , w h i c h i n c l u d e d Greek, R o m a n i a n , Slavic, B u l g a r i a n , and Arab churches. The A r m e n i a n c h u r c h was the administrative body f o r A r m e n i a n s , M o n o p h y s i t e s i n Syria and Egypt, Assyrians, B o g o m i l s , a n d Gypsies.

Maronites, Uniate

A r m e n i a n s , and Latin Catholics i n Hungary, Croatia, and Albania were c o n s i d -

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ered separate churches w i t h d o c t r i n a l affiliations to Rome and administrative o r g a n i z a t i o n u n d e r O t t o m a n authority. The O t t o m a n Empire proved a haven for the Jews o f Mediterranean Europe and the M i d d l e East. Aslikenazis f r o m Germany, France, and H u n g a r y ; Italian Jews f r o m Sicily; a n d Sephardic Jews f r o m Spain and Portugal settled i n O t t o m a n d o m a i n s . M e h m e d the C o n q u e r o r i n v i t e d Jews f r o m A n a t o l i a , Salonica, and Edirne to m o v e to Istanbul, and he gave t h e m special privileges not g i v e n t o Christians, such as p e r m i t t i n g t h e m to b u i l d n e w synagogues. Jews generally l i v e d i n t h e i r o w n quarters, each o f w h i c h operated as a separate m u n i c i p a l i t y responsible for tax c o l l e c t i o n , expenditure f o r c o m m u n i t y a c t i v i ties, m a i n t a i n i n g schools, synagogues, settling i n t e r n a l disputes, and so o n . O t t o m a n Jews d i d n o t f o r m a single organized body, b u t rather numerous quasidependent kahila or local c o m m u n i t y congregations w i t h many different r e l i gious practices and beliefs. A l l subjects, M u s l i m and n o n - M u s l i m , were thus organized i n t o small c o m munities that served to administer their educational, judicial, familial, and charitable affairs and t o assist the state by collecting taxes and e n f o r c i n g social discipline. A l l were headed by religious, clerical, or priestly leaders (and sometimes by lay representatives), and they enjoyed a degree o f internal autonomy, a l t h o u g h they were responsible to the sultan and the O t t o m a n authorities. This organization o f the populace i n t o quasi-autonomous religious bodies is c o m m o n l y referred to as the " l n i l l e t system." A l t h o u g h there was never an e m p i r e w i d e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f the n o n - M u s l i m populations, the Ottomans made h i g h r e l i g i o u s f u n c t i o n a r i e s responsible for their c o m m u n i t i e s u n d e r O t t o m a n a u t h o r i t y and intervened even i n the a p p o i n t m e n t o f patriarchs, bishops, and other n o n - M u s l i m religious officials. The n o n - M u s l i m s were considered dhimmis or protected peoples, subject to a special tax and some d i s c r i m i n a t o r y measures.

The Economy of the Ottoman Empire: Land, Urban Markets, and International Trade The O t t o m a n empire was unusual among Middle Eastern empires i n the degree to w h i c h i t was able to b r i n g the subject population under state control. Critical to this control was the regulation o f the economy. The Ottomans operated o n the p r i n c i ple that the subjects should serve the interests o f the state, and the economy was organized to ensure the f l o w o f tax revenues, goods i n k i n d , and services needed by the government and the elites. The populace was systematically taxed; the Ottomans were the best recordkeepers i n Middle Eastern history. The tax base was exhaustively described i n cadastral surveys that took stock o f the population, households, p r o p erty, and other resources. Ottoman economic policy o n trade was based o n a fiscal-

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ism that was aimed at accumulating as m u c h bullion as possible i n the state treasury, but at the same t i m e balancing this w i t h a concern for the general well-being o f the M u s l i m population. The Ottomans d i d not see trade policy or scientific and technological development as a means o f creating wealth. Ratiier, they still thought i n terms o f wealth derived f r o m conquered and annexed territories. Peasant lands were organized i n t o family f a r m units; villages were n o t usually collectivities i n possession o f lands but rather agglomerations o f i n d e p e n d e n t peasant households, a l t h o u g h there w e r e c o m m o n interests, such as village meadows, threshing f l o o r s , water, and pasturage. For the O t t o m a n s the p r o d u c t i v i t y and the taxation o f the land was the p r i m a r y concern. I n theory all lands were o w n e d by the state (miri), b u t there were t w o subclassifications: tdpulu, lands that were o n perpetual lease to peasants w h o had the r i g h t t o the usufruct and to assign that right to their male descendants, and mukatalu, lands that were leased to a tax collector i n r e t u r n f o r the payment o f a fixed lease. Incomes f r o m state lands were also d i s t r i b u t e d i n the f o r m o f timars and other stipends. The peasants were taxed by m e a s u r i n g the surface o f the l a n d , the size o f the h o u s e h o l d , and the oxen available for labor, w h i c h was i n effect a r o u g h measure o f productivity. This system o f taxation (called the cifthanc system) was appropriate to s e m i a r i d , d r y f a r m i n g devoted largely to wheat and barley, and it was derived f r o m Roman and Byzantine precedents. A study o f north-central Anatolia i n the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries p r o vides a deeper understanding o f the w o r k i n g s o f the land and tax systems. W h e n the Ottomans obtained c o n t r o l o f these regions i n the m i d - f i f t e e n t h century, they had to concede Turkish m i l i t a r y rulers and M u s l i m religious leaders o w n e r s h i p rights to the land. I n the course o f the next century and a h a l f the state struggled to dispossess the local notables and to reassign the tax rights to t i m a r holders appointed by the central government. Still, m u c h p r o p e r t y remained mulk ( p r i vate p r o p e r t y ) or waqfs ( e n d o w m e n t s ) , but these tended to be fragmented small holdings often i n the possession o f allies o f the central government. I n the sixteenth c e n t u r y general p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h was s t i m u l a t e d by increased security and by the settlement o f nomads. The regional economy grew enormously, w i t h an expansion o f peasant p r o d u c t i o n o f perhaps one h u n d r e d percent accompanied by considerable p o p u l a t i o n g r o w t h . As surplus p o p u l a t i o n moved to the t o w n s , increased demand p r o v i d e d new markets for agricultural produce. Truck gardening, f r u i t g r o w i n g , and viticulture expanded. Peasants produced ever more fruits, vegetables, and sheep, for w h i c h they had a cash market, t h o u g h grain p r o d u c t i o n for taxes and subsistence still d o m i n a t e d the r u r a l economy. The economy's expansion took place by an increase o f o u t p u t f r o m small peasant plots. A l t h o u g h the surplus was largely taken by officials and revenue collec-

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tors, this d i d not residt i n the dispossession or enserfment o f peasants or their conversion to wage laborers o n large holdings. L i m i t e d commercialization favored revenue holders but d i d not go so far as to disrupt the peasant economy. State p r o tection o f peasant interests also played a large role. The state protected the rights o f peasants to the usufruct o f the land, controlled the amounts o f produce that could be taken in taxes, and set the rules for the marketing o f the produce. The state thus protected the peasants against the rise o f feudal authorities and kept a smallholding peasantry o n the land. The provisioning o f Istanbul was a principle concern o f O t t o m a n economic p o l icy The Ottomans d i d not use market mechanisms so m u c h as requisitions to supply the court, the army, the adnvLnistration, and the populace o f Istanbul. Provincial merchants and officials were required to provide a steady stream o f goods—grain, sheep, f o o d products, leather, w o o d , metal, and other p r o d u c t s — f o r direct i m p e rial use or for sale o n the Istanbul market. O t t o m a n workshops produced l u x u r y products such as silk garments direcdy for the court. O t t o m a n regulations forbade the export o f numerous products u n t i l the needs o f the capital had been met. The Ottomans also regulated p r o d u c t i o n t h r o u g h an extensive g u i l d system that organized workers under the control of guild functionaries, market officials, and m i l i tary authorities to ensure the p r o d u c t i o n o f goods of standard quality, at reasonable prices, for d i s t r i b u t i o n to the state elites and to the p o p u l a t i o n o f the capital. The enormous size o f Istanbul and its economic demands had a tremendous impact o n the s u r r o i m d i n g territories. Istanbul's demand for grain turned the region f r o m the Dnieper River to Varna ( i n modern-day east Bulgaria) i n t o a commercial agriculture and livestock region. A l o n g the Sea o f Marmara ( i n northwest Turkey), villages produced w i n e , olives, and f r u i t for the Istanbul market. F r o m Anatolia came sheep, hides, grain, and many other products. A l t h o u g h the O t t o m a n e c o n o m y was based p r i m a r i l y o n a g r i c u l t u r a l and craft o u t p u t and O t t o m a n p o l i c y was o r i e n t e d t o w a r d the conquest and c o n t r o l o f t e r r i t o r y as t h e basic source o f w e a l t h , i n t e r n a t i o n a l trade was nevertheless o f considerable

i m p o r t a n c e . The O t t o m a n s h e l d a central place i n

w o r l d trade l i n k i n g the M i d d l e East and East Asia t o Europe, and i n the n o r t h - s o u t h trade f r o m I n d i a and Arabia t o central a n d eastern Europe. A great deal o f O t t o m a n f o r e i g n p o l i c y , i n c l u d i n g its i n t e r v e n t i o n s i n the M e d i t e r r a n e a n , Central Asia, Yemen, I r a q , and the I n d i a n Ocean, can be seen i n t e r m s o f the i m p o r t a n c e o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l trade. A f t e r the conquest o f C o n s t a n t i n o p l e , the first p o l i t i c a l task f o r the O t t o m a n s was t o wrest c o n t r o l o f the Black Sea,

t h e A e g e a n , and the eastern M e d i t e r r a n e a n

f r o m the

Venetians and the Genoese. The conquest o f the Arab provinces a n d Egypt i n i ci 7 gave the O t t o m a n s c o n t r o l o f the trade routes and the f l o w o f resources t h r o u g h the Levant ( t h e eastern shores o f the M e d i t e r r a n e a n between west-

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e r n Greece a n d Western E g y p t ) , a n d p o s i t i o n e d t h e m t o take over Mecca a n d M e d i n a , Yemen, a n d s o u t h e r n Iraq and t o fight the Portuguese f o r c o n t r o l o f the I n d i a n Ocean trade. W i t h these territories i n O t t o m a n c o n t r o l . Bursa emerged as the p r i n c i p l e entrepot o f the e m p i r e . I n d i a n spices c o m i n g to Jidda (a p o r t o n the Red Sea) were caravanned to Mecca and then t o Damascus, A l e p p o , Konya, and Bursa. The sea route f r o m Alexandria to Antalya ( i n southwestern Turkey) was also i n use. Eastern goods f r o m the Sudan, Egypt, Syria, and Arabia passed t h r o u g h Bursa o n their way to Istanbul and to f u r t h e r destinations i n eastern and central Europe. Edirne, Sarajevo, and D u b r o v n i k became i m p o r t a n t centers for the trade o f the Balkans, the A d r i a t i c , the M e d i t e r r a n e a n , and Europe. O n these routes the Ottomans exported silk, rhubarb, wax, pepper, drugs, fine cotton c l o t h , hides and furs, i m p o r t e d w o o l e n c l o t h , metals, and money. A n o t h e r route f r o m Bursa to Istanbul t o A k k e r m a n ( i n southwestern Ukraine; renamed Belgorod-Dnestrovski i n 1944) b r o u g h t O t t o m a n and eastern goods i n t o Poland and central Europe. This trade consisted o f such local products as wheat, fish, and hides, and such oriental luxuries as paper, silk, and English, Florentine, and other fine w o o l e n cloths. A n alternative r o u t e f r o m Bursa b r o u g h t goods i n t o Romania

and

H u n g a r y The Black Sea trade was equally lively. I m p o r t a n t routes ran f r o m Caffa to Kiev and to Moscow. Caffa gathered goods f r o m the w h o l e o f the Black Sea r e g i o n but also f r o m Istanbul, the Aegean Sea r e g i o n , and Europe. Slaves, i n c l u d i n g Slavs captured i n war, sub-Saharan Africans, and captives taken f r o m the steppes o f inner Asia, were an i m p o r t a n t product i n the international trade. The Portuguese incursions into the Indian Ocean i n the sixteenth century led to a major reorientation o f w o r l d trade. N o w eastern goods could be shipped around Africa to Lisbon, avoiding the Ottoman-controlled Middle East and the Venetian hold o n l u x u r y trade i n the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, die Portuguese d i d not cut o f f the spice trade t h r o u g h O t t o m a n territories. The Ottomans maintained forces in both Yemen and Basra; they inaugurated cooperative ties w i t h Gujarat ( i n Western India) andAcheh i n Sumatra to keep alive both political resistance to the Portuguese and commercial contacts. Even Venice's Levantine trade recovered i n midcentury. By the late sixteenth century goods caravanned to Damascus o r to Cairo were being picked u p at Alexandria and T r i p o l i by Venetian ships. Trade t h r o u g h the O t t o m a n empire was reinforced by the ever-growing popularity o f coffee f r o m Yemen. Despite this restoration o f the international transit trade t h r o u g h O t t o m a n t e r r i tories, a more dramatic menace made itself felt by the end of the sixteenth century. The British and the D u t c h entered the struggle for control o f the international spice trade and seized colonies i n India and the East Indies as bases for an effort to monopolize the trade. By \6ig the n o r t h Atlantic sea powers finally cut o f f the spice trade to the Mediterranean. The Ottomans could still compensate by a lively trade

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i n silk and coffee and i n Indian cotton goods and dyes, but the most lucrative part o f the trade was lost to the cape routes to western Europe. Moreover, f r o m dieir controlling position i n the Indian Ocean the British and the D u t c h began to compete directly w i t h O t t o m a n trade i n the Mediterranean. I n ic8o the British made their first trade treaty w i t h the Ottomans and began to buy silk and sell cotton goods and metals to the Ottomans. Even spices began to come into the Mediterranean f r o m Europe rather than directly f r o m the Indian Ocean. At the end o f the sixteenth century, I z m i r became the leading O t t o m a n p o r t , gradually eclipsing b o t h Bursa and Aleppo. As the Ottomans lost their g r i p o n the I z m i r r e g i o n , French, D u t c h , English, and Venetian merchants flocked to the area. I z m i r became a c o s m o p o l i t a n t o w n , h o m e to Arab camel caravaners

and

A r m e n i a n , Greek, Jewish, and Turkish merchants. The Europeans p r o m o t e d a lively trade i n cotton, w o o l , dried f r u i t , and grain, and b u i l t up a strong internal supply system. O t t o m a n janissaries, customs collectors, and other officials began to act as free agents and to evade the a u t h o r i t y o f Istanbul. Izmir's links to Istanbul were cut as i t was partially integrated i n t o the European economy. The Ottomans were losing control o f the Mediterranean trade to European merchants. I n other respects, too, the O t t o m a n empire was falling b e h i n d i n international trade c o m p e t i t i o n . The Atlantic economy and the g r o w d i o f trade i n such western staples as sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cotton had come to greatly overshadow the silk trade. N o w the most lucrative trade was shifting f r o m rare luxuries to goods for mass c o n s u m p t i o n , to the advantage o f the Atlantic trading states. Europeans were gaining relative advantages i n banking, insurance, and shipping profits, and w i t h the beginnings o f the industrial revolution diey were i n a position to sell h i g h value-added manufactured goods and skilled services i n r e t u r n for raw or semiprocessed raw materials. U n t i l the end o f the sixteenth century the Ottoman empire was a self-contained trading system not dependent o n the w o r l d economy. I n the seventeenth century the Ottoman empire still retained a degree o f commercial autonomy. Ottoman merchants were still able to b u d d their o w n trading networks, accumulate capital, and dominate the trade i n locally produced products, but by the m i d - to late eighteenth century European economic supremacy was assured, and the O t t o m a n empire became a dependent part o f a European-dominated w o r l d trading economy.

Crisis and Change in the Ottoman System: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries For centuries the O t t o m a n r u l i n g system was b u i l t u p o n the basis o f the systematic rationalization o f regional political, cultural, and historical precedents. O t t o m a n state power was g r o u n d e d i n a refinement o f the Byzantine, M u s l i m ,

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Seljuk, and M o n g o l precedents f o r regional power. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the era o f construction was over and the O t t o m a n society was evolving i n ways that were detrimental to the c o n t i n u a t i o n o f a d o m i n a n t centralized state. One critical factor i n the d e f o r m a t i o n o f O t t o m a n power was the decline o f the central state. As the slave elites gained f u l l c o n t r o l o f the government and as religious functionaries were entrenched i n a bureaucratic regime, they began t o serve their o w n interests rather than the l o n g - t e r m interests o f the sultan and the state. Janissaries demanded and received exemptions f r o m the strict requirements o f the slave system and were allowed to establish families, to w o r k i n the c i v i l ian economy, and eventually to r e m a i n o n the state payroll w i t h o u t p r o v i d i n g m i l i t a r y service. Provincial officials s q u i r m e d out o f central c o n t r o l and began to usurp local resources, c o m p e t i n g w i t h the capital for c o n t r o l o f local economies, d i v e r t i n g the flow o f requisitioned goods to Istanbul, converting tax farms i n t o various types o f quasi-private property, and b u i l d i n g u p local m i l i t a r y support. As patronage relationships became ever m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h r o u g h o u t the seventeenth century, O t t o m a n officials at all levels created large households resembling the sultan's household, households that served as a basis for patronage networks and the e m p l o y m e n t o f large numbers o f m e n . Prominent chieftains i n pastoral regions rose i n importance. Tax farmers had an o p p o r t u n i t y to make themselves independent and to b u i l d political bases i n the countryside. T h o u g h peasant landow n i n g continued to be the most i m p o r t a n t f o r m o f tenure, large estates were being f o r m e d i n the Black Sea r e g i o n , Macedonia, Thessaly, and some parts o f A n a t o l i a , as it became increasingly lucrative to supply Istanbul and the European markets. T h r o u g h o u t the e m p i r e local notables—beys,

pashas, and

ayans—w ere taking power i n t o their o w n hands. y

Economic changes beyond O t t o m a n c o n t r o l helped to u n d e r m i n e the centralized state. The discovery o f the new w o r l d and the tremendous supplies o f silver b r o u g h t back to Europe f r o m A m e r i c a n mines u n d e r m i n e d the price stability o f the w h o l e M e d i t e r r a n e a n and unleashed an intense c o m p e t i t i o n i n the O t t o m a n empire for c o n t r o l o f resources. European economic c o m p e t i t i o n was w i n n i n g away c o n t r o l o f international trade. The c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m India and Italy, and later f r o m B r i t a i n , was u n d e r m i n i n g O t t o m a n craft p r o d u c t i o n . Rawmaterials grew m o r e costly, but selling prices declined. Moreover, there were deep disturbances i n the economy o f the Anatolian heartlands. O t t o m a n security and prosperity was u n d e r m i n e d at the end o f the sixteenth century and i n the seventeenth century by r i s i n g p o p u l a t i o n , large increases i n the n u m b e r o f u n e m p l o y e d , d e m o b i l i z e d , and unsalaried soldiers, and vagabond students and bands o f a r m e d peasants r o a m i n g and ravaging the countryside. Provincial administrators and irregular soldiers f o u g h t against the g o v e r n m e n t forces.

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Istanbul janissaries and local militias struggled for p o w e r i n the provinces. The O t t o m a n response was counterproductive. The treasury t r i e d to reduce the expenditure o n a r m e d forces, w h i c h led t o the f u r t h e r displacement o f provincial soldiers, w h o then t u r n e d to brigandage. To reinforce central authority, the g o v e r n m e n t had t o station permanent garrisons, w h i c h t h e n became i d e n t i f i e d w i t h local economic interest groups that e x p l o i t e d their positions for their o w n benefit. These upheavals, collectively k n o w n as the celali rebellions, appear chaotic, b u t they had a deep political significance. As the central state weakened and as p r o v i n c i a l officials and notables struggled to aggrandize their power, Anatolian M u s l i m subjects also f o u g h t to acquire the privileges reserved for the political elite. The celali rebellions then were n o t c r i m i n a l o r peasant protest movements; rather, they represented a political struggle o f u p w a r d l y m o b i l e peasants and s m a l l - t o w n populations a t t e m p t i n g to gain a share o f the prerogatives o f power. F r o m the O t t o m a n perspective, these changes were particularly o m i n o u s i n the Balkans, where the tendencies t o w a r d decentralization o f power and usurpat i o n o f lands, tax revenues, and supplies were exaggerated by the trade w i t h Europe. The ready availability o f export markets increased local incentives t o evade O t t o m a n regulations and to develop local p o w e r by trading w i t h Europe. Merchants w h o refused to ship fruits and grains directly to Istanbul b u t instead sold t h e m to European merchants also i m p o r t e d muskets to defend their i n t e r ests. As the de facto a u t o n o m y o f the Balkan provinces increased, a n e w political p h i l o s o p h y began to take h o l d a m o n g Balkan intellectuals, merchants, l a n d o w n ers, traders, a n d others. M a i n l y Christians, less closely i d e n t i f i e d w i t h the Ottomans than were the M u s l i m s , Greeks, Serbs, Romanians, and others began to speak o f their national i d e n t i t y and heritage and their right to independence f r o m the O t t o m a n empire. The seeds that w o u l d u n d o the m u l t i r e l i g i o u s , m u l tiethnic O t t o m a n society i n favor o f m o d e r n national states were already s o w n . The d e c l i n i n g power o f the central state was part and parcel o f a disastrous series o f m i l i t a r y setbacks. The empire, w h i c h was still expanding i n the sixteenth century and stable i n the seventeenth, began to lose g r o u n d to its Russian and Habsburg opponents. The Habsburgs defeated the O t t o m a n attack o n Vienna i n 1683 and invaded H u n g a r y and Serbia, and i n 1696 the Russians took Azov and gained a f o o t h o l d o n the Black Sea. A l t h o u g h the Ottomans were able to c o u n terattack i n the early decades o f the eighteenth century, by the later decades o f that century they suffered staggering losses. I n 1774 the Russians established their supremacy i n the Crimea and Romania; by the Treaty o f Jassy i n 1792 they were i n c o n t r o l o f the Black Sea and i n a p o s i t i o n to threaten Istanbul. I n 1798

the

French emperor Napoleon invaded Egypt. These defeats were clear w a r n i n g s that

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the O t t o m a n empire had fallen m i l i t a r i l y as w e l l as c o m m e r c i a l l y b e h i n d its European competitors and that its territorial integrity, even its survival, had come i n t o question. I n this crisis the empire was swept by proposals for r e f o r m and rejuvenation. Conservative critics called for a r e t u r n to the policies o f the great sultan Suleyman the Lawgiver; more radical critics called for the a d o p t i o n o f European t e c h n o l ogy, m i l i t a r y organization, and administrative arrangements. O t t o m a n society was awash i n a wave o f European cultural fascination. European p a i n t i n g , rococo decoration, and t u l i p gardens were the rage. A celebration o f personal sensibility and expressiveness overcame the O t t o m a n elites. O u t o f this cultural ferment, the O t t o m a n Empire w o u l d renew itself again i n the nineteenth century.

CHAPTER

NINE

The Eastward Journey of Muslim Kingship ISLAM I N S O U T H AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

Bruce B. Lawrence

Islam is above all a pan-Asian r e l i g i o n . It shapes the beliefs and practices o f m i l lions o f Asians, f r o m Central to South to Southeast Asia. There are other pan-Asian r e l i g i o n s — H i n d u i s m to the far south. B u d d h i s m to the far east—but none that spans the southern r i m o f the Asian continent to the extent that Islam does. But h o w d i d Islam become n o t only a religious m a r k i n g b u t also a civilizational force f r o m the Arabian Sea to the shores o f the Pacific? That question cann o t easily be answered. The emergence o f distinctive social patterns i n South Asia have parallels, t h o u g h n o t equivalents, i n Southeast Asia. M u s l i m invaders f r o m the northeast b r o u g h t w i t h t h e m (or developed after their arrival) traits that have since characterized the Islamic experience i n South Asia for m u c h o f its k n o w n history. Centuries later, M u s l i m traders, c o m i n g f r o m Arabia and India, began to settle i n significant numbers i n the archipelago k n o w n today as Southeast Asia.

(Left) The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-66) considered himself the apogee of the dynasty that the great

They also professed and pursued Islamic loyalty, b u t i n different circumstances,

steppe conquerer Timur had

w i t h disparate outcomes.

founded 250 years earlier.

Despite their c o n j u n c t i o n i n this chapter, the M u s l i m c o m m u n i t i e s o f South and Southeast Asia r e m a i n discrete and separate, b o t h i n the ideal n o r m s they profess and i n the day-to-day practices they pursue. A l t h o u g h i t is difficult to l i n k together t w o distant regions o f Asia that have never k n o w n a fully shared history,

Shah Jahan is depicted in this painting as the just emporer standing on a globe, and the roundels in the umbrella over his head

the one symbolic m a r k i n g that they share, Islam, justifies such an effort, espe-

give his genealogy back to

cially in book that takes as its subject the entire spectrum o f Islamic history.

Timur.

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The Prehistory of Islamic South Asia Certain patterns o f social m o b i l i t y arid civic organization t y p i f y South Asia f r o m the I n d o - A r y a n p e r i o d ( 1 0 0 0 B.c.E.) o n : a m i l i t a r i z e d society, w i t h a standing army that requires regular use, o f t e n to invade and conquer adjacent regions; the autocratic r u l e o f a m i l i t a r y leader w h o is invested w i t h instrumental p o w e r but w h o often claims d i v i n e a u t h o r i t y and patronizes scholars to further that claim; and the existence o f m o n u m e n t s that commemorate religious heroes and rulers o f the past, b u i l t b y m i h t a r y leaders to strike awe i n their subjects. I n this sense the prehistory o f Islamic South Asia is n o t located i n the life o f M u s l i m societies further to the west; rather, this history is located i n the reigns, or the imagined reigns and legacies, o f the most illustrious kings o f earlier dynasties. Two such figures stand o u t : Alexander the Great (356-323 B . C E . ) andAsoka the M u n i f i c e n t (r. 272-236 B . C E ) . Together they projected Greek and Buddhist legacies i n t o South Asia. Alexander was a brilliant soldier w h o w a n t e d to be remembered as a wise king. A m o n g the scholars he p a t r o n i z e d was Aristotle. H e represented

the

Achaemenid style o f governance hnked to the Persian emperors Cyrus and Darius. Asoka f o u n d e d the M a u r y a n dynasty. He had n o courtier to rival Aristotle, b u t t h r o u g h the m o n u m e n t a l b u i l d i n g i n s p i r e d by his dramatic conversion t o B u d d h i s m he c o n t i n u e d the style o f royal patronage familiar f r o m his PersianGreek predecessors. Even t h o u g h n o literary texts survived, Asoka's m o n u m e n t s d i d , and they were used and reused by successive dynasties, i n c l u d i n g the later M u s l i m monarchs o f Central Asia. Persian is the crucial element, and the thesis thus presented about Islam i n South Asia accents Persian influence. A l t h o u g h Arabic and Turkish elements can be identified, they matter less than the Persian. Despite the fact that Islam is often identified w i t h Arabic language and Arab n o r m s , these merely provided the patina for M u s l i m expansion i n t o the subcontinent. Although the Turks comprised the m a i n source for M u s l i m armies, neither the Turkic language nor its cultural forms characterized the o u t l o o k o f these newcomers to Hindustan (South Asia). Beyond the Arabic patina and the Turkic frame was the central image o f this n e w l y emerging social f o r m a t i o n . The picture had its o w n design: Persianate. Persiatiúte is a n e w t e r m , first coined by the w o r l d historian Marshall Hodgson. It depicts a cultural force that is linked to the Persian language and to self-identified Persians. But the t e r m applies to m o r e than either a language or a people; it lúghlights elements that Persians share w i t h the I n d o - A r y a n rulers w h o preceded Muslims to the subcontinent. Two elements are paramount: hierarchy, w h i c h c o n sists o f t o p - d o w n status markings that link all groups to each other i n a clear order o f rank that pervades all major social interactions; and deference, w h i c h requires rules o f c o m p o r t m e n t toward those at the top o f the status scale, especially the

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reigning m o n a r c h o r emperor. The office o f emperor first depended o n military prowess, w i t h defense o f the realm, provision o f public works, cultivation o f land, collection o f taxes, and dispensation of justice among his major administrative tasks. Equivalent to these functional aspects o f his office, however, were the adornments o f that office: magnificent palaces, expansive gardens, a lofty throne, and garments o f unimagined splendor. I n short, the emperor was the focal p o i n t o f a court culture that included a range o f specialists: architects and artists, craftsmen, musicians, poets, and scholars. I f this profile describes the totalitarian ideal o f a hermetically sealed hierarchical system o f governance, it o m i t s several crucial elements that came t o describe the k i n d o f imperial rule exercised by the new Aryan elites—the Persianate Turks, w h o came t o dorninate N o r t h India f r o m the tenth century o n . Chief among these, as noted by Robert L. Canfield, were the use o f the Persian language itself i n a w i d e range o f functions, administrative as w e l l as literary, and the development o f an expanding cultural elite that saw itself as expressing Persianate values, even w h e n they were n o t f u l l y allied w i t h Islamic n o r m s . This expansion and rearticulation o f I n d o - A r y a n social values may be called either Persianate, t o stress the importance o f Persian as a linguistic c o m p o n e n t , o r Islamicate, to acknowledge the way i n w h i c h Islam was invoked even w h e n the connection between cultural observance and religious loyalty was very slim. The t w o terms are so close that sometimes they can be used interchangeably. Crucial i n each case is the expansion o f connotative meaning t o include m o r e than linguistic usage (Persian) o r religious c o m m i t m e n t (Islamic).

The Great Indo-Muslim Rulers in South Asia Four I n d o - M u s l i m rulers stand o u t as e m b o d i m e n t s o f this n e w Turko-Persian Islamicate culture that prevailed i n South Asia f r o m the eleventh century o n : M a h m u d o f Ghazna (r. 997—1030), I l t u t m i s h (r. 1211-36), M u h a m m a d i b n Tughluq (r. 1325-51), and Akbar (r. 1555-1604). Because the reign o f Sultan M a h m u d o f Ghazna (what is n o w Ghazni i n eastern Afghanistan) set the tone for m u c h o f what followed, his legacy has been marked by controversy. M a h m u d was a dogged campaigner w h o conducted n o less than seventeen military forays into India, and he delighted i n c h r o n i c l i n g his o w n m i l itary feats. Like other Persian and Turko-Persian rulers, M a h m u d commissioned the official histories that he wanted to stand as the record o f his reign for posterity. Was he a religious zealot o r a cosmopolitan pragmatist? Fiistorians remain divided, but Malunud's repeated military campaigns provided the basis for his successful rule. He not only pillaged and destroyed; he also built and rebuilt cities \\ithin his reign. As a patron, he was particularly adroit. I n the 1020s the celebrated poet Firdowsi

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came to Mahmud's court to present his epic p o e m , the Shahnomeh. Other courtiers included historians, lingists, and mathematicians, and even a p o l y m a t h w h o was all three: the incomparable comparativist, A b u al-Rayan A h m a d al-Biruni. M a h m u d lured al-Biruni to j o i n his royal entourage i n 1018, but because the sultan was o f t e n campaigning, the scholar had to accompany l i i m . A l - B i r u n i crisscrossed northwestern India w i t h die Ghaznavid army d u r i n g several forays before M a h m u d and al-Biruni settled i n Ghazna i n the m i d - 1020s, where they remained until Mahmud's death i n 1030. A l - B i r u n i resented the i m p o s i t i o n o f royal demands, but his forced travels allowed h i m to expand his mathematical achievements to include a comprehensive cultural and historical survey o f India that still remains a classic. His Kitab al-Hind (Book o f India) surveys the range o f H i n d u culture, distinguishing among history, social customs, and doctrines w i t h a rare ethnographic sensitivity. It was completed just before Mahmud's death. Despite his prolific o u t put, w i t h m o r e than 146 wTitings to his credit, al-Biruni is renowned chiefly for this survey and a handful o f r o u g h l y twenty-one other extant works, a mere ic percent o f his entire corpus. M a h m u d ' s legacy fared better than a l - B i r u n i ' s , at least f o r a w h i l e . Because Ghazna was a c i t y o n the edge o f a p o w e r f u l I r a n i a n e m p i r e , the Samanid,

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M a h m u d b u i l t it u p to be a capital c i t y to r i v a l Baghdad i n its c u l t u r a l r e f i n e m e n t . The w a r r i o r s , w h o w e r e the mainstay o f M a h m u d ' s conquests and his a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , w e r e actually T u r k i c slaves w h o h a d served u n d e r Persian rulers. I n the eleventh c e n t u r y they asserted t h e i r independence, so m u c h so that this i n i t i a l p e r i o d o f Turko-Persian-Islamicate

expansion is o f t e n k n o w n

as " t h e Slave Dynasties." The n e w M u s l i m elites o f South Asia w e r e Turks w h o favored Persianate c u l t u r e and w h o governed i n the name o f I s l a m . They still favored t h e i r w e s t w a r d f l a n k , and i n a d d i t i o n t o seeking c a l i p h a l r e c o g n i t i o n ,

The immense congregational

they t r i e d but failed to c o n q u e r Khurasan ( i n northeastern I r a n ) . Instead, they

mosque in Delhi known as

expanded t o the east a n d s o u t h , n o t l i m i t i n g t h e i r patronage t o Ghazna but

Quwwal al-Islam ("Might of

e x t e n d i n g i t to another city, Lahore. The w e a l t h o f I n d i a d r e w t h e m f u r t h e r

Islam") was one of the first

i n t o the s u b c o n t i n e n t , l e a d i n g t h e m t o develop Lahore as another center o f Islamicate c u l t u r e . The Ghurids displaced the Ghaznavids i n 1192, and pushed the leading edge o f Turko-Islamicate culture further into the Aryan heardand to Delhi. Invading f r o m the H i n d u Rush m o u n t a i n range, the Ghtrrids razed Ghazna and captured Lahore before w i n n i n g Delhi. The Ghurids dien made Delhi their capital and established a c o m posite architectural style that became a pattern for other parts o f Hindustan. The Ghurids' successors became k n o w n as the Mamluks, or "slave kings," o f N o r t h India

built in India. Begun in 1191, the mosque stands on the site of a pre Islamic temple whose ruins were incorporated in the structure. The tall iron pillar in the courtyard, originally dedicated to the Indian god Vishnu around 4 0 0 , was re-erected as a trophy to symbolize

(not to be confused w i t h the Mamluks o f N o r t h Africa, another slave dynasty o f

Islam's triumph over

premodern Islamic history). The Mamluks and their successors—the Khaljis, the

Hinduism.

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TughJuqs, the Sayyids, and the Lodis—were collectively k n o w n as the Delhi Sultanate. From the thirteenth to the early sixteenth centuries (1206-1526), they d o m i n a t e d N o r t h India. I n the aftermath o f M o n g o l incursions to the n o r t i i and west, they welcomed refugees, m c l u d i n g architects and artists, musicians, poets, and religious scholars, most o f them specialists i n h i g h Persianate culture. W h a t these specialists had learned i n Central Asia, i n regions such as Transoxiana and Khurasan, they i n t u r n transmitted (and further refined) i n the n e w cosmopolitan centers o f South Asia that were n o w ruled by f o r mer Turkic slaves. A m o n g the m a n y m o n u m e n t s that c o m e f r o m the M a m l u k p e r i o d , f e w r i v a l the Q u w w a t al-Islam m o s q u e ( " T h e M i g h t o f I s l a m " ) l o c a t e d i n D e l h i . A l t h o u g h the actual n a m e o f t h e m o s q u e is still debated, its central l o c a t i o n i n the n e w capital underscores

its

symbolic

importance

C o n s t r u c t i o n o f the mosque began i n 1191.

to

Muslim

rulers.

It featured an e n o r -

m o u s o p e n quadrangle c o u r t y a r d set o n an earlier H i n d u t e m ple site. H i n d u craftsmen used m a t e r i a l f r o m the d e m o l i s h e d temples to construct a c u l t u r a l l y h y b r i d place o f w o r s h i p , c o m b i n i n g H i n d u tastes and art i n an Islamic structure. I n c l u d e d i n the central c o u r t y a r d o f the m o s q u e is a h u g e i r o n p i l l a r o f p a r The towering Qutb Minar (1199—1368), the minaret attached to the Quwwat al¬ Islam mosque in Delhi,

ticular interest. The p i l l a r predates M u s l i m r u l e by at least six h u n d r e d years. I t is an i m p o s i n g structure made o f p u r e malleable i r o n , i m p e r v i o u s to r u s t , and an i n s c r i p t i o n , still preserved, dedicates i t to the g o d V i s h n u i n m e m o r y o f a H i n d u k i n g . That same h y b r i d is c o n f i r m e d i n another edifice

combines foreign and

that separates the Q u w w a t a l - I s l a m m o s q u e f r o m o t h e r s : the d o m i n a n t

indigenous elements. Like

m i n a r e t k n o w n as the Q u t b M i n a r that stands next to the m o s q u e . Five stories

earlier minarets in Afghanistan, it was built in flanged stages separated by

i n gradually d i m i n i s h i n g h e i g h t , i t shows a p e r f e c t i o n o f calligraphic s y m m e t r y and f l o r a l o r n a m e n t a t i o n . D e p e n d i n g o n the perspective o f the viewer, i t

balconies, but it uses a local

can seem to be a m a r k e d l y Islamic b u i l d i n g , w i t h Arabic w o r d s clearly etched

material, sandstone.

i n each b a n d , or a d i s t i n c t i v e b l e n d o f Islamic and H i n d u m o t i f s can be n o t e d , because the floral patterns that f r a m e and interlace the Arabic w o r d s are r e m iniscent o f b o t h H i n d u and B u d d h i s t structures f r o m South Asia. Also part o f the same m o s q u e c o m p l e x is a t o m b that is a m o n g the earliest that M u s l i m rulers i n I n d i a had b u i l t f o r themselves. Its c o n s t r u c t i o n w as r

o r d e r e d by the p o w e r f u l M a m l u k r u l e r , Sultan Shams a l - D i n I l t u t m i s h (r. 1211-36), six years before his death. I l t u t m i s h d i d w h a t n o r u l e r before h a d done: H e consolidated the disparate regions o f N o r t h India i n t o an independent polity, a k i n g d o m bearing an Islamic stamp but a l l o w i n g H i n d u s first safety then i n c l u s i o n w i t h i n the r u l i n g strata o f the D e l h i Sultanate. H e also held off, as

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m u c h by d i p l o m a c y as by a r m e d force, the

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feared

M o n g o l s , w h o s e zeal for conquest had b r o u g h t t h e m to the borders o f H i n d u s t a n . H e f u r t h e r cultivated Sufi masters, a c k n o w l e d g i n g t h e m as spiritual lodestones, n o t o n l y f o r his subjects but also for h i m s e l f and his court. It is fitting that U t u t m i s h w o u l d choose to have his o w n t o m b set w i t h i n the p r e m i e r m o s q u e o f t h i r teenth-century D e l h i , because he himself had extended the scope o f the Q u w w a t al-Islam mosque and c o m pleted the Q u t b Minar. A l t h o u g h never c o m p l e t e d , his t o m b became the benchmark for royal mausoleums i n M u s l i m South Asia. It boasts a marble cenotaph beautif u l l y centered w i t h i n receding red sandstone arches. Its decorative inscriptions and geometrical designs e x h i b i t a h i g h level o f w o r k m a n s h i p , reflecting b o t h Islamic and H i n d u aesthetic m o t i f s . I f Ututmish set the tone f o r inspired rule i n the t h i r teenth century, the most i m p o r t a n t o f the Turkic slave rulers i n the next century was the sultan M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q (r. 1325-51). H i s father, Ghiyas u d - D i n T u g h l u q , had earlier m i l i t a r i l y defended the sultanate against M o n g o l threats. The levels o f fear and revulsion o f the nascent I n d o - M u s l i m Turks at the M o n g o l legions w o u l d be difficult to exaggerate. I n the words o f the prem i e r m i d - f o u r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y Deccani historian, Isami, the M o n g o l s were "a w r e t c h e d people, w i t h n a r r o w eyes, flat noses, and m o u t h s as w i d e as the gates o f a palace. F r o m their depressed noses f l o w s a paste-like y e l l o w i s h fluid, day and n i g h t . " Ghiyas u d - D i n n o t o n l y c o p e d w i t h the M o n g o l s ,

In carving the decoration of

he also annexed a m a j o r r e g i o n i n the s o u t h a n d p u t d o w n a r e b e l l i o n i n Bengal. U p o n his death i n 1325,

he left his son and successor a vast, t h o u g h

far f r o m i n t e g r a t e d , t e r r i t o r y . It was the singular m a r k o f M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q s r e i g n that he t r i e d t o subdue a n d consolidate

several rebellious

r u l e r s — M u s l i m as w e l l as H i n d u — - i n the s o u t h to f o r g e a n

expanded

Islamicate r e a l m . H e p i c k e d a b o l d means to effect this goal: he s h i f t e d m a n y Turko-Persian elites f r o m t h e n o r t h w e s t to the central s o u t h , f r o m D e l h i t o Devagiri i n Deccan (the I n d i a n peninsula s o u t h o f the N a r m a d a River). This was not an easy move. It i n v o l v e d the f o r c e d transfer o f a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 0 p e r cent o f Delhi's M u s l i m p o p u l a t i o n . It w r o u g h t havoc u p o n the M u s l i m elites

the Qutb Minar, Indian stonemasons replaced the traditional representational motifs of Indian architecture with Arabic inscriptions and vegetal ornament.

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w h o were "chosen"

to realize the i m p e r i a l project.

M a n y d i e d f r o m the r i g o r o f the l o n g j o u r n e y f r o m n o r t h e r n to southern India. O n e can d o c u m e n t the s u f f e r i n g and r e s e n t m e n t f e l t by the u n f o r t u n a t e m i g r a n t s , a n d several c o n t e m p o r a r y a n d later h i s t o r i a n s have taken this a p p r o a c h , b u t o n e may also see i n t h i s m o v e M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q ' s p r a g m a t i c genius. H e was faced w i t h a d a u n t i n g c h a l lenge i n the n o r t h w e s t e r n p a r t o f his k i n g d o m . F r o m the

m i d - t h i r t e e n t h century

on

the

Mongol

threat

l o o m e d l a r g e , p r e e m p t i n g o t h e r i m p e r i a l strategies. A l t h o u g h his predecessors p l u n d e r e d the s o u t h i n o r d e r to r e i n f o r c e the n o r t h , M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q s o u g h t t o i n t e g r a t e the s o u t h ( t h e Deccan

region) into

the

n o r t h w e s t ( t h e I n d o - G a n g e t i c p l a i n ) . H i s g o a l was t o safeguard and p r o t e c t Islamicate society f r o m the feared M o n g o l i n f i d e l s . T h e r e s u l t i n g m i g r a t i o n lasted t e n years (1313-23), a n d i t m a d e possible w h a t o t h e r w i s e w o u l d have been u n i m a g i n a b l e : the a n n e x a t i o n o f t h e f o r m e r l y i n d e p e n d e n d e n t k i n g d o m s o f Deccan i n t o t h e D e l h i Sultanate. To seal the s y m b o l i c s i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h i s large s h i f t , M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q h a d the f o r m e r capital c i t y o f D e v a g i r i r e n a m e d Dawlatabad and m a d e The Delhi sultan Shams alDin Ututmish (r. I Z I I - 6 )

i t a c o - c a p i t a l o f the Sultanate, o n a par w i t h D e l h i . T h e success o f t h e sultan's m a n a g e r i a l boldness d e p e n d e d o n s p i r i t u a l as

exemplifies theTurko-

w e l l as m a t e r i a l resources. B u t w h i c h h a d p r i o r i t y ? Even f o r those w h o

Persian-Islamicate culture

o p p o s e d the m o v e f r o m D e l h i t o D a w l a t a b a d , as d i d the h i s t o r i a n I s a m i , its

that dominated South Asia

o u t c o m e was seen as d e p e n d e n t o n a s p i r i t u a l resource w h o s e m e d i a t o r s

from the eleventh century.

w e r e shaykhs rather t h a n sultans. I n a b o l d reversal o f h i e r a r c h i c a l l o y a l t y ,

His tomb in Delhi, made of red sandstone that contrasts with the white marble ceno-

I s a m i a t t r i b u t e d the u l t i m a t e source o f p o w e r n o t t o the M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q b u t t o t h e s p i r i t u a l slave o r fatjir. T h e " t r u e " masters o f the r e a l m

taph, set a standard for royal

w e r e the Sufi masters, those w h o m U t u t m i s h had earlier a c k n o w l e d g e d as

mausoleaums in the region.

s u p e r i o r b e i n g s . Later r u l e r s also i d e n t i f i e d f a q i r s w i t h the core values o f T u r k o - P e r s i a n - I s l a m i c a t e c u l t u r e , a n d a m o n g t h e i r m a j o r representatives i n H i n d u s t a n w e r e t h e C h i s h t i saints o f N o r t h and S o u t h I n d i a . T h i s l o g i c o f h i e r a r c h i c reversal presents a n e w r e a d i n g o f h i s t o r y . W h a t h a d saved N o r t h I n d i a f r o m the M o n g o l s , a c c o r d i n g t o I s a m i , was was n o t M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q ' s a r m y b u t h i s respect f o r the s h r i n e o f Shaykh M u i n a d - D i n C h i s h t i ( d . 1236)

i n A j m e r . T h e evidence was the sultan h i m -

self, w h o h a d j o u r n e y e d to A j m e r as a p i l g r i m after a successful engagement

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The burgeoning Muslim population of the Indian subcontinent in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries led to the construction of mosques and the copying of the Quran. This manuscript of the Quran, transcribed at Bijapur in Deccan in 1 4 8 3 , uses the rough paper and swooping bihari script typical of the region.

w i t h the M o n g o l s . The s u l t a n c o u l d n o t c o n t r o l saintly p o w e r , however, a n d the d e c l i n e o f D e l h i as an i m p e r i a l c i t y f r o m 1327

o n was c o n s i d e r e d

a

r e s u l t , above a l l , o f t h e loss o f its saintly p a t r o n , i n this case, M u i n a d - D i n ' s p r i n c i p a l successor i n D e l h i , N i z a m a d - D i n A w l i y a ( d . 132c), b u t also t o the sultan's subsequent rudeness t o w a r d N i z a m a d - D i n ' s successor, Nasir a d - D i n C h i r a g h - i D i h l i ( d . 1356). By the same l o g i c , I s a m i e x p l a i n e d the p r o s p e r i t y o f D a w l a t a b a d after the great m i g r a t i o n e n d i n g i n 1323.

T h e c i t y ' s p r o s p e r i t y was n o t due t o

m i l i t a r y , p o l i t i c a l , social, or e c o n o m i c factors b u t rather t o the s p i r i t u a l i n f l u e n c e o f t h e C h i s h t i y a . A g a i n , the l i n k w a s t o Shaykh N i z a m a d - D i n , f o r the C h i s h t i p a t r o n o f D e l h i h a d c o m m i s s i o n e d one o f his o w n successors to m i g r a t e t o D e c c a n . I t was the lineage o f t h i s m a n — B u r h a n a d - D i n ( d . 1337), t h e n succeeded by Z a i n a d - D i n D i n S h i r a z i ( d . 1 3 6 9 ) — t h a t made Deccan prosper. I n the w o r d s o f a p o e m by I s a m i : It was the grace o f Zain ad-Din that made This stormy w o r l d like the garden o f heaven.

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From his aroma the Chishti garden became fragrant; Under his protection the w h o l e o f Deogir was saved. Because the Tughluq governor sought his shelter, The Tughluq star rose to the height o f Saturn. Wherever you see a fortunate amir It's due to the blessing o f a l o w l y faqir. D i s c e r n i n g the r e l a t i o n s h i p between amir a n d faqir is c o m p l i c a t e d , however, b y the n a t u r a l tension b e t w e e n t h e i r respective roles. O f t e n that t e n s i o n is concealed i n the h i s t o r i c a l sources that p r o j e c t the o n l y e x i s t i n g r e c o r d , apart f r o m a r c h e o l o g i c a l artifacts, o f p r e m o d e r n South Asia. As p r e v i o u s l y i n d i cated, nearly all the sources result f r o m i m p e r i a l patronage: the s t o r y is thus t o l d by the r u l e r ' s a p p o i n t e d h i s t o r i a n ; they are versions

doublechecked,

t h e n a p p r o v e d b y the subjects b e i n g r e c o r d e d . I n every sense, these records are o f f i c i a l biographies o r c h r o n i c l e s . I n the case o f M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q , f o r e x a m p l e , i t is n o t his o w n h i s t o r i a n b u t the h i s t o r i a n o f a p o l i t i c a l r i v a l , the B a h m a n i d e m p i r e o f Deccan, w h o gives h i m b o t h a b a c k h a n d e d c o m p l i m e n t , t o have been blessed by M u i n a d - D i n , a n d a direct r e b u k e , _to have neglected N i z a m ad-Din's successor, Nasir a d - D i n ( d . 1356). At the same t i m e , the Sufi sources are o f t e n reluctant t o a c k n o w l e d g e l i n k s b e t w e e n notable saints a n d n o n - S u f i r u l e r s . For example, M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q is usually classed as a n o n - S u f i ruler, yet i t is k n o w n f r o m an Arabic source, the travelogue o f the famous traveler I b n Battutah (1304—68 o r 1369), that M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q , even before he became the sultan, h a d consulted Shaykh N i z a m a d - D i n . The shaykh allegedly e x c l a i m e d : " W e have g i v e n h i m the k i n g d o m . " It w o u l d seem natural t h e n that M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q was one o f the p r i v i l e g e d few t o bear the bier o f the shaykh to his final resting place i n 132c, yet n o C h i s h t i source records that fact. The key is t o see the r e l a t i o n ship, always f r a u g h t w i t h t e n s i o n , between the autocratic t e m p o r a l r u l e r and his ally, w h o was also his r i v a l , the a l l - p o w e r f u l eternal ruler, the Sufi saint. The m o s t frequent o u t c o m e was c o o p e r a t i o n between the shaykhs and the sultans. That t r a d i t i o n c o n t i n u e d t h r o u g h o u t the D e l h i Sultanate as w e l l as i n other parts o f I n d i a , b u t i t d i d n o t supplant o r erase the i m p l i c i t r i v a l r y between these t w o repositories o f p u b l i c a u t h o r i t y .

The Influence of Saints Indeed, one can trace the i n f l u e n c e o f saints, and their r i v a l r y w i t h rulers, f r o m M u h a m m a d i b n T u g h l u q to the next giant o f I n d o - M u s l i m culture, the M u g h a l e m p e r o r Akbar (r. 15.55-1604). I f saints h a d become the m a j o r custodians a n d

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transmitters o f Turko-Persian-Islamicate values b y the m i d - f o u r t e e n t h century, b y the m i d - s i x t e e n t h century they were even m o r e i m p o r t a n t . A revealing barometer o f this development is Akbar's checkered r e l a t i o n s h i p t o C h i s h t i saints i n general, a n d t o Shaykh Salim Chishti ( d . 1571) at Fatehpur Sikri ( i n n o r t h e r n I n d i a ) i n particular. The Mughals were n o t M o n g o l s , as their name implies, but I n d o - T i m u r i d s ; they were the Indian legatees o f the Turkic conqueror T i m u r ( 1336-1405), w h o , t h o u g h n o t a M o n g o l , claimed lineage traceable t o Genghis Khan. T i m u r ( o r Tamerlane) was also heir t o M o n g o l m i l i t a r y and r u l i n g ideals. H e was b o t h a great m i l i t a r y c o n q u e r o r and a supreme spritual leader. His f u n c t i o n was similar t o that o f the f a m i l iar Turko-Persian k i n g s , but his extensive conquests lent even m o r e c r e d i b i l i t y t o h i s c l a i m o f d i v i n e i n s p i r a t i o n a n d support. Characteristic o f M u g h a l

m

veneration f o r their esteemed ancestor is the m i n i a ture i n a M u g h a l c h r o n i c l e e m b e l l i s h i n g his death. F r o m the ornate d o m e at the t o p t o the h u m b l e servants at the b o t t o m , all seem t o be f r o z e n i n t h e m o m e n t o f loss that is represented by the deceased h e r o i n the center. A l t h o u g h the focus o f the m i n i a ture is T i m u r , its p a t r o n isAkbar. The exquisite exec u t i o n is characteristic o f t h e n u m e r o u s

album

folios that date f r o m the p e r i o d o f Akbar. I t i n d i cates Akbar's interest

i n , a n d patronage of, t h e

To emphasize his dynasty's

w h o l e spectrum o f art f r o m the portable t o the m o n u m e n t a l . Akbar i d e n t i f i e d

d e s c e m

w i t h T i m u r , and at the same t i m e he raised the I n d o - T i m u r i d legacy t o n e w

M u

heightS. Akbar began, as d i d all his most illustrious ancestors, w i t h a stLinning record o f military success. H e assumed rule w h e n he was merely thirteen years o l d . A brief glance at die extent o f the Mughal empire i n the mid-sixteenth century reveals the challenge Akbar faced. H e ruled a realm diat represented more closely the Ghurid than the Tughluq map o f Hindustan. His father H u m a y u n . after succeeding Babur as the second M u g h a l ruler, had spent more dian fifteen years i n exde i n Safavid Iran and the reconquest o f India was left to Babur's grandson, Akbar. Akbar spent almost all the early years o f his reign engaged i n military campaigning. The results o f bis tactical skill and extraordinary presence as a military leader are evident. H e w o n

fromT

"™.

S emperor Akbar often commissioned lavishly illustrated manuscripts about h a l

Timurid history. This scene showing the death of Timur i s o n e

° f '3

2

lar

ge illustra-

tions f r o m a manuscript

m a d e i n t h e late s i x t e e n t h century.

406

The Mughal emperor Akbar commissioned a magnificent tomb for his father, Humayun.The octagonal

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major battles that consolidated Mughal rule over northern, central, and western India. Akbar combined military success w i t h economic reform. A m o n g Ms major economic achievements was uniting the m a r i t i m e , commercial province o f Gujarat

tomb is built of red sand-

w i t h the agricultural heartlands o f the Punjab and Gangetic basins, making possible

stone enhanced with white

an enormous expansion o f trade and production. But it was his ability to conquer

marble, a combination that

rruliiarily and then to assuage his former enemies diplomatically that earned h i m the

had been introduced several centuries earlier. Unlike earlier tombs, Humayun's is

most revered place i n Mughal annals. Akbar also succeeded i n attracting able m e n , b o t h H i n d u and M u s l i m , to serve

located in a large garden

h i m as courtiers. His c h i e f tax officer was Todar M a i , a H i n d u w h o m Akbar

crossed by water channels

recruited over objections f r o m M u s l i m notables. T h r o u g h Todar Mai, Akbar exper-

and pathways.

i m e n t e d w i t h tax reforms u n t i l he developed a system o f administration and

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extraction that o p t i m i z e d his resources. This system remained i n place u n t i l m o d ern times. Akbar had more trouble achieving control and accountability i n the religious establishment, i n c l u d i n g his management o f Sufi shaykhs as an alternative source o f authority, not only to the ulama (guardians o f everyday ritual and law) but also to the Mughal court. N o n e o f the official Mughal accounts explain either die nature o f the Sufi brotherhoods or die attitude o f their legatees and devotees toward the emperor. The Akbarnameh, die official history o f Akbar's reign, w r i t t e n by A b u l Fazl under Akbar's direction, tells only the perspective o f Akbar's royal patron and reduces the emperor's attitude toward Sufi masters to a single central frame narrative that highlights the blessings Akbar received f r o m Shaykh Salim Chishti. I n the story the reclusive, ascetic saint f r o m a village near Agra solves die major problem facing die young emperor: h o w to produce a male heir. At age twenty-eight Akbar had produced only daughters, but i n a visit to Shaykh Salim en route to Ajmer, Akbar was told by the saint that his favorite w i f e w o u l d produce a male heir and that he w o u l d be blessed w i t h no fewer than three male heirs. Both predictions proved true, and i n witness to the saint's power and its sequel, the future emperor o f India, Jahangir (r. 1605-27), was named Prince Salim at b i r t h . The account o f Shaykh Salim, E m p e r o r Akbar, and Prince Salim l o o m s large i n the Akbarnameh because i t p r o v i d e d the pretext f o r Akbar's later decision to m o v e his i m p e r i a l capital f r o m Agra t o S i k r i , renamed Fatehpur Sikri. W h a t the i m p e r i a l version o m i t t e d , however, is w h a t later readers m u s t deduce: a series o f suppressed m o t i v e s that b o u n d the e m p e r o r to the shaykh w h i l e s t i l l a l l o w i n g the e m p e r o r t o be the f i n a l r e p o s i t o r y o f t r u t h a n d a u t h o r i t y . W i t h o u t d e n y i n g the s p i r i t u a l m o t i v e s that A b u l Fazl a t t r i b u t e d t o the e m p e r o r i n the o f f i c i a l account, also evident is another pragmatic m o t i v e : Akbar i d e n t i f i e d w i t h an i l l u s t r i o u s India-specific order, e n h a n c i n g his o w n l e g i t i m a t i o n as a South Asian M u s l i m m o n a r c h . For all the retrospective stress o n the s o l i d i t y o f Akbar's c l a i m to r u l e , i t is u n l i k e l y that he q u i c k l y f o r g o t the exile o f his father H u m a y u n f r o m I n d i a , an exile p r o m p t e d i n p a r t by H u m a y u n ' s i n a b i l i t y to c o u n t e r the i d e o l o g i c a l claims a n d m i l i t a r y prowess o f the A f g h a n e m p e r o r Sher Shah o f Sur (r. 1 5 4 0 - 4 5 ) , w h o defeated H u m a y u n at the Battle o f Chansa i n 1539 and again at Kananj i n

1540.

Alternatively, Akbar m i g h t have l i n k e d h i m s e l f to the t h e n - d o m i n a n t t o m b c o m p l e x o f N o r t h I n d i a , the mazar ( t o m b ) o f Shaykh N i z a m a d - D i n i n D e l h i . W h y d i d n ' t he? H i s d e c i s i o n to b u i l d a t o m b h o n o r i n g his father, H u m a y u n , was i n part dictated by the p r o x i m i t y o f its site t o the t o m b o f N i z a m a d - D i n . The t o m b c o m p l e x o f H u m a y u n remains today a m a g n i f i c e n t example

of

Akbar's a t t e n t i o n t o m e m o r i a l s f o r the dead. A l t h o u g h the t o m b ' s actual designer may have been H u m a y u n ' s w i d o w , its p a t r o n and g u i d i n g force was the y o u n g emperor. Its central structure c o m b i n e s i n d i g e n o u s b u i l d i n g t r a -

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ditioris w i t h f a m i l i a r Persianate emphases. As w h i t e m a r b l e i n l a i d i n red sandstone l i g h t e n e d the octagonal f o r m a l i t y o f H u m a y u n ' s t o m b , its setting i n a f o u r - c o r n e r e d garden o n a vast plane augured a n e w t r a d i t i o n o f t o m b gardens k n o w n as the M u g h a l style. A l t h o u g h his predecessors favored D e l h i , the y o u n g Akbar was suspicious o f its past. D e l h i was, after all, the s t r o n g h o l d o f T u r k o - A f g h a n elites w i t h m i n i m a l loyalty t o the fledgling M u g h a l dynasty. For m o r e than three h u n d r e d years, D e l h i had been the capital o f M u s l i m dynasties i n N o r t h I n d i a , and i t was o n l y the A f g h a n k i n g Sikander L o d i (r. 1489-1517) w h o had opted t o make Agra his n e w capital. Agra c o n t i n u e d t o serve as the capital for his successor, the last L o d i sultan, I b r a h i m (r. 1517-26). I t remained the i m p e r i a l center for the b r i e f p e r i o d o f Babur's r e i g n (r. 1526-30), but H u m a y u n , b o t h before and after his exile i n Iran, preferred D e l h i . I n securing his o w n rule at Agra ( 1 5 5 6 - 7 0 ) , Akbar had t o be aware o f the tension between Agra and Delhi as rival i m p e r i a l centers. I n part because o f their asymmetry ( D e l h i had the longer history, Agra the m o r e i m m e Akbar founded a red sandstone capital twenty-five miles west of Agra at Sikri,

d i a t e strategic advantage), Akbar sought still another base f r o m w h i c h t o p r o ject his distinctive version o f i m p e r i a l authority. But another site c o u l d n o t s i m p l y be chosen; the choice had t o have symbolic and l e g i t i m a t i n g p o w e r such

site of the hermitage of Sufi

that others w o u l d be led t o accept the T i g h t n e s s o f the emperor's decision. By

Shaykh Salim Chisti

l i n k i n g the location o f Sikri t o the saint w h o predicted the b i r t h o f Akbar s heirs

(1479-1571). The emperor

and successors, Akbar made its selection as a n e w i m p e r i a l center seem logical,

hoped to tap the Sufi's boraka

even c o m p e l l i n g .

or "spiritual power" and promote his claims to legiti-

There were also other advantages that appealed t o the spiritual d i m e n s i o n o f

macy. The saints grave was

Akbar's multifaceted personality. Having chosen Fatehpur Sikri, he was able to

marked by a splendid white

c o n f i r m and continue his affiliation w i t h the t o m b o f Shaykh M u i n a d - D i n i n

marble tomb.

A j m e r w h i l e also d r a w i n g o n the power o f a l i v i n g saint, Shaykh Salim, a n d

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t h r o u g h h i m o n the spiritual baraka (blessing) that d e r i v e d f r o m his ascetic p a t r o n , Shaykh Farid a d - D i n Ganj-i Shakar ( d . 126c) i n Punjab. T h r o u g h a t w o f o l d , redoubled Chishti loyalty, Akbar c o u l d spiritually anchor his i m p e r i a l legitimacy i n provinces adjacent to Uttar Pradesh: Punjab and Rajasthan. Both regions were crucial to the p o l i t i c o l - m i l i t a r y a m b i t i o n s o f his r e i g n .

The Monumental Art of the Mughal Emperors Akbar had begun to sponsor m o n u m e n t a l art o n a n e w and expansive scale even before the f o u n d a t i o n the n e w capital at Fatehpur Sikri. As i m p o r t a n t as Akbar's affiliation w i t h Chishti saints was for the Fatehpur Sikri phase o f his life, it became irrelevant d u r i n g the final twenty years o f his r e i g n , as he m o v e d f r o m one t e m porary capital to another. This abrupt shift i n loyalty had an impact o n institutional Sufism that reverberated t h r o u g h o u t the M u g h a l p e r i o d . As neither Shaykh Salim n o r Shaykh M u i n a d - D i n remained a constant focus o f Akbar s allegiance, Fatehpur Sikri was sited as a temporary rather than a permanent capital city. For Akbar i t was the emperor, n o t a place o r a saint, w h o lauded as the apogee o f spiritual and temporal a u t h o r i t y i n the M u g h a l polity. To the extent that his person became the metaphor for his realm, spiritual luminaries c o u l d o n l y f u n c t i o n by being linked to or subordinated w i t h i n the aura o f his ultimate, i m p e r i a l authority. The absolutist claims that were raised by Akbar, o r by Abul-Fazl i n Akbar's name, forced a redefinition o f b o t h sainthood and dynastic succession. I n 1577 Abul-Fazl s father, Shaykh Mubarak, drafted the mahzar (decree). Its i n t e n t i o n was to a f f i r m the e m p e r o r s s p i r i t u a l supremacy; at this t i m e the emperor officially became superior to all religious functionaries and institutions. By this t i m e the Chishtiya h a d already lost whatever benefit its p a r t i s a n s — w h e t h e r shrine custodians, l i v i n g saints, o r H i n d u - M u s l i m devotees—may have gained by the favor that Akbar had showered o n t h e m . Such courtiers as the c h i e f religious officer, A b d a n - N a b i , and Shaykh M u b a r a k were removed f r o m active advocacy o f either their o w n Sufi legacy o r the active mystical interests o f o t h ers. N o r d i d the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f Shaykh Salim's t o m b w i t h i n the w a l l e d c o u r t yard o f the central mosque at Fatehpur Sikri p r o m o t e the spiritual agenda o f the C h i s h t i lineage that he represented. Instead, the f o u n d i n g o f the capital at Fatehpur Sikri a f f i r m e d A k b a r — h i s b r a n d o f Islamic observance and his l e g i t i mate c l a i m t o r u l e as T i m u r ' s o f f s p r i n g . Akbar s visits to saints' tombs after 1577 reveal his changed m o o d . He visited Delhi only once, and spent most o f Ms time at Humayun's tomb. W h e n he d i d visit a couple o f provincial saindy sMines, he used diese visits to draw attention to Ms o w n superior claims to spiritual favor. The Sufi exemplars w h o shaped the first phase o f Akbar s rule were eclipsed and then gradually forgotten toward the final years o f Ms life.

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One o f Akbar's most solemn acts o f remembrance concerned his o w n burial site. Like the powerful M a m l u k ruler I l t u t m i s h , Akbar planned his o w n t o m b The site—named Sikandara, suggesting the link between Akbar and another legendary military genius, Alexander the Great—was located o n the outskirts o f Agra i n a sumptuous garden complex. The actual construction, and perhaps even the elements o f the design, were left to Akbar's son and successor, Jahangir. Its major feature, dwarfing the t o m b itself, is the tomb's e n o r m o u s gate, w h i c h was not finished u n t i l 1614. Red sandstone forms the backdrop for intricate geometric

I

.^•K^Ejfl

patterns, i n c l u d i n g the reverse swastika, as w e l l as delicate floral designs, all etched in black and w h i t e marble. Floating atop the entire edifice, almost suspended by their light surface, are foui w h i t e marble minarets. The elderly Akbar may not have anticipated the full beauty o f his final resting place, but the depiction o f h i m commissioned by his grandson, Shah Jalian, shows a figure so engaged by nature ( i n this case, by a tiny sparrow) that the ethereal quality o f his t o m b seems entirely

fitting.

I f the g l o r i f i c a t i o n o f the emperor lay at the heart o f M u g h a l art and architecture for Akbar, i t was an emphasis that he transm i t t e d to his successors. The Great M u g h a l — w h e t h e r Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, o r A u r a n g z e b — w a s m o r e com erned w i t h his o w n office and image than w i t h loyalty t o another Like Humayun's comb at

spiritual or t e m p o r a l authority. Sufi saints fit the emperor's

Delhi, Akbar's own tomb at

clothes, not the reverse. Jahangir (1569—1627) is often portrayed as similar to his

Sikandara, five miles north-

father, devoted t o b r o t h e r h o o d s i n general b u t t o the Chishtiya i n particular. But

west of Agra, was set in a

after 1618 Jahangir also t u r n e d f r o m C h i s h t i d e v o t i o n a l i s m to a m o r e diffuse

vast garden complex crossed by water channels. A soaring gateway' crowned by four

spirituality, one that also encompassed the rival Naqshbandi Sufi order. I n a m i n i a t u r e t h o u g h t to have been painted i n 1616, t o w a r d the end o f a three-year

white marble minarets gave

p e r i o d w h e n Jahangir resided i n Ajmer, Jahangir is portrayed as h a n d i n g a b o o k

access to the complex.

to a saintly figure, Shaykh H u s a i n , w h o was the p r i m a r y custodian o f the A j m e r shrine. A Persian quatrain o n the b o r d e r suggests that the emperor, a l t h o u g h c o u r t e d by kings ( i n c l u d i n g James I o f England), looks to dervishes instead for guidance. But the m i n i a t u r e communicates another message that may contradict lyrical t r u t h : angelic figures above and b e l o w an hourglass throne attend t o the emperor, and the e m p e r o r alone, as the figure o f destiny. The ones above register b o t h awe at his halo and distress at their broken arrows, w h i l e the ones b e l o w are w r i t i n g a band that reads: " O k i n g , may the span o f y o u r life be a thousand years." I n the register o f eternity, b o t h the saint and other kings are but witnesses to the axis o f D i v i n e Favor, the I n d o - T i m u r i d emperor.

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W h a t is h i n t e d at i n this m i n i a t u r e becomes m o r e c o m p e l l i n g l y clear i n the architectural achievements o f Jahangir's reign. Many are m o n u m e n t s to the dead. W h i l e Jahangir's father's t o m b at Sikandara registers Akbar's o w n genius, other mausoleums

o f lasting i n f l u e n c e are at least i n part due t o the i m p a c t o f

Jahangir's favorite w i f e , N u r Jahan, w h o m he m a r r i e d i n 1611.

N u r Jahan,

together w i t h her brother, Asaf Khan, and her father, I t i m a d al-Dawla, f o r m e d a family clique that increasingly came t o c o n t r o l the affairs o f the M u g h a l empire, especially as Jahangir began to suffer i l l health i n the 1620s. W h e n her father and m o t h e r b o t h died i n 1621,

Nur

Jahan, as an act o f filial d e v o t i o n , oversaw the financing and c o n struction o f a garden t o m b for t h e m that is at once lovely and lavish. It builds o n the concept o f n i n e bays, w h i c h characterized H u m a y u n ' s t o m b , but subordinates each bay to a central vault. Each i n t e r i o r r o o m is painted w i t h flowers, vases, and w i n e vessels, w h i l e the exterior surface o f w h i t e marble is suffused b o t h w i t h precious stone inlays o f paradisiacal images and w i t h marble screens not u n l i k e those f o u n d at the t o m b o f Shaykh Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri. W h a t is perhaps most i n t r i g u i n g about the t o m b o f I t i m a d alDaw la, however, is its anticipation o f the c r o w n i n g achievement o f M u g h a l funerary architecture, the Taj M a h a l . It is n o accident that the t o m b , w h i c h was not completed u n t i l 1628 and o n l y after the outlay o f vast sums, was the first m a j o r m o n u m e n t o f M u g h a l India to be fully executed by a w o m a n . A l t h o u g h H u m a y u n ' s t o m b and Akbar's plan f o r his o w n m a u s o l e u m signaled the h o n o r accorded emperors, the m a u s o l e u m for I t i m a d al-Dawla indeed h o n o r e d a first minister and his w i f e , but also the w o m a n w h o made its c o n s t r u c t i o n possible, his daughter, w h o was also the emperor's w i f e , N u r Jahan. M o r e than p r o x i m i t y i n Agra l i n k the t o m b o f N u r Jahan's parents, k n o w n as I t i m a d al-Dawla, and the Taj M a h a l . It was soon after her o w n marriage to Jahangir i n 1611 that N u r Jahan arranged to have her niece, the daughter o f her brother, Asaf Khan, h i m s e l f a courtier at the M u g h a l c o u r t ,

The red sandstone

gateway

m a r r i e d to the heir apparent, Prince K h u r r a m , w h o later became Shah Jahan.

t o A k b a r ' s t o m b is

decorated

N u r Jahan's niece, A r j u m a n d Banu, later became k n o w n as M u m t a z M a h a l . It is

i n w h i t e , gray, a n d

black

she, o f course, w h o occasioned the still m o r e extravagant o u t p o u r i n g o f funds

marble. I n a d d i t i o n to Arabic

f r o m the i m p e r i a l treasury, the result o f w h i c h was the m o n u m e n t k n o w n as the Taj Mahal. It is not possible to understand the vagaries o f history that produced such an extraordinary architectural legacy w i t h o u t realizing that its p l a n n i n g and execu-

inscriptions, the panels c o n tain geometric designs and large-scale

floral

arabesques

derived f r o m the patterns contemporary

textiles.

on

412

THE

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Like o t h e r M u g h a l e m p e r o r s , A k b a r glorified his lineage, and paintings m a d e for h i m e m p h a s i z e his kingly role. I n this portrait c o m m i s s i o n e d by his g r a n d s o n S h a h Jahan a r o u n d

1650.

the e m p e r o r h o l d s a s m a l l t u r b a n

o r n a m e n t . T h e s m a l l vignettes i n the m a r g i n s o f the page s h o w M u g h a l interest in the n a t u r a l w o r l d , daily life, and European prints.

THfc

EASTWARD JOURNEY

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413

I ike his father, Akhar. Jahangir was devoted to the Sufis. This image, made for an album now in St. Petersburg, shows the emperor presenting a book to the aged Shaykh Husayn, descendant of Muin alDin Chishti and superintendent of his shrine at Ajmer, where Jahangir lived from 1613 to 1616.

414

T

H

E

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t i o n depended o n the absolute supremacy o f the r e i g n i n g m o n a r c h . The n o t i o n o f divine kingship, stretching back to the Turkic conqueror T i m u r b u t strengthened by Akbar, was c o n t i n u e d by Jahangir but even more by his son, the emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58). D u r i n g his reign, he g u i d e d the affairs o f stale as a m i l itary officer, an administrator, a p a t r o n , and a conciliator, w i t h the firm hand that The tomb at Agra built for Itimad al-Dawla (1622-28), Jahangir's father-in-law and minister of finance, and for his wife, was the first major Mughal monument

com-

missioned by a woman. Like other imperial tombs, it is set in a quadripartite garden, but the tomb itself is the first structure in India

his grandfather, Akbar, had earlier displayed. The result was extraordinary material wealth but also the recirculation o f that wealth t h r o u g h patronage, i n portable arts but even m o r e so i n m o n u m e n t a l architecture. Illustrated i n one m i n i a t u r e is the extent to w h i c h Shah Jahan, whose name means " w o r l d r u l e r , " conceived himself as the apogee o f the T i m u r i d lineage. N o t only are the angels m o r e riveted on h i m than those o n the earlier m i n i a t u r e o f Jahangir, but an angel i n the m i d d l e holds an umbrella o n the border o f w h i c h is inscribed Shah Jahan's geneaology g o i n g back to T i m u r . Like the l i o n and the sheep, natural rivalries a m o n g humans are e l i m i n a t e d ; all are cowed by the

in which white marble is

i m p e r i a l presence. So too are the h o l y m e n depicted o n the m i n i a t u r e : i n t w o

inlaid with multicolored

rows they stream t o w a r d the center. They face t w o scales, representing the bal-

semiprecious stones.

ance o f justice maintained i n the w o r l d by the emperor, w h o c o m b i n e d p o w e r

THE

EASTWARD

JOURNEY

OF

MUSLIM

KINGSHIP

41c

(the angel w i t h the s w o r d ) and patronage (the angel w i t h the c r o w n ) . A l t h o u g h the artistic technique o f this m i n i a t u r e m i g h t be criticized as less than perfect ( i m p e r i a l trousers s h o u l d never be fully exposed!), its message is clear: Shah Jahan r u l e d as Shahanshah-i Adil, the Just Emperor. The Taj M a h a l , even m o r e than the actual seat o f M u g h a l emperors, the Peacock Throne, or the massive m o n u m e n t s o f D e l h i , became the m a j o r achievem e n t m a r k i n g Shah Jahan's t h i r t y - y e a r r e i g n o f justice. It commemorates N u r Jahan's niece, M u m t a z Mahal, w h o died i n c h i l d b i r t h i n 1631. It was her death that spurred the g r i e f - s t r i c k e n emperor to construct a m o n u m e n t o f staggering p r o p o r t i o n s . Situated o n the bank o f the Yamuna River i n a garden c o m p l e x cove r i n g f o r t y - t w o acres, i t is flanked by t w o perfectly p r o p o r t i o n e d m o s q u e structures (only one o f w h i c h is an actual mosque) that serve as a backdrop to the transcendent perfection o f the central t o m b complex, the Taj itself. Begun one year after M u m t a z Mahal's death, i t was nearly completed by 1643 w h e n Shah

The Taj Mahal (1631-47), the tomb that Shah Jahan built in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, is the crowning achievement of

Jahan lavishly celebrated the anniversary, or urs, o f his wife's death. The w h o l e

the emperors reign and

c o m p l e x is essentially Persianate i n tone and T i m u r i d i n structure. Its basic struc-

one of the landmarks of

ture resembles Humayun's t o m b , yet its fluid character, its graceful i n c l u s i o n o f

world architecture. The

i n l a i d m o t i f s w i t h marble screens, harks back to the t o m b o f I t i m a d al-Dawla. Because o f the extensive and h a u n t i n g Quranic verses that lace its borders f r o m every side, the Taj Mahal may be a vast allegorical anticipation o f the Day o f

octagonal shape and tall dome hark back to Timurid prototypes, but the vast scale and perfect proportions

Resurrection as imagined i n M u s l i m cosmology and graphically depicted i n die w r i t -

attest to Mughal mastery of

ings o f die major Andalusian sbaykh, Ibn al-Arabi (116 c-1240), w e l l k n o w n both to

materials and forms.

4l6

Set in a garden complex on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, the Taj Mahal stands

THE

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Shah Jahan and to his courtiers. It is possible to relate every feature o f die Taj to the allegory o f the Final Judgment. Its vast gardens become the gardens o f paradise, the

opposite the tomb of Itimad

m a i n entrance its gateway, the fountains heavenly streams, w h i l e the marble t o m b

al-Dawla. Like its predecessor,

looms as the base o f the throne o f God, supported by the four minarets.

the Taj Mahal is made of white marble inlaid with multicolored semiprecious stones. The cenotaphs of the emperor and

Even i n a less-exalted interpretation o f the Taj Mahal, it remains an architectural wonder, the apotheosis o f Shah Jahan's attempt to harmonize his vision o f Islamic loyally and T i m u r i d glory. Fits vision o f perpetual justice, divinely ordained and

his wife are decorated with

artistically etched, was channeled to his oldest son and successor, Dara Sliikoh

Arabic inscriptions and

(1615-59). He was a mercurial figure, trained i n die military and diplomatic arts,

exquisite floral arabesques.

w i t h o u t w h i c h no r u l e r could succeed, but at the same time he was genuinely c o m -

THE

EASTWARD

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OF MUSLIM

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4 J 7

rriitted to mystic pursuits. Unlike his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Dara Shikoh seemed n o t only t o engage saints i n his service but also t o submit h i m s e l f to their guidance. W h i l e still a y o u t h , he is said to have visited a famous Q a d i r i saint i n Lahore w h e n i n the throes o f a debihtating illness. H e recovered and credited

Although primarily known for their monumental tombs, the Mughal emperors

his recovery to that saint, M i y a n Mir. Later, i n 1640, he became the disciple o f one

also founded congregational

o f M i y a n Mir's major successors, M u l l a h Shah Badakhsi A miniature completed i n

mosques. Shah Jahan, for

163c, just before M i y a n Mir's death, shows Dara Shikoh at the feet o f the t w o saints. The contrast w i t h the earlier miniatures o f Jahangir and Shah Jahan cottld not be m o r e complete. It was not Dara Shikoh, however, but his younger brother, Aurangzeb (1618—1707),

example, included a large one in his new walled city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi. Built between 1650 and 1656, the mosque, like the Red

w h o succeeded Shah Jahan and became the last, longest r u l i n g , and possibly most

Fort opposite, is faced with

controversial o f the great Mughal emperors. After defeating his brothers i n a bitter war

red sandstone.

4ï8

THE

OXFORD

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İSLAM

o f succession, he also imprisoned his aged fadier, Shall Jahan, i n Agra Fort. F r o m 1658 to 1707 Aurangzeb (also k n o w n as Alamgir) maintained at least the

outer

unity

of

the

far-flung

Mughal domain. D u r i n g the first half o f his reign (1658—81), he conducted protracted military operations against the insurgent Marathas from Delhi. He moved liis capital to a t o w n i n Deccan, w h i c h he expanded, fortified, and renamed Atirangabad. A l t h o u g h

he

was not successful i n defeating the Marathas, Aurangzeb perpetiiated the Turko-Persian-Islamicate

tradition.

M o r e than his I n d o - T i m u r i d prede cessors, he stressed Islamic juridical n o r m s as the heart o f his o w n life quest. He lived a simple life, keeping dress, food, and diversions to a r n i n i m u n i . He earned income f r o m w r i t i n g copies o f the Q u r a n , w h i c h he then distributed to die poor. His o w n modesty is reflected i n his tomb, o r i g inally a stone cenotaph Chishti t o m b complex

near known

the as

Khuldabad. It was covered w i t h a plain marble slab inside a marble-screened terrace by the Nizam o f Hyderabad i n die early twendeth century'. Aurangzeb was not o n l y person ally p i o u s , he extended

his o w n

preferences to the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f the e m p i r e . He either curtailed or Dara Shikoh, eldest son and successor of Shah Jahan, was interested in mys

altogether

ticism like his forefathers, but his devotion seemed more sincere. In this

patronage o f music, poetry, history,

painting, made around 163c, Dara Shikoh (wearing an orange robe) is seated before two Sufi saints, his teacher Miyan Mir (wearing white), the great Sufi mystic from Lahore, and his successor, Mulla Shah (wearing black).The

and

even

efforts

to

eliminated

official

painting. Although repair

and

his

maintain

halos distinguishing these three figures are allegorical elements assimilated

mosques w o n h i m the gratitude o f

from European paintings.

the M u s l i m r e l i g i o u s classes, less

THE

EASTWARD

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419

popular was his creation o f a m o r a l policeman (muhtasib) for all m a j o r t o w n s and cities i n the empire. The m u h t a s i b c o u l d enforce j u r i d i c a l limits on w i n e consumption, gamb l i n g , and other

"objectionable"

f o r m s o f behavior. Even less p o p u lar was his decision i n 1679

to

reimpose the jizya, w h i c h obliged his H i n d u subjects to pay a p r o p erty tax levied on all n o n - M u s l i m s . N o t all aspects o f Aurangzeb's personality were consistent. He is said to have criticized the extravagance involved i n the construction o f the Taj Mahal, even t h o u g h its occupants were his o w n m o t h e r (and after 1666 his father as w e l l ) . Yet he clearly loved gardens a n d c o u l d n o t suppress the urge to have his

own

favorite

wife,

Rabia

Daurani, w h o died i n 1657, b u r i e d i n a m o n u m e n t a l w h i t e t o m b that he had modeled after the Taj Mahal. The resulting edifice is a gaunt structure. Completed i n four years by the son o f the architect o f the Taj M a h a l , i t captures the marvelous

Aurangzeb, the last and most controversial of the Mughal emper-

central d o m e o f the Taj b u t the

ors, was buried near the tombs of Chisti saints at Khuldabad in

structure is only half the size o f its

western India. His grave was originally marked by a simple stone

m o d e l , and i t seems to have its minarets so sharply positioned near the t o m b that its verticality, n o t its

cenotaph, reflecting his piety and modesty, but in the early twentieth century, the Nizam of Hyderabad added a white marble facing and screened terrace.

harmony, is accented. Furthermore, there is no inlaid w o r k i n die t o m b itself and the exterior panels are covered w i t h less intricate or gracious panels than the Taj Mahal. Yet the Bibi ka Maqbara (Tomb o f the W i f e ) , as i t is popularly k n o w n , is the last i m p e r i a l M u g h a l t o m b built i n a four-cornered garden complex. Like its patron Aurangzeb, i t represents the fading o f an aesthetic tradition that dominated for m o r e than a century f r o m the accession o f Akbar i n icç6 to the i m p r i s o n m e n t o f Shah Jahan i n 1658.

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A l t h o u g h it is impossible to b r i n g o u t the f u l l legacy o f M u g h a l r u l e , and by extension M u s l i m rule, i n South Asia, this is evident i n the t o m b s and books that stand o u t as royal emblems. They remain marks o f a Turkish then T i m u r i d i m p e rial w i l l to stamp the f u t u r e w i t h the actions o f the past. F r o m I l t u t m i s h to Akbar t o Shah Jahan, one can glean a consistency o f i n t e n t , i f n o t o f style, and Aurangzeb, even t h o u g h he tended to stress the sacred w o r d , still made r o o m for the visual, expressive element o f Persianate culture. I n every case, i t is kings and The presence of Islam in

kingships that perpetuate, even as they redefine, a t r a d i t i o n o f absolute rule i n the

Southeast Asia should be

name o f Islam.

understood through the series of harbor cities that served as places for the exchange and transshipment

The Emergence of Islam in Southeast Asia

of goods between China and

The emergence o f Islam i n Southeast Asia is b o t h an extension o f M u s l i m his-

the West. Melaka, founded

t o r y i n the Asian subcontinent and an independent expression o f Islamic c i v i -

around 1400, was the major

lization unrelated to any h i s t o r y except its o w n . The m a j o r feature o f Southeast

entrepot on the northern side of the strait of Malacca, and the city's power and cul-

Asia is t o p o g r a p h i c a l : i t provides access to m a j o r trading routes, a l l o w i n g i t t o connect t w o m a i n l a n d masses, India and China, by sea. The strait o f Malacca

ture expanded to include

(Melaka) was the strategic l i n k i n the trade between I n d i a and C h i n a . It c o n -

other neighboring regions,

nected the Bay o f Bengal w i t h the South China Sea. Like the Malabar coast, the

such as Kuala Kangsar, 2 0 0

strait was a h i n g e i n the m o n s o o n a l sailing system. Vessels crossing the Bay o f

miles to the northwest.

Bengal eastbound o n the s u m m e r m o n s o o n c o u l d n o r m a l l y reach China before

THE E A S T W A R D J O U R N E Y OF M U S L I M KINGSHIP

42 I

the o p p o s i n g northeast w i n d set i n . They w o u l d then w i n t e r i n a p o r t along the strait before c o n t i n u i n g a r o u n d the Malay peninsula and across the South China Sea i n A p r i l or May. The easiest o p t i o n for India-based merchants was t o sell their goods i n the strait t o w n s and t h e n r e t u r n directly to Malabar o n the w i n ter w i n d . Chinese shippers w o u l d f o l l o w the same seasonal pattern o f travel and trade, o n l y i n reverse. So i m p o r t a n t was trade and travel to Southeast Asia that one m i g h t expect t o f i n d pictures o f the vessels i n w h i c h merchants

and

migrants voyaged to the archipelago. Yet such pictures are rare. The closest e x i s t i n g replica may be a f i g u r e taken f r o m a M u g h a l m a n u s c r i p t , w h i c h describes a s i x t e e n t h - c e n t u r y

I n d i a n s h i p d o i n g service as " N o a h ' s

ark,"

a l t h o u g h i t may i n fact resemble the k i n d o f vessels that b r o u g h t I n d i a n traders to parts east, i n c l u d i n g the archipelago. Because trade i m p e l l e d I n d i a n M u s l i m s to make the l o n g , o f t e n p e r i l o u s t r i p s t o Southeast Asia, i t is n o t s u r p r i s i n g that the M u s l i m traveler I b n B a t t u t a h p r o v i d e d the f i r s t w r i t t e n r e c o r d o f M u s l i m s e t t l e m e n t s i n the archipelago. A fourteenth-century exemplar o f wanderlust, I b n Battutah j o u r n e y e d f r o m the west to the east, s a i l i n g f r o m A n d a l u s i a to n o r t h e r n A f r i c a , t h e n across the M e d i t e r r a n e a n , the Red Sea, a n d the I n d i a n Ocean u n t i l he reached the Malay a r c h i p e l a g o

en r o u t e t o C h i n a . I n 1345

Ibn

Battutah was o n b o a r d an I n d i a n vessel that s t o p p e d i n Pase, a p o r t c i t y i n present-day Sumatra. H e n o t e d the presence o f a f l o u r i s h i n g M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y there, yet I b n Battutah tells l i t t l e else about the h i s t o r y o f e i t h e r Pase or the s u r r o u n d i n g c o m m u n i t i e s . H i s t a n t a l i z i n g r e c o r d m i r r o r s the rest o f t h e Malay a r c h i p e l a g o : i t has a v i b r a n t past b u t l i t t l e c o n t e m p o r a r y

data,

e i t h e r a r c h e o l o g i c a l or h i s t o r i c a l , o n w h i c h t o r e c o n s t r u c t the emergence o f M u s l i m polities. The first task f o r serious i n q u i r y i n t o Southeast Asia's past is to go b e h i n d the names o f such m o d e r n nation-states as Indonesia and Malaysia. Even the t e r m Southeast Asia m u s t be abandoned, a n d the simple geographic facts o f the r e g i o n m u s t be considered. There is a s t r i n g o f islands, most o f w d i i c h are incapable o f sustaining large p o p u l a t i o n s . Above all, there is severe i n t e r n a l fragm e n t a t i o n , w i t h the p r i m a r y f o c a l p o i n t s b e i n g the h a r b o r cities, w h i c h become places for the exchange a n d transshipment o f goods between China and the West. I n other w o r d s , there is n o t a history, a heritage, or a t r a d i t i o n that c o u l d i d e n t i f y a n d stand for the r e g i o n as a w h o l e i n the way that the Turko-Persianate

t r a d i t i o n came to d o m i n a t e Islamic South Asia i n the pre¬

m o d e r n p e r i o d . Instead, i n Southeast Asia there is a mosaic o f starts, stops, a n d piecemeal development. One m u s t never lose sight o f the discrete, i d i o s y n cratic, and diverse character o f the p o r t cities o f the r e g i o n , w h i c h were the focus o f Islamic settlements.

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T h e m o s t s i g n i f i c a n t feature o f I s l a m i n Southeast Asia b e f o r e 1700

there-

fore is the absence o f m a i n narratives. I n v a i n , scholars have l o o k e d f o r o f f i cial o r u n o f f i c i a l records that m i g h t have been preserved i n the m u l t i p l e m a n u s c r i p t s n o w available f o r p u b l i c scrutiny. U n l i k e t h e D e l h i Sultanate or the M u g h a l e m p i r e , w h i c h shaped the Turko-Persianate

t r a d i t i o n o f the

I n d i a n s u b c o n t i n e n t , t h e Malay a r c h i p e l a g o does n o t p r o v i d e signposts t o use t o i d e n t i f y a n d d i s c e r n the patterns o f Southeast A s i a n Islamicate c i v i l i z a t i o n . Instead, there are discrete areas, o f w h i c h f i v e w i l l be discussed: A c h e h , Samudra, M e l a k a , Moluccas and Sulawesi, a n d Java.

The Early Muslim Kingdoms of Acheh Acheh w as the first r e g i o n o f modern-day Indonesia i n w h i c h M u s l i m k i n g d o m s r

were f o u n d e d . Marco Polo observed a M u s l i m k i n g o n the n o r t h coast o f Sumatra i n 1292, m o r e than a h a l f century before the oceanic voyage o f I b n Battutah landed h i m further t o the south o n the same island. The Portuguese voyager Tome Pires, w r i t i n g i n the early sixteenth century, p r o v i d e d the earliest e t h n o graphic record o f Acheh. His account reinforces the n o t i o n o f fragmentation: the center is h e l d together by a strong ruler, but the s u r r o u n d i n g villages b o t h p r o tect and challenge the harbor cities. There are n o city walls, n o forts, n o m o u n tain castles but instead a system o f constant exchange and negotiation. The rulers o f Acheh are i d e n t i f i e d as o r t h o d o x M u s l i m s h o l d i n g sway over a splendid court. Their wealth depended o n the t r i b u t e that they levied f r o m n e i g h b o r i n g regions and also f r o m ships that used the harbor at Acheh. Later the rulers o f Acheh were able to benefit f r o m overseas ties to p o w e r f u l M u s l i m allies, b o t h i n India (the Mughals) and Turkey (the Ottomans). Yet they never subdued the i n t e r i o r o f the island. Even w h e n the Achinese empire was at its height, d u r i n g the second half o f die sixteenth and first half o f the seventeenth centuries, the sultan's authority was confined to the immediate v i c i n i t y o f the capital. Acheh itsef was d i v i d e d i n t o many smaller districts, each governed by hereditary chiefs w h o constandy feuded w i t h one another. It was the prince o f the p o r t o f Acheh w h o served as the c o m m o n overlord and carried the title o f sultan. It is t e m p t i n g to see parallels w i t h the Mughals, because the seal o f the sultan o f Acheh was based o n a n i n e f o l d pattern, as was that o f the M u g h a l emperors. A m i d - n i n t e e n t h century c o i n , w h i c h traces the Achinese royal lineage back to the early t h i r t e e n t h century, f u r t h e r suggested c o n t i n u i t y w i t h South Asian M u s l i m monarchs, b u t this c o n t i n u i t y is l i m i t e d by t w o i m m e d i a t e , o v e r r i d i n g differences: first, the m e a n i n g o f the seals was not the same, because the shadow o f God o n earth, a key epithet o f the r u l e r i n b o t h polities, projected the great M u g h a l as the semidivine l o r d o f a vast realm, w h i l e it is d o u b t f u l that m o r e than

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a h a n d f u l o f Achínese courtiers ever a t t r i b u t e d suprahuman qualities to the sultan o f A c h e h ; and second, the n i n e f o l d seal was not itself the most i m p o r t a n t seal o f the Achínese c o u r t . For the hereditary chiefs o f A c h e h , James Siegel has argued, the paramount seal was the fivefold seal, w h i c h signified the h a n d as a s y m b o l o f power and meant the chief's a b i l i t y n o t only to project p o w e r over others b u t also to protect his o w n possessions and t e r r i t o r y F r o m a r e l i g i o u s perspective, w h a t became evident is the d e v e l o p m e n t o f a f o r m o f Islamic d e v o t i o n that is l i n k e d to the m e d i a t i n g p o w e r o f M u s l i m saints. Scholars i m a g i n e that there m a y have b e e n i n t r i c a t e

relationships

between t e m p o r a l a n d s p i r i t u a l p o w e r i n Southeast Asia that resembled those i n South Asia, b u t that remains a conjecture. Despite occasional literary giants, such as the Sufi poet H a m z a h al-Fansuri, w h o w r o t e i n the m i d - s i x t e e n t h to the early seventeenth centuries, there is n o c o n t e m p o r a r y h i s t o r y o f m a j o r saints or their tombs. Yet saint's t o m b s were b u i l t and their m e r e existence is itself i m p o r t a n t . Even t h o u g h the t o m b s are less g r a n d t h a n those o f M u g h a l I n d i a , i n A c h e h as elsewhere the t r a d i t i o n o f v i s i t i n g saintly t o m b s still exists. The purpose o f these visits resembles wdiat was observed i n South Asia: w h a t -

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ever their b a c k g r o u n d o r status, p i l g r i m s came w i t h gifts and v o w s seeking the s p i r i t u a l favor o f saints for material or m e d i c a l r e l i e f M o r e open to question is the relation o f f o r m a l religious authorities to representatives o f indigenous traditions. The oft-repeated dyad pits preconversionary disbelief (jahiiya) against d i v i n e l y revealed faith (iman or islam). This is an attractive dyad because i t suggests a radical experiential break between the o l d and the new, the i m p u r e and the pure, the false and the true. I n Southeast Asian Islam the dyad is framed as adat, referring to all that stands outside j u r i d i c a l Islam, and hukum, m e a n i n g " l a w s " or the announced guidelines o f an Islamic code that governs collective life. Yet the d i s t i n c t i o n is m o r e projected than observed; i t remains an ideal type, n o t a lived experience. I n Achinese h i s t o r y the t w o polar extremes o f social i d e n t i t y can, and often do, merge. Instead o f o u t r i g h t h o s t i l ity, one finds at least tacit politeness, and frequently m u t u a l respect, between the so-called representatives o f adat, the hereditary chiefs, and the champions

of

h u k u m , the ulama (religious scholars). The greatest source o f tension i n Achinese history, and Malay history i n general, lies outside religious w o r l d v i e w s and their exponents. It is the u n e n d i n g struggle between m a r g i n a l and central groups. Before the D u t c h ascendancy i n the archipelago f r o m the early seventeenth century and i n Acheh f r o m the m i d nineteenth century, the harbor sultan t r i e d to keep Acheh integrally cohesive by subsuming hereditary chiefs under his authority. But the D u t c h declared w a r against the Achinese, and that w a r lasted m o r e than t h i r t y - f i v e years, c o n t i n u i n g i n t o the t w e n t i e t h century. It reduced the p r o m i n e n c e o f Acheh and shifted the reins o f political p o w e r to Java. N o t u n t i l 1956, and o n l y after a bloody guerilla campaign against Indonesian forces, d i d Acheh become again w h a t i t had been i n the p r e m o d e r n p e r i o d : an autonomous province, characterized by i n d e p e n dent practices, b o t h p o l i t i c a l and religious, f r o m the d o m i n a n t center.

The Pivotal Role of Samudra in the Expansion of Islam A l t h o u g h the history o f Samudra is l i n k e d to that o f Acheh, i t is nonetheless discrete and i n d e p e n d e n t i n many respects. The first recorded M u s l i m k i n g o f Samudra, Merah Silu ( d . 1297), assumed the Islamic tide o f al-Malik as-Salih (the Righteous K i n g ) . There are no chronicles, either official or u n o f f i c i a l , to trace the subsequent history o f his dynasty. Samudra, along w i t h Melaka, seems to have played a pivotal role i n the expansion o f Islam t h r o u g h o u t the archipelago. A l l conjectures depend o n decoding opaque references i n tombstones and coins as w e l l as a h a n d f u l o f chronicles, mostly f o r e i g n . Dynastic p o w e r and influence were l i n k e d to the p o r t cities. F r o m the p o r t o f Samudra, also k n o w n as Pasai, Islamic loyalty radiated to other parts o f the Malay archipelago. Its internal v e h i -

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cle o f transrnission remained linked to courts, w h i c h were also located i n o r near the m a j o r p o r t cities. Rather t h a n extracting w e a l t h f r o m i n t e r i o r sources, w h e t h e r t h r o u g h commerce o r agriculture, the rulers o f Samudra and other har b o r sultans depended o n the w e a l t h that was generated t h r o u g h trade. F r o m the fourteenth century o n , foreign trade remained i n M u s l i m hands, and so the ethos o f p o r t cities reflected Islamic cultural n o r m s . Indigenous n o r m s were i n c o r p o rated but never e l i m i n a t e d . Retrospectively, t h e n , the h i s t o r i a n is perpetually faced w i t h the question o f w h a t s h o u l d be stressed, the Islamic difference (epit o m i z e d as hukum) or the persistence o f indigenous n o r m s (adat). A g a i n , the precious details f r o m I b n Battutah's account a l l o w scholars to i m a g i n e a M u s l i m court i n Samudra-Pasai. The Andalusian adventurer attended the central mosque f o r the Friday prayer service. H e also frequented the court w i t h f o r e i g n scholars i n attendance, speaking Arabic o r Persian to a small g r o u p o f l i k e - m i n d e d people. ( M o d e r n scholars presume that the conversations were t h e n s u m m a r i z e d i n Malay for the ruler's benefit.) I n every other respect, h o w ever, the palace o f Samudra f o l l o w e d custom and r i t u a l that d i f f e r e d little f r o m the H i n d u - B u d d h i s t states o f the Malay archipelago. W h a t most concerned the M u s l i m rulers o f Samudra-Pasai was n o t the propagation o f Islam to the h i n terland but relations w i t h their regional rivals. The traditional enemy o f Pasai was another Sumatran regional power, Pedir, but Pasai also rivaled A c h e h for overseas trade. W h e n the Portuguese captured Melaka i n i cı i , A c h e h was t e m p o r a r i l y weakened to Pasai's benefit, but by the e n d o f the sixteenth century Pasai was already i n the throes o f an economic and p o l i t i c a l decline f r o m w h i c h it never recovered.

The Muslim Port State of Melaka Because Melaka (also k n o w n as Malacca) was f o u n d e d i n about 1400, it has claims to be almost as early a M u s l i m p o r t state as either Acheh o r Pasai, yet this kernel o f historical t r u t h is elusive. I n the case o f Melaka, the historical account derives b o t h f r o m the Portuguese records o f Tome Pires, w r i t t e n after the c o n quest o f Melaka i n içi 1, and f r o m an indigenous source, the Sejurah Melayu, w h i c h can o n l y be corroborated as a w r i t t e n record i n the early seventeenth century. Both accounts agree that an extraordinary entrepot emerged o n the n o r t h e r n side o f the Strait o f Malacca. It can be traced back to the p r e - M u s l i m k i n g d o m o f Srivijaya, and i t was n o d o u b t the power and wealth o f mercantile culture i n the Malay peninsula that p r o d u c e d b o t h Srivijaya and its successor state, the Melaka state. The Melaka state, like its archipelago rivals, boasted a M u s l i m royal lineage that began w i t h its founder and ruler, the Malay prince Paramesvara (r. 1403-24), w h o converted to Islam i n 14.13, and extended to the sultan M a h m u d Shah (r.

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1488-1511). T h o u g h i t never conquered either Pasai o r Acheh, Melaka rivaled t h e m for regional influence. Because Melaka was also a c o n q u e r i n g state and expanded territorially t o include other regions t o the n o r t h and vassal states t o the south, i t m i g h t even be said that Melaka p r o v i d e d the catalyst for a c o m m o n cultural i d i o m that over t i m e came t o characterize m u c h o f the archipelago. I n literature, governance, music, dance, dress, and f o o d , Melaka set a standard that other p o r t city sultanates emulated. Startling even t o the Portuguese conquerors was the extent t o w h i c h most o f Sumatra's east coast had been i n f l u e n c e d b y its n o r t h e r n n e i g h b o r ; almost all u r b a n elites spoke Melakan Malay, and they also acknowledged n o t oidy correct speech but also g o o d manners and appropriate behavior as Malay custom. Islam also came t o be measured by its practice i n Melaka. A l t h o u g h both Acheh and Samudra-Pasai h a d a m a j o r role i n p r o m o t i n g Islamic i d e n t i t y among their o w n vassals, the Malay society o f Melaka set its stamp o n the n e w l y emer gent f o r m s o f Islamic loyalty and identity, so m u c h so that t o become M u s l i m was i n effect to maşuk Melayu, that İs, " t o enter the realm o f the M e l a y u " or Malays. I n the late fifteenth century the Portuguese became cornmitted to m o n o p o l i z i n g the Asian spice trade, and they viewed Melaka as a crucial target o f future con quest. Because o f superior firepower, aided by internal dissent a m o n g Melaka's r u l i n g elites, the Portuguese w a r r i o r extraordinaire. Afonsode Albuquerque, was able to capture the capital city i n 1511 and to expand Portugese influence progres sively further to the east. Eventually Portuguese commercial and military ambitions were thwarted, although n o t by indigenous resistance b u t rather by the arrival o f a superior European naval force, the D u t c h , i n the early seventeenth century.

The Spice-Rich Islands of the Moluccas and Sulawesi The prize for b o t h the Portugese and the D u t c h were t h e spice-rich islands k n o w n as the Moluccas a n d Sulawesi. A l t h o u g h the Moluccas are so small as to m e r i t almost n o attention i n studies o f Southeast Asia, they are significant as the furthest edge o f the Malay cultural zone, w h i c h begins i n A c h e h but had its cen ter o f d i f f u s i o n t o the n o r t h , i n Melaka (Malacca). I f Molucca sounds like Malacca, it is because the t w o extremes o f the Malay archipelago are related by c o m m o n linguistic and cultural patterns as w e l l as by c o m m e r c i a l and social exchange. Despite t h e earlier caveat that there is t o o m u c h i n t e r n a l f r a g m e n t a t i o n i n Southeast Asia t o speak o f a c o m m o n civilization i n the p r e m o d e r n p e r i o d , the history o f the Moluccas suggests that at least the elements o f a core Southeast Asian Islamicate w o r l d can be derived f r o m the Malay cultural c o m p l e x and then traced eastward t h r o u g h m u c h o f the archipelago. The Moluccas bring out what is only liinted at i n most sources but needs to be stressed repeatedly: Adat and h u k u m can and d o coexist, w i t h o u t existential angst

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or psychic breakdown, i n the same groups w h o identify themselves as Muslims. I n parts o f the central Moluccas participation i n the m o r e iconic practices o f I s l a m — such as abstaining f r o m eating pork, attending c o m m u n a l prayer, and observing Ramadan—coexist w i t h an open invocation o f the ancestors, magic, and sorcery I n some places pilgrimage to sacred places is regarded as an acceptable substitute for the hajj, w i t h it being seen as an Arab custom not required o f " t r u e " Muslims. I n practice, the seeming contradictions between adat and h u k u m are often m i n i m i z e d ; they remain latent and potential rather than actual, especially because they can often be resolved through skillful resort to the Shuriah (eternal Islamic law). Next d o o r to the Moluccas, i n Sulawesi, i t is equally d i f f i c u l t to demarcate t o o sharply the particular f r o m the universal. Hereditary k i n g s h i p , however spoltily d o c u m e n t e d , seems to be the l i n c h p i n to understanding the emergence o f n e w Islamic c o m m u n i t i e s . Islam was i n t r o d u c e d to Sulawesi t h r o u g h the connection w i t h Melaka and Acheh. As the Malay language increasingly became a lingua franca for the entire archipelago t h r o u g h the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the rulers o f southern Sulawesi were d r a w n to imitate the M u s l i m m o d e l o f success. Impressed by the example o f the sultanate o f Acheh, they embraced Islam i n 1605.

There are n o coins celebrating k i n g s h i p , as noted i n Samudra, b u t

because commerce between I n d i a and the archipelago was constant, the legend o f M u g h a l dynastic success must have been at least as impressive i n Makassar, the capital o f south Sulawesi, as it was i n R o m e o r L o n d o n . It is also likely that the sultan o f Sulawesi k n e w that the power o f A c h e h , especially after the fall o f Melaka, had been buttressed by help f r o m the O t t o m a n k i n g o f kings, Suleyman the Magnificent (r. i c 2 o - 6 6 ) . Despite the anti-Arab bias i n many circles, p i l g r i m s r e t u r n i n g f r o m the Hejaz (the seat o f the holy cities o f Mecca and M e d i n a ) w o u l d have reinforced the mystique o f M u s l i m kings, w h e t h e r O t t o m a n o r M u g h a l . Each Sulawesi ruler, like his Achinese counterpart, was thus able to project h i m s e l f t h r o u g h c o u r t chroniclers and Sufi poets as the true k i n g , just and wise, the shadow o f G o d o n earth, the axial p o i n t o f a new and expanding M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y . The p r o b l e m o f fragm e n t a t i o n remained, however. I n Sulawesi, as i n Acheh and Melaka, the n u m b e r o f those receptive to such a lofty n o t i o n o f Islamic k i n g s h i p was l i m i t e d to the p o r t cities and the regions that supported t h e m t h r o u g h tax levies. W h a t is evident to even the casual observer is that Islam itself became an i d i o m for symbolic and administrative c o n t r o l : the sultan w h o claimed d i v i n e lineage c o u l d be supreme arbiter and absolute m o n a r c h w i t h o u t challenge to his dual exercise o f authority. Yet the hereditary chieftains o f the archipelago i n Melaka, Samudra, and Sulawesi c o n t i n u e d to claim their rights o n the basis o f ancient cust o m a r y law. In effect, the struggle-—and i t was a protracted struggle f r o m the fifteenth century o n — w a s between t w o very different kinds o f leaders: centripetal rulers, w h o converted to Islam and invoked Islam to retain all rights w i t h i n their

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o w n courtly p u r v i e w , and t r a d i t i o n a l rulers, w h o also became M u s l i m but c o n tinued to e m b o d y and protect the customary practices o f the c o m m u n i t y , o f t e n described as magic, superstition, or soothsaying. The multiple invocation o f Islam can be seen i n the portrayal o f spiritual contests, w h i c h are often depicted i n folklore as pitting M u s l i m kings against their opponents. The c o m m o n theme is the mandate o f Islamic kingship to overcome and eradicate local pre-Islamic beliefs. Muslims kings d o n o t always vvtn; what is perhaps even m o r e interesting, at least f r o m a narrative perspective, is the identical structure o f the tales. There are always t w o combatants w h o represent the opposing communities. The loser always goes first, d o i n g a seemingly impossible task that is then topped by his opponent, the eventual w i n n e r . For instance, i n a spiritual contest waged i n n o r t h e r n Sumatra, i n the r e g i o n o f Acheh, i t is the M u s l i m sultan w h o outduels an Indian yogi. Yet i n southern Sulawesi the contest takes a different t u r n : i t involves a k i n d o f tag-team contest i n w h i c h a cadre o f M u s l i m religious officals (ulama) are locked i n duel w i t h a cadre o f local soothsayers (botos). A religious official goes first: he sits on top o f a banana leaf to say his prayers, after w h i c h a soothsayer proceeds to recite his prayers standing o n his head o n the same banana leaf! A second religious official then piles up thousands o f eggs w i t h o u t breaking one, and o f course, the second soothsayer then takes out rows o f eggs f r o m different parts o f the pile . . . w i t h o u t breaking a single one. A n d so i t goes u n t i l the ulama are vanquished and the soothsayers emerge victorious. The details o f the narrative are finally less i m p o r t a n t , despite their intrinsic appeal as displays o f m i n d - n u m b i n g virtuosity, than the l i m i t s that they place o n official, centrist r u l e : a l t h o u g h wrapped i n a seamless Islamic ideology o f autocratic c o n t r o l , M u s l i m officials are n o t able to vanquish adroit local p r a c t i t i o n ers, w h o also define themselves as M u s l i m . Contest stories, for example, d o not explain w h i c h prayers the religious official and the soothsayer recited, but presumably b o t h p e r f o r m e d M u s l i m ritual prayer (saint).

The Islamic Conquest o f the Javanese K i n g d o m A l t h o u g h Java is very i m p o r t a n t to contemporary Southeast Asia, p r o v i d i n g b o t h the demographic and the bureaucratic center o f m o d e r n - d a y Indonesia, scholars find that importance receding as they move back t o w a r d the precolonial p e r i o d . Again, there is a paucity o f historical data that w o u l d allow scholars to trace plausible connections between the Indie past and the islamic present o f Javanese cities or their h i n t e r l a n d . Most scholarship has tried to find historical clues i n extant Islamic literature, yet t o o httle is k n o w n about the m a j o r m a n u s c r i p t collections, w h i c h were o n l y assembled i n the nineteenth century, and there is almost n o background i n f o r m a t i o n available o n their provenance. Some contemporary m o n u m e n t s do exist, however, that reflect structures o r i g -

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irtally built to commemorate the arrival o f M u s l i m rule i n Java. A m o n g t h e m are t w o mosques: the Yogyakarta a n d C i r e b o n mosques. The c o m m u n i t y m o s q u e o f Yogyakarta is said t o have been b u i l t by the foremost M u s l i m r u l e r o f the second Mataram dynasty, Sultan A g u n g (r. 1613-45), although it was n o t completed u n t i l die late eighteenth century. The mosque is an impressive structure, although it has been renovated often since its o r i g i n a l foundation. It is dwarfed by the central palace complex k n o w n as the Kraton, b u i l t i n the late eighteenth century t o reflect a Javanese-Indie w o r l d v i e w that h i g h l i g h t s the r u l e r as the center o f the universe i n a manner reminiscent o f the Turko-Persianate m o d e l discussed earlier. The pattern o f juxtaposing royal structures w i t h religious sites occurs elsewhere i n Java, notably i n Cirebon o n the n o r t h coast. The c o m m u n i t y mosque o f Cirebon is a m o n g the oldest landmarks o f the M u s l i m presence i n Java; its c o n s t r u c t i o n is said t o g o back to the early sixteenth century. Its elaborate w o o d e n scaffolding and expansive outer c o u r t y a r d reveal a refined aesthetic t r a d i t i o n , yet i t t o o has been m u c h renovated i n subsequent centuries. At the same t i m e , the Cirebon central mosque is architecturally d w a r f e d by the royal complexes o n either side o f it, b o t h o f w h i c h bear witness t o a style o f o r n a m e n t a t i o n that is t o o diffuse t o be neatly classified b u t that accents furnishings f r o m Europe a n d China w i t h i n an overall Javanese structure. Overall, the locus o f spiritual power for Java was n o t dissimilar f r o m its locus

Mosques were built on the island of Java to commemorate the arrival of Muslims there. The congregational mosque at

i n the n e i g h b o r i n g islands o f Sumatra and Sulawesi. It was r u r a l rather than urban;

Yogyakarta in central

even w h e n i t embraced an Islamic i d i o m , i t c o n t i n u e d t o reflect the d i s t i n c t i o n

Java, for example, was

between c o u r t and countryside, w i t h p r i o r i t y given t o those landscapes o f villages, rice fields, forests, and m o u n t a i n s , w h i c h , according to A. Day, c o u l d extend i n t o seascapes, islands, and m y t h i c a l places across the seas, f o r m i n g a c o n t i n u u m o f l i t erary space outside and m o v i n g away f r o m the palace. A l t h o u g h the actual Islamic conquest o f the Javanese k i n g d o m o f Majapahit took

founded by the foremost ruler of the Mataram line, Sultan Agung (r. 1613-45), but it was not

completed until the late eighteenth century.

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place i n 1478, regional courts and r u r a l customs persisted, underscoring the emergence o f a u n i q u e pattern o f M u s l i m loyalty.- O n the one h a n d , Southeast Asian Islam c o u l d be l i n k e d to the patterns o f Turko-Persianate Islamic culture e x a m i n e d i n South Asia, b u t that w o u l d be to adopt the v i e w p o i n t o f sultans and the courts that were constructed to reflect and perpetuate their v i s i o n o f a "perfect" Islamic society. O n the other h a n d , i t is impossible to i g n o r e the d u r a b i l i t y o f a broad spectrum o f local t r a d i t i o n s : customary law h a d its custodians and its exemplars, most o f w h o m were attracted to aspects o f the Islamic w o r l d v i e w but w h o adapted i t to their needs rather than replacing the local w i t h the universal, the i n d i g e n o u s w i t h the f o r e i g n . It is wise to refrain f r o m too d i c h o t o m o u s a reading o f Islam i n Southeast Asia. To compartmentalize and then philosophize is to i n d u l g e i n an excess o f presentmindedness; that is, to t r y to read all h i s t o r y t h r o u g h the most recent developThe congregational at C i r e b o n o n t h e

mosque north

ments w i t h o u t according sufficient difference to p r e m o d e r n , earlier epochs and their distinctive features. Present-mindedness

undergirds the f a m i l i a r dyadic

coast o f Java r e p o r t e d l y

reading o f Malay and then Indonesian religious h i s t o r y : i t provides a m a i n nar-

dates f r o m the early

rative t o e x p l a i n m o d e r n - d a y events. Consider the c o m p l e x i t y o f m o d e r n

six-

t e e n t h c e n t u r y , b u t it h a s b e e n repeatedly restored. Its courtyard

and

pitched

from local

internal t u r m o i l o n a massive scale. N o t o n l y hereditary chiefs but also their f a m -

a

ilies were the p r i n c i p a l victims. Was that atrocity the final settling o f a centuries-

derived

o l d struggle between customary law and Islam, as some have suggested, o r was

w o o d e n roofs show refined aesthetic

Achinese history. I n 1945, f o l l o w i n g the Japanese occupation, A c h e h witnessed

models.

i t rather the use o f r e l i g i o n as an ideology, i n this case. Islamic " o r t h o d o x y " scrv-

THE

EASTWARD

JOURNEY

i n g as the i n s t r u m e n t o f drastic socioeconomic

OF

MUSLIM

KINGSHIP

43 1

change? Customary law and

Islam d o not represent cultural oppositions so m u c h as t e m p o r a r y p o l i t i c a l alliances, and the invocation o f Islam by the " v i c t o r i o u s " g r o u p i n 194c had as m u c h to d o w i t h efforts to centralize and homogenize all parts o f the new])- independent island-nation o f Indonesia as it d i d w i t h doctrinal or r i t u a l differences a m o n g theAchinese. One caveat remains for Southeast Asia as for South Asia: Islam should be examined as m o r e than either its exponents o r detractors w i s h to make i t . Civilizations d r a w o n the symbolic and i n s t i t u t i o n a l power o f all available r e l i gions, yet they d o not exhaust the availability o f any one r e l i g i o n to oppositional groups. I n the case o f Acheh and the n e i g h b o r i n g Malay polities, scholars f i n d groups w h o resist a M u s l i m r u l e r i n the n a m e o f the same G o d , the same Prophet, and the same c o m m u n i t y o f behevers. The contest is over p o l i t i c a l a u t h o r i t y even w h e n i t is framed as a contest over religious t r u t h . The lesson f r o m b o t h South and Southeast Asia is to recognize Islamic n o r m s and values as transferable and persistent in many contexts, w h o m e v e r the rulers and whatever the stake i n local or regional contests for powder.

CHAPTER

TEN

Central Asia and China TRANSNATIONALIZATION, ISLAMIZATION, AND E T H N I C I Z A T I O N

Dm C . Gladney

D u r i n g his 1994 visit to each o f the newly established Central Asian states (except Tajikistan), Li Peng, then premier o f China, indicated that China intends to b u i l d a " n e w Silk Road" i n the r e g i o n , t h r o u g h investments estimated t o surpass all other foreign investments by the end o f the twentieth century. This prediction began to r i n g true w h e n Premier Li traveled to Kazakhstan i n 1996 to sign an exclusive agreement for Chinese rights to the Ozen o i l field, the largest o i l field i n Kazakhstan, and perhaps i n Central Asia. This indicates the g r o w i n g importance o f Central Asian trade to Cruna's international economy. I n short, China hopes to downplay its political role i n the region by emphasizing its historical and econ o m i c roles, attempting to " b u y " stability o n its n e w Central Asian borders. The history o f this p o l i c y extends back to the H a n and Tang dynasties, w h e n strong, centralizing Chinese empires sought to establish t r i b u t a r y states o n its borders and to e m p l o y n o m a d i c khanates as buffer zones between m o r e estab-

(Left) There are nearly twenty million Muslims in China, more than in all of Saudi Arabia. Seagoing merchants brought Islam to coastal China, while over-

lished Eurasian k i n g d o m s . China's desire lor influence i n Central Asia today is

land traders brought it

reminiscent o f the Great Game o f the late nineteenth century, w h e n China com¬

across the mountains of

peted w i t h Russia and Britain for dominan< e c« ex the strategic region oi Central

Central Asia to western

Asia. A n e w Great Game is c u r r e n t l y being played out i n the r e g i o n for critical access to its i m p o r t a n t m i n e r a l and energy resources. But today the players include n o t o n l y China, Russia, and t o a lesser extent B r i t a i n but also m u l t i n a t i o n a l corporations, the U n i t e d States, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia,

433

China. Here, Muslims in a cemetery at Kashgar in the western province of Xinjiang recite prayers at a funeral.

434

THÍ

;

OXFORD

HISTORY OF

ISLAM

and Turkey. Caught i n the m i d s t of this " g a m e " are the local peoples and c u l tures, m o s t l y M u s l i m and Turkic, w i t h a large variety o f different c u l t u r a l and historical traditions. This chapter examines current Sino-Central Asian relations i n l i g h t o f the l o n g history o f exchanges across the Eurasian continent t h r o u g h the rise o f the southe r n and n o r t h e r n Silk Roads. Three aspects o f the Sino-Central Asian historical and contemporary relations endure until this day: transnationalization

(both

because o f the rise o f the Silk Road and u n i f i c a t i o n u n d e r the M o n g o l s ) , Islamization (leading to social and e c o n o m i c transformations affecting b o t h Chinese and Central Asian sides o f the r e g i o n ) , and the ethnicization o f local identities (because o f i m p e r i a l , Soviet, and Chinese socialist policies). These issues pervade China's historical and contemporary relationship w i t h Central Asia and go beyond traditional analyses o f the region, w h i c h have been p r i m a r i l y concerned w i t h trade and state-to-state relations, generally taking for granted the Inner Asia is distinguished by a rugged terrain, with soaring peaks and harsh deserts. The Tien Shan

identities o f the people concerned and the abdity o f the e c o n o m i c development m o d e l to integrate t h e m . Each o f these processes significandy transformed the vast region o f Eurasia into

mountains divide the region

what i t is today. Transnationalization was thus a gradual process that linked disparate

into two sections, an eastern

tribes and kingdoms t h r o u g h the interlinks o f die ancient Silk Road, the unification

part comprising the Chinese province of Xinjiang, and a western section now divided between the central Asian

o f the Mongols, and the gradual transformation o f ancient satrapies and kingdoms into m o d e r n nation-states. Islamization molded the plethora o f multireligious and pluralistic cultural traditions (mcluding Manichaeanism, Buddhism, and widespread

republics of Tajikistan,

shamanism) i n t o a fairly widespread acceptance o f the basic tenets o f one major

Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

w o r l d religion: Islam. Finally, ethnicization is an ongoing process i n w h i c h formerly

CENTRAL ASIA AND CHINA

45Ç

tribal and religious c o m m u n a l groups have gradual!) come to d u n k o f themselves as ethnic groups w i t h rights and aspirations for nationhood. Perhaps the best example o f this process is the U i g h u r people, once a tribal confederation, then a k i n g d o m , and

finally

a

M u s l i m nationality o f the People's Republic o f China, w i t h many Uighurs seeking to establish their o w n separate nadon, Uighuristan. China has recently awakened to the fact that it is a nation w i t h a significant M u s l i m and Central Asian p o p u l a t i o n ; the expansion o f Islam t h r o u g h Central Asia i n t o China is an important

issue t h r o u g h o u t this

chapter.

W i t h nearly t w e n t y m i l l i o n M u s l i m s , China

As far back as the Han and Tang

ranks as one o f the w o r l d ' s most p o p u l o u s

strong centralizing Chinese empires tried to establish tributary states

M u s l i m nations. A l t h o u g h its M u s l i m p o p u -

on their borders and use nomadic khanates as buffer zones. The

l a t i o n is m i n u s c u l e w h e n c o m p a r e d

with

China's total p o p u l a t i o n (about 2 percent o f

dynasties of

pre-Islamic times,

nomadic Kazakhs, who still herd sheep in the Heavenly Mountains, were one of these groups.

i . i b i l l i o n ) , the M u s l i m s o f China play a c r u cial role disproportionate to their numbers i n i n f l u e n c i n g China's domestic and i n t e r n a tional relations w i t h Central Asia. This is particularly

true

i n the

border

regions

of

X i n j i a n g , Gansu, and N i n g x i a where M u s l i m s are i n concentrated populations and w h e r e recent M u s l i m - l e d unrest and independence movements have influenced China's domestic and international relations. The

opening

of

the

Pakistan-China

K a r a k o r a m highway i n 1986, die establishment o f the direct air route from U r u m q i to Istanbul i n 1988, to Almaty ( i n southeastern Kazakhstan) i n 1992, and to Islamabad i n 1994, and the completion

of

the

Sino-Soviet

Trans-Eurasian

Railway through CentralAsia i n 1991 have led to dramatic increases i n the trade o f goods and hard currencies. This heralded the first real reoperiing o f the ancient Silk Route since its decline nearly a thousand years ago. For the first

New communication links, such the Karakoram Highway linking China with Pakistan, opened in 1986, and the Sino-Soviet TransEurasian Railway, completed in 1991, have led to dramatic increases in trade in the region.

43^

THE

OXFORD

HISTORY

OF

ISLAM

In addition to the special sections where Russian bulk goods such as cloth, cotton, and steel are sold, the bazaars in Urumqi and Kashgar also stock local produce.

time, the markets i n the Chinese cities o f Kashgar and U r u m q i have special sections for "Russian Goods" that sell such bulk goods as cloth, cotton, steel, fencing, and so o n , trucked i n and sold to private entrepreneurs, w h o then sell the goods to small industries i n the region or throughout China. At the same time, Chinese shops w i t h manufactured goods f r o m China line the market streets o f Almaty, Bishkek ( i n Kyrgyzstan), and Tashkent ( i n Uzbekistan). However, discussions that regard the peoples o f the region as " 6 0 percent M u s l i m " often fail to take i n t o account each state's role i n the " e t h n i c i z a t i o n " o f these identities, their cross-border interactions, interethnic rivalries, religious factionalisms, and regional diversities w i t h i n the groups themselves. N o t only must the progress o f Russian-Turkic and M u s l i m relations i n the new Central Asian states be watched, but H a n Chinese m a j o r i t y and (mainly Mushrn) m i n o r i t y relations i n the region, as well as i m p r o v i n g SinoRussian ties, must also be examined. Rather than taking for granted national identities i n the n e w Central Asian states as a resurfacing o f pre-Soviet " t r i b a l " identities, this chapter argues that Marxist policies have directly c o n t r i b u t e d to the ethnicization o f local identities i n the r e g i o n . This chapter not o n l y examines the e c o n o m i c , p o l i t i c a l , a n d transnational connections that link China to Central Asia, but it also discusses

CENTRAL

ASIA

A N D

CHINA

437

h o w the legacy o f Stalinist-Leninist nationality policies continues to affect the specific pe