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"Caliphate -- Historiography"
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Parable and politics in early islamic history
The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 AD) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a factual account. The story also informs the competing perspectives of Sunni and Shi'i Islam, which read into it the legitimacy of their claims. Yet while descriptive and varied, these approaches have long excluded a third reading, which views the conflict over the succession to the Prophet as a parable. From this vantage point, the motives, sayings, and actions of the protagonists reveal profound links to previous texts, not to mention a surprising irony regarding political and religious issues.
In a controversial break from previous historiography, Tayeb El-Hibri privileges the literary and artistic triumphs of the medieval Islamic chronicles and maps the origins of Islamic political and religious orthodoxy. Considering the patterns and themes of these unified narratives, including the problem of measuring personal qualification according to religious merit, nobility, and skills in government, El-Hibri offers an insightful critique of both early and contemporary Islam and the concerns of legitimacy shadowing various rulers. In building an argument for reading the texts as parabolic commentary, he also highlights the Islamic reinterpretation of biblical traditions, both by Qur'anic exegesis and historical composition.
eBook
Social Change in Medieval Iran 132-628 AH (750-1231 AD)
This study contributes to the history of social changes in Iran during the Abbasid Caliphate (AH 132-656, AD 750-1258) by foregrounding the perspective of Persian language historians - from Abu Ali Bal'ami (AH 363, AD 974), the first known Persian historian, to Atamelak Joveyni (AH 623-681, AD 1226-1283), the great historian of the Mongol Era. By applying the insights of Anthony Giddens and the theory of structuration to address the interactions of social agents and structures, this book provides a coherent narrative of social transformation in medieval Iran.
eBook
Social Change in Medieval Iran 132-628 AH (750-1231 AD)
This study contributes to the history of social changes in Iran during the Abbasid Caliphate (AH 132–656, AD 750–1258) by foregrounding the perspective of Persian language historians – from Abu Ali Bal'ami (AH 363, AD 974), the first known Persian historian, to Atamelak Joveyni (AH 623–681, AD 1226–1283), the great historian of the Mongol Era. By applying the insights of Anthony Giddens and the theory of structuration to address the interactions of social agents and structures, this book provides a coherent narrative of social transformation in medieval Iran.
eBook
The Genesis of the Fatimid Vizierate and Its Modus Operandi
The vizier, a pivotal figure in Muslim political history, has often been overlooked in the context of the Fatimid caliphate (297-567/909-1171). While the institution of the vizierate was widespread among Muslim dynasties, its presence and influence within the Fatimid state appear to be inconsistent. Notably, primary and secondary sources of the Fatimid historiography before 362/969, which was during its base in Ifrīqiyyah before the Egyptian conquest, make no mention of viziers, suggesting an absolute absence of the office and the institution. In contrast, the Fatimid sources of Egypt frequently make reference to viziers, indicating a significant shift in the institution's prominence. Navigating this complexity in Fatimid historiography, this paper focuses on the genesis of the Fatimid vizierate, emphasizing its development into a central administrative institution within the Fatimid caliphate. Through a critical analysis of primary sources, including administrative records and contemporary Fatimid accounts, this study traces the vizierate's origins and tracks its institutional growth right from the establishment of the Fatimid state in Ifrīqiyyah (297-362/909-969) and its later developments in Egypt (362-567/969-1171). It also distinguishes between the vizier as a title and the vizierate as an institution, highlighting how the connotations of both evolved over time. By contextualizing administrative apparatuses with contemporary political milieus, this research offers new insights into the vizierate's foundation in the Fatimid State.
Journal Article
The ransom of high-ranking captives, tributary relationships and the practice of diplomacy in northern Syria 442-522/1050-1128
This article examines how the introduction of western European crusaders and settlers to northern Syria from 490/1097 onwards impacted upon two important mechanisms of regional diplomacy; the ransom of prominent political prisoners and tributary relationships. Discussion begins with a comparison of the capture and ransom of high-ranking captives in northern Syria between 442-522/1050-1128, where it is argued that the establishment of the crusader states led to an increase in both the rate at which prisoners of elite status were ransomed and the financial sums involved in these interactions. This is followed by a reassessment of the various peace treaties, tributary arrangements and condominia or munāṣafa agreements concluded between the rulers of Antioch and Aleppo during the late fifth/eleventh and early sixth/twelfth centuries. Ultimately, this article seeks to place key features of northern Syrian diplomacy from the early crusading period within the context of regional norms in the decades preceding the crusaders’ arrival.
Journal Article
Before and after Muhammad
Islam emerged amid flourishing Christian and Jewish cultures, yet students of Antiquity and the Middle Ages mostly ignore it. Despite intensive study of late Antiquity over the last fifty years, even generous definitions of this period have reached only the eighth century, whereas Islam did not mature sufficiently to compare with Christianity or rabbinic Judaism until the tenth century.Before and After Muhammadsuggests a new way of thinking about the historical relationship between the scriptural monotheisms, integrating Islam into European and West Asian history.
Garth Fowden identifies the whole of the First Millennium--from Augustus and Christ to the formation of a recognizably Islamic worldview by the time of the philosopher Avicenna--as the proper chronological unit of analysis for understanding the emergence and maturation of the three monotheistic faiths across Eurasia. Fowden proposes not just a chronological expansion of late Antiquity but also an eastward shift in the geographical frame to embrace Iran.
InBefore and After Muhammad, Fowden looks at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alongside other important developments in Greek philosophy and Roman law, to reveal how the First Millennium was bound together by diverse exegetical traditions that nurtured communities and often stimulated each other.
eBook
Abdullahi dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello's Debate over the Torobbe-Fulani: Case Study for a New Methodology for Arabic Primary Source Material from West Africa
This paper explores the conflict between Abdullahi dan Fodio and his nephew, Muhammad Bello, over the origin of their ethnic group, the Torobbe-Fulani. Initially open to his uncle's theories of an Arabocentric migration narrative, Bello went on to change his views abruptly and undermine his uncle's work. Through sketching the background to the conflict followed by a close reading of the documents themselves-Abdullahi's īdāʿ al-nusūkh and Bello's critical commentary to it, the ḥāshiya-I suggest these documents offer different models for political legitimacy. Prefaced by a critical analysis of the use of the Fodiawa's Arabic writings in Sokoto historiography, I suggest that future approaches must take into account the political nature of these documents, the specific contexts in which they were produced and the personal relationships of their authors.
Journal Article
The Great Caliphs
The flowering of the 'Abbasid caliphate between 750 and 1258 CE is often considered the classical age of Islamic civilization. In the preceding 120 years the Arabs had conquered much of the known world of antiquity and established a vast empire stretching from Spain to China. But was this empire really so very different, as has sometimes been claimed, from what it superseded? The Great Caliphs creatively explores the immense achievements of the 'Abbasid age through the lens of Mediterranean history. When the Umayyad caliphs were replaced by the 'Abbasids in 750, and the Arab capital moved to Baghdad, Iraq quickly became the centre not only of an imperium but also of a culture built on the foundations of the great civilizations of antiquity: Greece, Rome, Byzantium and Persia. Debunking popular misconceptions about the Arab conquests, Amira Bennison shows that, far from seeing themselves as purging the 'occidental' culture of the ancient world with a 'pure' and 'oriental' Islamic doctrine, the 'Abbasids perceived themselves to be as much within the tradition of Mediterranean and Near Eastern empire as any of their predecessors.
Like other outsiders who inherited the Roman Empire, the Arabs had as much interest in preserving as in destroying, even while they were challenged by the paganism of the past. Indebted to that past while building creatively on its foundations, the 'Abbasids and their rulers inculcated and nurtured precisely the 'civilized' values which western civilization so often claims to represent.
eBook