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"Kings and rulers Religious aspects Islam."
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The millennial sovereign
At the end of the sixteenth century and the turn of the first Islamic millennium, the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar declared himself the most sacred being on earth. The holiest of all saints and above the distinctions of religion, he styled himself as the messiah reborn. Yet the Mughal emperor was not alone in doing so. In this field-changing study, A. Azfar Moin explores why Muslim sovereigns in this period began to imitate the exalted nature of Sufi saints. Uncovering a startling yet widespread phenomenon, he shows how the charismatic pull of sainthood (wilayat)—rather than the draw of religious law (sharia) or holy war (jihad)—inspired a new style of sovereignty in Islam. A work of history richly informed by the anthropology of religion and art, The Millennial Sovereign traces how royal dynastic cults and shrine-centered Sufism came together in the imperial cultures of Timurid Central Asia, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India. By juxtaposing imperial chronicles, paintings, and architecture with theories of sainthood, apocalyptic treatises, and manuals on astrology and magic, Moin uncovers a pattern of Islamic politics shaped by Sufi and millennial motifs. He shows how alchemical symbols and astrological rituals enveloped the body of the monarch, casting him as both spiritual guide and material lord. Ultimately, Moin offers a striking new perspective on the history of Islam and the religious and political developments linking South Asia and Iran in early-modern times.
eBook
Prophethood and Kingship in Early Islamic Historical Thought
The current study aims to trace the earliest appearances of prophethood and kingship in Islamic historiography, where they serve as chronological indicators in early forms of representations of non-Islamic narratives. In so doing, this study offers insights into the early stages of Islamic historical writing in terms of narrative construction and chronological arrangements.
Journal Article
Sultans, Merchants, and the Issue of Islamic Patronage on the Kazakh Steppe (1820s–1850s)
This article challenges historiographical interpretations that emphasize tsarist sponsorship of Muslim religious institutions on the nineteenth-century Kazakh steppe. Drawing on both tsarist archival records and local Muslim sources, it highlights the crucial role of Muslim patrons in fostering an Islamic transformation—or revival—marked by the rapid expansion of mosques, madrasas, and networks of Islamic scholars that connected the steppe to other centers of Islamic learning in the region. These patrons included influential political leaders, Muslim tsarist administrators, and merchants such as Qunanbay Oskenbay-ughli, Tinibay Kauken-ughli, and Jolaman Jandarbek-ughli, who financed Islamic institutions while navigating increasingly restrictive tsarist religious policies. Paradoxically, while the tsarist regime imposed legal constraints on Islam, its broader policies inadvertently contributed to the rise of these Muslim benefactors by enabling their accumulation of wealth, status, and political leverage.
Journal Article
Did the Virtuosity of the Pen Compensate for the Shortfall of the Sword? Remembering the Eighth Crusade against Tunis (1270)
The Eighth Crusade was launched by Saint Louis against Tunis in Summer 1270. For a few months, the French kingdom and its allies posed a serious threat to the Hafsid regime. Even though they ultimately failed to conquer the capital city, they heavily weakened the rule of al-Mustanṣir (r. 1249–77), emptying his coffers and damaging his prestige. In this paper, we first inventoried the points at stake. Then, we identified the rationale behind the expedition, evaluated the balance of the armed forces, and measured the losses and gains for each side. Second, the sources showed how the authors could depict the situation and assess its aftermath, depending on their political agenda. The Hafsid thurifers tended to minimize the sultan’s impotency, while others (e.g., the Mamluks) sometimes harshly criticized it. Third, the courtiers resorted to poetry and satirized “al-Franṣīṣ” for his setback of the Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) which he had led too. They mocked him in famous epigrams that we translated and analyzed. In conclusion, we examined why they concealed the blow. The Literati of the Restoration (ca 1370–1488) strove to portray al-Mustanṣir as a model king for the First Golden Age (until 1277) in a long series of sovereigns that stretched over more than two centuries.
Journal Article
The Royal Chapel of Pedro I of Castile in the Christianised Mosque of Seville
Pedro I of Castile (1350–1369) founded a royal chapel in the Christianised Mosque of Seville. He intended to house there his body, that of Queen María de Padilla, and their son the Infant Alfonso (1359–1362). This mausoleum is well documented both in the king’s will and in the chronicles of López de Ayala; however, there are no material remains as it was demolished with the construction of the new cathedral in the 15th century. In this article, we seek to produce a state of the art history of the building, a compilation of all the documentary sources that exist for its analysis, and an approach to the problems that hinder its study. We have also tried, unsuccessfully, to put forward a hypothesis about its original location, but we have come up against a dead end. Despite this, we consider it essential to lay all the cards on the table and prevent the mausoleum from falling into oblivion.
Journal Article
The Question of the Legitimacy of the Hashemite Regime in Jordan: the Islamic Radical Organizations, the Western Territories and Israel
Abstract
This article explores the question of the legitimacy of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Jordanian public opinion, on the one hand, recognizes the regime, in large part because of its genealogical descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Radical Islamic organizations, on the other hand, reject it for its ties to the West and Israel. The article examines how the views of Islamic movements towards the Hashemite regime have evolved. The Muslim Brotherhood originally recognized the legitimacy of the Hashemite regime, but changed that position in response to Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel. al-Qāʿidah and ISIS have never recognized Hashemite rule as legitimate. They have tried to undermine its political stability and, indeed, to overthrow it, rejecting its secularism and cooperation with Israel and the West.
The terrorist organizations al-Qāʿidah and ISIS find support and sympathy among Jordanians, but as they committed more terrorist attacks, the Jordanian public has turned away from them and its support for the Hashemite regime has grown. The Hashemite regime thus remains stable and strong and enjoys legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of Jordanians.
Journal Article
The Two Eyes of the Earth
This pioneering study examines a pivotal period in the history of Europe and the Near East. Spanning the ancient and medieval worlds, it investigates the shared ideal of sacred kingship that emerged in the late Roman and Persian empires. This shared ideal, while often generating conflict during the four centuries of the empires' coexistence (224-642), also drove exchange, especially the means and methods Roman and Persian sovereigns used to project their notions of universal rule: elaborate systems of ritual and their cultures' visual, architectural, and urban environments. Matthew Canepa explores the artistic, ritual, and ideological interactions between Rome and the Iranian world under the Sasanian dynasty, the last great Persian dynasty before Islam. He analyzes how these two hostile systems of sacred universal sovereignty not only coexisted, but fostered cross-cultural exchange and communication despite their undying rivalry. Bridging the traditional divide between classical and Iranian history, this book brings to life the dazzling courts of two global powers that deeply affected the cultures of medieval Europe, Byzantium, Islam, South Asia, and China.
eBook
An arena for higher powers : ceremonial buildings and religious strategies for rulership in late Iron Age Scandinavia
In An Arena for Higher Powers Olof Sundqvist offers an account of the role played by religion in political undertakings among the pre-Christian ruling elites at ceremonial buildings in in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (i.e. AD 550-1050/1100).
eBook