The early abbasid caliphate hugh n kennedy

To my young grandchildren, Ferdie, Ronja and Aurora in the hope that they may grow up in a world where people of different religions and cultures can live together in peace and mutual respect.

Notes

ABBREVIATION

CIS

Kersten, C. (ed.), The Caliphate and Islamic Statehood: Formation, Fragmentation and Modern Interpretations, Berlin: Gerlach Press (3 vols., 2015)

CHAPTER 1: THE FIRST CALIPHS

1. M. Cook, ‘Muhammad’s Deputies in Medina’, Usūr al-wusta 23 (2015), 1–67

2. P. Crone and G. M. Hinds, God’s Caliph: Religious Authority in the First Century of Islam, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1986), 111–12

3. Ibid., 12–23

4. R. Hoyland, ‘The Inscription of Zuhayr, the Older Islamic Inscription (24 AH/AD 644–5)’, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 19 (2006), 210–37

5. E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. W. Smith, London: John Murray (1855), VI, 288

6. A. Marsham, Rituals of Islamic Monarchy, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2009), 100–1

7. P. Crone, Medieval Islamic Political Thought, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2004), 60–1

CHAPTER 2: THE EXECUTIVE CALIPHATE: THE RULE OF THE UMAYYADS

1. Translated and discussed in Marsham, Rituals, 86–9

2. Quoted in Crone and Hinds, God’s Caliph, 6

3. Ibid., 33–42

4. Balādhuri, Futūh al-buldān, ed. M. J. de Goeje, Leiden: Brill (1866), 167–8

5. R. Hillenbrand, ‘La Dolce Vita in Early Islamic Syria’, Art History 5 (1982), 1–35

6. Crone and Hinds, God’s Caliph, 118–26

7. Translated and discussed in ibid., 129–32

CHAPTER 3: THE EARLY ABBASID CALIPHATE

1. Tabarī, Ta’rīkh al-rusul wa’l-mulūk, ed. M. J. de Goeje et al., Leiden: Brill (1879–1901), III, 29–33

2. Night 19, The Arabian Nights, trans. M. C. Lyons and U. Lyons, London: Penguin Books (2008), I, 123

3. Night 462, ibid., II, 321

4. Tabarī, Ta’rīkh, III, 709

5. Miskawayh, Abu Ali, The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate, trans. D. S. Margoliouth, London: I. B. Tauris (2015), I, 57–60

6. Ibn Fadlān, Mission to the Volga, ed. and trans. J. Montgomery, New York and London: New York University Press, Library of Arabic Literature (2014)

CHAPTER 4: THE CULTURE OF THE ABBASID CALIPHATE

1. Mas ūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, ed. and French trans. C. Barbier de Meynard, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale (1874), VIII, 289–304

2. This was a characteristic tenet of the Mu tazila, who held that every Muslim has free choice and that if he is guilty of a serious offence and dies without repentance he will endure hell-fire for ever, in contrast to other groups, notably the Murji a, who held that Muslims might be punished for a while but would ultimately attain paradise ( janna)

3. S. M. Toorawa, Ibn Abī Tāhir Tayfur and Arabic Writerly Culture, London and New York: Routledge Curzon (2005), 33–4

4. J. Bloom, Paper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World, New Haven and London: Yale University Press (2001)

5. Ibn Khallikan, Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary, trans. M. de Slane, Paris (1842–71), I, 478–79

6. Ibid., V, 315–17

7. The name means ‘ugly’, which was a name often given to beautiful slaves, perhaps as a joke, perhaps to guard against the evil eye.

8. The caliph’s given name, which would only have been used by his closest intimates and lovers.

9. All accounts from Ibn al-Sā‘ī, Consorts of the Caliphs, ed. S. M. Toorawa, trans. Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature, New York: New York University Press (2015), 78–81

CHAPTER 5: THE LATER ABBASID CALIPHATE

1. T. W. Arnold, The Caliphate, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1924), 65–7

2. This is translated and discussed in A. Mez, The Renaissance of Islam, New Delhi: Kitab Dhavan (1937), 268–70

3. Bayhaqi’s account can be read in The History of Bayhaqi, trans. C. E. Bosworth and M. Ashtiany, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press (2011), I, 401–24

4. Ibn al-Athir, Chronicle, trans. D. S. Richards, Aldershot: Ashgate (2008), I, 108

5. Arnold, The Caliphate, 86–7

6. The Chronicle of the Third Crusade: A Translation of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, trans. Helen J. Nicolson, Aldershot: Ashgate (1997), 53

7. Ibn Wāsil, quoted by K. Hirschler in Medieval Muslim Historians and the Franks in the Levant, ed. A. Mallett, Leiden: Brill (2015), 149

8. Ibn al-Athir, Chronicle, I, 190–91

9. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, trans. R. Broadhurst, London: Jonathan Cape (1952), 236–39

10. For a full discussion of these different accounts, N. Neggaz, The Falls of Baghdad in 1258 and 2003: A Study in Sunni-Shi i Clashing Memories. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington DC. 2013. I am very grateful to Dr Neggaz for allowing me to make use of her work

CHAPTER 6: THREE AUTHORS IN SEARCH OF THE CALIPHATE

1. Al-Māwardī, The Ordinances of Government, trans. W. H. Wahba, Reading: Garnet Publishing (1996), 1–32

2. Ibid., 6–22

3. W. B. Hallaq, ‘Caliphs, Jurists and the Saljūqs in the Political Thought of Juwaynī’, CIS, II, 210–25 at p. 221

4. C. Hillenbrand, ‘Islamic Orthodoxy or Realpolitik? Al-Ghazālī’s Views on Islamic Government’, CIS, II, 226–52 at p. 230

CHAPTER 7: THE CALIPHATE OF THE SHI ITES

1. See the excellent discussion of this work in W. al-Qādī, ‘An Early Fātimid Political Document’, CIS, III, 88–112

2. See Nasir-ī Khusraw, Book of Travels, trans. W. M. Thackston, Cosa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers (2001), see pp. 52–76

CHAPTER 8: THE UMAYYADS OF CÓRDOBA

1. See R. M. Menocal, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, New York: Little, Brown (2002)

2. Latin text and English trans. in C. Smith, Christians and Moors in Spain, Warminster: Aris & Phillips (1988), I, 62–75

3. Slavs from Eastern Europe had been imported to Andalus, via the great slave market at Prague, throughout the tenth century as elite soldiers

CHAPTER 9: THE ALMOHAD CALIPHS

1. Ibn Sāhib al-Salāt, Al-man bi’l-imāma, ed. A. al-Hadi al-Tazi, Beirut (1964), 534

2. Abd al-Wāhid al-Marrākushi, Al-Mujib, ed. M. al-Uryan, Cairo (1949), 238–9

CHAPTER 10: THE CALIPHATE UNDER THE MAMLUKS AND OTTOMANS

1. Arnold, The Caliphate, 74–6, 107–8

2. Ibid., 130

3. Tufan Buzpinar, ‘Opposition to the Ottoman Caliphate in the Early Years of Abdülhamid II: 1877–1882’, CIS, III, 6–27

4. Quoted in K. H. Karpat, The Politicization of Islam: Reconstructing Identity, State, Faith, and Community in the Late Ottoman State, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2001), 161, 162. ‘Padishah’ was an ancient title of Persian origin, sometimes used by the Ottoman sultans

5. For the full text and a beautifully illustrated account of the relics, and of Abdul al-Hamīd’s funeral, see H. Aydin, The Sacred Trusts, Pavilion of the Sacred Relics, Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Clifton, NJ: Tughra Books (2014)

6. Buzpinar, ‘Opposition to the Caliphate’, 20

CHAPTER 11: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEYOND

1. R. Pankhurst, The Inevitable Caliphate?, London: Hurst and Company (2013), 99

2. Qur’an, 2 (Surat al-Baqara), verse 124

Copyright © 2016 by Hugh Kennedy

Published in the United States by Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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First published in 2016 in the United Kingdom by Pelican Books, Penguin Books, Penguin Random House.

Designed by Jack Lenzo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kennedy, Hugh (Hugh N.), author.

Title: Caliphate: the history of an idea / Hugh Kennedy.

Description: First edition. | New York: Basic Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016029769 (print) | LCCN 2016032016 (ebook) | ISBN 9780465094394 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Caliphate—History. | Caliphs—History. | Islamic Empire—History—622–661. | Islamic Empire—History—661–750. | Islamic Empire—History—750–1258. | Islamic Empire—Kings and rulers.

Classification: LCC BP166.9 .K36 2016 (print) | LCC BP166.9 (ebook) | DDC 909/.09767—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029769

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Index

Abbās b. Abd al-Muttalīb, 64

Abbās b. Firnās, 209

Abbasid caliphate

and Andalus, 207, 208

and Arabian Nights, 76–77

background to, 64–65

and Buyids, 129–133, 137, 139, 162

and Byzantines, 88–89

caliphal titles, 71

campaigns, 78

claim to caliphate, 65–66, 68–70

and Córdoba caliphate, 210–211

court of, 78–79, 118, 126–127

culture (see culture) description from outside, 154–157

elite and army, 82–83

end, 95–97, 160, 247

games in, 102

and Ghaznevids, 137–149

and hajj, 193

history writing, 99–105, 118–120

inclusiveness in, 120–122

influence today, 126–127

Iraq base and Baghdad, 72–73

and Khurasan region, 65–66, 72

knowledge economy, 105–109

legacy as greatest caliphate, 63

and Mamluks, 248–250

Mongol conquest, 63, 157–160, 247

palaces, 57, 64

poetry and poets, 109–112

political structure, 73–74

power, 73–74, 134, 157, 161

powerless caliphs, 85–86, 130

reinvention, 132–137

religious sciences, 117–118

reputation of caliphs, 153

revival of, 86–87

rise, 66–68

rivalry Amīn and Ma’mūn, 81–83

science, 112–117

and Seljuqs, 138, 149–150, 158, 166, 168

sermons and manifesto, 68–70

style of caliphate, 70–71

succession, 74, 75, 224

titles and names, 71, 213–214

and Umayyads, 207

and umma, 88–92, 120–122, 210

Abbasid family, 64, 70

Abd al-Azīz b. Marwān, 54

Abd al-Hamid I, Sultan, 254

Abd al-Hamīd II, sultan-caliph, 254–258, 260–261, 264

Abd al-Majīd II, sultan-caliph, 265, 268

Abd al-Malīk, Caliph

Arabic language, 106

architecture, 49–50

Dome of the Rock, 50–51

governance, 46

laws and courts, 52–53

monetary reforms, 48–49

place of living, 56

power of, 46–47, 53

succession, 42, 45, 46, 53

Abd al-Mu’min, Caliph, 233–238

Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā’iri, 263

Abd al-Rahmān al-Ghāfiqi, 205

Abd al-Rahman al-Nāsir, 222

Abd al-Rahmān b. Mu āwiya, 207, 209

Abd al-Rahmān II, 209

Abd al-Rahmān III, caliph, 194, 209–211, 212, 213–216

Abd al-Rahmān (Sanchuelo), 227

Abd Allah b. al-Abbās, 64

Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr, 42–43, 44–45

Abd Allah b. Yāsin, 229

Abū Abd Allah al-Shi i, 186, 187

Abū Bakr, Caliph

campaigns for unity, 9–10

death, 10

as early caliph, 7–8, 9, 10

and Islamic State, 274

opinions on, xxi

rejection of Islam, 9–10

succession of Prophet Muhammad, 4, 5, 9, 16

Abū Bakr al-Baghdādi, 271–273

Abū Bakr b. Tufayl, 243

Abū Hamza, 60–61

Abū Hāshim, 65

Abū Ja far al-Tabarī, 34, 118–119, 121, 253

Abū Kalījar, 162

Abū Muslim, 66–67, 73–74

Abū Nuwās, 110

Abū Salama, 67, 178

Abū Tammām, 111

Abū Ya qūb Yūsuf I, Caliph, 238–240, 242–243

Abū’l-Abbās (Saffāh, Caliph), 67–68, 70, 99

Abū’l-Atāhiya, 110–111

Abū’l-Faraj al-Isfahānī, Book of Songs (Kitāb al-aghānī), 111–112

Adam, 1

Adud al-Dawla, 130–131, 132

Afonso Henriques, King of Portugal, 234

Aga Khan, the, 177

Ahmad b. Hanbal, 84–85, 117–118

Ahmet Rafik Bey, 260–261

Ahwas, 52

Aisha (Muhammad’s wife), 21, 22, 136

Akhtal, 53

Al-Qaeda, 216, 271

alcoholic drinks, prohibition, 202

Alfonso VI, King of León-Castile, 150, 229, 230

Alfonso VII, King of León-Castile, 241

Alī al-Ridā, 179

Alī b. Abī Talīb, Caliph

centre of government, 23

as early caliph, 7–8

and Imami Shi ism, 177

and Kharijites, 30

and Kufa, 22, 23–24, 25, 26, 27

legacy in Iraq, 26–27

military challenges against, 21–22

and Mu āwiya b. Abī Sufyān, 23, 26–27

murder of and following events, 30, 33

opinions on, xxi

rivalry Iraq-Syria, 25–26

succession of Prophet Muhammad, 4, 5, 176, 177

and Uthmān, 17, 20–22, 25

vision and policies, 26

Alī b. Mikāl, 144, 145

Alī b. Nāfi (Ziryāb), 209

Alī b. Yūsuf, 230, 231

Alids, 74, 75, 182, 223

Almohad caliphate

vs. Almoravids, 231–232

and Andalus, 234–237, 241–242

and Berbers, 233

books, 238–239

campaigns and expansion, 233–235, 239–242

culture of, 242–245

emergence, 230–231

end, 233, 242, 247

fortifications, 235–236

ideology, 232–233

leadership and organization, 232, 236–237

succession in, 233–234, 238, 241, 242

Almoravids, 229–232, 234

Amīn, Caliph, 71, 81–82

Amīr al-Mu’minīn (Commander of the Faithful), 7, 230, 233

Amr b. Layth the Saffarid, 147

Andalus

Abbasids, 207, 208

Almohads, 234–237, 241–242

Almoravids, 229–230

conversions, 214

convivencia, 216–217

jihād, 212

state power, 208–209

Taifa kings, 229

Umayyads, 34, 205–210

ansār, 3–4, 5, 20

anthropomorphism, 175, 231

Antioch, 192

Anūshtakīn Dizbari, 199–200

Arab caliphate, 262–264

Arabian Nights, The, 76–77

Arabic language and texts, 47–48, 49, 106

Arīb b. Sa d al-Qurtubi (the Córdoban), 210–211

Aristotle, 112, 115

Arnold, Sir Thomas, xv

Ash ath b. Qays al-Kindī, 23, 25

Averroism, 244

Ayn Jalut, Battle of, 248

Azāriqa, the, 30

Azhar mosque, 190

Azhar sheiks, 267–268

Badger, George, 262

Baghdad

Abbasid caliphate, 72–73

and Buyids, 129–132

createdness of Qur’ān, 84–85

culture and authors, 108

description from outside, 154, 156–157

founding by Mansūr, 72

Mongol invasion, 158–160

religious sciences, 117–118

rivalry Sunnis-Shi ites, 131–132, 134–135

and Seljuqs, 149–150

siege by Ma’mūn’s forces, 82

tolerance in, 120–121

Bahā al-Dawla, 132, 133, 137

Balādhuri, 34

Balkh, 142

al-Banna, Hasan, 268–269

Banū Hāshim, 3

Banū Mūsā, the, 116

Banū Sa ida, the Saqīfa of the, 4–5

Barbarossa, Frederick, 151

Barmakid family, 77–78

Barmakid viziers, 76

Basil II, Byzantine Emperor, 198–199

Basra, 21–22

Battle of the Camel, 22

bay a oath of loyalty

Abbasid caliphate, 67–68

and Abū Bakr, 4

inauguration of caliphs, 35–36

and Mamluks, 248, 249

of Mas ūd, 140

of Yazid I, 39

Baybars, Sultan, 248

Bayhaqi, 140, 142, 148

Berke, Khan of the Golden Horde, 249

Birdwood, George, 262

Black Stone, 3, 186, 193

Bloom, Jonathan, 107

Blunt, Wilfred Scawen, 263–264

Book of Mustazhir (Kitab al-Mustazhiri) (Ghazālī), 169–171

books, 108–109, 222, 226, 231, 238–239

Bughā, 126

Bulgars, diplomatic mission to, 91–95

burda (mantle of the Prophet), 258–259, 260–261

bureaucracy and bureaucrats, 105–106

Buyids, the, 129–133, 137, 139, 162

Byzantines

and Abbasids, 88–89

campaigns by Hārūn al-Rashid, 78

and Córdoba caliphate, 220–222

and culture, 112

and Fatimids, 192

jihād against, 34, 38, 198–199

Cairo, and Fatimids, 189, 194–196, 201

Cairo geniza, 201

caliph, the

abolition in Turkey, 265, 267

appointments, 1–2

authority, 152–153

changing nature of, 250

choice of, xviii–xix, 28–29, 163–164, 166–167, 170

concept and meaning, 1, 6–7, 31, 253

conquests of Middle East, 8–9

createdness of Qur’ān, 84–85, 95, 135–136

in European sources, 151

historical narrative as guidance, xxi–xxii

image of, 91

inauguration and bay a, 35–36

laws and law-making, 51–52

as leader, xi

longevity, 81, 139

murders of, 82, 85–86

naming on coins, 133–134

need for, 253

office of, 2

place of living, 56–57, 73

power, xix–xx, 53, 55, 59, 85, 134, 161–162, 165–168, 170–172

powerlessness and alienation, 85–86, 96, 162

qualifications for and other titles, 253

qualities, 162–163, 167, 170–171

Quraysh as, 163, 167, 252–253

regalia, 82

removal, 164

and sharī a, 134, 161, 168, 169

succession, xviii–xix, 16–17, 22, 74, 75, 164, 166, 224

succession of Prophet Muhammad, 5–6, 9, 164

and sultans, 253

title use by Ottomans, 250–253, 254, 255

titles used for, 7, 230

tradition, xvi–xvii

caliphate

black as colour, 63, 70–71, 273–274

capitals, 22–23, 73

cities and administrative systems, 105–106

classic period, 63

concept and meaning, xiii, xvii–xviii, 275

dress and wear, 70–71

economy, 73, 96

in eighteenth century, 254

end, 247–248

governance, 46, 161

hereditary succession, xviii–xix, 39–40, 42, 224

history as inspiration, xiv–xv, xvii

inclusiveness in, 120–122

location choice, 45

political independence, 160

power, 161

qualifications for, 253–254

revival, xiv, 267–271

secular views, 268

seven-year civil war, 42–45

social divisions, 45–46

titles, 71

Campbell, Sir George, 261–262

Cave, festival of the, 131

China, paper, 106–107

Christians

and Almohad caliphate, 234, 236, 237, 239–240, 241–242

and Córdoba caliphate, 212, 215, 216–217, 218, 226

Crusades, 151–152

and Fatimid caliphate, 200–201, 202

heresy in, 173–174

leadership of, 152

restoration of churches, 54–55

science and translations, 114

and Syria, 10

tolerance of, 120

Cicilia, 55

coinage, 48–49, 133–134, 194, 214

Consorts of the Caliphs (Ibn al-Sā ī), 122

Constantinople, 220–221

convivencia (‘living together’), 216–217

Córdoba, caliphate of

and Abbasids, 210–211

army, 225

and Byzantines, 220–222

claim of caliphate, 210–212, 214

coinage, 214

conversions in, 214

convivencia, 216–217

court, 209, 215–216, 218, 222

culture, 221–222

end, 228, 229

expeditions and campaigns, 212–213, 215, 226

foreign policy, 217–218, 222–223

and last Umayyad, 70

origin, 207

outsider account, 218–220

power, 213, 215, 224–225

succession problems, 223–228

titles, 207–208, 210, 213–214

women, 224

Córdoba (city), 209, 217, 220–221, 228, 237, 242

Crimea, 254

Crone, Patricia, 6, 28–29, 58

Crusaders, 151–152

Ctesiphon arch, 121

culture

Almohad caliphate, 242–245

books, 108–109

and bureaucracy, 105–108

inclusiveness, 120–122

memory of, 122–127

paper and writing, 106–108

philosophy, 114–115

reading and literacy, 106

religious sciences, 117–118

science, 112–117

translations, 112–114

and women, 111, 122–123

See also poetry and poets

currency, 49

See also coinage

Cyprus, 79

Dabiq (IS periodical), xiv, 271–272, 274

Damascus, 38, 54, 56, 120

Darb Zubayda, the, 80

dates, xxii

David, King, 1

dawla, the, 130

Dāwūd, 68–70

Da ā’im al-Islam (The Pillars of Islam) (Nu mān), 190–191

Dome of the Rock, 50

Druze, the, 203

dualists, 101

earth, size of, 115–117

economy, 12, 105

Egypt, 8, 83

and Fatimids, 188–190, 192–198, 200–201, 204, 222–223

European imperialism, 267, 268–269

Family of the Prophet

and Abbasids, 64, 65, 68, 69, 74, 135

background, 3

and descendants, 176

legacy of Alī b. Abī Talīb, 26

and Shi ites, 175–176, 180, 191

succession, 4, 5, 43

Farazdaq, 52, 53

Fārūq (Redeemer), 15–16

Fātima (Muhammad’s daughter), 2, 177, 187

Fatimid caliphate

armies, 199

and Buyids, 130–131

and Byzantines, 192, 198–199

coinage, 194, 214

decline and abolition, 152, 203–204

in Egypt, 188–190, 192–198, 200–201, 204, 222–223

establishment, 186–187

and hajj, 193, 198

ideology, 190–191

lineage and claims, 187–188

political problems, 191–192

power, 188–189, 190

public ritual, 194–197, 203

religious policy, 200, 201–202

ruling elite, 200–201

and Sunnis, 189–190

Syria and Palestine, 191–192

traditions, 191

fatwas, 85

fay system, 11–12

First World War, 264–265

fitna, 19

Fortūn b. Muhammad, 215

France, 205

Fustat, 189

Genghis Khan, 157

Ghadīr Khumm, 131

Ghazālī, 168–171, 230–231

Ghaznevids, the

alliance with Abbasids, 138–141

caliphal investiture, 141–149

conditions of agreement, 145–146

origins, 137–138

and Turks, 148–149

Ghazni, 138

ghulat, the, 44, 179

Gibbon, Edward, 14

God, xi, 1, 6, 175, 231

Great Britain, 262, 263

Great Palace of the Caliphate (Dār al-khilāfa), 129

Greek language and knowledge, 47, 112–113, 114, 116, 222

Hafsids, the, 247

hajj, the

and Abbasids, 193

and Fatimids, 193, 198

and Hārūn al-Rashid, 78–79

Hijaz railway, 256–257

and Ka ba, 3

and Ottomans, 252–253

protection of pilgrims, 146

route to, 80, 146

and Umayyads, 34, 38

Hajjāj b. Yūsuf, 45, 47, 53, 54

Hakam, 58, 59

Hakam, Caliph, 221, 222–223

Hākim, Caliph, 200, 201–203, 248–249

Hallaq, Wael, 167

Harthama b. Ayan, 81–82

Hārūn al-Rashid, Caliph, 76, 77–79, 81, 101–102

Hasan (Alī’s son), 33, 41

Hāshimiya, the, 65

Hayy b. Yaqzān, 243

Heracleia, 79

heresy, 173–175

Herodotus, 113

Hidden Imam, the, 134, 180

Hijaz, 15, 22

Hijaz railway, 256–257

Hijra, the, 3

Hillenbrand, Carole, 171

Hillenbrand, Robert, 57

Hinds, Martin, 6, 58

Hiraqla, 79

Hishām, Caliph, 55–56, 66

Hishām, Caliph of Córdoba, 207, 223–225, 227

historical narrative, xx–xxii

History of the Caliphs (Ibn al-Sā ī), 158

History of the Prophets and Kings (Tabarī), 118, 182

history-writing, 99–105, 118–120

Hizb al-Tahrīr, 269–270

holy relics, 258–261

homosexuality, 110

House of Wisdom (Bayt al-hikma), 113

Houthis, 184

Huete, siege of, 239–240

Hulegu Khan, 157–158, 159

Humayma, 64

Hunayn b. Ishaq, 114

Husayn b. Alī, 33, 40–41, 178

Ibādiya, the, 30

Iberian Peninsula. See Andalus

ibn, xxiii

Ibn Abī Āmir, 224, 225–226

Ibn al-Alqamī, 158

Ibn al-Furāt, 87, 89, 224

Ibn al-Mu tazz, 224

Ibn al-Nadīm, 109

Ibn al-Sā ī, 122, 158

Ibn Azzūn, 240

Ibn Fadlān, 91, 93–95

Ibn Hafsūn, 217

Ibn Jubayr, Travels, 154–157

Ibn Kathīr, 63

Ibn Khaldūn, 250

Ibn Khallikan, 116

Ibn Mardanīsh, 236

Ibn Mubārak, 79

Ibn Rushd (Averroes), 116, 243–244

Ibn Sāhib al-Salāt, 238

Ibn Tūlūn, 86

Ibn Wāsil, 152

Idrīs b. Abd Allah, 183, 223

Idrisids, the, 183, 223

Iltutmish, 150–151

image manipulation, 91

imam, definition, 253

Imami Shi ism, 178–180

imams and the imamate

authority, 180, 184, 187

Isma’ili, 184–186

occultation of, 180

and sharī a, 176

in Shi ite tradition, 173

Twelver Shi ism, 178–180

use of term, 7, 173

Zaydi, 180–184

India, 261–262

Iran, 8, 40–41, 157–158

Iraq

and Abbasid caliphate, 72

conquest, 8, 10–11

economy, 96

fay system, 11

recapture by Muwaffaq, 86–87

rivalry with Syria, 25, 26–27

Shi ites, 185

Īsā al-Rāzī, 222

Īsā (son of Zayd), 182

Islam

authority in, 175, 176

concern for poor and marginalized, 26

conversion to, 8–9, 97

disagreement between Muslims, 29–30

early conquests and campaigns, 9–12

expansion, 91–92

heresy in, 173–175

historical narrative as guidance, xx–xxii

non-Arabic, 233

and philosophy, 115

precedence in, 23–24

rejection of, 9–10

spirit of, 230

tolerance in, 136

Islamic State (IS/ISIS), xiii–xv, 63, 271–275

Islamic values, xvi

Isma’ilis, 169, 171, 177, 184–186

See also Fatimid caliphate

Jābiliyya, the, 30

Ja far al-Sādiq, 178, 179, 185

Ja far b. Abd Allah, 95

Ja far b. Muqtadī, 166

Ja far the Barmakid, 76–77, 78

Jalāl al-Dawla, 162

Jarīr, 52

Jawhar (Fatimid general), 188–189

Jayhānī, 93

Jerusalem, 15, 50, 151

Jews, 15, 200–201, 203, 217

jihād

Almohads, 234, 236

in Andalus, 212, 215, 226

against Byzantines, 34, 38, 198–199

foundations, 79

Ghaznevids, 140

by Muwaffaq, 87

John of Gorze, 218–220

Joinville, Jean de, 159

Juwaynī, Abd al-Malik al-, Ghiyāth al-umam (Succour of the Nations), 165–168

Ka b b. Zuhayr, 258–259

Ka ba, the, 3, 43, 193

Kemal, Mustafa, 265

Khālid al-Qasri, 53

Khālid b. al-Walīd, 9

Khālid b. Barmak, 121

Khalīfa, meaning, 1, 6

Khalīl al-Zāhiri, 249

Kharijites, the, 27–30, 44

Khayzurān, 77

Khurasan, 64, 65–66, 72, 142

khutba (the Friday sermon), 133

Khwarazm, 93

kiswa, 73

knowledge economy, 105–109

Kucuk Kaynarca, Treaty of, 254

Kufa

and Abbasid caliphate, 67

as capital, 23

description and people, 23–25

Islamic precedence in, 23–24

murder of Husayn, 41–42

rule of Alī b. Abī Talīb, 22, 26, 27

and Shi ites, 181–182

succession to Yazid, 43, 44

kuffār, 29

Kutāma, the, 184, 187, 199

laqab caliphal titles, 71

Las Navas de Tolosa, Battle of, 241–242

laws and law-making, 51–53, 84, 191, 202, 231

literacy, 106

Lutfi Pasha, 253

Madinat al-Salam, the City of Peace. See Baghdad

Madinat al-Zahra, 222

Maghreb, the, 206, 211, 223

Mahbūba, 122–126

Mahdī, 44, 187

Mahdī, Caliph, 73, 74–76, 80, 100–101, 105

Mahdiya, 188

Mahmūd, Sultan, 138, 141

Majlis al-hikma (Assemblies of Wisdom), 190

Mālik al-Ashtar, 24, 25

Malik Shah, Sultan, 149, 166

Mamluks, 138, 247–250

Ma’mūn, Caliph, 81–84, 103–104, 105, 113, 115–117

Mansūr, Caliph, 71, 72–74, 99–100, 104–105, 113, 121

Mansūr (of Almohads), 241

Mansūr of Córdoba, Caliph, 225–226

mantle of the Prophet (burda), 258–259, 260–261

Maronite Chronicle, the, 36–38

Marrakesh, 234, 242

Marsham, Andrew, 28

Martel, Charles, 205

Marwān b. al-Hakam, 42

Marwān II, Caliph, 67

Masrūr, 78

Mas ūd, Sultan, 140, 141, 142–146, 148

Mas ūdi, 99, 105

mathematics, 106

mawāli (sing. mawlā), 24–25, 44, 54

Māwardī, Ali b. Muhammad, The Ordinances of Government, 162–165

Meadows of Gold (Murūj al-dhahab), 99

Mecca, 2–3, 87–88

Medina, 3–4, 8, 9, 15, 22–23, 51

Mehmed III, Sultan, 259

Mehmet II, Sultan, 251

Mehmet V, sultan-caliph, 264

Mehmet VI, sultan-caliph, 264–265

Menocal, Rosa Maria, 216

Merv, 66, 67

Midhat Pasha, 255

mihna, 84

milestones, 49

military slavery, 199

Mongol conquest of 1258, 63, 157–160, 247

Morocco, 183, 223, 230, 231, 233–234, 235–236

Mosque of the Prophet, 51

Mosque of Umar, 15

Mu āwiya b. Abī Sufyān, Caliph

accession, 33, 36–38

and Alī b. Abī Talīb, 21, 23, 25, 26–27, 33

description, 21, 38

succession, 39

and Sunnis/Shi ites, 136

Mughīra, 224

muhājirūn, the, 3–4

Muhammad, the Prophet

achievements after his death, 30–31

allegiance to and alms tax, 9

appointment of caliphs, 2

death, 4–5

family background, 2–3

Hijra, 3

in Jerusalem, 15

mantle and relics, 258–261

and Medina, 3–4

and Shi ites, 191

succession, 2, 5–6, 9

See also Family of the Prophet

Muhammad Abduh, 263–264

Muhammad al-Bāqir, 178, 181

Muhammad b. Abd Allah, the Pure Soul, 23, 74, 118–119, 182

Muhammad b. Abi Āmir, 224, 225–226

Muhammad b. al-Hanafiya, 43–44, 65

Muhammad b. Alī, 64, 65

Muhammad b. Alī al-Abdi, 99–101

Muhammad b. Hishām, 227

Muhammad b. Isma’il, 186, 187

Muhammad b. Sulaymān, 80

Muhammad b. Tumārt, the Mahdi, 230–234, 238

Muhammad (half-brother of Mas ūd), 141

Muhammad Sulaymānī, 142, 143, 145, 146–147

Mukhtār b. Abī Ubayd, 43–44, 45–46

Muktafī, 87

Muqtadī, Caliph, 87–88, 166

Muqtadir, Caliph, 87, 88–90, 95, 155–156, 210, 224

Muqtafi, Caliph, 150

Murad I, Sultan, 251

Murji’in, the, 274–275

Mūsā al-Kāzim, 179

Muslim Brotherhhod, 268–269

Musta īn, Caliph, 249

Mustakfī, Caliph, 129

Mustansir, Caliph, 222

Mustarshid, Caliph, 150

Musta sim, Caliph, 158–159

Mustazhir, Caliph, 150, 153, 169

Mus ab, 43, 44, 45

Mu tadid, Caliph, 119, 229

Mu tamid, Caliph, 147, 229

Mu tasim, Caliph, 84, 104, 106, 119

Mutawakkil, Caliph, 85–86, 104, 105, 115, 122–125, 194

Muttaqī, Caliph, 129

Mutawakkil III, Caliph, 251–252

Muwaffaq, 86–87

muwalladūn, 214

Muzaffar, 227

Mu izz, Caliph, 198, 200

Nabhani, Taqi al-Dīn, 269

Nahrawan, 96

najda, 170–171

Najdiya, the, 30

Nāsir, Caliph, 151, 157, 216–217

Nāsir al-Dīn al-Tūsi, 159

Nāsir li’dīn Allah, 214

Nāsir (of Almohads), 241

Nāsiri Khusraw, 194–196

Nasr b. Ahmad, Emir, 93

Nasr b. Sayyār, 67–68

nass, xix, 65

Nicholas, 222

Nile river, 192

9/11 attacks, 216

Nishapur, 93

Nizām al-Mulk, 149, 165–166, 168–169

non-Muslims

Abbasid caliphate, 88–92

convivencia, 216–217

Córdoba caliphate, 213

Fatimid caliphate, 200–201, 202

as invaders, 151–152

status as subjects, 12–13, 54–55

Otto I, German emperor, 217

Ottoman caliphate

and Abd al-Hamīd II, 254–261, 264

and Arab caliphate, 262–264

end, 264–265, 267

and hajj, 252–253

holy relics, 258

origins, 251

representation of all Muslims, 255–256, 257–258, 261–262, 264

title of caliph in, 250–253, 254, 255

Palestine, 191–192

Pankhurst, Reza, 269–270

paper, 106–108

philosophy, 114–115

poetry and poets

Abbasid caliphate, 109–112, 153–154

of Greeks, 112–113

and laws, 52

and love interests, 154

singing girls, 111, 154

succession of Prophet Muhammad, 6

by women, 122–125

poll tax (jizya), 13

Polo, Marco, 159

Pope, the, 152, 174

Portugal, 205, 234

See also Andalus

primogeniture, 40

the Prophet. See Muhammad, the Prophet

provincial governors, 165

public offices, distribution of, 100

Qabīha the poetess, 123

Qādī Nu mān, 190

Qādir, Caliph

and Buyids, 132–133, 139

and doctrine, 135–137

and Ghaznevids, 138, 141

oaths of allegiance, 132–133

recognition and power, 133–135

spiritual leadership, 149

succession of, 139, 143–144

Qādiri Epistle, the (Risālat al-Qādiriya), 135–137

qādīs, 52, 134

Qādisiyya, Battle of, 10

Qāhir, Caliph, 99

Qā’im, Caliph, 137, 139–140, 143, 149, 168

qalansuwa, 70–71, 79

Qara Khanids, 141–142

Qarāmita, the, 87, 146, 186

Qayrawan, 186, 188, 206

qibla, 15

Qur’ān, the

in arbitration, 27

Berber version, 233

caliph as judge, 52

Commentary on, 118

createdness of, 83–85, 95, 135–136

first caliph, 1

and heresy, 174–175

revelation and passing of, 19

Sunni and Shi a, 175, 191

Qur’ān of Uthmān, 19–20, 237, 259

Quraysh, the

as caliphs, 163, 167, 252–253

and Córdoba caliphate, 212

and Islamic State, 273

and Prophet Muhammad, 3–4

role, 3, 4

and succession, 5, 9, 16, 20, 28

wealth in, 18

Qusayr (little castle) Amra, 57–58

Rabbat, 236, 237, 242

rag-paper, 107

Ramiro II, 215

Rāshidūn, 7–8

Rayy, 92

al-Raziq, Alī Abd, Islam and the Fundamentals of Ruling, 268

reading, 106

Recemundo (Rabī b. Zayd), 216–217, 218, 221

Redhouse, James, 262

religious sciences, 117–118

religious tolerance, 120–122

Repenters, 41–42

ridda, the, 9–11, 23

Rob, 47–48

Rus, the, 91

Rusafa, 55, 156

Sabā’iyyah, the, 68

sābiqa, 23–24

Sa d b. Abī Waqqās, 10

Saffāh, Caliph (Abū’l-Abbās), 67–68, 70, 99

Saffarids, the, 85

Saladin, 151, 152, 204, 236

salaf, the, 43, 200

salaries, for bureaucrats, 105–106

Samanids, 93, 137–138, 141

Samarra, 84, 85–86

Santarem, 240

Sayyida, 87

science, 112–117

seal of the Prophet, 259

Sebuktagin, Sultan, 138

Selīm the Grim, Sultan, 251, 252

Seljuqs, the, 138, 149–150, 158, 166, 168

9/11 attacks, 216

Seville, 237, 238–239, 242

Sèvres, Treaty of, 265

Shah Rukh, 250, 252

Shahrazad, 77

sharī a, 134, 161, 168, 169, 176, 270

shawkat, 167, 170

Shi ites

and Abbasids, 92–93

and Buyids, 130

caliphate of, 173–177

definition, 175

division with Sunnis, 8, 131–132, 134–136

early caliphs, 8

and Family of the Prophet, 175–176, 180, 191

fundamental questions, 175–177

as heretics, 173–174

Isma’ilis (see Isma’ilis)

in Kufa, 181–182

legacy of Alī b. Abī Talīb, 26

and Mongol invasion, 159

prayer, 200

and Qur’ān, 175

revolt, 182–183

strands, 177

succession, xvii, 74

Twelver Shi ism, 177, 178–180, 187

Zaydis, 177, 180–184

See also Fatimid caliphate

shī a and shī ī, meaning, 175

shūra, 16–17, 20, 22, 224

Siddīq, Abū Bakr as, 10

Siffin, battle at, 26–27

sikka, 133

Sind, 55

singing girls (jāriya), 111, 154

slaves and slavery, 24, 86, 111, 125, 199, 248

Sophronius, 15

Spain, 205

See also Andalus

Subh, 224

Sulaymān, Caliph, 53–54

Sulayman the Magnificent, Sultan, 251, 252

sultanate, abolition, 265, 267–268

sultans, definition and other titles, 253

sunna, the, 54

Sunnis

caliphates, 173

division with Shi ites, 8, 131–132, 134–136

early caliphs, 8

and Fatimids, 189–190

and Mongol invasion, 158–159

and Qādir, 135–137

and Qur’ān, 175

succession, xvii–xviii

and Turks, 138–139

and Uthmān, 18

Syria

and Abd al-Malīk, 46–47

and Andalus, 206–207

army, 46–47

caliphate, 262–263

conquest, 8, 10

and Fatimids, 191–192

palaces, 56, 57

rivalry with Iraq, 25, 26–27

and Umayyads, 45

Syriac language, 113

Tabarī (Abū Ja far al-Tabarī), 34, 118–119, 121, 253

Tāhir b. Husayn, 81, 82

Tā’ī, Caliph, 130, 132

takf īr, ideology of, 29–30

Talas, Battle of, 106

Talha b. Ubayd Allah, 21, 22

Taliban, 232, 271

tālibs, 232

taqiyya, 178–179

taxes and taxation, 12, 13, 46–47, 52, 54, 57, 96

Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 77

Thaqīf, tribe of, 21–22

Tigris river, 72–73

Timothy, 120

Tinmal, 232, 233, 242

Toorawa, Shawkat, 106

Topkapi Saray collection, 258–260

Traditions of the Prophet, 64, 85, 117–118, 162, 167

translations, 112–114

transliteration, xx–xxi

Transoxania, 137, 141

travel narrative, 91–92

Tughril Beg, 162

Tunisia, 188

Turkey, abolition of sultanate, 265

Turks, 82–83, 86, 138–139, 148–149, 199

See also Seljuqs, the

tyrannicide, 19

Ubayd Allah b. Ziyād, 41, 185–187

ulama, the, 34–35, 51

Umar b. al-Khattāb, Caliph

campaigns and conquests, 8, 11

death, 13

in Jerusalem, 15

opinions on, xix

‘pact of Umar’, 12–13, 54–55

as Redeemer, 15–16

and rejection of Islam, 9

reputation, 13–15

revenue system, 11–12

succession, 5, 16

Umar b. Shabba, 182

Umar II, Caliph, 52, 53, 54–55

Umar (son of Abd al-Mu’min), 238

Umayyad caliphate and Abbasids, 207

achievements, 34

in Andalus, 34, 205–210

criticisms of, 34–35, 60–61, 68–69

death of Uthmān, 21

decline and end, 66, 67, 68

establishment, 33–38

fay system, 12

and hajj, 80

inauguration of caliphs, 35–36

laws and law-making, 51, 52

murder of Husayn, 41–42

palaces, 56–58

public rituals, 194

seven-year crisis, 55–56

size and conquests, 33–34

social views, 45–46

and Syria, 45

See also Córdoba, caliphate of

umma, the, xii, 88–92, 97, 120–122, 210

Usāma b. Lādin, 216, 271

Uthmān b. Affān, Caliph

as early caliph, 7–8

murder, 17–19, 21

opinions on, xix

Qur’ān of, 19–20, 237, 259

rule of, 17

selection by shūra, 16

succession, 20–22

and wealth, 18

Uthmān (son of Walīd II), 58, 59

viziers, 164–165

Wadad al-Qadi, 190

Wāhid, 242

Walīd I, Caliph, 49, 51, 53

Walīd II, Caliph, 34, 56, 57–59, 60, 120

Walker, Paul, 202

wall-paintings, Qusayr Amra, 58

Wasīf, 125–126

Wasit, 47

Wāthiq, Caliph, 104

women, 111, 122–123, 154, 224

World War I, 264–265

writing and writing materials, 106–108

Yahya the Barmakid, 78

Ya qūb b. Ishāq al-Kindī, 114–115

Yarmuk, Battle of, 10

Yathrib. See Medina

Yazīd I, Caliph, 39–40, 41, 42–44

Yazīd II, Caliph, 55

Yemen, 183–184, 206

Yūsuf b. Tashfīn, 150, 230

Zallaqa, Battle of, 230

Zanj, the, 86

Zayd b. Alī, 181–182

Zaydism, 177, 180–184

Zayn al-Abidīn, 177

Zindīqs, the, 75

Zirids, the, 223

Zoroastrians, 121

Zubayda, 80, 101, 102–103, 104, 111

Zubayr b. al-Awwām, 20–22

Zubayrids, 45–46

7

THE CALIPHATE OF THE SHI ITES

THE CALIPHATES WE have been discussing so far, the Orthodox, the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, all belong to, or have been adopted by, the Sunni mainstream of Islam, but there is another tradition of caliphate, equally vital and varied, which we might define as the Shi ite.

Islamic leadership in the Shi ite tradition is described in terms of caliphate but also of imamate. The term imam has, as has already been noted, a whole spectrum of meanings in the discussion of Islamic society. In the context of this discussion it is used virtually as a synonym for caliphate, the religio-political leadership of the Muslims. The Twelver Shi ites produced imams but, apart from the first Alī, no caliphs; the intention certainly was that at one stage in the future, with the help of God and the support of the Shi a, these imams would also be caliphs. In the event this did not happen and the imams disappeared into hiding instead.

The Shi ites are often described as heretics and it is worth pausing for a moment to see what this idea signifies in Islam. Heresy in Christianity, Islam and Judaism means believing the wrong thing in religious matters. It is the opposite of orthodoxy or right belief. Nobody ever claims they are heretics because nobody ever boasts that they believe the wrong thing and everyone thinks that they alone are orthodox. For Shi ites of all persuasions, it is the Sunnis who are heretics. In ancient Christianity heresy was about theological issues, above all the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity and the nature of the incarnation of Christ. These abstract, and essentially unknowable, questions aroused fierce passions and, in the three centuries before the coming of Islam, a huge polemical literature was produced and much blood shed in debating them. From the eleventh century onwards the western Church was divided by another sort of heresy and that was the debate about the authority of the papacy of Rome, a controversy which in the end split the western Church from top to bottom and led to the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

The same issues still divide the Church today. The fundamental question is the role of the pope in defining true belief. For the Catholics it was clear that God’s grace provided the pope with the authority to decide on controversial aspects of belief, and in the nineteenth century it became official doctrine that the pope was infallible, that is, he could not make a wrong decision when it came to pronouncing on questions of Christian belief. Protestants, on the other hand, rejected what they saw as papal authority, or what they considered to be papal dictatorship, and believed that matters of doctrine should be debated by learned men but in the end decided by individuals and churches. Ultimately, the key relationship was the relationship of the individual believer with God.

Islam was spared much of the speculative wrangling about issues of Trinity and Incarnation because the unity of God was paramount and indisputable; indeed Muslims defined themselves as those who rejected shirk (polytheism). There were, however, still two areas in which speculative theology crossed into wrong belief or heresy.

The first of these was the nature of the Qur’ān. All Muslims agree that the Qur’ān is the word of God; whereas most, though by no means all, Christians believe the Bible contains divine utterance but also a great deal of material, such as histories, proverbs and so forth, which is obviously composed by human beings. If you do not accept the Qur’ān as the word of God, you cannot be a Muslim. The question which separates Sunnis and Shi as was whether the Qur’ān had existed through all eternity with God, or whether it had been authored by God at a particular moment in human history and revealed to Muhammad.

The second speculative issue which divided Muslims was that of anthropomorphism, the belief that God was in shape and form like a human (male) being, but much bigger and better. That is to say that He had arms and legs, sat literally on a throne and uttered words with His mouth in the way that we do. Nobody actually claimed to be anthropomorphist, but it was an accusation which could be levelled at Muslims who thought differently from true believers, and one which was used by the Almohads in the Maghreb to discredit the views of their enemies the Almoravids.

These were controversies which, though important at the time, were limited in scope and duration. The issue which really divided, and continues to divide the umma, is that of authority in the Muslim community. In this respect it is reminiscent of the controversies among Christians about papal supremacy, which proved equally divisive.

The Arabic word shi a essentially means ‘a party’ in the sense of ‘a group of supporters’. From this derives the Arabic shī ī, meaning an individual member of such a party, and this in turn gives us the English Shi ite, the term I shall use. In early Islamic political discourse there were a number of shi as, the shi a of Uthmān, for example, or the shi a of the Abbasids, but by the tenth century the term generally referred to the party of Alī, or the party of the Family of the Prophet.

The fundamental idea to which all Shi ites subscribe is that the Family of the Prophet is a special status in the Muslim community. This in itself was neither controversial or divisive. Most Sunni Muslims, at least in pre-modern times, would accept that the members of the Family should be honoured and perhaps given pensions or other benefits. What distinguished the Shi ites is that they believed that the Family of the Prophet, and only it, had a God-given right to lead the Muslim community as caliphs or imams and to make decisions on matters of shari a.

This belief, if accepted, gave rise to a number of further questions. Who exactly belonged to the Family of the Prophet? Clearly this included the direct blood descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fātima, her husband Alī b. Abī Tālib and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn. But could it also include the descendants of Alī’s brother Ja far, or the Prophet’s paternal uncle Abbās, from whom the Abbasids were descended? Then there was the question of later descendants. Were all the offspring of Hasan and Husayn eligible to lead the community? If so, as the centuries rolled on, this provided a huge number of potential candidates—too many, in fact, for a proper choice to be made. But if the number of eligible members of the Family was to be restricted, who should do this and how? And even in the case of an imam who produced a number of sons, should it necessarily be the eldest who should succeed, or should the most able and suitable be selected? And what would happen if the presumed heir apparent seemed, God forbid, to behave in a wayward and un-Islamic way? Did this mean that he should be deposed and replaced by someone apparently more suitable as a candidate, or did it mean that God’s decisions were inscrutable to men and should be obeyed whatever the apparent situation?

Then there was the further question of what this God-given au thority amounted to. Virtually all Shi ites believe that it means that the imam should be able to interpret uncertain and controversial passages in the Qur’ān and that it is him, not the scholars of Tradition, who had the knowledge to do this. The sharī a of the Shi ites is to be decided by the imam, not by the ulama or by the consensus of the community. Some took the argument further than that, saying that the imam should be able to change and even abrogate the sharī a because of his superior judgement.

All these questions were serious and difficult and the answers to them had important implications for the leadership of the umma, so it is hardly surprising that they gave rise to a vast literature. Some of this literature took the form of heresiographies, or accounts of all the different sects which emerged. These numbered up to seventy-three, each named after a real or imaginary founder, each advocating a particular answer to the various questions. Some of these were clearly large groups; others amounted to little more than one lone individual proclaiming his own eccentric ideas.

This proliferation of such groups can give an impression of fissiparous chaos, or perhaps even frivolity, but most of them represent answers to the major questions which the idea of the God-guided ruler gives rise to. To understand these complex developments, we have to think of them as a result of pious, honest and intelligent men trying to find meaningful answers to difficult but very fundamental questions of belief and authority in the Muslim environment. There were other, more mundane factors which accounted for the emergence of so many different groups among the Shi ites. At times, adherence to Shi ism was the result of social tensions. As already explained, much of the enthusiasm for Alī and his descendants in Iraq in the early Islamic period seems to have been experienced by those who felt left out and resented their status as second-class citizens. There were also regional differences. Again, it has been pointed out that from a very early period devotion to the house of Alī went along with, and was part of, Iraqi resentment of Syrian dominance. In later centuries we find Shi ites ruling in marginal areas of the Muslim world, the mountains of northern Iran, for example, or Yemen, where Shi ism has emerged as a signifier of local sentiment, and the official Shi ism of modern Iran is an inseparable part of Iranian national identity.

Among the many different strands into which Shi ism divided, three main sects emerged. The first are the Imami or Twelver Shi ites, who are the most numerous at the present day, comprising the Shi ites of modern Iraq and Iran; the second are the Zaydis, now only really active in northern Yemen but a group with a long and interesting history; and the third are the Isma’ilis, the group who founded the Fatimid caliphate of Egypt (969–1171) and are now represented in a worldwide diaspora, many of whom accept the leadership of the Aga Khan.

IMAMI OR TWELVER SHI ISM

Imami or Twelver (ithnā asharī) Shi ism is defined by the fact that it recognizes twelve imams, descended from Alī through his son Husayn. None of these imams, after Alī himself, were caliphs or attained any significant political power, though their followers certainly thought that they should. After the failure of Husayn’s attempt to seize power from the Umayyads in 680 and his death at Karbala, his son Alī (d. 712), known to later generations of Twelvers as Zayn al-Ābidīn (Ornament of the Believers), seems to have led a life of retirement. Although the biographies of these early imams were elaborated later to give an impression of continuous activity, there is no evidence that this second Alī played any part in the politics of his day or that he was respected as an authority on religious questions. The same was broadly true of his son Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c.735). There were Shi ite revolts in Iraq, notably that of Zayd b. Alī in Kufa in 740, but the line of the Twelver imams played no part in them. There are reports that at the time of the Abbasid revolution the organizer of the Abbasid movement in Kufa, Abū Salama, tried to interest the then imam, Ja far al-Sādiq (d. 765), in putting himself forward for the caliphate, but Ja far, perhaps wisely, declined to get involved and Abū Salama paid for his initiative with his life.