Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages: 4. Giorgio Levi Della Vida Biennial Conference, May 11-13, 1973, Near Eastern Center, Univ. of Calif., Los Angeles

GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA BIENNIAL

CONFERENCE

PUBLICATIONS Edited by Gustave E. von Grunebaum

Logic in Classical Islamic Culture (1970) Theology and Law in Islam (1971) Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development (1973)

GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA CONFERENCES Speros Vryonis Jr., General Editor

Published under the Auspices of the Near Eastern Center University of California Los Angeles

FOURTH GIORGIO LEVI DELLA VIDA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE May 11-13, 1973 Near Eastern Center University of California, Los Angeles

ISLAM AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Edited by SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

The Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Medal of the Near Eastern Center, University of California, Los Angeles, is awarded biennially to give recognition to an outstanding scholar whose work has significantly and lastingly advanced the study of Islamic civilization. The field is understood to include antecedents and interaction with historically connected centers of civilization. The scholar is selected by a committee appointed by the chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, meeting under the chairmanship of the director of the Near Eastern Center. The composition of the committee is intended to reflect the conviction that Near Eastern studies are most creative and effective if integrated with other historical and social science research. The award carries with it a bronze medal and a prize of money together with the obligation to present in person a formal lecture at the University of Cali­ fornia, Los Angeles, as part of a conference the topic of which the recipient selects. The proceedings of the conferences are published as separate volumes in a special series, of which this volume is the fourth. The first award was made on May 12, 1967, to Professor Robert Brunschvig of the Sorbonne, Paris, by a committee under the chairmanship of Professor G. E. von Grunebaum composed of Professors G.-C. Anawati, O.P., Franz Rosenthal, Bertold Spuler, Andreas Tietze, and Giorgio Levi Delia Vida. Subse­ quent recipients were Professor Joseph Schacht of Columbia University and Professor Francesco Gabrieli of the University of Rome. The committee, under the chairmanship of Professor Speros Vryonis Jr. and composed of Professor G.-C. Anawati, O.P., Robert Brunschvig, Franz Rosenthal, Bertold Spuler, and Andreas Tietze, selected Professor Gustave E. von Grunebaum as posthumous recipient of the fourth award. Three volumes have been published to date: Logic in Classical Islamic Culture (1970), Theology and Law in Islam (1971), and Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development (1973).

ISLAM AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Giorgio L e v i D e l i a V i d a 1880-1967

ISLAM AND IN

THE

CULTURAL MIDDLE

CHANGE

AGES

Edited by

SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

1975 OTTO HARRASSOWITZ • WIESBADEN

© Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975 Alle Rechte vorbehalten Photographische oder photomechanische Wiedergaben jeder A r t nur mit ausdrucklicher Genehmigung des Verlages Gesamtherstellung: Allgauer Zeitungsverlag G m b H , Kempten Printed in Germany I S B N 3 447 01608 6

CONTENTS Editor's Note

viii

Presentation of Award to Fourth Recipient, Gustave E. von Grunebaum Speros Vryonis Jr.

1

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam Muhsin Mahdi

. . . .

3

Factors and Effects of Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria Georges C. Anawati, O.P.

17

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture . . . Alessandro Bausani

43

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View Anwar G. Chejne

59

Spanish Islam in Transition: Acculturative Survival and Its Price in the Christian Kingdom of Valencia, 1240-1280 Robert I. Burns, S.J.

87

Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact 107 Annemarie Schimmel Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia from the Fourteenth through the Sixteenth Century 127 Speros Vryonis Jr. Index

141

EDITOR'S NOTE On occasion the specialist may feel an explanation or paraphrase attached to an Arabic term or passage could have been dispensed with. The editor has felt, however, that making this material accessible to people in related fields would be useful to the advancement of a great variety of studies. He has therefore tended to defend the presumed interest of the non-Arabist in the text where the insertion of a definition does not break the flow. Translite­ ration has been standardized as much as could be done without excessive ped­ antry. The spellings of well-known place names and commonly used words of Arabic origin are given according to Webster's International Dictionary, 3d ed. This volume and its predecessors owe what technical perfection they may possess very largely to the care bestowed on them by Teresa Joseph, Editor, Near Eastern Center, University of California, Los Angeles.

PRESENTATION OF A W A R D TO FOURTH RECIPIENT, GUSTAVE E. VON GRUNEBAUM SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

The Fourth Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Conference and this volume, wherein are published the papers of that conference, constitute a landmark not only in this relatively young scholarly series but also in the international realm of Islamic scholarship. They are dedicated to the vast labors and memory of a scholar who by his brilliance and humanism exercised a transforming effect on Islamic studies throughout the world wherever such studies are pursued. He is among the last of those who have dared to master an entire civilization and who have attempted constantly to interpret this civilization and to push forward the boundaries of our knowledge of it. As founder of the Giorgio Levi Delia Vida conferences and editor of these volumes it is fitting that we honor the memory and labors of Gustave von Grunebaum here. These conferences and the pub­ lications ensuing therefrom represent the culmination of Gustave's organizing talents and efforts to create an important center of Islamic studies in his adopted home, the United States. In honoring the scholarship of such a man it seemed appropriate to pick a subject which would begin to approximate the breadth and daring of his own scholarship and which would at the same time mesh with the interests of his research. His first major interpretation of Islamic civilization, in Medieval Islam, has become a fundamental and classic statement of the common cultural elements at the basis of the three medieval cultures represented by Islam, Byzantium, and the Latin West. In preparing the program for the Fourth Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Conference it was decided to set as the theme "Medieval Islam and Cultural Change," a theme both sufficiently broad and intimately related to Gustave's interests, and yet one that has not received the scholarly attention that its importance merits. The military expansion and conquests effected by the Islamic peoples in the Middle Ages brought in their train forces that culturally transformed major regions from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans and from the Danube to Central Africa. The program of papers has attempted to investigate the primary causes, course, and effects of cultural change via religious, linguistic, and other manifestations in the core areas of Islam (Egypt, Syria, Iran, Anatolia) and then to contrast this with the border

2

Speros Vryonis Jr.

areas (Spain, Balkans, India) where Islam enjoyed a dominant success followed either by partial survival or complete expulsion. It was not possible because of limitations of time and economic resources to organize the conference to include other areas such as North and Central Africa, Central Asia, or Southeast Asia, though the inclusion of these areas would have pleased Gustave.

T H E BOOK AND THE MASTER AS POLES OF CULTURAL CHANGE IN ISLAM MUHSIN MAHDI

Harvard University

This is an occasion on which we remember and celebrate the achievement of Professor Gustave von Grunebaum. The majority of students of Islamic studies have known him and will come to know him as readers of his books and articles. Many have known him as a friend, colleague, administrator, organizer of and participant in conferences, and a kind and helpful man. Only a few were privileged to know him as a master. Nevertheless, his achievement cannot be appreciated adequately through his writings alone, despite the effort and care with which he produced them. To appreciate his achievement and impact on the culture of the students of Islam and Middle Eastern studies requires equal attention to the books, the man, and the master. Since the core of his concern was to understand and express the specific character of Islam and of Islamic civilization, its origin, and its change through medieval and modem times, it is appropriate that I open this conference in his memory as a writer and a master by talking some­ what informally and tentatively about the book and the master in Islamic civilization, especially in that aspect of Islamic civilization represented by the Sufis in which there was a creative tension between the role of the book and the role of the master. In the third quarter of the eighth century of the Islamic era, the fourteenth century of the Christian era, the Sufis of Andalusia were involved in a longdrawn conflict among themselves in which they used verbal arguments and occasionally their fists and sandals as well. The question dividing them had to do with their distinctive lifestyle, their path or way to knowledge, intuitive experience, and unveiling the spiritual world. Is it sufficient to read what other Sufi masters had written about their own experiences and depend wholly on the guidance of books ? Or, is it indispensable to have a living master, a shaykh, who explains the signs that appear along the disciple's path, warns against the dangers that may confront the disciple as he pursues his training, and clears up the uncertainties and confusions that may arise on the way as the disciple attempts to distinguish good from bad and proper from improper among the happenings and states he experiences—a master, therefore, who will perform a function similar to that performed by the physician with respect to the sick

4

Muhsin Mahdi

and the just leader, the imam, with respect to the leaderless and disorderly community ? Is it enough, in short, for the disciple to read books and follow written instructions; or is it indispensable that he follow an imam or a sliaykh, listen to his directions, imitate him, and act on his instructions ? The Sufis of Andalusia—which in the third quarter of the fourteenth century meant the kingdom of Granada—were unable to resolve this question among themselves. Nor were the local jurists to whom they appealed for a decision able to resolve it to everyone's satisfaction. Therefore, one of the most prominent jurists of Granada, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d. 790/1388), formulated the question and the arguments between the opposing camps and addressed a letter to a number of learned men in Fez, the capital of the Marinids and the active center of intellectual life at the time, asking for their opinions. The men to whom he addressed this letter included the jurist Abu al-'Abbas al-Qabbab (d. 779/1377) and the Sufi Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi (d. 792/1390). Both the incident and the opinions have been well known among the Sufis and jurists of North Africa. The famous shaykh Zarruq (d. 899/1493) of Fez, who is buried in Mesrata east of Tripoli in Libya, refers to them in a number of his works. And the text of the legal responsa are reported in the well-known collection of legal opinions, fatam, of Andalusian and North African jurists compiled by al-Wansharisi (d. 914/1508) and known as al-Mi'yar. The North African sources speak also of an answer written by the historian Ibn Khaldun. This answer appears to have been written sometime between 774 and 776 of the Islamic era (between 1372 and 1374 of the Christian era) when Ibn Khaldun was moving between Andalusia and North Africa, avoiding political entanglements, and looking for a place to retire and figure out the meaning of history in general, of Islamic history, and of the contemporary history of Andalusia and North Africa. This means that it was written immedi­ ately before his famous introduction to history, the Muqaddima, either just before Ibn Khaldun retired to the castle of Ibn Salama or early during his retirement there, which ended with the completion of the first draft of the Muqaddima in mid 779/November 1377. And the two works are in a sense twin sisters, the one dealing with the external meaning of the internal experience of the Sufis, the other with the internal meaning of the external events of history. Ibn Khaldun was not requested by al-Shatibi to answer the letter. He volunteered the answer and gave it the curious name Shifd' al-Sa'il liTahdhib al-Masa'il ("The Cure of the Questioner about the Clarification of the 1

2

3

4

&

6

1

Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (5 vols.; Leiden, 1 9 3 7 1949), I I , 264 (henceforth cited as GAL). GAL, I I , 247. GAL, I I , 252. GAL, I I , 253. GAL, I I , 248, no. 3. Muhsin Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History (Chicago, 1964), p. 5 0 . 2

3

1

5

6

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

5

7

Questions"). The author of the "Cure" considers himself the master physician who combines knowledge of the medical art that is drawn from books (in this case the Sufi literature), knowledge of the history of the patient's disease, experience in healing the sick, and the ability to determine the right medicine for this particular illness at this particular time. Let me begin with this last point, and start by comparing the opinions of the Malikite jurist al-Qabbab, the great Sufi al-Rundi, and the historian Ibn Khaldun. A humble man, al-Qabbab claims that he knows nothing about Sufis and Sufism, since he has not studied their disciplines or frequented their masters or learned their true aims. Therefore, he considers the arguments of the litigants and expresses his preference on the basis of their own presentations. He sides with the group that argues for the necessity of the master. He takes into account the fact on which both parties agree, which is that the Sufi path is like a vast and dangerous desert. His main argument is drawn from the analogy of the other arts, such as medicine, jurisprudence, and grammar, in which no student can become a competent practitioner merely by reading books; he needs, in addition, to be trained by masters in these arts who "possess the keys of the books." As described by both groups, Sufism appears much more obscure than these other arts. Its technical terms are not as fully explained, but mentioned in books by way of allusions and symbols only. And it involves greater danger of going astray, since it is more likely to lead to grave errors and even unbelief in matters of religion. Therefore, it is all the more necessary that the student of Sufism should have a master as guide. Finally, jurists have traditionally disapproved of the writings of the great Sufi masters of the past so far as they dealt with mystical vision. Al-Qabbab quotes the famous jurist of the region, Abu Muhammad al-Fishtali (d. 777/1376), who used to say, "Were I to find all the works of al-Qushayii [a Sufi who was considered quite orthodox], I would collect them and throw them into the ocean" and who rec­ ommended that one should accept only those parts of al-Ghazali's writings that deal with jurisprudence, but be quite careful about the parts in which he talks about the "unseen" world of the Sufis. This, then, is the purely juridical answer to the question. The jurist looks at similar cases, the other arts, formulates a general rule, and applies it to the 8

9

10

11

' E d . Muhammad Ibn Tawlt al-Tanji (Istanbul, 1957-1958). The editor's argu­ ments for the years 1372-1374 as the most likely date for the composition of the work are to be found in his introduction, pp. d-da. For the reader's convenience, I will refer to al-Qabbab's and al-Rundf s answers as reproduced in the appendices of al-Tanji's edition (henceforth cited as Ibn Khaldun, Shifa'), even though the text of these two answers is not edited critically. 8

9

1 0

1 1

These are in Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', pp. 127-134, 111-127, and 3 - 1 0 8 , respectively. Ibid., p. 129. GAL, I I , 247. Ibn Khaldun, Shifa , p. 132. 1

6

Muhsin Mahdi

new case after he makes sure that the new case does not contain features that may justify its exclusion from the general rule. Al-Qabbab finds that, if any­ thing, the master is more necessary in Sufism than in the other arts; it is a "master intensive" art, as we say nowadays. The objection that a master may lead the disciple to error and unbelief does not move al-Qabbab, who reports the answer of those who complained that an equal number of people were led astray by depending on books alone and suggests that in both cases one is faced with a vicious circle in which he may need a book to enlighten him on the correctness of another book and a master to enlighten him as to which master leads to the right path, and so on. The result is a legal decision in favor of the necessity of the Sufi master which, as we saw, tends to destroy the authority of Sufi books. Continuity and change, correctness and error, and right and wrong, are all invested in the living Sufi master and guide. Thus the purely legal opinion, which one would have expected to favor the book as an instrument of transmitting an unchanging truth, ends by supporting the master as the trans­ mitter of living truth, with no provision for controlling the direction or the content of the Sufi path. Ibn 'Abbad al-Rundi's answer, like that of al-Qabbab, begins with a disclaim­ er of personal discipleship under or search for true Sufis, and the assertion that, for the most part, he busied himself with reading some of their books and nothing more. One would therefore expect him to answer that the master is not indispensable for the Sufi path. Yet, he practically asserts the contrary. The master is undeniably indispensable. But there are two kinds of Sufi mas­ ters. There is on the one hand the "teaching master" (shaylch al-ta'lim), that is, the master who teaches the books on Sufism. This master is necessary; he is the "guide to the path of God." He is needed, first, to direct the student to authors who are truly knowledgeable and deserve to be followed and, second, to explain to the disciple such matters in these books that are not clear or not in agree­ ment with the apparent sense of the divine law. And it is with reference to this kind of master that it has been said: "He who has no master, the Devil is his master." Then there is the "training master" (shaykh al-tarbiya) whose func­ tion is to reform the character and improve the minds of those whose moral character is defective and whose wits are dull. Just as those who are afflicted with incurable diseases cannot be cured without skillful physicians, these disci­ ples cannot pursue the path of Sufism without a training master, who must take complete charge of them, subject them to a harsh regime, dictate what they should do and learn, refine their moral qualities, and train their souls with 12

13

14

15

1 2

Ibid., pp. 133-134. This statement is a remarkable expression of humility. Details of al-Rundi's (and al-Qabbab's) training in Sufism can be found in Paul Nwyia, Ibn 'Abbad de Ronda {1332-1390) (Beirut, 1961). Al-Rundi's answer has been edited by Paul Nwyia in Ibn 'Abbad de Ronda, Lea lettres de direction spirituelle (Beirut, 1958). Ibn Khaldun, Shij&\ p. 114. 1 3

1 4

1 5

Ibid.

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

7

such things as solitude, recitations, relative abstention from food, speaking, sleep, and so forth. Such disciples, however, need a teaching master as well. Yet it is this kind of master alone—that is, the training master and not the teaching master—who, according to al-Rundi, was being proposed as indispens­ able by the party of Sufis in Andalusia who upheld the necessity of having a master. Al-Rundi himself holds that the training master is not necessary for every disciple and asserts that the disciple who is naturally gifted both morally and intellectually does not need a training master at all. Thus the warring factions among the Sufis of Andalusia were not arguing about the really indis­ pensable master, the teaching master, but only about a dispensable master, and they had lost sight of the truly indispensable master, the teaching master. Furthermore, reliance on a training master is, according to al-Rundi, a late development in the history of Sufism. The earlier Sufis in the ninth and tenth centuries, as shown by the works of al-Muhasibi (d. 243/837) and al-Makki (d. 386/996), took charge of their own training, relied on what they learned from teaching masters alone, and improved themselves by frequenting each other's company as friends and brothers (bi-tariq al-suhba wa'l-mu'akhdt) and by traveling to meet other saints and learned men. So there has been a change in the kind of master that Sufis rely upon or perhaps need. Either the times have changed and all those who pursue the Sufi path have become moral­ ly and intellectually defective, or else the circle of those choosing the Sufi path has now extended beyond the small group of select men who possess the moral and intellectual qualifications preparing them for this calling to encompass a larger group who do not possess these qualifications and therefore must have the training master in addition to the teaching master. In al-Rundi's time the situation seems to have degenerated even further. Large groups of Sufis seem to have forgotten about the necessity of the teaching master who is truly indispensable and were quarreling about the necessity of even the training master, all this at a time when both training masters and genuine disciples had become extremely rare. "I do not know," al-Rundi says, "which of these two calamities is the greater one: the fact that one cannot find a training master or the fact that there is not a genuine disciple around." Al-Rundi's answer is more than an opinion regarding the original question posed by al-Shatibi. It is a critique of both of the warring Sufi factions, masters and disciples, their morality and intellectual standards. In particular he criti­ cizes the faction that proposes exclusive reliance on books alone for lacking good intention to begin with, when good intention is the basis of the Sufi path, and for undertaking to train themselves in such things as prolonged fasting and other excessive, extralegal practices that should never be attempted except 16

17

18

19

1 8

1 7

1 8

1 9

GAL, I, 198. GAL, I, 200. Ibn Khaldun, Ibid.

Shifa, p.

116.

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Muhsin Mahdi

under the watchful eye of a training master. And he criticizes the faction that proposes exclusive reliance on the master—by which they mean the training master, not the teaching master—for restricting the Sufi path to reliance on this kind of master alone and for requiring that the disciple should do nothing until he had searched for and found such a master. Al-Rundi, then, is dissatisfied with both opinions. He proposes his own opinion, which he wishes to be accepted as a third opinion different from the opinions of the warring factions. This opinion is that Sufism is a calling meant for a very few who are elected for it and chosen by God who himself aids and supports these disciples on their way to him. A disciple who is thus called should avoid worldly entanglements and seek to find out and imitate the moral character, sincere works, and worship, of earlier Sufis as reported in the early manuals on Sufism. He should seek the aid of God, depend on him, avoid excesses, perform good works, and hope for God's help. God may bring him across a divine master who fits his exact needs. What the disciple needs most is sincerity and humility in his relation to God, not worrying about what choices to make, pretension to knowledge, intensive search, strong acquisitiveness, or powerful desire. True Sufis are like "children in God's lap." This is not belief in predestination or in the virtue of mindlessness, but faith in the efficacy of works combined with hope and reliance on God, who will in one way or another (through a master, a book, or directly by inspiring the disciple) lead him to his desired end. In short, it is the Sufi doctrine that a man cannot reach God except by way of God himself. It is man's own self that is the only veil between him and God, and man cannot fight his own self with that very self. He can only fight it with God's aid, and when he does this, all the difficulties that confront the man who is busy with himself and his own will and choice and designs will be difficulties no longer. Books are needed and masters are needed, but neither of these two things is sufficient. Neither should be made the object of exclusive reliance; only God is worthy of exclusive reliance. For it is he who gives those whom he elects for his path the degree of natural makeup and intelligence that prepares them initially for the degree of effort needed to pursue the path and then determines how far they can go on this path. The Sufi path is not a wild or dangerous desert but consists of stations and resting places where one finds joy and helpers to aid him. The elect should not wait and spend their time looking for books or mas­ ters. They must set out on their path. All-tha1< is required of them is sincerity in worshipping God and reliance on him: "You will not stop short of anything you seek by way of your Lord, and you will attain nothing that you seek by way of your own self." Books and masters are aids, perhaps, but those who rely exclusively on either or both, or quarrel about their respective merits, have lost sight of the aim of the Sufi path, which is fighting one's own self and answer­ ing the divine call. 20

21

2 0

Ibid., p. 119.

2 1

Ibid., p. 125.

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

9

It is clear that al-Rundi's answer is not a legal opinion. His disclaimer of personal discipleship under or search for true Sufis is meant to underline the primacy of reliance on God rather than on books and masters. The question that seems to concern him most is the historical change in the character of Sufism which had led to excessive dependence on books or masters, which is essentially a social change. Sufism had changed from a calling reserved for a few chosen men, chosen by God and for God, to popular movements whose members no longer possessed the moral and intellectual qualifications to study or be taught by teaching masters, or to train themselves or be trained by train­ ing masters. This was, in a way, an inevitable consequence of the rise of popular Sufism, of large groups who could claim only the vaguest relation to a founder and who thought that the mere reading of some popular manual of Sufism was sufficient. For the rest, they developed their own practices and went their own ways. Like al-Qabbab, al-Rundi is opposed to the spread of popular Sufism. Al-Qabbab expressed his opposition by insisting on the necessity of a master, knowing full well that there were not enough masters around to look after the very large number of Sufi disciples in these popular movements. Al-Rundi underlined this point by insisting that the training master, who is the master these factions were quarreling about, must take exclusive charge of the disciple, which meant that such a master would not have been able to train his disciples en masse or conduct large classes for them, but must have paid very close and individual attention to them. One would therefore have needed a very large number of training masters, and al-Rundi complains that one could not find even a single training master around. The other side of the coin, of course, is the fact that these were not genuine disciples, for according to al-Rundi it is in the nature of Sufism that there cannot be such large crowds of genuine Sufi disciples. One is justified, therefore, in detecting a common ground between the learned jurist al-Qabbab and the learned Sufi al-Rundi, which is that popular Sufism is harmful from the juridical as well as the Sufi view of Islam and that it would be better if the vast majority of these so-called Sufi disciples were to abandon Sufism and follow the precepts of the divine law. It is precisely the relation between the Sufi and the juridical views of Islam, or rather the place of the Sufi path among the "paths of the divine law (Shari'a)," that is the point of departure of Ibn Khaldun's answer, which follows the major stages in the development of Sufism, analyzes the kind or kinds of battles of the soul (mujaliadat) involved at each stage, and then explains whether and what kind of master is useful or necessary for each one of these battles. Initially—that is, during the first two centuries of the Islamic era, the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era—Sufism meant the effort to follow all the demands of the divine law as fully as possible. This is the first or primary battle of the soul, the battle for piety (taqwd or wara'). As understood by the Lawgiver, his companions, and the generation that followed them, these de22

2 2

Ibid., p. 5.

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Muhsin Mahdi

mands consisted of external acts of worship, customary practices, and ways of life, and internal acts promoting the good attributes or virtues of the heart. These internal acts were considered more important than the external acts and the source that feeds and controls them and determines their efficacy. For early Muslims, "faith" (imari) meant primarily these internal acts of the heart; good intention (niyya) was the principle, the "soul," of all actions; and the discord­ ance between external and internal acts was "hypocrisy" (nifdq) and tanta­ mount to a return to shirk, to associating someone other than God with him as the object of one's worship and devotion. The battle for piety, then, consists of obeying the full range of the demands of the divine law, but with emphasis on the internal acts, the acts of the heart, which are the source of uprightness or righteousness. And the aim or purpose of this struggle for piety is salvation in the world to come. With the spread of Islam and the establishment of Islamic kingdoms, how­ ever, Islam became the religion of a vast multitude of men, with different levels of attainment, diverse intentions, and conflicting theological, sectarian, and political opinions. This led to a progressive decline in the emphasis on, and gradual forgetfulness and neglect of, the internal acts among the majority of Muslims, who concentrated instead on the external acts. The few who continued to engage in the battle for piety and salvation in the world to come and who preserved the original emphasis on the acts of the heart stood out as a distinct group and were given such names as "ascetics," "worshipers," and finally "Sufis." Thus arose the apparent division in understanding the knowledge (fiqh) of the divine law. The multitude and their rulers, on the one hand, paid excessive attention to external acts and were eager to learn the demands of the divine law regarding such acts. The learned responded by developing what became known as "knowledge of the divine law" simply, which in fact is no more than knowledge of the external demands of the divine law (fiqh al-zahir). Out of fear of the loss and complete forgetfulness of the more important part of the divine law, the early Sufis elaborated on the other hand the demands of the divine law regarding the acts of the heart into the knowledge of the internal demands of the divine law (fiqh al-batin), which is contained in al-Muhasibi's "Devotion," the writings of Ibn 'Ata' al-Adami (d. 311/928), and al-Ghazali's "Revival." The separation of the jurist's inquiry jnto the divine law from that of the Sufi is, nevertheless, accidental as far as the true Muslim is concerned; for the two inquiries deal with two complementary aspects of his religious life and two complementary aspects of the divine law. Ibn Khaldun takes issue with alGhazali's attempt to codify and in a way justify this separation. Al-Ghazali 23

21

25

2 3

Al-Ri'aya; GAL, I , 198, no. 1. See the notice in al-Sulaml, Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, ed. Shurayba (Cairo, 1953), pp. 2 6 5 - 2 7 2 . Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din; GAL, I, 422, no. 2 5 : Ibn Khaldun, Shifd\ p. 11. 2 4

2 5

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

11

says that the jurist inquires into the divine law insofar as it pertains to the good of this world, while the Sufi inquires into the divine law insofar as it pertains to the good of the world to come. Ibn Khaldun goes into the historical, social, and psychological reasons for the emergence of the division between the juridical and early Sufi views of Islam; yet it is his very historical sense that leads him to conclude that this division was not intended by the divine law, by the Koran and the Prophet, or by any prophet for that matter. The primary function of prophets is to guide men to God and salvation in the world to come. In this connection, they try also to restrain men and turn them away from the misery of hellflre in the world to come. It is with a view to this negative good only that prophets legislate the kinds of punishment that are the jurist's concern. This negative good, however, must be seen in the perspective of the comprehen­ sive teaching of the prophets regarding what leads to full or complete salvation (kamdl al-najat). Full salvation requires the performance of all the demands of the divine law, the external and the internal, with the additional provision that the internal states of the heart remain constant, without interruption or slack­ ening. This is the state oiihsan ("spiritual beauty," which a later Sufi defined as "serving God as though you see him" or were in his presence). When the internal states of the heart are not constant but subject to interruption or slackening, this is a lower state of religious life, not as fully conducive to salva­ tion as the preceding one. It is the state of iman ("faith"). Even below this is the state of the man who performs the external demands only, completely devoid of the internal states of the heart. This is the state of islam ("profession of obedience"). Finally, there are those who neglect even the external demands;, and it is for them only that punishments were legislated. Punishments come into play only when a professing Muslim disturbs this lower flooring below which he is not allowed to sink. Neglect of the internal states, on the other hand, is not subject to legal punishment at all; for it cannot be known from outside; it is a. malady that is known only to the person who is afflicted with it. In this sense one can speak of the divine law as dealing with external and internal things, and there is some justification for subjecting the external acts to specialized statutes that do not apply to the internal acts. But this has nothing to do with the distinction between the things of this world and the tilings of the world to come, and it does not mean that the demands of the divine law regarding the internal acts are any less important for Muslims or that those who set themselves, up as the learned students of the divine law should be dealing only with the less, important part of the divine law. It is clear, I think, that Ibn Khaldun sees the change that led to the separa­ tion of jurisprudence from Sufism as a change that went contrary to the charac­ ter and intention of the original revelation. He understands the historical,, social, and psychological reasons that led to the emergence of the so-called juridical view of the divine law, but condemns it as partial and dealing with the 26

2 8

Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', pp. 1 3 - 1 5 .

Muhsin Mahdi

12

less important part of the divine law. He understands the motives of the Sufis in concentrating on the internal acts and even rebelling against the excessive concern with external acts; yet he sees early Sufism as nothing more than the continuation of the view of the "pious ancestors" and, more generally, as the aim that should be pursued by every Muslim who aspires to salvation in the world to come: the battle for piety, he says in fact, is an obligation incumbent on every single Muslim. Prophets guide men to God. They demand of every one of their followers to engage in the battle for piety, whose aim is salvation in the world to come. There is, however, an even higher degree of happiness in the world to come, which is the beatific vision, the vision of God. Finally, some men seek to know, see, or taste God in this world so as to be better and more fully prepared for the beatific vision in the world to come. The struggle for these two higher kinds of perfection is the point of departure of the next, the classical, stage of Sufism, which Ibn Khaldun expounds through the analysis of two new kinds of battles of the soul, the battle for uprightness or the mean (istiqdma, i'tidal), which prepares man for the vision of God in the world to come, and the battle for unveiling or gazing •or beholding (kashf, ittila', mushahada), which leads to the mystical vision in this world. There is inside man's heart a subtle divine substance (latifa ruhaniyya) which •can be purified and nourished through certain activities and through knowledge. The two new kinds of battles of the soul are meant to purify and perfect the subtle divine substance through actions. The Prophet, the giver of the divine law and the teacher of the battle for piety which every Muslim is called on to engage in, also serves as the model and guide for the few who battle for beholding God in the next world and those who battle for beholding him in this world, just as the Prophet himself had done. Ibn Khaldun explains that the purifica­ tion and the battle that prophets engage in are, of course, radically different from those of other men. Prophets are chosen by God; they possess innate purity ('isma); and their knowledge of the higher world is brought to them through angels. Theirs is the highest kind of knowledge; it is revelation in the strict sense. Other human beings are able to nourish and perfect the subtle divine substance within their hearts and wait to see God after death, or seek to know more or less everything in this world, by way of an art or by acquisition. If they choose the latter method, two paths are open to them. There is, on the •one hand, the path of the later Sufis through the highest battle of the soul, which results or can result in private inspiration, unveiling, or gazing. For the man who achieves this end, his knowledge is certain. Others can only ascertain its validity through an intuition of their own or else through the more common phenomenon of dreams. Ibn Khaldun admits that the pleasure of this unveiling may indeed be attained in this world, but he is reluctant about recommending its pursuit, expounds on its many dangers, and is opposed to expressing or 27

2 7

Ibid., p. 49.

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

13

communicating its results in any form. He advises those who seek the beatific vision to confine themselves to the battle for uprightness and to wait to gather its fruits in the next world. The other path is the knowledge that man can acquire in the more usual way, through sense perception and thinking. It takes longer and involves just as much hard work, and its results are not perhaps as certain— certain, that is, to the scientist. But it involves fewer dangers, can be commu­ nicated to others, and can be supported by arguments. Ibn Khaldun is no doubt thinking here of the so-called rational or philosophic sciences among which he will include his new science of culture. But let us return to the battles of the soul. The battle for piety, which is encumbent on every Muslim, consists of learning the demands of the divine law. It does not require a Sufi master, either of the teaching or the training type. It can be acquired through books with the aid of teachers or learned men who transmit the teachings of the Koran and the prophetic traditions. At most, one may wish to pursue the battle for piety in a more perfect way by becoming the disciple of a teaching master who would show him by practical example how to perform the demands of the divine law. The battle for uprightness, on the other hand, which consists of acquiring the Koranic and prophetic moral virtues, requires a teaching master. This battle is not encumbent on every Muslim, but on only those Muslims who are able and choose to pursue it. It is preferable that they find and follow a master acquainted with the grounds of the moral virtues and the subtle changes in man's inner life. But even here, it is not absolutely necessary to attach oneself to a teaching master; for it is possible to train oneself with the aid of the divine law, and by considering the statements of learned men on the subject and discussing the various stages and moods of one's experience with friends and brothers who are engaged in the same kind of battle. 28

In the case of the battle for unveiling, finally, it is absolutely necessary to have a training master. For, even though the basis of this battle can be found in the Koran and the prophetic traditions, it is, nevertheless, a novel path, not elaborated in the divine law, but founded or legislated by later men. It is, as it were, a new law meant for the very few. To pursue it properly and avoid its numerous and grave dangers, one must accept the conditions set by its founders and legislators, all of whom are agreed that one must have a training master, warn against pursuing it on one's own, and require that the disciple place him­ self in the hands of a master who has actually pursued this path and won the battle, as "the dead is placed in the hands of the mortician" or "the blind man walking on the shoreline follows his guide." For, this path is an artificial death, an imitation of natural death. And as in every other art, one needs to learn it from a master practitioner, in this case the training master. It is something that one cannot learn from books, either from 29

2 8

Mahdi, Ibn Khaldion's Philosophy

2 9

Ibn Khaldun, Shifa', p. 74.

of History,

pp. 73ff., 159ff.

14

Muhsin Mahdi

the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet, or from the writings of Sufi masters. Unlike al-Rundi, Ibn Khaldun insists that the path of the battle for unveiling is full of dangers; it was the Sufi masters who established it; they are the only ones who know it, the only authorities as to what it consists of and where it leads. It would be foolhardy, therefore, not to meet what they consider an indispensable condition for it, the training master, on whose necessity they insist. Al-Rundi's argument in favor of the necessity of the teaching master and against the necessity of the trairiing master can mean one of two things. AlRundi may be proposing a return to the first stage of Sufism, the struggle for piety, or the struggle for piety together with the struggle for uprightness and waiting for the vision of God till after one's natural death. Ibn Khaldun would accept this course because it is both more prudent and the one recommended by the divine law, which disapproves of the battle for unveiling in this world, although it does not condemn it outright. But al-Rundi does not, in fact, mean to abandon hope for the vision of God in this world. Instead, he speaks of attaining it through divine election and divine aid. But this, according to Ibn Khaldun, would occur in very rare cases and "by way of divine favor, the counterpart of miracle" that upsets the course of nature. A disciple should not dispense with the training master and say that God will guide him through an intervention that violates the natural course of events. For this, says Ibn Khaldun apparently in direct reference to al-Rundi's suggestion, "is to act foolishly and talk nonsense; just like the man who throws himself into fire on the ground that God (on one occasion) had made it cool and safe for Abraham." Like the jurist al-Qabbab, Ibn Khaldun recognizes the Sufi pursuit of the vision of God in this world as a specialized, highly dangerous, yet legitimate art for those who are qualified to pursue it and willing to submit to its specific demands as formulated by its own recognized masters. As a historian, he recognizes further that it is a new art that had not existed in early Islam and is not recommended, in fact is strongly disapproved, by the divine law. It would have been relatively easy to throw the book, so to speak, at those who practice it and say that, being new, it is forbidden; that as Muslims we should confine ourselves to the explicit demands of the divine law; that our only books are the Koran and the Prophet's traditions and our only masters are those who transmit their teachings. But this is not historical Islam as Ibn Khaldun knew it or as we know it. The book and the teachers who taught the book were one pole that formed a common framework and provided for the unity, continuity, and inte­ gration of Islamic civilization. The other pole was man's nature and what man can achieve by his own effort in this world; his capacity to learn, invent, and teach the human arts, even the highest and most dangerous of arts; and his willingness to submit to the rigorous training imposed by the master and in turn act as a training master for the benefit of others. Such masters were able to produce fundamental changes within Islamic civilization and generate new 30

3 0

Ibid., p. 101.

The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam

15

forms in the arts and in social and political life. Classical Sufism is perhaps the most extreme case, where the tension between the two poles must have been at its highest point. Yet even here the deep bond that united the two poles is apparent: the quarreling Sufis of Andalusia who refer their case to the jurist al-Shatibi, who in turns refers it to a Sufi master and a jurist; the Sufi master alRundi who advises the Sufis to turn to the book and not emphasize reliance on the master; the jurist al-Qabbab who decides that a Sufi disciple must place himself in the hands of a master; and finally the historian Ibn Khaldun who straddles the fence and prefers the surer course of pursuing the sciences of the philosophers and their proofs in this world and the safer pursuit of salva­ tion, hopefully even the vision of God, in the world to come.

FACTORS AND EFFECTS OF ARABIZATION AND ISLAMIZATION IN MEDIEVAL EGYPT AND SYRIA GEORGES C. ANAWATI, O.P.

Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales, Cairo

At the beginning of his Summa contra Oentes, Thomas Aquinas recalled the words of Aristotle: Sapientis est ordinare, it is for the wise man to make order. If the historian is not merely a gatherer of texts but someone who tries to relate effects to their causes, he must sometimes rise to the level of wisdom and pru­ dently attempt a synthesis. A synthesis, I believe, is what the organizers of this conference ask of us. In choosing the topic "Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages," they seek to shed new light on facts more or less known. This topic follows the line of thought that was dear to Gustave von Grunebaum who was always interested in discovering the divergences and convergences of culture. The topic I treat is essentially a problem of change. He who says change says movement and, since Aristotle, we know that every movement entails three elements: a terminus a quo, which is its point of departure; the movement itself; and lastly a terminus ad quern, which is the termination of the movement or its point of arrival. I shall outline first the condition of Syria and Egypt on the eve of the Arab conquest, primarily from the angles of religion and language; this is our terminus a quo. I shall study next the factors at work in the Islamization and Arabization of the two countries; that is the change itself. Finally I shall examine the effects of Arabization and Islamization on the autochthonous populations as well as on the language and religion of the conquerors; this is the terminus ad quern. 1

I. EGYPT AND SYRIA ON THE EVE OF THE ARAB CONQUEST

2

At the beginning of the seventh century, two great powers occupied the politi­ cal stage: Byzantium and Persia. For decades, even for centuries, they fought 1

"Unde inter alia quae homines de sapiente concipiunt, a Philosophitur quod sapientis est ordinare," ed. Leonina Manualis (Rome, 1934), p. 1. For geographical and general history cf.: C. Diehl, L'Afrique byzantine (Paris, 1896); R . E . Briinnow and A . von Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia (3 vols.; StraBburg, 1 9 0 4 - 1 9 0 9 ) ; Alois Musil, Arabia Petrae (3 vols.; Vienna, 1 9 0 7 - 1 9 0 8 ) ; 2

Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

18

fiercely over possession of the two oriental provinces of the empire, Syria and Egypt. Eventually Byzantium won; its troops maintained order on the banks of the Nile and on the Syro-Persian borders; its prefects watched over their administration; Christianity had overcome the last strongholds of paganism; a language of rich culture, the Greek language, held sway among the intelligent­ sia and in the administration; the Greek empire of the Orient, the heir of ancient Greece and of the Roman order, seemed destined to maintain, in the service of the Church and for centuries to come, the precious legacy of antiquity. Suddenly, with lightning speed, there came the forward march of the Arab armies. Emerging from their desert, those "lizard and jerboa eaters," as they were called, captured Palestine, Syria and soon afterward Egypt. A mere decade sufficed to shake the Colossus and tear away two of its best provinces. Soon these would become almost entirely Arab and Muslim. How did this happen % Before attempting to explain this extraordinary upheaval, let us look at the situation in the provinces. First, Syria. 3

A . SYEIA

1. In 395, Syria had become a Byzantine Province. It was divided into three districts: (1) Syria prima, whose principal cities were Seleucia and Laodicea; Theodor Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire, trans. W . Dickson, Vol. I I (London, 1909), chap, x, Syria; chap, xii, E g y p t ; M . Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1926); R . Aigrain, "Arabie," Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Qiographie EccUsiastique, vol. 3 (1924), cols. 1158-1339; Henri Charles, Le Christianisme des Arabes nomades sur le Limes aux alentours de VH&gire (Paris: Leroux, 1936); P. Goubert, Byzance avant VIslam, I , Byzance et I'Orient sous les successeurs de Justinien: L'empereur Maurice (Paris, 1951); G. Ostrogorsky, "The Byzantine Empire in the World of the Seventh Century," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X I I I (1955) 1 - 2 1 ; P. Birot and J. Dresch, La M4diterrannie et le Moyen-Orient, Vol. 2. Les Balkans, VAsie-Mineure, le Moyen-Orient (Paris, 1956); G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, trans. Joan Hussey (rev. ed.; N e w Brunswick, N . J.: Rutgers University Press, 1969). Giorgio Levi Delia Vida, "Umaiyads (Banu Umaiya)," EI ; J. M . de Goeje, Mimoire sur la conquete de la Syrie (Leiden, 1900); Georges Samne, La Syrie (Paris, 1920); L . Jalabert, "Damas" in Dictionnaire d'archdologie chritienne, Vol. I V (Paris, 1920), cols. 119-145; H . Lammens, La Syrie: Precis historique (2 vols.; Beirut, 1921); A . Baumstark, Oeschichte der syrischen Literatur (Bonn, 1922); M . GaudefroyDemombynes, La Syrie d I'epoque des Mameloulcs (Paris, 1923); F . E . Bustani, "Le role des Chretiens dans l'etablissement de la dynastie omayyade," Machriq 36 (1938), 7 1 - 9 2 ; Henri Charles, Tribus moutonnieres du Moyen-Euphrate (Beirut, 1939); R . Dussaud, Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et midiivale (Paris: Geuthner, 1927); P. K . Hitti, History of Syria (London: Macmillan, 1951), includes Lebanon and Palestine; CI. Cahen, La Syrie du Nord a Vipoque des Croisades (Paris: Geuthner, 1940); CI. Cahen, "Crusades," EP; Rene Dussaud, La pinltration des Arabes en Syrie avant VIslam (Paris, 1955); G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria: From Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (Princeton, 1961); Robert M . Haddad, Syrian Chris­ tians in Muslim Society: An Interpretation (Princeton, 1970); A . J. Festugiere, Antioche paienne et chrUienne (Paris: de Bocoard, 1959). 3

1

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

19

(2) Syria secunda, with Apamea as administrative center, and (3) Syria tertia, or Phoenicia, which was divided into Maritime Phoenicia, with Tyre as capital, and Lebanese Phoenicia, which included such towns as Heliopolis, Damascus, Emesa, and Palmyra. A century earlier, Diocletian had established a limes (the Strata Diocletiana) against the invasions of Huns, Persians, and Arabs. But preoccupied with con­ quests in Africa and Europe, the Byzantines had come to neglect SjTia. Per­ haps they mistrusted the native population and feared the troops commanded by native generals. Only Byzantine police forces were kept and these were poorly trained and incapable of resisting seasoned warriors. 2. But around 490, Byzantium had placed an Arab tribe of al-Azd, the Ghassanids, as a buffer state on the Roman limes. They became allies (symmachoi) of the Byzantines in 502-503, with a treaty (foedus) that defined their relation to the Empire. In return for annual subsidies they supplied cavalry troops to the Byzantines. Their leaders bore the title phylarch, and the chief who resided at Jabia, in the Province of Arabia, held the high rank of patrician (batriq). As political and military allies of Byzantium, they were expected, first, to furnish to the Army of the Orient troops capable of holding their own against the Persians; second, to make war on the Lakhmids, the Arab tribes allied with the Persians; third, to repel the incursions of the Arab nomads of the Hejaz. Furthermore, they watched over the Byzantine interests along the spice route. The populations of Syria were predominantly Semitic and spoke Aramaic; the Christian Ghassanids spoke Arabic; lastly there was an elite of officials and scholars who were Greek or Hellenized. For, despite the efforts of the Seleucids and of Byzantium, Hellenization had affected only a thin layer of the population—the elite and a small part of the middle class. Here is how one of the best historians of Syria, Father H. Lammens, describes the situation. After pointing out that as a reaction to Byzantine rule the Aramaic language had gained in popularity, he writes: 4

Parmi les Syriens, par temperament polyglottes et hommes d'affaire, places au carrefour des routes de l'Orient, les commercants, les intellectuels enfin continuent a parler la langue, a cultiver les lettres grecques. Ceux qui aspirent aux fonctions publiques, les hommes de loi, tous les anciens eleves de Beryte, connaissent le latin. En dehors des centres cosmopolites on ne rencontre que des Arameens, des Anbdt, comme les appellent les Arabes. A Antioche, la capitale syrienne, S. Jean Chrysostome se plaint de n'etre pas toujours compris de ses auditeurs. Les fonctionnaires, envoyes de Byzance, doivent s'entourer d'interpretes. Des homeiies de Chrysostome nous appren4

For the role of the Arab auxiliaries of Byzantium see: Irfan (Kawar) Shahid, "The Last Days of Salih," Arabica, 5 (1958), 1 4 5 - 1 5 8 ; "The Patriciate of Arethas," Byzantinische Zeitschriften, 52 (1959), 3 2 1 - 3 4 3 ; "Procopius and Kinda," ibid., 53 (1960), 7 4 - 7 6 ; "Byzantium and Kinda," ibid., 53 (I960), 5 7 - 7 3 .

20

Georges C. Anawati, O.P.

nent que les pretres n'entendaient que le syriaque. Dans le rang du haut clerge lui-Maeme, on rencontrait des prelats qui ne possedaient que la langue "vulgaire" et signaient de cette langue les Actes des Conciles. Dans certaines localites, il fallait interpreter en syriaque l'evangile lu en grec. 6

3. In six successive campaigns (622-627) the emperor Heraclius had driven the Persians out of the Asiatic provinces of the empire. In their invasion of Syria, the Persians had occupied Aleppo, Damascus, and Antioch, oppressed their populations, plundered the countryside, devastated Jerusalem, massacred its inhabitants, and removed the True Cross. Now, six years of war had exhaust­ ed the imperial treasure. To refill it, Heraclius crushed the populations with new taxes, thereby aggravating the anti-Byzantine feeling and accelerating the de-Byzantinization of the Syrian masses and their religious leaders. 4. The religious question had contributed most to nourishing an aversion against Byzantium. Only the Melkite minority, drawn mostly from Greek or Hellenized circles, rallied to Byzantine orthodoxy, the creed upheld by the secu­ lar power. The Nestorians, condemned at Ephesus in 431, had gone underground or taken refuge in Persia. The Monophysites, condemned at Chalcedon in 451, viewed Constantinople and the Greeks who sided with her as enemies of their faith. At the end of the fifth century and at the beginning of the sixth, owing to the energy of Barsauma, bishop of Nisibis, of Severus, patriarch of Antioch, and of Jacob Baradaeus, bishop of Edessa, the Monophysites were in the majority in northern Syria, and the Monophysite church became to some extent the national Church of Syria. Why should they not welcome as ally an invader of their own race who appeared to promise them their religious freedom 1 6

7

5

Lammens, Pricis, p. 14. C. Karalevskij, "Antioche," Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Giographie Ecclesiastique, vol. 3 (1924), cols. 5 6 3 - 7 0 3 ; S. Vailhe and V . Ermoni, "Antioche," Dictionnaire de ThMogie Catholique (DTC), vol. 1, part 2 (1903), cols. 1399-1439; R . Devresse, Le patriarcat d'Antioche depuis la paix de VEglise jusqu'a la conquete arabe (Paris: Gabalda, 1945). For a further bibliography, cf. G. Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur (5 vols.: Vatican City, 1944-1953'), Studi e Testi, 118, 133, 146, 147, 172; Jean Sauvaget, Introduction to the History of the Muslim East: A Bibliographical Guide, based on the second edition as recast by Claude Cahen (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1965); Aziz S. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (London, 1968). B . Spuler, "Die nestorianische Kirche," in Handbuch der Orientalistik, Vol. 8, Religion, 2 d Abschnitt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients in der Zeit der Weltreligion (Leiden: Brill, 1961), pp. 1 2 0 - 1 6 7 ; E . Tisserant, "L'Eglise Nestorienne," DTC, vol. 11, part 1 (1931), cols. 157-323. B . Spuler, "Die westsyrische (monophysitische/jakobitische) Kirche," ibid., pp. 1 7 0 - 2 1 5 ; M . Jugie, "Monophysisme," DTC, vol. 10, part 2 (1929), cols. 2 2 1 6 2 2 5 1 ; "Monophysite (Eglise copte)," ibid., cols. 2251-2306. 6

7

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria B. EGYPT

21

8

1. The situation in Egypt was not auspicious for Byzantium either. There, too, Hellenization had reached only a small elite living in the towns, especially at Alexandria. Greek remained the language of government, but the language of 8

Byzantine E g y p t : M . Gelzer, Studien zur byzantinischen Verwaltung Agyptens (Leipzig, 1909); Jean Maspero, Organisation militaire de VEgypte byzantine (Paris, 1912); G. Bouillard, L''administration civile de VEgypte byzantine (2d ed.; Paris, 1928); Edward Rochie Hardy, The Large Estate of Byzantine Egypt (New York, 1931); C. Diehl, VEgypte chretienne et byzantine, Vol. I l l , Histoire de la Nation Egyptienne, G. Hanotaux, ed. (Paris, 1933); Idris Bell, Egypt from Alexander to the Arab Conquest (Oxford, 1956). Arab E g y p t : G. Wiet, " K i b t , " EI ; C. H . Becker, "Egypt," EI , and "Agypten im Mittelalter" in Islamstudien, vol. 1 (Hildesheim, 1967), pp. 146-200; "Grundlinien der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung Agyptens in den ersten Jahrhunderten des Islam," ibid., pp. 2 0 1 - 2 1 7 ; "Historische Studien iiber das Londoner Aphroditowerk," ibid., pp. 2 4 8 - 2 6 2 ; S. Lane-Poole, A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages (London, 1936); G. Wiet, "L'Egypte arabe," Vol. I V , Histoire de la Nation Egyptienne, G. Hanotaux, ed. (Paris, 1937). Coptic bibliography: J. Simon, "Bibliographic copte," Orientalia, vols. 18-26 (1941-1956); W . Kammerer, A Coptic Bibliography, compiled with the collaboration of Elinor M . Husselman and Louise A . Shier, University of Michigan General Library Publications (Ann Arbor, 1950). Coptic Church: A . J. Butler, The Coptic Churches of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1884); J. Faivre, "Alexandrie," Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Olographic EccUsiastique, vol. 2 (1914), ools. 2 8 9 - 3 6 9 ; J. Pargoire and A . de la Barre, "Alexandrie," DTC, vol. 1, part 1 (1903), cols. 7 8 6 - 8 2 4 ; M . Roncaglia, Histoire de VEglise copte, vol. 1, Les origines du christianisme en Egypte (1966); vol. 2, Le Didascalie, les hommes, les doctrines: La formation d'une culture chr&tienne igyptienne (III siecle) (1969); vol. 3, La christianisation de VEgypte {III siecle) (1971) (Beirut: Dar al-Kalima). Very abundant bibliography. Four other volumes are in preparation. History of the Copts: Macrizi, Qeschichte der Copten von Ferd, Wustenfeld mit Ubersetzungen und Anmerkungen (Gdttingen, 1845); Renaudot, Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinorum Jacobitarum (4 vols.; Paris, 1713): "a work of profound scholarship and research, and its importance is undiminished, as far as it goes" (Butler); M . Lequien, "Patriarchate of Alexandria," in Oriens Christianus, I I , 3 2 9 - 6 6 6 ; E . Quatremere, Mimoires g&ographiques et historiques sur VEgypte, recueils et extraits des manuscrits coptes, arabes etc. de la Bibliotheque Imperiale (Paris, 1811), 2 vols.; Eutychius, Patriarcha Alexandrina, Annates, Patrologia Graeca C X I ; Chronique de Denys de Tell-MahrA, trans. J. B . Chabot (Paris ,1895); Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed J. B . Chabot (4 vols.; Paris, 1899); Jean Maspero, Histoire des patriarches d'Alexandrie depuis la mort de Vempereur Anastase jusqu'd la reconcili­ ation des iglises Jacobites (518-616) (Paris, 1923); The Legacy of Egypt, S. R . Glanville, ed. (Oxford Press, 1942): "The Egyptian Contribution to Christianity: 1. Egypt and the Christian Church" b y M. Creed; 2. "The Coptic Church and Egyptian Monasticism" b y D e Lacy O'Leary; William Worrell, A Short Account of the Copts (Ann Arbor, 1945); B . Spuler, "Die koptische Kirche," in Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 8, Religion, 2 d Abschnitt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients in der Zeit der Weltreligion (Leiden: Brill, 1961), pp. 2 6 9 - 3 0 8 ; from the Coptic point of view, in Arabic: list in Aziz S. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (London: Methuen, 1968), p. 14 n. 2. 1

1

e

6

22

Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

the people was Coptic, the descendant of ancient Egyptian, which in the second or third century had adopted the Greek alphabet as its script. Monasticism, the authentic creation of Egypt, begun in the third century, had filled Upper Egypt and the deserts of Nitria and Scete with numerous monasteries. Its monks were intransigeant defenders of Monophysitism; at the same time, they promoted an original Coptic literary activity. In a richly documented article written with lucid sympathy, Miriam Lichtheim has shown how little the Western world knew of the intellectual life of the early Coptic monks. They were viewed as "rude and illiterate peasants of the Nile"—the phrase is Gibbon's—an impression stemming largely from the accounts of travelers who visited the shrunken and decadent Coptic monasteries of modem times. That a substantial Coptic literature had existed went unno­ ticed. True, the towns and especially Alexandria had been nourished by Greek culture. But since the beginning of Christianity Egypt had displayed a marked linguistic dichotomy. It was not in its Greek voice that the message of the Gospel reached the masses. Even Saint Athanasius is now thought to have written some of his works in Coptic. Saint Anthony knew only Coptic; Saint Pachomius addressed his monks in Coptic. The oldest Coptic translations of biblical texts date from the third century and are written in Sahidic, the principal Coptic dialect of Upper Egypt. The numerous Coptic texts discovered in Upper Egypt show that the language had attained a certain literary level; and by the fourth century it had become mature enough for the creation of original works. Its principal impetus had come from the monasteries of Upper Egypt founded by Saint Pachomius in the fourth century. The patriarch of Egyptian monasticism and his successors wrote works that, translated into Latin, transmitted to the western Christian world the spiritual doctrine of the Desert Fathers. The powerful personality of Shenute of Atripe, abbot of the White Monastery near Sohag, fostered the spread of monasticism, and his numerous writings created a homiletic literature which became normative. A parallel evolution took place in Lower Egypt. Bohairic, the Coptic dialect of Lower Egypt, served in the fourth century for the translation of the Bible, a century after the Sahidic translations and independent of them. At this time the hermits of Nitria and Scete gave to those following the religious life the jewel of Coptic literature, the Apophthegmata Patrum, which came to serve as vademecum to all those who desired to live the precepts and virtues of the gospels. 9

10

11

Cf. A . J. Butler, The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt (Oxford, 1884); Farag Rofail Farag, Sociological and Moral Studies in the Field of Coptic Monasticism (Leiden: Brill, 1964). Miriam Lichtheim, "Autonomy versus Unity in the Christian East," in The Transformation of the Roman World, ed. L . White, jr. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 119-146. Cf. New Catholic Encyclopedia, I , 594. 9

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Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

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The monks translated the Greek Fathers of the Church: Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom. From this time also dates the beginning of Coptic ecclesiastical history, both in translation (the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius), and in original works that have not survived but which were utilized by Severus, bishop of Eshmunein, in his History of the Patriarchs written in Arabic in the tenth century. This literary activity was not limited to religious subjects. In her article, Miss Lichtheim points out that in the seventh and eighth centuries a degree of seculararization made itself felt in the literary productivity of the Coptic mon­ asteries. 2. The affirmation of national character was enhanced by the theological dispute with Byzantium. The Copts viewed the Chalcedonians (later called Melkites), the partisans of the emperor, as heretics. One must read the invectives which a John of Nikiu, a Coptic bishop of the seventh century, hurls at them to obtain an impression of the rancor that the Copts felt toward the Byzantines. They had been deprived of some of their churches and had been subjected ro pressure of all kinds to embrace the Chalcedonian faith. The Monothelite for­ mula, designed to conciliate, had been put forward in vain. The Coptic Church was convinced that it alone was the true church; the other churches were con­ sidered heretic and alien. 12

3. Lastly, the Byzantine government made heavy financial demands on Egypt in order to replenish its shrunken treasury. Furthermore, in 631, it com­ mitted the grave error of entrusting to one and the same person, the patriarch Cyrus, the civil and religious administration of the country. That meant pushing the Copts into accepting anyone who seemed able to deliver them from their religious and political persecutors. In December 639, 'Amr ibn al-'As appeared with his troops at the border of Egypt. The fruit was ripe and ready to be picked. 13

1 2

Cf. n. 14, below. For the conquest of E g y p t cf.: E . Amelineau, "La conquete de l'Egypte par les Arabes," Revue historique, 119 (1915), 2 7 5 - 3 0 1 ; A . Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion (Oxford, 1902). Arabic translation by A b u Hadid: Fath al-'Arab li-Misr (Cairo, 1933); R . Aigrain and L . Brehier, Les Etats barbares et la conquete arabe, vol. 5, History of the Church, ed. A . Fliche and V . Martin (Paris, 1938); P. K . Hitti, The Origins of the Islamic State, a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations, geographic and histor­ ic notes of Kitab Futuh al-Buldan of al-Baladhuri (New Y o r k : Columbia Univer­ sity Press, 1916) reprinted, Beirut: Khayat, 1966; al-Baladhuri Kitab al-buldan, ed. S. al-Munajjid (Cairo, 1956). In the Preface, the editor of the 1956 edition mentions the other editions. Three volumes with unique pagination. The conquest of Syria and Palestine is described in nos. 2 2 - 2 3 . For other Arabic sources cf. Butler, The Arab Conquest, pp. vi-xxi. The conquest as presented by Muslim contemporary historians: Mahmud Shit Khattab, Qadat fath al-Sham wa Misr (Beirut, 1965); Gamal al-Din al-Shayyal, Ta'rikh Misr al-Islamiyya (Alexandria, 1967); 'Abdallah 'Inan, Misr al-islamiyya 1 3

Georges C. Anawati, O.P.

24

I I . FACTORS AND STAGES OF ISLAMIZATION AND ARABIZATION OF THE TWO COUNTRIES A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. The first factor, chronologically, in the Islamization and Arabization was the occupation of Syria and Egypt by the Muslim Arab troops. Before they could act, they had to be on the scene. This statement may appear to be of chsarming banality. But on reflection, one realizes that it poses an unavoidable question: How could it happen? How can one explain the startlingly rapid victory of the Arabs over the Byzantines in Egypt and Syria ? 2. If I were a "fundamentalist" Muslim of strict observance, I would not hesitate to say: "It was God who strengthened the arms of his soldiers and gave them the victory." But such a statement would entail an error in method. A sound theology will maintain that Divine Providence does not suppress human freedom. Far from denying free will, God grants it to man. And it is through observable secondary causes that He orients history and leads the world. We may therefore, as believers, search for the causes of the spectacular Arab triumph, and of what we may call, mutatis mutandi, the "praeparatio islamica." 3. One may discern, it seems to me, three principal causes. a. The state of exhaustion of the Byzantine empire after its struggle against the Sassanian state has already been mentioned above. b. The military prowess of the Arabs. I cite one small fact that seems to me characteristic. In the Tabaqat of Ibn Sa'd the following curious passage occurs. Speaking of the mission of Thaqif, he says: "Neither 'Orwa ibn Mas'ud nor Ghilan ibn Salama assisted in the siege of Ta'if. They were in Jerash studying the construction of siege engines: mangonels and movable towers (dabbabat). They arrived when the Prophet of God left for Ta'if. They set up those war engines and prepared the battle." Western historians have acknowledged this military superiority. A contemporary scholar whom one cannot accuse of partiality, Henry Daniel-Rops, wrote in his History of the Church speaking of the Arab army: "Composed primarily of a magnificent cavalry and a light infantry of archers, knowing how to borrow weapons of war from Byzantium and Persia, commanded by excellent leaders who insisted upon blind obedience, the Arab army rapidly emerged as the most terrible instrument of war the world knew at that time." 14

15

wa ta'rikh al-khitat al-misriyya (2d ed.; Cairo, 1969); 'Abd al-Rahman al-Rafi'i and 'Abd al-Fattah 'Ashur, Misr fl l-'usur al-wusta (Cairo, 1970); Sayyida Isma'Il al-Kashif, Misr fl fajr al-Islam (2d ed.; Cairo, 1971). Tabaqat 'ibn Sa'd, ed. E . Sachau (Leiden, 1905-1940), V, 369. Henri Daniel-Rops, The Church in the Dark Ages, vol. 1 (New York, 1959), translation of VEglise des temps barbares (Paris: Fayard, 1950). Here is the original 1 4

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Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

25

What gave to this army its bite and its power of attack was, on one hand, the unshakable religious faith that moves mountains, and on the other-—for they were, after all, human—the expectation of finding lands that flowed milk and honey. c. Lastly, the situation of the Christians of Egypt and Syria which we have sketched, explains, in part, their nonresistance to, or their welcome of, the newcomers who were considered as liberators from an odious yoke. Christian testimonies on this point are not lacking; I cite just one. John, bishop of Nikiu, always precise in what he reports, wrote: "When the Muslims saw the weakness of the Romans and the hostility of the people to the emperor Heraclius, because of the persecution wherewith he had visited all the land of Egypt in regard to the orthodox faith at the instigation of Cyrus, the Chalcedonian patriarch, they became bolder and stronger in the war." And Michael the Syrian cites the following in his Chronicle: "The God of vengeance, seeing the wickedness of the Romans who, wherever they ruled, cruelly plundered our churches and monassteries and condemned us without mercy, brought from the south the Sons of Ishmael to deliver us from them. . . . It was no mean gain for us to be delivered of the cruelty of the Romans, their wickedness, violence, and jealousy, and to find ourselves at peace." 16

17

4. Here, then, are the Arabs, occupying Palestine after the battle of Yarmuk, entering Syria almost without striking a blow, capturing the fortresses of Baby­ lon and Alexandria in Egypt. An Army of occupation, soon reinforced by a constant influx of fresh troops from Arabia, settles down in the two provinces. How will the process of Islamization and Arabization come about ? 5. Islam, to digress a moment, is a phenomenon sui generis, an indivisible organic complex, simultaneously religious, political, social, and linguistic. The message of the Gospel, on the other hand, may be said, and this without any judgment of value, to have presented itself in the first three centuries in the form of a purely spiritual faith, free of all racial, linguistic, political, or social text: "Composee surtout d'une merveilleuse cavalerie et d'une infanterie legere d'archers, sachant emprunter a Byzance et a la Perse leurs machines de guerre, commandee par des chefs qui se revelerent excellents, et qui se faisaient obeir aveuglement, l'armee arabe apparut, tres vite, comme le plus terrible instrument de guerre du monde d'alors" (p. 397). Concerning warfare cf.: J. Wellhausen, "Die Kampfe der Araber mit den Romaern in der Zeit der Umaijaden," Nachrichten von dem Konig, Oesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu Gottingen, Phil.-hist. Klasss (1901), pp. 4 1 4 - 4 4 7 ; Charles Oman, A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages (2d ed.; London, 1924), I , 208ff.; Archibald Lewis, Naval Power and Trade in the Mediterranean 600-1100 (Princeton, 1951); V. J. Parry, "Warfare," The Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge, 1970), I I , 824-850. 1 6

The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, translated from H . Zotenberg, Ehtiopic Text b y R . H . Charles (London, 1916), p. 184. Chronique de Michel le Syrien Patriarche jacobite d'Antioche, ed. and trans. J.-B. Chabot (Paris, 1905), X I , 4. 1 7

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Georges C. Anawati, O . P . 18

implications. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's." "My kingdom is not of this world." "There is no longer Jewnor Greek." The initial crisis between Peter and Paul, which could have made of the nascent Christianity a purely JudeoChristian sect, was resolved in the direction of universality, of the transcendance of the message in relation to all human limitations. Moreover, the mes­ sage was propagated only by the word, and, obeying Christ's injunction to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath," all the apostles died as martyrs testifying to their faith. 19

20

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6. The newcomers who conquered Egypt and Syria combined three elements: (1) They presented themselves as Muslims, messengers of a Revelation trans­ mitted through an inspired book, the Koran. (2) They were Arabs belonging to the Semitic group of peoples and, as Arabs, spoke the same language as that of the Holy Book. (3) They were soldiers who believed they were serving God by the force of arms; they were the "horsemen of Allah." I do not mean to say that Islam employed force to spread its doctrine and convert people; it did not apply the famous principle: cujus regis ejus religio. Its own tenets expressly forbade it: La ikraha fi l-din, "no compulsion in religion." In his classic work, The Preaching of Islam, Sir Thomas Arnold demonstrated with abundant documentation that, apart from a few exception­ al cases due to explosions of popular fanaticism or to certain political measures, there was never physical compulsion or real persecution. But the mere fact that Islam and the Arabic language were concretely incarnated in the same victorious conquerors was of the deepest significance for the process of Islam­ ization and Arabization. 22

23

7. A number of special factors explain, in a way, this Islamization and Arab­ ization of the Syrian and Coptic populations of the conquered provinces.

B. ISLAMIZATION

Regarding islamization, we must ask three questions: First, how did it come about ? Second, why was it progressive ? Third, why was it not as complete as Arabization ? The answer to the first question is a combination of several causes acting together or separately. 1 8

Mark, 12:17. John, 18:36. Galatians, 3 : 2 8 . John, 18:11. Koran, 2:257/256. T. W . Arnold, The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith, Introduction by R . A . Nicholson ( 3 d ed.; London, 1935), 1st ed., 1896; 2 d ed., 1913. Arabic trans., Cairo, 1947. 1 9

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Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

a. Conversion to Islam had material and social advantages, first of all, material ones. To declare oneself a Muslim meant, at least in the beginning, to be exempt ipso facto from the payment of tribute (tributum capitis, jizya, poll tax). I know that here I touch on a controversial topic which has engaged the ingenuity of generations of historians: Wellhausen. Caetani, Grohmann, Becker, Wiet, and more recently, Tritton, L0kkegaard, Aghnides, Fattal, and above all Daniel Dennett. The last named appears to have succeeded, perhaps owing to his experience in the precise and complex adrninistration of the American diplomatic service, to reconcile the seemingly contra24

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J. Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich (Berlin, 1902), pp. 172 ff. (Engl, trans., pp. 276ff.). L . Caetani, Annali delVIslam, Vol. V (Milan, 1905-1926), pp. 2 8 0 - 5 3 2 . A . Grohmann, "Problem der arabischen Papyrusforschung," Archiv Orientalny, V (1933), 276ff. and V I (1934), 125ff.; I , Arabische Chronologie; I I , Arabische Papyruskunde (Leiden: Brill, 1966). C. Becker, Beitrdge zur Oeschichte Agyptens (Strafiburg, 1902-3), pp. 81 in the 2 d f a s c ; "Die Entstehung von 'Ushr und Khargland in Agypten," Islamstudien (1924-1932), I , 2 1 8 - 2 3 3 . G. W i e t , " K i b t : in ED. A . S. Tritton, The Caliphs and Their Non-Muslim Subjects (Oxford, 1930); "Islam and the Protected Religions," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, n. v. (1931), 3 1 1 - 3 3 8 . Frede L0kkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period with Special Refer­ ence to Circumstances in Iraq (Copenhagen, 1950). N . P. Aghnides, Mohammedan Theories of Finance (New Y o r k , 1916). A . Fattal, Le statut Ugal des non-musulmans en pays d'Islam (Beirut: Impr. Catholique, 1958). D . C. Dennett, Conversion and Poll Tax in Early Islam (Cambridge, 1950). Further bibliography: CI. Cahen, "djizya," "darlba," and "dhimma," in ET ; M . V a n Berchem, La propriiU, territoriale et Vimp6t fonder sous les premiers khalifes (Geneva, 1886); S. de Sacy, Mimoire sur le droit de propriiti territoriale en Egypte (Cairo: Institut franeais d'Areh^ologie orientale, 1923); A . Andreades, "Les Juifs et le Fisc dans l'empire byzantin," Melanges Charles Diehl, vol. 2 (Paris, 1930); Bernard Lewis, "The Islamic Guilds," in Economic History Review, 8 (1937), 2 0 37, deals mainly with the akhi of Anatolia. For akhi, cf. EI (Taeschner); M . Lom­ bard, "Les bases monfrtaires d'une suprematie e^onomique: L'or musulman du V I I siecle au X I " siecle," Annates: Economic, soci&t&s, civilisations, I I (1947, 1 4 6 - 1 6 0 ; CI. Cahen, "Fiscalite," Arabica, 1 (1954), 146ff.; "Impots du Fayyum," Arabica, 3 (1956), 2 1 - 2 2 ; R . S. Lopez, "The Dollar of the Middle Ages," Journal of Economic History, X I , 3 (1951), 2 0 9 - 2 3 4 . A . H . Gibb, "The Fiscal Rescript," Arabica, 2 (1955), 1 - 1 6 ; CI. Cahen, "Contribution a l'^tude des impots dans l'Egypte medievale," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, V (1962), 2 4 4 - 2 7 8 ; "Douanes et commerce dans les ports mediterraneans de l'Egypte medievale d'apres le Minhadj d'al-Makkhzuml," ibid., V I I (1964), 2 1 7 - 3 1 4 ; "Un traite financier inedit d'(5poque Fatimide-Ayyubide," ibid., V (1962), 1 3 9 - 1 5 9 ; Taxation in Islam, Vol. I. Y a h y a ben Adam's Kitab al-kharaj, ed., trans., introduction, and notes by A . Ben Shemesh, with a foreword b y S. D . Goitein (Leiden: Brill, 1958); Vol. I I , Qudama b. Ja'far's Kitab al-Khardj, Part Seven and excerpts from A b u Yusuf's Kitab al-Kharaj (1965), Vol. I l l , A b u Yusuf's Kitab al-Kharaj (1969); B . Lewis, "Government, Society and Economic Life under the Abbasids and Fatimids," in 2 5

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Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

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dictory texts of the Arab historians and to shed some light on this complicated problem. Here in brief are his conclusions that concern Egypt: (1) Every male Copt (except monks) was subject to five taxes among which were the jizya and the khardj. (2) There was no fixed quota, but the tax was based on the individual and varied according to the size of the population and the yield of the soil. (3) In Egypt there was very little conversion to Islam during the Umayyad period. (4) The Arabs discouraged conversion and, in many instances refused to exempt the convert from his poll tax. 'Umar II (717-720) ordered all con­ verts to be exempt from the poll tax, though they continued to pay the land tax. It may therefore be said with certainty that since the decree of 'Umar there •existed for a Christian whose faith was shaky a strong temptation to embrace Islam; and many did not fail to take this step. The social advantages of conversion are evident. By converting to Islam one became fully integrated in Muslim society, the restrictions concerning the dhim­ mis fell away, and one could henceforth aspire to the highest offices of the state. With Islam the religion of the occupier and of the government, becoming a Muslim allowed one to escape from the ghetto in which the dhimmis lived. Lastly, for some dhimmis turning Muslim could mean freeing oneself of family obligations, in particular leaving his Christian or Jewish wife in order to marry one or several Muslim women. 34

35

b. A second cause of Islamization may be ascribed to mixed marriages— marriages between Christian or Jewish women and Muslim men. Islam permit­ ted women to retain their original religion, and that tolerance was a temptation. The children of such mixed marriages were automatically Muslim. These inroads into the non-Muslim communities were slow but inexorable. The Cambridge Medieval History, 2 d ed. (1966), vol. I V , part 1, pp. 6 3 8 - 6 6 1 ; HasaneinRabie, The Financial System of Egypt, A. H. 564-741/A. D. 1169-1341 (London: Oxford Press, 1972), London Oriental Series, volume 25, contains an analysis of sources and abundant bibliography. His famous words come to mind: "Inna AUah bp'atha Muhammadan da'iyan wa lam yab'athhu jdbiyan," "God sent Mohammad as preacher, he did not send him as a collector of taxes" (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat [Leiden], V , 283.) That the restrictions imposed on dhimmis b y the government were often a cause for their conversion is recognized b y Muslim authors themselves. For instance, Professor al-Kashif, of the University of Cairo, says: "It is possible that these social and moral privileges for Moslems . . . were for the Dhimmis, as we said before, the cause that m a n y Christians converted to Islam. W e cannot however say that the Islamic faith of these people who wanted to get rid of these difficulties was a true • one but their progeny grew up in a Moslem milieu; they were proud of their Islamic religion and were entirely integrated in the Islamic society" (Sayyida Isma'il alKashif, Misr fi fajr al-Islam [ 2 d ed.; Cairo, 1970], p. 191). 3 4

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c. A third cause may be found in the apparent simplicity of Islam. It present­ ed itself as a religion without mysteries: no Trinity, no Incarnation, no Redemp­ tion; also no sacraments and no ecclesiastical institution. The only cultic obli­ gations were the ritual prayer and the fasting at Ramadan. At the same time Islam insisted on its attachment to the Judeo-Christian Revelation: it recognized Abraham as the father of believers, and it recognized the prophets. It respected Jesus, whom the Koran called the Word and the Spirit of God; it respected the Virgin Mary, "the chosen one among all wo­ men, " and defended her virginity and purity against the attacks of Jews. For simple people, Islam could appear a purified Cristianity, freed of its theological and philosophical burdens. To be sure, Christian theologians versed in doctrine understood very well the essential difference between the two religions, and a John of Nikiu did not hesitate to call the Muslims "the enemies of God". Nevertheless, Saint John of Damascus thought of Islam as a Christian heresy which, if exposed, would be recognized as erroneous. But the people were not theologians; and after a number of years of daily contacts and exchange of views in religious and human matters, in the eyes of some people the differences must have become blurred. 36

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38

d. The more so, and this is a last possible cause, since Islam must have im­ pressed the Christians by the manner in which it imbued the lives of its adherents. The solidarity of the Muslims, their mutual aid, their piety, their complete trust in God, the spontaneity of their faith, their patience in misfortune, and their calm in the face of death—all these must have struck the Christians. We have testimony to this which is somewat late but none the less significant. It is that of the Italian Dominican Ricoldo da Montecroce who, in the thirteenth century, traveled in the Muslim countries and lived several years in Baghdad. He wrote as follows: "We are stupefied [to see] how it is possible to find in so perfidious a law works of such perfection. Let us mention briefly the works of perfection of the Saracens.. . . We would not be stupefied, after considering things with diligence, [to see] how much there is, in these Saracens, of solicitude for study, devotion in prayer, mercifulness toward the poor, reverence toward the Name of God, the prophets, and the holy places; their graveness of mores, their affability toward foreigners, their concord and love for relatives." 39

3 6

Cf. G.-C. Anawati, " T s a , " EP. Koran, 3:37/42. For instance: "Or beaucoup d'Egyptiens qui ^taient des faux Chretiens, renierent la sainte religion orthodoxe et le bapteme qui donne la vie, embrasserent la religion des musulmans, les ennemis de Dieu, et accepterent la detestable doctrine de ce monstre, c'est-a-dire de Mahomet; ils partagerent l'egarement de ces idolatres • • •" (Chronique de Jean, iveque de Nikiou, Texte ethiopienpublie et traduit par H . Zotenberg [Paris, 1883], p. 465.) "Obstupuimus, quomodo in lege tante perfidie poterant opera tante perfectionis inveniri. Referemus igitur hie breviter opera perfectionis Sarracenorum. . . . 3 7

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Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

Now, concerning the second question, why was Islamization progressive and rather slow ? I think the principal reason lies in the very status of dhimmi which Islam offered to the people who believed in Holy Scripture. So long as taxes were not exorbitant and vexations transitory, Christians and Jews could accommodate themselves to a regime that was by and large tolerable. i0

41

Quis enim non obstupescat, si diligenter consideret, quanta in ipsis Sarracenis sollieitudo ad studium, devotio in oratione, misericordia ad pauperes, reverentia ad nomen Dei et prophetas et loca sancta, gravitas in moribus, affabiliitas ad extraneos, concordia et amor ad suos?" Laurent, Peregrinatores medii aevi quatuor (Lipsiae, 1864), p. 131, quoted b y Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p. 425. On Ricoldo, cf. P. Mandonnet, "Era Ricoldo de Monte-Croce: Pelerin en Terre Sainte et missionnaire en Orient," in Revue Biblique, 2 (1893), 4 4 - 6 1 , 182-202, 5 8 4 607; Norman Daniel, Islam and the West (Edinburgh, 1962) (see Index for numerous references). For Mr. Daniel, Ricoldo's method of praising Muslims is done with satiric intention: "He is the best example of realistic satire, since what he praised are really Muslim virtues" (p. 196). Ricoldo himself declares that he is referring to the works of perfection of the Muslims "rather to shame the Christians than to commend the Muslims." W h a t is certain is that he w-as never tempted to become Muslim; on the contrary, he wrote a "Disputatio contra Saracenos et Alchoranum." But we must not forget that he was a Western scholar whereas, for some Oriental Christians, the virtues of the Muslims, nearer to them in mentality, m a y have played a decisive role in their conversion. For the travels of Ricoldo, cf. Monneret de Villard, II Libro della Peregrinazione nelle parti d'Oriente di frate Ricoldo da Montecroce (Rome, 1948). O n dhimmis and their situation in the Middle Ages cf. G . Vajda, "Ahl alK i t a b , " EP; CI. Cahen, "Dhimnia," EP; R . J. H . Gottheil, "Dhimmis and Mos­ lems in Egypt," Old Testament and Semitic Studies in Memory of William Rainey (Chicago, 1908), I I , 3 5 9 ; W . J. Fischel, Jews in the Economic and Political Life of Medieval Islam (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1937; repr. 1968); M . Perlmann, "Notes on Anti-Christian Propaganda in the Mamluk Empire," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, X (1940-1942), 8 4 3 - 8 6 1 ; Jacques Tagher, Copies et musulmans (Cairo, 1952); S. Goifcein, Jews and Arabs (1955; French trans., Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1957); A . Fattal, Le statut Ugal des non-musulmans en Pays d'Islam (Beirut, 1958), a classic in its field, well documented, based mainly on Arabic sources; A . Abel, "L'etranger dans ITslam classique," Recueils de la Soci&te Jean Bodin, 9 (1958), 3 3 1 - 3 5 1 ; M . Perlmann, "Asnawi's Tract against Christian Officials," Ooldziher Memorial Volume, Vol. I I (Jerusalem, 1958), pp. 1 7 2 - 2 0 8 ; G.-C. Anawati, "Polemique, apologie et dialogue islamo-chretiens: Posi­ tions classiques medievales et positions contemporaines," in Euntes Docete (Rome), X X I I (1969), 3 7 5 - 4 5 2 ; Daniel J. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam: The "Heresy of the Ismaelites" (Leiden: Brill, 1972); I . M. Lapidus, "The Conversion of Egypt to Islam," Israel Oriental Studies, Vol. I I (Tel-Aviv University, 1972), pp. 2 4 8 - 2 6 2 . 4 0

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Jahiz in his al-Radd 'ala l-nasdra, describes the Christian's way of life in the Muslim society of his day; he notes the luxurious life they led wearing the most fashionable robes, riding beautiful horses, playing polo, having many servants, bearing names like al-Hasan, al-Husayn, al-'Abbas, al-Fadl, 'Ali. Many did not wear the distinctive belt imposed by law, did not pay the poll-tax, and looked down on the Muslims; cf. Three Essays of Abu 'Othman 'Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz, ed. J. Finkel (Cairo, 1926), pp. 18-21.

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Finally, concerning the third question, why was Islamization in Egypt and Syria not total ? I think this must be attributed to the religious authenticity of a core of convinced Christians and Jews, who despite the material and social advantages of apostasy preferred to remain true to the faith of their ancestors. The vitality of the Christian churches to this day is evident testimony to the solidity of that faith. Through its leaders, its teaching, and its liturgy the Church maintained the unity of the communities; similarly the Jewish community was preserved by its faith and ancestral customs. Moreover the dhimmis were able to pursue a variety of trades and professions. In the first century of the Hijra the schoolteachers were frequently dhimmis. In tenth-century Syria "most clerks and physicians were Christians, while tax farmers, bankers, dyers, and tanners were Jews." In the time of Ghazali (d. 1111) the sole physician in most of the cities was a dhimmi. In twelfthcentury Palestine the Jews held a monopoly in the dyer's trade. 42

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44

C. ARABIZATION

Now we must try to state precisely how the Arabization of Syria and Egypt came about. 1. What has been said in the first part will help us to understand why the rhythm of Arabization was not the same in the two countries. Syria, a Semitic land inhabited by a Syriac-speaking majority and by Arabic-speaking Arabs, was itself on a linguistic level with the conquering troops. The Arab armies even contained Christian Arabs fighting along with them. It was fraternization by means of language and race. In Coptic Egypt Arabization required three or four centuries. In both countries the Arabs began by founding military camps, Fostat in Egypt, Jabalah in Syria, which became towns and from which Arabization was diffused. 2. The causes of Arabization seem to me to be the following: a. First and most obvious is Islamization itself. One can argue that neither Iran nor Turkey nor Pakistan has been Arabized in consequence of its Islamiza­ tion. The answer is easy: even in those lands there was an elite who knew very well the religious sciences taught in Arabic. But in Egypt and Syria there were other conditions that contributed to the complete elimination of Greek, Syriac, and Coptic. b. It is known that 'Amr ibn al-'As came to Egypt with four thousand men in 640. Then, at his urgent request, Caliph 'Umar sent him reinforcements consisting of 12,000 men. After the capture of the fortress of Babylon, the 4 2

4 3

4 4

Muqaddasi, p. 183, quoted by Fattal, Le statut Ugal, p. 157. Fattal, Le statut legal, p. 158. Ibid.

32

Georges C. Anawati, O. P. 45

ancient Memphis, the military camp was set up at Fostat on the east bank of the Nile, alongside the city of Babylon. It gradually became a town, and the proximity of Babylon made it possible to employ Coptic officials and to control them at the same time. The Arab army of the conquest was essentially recruited from Arab tribes, particularly the Yamanis. A special zone, called khitta (pi. khitat), was reserved for each tribe at Fostat. There were also Christians and Jews who had been affiliated politically with the Muslims and had joined the conquering troops. They settled in three quarters close to the Nile. Other dhimmis settled down with them, and Copts gradually mingled with Muslims. In the eighth century Coptic was already spoken at Fostat, and the chroniclers mention that some churches were built. Even after the foundation of Cairo under the Fatimites, Fostat remained the city of commerce and industry for all of Egypt. Thus, there was local contact among the populations at Fostat. But this was not all. Arab historians report still other facts that illustrate vividly the interpenetration of the two populations and the progressive and, ultimately, final elimination of Coptic. They report the following four facts: 1. The custom that the Arab authors call irtiba' which we can translate as 'transhumance': in the spring, the soldiers of Fostat went into certain regions of the country in order to relax by hunting, drinking milk offered by the peasants, and to give to their horses and herds the opportunity to find suitable pasture. This lasted three or four months and was regulated by the military authorities who assigned each tribe its area and controlled the results of the irtiba'. A recent doctoral dissertation submitted to Cairo University by 'Abdallah Khorshid al-Birri, has attempted to determine the number of tribes and their butun which came to Egypt during the three first centuries after the conquest, and to trace the distribution of these tribes during the irtiba' and after their definitive settlement. The author supplies maps containing these details. One can see that the irtiba' was distributed around Fostat. 46

2. The custom of al-ribat, that is, the dispatch of troops, especially to Alex­ andria and to the coastal towns such as al-'Arish, Rashid, Dimyat, Ekhna, al-BorolIos, in order to relieve the troops stationed there. When 'Amr assured the conquest of Egypt, he divided his troops into four parts: a quarter resided 4 5

Cf. J. Jomier, "Fostat," EP. 'Abdallah Khorshid al-Birri, al-Qaba'il al-'arabiyya fi Misr fi l-qurun althalatha al-ula (Cairo, 1967); see also Muh. 'Ezzat Darwaza, 'Vrubat Misr qabl alIslam wa ba'dah (Saida and Beirut, 1963). Unless one considers the Copts as Arabs, which would be rather paradoxical, Darwaya's opinion contradicts radically the general opinion of Western scholars. Here is the conclusion of G. W i e t : "To sum up, agreeing with Massignon and all the Orientalists, we estimate that 9 2 % of the Egyptian population is of Coptic origin" (art. "Kibt," EI , p. 998). 4 5

1

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

33

in Alexandria, a quarter in the coastal towns, and the other two parts at Fostat. Every year he arranged for a contingent (ghdziya) from Medina to stay in Alexandria. The troops were changed every six months. They had no special camps, like Fostat, but lived, during their ribdt, in civilian houses. In A. H. 44/664, the number of soldiers in Alexandria registered in the diwan was 12,000. 3. Al-diyafa, that is, the hospitality that had to be accorded to Muslims. According to the edict of 'Umar, the inhabitants had to feed and lodge the Arab soldiers or officers for three days. 4. Migration within Egypt and immigration from Arabia. The country's wealth attracted people. Gradually the nomadic tribes became settled and spread throughout Egyt.

ILT. THE EFFECTS OF ISLAMIZATION AND AEABIZATION

When two religions or two languages that are bearers of culture come into contact, phenomena result which historians of culture designate by various terms; they speak of acculturation, fertilization, hybridization, infiltration, assimilation, and so on. The field of study is infinite but, I shall limit myself to a few brief remarks. 47

A . EFFECTS OF THE CHANGE UPON THE RELIGION AND LANGUAGE OF THE CONQUERORS

1. The effects of the Arab conquest of Syria and Egypt upon Islam and the Arabic language have been studied in a number of important works, particularly in studies dealing with the relationship of Byzantium to Muslim civilization. To cite just two fairly recent articles, there is that of Gustave von Grunebaum, "Parallelism, Convergence and Influence in the Relations of Arab and Byzantine Philosophy, Literature and Piety" and more recently, that of Speros Vryonis Jr.'s, "Byzantium and Islam, Seventh-Seventeenth Century." These two scho­ lars have pointed out, with abundant bibliography, the varied borrowings in the 48

49

4 7

CI. Cahen, "Histoire economico-sociale et islamologie: La question prejudicielle de l'adaptation entre les indigenes et ITslam," Colloque sur la sociologie musulmane (Brussels, 1962); A . Abel, "Preambule a un colloque sur 1'accultuTation," Correspondance d'Orient, Etudes, 5 - 6 (1964), 9. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X V I I I (1964), 9 1 - 1 1 1 . In Byzantium: Its Internal History and Relations with the Muslim World (London, 1971), Part I X . Further bibliography: V . Christides, "Pre-Islamic Arabs in Byzantine Illumina­ tions," Le Musion, 83 (1920), 167-181 (communicated by Professor F . E . Peters); M . Meyerhof, "Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad: Ein Beitrag zu den antiken Wissen4 8

4 9

34

Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

economic, social, legislative, administrative, artistic, and intellectual domains. We must not forget, as a matter of fact, that in the first century of the Arab occupation, it was the presence of Byzantine cadres which enabled the Arabs to maintain themselves as a functioning government in Egypt and Syria. Here I mention only the contact, in Damascus, between the rising intellectual thought of the Arabs and Christian theological thought such as that of Saint John of Damascus and his disciple Theodore Abu Qurra; and, in Egypt and Syria the influence of monasticism on Sufism. 50

2. In a study written in Arabic and published in Cairo in 1947, a Muslim scholar M. Jarullah compared the theology of Saint John of Damascus with the emerging Muslim theology and cited as final proof of the influence of Christian theology on the Mu'tazilites the great similarity which we observe between many of their beliefs and those of Saint John. It is unthinkable that such a similarity should be accidental or result from simple concidence of ideas, for it is not limited to a single affirmation or a single idea but appears in many propositions. M. Jarullah lists five such propositions: (1) The affirmation that schaften," Sitzungsberichte der Preus. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse (1930), X X I I I , 3 8 7 - 4 2 9 ; Arabic translation by A . Badawi in al-Turath alyunani fl l-hadara al-islamiyya: Dirdsat li-kibar al-mustashriqln (Cairo, 1946), pp. 3 7 100; G. E . von Grunebaum, "Greek Elements in the Arabian Nights," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 62 (1942), 2 8 6 - 2 9 2 ; De Lacy O'Leary, How Greek Passed to the Arabs (London, 1948); P. Peeters, Le trifonds oriental de Vhagiographie byzantine (Brussels, 1950); G. E . von Grunebaum, Medieval Islam (2d ed.; Chicago, 1953; rev. German ed. Zurich and Stuttgart: Artemis, 1963); G. Wiet, "L'empire neobyzantin des Omeyyades et l'empire neo-sassanide des Abbassides," Journal of World History, 1 (1953-1954), 6 3 - 7 1 ; G . E . von Grunebaum, "Islam and Hellenism," in Islam: Essays in the Nature and Growth of a Cultural Tradition (Menasha, W i s e , 1955), pp. 1 5 9 - 1 6 7 ; Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization (Chicago, 1955); "Die Islamische Stadt," Saeculum, 6 (1955); G. Miles, A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzan­ tine and Post-Reform, Umaiyad Coins (London, 1956); H . A . R . Gibb, "Arab-Byzan­ tine Relations under the U m a y y a d Caliphate," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, X I I (1958), 2 2 3 - 2 3 3 ; O. Grabar, "Islamic Art and Byzantium," ibid., X V I I I (1964), 8 8 ; F . Rosenthal, Das Fortleben der Antike im Islam (Zurich, 1965); V . Christides, "Arabs as 'Barbaroi' before the Rise of Islam," Balkan Studies, 10 (1969), 315-324 (com­ municated b y Professor F. E . Peters); G. E . von Grunebaum, Classical Islam: A History, 600 A. D.-1258 A. D., trans. Katherine W a t s o n (Chicago, 1970); S. Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971). The references to Greek sources of Islamic philosophy are too abundant to be cited here; see m y article "Bibliographie de la philosophie medievale en Terre d'lslam pour les annees 1959-1969," in Bulletin de philosophie midievale iditi par la Sociiti Internationale pour I'Etude de la Philosophie midiivale (Louvain), 1 0 - 1 2 (1968-1970), 3 2 9 - 3 3 5 (94 titles). See also the comprehensive study b y A . Abel, "Le Probleme des relations entre l'Orient musulman et l'Occident Chretien," in Annuaire de VInstitut de Philologie et d'Histoire orientates et slaves (Brussels), X I V (1954-57), 229-261. 5° Z . Jarullah, al-Mo'tazila (Cairo, 1947).

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

35

God is the supreme being; (2) the affirmation of the better; (3) the denial of divine attributes and names; (4) the metaphorical interpretation of Scripture; (5) free will. Jarullah also examined the work of a disciple of John of Damascus, Theodore Abu Qurra, who wrote in Arabic and pointed out resemblances to Mu'tazilite ideas: the diffusive character of divine goodness; its infinite magnificence; the importance accorded to reason as capable of knowing good and evil objectively; and the fact that his apologetics is based on purely rational arguments. All are points that for Jarullah were borrowed by the Mu'tazilites from Christian theologians. Orientalists such as de Boer, Macdonald, von Kremer, Goldziher, and especially Becker have also mentioned the influence of Christian theology on the Mu'tazilites in Syria at the formative stage of their doctrine. 3. In a study presented to the Accademia dei Lincei on the occasion of a Colloqium on the Christian Orient in the History of Civilization, 1 concluded that, on this topic, two extremes should be avoided: on the one hand, to deny a priori all Christian influence on the Mu'tazilite theses, and on the other hand, to see the Mu'tazilites as "disciples of the Church Fathers." What one can say without forcing the historical evidence is that it is probable that, at Damascus, the discussion between Christian and Muslim theologians led the latter to sustain some of their own theses particularly that of the creation of Koran and that of free will. To go beyond that requires new docu­ mentation informing us more precisely on the intellectual life of Christians and Muslims in Damascus and in Basra during the formative stage of the Mu'tazilite movement. It is not impossible that such documentation might some day come to light. 51

4. On Muslim law and the possibility of its having been influenced by Byzantine law encountered in Beirut and in Damascus, I point to the studies of Professor Chafik Chehata, long-time professor of Muslim Law in Cairo and currently teaching at the Faculty of Law in Paris. He wrote: "Si les docteurs de lTslam ont tenu compte des injonctions de la foi musulmane, notamment dans les matieres ou les sources scripturaires sont plus abondantes, il n'en reste pas moins vrai que la construction du corpus juris ne doit presque rien a ces sources scripturaires. Le droit musulman est un droit positif puise dans le fond contumier oriental ou vecurent les premiers jurisconsultes musulmans." 52

5 1

"Theologie chretienne et Theologie mu'tazilite d'apres des Travaux recents," in L'Oriente cristiano nella storia della civilitd (Rome, March 31-April 3, 1963), Accademia dei Lincei (Rome, 1964), Quaderno N . 62, pp. 5 2 5 - 5 4 6 . Encyclopaedia Universalis (Paris, 1971), I X , 155. On the relation between Islamic Law and Byzantine Law cf.: L . Mitteis, Beichsrecht und Volksrecht in den bstlichen Provinzen des romischen Kaiserreiches, mit Beitragen zur Kenntnis des griechischen Rechts und der spatromischen Rechtsentwicklung (Leipzig, 1891), pp. 3 0 - 3 2 , 2 0 2 - 2 0 3 , 387ff. (mentioned by S. Vryonis Jr.); I . Ooldziher and J. Schacht, "Fikh," in EI ; E . Sachau, Syrische Rechtbiicher, I (Berlin, 1907), vii-xix; J. Hatschek, Der Musta'min: Ein Beit/rag zum internatio5 2

2

36

Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

5. Another point of possible Christian influence on Muslim religious feeling concerns Sufism. Christian monasteries were numerous in Syria, Palestine, and especially in Egypt. The Muslim historians of Sufism, especially Abu Nu'aim, relate anecdotes in which pious Muslims come to ask spiritual advice of Chris­ tian anchorites. M. Munajjid has proposed these anecdotes be called Masihiyydt, on the analogy of the Isra'iliyydt which designated the maxims, tales, and anecdotes coming from the Jews and illustrating their popular traditions, customs, and books. 63

&i

6. Concerning language, Syriac has been the intermediary for a certain number of philosophical terms that entered into Arabic. They were studied especially by Massignon in his Lexique de la mystique musulmane. In addition, Syriac has furnished a number of terms to the cultural vocabulary of Arabic. It is known that certain key words of the Islamic vocabulary are of Syriac origin: furqdn (salvation), ayah (sign), kahin (soothsayer, priest), sujud (prostra­ tion), sifr (book), qissis (monk), saldh (ritual prayer), zakdh (alms etc.). Some Syriac words used by Christians were Arabized, for example: ishbin (godfather), burshdn (wafer), tilmidh (disciple), shammds (deacon), 'imdd (baptism), kanisa (church), karuz (preacher). Examples of Greek words that passed into Arabic

nalen Privat- und Volksrecht des islamischen Gesetzes (Berlin, 1910); F . F . Schmidt, "Die Occupatio im Islamischen Recht," Der Islam, I (1930), 3 0 0 - 3 5 3 ; E . Bussi, Ricerche intorno alia relazioni jra retratto bizantino e musulmano (Publicazioni della Universitario catolico del Sacro Cuore, ser. s e c , scienze giur. X L I (Milan, 1933); M. F . Kopriilu, "L'institution du vakouf: Sa nature juridique et son evolution historique," Vakiflar Dergisi, I I (1942), French text, pp. 3 - 4 8 ; J. Schacht, "PreIslamic Background and Early Development of Jurisprudence," in Law in the Middle East, Vol. I , Origin and Development of Islamic Law, ed. M . Khadduri and H . Liebesny (Washington, 1955), pp. 2 8 - 5 6 ; E . Graf, Jagdbeute und Schlachttier im Islamischen Recht: Eine Untersuchung zur Entwicklung des islamischen Jurisprudence (Bonn, 1955); M . J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh, 1964), pp. 28ff.; E . T y a n , Histoire de Vorganisation judiciaire en pays d'Islam (2 vols.; Paris, 1 9 3 8 1943; vol. 1 of 2 d ed., Leiden: Brill, 1960); C. A . Nallino, "Considerazioni sui rapporti fra diritto romano e diritto musulmano," Raccolta di Scritti editi e inediti, I V (1942), 8 5 - 9 4 , not edited; reproduces and develops papers presented in 1933 and 1934; "Libri giuridici byzantini in versioni arabe cristiane dei secoli X I I - X I I I , " Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, ser 6, I (1925), 101-165, and Raccolta, I V (1942), 3 2 4 - 3 8 2 ; "II diritto musulmano nel Nomocanone siriaco cristiano di Barhebreo," Rivista degli studi orientali, I X (1921—1923) 5 1 2 - 5 8 0 ; Hassan AbdelRahman, "Le Droit musulman et le droit romain," Archives d'histoire du droit oriental, 4 (1949), 3 0 1 - 3 2 1 ; C. A . Nallino, " A proposito di alcuni studi sui diritti orientali," Raccolta, I V (1942), 9 5 - 2 1 3 . 5 3

G.-C. Anawati and Louis Gardet, Mystique musulmane: Aspects et tendances. Experiences et techniques (2d ed.; Paris and Vrin, 1968). Salahuddin al-Munajjed, al-Muntaga min Kitab al-ruhban in "Morceaux choisis du livre des moines," manuscript dating from A.D. ninth century in Melan­ ges de Vlnstitut dominicaine d'Etudes orientates du Caire, 3 (1956), 3 4 9 - 3 5 8 . 5 4

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

37

by way of Syriac are: khuri (priest), batriyark (patriarch), iskaim (monks's hood), hartuqi (heretic). 55

7. In Egypt, the influence of the Coptic language on Arabic has been very weak. A Coptic scholar, Wilson B. Bishai, who devoted his doctoral dissertation to this topic, summed up his conclusions in the following words: 56

Phonologically speaking, Coptic exerted no phonemic changes; Bohairic, however, might be said to have left a few traces of allophonic variations only in the dialect of Upper Egypt. In morphology and syntax, Coptic left only four valid grammatical instances of influences, three of which are subsidiary, that is, variants of regular forms. Lexically speaking, only one hundred and nine vocabulary items may be considered as valid loan words from Coptic into Egyptian Arabic. This limited influence of Coptic on Egyptian Arabic can be explained only by lack of widespread bilingualism in Egypt during the transition from Coptic to Arabic. 57

5 5

Cf. A . Jeffrey, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an (Baroda, 1938); R . P. J. Hobeika, Etymologie arabo-syriaque; Mots et locutions syriaques dans Vidiome vulgaire du Liban et de la Syrie (Junya [Liban], 1902), in Arabic; M. Eeghali, Fltude sur les emprints syriaques dans le parler arabe du Liban (Paris, 1928). "The Coptic Influence on Egyptian Arabic," Ph. D . dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 1959. Quoted in "The Transition from Coptic to Arabic," Muslim World, 53 (1963), 149n. On the Coptic language cf.: F . Praetorius, "Koptische Spuren in der agyptischarabischen Grammatik," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 55 (1901), 1 4 5 - 1 4 7 ; P. Casanova, "Notes sur un texte copte du X I I I * siecle: Les noms coptes du Caire et localites voisines," Bulletin de Vlnstitut francais d'archCologie orientate, 1 (1901), 1-110; E . Galtier, "De Finfluence du copte sur l'arabe d'Egypte," ibid., I I (1902), 2 1 2 - 2 1 6 , who concludes: "apres une etude approfondie de l'arabe egyptien, j 'avoue n'avoir trouve aucune trace de l'influence de la grammairo copte et considerer cette pretendue influence comme une hypothese qui est encore loin d'etre prouvee"; E . Littman, "Koptischen EinfiuB in Agyptisch-Arabischen," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 56 (1902), 6 8 1 - 6 8 4 ; D . Prince, "The Modern Pronunciation of Coptic in the Mass," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 23 (1902), 3 0 4 - 3 0 6 ; E . Galtier, "Contribution a l'etude de la l i ­ terature arabe-copte," BIFAO, 4 (1905), 1-117; "Coptica-Arabica," BIFAO, 5 (1906), 8 7 - 1 6 4 , contains, among others, a reproduction of a Coptic manuscript written in Arabic letters, which is very rare; H . Munier, La Scale copte 44 de la Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, transcription et vocabulaire, IF AO, Bibliotheque d'Etudes coptes, Vol. I I (1930); D e Lacy O'Leary, "Notes on the Coptic Language," Orientalia, 3 (1934), 2 4 3 - 2 5 8 ; G. Sobhy, Common Words in the Spoken Arabic of Egypt (Cairo, 1950); E . Chassinat, Le manuscrit magique No. 42573 du Musie Egyp­ tien du Caire, Bibliotheque d'Etudes coptes, Vol. I V (Cairo, 1955); Wilson B. Bishai, "The Transition from Coptic to Arabic," Muslim World, 53 (1963), 1 4 5 - 1 5 0 ; Wilson Bishai, "Notes on the Coptic Substratum in Egyptian Arabic," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 80 (1960), 2 2 5 - 2 2 9 ; S- Kussaim, "Contribution a l'etude du moyen arabe des Coptes: L'adverbe khassatan chez Ibn Sabba'," Le Museon, 80 (1967), 153-209. 5 9

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Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

38

B. EFFECTS OF THE CHANGE OK THE RELIGION AND LANGUAGE OF THE NATIVES

1. The political integration of Syria and Egypt in the Muslim world cut the inhabitants off from Christian Europe. Without necessarily adhering to the theory of Pirenne, who saw the Mediterranean after the conquest as an Arab lake, it must be recognized that, henceforth, the fate of the two provinces was linked to the Muslim world and to Arabism. From the religious point of view this means that Oriental Christianity, with the exception perhaps of the Maronites, was severed from the Church of the West and remained outside the intellectual movements, heresies, and schisms that rent it. The Eastern Church, especially the Copts, stayed closely attached to their traditions, oblivious to the evolution of the world. Egyptian monasticism remained what it had been when it was founded in the fourth century. The Muslim presence contributed to what we can call an encapsulation which was desired as a protection against encroachment. 2. Islamization also meant the total impregnation with Muslim values of the social, intellectual, and economical life of the two provinces. If, in the first centuries after the conquest, it looks as if there had been no substantial change, except at the head of the government, gradually as Islam took root and conversions multiplied, the whole style of daily life became that of a Muslim community. The dhimmis lived in their own quarters and were distinguished by differences in clothing, which the law imposed on them but which were not generally enforced except in moment of crisis, when the Byzantine enemy had gained some military success at the borders; then, the fanatic populace would invade the Christian quarters, burn the churches, and demand the government enforce the regulations concerning the dhimmis. 58

59

3. The Arab occupation of Egypt freed the Copts of the Greek tutelage and allowed their literature to develop, but it was only a temporary victory. The liturgical readings in the churches were held only in Coptic, but soon it was necessary to use also Arabic. The administration at first continued to use Greek, but in 706 the governor 'Abdallah Ibn 'Abd al-Malik decreed that administrative documents were to be written in Arabic. The first bilingual Greek and Arabic papyrus dates from 643, the last from 719. The last administrative, papyrus written entirely in Greek dates from 709. The earliest Arabic inscription found in Egypt is one painted on a house in Antinoe and dated 735. The patriarch Michael (728-752) sent a petition to the governor 'Abd alMalik ibn Marwan written in Coptic and Arabic, but he himself did not under­ stand a word of Arabic and had to employ an interpreter to talk to the Caliph Marwan II. We have already noted that Coptic was generally understood at Fostat. 5 8

Cf. Wiet, "Kibt," EI ,

5 9

1

Cf. W i e t , op. cit., p. 991.

p. 9 9 1 ; Fattal, Le statut legal, pp. 9 6 - 1 1 2 .

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

39

By the ninth century the clergy had learned Arabic: a Muslim who wished to convert was sent to a priest who explained to him in Arabic the Coptic text of the Scriptures. There is a famous passage in the work of Severus, bishop of Eshmunein: "I have begged the assistance of Christians who have translated for me the facts, which they have read in Coptic and Greek, into Arabic, which is now spread to such an extent throughout Egypt that the greater part of the inhabitants do not know Greek and Coptic." 60

61

4. As Islamization progressed, Arabization followed automatically, to the point where, in Egypt, during the first three centuries after the conquest, we may distinguish three categories of people: (1) the genuine Arab people attached to their language who felt no need to learn Coptic; (2) the Copts converted to Islam who hastened to learn Arabic, if they did not already know it, and thus became bilingual; (3) the Copts who remained true to their faith and their language. But after the persecutions of al-Afshin in 813 and of the insane Caliph al-Hakim (996-1020), the third category became less and less numerous. They could no longer maintain a community that spoke only Coptic; they had to learn Arabic, the language of the majority. Thus by the fourteenth century, Coptic was spoken only in the monasteries. 5. The Christian Arabic literature of Egypt has, in the tenth century, two great names: the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria, Sa'id Ibn al-Batriq, and his Coptic contemporary Sawirus Ibn al-Muqaffa. It had its golden age in the thirteenth century, with the three brothers al-'Assal, Makin the historian, and Abu 1-Barakat ibn Kabar. After that there is a decline. Not until the 62

63

64

65

66

0 0

Ibid., p. 992. On the evolution of the Arabic language see: S. Fraenkel, Die aramischen Fremdwdrter im Arabischen (Leiden, 1866); G. Graf, Der Sprachgebrauch der altesten christlich-arabischen Literatur: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Vulgar-Arabisch (Leipzig, 1905); A . Poliak, "L'arabisation de l'Orient semitique," Revue des Etudes islamiques, 12 (1938); A . Grohmann, Einfuhrung und Chrestomathie zur arabischen Papyrus Kunde (Prague, 1954); G. Graf, Verzeichnis arabischer kirchlicher Termini, 2d ed., rev., Corpus Scriptorum Araborum Christianorum 147 (Louvain, 1954); Johann Fuck, Arabiyya: Recherches sur Vhistoire de la langue et du style arabe, trans. CI. Denizeau (Paris, 1955), trans, into Arabic by 'Abd al-Halim al-Najjar (Cairo, 1370/1951); Anwar G. Chejne, The Arabic Language: Its Role in History (University of Minnesota Press, 1969). In his Biographies of Physicians ('Uyun al-anba' fi tabaqat al-atibba), Ibn Abi Usaibi'a gives us a sample of the language of conversation of the cultivated milieu of Cairo. Cf. August Muller, "Uber Text- und Sprachge­ brauch von Ibn Abi Usaibi'as Geschichte," Sitzungsberichte der (Koniglich) bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (8MA) (Munich, 1884), pp. 853-971, Comptesrendus de l'Academie des sciences de Baviere, Section de philologie et d'histoire. Also called Eutychius, cf. Graf, Geschichte, I , 32-38. Severus ibn al-Muqaffa', cf. ibid., I I , 300-317. Ibid., I I , 2 9 5 - 2 9 9 ; 3 8 7 - 4 1 4 . al-Makin Girgis ibn al-'Amid, ibid., I I , 3 4 8 - 3 5 1 ; 4 5 0 - 4 5 3 . A b u 1-Barakat ibn Kabar, ibid., I , 4 3 8 - 4 4 4 . 6 1

6 2

6 3

6 4

6 5

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Georges C. Anawati, O . P .

40

nineteenth century, the period of the Nahda, or Arab Renaissance, did Egypt's Arabic-speaking Christians develop an interest in literature. 6. In Syria, Arabization was easier, owing to the presence of Arab tribes even before Islam. Immediately after the conquest, these tribes had to learn the dialect of Quraish which had become the classical language. We know that one of the great court poets under the Umayyads was the Christian Taghlibi alAkhtal. ' Since the time of the Marwanids (seventh-eighth century), and following the abolition of the military quarters, Damascus, Horns, and other great cities of eastern Syria became Islamized, and the Syrians learned Arabic without, however, abandoning Syriac. The educated Christians continued to cultivate Syriac along with Arabic: the Syro-Mesopotamian Bar-Hebraeus (d. 1286) wrote his voluminous Chron­ icle in Syriac, other works in Arabic. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, near the end of the Abbassid period, the victory of the Arabic language was almost total. Only among Jacobites, Nestorians, and Maronites did islands of Syriac speakers survive. In the Lebanon, Syriac struggled on until the seventeenth century and, thereafter, survived in only three villages: Ma'lula, Bakh'ah, and Jubba'din, and in the liturgy of these Christian groups. In their books the Maronites employed Karshuni, that is, Arabic written in Syriac characters. Syriac hasleft considerable traces in Syro-Lebanese Arabic—inits morphology, phonetics, and vocabulary. The domestic and agricultural vocabulary is rich in Syriac loanwords. The month names come directly from Syriac which in turn derived most of them from Akkadian. 6

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69

CONCLUSION

In this study I have dealt only with the essential points that give rise to some general questions for the reader's consideration. To what degree are the two elements of "assimilation," the Arabic language and the Islamic religion, which were operating in medieval Egypt and Syria, bound ? Does Islamization always require previous Arabization, at least among the elite ? And, conversely, to what degree is Arabization a factor in Islamization, not only in the far past but also today ? We know for instance the role played in the Reformist movement of Ibn Badis in Algeria by the intensive teaching of Arabic as an efficacious 6 7

Cf. H . Lammens, "Le chantre des Omiades," Journal Asiatique, ser. 4, I V (1894): no. 1, pp. 9 4 - 1 7 6 , no. 2, pp. 1 9 3 - 2 4 1 , no. 3, pp. 3 8 1 - 4 5 9 ; R . Blachere, "Akhtal," EP. Cf. Graf, Geschichte, I I , 2 7 2 - 2 8 1 . A monograph on these three villages has been written b y S. Reich, Etudes sur les villages aramiens de VAnti-Liban (Beirut, 1937). 6 8

6 9

Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria

41

means to resist "colonialism" and to reinforce Islamic faith but we also know that the first partisans of the "Arab Nation" were the Christian Arabs of Syria who did not hesitate to make of the Arabic language the most powerful factor in uniting Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, in their struggle for liberation from the Turks who were themselves Muslim. If we try to compare Islamization with evangelization, we also face some interesting problems. The Greek Gospel spread throughout the whole Mediter­ ranean basin and—thanks to the Oriental Christians—reached as far as India and China without imposing the native language of the evangelists. The Koran, which the Muslims resisted translating, did not spread to the same extent. Did the content of Koran and Gospel, Islamic morality and Christian morality, and military victories constitute the factors that have played essential roles in the processes of Islamization and evangelization ? These and many more questions can be evoked. I can but hope that my attempt at a solution for a determined period and geographical era suggests ideas to other scholars for extending this kind of research to other similar fields.

MUHAMMAD OR DARIUS? THE ELEMENTS AND BASIS OF IRANIAN CULTURE ALESSANDRO BAUSANI

University of Rome

Iran—owing to its peculiar geographical position—from antiquity has been submitted to the most varied cultural influences. They radiated especially from two centers: (a) Mesopotamia and (b) Central Asia. Professor Widengren, in his mise a point of the recent researches on Iranian l'eligious history, emphasized in a graphic way the difference between these two types of culture. He set in confrontation two literary passages. One is the famous sentence of Herodotus, who writes that the Persians "taught their sons from the age of five years up to twenty only three things: to ride, to shoot arrows, and to tell the truth." The other passage is from the Annals of Assurbanipal from which we know that the Assyrian king also learned three things, that is, to ride (but also to drive the war chariot), to shoot arrows, and "the wisdom of Nabu and the whole art of writing following the tradition of the masters." On one side we have the "Central Asian," "Aryan" heritage that ignores or minimizes "writing" as symbolized by the passage by Herodotus, on the other side the Mesopotamian "scribe culture." 1

2

3

4

1

This paper is based chiefly upon the last chapter of m y book I Persiani (Flo­ rence, 1962), of course with numerous changes and additions. The book has been translated into German (Die Perser [Stuttgart, 1965]) and into English (The Persians [London, 1971)] but—for various reasons—the last chapter is not included in the English edition, so that a repetition, in this language, of the basic ideas contained in it m a y bo useful. A further explanation is prompted b y the fact that I include in this study on the real basis of post-Islamic Iranian culture a criticism of certain contemporary ideas, rather widespread in Iran, on the same subject, thus exceeding the limits of this conference: "Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages." B u t I thought it relevant, when speaking of the cultural basis of a nation like Iran, to take into account what modern Iranians themselves think of their cultural heritage. I t would be "colonialistic" to do otherwise, even if—as we shall see—the contemporary opinion of Iranians of their cultural heritage, paradoxically, seems to betray a sort of "self-colonialistic" attitude. 2

G. Widengren, "Stand und Aufgaben der iranischen Religionsgeschichte," Numen, 1 (1954), 1 6 - 8 3 . Herodotus, Persia. Wars I . 136. H . C. Rawlinsons, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vol. V (London, 1880), I , 30. 3

4

44

Alessandro Bausani

The position of Iran is particularly interesting because throughout its whole history it seems to occupy a middle ground. For instance, limiting my remarks for the moment to this detail, that is, the evaluation of the art of writing, we see in the ancient Iranian tradition a sort of hesitation between a positive and a negative value attributed to writing. There is a persistent motif that reached as far as Firdausi's Shahnama, according to which the art of writing is an invention of demonic powers. According to a Sasanian tradition also preserved in the Shahnama, one of the first mythical kings of mankind, Tahmuras, succeeds, after a hard struggle, to enchain the demons (dev) and is therefore called devband, "demon binder." The devs ask for pardon and promise, if spared, to teach him a new art, the art of writing, and not only one kind of script but thirty (according to a variant, seven). But in the same Sasanian culture, the Avesta, the Holy Book, has taken on a particularly sacred character just like a written text, almost biblical in character. Its written paragraphs, passages, chapters (hdti) have a strong sacral value: the priest offers sacrifices to this and that holy verse of A vesta, and, according to a tradition, some chapters of the holy book will become the garment of the righteous souls in heaven, and so on. This is but an ancient example—focused on a detail—of a process of mutual cultural influence which seems to be a constant in Iranian cultural history. But this process shows also a direction. If, conventionally, we call the cultural centers of the Mesopotamian scribe culture "western," and the centers of Central Asian/Indo-Aryan culture "eastern," we may distinguish a slow process of westernization during the entire course of Iranian cultural history. Here are the most striking instances: This list is, of course, merely an outline, it being impossible here to give full details of each phase of the process: 1. The Zarathustrian reformation. If we compare the religious Iranian world following the reformation of Zarathustra with the pre-Zarathustrian IndoIranian religious Weltanschauung we shall certainly notice, in the new religious culture, something "familiar," familiar in the sense that, even if the thesis of a Zoroastrian "monotheism" is not, strictly speaking, exact, there is no doubt that the ethical aspect of the Zoroastrian religion and the strong simplification •of the Indo-Aryan pantheon is reminiscent of the "biblical" religion. This impression has been so strong that some scholars have even gone so far as to accept the notion of Jewish influences on Zoroastrianism. This thesis is obviously one to be rejected but is nevertheless a psychological proof of that impression. 5

2. The ever increasing cultural contacts with the Mesopotamian world (which—one should never forget—formed an integral part of the Iranian Empire from the sixth century B. C ) . The examples are numerous: it is sufficient to think of the stiong Mesopotamian elements in the sculptures of Persepolis, 5

More detailed discussion on these subjects in m y book Persia Religiosa (Milan, 1959), esp. pp. 1 9 - 9 9 .

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

45

8

of the idea of kingship in the Aehaemenian Empire, of the number and order of the planets and the names of some of them (Kevan, for instance). 3. The conquest of Alexander the Great (fourth century B.C.) and the Hellenistic influences that survived the end of the Macedonian Empire until the end of the Arsacid (Parthian) period. We should not forget that during all this period the international and diplomatic language of Iran was Aramaic, a Semitic language, and the injection of ideas of Near Eastern-Hellenistic culture into Iranian culture has been so deep that (again an exaggeration, but a psychological symptom and proof of what I am saying) a scholar like Darmesteter went so far as to maintain that the entire Avesta, including the Qaihas (for him a pseudoarchaic production) was influenced by Neoplatonic and Hellenistic ideas. In Sasanian time, the heresies of Mani and Mazdak are a witness to the enormous influence of "western" Gnosis on Iranian thought. It is true that Gnosis itself includes some Iranian elements, but they function in an organic whole which is not Iranian and was formed in areas situated to the west of Iran. Perhaps the most radical stage in the process of Westernization of Iranian culture was the Muslim conquest in the seventh century. Absolute monotheism is introduced into Iran and Iran experiences a strong purification of residual elements of archaic culture. The last stage is, of course, that of the impact of European culture. During all these periods the contacts of Iran with the Indian world were much less marked. We witness instead a rapidly growing distance between Iran and India. After the initial period of prehistoric common life of Iranians and Indians, the influences of Indian culture on Iran are episodic (fables and tales, chess, and so on). But this historical process of Westernization is far from being a continuous linear one. We could say that after each period of Western impact, a period of more or less artificial re-archaization followed. And this is true up to the present. The process is so typical of Iranian history that it deserves to be examined further. After a primitive stage of syncretistic fusion of elements of the ancient Indo7

8

8

T h e Mesopotamian influences in the Achaemenid conception of kingship have recently been discussed and confirmed by G. Gnoli, in his study "Note su xsaya9iya-e Xsaca-" in Ex orbe religionum: Studia Ceo Widengren Oblata (Leiden: Brill, 1972), I I , 88-97. See the Introduction of J. Darmesteter's French translation of the Avesta, Le Zend Avesta, Annales du Mus^e Guimet, Vols. X X I , X X I I , X X I V (Paris, 1 8 9 2 1893). A s is well known, Darmesteter himself later repudiated the most exaggerat­ ed parts of his hypothesis. These problems were discussed also in a symposium with the title "Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization," especially by V . Minorsky, "Iran: Opposition, Martyrdom and Revolt" in Unity and Variety in Muslim Civilization, ed. G. E . von Grunebaum (Chicago, 1955) pp. 1 8 3 - 2 0 6 . 7

8

46

Alessandro Bausani

Aryan culture of the invaders of the Iranian plateau with the local cultures (Elamite and other, less known civilizations) and with various elements of the Mesopotamian world (origins, sixth century B.C.) follows the Achaemenian national rearchaization (sixth-fourth centuries B.C.). After the renewed westernizing syncretism of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods (fourth century B.c.-third century A.D.) another period of national archaic restoration follows, that of the Sasanian Empire (third-seventh centuries A. D.). The restoration, or re-archaization, period following the Muslim conquest is more difficult to define and recognize for two chief reasons. One is the extreme radicalness of the Muslim impact; the second is the destructive invasions from Central Asia (Chingiz Khan in the thirteenth and Tamerlane in the fourteenth century) which suffocated every germ of Renaissance and reincluded Iran in vast but unproductive supernational Empires. Only in the sixteenth-seventeenth cen­ turies with the Safavids does Iran attempt again, in different forms, to act its old "re-archaization role," and succeed in recreating a "sacred sovereign," this time under the aegis of the Shi'i form of Islam. The (wrong) connection of Shi'ism with an ancestral, racial trend of Iran (Aryans versus Semites) is—though inexact scientifically—part of this play. Shi'ism served Iran in a political sense, contributing to isolate it from the dangerous surrounding (Sunnite) nations (Ottoman Empire, Shaibanids of Central Asia) and to reshape a sort of "national consciousness." Then follows a new period of syncretic Westernization; the colonialistic attack by Europe, perhaps even stronger and deeper than the Muslim invasion. But, even after this tremendous impact, Iran tries rearchaization. It is the contemporary Aryan and Neo-Achaemenid nationalism. Some cultural aspects of this latest re-archaization are given in the following pages. It is very interesting to notice that the periods that I term "national or nationalistic re-archaizations," although in some cases brilliant in the military and political fields, are rather poor culturally. Splendid works were produced by Iranian genius, for instance, in the ancient age, in the Parthian/Hellenistic age, in the Islamic pre-Safavid age, and even in the so-called decadent, Europeaninfluenced nineteenth century. I think of the poetical genius of a Qa'ani, for instance, whereas great literary masterpieces are comparatively rare in the Achaemenian, Sasanian, and Safavid ages, and, alas, also in our contemporary nationalistic period. But let us now go back to the study of the Islamic impact on Iran, seen as an episode, perhaps the most important episode, of a history of Iran envisaged under the perspective sketched above. First of all, what do I mean by the sentence: Iran experiences again a strong purification from residual elements of archaic culture ? By "archaic" culture I mean something very similar to what Mircea Eliade means by the same adjective, especially in his book Le mythe de Veternel retour. In that book archaic culture, whose "grand master" 9

9

M.

Eliade,

Le Mythe de VEternel Retour (Paris,

1949), esp. pp. 152

ff.

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

47

according to Eliade is Plato, is contrasted with the proto-historicist "mono­ theistic" culture, one of the grand masters of which I could consider Muhammad. On one side the flight from Time into the Eternal, on the other side linear Time, originating in one point, scanned by other points (certain historical events initiating the prophetic Dispensations are religiously important although being inside Time) and ending with the Resurrection of the Body, not Immortality of the Soul. Now an important point to consider is that Iranian culture, at the moment when Islam penetrated it (or conquered it, if you prefer) was not a purely archaic culture of the Indo-Iranian type. Peculiar elements, which rendered Sasanian Zoroastrianism a type of culture "half way" between archaism and monotheism, already existed in Iran, owing to its preceding process of west­ ernization : for instance, the strong eschatological motifs of Zoroastrian culture, the positive value attributed by Zoroastrianism to World and Elesh (a Pahlavi text goes as far as to declare that what is visible and material, getik, is better than the invisible/immaterial/transcendent, menok, because only in the material world is the struggle against Evil possible), the emphasis laid upon ethical rather than upon purely sacral values. On the other side, Islam, historically considered, is not a quid totally and purely "monotheistic." Christian, Gnostic, and even Manichaean elements are already present in the Qur'an and, more­ over, it could be affirmed that Islam at the time of its first great expansion was simply "potential Islam." What afterward became "Islam" was the original Islamic energetic potentiality integrated with something else. A substantial part of this "something else" was just Iranian culture. "Iran" and "Islam" are therefore not to be thought of as two antithetical elements. One could even say that Islam assumed its familiar aspect only after the integration brought about by the great conquests of the seventh century. If Zarathustra—as I said before-—had given to Iranian culture a push toward "monotheism," "integrated Islam" showed very early a trend toward Gnosis and Symbolism. At a certain moment the distance between both extreme points of these two trends is very short. Speaking metaphysically one could say that Iran was predestined to Islam, and "primitive" Islam was predestined to Iran. In other words, both concepts "Islam" and "Iran," if contemplated outside their historical concreteness, are pure words. At the end of the Sasanian Empire both Islam and Iranism were nourished, in different ways, by the syncretic soil formed by the dissolution of the great archaic civilizations during Hellenistic time, so that late Sasanian Iran is not an essentially "pure" Iranism (which perhaps never existed as such) and Islam, too, was not that "monolithic" pure monotheism of which Professor Corbin so often seems to speak in a rather deprecating way. 10

11

1 0

The text is in The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkart, (Bombay, 1911), p. 271. See m y Persia Beligiosa, pp. 1 3 5 - 1 4 7 . 1 1

ed. D . M . Madan

48.

Alessandro Bausani

From this mutual fecundation is born Iranian Islam. It is a universal culture, whose dynamic extremes are the purity of the monolithic faith of Abraham on one side, and the ever present archaic-mythical symbolism on the other. Between these two poles Irano-Islamic culture at its best created expressions of perfect balance. After the Muslim conquest one of the basic features of Iranian thought and culture seems to be an inclination to reconsider the archaic world with eyes purified of any mythical residues (a result of Islamic monotheism). A typical instance of this attitude is Firdausi, that same Firdausi whom many—in contemporary Iran—even consider as an enemy of Arabism, a pure representative of national traditions. I am not afraid to state—although it may seem paradoxical to many—that Firdausi is one of the "most Muslim" among the great geniuses of Iran. In the Shahnama the ancient Iranian myth is transformed—in a typically Muslim way—into history. The half-transcendent beings, acting in the symbolic Mud tempus of the ancient Avestan legends, become kings and men described in historical chronicles; legendary wars and miracles are instruments of a substantially realistic narration whose chief protagonist is Time/Destiny, History. The ancient instrument of Iranian symbol, Cyclical Time, uniting the primordial beginnings with the eschatological end, is here broken, and Time becomes linear Time. 12

It is the Persian poetry after Firdausi, and especially lyrical poetry, which, departing ever further from the ancient and austere Islamic realism, antimythical and anticyclical, transforms itself into Neoplatonic poetry. But, even in this case, symbolism is not an archaic symbolism, inasmuch as it is totally free from myth. This is perhaps the most interesting feature of classical Persian lyrics. And this is also one of the fruits of Muslim monotheism. As H. Bitter rightly wrote in these Neoplatonic but demythologized lyrics "things do not change their natural forms; we do not see fairies coming out of flowers, nor kobolds dancing in the grass or meadows: the poetical scene is vivified preserving the forms of the real objects; only their mutual relations change fantastically." In this world of symbols, which do not live an autonomous life (as in ancient myths) but are always moved by the Mind of the Poet, there are also many fragments of ancient pre-Islamic imagery as, for example, the Wine of the Magians, the Fire, the Feast of Sade, and so on, but they do not function as they did in a pre-Islamic context. Those—like the late Professor Mo'in —who insisted on demonstrating a direct continuity between pre-Islamic and postIslamic cultures in Iran are, I believe, victims of a sort of optical illusion, 13

14

1 2

See m y Storia della Letteratura Persiana (Milan, 1960), p. 595. H . Bitter, Uber die Bildersprache Nizamia (Berlin and Leipzig, 1927). M . Mo'in, Mazdayosnd va ta'sir-e an dar adabiyat-e farsi (Mazdaism and Its Influence on Persian Literature) (Tehran, 1326/1948). T o m y knowledge only the first volume of the second edition has been published, due to the long illness and death of Professor Mo'in. Prof. Mo'in offers a very rich documentation and proves the abundance of lexical pro-Islamic materials in neo-Persian literature, though his interpretation of those materials can be questioned. 1 3

1 4

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

49

created by an undue emphasis laid upon names and fragments rather than upon their functioning as a whole. The Magians' Wine, the Young Magian (mughbache), the Cup of Jamshid, are, in Hafiz, the same thing as the ancient heroes of pre-Islamic Iran in Eirdausl: that is, elements for a new construction that, in its organic functioning, has nothing to do any more with the realities of ancient Iran, although, we must also add, this new construction is also different from an hypothetically "pure Muslim" lyrical art. As an example here, in A. J. Arberry's translation, is the Saqi-nama of Hafiz, written in the same meter as the Shahndma, and full of hints of elements of the ancient pre-Islamic world. The less real those elements, the stronger its symbolistic Stimmung: 16

I Come, saki, come, your wine ecstatic bring, augmenting grace, the soul's perfectioning; fill up my glass, for I am desperate— lo, bankrupt of both parts is my estate. Bring, saki, bring your wine, and Jamshid's bowl shall therewith bear to view the vast void whole; pour on, that with this bowl to fortify I may, like Jamshid, every secret spy. Bring, saki, bring your alchemy divine where Korah's wealth and Noah's year combine; pour on and there shall open forth to thee the gates of fame and immortality. Bring wine, o saki, and its image there to Jamshid and Chosroes shall greeting bear; pour on, and to the pipe's note I shall say how Jamshid fared, and Ka'us, in their day. Sing of this old world's ways, and with your strings make proclamation to those ancient kings. Still spreads the same far desert to be crossed where Salm and Tur their mighty armies lost; still stands the selfsame crumbling hostelry Afrasiyab took his palace for to be. Where now the captains that his armies led, and where the sword-swift champion at their head ? High was his palace; ruin is its doom; lost now to memory his very tomb. 1 5

A . J. Arberry, Fifty

Poems of Hafiz (Cambridge, 1947), pp. 129-130.

50

Alessandro Bausani II

Bring, saki, bring your virgin chastely veiled, your tavern-dweller drunkenly regaled; fill up, for I am avid of ill fame, and seek in wine and bowl my utmost shame. Bring saki, bring such brain-enflaming juice as lions drink, and let wide havoc loose; pour on, and lion-like I'll break the snare of this old world, and rise to rule the air. Bring wine, o saki, that the houris spice with angel fragrance out of Paradise; pour on, and putting incense to the fire the mind's eternal pleasure I'll acquire. Bring, saki, bring your throne-bestowing wine; my heart bears witness it is pure and fine; pour on, that, shriven in the tide of it, I may arise triumphant from the pit. Why must I yet the body's captive be, when spiritual gardens call to me ? Give me to drink, till I am full of wine, then mark what wisdom and what power are mine; into my keeping let your goblet pass, and I will view the world within that glass; intoxicate of saintliness I'll sing, and in my beggar's rags I'll play the king. When Hafiz lifts his voice in drunken cheer, Venus applauds his anthem from her sphere. The times of Chosroes, Jamshid and Ka'iis, which in Firdausi were reduced to history, here become pure symbol. And pure symbol (not, of course, allegory, which is quite different!) is here also the Angelical Wine and the miraculous cup of Jamshid. In both cases (Firdausi and Hafiz) the post-Islamic reaction to ancient Iran is not a nationalistic/racial reaction: in the case of Firdausi it is an Islamo-ethical reaction, in the case of Hafiz an Islamo-Neoplatonic one. Another very interesting instance of post-Islamic response to pre-Islamic Iranian past in Persian literature is the famous Mada'in-gaswfo by Khaqani (twelfth century), one of the greatest masterpieces of that literature. It is too long to quote here in full. I shall limit myself to say that ethical and symbolic motifs intertwine, with strong emphasis on the ethical-sapiential aspects. Also here the atmosphere is totally demythologized and the national element is

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

51

totally absent. The poet does not lament the end of the national power of the ancient Sasanian empire, rather he laments in a more universal way the end of so many values and of so much beauty, swallowed up by Time. The apex of the qasida is the powerful verse: gufti ke kujd raftand an tajvaran inak z'lshan shikam-i khdk-ast dbestan javidan Where did they go those famous crowned kings ? Lo, the womb of earth is pregnant of them, eternally. But the end of the poem contains moral warnings on the inconstancy of Pate. The fact that Mada'in was the capital of ancient Iran is purely casual: Khaqani would have said quite similar things in front of the ruins of a Greek or Roman palace. It is very instructive to compare this poem by the ancient Khaqani with one of a contemporary poet, 'Ishqi (d. 1924) on the same subject. Those same ruins of Mada'in inspire in 'Ishqi a sense of shame: "This was once the cradle of the ancient Sasanians, the ancestral center of Iranian glory. Power, Science and Art rendered it prosperous once, Weakness, Ignorance, Abjection have now destroyed all that glory. . . . " Apart from the literary values of the two poems, Khaqani seems to me to have had, perhaps, a deeper historical sense: not abjection or cowardice destroyed Mada'in; its destruction is a logical conse­ quence of history, even if, for the Muslim, history is called Destiny or Divine Will. The nationalistic attitude became stronger with the decay of Islamic Iranian culture. It is quite curious that whereas in certain cases the Aufstieg zum Nationalstaat (to use Hinz's characterization of Safavid Iran) produced a renaissance in culture (Elizabethan England, French Monarchy, "siglo de oro" in Spain, and so on) in other cases (Iran, Germany, Italy) a similar Aufstieg meant a weakening of culture. Iran has been a source of a powerful universal culture, impregnating the whole of the Islamic world just when it was not a Nationalstaat. Modern Iranian nationalism, if it wants to be logical (something nationalists rarely are) should ignore the entire arch of Muslim Iranian history and jump from the Sasanian "re-archaization" to the Safavid age, and then to the modern Pahlavi regime. Strange as it may seem, this sometimes happens: in some pamphlets of a popular character distributed by Iranian Embassies abroad I have seen a similar treatment of the history of Iran. Unfortunately this trend seems shared even by some very intelligent and learned representatives of the modern Iranian elite. Let us analyze, for instance, this sentence from the remarkable book by Professor Mo'in on the influence of Mazdaism on post16

17

1 6

A n anthology of his verse is included in D . J. Irani, Poets of the Pahlavi (Bombay, 1933). The poem mentioned by me is also reproduced there. W . Hinz, Irans Aufstieg zum Nationalstaat (Berlin, 1936). 1 7

Regime

52

Alessandro Bausani

Islamic Persian literature (the passage concerns the arguments on the relative excellence of the four elements in the Islamic Middle Ages) : 18

After the diffusion of Islam in Iran and the destruction of Fire-temples, slowly Fire came to lose the respect and veneration enjoyed by it amongst the Persians, though the enlightened minds of Iran and the partisans of ancient culture, especially the shu'ubiyya and the initiators of national renaissances, always struggled in various ways to relight the flame of national feeling and to preserve the veneration for Fire. Bashshar ibn Burd, in one of his qasidas prefers Fire (an element sacred to the Persians) to Earth (an element that is considered venerable by the Muslims) because the Islamic Ka'ba is made of earth and God molded Adam, the Father of mankind, from earth) and he declares Iblis (created from Fire) nobler than Adam (created from earth). What is interesting here is that "Persians" are contrasted not with Arabs but with Muslims. We could, however, remark that that qasida by Bashshar ibn Burd was written in Arabic and a reasonable doubt is open regarding a conscious "national" will of that poet to attribute a special value to the "Aryan" Persians. Fire—I think—is reevaluated by Bashshar not so much because it is "Persian," but rather because it is an element of that typical rindi/rusva'i aspect that developed both in Arabic and Persian Abbasid poetry, becoming a sort of topos in Persian lyrics. It is the same trend that brought Daqiqi to declare, at the end of one famous poem (whose authenticity, however, has been questioned) that he preferred four things from among all good: the ruby-coloured lip, the harp's lament the blood-red wine, and Zoroaster's creed,

19

where the mention of Zoroaster's creed can in no way be a proof of the allegiance of Daqiqi to Zoroastrianism, as Professor H. H. Schaeder has convincingly shown. 20

One of the best proofs of the purely symbolic nature of the frequent mentions of alleged "Mazdaic" concepts in post-Islamic medieval Iranian literature is a passage from Sa'di's Bustan. Sa'di refers to a personal experience, a visit to the Hindu temple of Somnath. There he saw an idol adorned with precious gems, "like Manat in the time of jahiliyyat (old Arabic heathendom)." He asks "a Magian" who was his friend: "O brahmanl What you are doing here seems strange to me. . . . " The Magian was not too pleased at this impertinent question and informed "the Magians and the Superiors of that convent [deir, 21

1 8

Mo'in, op. cit., pp. 4 0 8 - 4 0 9 , italics mine. E . G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia, Vol. I (Cambridge, repr. 1951), p. 459. H . H . Schaeder, " W a r Daqiqi Zoroastrier ?" in Festschrift Jacob (Leipzig, 1932), pp. 288ff. Discussed in m y Letteratura Persiana, pp. 2 6 3 - 2 6 5 . 1 9

2 0

2 1

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

53

generally a Christian convent!]" and "those gabr [Zoroastrians!] who recited Pdzand assaulted me like dogs throwing themselves on a bone. . . . " To avoid being killed by them Sa'di pretends admiration for their customs and says: "I praised the great Brahman: O wise interpreter of Avesta and Zand, I too like this idol. . . ."In order to witness the miracle that the people attributed to that holy image he remains the entire night in the temple, surrounded "by Magians prostrated in a prayer not preceded by ablution, priests [kashishdn, Christian priests:] who had never touched a drop of water. . . . " I too—Sa'di says—pretended to pray and "imitated those atheists (Mfir); for some days I became a brahman and started reciting Zand.'' But at last the fraud is discovered: "behind the curtain there was a . . . Bishop [mutrdn, a Christian bishop!], a flreworshiper that moved the idol by means of a cord. . . . " In all of Persian literature it would be difficult to find a more striking example of ignorance of what Mazdaism really was. Here Magians, Brahmans, Bishops, Kafirs, Priests, Convent, Hindu temple, Fire-temple are all bundled together under the common denominator oikufr (idolatry). But is this really attributable to ignorance ? Sa'di had traveled far and wide and certainly knew the difference at least between Christians and Magians. All those names, put by me in italics in the preceding passages, are simply symbols of something contrasted with official Islam and, in lyrics, also a symbol of a mystical reality deeper than esoteric religion. Any non-Islamic religion can serve this purpose: true, historical Zoroastrianism has nothing to do with it and it is not necessary to suppose a direct continuation. The constellation of concepts that could be called the kufrmotif also included Iranian elements, but it is present also in Arabic literature of that time and is strongly connected with the Malamati school of Sufism. The optical illusion of continuity is created only by the use of verbal elements reminiscent of pre-Islamic Iran, but the functioning whole is, not only Iranian, but also Gnostic-Neoplatonic-Syncretic. Another instance of the contemporary attempt at re-archaization, less simplistic than the preceding one, is that based, consciously or unconsciously, on reasoning of this kind: Iranian genius never fully accepted the foreign religion, Islam, and tried to modify it according to its own "style." Thence, Shi'ism. Shi'ism finally succeeded in overcoming its adversaries in Safavid time, date of the formation of the "national" state of Iran after a long eclipse. Therefore all that is good in the intermediary period (eighth to sixteenth centuries) must have some Shi'a (therefore national-Iranian) features. Inter­ twined with this is another trend that can be summarized in simple fashion as follows: parallel to Shi'ism, Sufism, too, tried to oppose the "monolithic" 22

2 2

This, of course, was an ancient idea in certain Islamic circles and perhaps one of the first to express it very clearly was Ibn H a z m (Milal, ed. Muhammad Amin al-Khanji [Cairo, 1964], I , 3 5 - 3 6 ) . Of course in those circles the idea was used against the Persians and was originated by another equally silly attitude: Arabic national pride and anti-Shi'a prejudice.

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religion of the Arabs from inside. Therefore Sufism must be, in a way, a companion and helper of Shi'ism, and both must contain important "Iranian" elements, especially in their more "gnostic" aspects. There is, of course, a grain of truth in all this, but the final results of these lines of reasoning are rather strange. I mention only two instances: one is based on personal experience, the other is taken from literary sources. Speaking with Persian students I was astonished to learn that they automatically assumed all the great personalities of Iranian Muslim culture to be Shi'as, and they showed the utmost amazement when I told them that Hafiz, Jami, Sa'di, Firdausi, Nizami, Maulana Rumi (practically all the great representatives of classical Muslim Iran) had been Sunnis! The second instance is the remarkable work of a scientist and a philosopher like Professor S. H. Nasr, from which I personally have learned much, but which seems to reduce all Islamic philosophy to the common denominator of a Gnosticism of Sufi-Shi'a character, which in turn (and following in the footsteps of Professor H. Corbin) is considered as almost identical with the deep ancient Iranian tradition. Semitic

23

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In other words I seem to notice in modern Iranian circles two types of rearchaization. One type is composed of those who all but deny any importance to the Muslim parenthesis (of 1,000 years) in the history of Iran and consider modern "renaissance" as a continuation of Sasanian and Achaemenid Iran; the second type is composed of those who equate Iranism and Islam, making of the Spanish Muslim philosopher Ibn 'Arabi an "honorary Persian," but expelling Ibn Rushd (Averroes) from the field of "true" Islam because he does not enter their preconceived frame of Islam-Gnosis. I compare an old and modern text on the subject of the ancient Iranian feast of Sade, which some Iranians would like to reestablish, at least as a folkloric26

2 3

Though Shi'ism at its beginnings was somewhat anti-Sufi, eventually—it is true—relations became better. See on this problem especially M . Mole, "Les K u brawiya entre sunnisme et shiisme aux huitieme et neuvieme siecles de l'hegire," Revue des itudes islamiques, n. v. (1961), 6 1 - 1 4 2 . Especially remarkable are his studies on Muslim cosmology and sciences, for instance, S. H . Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Cambridge, Mass., 1964); Science and Civilization in Islam (Cambridge, Mass., 1968). Prof. Corbin's booklet, Les motifs zoroastriens dans la philosophic de Sohrawardi (Tehran, 1946), is typical in this sense. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) is not included in Prof. Nasr's book on Islamic cosmo­ logical doctrines, and Prof. Corbin, in his Histoire de la philosophic islamique, V o l . I (Paris, 1964), which has the great merit of having at last broken the spell "philoso­ phy = falsafa = Aristotelian philosophy = Arab philosophy," introducing the philo­ sophical aspects of mystical, theosophieal, ishraqi, shi'a, and isma'ili thought into the "history of philosophy," tries to minimize the importance of Averroes as a Muslim thinker. A contrary opinion was expressed b y M . Cruz Hernandez in a recent Colloquium held b y the Academy of Lincei in R o m e . I n agreement with E . Rosenthal he declared I b n Rushd 'the deepest and truest Muslim believer amongst the falasifa (see: M . C. Hernandez, "El Averroismo en el occidente medieval," in Convegno Internazionale; Oriente e Occidente nel medioevo: fdosofia e scienze," [Rome, 1971] pp. 19-20). 2 4

2 5

2 S

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

55

national element of modern culture. The ancient text is a passage of Aiharu 'l-Bdqlya (Chronology of Ancient Nations) by the great Muslim Iranian scientist Abu Raihan al-Blrunl, the millenary of whose birth is just falling this year: 27

10th of Bahman: the night of as-Sadhak. They [the "Persians"] fumigate their houses to keep off mishap, so that finally it has become one of the customs of the kings to light fires on this night and to make them blaze, to drive wild beasts into them, and to send the birds flying through the flames, and to drink and amuse themselves round the fires. May God take vengeance on all who enjoy causing pain to another being, gifted with sensation and doing no harm!" The second passage is a commentary on the above, contained in a good little book on the feast of Sade published in 1946 by the "Society of Iranology" in Teheran. The author, commenting on the passage of Biruni quoted above and evidently shocked, like Biruni, by the rather inhumane features of the feast described there, declares [in my opinion without sufficient proof] that "to burn useful animals and birds, in spite of the fact that Mazdaism highly respected animals (especially the useful ones) must be—there is no doubt—typical of Sade celebrations of post-Islamic Iran!" Here we catch an important aspect of modern re-archaizing nationalism. I mean—paradoxically—its Muslim-ethical aspect. The type of reasoning that lies behind the affirmations of our author is as follows: the custom described by Biruni is an inhumane custom; but nothing inhumane can be ancient Iranian; therefore that custom is not ancient Iranian. Actually ancient Iran, Mazdeism et similia have become for modern Iranian nationalists something purely symbolic contemplated by an ethically Islamized eye. They admire ancient Iran just for its alleged ethico-Islamic qualities: there reigns Nushirwan the Just, the Achaemenid Empire is a sort of madina fadila in al-Farabi's sense; and, if history refutes some of their ideals, they prefer to reject history rather than renounce their ideals. And these ideals, although bearing local Iranian names (Achaemenids, Sasanians, theosophical Gnosis), are actually the ideals of romantic nationalistic Europe. The contribution of some Western orientalists and archaeologists to this modern trend of the Iranian mind has been, I believe, a determining factor. 28

It is evident that I consider Muhammad rather than Darius one of the chief roots of post-Islamic Iranian culture. This year being the thousandth anni­ versary of the birth of one of the greatest Muslim Iranian scientists, al-Biruni, I should like to close this paper with a double quotation, from al-Blruni's famous preface to his "Book on Drugs" commented upon, in turn, by one of 28

2 7

Trans. E . Sachau (London, 1879), p. 213. Jashn-i Sade, ed. Pur-i Da'ud (Tehran, 1946/1325). Das Vorwort zur Drogenkunde des Beruni, trans, and with preface b y M a x Meyerhof (Berlin, 1932). 2 8

2 9

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Alessandro Bausani

the few western orientalists who did not contribute to strengthening modern Persian nationalism, the "shaikh admirable" Louis Massignon. I refer to the very short but significant contribution of the late French orientalist to the Al-Birurii Commemoration Volume published in India in 1951. 30

In a celebrated preface to the Book of Drugs, he [Biruni] says: It is through the Arabic language that the sciences have been transmitted by means of translations from all parts of the world. They have been enhanced by translation into the Arabic language and have as a result insinuated themselves into men's hearts, and the beauty of this language has commin­ gled with these sciences in our veins and arteries. And if it is true that in all nations one likes to adorn oneself by using the language to which one has remained loyal, having become accustomed to using it with friends and companions according to need, I must judge for myself that in my native tongue Khwarazmian, science has as much chance of becoming perpe­ tuated as a camel has of facing Ka'ba or a giraffe of finding himself among purebreds. And if I compare Arabic with Persian, two languages with which I consider myself extremely familiar, I must confess I would prefer invective in Arabic to praise in Persian. And one will recognize the cogency of my remark if one examines a scientific text once it has been translated into Persian. It loses all clarity, its horizon is foreshortened, the delineation is blurred, its practical application disappears. The purpose of the Persian language is to perpetuate historical epics dealing with the kings of yester­ year and to provide stories for evening social gatherings." (Let us not forget that Biruni was a contemporary of Firdausi.) 31

And Massignon adds: I anticipate an objection at this point: an inter­ national scientific language denationalizes. You show us a Biruni who, taking sides, opts for the technical superiority of Arabic, denounces the Iranian race from which his Khwarazmian stemmed. At this point in time of renaissance of eastern nations, is Biruni to be considered a traitor or a hostage ? Neither. He has glimpsed the supranational ideal of a universal language . . . striving moreover, like many other medieval Iranians for perfection of the lexical technique of the Arabic language. . . . Biruni has made a discovery in this area which only his Aryan origin enabled him to make in this domain. Arabic, like all Semitic languages, contains many ambivalent roots (it is not only the language of dad but also the language 3 0

L . Massignon, "Al-Beruni et la valeur internationale de la science arabe," in Al-Biruni Commemoration Volume (Calcutta, 1951), pp. 2 1 7 - 2 1 9 . This judgment of Biruni on Persian is, of course, rather unfair. But it shows the remarkable insight of the scientist who, in m y opinion, foresees here the future development of Persian literature, in his time still at its beginnings. One line of this development is the epical one, the other line is the lyrical and symbolic trend. I t is especially along these lines that Persian literature produced its greatest master­ pieces (Firdausi, Nizami, Hafiz, to quote only the most well-known and significant names. 3 1

Muhammad or Darius ? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture

57

of addad) and it fell to the writers of Aryan background to endow in this manner the Arab conscience with its destiny . . . Arabic words thus became inductors, generators of a positive and focused philosophical structure. Biruni emerges as the most illustrious link in a long line of writers like himself, from the ancient caste of Sughdian Iranian scribes (who organized the administration of the Achamenids and of the Sasanians before pro­ viding the Turkic languages of Central Asia with then lexical technique) to the famous Hindu caste of the Kayasthas (who, commissioned by the sultan of Delhi to maintain the records of land taxes, translated into Persian, among others, the classical masterpiece of Sanskrit [India], the Upanishad, brought to the West by Anquetil Duperron). Because of the Arabic language, Arabic science of Muslim scholars, like the Islamic Empire, united the Greek heritage with that of India (and that of Iran) in a synthesis that represents not merely an accumulation but a step forward in world progress. 32

3 2

Massignon wrote only "heritage of India," but m y addition "Iran" is—I be­ lieve—totally in agreement with his thought!

ISLAMIZATION AND ARABIZATION IN AL-ANDALUS: A GENERAL V I E W ANWAR G. CHEJNE

University of Minnesota

Literary documentation enables us to survey and illustrate the process of cultural change, but it does not allow us to determine with precision its extent and full implications. The situation is the more acute in the absence of reliable statistics, of archival documents that would help to determine linguistic distribu­ tions and numerical strength of religious affiliations, of taxation figures, and in the absence of other data. Under the circumstances, any evaluation tends to be subjective and prone to different interpretation, even to heated controversy. This appears to be the case for al-Andalus. The question may be posed: "Were the Muslims successful in imposing their religion, language, and customs on the Spaniards so as to effect a radical change on the traditional culture of Spain ?" For instance, in his Historia de los mozdrabes, the Spanish scholar F. Simonet takes issue with the Dutch savant R. Dozy for having maintained that the Arabs imposed their language and to some measure their religion on the Span­ iards, and he goes on to say that some modern scholars suffer from as much fanaticism as do the Muhammadans. Simonet pursues his presentation through an endless series of admissions and denials and arrives at contradictory conclu­ sions that cannot be justified by his own data. On one hand he maintains that those Spaniards who converted to Islam were cowards, selfish, and impious and, on the other he says that the beliefs and superstitions of the Muslims never succeeded in penetrating Christianity. On the contrary, there were wise and pious men who counteracted the pernicious influence of the literature and cus­ toms of the Muslims. They had perseverance and fought for the purity of the faith. But Simonet had to admit, as Menendez y Pelayo showed, that there 1

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(Madrid, 1903)—hereafter cited as Simonet, Historia. Ibid., p. xxxviii; cf. R . Dozy, Recherches sur Vhistoire et la literature de VEspagne pendant le moyen age (2d ed.; 2 vols.; Leiden, 1860), I , 93. Simonet, Historia, p. xli. In this connection one m a y call attention to the work of J. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (Loiden, 1970), which points to the attitude of some Spanish Arabists in this and other respects. Simonet, Historia, p. xxxviii. M . Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos espafioles, 2 vols. (Madrid,. 1880-1882). 2

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Anwar G. Chejne 6

were deviations and "contaminations" leading to heterodoxies. For Simonet, the vanquished Christians preserved not only their civilization, but contributed enormously to arrest the barbarism of the victors' more so in Spain than in the eastern part of the Islamic empire. In his opinion the Arabs showed great inability to learn the language of the conquered people; therefore the latter learned Arabic. He refutes, perhaps rightly, the supposition of some scholars that the Spanish Christians were totally Arabized and forgot their own lan­ guage. He cites a number of Latin authors mainly from the ninth century, notably Alvaro, Eulogius, Samuel, and Samson, who composed religious tracts and hymns and concludes that such people who were familiar with the various scientific and literary models of the Christians, and even those of Romans and Greeks, could not possibly learn anything from the rude, ignorant, and uncouth Arabs and Berbers. 8

9

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In sum, Simonet's assertions would lead us to believe that the Muslims of Spain were merely intruders whose presence in the peninsula for eight centuries was transitory in nature, and that the change effected by them never took deep root. The question of whether the Muslim conqueror succumbed totally to the vanquished Spaniards should be contrasted with other available sources, for example, Ibn Khaldun. This Tunisian thinker who formulated his sociologi­ cal theories on the Islamic experience, says that for psychological reasons the vanquished, always wants to imitate the victor in distinctive marks—dress, occupation, and all other conditions and customs —and that a nation that has 11

6

Simonet, Hiatoria, pp. xl-xli; cf. Menendez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos espanoles, I , 308. Simonet, Historia, p. xliv. Ibid., p. xlix; here he takes issue with the Portuguese scholar Alexandra Herculano, Do estado das closes servas na peninsula desdo o VII ate o XII seclo (Lisbon, 1858), p. 22, who maintains that the Mozarabs were Saracens in every respect in that they served in the Muslim army, held jobs in the government, adopted Muslim customs, Arabic names, the civilization and language of the conqueror to the point of forgetting Latin. See also F . Simonet, Glosario de voces ibiricas y latinos usadas entre los mozdrabes (Madrid, 1888). Some of the underlying views of Simonet are to be found in the writings of L . Eguilaz and C. Sanchez Albornoz. Both authors grudgingly accept Muslim presence in the peninsula. I n his Glosario etimologico de las palabras espanolas de origen oriental (Granada, 1886) Eguilaz attempts to attach more importance to the influence of Romance on Arabic and refutes R . D o z y and W . Engelmann's Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais derives de I'arabe (2d ed.; Leiden, 1869) in which they maintain the superiority of Arabic civilization over that of the Spaniards. Sanchez Albornoz attempts in his Espana y el islam (Buenos Aires, 1943) and Espana; Un enigma historico (Buenos Aires, 1956) to deprecate the Islamic past of Spain. H e contends that the conquest of Spain by the Muslims was a holocaust that had an enormous adverse effect on the country for centuries, mainly, halting its pursuit of the progressive path of the rest of Europe. 7

8

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Simonet, Historia, pp. 320ff. Ibid., p. 349. I b n Khaldun, al-Muqaddimah, 1958), I , 299. 1 0

1 1

English trans. F. Rosenthal (3 vols.; N e w Y o r k ,

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View

61

been defeated and comes under the rule of another nation will perish because of apathy. Ibn Khaldun's statement applied to al-Andalus would imply that a complete cultural transformation had taken place leaving no room for the process of interaction of two disparate civilizations. We thus have two extreme positions: that of Simonet, a nineteenth-century scholar, and that of Ibn Khaldun, a medieval thinker. Neither stand is totally sound, and the answer is more likely to lie between the two, that is, both con­ queror and conquered came to learn from each other in time of war and peace via a process of osmosis—of giving and receiving—in which the Arabo-Islamic elements contributed eventually to the creation of a new cultural environment and gave shape and content to a new culture which bore an Arabo-Islamic stamp. The process of change from a Latin-Christian to an Arabo-Islamic base is complex because of the nature and composition of Iberian society, which consist­ ed of Iberian, Roman, Visigothic, and other elements, and because of the remoteness of the Iberian peninsula from the mainstream of Islam and Arabdom. In an interesting essay, H. Terrasse maintains that the Visigoths must have left their imprint on the peninsula during some three hundred years and that the Muslims fell hen to their legacy both in its positive features, that is, religiolegal unity, pievalence of a national language, and a Spanish conscious­ ness, and in its negative features, that is, individualism, revolts, standing army, interference with the church, and social inequality. While one can perceive some of these features under Muslim rule, one cannot fail to recognize the process of interaction and cultural change, a phenomenon that is illuminated by Americo Castro in The Structure of Spanish History. Castro makes ample provisions for Roman, Christian, and Visigothic legacies, but gives due recogni­ tion to the process of interaction of Muslims with the native population. The interaction, heavily weighted on the Arabo-Islamic side, became an integral part of the development of a new perspective, of an Andalusian personality, and of an Andalusian set of values that became part and parcel of a Spanish personality. In other words, this final outcome was the result of partial adapta­ tion or modification of old values and customs and, at the same time, of the introduction and integration of new ones. This point is made eloquently by Steiger who, in describing Spain in the 1950s, says: 12

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a subtle Arabism bathes the atmosphere of many big and small cities whose anatomy has been, more often than not, preserved unchanged from the Muslim period. The remnants of this prolonged Arabization are seen in the popular arts, in industrial techniques, in the manner of cultivating 1 2

Ibid., I , 300. H . Terrasse, "L'Espagne musulmane et l'heritage Wisigothiquc," Etudes d'Orientalisme d&di&es a la memoire de L6vi-Provencal (2 vols.; Paris, 1962), I I , 7 5 7 766. Trans. E . L . King (Princeton, 1954). 1 3

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Anwar G. Chejne

the land and in the method of irrigation. Al-Andalus influenced the folk­ lore, the popular music, and even the way of life, thinking, and behaving of important nuclei of the population. The Arabic language of al-Andalus with its peculiar vocabulary and dialectical expressions may serve as a good illustration of its extraordinary power of expansion into the hispanoportuguese vocabulary. This admirable survival is acknowledged more decisively still in the regional speech of Portugal, Valencia, Murcia, and Granada. Direct borrowings which pertain to a lexicon of various facets— technical and agricultural terms, names of plants, trees, fruits, fabric and weaving, furniture and names for some social institutions—with all their puzzling problems add more to the precious remains of Arabic vocabulary in al-Andalus. [Thus] it will not be too bold to conclude from all this that the nouns and things designated by them immigrated at the same time and that from the ninth century the Muslim fashions of Seville, Cordova, Toledo, and Saragossa began to penetrate the small courts of the northern peninsula where they represent grafts in the Christian organism. 15

This seemingly imposing influence of Arabic culture on Spain is recognized to a small or great degree by other Westerners including many Spanish scholars. R. Menendez Pidal recognized the phenomenon of cultural symbiosis, accepts Arabic influences on Spain and Europe, and admits that in the process Spanish Muslims hispanized Iberian Islam. In his Poesia, he gives a history of the development of the zajal, the popular poetry that flourished in al-Andalus, but stresses that its origin must have been derived from the folklore of Spain which may go back to Latin lyrics. After establishing the "Spanish" character of the zajal, he then admits its influence on the songs of Spanish Christians as well as on the poetry of the troubadours. He reiterates the same argument in his Spain as a Bridge, but concludes by saying that when Christianity had the upper hand with no danger from the Muslims, the Reconquest subsided during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Castilians, far from having a sense of repulsion toward the Muslim refugees, felt attracted to that exotic civilization of the Muslims: to the luxury of clothes, splendid ornamentation of buildings, the manner of horseback riding, armaments and fighting; many Castilians emigrated to Granada and many Moors were in the employ of Castilians. "La maurofilia (a la mauresque) was made fashionable." ' 16

1

Perhaps the man most responsible for giving Arabism its rightful place in Spanish history was Codera y Zaidin who inaugurated a scholarly perspec1 5

A . Steiger, "Funcion espiritual del islam en Bspafia medieval," Revista del Institute- de Estudios Isldmicos (RIEI), V I (1958), 54. R . Menendez Pidal, Poesia drabe y poesia europea (Buenos Aires, 1943). R . Menendez Pidal, "Espana como eslabon entre el cristianismo y el islam," Revista del Instituto Egipcio de Estudios Isldmicos (RIEEI), I (1953), 1 6 - 1 7 . I t should be indicated, however, that the process of imitation had been going on long before the fourteenth century. 1 6

1 7

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View

63 18

tive with respect to the role of Arabic culture in Spanish life. In an address before the Spanish Royal Academy, Codera acknowledges the role of Arabic in the process of linguistic borrowing. But the greatest legacy of Codera lies in his enthusiastic and brilliant pupils often referred to as Banu Codera; the most outstanding among them are J. Ribera y Tarrago and M. Asin Palacios. In his numerous publications, Ribera explored the gamut of Arabic culture and the extent of its influence on Spain in particular and on Europe in general. Ribera had a worthy successor in Asin Palacios who brought to light an impressive list of publications dealing mainly with philosophy and mysticism and the interaction of Christianity and Islam. In spite of the fact that Asin Palacios was an ordained priest, his sympathy for and detachment from his subject were indeed remarkable and could be matched by those of A. Gonzalez Palencia who in his numerous works delved into the intimate relationship between Islamic and Christian cultures. One can hardly omit the names of J. Sanchez Perez, J. M. Millas Vallicrosa, and J. Vernet Gines who made invaluable contributions in the field of the natural sciences and who showed the unmistakable indebtedness of Spain and Europe to the Arabic sciences; E. Garcia Gomez has been concerned with 19

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Fr. Codera y Zaidin, Importancia de las fuentes drabes para eonocer el estado del voeabulario en las lenguas o dialectos espanoles desde el siglo V11 alXII (Madrid, 1910). J. Ribera y Tarrago wrote his Cancionero de Abencuzmdn (Madrid, 1928) which led him to the discovery of the strophic system in the zajal and its relation to troubadour poetry. His study of Arabic music (La musica de las Cantigas [Madrid, 1922]) shows its relations to the Cantigas of Alfonso X as well as to the songs of the troubadours and minnesingers. His Origenes de la Justicia Mayor de Aragon (Saragossa, 1897) shows the interesting phenomenon of legal borrowing from Islam. In his Islam cristianizado (Madrid, 1931), M . Asin Palacios points to the influ­ ence of Christianity on Islam, while his Huellas del Islam (Madrid, 1941) shows the impact of Islam on Christianity. H i s Glosario de voces romances registradas por un botdnico hispano-musulmdn (Madrid and Granada, 1943) shows the presence of preliterary romance expressions used b y an hispano-Arabic writer; El averroismo teologico de Santo Tomas de Aquino (Madrid, 1901) shows the influence of the phi­ losopher Averroes on St. Thomas; La escatologia musulmana en la divina comedia (3d ed.; Madrid, 1961) points to the link between the mi'raj (ascension of Muham­ mad to the seven heavens) and the theme in Dante's Divina Commedia. 1 9

2 0

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A . Gonzalez Palencia's main works are: Islam y occidente (Madrid, 1931); Moras y Cristianos en Espana medieval (Madrid, 1945); and Historia de la literalura arabigo-espanola (3d ed.; Barcelona, 1932). J. Sanchez Perez, Biografias de matemdticos drabes que florecieron en Espana (Madrid, 1921); La Ciencia arabe en la edad media (Madrid, 1954). J. M . Millas Vallicrosa, Estudios sobre Azarquiel (Madrid and Granada, 1 9 4 3 1950); Estudios sobre la historia de la ciencia espanola (Barcelona, 1949). J. Vernet Gines, "Una bibliografia de la historia de las ciencias matematicas y astronomicas entre los arabes," al-Andalus, X X I (1956), 4 3 1 - 4 4 0 ; X X I I I (1958), 2 1 5 - 2 3 6 . See also his two popular works: Los musulmanes espanoles (Barcelona, 1961) and Literatura arabe (Barcelona, 1968). E . Garcia Gomez, Poemas ardbigoandaluces (Madrid, 1940), Cinco poetas musulmanes (Madrid, 1945), and numerous articles in al-Andalus. 2 2

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Anwar G. Chejne 26

27

poetry; Isidoro de las Cagigas with minority groups; M. Gomez Moreno and L. Torres Balbas with arts and architecture; and A. Galmes de Fuentes with Aljamiado literature and its impact on early Spanish literature. Nor can one delete the distinct contribution of Dozy or E. Levi-Provencal to the history and institutions of Muslim Spain; nor the works of G. Marcais, A. R. Nykl, H. Peres, and Terrasse, all of which show the preponderance for centuries of Arabo-Islamic elements in the life of Spain. The works of these scholars were based for the most part on literary sources, written by Hispano-Arabic authors, which encompass poetical collections, lexicons, grammars, commentaries of all sorts, belles lettres, history and geo­ graphy, religious writings, philosophy-astronomy, mathematics, and other disciplines. In addition to the enormous literary legacy there are architectural remains, coins, textiles, and funeral and commemorative inscriptions. Moreover, in the realm of toponymy there exist many Arabic names for rivers, fortresses, cities, not to mention the hundreds of Arabic words that entered into the Spanish language. Latin works written in the ninth century such as the Documentum martyriale by Eulogius and the Indiculus luminosus by Alvaro help to point to a seemingly overwhelming Islamic cultural impact on al-Andalus. All this data show that the process of Arabization and Islamization came to supersede both Latin and Christianity as early as the ninth century. Latin, once the language of liturgy and literature, was relegated to a minor position, while Arabic rose in prominence as the language of learning and society. Islam also appears to be the religion of a majority of the inhabitants of areas up to Toledo and even beyond, including Saragossa and the Ebro valley. It would thus seem that the religious, cultural, and linguistic impact was as intense and wide in al-Andalus as in Syria and Egypt. 28

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36

2 6

Isidoro de las Cagigas, Los mozarabes (2 vols.; Madrid, 1 9 4 7 - 1 9 4 8 ) ; Los mudijares (2 vols.; Madrid, 1948-1949). M . Gomez Moreno, Ars Hispania (Madrid, 1951); Iglesias mozarabes (Madrid, 1919). L . Torres Balbas, Ars Hispania, I V (Madrid, 1949); Artes almordvide y almohade (Madrid, 1955); La mezquita de Cordova y las ruinas de Madinat az-Zahra' (Madrid, 1952). A . Galmes de Fuentes, Influencias sintdcticas y estilisticas del drabe en la prosa medieval castellana (Madrid, 1956). R . Dozy, Spanish Islam, trans. Francis Griffin Stokes (New Y o r k , 1913); Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes (2 vols.; Leiden, 1881). E . Levi-Provencal, La civilization arabe en Espagne (Cairo, 1938); L'Espagne musulmane au X& siecle (Paris, 1932). G. Marcais, Manuel d'art musulman (2 vols; Paris, 1 9 2 6 - 2 7 ) . A . R . Nykl, A Compendium of Aljamiado Literature (New Y o r k , 1929); El cancionero de AbinCuzmdn (Madrid, 1933); Hispano-Arabic Poetry (Baltimore, 1946). H . Peres, La poisie andaluse en arabe classiquc au XP siecle (Paris, 1937). H . Terrasse, Islam d'Espagne (Paris, 1958) and L'art hispano-mauresque des origines au XIII" siecle (Paris, 1932). Simonet, Historia, pp. 399ff. and 457ff. 2 7

2 8

2 9

3 0

3 1

3 2

3 3

3 4

3 5

3 6

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View

65

The process of cultural change in al-Andalus spanned almost eight centuries from 711 until 1492 and beyond. This long period was witness to many vicissi­ tudes in the religion, language, literature, social mannerisms, arts, and crafts of the Iberian Peninsula. Three major stages of the process are discernible: (1) the formative stage (711-929) of penetration and incubation in which Arab­ ization and Islamization gained preponderance at the expense of Latin and Christianity -with all the attendant cultural changes; (2) the stage of ascendancy (929-1085) in which Islamic culture in general reached its zenith; and (3) the stage of decline (1085-1492) in which Muslim cultural ascendancy began to give way to re-Christianization and Hispanization.

THE FORMATIVE STAGE ( 7 1 1 - 9 2 9 )

At the coming of the Arabs in 711, Latin, Roman institutions, Roman and Visigothic laws, and Christianity constituted the most enduring legacy of the Iberian Peninsula. The Visigoths ( 4 1 4 - 7 1 1 ) had remained a minority ruling a large Romanized majority. They espoused Arianism, a Christian heresy, which denied the Trinity and the divinity of Christ; they constituted a noble and military caste, lived in military settlements (camjri or villa), held large tracts of land (latifundia), and discouraged marriage with natives. They eventually succumbed to the customs of the majority, adopting the Latin language and Catholicism after the Third Council of Toledo in 589. This notwithstanding, a wide cleavage separated Visigothic nobility from the rest of the population with respect to social equality, distribution of wealth, and privileges. In fact, they had forged an alliance with the remnants of the Roman aristocracy and the clergy thus constituting a class by themselves which exploited the rank and file of the population. The political situation was quite fluid in the Iberian peninsula. Bishops were an influential element but were frequently subservient to the king and his advisers. In the absence of a fixed formula for the succession to the rule, the maneuvering among pretenders to the throne resulted in revolts and civil wars. Thus during most of the seventh century, the Iberian Peninsula was torn by dissension, social unrest, and political and economic instability. The situation was accentuated further during the first decade of the eighth century by the problem of succession to the throne which coincided with a serious famine in 7 1 0 - 7 1 1 . In fact King Witiza (700-710) was faced with numerous revolts. Upon his death in 710, his son Achila, who had been appoin­ ted dux of Tarraconsis in the northeast of the country, assumed the throne in the 37

38

39

3 7

On the Visigoths see A. K . Ziegler, Church and State in Visigothic Spain (Washington, 1930); E . A . Thompson, The Goths of Spain (Oxford, 1969), and particularly volume III of the Historia de Espana directed b y R. Menendez Pidal (Madrid, 1940). Ziegler, Church and State in Visigothic Spain, pp. 126ff. Akhbar majmu'a, ed. E . Lafuente y Alcantara (Madrid, 1967), p. 8. 3 8

3 9

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midst of strong opposition, particularly when Roderick established himself as king in the South. All this coincided with the emergence of the Muslims in North Africa who had Spain within reach. When the Muslims invaded the country in 711, the Visigothic factions closed rank behind Roderick and met the invaders at Guadalete in the Jerez de la Frontera. But the partisans of Achila including a large number of Visigothic magnates deserted the battle­ field and made common cause with the Muslims. Henceforth, the country was conquered with relative ease and with ample support, no doubt, from disconten­ ted groups, mainly Jews and Visigothic legitimists. A new chapter in the history of the country had begun. There is no indication that the country was ravaged by destruction, wholesale killings, or forced mass conversion of the populace at the hands of the conqueror. To the contrary, the majority of the population proved submissive and cooper­ ative. The administration of the conquered territories was left by and large, in the hands of natives and Jews, who were often supervised by small contin­ gents of Muslims. In fact, towns that surrendered peacefully were given a large measure of autonomy and their leaders were allowed to preserve most of their large latifundia in return for an amount of taxes agreed upon at the time of surrender. The historian Ibn al-Qutiyya reports that the heirs of the Visi­ gothic king Witiza entered into contract with the conqueror Tariq and were assured of the possession of some 3,000 estates (day'a) of which Artobas owned 1,000. Christians and Jews were permitted to continue practicing their religions, to have their special courts, and to participate in the economic and political life of the country. Visigothic nobility and their Church supporters maintained close contact with the conquerors and held important jobs in the government. Moreover, the treatment of the populace was by far more benign than that received at the hands of the Visigoths. Thus, resistance or opposition to the newcomers appears to have been minimal. From the outset there were many wars and revolts, to be sure, but they were instigated and fought among the conquerors themselves, mainly cases of northern Arabs versus southern Arabs, or Arabs versus Berbers. 40

41

42

Moreover, the enormous distance separating the new territory from the mainstream of Islam, coupled with the increasing instability facing the caliph­ ate at Damascus, pointed to the likelihood that al-Andalus would secede completely from the empire and would pursue an independent existence in the cultural, political, and even the religious spheres. There was no doubt that a conquering minority was facing a large majority on a distant soil, and that this

4 0

Thompson, pp. 216ff. Akhbar majmu'a, pp. 12, 14; for the early administration, see H . Mu'nis, Fajr al-Andalus (Cairo, 1959), pp. 459ff. and 530ff. Also his "Division politicoadministrativa," RIEEI, V (1957), 7 9 - 1 3 6 ; and Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , Iff. Iftitah al-Andalus, ed. J. Ribera (Madrid, 1926), p. 3. 4 1

4 2

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minority was further diffused by intermarriage with the natives, and was debilitated by perpetual internal wars. All these factors would have led the conqueror to succumb to the culture and values of the vanquished. An early manifestation of this trend can be seen in the conduct of the first emir, 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Musa (714-716) who married the widow of Roderick, the defeated general of the Visigoths. It was charged that he had turned Christian (tanassara) under the influence of his wife who also prevailed on him to wear a crown in the manner of Christian kings, and he was executed. This tendency toward assimilation would have continued had it not been for the appearance of 'Abd al-Rahman I, a prince of the Umayyad house and a fugitive from the 'Abbasid, who established the Umayyad dynasty in Spain in 756. It was to the credit of 'Abd al-Rahman that two societies with different ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural backgrounds came together and succeeded in forging a new civili­ zation with Arabic and Islam as its main pillars. As a result, we can say that 'Abd al-Rahman altered the course of Spanish history in that he was instru­ mental in giving direction and substance to the process of Arabization and Islamization, a process that continued uninterruptedly under his successors. 43

The conquest had been achieved by about twenty thousand Muslims, both Berbers and Arabs. Subsequently there were many waves of emigrants from Syria-Palestine, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa. One of these was the ten thousand man army of Balj which imposed itself on the country in 741. That army was soon given huge tracts of land in fiefs for its various components : the Egyptians were settled in Beja and Murcia, the Humsis in Niebla and Se­ ville, the Palestinians in Sidonia and Algeciras, the Jordanians in Malaga, the Damascenes in Elvira, and the Qinnasrinis in Jaen. They became colonizers in these areas in the manner of the early conquerors and in the process they contributed enormously to its Islamization and eventual Arabization. Con­ querors and emigrants occupied privileged positions and relied on the services of a large number of natives for all sorts of menial and domestic help including the cultivation of the land. More often than not, those people became clients (mawali) adopting the religion, the language, and the customs of their masters. In addition, a substantial number of Christians embraced the new religion, either out of conviction or mere self-interest, as a means of avoiding the burden of taxation or of acquiring eligibility for government employment. Significant still is the conversion through marriage and concubinage and that of large numbers of captives, slaves, and mercenary soldiers. These processes went on for many decades, inflating the rank and file of Muslims, particularly in areas

4 3

Akhbar majmu'a, p. 2 0 ; cf. J. Ribera y Tarrago, in Disertaciones y Opusculos (2 vols.; Madrid, 1928), I , 15ff.

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south of Toledo. It should be added that Andalusian rulers had wives and chil­ dren by the dozens, many of them by slave concubines (umm al-walad). Islamization went hand in hand with Arabization, which, however, was at first rather complex. Its success depended on various factors. First, intellectual life among eastern Muslims was in its infancy during the eighth century. The Arabic language was still in a state of flux and it faced numerous problems at 44

is

46

4 4

Besides the four wives allowed b y law, Muslims had numerous concubines, originally slaves, of European stock—Spanish, French, German, and others, who more often than not continued the use of their native tongues and even the practice of their former religion. Moreover, their offspring betrayed much of their physiog­ nomy : fair skin, blue eyes, and blond hair. Ibn 'Idharf, Kitab al-baydn al-Mughrib, ed. G. S. Colin and E . Levi-Provencal, Vol. I I (reprint; Beirut, n.d.) gives the following statistics concerning the offspring of some of the U m a y y a d rulers: 'Abd al-Rahman I (756-788) Hisham I (788-796) al-Hakam I (796-822) 'Abd al-Rahman I I (822-852) Muhammad I (852-886) al-Mundhir (886-888) 'Abdalla (888-912)

Male

Female

11 6 9 45 33 5 11

9 5 21 42 21 8 13

(p. (p. (p. (p.

48) 61) 68) 81)

(P- 94) (p. 113) (p. 121) On the land distributed to the Balj army, see ibid., p. 33. 4 5

A slave concubine who bears a child becomes free in the eye of the law, hence is called umm al-walad. Al-Humaidi, Judhwat al-muqtabis (Cairo, 1966) gives the names of U m a y y a d rulers who were the children of "freed" concubines (umm alwalad): A l - H a k a m I (p. 10); ' A b d al-Rahman I I (p. 10); Muhammad I (p. 11); al-Mundhir (p. 11); 'Abdalla (p. 12); ' A b d al-Rahman I I I (p. 13); al-Hakam I I (p. 13); Hisham I I (p. 17); Muhammad I I (p. 19). Arabization often transcended Islamization: for the role of Arabic in history, see A . Chejne, The Arabic Language: Its Role in History (Minneapolis, 1969); for al-Andalus proper, see A . Mutlaq, al-Haraka al-Lughawiya fi-l-Andalus (Sidon and Beirut, 1967); also Chejne, Muslim Spain, (Minneapolis, 1974), Chapter X . One m a y add for comparison the articles of W . Marcais, "Comment l'Afrique du Nord a 6t6 arabizee," Annates de VInstitut d'Uudes orientates (Faculte de lettres de FUniversite d'Alger), I V (1938), 1 - 2 1 ; and A . N . Poliak, "L'arabization de l'Orient semitiquo," Revue des etudes islamiques n.v. (1938), 3 5 - 6 3 . Poliak is inclined to think that Arabization in countries with Semitic traditions was much easier than in others, "et que dans les autres contrees (comme lTran et l'Espagne musulmane) l'emploi prolonge de l'arabe comme seule langue litteraire par la classe dominante ne reussit point a arabiser le gros de la population" (p. 35). This m a y not be the actual situation for al-Andalus. I t would seem that Islamization made great strides immediately after the Conquest. See Ibn al-Qutiyya, Tdrikh ijtitah Al-Andalus, ed. P. Gayangos (Madrid, 1926), p. 12; cf. E . Levi-Provencal, La civilisation arabe en Espagne (Paris, 1948), p. 18; also his Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane (3 vols.; Paris, 1950-1953), I, 76, 88, and 9 0 ; I I I , 169, 184-187. H . Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc (2 vols.; Casablanca, 1949-1950), I , 91. Also, Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, L'Espagne Catalans et le Maghrib (Paris, 1966), pp. 19ff. See also S. Vryonis, "The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms," Dumbarton Oaks Papers (Washington, (1969-1970), pp. 2 5 3 - 3 0 8 . 4 6

-

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the source, among them multiplicity of dialects, need for codification, and underdevelopment with respect to expressing abstractions. These problems were expected to be more pressing on the periphery of the Empire. There the Arabic-speaking people were a minority that spoke various, at best untutored dialects, and more often than not this minority was torn internally by wars. Even more this was the case in an independent al-Andalus where Arabic was faced not only with Latin and dialects derived therefrom, but also with Berber dialects and traces of Hebrew used by the Jewish minority. The solution to these complex problems depended largely on a set of attitudes and orientation. Under the Umayyad dynasty (756-1031) which endeavored to disseminate Islam and Arabism at all levels, al-Andalus looked to the East. This orientation was given form and substance through an intensive system of education, im­ port of books and teachers and scholars, and exchange of students who kept themselves up to date on all the literary and intellectual activities of the East. They became great emulators of and commentators on Eastern lore in all its multifold aspects. Thus, by the ninth century, the process of Islamization and Arabization appears to have made great strides in the peninsula. Arabic apparently was used widely among the masses and the elite, including a large number of Christians and Jews. Contemporary Latin testimonies point to a seemingly sweeping Arabization coupled with an equally strong hold of Islam on a large number of the population. The cleric Eulogius and his friend and biographer Alvaro were deeply alarmed by these processes and reacted violently against the Muslim "infidels" as well as against their Christian collaborators, who, in their opinion, had forsaken the true faith and espoused the language and customs of the infidels at the expense of Latindom. In his Indiculus Luminosus written in 854, Alvaro reveals his alarm, perhaps with some exagger­ ation, concerning the danger facing Christianity, Latin and Latin letters, and he reproaches his co-religionists for having allowed themselves to be contaminat­ ed by the abominations of Muslims. Ironically, Alvaro himself appears to have known Arabic and to have written in that language. 47

48

49

50

The seemingly sweeping Islamization and Arabization created a socioreligious convulsion that was inflamed by Christian zealots under the leadership of the cleric Eulogius. Knowing that such conduct would surely carry the death penalty, these Christians would insult the Prophet Muhammad in public. Al­ though these aberrations were suppressed swiftly, they created a cleavage among the Christians themselves. The Arabized Christians known as Mozarabs objected

4 7

For more details, see Mutlaq, Haraka, pp. 313ff. See also Muhammad al-Daya, Tarikh al-naqd al-adabi fi-l-Andalus (Beirut, 1968), pp. 69ff. In his Memoriale sanctorum, Eulogius launches a vituperous attack on Islam; cf. Simonet, Historia, pp. 405 ff. Simonet, Historia, p. 465. Alvaro, Indiculus luminosus in Espana Sagrada, ed. P. H . Florex (Madrid, 1753), X I , 2 7 4 - 2 7 5 . Simonet, Historia, p. 465. 4 8

4 9

5 0

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Anwar G. Chejne

to these suicidal methods, alleging that there was little provocation for such extremes. It is significant that the apparently pejorative term "Mozarab" was applied to those who identified with Arabs or were influenced by Arabs and the Arab way of life, and that it occurs in the Latin-Spanish sources. The Mozarabs were important intermediaries between Muslims and other northern Christians in the ninth century and continued to be so for centuries. They spoke and used Arabic with ease and appear to have adopted Arabic dress and Arabic surnames in addition to their baptismal Latin names. It appears that Arabic was used even by Christians who openly resented and opposed Islam. The first two "martyrs" Perfectus and John serve as examples. The priest Perfectus spoke Arabic well and was able to argue religious questions with Muslims. One day when he was hard pressed to give his opinion about Muhammad, with the understanding that he would not be reported, he said that according to the Gospels Muhammad was one of the false prophets. Later he was accused of blasphemy and put to death. This event created a religious crisis that sparked the movement of martyrdom. Similarly, the merchant John swore by Muham­ mad in Arabic about the excellence of his goods and prices. For this he was accused of blasphemy and put to death. There is evidence that other zealots seeking martyrdom and the coveted honor of sainthood reviled Muhammad and Islam in Arabic. 51

52

53

While a segment of Christians reacted violently to the apparently sweeping Islamization and Arabization, the same cannot be said about the motivation behind the numerous revolts of the Muwalladun (Spanish Muladies). The Muwalladiin were born Muslims of non-Arabic ancestry who had a strong attachment to Islam and the Arabic language, the counterpart of the Mawali of the East. According to the dictum of Dozy, they stood for order and urbanity and the character of their civilization was entirely Arabic. By the ninth century the Muwalladun outnumbered both Arabs and Berbers. They were city dwellers as 54

5 1

The term occurred with different spellings: Muztarabes, muzarabes, Mozarabes, Mosarabes, Mozarabia, almozarabes and was used from the eleventh century on; cf. Simonet, Historia, p. ix; also J. B . Trend, The Language and History of Spain (London, 1953), p. 54. In Arabic sources, they were known as 'ajam al-nasara, al-mu'ahidiln, or ahl al-dhimma, terms that were applied to all Christians living under Muslim rule. For further information on the Mozarabs, see de las Cagigas, Los Mozarabes; F . Codera, Mozarabes, su condicion social y politico, Ph. D . dissertation (Lerida, 1866); A . Gonzalez Palencia, Los Mozarabes de Toledo en los siglos XII y XIII (4 vols.; Madrid, 1926-1930) and his Moros y Christianas en Espana Medieval (Madrid, 1945); F . Pons Boigues, Apuntes sobre las escrituras mozarabes toledanas existentes en el archivo historico nacional (Madrid, 1897). R . Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne (3 vols.; Leiden, 1932), I, 3 2 8 - 3 3 1 ; cf. Simonet, Historia, pp. 385ff. Dozy, Histoire, I, 3 3 3 ; Simonet, Historia, pp. 358ff. Ibid., I I , 5 6 - 5 7 . It should be noted that the early converts or ancestors of the Muwalladun were known as al-Musalima, and the term Muwalladun fell into disuse 5 2

5 3

5 4

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View

71

well as inhabitants of rural areas and practiced most of the crafts. A testament to their numerical strength is the effectiveness of their prolonged revolts, basically against the injustices of the government and its discriminatory prac­ tices toward non-Arabs, which began in the middle of the ninth century and continued into the third decade of the tenth century. These uprisings almost brought down the central government. The revolts did not constitute a reac­ tion to the religious and linguistic ascendancy of the Arabs as Menendez Pidal would like to suggest. In fact, when the leading rebel, Ibn Hafsun, converted from Islam to Christianity, he lost most of his following. The rebellion ultimately died out when 'Abd al-Rahman H I succeeded in achieving a wide measure of social integration. In sum, the process of cultural transformation in al-Andalus becomes the more interesting because of certain conditions peculiar to the country. Whereas the Arabs may be said to have contributed Islam and their language wherever they went and, in turn, borrowed extensively from the host countries, the borrowing was only partly true of al-Andalus. When the Muslims confronted Christian-Spanish society in the early part of the eighth century, both elements of that society seemed to be underdeveloped culturally. Moreover, the Chris­ tians were in a state of convulsion and division with a breakdown of institu55

b y the tenth century and was replaced b y the term "Andalusians." For more details on the Muwalladun, see E . Levi-Provencal, Histoire de L'Espagne musulmane (3 vols.; Paris, 1950), I I I , 180-185. R . Menendez Pidal, Origenes del espanol (Madrid, 1953), p. 416. In the light of the data, it should be emphasized that the numerous revolts during the ninth century were not instigated solely b y Muwalladun, but also b y Arabs and Berbers who aided the neo-Muslims for no other reasons, perhaps, than to avoid the payment of taxes or to render military help to the central government (see Ibn 'Idhari, Kitab al-bayan al-Mughrib, I I , 123ff.; 134ff. and 137). I t is significant that provinces controlled b y Arabs were obliged to supply a certain number of soldiers to the central government to fight the Christians. I b n 'Idhari (p. 109) gives the following quotas for the various provinces during the reign of Muhammad I : 5 5

Elvira Jaen Cabra Priego Takurunna Algecira Ecija Carmona Sidonia Rayyah Fahs al-Ballut Moron Tudmlr

2,900 2,200 1,800 900 299 290 1,200 185 6,790 2,600 400 1,400 165

I t seems that this military help ceased during the wars against I b n Hafsun. But when Ibn Hafsun seceded to Christianity in about 900, his Muslim partisans fought him and considered the right a jihad (holy war) (p. 139).

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Anwar G. Chejne

tions, whereas the Muslims were dynamic and zealous in building a state and disseminating their religion. In the process the Muslims acquired distinct advantages and they finally succeeded in asserting themselves, in conformity with Ibn Khaldun's theory of growth, from a primitive to a highly developed civilization ('umran). Although al-Andalus assumed an independent political posture from the outset, the Muslims of al-Andalus turned not inward for selfdevelopment, but outward toward the East for religiocultural inspiration and guidance. In fact, borrowing from Spain was relatively small, indeed much smaller than the heavy borrowing from the East. There is no indication of extensive translation from Greek or Latin into Arabic in al-Andalus as in the East; nor do we have information that there were families of translaters in Spain, the equivalent of the Bakhtishu' or Banu Ishaq families in the East. In fact, when the Byzantine Emperor Romanos sent 'Abd al-Rahman III the Materia medica of Dioscorides and the Historia of Orosius as a gift, the court did not know what to do with them and asked the Emperor to send someone to translate them. The Emperor obliged and sent the monk Nicholas to translate the Materia from Greek into Arabic with instruction that Orosius's Historia was in Latin and could be translated by local talent. Nor is there any indica­ tion that the intellectual life in Spain was in a state of development sufficient to exert appreciable influence on the intellectual perspective of the Muslims. Latin literature was meager and declining steadily. Extant are but a few religious tracts from the ninth century written by such men as Alvaro and Eulogius. The sciences were barely cultivated by the Christians, a situation that may have prompted the eleventh-century Sa'id of Toledo to say that al-Andalus did not possess the sciences before the coming of the Muslims, and it was only after the Conquest that they were cultivated by Andalusians. Under those circumstances, al-Andalus was the recipient, slavishly dependent on the East for intellectual nourishment, and remained so for a long time. In light of the complete political severance of al-Andalus from the mainstream of Islam, it may seem paradoxical that the country should or could afford to depend so on the despised 'Abb&sid enemy. But the Umayyad emirs, committed to Arabism and Islam in their pristine purity, encouraged and enforced that dependence on the East. As highly educated people, they were no doubt fully aware of the significance of that dependency and were willing to risk some political considerations for the cause of r engiolirfguistic unity. Thus, they espoused a form of orthodoxy intolerant of deviation or heresy; they introduced and enforced Malikism—the legal school of Malik b. Anas—as the sole doctrine of al-Andalus; they orientalized the court and administration, imported talent 56

57

5 6

Ibn Juljul, Tabaqat al-alibba' wa-l-hukama', ed. F. Sayyid (Cairo, 1955), pp. 22ff. Tabaqat al-umam (Cairo, n.d.), p. 83. Ibn Juljul, Tabaqat, p. 92, also reports that Christians were engaged in medicine, but did not have knowledge (basara) of this science or of philosophy and mathematics. 5 7

Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View

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of all sorts from the East, and built an enormous number of mosques, public baths, palaces, and summer homes (munya) on oriental models. Pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a search for education in the East, an active commerce and import of books and talented people from the East all contributed to make al-Andalus an integral part of the Islamic community in its religious and intellectual perspectives. Al-Maqqari, al-Dabbl, Ibn alKhatib, and other authors give us ample data concerning people who came to al-Andalus as well as Andalusians who migrated to the East. This phenom­ enon of cross-migration was perhaps, the most important factor in facilitating the establishment of Islam and of Arabic as the predominant elements in the life of al-Andulus. The formative stage was a period of transition from a Chris­ tian Latin to an Islamo-Arabic base. It paved the way for the stage of Islamic cultural ascendancy in which Islamization and Arabization went almost unchallenged. 58

59

60

61

THE STAGE OF ASCENDANCY ( 9 2 9 - 1 0 8 5 )

In 929 'Abd al-Rahman III declared himself caliph, and his reign ushered in a glorious period in the history of al-Andalus. He welded Arabs, Berbers, and Muwalladun into a viable social complex. In order to avoid any entanglement with any of these groups, he imported white slaves from Europe, the Saqaliba, as praetorian guards. Numbering from 3,750 to 13,750, these men occupied sensitive positions in the government and adopted the religion, language, and customs of their masters. They became powerful and during the eleventh cen­ tury they succeeded in establishing various states in eastern al-Andalus: Tortosa, Valencia, Denia, and Almeria. They perpetuated the caliphal cultural traditions, sponsored learning, and erected many buildings in the best Cordovan traditions. A number of them, such as Mujahid, ruler of Denia, excelled in 62

5 8

Nafh al-tib, ed. I . 'Abbas (8 vols.; Beirut, 1968); for Arab settlements see particularly I , 2 9 0 - 2 9 8 , and I I I , 5ff. See also Mu'nis, Fajr, pp. 271ff. and below, n. 92. Bughyat al-multamis, ed. Fr. Codera y Zaidin (Madrid, 1884). Al-Ihata ft akhbar Gharnata, ed. M . 'Abdalla Tnan, Vol. I (Cairo, 1955). For more details concerning the oriental influence on Spain, see A . Chejne, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture (Minneapolis, 1974), Chapter V I I I ; M . 'Ali Makki, Ensayo sobre las aportaciones orientates en la Espana musulmana (Madrid, 1968); Jamal al-Dln Muhsin, Udaba' baghdadiyun fi-l-Andalus (Baghdad, 1 9 6 2 1963); R . Blachere, "Un pionnier de la culture arabe orientale en Espagne au X siecle," Hespiris ( X , 1930), 15-36. For the impact of oriental influence on the High March and the Ebro Valley, see J. Bosch Vila, El oriente arabe en el desarrollo de la cultura de la Marcha Superior (Madrid, 1954); J. V e m e t , "El valle del Ebro como nexo entre Oriente y Occidente," Boletin de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, X X X I I (1950), 2 4 9 - 2 8 5 . Dozy, Histoire, I I , 154ff. To these Saqaliba must be added the black slaves who were imported from Black Africa. See Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 177 ff. 5 9

6 0

6 1

e

6 2

74

Anwar G. Chejne

Arabic letters. They felt equal to and even superior to their former Arab masters as illustrated by a certain Habib who wrote a treatise giving proof of the excel­ lence of the Slavs. No doubt 'Abd al-Rahman III united the country under the aegis of Islam and Arabic and brought it stability and prosperity. His reign (912-961) presaged the Golden Age of al-Andalus which lasted far beyond the great revolt of 1009. His successors al-Hakam II and the dictator alMansur carried the processes of Islamization and Arabization to ultimate frui­ tion. Al-Hakam built numerous schools and encouraged learning. Al-Andalus had reached the peak of its cultural achievement, and in the words of Dozy, under the reign of al-Hakam II, practically everyone in al-Andalus knew how to read and write. C6rdoba became an impressive cultural center and a worthy rival of Qayrawan, Damascus, and Baghdad. According to one account, at the turn of the tenth century it had some 1,600 mosques, 900 public baths, 60,300 villas, 213,077 houses, and 80,455 shops. 63

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Literary sources point to the splendor of al-Andalus. The tenth-century geographer al-Muqaddasi speaks of the uncompromising faith of the Andalusians in orthodox Islam and gives some insight into linguistic usage in al-Anda­ lus. He contrasts the three recognized legal schools in the East with the single school (madhhab), that of Malik ibn Anas, and the single Qur'anic reading, that of Nafi', in al-Andalus. The Andalusians, he reports, maintain that they recog­ nize only the Book of God and the Muwatta' of Malik; that if they come upon any Hanifi or Shafi'i they will exile him, and if they ever discover a Mu'tazila or a Shi'a or the like, they would most probably put him to death. Al-Muqad­ dasi adds that along with this religious unity, the Andalusians are the ablest paper makers; their language is Arabic although not easily understood; and they speak another language that resembles Latin (rumi). His contemporary Ibn Hawqal, who visited al-Andalus in 337/948, records equally interesting data: practically all cities on the sea are big and populous and possess all the urban conveniences (mardfiq).™ Cordoba is the greatest city of al-Andalus and is without equal in the Maghrib, the Arabian peninsula, Syria, or Egypt with respect to the number of its population, spaciousness, ample streets, cleanliness, 66

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The Arabic title is Kitab al-Istizhar wa-l-mughalaba 'aid man ankara fada'il al-Saqdliba; see A h m a d Mujtar al-'Abbadi, Los Eslavos en Espana (Madrid, 1953). Dozy, Histoire, I I , 184. Al-Hakam took keen interest in education. H e founded 27 schools for the poor and had a library reportedly with some 400,000 volumes. See Ibn Tdhari, al-Bayan al-mughrib, ed. G. S. Colin and E . Levi-Provencal (Beirut, n.d.), I I , 2 4 0 ; al-Zubaidi, Tabaqat al-nahwiyyin (Cairo, 1954), pp. 9ff. Al-Maqqarl, Nafh al-iib, I , 540. Ahsan al-taqasim, ed. M . S. de Goeje (Leiden, 1877), p. 236. Ibid., p. 239. Ibid., p. 243. Presumably, al-Muqaddasi is referring to the spoken Arabic which differed from region to region (see below, pp. 7 8 - 7 9 ; also H . Peres, "L'arabe dialectal en Espagne musulmane aux X et X I siecles de notre ere," in Melanges William Marcais (Paris, 1950), pp. 293ff. Kitab swat al-ard (2 vols.; Leiden, 1938-1939), I I , 109. 6 1

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and the abundance of mosques, baths, and inns; there are many villages with thousands of Christians who are not yet civilized. Ibn Hawqal's reference to the abundance of baths—major cities had hundreds of them—is significant for measuring the extent of Islamization since public baths were used mostly for religious purposes. It explains why Christians showed as much aversion to public baths as to mosques. Perhaps they avoided bathing because of this association. And perhaps that was what prompted the eleventhcentury geographer al-Bakri to remark that Galicians were treacherous and dirty, and took a bath but once or twice a year and even then with cold water. Various Andalusian sources also assert that Islam was the most important factor in the process of cultural change and, concurrently, the most predomi­ nant cultural element, with Arabic next to it in importance and inseparable from it. We have ample references attesting to the supremacy of Arabic as the language of administration and as the instrument of intellectual expression par excellence. In their eagerness to attain the linguistic competence needed, the Andalusians devised a system of education that proved quite successful. Instead of starting education with memorizing the Qur'an, they began with reading and writing using the Qur'an, poetry, and other materials to bring about its mastery. Ibn Khaldun appreciated the validity of the system when he observed that "the Arabic philologists and teachers of Arabic in Spain are closer to acquiring and teaching the [linguistic] habits than others." As a result, they acquired enough command of the language to be able to write with facility and lucidity. Moreover, as able grammarians and lexico­ graphers, they wrote many commentaries elucidating, explaining, or pointing out errors or shortcomings of the works of their predecessors, not sparing even the lexicographer al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad or the great grammarian Sibawaihi. Al-Zubaidi, one of the ablest philologists of tenth-century Islam, regarded 71

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Ibid., p. 111. For more information about C6rdoba, see al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I , 455ff. Ibid., p. 111. Both al-Muqaddasi and I b n Hawqal admit the existence of nonArabic speaking communities. See below, pp. 8 3 - 8 4 . A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri, Jughrafiyat al-Andalus wa-Urubba, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman 'Ali al-Hajji (Beirut, 1968), p. 81. Al-Muqaddimah, I I I , 357 and p. 3 6 4 . In his Maratib al-'ulum (ed. I . 'Abbas, in Rasa'il Ibn Hazm [Cairo, 1952], pp. 5 9 - 9 0 ) I b n H a z m gives us valuable insight into the educational system in al-Andalus. H e says that a child should be entrusted to a teacher at a tender age, be introduced to writing, reading to enable him to read any book that should fall into his hand (pp. 63ff.). For education in general see J. Ribera y Tarrag6, "La ensenanza entre los musulmanes espanoles" in Disertaciones y opusculos (2 vols.; Madrid, 1928), 1 , 2 2 9 - 3 5 9 . I t should be added that the Andalusian teacher (mu'addib) was regarded highly, perhaps more so than in the East. See Mutlaq, al-Haraka, pp. 307 ff. Al-Khalil b. A h m a d (d. ca. 786) is the author of the famous lexicon entitled Kitab al-'ain. Sibawaihi (d. ca. 800) is the author of the well-known grammatical work,. al-Kitab. 7 1

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the Arabic language as "the most palatable of all languages to utter, the most accurate in its formation, the clearest in the meaning of expression and the richest in the various branches of knowledge."" Among his works is an abridg­ ment of Kitab al-'ain of al-Khalil and an explanation of portions of Sibawihi's Kitab.' * Although he held al-Khalil and Sibawaihiin high esteem, he attempted to correct and elucidate some of their findings. His Faulty Speech of the Common People (lahnal-'awwdm) is extremely valuable for its insight into the speech and written errors of tenth-century Cordoba. The solid cultural structure established during the tenth century undoubtedly owes its success to the social and political stability resulting from the existence of a strong and highly centralized government under the Umayyads. The high-handedness of al-Mansur, however, and his reliance on soldiers imported from North Africa and elsewhere upset the social balance and had grave repercussions almost immediately after his death in 1002. The urbane and sophisticated Andalusians, including the Umayyads and their sympathizers, Tesented the arrogance and rudeness of these mercenaries and broke into open revolt in 1009, thereby putting an end to the unity of the country. Petty states known as "party kings" (muiuk al-tawa'if), which were aligned according to tribal or ethnic affiliation, mainly Arab, Berber, and Slav, emerged every­ where. Although the power and influence of religious scholars per se declined considerably in state affairs, the party kings conformed and adhered closely to Islamic practices and institutions and to the Arabic language. Their capital cities of Badajoz, Denia, Granada, Seville, Saragossa, Toledo, and Valencia became important cultural centers. Cordoba, almost ruined by now, became their model. They built palaces, mosques, public baths, gardens, and, in the manner of their predecessors, the Umayyads, sponsored scholars in many fields. In fact, there is no evidence to indicate that there was an attempt at a linguistic revolt, mass apostasy, or Islamic sectarianism under the party kings. The party kings, however, presided over their own ruin through perpetual strife among themselves and, more importantly, through excessive exploitation of the working class. This made them easy prey for the Christian kings to the north who took advantage of the sharp division among the Muslim rulers and began to make deep inroads into Muslim territory. The fatal blow occurred when the city of Toledo fell to Alfonso VI in 1085, a date that marks the beginning of the end of Muslim ascendancy in Spain. One could even suggest that the process of Islamization and Arabization was then reversed in favor of Christianization and Hispanization. But the reversal did not take place overnight, particularly in view of deep-rooted Islamization and Arabization. In spite of division and uncertainty, the inhabitants thought of themselves as 78

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Al-Zubaidi, Tabaqat al-nahwiyyln wa-l-lughawiyyin, p. 1; cf. Chejne, Arabic Language, p. 14. There exist various manuscripts, for instance, Escorial 569 and 570. II Kitab al-istidrak 'aid, Sibawayhi, ed. I. Guidi (Rome, 1890). E d . R . 'Abd al-Tawwab (Cairo, 1964). 7 8

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Andalusians and expressed deep-seated Islamic consciousness in the face of Christian danger. In a literary genre known as fada'il al-Andalus (the excellence of al-Andalus), they reminisced about the good old days under the TJmayyads and articulated their pride in their intellectual contribution and in their country. The Andalusians realized fully that they had attained expertise in the various disciplines known to the time. They felt no hesitation in comparing themselves with the Eastern giants. They extolled their own talents which they considered to be equal and even superior to those of the great intellectual leaders of the East. While these claims may demonstrate Andalusian cultural nationalism and competence, they were at the same time an overt attack on the crudeness, militarism, and intrusion of the newly arrived Berbers. The most articulate apologists were Ibn Shuhaid and Ibn Hazm, followed by Ibn Sa'id, alShaqundi, Ibn Bassam, Ibn Khaqan and others. Ibn Shuhaid and Ibn Hazm tried to show Andalusian ascendance and national consciousness. Ibn Shuhaid undertakes an imaginary journey into the underworld to meet and compare notes with leading pre-Islamic and early Islamic poets. All these poets, as well as some prose writers, declare him to be eminently qualified (mujaz). His good friend, Ibn Hazm, supplies a valuable treatise in the form of an anthology of Andalusian scholars vis-a-vis those of the East, but laments the fact that the former had not received proper recognition. In another treatise Ibn Hazm throws light on the state of the sciences in al-Andalus and the manner of attaining them. Despite the political dislocation wars, and Christian encroachment, intellec­ tual developments in the eleventh century are perhaps the best index for judging the extent reached by both Islamization and Arabization. It was then that Arab hegemony was lost forever. The peninsula was sharply divided among Arab-Andalusians, Berbers, and Slavs and was further overwhelmed by the Berber influx and subsequent conquest by the Almoravids and Almohads. Yet despite the sharp political division, there was cultural and linguistic unity, 81

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Chejne, Muslim Spain, Chapter V I I I . His Kitab al-tawabV wa-l-zawabi'', ed. Butrus al-Bustani (Beirut, 1951); English trans. J. Monroe (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971). Ibn Hazm's treatise is to be found in al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I I I , 1 5 6 - 1 7 9 ; French trans. Ch. Pellat under the title "Ibn H a z m : Bibliographe et apologiste de l'Espagne musulmane," Al-Andalus, X I X (1954), 5 3 - 1 0 2 . Ibn Sa'id's treatise is also found in al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I I I , 179-186. In ibid., I l l , 186-222. Shaqundl's treatise was translated b y E . Garcia Gomez into Spanish under the title Elogio del Islam espanol (Madrid, 1934). al-Dhakhira (4 vols.; Cairo, 1939-1945). Unlike eastern anthologies the work is devoted solely to Andalusians. Qald'id (Bulaq, 1283). The work is an imitation of al-Dhakhira of Ibn Bassam and has the same outlook. Maratib al-'ulum, ed. I . 'Abbas in Rasa'il Ibn Hazm (Cairo, 1952), pp. 5 9 - 9 0 . 8 2

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and earlier Berbers, Muwalladun, Slavs, Jews, and others contributed to its preservation with zeal. Ibn Sida (d. 1066), the outstanding lexicographer of al-Andalus, extols the merit of Arabic and considers it perfect, noble, and of divine origin. The prolific Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), who delved into many subjects with facility and penetrating lucidity, made Arabic the foundation of his Zahirite theology. He also provides some insight into the linguistic and tribal distribution in al-Andalus. He says that the inhabitants of Fahs al-Ballut 88

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See H . Peres, "al-Lughah al-'arabiyyah wa-sukkan al-Andalus fi-l-qurun al-wusta," Majallat al-majma' al-'ilmi al-'arabi, X I X (1944), 3 9 3 - 4 0 8 ; also his valuable work, La Poisie andalouse en arabe elassique au XI siecle (Paris, 1937). See also his "Les elements ethniques de L'Espagne musulmane et la langue arabe aux V / X I siecle" in Eludes d'orientalisme d&diies a la memoire de Livi-Provencal (Paris, 1962), I I , 7 1 7 - 7 3 1 , where he says: "Fait remarkable: dans cette Espagne musulmane ou 1'element arabe est en minorite, c'est la culture arabe qui domine; Berberes, Chretiens, et Juifs qui vivent cote a cote avec les Arabes ont une predilec­ tion marquee pour la langue arabe. Les elements ethniques sont h^terogenes mais la culture est une" (p. 718). Chejne, The Arabic Language, p. 11. See Fv. Arnaldez, Grammaire et thiologie chez Ibn Hazm de Courdoue (Paris, 1956). Mainly in his Jamharat ansab al-'Arab, ed. 'Abd as-Salam Muhammad Harun (Cairo, 1962). Ibn H a z m gives a detailed account of the distribution of Arab tribes in al-Andalus and makes reference to Berbers (pp. 495ff.) and the powerful Muwallad family of Banu Qasiyy of Saragossa (pp. 502-503). They constituted notable families (buyutat) having a fixed residence or mansion (dar). Following are some of the major Arab families with their respective places of residence as given b y Ibn H a z m in his Jamhara: Banu Murra: Elvira and Seville (pp. 252ff.) Banu Maslama: Cordoba and Seville (pp. 103-104) Banu T a m i m : Seville (p. 140) Banu Ghatafan: Seville (pp. 248ff.) Banu 'Akk: Northern Cordoba and Seville (p. 328) Banu Malik al-Agharr: Cabra (pp. 363ff.) Banu K a ' b : Saragossa and Sidonia (pp. 363ff.) Banu Khath'am: Sidonia and Seville (pp. 390ff.) Banu al-Ash'ar: R a y y a and Seville (pp. 397ff.) Banu 'Amila: Rayya, Sidonia, Algeciras, Murcia, Sidonia and Seville (pp. 419ff.) Banu Himyar: R a y y a and Seville (p. 433) Banu K a l b : Seville (p. 457) Banu Khaldun: Seville (p. 460) Banu 'Abd al-Dar Ibn Qusay: Saragossa (p. 126) Banu Zuhra: Beja and Badajoz (p. 132) Band A s a d : Jaen Banu 'Awf: Talavera (p. 219) Banu Nasr: Ecija (p. 269) Banu Qushayr: Jaen (p. 290) Banu I y a d : Carmona (p. 327) Banu Daws: Murcia (p. 383) Banu Khawlan: Cordoba, Elvira, Jaen, "Valencia (p. 418) Banu 'Udhra: Jaen and Saragossa (p. 450) e

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(present-day Campo de Calatrava) spoke an Arabic dialect quite different from that of Cordoba, and that the Banu Baliy, living to the north of Cordoba, knew no Latin and used only Arabic. Even Galicians spoke Arabic, but when they spoke it, they pronounced the 'ain and the ha' as ha', thus saying Muham­ mad instead of Muhammad. The eleventh century is a period of extensive cultural efflorescence; it may be described as the age of poetry in which, according to the dictum of the Spanish scholar E. Garcia Gomez: "Everybody from the poorest farmers to kings is a poet and everything serves as raw material for and is put into poetry." 93

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PERIOD OP DECLINE ( 1 0 8 5 - 1 4 9 2 )

However great the Islamic impact under the party kings, Islam and Arabic began to give way to Christianity and Spanish. To be sure, the process of reversal was slow and was accomplished only long after the Reconquest by the Christians and even then only under dire and inhuman conditions. After the fall of Toledo in 1085, the Christian rulers were neither sufficiently strong nor united nor of the cultural level necessary to accelerate the process of Christianization and Hispanization. In fact, at first they depended heavily on the skills of their Muslim subjects known as Mudejares (Arabic Mudajjanun), on their coreligionists, the Mozarabs, and on the Jews. Although these three groups were suspect to the "pure" Christians to the north, they were never­ theless tolerated for they constituted the backbone of the ever expanding Christian kingdoms since they served as civil servants, advisors, tax collectors, agriculturists, artisans, and in other capacities. It was for this reason that they were allowed to practice their religion, use their language, and follow their customs. But, when they ceased to be so indispensable in state affairs and the 97

The Muwallad family of Banu Qasiyy embraced Islam at the time of the Conquest and some of their descendants returned to Christianity. Invariably, they adopted both Arabic and Romance names; thus, we have such names as Fortun, Huertas, Lope, Garcia and Yunis, Musa, Mutarrif. Ibn H a z m , Kitab al-ihkam fi usul al-ahkam (8 vols.; Cairo, A . H . 1345-1348), I, 29ff.; I I , 127 and passim. The chapter dealing with a discussion of the language was translated into Spanish b y M. Asin Palacios, "El origen del lenguage y problemas conexos" in Historia y Filologia Arabe (Madrid, 1948), I I - I I I , 382. Jamhara, p. 443. Asin, Palacios "El origen . . . " p. 383. For more details on dialects, see Ibn Hazm, Ihlcam, I , 31ff. and the valuable work of al-Zbaidi, Lahn al-'awwam, pp. 120, 133, 165, and passim. Qasidas de Andalucia (Madrid, 1940), p. 8. I. de las Cagigas, Los Mud&jares (2 vols.; Madrid, 1948-1949); A . Delgado Hernandez, Memoria sobre el estado moral y politico de los Mud&jares de Castilla (Madrid, 1864); J. Pedregal y Fantini, Estado social y cultura de los Mozarabes y Mudejares espaholes (Seville, 1878). 9 3

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economy, they were gradually subjected to restrictive measures with respect to religion, language, and customs. This became apparent particularly after the thirteenth century by which time the Christians had developed skills and Romance was becoming more and more the language of administration and of literary expression. This notwithstanding, Arabic and Islam were so deeply embedded that the Muslims often resisted severe persecution and forced conversion to Christianity. The kingdom of Granada remained the only significant refuge, but it proved too small for the influx of masses of people from the north who settled in the more receptive environment in North Africa and elsewhere in the Arab world. The impact of the Reconquest should not be underestimated for it proved fatal to Arab culture in the end. Nonetheless, Arabic literature in al-Andalus remained a creative force and continued to flourish, although it was already on the decline in the East by about the eleventh century. Paradoxically, alAndalus assumed the role of contributor to, rather than recipient of, AraboIslamic lore. Andalusian teachers and scholars could be seen everywhere in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and al-Hijaz. Thus, under adverse political vicissitudes al-Andalus became the supply center of talent for North Africa. Can one overlook renowned names such as Ibn Tufail and Ibn Rushd who served at the Almohad court ? Or those of the great mystic Ibn 'Arabi and the philologists Ibn Malik and Abu Hayyan, among many others, who devoted the whole of their mature lives to teaching in North Africa and the East ? Nor can one omit the prolific Granadan Ibn al-Khatib or Ibn Khaldun of Tunis who was of Andalusian ancestry. The latter, who visited Spain in the fourteenth century, gives glimpses into the state of Arabization and Islamization in that country at the time. Although he admits that except for philology and literature the sciences had declined in al-Andalus, he says that a sedentary Arabic dialect was used there because Islam still remained and required it. All the crafts and color of civilization—building, cooking, singing, and enter­ tainment, instrumental music, and dancing—remain because sedentary culture had become deeply rooted, even though civilization had receded. Ibn Khaldun's statements are in harmony with a variety of documents. The Mozarabs of Toledo used Arabic as late as the fourteenth century; in this connection, Gonzalez Palencia edited and translated into Spanish 1,151 documents consisting of contracts of sales' wiHs, rentals, and litigation from the period 1083 to 1303, and Seco de Lucena produced numerous similar 98

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Ibid., p. 307 and pp. 349ff. Los Mozdrabes de Toledo en los sighs XII y XIII (3 vols.; Madrid, 1926). Also, his "Documentos arabes del Cenete" ( X I I - X V centuries), Al-Andalus, V (1940), 3 0 1 - 3 8 2 . 1 0 1

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documents from Granada which were written during the fifteenth century. Arabic lingered on throughout the sixteenth century. Lexicons and grammars were composed to facilitate the task of proselytizing and indoctrination. For instance, Pedro de Alcala wrote his Arte para Ugeramente saber la lengua ardbiga, and Alonso del Castillo, the son of a converted Morisco, translated various items from Arabic into Spanish. Finally, the ill-fated Libros plumbeos containing apochryphal Gospels and religious texts attempting to forge a religious syncretism between Christianity and Islam were written in Arabic. More significant still are the edicts of the Inquisition and the decrees of the Spanish rulers which reveal that Arabic, Arabic customs, and Islam continued to thwart the rulers in the sixteenth century in various parts of the peninsula. The research of P. Dressendorfer and A. Gallego y Burin shows that the struggle of Christianity against Islam was still in full vigor in Toledo and Guadix during the sixteenth century and that the Christians were still obsessed with the customs and practices of the Moriscos, including prayer, slaughtering of animals, circumcision, the use of Arabic names, burial rites, wedding ceremonies, festivals, clothing, veneration of Muhammad, the use of the Arabic language, and other behavior. In fact, as late as 1566, Philip II (1555-1598) reactivated and enforced old decrees forbidding the use of Arabic, the manu­ facture and use of Morisco clothing, the practice of bathing or any part of worship, and singing and dancing a la mauresque. Philip's decrees stipulated that all books in Arabic were to be surrendered to the authorities within thirty days and that the Moriscos were expected to learn Castilian within three years, 103

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L . Seco de Lucena, Wathd'iq 'arabiyyah Gharndtiyyah (Madrid, 1961); also his "Escrituras arabes de la Universidad de Granada," Al-Andalus, XXXVIII (1970), 3 1 5 - 3 5 3 , which describes ninety-two documents. Also his "Documentos arabes granadinos, I , Documentos del Colegio de Ninas Nobles," Al-Andalus, V I I I (1943), 4 1 5 - 4 2 9 ; and " I I , Documentos de las Comendadoras de Santiago," AlAndalus, I X (1944), 1 2 1 - 1 4 0 ; and "Escrituras de donacion arabigo granadinas," BIEI, V (1957), 6 5 - 7 8 . One should add the work of J. Bosch Vila, "Los documentos arabes y hebreos de Aragon y Navarra," Estudios de la Edad Media de la Corona de Aragon, Vol. V (Saragossa, 1952), pp. 4 0 7 - 4 1 6 ; "Escrituras oscenses en aljamio hebrea-arabe," Homenaje a Millds Vallicrosa, Vol. I (Barcelona, 1954), pp. 1 8 3 - 2 1 4 ; and "Los documentos arabes del Archivo Catedral de Huesca," BIEI, V (1957), 1-48. 103 j ? ^ ^ published in 1505. It should be added that Juan de Segovia (15th century) made a trilingual version of the Koran (Arabic, Spanish, and Latin). See also Fr. Canes, Diccionario Ardbigo-Latino (3 vols.; Madrid, 1787). D . Canabelas Rodriguez, El Morisco granadino Alonso del Castillo (Granada, 1965). P. Dressendorfer, Islam unter der Inquisition: Die Morisco Prozesse in Toledo 1575-1610 (Wiesbaden, 1971). A . Gallego y Burin et al., Los 31oriscos del reino de Granada segun el sinodo de Guadix de 1554, ed. D . Canabelas Rodriguez (Granada, 1968). 1 0 4

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after which they would not be allowed to speak, read, or write Arabic. ' Another significant source on the viable state of Islam and Arabic is the exten­ sive Aljamiado literature written in Romance, but in Arabic script. This literature—for the most part paraphrases or translations of Arabic texts— contains religious and legal texts, stories, historical tracts, and is replete with Arabic expressions. It also contains various bilingual texts: Aljamiado and Arabic. It is significant also in that it expresses the undaunted faith of the Moriscos in Islam, their hope of deliverance and of recapturing their cherished land and traditions. 108

To sum up, it would be an extreme view to suggest that the Latin lan­ guage and Spanish customs merely disappeared after the Arabs arrived in al-Andalus in 711. There is no doubt that interaction and absorption of ideas took place. Christians were left free to practice their religion and there is no evidence of forced conversion to Islam. In fact, there were six bishoprics whose leaders, although appointed by the clergy, were subject to the approval of the central government and were responsible for the collection of taxes as well as for law and order within their archdioceses. Although the Chris­ tians may appear to have been overwhelmed by the impact of Islam and of the Arabic language, they did not abandon their religious practices or language. On the one hand, the Mozarabs practiced circumcision and adopted certain dietary customs of the Muslims. They also adhered to some religious views under the impact of Islam, thereby creating a number of heresies. One heresy advocated, among other things, that Christ was the adopted, not the natural, son of God; another denied actual distinction of the Trinity, believed in predestination, and permitted mixed marriages of Muslims and Christians. On the other hand, Muslims were subject to local influences. It was not unusual for some Arabic authors to use the Christian calendar along with the Muslim lunar calendar. It is more significant that Muslims, besides observing 'id 109

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'Abdalla 'Inan, Nihayat al-Andalus (2d ed.; Cairo, 1958), pp. 342ff. For more details on the Moriscos, see H . Lea, The Moriscos in Spain (London, 1901), and H . Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition (New York, 1965). Chejne, Plegaria aljamiado-drabe de un Morisco (Madrid, 1974); also Muslim Spain, Chapter X X I . Simonet, Historia, p. 609. Al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I, 557, refers to the legal practice ('amal) in Cordoba as conforming more to ancient customs than to the religious law; this applies to attachment to poetry, singing, and erotic poems. The kitab al-anwa or Calendar of Cordova, by Bishop Recemundo, ed. R . Dozy (Leiden, 1873), ed. Ch. Pellat (Leiden, 1961) gives the four seasons of the year and the names of the months in Romance, Syriac, and Coptic. I t appears that the Calendar was emulated by later authors, mainly, Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, who in his Calendrier (ed. and French trans. J. Reinaud, Paris, 1948) gives the names of the months in Syriac, Coptic, and Romance, but omits Christian holidays. This approach was followed in an anonymous treatise on the subject (ed. J. Vasquez 1 0 8

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ai-fitr (the feast of break of fasting) and 'id al-adha (the feast of Sacrifice), took part openly, despite the opposition of the pious, in the celebration of various Christian holidays such as the New Year (Yannayr), the Birthday of Jesus, the Day of St. John, and others. The opposition found its most vocal expression in the work of the thirteenth-century Abu al-Qasim al-'Azafi, who abhorred the involvement of his coreligionists and felt that there should be a birthday of Muhammad which deserved as much commemoration as that of Jesus or any other prophet. Aware of the origin of such a practice and fearful of being charged of bid'a (innovation), he surveys the views on bid'a in the Traditions and subsequently comes to the comfortable conclusion that there are laudable bid'as and abominable ones. In consequence, advocacy of a birthday of Muhammad is a laudable bid'a in that it will arrest the participation of his coreligionists in the observance and fanfare of the ''infidels." Al-'Azafi contends that Muslims spend a great deal of time and money preparing for those holidays and that they allow their children to take off from school, all of which leads to the corruption of morality and divine punishment in the Hereafter. At any rate, there were other areas of conviviality. In the tenth century Ibn Abi 'Amir al-Mansur permitted his army contingent from Leon, Castile, and Navarre to observe Sunday instead of Friday. The use of wine was so common in al-Andalus that al-Hakam II attempted to put an end to vineyards, but the people turned to making wine from figs. The most important aspect of crossfertilization lies in language usage. Although Arabic was the language of administration and the language of intellectual expression par excellence, it did not replace local dialects derived from Latin even in the capital city of Cordoba itself. Romance and Arabic at the literary and colloquial levels were both in common use and remained so for centuries and their presence is documented by various testimonies, indicating that their use transcended 112

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Ruiz, BIEI, I X - X (1961-1962), 2 3 - 6 4 , which gives the names ofthe month according to the Muslim and Christian calendars and mentions Muslim and Christian holidays. For more examples on the use of Christian dates, see Cronica anonima de 'Abd al-Bahmdn III al-Ndsir, ed. E . Garica Gomez (Madrid and Granada, 1950), p. 28; Ibn 'Idhari, al-Baydn, I I , 119, 169, 183; Ibn al-Khatib, A'mal al-A'ldm, ed. E . Levi-Provencal (Beirut, 1956), pp. 323 and 334. Simonet, Historia, p. 648. See also Fernando de la Granja, "Fiestas cristianas en al-Andalus," Al-Andalus, X X X I V (1969), 1-53, and X X X V (1970), 119-142. The Recemundo, Calendar of Cordova, contains practically all conceivable minor and major Christian holidays. Al-'Azafi was governor of Ceuta and lived in the thirteenth century. H i s work is entitled Kitab al-durr al-munazzam fi mawlid al-nabi al-mu'azzam (The Book of the Ordered Pearl Concerning the Birthday of the Exalted Prophet), see Granjas, in al-Andalus, op. cit. See de la Granja, "Fiestas cristianas . . . , " pp. 19ff. Dozy, Histoire, I I , 232. The practice of having Christian soldiers serve in the Muslim army or Muslim soldiers serve Christian rulers was common; cf. LeviProvengal, Histoire, I I I , 7Iff. Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc, I, 248. 1 1 2

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religious affiliations, for Muslims knew Romance and Christians were at home in Arabic. Further testament to bilingualism is the occurrence of Romance expressions in the zajal and on occasion by Romance kharjah in the muwashshahah. Moreover, there are references to leading clergymen who knew Arabic quite well. The ninth-century Juan Hispalense, known as Sa'id al-Matran of Seville, translated the Gospels into Arabic for the benefit of his Arabized coreligionists. Other clerics who assumed both Latin and Arabic names were at home in both Romance and Arabic. When Christian delegations made a state visit to the court of al-Hakam II, they were accompanied to the court by leading Mozarabic clergy, among them Walid ibn Khayzuran, the judge of Cordoba; 'Ubaidalla ibn Qasim, the bishop of Seville; Bishop 'Isa ibn al-Mansur and the qumis Mu'awiya ibn Lubb, who served as translators. Conversely, when al-Hakam II sent an embassy headed by Ahmad ibn 'Ariis to Galicia, he also sent along Bishop 'Ubaidalla ibn Qasim as translator. The Metropolitan of Cordoba Recemundo, known as Rabi' ibn Zayd, an astronomer and roving diplomat, was proficient in Arabic. He wrote a treatise for al-Hakam II which deals with the four seasons of the year and with bodily hygiene. Others preserved their ancestral names, among them Gomez, the secretary (kdtib) of 'Abd al-Rahman II, who wrote Arabic "with remarkable purity and elegance" and whom Alvaro and Eulogius describe as being Christian in name only. Among the Muslims who preserved their ancestral family names were the historian Ibn lle

117

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Romance or "Latin vulgar" are designated by Arab authors as 'Ajamiyya 'Ajamiyyat ahl al-Andalus, or Latiniyya. For interaction of Romance and Arabic in the context of Arabization or Latinization of terms see M . Asin Palacios, Glosario de voces romances registradas por un botdnico anonimo hispano-musulmdn (Madrid and Granada, 1943); Simonet, Glosario de voces ibiricas y latinas usadas entre los mozdrabes; Trend, The Language and History of Spain. For bilingualism in the zajal see Ibn Quzman, Diwan, ed. A . R . N y k l (Madrid, 1933) and S. Stern, Les Chansons mozarabes (Oxford, 1965). For actual cases of linguistic dualism used among Andalusians, see Muh. b. Harith al-Khushani, Qudat Quartubah, ed. 'Izzat al-'Attar al-Husayni Cairo, 1372 A . H . ) , pp. 84, 96, 118, Spanish trans. J. Ribera y Tarrago (Madrid, 1914). See also J. Ribera y Tarrago, El Cancionero de Abencuzman (Madrid, 1922) where he demonstrates the existence of a spoken Romance dialect used by the Mozarabs. Simonet, Histoire, pp. 320ff. I b n Hayyan, al-Muqtabis, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman 'All Hajji (Beirut, 1965), p. 6 4 ; cf. al-Maqqarl, Nafh al-tib, I , 390ff. and Dozy, Histoire, I I , 177ff. Ibn Hayyan, al-Muqtabis, p. 147. Al-Maqqari, Nafh al-tib, I, 365, 568; cf. Simonet, Historia, p. 606; E . LeviProvencal, Histoire, I I I , 222ff. E d . R . Dozy under the title Le calendrier de Cordoue (Leiden, 1873). 1 1 7

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Dozy, Histoire, I, 3 3 8 - 3 3 9 .

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al-Qutiyya, the biographer Ibn BashkuwSl, the poet 'Isa Ibn Labbun, and the eleventh-century poet Ibn Garcia, to mention but a few. This survey only scratches the surface, and it is hoped that a definitive work on the subject of Islamization and Arabization be written. In the light of the enormous data, one can conclude that the impact of Arabic and Islam on alAndalus was intense and wide, perhaps more intense and wide than it was in Syria or Egypt. A cultural transformation from Christian-Latin to AraboIslamic base may be said to have taken place by the ninth century but was not total or absolute. Military, political, social, and economic conditions played decisive roles in the process. Moreover, the contact or confrontation went far beyond al-Andalus to the very source of Islam and Arabdom and had a great impact on Europe. Thus al-Andalus, with the unbroken cultural continuity that characterized most of its history, whether in its capacity as recipient of or contributor to Islamic cultural traditions, served as a bridge between the East and the West. The Andalusian was always fascinated with the East: his accomplishments in practically all pursuits, the beauty of his land, the flour­ ishing cities, rivers, mountains, fruits, were always compared with those in the East. No doubt, the search for knowledge in the East, the institution of pil­ grimage, and a calculated caution in religious practices and beliefs with equally calculated dependence on Eastern masters contributed to preserving that cultural continuity between al-Andalus and the rest of the Islamic peoples. Despite their dependence on the East, the Andalusians displayed individuaUty. They predetermined their needs and selected accordingly; they espoused an Islam and a legal school—the Malikite; they strove for linguistic purism, but never fell to the temptation of preoccupying themselves with linguistic archaism; instead, they aimed at clarity of language and clarity of thought. This individuality can be seen in their art and architecture and poetry. A 124

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Ibn al-Abbar, al-Hulla, ed. Husain Mu'nis (2 vols.; Cairo, 1963), I I , 167ff. The form Lubbun is of the Spanish Lobo and the Latin lupus. In its present form it is the augmentative of Lobo, as Hafsiin from Hafs and 'Abdiin from 'Abd. Cf. Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 184ff. J. Monroe, The Shu'ubiyya in al-Andalus (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970). For other Muslims who preserved their ancestral names, see Levi-Provencal, Histoire, I I I , 184. The impact of Arabic culture on Spain in particular and on Europe in general cannot be overestimated. I t suffices to mention the following works: T . Arnold and A . Guillaume, The Legacy of Islam (Oxford, 1931); D . M. Dunlop, Arabic Science in the West (Karachi, 1958); A . Mieli, La science arabe et son rdle dans devolution scientifique mondiale (Leiden, 1938); J. Millas Vallicrosa, Estudios sobre la historia de ciencia espanola (Barcelona, 1949); G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (2 vols.; Baltimore, 1927). Also Menendez Pidal, Espana eslabon entre la cristianidad y el islam (Madrid, 1956); his Poesia arabe and Poesia europea (4th ed.; Madrid, 1955; and A . Steiger, "Funcion espiritual del Islam en la Espana medieval," RIEI V I (1958), 4 1 - 5 9 . See J. Lopez Ortiz, "La recepcion de la escuela malequi en Espana," Anuario de Historia del Derecho Espanol, V I I (1930), 1-167. 1 2 4

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glimpse of the Alhambra of Granada, the Alcazar and Giralda of Seville, and the Mosque of Cordoba shows their unmistakable Andalusian character as opposed, for example, to Syrian or Egyptian characteristics. The same phenom­ enon occurs in the poetry of al-Andalus, the best examples of which are the zajal and the muwashshahah, both Andalusian creations. But all this would not have been sufficient for Islam and Arabic to reign supreme. It was left to the industry, sagacity, and the ingenuity of the Andalusian who acquired a thirst for knowledge and pursued it everywhere; he built mosques as the main religious and educational centers, public baths, public and private libraries, and in addition, he wrote profusely. All of this became the symbol and eloquent testimony to the glory that was al-Andalus.

SPANISH ISLAM IN TRANSITION: ACCULTURATIVE SURVIVAL AND ITS PRICE IN THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM OF VALENCIA, 1240-1280i ROBERT I. BURNS, S. J.

University of San Francisco

By an obscure dialectic of mind and activity, a social body can distill a supportive structure or culture which both facilitates life at every level and gives it meaning. The underlying structure is expressed and maintained by a complex of components, such as religion, language, traditions, ideologies, legal system, values, behavior patterns, and work. Such a structure or constellation of structures is dynamic, shifting and changing in myriad ways under the influence of alien cultures. Anthropologists, especially in America, have employed the conceptual tool of acculturation enthusiastically for nearly half a century to explore this problem of culture contacts both benign and destruc­ tive. Although acculturation is a constant, a healthy transformation never ceasing, its principal meaning for many is the destructive: the warping or 1

For background and data see m y The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia: Recon­ struction on a Thirteenth-Century Frontier (2 vols.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967); Islam under the Crusaders: Colonial Survival in the Thir­ teenth-Century Kingdom of Valencia (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974); and Medieval Colonialism: Postcrusade Exploitation of Islamic Valencia (Princeton University Press, in press). A further volume, The Crusader-Muslim Predicament: Colonial Confrontation in the Conquered Kingdom of Valencia is in preparation, for Princeton University Press. See also m y article studies cited below, especially the two in the American Historical Review, and m y articles passim in Speculum, especially "Journey from Islam: Incipient Cultural Transition in the Conquered Kingdom of Valencia (1240-1280)," X X X V (1960), 3 3 7 - 3 5 6 . The abundant archival and other materials in these works will allow us to dispense here with much technical apparatus as well as with multiple examples. Although acculturation is a theme only implicit in those studies, I have dealt with it more explicitly in m y The Jesuits and the Indian Wars of the Northwest (New H a v e n : Y a l e University Press, 1966). The sparse bibliography on Spanish and Valencian Mudejars is analyzed in Islam under the Crusaders, pp. xviii-xxii. Spanish mudijar carries a moot accent in the plural, sometimes omitted. Morisco designates the baptized Moorish populations of the Renaissance, presumed to be secretly Islamic; they maintained strong cohesion and as late as 1609 could refer to themselves as "la nacion de los cristianos nuevos de moros del reino de Valencia." A note of acknowledgment is due here to the American Council of Learned Societies and to the National Endowment for the Humanities, for recent grants toward the acquisition of supporting materials behind this interpretative essay.

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eroding of one culture's boundary-maintaining mechanisms under the dominance of another, the disequilibrium introduced as some stabilizing or directive com­ ponent disappears, the loss of identity or serenity in that identity as the com­ ponents are displaced or destroyed. Sociologists have borrowed the tool and made it a commonplace in their texts. It has now come to enjoy a cautious vogue among historians, who nevertheless remain mistrustful of its tendency to the static and the model. The spreading influence of the school of Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre has made the borrowing of behavioral tools respectable and even a little fashionable; whole domains of history now lie open to a strategy of double envelopment. The marriage of anthropology and history predicted by Claude Levi-Strauss is beginning to produce its first bouncing offspring. One might expect the perennial confrontation between Islam and Christendom to have supplied occasions for brilliant use of the tool. Crusade historians have indeed come up with occasional insights or alluring titles, but the general effect has been disappointing. Ben-Ami's Social Change in a Hostile Environment, or Prawer's two works on the colonial kingdom of Jerusalem in sociological perspective, to name two recent authors, are almost exclusively studies of the Christian society, owing to paucity of documentation on the inner life of the Muslim community. At the facing extreme of the Mediterranean, however, in a crusader kingdom roughly the size and shape of the crusaders' Holy Land, an abundance of clues and evidence lies at hand with which to reconstruct the inner or social history of an Almohad society as it transmogrified into a colonial or Mudejar version of its former self. Despite the Behavioral bent of older authors like Americo Castro and modern authors like Vicens Vives and Glick, and despite a lively school both of Spanish Islamic and especially of Renaissance Morisco studies today, almost nothing has been done to trace this early clash and devolution of a proud culture. 2

3

2

Aharon Ben-Ami, Social Change in a Hostile Environment: The Crusaders'' Kingdom of Jerusalem (Princeton, 1969), essentially a survey of the crusader principalities and their relationship with the Islamic powers, from standard secondary sources, with a sociological perspective or expression. Joshua Prawer, The Crusaders' Kingdom: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages (New Y o r k , 1972), especially chap. 5. This is not a translation of his larger Histoire du royaume latin de Jirusalem (2 vols.; Paris, 1969-1970)^ itself translated in somewhat abridged form by G. Nahon from the recent Hebrew original; see especially I , 5 0 2 - 5 3 5 . See also Claude Cahen, ha Syrie du nord a Vipoque des croisades et la principauti franque d'Antioche (Paris, 1940), part 2, chap. 5; his "Le regime rural syrien au temps de la domination franque," Bulletin de la faculte des lettres de Strasbourg, X X I X (1951), 2 8 6 - 3 1 0 ; and his "La feodalite et les institutions politiques de l'orient latin," in Atti del convegno di scienze morali, storiche, e filologiche (Rome, 1957), pp. 167-197. 3

See for example Thomas Gliek and Oriol Pi Sunyer, "Acculturation as an Explanatory Concept in Spanish History," Comparative Studies in Society and History, X I (1969), 1 3 6 - 1 5 4 ; Americo Castro, The Spaniards: An Introduction to Their History, trans. W . F. King and Selma Margaretten (Berkeley, 1971), replacing his celebrated but less developed The Structure of Spanish History (Princeton, 1954);

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The task must fall to the Hispanist, rather than to the Arabist. Surviving Arabic documentation for thirteenth-century Valencia is sparse to the point of nonexistence: one notice of surrender, a marriage document, conventional poems of lamentation, political and geographical notices in authors like Ibn alKhatib, and the later reflections of Ibn Khaldun. From the Valencian Christian side, however, abundant details of the Mudejar community turn up in law codes, trial records, tax lists, ecclesiastical reports, treaties, notes for land division, classics of Catalan literature like the king's autobiography or the memoirs of Desclot and Muntaner or even the multiple works of Lull, and above all in hundreds of the documents preserved in the unique run of royal registers resulting from the crusaders' acquisition of the Jativa paper mills. To reconstruct either the colonialist Christian or the subjected Mudejar society would require a series of books, each of considerable complexity. Examination of intersocial relationships would demand further large effort. Since each society stood in a relation of cultural parity to the other, and was relatively open and flexible in matters not considered by its protagonists as essential, the phenomenon of transculturation by which Mudejar society influenced the Christian particularly merits attention. Firmly withdrawing from such an inviting prospect, we shall instead inspect the first generation of the conquered Islamic society for evidences of destructive or alienating accul­ turation, isolating several significant components in the process of its trans­ formation, and suggesting something of the wider reorientation implied. An alien ruling society does assume a position of superiority, does tend to super­ impose in subtle ways its idiosyncratic vision of reality, and does erode or anyway bend into new shapes some of its victim's boundary-maintaining mechanisms. The result may not be assimilation, much less integration, but a certain divergence of the subjected group into the alien perspective, and the adoption by them of novel behavior patterns or institutions resembling those of the overlords. A rapid sketch of the immediate background will set the stage. There have been many Christian Spains, both geographically and chronologically, and more than one cultural variety and set of political groupings in the correlative Islamic al-Andalus, with continuing interaction and mild acculturation between 4

T. Glick, Irrigation and Society in Medieval Valencia (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), especially part 2 on "cultural continuity." Morisco studies abound; for Valencia see especially Tulio Halperin Donghi, "Un conflicto nacional: moriscos y cristianos viejos en Valencia," Cuadernos de historia de Espana, X X I V - X X V (1955), 5 - 1 1 5 and X X V - X X V I (1957), 82-250, and his "Recouvrements de civilisation: les morisques du royaume de Valence au xvie siecle," Annates, Economies, soci6Us, civilisations, X I (1956), 154-182. 4

Thomas Glick has recently explored the "cultural diffusions" implicit in one Christian office of eastern Spain, reworking the Ribera Tarrago thesis; see his "Muhtasib and mustasaf, a Case History of Institutional Diffusion," Viator, I I (1971), 5 9 - 8 1 .

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the several forms. Here we are dealing specifically with the confederated AragoCatalan realms of northeastern Spain in the thirteenth century, centered on a seacoast principality of prosperous towns linked with a castle feudalism under a vigorous feudal monarch. Mercantile and troubadour Catalonia, resembling and in many localities controlling Languedoc, differed from the heavily feudal uplands of Aragon proper in language, laws, landscape, social and economic structure, and temperament. A naval power, Catalonia more readily related to Mediterranean France, Italy, and North Africa than it did to its less accessible land neighbor Castile. The Arago-Catalan complex functioned as a local expression of the recently revolutionized European society, "a society now technologically advanced, intellectually sophisticated, and fired with an aggressive and expansionist optimism," a dynamic world of communes and guilds, of Roman Law and scholasticism, of centralizing monarchical institutions and bureaucratic effi­ ciency, of nascent nationalism, developed vernacular literatures, Gothic art, universities, "modern" warfare and financial techniques, and of every sort of corporative social mechanism. This was a Christendom ever more sharply differentiated from its Islamic neighbor; in taking over an Islamic area now, it would frame that area in its own strong forms, tolerating the alien system as a coexisting irrelevance. The Islamic neighbor to the south of Arago-Catalonia belonged to a world even more complex. The recent battle of Las Navas de Tolosa at the center of the peninsula had shattered the unity of Almohad Spain and North Africa into a kaleidoscope of civil wars, intrigue, assassinations, and recombinations of territory. Spanish claimants grabbed for the Almohad caliphate at Marrakesh, which soon entered into its long death struggle against the Marinids. At Murcia below Valencia the rebel Ibn Hud rose to construct very briefly a unified Spain; a rival hero, Ibn al-Ahmar, salvaged a kingdom of Granada from the wreckage. The Islamic province of Valencia held aloof from these larger excitements, clinging to its Almohad identity under its wall, the sayyid or Almohad prince of the blood Abu Zayd, until it suddenly dissolved into its own nativist civil war. The rebel Zayyan drove Abu Zayd north into the arms of the king of Aragon, James the Conqueror, while local Valencian dynasts entrenched their power at places like Jativa and Denia. James the Conqueror, after delaying to co'nquer the flanking Balearic islands in an amphibious crusade, allied with Abu Zayd but eventually absorbed both his cause and his "kingdom" of Valencia. While St. Ferdinand III of Castile rolled relentlessly over the central fragments of al-Andalus, swallowing Cordoba (1236), Jaen (1246), Seville (1248), and Murcia (1243 and 1266), with Granada as a truce-tributary, King James battled his way for thirteen years down the Mediterranean coast, mastering Burriana and the north from 1232 to 1235, Valencia city and the center from 1236 to 1238, and the mountainous south 5

5

Burns, Crusader Valencia, I, vii-viii.

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from 1239 to 1245. The next set of kings, Alfonso the Learned of Castile and Peter the Great of Aragon, after reconstruction of their respective conquered regions, had to contend with near-successful revolts or countercrusades by their subject or mudejar (from Arabic mudajjan) populations. The conquered kingdom of Valencia comprised an unusually varied mixture of fertile lowlands, drier uplands, and forbidding mountains, all disposed around and behind a long coast with commerce-laden port cities. Valencia's irrigation networks, agricultural and commercial prosperity, and tradition of high culture contributed to its reputation in Islam as a cornucopia, a "paradise" of friendly leisure and of learning. Its peculiarly variegated economies, co­ existing varieties of social groupings with their divergent psychologies, patterns by which each area fell to the advancing crusaders, and the demographic patterns by which Christian settlers progressively intruded are all pertinent to the process of acculturation. We must content ourselves with several generali­ ties. First, King James had added not an enclave but a principality, increasing his mainland holdings by a fifth; he accomplished this by a clever strategy of privileged surrender, with only one pitched battle and two sieges prolonged to the extreme of population expulsion. Second, except along the north and northwest where the Aragonese spilled over, his new kingdom (formally set up as such) was settled by the commune dwellers and the superficially feudalized landlord class from Catalonia and southern France. Despite the king's best efforts, a mere 30,000 Christians came south during the first thirty years, clustering mostly in the towns, while the mass of perhaps 200,000 Muslims persisted as the controlling presence over the countryside and in many towns. Third, there was relatively little difference at this stage between crown, alodial, or vassalage-seignorial lands as regards the conditions of Mudejar life. In the cities the Muslim artisans and shopkeepers remained in bulk; in the countryside their common condition was analogous to that of the Christians, owner-renters of myriad nnnifarms. Against this complex ecology of place and political circumstance, we may finally engage the problem of early acculturation, suggesting main points of pressure and tracing the deflection of important institutions or traits. Very little of the acculturation was formal—that is, under the deliberate direction of the authorities; and at all times the massive bulwark of language preserved a central core of identity. Unlike the situation in Castile, whose language received 71 percent of its Arabisms during this century alone, the Valencian context at first restricted general contact between the two peoples. Bilinguality 6

6

Eero K . Neuvonen, Los arabismos del espanol en el siglo xiii (Helsinki, 1941), pp. 3 0 4 - 3 0 5 . Studying over 300 Castilian Arabisms and excluding about 40 "acci­ dental" words, he concludes that only 14 percent are pre-1050 and another 15 percent pre-1200. The great majority of the final group designate things peculiar to Muslims but adopted by Christians, the remaining 5 percent designating items so important to Muslims as to impinge on Christian consciousness. The overall significance of Arabisms at this time was minor, indicating relatively less inter-

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does not seem to have been usual in either camp in Valencia; early evidences against its Muslims knowing Romance have been confirmed by Juan Fuster's fmdings for the later Morisco period. With the increase of the Christian settlers, however, this relative separation suffered increasing erosion; traders, servants, slaves, functionaries in contact with their Christian counterparts, Muslim soldiers under the banner of Aragon, entertainers, or simply the opportunists, compromised the state of serene possession formerly held by language, and introduced some sense of threat. More than language carapaced the subject society. All its gross features persisted intact, so that one must peer closely in order to discern the alterations. In external appearance, the land remained largely Islamic. Boundaries, divisions, irrigation systems, and physical organization were taken over bodily, and even reestablished by court action or crown order when thrown into doubt, the memory of the oldest Muslims becoming the norm for decision. Arabic names continued to define the landscape. The detailed surrender contracts guaranteed not only religion but the religious structure, "establishing" Islam as a protected and funded public institution. Valencian Muslims kept most of their mosques, and their waqf properties as well; throughout the century their muezzins continued to call from minarets everywhere. The crown formally protected the right to pilgrimage, the fast of ramaddn, the role of alms, the independent school system, and the sacred books. The conquerors left the Islamic juridical structure in place and paid its personnel; this extended from the canonical down to the local-customary, to jurisprudence and to procedure. Criminal cases did involve the Christian authorities, but always according to Islamic law, procedure, and punishments. Mixed cases, with Christians, respected the rights and consciences of Muslims; a Koran and an Islamic oath-formula were provided by the Christian court. In the same way, the conquerors accepted the structure of local political authority: governance by qddi and council, the role of faqih and muhtasib, and even the complex of taxes and their system of collection. 7

penetration or transculturation b y Muslim forms than in later centuries (pp. 3 0 6 310); the interpenetration would have been much less in the realms of King James of Aragon. Despite the universal teaching, from Beuter through Menendez Pidal, Carreras y Candi, and currently Sanchis Guarner, that thirteenth-century Valencian Muslims commonly spoke Romance, m y own researches persuade me that only a minority stratum did so. Although I shall reserve the evidence for more leisurely exposition elsewhere, Fuster's marshalling of materials on the later Moriscos, from Boronat's documentary collection, may be cited here as striking confirmation from the sixteenth century (Poetes, moriscos, y capellans [Valencia, 1962], pp. 9 5 - 1 0 0 ) : few Moriscos of Valencia knew Romance, but spoke a regional vulgar Arabic. Cultivated Muslims here kept classical Arabic alive, so that Moriscos from Aragon proper sent their children south to Valencian schools, to learn enough for reading the Koran. 7

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Although most castles and defenses passed into Christian hands, "many" remained under Muslim lords. Not only did many a qa'id still rule his castle and area, but several princely dynasties continued to control their regions and to move about in the pomp of their traditional entourage. Muslims kept their weapons, and aljamas were expected to field on demand both local defenders and masses of infantry for aggressive action outside their area. Muslims of every class turn up in the early documentation: wealthy rural families, powerful warlords, erudite jurists and judges, a financial and a commercial stratum, casual farm laborers, townsmen contemptuous of the bumpkins (rustici), carpenters, makers of paper, cloth-dyers, silk-workers, and shepherds. Valencian Muslims reckoned in their own coinage, followed the Islamic calendar, dressed after their own fashion, enjoyed freedom of movement within Valencia as well as abroad, drew their innumerable contracts, married or were buried by their own rites, inherited and educated their sons according to past custom, frequented their public baths, observed their dietary regulations, and enjoyed their own meat markets and caravanserais. Above all, their moral, legal, artistic, functionary, and value framework remained to all intents as before. What more, then, could be desired ? A society framed in its own laws and values, secure in its own religious and political institutions, apart with its own language, functionaries, and social and military establishment, an overwhelming majority in its own land, and operating on cultural and technological equality with the conquerors, was surely safe enough from acculturative pressures ? Even those daily life patterns shared by both societies, and their common borrowings, would express something quite different in the two different contexts, comprising elements in two distinct life metaphors. Since acculturative devolution did occur, however, some historians deny the universality of Mudejar privileges from the start, while others assume the cause to have been the growing intolerance of the next century. Their perplexity misses the point. Acculturative forces were strongly at work from the first generation; such factors as Renaissance intolerance, malign clerical influence, or even expanding 8

9

8

Cronica de San Juan de la Pefia, ed. Antonio Ubieto Arteta (Valencia, 1961), chap. 3 6 : "remansissent plurimi sarraceni tenentes in eo castra, et sibi post aliqua tempora rebellassent, capiendo et interficiendo christianos plurimos dicti regni." The corresponding Romance text had: "muytos moros tenientes castiellas en aquell." The most prominent of these castellans and dynasts are collected in m y Islam under the Crusaders, chaps. 12, 13. 9

Francisco Fernandez y Gonzalez, in his influential Estado social y politico de los mudejares de Costilla, considerados en si mismos y respecto de la civilizacion espahola (Madrid, 1866), p. 265, held that King James rarely allowed surrender privileges, a remarkable misreading of the evidence. The great Ramon Menendez Pidal took the same position in his La Espana del Cid (4th ed. rev.; 2 vols. [Madrid, 1947], I, 524). Henri Lapeyre, Isidoro de las Cagigas, Santiago Sobreques Vidal, and other excellent authors currently propagate the same view in various applications. For convincing evidence to the contrary, see m y Islam under the Crusaders, chap. 6 on "Surrender Terms: Universality and Pattern."

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Christian settlement accelerated the process but did not dominate, much less initiate it. The very act of conquest, culminating several decades of civil war and tumult, was a traumatic blow to the entire body social. Islam is not a church, separately structured, but a function, or better the informing soul, of a sociopolitical order. To destroy its central authority, leaving only local control, is to unroof the Muslim. To place an infidel society in supreme command, with its garrisons and representatives on every hand, with alien communities infiltrated at strategic cities, is to remake his world and wrest it from his control. Ibn Khaldun laid special stress on the bonding role of the regional dynasty or its princely representative. Some Islamic theologians suggested that a Muslim stripped of this bond and subjected to the infidel was in an intolerable situation and ought to emigrate. On a much wider scale, Ibn Khaldun tied the fall of Valencia and the Spanish territories to the loss of both caliphs simultaneously in East and West, viewing the combined triumph of Christians, Mongols, and Marinids as a calamity on an unprecedented, frightening scale. The loss of Islamic rule brought other evils in its train. It meant lack of central direction, of the foundation or font of justice, and of the organ for acquiring alliances and overseas support. It spelled the end of general patronage, so that creative individuals emigrated to more promising fields of action. In the case of Valencia, a particularly disorienting circumstance intensified the problem. The ruling sayyid, who boasted descent from the founder of the Almohad sect and possession of the princely or caliphal blood line, publicly became a convert to Christianity and played a novel role in his erstwhile province as the baron Vincent, patron of churches in the Segorbe valley, crusader, and promoter of the sacraments. Nor did Valencian Islam remain unroofed, a noble ruin. King James clapped a Christian roof upon it, contriving a hybrid social structure not unlike the great mosque of Cordoba as altered by its Gothic center in the sixteenth century. The Christian king, in effect, slipped into the sultan's seat. His action echoed that of the Cid in Valencia a century before: "I want to be both qddi giving judgment and vizier executing it." King James commissioned each local qddi and saw to his salary. He deliberately conducted himself as the 10

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Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes et des dynasties musulmanes d'Afrique septenlrionale, trans. W m . MacGuckin (baron de Slane), rev. Paul Casanova and Henri Peres (4 vols.; Paris, 1925-1956), I I , 306, 373. Roque Chabas y Llorens, "Ceid A b u geid," El archivo, I V (1890), 2 1 5 - 2 2 1 , V (1891), 143-166, 288-304, 3 6 2 - 3 7 6 . See also Ambrosio Huici Miranda, Historia politico del imperio almohade (2 vols.; Tetuan, 1956-1957), I I , 617ff., and his Historia musulmana de Valencia y su region, novedades y rectificaciones (3 vols.; Valencia, 1969-1970), I I I , 252ff. The Cid, in Menendez Pidal, Espana del Cid, I, 4 8 9 ; he set court days as every Monday and Thursday, and announced he would not seclude himself like their previous rulers but be available in any emergency requiring court. 1 1

1 2

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successor to Valencia's "other kings" of Islamic times. A number of legal cases survive in the records, revealing his activities in this role. One example, of impressive proportions, was part of a long contest between the aljamas of Eslida and Uxo over control of a regional water system. During the preceding regime, Zayyan had first awarded the water rights to Uxo, as against the supporters of Abu Zayd at Eslida, and had later returned it to Eslida as part of a political settlement, both times with the necessary show of legal paperwork. With Zayyan now gone, each side appealed its case to King James, "showing me the charters drawn for them by the aforesaid Zayyan and by the man who acted as his lieutenant." In adjudicating the case, James showed full respect for the preconquest documentation, and acted formally as successor of the Islamic rulers, basing his decision on the final decree of Zayyan. He did not dismiss the previous litigation as superseded or irrelevant, nor did he repudiate Zayyan as a usurper in revolt against Abu Zayd. In another dispute, this time between the Christian settlers and the Muslim inhabitants at Alcira, James examined "each and every document," carefully "read also the treaty of the Saracens," and took "counsel in diligent conversation" with local Muslims, before delivering sentence "with the will and consent of the sheiks and Saracen people of Alcira." Commendable as was this constant care, benign neglect would have better served the Islamic community's integrity. A constant deformative influence was the incorrigible manner in which the conquerors perceived the subject society in their own European terms. Innocent and unreflective, the practice was also implicitly arrogant and demonstrably transformative. In matters relatively unimportant, this natural habit appears to us as of no moment, and even as amusing; thus, the Catalans spoke of ramadan as the Islamic "Lent" and solemnly recorded the fact of Islamic Holy War "indulgences." This was of a piece with treating the Valencian wall 14

15

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1 3

The phrasing is not from James but from his predecessor Raymond Berengar I V , in the surrender charter of Islamic Tortosa, 1148 (in Fernandez y Gonzalez, Mudejares de Castilla, appendix, doc. 5, misdated 1143): "usaticos sicut fuerunt in tempus de suos alios reges" [sic]. Arch. Crown (Archivo de la Corona de Aragon), Barcelona, James I , Reg. Cane. 11, fol. 185 (Nov. 12, 1260): "hostendentes nobis cartas de predicto Zahen et de illo qui locum eius tenebat inde eis factas." I have copied the document in full in Islam under the Crusaders, p. 257. Archivo municipal, Alcira, pergs. c.r., sig. 010-1 (July 18, 1245), reproduced in photocopy and transcription in Los pergaminos de la cancilleria real del archivo municipal de la ciudad de Alcira (Alcira, 1967), perg. 1: "visis omnibus et singulis instrumentis . . . viso etiam instrumento sarracenorum, habito consilio et diligenti tractatu, voluntate et consensu senium et sarracenorum Aliasire." Ramon Muntaner, Cronica, ed. Enrique Bague (9 vols, in 2 ; Barcelona, 1927-1952), chap. 5 1 : "anaren preycant e cridant per tota la Barbaria, e donar perdons a llur mala lig." Document of 1287 in F. A . Roca Traver, "Un siglo de vida mudejar en la Valencia medieval (1238-1338)," Estudios de edad media de la corona de Aragon, V (1952), appendix, doc. 2 0 : "tenir e dejunar la quaresma dels moros en la moreria"; the term was usual, occurring in other documents. 1 4

1 5

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always as a rex and counterpart to Aragon's king, or with seeing the Islamic nobiliary classes as feudal knights committed to the same values and priorities as the Christian knight or castellan. In various niggling ways too the Muslim was made to see that another order prevailed. To expand his farm by purchase of land not actually retained by Moorish cultivators at the time of conquest meant coming under the Christian tithe incumbent on such land, an irritant for the Muslim buyer in the fastmoving land market of colonial Valencia. A more subtle and wide reaching alteration affected the everyday courts. The Islamic system of coordinate courts, which allowed only restricted recourse after decision, and some "re­ forming" of a previous judge's conclusions, tended during the postcrusade period to take on the appearance of a hierarchical system of appeals. Thus in 1273 when King James appointed a qddi over nine important aljamas, he stipulated that "if any feel themselves wronged, they may appeal to the qddi of our Moorish quarter at Jativa." Fifty years after James's death, his grandson Alfonso III had to caution against the growth of too complex a system of appeals: recourse could be had henceforth from any one qddi to only one further qddi. Among important Islamic institutions, those which regularly related the Muslim to his new overlord most easily lost their identity and began to assume the reality of the overlord's analogous institution, a transmogrification at times startling. The ubiquitous aljama council provides a handy example. The Christians identified its Muslim members as prohoms, thus investing them with the characteristics of that rank of citizens in Mediterranean European towns. By handling this assembly in practical affairs just as they handled European assemblies, the Christians assimilated the Islamic phenomenon to their own. Consequently they brought it to effective corporate institutionalization and thrust upon it new roles. Eventually it became a neat little body of elected representatives. At Valldigna by the following century, for example, twenty17

18

1 7

King James reserved rex and rey to the independent rulers of Islamic Majorca, Murcia, and Valencia, as well as to foreign blocs like Granada and Tunis; relatively autonomous but lesser principates like Jativa did not merit the title for their rulers. Abii Zayd, in his dealings with King James, styled himself rex b y accommodation. On this whole question see m y Islam under the Crusaders, pp. 3 5 4 - 3 5 8 . The osmosis by which Christian and Islamic aristocratic classes assimilated at the manneristic or chivalric-feudal level is studied in m y "The Muslim in the Christian Feudal Order (the Kingdom of Valencia, 1240-1280)," Studies in Medieval Culture (Western Michigan University), V - V I (1972-1973), in press, and in Islam, chap. 12. Arch. Crown, James I , Reg. Cane. 19, fol. 18 (June 14, 1273): "si quis vel si qui senserint se gravari, possint appellare ad alcadum ravalli nostri Xative." A surrender charter for an aljama on Valencia's northern border allowed appeal to the qddi of Tortosa. The Jativa charter allowed further appeal "ad alium alcadi [sie] sarracenorum." For more on this point, see m y suggestions in Islam, pp. 2 4 6 1 8

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nine such worthies rotated by election each Christmas; a similar arrangement prevailed at Chelva. Modern scholars like Roca Traver see these evolved aljama assemblies as corresponcling to or identical with the body of Catalan municipal consellers. King James applied to the component sheiks the significant title capitols, a tech­ nical term for councilmen of a Catalan commune, and earlier for canons of an incorporated cathedral chapter. At the same time each community or aljama became in official parlance a universitas or commune-corporation. King James normally handled a Mudejar town, valley, or district as though it were a legal corporation, endowed with the peculiar attributes of such a corporation: "the aljama and whole universitas of the Saracens of the valley of Pego." For so knowledgeable a promoter of Roman Law and of the corporation concept as was James I, the wording cannot have been careless. It worked an inevitable effect. At the moment of conquest the Valencian Islamic aljama was not what it later became, a semiautonomous municipal corporation enjoying immortality and abstract or fictional being in law, with an electoral system, jurates, counsellors, and a growing corpus of municipal privileges. In his pioneering study of Sicily's conquered Muslim community, Amari detected a similar tendency for the aljamas to evolve into true communes. Such an evolution was no mere adjustment to external forms but rather an intrinsic change, abolishing the basic politicostructural differences between the Islamic and the European medieval town. So great an institutional change undoubtedly worked psycho­ logical changes in the town's inhabitants. Particularly instructive, among acculturated political institutions, is the evolution of Mudejar Valencia's amin. The name, "trustworthy," attached in Islamic societies to a bewildering variety of minor offices, so that it reveals nothing by itself. In Valencian Mudejar society, however, the alami came to be a specific functionary in the specific office of the "alaminate," exercising identical powers in every aljama. Roca Traver and Grau Monserrat make him equivalent in Valencian Mudejarism to the Christian municipal head jurate, holding "personal governance of the aljama in every sense of the word." Gual Camarena prefers a parallel with the more ambiguous bailiff. Macho Ortega, working in the documents of Aragon proper, sees him as analogous to the head 19

20

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The surrender charters of Jativa and Chivert employ probi homines, for example; sometimes synonyms like meylors and bona appear. The Valldigna carta puebla of 1366 is in Miguel Gual Camarena, "Mudejares valencianos, aportaciones para su estudio," Saitabi, V I I (1949), 175; the Chelva document is in Fernandez y Gonzalez, Mudejares de Castilla, appendix, doc. 71 (1370). Arch. Crown, James I, Reg. Cane. 37, fol. 57v (Dec. 22, 1272): "vobis aliame et toti universitati sarracenorum de Pego." King James addressed the sheiks of Murcia aljama as its capitols, in his autobiography, Cronica [Llibre dels feyts], ed. J. M . de Casacuberta (9 vols, in 2 ; Barcelona, 1926-1962), chap. 439. Michele Amari, Storia dei musulmani di Sicilia (2d ed.; 3 vols.; Catania, 1933— 1939), I I I , 2 9 1 - 2 9 2 . 2 0

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jurate. For fifteenth-century Valencia, Piles Ros finds him the central governing power. Important and specific though his role was, it differed radically during the postcrusade years from what it became during the later or high Mudejar era. In this earlier period he was essentially the main tax collector, with no visible share in the authority role that fell either to a qa'id or a qddi. Nor was the later amin simply the ruling qa'id or qddi under a more generic or alternate title. In fact, he retained his revenue-collecting function alongside his new authori­ tarian function; in a significant exception, tax collecting was specifically forbidden to one amin. The crown describes this continuing tax connection as a general characteristic, in a later appointment of an amin: "to defend and maintain the royal rights and regalian claims of the lord king," in the same way as his predecessors "in times past were accustomed to maintain and supervise them." An elected official, sometimes appointed by the Christian authorities, this later amin convoked and chaired the weekly aljama meeting, defended the common good, kept the tax records, and played (as did his earlier counterpart) a minor role in justice. Some places had two of these officials, representing two overlords. The transformation of the amin, startling though it is, has gone unnoticed. In a field of study that concentrates on high Mudejarism and the later Moriscos, the tendency has been simply to project later organization back into the thirteenth century, to assume that the developed administrative machinery had been a constant, and by implication to suggest that the Muslims had carried the system over with them intact from the Islamic period. It will be appropriate to pause for a closer look at this handy illustration of political acculturation: in this case not so much an assimilation to the conquerors' forms as a wrenching replacement of political structure to suit the altered situation and practical demands. It is not to the point here to examine the military and political role of the qddi, a phenomenon that found its fullest scope in Spanish Islam, nor indeed to cite the many examples of both amin and qddi in postcrusade Valencia, to elaborate on their respective roles, or to conjecture as to whether more 22

23

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Roca Traver, "Vida mudejar," p. 127. Gual Camarena, "Mudejares valencianos, aportaciones," p. 176. Francisco Macho y Ortega, "Condition social de los mudejares aragoneses (siglo x v ) , " Memorias de la facultad de fdosofia y letrasdelauniversidadde Zaragoza, I (1922-1923), 156. Andres Gimenez Soler, La edad media en la corona de Aragon (2d ed.; rev.; Barcelona, 1944), p. 293. Manuel Grau Monserrat, "Mudejares Castellonenses," Boletin de la real academia de buenas letras de Barcelona, X X I X (1961-1962), 261. Leopoldo Piles Ros, "La situation social de los moros de realengo en la Valencia del siglo xv," Estudios de historia social de Espana, I (1949), 2 7 3 - 2 7 4 . M y Medieval Colonialism will gather the manuscript documentation on the early Valencian amin; meanwhile, see my Islam, pp. 3 7 6 - 3 8 1 . 2 3

Appointment by bailiff general (Feb. 5, 1425) in Piles Ros, "Moros de realengo en Valencia," pp. 2 7 3 - 2 7 4 : "lo offici d'alaminat. . . e com alami dessus dit mantingues e defenes los drets e regalies del dit senyor re segons los altres alamis en temps passat be ha acostumat tenir e regir."

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prosaic or common offices such as muhtasib or mushrif underlay that of amin. For our present purpose, the investigation of acculturative phenomena, I wish to suggest that the emergence of this all-important political chief, the amin, and the transformation of political structure it represents, derived directly from the symbiotic relationship between conquerors and conquered. Practical necessities and expediency destroyed the existing order of local authority and quietly educed a new order, in an intriguing instance of unplanned but nearly inevitable acculturation. First, the steadiest interaction between the two peoples, and the most valuable to the Christians, was the regular assessment, collection, and receipt of taxes. The necessity had held even for Almohad Berber appointees in Islamic Spain, whose native liaison officer had been precisely the mushrif or treasurer. The Cid at Valencia similarly maintained in his entourage at least two Muslims bearing that title and revenue function, employing them as liaison and creating one of them his vizier over the Valencian kingdom. For both Cid and Almohad caliph, the prime need had been efficient management of revenues, necessarily implying liaison or relational participation in governance: the subject-community at times required an effective and influential spokesman, while the lord at times required a confidant having wide contacts and influence within the conquered community. Something similar happened in the Holy Land, where the native ra'is in the rural settlement became tax collector, point of liaison, spokesman to and from the crusade overlords, and eventually receptacle of real local power. In Valencia, however, the strong political structure around the qddi inhibited the logical and swift devolution of power to the amin, though it could not reverse or halt it. Unlike the Holy Land too, each Valencian Mudejar community evolved into a hybrid kind of semi-commune, not at all rural or backward, so that the amin eventually emerged into a position more independent and governing than was the case with the Near Eastern ra'is in his Latinate raisagium. Again, the Valencian postcrusade manuscripts connected with taxcollecting equate amin with bailiff, seeing each as the equivalent of the other in practice; for example, in surrendering two thousand solidi of taxes at Alcira, Alfandech, and Pego in 1263 to a Christian creditor, King James conveyed to him the corresponding right "to install bailiffs, whether alamini or alcaydi." But the bailiff in the Valencian kingdom was as much a kind of governing officer, the overlord's alter ego with wide powers to represent his material interests, as he was a mere tax collector. The logic of such equivalence must have worked to extend the prestige and power of the amin. Again, the crown, concerned with revenue affairs more than with any single Mudejar business, 24

26

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Cahen, "Le regime rural syrien," pp. 3 0 6 - 3 0 8 . Arch. Cro^m, James I, Reg. Cane. 17, fol. 43v (April 30, 1263): "possitis instituere baiulos, sive alaminos sive alcaydos." Punctuation, missing in such medieval texts, here makes the two to be species of the genus baiulus; simple equiv­ alency of all three, an alternate interpretation, would not change the point in our text. The alcaydus was both qa'id and, often, castellan. 2 5

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had more occasion to address "the amin and the aljama" of a given region than it did to communicate anything to the qddi or to the community as such. As Christian presence multiplied over the centuries, and as Christian prestige or oppressive superiority entered the consciousness of the younger generation, the practical authority of the amin had to become ever more evident. Eventually this financial power and political boss either came to preside de facto or (at some point obscure to us) was finally installed with royal acquiescence in the seat of de jure political power. The new disposition could not work very well without this reorientation of fact, so that recognition merely blessed an acculturative evolution of long standing. Can such an evolution ever occur, and such a structure develop, without premising some foundational alteration of psycho­ logy or self-view ? And once created, will the new political structure subtly influence its inhabitants 1 How many political communities, after all, gather around their treasurer as dominant authority, or salute the head of the revenue service as custodian of community power and values ? The development— whether a Good Thing or a Bad Thing—was as unplanned as it was logical; and it altered the psychopolitical shape of the Valencian aljama. As the Christian immigrants drifted south, they made their presence felt in numerous subtle ways. They superimposed three dioceses on the hapless Muslims, with a network of parishes (often without parishioners yet) reaching into every corner. Commandeered mosques, refurbished as churches, stood grotesquely empty in many villages where no Christian settler had yet pene­ trated nor would for a generation. How galling such modest presence was to the Muslims can be seen from an incident at Segorbe, where the first pealing of hated bells in the improvised church of the few Christian settlers precipitated a full-scale riot by the Muslims. The dozen parish ex-mosques at the capital soon gave way to Gothic structures; new streets were opened also, and the pantheon or cemetery building for the Muslim rulers became the city hall; the skyline, the rhythm of city life, and the relation of the quarters to the city's center altered decisively. The same pattern was incipient elsewhere in the realm, and a potential threat everywhere. Initiative had passed from the Muslim majority to the few but busy newcomers, whose military orders patrolled the roads and whose Mendicant friars penetrated everywhere. As Ibn Khaldun noted, such a conquered society loses hope, the dynamism generated by hope, and the com­ mercial and civilizing results of that dynamism, promoting the society's dis26

2 6

A participant described the incident to his son, who so testified at a legal inquiry in 1323; see J. Villanueva, Viage literario a las iglesias de Espana (17 vols, in 2 2 ; Madrid, 1803-1852), I I I , 45. See also F. de Asis Aguilar y Serrat, Noticias de Segorbe y de su obispado (2 vols.; Segorbe, 1890), I, 8 3 - 8 4 . Martin Almagro and others date the incident 1237, but P. L . Llorens y Raga argues convincingly for 1245.

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27

integration. What the North African sage saw in the recent past of Spain, we have seen all too often in colonized societies. Even the Muslim-held castles, disjecta membra left over from the broken body politic of Valencian Islam, proved shortly to be a drawback for the Mude­ jar community. True, a certain osmosis of aristocratic, military, and chivalric fashion assimilated the Islamic nobiliary classes to their Christian counterparts. And the petty principality or the castellan-^a'id surviving here and there did offer a psychological rallying point. Unhappily, they also posed a temptation to revolt. The failed gamble of each revolt, a drumfire of uprisings over four decades, saw the military-political establishment progressively dismantled, the leaders killed or driven into exile, the castles taken over, the wealth confiscated, and the authority curtailed or destroyed. The fate of al-Azraq, lord of Alcala and the Pego valleys, master-rebel in several revolts, makes a cautionary tale. The complicated history of the Banu 'Isa, around whose Jativa principate the forces of discontent rallied, provides a similar illustration; they survived as lords of Montesa and uncrowned leaders of Valencia's Mudejars until the ultimate rebel­ lion led to their downfall in the 1280s. 28

The many castles of conquered Muslims did offer for a time an opening toward adjustment to the Christian feudal world. Eventually, however, they became another occasion for the fear and anger that issued in a full-throated antiMoor prejudice among the threatened colonial population. This phenomenon is seen most clearly in the kingdom-wide "race riots" that erupted in 1275 and continued for months despite the king's angry determination to halt them and to punish the Christian culprits. These destructive riots extended from Peniscola and Oropesa, far in the north, to Cocentaina far in the south, and from the coastal cities like Valencia inland to Liria and Chelva, lasting over several years. They were true ethnic riots, not merely religiously motivated episodes; converted Mudejars, ostensibly assimilated and safe, suffered equally with then former colleagues. 29

2 7

The Muqaddimah; An Introduction to History, trans. Franz Rosenthal (3 vols.; New York, 1958), I, esp. chap. 2, sees. 2 2 - 2 3 , and chap. 3, sec. 5. The penetration and role of military orders and Mendicants are covered in m y Crusader Valencia, chtps. 10, 11. The history of the Banu 'Isa and of similar feudal families of postcrusade Valencia, including the complicated tale of the al-Azraq clan, has been reconstructed from all manuscript and published sources in m y "Le royaume Chretien de Valence et ses vassaux musulmans (1240-1280)," Annates, Economies, sociitis, civilisations, X X V I I I (1973), 199-225. Much of this material was incorporated in Islam, chaps. 13-14. See also F . de P. Momblaneh y Gonzalbez, "El rey D . Jaime y las guerras de Alazrach," VII Asamblea de cronistas de Valencia (Valencia, 1970), repaged offprint. 2 8

2 9

This remarkable episode is studied only in m y "Social Riots on the ChristianMoslem Frontier (Thirteenth-Century Valencia)," American Historical Review,LXVI (1961), 3 7 8 - 4 0 0 , with transcriptions from some fifty manuscripts revealing its details.

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The revolts in turn contributed to the hemorrhage of emigrants, especially from the creative and nobiliary strata. What was the extent of emigration ? Certainly neither King James nor his barons, nor for that matter the cities or the churchmen, desired wide-scale departure of Muslims from Valencia. Behind the rhetoric of expulsion, all classes mcluding king and clerics enthusiastically imported fresh Muslims while clinging to those they held. Muslims meant productive farms and fat rentals. Greed did not counsel retention of the nobili­ ary or notable classes, however; the castellan, the faqih, the princely rebel, the large landowner, the merchant, the intellectual, or the poet: these were small loss to the Christian settler, and in some ways their going meant positive gain. Even before the rebellions many of this stratum had left, including the entire populations of the capital city and of the most important northern city, Burriana. Ibn Khaldun witnesses to the draining of Valencians and Murcians down into Tunis, in such numbers as to constitute eventually a distinct segment of that African city's population. The calligraphic talent that fled to North Africa revolutionized handwriting and book production there. Individuals stand out in the mass of Valencian fugitives. Ibn al-Abbar of Onda, secretary to the last three rulers of Islamic Valencia and a great historian, betook himself to a career in Tunis. Ibn 'Amira al-Qadi of Alcira fled in 1238 to become state secretary and qddi in Morocco and Tunis. Abu 'r-Rabi' b. Salim, colleague-disciple of Averroes and chief qddi of Valencia, fell fighting at the climactic battle of Puig outside Valencia city. A noted group of Sufi, mystics, the Banu Sid-bono at Denia and Valencia city, removed to Granada and founded a popular religious center. The farmers of course and those less mobile or with no prospects in foreign climes were bound to remain. But' 'many people from eastern Spain were exiled,'' as Ibn Khaldun notes; those who stayed in Spain "were concerned with making a living." The great historian exaggerates here; culture and religion were not dead. Their scope of course was dramatically reduced; and this in turn meant a very different balance of social classes remaining, with a consequently poorer image in the eyes of Muslim and Christian alike. Even in the later thirteenth century the chronicler Desclot tended to regard Valencia's Mudejars as "pea­ sants." The effects of all this upon Valencia's Islamic society can be read between the lines or even projected from analogous situations in other times and places. Since Christian settlers headed in disproportionate numbers toward certain Valencian cities, Muslims there tended eventually to center upon morerias which, while not exactly ghettos, stood to the side of mainstream civic activity. The increasingly ruralized Islamic society consequently related ever more closely 30

3 0

Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, I I , 288, 350, 430. The concern with "making a living" refers directly to the remnant at Granada. Bernat Desclot, Crbnica, ed. Miguel Coll i Alentorn (4 vols.; Barcelona, 1949-1950), I, chaps. 49, 65, 67.

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to their landlords or lords—to Christians who exercised some control or frame­ work in their lives. One such control, as time passed, was tax exploitation, first as occasional abuse and later as a seignorial commonplace during the hard times of the early Renaissance. Even those strata of Mudejar society which lodged in Christian contexts as nurses, retainers, bodyguards, slaves, merchants, and the like, occasioned restrictive laws designed to inhibit sexual contact between the two peoples, blasphemy or at least an understandable but disconcerting public display of contempt by Muslims for the conquerors' religious symbols and processions, and even a counter-acculturative process of attracting Christians to Islam. Here again a measure of superficial or opportunistic acculturation— in episodes of dress, language, alternate names, and similar accidentals—though rewarding for both peoples, occasioned friction and repression. There had always been an infiltration of style and of people between the Islamic and European camps, as there would continue to be, for example, between Spain and North Africa. No hard and fast boundary existed, no iron curtain difficult to penetrate. Merchants moved freely, albeit with minor re­ straints, in both directions; Christian merchants braved excommunication in considerable numbers to trade in strategic or wartime goods. Adventurers passed between the several groups, as did whole army units coming as allies or rented away as mercenaries by their rulers; thus the king of Aragon sent Catalan contingents to fight for North African sultans at so much per head, and imported similar Muslim armies himself. Renegades betrayed both the Islamic Valencian and the Arago-Catalan causes to the enemy, and apostates were a problem to both sides. Mild acculturation was a two-way street. Since each society stood in a relation of cultural parity to the other, and was relatively open and flexible in matters not considered by its protagonists as essential, the phenomenon of transculturation by which even Mudejar society influenced the Christian merits attention. For Valencian Muslims, however, such activities took on acculturative significance mainly when the balance of equality turned into a relationship of conqueror and conquered. The alien Muslim warriors had now became some­ thing less than allies to the Christians, and their military spirit threatened rebellion; King James expressed his mistrust of them. The merchant changed from a cooperative terminal to an internal rival. Slowly the merchant role proper to Muslims in a homeland celebrated for its commerce diminished until, within a century of the crusade, they were confined largely to interior and transborder Castilian petty trade. Just as the balance of agricultural types shifted, 31

32

33

3 1

See the many examples of each type culled for m y "Renegades, Adventurers, and Sharp Businessmen: The Thirteenth-Century Spaniard in the Cause of Islam," Catholic Historical Review, L V I I (1972), 341-366. Llibre dels feyts, chap. 362. D . Perez Perez and E . Pascuale-Leone Pascual, "Algunos aspectos del comercio valenciano a fines del siglo xiv," VII Congris d'histdria de la corona d'Arago (3 vols.; Barcelona, 1963-1964), I I , 537. 3 2

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so here the loss of the central city and the sharing of the other main cities, together with the loss of dynasties and lordlings and their patronage contribu­ tion, destroyed the "establishment." A new establishment would emerge, but more linear and less urban, with the local affluent villager assuming the role of faqih and guardian of culture. Worst of all, the new monasticism of this century allowed crown and church to press an open campaign of proselytism. Valencia had become a frontier of apostolic opportunity for a dozen or more religious orders, but especially for the Dominicans. Europe's greatest living jurist and one of its most supple minds, Raymond of Penyafort, resigned the Dominican generalate to prosecute this campaign along the Mediterranean shore of Spain and in Tunis. His prime centers were the Dominican schools of Arabic, or more properly of dialectical confrontation with Muslim savants, at Valencia, Jativa, Murcia, and Tunis, with headquarters at Barcelona. The celebrated Raymond Marti was prominent among the many Dominicans in this work along the conquered eastern seaboard of Spain, and recent research suggests that Thomas Aquinas contributed his metaphysical expertise ex distantia. The Franciscans also involved themselves, largely in the panoplied person of Raymond Lull. With royal backing, the friars also penetrated the aljamas at will, forcing their presentations upon the general Muslim populace. The proselytizers reported sufficient success to create among Christians a mood of pentecostal expectation. However misled and exaggerated their reports may have been, the friars constituted an acculturative pressure of major proportions. Since their work affected especially the Muslim intellectuals and the pace-setting people of high education, it could not but convey a sense of menace, and evoke a response of defensive rigidity, among the community's responsible leaders. The stratum of converts resulting from their efforts antagonized Christian and Muslim alike. The schools did not survive long into the next century, but they had helped create a siege mentality in the dissident majority. Every surge of Christian immigration into the cities would have reinforced the alien pressure, loosening attachment to traditional values, diminishing the opportunities for upward mobility, dictating new conditions for retaining a tolerably comfortable life, and accelerating the conversion rate. Coupled with the presence of the parish and other ubiquitous mechanisms of the medieval church, and with the serene possession by the colonial overlords of assumptions, values, and identity unacceptable to Muslims, the conversion campaign can hardly be overestimated as a weapon for acculturation. Valencian Islam survived. Most Mudejars continued to go about their im­ memorial business, still attending their mosques and hearing the familiar call of the muezzin, still visiting the Arabesque suq at the nearest town, sending 34

3 4

See the documents and references in m y detailed account, "Christian-Islamic Confrontation in the W e s t : The Thirteenth-Century Dream of Conversion," American Historical Review, L X X V I (1971), 1386-1434.

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their children to Koranic school, marrying and selling by traditional contracts, as prosperous shareholders in their farms in this prosperous land, safe from harassment behind determined royal protection, and privileged in their many local constitutions. Above all, their value system survived: in legal philosophy, morals, attitudes, concepts of beauty, and the complex of religiosocial con­ victions. But if Islam survived, something of its glory had gone. A sense of strain, of impingement, of small but important losses, of a torsion toward the awry had entered. Massignon has remarked that in times of crisis the intellectuals are attracted to the syncretistic or ecumenical, while the common man grows intransigent. As emigration weighted the balance toward common men, and as conversion and acculturation or reorientation posed a threat, such inflexi­ bility must have been the heaviest price paid by Mudejar society for its survival. Life can imitate its former self, recoil inward, and refuse motion, until a formerly spirited ambience declines into a replica, a Disneyland. Valencia did not reach such extremes, but it moved willy-nilly in that direction. Did such a society, retrograde and dull, obstinately old-fashioned, experience trouble with its own rising generation ? Islamic Valencia did not become fully Mudejar for over half a century. The setting sun of the full culture continued to warm another generation or two. Mercifully the Mudejar could not perceive the several changes as a slow and terrible transition to an intolerable future state; his world was final for him, with all its change, as ours is for us. He may even have seen the postcrusade decades as more tranquil than those of the Almohad death struggle. And his adapting world had its advantages. Although it lacked our modern concept of tolerance and was drifting toward the Renaissance era of crisis, economic ex­ ploitation, and cruelty, it had found for the moment a reasonable pluralism in some ways more advanced or permissive than our own. It lasted a very long time—for a couple of generations—as long indeed as the era of sharp hostility. The Muslim of this Early Mudejar or twilight period, dominant in numbers, secure in his religious and juridical milieu, relatively affluent and with the greater part of his traditional society intact, probably went about his business in a state of reasonable content. Whatever the degree of acculturation, the new synthesis was recognizably, irreducibly Islamic. 35

3 5

Louis Massignon, "Ibn Sab'in et la 'conspiration hallagienne' en Andalousie, et en orient au xiii siecle,'' Etudes d'orientalisme dedttes d lamimoiredeL6vi-Proven­ cal (2 vols.; Paris, 1962), I I , 660.

TURK AND HINDU: A POETICAL IMAGE AND ITS APPLICATION TO HISTORICAL FACT ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

Harvard University

On the revival of Hindu nationalism in India during the 1920s Peter Hardy remarks in his book The Muslims of British India that the Muslims were deeply shocked at the sight of the followers of Gandhi in homespun garments. The sight reminded them of their own glorious past, thus rekindling their age-old aristocratic instincts with respect to their former Hindu subjects. His remark is perfectly to the point. To Muslims in India, the Hindu—how­ ever intelligent, clever, and even wise—was basically connected with negative judgments such as ugliness, lowliness, and slavery. Instances of this attitude are revealed in the history of Persian and Turkish poetry. The contrast between Turk and Hindu posed by most of the poets is known to everyone from Hafiz's famous line: 1

If that Shirazi Turk would take my heart in his hand, I would give for his Hindu mole Bukhara and Samarkand.

2

This contrast expresses more than a mere rhetorical play; it rather reflects a basic attitude that can account for some of the friction between the two communities after the Muslim conquest of India. We may therefore ask our­ selves how much this deeply engraved feeling of "ruling Turk" versus "lowly Hindu" contributed to the sociopolitical development and the particular attitudes of Muslim society in the Subcontinent. It goes almost without saying that feelings of this kind occurred only rarely in the first period of Muslim rule in India, which was restricted to Sind. Even in later periods Sind and Hind proper are always treated as separate entities, which certainly points to different cultural settings. At the time of the conquest most of the inhabitants of Sind were Buddhists who, if we believe the Cliachname, rather rejoiced at being freed by the Muslims from the Hindu rulers who had on­ ly recently usurped power. The precocious wisdom of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, the seventeen-year-old commander of the Muslim army who subjugated the 1

Peter Hardy, The Muslims of British India (Cambridge University Press, 1972, paperback); the statement sums up his remarks on p. 228. Sa'di, Kulliyat, ed. M . A . Furughi (4 vols.; Tehran, 1342 sh./1963), I I I , 578. 2

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Indus valley up to Multan, set an example for later Indian rule; he considered the Hindus to belong to the ahl al-kitdb (and indeed, they had their own sacred scriptures) and imposed upon them, as upon the Buddhists, only the jizya, refraining from treating them as idol-worshipers. Some later Muslim scholars, of course, would have loved to do so, and declared that the Prophetic saying "Either Islam or execution" is meant particularly for the Hindus "the most inimical enemies of Mustafa"—thus Barani in the fourteenth century. In their descriptions of the inhabitants of India—of those both in Sind and on the Malabar coast, where the Arabs had long-standing commercial relations —• the early Arab geographers, and also authors like al-Jahiz, largely followed the Hellenistic tradition of describing the Indians as black; they partly argued that the climate blackens them. But they expressed a certain admiration for the achievements of Indian scholars in the fields of philosophy (the Hindu hakim becomes a standard type), medicine, mathematics, and related sciences, not to forget magic. Translations from Indian sources were soon made avail­ able to the Arabs. 3

4

5

6

7

The second wave of Muslim conquest, however, changed the image: al-Biruni's Kitab al-Hind, objective and unbiased as it is, gives a vivid account of the •difficulties of mutual understanding. His remark that 3

Chachname, ed. M . U . Daudpota (Delhi, 1939), p. 118; cf. idem, p. 122: The Islamic conquest was foretold by the stars. About a similar attitude of the Buddhists vis-a-vis the Muslims in Bengal see S. M . Ikram, Muslim Rule in India and Pakistan (Lahore, 1966), p. 203. See also M. A . Ghani, "The Advent of the Arabs in Hindustan: Their Relations with the Hindus, and the Occupation of Sind," Proceedings Tenth All-India Oriental Conference (1940). Barani, Tarikh-i Firuzshahi, ed. Sir Sayyid A h m a d K h a n (Calcutta, 1 8 6 0 1862), p. 291. Maqbul Ahmad, Indo-Arab-Relations (Delhi and Bombay, 1969); for the whole •complex see Sayyid Sulaiman Nadwi's numerous publications in Urdu. L . Rosher, "The Greek and the Latin Data about India," in Zakir Husain Presentation Volume (Delhi, 1967), pp. 23ff. The idea that the Indians are almost •equal to the Negroes was elaborated b y Tabarl, Ta'rikh al-muluk wa'r-rusul, I , 217, and b y Mas'udi, Muruj adh-dhahab, I I I , 294f., as well as by other medieval Arab -authors; the Ikhwan as-Safa (Rasa'il, 1,233) thought that the climate was responsible for the black color. Dr. R a m Kumar Chaube, India as Told by^ the Muslims (Varanasi, 1969) gives an account of Arabic writers interested in Indian subjects; the book, however, is very weak. India as the home ofhikma, wisdom, and philosophy, is often mentioned b y medieval authors like Mas'udi (Muruj, I , 76), in the Rasa'il Ikhwan as-Safa (II, 282) as well as in Ibn al-Qif^i's Ta'rlkh al-hukama', ed. J. Lippert (Leipzig, 1903), p. 266. Persian poets allude to Indian wisdom and Indian magic in early times, thus Abu Shaktir al-Balkhi who ascribes Indian origin to the biblical device "Make thy bread travel over water" (Eccles. 1 1 : 1) (G. Lazard, Les Premiers Poetes Persons [2 vols.; Tehran, 1962], I I , 116). In Nizami's poetry—both Iskandarname and Makhzan al-asrar—the wise Indians and Indian magic are described, and the fact that Hallaj's journey to India in 905 was attibuted to his wish "to learn magic" shows that India was considered the home of magical practices and other­ worldly wisdom. 2

4

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in all manners a n d usages t h e y differ from us to such a degree as to frighten their children with us, with our dress, and our ways and customs, and as to declare us to be the devil's breed, and our doing as the v e r y opposite o f all that is g o o d a n d proper,

8

is poetically reflected in 'Attar's story about the H i n d u boy's reaction when he was kindly taken t o M a h m u d Ghaznawi's t h r o n e .

9

Biruni, for all his understanding of H i n d u philosophy a n d thought,

has

stressed the fact that the H i n d u s "direct their fanaticism against those who do not belong to t h e m , the

mleccha,

impure."

10

T h e concept of purity and the fact

that a m e m b e r of a lower caste cannot acquire religious merit in the same w a y as can a Brahmin shocked his feelings of Muslim piety and equality more than anything e l s e ;

11

the caste system was, for him, the decisive line that separated

both communities, "and this is the greatest obstacle which prevents a n y ap­ proach or understanding between H i n d u s a n d M u s l i m s . "

12

I t must have been approximately in BirQni's time that Persian adopted the word " H i n d u " for everything black; then, the long list of possible comparisons begins: the treacherous twisted black tresses, the dangerous infidel beauty spot, the unpleasant blackish down on the friend's lip, the killing pagan eyes of the sweetheart are all H i n d u s who encroach u p o n the Muslim's h e a r t .

13

T h e star of

8

al-Biruni, Kitab fi tahqiq ma li'l-Hind (Hyderabad, 1958), and E . Sachau, al-Biruni's India (London, 1 8 8 8 , 1 9 1 0 ) , p. 10; about the "innate perversity" of the Hindu character, ibid., p. 91. H . Bitter, Das Meer der Seele (Leiden, 1955), p. 3 3 3 ; the story of the Hindu boy is found in 'Attar's Mantiq at-tair. See also Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Mathnawi, ed. R . A . Nicholson (6 vols.; London and Leiden 1925-1940), V , 3157; V I , 1383ff. Sachau, al-Biruni, p. 19. Ibid., p. 271. Ibid., p. 4 8 ; cf. also p. 11 about the narrow-mindedness of the Indians. To a black "Hindu" can be compared tresses, mole, down, eye or eyelashes, pen, night, bad luck. The term became so generally accepted as meaning "black" that several translators, among them Garcin de Tassy, did not hesitate to translate Hindu as "Negro." Sa'di applies the biblical saying that one cannot wash off the Ethiopian's color (Jer. 13:23) to the Hindu: 2

9

1 0

1 1

1 2

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Y o u can take away love from Sa'di's heart b y blaming him I f you can wash with water the color off the Hindu's face. (Kulliyat, I I I , ghazal 628.) A n d the final effect is reached in Talib-i Amuli's famous lines at the occasion of his emigration from Iran to India: N o one brought a Hindu as a present into India— Leave your black luck ( = misfortune) in Iran! (M. Aslah, Tadhkira-yi shu'ara-yi Kashmir, ed. H . Rashdi [5 vols., Karachi, 1 9 6 7 1968], I I , 678, and E . G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia [4 vols.; repr. Cambridge, 1953], I V , 255). I hope to elaborate the development of the poetical contrast "Hindu-Turk" in a separate study which will also cover the pictorial witness in early miniature painting. Even 'Abdul Ghani an-Nabulusi, Sufi and poet (d. 1728 in Syria), still uses an amusing comparison: he compares the numerous fleas that troubled him and his

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misfortune, Saturn, became the Hindu-ye falak, the black doorkeeper of higher spheres to whom all evil influences of Hindu magic were ascribed. From the eleventh century onward Hindus appear in poetical language as highway robbers, thieves, and moneylenders (contrary to the praise of the Hindus' sincerity in some earlier Arabic sources). In genera], the word becomes a synonym for "slave." One may think of the number of Indian prisoners that Mahmud of Ghazna brought back from his Indian campaigns. At exactly the same time the Turks, formerly described in not too flattering terms in the books of Arab geographers, and feared as fierce warriors, turned into the 14

15

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party to "Hindus with small bodies, black" (ar-Rihla at-Tarabulusiya, ed. Heribert Busse: Die Reise des 'Abd al-Gani an-Nabulusi dutch den Libanon [Beirut, 1 9 7 1 ] ; Arab, text p. 36 [poem]). Saturn occurs as a Hindu doorkeeper in Farrukhi, Diivdn, ed. ' A b d ar-Rasiili (Tehran, 1311 sh./1932), Tarji'band, p. 216, line 2 1 ; A b u 'Ali Marwazi (quoted in M . 'Aufi, Lubdb al-albdb, ed. E . G. Browne and M . Qazwini (2 vols.; London and Leiden, 1903-1906), I I , 342, cf. I I , 239) knows the expression too. The most famous example of Saturn imagery is the description of "black" Saturday in Nizami's Haft Paikar. Even for Ghalib (d. 1869), the 'Hindu-yi falak' is still an active force, and he uses the term both in his horoscope as found in his Persian Qasida no. 9, and in Qasida no. 64. A n d not in vain has Iqbal, in turn, put the two Indian traitors to their nation into the "Sphere of Saturn" in his Javidname (Lahore, 1932). Hindu moneylender: 'A^tar, Diwan, ed. S. Nafisi (Tehran, 1339 sh./1950), no. 4 4 2 ; about positive statements: Chaube, India, p. 230. The equation Hindu = slave goes back at least to Farrukhi, and is fully developed in Khaqani, see his Diwan, ed. Z . Sajjadi (Tehran, 1338 sh./1959), Qasida p. 2 1 9 : "The Khaqan (Turkish ruler) is the Hindu (slave) of your hinduish ( = black) tresses," and v. 30 in the Mada'in-qasida). 'Atfcar is very fond of the same expression, see Diwan, ghazal no. 647, no. 445, twice, or no. 469): "When m y Turk gave me a kiss, I became willingly his Hindu." The equation is continued through the whole of Persian poetry, so that Jam! (Diwan-i kamil, ed. Hashim Rida, [Tehran, 1341 sh./1962], p. 273, no. 364) speaks of "the Hindu 'Intellect' which is fettered b y the chain of affliction." Even Pashto poetry does not lack similar expressions, such as Khushhal K h a n Khattak's line "I am the Hindu-slave of t h y locks . . ." in G. Raverty, Selections from the Popular Poetry of the Afghans (London, 1862), p. 246. The famous hadith utruku'l-atrak and the warning in the hadith qudsi, "I have an army which I have called Turk and which I made dwell in the East . . . , " belong to the first period of Muslim-Turkish relations (cf. A . J. Wensinek, A Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition (Leiden, 1927), s.v. Turk; cf. I . Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien (2 vols.; Halle, 1897), I , 270, I I , 127, and the study b y E . Mainz, "DieTiirken in der klassischen arabischen Literatur," Der Islam, X X I (1933), 2 7 8 - 2 8 5 . That the Arab Muslims respected the Turkish warriors (who were thought to be the perfect embodiment of the "cold-and-humid" principle) is shown b y J. Schacht and E . Meyerhof, The Theologus Autodidactus of Ibn anNafis (Oxford, 1968), Excurs 6, p. 82. The image of the Turks as fierce warriors is reflected as early as in A b u Nuwas's poetry: he compares the bubbles in a glass of wine to arrow-shooting Turks, see E . Wagner, Abu Nuwas (Wiesbaden, 1965), p. 402, and the connection of the Turk with arrow and bow remains a topos in later Persian poetry. The "warrior-planet" Mars is called Turk-i falak, the "Turk of Heaven," and thus contrasted with the Hindu-yi falak, Satum, 1 4

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ideal of manliness: admiration for Mahmiid's beloved, the Turkish slave Ayaz, may have played a role in this development. "Turk" becomes the equivalent of white, beautiful though cruel, courageous—all qualities that the ideal beloved of Persian poetry would possess. The use of the contrasting pair "Turk and Hindu," "ruler and slave," in poetical language was, then, easy to follow. It occurs, strangely, primarily in Nizami's work, that is. in Western Iran, and is fully developed in the mystical poetry of 'Attar and in the imagery of the Kubrawiyya order around 1200. The Qoranic idea that at doomsday infi­ dels and grave sinners will bring their blackened books with them, which con­ nects with their faces being blackened by shame (cf. Sura 3:106), made the equation Hindu = 'sinner', 'infidel,' most comfortable. The black demons, descendants of Ahriman in Persian mythology, may have contributed to the development of the image. The mystics did not hesitate to describe thenvision of the beloved God in the form of a beautiful young Turk, with his cap awry; Majduddin Baghdad! even thought that the angels are manifested in the shape of Turks, the devils in that of Hindus. The similar contrast between the heavenly world of light as a Turkestan whence the beloved appears, and the dark world of matter as Hindustan is extremely frequent in Jalal ud-Din Rumi's verses. Even an early Indo-Persian poet like Amir Khusrau knows and uses the concept of black Hindustan as a hellish place. Persian miniatures from the fourteenth century onward always represent the Indian as blackish in color, often reminiscent of the dark blue Krishna in Hindu painting. 18

19

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both stars being connected with ill-fortune. Sa'di applies the hadlth utruku'l-atrak most wittily to his Turkish beloved (Kulliyat, I I I , Ghazal 276): D i d I not tell you "Do not look at the Turks," Sa'di ? Since you did not say "Leave the Turk," you need patience. 1 8

H . Ritter, tjber die Bildersprache Nizamis (Berlin, 1927), pp. 12ff. About the blackened faces, see F . Meier, Die schone Mahsati (Wiesbaden, 1963), pp. 182ff.H.Reitzenstein, in the Festschrift fur F. K. Andreas (Leipzig, 1916), p. 38, shows that the classical Greek Book of Krates already equates the devils with Indians (quoted by F . Meier, Die fawa'ih al-gamal wa fawdtih al-galal des Nagm ad-Din al-Kubra [Wiesbaden, 1957], p. 115). See Ritter, Meer der Seele, pp. 448ff., about Ruzbihan Baqli's vision of the beloved as Turk, and p. 481. Quoted Meier, Die fawa'ih, pp. 115, 121. The contrast Turk-Hindu occurs several hundred times in Rumi's Diwdn; a few particularly interesting instances are: Diwan-i kabir, ed. B. Z . Furuzanfar (10 vols.; Tehran, 1336 sh.ff./1957), nos. 1290, 570, 1876, 1439. Waheed Mirza, Amir Khusrau (Calcutta, 1935; Lahore, 1 9 6 7 ) , p. 131, about Amir Khusrau's visit to Deogir in 722/1322: "Although they are of Hindu origin and so hellites, in point of beauty they are all heavenly and of houri descent." For the idea that India is, for many reasons, as intolerable as hell, see Khushhal K h a n Khattak's complaints about his imprisonment in India: 1 9

2 0

2 1

2 2

2 3

3

In Hind, O Khushhal, thou will not remain for aye— For the sinner, even, at last, will escape from the fire of Hell. (Raverty, Selections, p. 194).

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May we, then, surmise, that this imagery, formed by the poets whose works were known to every educated person, may have worked under the surface to strengthen the Muslim feeling of superiority in the Subcontinent ? This is highly probable, all the more as the racial background of most of the early Muslim dynasties in India was indeed Turkish. And if we believe Amir Khusrau, Turkish was widely and well spoken—even better than in Central Asia!—in thirteenth-century India. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) seems to me a particularly interesting exponent of the formative period of Indian Islam. Tenderly named Turk Allah by his mystical guide Nizamuddin Auliya, who was himself of Turkish extraction, Amir Khusrau was also the "parrot of India" thanks to his sweet speech. Son of a Turkish officer and of a woman of Indian background, he lived through the reigns of seven kings, each of whom interpreted Islam in his own way— though not always very correctly. We may agree with S. M. Ikram that Indian Muslims in their whole approach did not start with orthodox Islam. In general, the earlier rulers of the Delhi sultanate like Iltutmish, for all their piety, followed a course more realistic than shari'a-boxmd. Iltutmish's father-in-law, Aybek, a Turkish war slave, had become Sultan before his official manumission (which was against the shari'a). Iltutmish himself dared to propose his daughter, Radiya Sultan, as his successor (1236); she was hailed by the Turkish nobles who, however, later resented her partiality toward an Abyssinian officer. Four hundred years later, Iltutmish's action was severely criticized by 'Abd alHaqq Muhaddith-i Dihlawi, the reformer of Prophetic tradition in the heyday of the Mughal Empire when the need for stricter orthodoxy was felt by most of the Indian Muslims. But during the midthirteenth century the 'ulama' indeed 24

25

28

"did lend a hand, and perhaps not unsuccessfully, in helping the advance­ ment of Muslim society [in the Hindustdn-i kdfir, as poets would say ] instead of harnessing all the religious passions to impede its progress." 27

28

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Waheed, Amir Khusrau, p. 160, from the dibdcha-yi ghurra-yi kamal. About this poet see ibid.; also M . Habib, The Life of Amir Khusro (Bombay, 1927); H . Ethe, in W . Geiger and E . Kuhn, Grundrifi der iranischen Philologie (2 vols.; StraBburg, 1898-1902), I I , 244 ff.; H . Elliot, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians (London, 1867ff.), I l l , 5 2 4 - 5 6 6 ; A . Schimmel, "Islamic Literatures of India," in J. Gonda, ed., History of Indian Literatures (Wiesbaden, 1973), pp. 16ff. 2 5

2 6

Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 220. Iltutmish's Turkish wife, Shah-i Turkan, is described b y the historians as an outrageous woman. This term occurs in Sana'i, Hadiqat al-haqiqa, ed. M. Razawi (Tehran, 1329 sh./ 1950), chap, viii, p. 589; one century before him, Parrukhi, in his capacity as court poet of Mahmud of Ghazna, had praised his patron in many verses as conqueror of "infidel India"; and even Indian mystical poets, like the Chishti saint Gisiidaraz (d. 1422 in Golconda), confront the "infidel Hindu" with the Turk (Diwdn anis al-'ushshaq [lith. n . d . ] , p. 18, cf. p. 45). Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 134. 2 7

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Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact

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They thought it wise to follow Muhammad ibn al-Qasim's mode of government by "leaving the people to their ancient belief, except in cases of those who wanted to become Muslims." The struggle for the throne at Nasiruddin ibn Iltutmish's death (1265) consisted merely of a struggle between the Turkish amirs, led by the future sultan Balban, and the Indian-born princes, those nau-musulmdns who, as some politicians felt, were not to be trusted too much. Being a Muslim was not considered "enough to make any difference to his political status, unless he was a Turk of pure blood": this racial consciousness—which is reminiscent of the early Arab attitude toward the mawdli—reflects, too, the conviction that the Turk was the ideal Muslim hero. 29

30

31

The rule of Balban (1265-1287) is painted in most glowing colors three generations later by Barani. This author, himself boasting of his unalloyed Turkish pedigree, cannot find enough praise for the stern Islamic rule of Balban, and explains his ideals of Islamic statesmanship in India in copious advice put into the mouths of wise theologians or of the Sultan himself. To protect the faith, dinpandhi, is the most important duty of the ruler, and if the Padishah would perform a thousand rak'as of prayer every day, and would keep the fast during his whole life, and would never commit any forbidden act, and would spend the treasure in the way of God, and would not protect the faith, and would not use his power and strength in lowering and restricting the enemies of God and His messenger, and would not seek the honor of the orders of the Divine law . . . then his place would be nowhere but Hell . . . 3 2

And in a later paragraph of Barani's History even 'Ala'uddin Khalji, though by no means regular in prayer and fasting, is praised by Maulana. Shamsuddin Turk of Multan for his dinpandhi which resulted in the Hindu women's and children's begging at the Muslims' door. Barani's overall approach to the duties of a Muslim king in India—who, of course, should not allow any philosophy to be taught or studied in his country —shows keen awareness of the danger that "as the pagan and idol-worshipping Hindus have forgotten God, the Muslims may also forget Him." This feeling was strengthened after Balban's death and after the short and more-cheerfulthan-pious rule of his young grandson Kaikubad (1287-1291), when the Khalji 33

34

35

2 9

Sachau, al-Biruni, p. 11. Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 335. Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 163, quoted from P. Saran, Studies in Medieval Indian History (Delhi, 1952), pp. 223ff. Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 44. Ibid., p. 297, cf. p. 72. Ibid., p. 43. Ibid., p. 94, cf. p. 42. The models set before the ideal ruler are 'Umar ibn alKhattab and 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz. 3 0

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faction dethroned the Turks, and were in turn overthrown by Khusrau Khan, a Hindu convert of low caste. The less than five months of Khusrau Khan's rule in 1320 (April 14-September 6) in Delhi, a place once rivaling Cairo and Baghdad, are gloomily described by both Amir Khusrau and Barani as a severe blow to everything Islamic, so that Muslim apprehension concerning the Hindus seemed perfectly justified. Mosques were defiled and destroyed, the Qoran no longer honored. Barani is said to have put all his moral zeal into the work that he wrote as the court historian of the following dynasty, the Tughluqs, who had come to power with the motto "Islam in danger." (That Muhammad ibn Tughluq appointed a Hindu as governor of Sind sounds surprising under these circumstances. But so do several other actions of his, like the choice of Daulatabad in the Deccan as his new capital where he transplanted most of the inhabitants of Delhi in 1327.) Barani was delighted to see that Muhammad's son Firuz Tughluq who ascended the throne in 1351 levied the jizya on the Brahmins, although he disliked even the idea that the Hindus might be able to continue the tradition of idol worship by merely paying a few tankas and the poll tax: what, then, he asks, is the difference between Muslim kings and Hindu raja? His remark that the Hindus by and large continued living in almost exactly the same way as they did before the Muslim advent is correct; land administra­ tion did not change and in the countryside life continued according to timehonored patterns. The shari'a did not interfere with the autonomous structures of rural and caste life. The role of the Hindu merchant remained likewise unchallenged; it was comparable with that of Jews hi medieval Arab countries (so that in the early twentieth century Mirza Qalich Beg in his Sindhi adaptation of The Merchant of Venice could still transform Shylock into a Hindu moneylend­ er). In time of war, Hindu subjects of a Muslim ruler might fight under his arms against another Hindu ruler, for "loyalty to the salt" was one fundamental 36

37

138

3 6

Ibid., p. 341. That Delhi rivaled Cairo is valid notwithstanding 'Ala udDin's illiteracy! About the internal feuds during these years see Amir Khusrau's verse (quoted by Waheed, Amir Khusrau, p. 122): The Hindus can fight against each other like two cocks, But not against the Turk, who is like a falcon. 3 7

Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 96. The reason for his choice of Daulatabad was probably his fear of the strong Sufi influence in Delhi. See Ikram, Muslim Rule, 130f.; on Barani's fatawa-yi jahandari see M . Habib and Afsar Afzalu'd-Din, Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate (Aligarh, I 9 6 0 ) ; see also K . A . Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India during the 13 Century (Bombay, 1961). Barani held a theory opposite to that of Fakhr-i Mudabbir one century earlier; Fakhr had advocated the protection of the dhimmis. On this historian see 'Abdus Sattar Khan, "Fakhr-i Mudabbir," Islamic Culture (Hyderabad/Deccan), X I I (December, 1938), 3 9 7 - 4 0 4 . I t should not be forgotten that other rulers acted differently according to the exigencies of time and place; thus, Zain al-'Abidin of Kashmir (1420-1470) abolished the jizya completely. 3 8

th

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social principle: here, the difference with the dhimmis in the central lands of Islam becomes evident. In the later years of his reign, Flrfiz Shah Tughluq (1351-1388) appointed a Hindu who had been converted to Islam by Nizamuddin Auliya to the coveted office of the vizier, and thus gave the final blow to the ideals of Turkish suprem­ acy. These ideals, however, remained alive in poetry: in the regional languages, the word "Turk" became equivalent with "Muslim." Can one speak during this formative period of Islamic rule in India of any deeper changes in the Muslim community ? Certainly, there are some modifica­ tions in the application of outward legal rules, but the whole setting seems to provide very well-defined borders between Turkish rulers and Hindu ruled (which included the former spiritual leaders of the people). On the highest level of social order, the borders were adamant, and if any cultural exchange took place at all, it was on the level of superstitions, of popular festivities, and the like. May one then try to look for approximations in the field of literature ? Lahore, proudly called "Little Ghazna" before it was sacked by the Mongols in 1241, produced the outstanding scholar oihadith, as-Saghani (d. 1252), the author of the widely read Mashdriq al-anwdr. As tradition tells, some of the early poets living there composed some verses in Hindi, the general term for regional languages as contrasted with the learned idioms. Unfortunately neither the Hindi diwdn of Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salman (d. 1121), the Panjabi poet, nor the Hindi verses of Amir Khusrau are extant so as to enable us to judge possible influences of Hindu imagery upon these writers. It can be said, however, that Mas'ud uses for the first time in Persian the type of bardmdsa, the poem about the peculiarities of the seasons or, in his case, the twelve months of the Muslim year. This form, derived from Sanskrit, never became popular in Persian, not even hi the Subcontinent; but it remained one of the favorite types of poetry, both Hindu and Muslim, in the regional languages from Bengali to Sindhi and Panjabi. The first, and indeed the only, Indo-Persian poet to introduce some Indian flavor into his poetry is Amir Khusrau: the very first line of his diwdn contains the traditional Indian motif of the lover complaining of separation during the rainy season. Yet, Amir Khusrau uses the inherited dichotomy Turk-Hindu, Turkish beloved and Hindu slave, in his verses in exactly the way we know it from Mzami, 'Attar, and innumerable others. Maybe he stresses slightly more 40

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See Habib, Amir Khusro, on this problem. Ikram, Muslim Rule, pp. 139, 164. Mas'ud ibn Sa'd, Dlwan, ed. Rashld Y a s m i (Tehran, n.d.), pp. 654ff. For the poetical form: D . H . H . Ingalls, Sanscrit Poetry from Vidyakara's 'Treasury'' (Cambridge, Mass., 1968). For the form in Sindhi see the collection by N . B. Baloch, Hafta, Dinhan, Rdtiyun, Mahina (Hyderabad/Sind, 1961); for Panjabi see L . Ramakrishna, Panjabi Mystical Poetry (London and Calcutta, 1938). 4 0

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than his predecessors the aspect of the drunken Turk, that is, the frenzied and heart-robbing chevalier; but Hindu remains more or less the synonym of "black" and "slave." Amir Khusrau, however, has highlighted one aspect of Hinduism in a rather positive way: in his poems, the ascetic practice of burning oneself (known to earlier authors as well) is often mentioned; the firm belief of the Hindu in his idols becomes a model for the Muslim (an idea still repeated by Ghalib and Iqbal in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively). The faithful wife who burns herself for the sake of perfect love is openly admired by Amir Khusrau; the subject of sati itself, however, was only once made the theme of a Persian epic in India, that is, Nau'i's Suz u gudaz in the late Akbar period. It was, on the whole, too repellent to Muslim feeling. One should not overlook, however, that even the earliest Persian-writing poets like Daqiqi had spoken of the fire worship of the Hindus; the poets even tended to confuse Hin­ dus and Zoroastrians, both connected with fire worship, and in poetry the love of the little black Hindu boy (symbol of the lower soul which can become useful through constant education) can at times alternate with the love the poet allegedly feels for the charming Zoroastrian cupbearer. Both are counter 42

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The "drunken Turk" already occurs in Nizami's Khusrau Shirin, and in 'Attar, Diwan, ghazal no. 321, in contrast with the Hindu; the topic has been dealt with in an unpublished, untitled paper by Wheeler M. Thackston, Harvard Univer­ sity. Bitter (Meer der Seele,p. 533),gives instances from Naubakhti, Firaq ash-shi'a, and 'Ainulqudat Hamadhani. Daqiqi (d. 980) connects the Hindu with burning (Lazard, Premiers Poetes, I I , 167). In Amir Khusrau's Diwan, ed. M . Darwish (Tehran, 1343 sh./1964), the following instances are particularly revealing: no. 186; no. 1442: 4 3

Y o u have claimed love, Khusrau, now it befits you To burn alive, like Hindus, in the fire of grief, no. 7 3 5 : the Hindu "Night" is burned b y the sun. See also nos. 42 and 1533. Long before, Anwari had complained of a Hindu who burned the poet's soul as if it were a Hindu (Diwan, ed. S. Nafisi [Tehran, 1337 sh./1958], Qasida p. 144, a tashbib with a number of other interesting remarks). The image was extended: the black "hindu" curls surround the fiery, reddish, glowing beautiful face (Jami, Diwan, nos. 312, 2 0 7 ; Naziri, Diwan, ed. T. Musaffa [Tehran, 1340 sh./1961], ghazal p. 328 and several times). A n interesting combination of two motifs is given b y Maulana Qasim Kahi, the witty poet of early Mughal times, who puts Rumi's famous lines "I was raw, I was cooked, I burned" in the mouth of a wise Brahmin whom he allegedly met at Somnath (quoted in Mir 'AH Shir Qani', Maqalat ash-shu'ara, ed. H . Rashdi [Karachi, 1957], p. 677). Ghalib, Urdu diwan, ghazal—"brahman ko." Iqbal, "Lala-yi Tur," in Paydm-i Mashriq (Lahore, 1923), no. 118, or in Jdwidname, line 366. Amir Khusrau speaks of sati in Diwan, no. 678, and his idea that "it is not easy to burn alive out of love" is repeated, though rarely in Persian poetry, b y later Pashto poets, cf. Raverty, Selections, p. 2 2 1 ; see p. 226 for Khushhal and p. 301 for A h m a d Shah Abdali. English version b y Mirza Y . Dawud and Dr. A . K . Coomaraswamy (London, 1912); printed at the end of Vol. I of Akbarname (Lucknow, 1284/1867). Some 4 4

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images to the purity of Islamic faith, and the idol worship of the Hindu added a new element of elegance to Persian love poetry. There are lines in Amir Khusrau's poetry which suggest a deeper under­ standing of things Indian; in his epics he excels in describing the fruits, flowers, and the material culture of his native country. His historical epics, which usher in a new period in epical poetry in Persian, reflect life in the Turkish period and tell of the meeting of Balban's son Bughra Khan with his son Kaikubad, the king of Delhi, or relate the admirable love story of Duwal Rani and Prince Khidr Khan, and many more local events. Of prime interest in this respect is his epic Nuh Sipihr, "The Nine Spheres," each sphere composed in a different meter. The third Sphere, which contains praise of Hindustan, has a unique meter (three times ~ ^ ~ ) . Here, the poet glorifies his country which has prod­ uced wisdom and books like Kalilah wa Dimna, and has curious animals, like the parrot and the peacock, the one gifted with speech, the other connected with Paradise. And was not Adam driven out of Paradise to India ? And there are the numerous languages of India which, when imported, develop more beautifully than it was possible in their native country—is not the Persian (darl) of India much superior to that of Khurasan or Sistan % Do not people learn the finest Turkish here ? To be sure, no language can be compared with Arabic, yet Sanskrit, with its complicated grammar, is inferior only to Arabic but superior to Persian. And is not this country blessed with possessing a unique poet like Amir Khusrau himself? 49

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beautifully illustrated manuscripts of the poem are found inter alia in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, nos. 268, 269, and in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Suppl. Pers., no. 769. Farrukhi, however, wishes his patron happiness 4 7

As long as the profession of the mobeds is wne-worshipping, A s long as the profession of the Brahmin is idc^-worshipping, (Diwdn, qasida, p. 161). 'Urfi, five and a half centuries later, contrasts the brahminkish, "who has the religion of a brahmin" with the "vault of the fire temple," in Kulliydt-i 'Urfi, ed. A . Jawahiri (Tehran, n.d.), ghazal p. 382. Even a Turkish poet like Rusjeni (d. 1487) uses the idea of the Hindu magician who burns himself in a poem about the tulip: since this flower has not lowered its head before the rose, it has burnt itself like a mugh-i Hindu-yi gebr, cited in Irene Melikoff, "La Fleur de la Souffrance," Journal Asiatique, 255 (1967), 353. A lovely qifa pertaining to the difference between a Hindu and a Turkish slave b y Farrukhi (Diwdn, p. 232) claims that the docile Hindu is easier to kiss and to love than the obstinate and cruel Turk. See also the verse b y Mukhtar-i Ghaznawi, quoted in Meier, Mahsati, p. 8. See S. A . Rahman, "Patriotism in Amir Khosrau's W o r k , " Indo-Iranica, X V , 3 (1962), and S. H . Askari, "Rasd'il-ul-Ijdz of Amir Khusrau: A n Appraisal," inZakir Husain Presentation Volume (Delhi, 1968), pp. 116ff., with highly interesting examples from Khusrau's epistolography. Waheed (Amir Khusrau, p. 180) hymnically praises this epic which "breathes with patriotism." See Waheed, Amir Khusrau, pp. 182f., an analysis of the Nuh Sipihr. Parrot, peacock, and elephant are typically Indian animals; the elephant who longs for 4 8

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The last statement, which crowns the poet's praise of India, raises the question of how much we should take his lavish praise at face value. There is no doubt that Amir Khusrau has expressed his admiration for his country more than once in poetry and prose. But most revealing seems to me the poem in which he says: Happy be Hindustan, with its splendor of religion, Where the skari'a enjoys perfect honor and dignity! In learning now Delhi rivals Bukhara, Islam has been made manifest by the rulers, From G-hazni to the very shore of the ocean You see Islam in its glory, Muslims, here, belong to the Hanafi creed, But sincerely respect all the four schools. They have no enmity with the Shafiites, and no fondness for the Zaidites, With heart and soul they are devoted to the path of jamd'at and sunna. It is a wonderful land, producing Muslims and favoring religions, Where the very fish in the streams are Sunnis. 52

Amir Khusrau's verses foreshadow poems written in a less fortunate period, the eighteenth century, when the pious Muslims in the decaying Mughal Empire dreamed of those days of a happy past and tried to establish, by learned treatises, that India was the real home of everything beautiful, nay, even of prophecy. Amir Khusrau's idea that everything develops its best qualities in India is echoed hi the verses of poets migrating from Iran to Delhi in the Mughal period as much as in the words of Shibli Nu'mani, the historian of literature in the early twentieth century. The Stibhat al-marjan by the eighteenth-century scholar Azad Bilgrami is a typical example of the nostalgic attempts to restore once more the "sacred Muslim Hindustan" in a time of distress. Did not even some Indo-Muslim interpreters try to connect Abraham with the barahima, the 53

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home, India, becomes commonplace among poets starting with Nizami and Khaqani, and mainly with R u m i ; Khaqani (Diwdn, qasida p. 391) praises the justice of a ruler thanks to whom all the climates of the earth have become unified so that the falcon (a typically "Turkish" bird) dwells in India, the parrot (typically Indian) in Bulghar, that is, among the Turkish tribes on the Volga. The poem, quoted b y Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 89, is from the Qirdn as-Sa'dain. Amir Khusrau's Tughluqndme, ed. H . Farldabiidi (Aurangabad, 1933), is filled with descriptions of black Hindus and wordplays related to their blackness so that those Muslims who fight on the side of the Hindus become "like (black) shadows" (line 2147). Thus Salim's famous line that Henna does not acquire its proper color until it comes to India, in Aslah, Tadhkira, I , 403, quoted in Browne, A Literary History, I V , 166. 5 2

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Shibli Nu'mani, Shi'r aUajam (Hyderabad/Deccan, 1908-1918).

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Brahmins, so that the trial of Abraham in Nimrod's pyre could be related to Hindu fire ordeals ? But this is only one current that appears now and then, and mainly in time of despair, in Indo-Muslim writing. In general the Muslims living in the Sub­ continent preserved their cultural identity amazingly well. One of the reasons was probably the strictly classical curriculum that the Muslim student had to undergo which made perusal of the classics of Islamic mystical theology, like alGhazzali's Ihya' 'ulum ad-din, Qushairi's Risala, Makki's Qui al-qulub, and Suhrawardi's 'Awarif al-ma'arif, as necessary for him as the study of the trad­ itional Arabic handbooks of grammar and dogmatics, of hadith, and of Hanafi jurisprudence (mainly the Quduri). A glance at Zubaid Ahmad's book on India's contribution to Arabic literature shows the large amount of work inspired by Arabic sources. The main center of Arabic influence other than pure theology and philosophy was southern India; in the north, the Persian tradition was prevalent in the nonscholarly fields. Already Balban had introduced Persian court style in Delhi. In fact, as much as the early rulers felt themselves to be Turks, they connected their Turkish origin not with Turkish tribal history but rather with the Turan of the Shahname: in the second generation their children bear the names of Firdosi's heroes, and their Turkish lineage is invariably traced back to Afrasiab— whether we read Barani in the fourteenth century or the Urdu master poet Ghalib in the nineteenth century. The poets, and through them probably most of the educated classes, felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civ­ ilized world by the thread of Iranianism. The imagery of poetry remained exclusively Persian. Even when Indian topics were elaborated, like Ndl Daman, Padmavati,™ or similar subjects, the poets closely followed the model once set by Nizami's epics and adapted their style, meter, and imagery. For centuries, the roses and nightingales of Shiraz continued to blossom and sing in the ghazals of Indo-Persian poets: barely a word in the Persian verses of a nine­ teenth-century poet like Ghalib points to his Indian origin (if we disregard 56

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See Le Coran, traduction inte'grale et notes du Muhammad Hamidullah (Paris, 1959), p. 596, note at Sura 87 : 19 about the possible relation of the suhuf Ibrahim with the Veda. Cf. Zubaid Ahmad, The Contribution of Indo-Pakistan to Arabic Literature (Lahore, 1 9 6 8 ) ; M . Ishaq, India's Contribution to the Study of Hadith Literature (Dacca, 1955). A h m a d al-Quduri (d. 1037) is the author of the most widely read handbook of Hanafi jurisprudence, the Mukhtasar. Barani, Ta'rikh, p. 3 9 ; for Ghalib's claim see A . C. S. Gilani, Ghalib: His Life and Persian Poetry (Karachi, 1962), pp. 15f. Fayzi's Ndl Daman, part of a khamsa imitating Nizami's Khamsa, was printed first Lucknow 1877. Padmavat: see S. A . Abidi, "The Story of Padmavat in IndoPersian Literature," Indo-Iranica, X V , 2 (1963), 1-11. Romances of Indian origin: Ethe, Grundrip, I I , 251. See also S. A . H . Abidi, "The Influence of Hindi on IndoPersian Literature in the Reign of Shah Jahan," Indo-Iranica, X I I I , 2 (1960), 1-18, and the same, Indian Elements in Indo-Persian Literature (Delhi, 1969). 5 7

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some unpleasant remarks about his Indian fellow poets). Even the Hindu scribes were so deeply steeped in this literary language that they would freely apply the inherited Persian images and not mind the role of the "Hindu" in this very imagery. Ghazzali and Abu Hanifa, Hallaj and Bayazid were much more alive in the vocabulary of the average Muslim than any historical figure connected with the Subcontinent, and the poets to be quoted were Sa'di, Hafiz, and Jalal ud-Din Rumi: from them the average educated Indian Muslim took his spiritual nourishment. That can be understood very well from the notes of Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, a British woman in Lucknow in the 1820s: most of her de­ scription could apply as well to the setting in Istanbul, Shiraz, or Cairo as to Lucknow, and proves the complete uniformity of feeling and learning throughout the Muslim world even at that late point in history. But was there not a single sign of change in Indian Islam ? The central bloc of Muslim believers in the Subcontinent certainly remained comparatively untouched by their surroundings, and the line of rigid separation between Hindu and Muslim goes from the earliest times via Barani through Bada'uni to Aurangzeb and his political advisers. But side by side with Bada'uni at Akbar's court lived Abu'1-Fadl, the historian, and side by side with Aurangzeb lived Dara Shikoh, the mystic. It is in the mystical traditions of Indian Islam that certain changes can be detected, both on the highest level of theosophical mysticism and on the lowest level of popular mystical piety and poetry. 60

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Cf. N . S. Gorekar, "Hindu Efforts at Persian Studies," Indo-Iranica, X V , 2 (1962), 12-27. The interest of Hindu scholars in Persian waxed stronger under Sikandar Lodi's rule in the late fifteenth century; they participated in historiog­ raphy (like Bindraban and Sujan R a y in the seventeenth century) and in science; among the poets, Chandar Bhan Brahman, Dara Shikoh's secretary, is particularly worth mentioning. Later, many Hindus wrote tadhkiras. In the regional languages, they sometimes even composed poetry in honor of the Prophet of Islam. A typical example of their use of traditional Muslim symbolism is the verse b y Roshan, a Kashmiri Hindu in the seventeenth century, describing the curls on the friend's cheek: Your lock which leans full of coquetry on a rose petal: Look at the Hindu who stretched his foot on a copy of the Qoran! (Aslah, Tadhkira, I , 289). The idea is borrowed from 'Urfi (Kulliyat, ghazal p. 357): I saw Hindu children, e.g. his mole, his down, and his curls, W h o had stretched their feet on a copy of the Qoran: that is how an idoltemple should be! Earlier, Katib-i Isfahan! had compared the mole close to the beloved's lips to a Hindu sitting at the paradisiacal fountain Kauthar (R. P. Masani, Court Poets of Iran and India [Bombay, 1938], p. 71), an idea often elaborated b y later poets in the Subcontinent. Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations on the Mussulmauns of India (2 vols.; London, 1832), I, 88. T h . Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (London, 1896; repr. Lahore, 1956); Yusuf Husain, L'Inde Mystique au Moyen-Age (Paris, 1929). 6 1

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It is well known that the Islamization of the Subcontinent owes largely to the incessant activities of the Sufi saints who, except for Hujwiri's (d. 1071) early stay in Lahore, began to wander to India around 1200. Mu'in ud-Din Chishti of Ajmer (d. 1236) and his khalifas as well as Baha' ud-Din Zakariya. of Multan were veritable pillars of mystical enlightenment; but the Sufism they preached was fully consonant with the classical line reaching from Abu Talib al-Makki to Ghazzali and Abii Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi. It was no mean ideal of some Sufis up to the nineteenth century to attain the glory of martyrdom by destroying a Hindu idol and being killed by the guardians of the temple. Only one of the mystics of the thirteenth century represents a model for what was to happen later: La'l Shahbaz Qalandar, the saint of Sehwan, to whom the dervishes "outside the law" are attached and whose dwelling place was nothing but an ancient Shiva sanctuary. Similar transformations of Hindu shrines into Muslim sanctuaries (a fact often witnessed in the Near East in the case of Christian places of veneration) occur frequently, and often the same miracles are ascribed to the former Hindu deity and to the later Muslim saint. Kashmir proved a particularly fertile soil for this kind of syncretism which, however, worked almost everywhere on the lower level of popular piety. On the higher level, it was Ibn 'Arabi's theosophy that largely influenced the world view of many an Indian Muslim. Sayyid 'Ali Hamadhani, the Kubrawi saint who reached Kashmir with his followers in 1371, composed the first commentaries on the work of the shaikh al-akbar, and half a century later Ibn 'Arabi's sys­ tem of wahdat al-wujud was well known in the Subcontinent thanks to a number of commentators (Gisudaraz, d. 1422; 'Ali ibn Ahmad al-Maha'imi, d. 1431). Contrary to the approach in the classical period with its stress on practical piety and the voluntaristic aspects of mysticism, the gnostic approach permeated the thought of many of the later Sufis of India. But that is true for most parts of the Islamic lands as well. In India, though, it seemed not im­ possible to cross the borders to Indian mystical philosophy starting with Ibn 'Arabi's Unity of Being. Externals of Indian (Buddhist and Yoga) mystical technique had been incorporated into Sufism in a rather early period (breath 63

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About the martyr, mainly the Sufi slain by Hindus, see Th. Arnold, "Saints and Martyrs, Muhammadan, in India," in Encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics, X , 68ff.; a good example of this attitude is that of the Naqshbandi mystic 'Abd arRahim Girhori in eighteenth-century Sind (U. M . Daudpota, Kalam-i Oirhori [Hyderabad/Sind, 1955]). The best account of this process is still Arnold's article in the ERE (cf. note 63), esp. § 13. About him see J. K . Teufel, Eine Lebensbeschreibung des Scheichs 'Ali-i Hamad&ni (Leiden, 1962); for his commentaries on Ibn 'Arabi's works and other Sun books see Zubaid Ahmad, Contribution,Section. I V , 4. The most famous commentators were Abii'l-Mahasin Sharaf ad-Din Dihlawi (d. 1392), Muhammad Gisudaraz (d. 1422), 'All ibn Ahmad al-Maha'imi (d. 1431), and Muhibb Allah Allahabad! (d. 1648), called 'the Ibn 'Arabi of India.' For all of them cf. Zubaid Ahmad, Contribution, Section I V . 6 4

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control, chilla-yi ma'kusa, vegetarianism); but only in the sixteenth century were attempts made at blending Sufi and Yoga experience (the Rushdndme by 'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi, d. 1538, deserves detailed study); popular poets would even praise the Yogis in terms taken from the Qoran. . . . The feeling that mutual understanding and greater toleration could be achiev­ ed by going back to the sacred books and holy traditions of Indian thought clearly underlies Akbar's attempts to reconcile the two communities, which re­ sulted in an enormous output of translations from Sanskrit into Persian. The literary language, however, remained as unchanged as the general attitude of the Muslim middle-class intelligentsia toward Hindu tradition. Similarly, Dara Shikoh's noble attempt to create a new synthesis by "uniting the two oceans" was doomed to fail. But in another sector of Islamic mystical life a change occurred that is worth mentioning, namely in the mystical poetry in the regional languages. As almost everywhere, it was the mystics who transformed the spoken idioms into higher literature: they liked to sing of their Divine love in words even the simplest villager could understand, and to instruct their fellow creatures in the essentials of the faith in verses even a little schoolboy could memorize. Thus, the growth of regional languages as vehicles of literature owes largely to mystical leaders who used early forms of Dakhni Urdu, Panjabi, and Sindhi to introduce in poetical form the Islamic tradition to the unbelievers. And it was here that poetry took the turn toward the Indian tradition which it had not taken on the higher, Persian, level. For the poets imitated the verses sung by the women in the houses and during their work to describe the longing of the soul for God. Whereas Persian love poetry, mystical or profane, speaks almost exclusively of 68

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The so-called chilla-yi ma'kusa, the forty days' meditation, performed b y hanging oneself upside down in a well or from a tree, was known in early times in Iran; see R . A . Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism (Cambridge, 1921), on A b u Sa'id Abu'l-Khair. Vegetarianism occurs in the eighth century among Iraqi ascetics as well as in North Africa; in both cases, the derivation from Indian prac­ tices cannot be proved. I. H . Quddusi, 'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi (Karachi, 1961). Thus the Sindhi poet Shah 'Abd al-Latif (d. 1752), Risalo, ed. K . Adwani (Bombay, 1957), Sur Ramkali. K . R . Qanungo, Dara Shukoh (Calcutta, 1*935); B . J. Hasrat, Dara Shikuh: Life and Works (Calcutta, 1953); L . Massignon and A . M . Kassim, "Un essai de bloc islamo-hindou au X V I I siecle: l'humanisme mystique du Prince Dara," Revue du monde musulman, L X I I I (1926), 1-14; for his Persian translation of the Upanishads (ed. Tara Chand and M . R . Jalali Na'ini [Tehran, 1961]) see E . Gobel-Gross, Die Upanishad-Ubersetzung Dara Shikohs (Phil. Diss. Marburg 1962). For the development in Urdu see Maulwi 'Abd al-Haqq, Urdu ki nashw u nama men sufiyayi kiram ka kam (Karachi, 1953); for Panjabi: L. Ramakrishna, Panjabi Mystical Poetry (London and Calcutta, 1938); for Sindhi: H . T . Sorley, Shah Abdul Latif (London, 1940), Sayyid Hussamuddin Rashdi, Sindhi Adab (Karachi, s.d.), and A . Schimmel, "Sindhi Literature," in J. Gonda, History of Indian Literatures (Wiesbaden, 1974). 6 8

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a love relation between two males, and Ibn 'Arabi sees the highest manifestation of the Divine Essence in female beauty, Indo-Muslim folk poets returned in­ stead to the native tradition of the loving Radha yearning for Krishna, of the village woman anxiously waiting for her husband and indulging in happy swingsongs at his arrival. Almost the whole tradition of Sindhi and Panjabi mystical poetry carries this specifically Indian flavor. The poets in the Indus plains see the heroines of the old folktales, Sassui, Sohni, Marui, Lila, Hir, as representa­ tives of the soul; they see the soul as a lonely woman sitting in her reed-thatched hut, waiting for her husband to come in the rainy season and cover her with His grace, or describe her spinning the yarn of the dhikr in her heart. The feminine nafs, the despised, base soul principle of Arabic and Persian mysticism, is forgotten; the soul as the seat of feeling, longing, and love is seen as a tender­ hearted and courageous woman who takes upon herself all hardship in the service of her husband. And the Muslim poet may even express his love of the Prophet in words taken from the traditional Hindu women's song, whether he uses the form of the bardmdsa, or of the Golden Alphabet, or any of the traditional Indian patterns. Even the female companions, so often addressed in Hindu songs uttered by women, are not lacking in these verses composed by men. 2

The same imagery occurs in some early Urdu mystical works;' but later, this language became too strongly Persianized to allow this symbolism any more. (Yet, we may remember the profanation of similar trends in the later "decadent" genre oirekhtl, Urdu verses in women's dialect composed by sophis­ ticated male poets.) But even in the Persian writings of an eighteenth-century Naqshbandi mystic of Delhi, Nasir Muhammad 'Andalib, the soul is represented once in a daring image as a bride who, at the moment of the consummation of marriage, is taught that the seeming cruelty of the husband in wounding her body is nothing but the proof of his perfect love and "naked union." Here, the Islamic idea of God's jamdl and jaldl, of suffering as sign of Divine love, and the Indian traditional view of the bridal soul are ingeniously, though rather surprisingly, wrought together. It is this level of mystical folk poetry in which the differences of Turk and Hindu disappear: that is what mystics like Kabir and Dadhu had already expressed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; later Sindhi and Panjabi Muslim poets would boast that they are no longer Turk or Hindu, Lahori or Peshawari. Yet, it was the Turkish element that once more interfered with the mystical attempt at unification, or even at approachment. Their spearhead was the 73

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Thus in the work of Shah 'Ali Muhammad Jiw Jan (d. 1515) where God ia seen as the Beloved, the soul as bride or wife ('Abd al-Haqq, Urdu, p. 10). Muhammad Nasir 'Andalib (d. 1752), Nala-ye 'Andalib (2 vols.; Bhopal,. 1309 sh./'l890), I , 560." Thus Kabir and his disciple Dadhu; or Guru Gobind Singh; or Bullhe Shah (quoted in Ramakrishna, Panjabi Mystical Poetry). 7 3

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Central Asian Naqshbandi leader Khwaja Baqi Billah who, reaching India in the late days of Akbar, called the Muslims once more to fight the Hindustan-i kdfir. The teachings of his disciple Ahmad Sirhindi were instrumental in the final survival of the orthodox Aurangzeb whose behavior would have delighted Barani and Bada'uni, and in the defeat of Dara Shikoh's mystical syncretism. That the Naqshbandiyya also condemned music, in which field the greatest approximation between Muslim and Hindu tradition had been achieved, fits the picture perfectly. The Naqshbandiyya also fought relentlessly against the Shia. It seems, indeed, that some un-Islamic elements had entered into the customs of the Shia community of India, as Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali says so poignantly about the ta'ziya ceremonies in Lucknow: "Here, the ceremony is not complete without & mixture of pageantry with the deeply expressed and public exposure of their grief." Considering Amir Khusrau's joy that even the fishes in the Indian streams were Sunnis, we need not be surprised at the reaction of the Naqshbandiyya to the Ithna'ashariyya Shia. They were probably not aware, however, of the existence of other Shia groups in the Subcontinent in which an almost perfect blending of Islamic and Hindu tradition has taken place. I describe the Ismailis in their different branches. The first Ismaili settlement was founded in Multan in the late ninth •century. In the fourteenth century they resumed their missionary activities in the same area and farther south, often posing as Sufis. They succeeded in converting Hindus on a large scale by offering them a mystically tinged theory which was as close as possible to the indigenous tradition. Among the religious poems by which they enriched early literature in Sindhi, Kucchi, and Gujerati, the Dasamo Avatar group is of greatest interest: these works—still recited among the Satpanthis and the Imamshahis—went as far as to adopt the Hindu system of avatdra and to declare 'Ali to be the tenth avatar of Vishnu: pictures show him riding his white mule Duldul, the monkey-God Hanuman serving as his umbrella-bearer. It is the only true blending of the two traditions. 75

76

77

78

7 5

Y . Friedman, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Montreal, 1971). The first to create the typically north Indian musical style was Amir Khusrau; an important development of Indo-Muslhh music took place at the court of the Jaunpur Sharqi kings (Ikram, Muslim Rule, p. 191), and among the 'Adil Shahis of Bijapur. I t is remarkable that a stern naqshbandi mujaddidl like Mir Dard of Dehli (d. 1785) has defended his own interest in music in the treatise hurmat alghind. Professor Daud Rahbar kindly informed me that even today the same raga can contain Hindu or Muslim invocations, and that very strange combinations of Hindu and Muslim imagery can be observed in Indian songs. Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, I, 54. Gulshan Khakee, "The Dasam Avatar of the Satpanthi Ismailis and the I m a m Shahis of Indo-Pakistan" (Ph.D. Diss. Harvard, 1972). For the Iman iShahis of Pirana see also Arnold, in ERE, X , 69. 7 6

7 7

7 8

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125

One has tried to elucidate further the problem in how far Muslims have taken over Indian customs like nonremarriage of widows (which was rather frequent, though always opposed by the orthodox) and the Hindu caste system. There are, no doubt, traces of castelike organizations according to trade groups, as S. C. Misra has shown for Gujrat. Even closer to the caste system seems the fact that intermarriage between the different strata of Muslim society—Sayyids, Pathans, Mughal, Shaikh—is comparatively rare. Particularly has the role of the sayyids aroused comment, for the veneration of Sayyid families has sometimes reached incredible heights. For them, intermarriage with other groups was, and partly still is, almost impossible, and even the poorest of them were strictly bound to certain codes of behavior. But in absolute contrast with the Brahmin, the religious duties of the sayyid are exactly the same as those of his lowliest servant, and in prayer no difference exists between Muslims any more. The feeling of all-embracing friendship, the firm trust in the Prophetic tradition that "the believer is the believer's brother" (but also his mirror who shows him his own faults) permeates the whole of the Indian Muslim attitude. Problems of pollution through contact with other Muslims do not arise. This closely knit net of mutual fraternity, with the general attitude of cheerful though serious trust in God—well expressed in the uniformity of certain catchwords, gestures, and facial expression—was one of the greatest boons for the Muslims in the Subcontinent to help them to keep their cultural identity unchanged for so many centuries. A true change in the outlook of the Indian Muslims as a whole sets in rather late. We may once more refer to poetical imagery to illustrate this change: the poets of the Middle Ages had linked together the Turk and the Hindu in a well-established master-slave relation; but shortly before 1600, a new element appears in poetry besides these two standard characters: it is the firangi, the infidel European, who soon became a much more real danger, and the qaid-i firang appeared to be a much more realistic image than the infidel Hindu tresses that had imprisoned the Turk's heart for so long. The Indian Muslims, 79

80

81

82

7 9

S. C. Misra, The Muslim Communities of Gujrat (Bombay, 1964). Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, I , 6. On the importance of congregational prayer see IqbaPs statement in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1928; 10th ed., Lahore 1958), p. 93 (in Chapter I I I ) : " W h a t a tremendous spiritual revolution will take place, practically in no time, if the proud aristocratic Brahman of South India is daily made to stand shoulder to shoulder with the untouchable!" First instances in 'Urfi, thus Kulliyat, p. 106 (Qasida), p. 12 (na't), p. 340 (ghazal); Naziri, Diwan, ghazal 152; Talib-i Amnli, Diwan, ed. T . Shihab (Tehran, 1346 sh./1967), ghazal 16; Abu Talib Kalim, Diwan, ed. P. Baida'i (Tehran, 1336 sh./ 1957), ghazal Nr. 7 1 ; Fighani, Diwan, ed. A . S. Khwansari (Tehran, 1340 sh./1961), p. 266; Sarmad, in S. M . Ikram, Armaghan-i P&k (Karachi, 1953), p. 2 3 7 ; Mirza Bedil, Kulliyat (4 vols.; Kabul, 1962-1965), I, 97, and often. In Sindhi poetry the firangi is likewise the enemy since the Portuguese sacked Thatta in 1555: see Shah 'Abd al-LaJ,If, Risald, Sur Sarirag I I I , 13. The old motif of the "Hindu = mole in 8 0

8 1

8 2

2

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headed by the Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya leaders and the traditionalists, struggled to maintain their identity against this new enemy. The whole eighteenth-century history of Muslim India tells of their desperate attempts at self-identification both on the individual and collective levels, and at assertion of the most important values of Islam (which meant, as far as possible, of Indian Islam), versus the westerners. This pathetic struggle to cope with the new situation continues through nineteenth century, as can be well witnessed in poetry and prose. P. Hardy has shown how the Muslims slowly awoke to the new situation and how painful this process proved for them. But interestingly enough, the ideal of the Turkish defender of the faith remained alive in Muslim India, as almost every novel written in Urdu or Sindhi between 1870 and 1930 can prove. The longing of the Indian Muslim for the seat of the caliphate, Istanbul, and their nostalgic participation in the khildfat movement should also be understood in terms of allegiance to a literary ideal which had been before their eyes for about a thousand years. The change of Indian Islam began only recently, with the partition of the Subcontinent, when Dara Shikoh's ideal of peaceful coexistence on the one hand and Aurangzeb's ideal of Muslim supremacy on the other were cast into political forms. But the inhabitants of both parts of the Subcontinent have still to find their proper attitude vis-a-vis the firangi and vis-a-vis new, perhaps more destructive, forces that threaten Turk, Hindu, and Firangi alike. 83

84

Turkistan — white face" is, then, transformed into "a Hindu as king of Europe," thus in Qani', Maqaldt ash-shu'ard, p. 3 0 9 ; see also p. 609. The firangi occurs now and then in classical Persian poetry, thus in Khaqani's verses (Diwdn, Qasida p. 270 and esp. in Qasida No. 1) in connection with the Crusades and the city of 'Asqalan, and in the same connection, with images inherited from him, in Rumi's lyrics (Diwdn, nos. 694, 1211, 2517, 361, 1330). Sa'di uses the word in similar connections, but it was not yet used as a fixed topos as it was after 1600. 8 3

Some instances of this Turcophil orientation are mentioned by A . Schimmel, "Ein Frauenbildungsroman auf Sindhi: Mirza Qalich Beg's Zinat," Der Islam, 39 (1964), 2 1 0 - 2 2 5 . For Iqbal's shifting attitude toward the Turks see A . Schimmel, Gabriel's Wing (Leiden, 1963), pp. 2 4 0 - 2 4 5 . 8 4

RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE BALKANS AND ANATOLIA FROM THE FOURTEENTH THROUGH THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY SPEROS VRYONIS Jr.

University of California, Los Angeles

An analysis of the impact on each other of Christian and Islamic societies in the Balkans and Anatolia in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries is a broad topic, given the extensive area and the length of time covered. Al­ though the specific interest of the Levi Delia Vida Conference is Islam and cultural change, hence the cultural changes that Islam effected by its spread, the very fact that Islam spread implies that its civilization was affected in the process. One need only trace the fate of the Christian society that evolved in the period from the death of Jesus to the proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the Byzantine state to grasp the reciprocal aspect of all such changes. Consequently an examination of the cultural change that accompanied the spread of an Islamic society in Anatolia and the Balkans can best be viewed in the contrast between the elements of change brought about by Islamization and the elements of survival in the pre-Turkish culture. On occasion this scheme is rendered more complex by the fact that pre-Turkish cultural elements were absorbed and survived within the new Turkish-Muslim society, and, conversely, elements from the latter were absorbed in the Christian society. In a sense one is posing the question of the degree to which the establishment of Islam in Asia Minor and the Balkans altered the culture of the area. I concentrate on only one of the two aspects of cultural change which seem most salient to us looking back at it from a far-off distance of several centuries: Islamization. Although linguistic change is equally apparent, evidence illustrating its nature becomes more abundant after the sixteenth century and so falls outside the scope of this study. What was the cultural hue of Anatolia in the eleventh century, and of the Balkans in the fourteenth century, on the eve of the Turkish conquests of, and settlement in, these two peninsulas ? Both areas had a long and complex history of ethnic migrations and fusions alongside rule by three imperial structures which grew out of one another (Macedonian, Roman, and Byzantine) and which had imposed on the area strands of political and cultural unification. In Anatolia Hellenization as a linguistically and culturally transforming force had commenced with the Greek colonization of the preclassical period, and then

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with the Alexandrian conquests began to penetrate the vast Anatolian hinter­ land from the coastal peripheries. Greek institutions and language spread first to the urban centers, some of them Greek foundations, others forming Greek synoicismoi in connection with the then prevailing rhythm of social life. The rural areas, removed from the focal power of Hellenization, retained their indigenous cultural characteristics longest and it was here that the indigenous Anatolian languages such as Lycian, Phrygian, and Cilician survived the longest. There are persuasive indications that by the end of the A. D. sixth century these languages were either moribund or dead and that the Greek language had penetrated the rural areas from the urban centers, although of course small ethnic groups continued to be settled in Asia Minor throughout Byzantine history. The one limitation to the generalization concerning the spread of Greek is the following: east of a line running from Trebizond in the north through Caesareia to Cilicia in the south Greek was known by a minority of the populace, for this area was occupied by Georgians, Lazes, Armenians, Kurds, and Syrians and their languages must have predominated. Anatolia was one of the first extensive Mediterranean regions to undergo strong Christian influence, the importance of the seven churches of Asia being sufficient to demonstrate this point. The very structure of the Byzantine ecclesiastical administration reflects the fact that the Anatolian region was the most important province of the Constantinopolitan church. In the eleventh century there were forty-seven metropolitanates and more than four hundred bishoprics in the towns of Anatolia, many more by far than existed in the Balkans. The Cappadocian church fathers, themselves Anatolians, had played a crucial role in the integration of Greek literary culture into the new religion ; the principal monastic centers long lay on Anatolian soil. The process of Christianization was in many ways parallel to that of Hellenization. Christianity spread first to the urban centers and thence to the rural areas only later. Here it seems to have encountered religious opposition, eventually in the form of heresies, particularly Montanism and later the dualistic heresies, whether Manichaeism or the later Paulician-Bogomil. The comparative religious homo­ geneity of Asia Minor, as also the lingustic homogeneity, ended abruptly at the linguistic boundaries of Trebizond-Caesareia-Tarsus, east of which only the Georgians and a minority of Armenians adhered to the Chalcedonian church of Constantinople. The Armenians, like the Syrians, had never acknowledged the post-431 Byzantine ecclesiastical councils. Within these linguistic and religious limitations, Asia Minor west of TrebizondCaesareia-Cilicia was predominantly, though not exclusively, Graecophone and Chalcedonian Christian. On the eve of the Turkish invasions of the eleventh 1

1

For all that follows on Anatolia, Speros Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971) (hereafter Asia Minor).

Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia

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century all sources point to a province that was demographically and economi­ cally vital with well-developed towns and thick clusters of agricultural villages around the towns. Merchants and commerce, particularly from the Islamic world, frequented the area where there were special hans and occasionally mosques for their convenience. In the Balkans when the Turks first crossed into Europe, they encountered a group of societies that had undergone a different evolution. The basic difference lay of course in the fact that massive Slavic groups had imposed themselves into the heart of the peninsula in the sixth century and by the time Orhan's legions entered the peninsula of Gallipoli there existed political entities that were the medieval precursors of those of the modern Balkan states. Although the Slavs succeeded in erecting the independent kingdoms of Serbia and Bulgaria, and incidentally of effecting a major linguistic-ethnographic alteration in the heart of the Balkan peninsula, they were themselves closely integrated into the Byzantine cultural sphere. In the southernmost portion of the peninsula they were converted to Orthodox Christianity and ultimately Hellenized. But more significant is the fact that Serbs and Bulgars received Christianity from Constantinople rather than from Rome and by so doing accepted the entire Byzantine Basileia-Orthodoxy complex of politicocultural ideas and forms. Thus the culture of the newcomers was heavily, decisively, influenced by Byzantium. Although this was strongest at the formal level of culture, that is, in the life of the court and of the higher ecclesiastical milieu, there were such elements as hagiolatry and iconolatry which penetrated to the grass roots level as well. A look at the cultural face of the Balkans and Anatolia on the eve of the entrance of the Turks reveals that there existed vital, self-conscious cultural entities which may be characterized as Greco-Armenian and Greco-Slavic. Too often political or military weakness has been equated with cultural inarticulation. It is interesting that Byzantium exercised its greatest cultural influence on the Serbs in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when it was in an advanced state of political, military, and economic decline. In any case we see a larger Christian society stretching from eastern Anatolia to the Danube. The Ottoman tax registers of the early sixteenth century show that a mighty change had occurred. The Ottoman tax registers are the earliest extensive sources for serious population estimates in the hands of historians, and since taxation depended upon, among others, the factor of sectarian affiliation these documents differentiate among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The historian has, thus, an invaluable tool for measuring religious change. Muslims were to all intents and purposes nonexistent in eleventh-century Anatolia and in the fourteenth-century Balkans. There were, it is true, notable exceptions such as 2

2

Vryonis, "The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms," Dumbarton Papers, X X I I I - X X I V (1969-1970), 253ff. (hereafter "Byzantine Legacy").

Oaks

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the Muslim quarter with its mosque in Constantinople (there were even Christian Turks in the Dobrudja and the Vardar regions). But the number of Muslims was infinitesimal in comparison with the number of Christians. The Ottoman tax lists of 1520-1530 record the following numbers of taxable Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Households in Anatolia: 3

4

Muslims

Christians

Jews

Total

Number

903,997

77,869

559

982,425

Percent

92

7.9

0.1

100

In the Balkans the totals

were

as follows:

5

Muslims

Christians

Jews

Total

Number

194,958

832,707

4,134

1,031,799

Percent

18.8

80.7

0.5

100

Even though the absolute accuracy of the statistics is questionable, the figures are nevertheless essentially correct in that they give a sense of the basic proportions of the three religious groups to the total population. The principal student of this material, the Turkish historian Omer Barkan, has broken down much of this evidence to reflect the sectarian constituency of the Ottoman provinces and of many of the towns enabling one to extrapolate interesting information, on the religious configuration of the Balkans and Asia Minor for the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The first and foremost fact is that in Anatolia Islamization was so widespread that 92 percent of the taxable hearths appear as Muslim whereas in the Balkans only 18.8 percent of the total taxable households were Muslim. After all allowances have been made for possible errors and blind spots in these statistics they reflect an important historical fact. The Turkish conquest and settlement effected a basic trans­ formation of the once solidly Christian Anatolian peninsula, whereas Islam and the Turks were numerically a minority phenomenon in the Balkans. Further, the tally according to provinces and towns enables us to observe, in more detailed fashion, the patterns in the spread of Islam. For the five large provinces in Anatolia Barkan has tabulated the following figures: 6

3

Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 4 4 2 - 4 4 3 , n. 126; "Byzantine and Turkish Societies and Their Sources of Manpower," paper delivered at the Conference on " W a r , Techno­ logy and Society in the Middle East," University of London, September, 1970, in preparation for publication, ed. Malcolm Y a p p . O. L . Barkan, "Essai sur les donnees statistiques des registres de recensement dans l'empire ottoman aux X V siecle," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, I (1958), 9 - 3 6 (hereafter "Essai") and "Tarihi demografi ara^tirmalan ve osmanh tarihi," Turkiyat Mecmuasi, X (1952-1953), 1-26. Barkan, "Essai," passim. « Ibid. 4

e

5

Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia

Muslims

Christians

Jews

Province

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Anadolu Karaman Zulkadriye Diyarbekir Rum

517,813 134,452 64,102 70,858 116,772

Total

903,977

98.3 97.9 96.0 85.28 68.3

8,511 3,172 2,631 11,938 51,662 77,869

1.6 2.1 4.0 14.36 31.7

271 — — 288 — 599

0.1 — — 0.36 —

131

Total

526,595 137,579 66,733 83,084 168,434 982,425

From these figures we see that Islamization was nearly complete in Anadolu, Karaman, and Zulkadriye, with a Christian minority of 14.36 percent in Diyarbekir and a large Christian minority in Rum or northeastern Asia Minor centering on Trebizond where the Christians constituted slightly less than a third of the population. A brief glance at the sectarian configuration of five Anatolian towns reinforces this impression. Bursa in the northwest had 6,165 Muslim, 69 Christian, and 117 Jewish hearths; Ankara had 2,399 Muslim, 279 Christian, and 28 Jewish households; Konya had 1,092 Muslim and only 22 Christian taxable hearths. In all these towns of the central and western Ana­ tolian regions the Muslim hearths constituted over 97 percent, 88 percent, and 98 percent, respectively, of the totals. In Tokat there were 818 Muslim and 701 Christian households, whereas in Sivas there were 261 Muslim and 750 Christian hearths. In the former the Muslim-Christian ratio was 53.8 percent-46.2 percent, and in the latter it was 25.8 percent-74.2 percent. These two cities with a much larger Christian populace were located in northeast Asia Minor where, as we saw, the Christian element remained more numerous. This, then, is the impact of the statistics on taxable hearths in Asia Minor, namely, that Islamization was a thoroughgoing process throughout the peninsula save in the northeastern Trebizondine region of Rum where Christians remained a significant minority (31.7 percent). Moving to the Balkans where, as noted, there were 194,958 taxable Muslim hearths (18.8 percent), 832,707 Christian (80.7 percent), and 4,134 (0.5 percent) taxable Jewish hearths, the statistics for the twenty-eight Balkan districts tell us the following: 85 percent of the total Muslim hearths were to be found in ten of the Balkan districts and the remaining 15 percent were sparsely disseminated in the remaining eighteen districts. Muslims were most numerous in Pasha (66,684 hearths), Silistria (17,295), Bosnia (16,935), Tchirmen (12,686), Trikala (12,347), Vize (12,193), Nikopolis (9,122), Herzegovina (7,077), Kiistendil (6,640), Gallipoli (5,001). But in only four of these districts did the Muslims constitute a majority (Silistria, 72 percent, Tchirmen 89 percent, Vize 56 percent, Gallipoli 56 percent). In six districts they formed between 20 and 46

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Speros Vryonis Jr. 7

percent, and in twenty others they constituted less than 20 percent. This brief survey indicates that Islam made the deepest inroads in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Silistria, but was quite weak in the regions of Serbia, Central Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Epirus, Acarnania, Euboea and Attica, Morea and the islands. A tabulation of twelve major urban centers in the Balkans indicates another dimension of Islamization which the figures for the twenty-eight districts do not reveal. In nine of the towns the Muslims were more numerous than the Christians (the figure are in percentages): Muslim Christian Jewish 8

Istanbul (1478) Adrianople Saloniki Sarajevo Larissa Serres Monastir Skopje Sofia

58.2 82.1 25.2 100.0 90.2 61.3 75.0 74.8 66.4

31.6 12.8 20.5 —•

9.8 32.8 20.2 23.7 33.6

10.2 5.1 54.3

— — 5.9 4.8 1.5

—

In only three of the twelve Balkan towns were the Christians more numerous: Athens 0.5 99.5 — Nicopolis 37.7 62.3 — Trikala 36.3 41.5 22.2 Here we see, graphically documented, that in the Balkans the towns were the focal centers of Islam. By contrast the hinterlands were most often Christian. Adrianople and Sofia, important Muslim centers with Muslim majorities of 81.2 and 66.4 percent, were in provinces that had 74 percent and 94 percent Christian hearths, respectively. Sarajevo, an Ottoman foundation with 100 percent Muslim hearths, administered a district in which Christian hearths constituted 56 percent. Larissa had a Muslim majority of 90.2 percent but was in a district that contained an 82.5 percent majority of Christian hearths; Skopje and Monastir had a Muslim majority of 74.5 and 75 percent, respectively, but were in a district that contained an "89.5- percent majority of Christian hearths. The conclusion is an obvious one: although the Muslims were most heavily settled in Silistria, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, their most significant concentration was often in the urban centers. The tax registers record for us one of the most basic aspects of cultural change and continuity in Anatolia and the Balkans by indicating the general pro7

Ibid.; Vryonis, "Religious Changes and Patterns in the Balkans, 14th-16th Centuries," in H . Birnbaum and S. Vryonis, Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and Change (The Hague and Paris, 1972), pp. 162-172 (hereafter "Balkans"). Barkan, "Essai," passim. 8

Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia

133

portions of sectarian makeup of the populace as well as by showing the geo­ graphical spread and extent of Islam and Christianity. As such these statistics are invaluable and unique for this comparatively early period of history, and yet they do not answer the basic historical questions of why Christians converted to Islam, why the religious transformation was so drastic in Anatolia but remained peripheral in the Balkans, when the conversions occurred; and finally they do not describe the nature of the religious and indeed the cultural changes wrought by Islamization. Why, briefly, did the subjects of the Turks convert to Islam ? Inasmuch as the process of Islamization in Asia Minor differed quantitatively from its course in the Balkans there is some merit in considering the two peninsulas separately, and so with a few bare strokes I shall attempt to sketch the reasons for the religious transformation in Anatolia. The reasons are of two broad categories : those that can somehow be labeled negative, that is to say, processes that weakened Christian society; and those that can be described as positive, that is to say, the elements of strength and vitality in Muslim institutions. In the former category, perhaps the single most important reason was the peculiar character of the Turkish conquest and settlement of Anatolia. From the time of the initial Turkmen raids in the eleventh century until the final Ottoman conquest and reunification of the peninsula four centuries later the area knew no unified political rule. In the place of the one Byzantine political structure that most of the land had previously borne there arose a bewildering variety of political entities struggling with one another in an interminable series of minor and major military actions. This warfare was particularly intense in the eleventh and twelfth, fourteenth, and early fifteenth centuries, the thirteenth century being a notable exception because in this period the political stabilization of the Seljuks in Konya and of three Christian states in Nicaea, Trebizond, and Cilicia provided the necessary peace and security for the economic and cultural flowering that the sources and archaeological monuments reveal. But stability first waned, then collapsed, as the kingdoms of Konya, Cilicia, and Nicaea disappeared in the Turkmen whirlwind. By the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, Anatolia consisted for the most part of a large number of small Turkmen beyliks. The consequences of continuous warfare and political splintering were of great importance to the indigenous population and society. First of all it meant that inasmuch as warfare was frequent, there was substantial disruption of life and a partial destruction of society. A recent study identifies more than seventy-five towns and villages that from the eleventh to the mid-twelfth century underwent serious devastation. Twenty-seven of these towns were destroyed and lay unoccupied for differing lengths of time. Although the sources are far less satisfactory for the period of renewed upheaval commencing in the fourteenth century, they nevertheless list fifty-two destroyed or partly destroyed towns and villages. The failure of the Turks to conquer Anatolia in a comparatively short 9

8

Vryonis, Asia Minor,

passim.

134

Speros Vryonis Jr.

period and to pacify it in effect converted substantial areas into a dar al-harb, a no-man's-land. All of this had serious consequences for the Christian society of Anatolia. It meant that the two strongest and most centralized forces that gave this society its tone, the Byzantine state and the Orthodox church (both centered in Constantinople), were disengaged from the body of significant numbers of Christians who had now fallen under Turkish rule. With the disappearance of the emperor's authority, the church remained the most important source of leadership and inspiration for the Christian subjects of the Turks. The history of the Orthodox church in Turkish Anatolia falls roughly into three periods, periods that coincide with the region's political history: (a) upheaval from the eleventh to the mid-twelfth century, (b) stability and prosperity in the thirteenth century, (c) renewed upheaval in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. A careful examination of the ecclesiastical, imperial, and other administrative doc­ uments indicates that the church suffered a disastrous collapse because of the his­ torical events of those times. The principal manifestations of the church's col­ lapse are administrative and economic. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the chaos, tribal depredations, and wars that caused so much disruption entailed the impoverization of the church (lands, revenues, and buildings were seized by the invaders) and the flight and expulsion of bishops and metropolitans. As a result of the Byzantine recapture of western, southern, and northern Asia Minor, and as a result of the stabilization of Anatolia with the emergence of the states of Trebizond, Konya, and Nicaea by the thirteenth century, the church was freed of the vexatious conditions long warfare had imposed. The emperors, in colonizing the ravaged areas, took great care to reestablish the church, its administration, and its economic prosperity as essential to organized life in the Byzantine tradition. The Seljuk sultans, exercising the established practice of toleration of Christians, opened their lands to the return of the Christian bishops and metropolitans. Consequently thirteenth-century Anatolia contained two Orthodox churches: that within the domains of the emperor, which once more flourished as the recipient of economic wealth from its traditional protector, and that much reduced segment within the domains of the sultan. In the latter case the church was not able to recover its original state, recovery being barred by Islamic practice and Turkish interests. Rather it preserved those modest remnants which had managed to survive the events of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. With the revival of anarchy in the fourteenth century, the church suffered a complete collapse, losing practically all property and revenues, and its bishops and metropolitans were barred from their seats in the Anatolian churches for decades at a time. These clerics suffered the further liability of being the instruments and appointees of the Constantinopolitan emperors and patriarchs, the principal foes of the Turkish rulers. The Christians of Anatolia, having lost their ultimate Christian political leader and protector (the emperor) were now deprived of the last modicum of

Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia

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Christian leadership when bishops and metropolitians were unable to go to their ecclesiastical sees in Turkish lands. Further, the basic institution on which they had relied for economic, educational, and other types of support was so completely impoverished that the church lost its ability to function as an effective social organ. The impact of such a long series of calamities could not but have had a serious effect on the morale of many Anatolian Christians. The once proud Christians became the subjugated, the dispossessed. The centuriesold foe, Islam, had now become dominant in the heartland of the Byzantine empire, and the Christian emperors were impotent before the Turks. An anecdote preserved in a contemporary Muslim source best illustrates the despair that many must have felt. In the anecdote a cleric in addressing his homily to the Christians of Amaseia remarked that although the Christians would enter Paradise the Turks would remain outside its gates. A parishioner retorted that he could not believe that the Turks would allow the Greeks to enjoy possession of Paradise undisturbed, but would also take that away from them. These, broadly outlined, are the basic factors in the weakening and under­ mining of Christian society. But Islamization proceeded from the combination and interaction of these negative factors, along with certain positive ones. First and foremost was the fact that Islam enjoyed the status of being the religion of the conquering, dominant class. This had great political, legal, social, economic, and emotional consequences. Although non-Muslims enjoyed official toleration, they were nevertheless second-class citizens. Ultimate political authority was removed from their hands. Islamic law put them at a legal disadvantage in the Muslim courts. In the economic realm as the majority of lands, buildings, and Christian manpower passed into the hands of Muslims, the Christians found themselves paying a tax burden that was proportionately heavier than that paid by Muslims. The impact of these factors obviously impressed upon the Christians their inferior status while openly declaring the superiority of Islam and Muslims. The economic consequence was significant, for the Christian properties that were confiscated became the economic basis of the Turkish military and of the Islamic institutions such as mosques, madrasas imarets, hospitals, caravansarays, and the like. Revenues and manpower that had hitherto supported Christian institutions now nourished their Muslim equivalents. This enabled Islamic institutions to exercise their social functions with a certain efficacy and elegance at the very moment when the Christian church was suffering economic impoverization and social paralysis. These traditional Islamic institutions, which had now obtained prestige and wealth from the Islamic states of Anatolia, constituted the principal frame within which Christianity had to adjust and produced as one important result an impetus to religious conversion. Conversion seems to have been an important phenomenon in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries but the sources 10

1 0

O. Turan, "LTslamisation dans la Turquie du moyen age," Studia X (1959), 145.

Islamica,

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indicate that as of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Christians of Anatolia still constituted a large proportion of the populace, perhaps the majority. The mass Islamization reflected in later documents seems to have occurred during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the time of political collapse and renewed nomadization. The tempo of Islamization undoubtedly accelerated as a result of the rise of Sufism and spread of the dervish orders, a phenomenon noticeable from the middle of the thirteenth century which intensified markedly in the fourteenth. Although these orders varied widely four factors seem to have been common to most of them. As is well known they had an emotional rather than a legalistic approach to the religious life, evolving essentially mystical rituals that would appeal to the lower as well as to the upper social classes. The most spectacular of these seems to have been the sema of the Mevlevis. Second, although they had great appeal for the masses, they enjoyed the economic support of the rulers and administration. Third, in contrast to the formal state apparatus, they were fired by the zeal to bring the religious way to the inhabitants of Anatolia, Christians as well as Muslims. The testimonies to their religious zeal are spelled out clearly and colorfully in the two principal sources for dervish history in Anatolia, the Menaqib al-Arifin of Efiaki and the Vilayetname concerning Hadji Bektash. Finally, one should note the tolerant and latitudinarian character of dervish preaching (at least among the Mevlevis and Bektashis) wherein religious syncretism allowed for the accommodation of Christian beliefs and practices, thus facilitating the passage of Anatolians from affiliation with Christianity to formal affiliation with Islam. It even created a group that seemed to be both Muslim and Christian. Djalal al-Din Rumi's influence over the Christian populace and the interesting process of religious syncretism which took place come out clearly in Eflaki's account of Rumi's funeral. 11

After they had placed his body on the litter all the great and humble uncovered their heads, and raised such a tumult that it resembled that of the great resurrection. All wept and most of the men marched in the procession, uttering cries and tearing their clothes. The members of the different communities and nations were present, Christians, Jews, Greeks, Arabs, and Turks. They marched forward, each holding on high their sacred scriptures. In accord with their customs they read verses from the Psalms, the Pentateuch, and the Gospels, and uttered funereal lamentations. The Muslims were not able to restrain them either by blows from clubs or from swords. There arose an immense distrubance, the news of which reached the sultan . . . and his minister. [Accordingly] they summoned the chiefs of the monks and priests and demanded what possible connection 1 1

Efiaki, Les saints des derviches tourneurs, trans. C. Huart (Paris, 1918-1922), II, 96-97.

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this event could have with them, since the sovereign of religion [Rumi] was the director and imam of the Muslims. They replied. "In seeing him we have comprehended the true nature of Christ, of Moses, and of all the prophets such as we have read about in our books. If you Muslims say that our Master [Rumi] is the Muhammud of his period, we recognize him similarly as the Moses and Jesus of our times. Just as you are his sincere friends, we also are one thousand times over his servants and disciples. It is thus that he said it. 'Seventy sects hear from us their own mysteries. We are as a flute which, in a single mode, is in tune with 200 religions.' Our master is the sun of truth which has shone upon mortals and accorded them favor: all the world loves the sun which lights their abodes." Another Greek priest said: "Our master is much like unto bread which is indispensable to all the world. Has a hungry man ever been seen to flee from bread ?" It was the traditional Islamic institutions and the dervish orders that effected the assimilation of the dispirited and disoriented Christian society via religious conversion in the period from the late thirteenth to the fifteenth century. We turn now to the conversionary process in the Balkan peninsula where Islamization remained a peripheral phenomenon. If one compares the length, nature and certain other factors of the Turkish conquest in the Anatolian and Balkan situations, great differences are apparent. From the first landing of Turkish forces on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1352 until the reunification of most of the Balkans under Ottoman power in 1453, one century elapsed, in contrast with the four centuries that elapsed during the process in Asia Minor. Even the one century does not reflect the reality of the situation, for Serbia, Bulgaria, and much of Greece were already integrated into the Ottoman system by 1393, that is to say, within four decades of the initial invasion of the Balkans. Thus the Timurid interlude obscures the fact that the basic conquest of the Balkan core was the work of 40 years, far shorter a period of conquest than that of Anatolia. It brought less disruption and destruction, and the situation was regu­ larized and stabilized very quickly by a strong centralized state which had been unknown in that part of the Mediterranean world since the eleventh century. The position of the church suffered far less in the Balkans because of the comparative brevity and conservative nature of the Turkish conquest. With the extinction of the Byzantine empire and the reestablishment of the Orthodox patriarchate under Ottoman suzerainty in 1454 the Orthodox church became a bureau of the new Muslim state. The patriarchate was no longer looked upon as the instrument of a hostile power and its relations with provincial metro12

1 2

Vryonis, "The Conditions and Cultural Significance of the Ottoman Conquest in the Balkans," in Hime Congres international des Uudes du Sud-Est Europien (Athens, 1970), pp. 3 - 1 0 , repr. in Vryonis, Byzantium: Its Internal History and Relations with the Muslim World (London, 1971).

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politanates and bishoprics were secured, as were its remaining lands and revenues. But until 1454 the ecclesiastical districts of Thrace and Macedonia suffered from the same conditions that afflicted the Anatolian bishoprics. Bishops and metroplitans were expelled by the Turks and church property suffered extensive confiscation at the hands of Turkish authorities. The process of conquest having been relatively short, the church in the Balkans suffered far less attrition than in Anatolia, a fact that corresponds to the much lighter Islamization in the Balkans. Up to this point one very important topic has gone unmentioned, and that is the ethnic factor, which played a substantial role in the subject under discussion. It is obvious that the largest influx of Turks took place in Anatolia, and played an important role in cultural change, although we have no figures in this respect. Of particular interest are the sixteenth-century registers, which record the proportion of sedentary to nomadic taxable hearths. In Anadolu, the large district that included central and western Anatolia, there were among the Muslims 388,397 sedentary and 77,268 nomadic hearths. In the region of Anadolu, which leaves out the remainder of eastern Anatolia, the nomads constituted 16.29 percent of the entire population (both Muslim and Christian). In the entire Balkans by contrast, there were among the Muslims 157,523 sedentary and 37,435 nomadic hearths. In the Balkans the nomad constituted 19.3 percent of the Muslim population (thus the proportion of sedentary to nomadic Muslims is similar for both regions) but they formed only 3.6 percent of the total Balkan population. This smallness of nomadic numbers in the process of conquest and settlement is an important factor in the differing nature of the Turkish conquests and of Islamization in the Balkans and in Anatolia. Significant currents of Islamization did continue in the Balkans after the sixteenth century, but this is outside the scope of my topic. The nature of the religious and, by implication, the nature of the cultural change wrought by Islamization is an enormous topic and much about the nature of general cultural change will have to be inferred from my brief statement on the nature of religious change. A perusal of the sixteenth-century Ottoman tax registers gives only a two-dimensional picture of this aspect of cultural change, of a single line movement of Christians and Jews into the fold of Islam. In short, it is a quantitative measure of cultural change, and the quality of the transformation is hardly indicated. One tends to think of formal 13

14

1 3

K . Amantos, "Zu den Bischofslisten als historische Quellen," in Akten des XI. internationalen Byzantinisten-KongrefS, Munchen 1958 (Munich, 1960), pp. 2 1 - 2 3 ; Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 321-322. For examples of Christian properties converted to waqf and timar see T. Gokbilgin, XV-XVI asvrlarda Edirne ve Pasa livasi vakiflar-mulkler-mukataalar (Istanbul, 1952), and "XVI-yiizyil baslarindan Trabzon livasi ve dogu Karadeniz bolgesi," Belleten, X X V I (1962), 3 2 0 - 3 3 2 . Barkan, "Essai," passim. 1 4

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Christianity and Islam, of patriarch and Shaykh al-Islam, of purified religious dogmas. But the complex nature of Christian and Muslim religiosity must be examined in order to perceive the quality, the full spectrum and variegation of religious coloration that resulted from Islamization. Since pure Christianity and Islam were maintained primarily by a minority (by segments of the upper classes) it is the religiosity of the masses, that is to say popular Christianity and especially popular Islam, that require attention. Second, the large-scale Islamization that transpired in Anatolia, as well as the dense Christian environment of Balkan Islam, meant that popular Islam was heavily affected by the Christian practices of the converts. This was particularly true where large or compact groups converted or in areas where Muslims took Christian wives and concubines on an extensive scale. The popular Islam that the dervishes preached also accommodated itself to syncretism. At the level of folk religion Christianity and Islam in the two peninsulas were strongly permeated by the hagiolatric phenomenon. The Byzantine saints and Islamic dervishes belong to the same category of religious phenomenology: the local holy man who caters to the immediate needs of the local populace and who intercedes with God or the state on its behalf. It is therefore not surprising to find that Christians frequently visited the shrines of Muslim holy men, and that even more frequently Muslims sought the benefits dispensed at the shrines of Christian saints, a phenomenon studied in such detail by Hasluck that one need not expand upon it. There arose, also, in certain eases, an equalization between certain Muslim and Christian holy men in the eyes of the populace, with interchangeability of the two and on occasion with double religious shrines. In such a fluid environment many Christian cult practices passed into popular Islam, perhaps the most spectacular of which was the practice of baptism among Muslims on an extensive scale. But there were other Christian and even preChristian practices discernible in popular Islam which were brought into Islam by the conversion of the Christians: iconolatry, certain types of animal sacrifice, certain holy days, and a variety of practices associated with the seasonal cycle. Consequently, although the formal aspects and appearances of life in the Balkans and especially in Anatolia underwent substantial religious change, behind the appearances and formality there was a strong and vital continuity 16

16

17

18

18

is Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 3 5 1 - 4 0 2 . Vryonis, "Balkans," passim. F . W. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, Vols. I, I I (Oxford, 1929); F. Babinger, "Der Islam in Siidosteuropa," in Volker und Kulturen Siidosteuropas, Schriften der Siidosteuropa Gesellschaft (Munich, 1959), pp. 2 0 6 - 2 0 7 . Alsothe numerous studies of H . J. Kissling. Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 359, 441, 466, 4 8 7 - 4 8 9 ; K . Rhalles and M . Potles, SuvxayXa T U V Oeicov xat tspcov xavovcov (Athens, 1852-1859), I I , 498. Vryonis, Asia Minor, pp. 4 4 4 - 4 9 7 ; Vryonis, "Balkans," pp. 172-176. 1 6

1 7

1 8

1 9

140

Speros Vryonis Jr.

in the popular religious life of the area during the transition from Byzantine to Ottoman Rule. Studies of political, economic, and cultural institutions have indicated that the same pattern obtained there as observed in the change and continuity of religious life: change at the formal level, substantial continuity at the popular level. But in the long run it has been the formal religious and cultural forms that have deterrnined the cultural identity of the popular stratum. 20

Vryonis, "Byzantine Legacy,"

pp. 306-308.

INDEX

'Abbasid, 67, 7 2 ; period, 4 0 ; poetry, 52 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Musa, 67 'Abd al-Haqq Muhaddith-i Dihlawi, 112 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 38 'Abd al-Quddus Gangohi, 122 'Abd al-Rahman I, 67 'Abd al-Rahman I I , 84 'Abd al-Rahman I I I , 71, 73 'Abdallah ibn ' A b d al-Malik, 38 'Abdallah Khorshid al-Birri, 32 Abraham, 14, 29, 48, 118-119 A b u al-'Abbas al-Qabbab, 4, 5-6, 9, 15 A b u 1-Barakat ibn Kabar, 39 A b u '1-Fadl, 120 A b u Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi, 119, 121 A b u flanlfa, 120 A b u Hayyan, 80 A b u Ishaq al-Shatibi, 4, 15 A b u Muhammad al-Fishtali, 5 A b u Nu'aim, 36 A b u al-Qasim al-'Azafi, 83 A b u Qurra, Theodore, 34, 35 A b u 'r-Rabi' b . Salim, 102 A b u Ralhan al-BIruni, 5 5 - 5 7 , 1 0 8 - 1 0 9 A b u Talib al-Makki, 7, 119, 121 A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri, 75 A b u Zayd, 90, 95 Acarnania, 132 Achaemenian: empire, 45, 46, 54, 55, 57; period, 46. See also Neo-Achaemenid nationalism Achila (King), 6 5 - 6 6 addad, 57 Adrianople, 132 Afrasiab, 119 Africa, 19 al-Afshin, 39 Aghnides, N . P., 27

ahl al-kitdb, 108 Ahmad ibn 'Ariis, 84 Ahmad Sirhindi, 124 Ahriman, 111 Akkadian language, 40 Akbar, 122; court of, 120; period, 116, 124 alami (alamini) 97, 99 'Ala'uddin Khalji, 113 Albania, 132 Alcala, 101 Alcala, Pedro de, 81 Alcira, 95, 99 Aleppo, 20 Alexander the Great, 45 Alexandria, 21, 22, 25, 32-33 Alfandech, 99 Alfonso I I I (King), 96 Alfonso V I (King), 76 Alfonso the Learned of Castile, 91 Algeciras, 67 Algeria, 40, 80 'Ali ibn A h m a d al-Maha'imi, 121 'All Hamadhani, Sayyid, 121 aljama(s), 93, 9 6 - 9 8 , 100 Aljamiado literature, 64, 82 Almohad(s), 77, 90, 94, 99; caliphate, 90; court, 80; society, 88 Almoravids, 77 Alvaro, 60, 64, 69, 72, 84 Amari, Michele, 97 amin, 9 7 - 1 0 0 Amir Khusrau, 111-112, 114, 115-118, 124 'Amr ibn al-'As, 23, 3 1 - 3 3 Anadolu, 131, 138 Anatolia, Anatolian(s), 127-140. See also Turkey

142

Index

al-Andalus, 5 9 - 8 6 ; Sufis in, 3, 4, 7 Ankara, 131 Annals of Assurbanipal, 43 Anthony, Saint, 22 Antinoe, 38 Antioch, 19, 20 Apamea, 19 Apophthegmata Patrum, 22 Aquinas, Saint Thomas, 17, 104 Arab armies, 18, 2 4 - 2 5 , 31, 33 Arabia, 19, 33 Arabic: language, 19, 26, 31, 33, 3 6 - 4 1 , 5 6 - 5 7 , 9 1 - 9 2 , 117; use in al-Andalus, 5 9 - 8 6 ; literature, 39, 53, 80, 119 Aragon, Aragonese, 91, 92, 9 7 ; king of, 90, 91, 103 Aramaic language, 19, 45 Arberry, A . J., 49 architecture, Andalusian, 8 5 - 8 6 Arianism, 65 al-'Arish, 32 Aristotle, 17 Armenians, 128 Arnold, Sir Thomas, 26 Arsacid period. See Parthian period Artobas, 66 Aryan(s), 4 6 ; background of writers, 5 7 ; heritage, 4 3 ; Indo-Aryan culture, 44, 4 5 - 4 6 ; nationalism, 46 Asia, Asian: Central, 43, 44, 46, 112; Minor, 128, 131, 134, 137 Asin Palacios, Miguel, 63 al-'Assal, 39 Athanasius, Saint, 22, 23 Athens, 132 'Attar, 109, 111, 115 Attica, 132 Aurangzeb, 120, 124, 126 avatara, 124 Averroes. See Ibn Rushd (Averroes) Avesta(n), 44, 5 3 ; Gathas, 4 5 ; legends, 48 'Awarif al-ma'arif (Abu Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi), 119 A y a z (Turkish slave), 111 A y b e k (sultan), 112 Azad Bilgrami, 118 al-Azd, 19 al-Azraq, 101 Babylon, 25, 32 Badajoz, 76 Bada'uni, 120, 124

Baghdad, 29, 74, 114 Baha' ud-Din Zakariya of Multan, 121 Bakh'ah, 40 Bakhtishu' family, 72 al-Bakri. See A b u 'Ubaid al-Bakri Balban (sultan), 113, 119 Balearic islands, 90 Balj, army of, 67 Balkans, 127-140 Banu Baliy, 79 Banu Codera, 63 Banu 'Isa, 101 Banu Ishaq, 72 Banu Sid-bono, 102 Bar-Hebraeus, 40 Baradaeus, Jacob, bishop of Edessa, 2 0 barahima, 118 baramdsa, 115, 123 Barani, 108, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 119, 120, 124 Barcelona, 104 Barkan, O . L . , 130 Barsuma, bishop of Nisibis, 20 Bashshar ibn Burd, 52 Basil, Saint, 23 Basra, 35 barrlq, 19 Bayazid, 120 Becker, C. H . , 27, 35 Beirut, 35 Beja, 67 Ben-Ami, Aharon, 88 Bengali, 115 Berber(s), 60, 66, 67, 70, 73, 76, 7 7 - 7 8 ; dialects, 69 Bible, 22 bid'a, 83. See also heresies and heretics al-Biruni. See A b u Raihan al-Blruni Bishai, W . B „ 37 Bloch, Marc, 88 Boer, T . J. de, 35 Bohairic, 22, 37 al-Borollos, 32 Bosnia, 131-132 Brahmin(s), 109, 114, 118-119, 125 Buddhist(s), 107-108, 121 Bughra Khan, 117 Bulgaria, Bulgars, 129, 137; Central, 132 Burriana, 90, 102 Bursa, 131 butun, 32 Byzantium, Byzantine, 17-24, 38, 133, 134; ecclesiastical administration, 128; emperor, 7 2 ; influence on Serbs and

Index Bulgars, 129; relationship to Muslim civilization, 3 3 - 3 4 ; state, 127 Caesareia, 128 Caetani, Leone, 27 Cagigas, Isidoro de las, 64 Cairo, 32, 114, 120 Campo de Calatrava. See Fahs al-Ballu$ Cappadocian church fathers, 128 caste system, 109, 114, 125 Castile, Castilian(s), 62, 83; language, 81 Castillo, Alonso del, 81 Castro, Americo, 61, 88 Catalonia, Catalan(s), 90, 9 1 , 95, 9 7 ; literature, 89 Catholicism, 65 Chachname, 107. See also Shahnama (Firdosi) Chalcedon, 20 Chalcedonian(s), 2 3 ; Christian, 128; church, 128; patriarch, 25. See also Melkite(s) Chehata, Chafik, 35 Chelva, 97, 101 chilla-yi ma'kusa, 122 Chingiz Khan, 46 Chosroes, 4 9 - 5 0 Christianity, Christian(s), 18, 5 3 ; A n ­ dalusian, 5 9 - 8 6 ; elements in the Koran, 4 7 ; in Anatolia and the Bal­ kans, 1 2 7 - 1 4 0 ; in Egypt and Syria, 2 5 - 4 1 ; sellters in Valencia, 91-104 Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar), 94, 99 Cilicia, Cilician, 128, 133; language, 128 Cocentaina, 101 Codera y Zaidin, Francisco, 6 2 - 6 3 Constantinople, 20, 120, 126, 128, 129, 132, 134; Muslim quarter in, 130 Constantinopolitan: church, 128; em­ perors and patriarchs, 134 conversion: to Christianity, 67, 80, 104; to Islam, 2 7 - 2 9 , 59, 66, 6 7 - 6 8 , 82, 124, 133, 135-137, 139 Copts, Coptic, 2 2 - 3 2 , 3 8 - 3 9 ; Church, 2 3 ; language, 2 1 - 2 2 , 3 1 , 32, 3 7 - 3 9 ; litera­ ture, 2 2 - 2 3 ; monasteries, 23 Corbin, Henry, 47, 54 Cordoba, Cordovan, 62, 73, 7 4 - 7 5 , 76, 79, 9 0 ; local dialects in, 8 3 ; Metro­ politan of, 8 4 ; mosque of, 86, 94 Cyrus (patriarch), 23, 25

143

al-Dabbi, 73 dad, 56 Dadhu, 123 Damascus, Damascenes, 19, 20, 34, 3 5 , 40, 67, 7 4 ; caliphate at, 66 Daniel-Rops, Henry, 24 Daqiqi, 52, 116 dar al-harb, 134 Dara Shikoh, 120, 122, 124, 126 darl, 117 Darius, 55 Darmesteter, James, 45 Dasamo Avatar group, 124 Daulatabad, 114 day'a, 66 deir, 52 Delhi, 114, 118, 119; sultanate, 112 Denia, 73, 90, 102 Dennett, D . C , 27 dervish(es), 121, 136-137, 139 Desclot, Bernat, 89, 102 dev, 44 devband, 44 dhikr, 123 dhimml{s), 28, 3 0 - 3 1 , 32, 38, 115 Dimyat, 32 dinpanahi, 113 Diocletian, 19 divine law, 9 - 1 4 . See also figh, shari'a al-diyafa, 33 Diyarbekir, 131 Djalal al-Din Rumi, 111, 120, 136-137 Dobrudja region, 130 Documentum martyriale (Eulogius), 64 Dominicans, 104 Dozy, Reinhart, 59, 64, 70, 74 Dressendorfer, Peter, 81 Duperron, Anquetil, 57 Duwal Rani, 117 Ebro valley, 64 Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, 23 education, Muslim, 69, 75, 119 Eflaki, 136 Egypt, Egyptian(s), 17-18, 2 1 - 4 1 , 64, 74, 80, 85, 8 6 ; emigrants from, 6 7 ; language, 2 2 ; Lower, 2 2 ; Upper, 2 2 , 37 Ekhna, 32 Elamite civilization, 46 Eliade, Mircea, 4 6 - 4 7 Elvira, 67 Emesa, 19

144

Index

Ephesus, 20 Epirus, 132 Eslida, 95 Euboea, 132 Eulogius, 60, 64, 69, 72, 84 Europe, European, 19, 38, 46, 62, 63, 73, 85, 96, 129 fadd'il al-Andalus, 77 Fahs al-Ballut, 7 8 - 7 9 faqih, 92, 102, 104 al-F&rabi, 55 fatdwi, 4 Fatimites, 32 Fattal, Antoine, 27 Faulty Speech of the Common People (al-Zubaidi), 76 Febvre, Lucien, 88 Ferdinand I I I , Saint, 90 Fez, 4 fiqh, 10. See also divine law fiqh al-bdtin, 10 fiqh al-zdhir, 10 firangi 125-126 Firdausi (Firdosi), 44, 48, 50, 54, 56, 119 fire worship, 52, 116, 119. See also sati Firuz Shah Tughluq, 114, 115 Fostat, 31, 3 2 - 3 3 , 38 France, 90, 91 Franciscans, 104 Fuster, Juan, 92 gabr, 53 Galicia, Galicians, 75, 79, 84 Gallego y Burin, Antonio, 81 Gallipoli, 131; peninsula of, 129, 137 Galmes de Fuentes, Alvaro, 64 Garcia Gomez, Emilio, 63, 79 Georgians, 128 getik, 47 Ghalib, 116, 119 Ghassanids, 19 al-Ghazali (al-Ghazzali), 5, 10, 119, 120, 121 Gisiidaraz, 121 Glick, Thomas, 88 Gnosis, Gnosticism, 45, 47, 53, 54, 55 God, 8 - 1 5 , 24, 25, 26, 29, 35, 113, 122, 139 Goldziher, Ignaz, 35 Gomez (secretary of 'Abd al-Rahman I I ) , 84 Gomez Moreno, M . , 64 Gonzalez Palencia, Angel, 63, 80

Gospel(s), 22, 25, 41, 70, 81, 84 Granada, 4, 62, 76, 81, 90, 102; A l hambra of, 8 6 ; kingdom of, 80, 90 Grau Monserret, Manuel ,97 Greece, Greek(s), 18, 19, 20, 57, 60, 1 2 7 128, 137; alphabet, 2 2 ; language, 18, 21, 31, 3 6 - 3 7 , 38, 72, 128 Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint, 23 Gregory of Nyssa, Saint, 23 Grohmann, Adolf, 27 Guadalete, 66 Guadiz, 81 Gual Camarena, Miguel, 97 Gujerati, 124 Gujrat, 125 Habib, 74 hadith, 115, 119. See also Prophet, tra­ ditions of Hadji Bektash, 136 Hafiz Ibrahim, 4 9 - 5 0 , 107, 120 al-Hakam I I , 74, 83, 84 al-Hakim (caliph), 39 hakim, 108 Hallaj, 120 Hanafl jurisprudence, 119 rjanlfi, 74 Hardy, Peter, 107, 126 Hasluck, F . W . , 139 Hebrew language, 69 Hejaz, 19 Heliopolis, 19 Hellenistic: age, 46, 4 7 ; influences on Iranian culture, 4 5 ; traditional de­ scription of Indians, 108 Hellenization, 19, 21, 127-128 Heraclius, 20, 25 heresies and heretics, 23, 29, 45, 65, 72, 82, 128. See also bid'a Herodotus, 43 Herzegovina, 131-132 al-Hijaz, 80 Hind, 107 Hindu, Hindus, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; attitude of Persians toward, 1 0 7 - 1 1 7 ; caste of the Kayasthas, 57 Hindu-ye falak, 110 Hindustdn-i kdfir, 112, 124 Hinz, Walther, 51 Hispalense, Juan, 84 History of the Patriarch (Severus), 23 H o l y Land, 88, 99 Horns, 40

Index Hujwiri, 121 Humsis, 67 Huns, 19 Iberian: peninsula, 61, 6 5 ; society, com­ position of, 61 I b n 'Abbad al-Rundi, 4, 6 - 9 , 14 Ibn al-Abbar of Onda, 102 I b n A b i 'Amir al-Manstir, 83 Ibn al-Ahmar, 90 Ibn 'Amira al-Qadi, 102 I b n 'Arabi, 54, 80, 121 Ibn 'Ata' al-Adami, 10 I b n Badis, 4 0 - 4 1 I b n Bashkuwal, 85 Ibn Bassam, 77 Ibn Garcia, 85 Ibn Hafsun, 71 Ibn Hawqal, 7 4 - 7 5 Ibn Hazm, 77, 78 Ibn H u d , 90 I b n Khaldun, 4 - 5 , 9 - 1 5 , 6 0 - 6 1 , 75, 89, 94, 100-101, 102; Andalusian ances­ try, 80; theory of growth, 72 I b n Khaqan, 77 I b n al-Khatib, 73, 80, 89 I b n Malik, 80 Ibn al-Qutiyya, 66, 8 4 - 8 5 Ibn Rushd (Averroes), 54, 8 0 ; disciple of, 102 Ibn Sa'd, 24 Ibn Sa'id, 77 Ibn Salama, 4 Ibn Shuhaid, 77 Ibn Sida, 78 Ibn Tufail, 80 'id al-adhd, 83 'id al-fitr, 8 2 - 8 3 ihsan, 11 Ihya 'ulum ad-din (al-Ghazali), 119 Ikram, S. M . , 112 Iltutmish. See Naslruddin ibn Iltutmisb imam, 4 Imamshahis, 124 iman, 10, 11 immigration and emigration, 73, 94, 102 India, Indian(s), 57, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; contact with Iran, 45 Indiculus luminosus (Alvaro), 64 Indus River: plains, 1 2 3 ; valley, 108 Inquisition, 81 Iqbal, 116 Iran, 31, 4 3 - 5 7 , 118; Western, 59 1

145

irtiba', 32 'Isa ibn al-Mansur, 84 'Isa ibn Labbun, 85 Tshqi, 51 islam, 11 'isma, 12 Ismaili(s), 124 Isra'iliyydt, 36 Istanbul. See Constantinople istiqdma, 12 Italy, 90 Ithna'ashariyya Shi'a, 124 i'tidal, 12 ittild', 12 Jabalah, 31 Jabia, 19 Jacobites, 40 Jaen, 67, 90 jahiliyyat, 52 al-Jahiz, 108 jalal, 123 Jalal ud-Din R u m l . See Djalal al-Din Rumi jamal, 123 James I (King), 9 0 - 9 1 , 9 4 - 9 5 , 99, 102, 103 JamI, 54 Jamshid, 4 9 - 5 0 Jarullah, Z . , 3 4 - 3 5 Jativa, 90, 96, 104; paper mills, 9 8 ; principate, 101 Jerash, 24 Jerez de la Frontera, 66 Jerusalem, 20 Jesus Christ, 29, 65, 83 Jews, Jewish, 28, 30, 31, 32, 44, 66, 69, 78, 79, 114, 129, 138; households in Anatolia and the Balkans, 1 3 0 - 1 3 2 jizya, 2 7 - 2 8 , 108, 114 John (Spanish martyr), 70 John Chrysostum, Saint, 19, 23 John of Damascus, Saint, 29, 3 4 - 3 5 John of Nikiu (bishop), 23, 25, 29 Jordanians, 67 Jubba'din, 40 Ka'ba, 52, 56 Kabir, 123 kafir, 53 Kaikubad, 113, 117 kamdl al-najdt, 11 Karaman, 131

146

Index

Karshuni, 40 kashf, 12 kashishan, 53 Kashmir, 121 Ka'us, 4 9 - 5 0 al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, 7 5 - 7 6 Khaqani, 5 0 - 5 1 kharaj, 28 kharjah, 84 Khidr K h a n (Prince), 117 khilafat, 126 khitta (pi. khitat), 32 Khusrau K h a n . 114 Khwaja Baqi Billah, 124 Khwarazmian language, 56 Konya, 131, 133, 134 Koran, 11, 13, 14, 26, 29, 41, 47, 74, 75, 92, 111, 114, 122; creation of, 3 5 ; Maniehaean elements in, 4 7 ; Naff reading of, 74 Kubrawiyya order, 111 Kucchi, 124 Kustendil, 131 kufr, 53 Kurds, 128 lahn al-'awwam (Faulty Speech of the Common People) (al-Zubaidi), 76 Lahore, 121 Lakhmids, 19 La'l Shahbaz Qalandar, 121 Lammens, Henri, 19 Languedoc, 90 Laodicea, 18 Larissa, 132 latifa ruhaniyya, 12 Latin: authors, 6 0 ; language, 22, 64—65, 6 9 - 7 0 , 72, 8 3 - 8 4 ; literature, 64, 69, 7 2 ; rumi, 74 law, Islamic, 35, 92, 135 Lazes, 128 Le6n, 83 Levi-Provencal, Evariste, 64 Levi-Strauss, Claude, 88 Libros plumbeos, 81 Lichtheim, Miriam, 22, 23 Liria, 101 L0kkegaard, Frede, 27 Lucknow, 120, 124 Lull, Raymond, 89, 104 Lycian language, 128

Macdonald, D . B . , 35 Macedonia, Macedonian, 132, 138; em­ pire, 45 Macho y Ortega, Francisco, 97 Mada'in, 51 Mada'in-qasida (Khaqani), 5 0 - 5 1 madhhab, 74 madina fadila, 55 Maghrib, 74 Magian(s), 4 8 - 4 9 , 5 2 - 5 3 Mahmud Ghaznawi, 109, 110 Majduddin Baghdad!, I l l al-Makin Girgis ibn al-'Amid, 39 al-Makki. See A b u Talib al-Makki Malabar coast, 108 Malaga, 67 Malik ibn Anas, 72, 74 Malikism, Malikite, 72, 85 Ma'hila, 40 Mani, 45 Manichaeism, 128 al-Mansur, 74, 76 al-Maqqari, 73 marafiq, 74 Marcais, Georges, 64 Marinids, 4, 90, 94 Maronites, 38, 40 Marrakesh, 90 marriage, mixed, 28, 65, 82, 125, 139 Marti, Raymond, 104 martyrs: Christian, 7 0 ; Sufi, 121 Marwan I I (caliph), 38 Marwanids, time of, 40 Mashariq al-anwar (as-Saghani), 115 Maslhiyyat, 36 Massignon, Louis, 36, 5 6 - 5 7 , 105 Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salman, 115 Maulana Rumi, 54 Maulana Shamsuddin Turk of Multan, 113 mawall, 67, 70, 113 Mazdfrism, 53, 5 5 ; influence on postIslamic Persian literature, 5 1 - 5 3 Mazdak, 45 Mecca, 73 Medina, 33, 73 Mediterranean Sea, 38, 88 Meer Hasan Ali (Mrs.), 120, 124 Melkite(s), 20, 23. See also Chalcedo­ nian^) Memphis, 32 Menaqib al-Arifin (Efiaki), 136 Mendicant friars, 100

Index Menendez Pidal, Ramon, 62, 71 Menendez y Pelayo, Marcelino, 59 menok, 47 Mesopotamia: Iranian contacts with, 43, 44, 46 Michael (Patriarch), 38 Michael the Syrian, 25 Millas Vallicrosa, J. M . , 6 3 Mirza Qalich Beg, 114 Misra, S. C , 125 al-Mi'ydr (al-Wansharisi), 4 mleccha, 109 Mo'in, Mohammad, 48, 51 monasteries and monasticism, 2 2 , 23, 34, 36, 38, 39 Monastir, 132 Mongols, 94 Monophysitism, Monophysite(s), 20, 22 monotheism, 4 7 ; Zoroastrian, 44 Monothelite formula, 2 3 Montanism, 128 Montecroce, Ricoldo da, 29 Montenegro, 132 Montesa, 101 Moors, Moorish, 6 2 ; prejudice against, 101; quarter at Jativa, 96 Morea, 132 morerlas, 102 Morisco(s), 8 1 - 8 2 , 9 8 ; period, 9 2 ; stu­ dies of, 88 Morocco, 80, 102 Mozarab(s), 6 9 - 7 0 , 7 9 - 8 0 , 82 Mu'awiya ibn Lubb, 84 Mudajjanun. See Mudejar(s) Mudejar(s), 7 9 - 8 0 , 8 8 - 1 0 5 . See also Muwalladun Mughal, 125; empire, 112, 118 mughbaohe, 49 Muhammad, the Prophet, 47, 5 5 , 69, 70; birthday of, 8 3 ; veneration of, 8 1 . See also Prophet Muhammad Gisudaraz, 121 Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, 107-108, 113 Muhammad ibn Tughluq, 114 al-Muhasibi, 7, 10 muhtasib, 9 2 , 9 9 Mu'In ud-Din Chishti of Ajmer, 121 mujahaddt, 9 Mujahid, 7 3 - 7 4 Muladies. See Muwalladun Multan, 108, 124 muluk al-tawa'if, 76 Munajjid, Salahuddin, 36

147

Muntaner, Ramon, 89 munya, 73 al-Muqaddasi, 74 Muqaddima (Ibn Khaldun), 4 Murcia, Murcian(s), 62, 67, 90, 1 0 4 ; emigration of, 102 mushdhada, 12 mushrif, 9 8 - 9 9 Mustafa, 108 Mu'tazilite(s), 3 4 - 3 5 , 74 mutrdn, 53 Muwalladun, 7 0 - 7 1 , 73, 78. See also Mudejar(s) muwashshahah, 84, 86 Muwatta' (Malik ibn Anas), 74 mysticism, 63, 111, 1 2 0 - 1 2 4 . See also Sufism na/s, 123 Nahda, 40 Ndl Daman, 119 Naqshbandiyya, 123-124, 126 Nasir Muhammad 'Andalib, 123 Naslruddin ibn Iltutmish, 112, 113 Nasr, S. H . , 54 Nau'i, 116 Navarre, 83 Las Navas de Tolosa, 90 Neo-Achaemenid nationalism, 46 Neoplatonic: ideas, 4 5 ; poetry, 48 Nestorians, 20, 40 Nicaea, 133, 134 Nicopolis, 131, 132 Niebla, 67 nifaq, 10 Nile River, 18, 22, 32 Nitria, 22 niyya, 10 Nizami, 54, 111, 115, 119 Nizamuddin Atiliya, 112, 115 nomads, 19, 138 North Africa, North African, 4, 66, 80, 90, 102, 1 0 3 ; emigrants from, 6 7 ; soldiers imported from, 76 Null Sipihr ("The Nine Spheres") (Amir Khusrau), 117 Nushirwan the Just, 5 5 Nykl, A . R . , 64 Orhan's legions, 129 Oropesa, 101 Orthodox: Christianity, 129; churches in Turkish Anatolia, 134, 137

148

Index

Ottoman: empire, 46, 137, 140; con­ quest, 133; provinces, 130; tax re­ gisters, 129-130, 138 Pachomius, Saint, 22 Padmavati, 119 Pahlavi: regime, 5 1 ; text, 47 Pakistan, 31 Palestine, Palestinians, 18, 25, 31, 36, 67 Palmyra, 19 Panjabi, 115, 122-123 Parthian period, 45, 46 Pasha, 131 Pathans, 125 Paulician-Bogomil heresy, 128 Pego, 9 9 ; valley, 97, 101 Peniscola, 101 Peres, Henri, 64 Perfectus, 70 Persepolis, 44 Persia, Persian(s), 17-20, 24, 43, 54-56; language, 56, 109-111, 117, 122; literature, 4 8 - 5 3 , 111, 115-120 Peter the Great of Aragon, 91 Philip I I (King), 81 Phoenicia, 19 Phrygian language, 128 Piles Ros, Leopoldo, 98 Plato, 47 poetry, 4 8 - 5 2 , 62, 79, 119; Andalusian, 8 6 ; mystical, 111, 1 2 2 - 1 2 3 ; Neoplatonic, 4 8 ; Persian love, 117, 1 2 2 - 1 2 3 Portugal, 62 Prawer, Joshua, 88 Prophet, 11, 12, 24, 69, 123; sayings of 14, 108; traditions of, 13, 14, 83, 125. See also Muhammad Puig, 102 Qa'ani, 46 qadi, 92, 94, 96, 9 8 - 1 0 0 , 102 Qadiriyya, 126 qa'id, 93, 98, 101 qaid-i firang, 125 qasida, 51, 52 Qayrawan, 74 Qinnasrmis, 67 Qoran. See Koran Quduri, 119 Quraish, 40 Qur'an. See Koran al-Qushayri, 5, 119

Qui al-qulub (Abu Talib al-Makki), 119 Rabi' ibn Zayd, 84 Radiya Sultan, 112 ra'is, 99 Ramadan, 29, 92, 95 Rashid, 32 Raymond of Penyafort, 104 Reeemundo of Cordoba. See Rabi' ibn Zayd Reconquest of Spain, 62, 79, 80 rekhti, 123 Renaissance, 46, 103, 105: intolerance of the, 93 Revelation, 26, 29 al-ribat (dispatch of troops), 3 2 - 3 3 Ribera y Tarrago, Julian, 63 rindi/rusva'i, 52 Risdla (al-Qushayri), 119 Ritter, Hellmut, 48 Roca Traver, F . A . , 97 Roderick (King), 6 6 ; widow of, 67 Roman(s), 18, 19, 2 5 , 60, 61, 6 5 ; law, 90, 97 Romance language, 82, 8 3 - 8 4 , 9 2 . See also Spanish language Romanos (Emperor), 72 Rome, 129 R u m , 131 rumi, 74 Rumi. See Djalal al-Din R u m i Rushdndme ('Abd al-Quddus Gangohi), 122 Sade, Feast of, 48, 5 4 - 5 5 Sa'di, 5 2 - 5 3 , 54, 120 Safavid(s), 4 6 ; age of, 46, 51, 53 as-Saghani, 115 Sahidic language, 22 Sa'id ibn al-Batriq, 39 Sa'id al-Matran of Seville. See Hispalense, Juan Sa'id of Toledo, 72 Salahuddin al-Munajjed, 36 Saloniki, 132 Samson, 60 Samuel, 60 Sanchez Perez, J., 63 Sanskrit, 57, 115, 117, 122 Saqaliba, 73 Saqi-nama (Hafiz Ibrahim), 4 9 - 5 0 Saracens, 29, 95, 97 Saragossa, 62, 64, 76 Sarajevo, 132

Index Sasanian(s), 24, 44, 47, 51, 54, 55, 5 7 ; period, 45, 4 6 ; Zoroastrianism, 47 sati, 116 Satpanthis, 124 Sawirus ibn al-Muquffa, 39 sayyid(s), 90, 94, 125 Seete, 22 Schaeder, H . H . , 52 Scripture(s), 30, 35, 39 Seco de Lucena [Paredes, Luis], 80 Segorbe, 100 Seleucia, Seleucids, 18, 19; period, 46 Seljuk(s), 133, 134 Semitic: languages, 5 6 ; peoples, 19, 26, 31 Serbia, Serbs, 129, 132, 137 Serres, 132 Severus, patriarch of Antioch, 20 Severus of Eshmunein, 23, 39 Seville, 62, 67, 76, 90 Shafi'i, 74 Shahnama (Firdosi), 44, 4 9 - 5 0 , 119 Shaibanids, 46 Shaikh, 125 shaikh al-akbar, 121 al-Shaqundi 77 sharVa, 9 , 1 1 2 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 8 . See also divine law Shaykh al-Islam, 139 shaykh al-ta'lim, 6 shaykh al-tarbiya, 6 Shenute of Atripe, 22 Shl'a(s), 5 3 - 5 4 , 7 4 , 1 2 4 ; Ithna'ashariyya, 65 Shibi Nu'manl, 118 Shi'ism, 46, 5 3 - 5 4 Shiraz, 119, 120 shirk, 10 Sibawaihi, 7 5 - 7 6 Sicily, Muslim community of, 97 Sidonia, 67 Silistria, 1 3 1 - 1 3 2 Simonet, F., 5 9 - 6 1 Sind, 107, 114 Sindhi, 115, 122-123, 124, 126 Sivas, 131 Skopje, 132 Slav(s), Slavic, 74, 76, 7 7 - 7 8 , 129 Sofia, 132 Sohag, 22 Sornnath, Hindu temple of, 52 Spain, Spanish, Spaniards, 59-63, 67, 72, 76, 94, 102; Arago-Catalan region, 9 0 ; language, 64; literature, 64

149

Steiger, Arnald, 61 Strata Diocletiana, 19 Subcontinent. See India Subhat al-marjan (Azad Bilgrami), 118 Sufi(s), 3 - 1 5 , 124; activities in India, 121-122; mystics, 102 Sufism, 3 - 1 5 , 5 3 - 5 4 ; blending with Yoga, 1 2 1 - 1 2 2 ; Christian influence on, 34, 3 6 ; effect on Islamization of Anatolia, 136; Malamati school, 53. See also mysticism Sughdian Iranian scribes, 57 Sunnis, 54, 124 Sunnite nations, 46 Suz H guddz (Nau'i), 116 symmachoi, 19 Syria, Syrian(s), 17-20, 2 4 - 4 1 , 64, 74, 80, 85, 86, 128; emigrants from, 67 Syriac language, 31, 4 0 ; influence on Arabic language, 36, 40 Taghlibi al-Akhtal, 4 0 Tahmuras, 44 Ta'if, 24 Tamerlane, 46 tanassara, 67 taqwd, 9 Tariq, 66 Tarraconsis, 65 Tarsus, 128 taxes and taxation, 20, 82, 135; exemp­ tion from as incentive to conversion to Islam, 28, 67 ta'ziya, 124 Tchirmen, 131 Terrasse, Henri, 61, 64 Thaqif, 24 Thessaly, 132 Thrace," 132, 138 Timurid interlude, 137 Tokat, 131 Toledo, 62, 64, 68, 7 6 ; fall of, 7 9 ; Mozarabs of, 8 0 ; Third Council of, 65 Torres Balbas, Leopoldo, 64 Trebizond, 128, 131, 133, 134 Trikala, 131, 132 Trinity, 65, 82 Tritton, A . S., 27 Tughluq dynasty, 114 Tunis, 102, 104 Tunisia, 80 Turan, 119 Turk Allah. See Amir Khusrau

150

Index

Turkey, 31. See also Anatolia Turkic languages, 57 Turks, Turkish, 1 0 7 - 1 2 6 ; in Anatolia and the Balkans, 1 2 7 - 1 4 0 ; language, 57, 112, 117 Tyre, 19 'Ubaidalla ibn Qasim (bishop), 84 'Umar I , 31 'Umar I I , 28 Umayyad(s), 4 0 ; dynasty in al-Andalus, 67, 69, 72, 76, 7 7 ; period, 28 umm al-walad, 68 '•umran, 72 Unity of Being (Ibn Arabi), 121 Upanishad, 57 Urdu, 126; Dakhni, 122; poetry, 123 U x 6 , 95 Valencia, Valencian, 62, 8 7 - 1 0 5 ; city of, 76 Valldigna, 9 6 - 9 7 Vardar region, 130 Vernet Gines, Juan, 63 Vicens Vives, Jaime, 88 Vilayetname, 136 Vincent (baron), 94 Virgin Mary, 29 Visigoth(s), Visigothic, 61, 65, 66, 67 Vize, 131 Vizier, 94, 99, 115

von Grunebaum, G. E . , 1-2, 3, 17, 33 von Kremer, Alfred, 35 Vryonis, Speros, Jr., 33 wahdat al-wujud, 121 wall, 90, 9 5 - 9 6 W a l l d ibn Khayzuran, 8 4 al-Wansharisi, 4 wara', 9 Wellhausen, Julius, 27 White Monastery, 22 Widengren, Geo, 43 Wiet, Gaston, 27 Witiza (King), 65 writing, 102; art of, 4 3 - 4 4 Yamanis, 32 Yarmuk, 25 Y o g a , 121-122 Zahirite theology, 78 zajal, 62, 84, 86 Zand, 53 Zarathustra, Zarathustrian, 44, 47 Zarruq of Fez, 4 Zayyan, 90, 95 Zoroaster, Zorastrian(ism), 47, 52, 116; monotheism, 44 Zubaid Ahmad, 119 al-Zubaidi, 7 5 - 7 6 Zulkadriye, 131