Islamization and Acculturation at the Time of ʻumar II (717-720) Islamización Y Aculturación En La Época De ʻumar II (717-720)
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Al-QAnṭArA XLII 1, enero-junio 2021, e06 eISSN 1988-2955 | ISSN-L 0211-3589 https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2021.006 Islamization and Acculturation at the Time of ʻUmar II (717-720) Islamización y aculturación en la época de ʻUmar II (717-720) Yaacov Lev Bar Ilan University ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6723-0538 Abstract ʻUmar II’s vast correspondence with governors is examined for the discussion of Islamization and acculturation. From the caliph’s point of view, these two processes had to be regulated and the dilemma was how to formulate a policy that was both in line with Islamic ethics and, at the same time, controlling Islamization by setting a high entrance bar for the converts. The struggle against acculturation attempted to preserve Muslim political dominance by controlling the administration. Key words: ʻUmar II; mawālī; “rescript”; “edict”; H. A. R. Gibb; Milka Levy-Rubin; Luke Yarbrough. Resumen La vasta correspondencia de ʻUmar II con los gobernantes es examinada para la discusión de la islamización y la aculturación. Desde el punto de vista del califa, estos dos procesos tenían que ser regulados y el dilema era cómo formular una política que estuviera en línea con la ética islámica y, al mismo tiempo, controlar la islamización estableciendo un alto nivel de entrada para los conversos. La lucha contra la aculturación intentaba preservar el dominio político musulmán controlando la administración. Palabras clave: ʻUmar II; mawālī; “rescript”; “edicto”; H. A. R. Gibb; Milka Levy-Rubin; Luke Yarbrough. Citation / Cómo citar: Lev, Yaacov, “Islamization and Acculturation at the Time of ʻUmar II (717-720)”, Al-Qanṭara, 42, 1 (2021), e06. doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2021.006. Received: 02/03/2020; Accepted: 08/09/2020; Published: 02/07/2021 Copyright: © 2021 CSIC. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. 2 YAACOV LEV I for God and Muḥammad is God’s Messenger”.2 In social terms conversion obliged association The goal of this paper is to examine two un- with Arabs which brought converts to seek related processes that took place in early Islam: affiliation with Arab patrons (powerful indi- conversion to Islam and, concomitantly, Islam- viduals, families or tribes) in order to become ization and acculturation. I perceive conver- their clients (mawlā pl. mawālī), while adopt- sion as the beginning of a long process of reli- ing their patronymics. The relation between gious change that led to Islamization. Recently, clients and their Arab patrons was especially Corisande Fenwick, has referred to Islamization strong in the case of freedmen (i.e. slaves or as a much abused term which is taken as syn- 1 captives who had converted to Islam and were onymous with conversion. I would argue that set free by their masters). 3 The social repercus- Islamization is an elusive term since we mostly sions of the conversion process – the position see its end-result, while its stages remain ob- of the mawālī in Muslim society during the scure. How thorough Islamization was is anoth- seventh-eighth centuries– are frequently men- er difficult question to answer since non-Mus- tioned in the sources and extensively discussed lim communities were a constant feature of the by scholars.4 socio-religious landscape of the medieval Mid- The inner logic of the conversion process, dle East, and submission to Muslim rule did not especially when well-known people were in- render them insignificant. volved, obliged the act to be public. One of the The methodology for the study of Islami- most famous converts to Islam in tenth century zation is still ill defined, and most studies are Egypt was the Jew Yaʻqūb ibn Killis, who con- focused on the presumed indicators of the pro- verted during the rule of Kāfūr (966-968) and cess such as name patterns. In an attempt to in- became his vizier. The conversion took place tegrate sources and studies into a meaningful at Kāfūr’s residence and, subsequently, a great discussion, the first part of the paper consists of crowd accompanied Ibn Killis to his house. The extensive discussion of studies on Islamization procession was witnessed by Sībawayh, a noted and the insights derived from this discussion are constantly referred to in parts two and three. Part two is a case study of Ifrīqiya (Tunisia and north-east Algeria) and ʻUmar II’s policies in the 2 There is ample literature on the sincerity of conver- province, while part three examines the broader sion and its rites, and the most recent publications include scope of the caliph’s policies on both conver- Friedmann, “Conversion, Apostasy and Excommunication”, pp. 107-116; Chrysostomides, “There is no God but God’’, sion and acculturation. My discussion of accul- pp. 118-121; Cooperson, “An Early Conversion Story”, pp. turation relies on sources and is also informed 390-391. The eighth century Syriac Chronicle of Zuqnīn (pp. by recent publications on the subject. 327-328) describes a rite of conversion that took place in the Before any discussion of methodology is region of Edessa (Urfa in Turkey), which involved both ver- attempted, the rites associated with conver- bal renunciation of Christianity and acceptance of Islam that went beyond the formula “There is no god except for God sion to Islam require an explanation. For ex- and Muḥammad is God’s Messenger”. For the Chronicle of ample, the question of whether a conversion to Zuqnīn, see Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, pp. 337- Islam driven by opportunistic motives such as 339. the wish to escape financial hardship or gain 3 For the role of patronage in the conversion process, personal benefits can be considered as genuine see Bulliet, “Conversion-Based Patronage”, pp. 246-263; Nawas, “A Client’s Client”, pp. 143-158. For the legal and was much debated in diverse medieval Arabic social mechanisms that were instrumental for the inclusion writings. The position attributed to the Proph- of slave converts, especially female slaves, into the Jewish et was that the pronouncement of the declara- society of the Geniza period, see Perry, “Conversion as an tion of faith (There is no god except for God) Aspect of Master-Slave Relationships”, pp. 135-160. was enough to accept the conversion of a pa- 4 In the Ifrīqiya context, the shifting policies towards gan Arab. Christians and Jews were, however, the mawālī are illustrated by the events which took place in 102/720-721, during the governorship of Yazīd ibn Abī Mus- also obliged to admit Muḥammad’s status as lim, and the treatment of the mawālī of his predecessor Musā a Prophet. They had to pronounce the double ibn Nuṣayr, who served as his bodyguard (ḥaras). Yazīd, declaration of faith: “There is no god except himself the mawlā of al-Ḥajjāj, the governor of Iraq, tattooed their arms and re-enslaved them. In response, they assassinat- ed him. See al-Yaʻqūbī, vol. II, p. 376; al-Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 1 See, Early Islamic North Africa, p. 129. I owe this ref- p. 325. For the most recent scholar discussion of the mawālī erence to the kindness of one of the anonymous readers on in early Islam, see Urban, Conquered Populations, pp. 20-25, behalf of Al-Qanṭara. and ch. 3. Al-Qanṭara XLII 1, 2021, e06 eISSN 1988-2955 | ISSN-L 0211-3589 doi: https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2021.006 IslamIzatIon and acculturatIon at the tIme of ʻumar II (717-720) 3 contemporary “holy fool”, who was highly crit- not appear in medieval Arabic dictionaries. The ical of the event.5 standard approach has been to adopt Reinhart P. As important as the rites associated with con- A. Dozy’s translation as “nouveau musulman”, version to Islam were, the meaning of adopting which conveys well the basic meaning of the Islam must also be addressed. The attempt to term.8 Elsewhere I have argued that the term re- elucidate this issue at the time of the Prophet fers to converts to Islam who showed no devo- and the caliphs of Medina (632-661) and Da- tion to their new faith. Although such conduct mascus (661-750) is, for example, at the heart of was tolerated, a convert labeled as a muslimānī Harry Munt’s, Jack Tannous’ and Uriel Simon- found it difficult to assimilate into Muslim so- sohn’s discussions of the transformation from ciety since the term had clear pejorative conno- Arab paganism (jāhiliyya) to Islam. Islamiza- tations.9 tion during those periods involved individuals The discussion of the methodological issues and tribal groups and was motivated by convic- involved in the conversion process was brought tions and a myriad of personal and political rea- to the fore of the scholarly debate in 1950 by sons. Munt has emphasized the political aspects Daniel C. Dennett, who provided a summary of of the Islamization process of Arabia during the Julius Wellhausen’s findings (1902), and of sub- Prophet’s lifetime, whose driving force was the sequent studies. Dennett proposed adopting a desire to preserve property. As has been shown regional approach to questions such as the status by Simonsohn, at the time of the Prophet, the of land and taxation and pointed out the need for conversion of certain individuals proved to be precision when terms such as kharāj (land tax) insincere, while Tannous has pointed out that and poll-tax (jizya) are examined and translat- the difference between genuine acceptance of ed. Both Wellhausen and Dennett also discussed Islam on a personal level versus instrumental the policies of ʻUmar II concerning taxation and mass conversion of various social groups had conversion to Islam.10 long term socio-religious consequences well One must bear in mind that since the publica- into the Umayyad period.6 tion of Dennett’s book a significant shift about On the individual and collective levels, the how Islamization is studied has taken place.