The Shrines of the ‘Alids in Medieval Syria by Stephennie Mulder A Sample From Chapter 2: Aleppo: An Experiment in Islamic Ecumenism EDINBURGH STUDIES IN ISLAMIC A RT EDINBURGH STUDIES IN ISLAMIC A RT SE RIES E DITOR:ROBE RT HILLE NBRAND SE RIES E DITOR:ROBE RT HILLE NBRAND ADVIS ORY EDITORS: BE RNARD O ’KanE AND J ONATHAN M . BLOOM ‘Alids the of Shrines The This series offers readers easy access to the most up-to-date research across the whole range of Islamic art, representing various parts of the Islamic world, media and approaches. Books in the series are Syria Medieval in academic monographs of intellectual distinction that mark a significant advance in the field. The Shrines of the ‘Alids in Medieval Syria Sunnis, Shi‘is and the Architecture of Coexistence Stephennie Mulder ‘An elegant study of how shrines were the locus of ecumenical veneration in times of heightened sectarian tensions. That the focus of the book is Syria constitutes a hopeful reminder that sectarianism was not the historical norm and that architecture can and did mediate between divergent religious passions.’ Nasser Rabbat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The first illustrated, architectural history of the ‘Alid shrines, increasingly endangered by the conflict in Syria The ‘Alids (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad) are among the most revered figures in Islam, beloved by virtually all Muslims, regardless of sectarian affiliation. This study argues that despite the common identification of shrines as ‘Shi‘i’ spaces, they have in fact always been unique places of pragmatic intersectarian exchange and shared piety, even – and perhaps especially – during periods of sectarian conflict. Mulder Stephennie Using a rich variety of previously unexplored sources, including textual, archaeological, architectural and epigraphic evidence, Stephennie Mulder shows how these shrines created a unifying Muslim ‘holy land’ in medieval Syria, and proposes a fresh conceptual approach to thinking about landscape in Islamic art. In doing so, she argues against a common paradigm of medieval sectarian conflict, complicates the notion of Sunni Revival and provides new evidence for the negotiated complexity of sectarian interactions in the period. Key Features • Beautifully illustrated with over 120 colour images • The first study of Syrian ‘Alid shrines as critical sites of Islamic pious practice in some of Islam’s most important cities • Uses architecture to present a more nuanced understanding of the history of sectarianism • Utilises an unusually wide range of source materials including medieval Arabic textual sources, spatial and architectural analysis, The Shrines of the ‘Alids archaeological investigation, epigraphy and GPS survey Stephennie Mulder is Assistant Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. in Medieval Syria ISBN 978-0-7486-4579-4 Sunnis, Shi‘is and the Edinburgh 9780748 645794 Architecture of Coexistence Cover image: © iStockphoto.com Cover design: Cathy Sprent Stephennie Mulder 9780748645794 I Hardback I £75.00 CHAPTER TWO Aleppo: An Experiment in Islamic Ecumenism Aleppo once had two medieval gates in its western wall (Map 2). The southernmost of these gates still stands, at the western terminus of the main market street that leads from the citadel. As in the medieval period, it is known today as the Bab Antakya (Antioch Gate). Exiting this gate, a pilgrim today will fi nd a road that crosses over the river Quwayq and follows the river’s winding path as it eventually turns southward. About 1.5km from the city wall,PRESS this southbound road passes near a low hill. On the eastern fl ank of the hill, which was known in the medieval period as the Jabal Jawshan, sit two medieval shrines overlooking the city. The larger, northernmost shrine commemorates al-Husayn. About 300m to the south is another shrine devoted to al-Muhassin, the stillborn son of al-Husayn. Before 2011, over a million pilgrims a year from many locations throughout the Islamic world participated in organised tours to these sites, and a visitor could observe these pious sup- plicants as they emerged in a seemingly incessant stream from the tour buses and cars that continuouslyUNIVERSITY parked in the large car park in front of the site. Although Aleppo once had many Shii shrines, including two shrines to Ali, a mashhad to Sidi Ghawth1 and others, the shrines to al-Husayn and al-Muhassin on the Jabal Jawshan were the largest and most signifi cant, and they remain so today.2 In the Seljuk, Zangid and Ayyubid eras, they were the locus of medieval Syria’s most highly invested experiment in pragmatic toleration and cooperation between Sunnis and Shiis. TheCOPYRIGHT architects of this experiment were a group of Aleppo’s rulers in the period from the late tenth to the twelfth century. One of these sovereigns consciouslyEDINBURGH used the shrines to promote such cooperation as part of a larger project of sectarian conciliation. The actions of several other rulers indicate that such cooperation was probably an implicit motivation for their act of patronage. In the end, two build- ings of extraordinary beauty emerged from these multiple invest- ments, one of them a true masterwork of Ayyubid architecture. Yet it is a bit strange that such lavish buildings would be erected to commemorate an obscure fi gure and an ephemeral event that were otherwise unknown in Islamic history. In an ironic inversion of the MULDER 9780748645794 PRINT.indd 63 20/12/2013 08:05 64 THE SHRINES OF THE ALIDS IN MEDIEVAL SYRIA q 0 500 1000 metres y a y u Q r e v i R Bab al-Faraj Bab al-Nasr Bab al-Hadid uyay r Q q e Umayyad Mosque iv R Madrasa al-Halawiyya Citadel Bab al-Ahmar Bab Antakya Suq (Market) Mashhad al-Husayn Madrasa al-Sultaniyya BabBab Qinnasrinainnasrin Mashhad al-Muhassin Bab al-Maqam MadrasaPRESS al-Kamiliyya Madrasa al-Firdaws Madrasa al-Zahiriyya Mosque al-Firdaws Map 2 Plan of Aleppo, showing the Bab Antakya west of the citadel and the road leading west and then south along the river Quwayq. The Mashhad al-Muhassin is visible on the hillside on far left, and the Mashhad al-Husayn is directly north of it. expected, the Alid shrines of Aleppo, devoted to relatively little- known episodes of ShiUNIVERSITYi martyrology, are far more elaborate than their counterparts in Damascus, where – as we shall see in the fol- lowing chapter – the remains of much more important Alid fi gures were housed in strikingly small-scale, modest constructions. This irony is perhaps explained by a simple fact of demography, for Aleppo, unlike Damascus, was a Shii-controlled city for much of its medieval history. Thus, these shrines are the product of a particular moment in that history in which it was advantageous to COPYRIGHTpropitiate the city’s Shii population. In this environment, Aleppo’s patrons had far greater freedom to endow projects that benefi ted EDINBURGHShii practice than did their Damascene equivalents. Indeed, by the Ayyubid period, the population of northern Syria and Mesopotamia had a long-established inclination toward Shiism. A large propor- tion of the Muslims of Aleppo were Shii, as were the inhabitants of numerous surrounding towns.3 In the mid-eleventh century, Nasir-i Khusrau reports that the cities of the Syrian littoral, such as Tripoli, Baalbek, Sidon, Tyre and Tiberius, had a majority of Shiis.4 Many inland towns, such as Homs, Hama and Damascus, sheltered a signifi cant, and vocal, Shii minority. This so disturbed a staunch MULDER 9780748645794 PRINT.indd 64 20/12/2013 08:05 ALEPPO: AN EXPERIMENT IN ISLAMIC ECUMENISM 65 Sunni like Ibn Jubayr (d. 1217) that he paused in his travel narrative to grumble about their excessive numbers and sue for preservation from their heresies: In these lands the Shiis are an astonishing phenomenon. They are more numerous than the Sunnis, and they have disseminated their doctrines everywhere. They are divided into different sects . the Rafi dis . the Imamis, the Zaydis . the Ismailis, the Nusayris – who are infi dels because they attribute divinity to Ali (may God be pleased with him) – . the Ghurabiyya – who claim that Ali resembles the Prophet PBUH . as well as other sects one shrinks from enumerating. God has misled them and has misled many of his creations. We beg of God to protect us in (true) religion and seek refuge in Him from the deviations of the heretics (zaygh al-mul˙idÈn).5 No doubt this apparent fl ourishing of Shiism was encouraged by the fact that Syria was under the political control of Shii dynasties for much of its medieval history, although precisely how and to whatPRESS degree this officially sanctioned Shiism succeeded in winning over the general population is somewhat unclear. However it is apparent that in northern, central and coastal Syria, as well as selected cities in other areas, Shii rule had a palpable effect on conversion. In some cities, it seems Shiism made inroads at an early stage: al-Muqaddasi (d. c. 1000) reports that regarding allegiance to theological schools, the people of Syria are rightly guided, and upholders of authority and tradition [i.e., Sunni]. The people of Tiberias, UNIVERSITYhowever, and half the popula- tion of Nablus and Qadas, and most of the people of Amman, are Shia.6 However, Shii political control – if it were indeed an impetus for Shii popular allegiance – did not have the same outcome in south- ern Syria as it did in the area of north-central Syria and the Jazira. Though the Ismaili Fatimids controlled southern Syria until the mid-twelfthCOPYRIGHT century, Shiism remained a marginal presence there, with the exception of the Shii movement of the Druze, which became entrenchedEDINBURGH in the area of the Hawran under the rule of the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (r.