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'Double Rapprochement': Conversion to Islam Among the Mongol Elite During the Early Ilkhanate

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'Double Rapprochement': Conversion to Islam Among the Mongol Elite During the Early Ilkhanate REFLECTIONS ON A 'DOUBLE RAPPROCHEMENT': CONVERSION TO ISLAM AMONG THE MONGOL ELITE DURING THE EARLY ILKHANATE JUDITH PFEIFFER Introductory Remarks The study of conversion to Islam among the Mongols has recently received a strong impetus through Devin DeWeese's seminal work on Baba Tiikles and the Islamization of the Golden Horde. 1 For the Ilkhanate, Charles Melville, 2 Reuven Amitai, 3 and Ciineyt Kanat4 have devoted articles to the Ilkhans Ghazan Khan's and Al).mad Teguder's conversions to Islam, and earlier scholarship, undertaken by Mu~tara Taha Badr in the l 950s5 and Fu'ad 'Abd al-Mu'tI al­ $ayyad6 and Mul).ammad Al).mad Mul).ammad7 in the 1970s and 1980s focused on these Ilkhans' conversions as well. Nonetheless, research on conversion to Islam among the Mongols of the Ilkhanate is still in its infancy. It is in this sense that the following thoughts are presented here, namely as a starting point, rather than a conclusive answer to a complex issue. When talking about conversion to Islam in the Ilkhanate we normally think of Ghazan Khan, his vizier Rashid al-Din, and the reforms implemented under their patronage. That there were earlier converts on the lower echelons of Mongol society is well known, and DeWeese's contribution to this volume provides further insightful examples. In this paper, I will focus on conversion to Islam among the Mongol elite in the early Ilkhanate, a period which for the pur­ poses of this paper shall be defined as the four decades between the 1 DeWeese (1994). 2 Melville (1990b), 159- 77. 3 Amitai-Preiss (1996a), 1-10; idem (1999), 27--46; Amitai (2001), 15--43. On the Ilkhan Oljeitii's conversion to ShI'i Islam, see Pfeiffer (1999), 35- 67. 4 Kanat (2002), 233- 4 7. See also Pfeiffer (2003). 5 Badr ( 1950). 6 al-Sayyad ( 1979); see also idem ( 1987). 7 Mu}:Iammad (1989). 370 JUDITH PFEIFFER Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 656/1258 and Ghazan Khan's conversion to Islam in 694/1295. Among the historical works of the period, Rashid al-Din's (d . 718/ 1318) Jami' al-tawarikh has become the dominant source of knowledge on the llkhanate in twentieth-century European and North American scholarship. Rashid al-Din's bias in favor of his patrons Ghazan Khan and Oljeitu, and the line of Hulegu-Abaqa-Arghun-Ghazan Khan, is well known.8 For converts prior to Ghazan Khan this means that their conversions are not particularly stressed or fleshed out by Rashid al-Din- thus, information on the Islamic reforms of the earlier convert Ilkhan Al:imad Teguder is not provided by Rashid al-Din, but has to be culled from Wa~~af (fl. 728/ 1328), 9 such lesser and as yet unpublished sources asJuwaynI's (d. 681/1283) (Dhay~ Tasliyat al-ikhwan, 10 and contemporary Mamluk and Christian sources. 11 With these reflections in mind, let us turn to those conversions that occurred prior to Ghazan Khan's. There are several dimensions to the phenomenon in question. These include, but are not restricted to, conversion to Islam among the Mongol amfrs prior to the Ilkhans' conversions; conversion to Islam among the Chinggisid elite; marriage politics and conversion in the Ilkhanate; and the role of Sufis in llkhanid conversions. In the following discussion, I shall give a quick overview of the first aspect, and go into some detail with regard to the fourth, namely the role of Sufis in llkhanid conversions. 12 Conversion to Islam among the Mongol elite in the Ilkhanate seems to have been a long process, extending over several genera­ tions. While the Muslim shahada is found on all of the first Ilkhan Hulegu's (and before him on some of Genghis [Chinggis] Khan's 8 See, e.g., Aubin (1995), 23. There exist several editions and also translations into various European languages of Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-tawarikh. In the follow­ ing, I shall quote after the recent edition by Rawshan and Miisawi, Rashid al-Din (1994), and the translation by Thackston, Rashid al-Din (1998). 9 Wa~~af (1853) 110; 113- 15 (page citations are to the 1959- 60 reprint edi­ tion); idem (1856), 219, 231 - 35, trans. 205; 215- 18. On Wa~~af, see Pfeiffer (in press). 10 (Dhay~ T asliyat al-ikhwan, Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. Supplement Persan 206, fols. 1b-41 b, here fol. 33a. 11 al-Yiinini (1954), vol. 4, 141. 12 For a more detailed discussion of the second and third issues listed above, see Pfeiffer (2003), chap. 2. .
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