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A Thirteenth-Century Faḍāʾil Treatise on Syria and Damascus Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Faculty Scholarship 2009 A Thirteenth-Century Faḍāʾil Treatise on Syria and Damascus Zayde Antrim Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub Part of the Islamic World and Near East History Commons Al-'U~iir al-Wusta The Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists Volume 21, Nos.1 & 2 • April, 2009 AL-'U~OR AI-WUSTA • HTTP·//WWW MIDDLEEASTMEDIEYALISTS QRG/ULDEFN HTML• Al-'U~fir al-Wust:a The Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists Volume 21, Nos. 1 & 2 • April, 2009 Cairo in the Ayyubid confederation, and vocal supporters of jihad against the A Thirteenth­ the assertiveness of its scholarly milieu. Crusaders. One of the most intriguing A decade later, intra-dynastic power Century F mjltil examples of Damascus-centric fa4ail struggles again prompted an Ayyubid, literature, particularly as it relates to the this time the ruler of Damascus al-Salil). Treatise on Syria politics of the Crusades, is the treatise Ismau, to sign a treaty with the written by noted preacher and Shafi'i Crusaders in 638/1240, which ceded and Damascus jurist, 1zz al-Dfn 'Abel al- 'AtJz b. 'Abd al­ some coastal tenitories and a number of Salam al-Sulamr (d. (i(j)/1262), entitled nealby fortresses to the Franks of Acre Targhrb ahl al-Isliim ft sukna al-Sham and allowed them access to the weapons Zayde Antrim (Inciting Muslims to Settle in Syria). Al­ marlcets of Damascus. fu response to this Trinity College SulamI had a distinguished career in calculated act of realpolitik, many Hartford, Connecticut Damascus, occupying the post of khaf[b, members of the Damascene 'ulamii or preacher, of the Umayyad Mosque raised their voices in condemnation of al­ under the city's Ayyubid ruler, al-Salil). Salil). Ismau's judgment. Front and Ismau (reigned 63/1237-635/1238, center in this uproar was al-Sulamr, who 637/1239-643/1245). Described as issued a fatwa, or legal opinion, fu the period of the Crusades, Arabic having attained the status of condemning the sale of arms to compilations of Qur'anic quotes, !Jadith, "independent thinker" (mujtahid) in Crusaders and preached a fiery Friday legendmy and historical anecdotes, juridical matters by his biographers, al­ sennon fium the pulpit of the Umayyad poetic fragments, and prose commentmy Sulamr's career exemplifies the Mosque e~ing outspoken rejection extolling the merits (fa4iiil) of Syria and loosening of the relationship between of al-Salil). Ismau's policies and, Syrian cities flourished as a genre. The local intellectuals and the ruling elite in therefore, of his legitimacy as a ruler. landrnatk worlc in this genre was the the Ayyubid period. Few Ayyubid rulers Reprisal was swift on the part of the introductoty tnbute to Syria and in the first half of the thirteenth centuiy Ayyubid ruler, and al-SulamI was briefly Damascus fium the voluminous were able to build or maintain a support imprisoned and 1hen fon:ed to leave biographical dictioruuy, the Ta'nkh system among Syrian religious scholars Damascus, from whence he fled to madinat Dimashq (History ofthe City of ('ulamaj of the kind that had Egypt where he spent the rest of his life Damascus), written by Damascene strengthened Saladin, founder of the in self-imposed exile. notable Abu al-Qasim 'A1r b. 'Asakir (d. Ayyubid dynasty, and his predecessor After fleeing to Egypt, al-SulamI 571/1176) under the patronage of the Nur al-Dfn. hltemecine rivahy between authored his fa4ail tribute to Syria and warrior-prince Nur al-Dfn b. 2.angI, the sons of Saladin's brother al-'Adil I, Damascus, presumably at least partly out "avenger of the vile, infidel enemies of who had consolidated power over both of homesickness. fu compiling this Muslims." In the decades after 583/1187 Egypt and Syria fium 596/1200 until his worlc, he borrowed material fium the when Nur al-Drn's successor Sal.ab. al­ death in 615/1218, created an unstable earlier Faqdil al-Sham wa-Dimashq Dfn b. Ayyub (Saladin) re-conquered situation in which the cities of Cairo, (Merits of Syria and Damascus) by one Jerusalem ending a centmy of Crusader Damascus, and Aleppo were Abu al-I;Iasan 'A1r al-Raba'i (d. rule, the holy city remained a cause increasingly aligned against each other 444/1052) and the introduction to lbn ce1ebre among Muslim intellectuals, as Ayyubid claimants jockeyed for 'Asakir's Ta'nkh madinat Dimashq and especially when Saladin's Ayyubid position. It was in an attempt to reflected their emphases on the descendants used the holy city as a strengthen his hand against those of his privileged status of the region of Syria bargaining piece in their intra-dynastic brothers in Syria that the Ayyubid ruler in and its central city, Damascus, in sacred struggles for power. At the same time, Cairo, al-Kfunil, signed a treaty with history. pethaps not smprisingly,jaqail literature Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in These similarities aside, al-SulamI on Jerusalem proliferated. However, 626/1229 that ceded Jerusalem back to arranges and comments on this material fa4a il treatises were also being cin::ulated the Crusaders. This gesture raised the ire in such a way as to communicate his in this period that reflected the vitality of of Syrian 'ulamti, particularly those in particular understanding of his authority the city of Damascus, second city after Damascus who had constituted the most as a religious scholar as well as his AL-'U~OR Ai-WUSTA • HTTP·//WWW MIDDLEEASTMED1EYALl$I$ QRG/ULDEFN HTML• 5 Al-'U~iir al-Wusta The Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists Volume 21, Nos. 1 & 2 • April, 2009 _{X)litical agenda. Unlike his predecessors, springs" (23:50). Also, as transmitted on meansof]whatHebestowsu_{X)nrtinthe he does not hesitate to wield his the authority of the descendants of the way of fruits and water." He continues independent judgment as a nut}tahid, prophets and the group of exegetes and by acknowledging that God clearly abbreviating or eliminating chains of commentators, it is where Jesus, peace endowed Damascus with springs, rivers, transmission . and proffering his own be u_{X)n him, will descend to strengthen fruits, and cereals. However, he also exegesis of the material from the Qur'an the religion and to help those who concludes that abundant ''religious and I:Iadith that he presents as evidence believe in the unity of God and to fight blessings" (al-baraktit al-dlniyya) reside for Syrian excellence. infidels and heretical practices. And its in Syria and in Jerusalem. He never He divides his faqtiu treatise into Ghuta will be the fortress of the Muslims specifies the source of Jerusalem's two major parts, the first making a case during the slaughters [of the "religious blessings," other than being for the virtues of the region of Syria and aixx:alypse] .'' part of Syria, and he seems much more the second making a much briefer case This passage starts out by conferring preoccupied with the blessings bestowed for the virtues of the city of Damascus God's blessings U_{X)n "al-Sham;' U_{X)n Syria as a region - both worldly before concluding with a discussion of referred to thereafter by the third person and religious - than to those accrued to just leadership in Islam. While some singular masculine pronoun, and then any of its constituent parts other than ambiguity plagues the use of the the phrase "and in particular Damascus, Damascus. For instance, later in the to_{X)nym "al-Sham'' in literature of this the protected one" switches the focus to Ja(jtiu treatise he presents an exegesis of sort, the earlier exemplars by al-Rabat Damascus, referred to in the rest of the the phrase from the first verse of the and lbn 'Asakir both include traditions passage by the third person singular ''Night Jotnney'' in Sura 17 in which defining "al-Sham'' as a regional entity, feminine pronoun. There can be little God blesses the area around "al-Masjid blessed by God in the Quran, stretching doubt here that al-SulamI is using "al­ al-Aq~': 'This does not apply from the town of al-'Ansh on the border Sham'' and "Dimashq" as distinct specifically to one locality in [Syria] as with Egypt in the south-west to the to_{X)nyms referring to plots of land at opposed to other localities, but it applies Euphrates in the north-east, an entity that different scales, one nestled within the to what is generally encompassed by the might be termed today ''Greater Syria" other, rather than as synonyms. Despite borders (/:ludiid) of Syria." Thus, al­ or "Bilad al-Sham." Al-SulamI also this distinction, al-SulamI's Syria and SulamI downplays Jerusalem's includes this tradition, and establishes a Damascus are also intimately related. fu particular claim to the baraka conferred clear distinction between the region of this passage, he represents Damascus, by God in the ''Night J0tnney'' Sura and "al-Sham'' and the city of "Dimashq" in along with its adjacent fertile oasis the assigns it to the region of Syria as a his opening remaiks on the source and Ghuta, as the epicenter of Syrian virtue, a whole, echoing earlier inteipretations of nature of their blessings: ''God Almighty predestined virtue derived from the the ''Holy Land" as comprising all of has made known those of us of .the privileged role in sacred history that Syria. people of Syria who reside there to the Syrians in Syria - ''those of us of the Central to al-SulamI's vision of worlds; He settled [Syria] with prophets people of Syria who reside there" - have Syrian virtue, reflecting again an and messengers, with saints and saviors, played and will play again at the end of emphasis 'in earlier jalfau literature, and with righteous worshippers; He time.
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