The ʿAbbāsid Caliphate Inhoud Table of contents............................................................................ Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. Ḵhalīfa ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 ʿAbbāsids (Banu 'l-ʿAbbās) ...................................................................................................................... 28 ʿAbbāsid Revolution ................................................................................................................................ 40 Adab Literature: 9th to 13th Century ................................................................................................... 47 Women Literature: 9th to 15th Century .............................................................................................. 50 Sexualities and Queer Studies ............................................................................................................... 69 al-Hāsh imiyya ......................................................................................................................................... 75 Bagh dād ................................................................................................................................................... 77 Bayt al-Ḥikma ........................................................................................................................................ 102 People of the House .............................................................................................................................. 105 ʿAlids ....................................................................................................................................................... 110 Law: The Four Sunnī Schools of Law .................................................................................................. 113 1 Ḵh alīfa THE HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE CALIPHATE A study of the caliphate, its institution and subsequent developments, has never been attempted in its entirety until the present. The principal reason is that it has not seemed possible to conduct such a survey independently of historical studies relating to different reigns, which are still in most cases insufficient, or even non-existent, whereas studies of doctrine, while more advanced, have not been developed to the same extent with regard to the various periods. The tentative attempts that have been made have therefore been superficial, or lacking sufficient historical perspective. Here we must confine ourselves to making a brief statement of the question and stressing the problems, rather than attempting a complete exposition, which, to do justice to the subject, would require treatment at too great length. A. THE FIRST PERIOD In a sense, the institution of the caliphate was born on the day after the death or the Prophet when the new head of the community, in the event the trusted Companion Abū Bakr, became in 11/632 kh alīfat rasūlAllāh. The date and the circumstances of the appearance of this institution would seem therefore to be well-established, but two questions arise at once. First, how did the designation of the first caliph take place, and was the procedure adopted observed in subsequent cases? Second, what powers were attributed to this ―successor‖ of the Prophet? As regards the first point, the tradition adopted by the majority of historians tells of the acclamation of the new caliph by the leading Companions, who gave him an oath of allegiance; this was the first bayʿa. Whatever were the circumstances under which this proclamation was made, whatever pressures were applied by ʿUmar to the congregation to have Abū Bakr recognized, whatever may have been the protests of ʿAlī and his supporters, it seems to have been accepted from this time onwards that the oath of the Believers, to which corresponded the promise of the new chief to lead the community on the right path, alone conferred upon him the succession. For the two caliphs who followed, variations in procedure should be noted. Abū Bakr, before his death in 13/634, had, according to the chroniclers, personally designated his successor in the presence of ʿUmar. The community of Believers was not there-¶ fore in position to state its own wishes, but got the chance to ratify this appointment. The oath in fact, was taken only by the Companions present at Medina, which explains how the authority of ʿUmar could be disputed by certain groups dispersed elsewhere in Arabia, who refused to pay the legally- assessed poor tax [see RIDDA]. ʿUmar, before dying in his turn in 23/644, had decided that a group of six persons, including among others ʿUth mān and ʿAlī, should choose his successor from among themselves. After discussion the choice fell on ʿUth mān, who then received the oath of allegiance. So even with the designation of the first three caliphs, three different methods were explored; all, however, were only to be put into effect if ratified by the community, or by its most influential and closest members. The second question, that of the powers exercised by the new leaders of the community, is more problematical, since these powers were not at the time defined in a precise fashion. One cannot base conclusions on the sense of the title kh alīfa (see above) which, suggesting at once the ideas of succession, appointment and authority, remained somewhat vague. These powers seem, essentially, to have authorised the first three successors of Muḥammad to pursue the actions previously set in motion by the Prophet himself for the expansion of Islam and to put into practice the regulations set out in the Ḳurʾānic message, which was to be supplemented by the Sunna instituted among the community of Believers in the lifetime of the Prophet. 2 The continuation of the work begun by the Prophet was seen during the time of Abū Bakr in the fight against the dissidents of Arabia, soon followed by raiding operations towards the north which became a vast movement of conquest. From this time onwards the caliph assumed the role of army commander, and military operations, conducted against infidels or against rebellious Muslims who, for one reason or another refused to accept his authority, became one of his most important responsibilities. Meanwhile, questions of law, relating to the spheres both of the cult and of social relations, were posed to those caliphs called by the tradition rāsh idūn , that is to say ―those who walk in the right way‖, as opposed to those who came later and were accused of making the caliphate a family possession. Thus ʿUmar was obliged to take decisions concerning the penal law, certain types of inheritance and the practice of the law of retaliation (Sh ahrastāni, Milal, Cairo, i, 18). To him also are attributed some initiatives in matters of ritual, culminating in the attempt, carried on by ʿUth mān, to set in motion the establishment of the text of the Ḳurʾānic ―vulgate‖. It was also in the time of ʿUmar that for the first time the question was raised of the financial organisation of the Islamic state. Since members of the Arab tribes were entitled to endowments, ʿUmar instituted the dīwān, a register in which the names of beneficiaries were inscribed. In addition, the troops were entitled to a share of the booty, which was gradually replaced by a pension, registered in the same way. The organisation of the dīwān [q.v.], first established at Medina, later in all the principal cities of the empire, was thus linked to that of the fiscal system, on which it is not possible to dwell here. Let it be said only that it was at the initiative of the two caliphs ʿUmar and ʿUth mān that a treasury was established, which collected and from which were distributed the revenues supplied first by booty, later by property taxes. As this treasury¶ also met some expenses of communal interest, it should have been seen as the beginning of a financial system which was not strictly in accord with Ḳurʾānic principles for the distribution of booty, but which was made necessary by the development of the new State [see BAYT AL-MĀL]. This innovation was one of the causes of the troubles which culminated in the assassination of ʿUth man in 35/656. Another cause was the choice by ʿUth mān of members of his own family to undertake the government of the principal provinces; in acting thus he was in effect supplanting the earliest converts to Islam, who by virtue of this title had in general more right than the descendants of Abū Sufyān to participate in the organisation of the community. Two concepts of power came into conflict here, of which one consisted in observing strictly the principles of the Ḳurʾān and giving pride of place to the ―first converts‖, while the other paid greater attention to the efficiency of the apparatus of government. After the confrontation which took place between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiya, following the judgement of ʿAdh ruḥ [q.v.], the second concept held definitive sway. The murder of ʿUth mān and the events which followed posed to the Islamic community the problem of knowing whether a caliph could be deposed for neglecting his duties. It seems that it was at this time that there appeared the sect later to be known as the Ḵhawārid j which declared the principle that the caliph must not under any circumstances deviate from the ordinances of divine origin (see the interpretation by W. Montgomery Watt, The formative period of Islamic thought, Edinburgh 1973, 14-15). The