Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts Editorial Board Hinrich Biesterfeldt Sebastian Günther Wadad Kadi VOLUME 102 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ihc Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir (295–320/908–32) By Maaike van Berkel, Nadia Maria El Cheikh, Hugh Kennedy and Letizia Osti LEIDEN • BOSTON The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ihc 2013 Cover illustration: Silver coin bearing the inscription ‘al-Muqtadir bi-llāh’. It is unclear whether the image is also intended to portray al-Muqtadir. Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Kriegs- verlust). Copied from: Heinrich Nützel, ‘Eine Porträtmedaille des Chalifen el-Muktadir billah’, Zeit- schrift für Numismatik 22 (1900) 259. We would like to thank Michael Bates and Karsten Dahmen for their help with interpreting this coin. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berkel, Maaike van, author. Crisis and continuity at the Abbasid court : formal and informal politics in the caliphate of al-Muqtadir (295-320/908-32) / by Maaike van Berkel, Nadia Maria El Cheikh, Hugh Kennedy, and Letizia Osti. pages cm. — (Islamic history and civilization. Studies and texts ; volume 102) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25271-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25270-7 (e-book) 1. Muqtadir billah, Caliph, 895-932. 2. Abbasids. 3. Islamic Empire—History—750-1258. 4. Islamic Empire—Court and courtiers. I. El Cheikh, Nadia Maria, author. II. Kennedy, Hugh (Hugh N.) author. III. Osti, Letizia, author. IV. Title. DS38.6.B47 2013 909’.0976701—dc23 2013013918 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0929-2403 ISBN 978-90-04-25271-4 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25270-7 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. In Memory of Abdul Karim El Cheikh In Memory of Susannah Louise Kennedy For Bernhard and Isabella For Hannah and Nadia CONTENTS Timeline ............................................................................................................. ix Map of the Caliphate ..................................................................................... xiii Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 PART ONE HISTORIES AND STORIES 1. The Reign of al-Muqtadir (295–320/908–32): A History ............... 13 Hugh Kennedy 2. The Caliph ................................................................................................... 49 Letizia Osti PART TWO SCRIBES AND SOLDIERS 3. The Vizier .................................................................................................... 65 Maaike van Berkel 4. The Bureaucracy ........................................................................................ 87 Maaike van Berkel 5. The Military ................................................................................................ 111 Hugh Kennedy PART THREE WOMEN AND COURTIERS 6. The Chamberlains ..................................................................................... 145 Nadia Maria El Cheikh viii contents 7. The Harem ................................................................................................... 165 Nadia Maria El Cheikh 8. Culture, Education and the Court ....................................................... 187 Letizia Osti General Conclusion ........................................................................................ 215 Appendix: Baghdad at the Time of al-Muqtadir ................................... 221 Judith Ahola and Letizia Osti Maps .................................................................................................................... 239 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 243 Index of Names and Technical Terms ...................................................... 255 TIMELINE Hugh Kennedy 2951 12 Dhū l-Qaʿda/13 August 908: death of al-Muktafī. 13 Dhū l-Qaʿda/14 August 908: bayʿa (oath of allegiance) taken to al- Muqtadir. 296 19 Rabīʿ I/16 December 908: al-ʿAbbās b. al-Ḥasan, vizier, killed. 28 Rabīʿ I/19 December 908: Ibn al-Furāt appointed vizier for the first time. 15 Shaʿbān/11 May 909: Muʾnis robed and ordered to leave for Tarsus. Appointment of Naṣr al-Qushūrī as chamberlain 297 Rabīʿ II/December 909: birth of al-Rāḍī Ramaḍān/May–June 910: Muʾnis leads expedition to Fārs. 298 18 Shawwāl/19 June 911: Subkarā brought from Fārs to Baghdad. 1 The dates of major events in Iraq and the Mashriq are taken from ʿArīb b. Saʿd al-Qurṭubī (d. c. 370/980), Tabarî continuatus: Ṣilat tāʾrīḫ al-Ṭabarī, ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden: Brill, 1897); Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Miskawayh (d. 421/1030), Tajārib al- umam, The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate, ed. H. F. Amedroz, trans. D. S. Margoliouth, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1920–1); and Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (d. 335/947), Mā lam yunshar min awrāq al-Ṣūlī: akhbār al-sanawāt 295–315, ed. Hilāl Nājī (Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub, 2000). In general these three sources are in agreement but on occasion there may be a few days’ discrepancy, in which case we have preferred al-Ṣūlī’s dates because he is often the contemporary source and ʿArīb bases most of his details on al-Ṣūlī. The dates of the appointments and dismissals of viziers are taken from Sourdel, Vizirat, II, 387–469. The dates of Muʾnis’s expeditions to Egypt are taken from Abū ʿUmar Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Kindī (d. 350/961), The Governors and Judges of Egypt, or, Kitāb el ʿumarā <el wulâh> wa Kitâb el quḍâh of el Kindî: Together with an Appendix Derived Mostly from Raf ʿ el Iṣr by Ibn Ḥajar [Kitāb al-Wulāh wa-l-quḍāh], ed. Rhuvon Guest (London: Gibb Memorial Trust, 1912). x timeline 299 3 Dhū l-Ḥijja/21 July 912: Ibn al-Furāt arrested. 5 Dhū l-Ḥijja/23 July 912: Muḥammad b. ʿUbayd Allāh al-Khāqānī appointed vizier. 301 10 Muḥarram/16 August 913: ʿAlī b.ʿĪsā arrives from Mecca and is imme- diately appointed vizier. He begins a policy of cuts. Rabīʿ II/November–December 913: Muʾnis returns to Baghdad with Abū l-Hayjāʾ al-Ḥamdānī. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Mādhārāʾī appointed to supervise finances of Egypt and Syria. 22 Ramaḍān/21 April 914: death of Muʾnis al-Khāzin. 302 15 Ramaḍān/3 April 915: Muʾnis arrives in Egypt to resist Fatimid attack. 303 8 Rabīʿ II/22 October 915: Muʾnis leaves Egypt. 304 January–June, 917: Muʾnis defeated by Ibn Abī l-Sāj. 8 Dhū l-Ḥijja /2 June 917: ʿAlī b.ʿĪsā deposed. 9 Dhū l-Ḥijja /3 June 917: Ibn al-Furāt appointed vizier for the second time. 305 2 Muḥarram/25 June 917: arrival of Byzantine embassy in Baghdad. 306 28 Jumādā I/17 November 918: Ibn al-Furāt deposed. 3 Jumādā II/22 November 918: Ḥāmid b. al-ʿAbbās vizier. 308 5 Muḥarram/28 May 920: Muʾnis arrives in Egypt to repel Fatimid invasion. timeline xi 309 6 Dhū l-Qaʿda/26 March 922: execution of al-Ḥallāj. 310 922–3: Nāzūk appointed ṣāḥib al-shurṭa. 922–3: Umm Mūsā arrested. 311 20 Rabīʿ II/7 August 923: Ibn al-Furāt appointed vizier for the third time. 5 Rabīʿ II/11 August 923: Qarāmiṭa enter Basra. Dhū l-Ḥijja/March–April 924: ḥajj caravan attacked by Qarāmiṭa. 312—‘Year of Destruction’ 7 Rabīʿ I/14 June 924: Muʾnis returns to Baghdad. 9 Rabīʿ I /15 June 924: ʿAbd Allāh al-Khāqānī appointed vizier. 12 Rabīʿ II/18 July 924: Ibn al-Furāt executed. 313 11 Ramaḍān/30 November 925: Aḥmad al-Khaṣībī appointed vizier. Dhū l-Ḥijja/February–March 926: Qarāmiṭa attack ḥajj caravan and sack Kufa. 314 11 Dhū l-Qaʿda/18 January 927: al-Khaṣībī deposed. 315 7 Ṣafar/13 April 927: ʿAlī b.ʿĪsā appointed vizier for second time. 8 Shawwāl/7 December 927: Ibn Abī l-Sāj defeated and executed near Kufa by the Qarāmiṭa. 316 13 Rabīʿ I/6 May 928: ʿAlī b.ʿĪsā deposed. 15 Rabīʿ I/8 May 928: Ibn Muqla appointed vizier. Ramaḍān/October–November 928: Naṣr al-Qushūrī dies. xii timeline 317 8 Muḥarram/21 February 929: rebellion of Muʾnis. 15 Muḥarram/28 February 929: al-Muqtadir deposed, al-Qāhir appointed caliph. 17 Muḥarram/2 March, 929: al-Muqtadir restored. Dhū l-Ḥijja/January 930: Qarāmiṭa take black stone from Kaʿaba Dhū l-Ḥijja/January 930: Maṣāffī infantry destroyed. 318 17 Jumādā I/17 June 930: Sulaymān b. al-Ḥasan b. Makhlad appointed vizier. 319 28 Rajab/17 August 931: ʿUbayd Allāh al-Kalwadhānī appointed vizier. 29 Ramaḍān/2 September 931: al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim appointed vizier. 320 29 Rabīʿ II/May 932: al-Faḍl b. Jaʿfar b. al-Furāt appointed vizier. 26 Shawwāl/30 October 932: death of al-Muqtadir. KHAZARS B YZANTINE Black Sea TURKS Aral Constantinople