Transcript The Family & Mosque in Islam

Islamic History: the First 150 Years
The Caliphate of Mu`awiya
Essays and Assignments
• Essay titles
• Text based assignment
• Deadline: 14th August 2006
Session Plan
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A Brief Recap
Mu`awiya Triumphant
The Rule of Mu`awiya
Arranging the Succession
Section I: A Brief Recap
Recap
• As these are arguably the most important years in Islamic history,
a short recap is in order
• Muhammad left no unequivocal instructions regarding leadership
of the Muslim community after his death
• Abu Bakr: Khilafat Rasul Allah
• Umar: Amir al-Mumineen
• Uthman: Khilafat Allah ?
• Ali: Amir & Imam
• This historical order valorised by Sunni tradition as the period of
the ‘Rightly Guided Caliphs’
• Seen very differently by the Shia as repeated attempts to deny Ali
his rightful place
• In some senses, the debate regarding the nature of leadership is
the key issue
• The ‘debate’ turns increasingly violent as we reach the end of the
period
• Umar, Uthman and Ali all die violent deaths
• The impact of the conquests
Section II: Mu`awiya Triumphant
Mu`awiyah Triumphant
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With Ali’s assassination in 40AH (661CE) at Kufa, Mu`awiya
becomes the most significant political force
His forces proceed towards Iraq and encamp at Maskin
Hasan ibn Ali is elected caliph/imam in Kufa
Hasan said to have made the following stipulation:
‘You must be totally obedient, make peace with whom I make
peace, and fight whom I fight’ (Tab. 2.5)
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Felt to be equivocal and an indication that he intended to give in
A force from Kufa is sent to meet Mu`awiya (or else is already
present in the region)
There are several divergent accounts of the subsequent events
in the sources
Tabari (in his usual manner) offers several different reports:
al-Zuhri (an important early historian): Hasan intended to make
peace with Mu`awiya and one commander who did not agree
was dismissed; the other (Abdullah ibn Abbas) wrote to
Mu`awiya asking for safe conduct and money (Tab. 2.1)
Mu`awiyah Triumphant
2. Uthman ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Khuza’i: Hasan’s commander
rumoured dead, causing panic; Hasan’s tent plundered; alMukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi intended to sell Hasan to
Mu`awiya (Tab. 2.2-3)
3. `Awanah: similar to 2; Hasan reveals his peace plan to his
close relatives and there is an argument about it; Hasan’s
commander resigns and they accept Mu`awiya (Tab. 2. 3-4)
4. al-Yaqubi: Hasan’s force commanded by Ubaidallah ibn
Abbas, who then joins Mu`awiya for a large bribe; Hasan’s
tent ransacked when news of his peace initiatives becomes
known (Yaqubi 2.254f.)
• Differences important…
• al-Zuhri said to have been an Umayyad supporter
• Yaqubi a Shiite sympathiser
• Abdullah ibn Abbas and the Abbasids
• This may well account for the differences in their respective
accounts
Mu`awiyah Triumphant
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Forming an opinion about ‘what actually happened’ thus
difficult
At any rate, Hasan sues for peace and comes to an
arrangement with Mu`awiya
In 41AH (661CE), Mu`awiya enters Kufa
His opponents are either bribed or threatened into
accepting his rule
He thus becomes the caliph
Hasan holds to his agreement until his death in 49AH
Shia sources believe that Mu`awiya had Hasan poisoned
Leadership of the Bani Hashim then passed to Husayn
ibn Ali
Although we will encounter Husayn again in the next
session, during this period he holds to his brother’s treaty
Section III: The Rule of Mu`awiya
Source Perspectives
• As we have seen, when exploring the sources for early
Islamic history, we have to account for a wide range of
perspectives
• Thus far, we have looked at the impact of the Sunni-Shia
divide upon our sources
• However, this is only one aspect
• Our sources focus mostly on Iraq, Medina and related
matters
• Other matters, considered somewhat peripheral to our
sources, receive much less treatment
• Reasons?
• Many of our key writers from Iraq
• During the Abbasid period, when most of these sources
written, Iraq was the capital (Baghdad)
• The Shia impact at Kufa
• This is particularly prominent during Mu`awiya’s reign
Mu`awiya’s Powerbase
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Wealth
As we saw last week, the Umayyad family owned vast wealth
This was primarily based upon land and as such, the Umayyad
clan held wide estates throughout Muslim territory
They were also arguably the most mercantile clan of the Quraysh
tribe and even before Mu`awiya’s reign they had wide business
contacts
The Syrian Army (ahl al-Sham)
For the entire Umayyad period (some 100 years), the army of the
Syrian provinces was the most powerful and well equipped
military force in the entire Muslim empire
Furthermore, given their closeness to the Byzantine border, the
Syrian army was both fully trained and generally, expertly led
Under Mu`awiya the Syrian jund were also very well paid
Mu`awiya had been governor of Syria for a long time, since being
appointed by Umar
He had thus had ample opportunity to ensure the province’s firm
loyalty
Mu`awiya’s Powerbase
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The Hilm of Mu`awiya
Mu`awiya was renowned for the quality of hilm
This term means approximately ‘forbearance’, ‘tact’, or
perhaps even ‘skill’
Hilm is the quality of the successful traditional Arab Sheikh:
someone who could get their own way through a
combination of diplomacy, tact, shrewdness and argument
In a very broad sense, comparisons with Julius Caesar’s
clemency (clementia) are perhaps not too wide of the mark
Mu`awiya is reported to have made the following statement:
‘I apply not the lash where my tongue suffices, nor my
sword where my whip is enough. But if there be one hair
binding me to my fellow men I let it not break. If they pull I
loosen, and if they loosen I pull’
Mu`awiya was thus able to perform a delicate balancing act
between the different power groups in the emerging Muslim
empire
Mu`awiya’s Powerbase
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Tribal Support
The picture of Mu`awiya that emerges from the
sources is one of a master diplomat
He certainly made extensive use of these skills in
his dealings with the various Arab tribes
A full account would be too detailed for our
purposes
However, Mu`awiya used monetary support and
other means to ensure that he received and kept the
support of most of the large Arab confederations
He also used arranged marriages as a means of
cementing important tribes to his regime
He thus married an important member of the large
tribe of Kalb
Mu`awiya’s Powerbase
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Bureaucratic Infrastructure
Upon his accession, Mu`awiya moved the capital to Damascus (where it
remained throughout the Umayyad dynasty)
His control of Syria also brought him the services of a large number of
former Byzantine and Sassanid ‘civil servants’
These officials allowed him to draw on the vast experience of Roman and
Persian bureaucracy
He was thus able to develop and effective bureaucratic structure very
quickly
Greek remained the language of government in the former Roman lands
throughout his reign
Similarly, Persian was the lingua franca of the eastern half of the Muslim
empire
This can be seen in the production of very early Muslim coinage
As we saw previously, the earliest coins were either copies or re-used
Byzantine and Sassanid issues
Using this coinage allowed him to create a degree of much needed
economic stability
Iraq
• Given this emphasis, our sources concentrate mostly upon Mu`awiya’s
governors of Iraq
• Two main personalities
• Mughira ibn Shu’ba
• A colourful character; companion of Muhammad and something of a
diplomat
• Ziyad ibn Abihi
• Another colourful character
• His name is interesting and means Ziyad ‘the son of his father’
• In other words, his father was not clearly known as his mother was a
prostitute in Mecca
• Despite this, Ziyad seems to have been an intelligent and resourceful
person
• Had a particular renown for public speaking and eloquence
• Mu`awiya later ‘adopted’ him into his own family, declaring that they
both shared the same father (Abu Sufyan) (Tab. 2.69)
• This elevated Ziyad into the higher echelons of the Umayyad family
• However, it has to be said that he was not universally accepted by the
wider Umayyad clan
Ziyad’s Opening Speech
• A famous speech…
‘Beware of night-prowling too, for no prowler will be brought
to me but I shall shed his blood…Beware also of the
summoning of the Jahiliyyah, for I shall cut out the tongue
of anyone I find appealing to it…Whoever drowns folk, I
shall drown; whoever burns folk, we shall burn; whoever
breaks into a house, we shall break into his heart; and
whoever breaks up a grave, I shall bury him alive…There
have been hatreds between me and some folks, but I put all
that behind me…Indeed, if I should know that one of you
was overcome with incurable hatred toward me, I would not
expose him nor disclose him unless he shows [it] to me
openly. If he does, I shall not argue with him…I swear by
God that I have many [potential] victims among you, so let
every man among you beware lest he be among them’
(Tab. 2.76)
Discontent
• As is perhaps to be expected, Mu`awiya’s ascendancy did not meet with
universal approval
• Much of Iraq still supported the Alid family, whilst there were a number
of Kharijite groups scattered throughout the province
• Thus in 51AH (672CE), one of Ali’s closest supporters, Hujr ibn `Adi,
attempted to revolt
• The rebellion was small and easily overwhelmed
• Hujr was executed and was thus later viewed as an early Shiite martyr
• This is perhaps why, presumably under Mu`awiya’s order, Ziyad altered
the Kufan political structure
• Previously, each tribe at Kufa had appointed its own leaders
• Ziyad arranged the tribes into 4 ‘quarters’ and appointed its leaders
himself
• He undertook a similar measure at Basra (though here they were
divided into ‘fifths’)
• This measure had two effects…
• The government could appoint (and thus remove) local tribal leaders at
will
• The tribal nobility had to confirm to Mu’awiya’s government in order to
retain their position
Iraq Under Ziyad
• Furthermore, the most rebellious elements of Kufa and Basra
were sent east to aid in the conquest and settlement of
Khurasan (Tab. 2.81)
• Khurasan is broadly speaking eastern Iran and western
Afghanistan
• Khurasan was the eastern most province of Sassanid Persia
and was the effective border
• Beyond this, there were a number of small principalities, such
as at Bukhara
• Then, beyond them, lay the Turkish empire and the Tang
dynasty of China
• Ziyad also undertook a renovation of the main mosque of Kufa
(Tab. 1.2492)
• Generally speaking, Ziyad’s approach was effective and
despite some discontent, the province remained relatively
quiet
• After Ziyad’s death, his son Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad is appointed
governor of Iraq
The Byzantine Wars
• Mu`awiya continued to war against Byzantium
• Although conflict had not really ceased since the early
conquests, under Mu`awiya we see the emergence of
regular campaigns
• The last remaining stronghold on the mainland at Arwad fell
• Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete were also attacked
• Regular annual attacks into eastern Anatolia (modern
Turkey)
• In 668, Yazid ibn Mu`awiya laid siege to Constantinople
• In 674, Mu`awiya again laid siege to the city, which this time
also included a naval blockade
• Constantinople remained under siege for approximately 7
years
• Byzantine North Africa was also attacked from Egypt
• Uqbah ibn Nafi overran modern Libya and Tunisia, founding
his provincial capital near Carthage (al-Qayrawan)
Questions?
Section IV: Arranging the Succession
The Succession
• As Mu`awiya grew older, he began to arrange for the succession
• The sources almost universally report that he had long planned
to appoint his son Yazid
• To this end, he first consulted with the venerable elite of Medina
• They approved of his attempt to ensure a smooth transfer of
power
• However, they did not approve of his son and rioted
• Although we will look more closely at Yazid in the next session,
the sources almost universally portray him as a dissolute playboy
• Indeed, he is said to have had a particular penchant for dancing
girls and pet monkeys!
• Mu`awiya is then said to have invited deputations from the
provinces to Damascus and to have praised his son’s virtues in
front of them
• Taking the hint, these provincial leaders then demanded to pay
homage to Yazid
• Mu`awiya then attempted to secure Medinan acquiescence by
travelling to the city in person, at the head of 1,000 horsemen
The Succession
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His main targets were as follows:
Husain ibn Ali
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr
Abdullah ibn Umar
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr
In other words, the sons of the most important companions
of Muhammad
• All four men again repudiated Mu`awiya’s idea
• At which, he is reported to have said
‘At other times, when I speak in the pulpit, I permit everyone to say
against my speech what he will; but him who contradicts me today a
sword shall silence’ (quoted in Wellhausen, 143)
• The men were then marched directly to the mosque
‘These four men, without whom no decision can be made, have paid
homage to Yazid; so do ye also pay homage!’ (ibid)
• All four are thus said to have remained silent through fear
The Succession
• Mu`awiya died in 60AH (680CE) and Yazid became caliph
• Although Mu`awiya was in many ways a successful ruler,
his attempts to appoint his son Yazid as his successor were
deeply unpopular
• Generally speaking, our sources feel that this act marked a
radical break with previous practice
• From this point onwards, so our sources argue, the Muslim
state descends into hereditary kingship (or mulk in Arabic)
• Moreover, this act also brought barely latent tensions to the
surface
• And, in many ways, Yazid’s accession marks the effective
beginning of the second civil war
• However, we will explore this in greater detail in the next
session