Challenging Authority: Al-Balādhurī and al-Ṭabarī on Khārijism during the Reign of Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān1

ABSTRACT

Khārijite resistance to Umayyad authority during the caliphate of Mu?āwiya b. Abī Sufyān (r. 661–680) is represented in detail in the works of the early Muslim scholars A?mad b. Ya?yā al-Balādhurī (d. c. 892) and Mu?ammad b. Jarīr al-?abarī (d. 923). While the Khārijites are overwhelmingly depicted by both authors as religious fanatics whose excessive piety caused widespread bloodshed and who thus should be condemned, a closer look reveals that Khārijites serve specific and distinct narrative purposes: al-Balādhurī uses them mainly to illustrate Umayyad tyranny, while al-?abarī addresses the consequences of Khārijite revolts for communal and imperial stability. The latter's work is also marked by a dichotomy between activist and quietist Khārijism, implying that al-?abarī is not so much opposed to Khārijism as a set of “heretic” religious ideas, but rather to its violent expression of politico-religious opposition.     

Fāṭimids,Crusaders and the Fall of Islamic Jerusalem: Foes or Allies?

The fall of Islamic Jerusalem to the crusaders during the first Crusade created a sense of agitation and anger amongst Muslims as Islamic Jerusalem had been under their rule for centuries before. A considerable number of scholars have pointed at the Fā?imids as the main cause of the fall of Islamic Jerusalem, claiming that the region would not have fallen had it not been for the alliance and collaboration between the Fā?imids and the crusaders. This article is an attempt to present a critical analysis of the historical narratives of Muslim and non-Muslim historians who have continued to accuse the Fā?imids of collaborating with the crusaders and depict them as the main cause of the fall of Islamic Jerusalem during the first Crusade. It also tries to answer the following two questions. Did the Fā?imids really invite the crusaders to invade al-Sham? And is it true that the Fā?imids misunderstood the crusaders’ aims and targets?     

Kinship,Camaraderie and Contestation: Fāṭimid Relations with the Ashrāf in the Fourth/Tenth Century.

The founding of the Fā?imid caliphate across the southern Mediterranean, and then in Egypt, Syria and the ?ijāz at the turn of the fourth/tenth century, necessitated its negotiation with the ashrāf, those who claimed lineal descent from the Prophet Mu?ammad, and who by this time had gained significant influence as a social class based on their charismatic descent. While other dynastic powers fostered relationships with various members of the ashrāf, the Fā?imid–ashrāf dynamics were distinctive in that the Fā?imids legitimised their rule as Ismā?īlī Shī?ī imām-caliphs, based on their claim of descent from the Prophet Mu?ammad, and as the sole successors to his authority and leadership over the Islamic world. Consequently, Fā?imid–ashrāf relations were permeated by fraternal camaraderie as well as by competing contestations based on their shared claim to Prophetic lineage.     

The Origin of Language and its Link with Music according to the Theory of Jābir ibn [Hdot]ayyān

Jābir ibn [Hdot]ayyān took advantage of the vast translation enterprise of Greek scientific works into Arabic. He quotes from these sources, including several whose Greek originals are lost. His works can be likened to the encyclopedia of Ikhwān al-[Sdot]afā’, the most important transmission of Pythagorean tradition. In this Epistle on Music the Ikhwān followed Jābir's method, and perhaps were influenced by him, in analysing the relationship between language and music, together with the arithmetical speculations that were widely influential. In this article, I have attempted to collect Jābir's scattered ideas on the origin of language and music trying to assemble the major ones in a coherent exposition.