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.     

Islamic Historians of the Ayyūbid Era and Muslim Rulers from the Early Crusading Period: A Study in the Use of History

This article examines the presentation of Muslim rulers from the early crusading period, 490–540/1097–1146 in six of the main chronicles written during the first half of the seventh/thirteenth century. It discusses the themes, ideas and topoi in each, demonstrating that the historians appear to have been divided into two ‘camps’ over their presentation of these rulers, based on their personal views of the rulers of their time. The article also examines why this division may have occurred, and considers its ramifications for modern scholarship of Arabic historiography, Islamic history and the history of the Crusades, in both the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries.     

Christians and Muslims Faced with the Wrath of Abū Marwān al-Yuḥānisī, a Thirteenth-Century “Friend of God”

This article examines the nature of the wrath of Abū Marwān al-Yu[hdot]ānisī, a thirteenth-century Andalusi saint, and the protagonist of the Tu?fat al-mughtarib of al-Qashtālī. I have divided the study into two main parts. The first sets out and analyses various occasions on which the saint committed violent acts against Christians. Two of them died as a consequence of these aggressions. All the cases in this first part took place in the Muslim East during the saint's stay in this area. The second part examines cases of violence committed against Muslim people from al-Andalus. The victims suffered the consequences of the wrath of the saint, although he was not directly involved in the aggressions themselves. The stories are narrated by al-Yu[hdot]ānisī himself, and we do not know whether they really took place. Regarding these manifestations of violence, the hagiographic sources not only justify all the violent acts committed by the saint, murder included, but they present the saint to society as an “example” to follow, and indeed as a “hero”.     

The Unratified Treaty between the Mamlūks and the Franks of Acre in 1268

In 1268, after negotiations with Baybars, King Hugh III rejected several of the sultan's terms and did not take the oath to confirm a truce. Baybars' biographer underplayed the refusal, claiming that Hugh's fear of Charles of Anjou prevented him from making a truce. Based on historical and archaeological evidence, this study draws the borders with the Mamlūks and the inner borders between the Frankish regions in 1268, 1272 and 1283, proving that the Frankish areas in 1268 were reduced to almost half of those that obtained in 1272 and 1283. Thus, this study assumes that Hugh could not have take the oath on terms that, inter alia, reduced the Frankish area to an unacceptable size. The Franks seem to have controlled more territory than they were given in the proposed 1268 treaty and it seems that Baybars' lack of interest in an attack on Acre encouraged the king to reject the truce.     

The Castle and Lordship of Ḥārim and the Frankish-Muslim Frontier of Northern Syria in the Twelfth Century

The castle of ?ārim in Northern Syria was a site of intense military and political scrutiny during the twelfth century. Whether under the control of the Frankish principality of Antioch or of Muslim-held Aleppo, it acted as the battleground for control of the frontier between these two powers. This article therefore seeks to examine how both sides adapted to the demands of this frontier. First, it will show how central this castle was to the balance of power in the region, a reality historians have so far often overlooked; second, it will demonstrate, through an examination of ?ārim's Frankish lordship, particularly the inheritance rights of its Latin lords, that diverse customs and relationships of power emerged to meet the challenges of defending and governing the frontier.     

Alexandria in the Ninth/Fifteenth Century: A Mediterranean Port City and a Mamlūk Prison City

Abstract

While modern scholars, medieval European and anachronistic Arab sources paint a portrait of Mamlūk Alexandria as a bustling and thriving international port, contemporary Arabic writings of the second half of the ninth/fifteenth and the first quarter of the tenth/sixteenth centuries present quite a different image. This article analyses Arabic chronicles to demonstrate that, from the Cairene perspective, Alexandria was a frontier city that was utilised as a jail for banished political prisoners. In contrast to other parts of their realm, investment in Alexandria by the Mamlūk regime was largely limited to fortifying it against seaborne threats; the sultans did little to embellish the city for civilian or religious purposes. Thus, the city was marginalised, politically and socially, even while still maintaining its role as a gateway to Egypt.     

Usāma Ibn Munqidh's Lubāb al-Ādāb (The Kernels of Refinement): Autobiographical and Historical Excerpts

Usāma ibn Munqidh (d. 584/1188) is best known for his “memoirs” entitled Kitāb al-i?ibār, which provides a personal and detailed window into the world of an aristocratic Syrian Muslim in the period of the Crusades. But scholars have almost completely ignored a lesser-known work by Usāma called Lubāb al-ādāb or The Kernels of Refinement. This anthology consists mostly of poetic excerpts relating to adab, the ideal conduct of the male courtier, but, scattered throughout, it also contains a handful of narrative anecdotes about Usāma and his times very much akin to the material found in his “memoirs”: tales of admirable behaviour, of encounters with the Franks, of Usāma's family, and the daily life of the elites of his day. This article presents these narrative extracts translated into English for the first time, with commentary, and with the intention that The Kernels of Refinement will attract the attention it deserves from both Arabists and non-Arabists.     

‘A Million Little Bonds’: Infidelity,Divorce and the Emotional Worlds of Marriage in British Women’s Magazines of the 1930s

This article examines infidelity discourse within women's magazines of the 1930s. Marking a departure from existing studies that have explored representations of ideal marriage, it uses discussions of marital breakdown as a lens through which to consider conceptualisations of love within marriage. It demonstrates how, in the interwar period, notions of mutual emotional investment were used to reinforce marriages that were deemed to be in breakdown. Muddying the perceived binary between individuals and the institution of marriage, this research highlights how the latter could be bolstered, rather than challenged, by recourse to the emotional worlds of spouses.     

A Possible Connection between the Philosophy of the Castilian king Alfonso X and the Risālat ayy ibn Yaqān by Ibn ufayl

This article explores the textual connections between two narratives: Ibn ufayl's (581/1185–6) Risālat ayy ibn Yaqān and a brief history of religions present in two works – the General Estoria and the Stenario – produced in the Castilian court of king Alfonso X (1221–1284). Both literary narratives deal with the intersection of philosophy and metaphysics. First, Alfonso X's cultural renaissance is contextualized. Under Arabic influence, Alfonso's collaborators created a cultural synthesis that was denounced by his son Sancho in the 1290s. Second, we compare Ibn ufayl's and Alfonso X's narratives. Ibn ufayl's model was probably adapted to justify a cultural programme that blended Christianity and Pagan inheritance. Unfortunately, there is no physical evidence to prove that Alfonso's circle was familiar with Ibn ufayl's work. Nevertheless, the analysis of a common genre – following A.W. Hughes's theory – allows us to contend that Alfonso X reproduced this type of text within a Christian context.     

Sultan Barqūq and his Complaining Subjects in the Royal Stables

In 789/1387, Sultan al-?āhir Barqūq (r. 784–792/1382–89, 793–802/1390–99), the founder of the Circassian Mamluk State, moved the royal ma?ālim sessions for hearing petitions from Dār al-‘Adl, the time-honoured building at the centre of the Cairo Citadel, to the Royal Stables situated in the peripheral and lower enclosure of the Citadel. Thereafter, Barqūq utilised the stable area as a stronghold of his new paternalistic rule. This paper examines the background, political intention, and social meaning of this important change, with special attention to various actions of urban and rural Egyptian people during the two reigns of the sultan.     

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.