New Forms of Political Authority

Carl Ernst

Reli 180, Introduction to Islamic Civilization

Challenges to Islamic civilization, 950 - 1260

Sophisticated cultural, religious, intellectual, and economic achievements

Three CaliphsSunni Umayyad in Córdoba

Shi`i Fatimid in North Africa

Powerless Sunni `Abbasid in Baghdad, under “protection” of Shi`i Buyid princes

Three centuries of immense cultural productivity marred by spectacular violence

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Quick outline

1. Buyid Sultanate

2. Turks, especially Saljuqs

3. Fatimid Empire

4. Western Mediterranean: Almoravid Berbers

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1. Buyid Sultanate

“sultan” (Arabic “proof” [of God on His earth]), title adopted by sub-caliphal rulers

Use of tax farming to pay military

Public rituals of Shi`ism10 Muharram (`Ashura), marking Karbala = 8 January 2009

18 Dhu al-Hijjah (Ghadir Khumm) = 16 December 2008

Prosperity in Persia, nomadic resurgence

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2. Arrival of Turks, 950-1050

A quasi-ethnic term for nomadic groups from Central Asia

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Mahmud of Ghazna’s state (998-1030)

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Characteristics of Turkish states

Waves of migration

Mahmud raids India’s temple cities (loot)

Seeks recognition from the Caliph: Sunni legitimacy

Patronage of Persian culture and poetry: Persian kingship

Commissions Shah Namah (Book of Kings) by Firdausi (1010), longest epic by a single author (100,000 lines)

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illustrations

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Gayumars, the first man in Iranian myth, enthroned in his kingdom (from the Shah Tahmasp album of 1522)

Saljuqs, from nomads to empire builders

Gradual conquest of Persia and Iraq

Internal conflicts of Turkish elite

Opposition from Fatimid agents

Tughril captures Baghdad 1057

Nomadic raiders on Byzantine frontier: Battle of Manzikert (1071)

Turkish penetration of Anatolia

Persian traditions: Nizam al-Mulk’s Book of Government

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3. Fatimid Empire

Consolidation in Maghrib (“the West”) leads to conquest of Egypt in 969

Isma`il now the official ancestor of Caliphs

Wide-ranging missionary program in Central Asia and Indus Valley

Christians and Jews have opportunities

Al-Hakim claims divinity Druze faith (concealment)

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Problems for Fatimids

Growth of trade in Mediterranean, Red Sea route to India

Import of Turkish cavalry, friction with Berbers

Succession dispute: Nizar vs. Musta`li

Nizari Isma`ilis (“Assassins”) create revolutionary state and fortresses (Alamut)

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“Omar Khayyam” with Assassin chief, Hasan-i Sabah

Cheesy Hollywood “Omar Khayyam” film (1957) depicts Isma`ilis as commies

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4. Western Mediterranean

Norman invasion of Arab Sicily 1034, brief cultural synthesis

Hilali Arab tribes migrate west from Egypt

Maghrib turns Sunni

Economic decline

Religious empire of Almoravids among Berbers

Collapse of Umayyad caliphate, rule of Andalus from Maghrib

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Internal fractures of the post-caliphate world

1. Buyid Sultanate

2. Turks, especially Saljuqs

3. Fatimid Empire

4. Western Mediterranean: Almoravid Berbers

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