Lesson 11: Western Dynasties Flashcards
Hamanid Dynasty
was a Shia Muslim Arab dynasty of northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890-1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern Arabia. The Hamdanid dynasty was founded by Hamdan ibn Hamdun (after whom it is named), when he was appointed governor of Mardin in SE Anatolia by the Abbasid Caliphs in 890. He established the Hamdanid dynasty in 905 His son Abdallah (904-929) was, in turn, appointed governor of Mosul in northern Iraq (906) and even governed Baghdad (914). His sons were installed as governors in Mosul and Aleppo.
The rule of Hassan Nasir al-Dawla (929-968), governor of Mosul and Diyar Bakr, was sufficiently tyrannical to cause him to be deposed by his own family.
His lineage still ruled in Mosul, a heavy defeat by the Buyids in 979 notwithstanding, until 990. After this, their area of control in northern Iraq was divided between the Uqaylids and the Marwanids.
Sayf al-Dawla (Sword of the Dynasty),
was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, encompassing most of northern Syria and parts of western Jazira, and the brother of al-Hasan ibn Abdallah ibn Hamdan (better known as Nasir al-Dawla).
The most prominent member of the Hamdanid dynasty, Sayf al-Dawla originally served under his elder brother in the latter’s attempts to establish his control over the weak Abbasid government in Baghdad during the early 940s CE. After the failure of these endeavors, the ambitious Sayf al-Dawla turned towards Syria, where he confronted the ambitions of the Ikhshidids of Egypt to control the province. After two wars with them, his authority over northern Syria, centered at Aleppo, and the western Jazira, centered at Mayyafariqin, was recognized by the Ikhshidids and the Caliph. A series of tribal rebellions plagued his realm until 955, but he was successful in overcoming them and maintaining the allegiance of the most important Arab tribes. Sayf al-Dawla’s court at Aleppo became the center of a vibrant cultural life, and the literary cycle he gathered around him, including the great al-Mutanabbi, helped ensure his fame for posterity.
Sayf al-Dawla was widely celebrated for his role in the Arab–Byzantine Wars, facing a resurgent Byzantine Empire that in the early 10th century had begun to reconquer Muslim territories. In this struggle against a much superior enemy, he launched raids deep into Byzantine territory and managed to score a few successes, and generally held the upper hand until 955. After that, the new Byzantine commander, Nikephoros Phokas, and his lieutenants spearheaded an offensive that broke Hamdanid power. The Byzantines annexed Cilicia, and even occupied Aleppo itself briefly in 962. Sayf al-Dawla’s final years were marked by military defeats, his own growing disability as a result of disease, and a decline in his authority that led to revolts by some of his closest lieutenants. He died in early 967, leaving a much-weakened realm, which by 969 had lost Antioch and the Syrian littoral to the Byzantines and become a Byzantine tributary.
Tulunids
were a dynasty of Turkic origin and were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria. They remained independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority of the Abbasid dynasty that ruled the Islamic Caliphate, until 905, when the Abbasids restored the Tulunid domains to their control.
In the late 9th century, internal conflict amongst the Abbasids meant that control of the outlying areas of the empire was increasingly tenuous, and in 868 the Turkic officer Ahmad ibn Tulun established himself as an independent governor of Egypt. He subsequently achieved nominal autonomy from the central Abbasid government. During his reign (868–884) and those of his successors, the Tulunid domains were expanded to include Jordan Rift Valley, as well as Hejaz, Cyprus and Crete. Ahmad was succeeded by his son Khumarawayh, whose military and diplomatic achievements made him a major player in the Middle Eastern political stage. The Abbasids affirmed their recognition of the Tulunids as legitimate rulers, and the dynasty’s status as vassals to the caliphate. After Khumarawayh’s death, his successor emirs were ineffectual rulers, allowing their Turkic and black slave-soldiers to run the affairs of the state. In 905, the Tulunids were unable to resist an invasion by the Abbasid troops, who restored direct caliphal rule in Syria and Egypt.
The Tulunid period was marked by economic and administrative reforms alongside cultural ones. Ahmad ibn Tulun changed the taxation system and aligned himself with the merchant community. He also established the Tulunid army.
Ikhshidid
dynasty ruled Egypt from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic slave soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph. The dynasty carried the Arabic title “Wāli” reflecting their position as governors on behalf of the Abbasids. The Ikhshidids came to an end when the Fatimid army conquered Fustat in 969.
The creation of the Ikhshidid state was part of the wider disintegration and decentralization of the Abbasids after the Anarchy at Samarra, whereupon government became more decentralized.
a’far al-Ṣādiq
is considered as an Imam by Twelver and Isma’ili Shī’ites. He was a descendant of the Caliph Ali and Fatimah through al-Husayn. Al-Sadiq is the 6th Imam for Twelvers, is recognized by the majority of the Shi’ite sects as an Imam, and is revered in traditional Sunni Islam as a transmitter of Ahadith, therefore a prominent jurist, and a mystic to Sufis.
Al-Sadiq was born in either 700 or 702 CE. He inherited the position of Imam from his father in his mid-thirties. As a Shi’ite Imam, al-Sadiq stayed out of the political conflicts that embroiled the region, evading the many requests for support that he received from rebels. He was the victim of some harassment by the Abbasid caliphs, and was eventually, according to most Shi’ite Muslims, poisoned at the orders of the Caliph Al-Mansur.
The question of succession after al-Sadiq’s death was the cause of division among Shi’ites who considered his eldest son, Isma’il (who had reportedly died before his father) to be the next Imam, and those who believed his third son Musa al-Kadhim was the imam. The first group became known as the Ismailis and the second, larger, group was named Ja’fari or the Twelvers
Ismāʿīlism
is a branch of Shia Islam. They get their name from their acceptance of Imam Ismaʻil ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja’far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers who accept Musa al-Kadhim, younger brother of Ismaʻil, as the true Imām. Ismailism rose at one point to become the largest branch of Shīʻism, climaxing as a political power with the Fatimid Caliphate in the tenth through the twelfth centuries. The line of Ismaili Imams continues to this day.
Qarmatians
According to the Ismaili school of thought, Imām Ja’far al-Sadiq (702–765) designated his second son, Isma’il ibn Jafar (ca. 721–755), as heir to the Imamate. However, Ismā‘īl predeceased his father. Some claimed he had gone into hiding, but the proto-Ismā‘īlī group accepted his death and therefore accordingly recognized Ismā‘īl’s eldest son, Muhammad ibn Ismail (746–809), as Imām. He remained in contact with the Mubārakiyyah group, most of whom resided in Kufa.
The split among the Mubārakiyyah came with the death of Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl (ca. 813 CE). The majority of the group denied his death; they recognized him as the Mahdi. The minority believed in his death and would eventually emerge in later times as the Isma’ili Fatimid Caliphate, the precursors to all modern groups.
The majority Ismā‘īlī missionary movement settled in Salamiyah where the Ismā‘īlīs converted the Kūfan man Ḥamdān in 874 CE, who took the name Qarmaṭ after his new faith. Qarmaṭ prepared southern Iraq for the coming of the Mahdi by creating a military and religious stronghold. Other such locations grew up in Yemen, in Eastern Arabia (Arabic Bahrayn) in 899, and in North Africa. These attracted many new Shi’i followers due to their activist and messianic teachings. This new proto-Qarmaṭī movement continued to spread into Greater Iran and then into Transoxiana.
A change in leadership in Salamiyah in 899 led to a split in the movement. The minority Ismā‘īlīs, whose leader had taken control of the Salamiyah centre, began to proclaim their teachings - that Imām Muḥammad had died, and that the new leader in Salamiyah was in fact his descendant come out of hiding. Qarmaṭ and his brother-in-law opposed this and openly broke with the Salamiyids; when ‘Abdān was assassinated, he went into hiding and subsequently repented. Qarmaṭ became a missionary of the new Imām, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah (873–934), who founded the Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa in 909.
Nonetheless, the dissident group retained the name Qarmaṭī. Durinig the Zanj Rebellion in Basra the Qarmaṭians seized their opportunity under their leader, and established a state in Bahrain.
They sacked Mecca and Medina in 930. In their attack on Islam’s holiest sites, the Qarmatians desecrated the Zamzam Well with corpses of Hajj pilgrims and took the Black Stone from Mecca to al-Hasa. Holding the Black Stone to ransom, they forced the Abbasids to pay a huge sum for its return in 952
Abdullāh al-Mahdi Billah
Founder of the Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi’a caliphate in Islam, and established Fatimid rule throughout much of North Africa, Hejaz, Palestine and the Levant. After establishing himself as the first Imam of the Fatimid dynasty, Al Mahdi claimed to have genealogic origins dating as far back as Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, through Husayn, Fatimah’s son, and Ismail.
Al Mahdi established his headquarters at Salamiyah in western Syria before later traveling to western North Africa, which at the time was under Aghlabid rule, following the propagandist success of his chief da’i’, Abu ‘Abdullah Al-Husayn Al-Shi’i. Al-Shi’i, along with laying claim to being the precursor to the Mahdi, was instrumental in sowing the seeds of sedition among the Berber tribes of North Africa, specifically the Kutamah tribe in Algeria.
It was Al-Shi’i’s success which was the signal to Al Mahdi to set off from Salamyah disguised as a merchant. In 905 he started proselytizing. However, he was captured by the Aghlabid ruler Ziyadat-Allah due to his Ismaili beliefs and thrown into a dungeon in Sijilmasa. In early 909 Al-Shi’i sent a large expedition force to rescue the Mahdi, conquering the Khariji state of Tahert on its way there. After gaining his freedom, Al Mahdi became the leader of the growing state and assumed the position of imam and caliph. Al Mahdi then led the Kutama Berbers who captured the cities of Qairawan and Raqqada. By March 909, the Aghlabid Dynasty had been overthrown and replaced with the Fatimids. As a result, the last stronghold of Sunni Islam in North Africa was removed from the region.
Al-Mahdi established himself at the former Aghlabid residence at Raqqada, Al-Qayrawan (in what is now Tunisia). After that, his power grew. At the time of his death, he had extended his reign over the Maghreb, but campaigns into Egypt (in 914–915 and 919–921) faltered against the resistance of the Abbasids, with heavy casualties.
Al-Mahdi founded the capital of his empire, Al-Mahdiyyah, on the Tunisian coast sixteen miles south-east of Al-Qayrawan, which he named after himself. The city was located on a peninsula on an artificial platform “reclaimed from the sea”, as mentioned by the Andalusian geographer Al-Bakri. The Great Mosque of Mahdia was built in 916 on the southern side of the peninsula. Al-Mahdi took up residence there in 920.
Kairouan
City built by the Umayyads in Tunisia. Would later become the capital of the Fatimids in 909
al-Qahra - (Cairo)
In 969, the Fatimids conquered Egypt from their base and a new fortified city northeast of Fustat was established. It took four years to build the city, which was to serve as the new capital of the caliphate. During that time, Jawhar also commissioned the construction of the al-Azhar Mosque by order of the Caliph, which developed into the third-oldest university in the world. Cairo would eventually become a centre of learning, with the library of Cairo containing hundreds of thousands of books. When Caliph al-Mu’izz li Din Allah arrived from the old Fatimid capital of Mahdia in Tunisia in 973, he gave the city its present name, al-Qāhiratu (“The Victorious”).
Abu Tamim Ma’ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah
was the fourth Fatimid Caliph and 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was moved from Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia) to Egypt. The Fatimids founded the city of al-Qāhirah (Cairo) “the Victorious” in 969 as the new capital of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt.
Al-Azhar Mosque
known simply in Egypt as Al-Azhar, is an Egyptian mosque in Islamic Cairo. Al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah of the Fatimid dynasty commissioned its construction for the newly established capital city in 970. It is today the second oldest continuously run university in the world after Al Karaouine in Idrisid Fes. Al-Azhar University has long been regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the study of Sunni theology and sharia, or Islamic
law.
Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr or al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh
was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam (996–1021). Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ismaili religions, such as the world’s 15 million Nizaris, in addition to the 2 million Druze of the Levant whose eponymous founder ad-Darazi proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018.
Badr al-Jamali
was a vizier and prominent statesman for the Fatimid Caliphate under Caliph al-Mustansir. His appointment to the vizierate in 1073 restored the fortunes of the Fatimid state, which had faced collapse in the previous decades, but also began a period where the vizierate was dominated by military strongmen who held power through their military strength, rather than through the Caliph’s appointment. An Armenian, Badr al-Jamali initiated a wave of Armenian migration into Egypt, and was the first of a series of viziers of Armenian origin, who played a major role in the fortunes of the Fatimid Caliphate over the subsequent century.
Abū Tamīm Ma‘ad al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh
was the eighth caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest-reigning Muslim rulers. However, Fatimid power was confined to Egypt due to conquests of Seljuks in Levant and Yemen and Normans in Sicily and Malta. Al-Mustansir was considered incapable and as such his court was dominated by military strongmen and his mother’s favorite officials, while the treasury was exhausted by factional infighting.
