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Social and Political Structures
Carl Ernst
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Aristotle’s “Circle of Politics”
(p. 41) [manuscript in British Library]
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Aristotle’s Circle of Politics (
p. 41)
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Outline of Egger
1.
2.
3.
4.
Frontiers and Identities
City and countryside
Conversion to Islam
Issue of authority
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A premodern “Muslim
Commonwealth”
After fall of Arab Empire, no single ethnic
group dominated
Inevitable fragmentation caused by debates
over monotheistic religious issues
Arabic language and shared religious
traditions create commonalities in spite of
linguistic and cultural differences
The rise of new states did not impede
commercial and cultural exchange
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1. Frontiers
Difference between nation-state with
borders and porous premodern empires
Strait of Gibraltar: border or highway?
Power of empires vanished with distance
from cities
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Sea frontiers
Muslim settlements and trade on East
African coast
Swahili language -- Bantu lingua franca
with Arabic influence
Mediterranean trade between Italian cities
and Fatimid Egypt
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Indian
ocean
currents
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Land frontiers – but what is
Jihad?
 Egger overstates the role of jurists in
legislating jihad as state duty – often just a
retrospective religious justification of
normal warfare
 legal distinction between Dar al-Islam
and Dar al-Harb (abode of war) did not
correspond to political realities of clients
with Christian powers
Jihad as a symbol of ethical struggle,
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frequently invoked for political purposes
Problems in defining boundaries
Andalus and Anatolia as frontiers of
constant raiding, shifting identities
Example: El Cid (overly romanticized as a
champion of Christianity versus Islam)
Turkish ghazi raiders “rationalized their
raids as a religious act,” visit Christian
shrines
 in actuality, anyone (including Greek
Christians) who showed up with a horse and
weapons could join, no questions asked!
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Fact checking on “Jihad in the
sharia” (page 235)
“it is offensive to conduct a military
expedition against hostile non-Muslims
without the Caliph’s permission.”
Ibn al-Naqib, author of this text, died in
1368.
The caliphate was extinguished in 1258
What conclusions can you draw about the
validity of this legal text as a description of
political reality and “fluid loyalties”?
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Before the age of passports
Ease of travel between Muslim realms
Common problem of bandits outside
protected cities
Government for security and taxes, not
enforcing laws over a territory
Law defined as personal rather than
territorial
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Slavery in Muslim regions
Consider legal, but not natural
Prohibited for Muslims and protected
peoples (Christians, Jews, etc.)
Slavery not imposed as punishment
Primarily for domestic or military purposes,
not agriculture or mining
Main slave markets: Africa, Slavic regions,
India
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Aspects of slavery
Freeing slaves recommended in Islamic law
Concubines and children freed after owner’s
death
Slave armies as powerful military
institutions
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Ethnicities
Arabs
Berbers in North Africa
Turks
Persians and Persian literature
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2. City life
As many Muslim cities as Chinese cities
Shared features of mosque, central market,
bath houses, canals, cemeteries
Services handled by neighborhood
institutions, charitable trusts
Urban associations of “youths” as militias
or gangs
Priority of private space in Islamic law
needs to encroachment on streets
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Mosque of
Damascus
Ablution
fountain
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Market in old city of Jerusalem
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Ottoman cemeteries
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Countryside and villages
Problem of abusive tax farming
Nomadic incursions and suffering of
peasants
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3. Conversion to Islam: Muslims
as minority
Persistence of non-Muslim elites
Lack of incentive for conversion of
villagers
Mountainous regions also preserve local
religious groups (example: Chitral)
Occasional discrimination against Jews and
Christians are milder than Christian antiSemitism
Irregular enforcement of restrictions
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Muslims as majority after 1300
Dhimmi tax and social mobility as motives
for conversion
Decline of Caliphal power made life harder
for Christians
Increasing nomadism eroded landowning
and merchant patronage of monasteries
What is “conversion”? A personal or
community decision?
Muslim assimilation to local cultures
(Persia)
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4. Issues of authority: breakdown
caliphate
Theoretical concept of caliphate in Rules of
Governance by al-Mawardi (d. 1058): an
idealized extension of the religious scholars
as political authority, despite political
irrelevance
Symbolic role of Caliph two certificates of
“appointment”
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Persistence of a ghost
Coin minted
in India
(1350) with
name of
deceased
caliph
(earlier, in
Sanskrit!)
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Filling the void of authority
Increasing importance of religious scholars
(`ulama’)
Simultaneous and related importance of
Sufi saints
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Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
Frontiers and Identities
City and countryside
Conversion to Islam
Issue of authority
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