Umayyads as Ahl al-Bayt

JThe Institute oi Asian and Airican Studies

The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundaiion

Reprint from

JERUSALEM STUDIES INARABIC AND ISLAM

141991

I- - I'"~.

TIIE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

, \ •..1

THE UMA YYADS AS AH L AL-BAYT

Moshe Sharon

Hudhayfah b. al-Yarnšn said: We are Arab people;when we report, we predate and postdate, we add

and we subtract at will, but we do not mean to lie.Ibn Qutaybah, 'Uyisn; II, p. 136

INTRODUCTIONIn my previous two studies on the problem of the legitimacy ofauthority in early Islam - particularly in the second one - I dealtwith the development of the term ahi ai-bayt: This term has becomecentral to the Shi'ah's claim concerning the exclusive right of thedescendants of (Ali and Fatirnah to preside over the Islamiccornmunity. The same term is no less central to the 'Abbšsid cIaim toexclusive leadership of Islam. On the face of it, the difference betweenthe 'Alids and the 'Abbšsids relates to the frame work of kinshipintended by the tenn.ahl-bayr: whereas the 'Alids wished to narrowdown the kinship group to 'Ali's immediate family ar, at the most, tothe family of his father, Abu Tšlib, the 'Abbšsids used the term in abroader sense, embracing the entire cIan of Hashim, to which theyclaimed leadership,' It is not difficult to grasp the 'Abbasid motive in

.~

M Sharon, 'The development of the debate around the legitimacy of authorityin earl)' Islam," J SA! 5, 1984, pp. U1-l42.; idem, "Ah! ai-bayt, People of theHouse: a study of the transformation of a term from Jćhiiiyyah to Islam,"JSA] 8, 1986,pp. 169-1&4.

2 sce Munadš al-Flriizšbšdl, Fcuja'il al-Khamsah fias-SiJ;iJh as-Siuah; Bcirut,1393/l9TI, pp. 69f~ 219f~ Ismš'Il b. Kathir, Taf sir al-Qur'an al-lAtim; Bcirut,1966, V, pp. 452ff. (where the main traditions on the subject are quotcd), ef. LGoldziber, Muslim Studies (ed. S.M. Stem) II. London, 1971,pp. 103ff.The 'Alldarguments wcre summarized in aletter said to havc been written byMuhammad b. 'Abdallah b. Hasan to Ca\iph Abii Ja'Iar al-Mansiir, whcrcMuhammad tacklcd the problem of the Hšshimitc anccstry by strcssing thatevcn on Hšshirn's lcvcJ of kinship the 'Alids were the most noblc and couldclaim the purcst dcsccru, Sce, Kiiab al-'Uyun wa-al-ll adčiq, in Fragmenta

116 The Umayyads as ahi al-bayt

broadening the kinship framework of the term. The 'Alid and theTalibid families both belonged to the elan of Hashim and as suchcame under the leadership of the 'Abbisids, once the 'Abbasids seizedthe Caliphate.'

Quite early in Islamic history, the term ahi al-bayt acquired, asis very well known, a distinct Islamic meaning: ahi al-boy: came todenote the Prophet's family, and consequently, the precise definitionand exact identity of the Prophet's kin became crucial issues. Each ofthe contending parties in Islam strave to define the Prophet's kin, tribalgroup ar family in away that would guarantee fulfilment of theparty's political purpose.

The use of Qur'šnic verses played a central role in the ensuingdebate. Qur'anic evidence was the vehicle whereby the term ahial-bayt was transformed from its general, common Arab usage, to itsmore concrete, Islamic partisan usage, The Qur'šnic text also lent theclaim advanced by each of the parties concemed - Umayyads, 'Alids,'Abbasids, 'Uthmanids, Khšrijites, and Zubayrids - a distinctly divineaura which elevated the whole issue from the level of an ordinarypower struggle to the realm of a universal, divine plan.

But the Qur'anic -verse stand ing on its own has no specificidentity, like almost all the Qur'anic verses. It is only tradition, thehadith; which has invested the Qur'šnic verses with their properidentity: the historical background, the time dimension, thegeographical setting and the human involvement when needed. Thus,tradition could conveniently he fabricated, and history he invented toback the elaims of each party involved in the debate over the questionof the Islamic leadership. It is with this process of inventing historythat this article is concemed.

TRADITION CREA TED: TIrE BACKGROUNDThe forging of tradition for various purposes, includ'ing the purpose ofthe political debate in Islam, was recognised by Orientalists over a

ll istoricorum Arabicorum; ed, MJ, de Gocjc, Lcidcn, 1871, p, 241; ef. Tabarl,Ta'rikh; Lcidcn, 1885-1889, III p. 210.

3 Akhbar ad-Dawlah al-'Abbasiyyah (hcnccforth Akhbar), cd, DUri and Muualibi,Bcirut, 1971 pp. SU.

The Umayyads as ahi al-bavi 117

century ago, and has been arnply proved and studied by Goldziher and,since his time, by many other serious scholars. On the invention ofspecific traditions conceming the question of ahi ai-boy: by the Alids,or generally by the Umayyad opponents, Goldziher wrote:

Since the pious opponents of the dynasty looked upao the 'AUd pretendersas the chosen saviours of the Empire, a large part of these falsifications wasdedicated to the praise of the Prophet's family, without being a direct attack uponthe Umayyads. But no one could he so simple as not to recognize the negativeimplications. 4

So much for the pro-'Alid fabrication of tradition; butGoldziher also points out Umayyad activity in this sphere:

\.. ....

How far-reaehing were the falsifications inspired by the Umayyads in theinterests of the privileges claimed by them is evident from the fact that they notonly eited 'Uthrnšn, but even the Prophet as their examples.' The fact that arnongthe hadiths, that have bccn handed on to us ... the Umayyad ones are not wellrcprescrucd is no proof that they did not cxist in a much grcater numbcr than theyare found in our various collections, Tendentiousncss in the field of hađith did notonly consist in rnaking new traditions but also included the supprcssion of cxistingparty argumentsf

Goldziher's direct manner leaves no room for misunderstanding:

Il is a rnauer for the psychologists to find and analyse the molives of thesoul which made sueh f'orgeries acccptable to the pious mind as morally justifiedmeans of furthering a cause which was, in their conviction, a good one?

The conditions prevailing during the first century, ar centuryand a half, of the Islamic State called for the invention of a history forIslam with pre-Islamic, or Jahili depth. Recently Crone and Cook,

4 Goldziher, op. cii; p. 43.5 I bid. p. 51. Il seerns that Goldziher evinces surprise at the apparent "impudcncc"

of the Umayyads' using the Prophet's name to back tbeir political cause. Weshali later see that the Umayyads were not only entit1ed to use the Prophct'sname, but most probably, they were the most qualified to do so.

6 Ibid. p. 53.7 Ibid. pp. 54-55.


followed (though from a different perspective) by Suliman Bashear,emphasized the non-historica! literary representation of the earlyIslamic history by the Muslim sources,' In his own sophisticatedmanner, Kister has been leading the way in this research for almostfour decades,'

Seventy years ago Snouck Hurgronje, in his less quoted work,M ohammedanism; referred very clearly to the phenomenon of thefabrication of early Islamic history and to the motives behind il.Referring at length to Paul Casanova's work on Muhammad,'? SnouckHurgronje wrote:

He (Casanova) trieđ to prove a little time ago that Moharnmcd'srcvclations originally containcd the announccmcnt that the hour, thc finalcatastrophe, the last judgcmcnt would comc during his life. When his dcath had,thcreforc, falsificd this propbecy, according to Casanova, the lcadcrs of the youngcommunity found thcmsclves obligcd to submit the rcvelations prcscrvcd in writingor mcmory to a thorough revision, to add some which announced the rnortality,cvcn of the last prophct, and finally, to consolc the disappointcd faithfuJ with thehope of Mohammed's return bcfore the End of the World. This doctrine of thereturn, mentioned neithcr in the Qur'šn nor in the eschatological tradition of latcrtimes, was, according to Casanova, afterwards transformcd again into cxpcctation ofthc Mahdi, the last of~Mohammcd's deputics, "A guided of God" who shali bcdescended of Mohammed, who shali fill the world, once more before its end withjustice, as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny,

Remarking on this theory, which was also generally describedby Wellhausen," Snouck Hurgronje stated;

8 P. Crone & M Cook, Hagarism, The Making of the Islamic World, Carnbridgc.1977; S. Bashear, An Introduction lo the Other History (Arabic Muqaddimah [iai-tarikh al-čkhar), Jerusalem, 1984.

r'9 E.g. MJ. Kister, Studies in Jahi/iyyah and Early islam; Variorum Reprints,

London, 1980.la P. Casanova, Mohammed et la fin du monde, Paris, 1911-1924,especially pp. 45ff.11 In Wellhausen's monumentaI work, The Arab Kingdom and its Fa1I, (translated

by M.G. Weir), reprint, Beirut, 1963, written about the same time as Casanova'sbook, he refers lo the. idea of the rafah; the rcsurrection of the Prophct, and itstransformation into one early aspcct of the Shi'ite mahdism; that of theSabš'iyyah, in a1most the same Ianguagc. sec The Arab Kingdom, pp. 502-504.On the invcntion of tradition, Wellhausen madc the following rcrnark, which

The Umayyads as ahi al-bayt 119

In our sceptical time there is very little which is above cruicism, and, oneday or other, we may expect to hear that Mohanuned never existed. The argumcntsfor this can hardly be weaker than those of Casanova against the authenticity ofthe Qur'anP

And then, referring to the biography of the Prophet, he saidexactly what many scholars say today, when they try to decipher thecode of the Muslim tradition relating to Islamic history:

The generations that worked at the biography of the prophet were too farrcrnoved from his time to have true data or notions; and moreover, il was not theiraim to how the past as it was, bu: 10 construa a piaure of il as il ought lo havebeen, according to their opinions (my italics, MS). Upon the bare canvas providedby the verses of the Quf'šn that need explanation, the traditionalists havcembroidered with great boldness scenes suited to the desires or ideals of theirparticular group, or, to use a favourite metaphor of Larnmcns, "Tbey fiU the ernptyspaccs by a proccss of stereotyping which perrnits the critical observer to recognizethe origin of each picture,"!

Montgomery Watt, on the other hand, speaks only about the"tendentional shaping" of the sources. As far as he is concerned, oncethe modern student "makes allowance for the distortion" he can accept"the general soundness of the material?"

In the following pages, I wish to show how pre-Islamic historyrelating to the question of the "Prophet's family" was invented, shapedand reshaped to conform with the needs of both the Urnayyads andtheir adversaries.

may serve as a basic guideline for the study of traditiort evcn whcn thecorrectness of a certain statement is doubted, the staterncnt does not losc itssignificance. "For invention must have its motive, and the motive is all that wercquire," Ibid; p. 505.

12 C. Snouck Hurgronje, Mdliammedanism, New York and London. 1916, pp. 16-17.13 Ibid. pp. 23-24.14 W. Montgomery Wau, Muhammad at Mecca; London. 1953, p. XIIL

120 The Umayyads as ahl al-bayt

UMA YY ADS AS AlIL AL-BAYT1Ahmad b. A'tharn al-Kufi, the thirđ-century historian, quores atradition of Mada'ini, who was a client of the cian of 'Abd Shams"The tradition, quoted in a shorter version and with some variations byBaladhuri, runs as follows:

'Abdallah b. 'Ali (the uncJe of the first 'Abbšsid Caliph) sent the leaders of thepeople of Syria to amir al-mu'minin Abu al-'Abbas and when they presentedthemselvcs to hiro, he (Abu al-'Abbas) said to them: "O people of Syria, whatcaused you to side with the Umayyads against Banii Hashim when the latter are theahi al-bayt of the Messenger of Allah, and they are. more than anybody clsc, themost suitable of all the people for this matter (narncly, the leadership of the Islamiccornrnunity, MS). The Syrians swore to Allah, that there is no God but he, that theyhad no knowledge whatsoever that the Messenger of Allah had any family nor anyahl-bayt exccpt Banii Umayyah, until you (narnely, the 'Abbšsids) took over. Abiial-Abbšs - so the tradition concludcs - smiled out of surprise at the ignorancc ofthe Syrians."

We do not know if the Caliph really smiled, nor do we knowif such a meeting between the Sheikhs of Syria and the first 'AbbšsidCaliph did in fact take place at all, but one thing is sure: a traditionwhich, in the W4Y of Qur'anic exegesis, identified the Umayyads as thekin of the Prophet did exist when the 'Abbšsids came to power andthey had to annul il. Balšdhuri quotes his tradition on the authority of'Abbšs b. Hisham al-Kalbi In Baladhuri's tradition, the Syrian leaderssay more explicitly: "We did not know that the Messenger of Allahhad relatives to inherit hirn, save for Banu Umayyah until you came topower," imii 'alimna anna li-rasid al/ah (s) qarabali yarithunahu illabani umayyah ... ).17

The satirical nature of these traditions in the context in whichthey appear does not diminish their historica1 significance. True, on theface of it, the 'Abbasid court historians scorn the Umayyads for..

15 Yšqut, Mu'jam al-Udabč', ed. Margoliouth, Cairo, 1922, <Sv.Ali b. Muhammadal-Madš'ini),

16 Ahmad Ibn A'tham al-Kiifi, Kitab al-Fuiidi VIli, Hydcrabad, 1395/1975. pp.195-196; ef. Ahmad b. Yahyš al-Balšdhuri, Ansab al-Ashra], 11l..cd. Diiri; Bcirut,139811978,pp. 15<}-160.

J7 Ult. loe. cit.


venturing to suggest such a ridiculous idea as that they are ahIai-bayt of the Prophet, but while doing so they preserved an echo ofold traditions relating directly to the reconstruction of the history ofMecca before Islam. As it stands, there can hardly be any doubt thatthe tradition was invented within the framework of the debate overthe legitimacy of political power in Islam, once the unified politicalbody of the Empire emerged towards the beginning of the eighthcentury.

\.

EARL Y ISLAM1C HlSfORY REVlEWEDThe theory which I wish to propose by way of an introduction to thediscussion below, does not aim to reject the Islamic tradition but ratherto view it in the light of a somewhat different interpretation, To besure, a very courageous attempt along this line has already been madeby Suliman Bashear, who presented a new interpretation of earlyIslamic history based on the same traditions which make up theclassical picture of the birth of Islam and of the Islamic Empire. Hisconclusions regarding the collection and the authorship of the Qur'an,the establishment of Islam as an independent religion, and thebiography of Muhammad are clearly presented and appropriatelydocumented. Accofding to Bashear, neither Islam as an independentstate-religion nor the Qur'an as its Holy Book can be historicallytraced to prior to the end of the seventh century and the beginning ofthe eighth. 18

The generally accept ed description of the inception anddevelopment of early Islam should be regarded only as a schemeretrospectively formed by later politicaI developments," This historicalscheme may be summed up as follows: Islam was born with theProphet in Mecca and grew in Madinah into a tremendous religious,

18 S. Bashcar, op. cii; pp. 8, 48-49, 56; and sce the intriguing tradition reportcd byBaliidhurI ascribing the collection of the Qur'šn to Caliph 'Abd al-Malik,Balšdhuri, Ansćb, Vol. XI = Anonyme arabische Chronik, cd. W. Ahlwardt,Grcifswald, 1883, p. 264. scc bclow, note 37.

19 The term "Islamic schćma" for the outlinc of Islamic history as presented by theIslamic sources was first uscd by Cronc and Cook in thcir ll agarism (sceabove, note 8), p. 5.


social, political as weU as military power. The Prophet provided theArab tribes with a revelation of their own and lived to experience thefuU success of his message and the complete fulfilment of his life'swork. By the time of his death, his own personal authority wasrecognized almost all over the Arabian Peninsula. After Muhammad'sdeath, the politica1 centre which he had created in Madinah becamea centre for an empire. The Prophet's place at the head of theummah; the Community of the Faithful, was filled by one of theProphet's disciples, who came to be known as the khaliiah or amiral-muminin:

The main idea behind this historical scheme is that Islam grewand developed from one centre, as a unified political-religious body,under one leadership which wielded its authority from that onepolitical centre, Madinah. The military operations, which led to thecreation of the Islamic Empire, were orchestra ted from Madinah, andthe initial organization of this empire was envisaged by the amirai-muminin from Madinah,

The cracks in this unity began to appear over a generationafter the death of the Prophet and after Islam had gained its irnperialdimensioos. Traditien makes it clear that these cracks were due to thelack of a universally accepted system of succession to the leadership ofIslam. The conflicting views and interests regarding the nature of theIslamic leadership after Muhammad led to civil wars and eventually toschisrns and disunity, The major schism was that of the Shi'ah: It wasborn out of the idea that the leadership of the Islamic community afterthe Prophet belonged only to his own immediate family, and moreparticularly, to his cousin 'Ali. This view was not shared by most ofthe community, which eventuaUy succumbed to the leadership of theUmayyad family from Damaseus. The Shi' ah insisred on theillegitimacy of this rule while stressing the exc\usive rights of thefamily of the Prophet to lead the comrnunily of the faithful and rulethe empire. This picture of the birth and early development of Islam,though generally accepted, can be greatly modified.

"/

EARL Y ISLAMIC H1SfORY REVISEDWithout entering into the problems relating to the form and contentsof the Propher's biography, we may begin our attempt at thereconsideration of the Islamic historical tradition by assuming the

- -- -~-

The Umayyads as ahi al-baYI 123

possibility that after the collapse of the Byzantine and SassanianEmpires, under the weight of the prolonged and cost1y wars whichthey had waged against each other, communities of the faithful,mu'minun; who had accepted the message of monotheism as taught byMuhammad (but not only by him)" grew up in the Hijiz, lraq, Syria,

20 In spite of the suppression in later tradition of infonnation about the activity ofother monotheist preachers or "propbets" in northem Arabia, the det.ails whichhave filtered through attest, beyond any shadow of doubt, to the fact thatbcfore Muhammad and during his liferime, many people in nonhem Arabiapreached monotheism or sought il South Arabian Judaism and ChristianityIilteređ to the north. "Ar-Rahman" as a name of God was used by Abrahah, theEthiopian govemor of southem Arabia, in his inscription commernorating anexpedition of his to the north, believed to be the source for the legend of theElcphant (Q, 105 and the commentaries, Ibn Hishšrn, op. eu. pp. 43ff; Balšdhurl,Ansab, I, p. 67). sce MJ. Kister, "The Carnpaign of Hulubšn," Le Museon;LXXVII (1965),pp. 425-436.on the issoe of monothcism in Arabia before Islam,see idem. "Labbayka allahumma labbayka ... On a monotheistic aspect of ajČlhiliyyah practice," J SAI 2, 1980, pp. 33-57; H.A.R. Gibb, "Pre-Islamicmonotheism in Arabia," Harvard Theological Review, 1962 The Qur'an's lL<;C ofmonotheistic terrninology in addressing Quraysh attests to the fact that thisterminology rnust have been very familiar to the Qurayshites as well as to theother Arabs. see Bashear, op. cit; p. 112 (in fra) and Gibb, op. cii; p. 270.Musaylimah, the prophet of Banii Hanlf'ah, who was not as successful asMuhammad, and whose life and career were distorted beyond recognition bythe standard pious Islamic tradition, called himself, we are 101d,"rasid a/1Qh,"and spoke in the name of ar-rahman: His monotheism seems, from the little thatwe know about him, no less perfect than that of Muhammad himself. sceBaliidhuri, FUJUJ; al-Buldan; ed. De Goeje, Leiden, 1863-1866,pp. 87f. 99, andespecially 105, where it is reported that al-Aswad b. 'Awf al-Ansi, the prophetof 'Ans, called himself "rahman a/-yQl7UlJ1," whereas Musaylimah called himsclf"rahman al-yamamah" Cf. Mas'iidi, Muris] adh-Dhahab, ed. ch. Pcllat, Bcirut,1974, III, p. 45, par. 1522. And see MJ. Kisrcr, "Social, Economic andAdrninistrative Aspects in the Development of Early Islam," a review ofShaban's I slamie History, AD. 600-750 (AIJ. 132), A New l nierpreuuion;Cambridge, 1971.in: li amizrah Hehadash (The New East). voL XXIV (1974),pp.98-99 (in Hcbrew), Tradition speaks of individuals in Mecca and elsewhcre innorth and south Arabia who engaged thernselves in monotheistic speculation.One of thcse was, for example, Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl, see Ibn Hisharn,SIrah,cd. Saqš, Abyšr], Shalabi, Cairo, 1955. I. pp. 224-227; ADUFaraj al-Isbahšni,

124 The Umayyads as ahi al-ba yt

and Mesopotarnia (Jazirah). Each one of these commuruues ofmu'minun chose its own leader or amir, who was naturally called amiral-mumininl'

The later unified tradition wishes to stress the existence of onelawful amir muminin; first in Madinah and then in Syria." The Shi'itetradition speaks about only one person who could lega11yhold the titleof amir al=murninin; and this is 'Ali23

In fact, in Shi'ite tradition the title became a synonym for Ali'sname. But the fact that tradition preserved for us so many instances inwhich the title was used in various early Muslim communities, meansthat these communities were, at the early stages of Islamic history,politically independent communities. This arrangement was verysimilar to the Arab tribal system in that the politically independentcornmunities of mu'minun resembled tribes now bound to each otherby common religious beliefs. In many cases the communities ofmuminun belonged to the same tribe or tribal group as well Generallyspeaking, the community of mu'miniin; called by later traditionkhawarij ar shurat came, at least at alater stage of the Urnayyad

Kitćb al-Aghani, Biilšq edition, rep. Bcirut, 1970, pp. 15-17. In a pocm ascribcdto him, Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl says: "But I shalI worship my Lordar-rahman/so that He may forgive my sins., the all forgiving Lord:' (IbnHishšrn, Ibid). Rccently the topic has bccn reviewcd by M Cook, Muhammad,Oxford, 1983, pp. 9-1L

21 There is strong cvidcnce that Musaylimah was also callcd amir al-mu'minin: sec

Kistcr, op. cii; pp. 100-lOL22 An excellent example of such' a unificd trađition is the one in which Uha)')' b.

Ka'b (dicd 19 ar 22; DhahabI, Tadhkirtu al-fluffČJ+, Hyderabad, 1955-1958, 1, pp.16-17) is supposed to have said to the Ansar, during the saqit ah affair. '111is(lcadership of the Muslims) has nothing to do with you ... two of themuhaiirie: will lake charge of it then the third one will he killed then it will bctom away and transferred thither - and he poinLcd LO Syria - Thcse wordshad come out of the mouth of the Messenger of Allah <mablUl biriq rasidallah)." Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, al-Tqd al Farid, Cairo, 136111942,IV, P. 259.

23 sec Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabštabš'i, Shi'ite Islam, London, 1975, p. 50note 42; sec Firiizšbađi, op. cii, 1, p. 205.

ti·


period, mainly from the tribe of Shayban," whereas the Kufitemu'minun who had 'Ali as their amir, and were later transformed intowhat came to be known as Shi'ah or raiidah; came mainly fromcertain Yaman ("southern") tribes," The mu'minun of Syria, who wereled by Umayyad amirs, probably came mainly from the Kalb tribes ofSyria, whereas the mu'minun of the Hijiz came from the Quraysh ofMecca and a large part of the inhabitants of Madinah.

In short, I am proposing here a theory that earlymu'minun communities developed independently, each in its ownenvironment under its own amirs. The idea which linked them all toeach other was the belief in Muhamrnad's unique revelation. Thisrevelation was far from being in its final canonized form in themiddle and second half of the seventh century. Each one of themuminun communities preserved, mostly orally, the basic parts of thisrevelation, as brought out of Arabia Under the influence of the variousenvironments in which these cornmunities found themselves, the basicbody of revelation was gradually supplemented by loca1 material, allascribed to the Prophet. The traditions which recount stories aboutmu'minioi from different groups arguing heatedly about the contentsand wording of the Qur'an, and give these arguments as one of thereasons for Caliph 'Uthmšn's decision to impose one final and officialtext of the Qur'an, attest first and foremost to these diverse loealdevelopments of the murninun cornmunities,"

THE HOUSE OF DA VID AND THE HOUSE OF THE PROPHETThus, we should accordingly modify our views in re1ation to the birth

24 see Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom, pp. 388f~idem; Die Religioes-poluischenOpposltionparteien in alten Islam, Arabic transiation by 'Abdurrahman Badawi,AJ;ZiJb al-rrulčua4ah ... oi-khawari] wa-ash-Shi'ah; Cairo, 1968,pp. 11Of.

25 sce summary in M Sharon, Black Banners from the EdSt. Jerusalem, 1983,p. 134.26 Bell pointed out the existence of four collections or editions of "pre-Uthmšnic

Qur'šns," even aecording to the traditional theory that ascribed the canonizationof the final text to 'Uthmšn, They were: (l) the version of Ubayy b. Ka'b,followed by the Syrians, (2) that of 'Abdallah b. Mas'čd, acceptcd by theKufircs, (3) that of Miqdšd b. 'Amr. whose version was accepted by the pcop\eof Hirns, and (4) that of Abu MUsa al-Ash'ari, associated with Basrah, Bell,l niroduaion to the Qur'iln, Edinburgh,1953,pp. 4O-4L


and, development of the Shi'ah. The old and accepted view whichattributes the birth of the Shi'ah to the strife between 'Ali andMu'awiyah over the leadership of the whole Islamic community is onlya reflection of later events. The Shi ah does not represent a schism inan existing coherent body of Islam, simply because such a politicallyand theologically coherent body did not exist in the seventh century.The Shi'ah represents a mu'minun cornrnunity in Iraq, which had itsown amir al-rnu'minin; and which developed its own version ofMuharnrnad's revelation and tradition which, under powerful Jewishinfluence, absorbed a large body of Jewish Talmudic legal materiaJ aswell as many Talmudic legends relating to BibJicaJ events and Biblicalf'igures." These Iraqi, or rather, Kiifite mu'miniin; were especiaJlyinrluenced by the existence in Iraq of the Jewish Exilarch, or as hewas called in Arabic ra's al-ialiu, a verbatim translation of hisAramaic title resb galiaha; the "Head of the Diaspora." The Exilarchrepresented in practice the idea of the divinely chosen Family orHouse of David; in practicaJ terrns, this Divine Choice meant that therule over the Jewish community could not belong to anybody else butto the descendants of the House of David. Moreover, it meant that theleadership of the community could not be decided by any method ofelection, that it had already been ordained by the divine will, and itpresupposed a prophetic origin, David having been regarded as aprophet

The unparalleled veneration accorded by the Jews to theExilarch in Babylonia-Iraq could not have been overlooked by themu'minun of Kiifah, who regarded their own amir al-mu'minin in thesame light that the Jews regarded the Exilarch.28 The fact that 'Ali was

27 Although the rnishnaic, talmudie, and midrashic maJerials have been analysed ingrcat detail since the time of Geiger, the origin of this Jewish material wasauributed by and large to the Jews of Madinah, about whosc identity we knownothing or ncxt to nothing from Jewish and other non-Is1amic sources, See AGeiger, Judaism and Islam, Madras, 1898. pp. 17-18 and the rest of the book. ThNoeldekc, 'The Keran," Sketches from Eastern History, Beirut, Khayats OrientalReprints 00. 2. 1963, pp ..30-3L

28 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, op. cit. IV, p. 383, quotes a unique tradition on the authorityof Ibn Lahi'ah which runs as follows: Abu al-Aswad said: "I rnct r a'sal- jQJiu and he said to mc, 'there arc seventy fathcrs bctween mc and David.

~- .~ _.-=--~~ ""lli

The Umayyads as ahi al=bayt 127

the kin of the Prophet was promptly elevated into a major feature of'Ali's leadership, Along the lines of the Davidic Family theidea ofMuhamrnad's divinely ordained family was born, and the right to leadthe community of mu'minun was then presented as belongingexclusively to that amir al-mu'minin who belonged to this family.From that moment onward the road was open ed for an elaborationupon the idea of the divine choice of Muhammad and of his nearestkin. The trouble with this theory in the case of Muhammad was thatunlike David, Muhammad had left no male offspring, a very importantaccepted facto which left the identification and the definition of hisfamily a rather fluid matter. But this problem arose much later. Duringthe formative period of the various mu'miniin communities, that is tosay most of the seventh century, the Kiifite community, at least, hadno problem in identifying 'Ali and his male offspring as the true andonly representatives of the Prophet's family. Proper "prophecies" alongthis line of thought must have been incorporated in to the Kufiteversion of the Qur'an, The fact that the Shi'ites later accused theofficial (Umayyad) editors of the Qur'an of omitting from the HolyBook many verses relating to 'Ali and his family, should not berejected outright as Shi'ite and anti-establishment propaganda on thecontrary, it is only rea.sonable that the more specifically 'Alid parts inthe Kufite version of the Qur'an were scrapped by the Umayyadunifiers of Islam,"

THE SYRIAN HUP-zi RTV ALRYThe individual and separate development of the various communities

and the Jews when they see me, treat me with reverence, acknowledge myrights and regard my preservation incumbent on thernselves, whcreas you,although there is only one father between you and your ~rophet, you killcd hisson,"

29 The fact that "the Shi'alhl ... has always held that the Qur'šn was mutilatcd bythe suppression of much which referred to 'Ali and the Prophet's family" isusually dismissed, for no good rea.son, as "assumptions which hardly appeal tomodem criticism" Bell, ibid; p. 44. If one accepts the existcncc of few versionsof the revclations, the evidence about which comes from latcr sources, whyshould the Shl'ite c1aim of the existcnce of a Kiifite version he dismisscd out ofhand?


of mu'minun was disrupted by the attempts of one comrnunity thatwished to dominate the others. The Madinian, ar Hijizi, communitywas led by various leaders that came from the tribe of Quraysh, butfrom clans which did not necessarily represent the so-callediahili leadership. Towards the last quarter of the seventh century theamir al-muminin in Mecca and Madinah was 'Abdallah b. Zubayr,who attempted to extend his rule over the Iraqi and Syriancommunities. For about twenty years beforehand, namely from about660 until 680, it was the Umayyad amir al-muminin Mu'šwiyah fromSyria who succeeded in extending his role over both Hijiz and lraq,not without encountering violent opposition in both. 'Abdallah b.Zubayr attempted to fill the gap left after Ma'awiyah's death, whenboth the Syrian and Iraqi communities seemed to have been leftwithout an amir al-muminin of their OWIt30

'Abda l lah b. Zubayr propagated the Hijazi version ofMuhammad's revelation, stressing particularly the special position andvenerable importanee of the sanctuary of the Ka'bah in Mecca. Theancient holiness of the Ka'bah was emphasized with the help of manytraditions relating its building to Abraham on the one hand, and itsrenovation to Muhammad on the other. The emphasis on the holinessof the Ka'bah as"the only sanctuary connected with Muhammad'srevelation became a point of great importance to 'Abdallah b. Zubayr,who legitimized his demand to rule over all the communities ofmurninun by the fact that he possessed the Ka'bah,"

30 The idea of aseparate mu'minisn community in Iraq, faithful to 'Ali, is reflectedin a tradition which quotes a letter attributed LO Husayn b. <Ali In this leuerHusayn addresses his supposedly Kčfite supporters as follows: "From Husayn b.'Ali to his brethren, the mu 'miniin ... " See Ahmad b. Dšwud ad-Dlnawarl,AI-AkhbČlr ai-Tiwal, ed. 'Abd al-Mun'irn 'Amir ~nd Jarnal ad-Din ash-Shayyal,Cairo, 1960, p. 245 (l 15).

31 This unique connection bctwecn 'Abda\1ah b. Zubayr, the Prophet, and theKa'bah was underscored by traditions originating from the Zubayrid family. Ina poem by al-'Uqayli, 'Abdallah b. Zubayr is alluded to as a rightcous personwho interprcts the Prophet's words, a godly man who dwc11s in the Ka'bah likeone of the Ka'bah's doves. The Prophct ga vc 'A'ishah the kunyah of umm"Abd allah; regarding her as 'Abdallah's mother. 'Abdallah's name wasembroidercd on the covering of the Ka'bah, and he was ca\1cd 'Q'idh al-bayt.


But the veneration of the Ka'bah as the only holy sanctuary forthe m um i n u n was in no way universal. When them u'rninun communities had been established in Iraq, Syria,Mesopotamia, and probably also Egypt, Mecca was by no means theirexclusive holy place. The faces of the mu'minun did not necessarilyturn towards Mecca in prayer, from Syria or from Egypt or from Iraq.Under the influence of Christianity, at least in Egypt and Syria, theearly mu'miniin turned their faces to the east. And it is not a merecoincidence that in some miraculous way a few traditions have beenpreserved that speak about a qibl ah facing the east (qiblahmusharraqahi in the great mosque of Fustat." The most strikingevidence of the existence of easterly directed qiblah is represented bya desert open mosque discovered a few years age near Be'er Orah inthe southeastern part of the Negev in Israel. The mosque has twomihrabs, one to the east, which can clearly be identified as the older

scc Mus'ab b. 'Abdallah az-Zubayri, Nasab Quraysh; ed. E. Lcvi-Provcncal,Cairo, 1953, pp. 237-239; Balšdburi, Ansab al-Ashra], IVB, ed. M. Schlocssinger,Jerusalem, 1938, pp. 17 (L 6), 19 (L15),21 (L2l: "innamii ana hamaman min hamamhluilW al-masjid - I am but a dove from the doves of this sanctuary"), 25 (LlI),27 (1.9), 29 (1.4), 52 (121), 54 (1.8); V, ed. Goitein, Jerusalem 1936. p. 363 (U2).Referring to 'Abdallah b. Zubayr's supportcrs, Dinawarfs tradition calls thornahi al-mas jid. Dinawarl, op. cit. pp. 268 O. 1), 314 (1.19). It secrns hardlyaccidental that 'Abd al-Malik is said la havc been cal1cd in Madinah, "hamamaial-mas jid - the dove of the sanctuary" bccausc of his picty, Balšdhuri, op. eu;XI, p. 163. Ibn Zubayr was cliscrediled by the Urnayyađ tradition as a mulhid,heretic, [bid. V, p. 363 (11.13,20). on the Ka'bah see U. Rubin, 'The Ka'ba:Aspects of its rituaI functions and position in pre-Islamic and early Islamictimes," JSA! 8, 1986, pp. 97-13L H, Busse, "Jerusalem and Mecca, the Temple andthe Kaaba. An Account of their interrelation in Islamic times," in M Sharon(ed.), Pil/ars of Smoke and Fire. The Holy Land in history and thoughi,Johanncsburg, 1986, pp. 236-246.

32 Scc Yšqiit, Mu'jam al-Buldan; ed. Wiistenfeld, Leipzig, 1866-1870, pp. 898-899;Ibn Taghri Birdi, An-Nujum az-Zahirah; Cairo, 1936, L p. 67; Bashcar, op. eu. p.60; M. Sharon, 'The cities of Palestine under Islamic rulc" (Hcbrcw), Cathedra;40, Jerusalem, 1986, p. 101; idem; 'The birth of Islam in the Holy Land", in M.Sharon (cd), Pil/ars of smoke and [ire. The /Joly Land in history and thoughi,Johanncsburg, 1986, p. 230 and the documcntation thcrc.

130 The Umayyads as ahi at-bavt

one, and one to the south, which is alater addition," This amazingarchaeological evidence fully corresponds to the tradition which saysthat during the time of Caliph Walid, the san of 'Abd al-Malik(705-715) a cali phal order was issued to change the direction of theqiblah in the rnosques southwards, to face Mecca.

The sanctuary of Mecca, however, was presented by 'Abdallahb. Zubayr, who rebuilt il, as the genuine Arab sanctuary and as a livingsymbol of the genuine revelation of Muhammad,"

ISLAM, TIIE STATE RELIGION OF TIIE lJ1','IFIED EMPIRE

When 'Abd al-Malik came to power at the head of the mu'minun inSyria in 685, he set himself the target of unifying the variousmu'minun communities under his TUle,and of establishing a unitedkingdom. To carry out such a decision meant much more thanextending the rule of Damascus over Iraq, Hijiz and Egypt, Itnecessitated spiritual and theological reform as well. The ami ral=muminin had to decide on an officiaI faith, Very much along thelines of the Byzantine Empire, an official orthodoxy had to beformulated. By the time 'Abd al-Malik came to the throne, themu'minun community in Syria had been extremely influenced byChristianity. This influence came from two sides. On the one hand,there were the Arab tribes in Syria, who on the whole professedChristianity of some sort, most probably the Jacobite version ofmonophysitism; and on the other, there was the vigorous and popu1arChristian activity which manifested itself in pilgrimage, monasticismand the worshipping of many holy sites, mainly in Jerusa1em In morethan one way, Jerusalem became a testing ground for the communityof mu'miniin: Jerusalem represented for Judaism and Christianity ahistorical credibility. The mu'miniin could either merge into thishistorical credibility or r.eject il. For over half a century the

l'mu'minun in Syria merged into the historica! credibility of JerusalemThey accepted it as the scene for the events of the early Divine historyand accepted its intimate connection with the names of the great

)<,»:

33 Ult. loe. cit ; B. Rothcnbcrg, Timna, Valley of the Biblicai Copper Mines,London, 1972., p. 221, fig. 7L

34 In accordance with Q. 2:142-150.

The Urnayyads as ahi al-bayt BI

Prophets of the past. They incorporated Jerusalem into theiriman along the lines taught to them by both Jewish and Christiantradition. Thus Jerusalem was accept ed as the scene of Abraharn'ssacrifice as much as it began to be identified as the place of theSecond Coming of Christ, though this Christian tenninology was notnecessari1yused,"

'Abd al-Malik clearly saw the Syrian mu'minun communityeasily drifting towards complete Christianity, and decided to give Islama proper individual character distinguished from Christianity as well asfrom Judaism." This he did in two stages. In the first stage heconcentrated his efforts on Jerusalem while compiling an official textof the Qur'šn." In Jerusalem, he built the Dome of the Rock as a

'>...- .•. '

'-..-,-

35 The multitudc of Islamic traditioos about Jerusalem of Jewish and (to a lcsscrcxteru) Christian origin must have becn known to the mu'miniin in Syria andlraq long bcfore they crystalliscd into their final forms in about thc first half ofthe 2nd/8th ccntury, See the earlicst known collcction, Wšsitl, Fadć'i! ai-BaYIai-Muqaddas, ed. 1. Hasson, Jerusalem, 1979, pp. 9-11, 18, 50: bayt al-maqdis.qiblai al-Yahiid; 67 (no. 107), 85; ef. thc interesting tradition which says thatwhen the Prophct died, sor'i'ie of his disciplcs wanted to bury him in Jerusalem"because Jerusalem is the burial place of the prophets," Ibn al-Tbri, To'rikhMukhiasar ad-Duwal, ed. $iill)ani, Beirut, 1958, p. 95 (injra).

36 There is much truth in the relatively late account quoted by the Jerusalemitcgeographer Muqaddasi on the authority of his uncle, who said that 'Abdal-Ma lik, noting the beauty of the Dome of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalemand iLSmagnificence, "was rnoved lest it should dazzle the minds of the Muslims,and hence erected above the Rock, the Dome which now is seen there." Walid I(705-715), 'Abd al-Malik's soo and heir, was moved, according to this account, LO

build the Great Mosque of Damascus for the same reason. Muqaddasi, Absanai-Taqasim [i Ma'rifat ai-AqaIim, (Ed. M De Goeje, Leiden, 19<X»,p. 159.

37 The tradition which puts in to the rnouth of 'Abd al-Malik the clairn that hecompileđ the Qur'šn was quoted by Balšdhuri almost ofrhanct and without anyauempt at refuting il According to this tradition, 'Abd al-Malik said; '1 amaf raid to die in the month of Ramadan, because I was born in il, I was weanedin il, and in it I collected the Qur'šn two-fin: jamatu al-qur'an). Balšdhuri,Ansćb, XI. p. 264. The same tradition is repeated al most verbaiim by Ibnal-1bri, op. eu. the chapter on. the Qur'šn and sunnah; pp. 37ff. The key ward inthis tradition is the verb jamaa; which in rclation to the Qur'šn is used todcscribe iLScollection, Sce Ibn an-Nadiru, Fihrist, Bcirut, Dar ai-Ma'arif, n.d. p.


symbol of total rejection of Christianity, and in many ways also as afinal defiance of whatever was left of Byzantine politicalauthority.The long inscription in the Dome of the Rock is important because ofthe Qur'anic verses chosen to decorate it38 These verses mentionMuhammad as the Messenger of Allah and Islam as the true religion,but their importance lies more specifically in their polernicanti-Christian message. The greatest part of the inscription is dedicatedto the figure of Jesus. Ris divinity is rejected, though not his divineorigin, his sonship is rejected together with the idea of the Trinity, yethe is accepted as a prophet and a Messiah. The Christians are calledupon to desist from attributing to God anything which might interferewith Ris absolute unity, and to bear in mind that the Muslimun (this isthe new designation referring to the unified body of all themu'miniin communities) accept all the prophets of the past, Jesus andMuhammad included.

The establishment of a Muslim sanctuary in Jerusalem, in thefonn of a dome over the rock which was identified with the place ofthe Jewish temple, gave Islam the necessary historical depth. By

36. Charles C. Torrey, howe ver, suggests that whcn the verb jama'a appcarswith reference to the Qur'šn or kitćb allah. it mcans "he lcamcd the wholeQur'an by heart," See Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, Kitćb FUJUJ; Misr, New Haven, 1922,Glossary, sv, jama'a. The two cases to which Torrey refers in FUJUJ; Misr, pp.202 (tJ7), 234 (1.3), may well support his suggestion, but they may be understoodin the USUaIway and then lend further support to the idea proposed here.

38 The inscription was published and analyzed by M. van Berchern, Maleriauxpour un Corpus lnscriptionum Arabicarum (CIA) Jerusalem. "Haram;' (II B2),Cairo, 1927, no. 215 (also nos. 216, 217). In 1959 Oleg Grabar reevaluated theDome of the Rock and its inscriptions in the context of the Islamic-Byzantineriva\ry in 'Abd al-Malik's time: o. Grabar, 'The Umayyad Dome of the Rock inJerusalem," Ars Orierualis, 1959, pp. 33-62 KAC. Creswell, who holds stronglyto his views about the reasons hehind the building of the Dome of the Rock,fails to understand that the answer to the question is to he found not in ancxtcrnal account which was wriucn about 200 years after the building of theDome (Ya'qubi, To'rikh; Bcirut, 1960, p. 261), but rather in those Qur'šnic verscswhich were carefuJly selccted to give it its theological meaning. scc Creswcll,Early Muslim Archiiecture, 2nd eđition, I (1), New York. 1979, pp. 66-69.C]. Wel1hausen, The Arab King dom; pp. 212f.. whose theory I am hereaucrnpting to rcvise,

The Umayyads as ahi al=bayt 133

making Jerusalem into its main holy place, and connecting itself to along chain of prophets, Islam joined the other two religions on anequal historical basis, and could even boast a greater antiquity thanChristianity. The newly edited Qur'šn could easily support this idea bypresenting the great figures of the past as Muslim prophets. Theseincluded the Patriarchs, particularly Abraham, MIRS, Jesus and a greatnumber of others.

'ABD AL-MALIK'S REFORMSYet this stage of 'Abd al-Malik's reform could not have beencomplete. New Islam joined Christianity and Judaism but was not yetfundamentally different from them, so as to protect it fromsuccumbing to their tremendous intellectual and theological superiority.If Islam wished to acquire its own individual character it would haveto break away totally from Christian and Jewish traditions, not byrejecting these traditions, but by modifying them. This modificationwould be possible only if Islam were to be given a totally independentsource, and a new historical depth of its own. At this point, the mostimportant move was to cut Islam loose from Jerusalem and to identifyit with a proper holy place of its own. The natura1 place was Mecca,by then intimately connected with the holy history of the Prophet.Mecca represented Arabism, it could be easily used because of itspre-Islamic history as a ra1lying place for the Arab muminun whereverthey might be, and with the traditions connecting it both to Abrahamand to Muhammad, it could provide the necessary link to ancienthistory. But Mecca was still under 'Abdallah b. Zubayr's rule. It wasnecessary to conquer Mecca, which Hajjij did for 'Abd al-Malik in73/692. It was then that 'Abd al-Malik destroyed the Ka'bah andrebuilt it, announcing that the new sanctuary represented Abraham's aswell as Muharnmad's plan. With Iraq and the East secure in 'Abdal-Malik's hands, the conquest of Mecca was the final stage in theincorporation of the major mu'minun centres into the' unified body ofthe empire. The Arabic sources, well aware of this tremendoushistorical achievement, call the year 73 "the year of Unity" isanatal-jami/ah), an expression reserved until then for the year in whichMu'awiyah united the empire for the first time, after 'Ali's death in

134 The Umayyads as ahi ai-bayt

66p9 This was the moment in which Islam was finally born - Arabin character, with a proper Arab sanctuary, a proper Arab prophet anda holy book in Arabic edited as an official text common to the wholeempire. The concept of a state religion was thus completed. TheMuslims were now ordered to tum their faces in prayer to Mecea, tobuild new mihrabs facing Mecca in the rnosques, and to insist on thepredominance of Muhammad as the sea! and the senior of all thepreceding prophets. The emergence of Muhammad in this new role, asmuch as it solved for 'Abd al-Malik the problerns of the relationshipbetween Islam, Christianity and Judaism, created a new problemconcerning the legitimacy of his own role.

A1/L AL-BArr IN VIEW OF 'ABD AL-MALIK'S REFORMSThe 'Alid community of the Kufite muminun turned out to be a verystubborn opposition. The success of 'Abd al-Malik in unifying theempire did nothing to stop those mu'minun; the adherents of 'Ali andhis family, from further developing the idea of the Prophet's divinelydesignated family, the ah! al-bayt. As far as the Kiifite-'Alidmuminiin were concerned, this term, denoting the Prophet's family, wasclearly defined. But the. Kufite-Alids' view represented only one

39 Dinawari, op. cii; pp. 315-316; Ibn Hishšrn, STrah, I, p. 192 (note 7); Balšdhurl,Ansab, XI, pp. 67-68.. Ya'qiibl, op. cii; II, p. 272 Ibn Qutaybah, Kitčb ai-Ma'arif,ed. Sšwi, Beirut, 2nd printing, 139011970, p. 156 rus-si Muqaddasi, op. eu; pp.74-75; ef. Yšqin, Mu'jam al-Buldćn; sv, kabah: Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam,Leiden, 1974, pp. 192-191 The conquest of Mecca was the final stagc in asscningthe establishment of the unity of Islam. In Islamic tradition the event is markedas the time in which the various communitics rallied around 'Abd al-Malik, lt isnot far-fetched to assume that 'Abd al-Malik's conqucst of Mecca, whichmarked the bcginning of Islarn's impcrial history, was rctrospectivcly introduccdinto Muharnrnad's sirah as the major event in the Prophct's carccr, with AbuSufyiin playing an important role in it, In the ycar 75/695 'Abd al-Malikperformed the pilgrimage, demonstratively inaugurating the new Ka'bah, andgiving public expression 10 the new position of Mccca. scc Balšdhurl, op. cii;XI, p. 177f. Aghani, IV, p. 52 ()nc tradition in Kitćb al-Aghani lcavcs no doubtas to the importancc of the ycar 73. This is not only "the ycar of unity," but alsothe ycar in which the Caliphate of 'Abd al-Malik bcgins: "Lamma waliya 'Abdal-Molik ai-khilaiah 'ama ai-jamaah;' ibid; p. 102


community of mu'minun: There was no way that it could be shared bythe other three or four major communities, who, once the term ahial-barr was introduced into the general debate over the legitimacy ofauthority, had their own views about the subject, no matter how manytraditions were put into circulation by the Kufite-Alid mu'minun toprove the validity of their claims.

'Abd al-Malik's reforms gave the question of the exact identityof the family a tremendous urgency. For once the supremacy ofMuhammad as the Prophet and founder of Islam (now proclaimed astate religion) had been established and generally recognised, as wehave just seen, due to 'Abd al-Malik's reforms in the late seventh-earlyeighth centuries, the debate over the legitimacy of authority of the newunified body of Islam was bound to become general, popular andacute. It was only natural that the debate concentrated on a fewfundamental problems, such as the nature of legitimate role in general,and more specifically what the Prophet's legacy was in relation to thisproblem,"? In this context the issue of the identity of the Prophet'sfamily acquired a very high value in this debate.

THE LEADING FAMILY OF QURAYSHAmong the Arabs the t~~ ahi al-bayt was a frequently used term,and its social and political significance was universally recognized inthe Arab tribal system In Arab practice, the leading family of the tribewas called ahi al-bayt or ahi bayt. The term was used by Arab writersto refer to a noble and influential family also in the case ofnon-Arabs, 41 To be sure the word bayit in Hebrew, when it appearswith the name of a person of fame, has the same connotation. Themost famous of all such "houses" is, of course, the House of David (betDavid). When used in this way, the word bas the same meaning as theEnglish "house" in reference to the royal family or a dynasty ingeneral. Once the term ahi al-bayt came to be used in reference to the

.'

40 Sce AkhlXu (note 3 above), pp. 50-52; 74-TI and passim; for excellcnt examplcsof the nature and conterus of the debate.

41 Scc dctailcd discussion in mY article "Ahi al-Bayt .. ." (above note 1) undcrsubheading "Original mcaning of ahi ai-bayt"; cf. Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, op. cii. !ILpp, 331f; Ya'qubi. op. cii, L pp. 212-211

136 The Urnayyads as ahi al-bayt

Prophet, who did not immediately establish a house 01 his ownbecause he had no male children, the need arose to specify which ofthe clans of Quraysh could be designated as his irnmediate cian. Theleading family of such a cian would then be the ahi al=bayt of thiselan, or in other words, the ahi al-bayt of the Prophet. The need tospecify the exact cian of the Prophet and the leading family in thiselan meant delving into Mecca's pre-Islamic history, or rather,reconstructing this historical period in aceordance with the needs of thevarious contenders.

Qur'anic verses have always been a focus around which theexegetical tradition grew. The Qur'anic verses around which thetradition concerning the kinship to the Prophet evolved were mainlytwo: Surah 26 v. 214 and Siirah 33 v, 33. Surah 26 v. 214 says "Butwarn thy cian the nearer ones.''42 Surah 33 v, 33 says: "Allah simplywishes to take away the pollution from you, O people of the house,and to purify you thoroughly.?"

The first verse that specifies the 'ashirah of the Prophet, theaqrabun; the nearest kin, was highly imponant. Who were theseaqrabunl In the process of selection it is evident that the wider theframework of the elan identified as the 'ashirah and aqrabun of theProphet, the heavier iš the weight of those who were the ahi al-bayt,the noble family, of that 'ashirah; in the Arab sense, which rendersthem superior to immediate relatives of the prophet

During the Umayyad period the supremacy of Quraysh overthe rest of the Arab tribes must have been officially propagated; it wasbacked by traditions such as the one which says that the "Arabs willnever accept any authority but that of Quraysh." (The prophet is alsomade to say - probably in a much later tradition - that "the lmamsare from Quraysh,")" Once Quraysh supremacy was accepted, notwithout reservations and opposition, it logically followed that theleaders of the Arabs are also the leaders of the Muslims, If it could beestablished which was the leading family in Quraysh, the problem of

42 Bell il, p. 36243 Ibid, P. 414.44 Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, ai-Tqd al-Farid, IV, p. 258: Iii (adin aJ-'arab ilia lihadhi:

al-havy min quraysh and al-a'imman min quraysh:


the legitimate leadership of Islam could then be solved.

TIIE 'ABBAsID VERSIONThe fabrication of the early history of Mecca thus foUowed this line:The 'Alids strove to show that the only relatives of the Prophetentitled to the title of ahi ai-bayt were 'Ali, Fštimah and theirchildren, or at most the family of Abu Tšlib in general For the 'Alids,the term ahI al-bayt became concrete and wrapped in an aura ofmysticism; it was presented as the outcome of a divine selection, Inthis divine selection, as it appears in later, fully developed traditions,Allah selected Abraham from Adarn's posterity, then Ismš'il, thenNizar, then Mudar, then Kinšnah, then Quraysh, then Hashim, then'Abd al-Muttalib, and from 'Abd al-Muttalib, Allah selected(istaić) Muhammad. This particular tradition, which presents theprocess of selection as going from Quraysh to Hashim and 'Abdal-Muttalib, is an 'Abbšsid fabrication, and it is no wonder that itappears in a group of traditions dedicated to the praise of 'Abbis, 45

A similar tradition, which identifies the Prophet's aqrabun asthe elan or family of 'Abd al-Muttalib, belongs to the genre of asbaban-nuzul. This tradition, like many similar ones, was put into anhistorical context when it was incorporated into the Prophet'sbiography. Balšdhuri-recorded it on the authority of Ibn Sa'd, but itdoes not appear in the sirah of Ibn Ishaq-Ibn Hisham,

The tradition is concerned with events related to the Qur'anicverse (Q, 26: 214), "And warn thy elan, the nearer ones." The stress inthis verse was put on the words "the nearer ones" tal-aqrabuni. "Whenthe verse descended on the Prophet, he assembled the elan of 'Abdal-Muttalib to deliver to them the divine rnessage.?"

In this way, the Prophet himself was made to identify the elanof 'Abd al-Muttalib as his nearest kin, The fact that the tradition wasnot known to Ibn Ishšq, who wrote this sirah about the year 750,proves that it must have been invented during the early 'Abbšsidperiod, probably during the time of Caliph Mahdi, who showed much

45 Muhibb ad-Din at-Tabarl, Dhakha'ir aJ-'Uqbah, Beirut, 1974, p. 10. scc also Ibn'Abd Rabbihi, op. cii. III; p. 301

46 Balšdhuri, Ansab, L (ed. M Harnidullšh), Cairo, 1959, p. 118.


interest in reconstructing early Islamic history to suit 'Abbasidpropaganda needs. 47

This panicular tradition was needed in order to give a decisiveprophetic credibility to an already existing account, record ed by IbnIshaq, that described 'Abd al-Muttalib as the leader of Quraysh. IbnIshaq's account stresses that 'Abd al-Muttalib achieved a degree ofhonour and prominence without paraIIel even among rus forefathers 48

In other words, the elan of 'Abd al-Muttalib was presented in these'Abbasid traditions as the ahi ai-bayt in Quraysh, and at the same timewas designated as the family group that the Prophet regarded as hisclosest relatives. But why does the 'Abbasid tradition insist on theleadership of 'Abd al-Muttalib and on his qarabahl

The answer is that once a genealogical order was fixed forQuraysh, 'Abd al-Muttalib, as the ahi al=bayt of the Prophet,constituted in the genealogical scheme a framework wide enough toinclude the descendants of Abu Talib and of 'Ali, and narrow enoughto exelude the descendants of 'Abd Shams and of Umayyah. Theinclusion of the Talibids and 'Alids meant that these two familiesconstituted only a part of ahi al-bayt, and by no means could they

- /

47 Cf. Akhbar, pp. 165-166; M sharon, Black Banners, pp. 85f.48 'Abd al-Malik b. Hishšm, as-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah; ed. Saqš, Abyšrl, Shalabi,

Cairo, 1955, I, p. 142. Ya'qiibfs report repeats in a more elaborate language Ibnlshšq's account, though Ya'qlibl quotes Muhammad b. Hasan as-Shaybšnl (d.189/804; see Ibn an-Nadim, Fihrist, Beirut, 1978, pp. 287-288), who was aprotćgč of Hšriin ar-Rashid, and was bound to have a pro-Abbšsid bias.. SccYa'qiibi, op. cii; p. 246. Balšdhurf's account, based main1y on Ibn Sa'd, describes'Abd al-Muttalib as the sayyid of Quraysh (Ba1acihuri, op. eit. I, p. 64). allhoughin another report quoted on the authority of 'Abbšs b. Hishiim al-Kalbl, one of

t-Balšdhuri's major sources, 'Abd al-Muttalib's posiLion in Mccca is describcd asbeing very unccrtain, and it is said that he had to rcly on the hclp of hismaternal unclcs from Madinah to protcct him against his own unclc Nawfa1 b.'Abd Mana! (!bid. p. 69). In Tabari's tradition, the SlI~ was put lcss on thesupposcd leadership of 'Abd al-Muttalib and more on the fact that he waschallengcd by an alliance of Nawfa1 and 'Abd shams against him The tendcncybchind Tabar i's tradition is dear. to show the original Jahili sourccs of theenmity between the Umayyads ('Abd Sharns) and the 'Abbšsids ('Abdal-Muttalib). Tabari, To'rikh; (cd De Gocjc), L pp. 1084-1005.

The Umayyads as ahi al-baYI 139

claim the tit1e exc1usively. By defining the ahi al-bayt of Qurayshwithin the genealogica1 borders of 'Abd al-Muttalib, and then Hashim(one genealogical degree upwards), and by giving this definition thenecessary genealogical depth together with the Prophetic sanction, the'Abbšsid court historians and the traditionalists sought totally todelegitimize the Umayyads, and at the same time made it easy for the'Abbšsids to elaim the leadership of 'Abd al-Muttalib and Hashim,now also renamed the Prophet's aqrabiin:

This effort at genealogical, historical and traditionalconstruction was needed not only because the 'Abbšsids had toneutralize, on genealogical grounds as well as on religious grounds, the'Alid claims, but mainly because when they came to power there wasalready in existence another, earlier tradition, which had defined thegenealogica1 framework of the Prophet's kin somewhat differently.

THE SYRlAN-UMA YY AD VERSIONIn Syria., early in the Umayyad period and most probably even earlier,the ahi al-bayt of the Prophet was defineđ within the genealogicalgroup not of Hashim or 'Abd al-Muttalib, but of 'Abd Manšf (seechart), thus extending the genealogical framework of the Prophet'saqr abiin to inclutre Hashim ('Abd al-Muttalib) and 'Abd Shams,namely the 'Abbšsids and the 'Alids as well as the Umayyads. Butsince the tradition which delineated the elan of 'Abd Manšf as apolitically and socially accepted group had existed bejore the 'Abbasidsappeared on the Islamic political scene, it could not have been aproduct of the Umayyad-Abbšsid contest,49

49 In his Sirah, completed at just about the beginning of 'Abbšsid rule, Ibn Isi)5.qrecords a very well-known tradition or legend describing the political strife inQuraysh over the leadership of the tribe and the control of Mecca. Thoughplaced in the early days of Mecca, the legend no doubt reflects alater periodmuch nearer to the time of the compiler. Aceording to this tradition, Banii 'AbdManšf b. Qusayy ('Abd shams, Hashim, 'Abd al-Muttalib, and Nawfal) soughtto control the major public positions in Mecca "because of their nobility and thercspect which they commanded in their tribe," NOle that the group of kinshipreferrcd to is 'Abd Manšf. Ibn Hishšm, op. cii; p. l3L C]. Baladhuri, Ansćb, L p.55 UnITa). Scc also an irucresiing tradition in which the spccial status of the cianof 'Abd Manlif is stressed in Mu'awiyah's time in Syria, idem. IVA ed.


Even in a tradition q uo teđ in the context of the'Abbasid-Urnayyad controversy, Banii 'Abd Manšf were presented asthe only possible group of kinship in Quraysh with an independentidentity. This point was made very clearly in an account about anirnaginary debate between Mu'šwiyah and Banii Hashim. The author of

Schloessinger, Kister, p. S2 (1ll5-20). ef. Mubarrad, al-Kćmil, (ed. Ibrahim andShahštah, Cairo, Dar Nahđat Misr, n.d.) III, p. 10 (1.7). That 'Abd Manšf''sposition as the decisive group of genealogical identity in Quraysh for bothpersona I and socio-political purposes was common knowledge, is auested to bynumerous traditions in Kilab al-Aghani. These traditions are of particularimportance, because the information about 'Abel Manšf in them is, in most cases,not related to the later political debate in Islam. Prior to the Battle of Badr(624), 'Auka, the daughter of 'Abd al-Muttalib, had a prophetic dream aboutthe forthcoming encounter. Her dream becamc lcnown to Quraysh, and Abu Jahlsaid to 'Abbšs, "O Banii 'Abd Manšf, sincc when do you have this newprophctess? Aghani, (Bulaq), IV, p. 18 (11.19-13). Before the cooquest of Mecca(630) 'Abbšs brought Abu Sufyšn to the Propoet to safeguard his life. 'Urnaradviscd the Prophet to kill Abu Sufyšn, 'Abbas reacted, saying: "O 'Urnar, youarc taking this position (of enmity) because he (narnely Abu Sufyiin) is a man of'Abd Manšf," (J bid. pp:"97-98.) 'Abdallah b. Ja'Iar b. Abu Talib reportedlyrefers to Yazid b. Mu'šwiyah, saying "I wish him to he one of the chivalrousmembers of 'Abd Manšf .. ." Ibid; VII, p. 104. Hind bint 'Utbah, Mu'šwiyah'smother, was suspccted of adultery. Her father took her to he tested by a kahin.They were accompanied by a group of pcople from 'Abd Manšf, while Hind'shusband, who had accuscd her of infidelity, was accompanied by members ofhis Makhziim cian. Ibid. VIlI, p. 51 (supra). According to another tradition,Caiiph Abu Ja'far al-Mansiir issued an order that women from 'Abd Marofshould marry only men from 'Abd Manšf, Whcn a Zubayri scomed the Caliph'sorder, Mus'ab b. 'Abdallah an-Nawfali (from Nawfal b. 'Abd Manšf) said tohiro: "Your hatred of 'Abd Manšf is surely inherited." Ibid. XII. p. 174. In alcuer to Caliph Hishšrn, the writer asks the Caliph t9 pay auention to hismatemal unclcs from Makhziim after he had "called over LO himself his paternaluncJcs from 'Abd Manšf," (Note. 'Abd Manšf - same level as Makhzurn),Ibid. XVI. p. 81 (1.2). 'Abdallah b. 'Amr. the son of Caliph 'Uthrnan, askingFšt irnah, the daughter of Husayn b. 'Ali, to marry him, strengthens hisdcclaration of love by saying: '1 am from Banu 'Abd Manšf," {bid. XVIIL p.204 0.21). scc also Baliidhuri •.op. eu. XI, p. 231: 'Abd al-Malik rcfuscs to hclp arclativc of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, saying that only Banii 'Abd Manšf arc cntiLlcdto drink from his pooL

'--,.,,",


"

the Akhbar brought it as an anonymous tradition, and Ibn Qutaybahcopied it from Haytham b. 'Adi on the authority of Ash-Sha'bi (d, c.1031721): "Mu'awiyah applied himself, one day, to Banii Hashim andsaid to them:? 'Tell me why do you claim the Caliphate to yourselves,excIuding the rest of the Quraysh? Why should it he yours? If byvirtue of kinship iqarćbah; to the Prophet), then what prevented'Abbas, being the Prophet's paternal uncle ... from demanding it,especially since Abu Suiyiu: secured for him the support of Banii 'AbdManČlt?"'SO (My ita1ics,M.S.).

The tradition is very clear in relating a fact which must havebeen common knowledge, namely, that it was 'Abd Mana! as a wholewhich counted as a politicaIly and genealogically meaningful andsignificant group of kinship in Quraysh, and not its lesser subdivisions.This was the socio-political framework in which a bayt, a leadingHouse, could appear, and in the case of the Prophet, it was 'AbdManšf which comprised the Prophet's qarabah or kin. The fact thatsuch a tradition was preserved in a Iarger pre-Abbasid document onlyadds to the credibility of the quoted passage,"

Once 'Abd Mana! was singled out as the leading cIan inQuraysh, the question of the leadership of 'Abd Mana! became cruciaifor the debate over the legitirnacy of authority in Islam

In connection with the aIliances within the tribe of Quraysh inthe Jahiliyyah; Ibn Ishšq's account clearly states that "the leader ofBanii 'Abd Manšf was 'Abd Shams b. 'Abd Manaf.'os2

It was this leadership of 'Abd Shams which gave the Umayyadstheir legitimate standing as ahi al-bayt. For since the Umayyads werethe leaders of 'Abd Shams, they could rightfulIy claim the leadershipof the whole of 'Abd Manšf, and thus seniority over all the otherfamilies that belonged to the group of 'Abd Manšf, including Hashim,'Abd al-Muttalib and Abu Tšlib,

''\0-.,

~.

50 Ak.hblu, p. 74; Ibn Qutaybah, 'Uyiul aJ-Akhbii.r, Cairo, 1925-1930, L pp. 5-6.51 The auribution of this tradition as a whole to ash-Sha'bi, though understandable

(for it supports the 'Abbšsid clairn), is very unlikely, taking into considerationthe date of Sha'bl's death his friendship with 'Abd al-Malik, scc Al-Khatibal-Baghdšdl, Ta'rikh Baghdad, Cairo, 1931,Il, p. 227.

52 Ibn Hisharn,op. cii; p. 131OUo-l1).


We may, at this point, sum up by saying that on the Arabgenealogical level there emerged two traditions concerning the identityof the noble cian in Quraysh. One of clearly 'Abbšsid origin claimedseniority and status of ahi alrbayt for Hšshim-Abd al-Muttalib, andthe other, undoubtedly of Syrian origin, claimed the leading status in'Abd Manšf for 'Abd Shams, the immediate Umayyad section of thatcian. It is not a coincidence that this idea is repeated as amatter offact by Mas'iidi. In the crisis which befell the Umayyad house in Syriaafter the death of Mu'šwiyah (680) and his son Yazid (683), Marwan b.a l-Hakam, who belonged to the M a di nian Umayyad branch,conternplated joining the Hijizi amir al-muminin 'Abdallah b. Zubayr.At the end of 683, Ibn Zubayr's fortune seemed to be ascending, withEgypt and the Eastern provinces at least partially accepting his nominalauthority. Marwan was, according to Mas'udi's tradition, put off by'Ubaydallah b. Ziyšd who is supposed to have said to him: "You arethe leader of 'Abd Manšf, therefore do not hasten iinnak.a shaykh 'abdmanai ta-la ta'ja1)."53

It is important to point out the fine genealogical exerciseconnected with the creation of the two traditions. Whereas theUmayyad one pulled towards widening the genealogical terms ofreference of the clafi" in which ahi al-bayt should be considered toinclude 'Abd Manšf, the 'Abbasids narrowed it either to 'Abdal-Muttalib or to Hashim. There can hardly be a question that the'Abd Manšf framework was the original Jahili framework of the elan,especially since there exists a specific 'Abbšsid tradition dating theappearance of the official Hšshimite theory as late as the time ofMahdi54

Moreover, even the use of Qur'šnic exegesis in order to pravethat 'Abd al-Muttalib were the aqrabun of the Prophet came only asareaction to the tradition which had granted 'Abd Manaf theaqrabun status. Ibn Sa'd quotes the following account on the authorityof al-Kal bi: 'The Prophet singled out the elan of 'Abd Manaf when

53 Mas'iidi, op. eu. !IL p. 284, para 196L54 Akhbar, p. 165 (JL6-l2).


Allah sent down the verse 'but warn thy elan the nearer ones","This elear selection of 'Abd Manaf by the Prophet is stressed

even more in another tradition which claims the authority of no lessthan Ibn 'Abbšs himself. When Allah sent down the verse, "but wamthy elan the nearer ones," the Prophet ascended the mountain ofMarwah and began the process of selection. First he called Fihr andthe whole of Quraysh came out, then he called Ghšlib and the rest ofthe tribe went away, then he called Lu'ayy, and from Lu'ayy heselected Murrah, and from Murrah he selected Kilšb, and from Kilšbhe selected Qusayy, and from Qusayy he selected 'Abd Manšf. He saidto them: "Allah has ordered me to warn my elan, the nearer ones, andyou are the nearer ones?"

In between these two traditions grew a multitude of variantsrepresenting every possible view. There are the harmonizing versionsputting 'Abd al-Muttalib and 'Abd Maniif on the same level," and thepure Shi'ite version, which combines the singling out of the nearest kinwith the announcement of the Prophet's election of 'Ali as his heir."Then there are also the more neutral traditions that avoid specifyingany elan of Quraysh, and give the whole tribe the rtatus of aqrabiue"

REWRITING PRE-ISLAMIC HISTORYThe 'Abbasids, more than the 'Alids, felt the urgent need to refute theUmayyad elaim to the tit1e of ahi al-bavi of the Prophet through 'AbdManaf. This they did, as we have shown above, in two ways: byoffering their own interpretation to Q, 26:214, and by narrowing thegenealogical borders of the Prophet's elan to Hashim b. 'Abd Maniif.

55 Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiu, (cd. Sachau), Lciden, 1903, L 1, p. 42; Q, 26:214.56 Balšdhuri, op. cii. L pp. lEH20 (no. 237), quoting Ibn Sa'd.57 Tabari, L p. 1170. .,s8 I bid. L p. 1173.59 l bid; I, p. 1170 <Su pra); Balšdhurl, same volume, pp. 120--121 (nos. 238-239).

ef. representative collection of these traditions in Isrnš'Il b. Kathlr, T af siral-Qur'an; V, pp. 210--214, quoting all the major collections of hadith: None ofthesc traditions appear in Ibn Ishšq's Sirah as edited by Ibn Hishšrn, Tabari,howe ver, quotes Ibn Ishšq in a purc1y Shi'itc tradition stating that from amongthe wholc of 'Abd al-Muttalib. the Prophct final1y sc1cctcd 'All because he wasthe only one to rcspond to the Propbet's call Tabari, L pp. 1171-1171


At the. same time they elaimed the leadership of Hashim via 'Abbšs,the Prophet's unele. The elan of Hashim included both the 'Alids andthe 'Abbasids, and the latter, by presenting themselves as the ahlal-bayt of Hashim, overrode the 'Alids. At the same time theynarrowed the genealogical framework of the Prophet's elan by onlyone generation ar one degree, which was just enough to depose 'AbdManšf as the decisive unit of genealogical identity in favour ofHiishim.60

But then pre-Islamic history had to be rewritten in accordancewith the new trend. By the end of the second/eighth century, a largebody of material already existed cancerning the pre-Islamic history ofMecca, which was collected by Ibn Ishaq, Wšqidi, al-Kal bi, his sanand grandson, 'Urwah b. az-Zubayr, and others," The care of thismaterial was already available by the year lOOm8 ar even earlier. Bythis relatively early date, Wahb b. Munabbih had already compiled hisSirah, a large fragment of which has been preserved on papyri," Theact ivity of the early authors was, at least in part, initiated andencouraged by 'Abd al-Malik. Many traditions connect the name of'Abd al-Malik with the search for the ancient history of Mecca andthe beginning ofIslllI1\~~.His interest can be explained by his policy ofestablishing Arab Islam as the religion of the State and of fumishingthis Islam with the necessary historical depth. As the head of the newlyunited empire and as the leader of the Umayyads as well, he aspiredto establish the historical role of the Umayyads in the history of Islam.

By the year 100, the tradition relating to pre-Islamic Mecca,which formed the basis for Ibn Ishaq's Sirah was already avai1able.This tradition was created under the influence of threemu'minun centres, Hijiz, Iraq (Kiifah) and Syria. The papyri of Wahb

(jJ Akhbar, ult. loe. cii,61 scc lists of authorities in Balšdhuri, op. cii. L pp. 58ff.62 R.G. Khoury, Wahb b. Munabbih: der Heidelberger Papyrus, Wicsbadcn, 1972

MJ. Kistcr, "Notes on the papyrus account of the 'aqabah meeting," Le Museon;XXVI. 1963. pp. 403--417;idem. "On the papyrus of Wahb b. Munabbih," Bulleiinof the School of Orieniai and African Studies, XXXVIl, 3. 1974. pp. 545-571;XL, 1. 190. pp. 125-127.

63 Scc, for cxarnplc, Ibn Hishšm,Sirah, L p. 135.

The Umayyads as ahi al-bqyt 145

. .,

show a very pronounced Shi'ite influence, and there can hardly be aquestion that the Umayyads had their own Syrian tradition, as can beattested even by those few passages which 'Urwah b. az-Zubayr wrotefor 'Abd al-Malik'"

When the 'Abbasids came to power they made a great effort torewrite history in ard er to establish their claim for the legitimacy oftheir authority on a firm historical basis. On the one hand theyreconstructed the image of their forefather 'Abbšs and gave him acentral role alongside the Prophet in the creation of Islam. On theother hand, their historians invented events ar bent ex.isting traditionsto delegitimize the Umayyads. In this context, an event had to beinvented in order to depose 'Abd Shams from his supreme position asthe leader of 'Abd Maniif and exchange him for Hashim. For thispurpose the famous story of the munajarah between 'Abd Shams andHashim was invented,"

Hashim, we are told, was both rich and generous. In addition tosecuring for the Meccans the summer and winter caravans, whichbrought great prosperity to the town, he also saved his tribe fromhunger in one exceptionally bad year. In that particular year, oncoming back from Gaza, his regular place of commercial activity, hebought large quantities of bread and biscuits, and when he arrived atMecca, he slaughtered the camels that had carried the bread, andcooked their meat He then crushed (hashama) the dry bread into thebroth and fed the hungry Meccans. This action of rus, which saved thestarving people, symbolized by the crushing of the bread, brought himfame, honour and a new name to commemorate his deed forever:Hashim, he who crushes. A poem was composed to commend him andlaud his deeds.66

'Abd Shams, Hashim's brother, was jealous of Hashim andwanted to follow his example, but he was not as rich as Hashim, andcould not show the same generosity. In his distress 'Abd Shamschallenged Hashim to a munajarah; a test of chivalry, to decide who

64 Tabari. ~ pp. 1180--1181,1284-1285.65 scc Kistcr, prima op. cit; (abovc note 62).66 His original name. we arc told, was 'Amr. Ibn Hisharn, op. cit. I, p. 136:

Baladhuri, op. cit. L p. 58 (no. 118r. Tabari, I, pp. 100-1009.

146 The Urnayyads as ahi al-bayt

of the two was nobler. They also agreed that the loser would have toslaughter 50 young black-eyed came1s and 1eave Mecca and go intoexile for ten years, The Khuzš'ite kahin to whom they referred theircase gave seniority to Hashim over 'Abd Shams, and 'Abd Shams hadto leave Mecca and go into exile in Syria In order not to leave anydoubt as to the tendency behind this story the compiler concludes:"And this was the beginning of the enrnity between Hashim and 'AbdShams.?"

This legend was either not known to Ibn Ishšq or completelyignored by him. The story has a few variants, which must have beencreated either in order to clarify the central theme of the story, theseniority of Hashim. or to avoid some absurdities,68

The legend stands in total contradiction to the tradition that'Abd Sharns was not only the leader of 'Abd Maniif, but was alsoresponsible for Meccan commerciai success no less than Hashim. Infact, in a tradition quoted on the authority of Ibn al-Kalbi, 'AbdManiifs four sons succeeded their father together as leaders (ja-sadubdda abihim jamtan).69

Moreover, we are told in one tradition that 'Abd Shams was'Abd Manšf's eldest (kČlnaasann bani 'Abd Manaf)?" But in othertraditions, most probably created with the same intention of pushingHiishim to the fore, 'Abd Shams and Hashim were twins." Adevelopment of this variant makes them Siamese twins, the finger ofone being joined to the heel of the other. They had to be divided by aknife, a bad omen for the future, for people said: 'There will be bloodbetween thern." There is no need for much imagination to recognizethe story of Jacob and Esau in this legend,"

67 Ibn Sa'd, op. cit; p. 44. . .,.6R See espccially Ahmad b. 'Ali a\-Maqrizi. An-Niza' wa-at-Takhćsum fima

bayna Bani Umayyah wa-Bani Hashim; Cairo, 1937. the opcning chaptcr,69 Tabari, L p. 1009.70 Ibn Hishšrn, Sirah, L p. 131;Tabari, ibid.71 Zubayrt, op. eu; p. 14 (1.13). In Ibn Hazm's tradition 'Abd shams and Hashim are

twins, bUI although 'Abd Shams was born first, the traditioo emphasizes thaIHashim rcprcscrucd scniority and nobility (wa [ihi al+adad wa-ash-sharaf),'Ali b. Ahmad b. Sa'Id b. Hazm, J amharat Ansćb aJ-'Arab, cd. 'AM as-SallšrnHarim, Cairo, 1971.p. 14.

The Urnayyads as ahi al-bayt 147

Hashim is described in all the traditions as the person whoinherited from his father the prestigious responsibility for theriiiidah and siqayah; the provision of food and water to pilgrims.These two functions are described as the ones that warrantedleadership." Ibn Ishšq does not attach too much importanee to thistradition. He remarks that 'Abd Shams could not take the twofunctions upon himself, because he used to travel extensively andhardly stayed in Mecca (kima raju/an saiiaran qallama yuqimbi-makkah). He also was not well-to-do and had many children(wa-kana muqillan dha walad). There is no trace in this tradition ofany competition between the two brothers. On the contrary, Hashimhelped his brother by releasing hiro from the rijadah and the siqayah:Probably because these traditions had been very well known, anothervariant of the story of the munaiarah came into being, according towhich it was Umayyah b. 'Abd Shams, who was rich, who challengedHashim, lost the munajarah and had to go into exile in Syria," Theabsurdity of this legend must have been too obvious, for it assumedthat Umayyah challenged his own uncle on matters of honour. One hasto take into consideration the fact that all the traditions agree thatHashim was the first of all his brothers to die, which rneans that thismunaiarah was supposed..ro have taken place whi1e 'Abd Shams wasstill alive, a situation so improbable that it could hardly have beenaccepted even as a story. Another version of the same legend movedthe munaiaran one generation down: Harb lost the munaiarah to 'Abdal-Muttalib. This version of the legend was also transmitted byMUhammad Ibn Sa'd on the authority of Hisham b. MUhammad. Ibnal-Kal bi. It belongs to that group of 'Abbasid reports mentioned above,which stress the special status of 'Abd al-Muttalib as ahi ai-bayt.75

An important detail common to all versions of the legend isthe Syrian connection of the Umayyads. Their long-established positionand interests in Syria were facts on which the exile part of a legendcould be built. There is no doubt that the 'Abbaslds as well as the

72 Tabarl, ibid; (in fra).73 Ibn Hishšrn, op. eu; L p. 135.74 Tabarl, L p. 1090.75 Ibid, p. l09L Jani:(, Rasi/il a/- J OJ;i?,cd. Sandiibi, Cairo, 1964, p. 74.


'Alids had to make great efforts to invalidate the tremendous prestigeenjoyed by the Umayyads as ahl bay! in the original Arab meaning ofthe term. The aim of the story of the munai arah was to giveprecedence to Hashim over 'Abd Shams, but that did not mean thatthe Umayyads ceased to be a bayt altogether. The need to strip theUmayyads of their pre-Islamic noble status led to the creation of thetraditions which applied to them the rule that Islam obliteratedinasakha) whatever preceded it This trend is illustrated by a traditionwhich describes a discussion between Abu Bakr and Abu Sufyan in thepresence of Abu Quhafah, Abu Bakr's father. In the course of thediscussion, Abu Bakr was rude to Abu Sufyan, Abu Quhafah objectedto his son's behaviour and said: "0 my son, how dare you speak insuch manner to Abu Sufyan, the shaykh of the Valley of Mecca?" Towhich Abu Bakr answered: "Allah raised through Islam certain Housesibuyiu) and lowered (other) Houses. One of the Houses that was raisedwas yours, my father, while the House ibayt) of Abu Sufyan waslowered?"

mNCLUSIONThe noble status which-the Umayyads had in Syria and in the Hijiz asahl bay! was extended to the whole of the Empire after its unificationby 'Abd al-Mali k, and after the consolidation of Islam as anindependent religion of State. The efforts of 'Abd aI-Malik and hisimmediate successors to give Islam proper historical depth and asolidbackground led to the production of an orderly genealogy for Quraysh,in which 'Abd Manaf was brought to the fore as the leading clan andthe Umayyads as its leading family, ahl ai-bayt. 'Abd Manaf was alsodesignated as the Prophet's immediate blood group iaqrabun). In thisway the Umayyads could present themselves not only as the leaders ofthe leading tribe of the Arabs, but also as the kinsfolk of the Prophet

The 'Abbasids had to strip the Umayyads of their historicalassets after having deposed them from their rule. By manipulating thegenealogical tradition they narrowed the framework of the Prophet'simmediate clan to Hashim and 'Abd al-Muttalib, and added a legend

76 'Abd al-Harnid b. Hibatallah b. Abl al-Hadid, Sharh Nah] ol-Baliighah; Cairo,1959-1964, L p. 222

The Umayyads as ahl al-bayt 149

to the pre-Islamic history of Mecca to back their claim that the'Abbasids' ancestry was superior to the Urnayyads',

The Syrian leaders, who reportedly said to the first 'Abbasidcaliph that they had not known that the Prophet had ahl bayt otherthan the Umayyads, were not lying. To compete successfully with thistradition the Abbasids needed over a generation of intensive reshapingof early Islamic tradition.


IMUHARIB

RHR (QURAYSH)

IGHALB-.

LU'AYV

II

'AMIRI

KA'B

IMUrJtAH

II

K1LAB

ZUH~""'---Q-J-AYV---M-'ub

'--1----Ir-------r-I ----I'ABDAL.'UZZAH 'ABDQU~AYY 'ABDAD·DAR 'ABDMANAF

IYAQZAN

IMAKHZOM

TAYM

IABO AL·'A~

';;AN

I'UTHMAN

AIA:I~KAM

IMARWAN

I'ABD AL·MAUK

AL·MUTIAUB 'ABDSHAMS

IUMAYVAH

I

RAB!'AH

II:IARB

I .ABOSUFYAN

IMU'AWIYAH

..SCHEMATIC OLITLINE OF THE MAIN BRANCHES OF QURA YSH

CJ The clan of' Abd Mana!

I:::/:::::},I The group of Hashim and •Abd al-Muttalib

The Umayyads as ahl al-bayt 151

ADDENDUMThis article was submitted for publication several years ago. Recently,Professor Madelung published a study in which he argues that as earlyas the first century of Islam, the clan of Hashim was widely regardedas being the clan of the Prophet, and that the members of this clanwere all universally respected by the Muslim community. The'Abbasids, therefore, did not have to invent anything to prove theirclaim to authority: this claim had already been recognized by virtue oftheir senior membership in the clan of the Prophet. It is not true,claims Madelung, that it was the 'Abbasids who brought the clan ofHashim to the fore as a source of legitimate authority tStudia Islamica,70, 1990, pp. 5-26).

The present article - which Professor Madelung obviouslycould not have consulted or acknowledged before he wrote his own -as well as two previous articles concerning the legitimacy of authorityin early Islam, which he seems to have missed (see fn. I above),constitute both an answer to his criticism of the theory I advanced inmy Black Banners from the East, and a further explanation for thefollowing obvious fact: the difference between popular respect for akin group and the rendering of a certain family or individuals in thissame group a source of- legitimate political leadership. That the poetKumayt, in his Hashimiyyat, admired and extolled the clan of BanuHashim and each one of its members on account of its beingMuhammad's clan is neither strange nor suprising. That Kurnayt had avery warm place in his heart for 'Ali and his descendants is a fact, thatneeds no proof beyond the words of the poet himself. Nobody conteststhat the public respected the clan of Hashim, but the question at issuehere is not popular respect, but rather the exact identity of the clanwhich was recognized as being the Prophet's own kin group. Thepresent article has dealt with the intricate vicissitudes of the idearelating to the exact identity. of the leading family - ahl al-bayt - in-.this group.

The problem is, therefore, not whether the clan of Hashim wasadmired by the public or not, but rather, when, how and by whom thisadmiration was translated into a political weapon. This, I suppose, isthe essence of the argument between Madelung and myself. Thepresent article, the last" of my three studies on the issue of thelegitimacy of authority in early Islam, has tried to elucidate these


questions and to put them in their proper perspective.When did the clan of Hashim or a few of its prominent

members become a source for the legitimacy of authority? In the caseof the 'Abbasids, their own court tradition is very clear. It was onlyduring Caliph Al-Mahdi's time that history was rewritten at theCaliph's own orders with the aim of establishing the 'Abbasids' claimto leadership on the "rights" of 'Abbas, in the latter's capacity as theProphet's uncle and the true leader of Banii Hashim (Akhbiir, p. 165).Prior to the Caliph's instructions, the claim for the legitimacy of theirauthority was based on the "rights" of Abu Hashim, the grandson of'Ali b. Abu Talib, Hence, the establishment of the tradition. Whoeverchooses to argue that all along the 'Abbasids claimed power on thebasis of their Hashirnite descent, must find a very good explanation forthe existence (and the preservation) of this particular tradition as partof 'Abbasid court history.

TIIE MAX SCHLOESSINGER ~1EMORIAL SERIES

TEXTS:

6.

Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, J awami adab ol-sutiyya and'U'yiib al-nais wa mudawaiuha; edited and annotated by EtanKohlberg, 1976.

Abu al-Najib al-Suhrawardi, Kitab adab al-muridin; edited andannotated by Menahem Milson, 1978.

Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Wasiti, Fada'il al+baytal-muqaddas, edite et annote par Isaac Hasson, 1979.

Judaeo-Arabic Literature, Selected Texts, edited by Joshua Blau,1980.

Djalal al-Din al-Suyiiti, al-Ahadith al /;iSM ii iadl al-taylasan;edite et annote par Albert Arazi, 1983.

Ibn Abi al-Dunya, Ifitab dhamm al-dunya; edited and annotatedby Ella Almagor, 1984.

Forthcoming:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

7. Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladhuri, Ansab al-ashrat, voL VI, editedand annotated by Khalil Athamina.

MONOGRAPHS:

1. SM. Stern, Studies in Early Ismdilism; 1983.

2. M. Sharon, Black Banners from the East: The Establishment ofthe 'Abbasid State, 1983.'·

3. H. Gerber, Society and Economy in an Ottoman City - Bursa1600-1700, 1988.

4. M. Lecker, The Banii Sulaym: A Contribution to the Study ofEarly Islam, 1989.

5. M. Sharon, Revolt: The Social and Military Aspects of the'Abbasid Revolution, 1990.

Also available:

Studies in Memory of Gaston Wier, edited by Myriam Rosen-Ayalon,1977.

Studia Orienialia M emoriae DR. Baneth Dedicata, 1979.

Umayyads as Ahl al-Bayt

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