Wilferd Madelung

Religious and Ethnic Movements in Medieval Islam

·VARIORUM

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This edition copyright © 1992 by Wilferd Madelung. All rights reserved.

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COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES CS364

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

I

11

III

IV

V

VI

<Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr and the Mahdi Journal of Near Eastern Studies XXXX, 1981

Apocalyptic Prophecies in I:Iim~ in the Umayyad Age Journal of Semitic Studies XXXI, 1986

The Sufyanl Between Tradition and History Studia Islarnica LXIII, 1984

"Has the Hijra come to an end?" Revue des etudes islamiques LW, 1991

The Hashimiyyat of al-Kumayt and Hashiml Shi<ism Studia Islamica LXX, 1989

New Documents concerning al-Ma'miin, al-Fa<;ll b. Sahl and <All al-Ri<;la Studia Arabica et Islamica. Festschrift for IlJsiin eAbbiis, ed. Wadiid al-Qiilf,f. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1981

VII Abii IsQ.aq al-Sabl on the Alids of Tabaristan and Gllan Journal of Near Eastern Studies XXVI, 1967

VIII The Assumption of the Title Shahanshah by the Biiyids and "The Reign of the Daylam (Dawlat al-Daylam)" . Journal of Near Eastern Studies XXVIII, 1969

vii-viii

ix

291-305

141-185

5-48

225-237

5-26

333-346

17-56

84-108 168-183

IX

x

XI

XII

vi

The Identity of two Yemenite Historical Manuscripts Journal of Near Eastern Studies XXXII, 1973

AI-Hamdani's Description of Northern Yemen in the Light of Chronicles of the 4th/10th and 5thl11th Centuries Al-Hamdiini a great Yemeni scholar. Studies on the Occasion of his Millennial Anniversary, ed. Yusuf Mohammad Abdallah. Sanaa University

Land Ownership and Land Tax in Northern Yemen and Najran: 3rd-4th/9th-10th Century Land Tenure and Social Transformation in the Middle East, ed. Tarif Khalidi. Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1981

The Sirat al-Amirayn al-Ajal/ayn al-Sharifayn al-Fiitf,ilayn al-Qiisim wa-MulJammad ibnay Jajar ibn al-Imiim al-Qiisim b. <Ali al-<Iyiini as a historical source Studies in the History of Arabia, I: Sources for the History of Arabia, part 2. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Studies in the History of Arabia, Riyad, April 1977. Riyad University Press, 1979

XIII The Origins of the Yemenite Hijra Arabicus Felix: Luminosus Britannicus. Essays in Honour of A.F.L. Beeston on his Eightieth Birthday, ed. Alan Jones (Oxford Oriental Institute Monograph, 11). Reading: Ithaca Press, 1991

Addenda and Corrigenda

Index

This book contains x + 337 pages

175-180

129-137

189-207

69-87

25-44

1-5

1-17

PREFACE

This volume brings together a majority of my articles dealing primarily with the political and social aspects of religious and ethnic movements in Medieval Islam. Articles dealing mainly with the dogmatic side have already been gathered in the volume Religious Schools and Sects in Medieval Islam (Variorum, 1985).

The first three articles, dealing with apocalyptic prophecies in lJadfth, grew out of studies in preparing the article on the Mahdi for the Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Article I explains how the career of the counter-caliph <Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr came to set the basic pattern for the career of the Expected Mahdi and his traditional opponent, the Sufyfmi, in lJadfth. The second article analyzes the hopes and fears of the Yemenite, mostly I:Iimyarite, fighters of the faith settled in I:Iim~ in Syria as reflected in the prophecies arising in their midst in the Umayyad age. Article III then deals with the Sufyani figure in lJadfth arid argues that, contrary to views expressed in previous relevant studies, it did not emerge out of early Syrian hopes for an Umayyad Messiah.

The next group of articles relate closely to aspects of Umayyad and early < Abbasid history. Study IV deals with the reinterpretation of the Qur'anic duty of hijra, meaning emigration to Medina in support of the Prophet, during the early Muslim conquests outside Arabia. The new duty of hijra, instituted by the caliph <Umar, meant the emigration to the Arab garrison towns in the conquered territories. It was backed by the Umayyads against the Medinese doctrine that the duty of hijra had ended after the Muslim conquest of Mecca, and is reflected in lJadfths asserting that the hijra would continue until the end of the world. Article V suggests that the Hiishimiyyiit of. the Umayyad poet al­Kumayt reflect a Hashimid, rather than a specifically <Alid, Shi'ism and that support for the Banii Hashim as the ahl al-bayt of the Prophet was widespread. In article VI two previously neglected documents relevant to the caliph ate of al-Ma'miin and his appointment of the <Alid <All al­RiQa as successor to the caliph ate are translated and analyzed. The first is a decree of the caliph bestowing favours on his vizier al-FaQl b. Sahl which suggests that the latter had been opposed to the appointment of al-RiQa. The second, whose authenticity is less certain, purports to be al-Ma'miin's answer to a letter of his <Abbasid opponents in Baghdad. It implies that al-Ma'miin may have been influenced in his decision to

III

48

his end? The (ulamti' , experts in hadith, might well be more reluctant to lend him their support. They reported about him: ((The SufyanI will be the worst man ever to rule. He will kill the (ulama' and people of virtue and will annihilate them. He will ask them for their help, but whoever will come to him will be killed by him." (159)

(159) Fol. 75b.

IV

"HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END·?"

I

In the course of his spirited defense of the superior virtues of the bedouins Ibn Khaldun puts forward the argument: "This is not contradicted by the statement of al-I:Iajjaj to Salama b. al-Akwa' which is included among the traditions of al-Bukhari. When al-I:Iajjaj learned that Salama was going to live in the desert, he asked him, 'Have you turned back (irtadadta 'alii 'aqibayka) and become a bedouin Arab (ta'arrabta) l' Salama replied, 'No, but the Messenger of God has permitted me to go back to the desert.'

"It should be known that at the beginning of Islam, the inhabitants of Mecca were enjoined to emigrate, so as to be with the Prophet wherever he might settle, in order to help him and to aid him in his affairs and to guard him. The bedouin Arabs of the desert were not enjoined to emigrate, because the Meccans were possessed of a strong group feeling for the Prophet to aid and guard him, such as did not exist among the desert Arabs. The emigrants, therefore, used to express aversion to 'becoming Arabs', that is to becoming inhabitants of the desert upon whom emigration was not obligatory. Accord­ing to the tradition of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqa~, Mul).ammad said, when Sa'd was ill in Mecca : '0 God, give success to the emigration of my companions and do not cause them to turn back.' That means, God should enable them to stay in Medina and not have to leave it, so that they would not have to discontinue the emigration they had begun and to turn back. ..

"It is also said that the prohibition against 'turning back' was restricted to the time before the conquest of Mecca, when there was a need for emigration because of the small number of Muslims. After the conquest, when the Muslims had become numerous and strong, and God had guaran­teed His Prophet inviolability, emigration was no longer necessary. Mu­l).ammad said : 'There is no emigrati on after the conquest'. This has been interpreted as meaning that the injunction to emigrate was no longer valid for those who became Muslims after the conquest. Is has also been interpret­ed as meaning that the emigration was no longer obligatory upon those who

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had become Muslims and had emigrated before the conquest. At any rate, all agree that emigration was no longer necessary after the Prophet's death, because the Companions from then on dispersed and spread in all directions. The only thing that remained was the merit of living in Medina, which constituted emigration.

"Thus, al-I:Iajjaj's statement to Salama, who went to live in the desert : 'Have you turned back and become a bedouin Arab l' is a reproach to Salama for giving up his residence in Medina. It contains an allusion to the words of the aforementioned prayer of the Prophet : 'Do not cause them to turn back'. The words 'Have you become a bedouin Arab l' are a reproach, as they imply that Salama had become one of the Arabs who did not emigrate. In his reply, Salama denied both insinuations. He said that the Prophet had permitted him to go to the desert ... Or it may be, al-I:Iajjaj reproached Salama only because he was giving up his residence in Medina, as he was aware that emigration was no longer necessary after the Prophet's death. Salama's reply was that it was more proper and better to avail himself of the Prophet's permission, who had distinguished him by this special permission only because of some reason known to the Prophet in respect to him" I.

Ibn Khaldiin's argument no doubt sums up accurately the common scholarly opinion about the duty of hijra in his age. The duty had been laid down by the Prophet at the time of his own emigration to Medina and had been formally abolished by him after the conquest of Mecca. At the latest it had lapsed after his death. It was an obligation imposed upon the Muslim inhabitants of Mecca and was never required of the bedouin Arabs. The honorific name of muhiijirun was essentially confined to the Qurayshite Companions who had joined Mul)ammad in Medina before the conquest of Mecca.

This view obscures the fact that the duty of hijra was reaffirmed by the caliph 'Umar at the beginning of the Muslim conquests. The renewed emigration, however, was no longer directed to Medina but to the newly founded garrison towns in the conquered territories. With this interpretation, the duty of hijra, based on the precedent of the Prophet's time, remained a vital institution throughout the Umayyad caliphate. In Sunnite hadith, the claim that the duty of hijra had been abrogated by Mul)ammad was vigor­ously disputed. Abii Dawiid al-Sijistani still entitled a chapter in his Sunan "On whether the hijra has ended (biib fi l-hijra hal inqata'at)" and quoted conflicting traditions 2. Likewise, in al-NasaTs Sunan there is a chapter heading "Mention of the disagreement concerning the hijra having come to an end (dhikr al-ikhtiliif fi 'nqitii' al-hijra)" 3.

1. Ibn Khaldiin, Muqaddima, ed. E.M. Quatremere, Paris 1858, I 226-28. The translation is that of F. Rosenthal, Ibn KhaldCm : The Muqaddimah, New York 1958, I 255-57, with minor changes.

2. Abii Dawiid, Sunan, jihiid, biib 2. 3. AI-Nasa'I, Sunan, bay 'a, biib 15.

•

IV

« HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END? » 227

The chains of transmission of the conflicting hadiths quoted in these chapters'reveal a neat division. While the reports affirming the abolition of the hijra by the Prophet come mostly from Medinese and Meccan, and a few from Kufan and Basran authorities \ the counterclaims originated in Syria and had official Umayyad backing. In one of them, which is most fully reported in the Musnad of Ibn l;Ianbal, the caliph Mu'awiya himself appears as the original authority. Abu Hind al-Bajali al-Shami narrated: "We were with Mu'awiya as he was sitting on his throne having his eyes closed. Then we discussed the hijra, some of us maintaining that it had ended and others saying that it had not come to an end. Mu'awiya awoke and asked : 'What were you engaged in l' so we informed him. He rarely referred matters back to the Prophet (kiina qalil al-radd 'ala l-nabi), but he said: 'We discussed (this) in the presence of the Messenger of God who said: The hijra will not come to an end until the sun shall rise from its place of setting' "5. The hadith was then transmitted by 'Abd al-Ral).man b. Abi 'Awf al-Jurashi, qiit;li of I;Iim~, and from him by l;Iariz b. 'Uthman al-Ral).abi (d. ca. 162/178), both representative of the I;Iimyarite Yemenite emigrants predominant in I;Iim~ 6.

In another tradition 'Abd Allah b. Waqdan al-Sa'di (d. 57/677), a bedouin tribesman who in his later life settled in al-Urdunn, is quoted reporting that he visited the Prophet as the last member of a delegation and told him that some people were saying that the duty of hijra h~d been closed. The Prophet answered : "The hijra will not come to an end as long as the infidels are fought (mii qiitila l-kuffiir)" 7. This tradition was transmitted from aI-Sa'di by Abu Idris 'A'idh b. 'Abd Allah al-Khawlani (d. 80/699), who is described as "the story-teller (qii$$) and qiit;li of the people of Syria" 8. It is also reported with a I;Iim~i isniid going back to Malik b. Yukhamir al-Saksaki (d. 70/689-90 or 72/691-2)9 'an aI-Sa'di in a version which combines it with the hadith of Mu'awiya. Here aI-Sa'di, or Malik b. Yukhamir, quotes the statement of the Prophet in the presence of the Mu'awiya, 'Abd al-Ral).man b. Abi 'Awf and 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. aI-'As who then backed it with an extended version of the Mu'awiya hadith 10. •

4. In the isnads appear in particular Ibn 'Abbas, Tawiis, 'AW b. AbI Ribal). , and al-ZuhrL In Kufa Nu'aym b. Dujaja attributed a statement to the caliph 'Umar : "There is no hijra after the death of the Messenger of God". AI-Nasa'I, bay'a, bab IS. In Basra Abii 'Uthman al-NahdI related a tradition that the Prophet considered the hijra terminated from an unspecified date. Muslim, $a/:zi/:z, imara, biib 20.

5. Ibn I:Ianbal, Musnad, Cairo 1311, IV 99. 6. On Abu I-Hind al-BajalI, 'Abd al-Ral).man b. AbI 'Awf, and I:Iarlz b. 'Uthman see Ibn

I:Iajar, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, Hyderabad 1325-27 (henceforth quoted as TT), XII 268, VI 246, II 238-41.

7. AI-Nasa'i, bay 'a, biib 15. 8. TTV 85-87. On 'Abd Allah b. Waqdan al-Sa'dI see TTV 235-36. 9. TT X 24-25. 10. Ibn I:Ianbal, I 192.

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Junada b. Umayya al-Azdi (d. between 75/694 and 86/705), a prominent army and navy leader under Mu'awiya 11, reported that a group of Compa­nions disputed about whether the hijra had been ended. He went to ask the Prophet and the latter affirmed : "Surely, the hijra will not come to an end as long as the jihiid lasts" 12. The hadith was transmitted in Egypt by Yazid b. Abi I:Iabib al-Azdi (d. 128/745-6), the "Mufti of the people of Egypt in his time" !3.

Further hadiths single out Greater Syria as the goal of the most meritorious hijra. Shahr b. I:Iawshab al-Ash'ari (d. between 98/716 and 112/730), a Syrian tiibi'iwho was for some time in charge of the bayt ai-mat of Yazid b. al-Muhallab 14, quoted 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'~, a spokesman for Umayyad interests, as reporting; "I heard the Messenger of God saying: 'There shall be a hijra after a hijra. The best people on earth will then be those attaching themselves most closely to the abode of emigration of Abraham (muhiijar Ibriihim). The worst of the people will remain in the country; their lands will spit them out, God's self will loathe them as filthy, and the Fire will gather them together with the monkeys and swine'" 15. 'Abd Allah b. I:Iawala (d. 58/678 or 80/699), who settled in al-Urdunn and later in Damascus 16, reported that the Prophet told him: "Matters will come to that there will be garrisoned armies Uunud mujannada), an army in Syria, an army in Yemen, and an army in Iraq". Ibn I:Iawala said: "Choose for me, 0

Messenger of God, if 1 live to witness that". He answered ; "Take Syria, for she is God's choice of His land and to her will be drawn His choice among His servants. But if you refuse, then keep your Yemen and draw water from your ponds. For God has vouched to me for Syria and her people" 17. The hadith was evidently intended as an appeal to the Yemenites to emigrate to Syria and stay there. It was transmitted in I:Iim~ by Khalid b. Ma'dan al-Kala'i (d. 103/721-2), a prominent I:Iimyarite and police chief under the caliph Yazid 118

, on the authority of Abo Qutayla Marthad b. Wada'a al-I:Iim~i 19. All these traditions reflect a concerted Umayyad effort to keep the religious duty of emigration, sanctioned by the Qur'an, alive and to direct it to Syria in particular. .

11. IT 11 115-6 ; al-Tabari, Ta'rikh. ed. M.l. de Goeje, Leiden 1879-1901, index s.v. Waliya al-Babrayn li-Muawiya in ITII 116 should perhaps be read waliya al-babr li-Muawiya.

12. Ibn l:Ianbal, IV 62. 13. IT XI 128-29. 14. IT IV 369-72 ; al-Tabari, Ta'rikh, 11 1326. 15. Abo DawOd, jihiid, biib 3. 16. ITV 194. 17. AbO DawOd, jihiid, biib 3. 18. IT III 118-20; Ibn 'Asakir, Tahdhib ta'rikh Dimashq, ed. Badran, Damascus

1347/1928-29, V 86-88. 19. ITX 83.

« HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END? » 229

11

Opposed to the state of hijra was that of a riibiyya, Arab nomadism. To leave the abode of hijra was commonly, as in the tradition about al-I:Iajjaj's reproach to Salama b. al-Akwa' quoted by Ibn Khaldun, called ta'arrub, to join the bedouin Arabs and their mode of life. It was often qualified as a "turning back (irtidiid)" , the term which also came to signify apostasy from Islam. In the tradition of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqa~, Mul)ammad asks God to give success to the hijra of the Companions and not to cause them "to turn back (lii taruddahum 'alii a'qiibihim)".

The term ta'arrub does not occur in the Qur'an. The Qur'an, however, repeatedly chides the arab, the bedouin Arabs, who refused the hijra to Medina, as merely nominal Muslims lacking faith and willingness to fight for Islam. Quite unambiguous is the charge in Sura 49: 14 : ·"The bedouin Arabs say; 'We are believers (iimannii)'. Say: 'You are not believers; but say you rather: We have become Muslims (aslamnii). Faith has not yet entered your hearts. But if you obey God and His Messenger, He shall not diminish anything of your works' ". The believers are in the next verse described as those who "have believed in God and His Messenger, and then did not fall into doubt, and who fought with their property and person in the path of God".

In Sura 48: 11-16 bedouin Arabs are told that they were left behind on the expedition to al-I:Iudaybiyya because of their lack of motivation and that for the same reason they must also be left behind in the campaign to Khaybar which they would join merely for the prospect of spoils. Sura 9 :97 charges that "the bedouin Arabs are stronger (than others) in unbelief and in hypocrisy and more apt not to know the ordinances (budud) which God has sent down on His Messenger". Some of the bedouins resent the contributions imposed on them and rather hope that misfortune shall befall the Muslim community in Medina. Some of them, however, believe in God and the Last Day and regard their contributions as a means to come closer to God (9 :98-99). Elsewhere bedouin Arabs are accused of coming to Mul)ammad with excuses while others who lied to God and His Messenger stayed behind (9 :90). Among the bedouin Arabs living near Medina there were hardened hypocrites. Others have confessed their guilt and have mixed righteous and evil actions. They should be asked to pay alms in order to purify and cleanse them (9:101-103).

There was thus a sharp distinction between the Muhajirun and An~ar, gathered around Mul)ammad in Medina and participating in the jihiid, and the ariib who had nominally accepted Islam but failed to join the hijra and the jihiid. This distinction is made explicit in Sura 8 :72 : "Surely, those who have believed and emigrated and have fought with their property and person in the path of God, and those who have provided shelter and help are friends (aw/iyii) to each other; and toward those who have believed and have not emigrated you have no tie of friendship whatever until they emigrate. If,

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however, they seek your help in the religion you are obliged to help except against a people with whom you have a pact". The term awliyd'here may well be "in a sense of next-of-kin upon whom rests the duty of blood revenge", as suggested by R. Bell with reference to the Constitution of Medina 20. There the believers are called mawdli of each other to the exclusion of all other people 21. Those believers who did not emigrate to Medina were thus excluded from the Muslim umma constituted in Medina and should be aided only if threatened because of their religion. The further condition that they should not be aided against a people with whom the Muslims of Medina had a pact makes it likely that bedouin Arabs rather than Meccans were primarily meant. The early Qur'an commentators quoted in al-Tabari's commentary report that on the basis of this verse mutual inheritance was restricted to the Muhajiriin and An~arto the exclusion of blood relatives who did not join the hijra. This rule was later abrogated in verse 75 : "Blood relatives are nearer (awlti) to each other in the Book of God" 22.

Given the inferior status of faith of those bedouin Arabs who refused to join the hijra, any abandonment of the abode of hijra and return to the abode ofbedouin life must have been judged severely. According to a report of AbO 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam, the highly respected early Meccan qd$$ 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr al-Laythi al-Jundu'i (d. 68/687-8), with whom 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar liked to associate 23, held that Qur'an 47 :25 referred to this offence. When he enumerated the grave sins (kabd'ir), reciting a relevant passage of the Qur'an for each one, he mentioned "joining the bedouin Arabs after emigration (al-taarrub ba'd al-hijra)" and cited the verse : "Surely, those who have turned their backs (irtaddu aid adbdrihim) after the guidance has become clear to them [the devil has seduced them]" 24.

There are other passages of the Qur'an which could have encouraged the definition of ta'arrub with the failure to participate in the jihdd as irtiddd. In Sura 5 :21 Moses is described as warning his people: "Enter the Holy Land which God has prescribed for you and do not turn back (ld tartaddu 'aId adbdfikum)". In Sura 5 :54 the believers are warned : "Whoever of you turns back from his religion (yartadda 'an dinihi), God shall bring a people whom he loves and who love Him, humble towards the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, who fight in the path of God and do not fear the blame of

20. R. Bell, The Qur'an, Edinburgh 1937-39, I 170 n. 2. 21. Ibn Hishilm, al-Sfra al-nabawiyya, ed. Mu~tanl al-Saqqa et aI., Cairo 1375/1955,

I 502-3. 22. See also AbO 'Ubayd, K. al-Amwal, ed. MuQ. l;Iamid al-Fiqi, [Cairo 1353/1934],

pp. 215-17. 23. IT VI 71. 24. AI-Amwal, p. 217. The following verse (47 :26) confirms that the group accused of

turning back were not apostates from Islam. This is noted by al-Tabari in his commentary on the passage where he rejects the interpretation that ahl al-kitab are meant. AI-Tabari does not quote the interpretation of 'Ubayd b. 'Umayr but accepts one describing the group more vaguely as munafiqiin.

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« HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END? » 231

anyone". The offence of the renegades in this verse was clearly failure "to fight in the path of God". The early commentators generally considered it as a prediction of the ridda movement after the death of MulJ.ammad. Some held that the loyal Muslims whom God would substitute meant Abu Bakr and his companions, while others claimed that the Yemenite Abu Musa al-Ash'art and his people, or the Yemenites in general, or the An~ar were meant. AVfabart backs the view that the Yemenites, the people of Abu Musa al-Ash'art are meant because it is based, in contrast to the other views, on a hadith of the Prophet. He argues that although the Yemenites did not fight in the ridda for Abu Bakr, they later joined 'Umar to fight for Islam and "their impact on Islam and its people was most favourable. They were helpers of the people of Islam and more beneficial to them than those base bedouin Arabs (tagham al-a'rab) and brutish desert people Uufat ahl al-bawadi) who had apostatized after the death of the Messenger of God and who were a harassment (kal~ rather than a benefit for the people of Islam" 25.

The Qur'anic evidence thus does not support Ibn Khaldun's contention that the duty of hijra was restricted to the Meccan Qurayshites since as tribesmen of MulJ.ammad they had the strongest natural ties of loyalty ('a~abiyya) to him and were responsible for protecting him. Emigration to Medina rather was an obligation incumbent on all serious Muslims. Only in view of the reluctance of most bedouin Arabs to emigrate and share in the jihad was Mul:tammad prepared to compromise and accept them as non­emigrant Muslims of an inferior status as he was also prepared to conclude pacts of alliance with non-Muslim tribes. This is corroborated by various historical reports. 'Abd Allah b. Aswad b. Shihab of the Banu Sadus owned property in al-Yamama. When he accepted Islam he sold his property and emigrated (hajara) to join MulJ.ammad in Medina 26. Salama b. al-Akwa', who is mentioned in the tradition of al-Bukhart quoted by Ibn Khaldun, belonged to the tribe of Aslam. He evidently performed the hijra to Medina but left after the murder of 'Uthman claiming a special permission of the Prophet 27.

When 'Uqba b. 'Amir of the tribe of Juhayna offered his oath of allegiance, MulJ.ammad asked him: "Do you intend an Arab bay'a (bay'a 'arabiyya) or an oath of allegiance for emigration (bay'at hijra) ?" 28 'Uqba evidently chose the latter for he stayed in Medina. Some bedouin converts are reported to have been given the status of muhajirun without emigrating from their territories. In Rajab of the year 5/Dec. 626 four hundred men of Muzayna came to offer their submission to MulJ.ammad. He gave them the status of hijra in their territory Ua'ala lahum al-hijrafi darihim) and told them: "You are muhajirun wherever you are. Go back to your property" 29. Three men of

25. AI-TabarI, Jiimi' al-bayiin, Cairo 1321, VI 164. 26. Ibn Sa'd, K. al-7abaqiit al-kabir, ed. E. Sachau, Leiden 1904-40, 112, p. 55. 27. AI-BukharI, $abib, fttan, biib 14. 28. Ibn Sa'd, IV 12, p. 66. 29. Ibn Sa'd, 112, p. 38. See also W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956,

pp. 85-87.

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the Banii 'Abs came to the Prophet saying: "Our Qur'an readers ... have informed us that there is no Islam for anyone who does not emigrate (hi islam /i-man la hijra lah). We have property and cattle for our livelihood. If there is no Islam for anyone who does not emigrate we shall sell and emigrate". The Prophet reassured them : "Fear God wherever you are. He will not diminish anything of (the reward of) your work even though you be in Samd and Jazan" 30. As the conversions to Islam increased throughout Arabia, the duty of emigration to Medina no doubt became more and more unrealistic and was, if not formally abolished as the Meccan and Medinese traditions affirmed, left in abeyance.

III

The duty of hijra acquired renewed, if changed, significance with the expansion of Islam after the death of M ul)ammad. No longer was there a need for emigration to Medina to protect and strengthen the nascent Muslim community. Rather a hijra to the newly conquered territories was required to secure the permanent hold of Islam on them 31. The caliph 'Umar in particular is associated in the sources with this new concept of hijra. He is reported to have written Sa'd b. Abi Waqqa~ after the battle of al-Qadisiyya to take an "abode of emigration (dar hijra)" for the Muslims. Sa'd thereupon founded Kufa 32. 'Uthman b. Abi l-'~, appointed governor of al-Bal)rayn by 'Umar, invaded Fars and made Tawwaj a dar hijra building a congregational mosque there 33. In a report transmitted by Sayfb. 'Umar, some men leaving Kufa and Basra during the caliphate of 'Ali for al-Jazira and Mosul are described as having abandoned their hijra (taraka hijratahu) 34. According to a report of Sulayman b. Burayda al-Aslami (d. 105/723-4), qafH of Marw, 'Umar en­quired about the participants in a campaign of Salama b. Qays al-Ashja'i against the Kurds calling them muhajirun 35

•

The same Sulayman b. Burayda also reported that 'Umar instructed Sahima b. Qays, when he appointed him to lead the campaign against the Kurds, to offer them three choices before engaging in war. If they accepted Islam but wanted to stay in their home land they should pay zakat on their property and receive no share of the fay', the revenue of conquered land, of

30. Ibn Sa'd, 112, pp. 41-42. 31. This new concept of hijra has been summarily noted by l. Wellhausen, Das arabische

Reich und sein Sturz, Berlin 1902, pp. 16f. and by L. Ca,etani, Annali dell'Islam, IV 371-72. 32. AI-Tabari, Ta'rikh, I 2360 ; al-Baladhuri, Futii/:l al-buldan, ed. M.l. de Goeje, Leiden

1886, p. 275 ; al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-{iwai, ed. V. Guirgass, Leiden 1888, p. 131. 33. AI-Dinawari, p. 141. 34. AI-Tabari, Ta'rikh, I 2673. 35. AI-Tabari, Ta'rikh, I 2718, 2721 : /:laddithni 'an al-muhajirin kayfa hum. On Sulayman

b. Burayda see TTIV 174-75.

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«HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END?» 233

the Muslims. If they chose to join the conquerors (in their dar al-hijra) they should receive the same (share of the booty and fay) and would be obliged to the same (military) duties. If they refused Islam they should be invited to pay land tax or tribute (kharaJ). Only if they refused the latter they should be fought 36.

This treatment of the opponents of the Muslims evidently was conside­red exemplary in the Umayyad age. 'Umar's instructions, slightly revised, were anachronistically projected backwards, with the isnad of Sulayman b. Burayda on the authority of his father Burayda, to the Prophet who allegedly issued them whenever he appointed a commander of an army or a raiding party. As a hadith of the Prophet, the tradition was accepted by Muslim in his $a/:li/:l and by other hadith collectors 37. The intent of the instructions is in the hadith even more explicit. The opponents are to be invited to move from their abode to the abode of the muhajirun. If they refuse to move they are to be told that they will be treated like bedouin Arabs (a'rab al-m uslim in) , and God's ordinases concerning the Muslims shall be applied to them. 'there shall be no share of the booty and the Jay 'for them unless they fight thejihad along with the Muslims. Abu'Ubayd glosses their refusal to move as from the dar al-ta'arrub to the dar al-hijra 38

•

Under the early Umayyads the duty of hijra remained vital for the security of the empire. Most meritorious was, as the hadith of 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'~ affirmed, the hijra to Greater Syria, the muhajar of Abraham which had become the heartland of the caliphate. The importance of the institution of hijra in the time of the conquests and during the Umayyad caliphate is reflected by the fact that the conquering Muslims were regularly known among the subject peoples by the name of muhajirun, mahgre or mahgraye in Syriac and magaritai in Greek 39. In the Muslim historical tradition the name has evidently been largely suppressed in regard to the renewed hijra and has been reserved for the Meccan emigrants to Medina in the time of the Prophet as the I;IijazI doctrine concerning the end of the hijra after the conquest of Mecca prevailed. It occurs commonly, however, in the apocalyptic prophecies from I;Iim~ dating from the Umayyad age 40. There the name muhiijirun is applied in particular to the emigrants from Yemen, who considered themselves as the spearhead of the Muslim conquest of Syria and the jihiid against the Byzantine empire. In contrast, the tribal group of QUQa'a, including the Kalb, who were old-established in Syria and during the initial conquest still sided with the Byzantines, are viewed in these prophe-

36. AI-Tabarf, Ta'rikh, I 2713-14. 37. See the references in Wensinck, Concordance, V 213 1. 44-46. 38. AI-Amwiil, p. 213. 39. See the data collected by P. Crone and M. Cook, Hagarism. Cambridge 1977, pp. 8-9

and notes. The earliest documents attesting the use of the name date from the caliphate of ·Umar.

40. See my article" Apocalyptic Prophecies in I;Iim~ from the Umayyad Age", forthco­ming in JSS XXX//2, (1986).

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cies as mere arab, bedouins, ever prone to betray Islam and to shirk the jihad. The outcome of the battle of Marj Rahit changed the political stage in Syria drastically and placed Kalb at the forefront of the Umayyad army while relegating the Yemenite emigrants to second rank. The prophecies still reflect the earlier stage when the Yemenite conquerors hoped to maintain their initial privileged position as muhajirun entitled to stipends from the fay'.

At first a duty often imposing heavy sacrifice, the hijra had soon after the conquests evidently turned into lucrative privilege, jealously guarded against new-corners claiming a share. Just as in Kufa the early settlers of the conquering army, the ahl al-sabiqa, sought to maintain their privileged position against the new-corners (rawadif) 41, the Yemenite muhajirun in I:£m~ tried to keep the "bedouin" Kalb out of the town. The arab were now to be discouraged from joining the hijra. This tendency is reflected in the following hadith of the Prophet related by 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'~ : "The hijra is of two kinds, the hijra of the bedouin and the hijra of the settled man (/:larJir). The hijra of the bedouin consists in the obligation to respond wJ:1en he is summoned and in his obedience when he is ordered. As for the hijra of the settled man, it is the one harder in trial and greater in reward of the two" 42.

Only the· town-dwellers, the Yemenites besides the inhabitants of the north-Arabian towns, could thus perform the true hijra and were entitled to its full recompense. The bedouins were expected to obey when summoned to war and might perhaps share then in the booty, but not in the fay'. A similar tendency is apparent in the tradition ascribed to Abo. Sa'id al­Khudri : "A bedouin Arab asked the Prophet about the hijra. He answered : 'Woe to you, surely the matter of the hijra is hard. Do you have camels l' He said: 'Yes.' (The Prophet) said: 'Do you pay alms for them l' He said: 'Yes'. (The Prophet) said: 'Then work beyond the seas; for God will not diminish anything (of the reward) of your work'" 43. The bedouins are dissuaded from the hijra because it is too hard for them. They can expect their reward in the hereafter as long as they pay their alms tax. Converted natives of the conquered countries, whom 'Umar had also promised equal status on joining the Muslim hijras, fared even worse. They were driven back by al-l;Iajjaj to till the land which provided the fay'. The interests of the muhajirun and of the government were largely identical in this regard.

This was the situation faced by 'Umar 11 when he issued his "Fiscal Rescript" 44. In it he promised to reopen the hijra for all Muslims. Converted Christians, Jews and Magians who joined the Muslims in their abode forsaking their former abode were to enjoy the privileges of the Muslims and

41. See M. Hinds, "Kufan Political Alignments and their Backgound in the Mid-Seventh Century A.D.", in IJMES II (1971), pp. 352 ff.

42. Abii 'Ubayd, al-Amwiil, p. 219. 43. Abii Dawiid, jihiid, biib 1. 44. H.A.R. Gibb, "The Fiscal Rescript of'Umar II", in Arabica 11 (1955), pp. 1-15 ; Ibn

'Abd al-l;Iakam, Slrat 'Umar h. 'Abd al-'Aziz, ed. Al)mad 'Ubayd, Damascus [1966], pp. 94 ff.

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« HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END? » 235

be subject to their duties, their land remaining fay'. Any bedouin Arab was entitled to remove from his dar a'rabiyya, selling his cattle, to the dar al-hijra and participate in the fighting against the enemies of Islam. He shall then be given a share of the fay' equal to that of other muhajiriin.

In spite of his general attachment to the Medinese tradition, Umar 11 thus did not accept the Medinese thesis that the Prophet had closed the hijra after the conquest of Mecca. He instructed his governor Yazid b. I;Iu~ayn : "Order that the obligatory stipend (jarif/a) be given to the soldiers, taking good care of the townspeople (ahl al-/:Iaf/ira) ; but beware of the bedouin Arabs, for they do not attend the gatherings of the Muslims and do not witness their (battle) scenes (mashahid)". So at least he was quoted by the Yemenite Safwan b. 'Amr of I;Iim~45. Yet he was well aware that the duty of hijra, reaffirmed by his ancestor Umar I, had in fact become a hereditary privilege of the few and tried to reform its abuses.

IV

The 'Abbasid revolution transformed the situation. The new dynasty relied on its own army of Khurasanian loyalists, the abna' al-dawla, sons of the glorious revolution. The militias of the old hijra towns were first relegated to second rank and then dismissed. The descendants of the muhajiriin and their families were stripped of their title to pensions from the fay'. Syria, formerly the meritorious muhajar of Abraham, came in particular to feel the loss of her privileged position. The province soon seethed with explosive, yet impotent, discontent.

The hijra as a practical institution thus came to an end. In the doctrine of the legal schools, formulated in the early 'Abbasid period, it was virtually ignored. The I;Iijazi position that the duty of hijra had been abolished by the Prophet after the conquest of Mecca now found backing by a consensus. The Syrian traditions affirming its continuation were variously reinterpreted to conform with the predominant view. Abii 'Ubayd maintained that the Prophet's statement, "The hijra will not end as long as the infidels are fought", rather meant that whoever believes and fights the jihad joins the muhajiriin in virtue and legal status, even though he remains in his country. It did not imply an obligation to emigrate to the abode of the muhajiriin 46

•

Others claimed that hijra here meant an obligation for Muslims and converts to Islam in the Abode of War (dar al-/:Iarb) to emigrate to the Abode of Islam 47, thus reversing the direction of the emigration originally intended in

45. Abo 'Ubayd, al-Amwal, p. 228. 46. A I-A mwiil, p. 219. 47. See the commentaries on al-Nasa'i's Sunan by al-Suyuti and al-Sindi in Sunan

al-Nasa'l, Cairo 1964-65, VII 146-47.

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the Syrian traditions. Least violence to their original intent did the interpre­tation of Abii Sulayman al-Khattabi (d. 386/996), who held that while the duty ([art;l) of hijra had been abolished after the conquest of Mecca its recommendation (nadb) persisted 48.

As the status of muhiijiriin was abolished, the fay' came generally to be considered by the legal schools as rightfully belonging to all Muslims. Like the opinion that the fay' was the privilege of the muhiijirun, this opinion was ascribed, much less plausibly, to the caliph 'Umar. The occasion on which he allegedly expressed it is reported differently. One account connects it with 'Umar's rejection of the claims of'Ali and al-'Abbas to the inheritance of the Prophet's spoils from the Banii al-NaQir 49

• According to the other account, he rather stated it when he refused to divide the conquered land among the warriors, as they demanded, and constituted it as a permanent fay' endow­ment 50. 'Umar is said to have interpreted the Qur'anic verses concerning the fay' seized from the Banii al-NaQir (59:6, 8-10), against their obvious restrictive meaning as implying that every Muslim was entitled to a share of the fay'5l. He finally expressed the hope that he might witness the time when every Muslim would receive his rightful portion, "even the shepherd on the mountain tops of I:Iimyar, without his forehead sweating for its sake". It must have been a remote hope as 'Umar endeavoured to provide the financial base for the vast conquests and to encourage the emigration of Muslim warriors to the new garrison towns.

The preferential right of the warriors to payment from the fay' was not entirely forgotten. In spite of his insistence that all Muslims have a right to a share in the fay', Abii 'Ubayd admits that only the townspeople (ahl al-biit;lira) who fight the enemies of Islam and their families are entitled to a regular obligatory salary ([arit;la riitiba) from it. The bedouins have a right to payment from it only when they are attacked by polytheists, during famine, and for the composition of blood feuds 52. Among the legal schools, the Shafi'ites seem to have taken the earlier rules for the distribution of the fay' more into account than others. AI-Shafi'i held in one of his relevant opinions that the fay' belonged specifically to the warriors (muqiitila) 53. The

48. AI-KhaHabl, Maalim al-sunan, in Mukhta$ar Sunan Abi Diiwud /i'l-/jiifi'? al-Mun­dhiri, ed. AQmad MuQ. Shakir and MuQ. :tIamid al-Fiql, Baghwall 1979, III 352.

49. Abu 'Ubayd, al-Amwiil, pp. 15,213-4. Most versions of this hadith, however, do not contain this section which was, as Abu 'Ubayd notes, a secondary addition.

50. Abu Yusuf, .K. al-Khariij, Cairo 1352, pp. 23-24. 51. The verses restricted the fay' to the poor Muhajirun and excluded the An~ar and

late-corners. Two indigent men of the An~ar are reported to have been exceptionally given a share."See YaQya b. Adam, K. al-Khariij, ed. AQmad MuQ. Shakir, Cairo 1347, p. 33 ; Ibn Hisham, 11 192. Verse 7, which mentions, besides the Messenger of God, the near-of-kin, orphans, poor, and travelers as entitled to fay', is secondarily inserted and refers to a different occasion.

52. Al-Amwiil, pp. 227 ff. ; Gibb, "Fiscal Rescript", p. 9. 53. See al-NawawI, al-Majmu' sharb al-Muhadhdhab, Cairo 1966, XVIII (by MuQ.

:tIusayn al-'Aqabl), p. 158.

« HAS THE HIJRA COME TO AN END?» 237

Shafi'ite al-Mawardi in his al-Al;kiim al-su1tiiniyya most fully describes the older doctrine on the entitlement to fay'. Although he confirms, in agreement with the consensus in his time, that the statute of hijra had become void after the conquest of Mecca, he goes on to treat the division between muhiijiriin and a'riib as still valid. The muhiijiriin are the people of the fay' (ahl ai-fay) while the bedouins who do not perform the hijra are people of alms (ahl al-~adaqa). Each category of money may be given only to its proper people. This was the practice of'Umar. One of the grievances of the Muslims against 'Uthman was that he did not maintain the distinction between these catego­ries and made gifts from the fay' to those not entitled to it. Later Abii I:Ianifa failed to recognize the distinction and allowed that both kinds of revenue be spent among either of the two groups of recipients 54.

In his other opinion al-Shafi'i affirmed that the fay' belonged to all Muslims and should be spent for their exigencies (ma~iilib). Foremost among these were the fortification of the border towns of Islam and the sustenance of the warriors which should be provided for before any other needs 55.

Similar was the doctrine of Ahmad b. Hanbal and the Hanbalites 56 and Malikites 57 in general. The I:Ia~afite Ab-o Yiisuf, writing his authoritative Kitiib a l-Kh a riij for the caliph Hariin al-Rashid, also maintained that the fay', which he identified with the land tax (kharii}), belonged to all the rvluslims according to the opinion of 'Umar 58. He does not mention the duty of hijra or the title of the muhiijiriin to fay'. The new legal doctrine evidently suited the 'Abbasids well. For while it theoretically extended the entitlement of the muhiijiriin to all Muslims, it did not stipulate a farirja, an obligatory share, to anyone, as these and their families could formerly claim. The fay' was rather, according to the general view of the legal scholars, to be spent now at the discretion of the imiim, the caliph. Formerly an endowment for the benefit of the conquering army and their families, the fay' land became an ordinary source of tax revenue for the government.

54. AI-MawardI, al-Abkiim al-su1liiniyya, ed. M. Enger, Bonn 1853, pp. 219-23. 55. Majmu: XVIII 158. 56. Majmu; XVIII 160-1 ; Abu Ya'la b. al-Farra', al-Abkiim al-sul!iiniyya, Cairo 1358,

pp. 121-2. 57. Ibn Rushd, Bidiiyat al-mujtahid, Cairo 1386/1966, I 414. 58. Abu Yusuf, al-Khariij, pp. 23-27.

IV