Islâm,
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Islâm is the religion founded by the Prophet Muh.ammad. The word is sometimes said to mean "peace," but it is salâm that is the word for peace. Islâm means "submission, resignation," i.e. to the will of God. Both are from the same root, slm, "to be safe and sound, unharmed," and many other meanings. This is related to Hebrew shalôm, "peace," and the Ancient Egyptian
root snb, "health." The Dâru-l'Islâm, the "House of Islâm," means the predominantly Islâmic part of the world, especially the part covered by Islâmic states. Outside the Dâru-l'Islâm is the Dâru-lH.arb, the "House of War"; and it was the traditional duty of Islâmic rulers to extend the House of Islâm into the House of War. This was the Jihâd, the Holy War. Jihâd is now often said not to mean Holy War but merely a moral and spiritual "struggle" for perfection. The root (jhd), indeed, does mean "to endeavor, struggle," etc., but also "to fight." Different derivatives of the root are used for different purposes. Ijtihâd can also mean "struggle," but it is mainly used to mean "independent interpretation" on a point of Islâmic Law, i.e. independent of legal precedent (following precedent is taqlîd). It is no distortion of Jihad to say that it means "Holy War." Indeed, in the Middle Ages it was an important question whether Islâm could be properly practiced in a non-Muslim state. Even though Islâm was supposed to tolerate "People of the Book," which originally meant Jews and Christians but in practice came to include Zoroastrians and even, unevenly, Hindus, this was only in a subordinate position (dhimma, the status of the dhimmî, the tolerated non-believer) -- Muslims being "tolerated" in a non-Muslim state was against the divine order.
Islâmic rulers were thus not secular rulers in the modern sense, but neither were Mediaeval Christian rulers. In some ways Islâmic rulers seem more secular than Christian ones, since their military origin was usually recent and conspicuous (the Mamlûks are the most obvious), while Christian rulers (like the Kings of France) might claim authority directly from God. More important were other differences. European states had a legal tradition from Roman Law that was independent of Christianity, while Islâm had developed its own system of law. European judges were thus secular officials, while Islâmic Judges were religious jurists. Such jurists were also the principal institutional existence of Islâm, which otherwise had no priests or religious hierarchy. The Imâm in Orthdox Islâm might be learned (an 'Âlim, "Knower"), might even be a Judge (a Qâdî), but essentially is just the leader of the Prayer, with no particular religious authority. The institutional distinction in the West between Church and State made it relatively easy to separate these institutions. This separation was not only less easy in Islâm but the trend in recent years has actually reversed, with a reinstitution of Islâmic Law in states that had previously adopted secular law codes. This reversal has, not surprisingly, accompanied a renewed militancy and a sense of Jihâd that owes nothing to mollifying apologetics.
Other comparisons have been made between the characters of Muh.ammad, Jesus, and Moses, since Muh.ammad commanded armies, had multiple marriages, etc. Muh.ammad, indeed, had the responsibilities of rule, with a hostile enemy, Mecca, nearby. This involved battles. Jesus wasn't in any such position. His Kingdom, as he said, was not of this world. Moses did have the responsibilities of rule, though actual fighting didn't begin until the Israelites crossed the Jordan. Moses didn't go with them, and Joshua then handled the military business. Since Joshua was instructed by God to annihilate the people he found in the Promised Land, Muh.ammad comes off rather well in comparison, since the war with Mecca ended in a negotiated settlement where the only losers were the idols in the Ka'aba (though there had been a fair amount of killing in the conflict, and Muh.ammad had in the meantime expelled the Jews from Medina). As for his marriages, Muh.ammad seemed to have been genuinely devoted to his wife Khadîja, an older widow whom he married after helping her run her business. Khadîja was one of the first who believed that Muh.ammad was actually receiving a divine revelation. He married no other until after she died. I do not know how to judge the subsequent marriages. At least some of them seem to have been honorary, with the widows of fallen companions. His favorite wife, 'Â'isha, was betrothed to him at six. 
It was she who laid him to rest in the floor of their house in Medina, and the last person to set foot there for many centuries, as the Prophet's Mosque was built around it. One might think the Prophet was simply heir to some of the understandable temptations of power, but this explanation is generally not allowed in Islâmic tradition, since the Prophet is viewed as necessarily morally perfect. That is hardly necessary. The Bible does not present Moses as morally perfect.
At right we have been seeing an image of the Angel Gabriel leading the Prophet Muh.ammad on the miraculous horse Buraq, from a 15th century Persian miniature. I include this because of the recent controversy over cartoons of the Prophet published in October 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. By early 2006, Islamic radicals managed to stir up riots in many Islâmic countries over the cartoons, featuring attacks on Denmark, the EU, and Christians. It was positively affirmed by the radicals that images of the Prophet are absolutely forbidden in Islâm and that the cartoons were an intolerable slander against Islâm -- except that the Danish cartoons were really very mild and the radicals had included some other cartoons, nastier ones, that had nothing to do with the Danish newspaper. They were obviously looking for a pretext, not honestly expressing any reasonable protest. Not only that, but what they positively affirmed was not true. Although images have definitely been frowned upon in Islâmic history, and often absent altogether, there is nevertheless no lack of them. A favorite theme was the Prophet's "Night Journey," when he was taken up in a dream to heaven and hell, as we see in the image here. The whole episode thus exposes the extremism of modern Islâmic fundamentalism. This is not the Islâm of The Thousand and One Nights or 'Umar Khayyâm. It is a fascism that derives from the least humane and tolerant varieties of Islâmic law, often that of the H.anbalî school favored by the Wahhâbîs of Sa'udi Arabia, not to mention the dangerous, militant, and reactionary insanity of revolutionary Irân.
My thanks to Professor Shaun Marmon of Princeton University for drawing my attention to Clifford Edmund Bosworth's The New Islamic Dynasties [Edinburgh University Press, 1996]. This remarkable and invaluble work is, strangely enough, already out of print. Also of great use was Classical Islam, a History 600-1258, by G.E. von Grunebaum [Aldine Publishing, 1970], The Arabs, by Anthony Nutting [Mentor, 1964], The Arab Awakening, by George Antonius [Capricorn Books, 1965], The Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis [Vols. 1A, 1B, 2A, & 2B, Cambridge, 1977], and other historical sources credited elsewhere in these pages.
The advent of Islâm, with Arab armies coming out of the practical equivalent of nowhere, was unforeseen and unforeseeable. It dramatically and permanently altered the history of both the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. Persia was eliminated for many years as an independent political or cultural force, and the revival of Romania was ended, with the Empire reduced from about 3/4 of its original extent, as restored by Justinian, to little more than 1/4, all that was left by the reign of Leo III.
Index
Islâm, 622 AD-present
| THE PROPHET | |
|---|---|
| THE H.IJRAH ERA, THE ISLÂMIC HISTORICAL ERA | 16 July 622 AD |
| 28 April 1998 AD = 1419 Annô Hegirae | |
| Muh.ammad, Peace Upon Him | 622-632 |
Although perhaps alienated cousins, Christendom and Islâm could have nearly equal claim as standard bearers of "Western Civilization," and the revival of European learning after the 11th Century undeniably owed a heavy debt to what Islâm had been doing with Classical philosophy and science in the previous centuries.
Although the Arabs tend to be thought of as desert nomads, the origin of Muh.ammad was urban and mercantile. His home town of Mecca became increasingly hostile to his attacks on polytheism and idolatry, until he was invited to the nearby Yathrib as a mediator -- later marked as the beginning of the Islâmic Era in 622. Soon the virtual ruler of Yathrib, which then became Madinatu-nNabî', the "City of the Prophet," or just Madina (Medina), Muh.ammad seemed to pose an even greater threat, and the Meccans resorted to military force. Since the results of this were inconclusive, and warfare was very bad for business, the Meccans decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Under a treaty, Muh.ammad returned to Mecca and smashed the idols. Since the House of God, the Ka'aba, then became the goal of universal Moslem pilgrimage, the Meccans ended up doing very well out of the transaction. Muh.ammad did not long survive this triumph and was buried in his house in Medina, around which the Prophet's Mosque was built.
The Islâmic Era accompanies the Islâmic Calendar, which is purely lunar and cycles through the seasons every 32 or 33 years, a convenient provision when fasting is required during the daylight hours in the month of Ramad.ân -- neither Northern nor Southern hemispheres are stuck with Ramad.ân at times of either long or short days. Curiously, the 30 year cycle of the Islâmic calendar commensurates with the 19 year cycle of the Jewish calendar after 1368 solar or 1410 lunar Islâmic years. This puts the Islâmic Era in 622 at one full cycle after the beginning of the Era of Nabonassar in 747 BC. Another full cycle comes down to our time, in 1990. Anyone disposed to numerological portents are welcome to make of this what they will.
| THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHS | |
|---|---|
| 'Abû Bakr | 632-634 |
| assumes title Khalîfah, "successor," to the Prophet | |
| 'Umar | 634-644 |
|
Roman Emperor Heraclius defeated, 636; Palestine conquered, 636; Syria and Egypt, 640; Mesopotamia conquered from Persians, 637; Persians defeated, 642; Persia overrun by 651 | |
| 'Utman | 644-656 |
| 'Alî | 656-661 |
The tolerance of the Arabs for any "People of the Book" seemed preferable, especially after the respect and consideration shown by the Caliph 'Umar when he entered Jersualem. The period of the "Rightly Guided Caliphs," who were all either fathers-in-law or sons-in-law of Muh.ammad, however, ended in some confusion. The murder of 'Uthman was blamed by his powerful Meccan relatives on 'Alî, who was unable to exert authority against them over all Islâmic territories. The "bloody shirt of 'Uthman" was thereafter considered a largely cynical ploy by the Omayyads to further their own cause, which soon did triumph at the death of 'Alî, whose sons were either bought off (H.asan) or killed (H.usayn).Although the Omayyads were cousins of Muh.ammad, they definitely had the greater status at Mecca and were originally quite hostile (except for 'Uthman) 
to Islâm. The symbolic crowns in the diagram are for the Prophet and the Caliphs (Khalifah, "successor"). Only that for the Prophet is given with a nimbus, since for the Orthodox only he was divinely inspired and authoritative. The light blue nimbus for 'Alî indicates the Shi'ite belief that he and his descendants were divinely inspired and authoritative also (the Imâms). Modern families that trace descent to the Prophet or his family, like Kings of Hijaz, Iraq, and Jordan, call themselves Hâshemites.
| THE SHÎ'ITE IMÂMS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 'Alî | 632-661 |
| First Cousin & Son-In-Law of the Prophet & Fourth Rightly Guided Caliph | ||
| 2 | H.asan | 661-669 |
| 3 | H.usayn | 669-680 |
| Martyred at Karbalâ', 680 | ||
| 4 | 'Alî Zayn al-'Âbidîn | 680-712 |
| 5 | Muh.ammad al-Bâqir | 712-731 |
| 6 | Ja'far al-S.âdiq | 731-765 |
| 7 | Ismâ'îl | 765-760 |
| Schism -- followers of Isma'il become the "Seveners" or "Ismailis," basis of Shî'ism of the Fatimids, the Assassins, and in India | ||
| 7 | Mûsâ al-Kâz.im | 765-799 |
| 8 | 'Alî al-Rid.â | 799-818 |
| 9 | Muh.ammad al-Jawâd | 818-835 |
| 10 | 'Alî al-Hâdî | 835-868 |
| 11 | al-H.asan al-'Askarî | 868-874 |
| 12 | Muh.ammad al-Muntazar al-Mahdî | 874-878 |
| Disappears, 878 -- becomes the "Hidden Imâm," basis of "Twelver" & Iranian Shi'ism | ||
The Shî'a, or "Faction" of 'Alî held that he was the proper Successor to the Prophet and that only his descendants qualified for the office. Soon, he and his successors were also believed to have a unique divinely inspired understanding of the meaning of the Qur'ân. Thus, the Shî'ite office of Imâm became a source of doctrinal authority such as was missing from Orthodox Islâm, which relied on tradition and consensus to establish Islâmic law and doctrine. The line of Imâms splits, however, when the Seventh, Ismâ'îl, is rejected by much of the community. The Seveners, nevertheless, had the most spectacular successes of Shî'ism in the Middle Ages. Today, the Agha Khan heads a Sevener community in India. The collateral line ended with the Twelfth Imâm, who disappeared in 878. Although probably kidnapped and murdered by the Abbasid Caliph, he was believed by his followers to have gone into deathless "Occultation," preparing to return as the "Rightly Guided One," the Mahdî, to usher in the Apocalypse. In time, this Twelver Shî'ism was used by the Safavids to establish a durable national monarchy in Irân. In 1848, it had been 1000 Islâmic lunar years since the Occultation, and the return of the Hidden Imâm was widely expected. Various figures appeared as the Imâm, including the Bâb ("Gate"), from whom the Bâbî and Bahâ'î faiths derive. The source of doctrinal authority in Irânian Shi'ism became the Ayatollâhs, who were not individually believed to be the Hidden Imâm but were thought to communicate with him. The Ayatollâh Khomeini was able to use his position to overthrow the last Shâh in 1979 and establish a theocratic "Islâmic Republic."
| OMAYYAD CALIPHS | |
|---|---|
| Mu'âwiya I | 661-680 |
| assumes caliphate at death of 'Alî, moves capital to Damascus; Arab aristocratic government; attacks in India, 644, 677; Siege of Constantinople, 674-677 | |
| Yazîd I | 680-683 |
| Mu'âwiya II | 683-684 |
| Marwân I | 684-685 |
| 'Abd 'al-Malik | 685-705 |
| Conquest of Armenia, 693; Conquest of North Africa, 698; Builds the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, finished 691/692 | |
| al-Walîd I | 705-715 |
| Spain falls to Islâm, invasion of India, 711; End of Visigoths; Builds the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, 706-715 | |
| Sulaymân | 715-717 |
| Siege of Constantinople, 717-718 | |
| 'Umar II | 717-720 |
| Yazîd II | 720-724 |
| Hishâm | 724-743 |
| defeat, 725, & explusion, 737, from India | |
| al-Walîd II | 743-744 |
| Yazîd III | 744 |
| 'Ibrâhîm | 744 |
| Marwân II | 744-750 |
| Battle of Talas, 751; T'ang Dynasty Chinese defeated, but no further advance into Central Asia | |
| Omayyads overthrown and massacred (except in Spain) in Abbasid revolution; end of Arab empire; establishes equality of all Moslems | |
The high water mark of the Omayyad realm was certainly under 'Abd al-Malik and al-Walîd, as North Africa, Spain, Transoxania, and part of the Indus Valley fell to Islâm. Permanent monuments to the period were 'Abd al-Malik's Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and al-Walîd's Omayyad Mosque in Damascus. Since both these buildings are now some 1300 years old, it is an oversight of many treatments of history that they are not more celebrated as monuments from a period that is otherwise considered an obscure part of the "Dark Ages." Never before had Damascus been, and never again would it be, the center of such power and civilization.
In time, hostility against the Omayyads began to mount. The resentment of the non-Arabic second-class Moslems joined with the cause of the partisans of 'Alî, questioning the legitimacy of the regime and agitating against it. Also, later Omayyads sometimes seemed insufficiently interested in Islâm. Desert hunting lodges contained images much more Roman than Arab in inspiration, and one Caliph is supposed to have shot a copy of the Qur'ân to pieces out of resentment for its prohibition of wine.
When the storm broke, it was with astonishing ferocity. The entire Omayyad clan was exterminated. Only one prince escaped, to Spain, where an Omayyad regime endured. Elsewhere, the rebellion succeeded completely, bring to power distant cousins of the Omayyads, the descendants of Muh.ammad's uncle 'Abbâs.
All Moslems now became (more or less) equal, and when the capital shifted to Baghbad, the influence of Persian civilization began to predominate over Roman. The Arabs lost their preeminence, and soon it was the rare Caliph who was not the child of a Persian or Turkish mother. As the Abbasids later declined, Arabia itself slipped from their hold, to become once again a political, if not a religious, backwater. The Arabs had bestowed their religion and their language on the civilization of the Middle East, but true Arabian Arabs would be politically insignificant until the discovery of oil in the 20th century gave them a geopolitical status beyond what any other asset would warrant.
The Arabic title amîr is important. Originally this just means "commander" and would be used for a general military officer, or even for the Caliph himself, the Amiru 'lMu'minîn, "Commander of the Faithful." The military commanders then become governors, and so amîr comes to mean "governor." The governors then drift into independence, and amîr then can reasonably be translated "prince." The first truly independent Amirs were the Omayyads in Spain, who were content with the title for a century and a half. Later many Abbasid governors drifted into independence, and the "Emirate" becomes the basic domain of independent Islâmic statehood. A title that is mostly not seen for many centuries is malik, "king." This is not really an Islâmic title of rule, though it can be a proper name and is very close to one of the Names of God, Mâlik, "Owner, Master, Possessor." Every day, Muslims invoke God as the Mâliku lYaumi dDîni, "Possessor the of the Day of Judgment." Malik has largely been a post-colonial title, often an ephemeral one. The old Persian word for King, however, Shâh, occurred with some frequently in Iran and India. What becomes the classic Islâmic title of rule, Sult.ân, "Power, Dominion, Authority," begins with the Seljuks.
| ABBASID CALIPHS | |
|---|---|
'Abdullâh asSaffâh. | 750-754 |
'Abdullâh al-Mans.ûr | 754-775 |
Muh.ammad al-Mahdî | 775-785 |
Mûsâ al-Hâdî | 785-786 |
Hârûn arRashîd | 786-809 |
| mythic and cultural height of Abbasid Caliphate; Idrîsids break away in Morocco, 789; great earthquake in Egypt, Alexandria & Pharos Lighthouse damaged, 797 | |
Muh.ammad al-'Amîn | 809-813 |
'Abdullâh al-Ma'mûn | 813-833 |
Muh.ammad al-Mu'tas.im | 833-842 |
moved to Samarra with Turkish guard | |
Hârûn al-Wâtiq | 842-847 |
Ja'far al-Mutawakkil | 847-861 |
assassinated by Turkish guard | |
Muh.ammad al-Muntas.ir | 861-862 |
Ah.mad al-Musta'în | 862-866 |
Muh.ammad al-Mu'tazz | 866-869 |
Muh.ammad al-Muhtadî | 869-870 |
Ah.mad al-Mu'tamid | 870-892 |
| returned to Baghdad Recognizes King of Armenia, 885 | |
Ah.mad al-Mu'tad.id | 892-902 |
'Alî Muktafî | 902-908 |
Ja'far al-Muqtadir | 908, 908-929, 929-932 |
Muh.ammad al-Qâhir | 929, 932-934 |
Ah.mad arRâdî | 934-940 |
loss of authority | |
Ibrâhîm al-Muttaqî | 940-944 |
'Adbullâh al-Mustakfî | 944-946 d. 949 |
| under Shi'ite Buwayids, 945 | |
al-Fad.l al-Mut.î' | 946-974 |
'AdulKarîm at.T.â'î' | 974-991 |
Ah.mad al-Qâdir | 991-1031 |
'Abdullâh al-Qâ'im | 1031-1075 |
| under Seljuks; 1055, grants title of Sult.ân | |
'Abdullâh al-Muqtadî | 1075-1094 |
Ah.mad al-Mustaz.hir | 1094-1118 |
al-Fad.l al-Mustarshid | 1118-1135 |
al-Mans.ûr arRâshid | 1135-1136 |
Muh.ammad al-Muqtafî | 1136-1160 |
Yûsuf al-Mustanjid | 1160-1170 |
al-H.asan al-Mustad.î' | 1170-1180 |
| Ah.mad anNâs.ir | 1180-1225 |
| Independent from Seljuks, 1194 | |
Muh.ammad az.Z.âhir | 1225-1226 |
al-Mans.ûr al-Mustans.ir | 1226-1242 |
'Abdullâh al-Musta's.im | 1242-1258 |
| 1258, killed by Mongol Khân Hülägü; end of Abbasid Caliphate; Mamlûks set up Abbasid puppet caliphate in Egypt; continues until Ottoman conquest | |
Military expansion of the Caliphate ceased under the Abbasids. Instead there soon was, in effect, a turning inward and an examination and definition of what Islâm and Islâmic civilization were going to mean, especially in relation to the rival religions and the heritage of Classical civilization. Politically, the story then becomes one of fragmentation, as governors become autonomous and then rival powers arise. At first, only Spain escaped the Abbasid revolution.
| OMAYYAD AMIRS OF SPAIN | |
|---|---|
| 'AbdurRah.mân I | 756-788 |
| grandson of the Caliph Hishâm; escapes to Spain from the massacre of the Omayyads | |
| Hishâm I | 788-799 |
| al-H.akam I | 799-822 |
| 'AbdurRah.mân II | 822-852 |
| Muh.ammad I | 852-886 |
| al-Mundhir | 886-888 |
| 'Abdullâh | 888-912 |
| Line continues with the Omayyad Caliphs, 912-1031 | |
After the Abbasid overthrow and massacre of the Omayyads, Spain was a place where their authority was never asserted. Instead, the Omayyad prince 'Abd-urRah.mân, escaping the massacre, established himself and his line. Islâm had little trouble in Spain these days. Charlemagne pushed the Omayyads back from the Pyrenees and established the Marches there that grew into later kingdoms, but he was defeated at Roncesvalles in 778 and the heart of Spain was little effected. Eventually, in response to the Fatimid Shi'ite Caliphate, the Spanish Omayyads proclaimed their own Caliphate.
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| THE AGHLABID AMIRS OF TUNISIA, ALGERIA, & SICILY | |
|---|---|
| Ibrâhîm I | 800-812 |
| 'Adbullâh I | 812-817 |
| Ziyâdat Allâh I | 817-838 |
| Invasion of Sicily, 827 | |
| al-Aghlab | 838-841 |
| Muh.ammad I | 841-856 |
| Sack of Ostia & Rome, 846 | |
| Ah.mad | 856-863 |
| Ziyâdat Allâh II | 863 |
| Muh.ammad II | 863-875 |
| Capture of Malta, 870 | |
| Ibrâhîm II | 875-902 |
| Capture of Syracuse, 878 | |
| 'Abdullâh II | 902-903 |
| Ziyâdat Allâh III | 903-909 |
| Conquest by the Fatimids, 909 | |
The Aghlabids were originally the faithful Abbasid governors of Tunisia and only gradually drifted out of central supervision and control. Their greatest independent project was the conquest of Sicily, 827-878, which remained in Islâm until the arrival of the Normans.
| THE T.ÂHIRID AMIRS OF KHURÂSÂN | |
|---|---|
| T.âhir I | 821-822 |
| T.alh.a | 822-845 |
| T.âhir II | 845-862 |
| Muh.ammad | 862-873 |
| Occupied by S.affârids | |
The T.âhirids were the faithful Abbasid governors of Khurâsân, only beginning the process of drifting out of central control when the area was seized by the S.affârids. T.âhirids were also governors of Baghdad and Iraq under the Abbasids. For many years, Muh.ammad continued as the nominal governor of Khurâsân while living in Iraq. His brother al-H.usayn briefly returned in 876.
| THE T.ÛLÛNID AMIRS OF EGYPT | |
|---|---|
| Ah.mad ibn T.ûlûn | 868-884 |
| Khumârawayh | 884-896 |
| Jaysh | 896 |
| Hârûn | 896-904 |
| Shaybân | 904-905 |
| Recovered by Abbasids | |
Egypt first drifted out of Abbasid control under its originally faithful T.ûlûnid governors. Ah.mad built one of the oldest monuments in Cairo (at the time still called Fust.ât.), the Ibn T.ûlûn Mosque. The dynasty fell victim to the brief revival of Abbasid power at the beginning of the 10th century.
| THE SÂMÂNID AMIRS OF TRANSOXANIA AND KHURASAN | |
|---|---|
| Ah.mad I | governor of Farghâna & Soghdia, 819-864 |
| Nas.r I | 864-892 |
| Ismâ'îl | 892-907 |
| Ah.mad II | 907-914 |
| Nas.r II | 914-943 |
| Nûh. I | 943-954 |
| 'Abd al-Malik I | 954-961 |
| Mans.ûr I | 961-976 |
| Nûh. II | 976-997 |
| patron of Ibn Sîna (d.1037) | |
| Mans.ûr II | 997-999 |
| 'Abd al-Malik II | 999-1000 |
| Ismâ'îl II | 1000-1005 |
| Conquest by Qarakhanids & Ghaznawids, 1005 | |
| THE S.AFFÂRID AMIRS OF SÎSTÂN | |
|---|---|
| Ya'qûb | 861-879 |
| Overthrow T.âhirids, 873 | |
| 'Amr ibn al-Layth | 879-900 |
| T.âhir | 900-909 |
| al-Layth | 909-910 |
| Muh.ammad | 910 |
| al-Mu'addal | 910-911 |
| Sâmânid Occupation, 911-912 | |
| 'Amr ibn Ya'qûb | 912 |
| Sâmânid Occupation, 912-914 | |
| [local commanders] | 914-923 |
| Ah.mad | 923-963 |
| Khalaf | 963-1003, d.1009 |
| Tâhir | regent, 963-969 |
| Ghaznawid Occupation, 1003 | |
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| THE IKHSHÎDID AMIRS OF EGYPT | |
|---|---|
| Muh.ammad ibn T.ughj al-Ikhshîd | 935-946 |
| Ûnûjûr | 946-961 |
| 'Alî | 961-966 |
| Kâfûr al-Lâbî, Regent | 966-968 |
| Ah.mad | 968-969 |
| Conquest by the Fatimids, 969 | |
After the Abbasid revival, the Ikhshîdids began the process of drifting out of Abbasid control again but then found themselves trying to stop the triumphant Fatimids, ultimately unsuccessfully.
| THE H.AMDÂNIDS OF ALEPP0 | |
|---|---|
| 'Alî I SayfudDawla | 944-967 |
| patron of al-Fârâbî (d.950) | |
| Sharîf I Sa'dudDawla | 967-991 |
| Antioch lost to Romania, 969 | |
| Sa'îd Sa'îdudDawla | 991-1002 |
| 'Alî II & Sharîf II | 1002-1004 |
| Lu'lu' | Regent, 1002-1004 |
| 1004-1009 | |
| Vassal of Fatimids, 1004 | |
| Mans.ûr Murtad.âdDawla | 1009-1015 |
| Fled to Romania, 1015 | |
As the Ikhshîdids drifted out of Abbasid control, Northern Syria broke away from them, beginning an era of considerable fragmentation. Sayf-udDawla ("Sword of the State") became a celebrated foe of Romania, but he was largely unsuccessful against the revival of Roman power, and his son experienced devastating defeats, at one point with Aleppo and H.oms themselves falling, though retained with the payment of tribute.
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| THE BUWAYID (BÛYID) AMIRS OF IRAQ | |
|---|---|
| Ah.mad ibn Bûya | 945-967 |
| Bakhtiyâr | 967-978 |
| Fanâ Khusraw | 978-983 |
| Marzubân | 983-987 |
| Shîrzîl I | 987-989 |
| Fîrûz | 989-1012 |
| Abû Shujâ' | 1012-1021 |
| H.asan | 1021-1025 |
| Shîrzîl II | 1025-1044 |
| Marzubân | 1044-1048 |
| Khusraw Fîrûz | 1048-1055 |
| Overthrown by Seljuk Great Sult.âns, 1055 | |
The Buwayids were Shi'ite Princes who dominated the Abbasid Caliphs for a century. Although they fostered a flourishing of Shi'ite scholarship and theology, they never tried to suppress the Orthodox Caliphs altogether, so the Abbasids continued to exercise their minimal religious authority under the regime. Nevertheless, the Caliphs and the Orthodox were not too happy about this and so, at least initially, welcomed the coming of the Orthodox Seljuks. The appeal of Shi'ism in Irân, evident here, later becomes the basis of Irânian nationalism in the Safavids. This is the nadir of the Abbasid Caliphate, with its secular power and prestige completely eclipsed.
The complete genealogy of the Alids, Omayyads, and Abbasids is in The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1B, [edited by P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, & Bernard Lewis, Cambridge University Press, 1970, pp.731-733]. Unfortunately, the diagrams contain no dates. Much the same information, with dates, is in The Arabs by Anthony Nutting [Mentor Books, 1964, p.202-203]. I have not found a complete genealogy of the Egyptian Abbasids. According to Bosworth's The New Islamic Dynasties [pp.7 & 9], the relationship of the two lines is uncertain anyway. Now, however, I have received from Derek Whaley a genealogy of the Egyptian Abbasids which he has assembled, with a connection to the main Abbasid line. Much of this can be confirmed in Bosworth, and I provide it, with a couple of additions and corrections, here, formerly just in a popup, but now connected up with the rest of the Abbasids. There is no reason why the Abbasid line should not have continued in Constantinople, but instead they disappear from history. I do not know whether they died out, the Ottomans exterminated them, or they just disappeared into obscurity.
| THE IDRÎSID CALIPHS OF MOROCCO, 789-985 AD | |
|---|---|
| Idrîs I | 789-791 |
| Idrîs II | 791-828 |
| Muh.ammad al-Muntas.ir | 828-836 |
| 'Alî I H.aydara | 836-849 |
| Yah.yâ I | 849-863 |
| Yah.yâ II | 863-866 |
| 'Alî II | 866-? |
| Yah.yâ III al-Miqdâm al-Jût.î | ?-905 |
| Yah.yâ IV | 905-925 |
| Tributary to Fatimids, 917 | |
| al-H.asan al-H.ajjâm | 925-938 |
| al-Qâsim Gannûn | 938-948 |
| Ah.mad Abu'l-'Aysh | 948-954 |
| al-H.asan | 954-974, 985 |
| Annexed by Fatimids, 985 | |
| The Rustamids of Algeria, 778-909 AD | |
|---|---|
| 'Abd ar-Rah.mân | 778-788 |
| 'Abd al-Wahhâb | 788-824 |
| Aflah. Abû Sa'îd | 824-872 |
| Abû Bakr | 872-874 |
| Muh.ammad Abû'l-Yaqz.ân | 874-894 |
| Yûsuf Abû H.âtim | 894-895, 899-? |
| Ya'qûb | 895-899, ?-907 |
| Yaqz.ân | 907-909 |
| Fatimid Conquest, 909 | |
| The Hammâdids of Algeria, 1015-1152 AD | |
| H.ammâd | 1015-1028 |
| al-Qâ'id Sharaf ad-Dawla | 1028-1054 |
| Muh.sin | 1054-1055 |
| Buluggîn II | 1055-1062 |
| al-Nâs.ir | 1062-1088 |
| al-Mans.ûr | 1088-1105 |
| Bâdîs | 1105 |
| al-'Azîz | 1105- 1121/24 |
| Yah.yâ | 1121/24- 1152 |
| Almohad Conquest, 1152 | |
| The Zîrids of Tunisia, 947-1163 AD | |
|---|---|
| Zîrî | Governor, 947-972 |
| Yûsuf Buluggîn I | 972-984 |
| al-Mans.ûr | 984-996 |
| Bâdîs Nâs.ir ad-Dawla | 996-1016 |
| Divsion of Tunisia & Algeria, 1015 | |
| al-Mu'izz | 1016-1062 |
| Tamîm | 1062-1108 |
| conquest of Sicily by Normans, 1061-1091 | |
| Yah.yâ | 1108-1116 |
| 'Alî | 1116-1121 |
| al-H.asan | 1121-1148; Governor, 1148-1163, d.1168 |
| conquest by Normans then Almohads, 1148 | |
In Morocco, under Idrîs I ibn 'Abdallâh, a great-grandson of H.asan, the son of 'Alî, we get another movement. With his background, it is perhaps not surprising that Idrîs both claimed the Caliphate and established Shi'ism. He also founded the Madînat Fâs, the city of Fez. Eventually the Idrîsids fragmented and then fell to the Fatimids, who inherited the mantle of the Shi'ite Caliphate. Years later, an Idrîsid branch, the H.ammûdids became one of the Reyes de Taifas of Spain.
The other two North African dynasties given here (perhaps a bit out of sequence) were successors to the Fatimids. These began with Zîri ibn Manâd, a Berber retainer of the Fatimids. His son, Buluggîn, was appointed Fatimid governor of Ifrîqiya. As with the Abbasids, so with the Zîrids. They began to drift away into autonomy. In 1015, Bâdîs ceded the western part of the territory to his uncle H.ammâd, after a falling out over H.ammâd's shift in allegiance to the Abbasids. Thus we get a division between Algeria and Tunisia. The Fatimids didn't much worry about autonomy in North Africa, but they were outraged when the Amîr al-Mu'izz changed his own allegiance to the Abbasids -- even while the Hammâdids had returned to Shi'ism. The Fatimids were too weak at this point to visit their own vengeance, so they directed instead two Arab tribes, the Beni Hilâl and the Beni Sulaym, to do the job for them. The result was an unorganized pillaging, which mainly just ruined the countryside and hinterland. The Zîrids and Hammâdids moved down to the coast and built fleets. This was useful against the Norman conquest of Sicily but ultimately, by 1091, the Normans succeeded, ending the history of Islamic Sicily that had begun with the Aghlabids. Eventually the Almohads ended both regimes and unified North Africa again.
| THE FATIMID CALIPHS | |
|---|---|
| al-Mah.dî | 909-934 |
| Shi'ite (Sevener) Caliphate established in North Africa to rival Orthodox Abbasid Caliphate | |
| al-Qâ'im | 934-946 |
| al-Mans.ûr | 946-952 |
| al-Mu'izz | 952-975 |
| Egypt occupied, Caliphate removed to new city, al-Qâhirah -- Cairo -- 969 | |
| al-'Azîz | 975-996 |
| al-H.âkim | 996-1021 |
| az.Z.âhir | 1021-1035 |
| al-Mustans.ir | 1035-1094 |
| al-Musta'lî | 1094-1101 |
| al-'Âmir | 1101-1130 |
| collateral line assumes throne; no longer considered to be Shi'ite Imâms | |
| al-H.âfiz. | 1130-1149 |
| az.Z.âfir | 1149-1154 |
| al-Fâ'iz | 1154-1160 |
| al-'Âd.id | 1160-1171 |
| dies natural death as Egypt passes to Yûsuf ibn Ayyûb S.alâhu dDîn | |
| OMAYYAD CALIPHS OF SPAIN | |
|---|---|
| 'AbdurRah.mân III | 912-961 |
| al-H.akam II | 961-976 |
| Hishâm II | 976-1008 & 1010-1012 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1008-1009 |
| Sulaymân | 1009 & 1012-1017 |
| ('Alî ibn Hamûd) | 1017-1021 |
| 'AbdurRah.mân IV | 1021-1022 |
| (al-Qasim) | 1022 |
| 'AbdurRah.mân V | 1022-1023 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1023-1024 |
| (Yahya ibn 'Alî) | 1024-1027 |
| Hishâm III | 1027-1031 |
One reason that 'AbdurRah.mân III may have proclaimed himself Caliph, besides the general decline of the Abbasids in power the prestige, was the new Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa. While the Fatimids claimed descent from the Prophet's daughter Fât.ima, as descendants of the Seventh Imâm, Ismâ'îl, there is little confidence and less evidence for this genealogy. What it gave the Fatimids, however, was a claim to the Shi'ite Imâmate. This was an Apocalyptic movement, coincidentally approaching the Millennium on the Christian calendar. When the Fatimids occupied Egypt in 969, it did look like they might be the heirs of all of Islâm. The new capital founded in Egypt, al-Qâhirah, "the Victorious," although at the place of the Roman fortress of Babylon (of all things) and the Omayyad city of Fust.ât. (Old Cairo), now becomes the classic Islâmic capital of Egypt, Cairo. While Fatimid control soon extended into the Levant and to the Holy Cities of the Hijaz, this proved to be the Fatimid high water mark. In the Fatimid decline, North Africa broke away, the Crusaders arrived in the Levant, and the Fatimid succession itself passed to a collateral line that lost the numinous status of Shi'ite Imâm. The last Fatimid Caliph, a sickly child, was allowed to die a natural death by the occupier of Egypt, Saladin, before the regime was deposed.
| THE MULÛK AT-T.AWÂ'IF, REYES DE TAIFAS | |
|---|---|
| The Jahwarids of Cordova, Qurt.ubah | |
| Jahwar ibn Muh.ammad ibn Jahwar | 1031-1043 |
| Muh.ammad ar-Rashîd | 1043-1058 |
| 'Abd al-Malik Dhu's-Siyâdatayn al-Mans.ur | 1058-1069 |
| 'Abbâdid conquest, 1069 | |
Omayyad Spain broke up into a chaos of petty states, like the period of the Oghullar in Anatolia. In Arabic, the rulers were called the mulûk at.-T.awâ'if, or the "kings of the bands/factions/parties [t.â'ifa]." This was adapted into Spanish as the Reyes de Taifas.
The map shows 21 Reyes de Taifas in 1030, but at different times there were up to 39 of them. Only some of the more significant and durable are listed in the tables here. Already, both León and Navarre are larger than any Islamic state. Spain would never again be unified by a native Islamic state. This disunity was, of course, a golden opportunity for the Christian kingdoms; and the fall of Toledo to León and Castille in 1085 is significantly considered the beginning of the Christian Reconquista. The Moslem position was restored by the advent of the Almoravids, who then absorbed all the Taifa states. Toledo, however, which had been the capital of the Visigoths and was still considered the heart of Spain, was never recovered.
| Murcia, Mursiyah | |
|---|---|
| Khayrân as.-S.aqlabî | 1012/13-1028 |
| Zuhayr as.-S.aqlabî | 1028-1038 |
| 'Abd al'Azîz ibn Abî'Âmir al-Mans.ûr of Valencia | 1038-1045 |
| Mujâhid al-'Âmirî | 1045-c.1049 |
| The T.ahirids | |
| Ah.mad ibn T.âhir | c.1049-1063 |
| Muh.ammad ibn T.âhir | 1063-1078 |
| 'Abbâdid conquest, 1078 | |
| The 'Abbâdids of Seville, Ishbîlyah | |
| Muh.ammad I ibn Ismâ'îl ibn 'Abbâd | 1023-1042 |
| 'Abbâd Fakhr ad-Dawla al-Mu'tad.id | 1042-1069 |
| Muh.ammad II al-Mu'tamid | 1069-1091, d.1095 |
| Almoravid conquest, 1091 | |
| The H.ammûdids of Málaga, Malaka | |
| 'Alî ibn H.ammûd | 1014/15-1017 |
| al-Qâsim I al-Ma'mûn | 1017-1021, 1022-1026 |
| Yah.yâ I al-Mu'talî | 1021-1022, 1026-1036 |
| Idrîs I al-Muta'ayyad | 1036-1039 |
| Yah.yâ II al-Qâ'im | 1039-1040 |
| al-H.asan al-Mustans.ir | 1040-1043 |
| Idrîs II al-'Alî | 1043-1046, 1053-1056 |
| Muh.ammad I al-Mahdî | 1046-1052 |
| Idrîs III as-Sâmî | 1052-1053 |
| Muh.ammad II al-Musta'lî | 1056 |
| Zîrid conquest, 1056 | |
| The Zîrids of Granada, Gharnât.ah | |
| Zâwî ibn Zîrî as.-S.anhâjî | 1013-1019 |
| H.abbûs ibn Mâksan | 1019-1038 |
| Bâdîs al-Muz.affar an-Nâs.ir | 1038-1073 |
| 'Abdallâh ibn Buluggîn | Granada, 1073-1090 |
| Tamîm ibn Buluggîn | Málaga, 1073-1090, d.1095 |
| Almoravid conquest, 1090 | |
| Aft.asids of Badajoz, Bat.alyaws | |
|---|---|
| 'Abdallâh ibn Muh.ammad ibn al-Aft.as | 1022-1045 |
| Muh.ammad al-Muz.affar | 1045-1068 |
| Yah.yâ | 1068 |
| 'Umar al-Mutawakkil | 1068-1094 |
| Almoravid conquest, 1091 | |
| The 'Âmirids of Valencia, Balansiyyah | |
| 'Abd al'Azîz ibn Abî'Âmir al-Mans.ûr (Sanchuelo) | 1021-1060 |
| 'Abd al-Malik Niz.âm ad-Dawla | 1060-1065 |
| Occupied by Dhu'n-Nûnids, 1065-1076 | |
| Abû Bakr al-Mans.ûr | 1076-1085 |
| 'Uthmân al-Qâd.î | 1085 |
| Yah.yâ II Dhu'n-Nûnid | 1085-1092 |
| Rodrigo Díaz, El Cid | 1094-1099 |
| Almoravid conquest, 1102 | |
| The Dhu'n-Nûnids of Toledo, T.ulayt.ulah | |
| Ismâ'îl Dhu'r-Riyâsatayn az.-Z.âfir | 1018-1043 |
| Yah.yâ I Sharaf ad-Dawla al-Ma'mûn | 1043-1075 |
| Yah.yâ II al-Qâdir | 1075-1080, 1081-1085, d.1092 |
| Occupied by Aft.asids, 1080-1081; Conquest by Leon & Castille, 1085 | |
| The Banû Mujâhid of Denia and Majorca | |
| Mujâhid al-'Âmirî al-Muwaffaq | c.1012-1045 |
| 'Alî Iqbâl ad-Dawla | 1045-1076 |
| conquest by Hûdids, 1076 | |
| The Tujîbids of Saragossa, Saraqus.tah | |
| al-Mundhir I al-Tujîbî | governor, 1010-1023 |
| Yah.yâ al-Muz.affar | 1023-1029 |
| al-Mundhir II Mu'izz ad-Dawla | 1029-1039 |
| 'Abdallâh al-Muz.affar | 1039-1040 |
| The Hûdids of Saragossa | |
| Sulaymân ibn Hûd al-Judhâmî | 1040-c.1047 |
| Sulaymân Tâj ad-Dawla | c.1047-1049 |
| Ah.mad I Sayf ad-Dawla | 1049-1082 |
| Yûsuf al-Mu'tamin | 1081-1083 |
| Ah.mad II al-Musta'în | 1083-1110 |
| 'Abd al-Malik 'Imâd ad-Dawla | 1110 |
| Almoravid occupation, 1110-1118; occupation by Aragón, 1118-1130 | |
| Ah.mad III Sayf ad-Dawla | 1130-1146 |
| Conquest by Aragón, 1146 | |
| MURÂBIT. (ALMORAVID) SULT.ÂNS | |
|---|---|
| Yûsuf ibn Tâshufîn | 1061-1107 |
| Crosses over into Spain, defeat of Alfonso VI at Zallâqa, 1086 | |
| 'Alî ibn Yûsuf | 1107-1142 |
| Tâshufîn ibn 'Alî | 1142-1146 |
| Ibrâhîm ibn Tâshufîn | 1146 |
| Ish.âq ibn 'Alî | 1146-1147 |
| Almohad conquest, 1147 | |
| THE GHAZNAWIDS | |
|---|---|
| Sebûktigin | governor in Ghazna for Sâmânids, 977-997 |
| Ismâ'îl | 997-998 |
| Mah.mûd of Ghazna | 998-1030 |
| Invasions of India, 1001-1024 | |
| Muh.ammad | 1030-1031, 1040-1041 |
| Mus'ûd I | 1031-1040 |
| Mawdûd | 1041-1048 |
| Mus'ûd II | 1048 |
| 'Alî | 1048-1049 |
| 'Abd ar-Rashîd | 1049-1052 |
| Farrukhzâd | 1052-1059 |
| Ibrâhîm | 1059-1099 |
| Mas'ûd III | 1099-1115 |
| Shîrzâd | 1115-1116 |
| Malik Arslan Shâh | 1116-1117 |
| Seljuk Occupation, 1117 | |
| Bahrâm Shâh | 1117-1150, c.1152-1157 |
| Ghûrid Occupation, 1150-c.1152 | |
| Khusraw Shâh | in Lahore, 1157-1160 |
| Khusraw Malik | 1160-1186, c.1191 |
| Ghûrid Conquest, 1186 | |
| THE QARAKHÂNIDS | |
|---|---|
| 'Alî Arslan Khân | Great Qaghan |
| Ah.mad Arslan Qara Khân | 998-1017 |
| Overthrow of Sâmânids, 1005 | |
| Mans.ûr Arslan Khân | 1017-1024 |
| Muh.ammad Toghan Khân | 1024-1026 |
| Yûsuf Qadïr Khân | 1026-32 |
| 'Alî Tigin Bughra Khân | Great Qaghan in Samarkand, c.1020-1034 |
| Muh.ammad Arslan Qara Khân | c.1042-c.1052 |
| Ibrâhîm Tabghach Bughra Khân | c.1052-1068 |
| Nas.r Shams al-Mulk | 1068-1080 |
| Khid.r | 1080-1081 |
| Ah.mad | 1081-1089 |
| Ya'qûb Qadïr Khân | 1089-1095 |
| Mas'ûd | 1095-1097 |
| Sulaymân Qadïr Tamghach | 1097 |
| Mah.mûd Arslan Khân | 1097-1099 |
| Jibrâ'îl Arslan Khân | 1099-1102 |
| Muh.ammad Arlsan Khân | 1102-1129 |
| Nas.r | 1129 |
| Ah.mad Qadïr Khân | 1129-1130 |
| H.asan Jalâl ad-Dunyâ | 1130-1132 |
| Ibrâhîm Rukn ad-Dunyâ | 1132 |
| Mah.mûd | 1132-1141 |
| Defeat of Seljuks, Qara-Khitaï Occupation, 1141 | |
| Ibrâhîm Tabghach Khân | 1141-1156 |
| 'Alî Chaghrï Khân | 1156-1161 |
| Mas'ûd Tabghach Khân | 1161-1171 |
| Muh.ammad Tabghach Khân | 1171-1178 |
| Ibrâhîm Arslan Khân | 1178-1204 |
| 'Uthmân Ulugh Sult.ân | 1204-1212 |
| Khwârazm Conquest, 1212 | |
Note that the Arabic "w" in Ghaznawid is usually pronounced as a "v," as it would be in Persian or Turkish.
The "Black" (Turkish qara) Khâns displace the Sâmânids in Transoxania and begin the process whereby the region, now Turkestan, becomes predominately Turkish. Vassals of the Seljuks and then of the Buddhist Qara-Khitaï, the khâns survive until absorbed in the brief empire of the Khwârazm Shâhs.
| SELJUK GREAT SULT.ÂNS | |
|---|---|
| T.ughrul I Beg | 1037-1063 |
| 1055 frees Caliphs from Shi'ite Buwayids; granted title of Sult.ân | |
| Alp Arslan | 1063-1073 |
| Destroys Roman army, captures Emperor Romanus IV, Battle of Manzikert, 1071 | |
| Malik Shâh I | 1073-1092 |
| Sult.âns of Rûm independent, 1092 | |
| Mah.mûd I | 1092-1094 |
| Berk Yaruq (Barkiyâruq) | 1094-1105 |
| Malik Shâh II | 1105 |
| Muh.ammad I Tapar | 1105-1118 |
| Ah.mad Sanjar | in Khurâsân 1097-1157 |
| 1118-1157 | |
| Defeat by Qara-Khitaï, driven out of Transoxania, 1141 | |
| Mah.mûd II | in Iraq 1118-1131 |
| Dâwûd | in Iraq 1131-1132 |
| T.ughril II | in Iraq 1132-1134 |
| Mas'ûd | in Iraq 1134-1152 |
| Malik Shâh III | in Iraq 1152-1153 |
| Muh.ammad II | in Iraq 1153-1160 |
| Great Sultanate breaks up, 1157 | |
| Sulaymân Shâh | in Iraq 1160-1161 |
| Arslan Shâh | in Iraq 1161-1176 |
| T.ughril III | in Iraq 1176-1194 |
| Conquest by Khwârazm Shahs, 1194 | |
The Sejuks created a great empire in Central Asia and profoundly transformed the politics and even the ethnology (with the spread of Turkic peoples) of the Middle East. After being freed from the Buwayids by the Orthodox Seljuks, the Caliph bestows a new title on T.ughrul Beg: Sult.ân -- "Power, Dominion, Authority." This looked like it might divide the ultimate authority in Islâm into secular and divine halves, between the Sult.ân and the Caliph. It might have, had the Seljuk domain maintained its unity and its power, which it didn't. The title of Sult.ân, rather than signifying unique and universal authority, henceforth becomes the title of choice for successor states. The greatest long term consequence, however, of the Seljuk state was the destruction of Roman power in Anatolia. There was no way of knowing it at the time, but the battle of Manzikert in 1071 was the end of Mediaeval Romania and the beginning of modern Turkey.
Under Alp Arslan and Malik Shâh there was considerable intellectual and cultural achievement, in part encouraged by their great Vizir, Niz.âm al-Mulk. This included the greatest of Islamic philosophers, al-Ghazâlî (1058-1111), and the mathematician, astronomer, and poet 'Umar Khayyâm (d.1122). Khayyâm's fatalism, although with its Islamic overtones, may owe more to an Iranian sensibility, as would what seems to be his worldiness and even cynicism ("Of all that one should care to fathom, I was never deep in anything but Wine," as FitzGerald translated it). Harsher times and considerably less intellectual daring were ahead.
The map below shows Islâm at the death of Malik Shâh I (1092). The Seljuk Great Sultanate, so vast (at least in Asia) and formidable, will now fragment, weaken, and disappear. When the First Crusade arrives in 1098, neither Seljuks nor Fatimids are in any shape to resist it. There is some irony in this, since the Crusades were initiated in response to the Seljuk conquest of Anatolia, which was then partially recovered for Romania. The extent of Seljuk control over the Ghaznawids is unclear, but the Ghûrids are just beginning their rise against their suzerains, whom they will replace (1186). While the Ghûrids fall to the Khwârazm Shâhs (1215), their slave vassals in India found the Sultanate of Delhi. The Almoravids have crossed over to Spain, defeated the Christians (1086), and delayed the Reconquista. When the Fatimid vassals, the Zirids of Tunisia, converted to Orthodox Islâm (1049), the Fatimids rid themselves of some troublesome Arab tribes by directing them to North Africa. This was a sterile revenge which gained the Fatimids nothing, but did contribute to an Arabization of North Africa.
| THE GHÛRIDS | |
|---|---|
| Abû 'Alî | Ghaznawid vassal, 1011-c.1035 |
| 'Abbâs | |
| Muh.ammad | c.1059 |
| H.asan | |
| H.usayn I | 1100-1146 |
| Sûrî | 1146-1149 |
| Sâm I | 1149 |
| H.usayn II | 1149-1161 |
| Muh.ammad Sayf ad-Dîn | 1161-1163 |
| Muh.ammad Bahâ' ad-Dîn | Sult.ân, 1163-1203 |
| Muh.ammad Mu'izz ad-Dîn | Ghazna, 1173-1203 |
| Sult.ân in Ghûr & India, 1203-1206 | |
| Mah.mûd Ghiyâth ad-Dîn | 1206-1212 |
| Yïldïz Mu'izzî Tâj ad-Dîn | governor of Ghazna, 1206-1215 |
| Sâm II Bahâ ad-Dîn | 1212-1213 |
| Khwârazm Vassals | |
| Atsïz 'Alâ ad-Dîn | 1213-1214 |
| Muh.ammad Shujâ' ad-Dîn | 1214-1215 |
| Khwârazm Conquest, 1215 | |
The Ghaznawids eventually came under the suzerainty of the Sejuks, and about the same time start displaying Persian rather than just Arabic (or Turkish) names. Their end came from the Ghûrids, one time vassals and now aggressive conquerers in their own right, following the last Ghaznawids to their last refuge in the Punjab. Thus the first permanent Islâmic state in Northern India became established, with the Ghûrids own vassals beginning the line of the Sult.âns of Delhi -- we even see a title with a word that will become very famous in India, Tâj ad-Dîn, "Crown of the Religion." Soon, however, the power of the Khwârazm Shâhs began to overtake the Ghûrids -- though the Mongols were not far behind.
| THE KHWÂRAZM SHÂHS | |
|---|---|
| Ekinchi ibn Qochqar | Seljuk governor, 1097 |
| Arslan Tigin Muh.ammad Qut.b adDîn | 1097-1127 |
| Qïzïl Arslan Atsïz 'Alâ' adDîn | 1127-1156 |
| Vassal of Qara Khitaï, 1141 | |
| Il Arslan | 1156-1172 |
| Tekish Tâj adDunyâ wadDîn | 1172-1200 |
| Overthrows last Sejuks in Iraq, 1194 | |
| Muh.ammad 'Alâ' adDîn | 1200-1220 |
| Conquest of Qarakhânids, 1212, of Ghûrids, 1215 | |
| Mengübirti Jalâl adDîn | 1220-1231 |
| Thrown out of Transoxanian by Mongols, 1220-1221; Mongol conquest, 1231 | |
Jalâl adDîn was deposed without a major expenditure of Mongol effort. Greater effort came in 1256, when Qubilai Khan's brother Hülägü arrived with full Mongol force and the intention to conquer the whole Middle East. The long Abbasid Caliphate ended when Hülägü killed the last Caliph, perhaps at the urging of his Christian wife. The Seljuks of Rûm were subjugated, but then the Great Khan Möngke died in 1259. Hülägü returned to Mongolia to elect Qubilai Great Khan. This permanently redirected the main force of the Mongols, now against China. When the Mamlûks defeated a Mongol party in 1260, this was the practical end of Mongol expansion in the Middle East. Nevertheless, what was left was the massive state of the Il Khâns, which survived until collapsing in confusion in 1338. This was a brief ascendancy; and the great traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited the Khân Abû Sa'îd in 1327, at the flood tide of Mongol power, found upon his return from China and India, in 1348, that the realm had already disintegrated. Mongol successors, like the Jalayirids and the Black Sheep Turks, are followed on the Mongol page.
| THE ZANGID ATABEGS OF MOSUL, ALEPPO, & DAMASCUS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Zangî I 'Imâd adDîn | appointed by Seljuk Sult.ân Mah.mûd II, 1127; Atabeg of Mosul, 1127-1146 | ||
| Capture of the County of Edessa from Crusaders, 1144 | |||
| MOSUL | ALEPPO, & DAMASCUS | ||
| Ghâzî I Sayf adDîn | 1146-1149 | Mah.mûd Nûr adDîn | 1147-1174 |
| Mawdûd Qut.b adDîn | 1149-1170 | Second Crusade, 1147-1149; captures Damascus, 1154; sends Shîrkûh to conquer Egypt, 1169; Shîrkûh dies, command passes to Saladin, 1169 | |
| Ghâzî II Sayf adDîn | 1170-1180 | Ismâ'îl Nûr adDîn | 1174-1181 |
| Mas'ûd I 'Izz adDîn | 1180-1193 | SINJÂR | |
| Zangî II 'Imâd adDîn | Sinjâr, 1171-1197 | ||
| JAZÎRA | Damascus & Aleppo, 1181-1183 | ||
| Sanjar Shâh Mu'izz adDîn | 1180-1208 | Conquest of Damacus & Aleppo by Saladin, 1183 | |
| Arslan Shâh I Nûr adDîn | Mosul, 1193-1211 | Muh.ammad Qut.b adDîn | 1197-1219 |
| Mah.mûd Mu 'izz adDîn | Jazîra, 1208-1241 | ||
| Mas'ûd II 'Izz adDîn | Mosul, 1211-1218 | ||
| Arslan Shâh II Nûr adDîn | 1218-1219 | ||
| Mah.mûd Nâs.ir adDîn | 1219-1234 | Shâhanshâh 'Imad adDîn, Mah.mûd Jalâl adDîn, & 'Umar Fat.h adDîn | 1219-1220 |
| Conquest by Ayyûbids, 1220 | |||
| Lu'lu' Badr adDîn | Mosul, Lu'lu'id, 1234-1259 | Mas'ûd al-Malik al-Z.âhir | Jazîra, 1241-1250 |
| Ismâ'îl Rukn adDîn | Lu'lu'id, 1259-1262 | Conquest by Ayyûbids, 1250, then Lu'lu'ids | |
| Mongol dominion, 1254, conquest, 1262 | |||
| THE AYYÛBID SULT.ÂNS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| EGYPT | DAMASCUS | ||
| 1169-1193 | anNâs.ir I S.alâh.udDîn (Saladin) Yûsuf ibn Ayyûb | 1183-1186 | |
| Battle of the Horns of Hattin, Capture of King Guy of Jerusalem; Fall of Jerusalem, 1187; Third Crusade, led by King Richard I, 1189-1192 | |||
| al-'Azîz Imad adDîn | 1193-1198 | al-'Afd.al Nûr adDîn | 1186-1196 |
| al-Mansûr Nâs.ir adDîn | 1198-1200 | al-'Adil I Sayf adDîn | 1196-1201 |
| 1200-1218 | |||
| Fourth Crusade, 1202-1204 | |||
| 1218-1238 | al-Kamil I Nâs.ir adDîn | al-Mu'az.z.am Sharaf adDîn | Governor 1201-1218 |
| 1218-1227 | |||
| al-Nâs.ir II S.alâh. adDîn | 1227-1229 | ||
| al-Ashraf I Muz.affar adDîn | 1229-1237 | ||
| asS.âlih. I 'Imad adDîn | 1237-1238 1239-1245 | ||
| 1238 | |||
| Fifth Crusade, 1228-1229; Jerusalem turned over to Emperor Frederick II; remained in Crusader Hands, 1229-1244 | |||
| 1238-1240 | al-'Adil II Sayf adDîn | 1238-1239 | |
| 1240-1249 | asS.âlih. II Najm adDîn | 1239, 1245-1249 | |
| 1249-1250 | al-Mu'az.z.am Tûrân-Shâh Ghiyât adDîn | 1249-1250 | |
| Sixth Crusade, 1248-1254; St. Louis IX captured and held for ranson, 1250-1254 | |||
| Shajar adDurr, widow of Najm adDîn | 1250 | anNâs.ir II S.alâh. adDîn | 1250-1260 |
| al-Ashraf II Muz.affar adDîn | 1250-1252, nominally until 1254 | ||
| Sult.ânate of Egypt seized by the Mamlûk Slave-soldier Aybak, 1252 | |||
| Damascus occupied by Mongols, then seized by the Mamlûk Baybars, 1260 | |||
The immortal Saladin (S.alâh.udDîn, the "Righteousness of the Religion"), who defeated and drove the Crusaders from Jerusalem, set up his sons and relatives in several subsidiary lines, in Damascus, Aleppo, H.ims., H.amât, Diyâr Bakr, and Yemen. Most of these were ended by 1260 by the Mamlûks or fell to the Mamlûks after Mongol conquest. The line in H.amâh (or H.amât) was a little more durable, only falling to the Mamlûks in 1332; and the line in Diyâr Bakr, with some interruptions, survived until conquest by the White Sheep Turks in the later 15th century. Only the lines in Egypt and Damascus are given in the table -- genealogies of the others are below.
Although originally ruling from Egypt, Saladin spent the last years of his life fighting in Syria and Palestine and was buried in Damascus, next to the Omayyad Mosque. The Ayyubid family still survives in Lebanon and retains Saladin's sword. His tomb is intact and open to visitors of the Omayyad Mosque. It was even visited by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
Under Saladin, Cairo replaces Baghdad as the intellectual center of the Central Islâmic lands. The great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) and the Sûfî 'Ibn 'Arabî (1165-1240) both relocated from Spain to Egypt. This climate became the subject of the play Nathan der Weise (1779) by Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781). Saladin's toleration, however, had its limits, since he executed another Sûfî, Suhrawardî (1153-1191) for heterodoxy -- less of a danger for Islâmic mystics than for Christian, but still a problem.
The genealogy of the Ayyûbids that follows is from The New Islamic Dynasties by Clifford Edmund Bosworth [Edinburgh University Press, 1996, pp.70-73] and A History of the Crusades, Volume III, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades by Steven Runciman [Cambridge University Press, 1951, 1993, p.532]. Since Bosworth simply gives names, and the genealogy there must be reconstructed from the patronymics, about which there are minor but confusing variations, some uncertainties occur. Some of these can be confirmed or corrected with Runciman's chart, which otherwise is innocent of dates and of diacritics for Arabic. The chart below includes the Ayyubid lines for Aleppo and H.ims. (Homs) that are not included in the table above. A larger popup table also includes the lines of H.amâh, Yaman (Yemen), and Diyâr Bakr. The continuation of the Ayyubids in Diyâr Bakr under the Mongols, until annexation by the White Sheep Turks, is covered in a separate popup. Dïyarbakir is today a city in Turkey, on the upper Tigris near where the Tigris and Euphrates approach each other before diverging courses. South of this, the broad area between the rivers came to be called the Nahrain, the "Two Rivers," or the Jazîra, the "Island." Today, the northern part lies in Turkey and the southern part in Syria. A corner of it lies in Iraq northwest of Mosul. Edessa, long the principal city of the area and a Crusader County, is now the city of Urfa in Turkey. It is not clear from the sources who actually used the title Sult.ân. I have restricted it to the rulers in Egypt and Damascus. Other rulers are simply "Lords," except Yemen, whose ruler Rucimen calls "King." As a matter of fact, every single one of these sovereigns employs the title al-Malik, i.e. "the King" -- so I have at least used it for Yemen.
| THE MULÛK AT-TAWÂ'IF, REYES DE TAIFAS | |
|---|---|
| Cordova, Qurt.ubah | |
| H.amdîn al-Mans.ûr | 1144-1145, 1146 |
| Ah.mad III Sayf ad-Dawla Hûdid | 1145-1146 |
| Yah.yâ ibn Ghâniya | 1146-1148 |
| Almohad conquest, 1148 | |
| Valencia, Balansiyyah | |
| Mans.ûr ibn 'Abdallâh Qâd.î | 1144-1147 |
| Abû 'Abdallâh Muh.ammad (Rey Lobo/Lope) | 1147-1172 |
| Hilâl | 1172 |
| Almohad conquest, 1172 | |
| Murcia, Mursiyah | |
|---|---|
| 'Abdallâh ibn 'Iyâd. | 1145-1148 |
| 'Abdallâh ibn Faraj ath-Thaghrî | 1145-1148 |
| Abû 'Abdallâh Muh.ammad of Valencia | 1148-1172 |
| Almohad conquest, 1172 | |
| The Banû Ghâniya of Majorca | |
| Muh.ammad al-Mussûfî ibn Ghâniya | 1126-1155 |
| 'Abdallâh | 1155 |
| Abû Ibrâhîm Ish.âq | 1155-1183 |
| Muh.ammad ibn Ish.âq | 1183-1184 |
| 'Alî ibn Ish.âq | 1184-1187 |
| 'Abdallâh ibn Ish.âq | 1187-1203 |
| Almohad conquest, 1203 | |
| MUWAH.ID (ALMOHAD) CALIPHS OF SPAIN & NORTH AFRICA | |
|---|---|
| 'Abdul-Mu'min | 1130-1163 |
| Yûsuf I abû Yaqûb | 1163-1184 |
| Ya'qûb ibn Yûsuf al-Mans.ûr | 1184-1199 |
| Muh.ammad ibn Ya'qûb | 1199-1213 |
| devastating defeat by Christian Spain at Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212 | |
| Yûsuf II Abû Yaqûb | 1213-1224 |
| 'Abdul-Wâh.id Abû Muh.ammad | 1224 |
| 'Abdallâh Abû Muh.ammad | 1224-1227 |
| Yah.yâ Abû Zakariyyâ' | 1227-1235 |
| Idrîs I ibn Ya'qûb | 1227-1232 |
| abandonment of Spain, 1228-1229 | |
| 'Abdul-Wâh.id ibn Idrîs I | 1232-1242 |
| 'Alî ibn Idrîs I | 1242-1248 |
| 'Umar ibn Ish.âq | 1248-1266 |
| Idrîs II ibn Muh.ammad | 1266-1269 |
| North Africa breaks up between H.afs.ids, Marînids, & 'Abdul-Wâdids (Zayyânids) | |
Almohad Spain ironically was distinguished by intellectual brilliance and by intolerant oppression. Some of the most important Islâmic and Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages lived during the Almohad period. The principal Islâmic figures were Ibn Bâjja (Avempace, d. 1138), Ibn T.ufayl (Abubacer, d. 1185), and especially, Ibn Rushd (Averroës, 1126-1198). The great Jewish philosophers were Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) and Moses Nahmanides (1194-1270). Ibn Rushd was probably one of the two or three greatest Islâmic philosophers ever, and was certainly the most influential on subsequent thought in 13th Century Europe. Maimonides was definitely the most important Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages. Both men suffered from the religious fanaticism of the Almohad regime. Ibn Rushd was the last Islâmic philosopher to rigorously defend Neoplatonic and Aristotelian principles that had come to be regarded as un-Islâmic. However, it was his skill as a physician that helped in his ultimate rehabilitation with the Caliph. Maimonides, on the other hand, fled the Almohad persecution of Christians and Jews all the way to Egypt, where he found refuge at the court of Saladin. Nahmanides, on the other hand, was already a denizen of Christian Spain as, in his lifetime, the Almohads lost most of the Spain, abandoned the peninsula, and then were even overthrown in North Africa.
The Almohads styled themselves Caliphs, something not always noted in historical summaries of the area. Since they were Orthodox and the Abbasid line in Baghbad had not ended yet (though it would by the end of the dynasty), the precedent must have been the Omayyad Caliphate in Spain -- if there was even a concern with precedent.
| The Marînid Amîrs of Morocco | |
|---|---|
| 'Abd al-H.aqq I | 1195-1217 |
| 'Uthmân I | 1217-1240 |
| Muh.ammad I | 1240-1244 |
| Abû Bakr | 1244-1258 |
| 'Umar | 1258-1259 |
| Ya'qûb | 1259-1286 |
| Yûsuf | 1286-1307 |
| 'Âmir | 1307-1308 |
| Sulaymân | 1308-1310 |
| 'Uthmân II | 1310-1331 |
| 'Alî | 1331-1351 |
| Fâris | 1351-1358 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1358-1359 |
| Ibrâhîm | 1359-1361 |
| Tâshufîn | 1361 |
| 'Abd al-H.alîm | 1361-1362 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1362-1366 |
| 'Abd al-'Azîz I | 1366-1372 |
| Muh.ammad IV | 1372-1374 |
| Ah.mad | 1374-1384, 1387-1393 |
| Mûsâ | 1384-1386 |
| Muh.ammad V | 1386 |
| Muh.ammad VI | 1386-1387 |
| 'Abd al-'Azîz II | 1393-1396 |
| 'Abd Allâh | 1396-1398 |
| 'Uthmân III | 1398-1420 |
| 'Abd al-H.aqq II | 1420-1465 |
| The Wat.t.âsid Amîrs of Morocco | |
| Yah.yâ I al-Wat.t.âsî | regent, 1428-1448 |
| 'Alî | regent, 1448-1458 |
| Yah.yâ II | regent, 1458-1459 |
| interregnum, Idrîsid Shurafâ, 1465-1471 | |
| Muh.ammad I | 1472-1504 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1504-1526 |
| 'Alî | 1526, 1554 |
| Ah.mad | 1526-1545, 1547-1549 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1545-1547 |
| The Sa'did Sharîfs of Morocco | |
| Muh.ammad I al-Qâ'im al-Mahdî | 1510-1517 |
| Ah.mad al-A'raj | 1517-1543 |
| Mah.ammad ash-Shaykh | 1517-1557 |
| 'Abdallâh | 1557-1574 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1574-1576 |
| 'Abd al-Malik | 1576-1578 |
| Ah.mad | 1578-1603 |
| Zaydân | Fez, 1603-1604; Marrakech, 1609-1627 |
| 'Abdallâh | Marrakech, 1603-1606; Fez, 1606-1609 |
| Mah.ammad | Fex, 1606-1613 |
| 'Abdallâh | Marrakech, 1606-1609; Fex, 1609-1623 |
| 'Abd al-Malik ash-Shaykh | Fez, 1623-1627 |
| 'Abd al-Malik an-Nâs.ir | Marrakech, 1627-1631 |
| Muh.ammad al-Walîd | Marrakech, 1631-1636 |
| Mah.ammad ash-Shaykh | 1636-1655 |
| Ah.mad ash-Shaykh | 1655-1659 |
| The 'Alawid Sharîfs, Sult.âns, & Kings of Morocco, 1640-present | |
| The H.afs.id Amirs, Caliphs, or Sult.âns of Tunisia | |
|---|---|
| Yah.yâ I | 1229-1249 |
| Muh.ammad I | 1249-1277 |
| Seventh Crusade by St. Louis IX, 1270 | |
| Yah.yâ II | 1277-1279 |
| Ibrâhîm I | 1279-1283 |
| 'Abd al-'Azîz | 1283 |
| Ah.mad | 1283-1284 |
| 'Umar I | 1284-1295 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1295-1309 |
| Abû Bakr I | 1309 |
| Khâlid I | 1309-1311, d.1313 |
| Zakariyâ' I | 1311-1317 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1317-1318 |
| Abû Bakr II | 1318-1346 |
| Ah.mad I | 1346-1347 |
| 'Umar II | 1347 |
| Marînid rule, 1347-1350 | |
| al-Fad.l | 1350 |
| Ibrâhîm II | 1350-1369 |
| Khâlid II | 1369-1370 |
| Ah.mad II | 1370-1394 |
| 'Abd al-'Azîz | 1394-1434 |
| Muh.ammad IV | 1434-1435 |
| 'Uthmân | 1435-1488 |
| Yah.yâ III | 1488-1489 |
| 'Abd al-Mu'min | 1489-1490 |
| Zkariyâ' II | 1490-1494 |
| Muh.ammad V | 1494-1526 |
| Muh.ammad VI | 1526-1534, 1535-1542 |
| Ottoman occupation, 1534-1535; vassal of Charles V, 1635-1569 | |
| Ah.mad III | 1542-1569 |
| Ottoman rule, 1569-1573 | |
| Muh.ammad VII | 1573-1574 |
| vassal of Spain, 1573-1574; Ottoman conquest & direct rule, 1574-1705 | |
| The Zayyânid or Ziyânid Amîrs of Algeria | |
|---|---|
| Yaghmurâsan ibn Ziyân or Zayyân | 1236-1283 |
| 'Uthmân I | 1283-1304 |
| Muh.ammad I | 1304-1308 |
| Mûsâ I | 1308-1318 |
| 'Abd ar-Rah.mân I | 1318-1337 |
| Marînid rule, 1337-1348 | |
| 'Uthmân II & al-Zaîm | 1348-1352 |
| Marînid rule, 1352-1359 | |
| Mûsâ II | 1359-1389 |
| 'Abd ar-Rah.mân II | 1389-1394 |
| Yûsuf I | 1394 |
| Yûsuf I | 1394-1395 |
| Muh.ammad II | 1395-1400 |
| 'Abdallâh I | 1400-1402 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1402-1411 |
| 'Abd ar-Rah.mân III | 1411 |
| Sa'îd | 1411 |
| 'Abd al-Wâh.id | 1411-1424, 1428-1430 |
| Muh.ammad IV | 1424-1428 |
| Ah.mad I | 1430-1462 |
| Muh.ammad V | 1462-1469 |
| Abû Tâshufîn | 1469 |
| Muh.ammad VI | 1469-1504 |
| Muh.ammad VII | 1504-1517 |
| vassal of Spain, 1512 | |
| Mûsâ III | 1517-1528 |
| Ottoman presence, 1518 | |
| 'Abdallâh | 1528-1540 |
| Muh.ammad VIII | 1540-1541 |
| Ah.mad II | 1541-1543, 1544-1550 |
| Spanish occupation, 1543-1544 | |
| al-H.asan | 1550-1555 |
| Ottoman conquest, 1555; Barbary States | |
| French occupation, 1830-1871; French annexation; 1871-1962; Republic of Algeria, 1962-present | |
These tables are based on both The New Islamic Dynasties by Clifford Edmund Bosworth [Edinburgh University Press, 1996] and the Oxford Dynasties of the World by John E. Morby [Oxford University Press, 1989, 2002]. Bosworth has all of the rulers listed, while Morby gives only the Marînids [p.183] and H.afs.ids [p.185]. Morby has a clearer presentation, but Bosworth also has a brief discussion of the history.
With the Crusades, Francia begins to develop the seapower that enables it to return to North Africa. On the Seventh Crusade in 1270, St. Louis IX of France lands in Tunisia, formally as a preparation to return to Egypt but apparently simply at the self-interested urging of his brother, Charles of Anjou, who wanted to enlarge his Mediterranean empire. He dies instead and accomplishes nothing for Charles -- it is also the last Crusade.
After completing the expulsion of Islâm from Spain, both Spain and Portugal become intent on expanding into North Africa. Various cities get taken and held for a time, and local rulers become temporary vassals, but nothing permanent gets accomplished and it seems impossible to establish a durable or extensive presence on the continent.
It is not Europe but Turkey that actually does this. Both the H.afs.ids and Ziyânds come to an end with the Turkish conquest. Indeed, in the last stages, the local rulers sometimes relied on the Christians as allies against the Turks. North Africa thus became a theater of the larger conflict between Christendom and the Ottomans.
North Africa, however, was a long way from Constantinople. And as the Turkish reach slackened with time, local governors and princes began to run their own operations. This came to mean piracy and slaving. We enter the period of the Barbary States, a good three hundred years, when corsairs, from Algeria especially, were a plague on the surrounding seas, with ship after ship taken, and Christian crews and passengers sold on the slave markets. After 1604, when English pirates taught them Atlantic navigation, Barbary ships ranged as far as Newfoundland and even captured ships in Plymouth harbor. Between 1609 and 1616, they captured 446 English ships and sold more than 7000 English captives as slaves. Some such captives might be ransomed, but many others were lost the rest of their lives. Christian states were scandalized by this, but punitive expeditions were usually no more successful than they had been since St. Louis. An English expedition against Algeria in 1620 was a failure, but one in 1637 was more successful, seizing the city of Salee, with 300 captives freed. Nevertheless, it was easier to pay for "protection" and buy off the pirates (who also sometimes could be used as allies against other European powers). This was never more than partially effective, since, as the saying goes, once you pay the Danegeld, you can't get rid of the Dane (very similar kinds of pirates and slavers, as pagans, in their day).
The situation became especially infuriated to the new but distant United States of America. After paying $2,000,000 in extortion money, Thomas Jefferson had had enough and in 1801 sent the U.S. Navy and Marines against the city of Tripoli (actually just east of Tunisia, in Libya). This brought at least a temporary respite, and contributed a phrase ("the shores of Tripoli") to the Marine Hymn. The piracy and slaving did not really and fully end, however, until the French landed in Algeria, intent upon conquest, in 1830. They had a hard fight against the local charismatic leader, Abd al-Kader, from 1832 to 1847, but they accomplished the task. Fighting there would often be in French Algeria, for which the legendary Foreign Legion would be created, but local pirates would no longer plague the seas or harvest Christian merchants and travellers for slaves.
Islâmic Index
| The Keita Kings of Mali | |
|---|---|
| Mari Sun Dayâta (Mârî Jât.â) I | 1230-1255 |
| Mansâ Ulî/Ule | 1255-1270 |
| Mansâ Wâtî | 1270-1274 |
| Mansâ Khalîfa | 1274-1275 |
| Mansâ Abû Bakr I, Bata-Mande-Bori | 1275-1285 |
| Sabakura/Sâkûra | freedman, 1285-1300 |
| Mansâ Gaw/Qû | 1300-1305 |
| Mansâ Mamadu/Muh.ammad | 1305-1310, d.1312 |
| Mansâ Abû Bakr II | 1310-1312 |
| Mansâ Mûsâ I | 1312-1337 |
| Mansâ Maghan/Maghâ I | 1337-1341 |
| Mansâ Sulaymân | 1341-1360 |
| Mansâ Kamba/Qanba/Qâsâ | 1360-1361 |
| Mansâ Mari Dyâta/Mârî Jât.a II | 1361-1374 |
| Mansâ Mûsâ II | 1374-1382 |
| Mansâ Maghan II | 1382-1388/89 |
| Sandigi/S.andiki | usurper, 1288/89-1390 |
| Mansâ Maghan III, Mah.mûd | 1390 |
| succession strife, ascendancy of Songhay | |
The Islam that the Kings of Mali did want rigorously enforced was the prohibition of taking Muslims as slaves. Slavers from North Africa usually regarded all black people, Muslims or not, as fair game, and this became a matter of continuing annoyance, outrage, and reproach over time. The recent self-righteous expressing indignation over the European slave trade from the coast of West Africa usually forget that the trade began and long continued, in much the same volume, across the Sahara to the Arab north.
Today this area suffers from an advance of the desert that has continued through all historical time. The Sahara has only gotten worse in the last five thousand years and more. The mediaeval kingdom thus enjoyed considerable rainfall and arable land now lost. The modern Republic of Mali, although encompassing some of the same territory as the old Kingdom, nevertheless has no direct connection to it and is named just in commemoration of it.
| The Si & Askiya Kings of Songhay | |
|---|---|
| Sonni 'Alî Ber, the Great | 1464/1465-1492 |
| Abû Bakr/Bakari/Baru | 1492-1493 |
| Muh.ammad I Ture Askiya/Sikiya | 1493-1528, d.1538 |
| Mûsâ | 1528-1531 |
| Muh.ammad II Benkan | 1531-1537 |
| Ismâ'îl | 1537-1539 |
| Ish.âq I | 1539-1549 |
| Dâwûd | 1549-1582 |
| Muh.ammad III | 1582-1586 |
| Muh.ammad IV Bani | 1586-1588 |
| Ish.âq II | 1588-1591 |
| Muh.ammad V Gao/Kawkaw | 1591-1592 |
| conquest by Morocco, 1591-1592 | |
The kings of both Mali and Songhay are from Clifford Edmund Bosworth's The New Islamic Dynasties [Edinburgh University Press, 1996, pp.122-125].
| THE MAMLÛK SULT.ÂNS OF EGYPT, 1252-1517 | |
|---|---|
| Bah.rî line, 1252-1390 (usually Turkish) | |
| Aybak al-Turkumânî | 1250, 1252-1257 |
| 'Alî I | 1257-1259 |
| Qutuz al-Mu'izzî | 1259-1260 |
| Baybars I al-Bunduqdârî | 1260-1277 |
| Defeats Mongols, 1260 | |
| Baraka/Berke Khân | 1277-1279 |
| Salâmish/Süleymish | 1279 |
| Qalâw | |
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