Hierarchy And Egalitarianism In Islamic Thought – Louise Marlow (1)

The only category either author names specifically is the one in which they both had a particular interest, namely that of the secretaries; they also report that these were internally divided into different ranks, since Jamshid had ‘regulated the stations of the secretaries (rattaba manazil al-kuttaby .”

In the early fifth/eleventh-century Ghurar akhbar mulik al-Furs wa siyari- him of al-Tha‘alibi, Jamshid’s general achievements are described as in al- Tabari’s history, but the author departs from al-Tabari to follow unambiguously the quadripartite model of the Sasanian historiographical tra- dition in his enumeration of the various social categories inaugurated by the monarch.

He recounts a speech, reminiscent in part of al-Tabari’s tone and in part of Bal‘ami’s, said to have been delivered by Jamshid to the men and jinn of the seven climes over which he ruled: ‘Indeed, I have come to rule over you by the favour with which God Almighty has distinguished me and by the light with which he has clothed me, that I should make the earth prosperous, make [his] creatures secure, spread justice, increase generosity, give freely, bring goodness to life, and cause evil to die.’

Here al-Tha ‘alibi implies a relationship between the inauguration of the social strata and the practice of justice, for his account continues with the narration of Jamshid’s series of four good works. After the manufacture of weapons and tools, and the making of fabrics and clothing, Jamshid regulated mankind into various strata: the army, who defended the frontiers; physicians and religious scholars (al- ‘ulama’ bi’l-abdan wa’l-adyaGn); secretaries and accountants; and merchants and artisans.”? The prominence given by al-Tha‘alibi to the physicians (a group to which he himself belonged) is noteworthy.

Also striking is the disappearance altogether of the cultivators, who are replaced by merchants. Similar to al-Tha‘alibi’s description of Jamshid’s four-fold stratification is that of Gardizi in his Zayn al-akhbdr (440-444/1049-1053). Gardizi, unlike al- Tha‘alibi, places the men of religious learning (dandydan) first in the hier- archy and the soldiers second.

His third group consists of secretaries, doctors and astrologers, a combination that anticipates Nizami Samarqand?’s treat- ment, in his Chahar magqdleh, of the four categories regarded as indispensable to rulers.®° Gardizi’s fourth group includes cultivators, merchants and arti- sans.*! Ibn al-Balkhi, author of the early sixth/twelfth-century Farsnameh, follows 78 Al-Jahshiyari, Kitab al-wuzara’ wa’l-kuttdb, p. 1; A. b.

By bringing together and examining a diverse body of literature from the Arab and Persian worlds of the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, Louise Marlow explores the tension that existed between the traditional egalitarian ideas of early Islam and the hierarchical impulses of the classical period. The literature demonstrates that while Islam’s initial orientation was markedly egalitarian in both religious and social terms, the social aspect of this egalitarianism was soon undermined in the aftermath of Islam’s political success, and as hierarchical social ideas from older cultures in the Middle East were incorporated into the new polity.

Although the memory of its early promise never entirely receded and remnants of the ideal survive in many parts of the tradition, social egalitarianism quickly came to be associated with political subversion and various attempts were made to dilute its influence. On account of its originality and chronological scope, Louise Marlow’s book will be of use to a wide and interested readership, not only of Islamic and medieval historians, but also of scholars assessing the impact of the recent Islamic revival.

=twae Pose Es si) | Burana 8 Wis ; ARNG Potties % on | RAO ee ar BES he aie fle sky a Roe ie is Loe de al MSE ‘ wR Capt fae. i, | reas et Fe a . — * moe = ba ; ; i a Ad 72 : (» 3a = ers * hal – !

PANEL oa) i oe – < oy ay s “a 7 ; ' ‘ =F ee _ ° ie oe Pp Le ’ < ‘ ok a ‘ J te « ny J ps i _ f pe §; ore ce re . » + : ee 1 pg od K-* we * aad } rie fl -to** £ 7 ron i i Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization Editorial board DAVID MORGAN (general editor) MICHAEL COOK JOSEF VAN ESS _ BARBARA FLEMMING TARIF KHALIDI METIN KUNT_ W.

F. MADELUNG ROY MOTTAHEDEH BASIM MUSALLAM Titles in the series STEFAN SPERL. Mannerism in Arabic poetry: a structural analysis of selected texts, 3rd century AH/9th century AD-Sth century AHI/11th century AD BEATRICE FORBES MANZ. The rise and rule of Tamerlane AMNON COHEN.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 76386b2b017dcc74
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 15,997,725 bytes (15.257 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 0521564301, 052189428X
• Pages: 221
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 528.9 minutes
• Total Words: 105,780
• Total Characters: 671,795
• Average Words per Page: 478.64
• Average Characters per Page: 3039.8

Most Frequent Words

social (632), vol (554), ibn (428), see (327), islamic (322), also (322), men (262), one (222), among (162), muslim (161), people (155), early (151), between (150), man (150), religious (138), abd (138), according (137), al-din (134), egalitarianism (129), iranian (127), political (123), wealth (122), kitab (117), cairo (114), islam (113), god (112), world (112), beirut (112), knowledge (109), hadith (109), society (106), many (105), first (105), occupations (104), abi (101), noble (96), literature (95), arab (95), said (93), nobility (93), history (92), ali (92), egalitarian (91), vols (91), although (89), status (88), ideals (87), century (86), sources (84), group (83), equality (81), two (81), tradition (80), arabic (80), classical (79), new (79), like (78), period (76), others (76), various (75), culture (75), several (75), categories (74), groups (74), differences (73), order (73), second (73), model (73), however (71), works (70), persian (69), rank (69), thus (69), tehran (68), made (67), des (67), whose (66), human (66), example (65), common (65), religion (64), verse (64), since (64), four (64), al-jahiz (64), studies (63), general (63), muslims (63), even (63), scholars (62), appears (61), terms (60), view (60), iran (60), ruler (60), secretaries (60), authors (60), cambridge (59), rather (59), nature (59).

PDF Download