750
edits
973: Ibn Ḥawqal on Christian-Muslim Marriages in Sicily: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
973: Ibn Ḥawqal on Christian-Muslim Marriages in Sicily (view source)
Revision as of 15:05, 2 June 2020
, 2 June 2020no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Chapter AR-EN|Theresa Jäckh|Ibn Ḥawqal, ''Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ'', ed. Michael J. De Goeje, rev. Johannes H. Kramers (Bibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum 2a), Leiden: Brill, 1938, p. 129, transl. Theresa Jäckh.|المشعمذون اكثر اهل حصونهم وباديتهم وضياعهم، رأيتهم التزويج الى النصارى على ان ما كان بينهم من ولدٍ ذكر لحق بأبيه من المشعمذون وما كانت من انثى فنصرانية مع امها، لايصلّون ولا يتطهرون ولا يزكون ولا يحجّون. وفيهم من يصوم شهر الرمضان ويغتسلون اذا صاموا من الجنابة. وهذه منقبةٌ لا يشَركهم أحد وفضيلة دون جميع الخلق، احرزوا بها في الجهل قصب السبق.|Most inhabitants of their fortresses, rural areas, and villages are ''mušaʿmiḏūn''. I have seen that they enter into marriage with Christian women, which leads to the boys being assigned to their fathers as ''al-mušʿamiḏūn'' and the girls becoming Christian women with their mothers. They do not pray, they do not perform acts of ritual purification, they do not give alms, and they do not go on pilgrimage. Some of them fast in the month Ramaḍān and thus achieve purification after great ritual impurity (''al-ğanāba''). This [practice] is a curiosity they do not share with anyone else in the world, and with this trait they have won the trophy in the race of stupidity.|<nowiki>== The Author & his/her Work: ==</nowiki> | {{Chapter AR-EN|Theresa Jäckh|Ibn Ḥawqal, ''Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ'', ed. Michael J. De Goeje, rev. Johannes H. Kramers (Bibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum 2a), Leiden: Brill, 1938, p. 129, transl. Theresa Jäckh.|المشعمذون اكثر اهل حصونهم وباديتهم وضياعهم، رأيتهم التزويج الى النصارى على ان ما كان بينهم من ولدٍ ذكر لحق بأبيه من المشعمذون وما كانت من انثى فنصرانية مع امها، لايصلّون ولا يتطهرون ولا يزكون ولا يحجّون. وفيهم من يصوم شهر الرمضان ويغتسلون اذا صاموا من الجنابة. وهذه منقبةٌ لا يشَركهم أحد وفضيلة دون جميع الخلق، احرزوا بها في الجهل قصب السبق.|Most inhabitants of their fortresses, rural areas, and villages are ''mušaʿmiḏūn''. I have seen that they enter into marriage with Christian women, which leads to the boys being assigned to their fathers as ''al-mušʿamiḏūn'' and the girls becoming Christian women with their mothers. They do not pray, they do not perform acts of ritual purification, they do not give alms, and they do not go on pilgrimage. Some of them fast in the month Ramaḍān and thus achieve purification after great ritual impurity (''al-ğanāba''). This [practice] is a curiosity they do not share with anyone else in the world, and with this trait they have won the trophy in the race of stupidity.|<nowiki>== The Author & his/her Work: ==</nowiki> | ||
Ibn Ḥawqal (d. after 378/988) was one of the major contributors to Arabic-Islamic geography and cartography in the 4th/10th century. He authored an extensive work which is based in the tradition of the Balḫī school and enriched by the experiences of his own travels. His aim was to cover the regions (''iqlīm, pl. aqālīm'') of the world and their borders, whilst also describing the inhabitants and their customs based on personal observation (''ʿiyān''). Originally from Nisibis in Upper Mesopotamia (known today as Nusaybin in southeastern Turkey), Ibn Ḥawqal set out from Baghdad to al-Mahdiyya in May 943 (Ramaḍān 331), where he stayed at the Fatimid court, before embarking on years of travelling. His journey brought him first to al-Andalus, North Africa, and the Southern Sahara (336-340/947-951) before he went east, as far as Armenia and Azerbaijan (ca. 344/955), and onward to Persia and Transoxiana (350-358/961-969 resp. 358/969). His last destination was Sicily, which he visited in the year 363/973, when the island was already under the suzerainty of the Fatimid Caliphate. It has been speculated, that Ibn Ḥawqal travelled on behalf of the Fatimids which would prompt the question as to what extent such an affinity to the Shiite-Ismaili dynasty might have ideologically influenced his writing.<ref name="ftn1">Wiet, L’importance; Miquel, Ibn Ḥawqal | Ibn Ḥawqal (d. after 378/988) was one of the major contributors to Arabic-Islamic geography and cartography in the 4th/10th century. He authored an extensive work which is based in the tradition of the Balḫī school and enriched by the experiences of his own travels. His aim was to cover the regions (''iqlīm, pl. aqālīm'') of the world and their borders, whilst also describing the inhabitants and their customs based on personal observation (''ʿiyān''). Originally from Nisibis in Upper Mesopotamia (known today as Nusaybin in southeastern Turkey), Ibn Ḥawqal set out from Baghdad to al-Mahdiyya in May 943 (Ramaḍān 331), where he stayed at the Fatimid court, before embarking on years of travelling. His journey brought him first to al-Andalus, North Africa, and the Southern Sahara (336-340/947-951) before he went east, as far as Armenia and Azerbaijan (ca. 344/955), and onward to Persia and Transoxiana (350-358/961-969 resp. 358/969). His last destination was Sicily, which he visited in the year 363/973, when the island was already under the suzerainty of the Fatimid Caliphate. It has been speculated, that Ibn Ḥawqal travelled on behalf of the Fatimids which would prompt the question as to what extent such an affinity to the Shiite-Ismaili dynasty might have ideologically influenced his writing.<ref name="ftn1">Wiet, L’importance; Miquel, Ibn Ḥawqal; for a recent critique see: Benchejroun, Requiem.</ref> | ||
Ibn Ḥawqal’s account has survived in three different versions dating to three different decades. The standard edition by Kramer offers a combination of all three textual traditions. One of them is known as “Book of Routes and Realms” (''Kitāb al-masālik wa-l-mamālik'') which—as the very title suggests—is still strongly influenced by the geographer al-Istaḫrī (d. mid-4<sup>th</sup>/10<sup>th</sup> c.) who had inspired Ibn Ḥawqal during his years of study. A later version bears the title “Face of the Earth” (''Ṣūrat al-arḍ''). It was written between 367/978 and 378/988 and is dedicated to a certain Abū l-Sarī al-Ḥasan b. al-Faḍl al-Iṣfahānī. Yet another version was intended for Sayf al-Dawla (r. 333-356/945-967), the Hamdānid ruler of Aleppo, who must have been deceased at that time, as Ibn Ḥawqal refers to events and developments, which occurred well after his death. Noteworthy are the twenty (respective twenty-one) cartographic depictions or maps, which are included in the later redactions of Ibn Ḥawqal’s work. | Ibn Ḥawqal’s account has survived in three different versions dating to three different decades. The standard edition by Kramer offers a combination of all three textual traditions. One of them is known as “Book of Routes and Realms” (''Kitāb al-masālik wa-l-mamālik'') which—as the very title suggests—is still strongly influenced by the geographer al-Istaḫrī (d. mid-4<sup>th</sup>/10<sup>th</sup> c.) who had inspired Ibn Ḥawqal during his years of study. A later version bears the title “Face of the Earth” (''Ṣūrat al-arḍ''). It was written between 367/978 and 378/988 and is dedicated to a certain Abū l-Sarī al-Ḥasan b. al-Faḍl al-Iṣfahānī. Yet another version was intended for Sayf al-Dawla (r. 333-356/945-967), the Hamdānid ruler of Aleppo, who must have been deceased at that time, as Ibn Ḥawqal refers to events and developments, which occurred well after his death. Noteworthy are the twenty (respective twenty-one) cartographic depictions or maps, which are included in the later redactions of Ibn Ḥawqal’s work. | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
Aside from the ideological bias and the resulting distortion of Ibn Ḥawqal’s account, it is, therefore, quite conceivable that Muslim Sicily witnessed complex and locally differing forms of social assimilation or “transculturation”, which eschew common categorization in terms of cultural affiliation.<ref name="ftn13">Epstein, Hybridity.</ref> In the context of interfaith marriages, Ibn Ḥawqal branded the male representatives of corresponding practice with the word ''al-mušaʿmiḏūn''. This term requires further contextualization. | Aside from the ideological bias and the resulting distortion of Ibn Ḥawqal’s account, it is, therefore, quite conceivable that Muslim Sicily witnessed complex and locally differing forms of social assimilation or “transculturation”, which eschew common categorization in terms of cultural affiliation.<ref name="ftn13">Epstein, Hybridity.</ref> In the context of interfaith marriages, Ibn Ḥawqal branded the male representatives of corresponding practice with the word ''al-mušaʿmiḏūn''. This term requires further contextualization. | ||
Alex Metcalfe was first to point out that the word ''al-mušaʿmiḏūn'' derives from the Hebrew word ''meshumadim'' | Alex Metcalfe was first to point out that the word ''al-mušaʿmiḏūn'' derives from the Hebrew word ''meshumadim'';<ref name="ftn14">Metcalfe, Wandel, p. 72.</ref> Giuseppe Mandalà supported this statement with further evidence and concluded that the term meant “apostates”.<ref name="ftn15">Mandalà, Minoranze, pp. 107-109.</ref> However, from the perspective of Jewish law (''Halakha'') the matter is more complicated:<ref name="ftn16">See the discussions in Zeitlin, Mumar; Teppler, ''Birkat''; ''Langer, ''Cursing.''</ref> the root ''sh''-''m''-''d'' has Hebrew and Aramaic origins. It can be found in the Tanach (i.e. the Hebrew Bible) in a number of instances, in which Yahweh punishes infidels or insurgents with destruction (חשמיד / ''hishmīd'', i.e. “he has destroyed”).<ref name="ftn17">2 Kings 21: 9; Deuteronomy 2: 22; 1 Chronicles 5: 25; the basic meaning of the word is “to spoil/ to perish.”</ref> In the Babylonian Talmud, the term ''meshumad'' (pl. ''meshumadim'') refers to a Jew who transgressed the boundaries of religious law—consciously, under pressure or, sometimes, voluntarily.<ref name="ftn18">Talmud Bavli, Chullin 5a:10, 11, 13, 14; Chullin 5b:1; Avodah Zarah 26b:1-3, Horayot 2a:15; Horayot 11a:12.</ref> As such, the ''meshumadim'' are not necessarily apostates in the sense of “apostasy from the faith”'' ''(''apostasia a fide''), but rather Jews whose religious practice is regarded as deviant or “corrupted,” but who are still deemed to be part of the Jewish community. | ||
There are, however, cases in which derivations of the root ''sh-m-d'' were also used to characterize those Jews, who had indeed defected from Judaism, namely due to external pressure and persecution. Evidence for this can be found in the Tosefta and the Talmud, where e.g. the reign of emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138) is referred to as “The Time of Oppression”, ''sha’at ha-shemad'' in Hebrew.<ref name="ftn19">Langer, ''Cursing'', p. 50; according to Grossberg, ''Heresy'', pp. 120-121, this is, however, not a contemporary designation.</ref> If ''ha-shemad'' is deemed as oppression or persecution, the ''meshumadim'' could be considered as those who gave up Judaism because of repressive political measures.<ref name="ftn20">Teppler, ''Birkat'', p. 67. </ref> In a similar vein, ''shemad'' and ''meshumadim'' can also be found in the writings of Maimonides (d. 601/1204), namely in his “Letter of Repression/Apostasy” (''Iggeret ha''-''shemad''), in which he addresses the Jews living under Almohad rule after 1161''.''<ref name="ftn21">Kraemer, ''Maimonides'', pp. 104-111.</ref> | There are, however, cases in which derivations of the root ''sh-m-d'' were also used to characterize those Jews, who had indeed defected from Judaism, namely due to external pressure and persecution. Evidence for this can be found in the Tosefta and the Talmud, where e.g. the reign of emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138) is referred to as “The Time of Oppression”, ''sha’at ha-shemad'' in Hebrew.<ref name="ftn19">Langer, ''Cursing'', p. 50; according to Grossberg, ''Heresy'', pp. 120-121, this is, however, not a contemporary designation.</ref> If ''ha-shemad'' is deemed as oppression or persecution, the ''meshumadim'' could be considered as those who gave up Judaism because of repressive political measures.<ref name="ftn20">Teppler, ''Birkat'', p. 67. </ref> In a similar vein, ''shemad'' and ''meshumadim'' can also be found in the writings of Maimonides (d. 601/1204), namely in his “Letter of Repression/Apostasy” (''Iggeret ha''-''shemad''), in which he addresses the Jews living under Almohad rule after 1161''.''<ref name="ftn21">Kraemer, ''Maimonides'', pp. 104-111.</ref> | ||