JSAI 54 (2023)

JSAI 54 (2023) Reuven Amitai Moshe Sharon: researcher, teacher, and colleague Moshe Sharon – List of publications 1 13 Albert Arazi Le narratif des Ayyām al-ʿArab selon la transmission d’Abū 23 Riyāsh R. Stephen Humphreys Just rule in the reign of al-Maʾmūn: Muslim and Christian 87 perspectives Will Kwiatkowski and A new waqf inscription from the turn of the tenth century CE Adam Silverstein Kate Raphael and Bridges and roads to Mamluk Gaza and beyond Reuven Amitai 109 133 Benjamin Z. Kedar The revenue of the harbor of Alexandria, 1175–1512, and the 181 secular fluctuation of Mediterranean commerce Leigh Chipman How and why did syrups survive Clot-Bey? Pharmacy in 209 nineteenth-century Egypt as a response to a new chemistry Frank H. Stewart An exchange marriage agreement among the Bedouin of 239 Central Sinai: text, translation and commentary Vahid Rafati A survey of Qurʾān commentaries as reflected in the Bābī- 321 Bahāʼī writings Sasha Dehghani The Kitāb-i-īqān, Iran and the challenge of the “new” 355 Moojan Momen The re-visioning of a chain of memory: Shoghi Effendi and 387 Bahā’ī history Mina Yazdani The bare life of Iranian Bahā’īs: the case of Shāhrūd, 1944 415 REVIEWS Pınar Emiralioğlu An Ottoman cosmography: translation of Cihānümā by Kātib Çelebi 451 Assaf Bar-Moshe Otto Jastrow. Der arabische Dialekt der Christen von Kaʿbīye 459 (Diyarbakır) D Gershon Lewental Joshua Lincoln. ‘Abdu’l-Bahā Abbās: Head of the Bahā’ī Faith: A Life 471 in Social and Regional Context BRIDGES AND ROADS TO MAMLUK GAZA AND BEYOND Kate Raphael Independent Scholar and Reuven Amitai The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract Under the Mamluk sultan Baybars (r. 1260-76), four bridges were constructed on the main road leading north from Gaza (soon to become a provincial capital) to just beyond Ludd (Lydda). We suggest here that this was part of an overall effort to improve transportation and communication in Palestine, both to facilitate the quick movement of troops, and to encourage trade and travel between Egypt and Syria and within the region itself. Starting in this period, we also see the establishment in Palestine (and beyond) of postal horse relay stations (the barīd) and a network of khans (caravanserais), along with a system of pigeon posts. The study focuses on the topography of the region north of Gaza to understand the location of the bridges, and how this corresponded to the local road system and khans. Subsequently, building techniques of the bridges are discussed, as is the wider historical – military, economic and social – context. The symbolic effect of bridges and their contribution to the legitimacy of the rulers and the Mamluk state as a whole are not forgotten. In general, we see here further examples how the Mamluks (who ruled in greater Syria from 1260-1516) contributed decisively to the changing landscape of the country and its overall development. Keywords Baybars, bridges, communications, Gaza, historical geography, infrastructure, logistics, Mamluk Sultanate, Palestine, transportation, trade LE NARRATIF DES AYYĀM AL-ʿARAB SELON LA TRANSMISSION D’ABŪ RIYĀSH Albert Arazi Université Hébraïque de Jérusalem Abstract Le commentaire d’Abū Riyāsh (m. 359/950-951) sur Kitāb al-Ḥamāsa d’Abū Tammām est aujourd’hui perdu. Les citations copieuses d’Abū Muḥammad alAʿrābī Ve/XIe, mais surtout celles d’al-Tibrīzī VIe/XIIe, mettent à notre disposition les renseignements réunis par ce commentateur. La présente étude s’attache à examiner les détails anthropologiques inédits que ce commentateur a réunis concernant le Préislam et les deux premiers siècles de l’Islam. Ainsi, il nous a été possible d’étudier les Ayyām al-ʿArab wa-Ayyām al-Islām selon un schéma narratif double: celui de la paralittérature d’un côté, mais aussi pour les n° 112-115 de Bāb al-Ḥamāsa (Yawm al-Baydāʾ), un narratif savant et raffiné qui peut servir de prémices à l’étude de faits historiques de cette époque. Keywords ayyām al-fasād, le conflit entre Kalb et les Fazāra sous ʿAbd al-Malik, fātik, Kalb, Quḍāʿa, al-ṣāʾifa, uṭum, yawm tiḥlāq al-limam HOW AND WHY DID SYRUPS SURVIVE CLOT-BEY? PHARMACY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EGYPT AS A RESPONSE TO A NEW CHEMISTRY Leigh Chipman Independent scholar Abstract How different was European pharmacy from Arabic pharmacy in the first half of the nineteenth century, before the advent of Pasteurism and the victory of germ theory in the 1870s? This article aims to examine continuity and change in Egyptian pharmacy during the first half of the nineteenth century, through the lens of textual analysis. After a brief discussion of the terms historically used in Arabic for pharmacists, we will turn to a typical form of preparation, the syrup, and look at the way syrups are dealt with in a number of major medieval pharmacopoeias, still in extensive use during the nineteenth century, as well as one composed by a professor at the medical school founded by Muḥammad ʿAlī: first, through comparing and contrasting general instructions for preparing syrups; and second, through recipes for syrups bearing the same name and used to treat the same illnesses in the books under discussion. What differences do we find? What stays the same? And what do these signify for the history of medicine in Egypt? Keywords Egypt—nineteenth century, pharmacopoeias, pharmacy, pre-modern medicine, syrups THE KITĀB-I-ĪQĀN, IRAN AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE “NEW” Sasha Dehghani Visiting Research Professor, Bahā’ī Chair for World Peace University of Maryland Abstract This article analyzes the significance of the Kitāb-i-Īqān, one of the central doctrinal works of the Bahā’ī Faith. It approaches the Kitāb-i-Īqān from a twofold perspective: the internal view of the Bahā’īs and the external view of Iranian Shīʿī clerics and intellectuals. In order to illustrate why this book has been perceived as a threat by the Shīʿa, the article reviews the history of Christianity’s (initial) assessment of the Qurʾān. In addition, based on a textual analysis, the article localizes the notion of “the new/modern” (jadīd) — and the Kitāb-i-Īqān’s interpretation of it — as one of the most important reasons for the antagonism of the Shīʿī clerical and intellectual establishment. The notion of “the new” is examined both within the theological frame of Shīʿī messianic expectations, and in light of Biblical passages. Finally, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of “renewal/modernity” in the Bahā’ī Faith, connections are drawn between the Kitāb-i-Īqān and other primary works, especially The Secret of Divine Civilization. Keywords Abrahamic faiths, Bahā’ī Faith, Iran, modernity, sacred scriptures, Shiism JUST RULE IN THE REIGN OF AL-MAʾMŪN: MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES R. Stephen Humphreys University of California, Santa Barbara Abstract The civil war (195-198/810-813) between the caliph al-Amīn and his brother al-Maʾmūn unleashed a decade and more of intense political disorder in many regions of the ʿAbbāsī caliphate. Particularly afflicted were the Christian communities of the Jazīra, which suffered severe violence at the hands of local Arab chieftains, who sought to make themselves the effective power brokers in this region. Caliphal authority was only restored in 209/825 after many years of struggle. The events and personalities of this period are portrayed in some detail from two strongly contrasting perspectives: the Baghdad-centered tradition (Arabic) preserved by Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr and al-Ṭabarī, and the Jazīra-focused narrative (Syriac) of the patriarch Dionysius of Tell-Mahré. These two traditions provide parallel discourses on the themes of caliphal authority, ideals of justice and good government, and the rights and privileges which non-Muslims could legitimately seek from Muslim rulers. The question pursued in this paper is whether these issues meant something quite different for Muslim and Christian thinkers, or whether they shared a similar understanding of them. Keywords: caliph, dhimma, justice, patriarch, rebellion, restoration THE REVENUE OF THE HARBOR OF ALEXANDRIA, 1175–1512, AND THE SECULAR FLUCTUATION OF MEDITERRANEAN COMMERCE Benjamin Z. Kedar The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract The debate whether an overall economic depression took place in the later Middle Ages has largely focused on evidence from European countries. The present article re-examines and corrects the crucial series of prices at which the Commune of Genoa farmed out the right to collect customs duties in the city’s harbor. It then juxtaposes these often-used data with five estimates of the revenue of the harbor of Alexandria and points to the congruity of the Genoese and Alexandrian series. This congruity may be taken to exemplify key fluctuations of Mediterranean commerce in medieval times. Keywords Alexandria, Benjamin of Tudela, economic depression, Genoa, harbor revenues, Ibn Khaldūn, Petrarch A NEW WAQF INSCRIPTION FROM THE TURN OF THE TENTH CENTURY CE Will Kwiatkowski Berlin and Adam Silverstein The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract This article presents an edition, translation, and analysis of one of the oldest surviving waqf texts, which in our view dates from the turn of the tenth century CE and originates in the Greater Syria region. The text, which records the endowment of an estate by a certain Abū Ṣāliḥ Khayr al-Khādim (a mawlā of the caliph al-Muʿtazz bi-’llāh), bears similarities to other waqf texts from this period and region, such as those published by Moshe Sharon and Amikam Elad, and our analysis considers the broad historical and intellectual context in which it is to be situated. Keywords ʿAbbāsī, Greater Syria, khādim (eunuch), mules, al-Muʿtazz bi-’llāh, waqf (pious endowment) THE RE-VISIONING OF A CHAIN OF MEMORY: SHOGHI EFFENDI AND BAHĀ’Ī HISTORY Moojan Momen The Afnan Library Abstract Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahā’ī Faith from 1921 to 1957, despite having a multitude of other tasks and responsibilities, devoted a great amount of time to translating and annotating a voluminous history of the Bābī movement, The Dawn-Breakers (published in 1932). This article examines Shoghi Effendi’s leadership of the Bahā’ī Faith, in particular his plan for establishing an organisational structure for the Bahā’ī community and spreading the religion to all parts of the world so as to be able to have an adequate basis for the election of the Universal House of Justice. This paper suggests that the publication of The Dawn-Breakers was a necessary step in Shoghi Effendi’s plan. He needed to establish a communal memory (a “chain of memory”) of the early history of the Bahā’ī Faith – a myth of heroism and sacrifice – as a prelude to asking the Bahā’īs, in particular the Western Bahā’īs, to make the sacrifices necessary in carrying out the planned expansion of the Bahā’ī Faith to new parts of the world. The paper examines the writings of Shoghi Effendi to bring to light the manner in which he used The DawnBreakers, his exhortations to the North American Bahā’ī community to study the book, and his creation of the idea that the North American Bahā’īs were the “spiritual descendants of the Dawn-breakers”. This in turn created the enthusiasm and readiness among the North American Bahā’īs to leave their comfortable homes for an often remote “pioneer post” in less developed countries where they would face difficult and uncomfortable circumstances. Keywords Bābī; Bahā’ī; Chain of Memory; Nabīl Zarandī; Shoghi Effendi; The DawnBreakers A SURVEY OF QURʾĀN COMMENTARIES AS REFLECTED IN THE BĀBĪ-BAHĀʼĪ WRITINGS Vahid Rafati Research Department, Bahai World Center, Haifa Abstract This article surveys some major writings of the Bāb, Bahā’u’llāh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahā, central religious leaders of the Bahā’ī Faith, written originally in Arabic and Persian languages about Qurʾānic verses, topics, issues, and concepts. The subject of the Qurʾān as it is reflected and interpreted in the Bābī-Bahā’ī writings is vast, and therefore, the focus of the article has been to present a list of the major available works with a brief description of each work. Keywords Bahā’ī Qurʾān exegesis; Qurʾān in the writings of the Bāb; Qurʾān in the writings of Bahā’u’llāh; Qurʾān in the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahā; Book of Certitude; The Persian Bayān AN EXCHANGE MARRIAGE AGREEMENT AMONG THE BEDOUIN OF CENTRAL SINAI: TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY Frank H. Stewart The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Abstract At the center of this article is a transcript of the discussion leading to an exchange marriage agreement made in 1978 by members of the Aḥaywāt tribe in central Sinai. They arrange for two males each to marry the other’s sister. The text is given in Arabic together with an introduction, English translation, notes, and a commentary. The article begins with some general remarks about exchange marriage, and is concluded with a glossary. Keywords Arabic dialects, Bedouin, customary law, Egypt, marriage, Sinai, social anthropology THE BARE LIFE OF IRANIAN BAHĀʾĪS: THE CASE OF SHĀHRŪD, 1944 Mina Yazdani Eastern Kentucky University Abstract This article explores the persecution of the Bahāʾīs in Iran in the first half of the 1940s. Drawing on primary sources including government documents, memoirs, newspaper articles, and the correspondence of the Bahāʾī institutions of the time, it focuses on interactions between the Shīʿī clerics, the people who followed them, the government (both central and local), and the Bahāʾīs. It proposes that the chaotic period of 1941–1944 in Allied-occupied Iran—with an increase in the religious activities of Bahāʾīs, a resurgence in the power of the ʿulamāʾ, weak and unstable cabinets, a young and inexperienced king, and governments unwilling or unable to protect Bahāʾīs—created what Giorgio Agamben (b. 1942) calls a “state of exception.” Taking a microhistorical approach, the article then focuses on events in the north-central city of Shāhrūd in 1944, when, after a period of threats and tension, Bahāʾīs were killed and their houses were plundered. Using Agamben’s conceptualizations, the article proposes that in that “state of exception,” in the “camp” of Shāhrūd Bahāʾīs fell into the category of homo sacer: forcibly reduced to the state of “bare life,” deprived of the right to live, outside the country’s legitimate social life. Keywords Agamben, Bahāʾī, Iran, Pahlavi, persecution, Shāhrūd, Shīʿī clerics, World War II