This article investigates the intellectual production of the celebrated scholar Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) during the decade or so he spent in the service of the Ghūrid sultans, from ca. 591/1195 to 602/1206. Operating exclusively... more
This article investigates the intellectual production of the celebrated scholar Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) during the decade or so he spent in the service of the Ghūrid sultans, from ca. 591/1195 to 602/1206. Operating exclusively within religious disciplines – theology, law and Qurʾān exegesis – and displaying pronounced rhetorical and dialectical features, this production contrasts significantly with his earlier and later production, which most notably exhibits much closer engagement with philosophy. It is argued that this “Ghūrid interlude” in al-Rāzī’s production reflects his role in spearheading the sultans’ project of divesting from the socially and culturally peripheral Karrāmiyya and fashioning themselves as champions of a sophisticated and cosmopolitan orthodoxy, and is furthermore aligned with his patrons’ transregional policies, including their pro-Abbasid stance. Al-Rāzī was in return invested by the Caliph al-Nāṣir with the title “he who summons people to the True One” (al-dāʿī li-l-khalq ilā l-ḥaqq), more commonly attested as “he who summons to God” (al-dāʿī ilā llāh). The article also offers a new examination of al-Rāzī’s Ghūrid-period intellectual biography and oeuvre.
It is known to very few, that five hundred years ago, before the arrival of the Mughals, the demographics of the northern regions comprising Pakistan were much different. There existed a substantial and well established Tajik (Persian)... more
It is known to very few, that five hundred years ago, before the arrival of the Mughals, the demographics of the northern regions comprising Pakistan were much different. There existed a substantial and well established Tajik (Persian) farming population here from ancient times in the lush valleys of Peshawar and Swat (the Gandhara region). These areas formed part of a kingdom, ruled since Ghori times by a family of Muslim Tajiks known as Gibaris (also Swati and Jehangiri) who were converts from Zoroastrianism. They were the Sultans of the Kingdom of Swat or “Pakhli Sarkar” as it was known – which later became a dependency of the Sultanate of Kashmir founded by their kinsmen. Kashmir in turn was a “provincial sultanate” of the renowned Delhi Sultanate. The violent displacement from Kabul of the Yusufzai Pashtuns by the Timurids resulted in their migration to the Swat Kingdom, and both this and the subsequent Timurid (Mughal) conquests of India brought about the fall of both the Delhi and Swat Sultanates. Although the Delhi Sultanate is world famous, that of Swat is shrouded in mystery. It is the objective of this paper to apprise the reader of that history, as well as explain why it has been obscured.
This was a presentation at the Kochnev Memorial Seminar at Hofstra University, made on 10 March 2018. Based on new analyses of precious metal content in coins, it revisits the monetary history of the Shansabanid (Ghurid) conquest of... more
This was a presentation at the Kochnev Memorial Seminar at Hofstra University, made on 10 March 2018. Based on new analyses of precious metal content in coins, it revisits the monetary history of the Shansabanid (Ghurid) conquest of northwestern India in the late twelfth century.
The mint of Farwan in Afghanistan issued coins from the time of the Islamic conquest of the region in the ninth century until the city was destroyed by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. The coins collected at Begram by Charles Masson... more
The mint of Farwan in Afghanistan issued coins from the time of the Islamic conquest of the region in the ninth century until the city was destroyed by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. The coins collected at Begram by Charles Masson in the 1830s throw a detailed light on the coins of the city during this period and suggest the attribution of many mint-less coins to this mint.
Nomads have often been overlooked in the archaeological record, due to the ephemeral nature of their sites. The biased accounts found in the historical sources, which are largely the product of urban-based chroniclers, have contributed... more
Nomads have often been overlooked in the archaeological record, due to the ephemeral nature of their sites. The biased accounts found in the historical sources, which are largely the product of urban-based chroniclers, have contributed to the difficulties in recognizing the significant contributions nomads made to rural and urban life, and the economy in central Asia in the pre-Mongol period and beyond. The Ghurid dynasty of central Afghanistan (543-612 AH / 1148-1215 CE) is characterized as ruling over a seasonally nomadic society, a sizable proportion of which migrated annually between the lowland wintering region of Zamin-Dawar and its upland summer ‘capital’ at Firuzkuh. Firuzkuh is thought to be modern Jam, the site of the second tallest pre-modern minaret in the world. The 65 m high minaret has transfixed visitors to Jam and scholars alike since its re-discovery in 1957, leading most to conclude that it is an isolated monument with little more than minor fortifications nearby. Recent fieldwork by the Minaret of Jam Archaeological Project, however, has radically altered our understanding of the site. Along with the analysis of satellite images, we have demonstrated the existence of a ca 19 hectare settlement around the minaret, with significant areas of terraced domestic, as well as civic, structures. The size of the site implies a population which probably exceeded the natural carrying capacity of the surrounding landscape. High status imported sherds amongst the ceramic assemblage indicate that the site was integrated into the exchange systems of the region, despite its remote location, and appear to corroborate the historical accounts of loot flowing into the capital from the Ghurids’ campaigns in the northern Indian sub-continent. The significant investment in both the construction and elaboration of monumental and more mundane structures at Jam challenges long-established assumptions about nomads’ attitudes towards the built environment.
The Ghurids (1148–1215 ce) rose to prominence under the Shansabanid Dynasty when their armies torched Ghazna and Laskar-e Bazar, the capitals of their neighbors and predecessors, the Ghaznavids, in 1150–1. After breaking free from Saljuq... more
The Ghurids (1148–1215 ce) rose to prominence under the Shansabanid Dynasty when their armies torched Ghazna and Laskar-e Bazar, the capitals of their neighbors and predecessors, the Ghaznavids, in 1150–1. After breaking free from Saljuq dominion and consolidating control of their mountainous heartland in what is now Afghanistan, the Ghurids seized an empire which at its peak stretched from eastern Iran and Khurasan to Bengal in India. Their rapid imperial expansion, however, was short-lived, as they succumbed to the Khwarazm-Shah (a militaristic dynasty from the north) in 1215 and then the Mongols in 1222. Although traditionally seasonal nomads, recent archaeological work has revealed the Ghurids invested significant amounts of tribute and loot in monumental and more quotidian domestic architecture at their urban centers. The best known of these is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site of Jam in central Afghanistan, which is thought to be the Ghurid summer capital of Firuzkuh. Jam/Firuzkuh is famous for its magnificent, 65-meter-high minaret but was also home to an established Jewish community, documented in the historical sources, and archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Despite their transitory lifestyle, the short duration of their empire and the remote location of their heartland, the Ghurids made a lasting, albeit indirect, contribution to the region's history when their ghulams (slave soldiers) established the Delhi Sultanate (1206–90 ce) in India.
The site of Ghazni (Afghanistan) was extensively investigated between 1957 and 1978 by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan. Two secular buildings of the Islamic period were brought to light: the Ghaznavid palace and the... more
The site of Ghazni (Afghanistan) was extensively investigated between 1957 and 1978 by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan. Two secular buildings of the Islamic period were brought to light: the Ghaznavid palace and the so-called “house of lustrewares”, a dignitary’s private residence. A huge quantity of ceramics was collected from these buildings. The recent study of this pottery corpus has led to a better understanding of the ceramic productions of the Afghan region and, in particular, it has helped to shed new light on the history of Islamic Ghazni and its buildings.
