The Turkic Peoples in Medieval Arabic Writings by Yehoshua Frenkel

Author:Yehoshua Frenkel [Frenkel, Yehoshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Middle East, General, Europe, Medieval, Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781317619581
Google: 80icBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-11-27T16:08:08+00:00

The Buwayhids

I swear on my life that al-Ṣābī should not be reproached188 for the matters that he chose to include in his book, nor for his motives in writing it. This is so, because al-Ṣābī had suffered greatly at the hands of ʿAḍud al-Dawla and this made him fearful,189 yet in contrast to his expectation he was surprised by the favour ʿAḍud al-Dawla showed towards him. ʿAḍud al-Dawla had borne rancour against al-Ṣābī because he was offended by a sentence that this author had used when he wrote in the name of the ʿAbbāsid Caliph al-Ṭāʾiʿ (r. 974–991)190 to ʿAḍud al-Dawla, while the latter was in the province of Fars (Persia) considering whether to march on Baghdad, and to drive his cousin Bakhtiyār, nicknamed ʿIzz al-Dawla [“the might of the dynasty”], the son of Muʿizz al-Dawla [“the valour of the dynasty”], out of the capital city.191 Bakhtiyār succeeded in consolidating his position as the master of orders and prohibitions, and ʿAḍud al-Dawla competed with him for influence at the majestic court of the Caliph.192

In addition ʿAḍud al-Dawla was affronted by the language of instruction used by al-Ṣābī and wished to punish al-Ṣābī on account of trifling matters that happened incidentally in the past, at the time of Rukn al-Dawla (947–77), and which caused tension between them. This included the differences that followed al-Ṣābī’s giving ʿIzz al-Dawla Bakhtiyār the royal title “King of Kings” (Shah-an-Shah).193 By elevating ʿIzz al-Dawla to the highest status, al-Ṣābī departed from the established protocol of the Buwayhid house, which decreed equality among the princes. This weighed heavily on ʿAḍud al-Dawla,194 who loathed al-Ṣābī’s coarseness. He resented him and conceived vehement hatred for him. ʿAḍud al-Dawla knew that al-Ṣābī had preferred these words,195 and in writing the epistle chose to employ them in order to stir up dissension. Consequently, he was aware that al-Ṭāʾiʿ (d. 991) and ʿIzz al-Dawla had no part in the composition of this epistle, and that they were not responsible for the style al-Ṣābī had chosen nor for the painful and ignominious words he had used in his letter.

Subsequently ʿAḍud al-Dawla achieved his purpose, defeated ʿIzz al-Dawla and killed him [in May 978].196 <30> Furthermore, by ordering his blood be shed,197 ʿAḍud al-Dawla insulted ʿIzz al-Dawla Bakhtiyār’s inviolability (ʿiṣma).198 This distressed al-Ṣābī, who was pursued by terror, and being on the brink of death, he was eager to placate ʿAḍud al-Dawla. Standing on the edge of the abyss and hoping to rescue his soul from ʿAḍud al-Dawla’s tusks and claws he wrote the book entitled “the Crown” (al-Tājī).

After al-Ṣābī felt secure from the awe of death’s verdict and his reinstatement in the governmental services, he did not hesitate to employ the same old discourse once more. Thus, he added and reduced, lengthened and shortened, blamed and praised, stinted and expanded, attributed niggardliness and ascribed generosity, ascended and descended, extinguished and inflamed.

We should concede that it befitted ʿAḍud al-Dawla to refrain from false self-glorification. He abstained from fake boasting and did not acknowledge any virtue that was not a quality of his.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.