The "world" in the eyes of 9th century Abbasids
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Medieval Baghdad was a sight to behold. During its Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate, it was one of the world’s most stunning and cultured cities.
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Jar
Iraq, Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), 9th century
During the Abbasid caliphate (750-1258), relative peace and an initially consolidated government allowed for the arts and sciences to flourish. The caliphate’s first capital, Baghdad, and its later capital, Samarra, became centers for cultural and commercial production. Some of antiquity’s most important scientific treatises, such as Ptolemy’s writings on the stars, were translated into Arabic while court inventors made advancements in medicine, chemistry, and mathematics. In the arts, poets such as Abu Nuwas invigorated classical Arabic literature, and artists developed a style of decoration that the west would later call “arabesque,” which refers to repetitive vegetal patterns that can be found in almost every medium of Islamic art.
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Day 27: Shaykhah Shuhdah, Fakhr-un-Nissa!
Fakhr-un-Nissa Shuhdah was the daughter of Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn al-Faraj al-Dinawari, a Kurdish scholar in the Persian city of Dinawar, in modern-day Iran. He ensured that his daughter received an excellent education, and she studied with some of the most significant Islamic scholars of her day, becoming an expert in Hadith, the records of Muhammad’s actions outside of the Quran, as well as a noted calligrapher.
Settling in Baghdad with her husband, she became a teacher herself - in fact, students travelled from across the Abbasid Caliphate to hear her speak on theology, literature, and history, and she earned the title, among others, of Shuhdah al-Baghdadiyyah, the “Writer of Baghdad,” for her literary and calligraphic accomplishments.
After the death of her husband, Fakhr-un-Nissa, now middle-aged, devoted her time even further to her academic pursuits. With the assistance of a land donation for the Caliph, she opened a school, with free tuition for scholars. By the time of her death in 1112, the ninety-year-old teacher was famous and beloved, and her funeral was attended by thousands, from impoverished students to state officials.
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Everyone say ‘thanks Hulegu’
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𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗺𝗹𝘂𝗸 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀:
- 𝗧𝘂𝗹𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗱𝘀 (𝟴𝟲𝟴–𝟵𝟬𝟱 𝗖𝗘):
The Tulunid dynasty (al-ṭūlūnīūn) was founded and named after the Abbasid Turkic general and governor of Egypt - Ahmad ibn Tulun - in the year 868 CE, who formed the first ever independent state in Egypt (as well as parts of Syria) since the Ptolemaic dynasty (around 898 years prior).
Ahmad’s father Tulun was said to be a Turk from the region known to the Arabs as Tagharghar or in Turkic, Toghuz-oghuz or Toghuzghuz; this region by medieval Arab historians is attributed to the 𝐔𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐲𝐠𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞/𝐔𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞.
The Tulunids were the first state/dynasty of Turkic mamluk origins and reigned from 868 to 905 CE with nominal autonomy, until the Abbasid Caliphate brought their domains back into Abbasid control.
Pictured below is the Ahmad ibn Tulun Mosque constructed between the years 876-879 CE. The mosque was meant to serve as the main congregational mosque in the new Tulunid capital of Al Qata’i, and is the oldest mosque/masjid in Egypt and one of the oldest in all of Africa.
Its architectural style is that of Samarra (Iraq/Mesopotamia) and very closely resembles the Great Mosque of Samarra constructed by the Abbasids between the years 847-861 CE.
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On This Day In History
July 30th, 762: The city of Baghdad is founded as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.
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This is history's first great revolt of enslaved Black people put to work on cotton plantations:
The Zanj Revolt was the first large-scale rebellion of enslaved Black people against an imperial power, and in this case directed specifically at the Abbasid Empire. Together with the Fourth Fitna and the emergence of the Tulunids and other smaller emirates it was where the Caliphs turned from Emperors in fact to Japanese Emperor-style spiritual heads who had once had vast temporal power but now no longer did so. The further reality is that the conditions they were put to work in in the Land Between the Rivers were, well....cotton plantations.
In this sense this is the very first shadow of what will be a recurring pattern and theme here, as well as the realities that it is not anywhere near as simple to hold that power as it is to establish it, and that the Abbasids seeking this paid the same price people would in the sugar colonies of the Caribbean and for the same reasons. For a great many reasons, however, the Zanj Rebellion is the great forgotten war of Black history.
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Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasids, 8th century.
by @LegendesCarto
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In the 8th century AD, the Abbasid caliphate rose up as one of history’s most powerful empires. Its success was short lived, however, as Caliph Harun al-Rashid's well-intentioned plans triggered a power struggle, leading to the fall of the Abbasid Empire.
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Has the YouTube history circle taken a tiny interest in the Abbasids/Islamic history recently? It’s a pleasant surprise.
Khurasan, its administration, and thus, its relation with the rest of Central Asia, is really its own thing to study. I have very small nitpicks about this video, but most of it felt pretty safe/okay. I don’t generally research or look into military history nearly at all, outside of anecdotes about battles within the sources, but I was planning on looking at this relationship (Abbasid & Tang) a little more in depth over the summer. One might enjoy this video:
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Day 16: Thumal the Qahraman!
Thumal was a Qahramana, or stewardess, in the Abbasid harem; she seems to have become the right-hand woman of Shaghab, Umm Jafar Muqtadir, mother of and regent for the young eighteenth Caliph. While the the Qahramana, like most of the women in the harem, were enslaved, they had more freedom than most of their compatriots; they were the only women, free or enslaved, allowed to leave the harem quarters and do business in Baghdad and the court.
In 918, Shaghab took an unprecedented step: she appointed Thumal as a Mazalim court judge. The Mazalim was the civil court system; it dealt with cases brought by citizens rather than criminal or religious laws. Thumal heard and ruled on petitions brought to court, as well as supervising other court officials… many of whom were none too pleased to be reporting to a woman.
Despite this, Thumal won popular support. She reorganized the petition system, making it easier for ordinary citizens to have their cases heard. The legendary historian and Islamic legal scholar Al-Tabari, an elderly but still-opinionated man at the time of her appointment, praised her efforts, and she served in the position until her death in 929.
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Science, Religion Mixing? Or No?
Science vs Religion? Science with Religion? Science without Religion? Religion without Science? Or simply a cuddle muddle of numerous variations?
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