Workshop “Dynamics in Middle Eastern Societies during the Mongol Period”

Information

Venue: Room 304, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tobunken), The University of Tokyo

Date and Time: March 22, 2017 (Wed), 13:30-17:45

Program:

13:30-13:35: Opening remarks (Kazuo Morimoto, The University of Tokyo).
13:35-14:05: Maaya Kanaya (The University of Tokyo), Motherhood and Sainthood: Representation of Rulers and Legitimacy in the Qara Khitai of Kirmān under the Ilkhanids.
14:05-14:35: Kaori Otsuya (Kyoto University), Relationship between Maliki Imams of Mecca and Muslims of the Maghrib and Takrur in the 14th Century.
14:35-15:05: Ryo Mizukami (The University of Tokyo), Advocating Twelver Imamism by Approving Sunni Ulama: A Strategy Utilized by Iraqi Shiʿi Ulama from the 12th to the 14th Century.
15:05-15:30: Coffee break.
15:30-16:30: Osamu Otsuka (The University of Tokyo), Qāshānī and Rashīd al-Dīn: A New Perspective on Ilkhanid Historiography.
16:30-17:30: Ryoko Watabe (The University of Tokyo), The Role of Tājīk Bureaucrats in the Establishment of Administrative System in Iran under the Mongol Rule.
17:30-17:45: General comments (Judith Pfeiffer, University of Bonn, and İlker Evrim Binbaş, University of Bonn)

17:45: Concluding remarks (Kazuo Morimoto)

*Snacks and drinks will be served in the Room 805 after the workshop.

**The event is free of charge and open to the public. No registration required.

Contact Person: Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)

Co-sponsored by Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tobunken Symposium); JSPS Kakenhi, “Kingship and Legitimacy of Islamic Dynasties: Focusing on the Early Modern Empires” (15H01895); Japan Office, Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (Gilas Seminar).

Abstracts (link to PDF version)

“Motherhood and Sainthood:
Representation of Rulers and Legitimacy
in the Qara Khitai of Kirmān under the Ilkhanids”

Maaya Kanaya
(The University of Tokyo)

This presentation focuses on a local history generally known as the Tārīkh-i shāhī which was composed with the aim of justifying the rule of Pādishāh Khātūn, the Qara Khitai queen who ruled Kirmān under Ilkhanid rule. I analyze how the anonymous author presents the images of the Qara Khitai rulers, above all Pādishāh Khātūna and her mother Tarkān Khātūn, in order to legitimize their kingship.The author sanctified the rulers, who could not claim an authoritative bloodline, by claiming the title ṣāḥib-qirān (“Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction”) for Pādishāh Khātūn and reporting that Tarkān Khātūn had performed miracles due to divine protection. Moreover, Tarkān Khātūn was described as not only an ideal ruler but also a merciful mother, emphasizing the affection felt by this saintly figure for her daughter as a further proof of Pādishāh Khātūn’s legitimacy. The case demonstrates the ideological diversity of claims to kingship in the Islamic world after the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate.


“Relationship between Maliki Imams of Mecca
and Muslims of the Maghrib and Takrur in the 14th Century”

Kaori Otsuya
(Kyoto University)

This paper focuses on Maliki imams of Mecca, who were thought to be the most venerable among Meccan residents by Muslims of the Maghrib and Takrur. In the 14th century, many Maghribi and Takururi pilgrims, such as Ibn Battuta, visited Mecca. What was the relationship between them and the Maliki imams of that city? How did the pilgrims from the Maghrib and Takrur influence social status of those imams? By examining biographical dictionaries of Mecca, this paper suggests the following points: (1) the Maliki imams of Mecca and the pilgrims from the Maghrib and Takrur had a strong connection; (2) the pilgrims met the imams and gave them donation, by which they presumably tried to raise their reputation as protectors of religious scholars. At the same time, the Maliki imams were economically supported; and (3) this resulted in higher social position of the Maliki imams in Mecca.


“Advocating Twelver Imamism by Approving Sunni Ulama:
A Strategy Utilized by Iraqi Shiʻi Ulama from the 12th to the 14th Century”

Ryo Mizukami
(The University of Tokyo)

The great Shiʿi scholar from the Iraqi town of Ḥilla, al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, who was appointed as religious adviser to Ilkhanid Sultan Oljeitu, presented a unique book, Kashf al-Yaqīn fī Faḍāʾil Amīr al-Muʾminīn, to the sultan. Unlike traditional Shiʿi writings, this book contained Sunni hadiths on Imam ʿAlī’s faḍāʾil (virtues) without criticizing Sunnism. This study will discuss the socio-religious reasons that lay behind al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī’s writing strategy.This mode of writing faḍāʾil literature originated with a book written in the late 12th century, ʿUmda ʿUyūn Ṣiḥāḥ al-Akhbār fī Manāqib Imām al-Abrār by Ibn al-Biṭrīq al-Ḥillī, a Shiʿi scholar again from Ḥilla. Ibn al-Biṭrīq’s model was then emulated effectively by other Iraqi Shiʿi ulama. They attempted to enhance their social and political influences by justifying Twelver Imamism to those Sunni ulama who shared the reverence for Twelver imams with them. Their activities gradually bore fruit and eventually resulted in the appointment of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī to the position of religious advisor at the sultan’s court.


“Qāshānī and Rashīd al-Dīn:
A New Perspective on Ilkhanid Historiography”

Osamu Otsuka
(The University of Tokyo)

This presentation is an attempt to make a codicological study of all the surviving manuscripts of Abū al-Qāsim Qāshānī’s (d. after 1323-4) so far uninvestigated Persian general history, the Zubdat al-Tawārīkh. Although the Zubdat al-Tawārīkh has been evaluated as a plagiarized work from Rashīd al-Dīn’s (d. 1318) Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh, my study reveals that it was composed earlier than the Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh, and covers a larger geographical area. By investigating Qāshānī’s historical work, I will reconsider the compilation process of the Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh, and demonstrate a different aspect of Rashīd al-Dīn’s cultural projects.


“The Role of Tājīk Bureaucrats in the Establishment of Administrative System in Iran under the Mongol Rule.

Ryoko Watabe
(The University of Tokyo)

The Mongol conquest and rule of Iran from the early thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century brought about a number of political, social and cultural changes in Iranian society. The most significant among these changes were new fiscal and diplomatic policies introduced through the Mongol domination. Many scholars have studied the new tax system including qubchur (a poll tax) and tamghā (a commercial tax) and the changes of the style of official documents in Iran under the Ilkhanate (1256–1335) and discussed their influence in the post-Mongol dynasties in this region. However, the questions pertaining to how Iranian bureaucrats (so-called Tājīks, non-Turk or non-Mongol, mostly Persian-speaking people) who served the Mongol rulers adopted these administrative changes and, applying their traditional bureaucratic skills, developed new administrative system have not been discussed well. This paper, through the analysis of various Persian manuals of inshāʾ (art of letter-writing) and istīfā (accountancy) written by Ilkhanid Tājīk bureaucrats, will throw light on their activities and thoughts by which they could establish and integrate the Mongol administration in Iran.


担当:森本