Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)

Review
Author(s): Khalid Yahya Blankinship
Review by: Khalid Yahya Blankinship
Source: Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 2 (December 1987), pp. 185-187
Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23060435
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History

and

Economics

book

contains

that

conference.

the

the

is

and

In

order

toman

in

villages

Trebizond.
areas,
tions

the

are

of chapters
and

Vryonis

based

the

ters

(the

and

Ottoman

to

on

of

Professor

and

two

primary

itself

of

in

the

in

empires.

sur

excep

Professors
from

Jennings,

were

char

Byzantine
and

Dimitriades,
sixteenth

of
these

provoca
the

(by

Professor

Haldon)
the

centuries,
data

provided

generously

of

With

records

and

have
hinterland

answer,

part

sources

Lefort,

who

the

Ot
sites

position

two

(by

and

to three

monastic,
and

peripheral

fifteenth

Lowry,

Byzantine

European

records

of the

both

and

of the

Bryer,

defters

students
point

limited
mostly

the

court

of Professors

for

prepared
for

a turning

of Lemnos,

frame,

lands

team's

mufassal

island

chronicles

and

project

province
reserve

special

on

project

emphasize

"core"

of

records,

able

the

it marks

basis

pilot

the

papers

history.

the

Byzantine

authors

Topping)

Trebizond),

on
this

nonetheless
about

questions

social

area

Macedonia,

While

they

tive

late

and

of

of material

treasury,

East,

resources,

numerous

Near

an

version

expanded

Ottoman

discuss

documentary

vived:

and

185

1900

thesaurus,

and

to

which

Muslim

of Byzantine

study

for

revised

It

Christian

before

for

his

colleagues.
The

and

For

a society,

as

essential

fields
and

as

speaking

continuity.

those

well

as

their

data,

valuable

to

do

who

an

the
and

interpretations
the

young

Byzantinists

to

essays

interest

in

by

Caliph:

Patricia

and

as

Ottoman

this

and

as

Hinds.

Hinds

further

early

(Cambridge

rather

caliphs,
on

Martin

in the

authority

early

of

who

First
pages.

of

on

method,

both.

This

book

Paul

is

Lindner
Arbor

Ann

of Michigan,

the

present
much

publish

lessons

scholars

155

on
is an

Centuries

of Islam,

Cambridge

University

1986.

Crone in Hagarism
looked

in

Authority

and

Crone

work,

of caliphal
the

set

collection

authors,
also

Rudi

Religions
Crone

this

but

worth

unexpected

of conquest

impact

of the

achievement.

Press, Cambridge
In

the

conclusions
read

and

and

change

generosity

be

organization,

interesting

of conquerors,

University

God's

village

highly

unexpected

acculturation

Further,

history,
are

of both

have

in the

allows

a fascinating

of agricultural

demography,

they

contribution.

only

their

the

taxation,

discussion,

not

in

results,

income

than

Islamic

the

state

first put

thesis

about

the

forward

nature

by Cook

1977). The thesis here elaborated

being

divinely-inspired

develop

mainly

spiritual

leaders,

political
leaders

as

well

were

from

and

is that
actually

almost

the

beginning. According to the authors, this effective religious authority of the

caliphs

was

only

undermined

by

the

gradual

development,

first

traceable

in

the early second century of the hijra, of the religious and legal tradition
MESA

Bulletin 21 1987

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186

Book

represented

the

by
scholars.

making

authority,

authors

are

thereby

in Islam,

stating

This

conforms

with

about

sources,

treatment
and

of the

to

question

understand

mostly

enjoying

tution,
only

institution
to

claims

Walid

of

letter
on

which

obedience,

of normal

ment
context.

It

caliphate

wanted

and

it is most

he

be

(pp.
in the

the

the

was
this
more

chief

the

of the

alike"

caliphs
authors

light

that

to

meritorious

the

menacing
need
in

"at
But,

as

circumambulate

its

ideology

of

position

they

as

founder

of Islam,

its norms

from

statement

Hajjaj's
the

assert

of previous

expense
the

who

scholars,

in defining

evidence

ignores
works.

Thus,

the

for
short

state

Prophet's

religious

sunna.

Prophet's

such

already

earlier

for

unpop

the

unchanging

of the

importance
cite

an

egregiously

of Crone's

40).

grew.

is a paradigmatic

of an

(p.

by
on

was

view

of Islam

prophet

caliphs'

account

force

army

thus

the
that

of the

to

caliph

26-28)

that
and

likelihood

emphasis

letter

intervention

of paramount
the

Syrian
an

insti

beginning

would

tried

and

claim

authors'

concept

the

present

inception,

their

Against

it would

they
is

subsequent

likely

outset.

that

its

became

Muhammad
prophets

absolutism

through

to validate

that

try

authors

unpopularity

themselves

the

the

'ulama

the

their

and

to

loyalty

claim

Hines's

problem

in importance

grew

prerogatives
that

that

from

house

and
and

unchanging
the

for

he

question,

ones,

extravagance

which

the

reasonable

of the

as

of

view

early

arbitrary

viewpoint.

a stable,

allowance

greater

in

the

an

work

from

the

beg

literary

own
as

that

with

Umayyad

caliphal

is odd

Another

the

and

be

particularly

is

this

appearance

no

own

claimed
implies

Crone's

supply.

the

of his

can

from

it

in

authority

became

118-126),

their

the

and

time

But

caliphate

make

caliphs'

(pp.

succession

presentation

over

the

to

by

authority

on

Slaves

nothing

that

especially

religious

they

evolved

absolute

II's

ular

the

Thus,

evolution

This

present

undermined

sunna.

of 'Uthman.

including

Certainly

them.

the

complete

gradually

Prophet's
the

opposed

The

institution

in

interest,

analysis,

sources,

sources

they

their

subject.

behind

example,

downfall.

time

marshaled

overstatements

the

early

of

have

they

mar

motives

the

question

For

was

the

of
law

Crone

by

practically

much

presented

sweeping

the

class

caliphs'

caliphal

by the

in force

that

example,

problems

hostility

the

elaborated

of material

to

caliphate's

when

fully

nascent
the

of Islam.

have

evidence,

possible

necessary
to

many

it was

previously
for

amount

and

by

"usurped"

for the

way

why

period

authors

considerable

Arabic

idea

elaborated
to have

the

that

only

earliest

the

Though
the

as

said

paving

1980),

the

are

about

the

(Cambridge

known

latter

non-committal

arose

Horses

sunna

Prophet's

These

religious

Reviews

caliph's

palace

than the Ka'ba (pp. 28-29). This is probably anti-Umayyad propaganda

meant to defame Hajjaj, and indeed is taken from a Shi'i source, but the
authors
instead

have
weaving

not

fit to

question

it immediately

into

seen

the
their

motivation

for

its

transmission,

argument.

MESA

Bulletin 21 1987

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History

and

The

Economics

same

based

on

evidence

from
(pp.

of religious

the

diwans
But

Islam's

fundamentals

have

Most

had

error

in

cited,

to

salam

is

it,

despite

in

the

evidence.

that

contrary,
in

the

he

recites,

book

and

no

seem

to

(11:43

of its

more

common,

One

verse

of Jarir,

communal

have

is cited

worship,"

38).

Yet

an

"salvation,"

would

people

'isma,
the

the

examples
in

the

meaning
it not

"Were

from

for

"safety"

for

the

caliph

established

a proof-text

no

word

meaning

no judgements
as

they

unusual

the

state

believers

Also,

physical

the

by

primarily

elsewhere).

as

mere

more,

exhibited

protection

and

on

cite.

saved

(p.

imply

translated

40).

(p.

religious

all

sense"

when

stripped

once

they

term

who

caliphs

caliphs

tendentiousness
the

caliphal

lavished

Thus,

sources

proof

times,

the
also

scheme.

the

for

as

extravagant

were

Discussing
the

Qur'an

suitability

given

is the

to

hereafter.

taken

'Abbasid
and

of the

the

marshalled
be

same

through

religious

it was

and

tendentiously

verse

the

of the

the

flatteries

context

though,

as

the

the

in

hardly

established

clearly

here,

the

when

assertion,

loyalty

impressively

can

down

in any

place

political

sense,

physical

them

so

right

been

aside

conveys

both

quite

and

no

handling

flatteries

more

made

salvation

are

poets

authors'
that

poets,

personal

exaggerated

brushed

metaphor

one's

by the

degree
court

by

of early

had

worrisome

authors'

for

the

be

in greater

poetic

Besides,

who

governors,

"the

to

authority.

authors

all

doctrine,

continued

187

1900

panegyrics

even

30-40).

claims

of all

of

necessary

Citations
evidence

is shown

tendency

the

was

caliph

before

less

for
four

than

times (pp. 33, 40, 44, 102) and is taken to imply that the caliph is the sole
source

of law

surely

overburdens
taken

easily

and

to

that

ritual

this
mean

is invalid

worship

verse,

which

that

caliph

established

only

the

under

except

hyperbolic

in

distortions

of evidence
reveal

they

together,

too

suggest
of

pattern

much

Yet

can

be

more

in the

land,

this

Taken individually,
to prove

eagerness
intent

polemical

him.

security

thus allowing law and religious rites to be practised.

these

case

any

in

a point;

of

academic

if the

medieval

place

detachment.
The

authors
and

tifying"
Muslims

condemn
suggest

had

been

the

that
able

things

to live

like those of the Roman

seems
by

to

the

favor

comment

that

the

"ideological

the

West

of "ideological

codified
have

stable,

by

been
passively

and medieval

of development,

"representative"

bodies

'ulama

accepted

Europe
as

might

the

better

is
have

as

"stul

despotisms

(p. 109).

indeed

This

confirmed

developed

out

of Islam

vis-a-vis

the

Western

world

today"

point, for the Muslim world might equally well accuse

intransigence."
Khalid

Yahya

Blankinship

University of Washington

MESA

of

III (p. 108). It is also confirmed by the claim about

intransigence

(p. 110), a disputable

under

model

law

would

principate

Western

the reforms of Yazid

sacred

Bulletin 21 1987

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