A Jewish Vizier and his Shīʿī Manifesto: Jews, Shīʿīs, and the Politicization of Confessional Identities in Mongol-ruled Iraq and Iran (13th to 14th centuries)

This paper seeks to situate Jewish individuals from the upper echelons of the Mongol government in Iran and Iraq (1258?1335) in relation to the process of confessional, Sunnī-Shīʿī polarization. Focusing on the case of the Baghdadi Jewish physician and vizier Saʿd al-Dawla (d. 1291), I explore how t...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brack, Jonathan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: De Gruyter [2019]
In: Der Islam
Year: 2019, Volume: 96, Issue: 2, Pages: 374-403
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Saʿd al-Dawla ca. 1240-1291 / Mongols / Iraq / Iran / Imamites / Sunnites / Confessionalization
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
BJ Islam
KBL Near East and North Africa
Further subjects:B Ilkhans
B Jews
B Political Theory
B Shīʿīsm
B Sectarianism
B Conversion
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:This paper seeks to situate Jewish individuals from the upper echelons of the Mongol government in Iran and Iraq (1258?1335) in relation to the process of confessional, Sunnī-Shīʿī polarization. Focusing on the case of the Baghdadi Jewish physician and vizier Saʿd al-Dawla (d. 1291), I explore how the Jewish minister sought to take advantage of Twelver-Shīʿī rise to prominence under the Mongols. I argue that the vizier attempted to strike an alliance with the Shīʿī communities in Iraq and with influential Shīʿī families with long-established ties to the Mongol regime, in order to curtail resistance to his policies and to the Jewish dominance in the realm's bureaucracy. I consider Saʿd al-Dawla's endeavors within the broader historical context of Shīʿī-Jewish relations. The article concludes by examining the two decades following Saʿd al-Dawla's downfall, when a group of eminent Jewish physicians at the Mongol court converted to Islam. I show how these converts continued to exploit the process of politicization of confessional identities under the Mongols.
ISSN:1613-0928
Contains:Enthalten in: Der Islam
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/islam-2019-0028