#umayyads

One of the most recognizable Islamic phrases in the world is the testimony of faith, or Shahada: lā ’ilāha ’illā-llāhu muḥammadun rasūlu-llāhi, “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” This phrase is often the first one spoken into the ears of newborn babies by pious parents, and the recitation of this phrase is considered to be the first of the five pillars of Islam; conversion to Islam requires the recitation of this phrase with the genuine intention of converting to the faith. Those who are aware of the finer details of the Sunni-Shi‘a divide may be unsurprised to hear that Shi‘is also make use of a slightly modified shahada, which adds the phrase ‘alīyun walīyu-llāhi, “Ali is the friend of God”. The first two phrases can be found in the Qur’an itself, while the third clause of the Shi‘i shahada is inspired by a speech given by Muhammad shortly before his death. In each community, their respective shahadas represent the most essential teachings of Islam, the bare minimum required to begin one’s journey into Islam. It might be surprising to some to learn that these weren’t the only shahadas floating around in the first century of Islamicate history; while both are composed of clauses whose pedigrees can be traced to the lifetime of the Prophet (d. 632), the forms of the Testimony seem to have been in flux up until the ‘Abbasid period, which started in 750. Some other early variants, which have survived primarily through inscriptions, include: bism Allāh lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahu Muḥammad rasūl Allāh In the name of God, there is no god but God alone, Muhammad is the Messenger of God. (Arab-Sasanian coin, approximately 690) bism Allāh al-rahmān al-rahīm lā ilāha illā Allāh wahdahu lā sharīka lahu Muḥammad rasūl Allāh In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful; there is no god but God alone, He has no partner, Muhammad is the Messenger of God. (Jerusalem inscriptions, 691-705) allā ilāha illā llāhu waḥdahū lā sharīka lahū wa-anna muḥammadan ‘abduhū wa-rasūluhū ṣallā llāhu ‘alayhī wa-sallama There is no god but God alone, He has no partner, and Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger (Egyptian grave inscription, 651-652) All of the shahadas emphasize the uniqueness of God (there is no god but God) and the special mission of Muhammad (Muhammad is the Messenger of God). These early alternate shahadas also all share a certain adamancy about God’s Oneness (He alone); the reasoning for why this clause was dropped is not clear. It is interesting that “He has no partner” appears in the shahada found in Jerusalem; at the time of its conquest, Jerusalem was a Christian city (Jews were not allowed to reside within it), and it housed one of the five most important Apostolic Sees of Christian antiquity. The fact that ‘Abd Malik’s inscriptions would have that clause in a predominantly Christian city may hint at his desire to both distinguish his religious community from the Christian majority and polemically attack the concept of Trinity at the same time. The Jerusalem inscription also includes the basmala, the invocation of God’s name and two of His attributes that, which is also found at the beginning of all but one of the Qur’anic chapters; an implicit statement of the importance of the Testimony, perhaps?

Since the antagonistic and politically dominant Umayyads were eager to sweep the [Karbala] affair from public memory, their sentiments against the commemoration of Husayn's death seem to have prevented any possibility of public commemorations without inciting a government purge. Moreover, there appear to have been efforts on the part of the Umayyad dynasty to actually neutralize the commemoration of Ashura by the Muslim populace. Historical sources even indicate that during the reign of the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (r. 65-86/685-705), the general al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf al-Thaqafi went so far as to institute a special festive holiday on the day of ashura.* It is quite likely that al-Hajjaj's deliberate institution of a festive holiday on the exact anniversary of Husayn's gruesome killing and decapitation only a year years earlier was a deliberate attempt to counteract what had by then become an increasingly disturbing trend: annual gatherings mourning the killing of Husayn and his family at the hands of the Umayyads. The annual gatherings during Ashura appear to have kept the memory of Husayn alive not only in terms of commemorating the anniversary of his battle and subsequent death but also by perpetuating the oral transmission of accounts of the battle, the events leading up to it, and its aftermath. Considering the Umayyad's antipathy toward any remembrance of Husayn and the Umayyads' repression of ‘Alid movements, the lack of documented written accounts of the battle in this period is completely understandable. Moreover, that the few Umayyad historical sources that do exist involve only the history of the Prophet seems to indicate Umayyad attempts at self-legitimation, whereby Umayyads reinforced their on piety by stressing the life of the Prophet and simultaneously averted focus from the internecine confrontations that occurred after his death. [...] The historical sources indicate that Husayn's grave site was by the third/ninth century so popular and, apparently, the commemoration of his battle and death so moving to the masses of visitors that the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 232-47/847-61) destroyed the shrine of Husayn, razed Karbala, and banned visitation of the site on pain of death. Though we have only a few textual references to this in historical sources, the lack of elaboration in Abbasid-era texts actually speaks volumes. This is particularly startling, since much of the corpus of early Islamic sources was authored or compiled in third/ninth century Baghdad. As such, the significance of this act on the part of the Abbasid caliph cannot be overlooked. On one level, it shows the extent to which ritual visitation of Husayn's shrine at Karbala had developed by that time, a possible indication that ziyarah [pilgrimage] was by then already fully developed. On another level, it seems to indicate the above-mentioned discrepancy that developed in the different points of view between the Abbasids and the ‘Alids with regard to Karbala. Although the Abbasids interpreted Husayn's battle at Karbala as an anti-Umayyad battle, the destruction of Husayn's shrine and subsequent ban on visitation indicate that the commemoration rituals had by then likely acquired rebellious antigovernment connotations that were just as threatening to the new Abbasid dynasty as they were formerly to the Umayyads. *Al-Maqrizi notes that the Ayyubids reinstituted this festive practice in a deliberate attempt to replace the Fatimid commemoration of Ashura as a day of mourning.

August 6, 686 – The Battle of Khazir ended in a decisive victory for the pro-Alid forces led by Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar, who defeated the Umayyad army near the Khazir River in northern Iraq. Fighting on behalf of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, Ibrahim's army routed the forces commanded by Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad.

The battle was especially significant because Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad had been one of the key figures responsible for the death of Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala just six years earlier. His death at Khazir was seen by many supporters of the Alids as long-awaited justice and greatly strengthened Mukhtar's movement.

Elephant Fals, Early Medieval Islamic Bronze Coin, Umayyad Caliphate Local Regional Mints, Middle East Collectibles And Numismatics

Issuer: Caliphate Of Umayyads, Anonymous Mintage. Standard Circulating Coinage. UNKNOWN. Value Of 1 Fals Of Dinar. Composition, Bronze Alloy. Average Diameter 17mm. Weight Around 1.7 to 2.2 grams. Shaped Round But Irregular. Hammered Minting Technique. Reference: Walker 795; Album 177. Elephant Fals, Early Medieval Islamic Coin, Umayyad Caliphate Local Regional Mints, Middle East Collectibles And Numismatics. Obverse: Elephant standing, stylized provincial rendering typical of early Syrian bronze issues. Reverse: Arabic legend in lines within border, early Islamic epigraph style. Description: Scarce Umayyad bronze fals from the mint of Hims featuring the distinctive elephant motif. The elephant design is one of the most visually recognizable figural types of early Islamic provincial bronze coinage and reflects the transitional artistic environment of Bilad al-Sham, where late antique imagery persisted alongside Islamic inscriptions. Hims was an important military and administrative center during the Umayyad period. Elephant types are far less common than standard purely epigraphic fulus and are actively collected due to their strong iconography and historical appeal.

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