Abū Yazīd Machlad ibn Kaidād

Abū Yazīd Machlad ibn Kaidād ( Arabic أبو يزيد مخلد بن كيداد, DMG Abū Yazīd Maḫlad b. Kaidād , b. 873 ; † August 19, 947 ) was the leader of the last great revolt of the Ibadites in Ifrīqiya (943-947) against the Fatimids .

Early life

Abū Yazīd was born in Gao on the Niger as the son of a trader and a concubine named Sabīka from the Hawwāra tribe . He was a Berber from the Ifran tribe of the Zanāta Confederation and grew up in the oasis region of the Chott el Djerid , which at that time still bore the ancient name Qastiliya, near Tozeur . His father Kaidād died after returning with his son from a trade trip to Qīṭūn near Tozeur. Abū Yazīd then lived as an orphan on the alms of the population. He later worked as a teacher in the cities of Tozeur, Qīṭūn and Taqyūs. Then he went to the capital of the Ibdadite Rustamids to Tāhert , where he was trained in Ibadite legal theory. In 909 he returned to Tozeur. That same year, the Fatimid propagandist destroyed Abu'Abdallāh aš-Šī'ī the rustamidische capital Tahert when he on his way to Siǧilmāsa was to al-Mahdi bi-llah to free (the first Imam Fatimid North Africa). Abū Yazīd was then in Tāhert and witnessed the execution of the Rustamidic imam before he returned to Tagyūs, where he again worked as a teacher. In the time of al-Mahdī bi-llah, more precisely from 928 onwards, he worked as a preacher against the Fatimids. He traveled from village to village and preached to the Berbers, among whom the Ibadite school of law was widespread. Probably during this time, too, under the influence of his teacher Abū ʿAmmār al-Aʿmā ("the blind one"), he joined the Ibadite current of the Nukkār .

personality

Abū Yazīd used to ride a donkey that had been given to him in Marmaǧanna. Hence he was also known as "the man on the donkey" ( Ṣāḥib al-Ḥimār ). He usually wore a sleeveless woolen cape and a white cap. This ascetic demeanor created the image of a strict, humble and pious leader. Through his determination, Abū Yazīd managed to achieve military successes in just 6 months, for which it took the Daʿī Abū ʿAbdallāh aš-Šīʿī seven years. He later traded his simple clothes for silk and rode horses instead of his donkey.

Abū Yazīd's relationship with the Arabs

The Fatimid historian Idris Imad al-Din points out in his book ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār that Abū Yazīd was mainly hostile to the 'Orientals' ( al-Mašāriqa ). 'Orientals' in this context probably refers to the Arabs, which the commentator of the work, Muḥammad al-Yaʿalāwī, concluded from the fact that Abū Yazīd Ibrahīm ibn Abī Slās excluded from the leadership of his army because the latter was an Arab. The orientalist Werner Schwartz contradicted this view by emphasizing that since the first half of the 8th century there were also Arabs among the leading Ibadites in North Africa, who were on an equal footing with the Berbers. The dispute was therefore less one between Ibadis / Berbers and Arabs than between allies and opponents of the rule of the Abbasids and later the Fatimids , perceived as oppressive . In this context, Heinz Halm points to the political element of the Ibaditic doctrine of norms, which made the unconditional and armed struggle against a tyrannical government a religious duty and the basis of legitimation for the true imam. In the eyes of the North African Ibadis, both the Abbasids (who traced their origins back to the Hashimites and thus to the family of the Prophet) and the Fatimids (who also did this, cf.Fāṭima ) were tyrants against whom the religiously founded struggle was necessary . In addition, there was an egalitarian moment in that only the best and most pious of the Muslims was recognized by the Ibadis as the imam of the ummah , regardless of whether he was Berber, Arab or “a black slave”.

The uprising against the Fatimids

The beginnings

After making the pilgrimage to Mecca, Abū Yazīd came back to Tozeur in 937. There he began to preach among the Berbers and called them to revolt against the Fatimids. When the Fatimid caliph al-Qāʾim bi-llah heard of this , he had him arrested. Thereupon Abū Yazīd took up the open fight against the Fatimids from 945 on. After he had been freed by 40 Ibadites under the leadership of Abū ʿAmmār, they retreated to the Auras Mountains (today's eastern Algeria). Abū Yazīd subsequently gained a large following, especially among the Zanata tribes such as the Banu Ifran and the Hawwara. From then on he called himself the “ Sheikh of Muslims / Believers”. In 944 Abū Yazid failed in the attempt to take Baġāya, although he besieged the city several times and some Fatimid commanders, such as Saʿīd ibn Ḫalaf al-Hawwārī, joined him. He then began to take other important cities. So he captured Tabissa after the population was betrayed and committed a great massacre there. Then he turned against Marmāǧinna and took this place too. On August 8, 944, Abū Yazīd conquered al-Urbus . His Berber soldiers had initially not wanted to attack the city because they were afraid of the Fatimid army. Then, however, one of the Fatimid commanders named Ibrahīm ibn Abī Slās ran over to Abū Yazīd. Thereupon Abū Yazīd and the Berbers conquered the city and caused a bloodbath among its inhabitants, although Abū Yazīd Ibrahim ibn Abī Slās had promised to spare the population.

First reactions from the Fatimids

The loss of al-Urbus put the Fatimid court in al-Mahdiya on alert. The advisers of the caliph al-Qāʾim bi-llah asked him to take a military reaction against Abū Yazīd. This is what they did. a. with reference to the strategic importance of al-Urbus and the fate of the Aablabids , whose dynasty quickly fell after the loss of al-Urbus. It was feared that the Fatimids might face a similar fate. Thereupon al-Qāʾim bi-llah sent his commanders Muḥammad bin ʿAli bin Sulaiman and Tamīm al-Wasfānī to Ruqāda to protect the city from attacks by Abu Yazīd. In addition, Ḫalīl ibn Isḥāq was sent to Qairawān with an army of 1,000 horsemen, which consisted of soldiers of the Ǧund and slaves . Bušrā al-Ḫādim was sent to Bāǧa on behalf of al-Qāʾim bi-llah to assert himself there against the Berbers. When Abū Yazīd, who was still in al-Urbus, heard about it, he moved with his army towards Bāǧa, leaving his family behind in al-Urbus and using Ibrahīm bin Abū Slās as the commander of his troops. Initially, Abū Yazid and the Berbers were pushed back by Būšrā al-Ḫādim, but were ultimately able to win the battle and take Bāǧa. Abū Yazīd set fire to the city and massacred the population for three days and nights. Bušrā al-Ḫādim fled to Tunis, which was ruled by Ḥasan bin ʿAlī, where he was persecuted by the Berbers. ʿAmmār, Ḥasan's brother, confronted his pursuers with 300 riders and won. Bušrā al-Ḫādim and Ḥasan bin ʿAlī were nevertheless forced to flee to Susa when riots broke out in Tunis.

The siege of Qairawān

At the same time, Abu Yazīd was on his way to Qairawān to attack the city. However, nalīl ibn Isḥāq, the city's commander, did not take the threat seriously and kept his soldiers in the city. He relied on a group of Berbers from the Zuwaila tribe who had promised to kill Abū Yazīd. Even when Abū Yazīd's troops were about to approach Qairawān, Ḫalīl ibn Isḥāq did not take the danger they posed seriously. Some of Ḫalīl's soldiers were dissatisfied because they had not received payment and contacted Abū Yazīd. Then they conquered the city together. Ḫalīl ibn Isḥāq initially holed up in the citadel, but eventually surrendered with his followers after he had been promised to spare his life. Ultimately, however, Abū Yazīd had Ḫalīl ibn Isḥāq and the Ismaili Qādī of the city of Ahmad ibn Bahr executed under pressure from his advisers. Qairawān became the residence of Abu Yazīd for two years. Among other things, contacts were made with the Umayyads of Córdoba .

Further course

Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī and Bušrā al-Ḫādim fought and finally defeated one of Abū Yazīd's commanders, Ayyūb ibn Ḫaizarān az-Zuwailī . 4,000 Berbers were killed and 500 sent as prisoners to al-Mahdiya, where they were murdered by the city's population. In October 944, Abū Yazīd marched with his army to Ruqāda and there defeated the Berber tribe of the Kutāma, who were allies of the Fatimids. The remaining Kutāma then fled to al-Mahdiya. After Abū Yazīd had defeated the Fatimid commander Maisūr, the way to al-Mahdiya was open. Many residents of the area around the Fatimid capital tried to flee there. Al-Qāʾim, however, ordered them to return to their cities. From his camp at the gates of al-Mahdiya, Abū Yazīd conquered other cities in Ifriqiya, a.o. a. Susa.

Siege of al-Mahdiya

To defend the capital, the caliph al-Qāʾim had a trench dug around al-Mahdiya and sent messengers to the Kutāma, who urged them to jihād against Abu Yazīd. One of these messengers was captured by Abū Yazīd, whereupon he immediately ordered the attack on the city. In his first attack, Abū Yazīd advanced with his troops to a symbolically significant place, the mosque Muṣallā al-ʿId . According to a legend, al-Qāʾim's father, the Fatimid caliph al-Mahdī, shot an arrow at this place and announced that no conqueror would go further than this point. Then, however, the course of the fighting forced Abū Yazīd to retreat in order to relieve his soldiers, who were in distress on the other side of the city. His arrival there caused confusion because the Fatimid soldiers initially thought he was al-Qāʾim. This, however, refused to face Abū Yazīd in battle. After al-Qāʾim bi-llah had urged the population to resist Abū Yazīd in a sermon, another clash broke out in the village of Dār Quwām, in which the Berbers were defeated and some important commanders were killed by Abū Yazīd. After another fierce battle in Wādī al-Māliḥ, the Fatimids were able to defeat Abū Yazīd there too. In the course of the siege, however, the situation of the defenders in al-Mahdiya deteriorated considerably. a. because ships from Tripoli and Sicily, which were supposed to supply the city with food, were driven ashore by storms and looted there by Abū Yazīd's troops. Although al-Qāʾim had the public grain reserves made available, there was a famine. Many residents then left the city out of desperation, often resulting in either their death or enslavement. When a man complained about the atrocities committed by the army to Abū Yazīd, the latter reportedly replied that the behavior of his soldiers was justified because the inhabitants of the city were heretics ( mušrikūn ) anyway .

Turning point and renewed consolidation

After a few more skirmishes with an eventful outcome in the course of 945, Abū Yazīd's army began to disintegrate. Some Berbers from the Wašīr tribe transferred to the Fatimid camp and Abū Yazīd's confidante Ibrahīm ibn Abī Slās also made contact with al-Qāʾim again. This probably assured him of his pardon, which is why Ibrahīm finally changed sides again and defected to the Fatimids. These events and the uncertain military situation demoralized Abū Yazīd's Berber troops. Only the Banū Kamlan and the Hawwāra remained loyal to Abū Yazīd, but they too eventually withdrew to Qairawān without his knowledge to gather their strength there. Thereupon Abū Yazīd had no other way out, which is why he broke off the siege of al-Mahdiya and also went to Qairawān. There it came to further internal disputes, with some of Abū Yazīd's closest followers accusing him of a lack of military and religious zeal, which they u. a. attached to his changed lifestyle (see personality). Abū Yazīd was able to contain these conflicts by returning to his original ascetic demeanor, but the people of Qairawān had in the meantime made contact with al-Qāʾim and the Berbers threatened to lose control over Ifriqiya. As a result, Abū Yazīd tried to re-establish control over the previously conquered and renegade areas. a. came to a brutal massacre of the urban population of Tunis. When a plot of murder by some Berbers from the Bayāda tribe against Abū Yazīd was uncovered, the latter had the entire tribe massacred. The recapture of the lost territories was overall successful, so that in the course of 946 almost all cities of Ifriqiyas came back under the rule of Abū Yazīd.

The end of the uprising

In the same year, the Fatimid caliph al-Qāʾim bi-llah died, whereupon his son al-Manṣūr bi-llah succeeded him. However, he initially kept his father's death a secret in order not to unsettle his troops. Unlike al-Qāʾim, al-Manṣūr very soon took an active role in the fight against Abū Yazīd and led an offensive campaign against the Berber uprising. After a few months, a decisive battle finally took place near Qairawān, in which the Berbers were defeated and then massacred by the Fatimids. Abū Yazīd managed to escape, however, and withdrew to the Kayāna fortress, where he was surrounded and besieged by al-Manṣūr's troops. After almost the entire leadership of the Ibadis had fallen in the course of the fighting, Abū Yazīd escaped one last time before he was finally and seriously injured captured by the Fatimid troops. A few days later he died under house arrest. By order of al-Manṣūr, his body was mummified and put on public display in all cities of Ifriqiyas to deter future uprisings.

Classification of events in historiography

There are contradicting statements about the beginning of the uprising. When Ali ibn al-Athir states that Abu Yazīd the uprising in the year 296 after Hijra began (909 n. Chr.), Went to free al-Mahdi as Abu'Abdallāh aš-Šī'ī after Siǧilmāsa. Al-Maqrīzī dates the beginning of the revolt to the year 303 after the Hijra (916 AD), Ibn Ḫaldūn, however, to 316 after the Hijra (929 AD). From the work ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār by the Fatimid author Idrīs ʿImād ad-Dīn it can be inferred that Abū Yazīd belonged to the Nukkār, a particularly militant movement within the Ibadites. The Nukkār were known to declare all other Muslims to be infidels ( istirāḍ ), thereby justifying their murder and even rape. ʿImād ad-Dīn therefore referred to the Ibadis as māriqīn , a term that originally referred to people who only had a superficial understanding of Islam. But relations between the Fatimids and the Sunnis of North Africa, most of whom belonged to the Maliki school of law, were strained. In the work Riyāḍ an-Nufūs by the historian Abū Bakr al-Mālikī, it is mentioned that a group of 85 Malikite scholars, among them a certain Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbbās bin ʿIsa bin al-ʿAbbās al-Mumsī, joined the rebellion of Ab had connected. Before the above-mentioned Ibrahīm ibn Abī Slās left the Fatimid camp, his family had asked Abū al-Faḍl al-Mumsī whether they should fight for or against the Fatimids, and the latter reportedly replied that against the Banū ʿUbayd ( = Fatimids) to fight is even a religious duty, because the Ibadis are Muslims and the Fatimids are heretics ( maǧūs ). In Idrī's ʿImād ad-Dīn, however, this incident is not mentioned. Despite the support of the Sunnis, Abū Yazīd later ordered or tolerated numerous cruel massacres of the predominantly Sunni population of North Africa. It is also said that there were massive rapes, allegedly even within mosques.

Idrīs ʿImād ad-Dīn claimed that the Sunnis only supported the uprising because they were forced to do so by Abū Yazīd. This had promised them to stop the violence of his soldiers against them and in turn to protect their community if they joined him. The Sunni Abī Bakr al-Mālikī, however, emphasizes that the motivation of the Sunnis was justified by the fatwa of Abū al-Faḍl al-Mumsī, which called for the fight against the Fatimids.

literature

• Abī Bakr ʿAbdallah bin Muḥammad al-Mālikī: Riyāḍ an-Nufūs fī Ṭabaqāt ʿUlamāʾ Qayrawān wa-Ifriqiya wa-Zuhādihim wa-Nusākihim wa-Sīyar min Aḫbārihim wa-Faḍāʾim .wṣilihihim. 2nd edition, annotated by Bašīr al-Bakūš. Dār al-Ġarb al-Islāmī, Beirut 1994.
• Ulrich Haarmann : History of the Arab World. CH Beck, Munich 2001.
• Heinz Halm : The Empire of the Mahdi. The rise of the Fatimids. CH Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-35497-1 .
• Heinz Halm: The man on the donkey. The uprising of Abū Yazīd against the Fatimids according to an eyewitness account. In: The World of the Orient. Volume 15, 1984, pp. 144-204.
• Idrīs ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī (d. 1488): ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār wa-funūn al-Aṯār: Tarīḫ al-Ḫulafāʾ al-Fāṭimiyīn fī-l-maġrib. 5th volume. Commented by Muḥammad al-Yaʿalāwī. Dār al-Ġarb al-Islāmī, Beirut 1985.
• SM star: Abū Yazīd al-Nukkārī. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume I, pp. 163a-164a.
• Werner Schwartz: The Beginnings of the Ibadites in North Africa The contribution of an Islamic minority to the spread of Islam. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1983.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume 4, p. 739.
2. ↑ Heinz Halm: The Empire of the Mahdi. The rise of the Fatimids. Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-35497-1 , pp. 265-267.
3. ↑ Halm: The Empire of the Mahdi. P. 268.
4. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī (died 1488): ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār wa-funūn al-Aṯār: Tarīḫ al-Ḫulafāʾ al-Fāṭimiyīn fī-l-maġrib. Volume 5. Commented by Muḥammad al-Yaʿalāwī. Dār al-Ġarb al-Islāmī , Beirut 1985, p. 301.
5. ↑ Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār p. 277.
6. ↑ Werner Schwartz: The Beginnings of the Ibadites in North Africa The contribution of an Islamic minority to the spread of Islam. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1983. pp. 274-275.
7. ↑ Heinz Halm: The Empire of the Mahdi. P. 266.
8. ↑ Heinz Halm: The Empire of the Mahdi. P. 267
9. ↑ Heinz Halm: The Empire of the Mahdi. P. 266.
10. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Volume 3, p. 295.
11. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī, ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 269.
12. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 272.
13. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī, ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 273 f.
14. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 275f
15. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 277.
16. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād ad-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 278.
17. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī: ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 279.
18. ↑ See Stern: Art. Abū Yazīd al-Nukkārī In: EI² Volume I, p. 163 and Halm: Das Reich des Mahdi. P. 280.
19. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 288.
20. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 280-281.
21. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 283.
22. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 298-299.
23. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī: ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 302-304.
24. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī: ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 307-309.
25. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 312 f.
26. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī: ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 316.
27. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 317.
28. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 318-319
29. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḥbār. P. 320 f.
30. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 322.
31. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 324.
32. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 325-327.
33. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 328.
34. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 337.
35. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 349 f.
36. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. Pp. 350-375.
37. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 376 f.
38. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 415
39. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 436 f.
40. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 452.
41. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 264
42. ↑ Abī Bakr ʿAbdallah bin Muḥammad al-Mālikī (died 1046): Riyāḍ an-Nufūs fī Ṭabaqāt ʿUlamāʾ Qayrawān wa-Ifriqiya wa-Zuhādihim wa-Nusākihim wa-Sīyar min Aḫbā-Fa-rih Aihim. Commented by Bašīr al-Bakūš. 2nd Edition. Dār al-Ġarb al-Islāmī, Beirut 1994, pp. 297-298.
43. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 277.
44. ↑ Idrīs: ʿImād al-Dīn al-Quraišī ʿUyūn al-Aḫbār. P. 294.
45. ↑ Abī Bakr ʿAbdallah bin Muḥammad al-Mālikī (d. 1046): Riyāḍ an-Nufūs. P. 297.