Divan (administration)
Dīwān ( Arabic ديوان, DMG dīwān , collection, assembly ') has been the name of the army assembly of Muslim armies since about 638 , in a figurative sense also the army register . Later the term is also used simply for an office, an authority or a council (also a council of state). The double meaning "assembly" and " register " describes a collection of poems in the sense of a collection of works (by an author) in literature .
Word origin
The origin of the word cannot be definitively clarified: Some sources assume an Arabic origin and derive the word from dīwāna ('register, collect') Others are of the opinion that the word 'Dīwān' is a Persian loan word in Arabic Language, which was associated with the folk etymology of the word dew ('evil, devilish'). The use of the term for office, writing room was used later, although the word dīwān is older and was used earlier.
According to the etymology widespread today, dīwān is originally a Middle Persian word and already in the pre-Islamic Sassanid Empire referred to a collection of writings, an archive, a chancellery and the entire official administration of the empire. The origins of the word can be traced back to the ancient Persian dipi- (inscription, document), mediated by the Elamite language, from the Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) tuppu (tablet) to the Sumerian dub (tablet). The Middle Persian word * dipi-vān- (= relating to the documents, archive, font collection, font management) has been handed down in the spelling dpywʾn (vowels were almost never written in Middle Persian). From this, the word dīvān evidently developed in late Middle Persian through sound contraction , which has been handed down in the spelling dywʾn . This etymology is supported by the fact that it was already borrowed from the Armenian language in pre-Islamic times as divan (= bundle of writing sheets, but mostly Bible manuscript, Bible translation). The name is also derived from Persian "debīr" (Eng. Scribe ). According to this etymology, the derivation of dew ('evil, devilish') would have been a folk etymological error and the Arabic verb dīwāna would have been formed subsequently from the Persian noun borrowed in Islamic times.
During the caliphate
The first Dīwān (Al-Dīwān al-ğūnd ) was established by ʿUmar ibn al-Chattāb in order to organize the payment of the members of his army more effectively; it included the inhabitants of Medina , the troops involved in the war and people who immigrated to join the garrisons in the provinces and their families. Some Mawālī were also initially included in the register, but this practice was later discarded. Three special representatives were responsible for the implementation of the registration, this practice lasted until the fall of the Umayyad dynasty. This concept was later introduced in other provinces as well.
Umayyads
During the reign of the Umayyads , the dīwān al-ḫarā wurde became the decisive factor, from then on it had its seat in Damascus and its main purpose was to determine the property tax. Later, the dīwān al-rasāʿil and the dīwān al-ḫātam were brought into being by Muʿāwiya , both of which were primarily used to control and document state correspondence, including to prevent forgery. Corresponding institutions were later established for the distribution of alms and zakāt ( dīwān aṣ-ṣadaqa ) and for the production of flags and uniforms ( dīwān aṭ-ṭirāz ) and for the administration of state-owned property ( dīwān al-mustaǧallat ).
All provinces had a dīwān al-ariǧ , where all income was received centrally. Under al-Ḥaǧǧāǧ , the chief secretary was paid 300 dirhams a month.
Arabization
Under ʿAbd al-Malik an Arabization of the Dīwāne was carried out, for this purpose the Arabic language was established as the standard language .
The ʿAbbāsid period / Fatimid period
Under the Abbasids and Fatimids , the Umayyad administrative structure was further developed, and the administration was placed under the central direction of a Wazīr . Other facilities were set up for the confiscation of enemy property, care for the servants of the palace or for the affairs of the authorities, and many more.
Buyiden period
The Dīwane were largely retained, although some of them were renamed again.
Later periods
In the later period the Dīwāne were subject to further renaming and restructuring, which cannot be enumerated here in detail.
Egypt
For the development of the Dīwāne in Egypt , the period of belonging to the Islamic empire (649–969 AD), the Fāṭimid caliphate (969–1171 AD) and the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods are of outstanding importance.
Islamic empire
First, with the help of the local Christian population, the administrative structure established by the Byzantines was continued and further developed. They were even allowed to use the Coptic language for this. The term dīwān was completely unknown to the Byzantines, one can assume that this term was only later established by the new rulers of the country. Severus b. al-Muḳaffaʿ reports that the Dīwān al-miṣr from the second governor ʿAbd Allah b. Saʿd b. Sahl was established. All taxes and duties in Egypt had to be paid to this authority. There is no evidence in the Muslim sources for the establishment of a central revenue office on the one hand, nor for the use of the word dīwān in this early period on the other.
During the Fatimid / Ayyubid and Mamluk periods
During the Fatimid period, the dīwān al-maǧlis (divan of the council) became the nucleus for the development of the other government institutions of the state and its center of power. Hierarchically, this authority was subordinate to other Dīwāne. After the fall of the Fatimid Aliphate, the existing structure and in some cases even the existing occupation of the Dīwāne were retained.
Muslim west
It is not known whether the military and state administration had any influence on the Visigoth Empire in the 8th century. In the 10th century, during the Umayyad dynasty, three Dīwāns were mainly used to cover the essential needs of the state administration. These goods
- Dīwān ar-rasāʾil waʾl-kitāba (State Secretariat), primarily responsible for processing outgoing and incoming correspondence from the state
- Dīwān al-ḫaraǧ wa ʾl-ǧibāyāt (Ministry of Finance), responsible for the collection and collection of taxes and duties
- Dīwān al-Ǧayš / Dīwān al-Ǧund (Ministry of Defense)
As for North Africa of the pre-Almohadin period, nothing is known of the existence of Dīwānen. There is also little information about the following period, for example the existence of a Dīwāna al-ǧayš to manage the armed forces is known. Wherever port facilities were built that served trade with Christian Europe, various administrative institutions were also set up. In the 16th century, the Dīwāns found their way into the Turkish administrative apparatus in Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Iran
In Iran, the name was mainly used for the central government (dīwān-e aʿlā) as civil administration or for military administration, although a clear demarcation was not always possible. In the middle of the 19th century the term was replaced by doulat or dāʾere-ye doulat .
Further development
The meaning of the term developed from “treasure book” to “treasury”, “customs office”, “council chamber” and further to “upholstered bench, sofa bed”, which were usually to be found in oriental council chambers along the walls (see the main article sofa ). In the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire, a customs office and a tax leaseholder's office were called divans , as was the entire financial administration. In the meaning of "financial administration", "customs administration", the term has been adopted in European languages since the Middle Ages. Today's French and Spanish terms douane and aduana for inches come from diwan , as does the Italian word dogana .
Ministries
In some Islamic states, the tradition from the caliphate, but originally from the Sassanid Empire, of calling the administration a divan , was retained and transferred to modern ministries.
In the Sultanate of Morocco , numerous ministerial designations were based on the name Diwan.
- Diwan al-Alaf : Ministry of War
- Diwan al-Baḥr : "Sea Ministry", d. H. (Overseas) Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Diwan aš-Šikayat (or in French - Chikayat ): Ministry of Complaints
Council, Council of State
Since the Middle Ages, the council that advised the ruler, which consisted of the heads of individual offices, was also known as the divan .
The Diwan of the Sublime Porte was for many years the Council of State of the Ottoman Empire and was also in the German-speaking world as since 1647 Divan referred. This consisted of the Grand Vizier , who represented the Sultan in his absence in the council, and other viziers . Occasionally the ağa of the Janissaries also took on this role. In the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages the verb divaniti also means something like to talk, to discuss for a long time, to consult . In the meaning of Oriental State Council , the term spread in other European languages since the 16th century.
In other Muslim states as well, such as the Khanate of Crimea and Indian states, the ruler's highest advisory body was referred to as the Divan . In the Crimean Khanate, however, not only the viziers belonged to the divan, but also all tribal leaders ( bey ), clergymen and high dignitaries of the state.
In the Ottoman Empire, the members of the High Reich Divan were often addressed as an honorary divan . In some Indian empires (including Mysore ) the title of Diwan developed into a formal official title of special high-ranking advisor at the top of the administration. See the main article Diwan (title) .
In Javanese and other languages, the word related to this designation is the standard designation for “council”, for example in Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (German Council of People's Representatives ). In Sikhism , too, there has been a high council for over 100 years, which deals with the administration of social institutions, schools, buildings and the cultural heritage of this religious community, the "Chief Khalsa Diwan".
Audience halls, community halls
In all Muslim empires with court Persian as the official language - in addition to Persia itself, all Muslim states in Central Asia and India and also the Ottoman Empire - the term “divan” was given a further meaning transfer to an audience hall and community hall.
The Persian court ceremony knew the tradition of audiences, at which the ruler and the high council ( divan ) were also present. The Persian court culture differentiated between the Diwan-i ām ( dīwān-i ʿāmm = "public council (audience)"), a public audience and the Diwan-i chass ( dīwān-i ḫāṣṣ = "private council (saudienz)"), a private audience for rulers, envoys and high dignitaries. Written petitions and petitions were often presented at the public audience. In the private audience, negotiations were often longer (see also the illustration above).
For both types of audience there were separate halls in most of the palaces, which also bore these names. The Diwan-i Am was often much larger and more representative (in Isfahan, for example, it was decorated with jewels). The Diwan-i Khas was often much smaller, simpler and more private.
Because this audience halls were acquainted with hofpersischer culture in the population of the states formed after the Middle Ages, at the latest in the 18th century, in many regions of the custom magnificent community halls also as a sofa to call. With this meaning as an oriental assembly hall , the term divan was also adopted in many western languages in the context of the western euphoria of the 19th century.
Because such communal halls in some regions around the Indian Ocean are open on one or more sides and are thus reminiscent of an iwan (a classic element of Persian architecture), and are often even an iwan, in some regions a misleading popular equation of two similar sounding originally Persian terms diwan and iwan , which are also common in the West. This synonymization, although very common, should be avoided as an error, because the two terms denote very different things: a traditional social institution and a classic architectural element.
literature
- Article Dīwān in: Encyclopaedia Islamica, Volume II, Brill: Leiden, 1965, p. 323ff
- Ömer Faruk Akün : Divan Edebiyatı. In: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi , Vol. 9 (1994), pp. 389-427 ( online , PDF, 34.6 MB) (Turkish).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Meeting of al-Jābiya
- ↑ Nagel, Tilman: State and Faith Community in Islam: History d. political notions of order d. Muslims (multi-part work), State and Faith Community in Islam (Vol. 2: From the Late Middle Ages to the Modern Era ), Zurich; Munich: Artemis-Verlag 1981, p. 406.
- ↑ Bozorg Alavi , Manfred Lorenz : Textbook of the Persian language. Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1967; 7th, revised edition, Langenscheidt · Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig / Berlin / Munich a. a. 1994. ISBN 3-324-00253-2 , p. 308.
- ^ A b François de Blois: DĪVĀN. In: Encyclopædia Iranica . 2011, accessed December 3, 2015 .
- ↑ See Hans Wehr 4th edition, p. 350
- ↑ See Josef Wiesehöfer: The ancient Persia. Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, p. 243ff.
- ^ François de Blois, divan in Encyclopedia Iranica
- ↑ see Christian Friedrich Seybold: Alexandrinische Patriarchengeschichte
- ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th ed., Ed. by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 135 ( Diwan ), here: p. 136.
- ^ Bratoljub Klaić: Veliki rječnik stranih riječi. Izraza i Kratica . Zora, Zagreb 1972.