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The Histories of Isfahan: Mafarrukhi's Kitāb Maḥāsin Iṣfahān

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Jürgen Paul
Jürgen Paul*
Affiliation:
Institut für Orientalistik, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg
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Extract

The history of Isfahan in the pre-Mongol period has not yet received its due measure of scholarly attention; the focus of research has tended to be on the seventeenth century, when Isfahan was the brilliant capital of the Safavid empire. Nonetheless, it is quite evident that the city was, in pre-Mongol times, no less brilliant a center of Islamic culture as articulated in both Arabic and Persian. No book-length study on the city's earlier history is known to me. This article does not aim to fill this gap, but to follow the theme of the present issue which is historiography rather than history. It focuses on the “history” of Isfahan written by Mufaddal b. Saᶜd b. al-Husayn al-Mafarrukhi al-Isfahani, Kitāb maḥāsin Iṣfahān.2 The work was written most probably between 1072 and 1092. Nothing is known about the author except that he came from a respected Isfahani family with many generations of learning and nobility behind it.

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Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 2000 , pp. 117 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2000

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References

1. However, mention should be made of David Durand-Guédy, “Sources, travaux et méthodes de la recherche urbaine sur l'Iran medieval: l'exemple d'Iṣfahān de la conquête saljūqide à la conquête mongole,” (Paris: University of Paris-IV, 1998, Mémoire de Diplôme d'Études Approfondies [unpublished]). As its title indicates, this is a study of the primary and secondary sources relevant to urban studies of Isfahan rather than an outline of the history of Isfahan itself. Mafarrukhi is treated only briefly (55-56). I am grateful to David Durand-Guédy for providing me with a copy of his mémoire.

2. Ed., al-Sayyid Jalal al-Din al-Husayni al-Tihrani (Tehran, 1383/1933) (henceforth Mafarrukhi).

3. See R. Bulliet, “Māfarrūḵẖī EI2 5: 1157.

4. Ibid. One of the persons bearing this nisba is described as a tāni˒, landholder, by Abu Nuᶜaym, Kitāb dhikr akhbār Iṣfahān, ed. Dedering, Sven (Leiden, 1931), 2:272.Google Scholar Nor is our author found in Samᶜani (Kitāb al-Ansāb 5: 184–85Google Scholar) although three individuals from Isfahan named Mafarrukhi are included. See also note 35 below.

5. Tarjumah-yi maḥāsin-i Iṣfahān, ed. ᶜAbbas Iqbal (Tehran, 1328/1950).Google Scholar

6. I have treated these works in “The Histories of Isfahan: Biographical Dictionaries” a paper read at the workshop “The Shi'i century in Iran,” Oxford, May 1998. Nurit Tsafrir has given an example of what can be produced from biographical dictionaries in the field of social and juridical history in “The Beginnings of the Ḥanafī school in Iṣfahān,” Islamic Law and Society 5 (1998): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7. Abu'l-Shaykh (Abu Muhammad ᶜAbd Allah b. Muhammad b. Jaᶜfar b. Hayyan), Ṭabaqāt al-muḥaddithīn bi-Iṣfahān wa l-wāridīn ᶜalayhā, ed, ᶜAbd al-Ghaffar, ᶜAbd al-Haqq al-Balushi (Beirut, 1407/1987-1412/1992)Google Scholar; also ed. ᶜAbd al-Ghaffar Sulayman al-Bundari, with Sayyid Kasrawai Hasan (Beirut, 1989), 2 vols. These two recent editions were published almost simultaneously. Abu Nuᶜaym's work, the Kitāb dhikr akhbār Iṣfahān, was edited and published in 1931 by Sven Dedering.

8. See Rosenthal, F., “Hamza al-Iṣfahānī,” EI2 3:156Google Scholar as well as the entry in C. Brockelmann, GAL Supplement 1: 222.

9. Mafarrukhi, 29-35. The list apparently begins with the names of those who had written on the history of Isfahan. This would confirm that the fragment quoted by Yaqut in his Irshād al-ᶜarīb fī maᶜrifat al-adīb, ed. Margoliouth, D. S. (Leiden and London: Gibb Memorial Series 6, 1913), 289–93Google Scholar was in fact taken from the Tārīkh Iṣfāhān by Hamza as was surmised by Brockelmann (GAL Supplement 1: 222).

10. The entry for the author is in Abu Nuᶜaym, 2: 11, but none of his works are mentioned. See Yaqut, Irshād, 5: 200f.Google Scholar

11. Khalidi, Tarif, Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also my discussion of biographical dictionaries in my article on Herat in this volume.

12. Tarjumah-yi maḥāsin, 79.Google Scholar See also Julie Meisami's discussion of Leder's article in her contribution to this volume. The present article was completed before I became acquainted with Meisami's position and, after some thought, decided to leave my piece as is. I think it may serve as an example of analyzing “ethico-rhetorical” historiography even if it does not use that term.

13. “The typical literary products of the great adibs of this period were the anthologies, which often originated in series of lectures (amali) delivered at restricted sessions (majalis) held in private homes…. Thus, a style is developed which moves from subject to subject, from mood to mood, and the author is concerned not to bore his reader but to give him a taste of all branches of Adab….” Khalidi, Arabic Historical Thought, 101.

14. This is why the translator could easily rearrange the text without utterly distorting it.

15. I owe many of these considerations to the papers and debates of the seminar on “Fiction in non-fictional classical Arabic literature;” held at Halle University in May 1997. The proceedings of this seminar have been published: Leder, Stefan, ed. Storytelling in the Framework of Non-fictional Arabic Literature, (Wiesbaden: ―, 1998).Google Scholar Particular mention should be made of the articles by Stefan Leder and Albrecht Noth.

16. Mafarrukhi, 17.

17. For the importance of this mutual understanding in “fictional” literature see Storytelling, especially Leder's article.

18. Mafarrukhi, 20 (bottom): “Wa li'l-mutaṭaffil ᶜala fuḍalā˒ ᶜaṣrihi al-wāghil fihim bi-shiᶜrihi ṣāḥib hādhihi'l-asāṭīr,” followed by the name of the author. The verses are a bit of faḍā˒il, praising Isfahan and its agreeable climate as well as other favorable conditions prevailing in that city.

19. See Khalidi, 101 and note 13 above.

20. Mafarrukhi, 36. Isfahan earned God's protection by not joining Nimrud against Ibrahim, see below.

21. The isnād goes: “I [Abu Nuᶜaym] have heard Abu Muhammad b. Hayyan [Abu˒l- Shaykh, say: I heard someone tell on the authority of Ibrahim b. Muhammad al- Nahawi: A group of people went to see Dhu˒l-Ri˒asatayn.” It is Dhu˒l-Ri˒asatayn who appears as the primordial narrator of the Ibrahim legend which follows (Abu Nuᶜaym, 1:40). The isnād is slightly different in Mafarrukhi: “It is told on the authority of Ibrahim b. Muhammad al-Nahawi that a group of people went forth from Isfahan to see Dhu˒l-Ri˒asatayn” (33). Dhu˒l-Ri˒asatayn is al-Fadl b. Sahl, the famous wazir serving the caliph al-Ma˒mun. He is said to have had a Zoroastrian background.

22. For a summary of some versions of the Nimrud legends, see Heller, B., “Namrūd” EI2 7: 952–53.Google Scholar

23. “Wa-ḍammana al-shāᶜir maᶜnāhu qawlahu,” 35. The poem quoted on 36 may be another fragment of the faḍā˒il on Isfahan mentioned earlier; the lines would thus belong to Mafarrukhi.

24. For the historical figure of Mardawij, see Madelung, W., “The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran,” Cambridge History of Iran (hereafter CHIr) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), 4: 211–13.Google Scholar Mardawij took Isfahan in 319/931 according to Madelung but, in 315/927, according to A. K. S. Lambton (see idem “Iṣfahan” EI2, 4: 100a). Madelung's date seems to be based on al-Athir's, Ibn al-Kamil fī˒l tarikh (ed. Tornberg, C. J. in 12 vols. [Beirut, 1965] 8: 229)Google Scholar, but this could refer to Mardawij's victory over al-Lashkari. Ibn al-Athir first mentions Mardawij's taking Isfahan under the year 316 (8: 196). The earlier date mentioned by Lambton obviously was taken from Miskawayh; see Amedroz, H.F., The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1919-21) 4: 182.Google Scholar Miskawayh's version here is basically the same text as found in Ibn al-Athir under the year 316. It does not serve the purposes of this paper to pursue this question further.

25. On this, see Khalidi, 170-76 and Meisami's ethico-rhetorical historical writing, see her contribution in this volume.

26. On this person, see below, n. 43.

27. This is a prayer which—unlike the ritual ṣalāt—allows for personal requests to be made. It may be held in private or in public, individually or communally, and it often served (and serves) as a means to express what we would today call public opinion. See my Herrscher, Gemeinwesen, Vermittler: Ostiran und Transoxanien in vormongolischer Zeit (Beirut and Stuttgart: 1996), 223–28.Google Scholar

28. Mafarrukhi, 37.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid. “Fa-qāla Wahjūn al-mawlā: aᶜidhuka yā amīr al-mu˒minīn min dhalika. Thumma ḥaddathahu bi˒l-ḥadīth al-mutaqaddim wa-amr ᶜasākir Namrūdh. Fa-qāla l-Manṣūr daᶜni min khurāfāt al-majūs illā annahu ᶜamala fīhi wa-amsaka ᶜanhā.”

31. The concept of tajriba certainly deserves further investigation. It is discussed mostly with regard to Miskawayh; see the bibliographical notes in Humphreys, R. S., Islamic History Revised edition (London, 1995), 133—34Google Scholar, in addition to the section on Miskawayh in Khalidi.

32. Mafarrukhi, 39: “Ruwiya ᶜan Khalid b. Samīr qāla qaṣada Iṣfahan malikun zamānan yurīdu bi-ahlihā sū˒an …” The reference to an authority not only serves as a means of authentication, but also of establishing a distance between the author and his authority. Could this be the Basran “ṡuccessor” (tābiᶜ) Khalid b. Sumayr who is mentioned as a more or less trustworthy transmitter of hadith? See al-Mizzi, Tahdhīb 8:90 (no. 1620) with further references.

33. Khalidi, 101.

34. See Meisami's contribution to this volume on the concept of “tellability.”

35. It is certainly not by chance that A. K. S. Lambton uses Mafarrukhi only very sparingly in her article on Isfahan in EI2; she mentions only his praise of the climate (alongside “serious” geographers) and his statement that “the best Isfahanis were very good but the bad very bad,” together with the remark that Anushirvan preferred Isfahani troops (4: 98b).

36. On the contrary, ᶜAla˒ al-Dawla (one of the local rulers) is praised because he was wise enough to know when it was possible to resist and when it was necessary to retreat (Mafarrukhi, 100; Lambton, “Isfahan,” 100b). ᶜAla˒ al-Dawla Muhammad b. Dushmanziyar was the uncle of Fakhr al-Dawla's wife on the distaff side, and therefore the person after whom the Kakuyid dynasty was named. They held control of Isfahan and its region (with some interludes) until 1041/42; cf. Bosworth, C.E. “Kakuyids,” EI2 4: 465–67Google Scholar, where Mafarrukhi's praise of ᶜAla˒ al-Dawlah is quoted (465b). There is one story in Mafarrukhi showing how military prowess on the part of the commander of the garrison together with resistance by the people led to the defeat of the Daylami warlord al-Lashkari who attempted to take the city in 319/931 (38-39). Miskawayh, (Eclipse, 4 :239–40Google Scholar and 1: 214) tells the same story in greater detail—emphasizing the role of the local population—on the authority of one Abu'l-Hasan al-Mafarrukhi who claimed that he was in Isfahan at that moment. This evidently is one of our author's forefathers, even if the exact degree of ancestry cannot be determined since no “Mafarrukhi” bearing the kunya “Abu'l-Hasan” is mentioned in Abu Nuᶜaym or the other sources used in this study. Miskawayh's reference could be taken to indicate that either a book or at least notes by this Abu l-Hasan were in circulation; the gap between the events this man claims to have witnessed and Miskawayh is rather long for an oral transmission to have occurred (Miskawayh died in 1020); on the other hand, the verb used is ḥakā (“he told [a story]”).

37. Mentioned in the story about Mardawij (above, pp. 120-21) and also in the fairy tale-type story, above note 32. There is a lot of evidence of peasants, and even townspeople, leaving a locale when pressed too hard by the tax-collector or when not only their property, but their very lives were at stake. See my Herrscher, Gemeinwesen, Vermittler, index, s.v. “Bauern verlassen die Wohnorte.”

38. This must have been fairly common. However, I have not come across such a concentration of relevant stories in other sources. See my Herrscher, Gemeinwesen, Vermittler, 226-28. See also above n. 27.

39. Mafarrukhi, 38. Yaᶜqub took Isfahan in 261/874-75.

40. Mafarrukhi, 38-39 (two instances).

41. See above, n. 36.

42. The meaning of this term may extend beyond the usual sense of tax farming, taxation system; cf. Bosworth, C.E., “Muḳāṭaᶜa” EI2 7: 508.Google Scholar

43. Mafarrukhi, 38. The persons involved are Ahmad b. ᶜAbd al-ᶜAziz who sent a messenger to the caliph al-Muᶜtadid asking for a muqāṭaᶜa over Isfahan and al-Jibal, and al-Mismaᶜi. Both suffer sudden death, and the point the text seems to make is that this outcome is a retaliation for their attempt at gaining regional rule. Ahmad b. ᶜAbd al-ᶜAziz was one of the most prominent representatives of the “Dulafid” dynasty (see E. Marin, “Dulafids” EI2 2: 623. He died in 280 (Ibn al-Athir, 7: 457). Mafarrukhi claims that the end of the ᶜIjli (i.e. Dulafid) dynasty was caused by Ahmad's wish for a muqāṭaᶜa. ᶜAbd Allah b. Ibrahim al-Mismaᶜi was governor of Isfahan from 290/902-3 and rebelled in 295/907-8. This rebellion was nipped in the bud by a caliphal demonstration of power, al-Mismaᶜi returned to obedience without a fight, came to Baghdad and again was given his previous post in Isfahan (Ibn al-Athir 8: 12). In 298, he also received Fars and Kirman, but was removed from all his posts in 300/912-13 (Ibid., 8: 61, 74). Ibn al-Athir does not report his death. The death of a certain Ibrahim al-Mismaᶜi is mentioned in Miskawayh (Eclipse 1: 157) under the year 315. It is not altogether clear whether the two al-Mismaᶜis are to be identified. No Ibrahim al-Mismaᶜi seems to occur in Ibn al-Athir.

44. Cahen, C., “L'évolution de l'iqṭāᶜ du IX au XIII siecle. Contribution à une histoire comparée des sociétés médiévales.” in Annales. Économie, sociétés, civilisations 8 (1953): 25–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45. See above notes 4 and 36.

46. I am aware that the works of both Ibn al-Athir and Miskawayh were written with a particular agenda and that that agenda was not to report history “as it actually happened.” Still, I think that even a cursory perusal of these books produces the impression that they are indeed close to “factuality” as they lack the same degree of irony discernible in Mafarrukhi.

47. Havemann, A. and Bosworth, C. E., “ra˒Is,” EI2 8: 402–3Google Scholar; Havemann, A., Ri˒āsa und qaḍā˒: Institutionen als Ausdruck wechselnder Kräfteverhaltnisse in syrischen Städten vom 10. bis zum Jahrhundert (Freiburg, 1995).Google Scholar For the eastern Islamic world, see also my Herrscher, Gemeinwesen, Vermittler.

48. See above, n. 35.

49. Mafarrukhi, 38.

50. Mafarrukhi, 85. On libraries in Isfahan, see my paper cited in n. 6.

51. Mafarrukhi, 106.

52. Mafarrukhi, 87-88. “[… min] al-mutaṣarrifīn al-kufāh al-ẓurafā˒ wa'l-mutajannidīn al-ḥumāh al-nujadā˒ wa'l-mutanaᶜᶜimīn min al-tunnā˒ al-ru˒asā˒ [88] wa l-mutaraffihīn min al-sūqah wa'l-tujjār wa l-mutaᶜattilīn min al-ᶜāmmah wa'1-shuṭṭār.” It is notewortḥy that ulama are not mentioned as a group in this list.

53. Again, the story is introduced by a mock isnād: I was told by those of my teachers who merit confidence: they said that they heard from their fathers and grandfathers who said: Some army once arrived at Isfahan … “[Hadhā] mā akhbaranī bihi al-muᶜtamadūn min shuyūkhinā qālū samiᶜnā min al-ābāᶜ wa'l-ajdād qālū warada Iṣfahān zamanan min al-azmān ᶜaskarun min al-ᶜasākir,” 88.

54. Mafarrukhi, 88. Oath-taking in such a situation is attested e.g. in Sayfi, Tārīkh-nāma-yi Harāt, ed. Siddiqi, . (Calcutta, 1944), 66–68, 77-79Google Scholar; see also my “L'invasion mongole comme ‘révélateur’ de la société iranienne,” in Aigle, D., ed. L’Iran face à la domination mongole (Tehran, 1997), 47–48.Google Scholar The Heratis swear that they will not abandon fighting the Mongols until they have won. They do not keep their oath, however, The story in Mafarrukhi suggests that the soldiers of the occupying army had been billeted in private homes as, in fact, is hinted at earlier (tanazzul al-dūr); this of course is one of the most odious (and dangerous) things an army can do.

55. One should remember that Isfahan was not a unified city, but rather an “urban agglomeration” whose separate parts were separated by walls and/or open space.

56. Mafarrukhi, 89.

57. In the context of this book only. Mafarrukhi is not very interested in the ulama. In other, more ulama-oriented contexts, the term is, of course, used for ulama leaders as well.

58. Abu Nuᶜaym, 2:321. The man in question is called Mansur b. Kushadh b. Shahmardan; he is styled ra˒īs fi'l-tanāwa, “leader in landholding.” Other members of this family are also mentioned (2:156, al-Fadl b. Kushadh; 2:167, Kushadh b. Shahmardan), all of them under the rubric of tāni˒, “landholder”. The family plainly is of Iranian origin.

59. Abu Nuᶜaym, 2: 53. The office is ri˒āsat al-balad fi'l-dīn wa'l-dunyā. This individual is also mentioned by Nurit Tsafrir, “Beginnings,” 10-11.

60. Abu Nuᶜaym, 1: 282-83, “aḥad ru˒asā˒ al-balad wa-wujūhihim”, “one of the leaders of the city”; 2: 64, ra˒īs wa-wajh.

61. Abu Nuᶜaym, 2: 145, “ra˒is muᶜtasham miṭᶜām,” (“a respected leader feeding [his people, guests, clients]).”

62. Abu Nuᶜaym, 2:23, “yaḥḍuru majlisahu kibār al-mashā˒ikh li-faḍlihi wari˒āsatihi,” “the most eminent scholars used to come to his sessions because of his virtue and his pre-eminent status.”

63. One example out of many: Abu Nuᶜaym, 1:246, “ra˒s fī ᶜilm al-Qur˒ān” (“preeminent in Quranic science”).