shia in medina

The Nakhāwila, a Shite Community in Medina Past and PresentAuthor(s): Werner EndeReviewed work(s):Source: Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 37, Issue 3, Shiites and Sufis in Saudi Arabia(Nov., 1997), pp. 263-348Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1570656 .Accessed: 21/02/2012 14:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Die Welt des Islams.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1570656?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

THE NAKHAWILA, A SHIllrE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA PAST AND PRESENT

BY

WERNER ENDE

Freiburg i.Br.

Contents

Acknowledgements 263 Introduction 264 The Shiite Emirate of the Banfu Husayn 272 The Husaynid ashrdf in modern times 279 The Harb and their Shiite subtribes 287 The nakhdwila: a name and its variants 293 More questions than answers: the origin of the nakhdwila 298 Ownership and cultivation of land 312 Other occupations 314 Another uncertainty: the numerical size 316 Burial and cemeteries 318 Isolation, discrimination and survival 320

1. The mahalla 320 2. Public education 325 3. Representation in domestic politics 327 4. A lonely minority: the religious aspect 328 5. Religious guidance 331

Bibliography 337 Maps 347

Acknowledgements

My research for this study on the Shiites of Medina began in the 1980s, but for a number of reasons I have repeatedly had to inter-

rupt my work for longer periods of time. Over the years, a great many persons-colleagues and students (both past and present), Muslim religious scholars, librarians, booksellers and others-have helped me in one way or another by procuring books, periodicals and photocopies, providing bibliographical data, guiding me to

? Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, 1997 Die Welt des Islams 37, 3

WERNER ENDE

hidden source material and solving numerous philological and other problems which I encountered while working on the various sources. They are too many to be mentioned here by name. I would like to thank them all.

Sincere thanks are due to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for its generous support: a grant in 1995 enabled me to spend the summer semester of that year conducting research on the Imami Shia in modern times.

Introduction

The present study is an attempt to describe the situation of the Twelver Shiite community of Medina and the adjacent area to the south of the town primarily in modern times (i.e. from the early 19th Century onwards), but with due reference also to its earlier

history. The narrative is based on a wide range of very heteroge- neous primary and secondary sources, ranging from medieval Ara- bic and modern European travel books to writings of the contem-

porary Saudi opposition, from old as well as recent Arabic chronicles to reports written by Iranian, Lebanese Shiite and other pilgrims on their visits to Medina. The picture that emerges is, of course, rather vague on many points, especially since the author of the present study has not been able-and most probably never will be-to do research on the spot.

To begin with, a few remarks concerning the general importance of Medina in the history of the Shia as well as in Shiite

religious thought are certainly appropriate. We should bear in mind that Medina is distinguished from the other shrine towns of (Twelver-) Shiite Islam' by a number of factors:

Its history and religious importance are closely related to those of Mecca. Though not part of the hajj, a visit (ziyara) to Medina before or after the performance of the hajj ceremonies is considered highly commendable by all Muslims, and indeed for Shiites it is almost a sacred duty.2 While some of the Shiite shrine towns- e.g. Kerbela and Najaf -sprung up around the tomb of an Imam,

1 See article "'Atabat" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 2, 902-4, and The Encyclo- paedia of Islam (El), Supplement, fasc. 1-2, 94-96; Khalili: Mawsfi'at al-'atabdt, Madkhal and 12 vols.

2 Najafi: Hidayat al-nasikin, passim.

264

THE NAKHAW/LA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

others, such as Medina, existed long before becoming places of Shiite veneration.3

If we could "measure" the religious significance of a Shiite shrine town by the number of Imams buried there, we would ne-

cessarily come to the conclusion that, for Shiites, Medina was the most important as well as the most popular of all these places- much more so than Najaf and Kerbela, for instance, where in each case "only" one Imam is buried. Medina (a city dear to the heart of every Muslim believer as the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad) contains the tombs of four Shiite Imams, i.e. more than can be found anywhere else. They are al-Hasan ibn 'All, 'Ali

Zayn al-'Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir and Ja'far al-Sadiq. It also contains the tomb of Muhammad's daughter Fatima, the mother of two Imams (Hasan and Husayn) and one of the most popular female saints of Islam, as well as the tombs of a number of other members of the "People of the House" (ahl al-bayt).4

Of course, it does not make much sense to evaluate the significance of a Shiite shrine town in this way. However-given the

special importance attached by Shiite believers in general to a visit to the shrines- it is clear why a ziydra5 to Medina is even more

popular with Shiite pilgrims than with their Sunnite co-religionists. As most Twelver-Shiites tend to believe that all their Imams (with the exception of the 12th, who is living in occultation) died as martyrs, standing at the tombs of the four buried in Medina is an act likely to excite their deepest religious emotions.

In modern times, i.e. ever since the mid-1920s, the grief felt by Shiite visitors to the old cemetery of Medina, Baqi' al-Gharqad (usually called al-Baqi')6 has been exacerbated by the knowledge that

3 For a rather fragmentary survey of the history of Medina see art. "Al- Madina" in EI, vol. 5, 994-1007. The best comprehensive treatment in Arabic published so far is Badr: Al-t&rikh al-shamil.

4 A detailed survey is to be found in Najafi: Madinah-shinasi, esp. kitab 4, 318- 435. For the more or less interchangeable terms Ahl al-bayt or Al al-bayt, as used in the present study, see El, vol. 1, 257f. and 345.

5 For the rules, ceremonies and special prayers see Nakash: The Visitation. For Medina in particular Najafi: Hiddyat al-nasikin.

6 See art. in El, vol. 1, 957; Najafi: Madinah-shinasi, 319ff. and illustrations nos. 54 and 82-87. For illustrations see further Rif<at: Mir'dt, vol. 1, 426; Batanfni: Rihla, facing p. 256; Kazem Zadeh: Relation, facing p. 16; Moritz: Bilder, nos. 71-72; for the present situation Hajiri: Al-Baqi', 142, 150, 186, 194, 222, 224-27; Mirath-i Jdwiddn (journal, Tehran), vol. 1, no.1 (Bahar 1372/1993), inside back cover;

265

WERNER ENDE

the shrines of their Imams in Iraq and Iran and even those of many imamzadahs7 are covered by cupolas and richly decorated with gold, silver, mirrors etc. The extreme simplicity of the tombs of the Imams at Medina therefore comes as a shock to them. This holds true even for those visitors who are well informed about the destruction of cupolas etc. carried out at the Baqi' by the Saudi Wahhabis after their conquest of Medina in December 1925.

Even before that event, Medina was different from the Shiite shrine towns in the East: unlike Najaf, Kerbela, Kazimayn and Meshhed (Samarra, to some extent, is an exception), Medina has never been a prominent centre of Shiite religious learning. In spite of the fact that there have been Shiites (including scholars, preachers and students) in and around Medina from early Islamic times up to the present day, no madrasa comparable to the great Shiite institutes in Iraq and Iran was ever established there.8 The same holds true for Mecca. This is, of course, mainly the result of political circumstances: with a few exceptions, Medina has always been under the suzerainity of Sunnite powers.

Local rulers such as many of the Hashimite Sharifs of Mecca, however, are known to have had Shiite leanings. For many Shiite authors, the Sharifs of Mecca were actually Shiites who, for obvious reasons, posed as Sunnites- an attitude considered lawful, as taqiya, under Shiite law. This explanation is, of course, debatable, but there can be no doubt that there has been a pro-Shiite tendency among several branches of the Hashimite family and particularly of the Husaynid ashraf in Medina.9 This fact may help explain why Shiites, wishing to live (and die) there as "pious neighbours" or "sojourners" (mujdwirCtn),l? have almost always succeeded in settling in Medina or in its vicinity. Mulla Muhammad Amin Astarabadi (d. between 1623 and 1626), the man who re- vived the Akhbdri school of Shiite Islam, is a case in point.11

Samarra'i: Al Sa'ud, 118-20. For the destructions in 1925/26 and the present situation, see further below, p. 318.

7 See art. in EI, vol. 3, 1169f. 8 Nevertheless, some Shiite authors, by quoting Sunni (polemical) works,

count Medina among the historic centers of Shiite scholarship. See, e.g., Kazimi: Ahsan al-wadi'a, vol. 2, 286f.

9 See below, p. 272ff. 10 See art. "Mudjawir" in El, vol. 7, 293f. 11 About this person see Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 2, 845f.

266

THE NAKHAWILA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

The origin and early development of the Shia date back, one could argue, to the lifetime of the Prophet, when his close kin, the Banfi Hashim, enjoyed an elevated religious status of purity attested by the Koran. After Muhammad's death, the disinheritance of his family-the ahl al-bayt-was the ultimate motive for the rise of the Shia, i.e. the "party" of 'Ali b. Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and, later on, the leader of the Hashimites. While the first popular movements in favour of the Shi'at 'Ali

emerged in Iraq, some (more or less) open Alid resistance to the rule of the Umayyads (and afterwards of the Abbasids) continued in the Hijaz too.12 Notwithstanding the fact that the subsequent development of the Shia, including the emergence of its different branches and sects etc., took place in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere, one should not forget that the Hijaz, and notably Mecca and Medina, are the cradle of Shiism. Likewise, the continuity of a Shiite (Imami or Zaydi) presence in the Hijaz from early Islam up to the 20th Century should not be overlooked. This continuity is the leitmotiv of the present study.

In western scholarship, the important role of the Shi'at 'Ali in the history of the Hijaz-not only in the early centuries of Islam- has been recognized to some extent by a number of authors, but has not been given due consideration until recently. In the 19th Century, it was C. Snouck Hurgronje, especially in his pioneering history of Mecca, who was first able to show both the range and partial success of Alid ambitions in the Hijaz well into the Abbasid period. As he was mainly interested in the origin and later development of the Hashimite Sherifate of Mecca, however, Snouck Hurgronje's description of the role in Hijazi history of the Shiite ashrdf of Medina, including their Emirate over a whole region of the Hijaz, is restricted to a number of short, though pertinent, remarks.13

The Swiss traveller J.L. Burckhardt is the first western author to mention in any detail the existence in modern times of a crypto- Shiite group of Husaynid origin in Medina, as well as a community to be distinguished from the former, i.e. the nakhawila-many of whom, he says, "publicly profess the creed of Aly when in their

12 See art. "Shi'a" (by W. Madelung) in El, vol. 9, 420-24, and the same author's The succession to Muhammad; further Musnad: Al-'alawiyun.

13 Mekka, vol. 1, 32-36, 40-74.

267

WERNER ENDE

date groves, but are Sunnys whenever they come to town" (see below).

As Burckhardt's remarks on the Shiites of Medina have had considerable influence on a number of western and even a few Mus- lim authors, the relevant passage deserves to be quoted in full. It is to be found in his chapter on the inhabitants of Medina. Men- tioning the Sherifian families living there, Burckhardt writes:

"Among them is a small tribe of Beni Hosseyn, descended from Hosseyn, the brother of Hassan. They are said to have been formerly very powerful at Medina, and had appropriated to themselves the chief part of the income of the mosque: in the thirteenth century, (according to Samhoudy), they were the privileged guardians of the Prophet's tomb; but at present they are reduced to about a dozen familes, who still rank among the grandees of the town and its most wealthy inhabitants. They occupy a quarter by themselves, and obtain very large profits, particularly from the Persian pilgrims who pass here. They are universally stated to be heretics, of the Persian sect of Aly, and to perform secretly the rites of that creed, although they publicly profess the doctrines of the Sunnys. This report is too general, and con- firmed by too many people of respectability, to be doubted: but the Beni Hosseyn have powerful influence in the town, in appearance strictly comply with the orthodox principles, and are therefore not molested. It is publicly said that the remnants of the Ansars, and great numbers of the peasant Arabs who cultivate the gardens and fields in the neighbourhood of the town, are addicted to the same heresy. The latter, called Nowakhele, (a name implying that they live among date-trees), are numerous, and very warlike. They had offered determined resistance to the Wahabys, and in civil contests have proved always superior to the townspeople. They are said to be descendants of the partisans of Yezid, the son of Mawya, who took and sacked the town sixty years after the Hedjra. They marry only among themselves; and exhibit on all occasions a great esprit de corps. Many of them publicly profess the creed of Aly when in their date-groves, but are Sunnys whenever they come to town. Some of them are established in the suburbs, and they have monopolised the occupation of butchers. In quarrels I have heard individuals among them publicly called sectaries and rowafedh, without their ever denying it. In the Eastern Desert, at three or four days' journey from Medina, lives a whole Beduin tribe, called Beni Aly, who are all of this Persian creed; and it is matter of astonishment to find the two most holy spots of the orthodox Muselman religion surrounded, one by the sectaries of Zeyd, and the other by those of Aly, without an attempt having been made to dislodge them."14

Richard Burton, who visited Medina in 1852, in his Personal Narra- tive also refers to both the nakhawila and the Banfu Husayn. As his observations, like Burckhardt's, have influenced later writings about Medina, they too are quoted here in full (but without the rather fanciful footnotes):

14 Travels, vol. 2, 238-40.

268


"There is also a race called Al-Nakhawilah, who, according to some, are descendants of the Ansar, whilst others derive them from Yazid, the son of Mu'awiyah: the latter opinion is improbable, as the Caliph in question was a mortal foe to Ali's family, which is inordinately venerated by these people. As far as I could ascertain, they abuse the Shaykhayn (Abu Bakr and Omar): all my informants agreed upon this point, but none could tell me why they neglected to bedevil Osman, the third object of hatred to the Shi'ah persua- sion. They are numerous and warlike, yet they are despised by the townspeople, because they openly profess heresy, and are moreover of humble degree. They have their own priests and instructors, although subject to the orthodox Kazi; marry in their own sect, are confined to low offices, such as slaughtering animals, sweeping, and gardening, and are not allowed to enter the Harim during life, or to be carried to it after death. Their corpses are taken down an outer street called the Darb al-Janazah-Road of Biers- to their own cemetery near Al-Bakia. They dress and speak Arabic, like the townspeople; but the Arabs pretend to distinguish them by a peculiar look denoting their degradation: it is doubtless the mistake of effect for cause, about all such

'Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast.' A number of reports are current about the horrid customs of these people, and their community of women with the Persian pilgrims who pass through the town. It need scarcely be said that such tales coming from the mouths of fanatic foes are not to be credited. I regret not having had an opportu- nity to become intimate with any of the Nakhawilah, from whom curious information might be elicited. Orthodox Moslems do not like to be questioned about such hateful subjects; when I attempted to learn something from one of my acquaintance, Shaykh Ula al-Din, of a Kurd family, settled at Al-Madinah, a man who had travelled over the East, and who spoke five languages to perfection, he coldly replied that he had never consorted with these heretics."15

Like Burckhardt, Burton distinguishes clearly between the nakhawila and the Sayyids of Banfi Husayn. According to him, the latter numbered ninety-three or ninety-four families in Medina alone. About them, Burton has the following to say:

"Anciently they were much more numerous, and such was their power, that for centuries they retained charge of the Prophet's tomb. They subsist principally upon their Amlak, property in land, for which they have title-deeds extending back to Mohammed's day, and Aukaf, religious bequests; popular rumour accuses them of frequent murders for the sake of succession. At Al- Madinah they live chiefly at the Hosh Ibn Sa'ad, a settlement outside the town and south of the Darb al-Janazah. There is, however, no objection to their dwelling within the walls; and they are taken to the Harim after death, if there be no evil report against the individual. Their burial-place is the Bakia cemetery. The reason of this toleration is, that some are supposed to be Sunni, or orthodox, and even the most heretical keep their "Rafz" (heresy) a profound secret. Most learned Arabs believe that they belong, like the Persians, to the sect of Ali: the truth, however, is so vaguely known, that

15 Personal Narrative, vol. 2, 1-3.

269

WERNER ENDE

I could find out none of the peculiarities of their faith, till I met a Shirazi friend at Bombay. The Benu Hosayn are spare dark men of Badawi appearance, and they dress in the old Arab style still affected by the Sharifs,- a Kufiyah (kerchief) on the head, and a Banish, a long and wide-sleeved garment resembling our magicians' gown, thrown over the white cotton Kamis (shirt): in public they always carry swords, even when others leave weapons at home".16

Until recently, there had been no attempt in western scholarship to describe in any detail the history of the Shiite (Husaynid) Emir- ate of Medina from its origin-although Werner Caskel planned to do so. For reasons unknown to me, however, his project, which is mentioned in Max von Oppenheim's Die Beduinen, has not ma- terialized.17 It is only with two articles by Richard T. Mortel published in 1991 and 1994, respectively, as well as with Shawn Marmon's book Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society, which appeared in 1995, that western historical research on Medina, and particularly on its Shiite community, has made any substantial progress.18

At the same time, the publication of both Arabic chronicles, biographical works etc. (in more or less critical editions) and of studies by Arab authors concerning various aspects of Medinese history from early Islam to the recent past has immensely enriched our potential source material. The most recent examples are two works published in 1996. Both came to the attention of the present writer too late to be used for this study. They are 1) Muhammad Kibrit al-Husayni al-Madani: Kitab al-jawdhir al-

thaminafi mahdsin al-Madina, ed. Muhammad Hasan (...) Isma'il al-Shafi'l, Beirut 1996 (Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiya),19 and

2) 'Arif 'Abd al-Ghani: Tarikh umara' al-Madina al-Munawwara, Da- mascus 1996 (Dar al-Kinan).20

16 Ibid., 3f. 17 Vol. 2, 434, fn. 4. 18 See bibliography. 19 For manuscripts see Sa'idi: Mu'jam ma ullifa, 343, no. 93, further ed.

Shafi'i, 4. Concerning the author, Muhammad Kibrit, see ibid., 3; Hamdan: The Literature, 77-80, and our footnote no. 89 below.

20 The book consists of short biographical entries, in chronological order, of persons who, in one way or another (i.e. as independent Emirs, as deputies of Mamluk Sultans or of the ashraf of Mecca, as Ottoman walis or in other capaci- ties) have "ruled" Medina from the time of early Islam up to the year 1417/1996. The first person mentioned is Mus'ab b. 'Umayr (see EI, vol. 7, 649), the last one is Prince 'Abd al-Majid b. 'Abd al-'Aziz Al Sa'fid (since 1406/1986 amir of

270


Another useful addition to the Arabic source material is a re-

cently published bibliography of Shiite writings on the Arabian Peninsula, i.e.

Habib Al ami': Mu'jam al-mu'allafat al-shi'iyafi l-Jazira al-'Arabiya, vol. 1, Beirut, 1st ed. 1417/1997 (Mu'assasat al-Baqi').21

As this work came to my attention only at the moment when the preparation of this study was in its final stage, I have to confine myself to the above bibliographical reference.

To the best of my knowledge, no source originating from members of the Shiite community of Medina has so far been published: it must therefore be regarded as a silent minority, especially since circumstances do not yet allow field research on its present economic conditions, cultural life etc.

As a prerequisite for any further research concerning the Husay- nid ashraf of the Hijaz in general and of those in Medina in particular, a critical edition of Ibn Shadqam's Zahr al-riyad wa-zulal al-

hiyad would be highly welcome. The author, Sayyid Abfi 1-Makarim al-Hasan b. 'Ali b. Shadqam al-Madani, was born in Medina in 942 (1535-36) and died in Hyderabad/Deccan in the month of Safar 999 (December 1590). His dead body was transported to Medina and buried at the cemetery of al-Baqi'.22

Before leaving his native city for India, Ibn Shadqam-like his father before him-is said to have been naqib al-ashrdf for some time, as well as mutawalli of the Prophet's grave site. In his (hith- erto unpublished) Zahr al-riydd, consisting of four volumes, Ibn Shadqam's Imami Shi'i tendency is displayed quite openly. Basi- cally, this is a work on the biographies of persons who have played some role in the history of Medina, with special emphasis on the Shiite Imams as well as on local Shiite rulers, notables, 'ulama', poets etc. A study of the author's own biography and of his political activity both in Medina and Hyderabad may yield new insights into the role and self-view of the Medinese Husaynid ashrdf in the 16th Century and beyond.

Medina). On pp. 492-520 is a list (also in chronographical order) of all these persons, with those of the era of the Ja'fariyun on pp. 502-04, and those during Fatimid rule on 504ff. There is no special list of the (Shiite) Husaynid umard'.

21 According to an introductory note by the compiler, a second volume is in preparation.

22 With regard to this work and its author see Sa'idi, ibid., 352-56, and Amin: A'yan, ed. Hasan al-Amin (1986), vol. 5, 175-79.

271

WERNER ENDE

In addition, there are both published and unpublished sources in Persian and other eastern and western languages which may provide abundant information with regard to many details. The

present author does not claim to know them all. He acknowledges that, for one reason or another, he has not always been able to

fully exploit the information which the available material may contain.

The Shiite Emirate of the Baniu Husayn

The Twelver-Shiite denomination of the Husaynid Emirs of Medi- na up to the Mamluk period was well known to medieval Sunni Arab authors such as Ibn Khaldfn (d. 1406) and Qalqashandi (d. 1418).23 Mortel's recent studies are based on the remarks of these two authors as well as on information found in the works of several others.

The emergence of a semi-independent Emirate in Medina and its vicinity under the rule of local ashraf 24 from the Banfu Husayn dates back to the years immediately following the establishment of Fatimid rule in Egypt (969 A.D.).25 Two factors should be seen as prerequisites for this development in Medina:

First, there is evidence that the Banfi Husayn, i.e. the descendants of Husayn b. 'Ali and his only surviving son, 'Ali Zayn al- cAbidin (the Fourth Imam of the Shia), had over many genera- tions been able to establish themselves as one of the important families of Medina. Some information to this effect contained in sources that were written much later may be apocryphal, but there is no reason to doubt that the Banfu Husayn had acquired considerable influence in Medinese society long before their Emirate emerged.

Secondly, members of the Medinese Banfu Husayn had migrated to Egypt in the first quarter of the 10th Century. A number of them were able to establish close relations with the Ikhshidid and, later, the Fatimid court. Of special importance in this connection

23 Ibn Khaldfn: 'Ibar, vol. 4, 108-11; Qalqashandi: Subh, vol. 4, 302, and 12, 243-46.

24 For this term and the development of its various meanings see art. "Sharif' in EI, vol. 9, 329-37.

25 Mortel: The Origins, passim; also Muhammad: Al-'aldqat, 72-76; Badr: Al- tarikh al-shamil, vol. 2, 135ff.

272


is one Muslim b. 'Ubaydallah, who died in Cairo in 976 or 977. When his son returned to the Hijaz shortly afterwards, the local Banu Husayn recognized him as their leader. This event marks the

inauguration of the Husaynid Emirate (or Sherifate) of Medina. The most important outward sign of the establishment of some

degree of local rule over Medina under Shiite Fatimid (no longer Sunnite Abbasid) suzerainty was to be observed in the recitation of the khutba: possibly as early as 969, but with some certainty a few

years later, the name of the Fatimid Caliph was mentioned in the khutba. Later on, several Husaynid Emirs are known to have been officially designated by the Fatimid Caliphs and, after the downfall of this dynasty, by the Abbasids to govern Medina. One of them, Qasim b. Muhanna, was a close acquaintance of Salah al-Din (Sala- din) and even accompanied the latter on some of his campaigns. Under him and his successor, the Husaynid Emirate of Medina

cooperated with the Ayyubids on many occasions, and in particular backed several Ayyubid attempts to regain control over Mecca. On the other hand, the Ayyubids supported the Husaynids against all

political and military actions undertaken by the Sherifs of Mecca to subdue the Emirate of Medina.

Below the level of political co-operation, there may have been some sort of migration of Shiites, in both directions, between Medina and Egypt for a considerable time after the fall of the Fatimids, i.e. well into the Mamluk era. As recent research has shown,26 there is significant evidence that Isma'ili and non-Isma'ili (probably Twelver-) Shiism played some role in medieval Cairo, and even more so in Upper Egypt until at least well into the 14th Century. A few pockets of Shiism may have existed even longer. Thus, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ansari's remark, quoted below,27 that some of the nakhdwila are said to be related to people from Egypt might not be totally unfounded.

After the deposition of the last Fatimid caliph in 1171, the local rulers of the haramayn had recognized Sultan Salah al-Din as their overlord. As an outward sign of the restoration of Sunnite rule, the Shi'i preachers in the haram of Medina were obliged to acknowl- edge the authority of the Sunni caliphate in their khutba,

26 Stewart: Popular Shiism, esp. 35, 52, 56f., 61. 27 See p. 303.

273

WERNER ENDE

"but neither Salah al-Din nor his descendants appear to have made any attempt to "sunnify" the City of the Prophet. The Shi'i elite of Medina continued to control most religious offices in the sanctuary, and Shi'i judges exer- cised jurisdiction over Sunni and Shi'i alike".28

A number of Sunnite authors, known for their anti-Shiite stance, criticized this state of affairs, which they considered to pose a threat to the supremacy of orthodox (Sunnite) Islam in the Hijaz: in his Kitab al-dhayl wa-l-takmila, in the chapter on Ibn Jubayr (d. 1217), Abfi 'Abdallah Muhammad al-Marrakushi quotes a poem which the famous Andalusian traveller had dedicated to Salah al- Din al-Ayyibi (d. 1192). In it,29 Ibn Jubayr appeals directly to the Sultan to look into the situation in Medina and to abolish the bida' which were rife in the Prophet's town: among other things, he especially mentions the open cursing of the sahdba and, as one of the most disgraceful innovations, the fact that a Shiite should be allowed to lead the ritual prayer for Sunnites.30

The accusation that Shiites had attempted to break into the tomb of the Prophet (or the tombs of Abfi Bakr and 'Umar, respectively) and carry off the bodies is a frequent topos in Sunni literature on the history of Medina.31 The ndr al-Hijdz, i.e. the eruption of a volcano near Medina in the year 654/1256, and the fire at the haram several months later in the same year were interpreted by Sunni authors as God's punishment for the corruption into which the community had fallen-with the ascendancy of the Shia in Medina as a very significant case in point. Some authors even held local Shiites directly responsible for setting fire to the mosque of the Prophet.32

Ibn Taimiya (d. 1328), in his treatise on the precedence and

28 Marmon: Eunuchs, 58. 29 Marrakushi: Al-Dhayl, vol. (sifr) 5, pt. 2, 616-20. 30 For Ibn Jubayr's lamentation of the fact that a "heretic" would deliver the

khutba from the minbar of the Prophet and for his other grievances concerning the religious situation in the Hijaz see his Rihla, ed. Wright/de Goeje, 76ff., 201f., and the French translation by Gaudefroy-Demombynes: Voyages, parts 1, 87ff., and 2, 231f. For a commentary see Netton: Basic Structures, esp. 28-30, for the history of the minbar and its religious importance see Meier: Der Prediger. 31 Marmon: Eunuchs, 36; Barzanji: Nuzhat al-ndzirin, 82; this story is repeated even by some modern authors such as 'Ali Hafiz: Fusul, 24f. (The author, however, prefers the alternative version that the culprits were christians).

32 Marmon, ibid., 49f.; Meier: Der Prediger, 227-30; Samhudi: Wafa', vol. 1, 151f., and vol. 2, 598-600 (for the verses quoted on p. 600, see also Miknasi:

Jadhwat al-iqtibas, 242); Burckhardt: Travels, 204.

274


superiority of Hadith scholarship in Medina during the first three centuries of Islam, explains why the prestige of the Medinese school had subsequently declined: even in the Fourth Century, other towns could justifiably boast of scholars superior to those of Medina, while at the same time Shiite heresy (rafd) manifested itself in the town of the Prophet. However, almost until the beginning of the Sixth Century A.H. (early 12th Century A.D.), the great majority of the inhabitants of Medina had continued to adhere to their traditional madhhab, namely that of Malik. But then religious life in Medina began to feel the impact of the immigration of heretics from the East (rafidat al-mashriq): a great number of Shiites from Kashan and elsewhere, many of them related to the

family of the Prophet, had come to Medina. Works by heretical authors, all incompatible with a true understanding of both the Koran and the Sunna, were presented to the Medinese, and much money was spent on them. Thus, heresy (bid'a) increased in Medina from that time onwards.33

It would be interesting to know whether or not the influx of Shiites early in the 12th Century, especially from Qashan (or Kashan), as mentioned by Ibn Taimiya, had anything to do with the kind of messianic movement which is said to have been active in that town and in the surrounding villages. It is described by Yaqut on the authority of an eyewitness, namely Abuf l-'Abbas Ahmad b. 'Ali Ibn Baba al-Qashi, or al-Qashani (d. 1116-17), the author of a (lost) book on the sects of the Shia.34 A discussion of this point would, however, fall outside the scope of the present study.

Ibn Taimiya's remarks are quoted with approval by Ibn Farhfin (who was the qddi of the Maliki madhhab in Medina from 1390 until his death in 1397) in his Tabsirat al-hukkim. With regard to the beginning of Shiite dominance in Medina, however, Ibn Farhun prefers an earlier date. Referring to Abfi Bakr Ibn al-'Arabi (d. 1148) and his work al-'Awdsim wa-l-qawdsim, he maintains that Sunnite law had fallen into disuse in Medina by the Fifth Century A.H.: according to Ibn al-'Arabi, a Shiite was khatib (of the haram)

33 Sihhat usul, 20f. 34 Mu'jam al-buldan, vol. 7, 13; concerning al-Qashi see El, vol. 4, 696.

275

WERNER ENDE

in 489 (1095-96), when the Andalusian scholar came to Medi- na.35

Several centuries later, Ibn Farhfin's remarks are quoted by Ja'far b. Isma'il al-Barzanji (d. 1899), who arrived in Medina in 1854 and became Shafiite mufti there, in his history of the mosque of the Prophet.36

The situation described (and deplored) by those authors gradually changed under Mamluk rule, beginning with Sultan Baybars' pilgrimage in 1269. It was this ruler who initiated a policy of send-

ing Sunni scholars to Medina to counter the influence of the Shiite local rulers as well as the still dominant Shiite (mainly Husaynid) 'ulama families there. The Emirs of Medina at the time, the Al Shiha, and their relatives, the Al Sinan, tried to resist this policy by different means, including the mobilization of their followers against the Sunnite immigrants whom they considered to be the agents of forced "sunnification".37

In this connection, an incident in the late Thirteenth Century, involving the Egyptian Sunni faqih Siraj al-Din al-Ansari, acted as a

turning point in the conflict between Sunnites and Shiites over the control of the religious offices in Medina: one Friday just after

Siraj al-Din-who had come to Medina by order of the Mamluk sultan-had commenced his khutba from the pulpit of the haram, Shiite members of the congregation began throwing handfuls of gravel at him. At this juncture, the eunuchs of the Prophet's mosque-all of them known to be zealous defenders of Sunnism- intervened by placing themselves, together with their retainers and slaves, between the pulpit and the crowd. This first appearance of the "row of the eunuchs" (saff al-khudddm), which was to become a practice for centuries, may have been "a carefully planned demonstration of the authority of the distant sultan". In any case it ushered in a new stage of a development which precipitated the end of Shi'i ascendancy in Medina.38

Under Ottoman rule, i.e. from 1517 onwards, the influence of the Husaynid families of Medina gradually waned. However, they

35 Tabsira, in the margin of Fath al-'ali, vol. 1, 417. 36 Nuzhat al-ndzirin, 88. 37 Mortel: The .Husaynid Amirate, lOOff.; Marmon: Eunuchs, 56, 138 fn. 159;

'All: Al-haydt, 221. 38 Marmon, 55f.; Barzanji: Nuzhat al-ndzirin, 89.

276


were not totally subjugated and even entered into a dispute with the Ottomans: in her study of the finances of Mecca and Medina under Ottoman rule, Suraiya Faroqhi presents a valuable analysis of the awqdf benefiting the two holy cities as well as of the distri- bution of subsidies and pensions among their inhabitants.39 In this context, she mentions a long-drawn-out dispute, in the 16th Cen-

tury, over (Ottoman-) Egyptian subsidies involving the rights of the Banf Husayn in Medina. The latter claimed one third of all subsidies sent to Mecca, producing a rescript to this effect from Sultan Murad III. The Ottoman governor of Egypt opposed these demands, pointing out that other legitimate claimants would then have to be denied their rights.

We should keep in mind that in this period, Sunni Ottomans and Shi'i Safawids were frequently at war. Under these circumstances, official Ottoman subsidies for the Shiite Banf Husayn could not be taken for granted. For a while, "the opponents of the Bani Husayn had the upper hand in Istanbul, and the Sultan's Council denied them official support of any kind. But the Banfu

Husayn insisted and, in the long run, they seem to have been successful, for in the early Seventeenth Century we find them receiving subsidies out of the Egyptian provincial budget".40

With the material at my disposal, I cannot determine at what time and under which circumstances the payment of these official subsidies from the Ottoman-Egyptian budget eventually came to an end. Moreover, it is not clear whether-and, if so, for how long-the Banfi Husayn received regular subsidies or gifts from other sources within or outside the Ottoman Empire.

It is safe to assume, however, that the number of both indigenous and foreign Shiites staying in the two holy cities was rela-

tively large at least in the first half of the 16th Century: the presence there of many "shi'a, rafida and such-like" induced Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 1567) to write (and teach publicly in Mecca) his Sawa'iq muhriqa, one of the most devastating polemics ever written against the Shiite doctrine of the imdma and in defence of the first three caliphs.41

39 Pilgrims and Sultans, 56, 77, 80.

40 Ibid., 87f. 41 Brockelmann, GAL, II, 388, and S II, 527f. Ibn Hajar mentions the

Ramadan of 950/1543 as the time when he was asked to read his work in public: Al-sawa'iq, introduction.

277

WERNER ENDE

Ibn Hajar's work is to be seen in the context of the confrontation between Sunni Ottomans and Shiite Safawids, and in particular of the practice of openly reviling the early Sunni caliphs. This

practice led to complaints from a number of Imami Shiites in the

Hijaz. Thus, Twelver clerics in Mecca wrote to the 'ulama' of Isfahan: "You revile their imams (the first three caliphs) in Isfahan, and we in al-Haramayn are chastised for this cursing and reviling".42

The conflict between the Ottomans and the Safawids (as well as later Iranian dynasties) resulted in a series of crises over the pilgrimage to Mecca and the ziyara to Medina: when the two Empires were at war, Iranian pilgrims were not permitted to enter Ottoman territory. In peacetime, their movements were monitored and more or less restricted. On their way to the Hijaz and back to Iran as well as during their stay in the Haramayn, they would suffer various forms of discrimination. There are many complaints to this effect by Iranian (and, to some extent, other Shiite) pilgrims even from later periods and right up to the present.43

A description and analysis of this conflict and its repercussions would fall outside the scope of the present study. Suffice it to say here that the present-day Saudi-Iranian confrontation over the

prigrimage has many roots in the remote past, and that the indigenous Twelver Shiite community of Medina has always been in danger of becoming directly involved in the resulting quarrels.44

According to Eyyfb Sabri (as quoted by Batanuni), the control

(wilaya) over Medina remained in the hands of the Husaynid ashrdf until 1099/1687-88, when it was subordinated to the government of Hijaz, i.e. Mecca, by an Ottoman decree. The last of the semi-independent Emirs mentioned is one Husayn b. Zuhayr.45

Probably as a result of this development, the southern suburb of al-'Awali replaced Medina for several centuries as the stronghold and main residence of the Husaynid umara'. With this move, they had good reason to establish a close relationship with the domi-

42 Newman: The Myth, 82. 43 Faroqhi: Pilgrims, 127ff.; Faqihi: Wahhabiydn, 231ff. and passim; Amin al-

Dawla: Safar namah, 255, 279; Kazem Zadeh: Relation, 16-18. 44 See below, pp. 335-37, and the literature mentioned there. 45 Al-rihia al-hijaziya, 298-300. See also Amhazun: Al-Madina, 35.

278


nant tribe there-the Harb-and particularly with one of its sec- tions, the Banf 'Ali.46

The Husaynid ashraf in modern times

In the 19th and 20th Centuries, many Shiite visitors from abroad have been aware of the Shiite background of the ashrdf of Banf Husayn. Muhsin al-Amin has the following to say about them:

"There are Shiites in Medina and Mecca and in some other places (of the Hijaz). For long periods, Husaynid Emirs used to rule Medina. They are Twelver Shiites, who until today have never shown their different madhhab in public. In Medina itself as well as outside, in al-'Awali and elsewhere, there are a great number of them."47

In another passage, Muhsin al-Amin adds the following information:

"In Medina, there is a mahalla whose inhabitants are Shiites. There are (also) in Medina Hashimites (t&'ifat al-Hawdshim) of Husayni-'Alawi lineage and of Shiite origin. I have seen some Shiite books in their possession. Until now they control a waqf which is destined for the provision of food on the day of 'Ashfira'."48

Whatever their individual creed may have been, it is clear that in their relations with Shiite visitors, many of the ashraf of Medina, and especially of the Banf Husayn, did in fact exhibit what their guests perceived as Shiite leanings. Thus, the Iranian politician Amin al-Dawla (see below), describing his visit to Medina in 1899, detects in his host, Sharif "All-the head of the Banfi Husayn-an ardent love for the Shi'a (madhaq-i tashayyu'). For Amin al-Dawla, this is the natural consequence of Sharif 'Ali's pedigree and noble origin. In the Sharif's house near al-'Awali, Amin al-Dawla even feels free to offer prayer "without dissimulation" (bi taqiya).49

We cannot, however, rule out that some Sunni Medinese may have been prepared to lie when questioned by Shiite pilgrims about their creed. Doughty refers to such a person whose father had allowed a company of Persian pilgrims to lodge in his palm ground: probably because they had paid an amount of money for

46 See below, p. 287f. 47 A'yan, 1986 ed., vol.1, 200. For the author, Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin, see be-

low, fn. 91. 48 Ibid., 208. 49 Safar namah, 193, 266.

279

WERNER ENDE

their accommodation, but also out of contempt for them, the young man cynically "played the ShiT'i in their presence.50

A story like this alerts us to the possibility that in some cases, where Medinese hosts or other acquaintances are described by foreign pilgrims as Shiites, this information may not be true. Such an error might be the result of deception, but also, on the part of the Shiite visitor, of wishful thinking-or both.

In addition to some ashraf, even tribal chiefs of the Medina region could establish close contacts with distinguished Shiite visitors from abroad. An interesting example is Shaykh Sa'dJaza' (or Jaza), who in the late 19th and early 20th Century was the head of the Ahamida, a section of the Harb.51 When, in 1899, the former Iranian prime minister (sadr-i a'zam) Mirza 'Ali Khan Amin al- Dawla visited Medina after his hajj,52 Shaykh Sa'd met him and his entourage several times.53 He accompanied the Persian guests on their visits to the ashraf and to other persons and occasionally even served them as interpreter. Amin al-Dawla, who mentions his name as "Shaykh Jaza' (of the) Nakhawila", seems to have had earlier contacts with Shaykh Sa'd and even hints at a visit the latter had allegedly paid to Tehran. Shaykh Sa'd owned a house in Medina to which he had already invited Amin al-Dawla when the two men first met in the same year in Mecca during the pilgrimage season. He maintained close relations with the ashrdf of the Banfu Husayn. It seems that he had somehow been involved in a plan, fostered by Amin al-Dawla, to secure financial support from the Iranian government for the Shiites of Medina. With the money thus provided, some men of the nakhdwila whould have been paid to serve as door-keepers at the gates of al-Baqi': they would have been able to ensure that Shiite visitors who were frequently ob- structed by Sunnite door-keepers enjoyed unrestricted access to the cemetery. According to Amin al-Dawla, the intrigues of his enemies as well as his own resignation as prime minister in July 1898 made it impossible to realise this project.54

50 Travels, vol. 2, 224. 51 Rif'at: Mir'at, vol. 2, 91; Stratk6tter: Von Kairo, 203. For the Ahamida see

ibid., 354 (index), further Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 377, 379, and Biladi: Mu'jam qaba'il, 13; for the family of IbnJaza idem: Nasab Harb, 179.

52 Fragner: Persische Memoirenliteratur, 22f., 77ff., 11 1ff. 53 Safar namah, 243f., 250, 254, 257, 259f., 265, 280. 54 Ibid., 254f., 279. For Amin al-Dawla's political career see Fragner, Memoi-

renliteratur, 88-111.

280


Even at the beginning of the 20th Century, we find that a number of Husaynid ashraf residing in al-'Awali (and in Medina

itself) were able to play a role in local (and even regional) politics. Among them one Sharif Shah. hat (b. 'Ali)-whose name is also written Shah (h)ad or Shah (h)adh by several Arab authors55-rose to some prominence:

In his description of Medina written in 1910, Batanfni mentions Sharif Shahhat as the representative (wakil) of the Sharif of Mekka, who had appointed him "to look into the affairs of the Bedouins" (al-'urb&n).56 Residing in al-'Awali, Shahhat was able to function as intermediary in tribal affairs as well as in the many cases of tension between the tribes and the Medinese (including the Ottoman garrison).

In addition to his official function, Shahhat and his younger brother Nasir made a point of receiving Shiite visitors to Medina, and especially to the mosques south of the holy city-such as those of Quba and al-'Awali. The hospitality and protection offered by the two Emirs attracted praise from 'Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din in his autobiography. Sharaf al-Din, a Lebanese Shiite scholar (d. 1957), travelled to Medina by a train of the Hijaz Railway in the company of his mother and a number of notables from southern Lebanon. He arrived in the holy town in Ramadan 1328 / Septem- ber 1910, i.e. about half a year after Batanfni's stay there. He states that the group found accommodation in a house of "our faithful brothers, the nakhawila", and adds the following passage:

"The two Emirs, Sharif Shah [h] adh and Sharif Nasir, together with a group of believers (i.e. Shiites) from al-'Awali, came to visit us. Both of them spared no effort to care for our comfort and (ensure that we were) respected. At that time, the two Emirs had influence and a leading position (...). We had been determined to seclude ourselves in the Prophet's mosque for continuous prayer (i'tikaf), but the two Emirs distracted us from that by their constant (protecting) care for us."57

A somewhat similar account is to be found in Sayyid Muhsin al- Amin's autobiography, where, describing one of his three visits to Medina, he mentions a young man by the name of Sharif 'Ali b.

55 Ibn al-Zubayr: Mu'jam, vol. 2, 904. His nisba is given by 'Abd al-Ghani: Tarikh, 428.

56 Al-rihia al-hijaziya, 253. 57 Bughyat al-raghibin, vol. 2, 197f.; see also Qubaysi: Hayat, 106. For Sharaf al-

Din see further below, p. 331.

281

WERNER ENDE

Budayri al-Husayni. This person served Sayyid Muhsin and his com-

pany (i.e. Shiites from Syria) as a guide to Quba and al-'Awali. The

young Sharif, who also knew Persian, had visited Damascus as a guest of Sayyid Muhsin.58

It is clear from this account that even for Shiites a visit to the

region of Quba and al-'Awali at that time was safe only in the

company of an intermediary such as a Husaynid Sharif. (This situation was due to the general tension between Medina and the Harb to be mentioned below).59

Let us return to the story of Sharif Shahhat and his brother: although both the Husaynid Emirs participated-and even played an important role-in the so-called Arab Revolt of 1916-18, this has apparently eluded the attention of many historians. Where the two are mentioned at all, their Shiite background is usually ig- nored.60 This is somewhat surprising, since one of the most important sources, T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, clearly high- lights this background and its significance. Lawrence speaks in particularly glowing terms of Sharif Nasir (at the time, as the author remarks, about twenty-seven years old):

"Nasir made a splendid impression, much as we had heard, and much as we were expecting of him. He was the opener of roads, the forerunner of Feisal's movement, the man who had fired his first shot in Medina, and who was to fire our last shot at Muslimieh beyond Aleppo on the day that Turkey asked for an armistice, and from beginning to end all that could be told of him was good. He was a brother of Shehad, the Emir of Medina. Their family was descended from Hussein, the younger of (Imam) 'All's children, and they were the only descendants of (Imam) Hussein considered Ashraf, not Saada. They were Shias, and had been since the days of Kerbela, and in Hejaz were respected only second to the Emirs of Mecca."61

In a report of March 1917, Lieut.-Col. Newcombe describes one of the military operations against the Hijaz Railway in which Sharif Nasir ("a Shiah from Medina") participated.62 Lawrence, who would on occasion flatter Nasir's pride in being a Sharif and "an

58 A'yan, vol. 10, 364. 59 See pp. 287ff. 60 It is shortly mentioned in Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 435, and by

Sharaf al-Din: Bughyat al-raghibin, vol. 2, 197. Tauber: The Arab Movements, notes Sharif Nasir's participation in the war, but has nothing to say about his background (106, 133, 234, 237f.).

61 Seven Pillars, 165. 62 Bidwell (ed.): The Arab Bulletin, vol. 2, 143.

282


authentic Shia descendant of Ali and the martyred Hussein", con-

sidered him "our best guerrilla general". Later on, however, Nasir

proved to be "too little a political philosopher" to understand

Faysal's policy in establishing an Arab government in Damascus.63 In spite of his military prowess, Nasir was, as Lawrence put it, "a

man of gardens, whose lot had been unwilling war since boyhood." Even during the campaign against the Turks, he was dreaming of what Lawrence calls his "garden-palace" near Medina.64

The garden area surrounding Sharif Nasir's residence as well as his family's other palm groves probably suffered considerably at the hands of the Ottoman defenders of Medina. According to

Hogarth,

"the large palm plantations outside the city (of Medina) on the east and north-east (sic), in which the garden suburb of Awali is situated, were much ravaged by the Turkish soldiery early in the Revolt, and the Beni Ali, a Shiite section of the Harb tribe, who cultivated them, were massacred."65

The background of these events is elucidated in a British source:

according to two British intelligence reports66 printed in the Arab Bulletin, the Banf 'All of 'Awali had first indicated their readiness to join the Sherifian revolt, but then, unlike most of the Harb

including the 'Awf, had more or less openly defected to the Turk- ish side. However, they gained nothing by this but gross maltreat- ment at the hands of the Turks when, in August 1916, the Otto- man garrison, on its first sortie after the outbreak of the Arab Revolt, invaded the 'Awali region. It is not surprising, then, that the Banu 'Ali made common cause with the Sherifian forces after the latter had conquered some Turkish military posts near Medina in the following year.

It seems that soon after the armistice, Nasir went back to the

Hijaz. But it was his elder brother Shahhat-called "the bibulous Emir" by Lawrence67-who became Hashimite qa'im-maqam of Medina soon after the Ottoman surrender of the city on 10 Janu- ary, 1919.68 Over the years, however, Shahhat had increased his

63 Seven Pillars, 280, 544, 671. 64 Ibid., 165, 237. 65 War and Discovery, 436. 66 Reprinted in Bidwell (ed.): The Arab Bulletin, vol. 2, 56f., 291. 67 Seven Pillars, 159. 68 Kedourie: The Surrender, Badr: Al-tarikh al-shamil, vol. 3, 83, 114ff., 118.

283

WERNER ENDE

influence in the area, and now resisted all attempts by King Husayn and his sons to reassert direct control over Medina. There are several critical reports (or short remarks) by both Arab and Western observers69 concerning this policy as well as Shahhat's behaviour and rule (including his rivalry with other ashraf). It seems very likely that the misrule of the qa'im-maqam somehow contributed to the failure of the Hashimites in defending Medina against Ibn Sa'ud's forces. It is in this connection that we hear again from Sharif Nasir:

When the Saudis and their Hijazi allies had encircled Medina almost completely, the Iranian consul general in Damascus, Habibullah Khan 'Ayn al-Mulk Huwayda, together with an aide came to visit the city in November 1925.70 At this juncture, Sharif Nasir b. 'All sent the following telegram from Jeddah to his brother Shahhat in Medina (8 Jumada I, 1344/24 November, 1925):

"Rally everybody of the nakhawila and the (other) suppressed inhabitants. Take them to the Iranian consul so that they may tell him about all the atrocities they have suffered!"

On the following day, Sharif Shahhat replied: "I presented to them all the suppressed inhabitants and the nakhawila, but they (i.e. the Iranian consul and his company) have not acted upon my advice."71

On 19 Jumada I, 1344 (December 5, 1925) Medina surrendered.72 With this, the long rule of the Hashimites over the holy city came to an end. The same event also marked the failure of the attempt of Sharif Shahhat and his brother Nasir to revive-at least par- tially-the Husaynid Emirate of Medina.

It seems that the Husaynids of Medina, and particularly Shahhat

69 Kedourie, ibid., 137; Badr, ibid., 148. 70 Badr, ibid., 153; Clayton: An Arabian Diary, 110 fn. 12, 111, 120; Rush:

Records, vol. 4, 286; Badeeb: Saudi-Iranian Relations, 80f.; Wizarat-i Umur-i Kharijah: Rawabit, 63-67.

71 First published in the Saudi "official gazette", Umm al-Qura, vol. 2, no. 51 (18 December 1925), in an article (pp. 1-2) entitled "Kayfa tamma taslim Al- Madina al-Munawwara; wathd'iq hdmma li-l-tarikh" (documents captured by the Saudis), on page 2, reprinted in Al-Manar, vol. 26 (1925-26), 676, and again in Rashid Rida: Maqaldt, vol. 4, 1760f.

72 Umm al-Qura (see preceding footnote); Badr: Al-tarikh al-shamil, vol. 3, 158f.; Rayhani: Tdrikh Najd, 381f.

284


and Nasir, never had a hand in machinations which finally led to the establishment of the Hashimite Kingdom of Iraq: Lawrence and a number of other British officers favoured the installation of King Husayn's son 'Abdallah as ruler there. In order to justify this move, i.e. to support his assertion that 'Abdallah would be accept- able in the eyes of the Shiite majority in Iraq, Lawrence repeatedly characterized him as a "crypto-Shiah", even though he was nomi- nally a Shafi'i Sunni.

There is some evidence that 'Abdallah, his brother Faysal and his father Husayn had all presented themselves to Lawrence and some other British officers and diplomats as very liberal Sunnites with long-standing Shiite leanings-in the case of 'Abdallah even to the extent that he was "nearly a Shia of the Jaaferi wing".73 As Shahhat and Nasir-real Shiites-probably never had political ambitions on the same scale, and possibly for other reasons too, they were no match for the Meccan Hashimites in this game.

As testified by Bulayhishi's list of the ashraf in modern Medina (see below), more or less all of the :Husaynid families are still present there. It seems, however, that their role in society is somehow restricted, and is certainly devoid of direct political influence. Thus, 'All Hafiz mentions one Sharif Zayd b. Shahhat (most probably a descendant of the above-mentioned qd'im-maqdm) as the administrator of land around Bi'r Bida' 74 once donated as waqfby Sharif Shahhat and Sharif Nasir b. al-Sharif 'Ali Al Hiyar.75 He has a few words more to say about "the noble young man, Sharif Nasir b. 'Ali b. Shahhat" who, in November 1964, founded the first nurs- ery school in Medina. In July 1962, he had already established an institute called al-Ma'had al-Tijdri, which offered typewriting courses in Arabic as well as in English.76

The Husaynid ashraf no longer receive and entertain Shiite visitors in the manner they used to before the Saudi takeover, and in so far as this custom persists at all it is practised cautiously and selectively. However, one Sharif Shahin is said to have invited a number of Shiite pilgrims to his house in Medina in 1942. He even arranged a meeting of some of those visitors with a relative of King

73 Rudd: Abdullah, 171, 178, 184-191. 74 Najafi: Madinah-shindsi, 293-97; Hafiz: Fusiul, 167f. 75 Hafiz, ibid., 168. 76 Ibid., 231f.

285

WERNER ENDE

'Abd al-'Aziz Ibn Sa'ufid, during which controversial issues relating to the Shi'ite mourning practices in Muharram as well as their suppression by the Saudi authorities were discussed.77

Sayyids of Husaynid or Hasanid extraction (and of a more or less publicly known Shiite background) may still be engaged in an official or semi-official capacity as muzawwirun, especially for Shiite pilgrims. Thus, referring to the situation in 1950, Sultanhusayn Tabandah Gunabadi78 mentions a local Shiite of Hasanid descent, one Sayyid Mustaf.a 'Attr, as the person responsible for the recep- tion of Shiite visitors to Medina. Gunabadi adds that some of Mustafa 'At.tr's ancestors had held the same position before him, and that Sayyid Mustafa (until his resignation from that office) had been mayor of Medina for some time. The last mentioned information is corroborated by two Saudi authors.79

In his book about modern Medina (first published in 1402/ 1981-82) Bulayhishi refers to one Sharif Majid b. Jaddfiu' b. Mansur b. Fahd b. Radi, a resident of al-'Awali, as his informant about the different branches of the ashraf of Banfu Husayn. According to him, the present-day ashraf of the Banfi Husayn residing in Medina (including al-'Awali) are divided into the following twelve subdivisions (furf') :80

Dhawi Radi and Al-Mubarak. They hold the mashyakha of (all) the ashraf of the Banf Husayn. Further: Al-'Assaf; Al-Mawasa; Al- Zarafa; Al-Birka; Al-'Umayra; Al-Shamisan; Al-'Ali; Al-Zuhayr; Al- Shahil; Al-Shaqqarin; Al-Shayahin.

As in the case of the subdivisions and clans of the nakhawila (see below, p. 292), it is difficult to ascertain the exact vocalization of some of the names presented by the author.

In addition to the ashraf and the "real" nakhdwila, there are in present-day Medina families of Shiite Arab (mainly Iraqi) origin such as al-Mashhadi (plural Mashahida) or 'Imran who appear as Sunnites and are quite well integrated in the Sunni upper class.

77 Shir&I: Al-ihtijajat, 27f.; Mun.zarat, 51-53. About Shirazi see Mushar: Mu'allifin, vol. 3, 971f.

78 About this author see Mushar: ibid., 345f. 79 Khatirat, 75f.; Hafiz: Fusuil, 40, Badr: Al-tarikh al-shamil, vol. 3, 222. A picture

of Sayyid Mustafa al-Najjar is to be found in Najafi: Madinah-shinasi, no. 102. 80 Al-Madina al-yawm, 311. About Bulayhishi see Ibn Salam: Mawst'at al-

udaba', vol. 1, 97-100.

286


These include intellectuals, such as the writer Mahmfud 'Isa al- Mashhadi.81

The Harb and their Shiite subtribes

At least up to the beginning of Saudi-Wahhabi rule (1924/25), some tribes or subtribes of the Hijaz, mainly of the Harb and

Juhayna, openly defined themselves as Shiites-without, however, over many centuries having been strictly affiliated to a particular madhhab such as the Imamiya or the Zaidiya.82

The unruliness and fighting spirit of some of those tribes, com-

monly known as al-Hurfub,83 have had repercussions on the situation of the Shiites and crypto-Shiites of Medina and, more particularly, on a Shiite community living on the outskirts of that town, the so-called nakhawila.

In the Eighteenth Century, there was permanent tension between the Sunni inhabitants of Medina-i.e. the majority of the

population-and the Harb. The latter's attack on the holy city in 1148/1735, during which they are said to have plundered the haram and many private houses, was compared by a local Sunni

poet, al-Sayyid al-Bayti, to the ibdhat al-Madina following the "battle of the harra".84 In the eyes of the Sunni Medinese, the Shiite Banfu 'Ali in particular appeared to be the arch-enemy. In addition, certain families in Medina known for their Shiite leanings (rafd) became the object of suspicion and hatred. In a way, they were seen

by the Sunnite majority as a kind of fifth column inside the city who openly boasted and displayed their malice before the Sunni population of Medina.85

81 Hamza al-Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 66f. (about Mahmfd 'Isa al-Mashhadi see Ibn Salam: Mawst'at al-udaba', vol. 3, 201f.); Winder: Al-Madina, 999. See further Bulayhishi: Al-Madina, 308f. The 'Imran are related to the Habbubi (ibid., 280), one of the prominent families of Najaf (Amini: Mu'jam, vol. 1, 387-92); Muhsin al-Amin mentions one Sayyid 'Imran al-Habbfibi who invited him to his house in Medina (A'yan, vol. 10, 365).

82 Snouck Hurgronje: Orientalism, 306 (in a letter to Theodor N6oldeke, dated March 25, 1923).

83 Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 66. 84 Hamdan: The Literature, 29-33. (For the battle of the harra, see below p.

304f.) For a similarfitna in 1111/1699-1700 see Biladi: Nasab, 155 f., and Badr: Al- tarikh, vol. 2, 376-78.

85 Hamdan, ibid., 26-28.

287

WERNER ENDE

At the same time, the Ottomans were not able to control the countryside even in the immediate neighbourhood of Medina: places such as the mosque of Quba proved to be unsafe for them. This meant that restoration work on that mosque could not be completed for some time because, as the Ottoman sadr-i a'zam wrote in a report to the Sultan in about 1195/1780-81, Bedouin criminals (ashqiya' al-badw) had time and again disrupted security around this place.86

Under the circumstances described above, it is hardly surprising that most of the Sunnite Medinese tried to avoid contact with the nakhdwila. Exceptions were noted with astonishment or suspicion: of a contemporary Sunni Medinese, one 'Umar al-Hudayrami, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ansari87 remarks with obvious disapproval that this (according to him, generally ill-natured) person "used to deal with the peasants of the nakhawila".88 He seems to be less censo- rious, however, in a somewhat similar case involving a Sunni notable and learned man by the name of Sayyid Muhammad of the family of Kibrit: as this Sayyid had no offspring, he decided to bequeath two gardens he owned in the vicinity of al-'Awali and Quba as waqf first to his (manumitted) slaves (probably eunuchs) and, after their death, to the elderly among the nakhdwila.89

The effect, even in modern times, of the long-standing special relationship between the Shiite tribesmen of the Hijaz and their settled co-religionists in and around Medina can perhaps best be illustrated by an episode reported by Muhammad al-Husayn al- Muzaffari (d. 1961), an Iraqi Shiite scholar,90 and by a rather similar one transmitted by Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin (d. 1952), one of the most famous Shiite authors of the 20th Century.91

Both describe incidents occurring in the late Ottoman period, with only Muzaffari giving a precise date, i.e. 1911. The relevant

86 Huraydi: Shu'un, 95-97. For the background see Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 368ff.

87 About this author see below, fn. 148. 88 Tuhfat al-muhibbin, 172f. 89 Ibid., 412f. About Muhammad Kibrit, see also above, fn. 19. 90 Or: Al-Muzaffar, see 'Awwad: Mu'jam, vol. 3, 154; Amini: Mu'jam nijdl, vol. 3,

1216. According to p. 1212, his family is of Hijazi origin (Al Masriuh of the Harb). 91 See art. "A'yan al-Shi'a" in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 3 (1989), 130f., and

the literature mentioned there. (In the 1986 Beirut edition of A'yan al-shi'a, Sayyid Muhsin's autobiography is to be found in vol. 10, 333-446.)

288


passage in his chapter on the Shia of the Hijaz reads as follows:

"Today (the time of writing is 1352/1933-34), there are more Shiites among the tribes than in the towns (of the Hijaz). The Shiite tribes (to be mentioned here) include the Banu Jaham, the Banfi 'All and part of the Banu 'Awf. As far as the towns are concerned, many (Shiites) are to be found in Medina, such as the nakhawila, and in the farmland (of its neighbouring regions) such as al-'Awali. In Medina (itself), there are a small number of others (i.e. Shiites not to be counted as nakhawila), and the same holds true for Mecca. Once there was an incident between the Shiites and the Ottoman (local) government of Medina-(an event) which is both famous and memorable. What happened is the following: In al-'Awali, (a village and region) inhabited by the Banu 'All, (a section) of the Harb, there are many Shiites. The Turks accused them of giving shelter to criminals as well as of brigandage and intended therefore to erect fortresses and (other) strongholds in al-'Awali. The people (of that district), however, resisted this plan, as they considered it a manoeuvre (with the final aim) to exterminate them. So the Turkish government (of Medina) equipped a well-armed and numerous military force (and dispatched it) to battle against them. (On the other hand), the Harb tribes came to the aid of the Banf 'All, because the latter belong to them. When the (Turkish) force advanced, (the allied tribesmen) confronted it with courage and intre- pidity. (As a result), the (Turkish) troops were defeated and fled back to Medina. Bands of Harb (warriors) closed in from all sides and laid siege to Medina for two months. Therefore this incident is called "the two-months- battle". A great number of (Turkish) soldiers were killed during this time, while the people of al-'Awali did not suffer any losses. It is said that in (the whole of) al-'Awali only a dog and a goat had been killed. This incident began on the 3rd Shawwal 1329 (September 27, 1911). A number of poets composed verses referring to this event, (and especially) to the victory it had brought for the Shiites and to the defeat of the Turks. As a result of this triumph, the situation of the oppressed Shiites (al-shi'a al- mustad'afun) living in Medina itself improved".92

The general setting of Muzaffari's account, and even some of its details, can also be found in a number of other sources by both Sunnite and Shiite as well as some western authors.93 In the present context, Muhsin al-Amin's reminiscences of his three visits to Medina are of special interest. Describing his impressions and experiences on the occasion of two visits at the time when Sharif Husayn ibn 'Ali was Amir of Mecca (i.e. between 1908 and 1916), he mentions one Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali al-Hajuj, a Shiite 'dlim

from al-'Awali who had been in Najaf for some time.94 It is to his

92 Muzaffari: Tarikh al-shi'a, 116f. 93 Especially Wavell: A Modern Pilgrim, 58-63, 77-89 (describing events in

1908); further 'Ayyashi: Al-Madina, 538, 572f. For the background (in particular concerning the Hijaz Railway) see Philipp: Der beduinische Widerstand, for the wider context Buzpinar: The Hijaz, and Ochsenwald: Religion.

94 A'yan, vol. 10, 364.

289

WERNER ENDE

father, an old man mentioned as al-Hajuj by Sayyid Muhsin, that the latter owes the following story:

Several years ago, a number of native Sunnites of Medina to-

gether with some mujawiran from Central Asia and the Maghreb, had succeeded in convincing the Ottoman hakim of the town, one Sa'id Pasha, to dispatch an expeditionary force against the people of al-'Awali. The instigators of the ensuing military campaign received arms and were allowed to accompany the regular Turkish

troops as mujahidun. When the expeditionary force approached al-

'Awali, the soldiers started cutting down the palm trees and in- stalled a cannon on top of a hill. The people of the village, who had been taken by surprise, finally rallied, fought back and were even able to silence the cannon: The enemies were put to flight, with some of them throwing away their arms, while the men of al- 'Awali followed close behind them, killing a number of them. They did not stop pursuing the attackers until the latter had entered Medina and had the gates of the town closed. The Medinese did not dare to come out again in order to bury their dead lying outside on the battlefield. So they offered to the nakhdwila five Ottoman Pounds in gold coins for each corpse they brought into Medina, so that the dead could be buried properly.95

In the following sentences, Muhsin al-Amin reveals how the nakhawila-whose quarter (mahalla) was situated outside the walls of Medina, i.e. south of Darb al-Jand'iz96-were able to perform the task they had been asked to, i.e. to go out onto the battlefield and recover the bodies of the dead mujdhidfn and soldiers-all of them, to be sure, Sunnites who had tried to wage war against (real or alleged) Shiite rebels:

"The nakhdwila have (formed) an alliance (hilf) with the Harb, (a tribe) spreading between Mecca and Medina. Every twenty years they exchange a written document with each other concerning this alliance. One copy of it remains with the nakhdwila, and the other with the Harb. The document in question contains (the provision) that the Harb are obliged to help the nakhawila whenever (the latter) are being attacked, while the nakhawila are not bound to fight together with the Harb".97

95 Ibid., 365. 96 See maps in Burton: Personal Narrative, vol. 1, 392f.; Najafi: Madinah-shindsi,

nos. 35 ff.; Bindaqji: Maps (map of Medina); El, vol. 5, 1001. 97 A'ydn, vol. 10, 365.

290


It would be interesting to know more about this treaty, its history, social background and other details. Its existence, which I see no reason to doubt, should be seen in the larger context of tribal law in Arabia, and especially of the treaties concluded between nomads, half-nomads and peasants.98 Unfortunately, I have no further information on this.

As has occured with almost all nomadic tribes in the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere, the military strength of the Harb has dwindled rapidly in the modern age. As a result, the nakhawila- both rural and urban-have lost the effective support of an ally who had guaranteed their relative safety for a long time up to the end of the Hashimite period. In this connection, it is worth men-

tioning that some chiefs of the Harb, including the Banf 'All, had

already allied themselves with the Saudis by the time of the siege of Medina in 1925.99

The history of the Harb and their subtribes is still-or has become once more-a topic of debate in present-day Saudi Arabia. The political role of this tribe up to the 20th Century is not, however, a central issue in this debate, and the Shiite madhhab of some of its subtribes is rarely dealt with.100

As regards Medina, Bulayhishi remarks that as a result of waves of immigration from the desert and from villages the majority of the Harb are now (i.e. in the early 1980s) living in the city itself or on its outskirts.101

The same author provides his readers with a number of tables in which the names of tribes, subdivisions and families dwelling in and around Medina are mentioned in considerable detail.102 Of special relevance to our topic is a table concerning the nakhdwila of Medina. The names given in this table are based, the author says, on (oral) information furnished by al-ustddh 'Abd al-Rahim

98 For general information concerning the hilf see Juda: Aspekte, 2-8; Graf: Das Rechtswesen, 15f.

99 Badn Al-tdrikh, vol. 3, 152; Biladi: Nasab, 55, 166-68, 185; Winder: Al- Madina, 998.

100 See, e.g., Al-'Arab (journal), 31 (1996), 781f. and 788-90, 32 (1997), 246-49. Biladi's Nasab Harb and several of his other works are obviously written in defence of the Harb and their role in history.

101 Al-Madina al-yawm, 312; see also Biladi: Nasab, 197. 102 Bulayhishi, ibid., 312-21.

291

WERNER ENDE

Hasan al-Hirbi (bi-kasr al-ha'). Al-Hirbi is one of the subdivisions of the al-Dawawid who belong to the nakhdwila.

Except in the case of his informant's nisba, al-Bulayhishi does not give any particulars with regard to the vocalization of the names presented in his table. Thus most of the names in the fol-

lowing list, based on this table, represent my own tentative read-

ings. (It should be mentioned here that even indigenous special- ists such as al-Biladi very often refrain from determining the "correct" vocalization of Arab tribal names, let alone those of subdivisions and clans). Nevertheless, Bulayhishi's table is quite valuable. In fact it contains, to the best of my knowledge, the only printed information concerning the clans of the nakhawila in modern times-at least of those settled in Medina. Bulayhishi's inven- tory103 contains the following information:

"Among those (related to the Harb) living in Medina are the Nakhawila. Their branches (or subdivisions, furu') are: 1) Al-Sharimi. The (following clans) belong to them (wa-minhum): Al- Khawalida; al-Malabin; al-Karafa; al-Tabalan (or Tubalan); Bayt Wa'il; al- Jada'in; al-Qarina; Bayt Mahashi; al-'Ulayyan; al-Tarayif; al-Hakfriya; al- Baqaqir; al-Jawayida; Bayt al-Nafiri; al-Nuwayqat; al-Dawakhin; Bayt Hassfn; Bayt al-'Isari; al-Kawabis. 2) Al-Darawisha. Their clans are: Al-'Ababish; Dhawi Khalifa; Budayr Haram; al-Badihan. 3) Al-Dawawid. Their clans are: Al-Filsa; Bayt Mannash; al-Hirabiya; al- Hammarin; al-Jawa'ida; al-Sawayan; al-Fihlan; Bayt Jabin; al-Nawaji; Bayt al- Rumi. 4) Al-Mahariba. Their clans are: Al-Mahasina; al-Hawajij. 5) Al-Zawabi'a. Their clans are: Al-Hamza; al-Barahim; al-Salmi; al-Shalalid. 6) Al-Asabi'a. Their clans are: Bayt Hurayqa; Bayt Mala'ika; Bayt al-'Isa'i; Bayt Sabirin; al-Shawam; Lulu; al-Karadiya; al-Shariqi; al-Jayd; al-Banajiya. 7) Al-Watsha. Their clans are: Bayt al-Isba'; Bayt al-Sawi. 8) Al-Zira. Their clans are: Al-Sutahan; al-Jawa'ida. 9) Al-Jarafiya. Their clans are: Dhawi Salim; Dhawi 'Abdallah; Dhawi Ahmad; Dhawi Husayn; al-Kasasir. 10) Al-Ma'arif. Their clans are: Al-Awaq; Dhawi 'Abdallah (sic! See under no. 9); al-Malayiha; Dhawi Ahmad Rajab. 11) Al-Far. Their clans are: Al-Mazini; Bayt Nashi; al-Madarisa; al-Marawiha; al-Sa'di; al-Qusran; al-Tflan; Bayt Mas'ad; Bayt Aba 'Amir; al-Bughayl."

As for al-'Awali, al-Biladi remarks that its inhabitants are "a mixture of Harb and nakhdwila",104 with one (or more) of the latter's subdivisions (batn), such as the Fayaran, "claiming" descent from the Banu 'All.105 In another work of his, he provides a short survey of

103 Ibid., 321. 104 Mu'jam ma'alim, vol. 6, 185. 105 Mu'jam qaba'il, 408.

292


the factions of the Banf 'Ali, both in the Najd and in Medina and its neighbourhood without, however, saying which of them are (still) to be considered Shiites.106 It may indeed be difficult to give a clear judgement concerning this point, especially since many of the factions which were rightly considered Shiites in the past may now in fact define themselves as Sunnis. (According to oral information I received in 1995, many Wahhabis tend to believe that sooner or later all the indigenous Shiites of the Hijaz, including the nakhawila, will be "brought back" to the fold of Wahhabi Sunnite Islam).

The nakhawila: a name and its variants

While, as we have seen, the existence of a (Twelver) Shiite community in Medina and its neighbourhood is well attested in a number of medieval sources, the designation of that community as "Nakhawila" appears to have been a rather late development. Ac- cording to al-Khoei, this term "is said to have been first used by the Ottoman rulers of the Hejaz".107

The first mention in the relevant Arabic sources of the rawafid of Medina being called nakhawila by the (Sunnite) Medinese seems to have occurred rather late, namely in the 17th Century A.D. (11 lth Century A.H.) The author of the work in question-a rihla called Ma' al-mawz'id-was Abu Salim 'Abdallah b. Muham- mad b. Abi Bakr al-'Ayyashi (d. 1679), a Moroccan scholar and sufi of Berber origin, who visited Medina in 1662-63. He arrived in early Muharram 1073 (August 1662) and stayed there until Sha'ban (March 1663). A part of his rihla, i.e. his description of Medina, has been edited by Muhammad Amhazfin.108

Unlike many other Sunnite visitors to the holy city, al-'Ayyashi, who stayed more than seven months, became aware of the existence of a Shiite group in the vicinity of Medina and even noticed that they had been given a special name by the Medinese. This was probably due to the fact that he had found accommodation in a house adjacent to the Mashhad (shrine) of Sayyid Isma'il, a son of

106 Nasab Harb, 55f. 107 The Shi'a, 4. 108 Al-Madina al-Munawwara fi rihlat al-'Ayyashi. Concerning the author and

his work Ma' al-mawd'id see Amhazfiun, 19-66; also see EI, vol. 1, 795.

293

WERNER ENDE

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (who had died about ten years before the death of his father).109

The roof of the Mashhad afforded a good view of the whole of

al-Baqi' and of the palm groves streching as far as the Jabal Uhud. There was one thing, however, which disturbed al-'Ayyashi's stay there, and this he described as

"the frequent visits of the nakhdwila to that place. They are rawafid dwelling outside Medina in al-'Awali and other parts of that area. In fact the majority of those living there, working as gardeners and peasants, are rawafid. The Medinese call them al-nakhdwila. I do not know the meaning of that name.

They have a custom according to which they come to the shrine (of Isma'il b. Ja'far) almost every thursday, namely, early in the morning. There they cook a copious meal and sit together-men, women and children. In most cases they come also for the circumcision of their boys. If any (of the nakhawila) has a son and wants him to be circumcised, it will be done only on that day and at this place. Sometimes, however, they come there not for this reason, but merely for a ziyara (to the tomb of Sayyid Isma'il) and to have a meal together. No outsiders (i.e. persons not being nakhdwila) would participate (in such a gathering)." 10

There is nothing in al-'Ayyashi's description to suggest that the designation nakhdwila had been in use in Medina a long time before his visit. Only the discovery of new manuscript sources, such as the book by Khayr al-Din Ilyas al-Madani (d. 1717) mentioned in al- Ansari's Tuhfat al-muhibbin"ll might enable us to ascertain, more or less exactly, when-and under which circumstances-this name came into existence.

Almost all authors who mention the Twelver-Shiite minority living on the outskirts of Medina agree that the plural form of their name is nakhawila, and that this name is derived from nakhl/nakhla or nakhil, "date palm". The variant makhdwila which is to be found in the Safwat al-i'tibar of Muhammad Bayram (al-Khamis) al-Tfnisi (d. 1889) is most probably a typographical error or slip of the pen.112

While makhawila appears to make no sense, another variant mentioned by some authors certainly does: both nukhala or nakh-

109 See art. "Dja'far al-Sadik" in EI, vol. 2, 374f. and "Isma'iliyya" ibid., vol. 4, 198; for the mashhad, see Samhfidi: Wafa', 920. Under Saudi rule, the building was neglected, and finally destroyed in 1975, see Najafi: Madinah-shinasi, 389; Maghribi: Al-muhaddam, 10f.; Samarra'i: Al Sa'ud, 35.

110 Amhazun: Al-Madina, 175f. l See below, p. 303. 112 Vol. 5, 19. About the author see EI, vol. 7, 433-35.

294


khala could designate persons: nukhala, "residue left in a sieve, bran, waste, refuse" (Wehr), could very well be used by hostile

neighbours as a pejorative label for a despised group. Nakhkhdl(a) would again be related to nakhl/nakhla or nakhil and denote a person dealing with date palms in one way or another. It is, however, a singular. Dozy, incidentally, has "chiffonier" (ragpicker) for nakhkhal.113

A rather strange variant is nawcakhila(h), a word to be found even in a modern work published in Arabic.114 The relevant passage in that book, however, is partly based on J.L. Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, and it is obvious that the misspelling- a metathesis resulting from a typographical error or slip of the pen-derives from this source.

In fact Burckhardt (d. 1817) is the first European author to mention the Shiites working and living in the palm groves around Medina.115 However, he did not live to see his Travels appear in print (London 1829, German ed. 1830, French translation 1835, in the latter: Nouakheles). From Burckhardt's work, the misspelling nawakhila was copied by R. Dozy in his Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes and translated as "ceux qui cultivent des palmiers", but only as a plural form and not linked to the singular nakhwali. Referring to Burtons's Personal Narrative, Dozy describes the nakhwali as "le cultivateur qui secoue le regime des fleurs males des dattiers sur les fleurs femelles, afin de les feconder."116

Possibly as a result of his reliance on Dozy's dictionary, even C. Snouck Hurgronje seems to have been uncertain, for some time at least, whether the word in question should be nakhdwila or nawakhila, but in his work about Mecca, he gives the correct spell- ing nakhdwila ("Nachaw'lah").117

According to a modern Saudi author, the official name of the nakhdwila is now al-nakhliyun (sing. nakhli). On another occasion, the same author mentions the plural al-nakhliya.118

113 Na'ib al-Sadr Shirazi: Tuhfat al-haramayn, 235f; Sayf al-Dawla: Safar namah, 141, fn. 1; Dozy: Supplement, vol. 2, 658.

114 Khalili: Mawsiu'a, vol. 3, pt. 1, 257. 115 See the passages quoted above, p. 268, and below, p. 313. 116 Dozy: Suppliment, vol. 2, 658. 117 Scholarship, 340; Mekka, vol. 2, 252, fn. 2. 118 Biladi in Siba'i: Trzikh Makka, 4th ed., vol. 1, 95 (for the context see be-

low, p. 308); idem: Mu'jam ma'alim, vol. 6, 186.

295

WERNER ENDE

In the local dialect of Medina, there may still be several different

pronounciations of the word nakhawila and its singular form, in-

cluding one linking it, in a pejorative way, to the word nukhala (bran, sludge, or, in a social context, lowest stratum).

The vocalization is not clear in some of these cases, such as in the passage of Muhammad Bey $Sdiq's work mentioned below: should we read the name of the tribe (qabila) he met "at an hour's distance from Medina" as al-nakhwaliya or al-nukhfliya? We have to remember that almost all the authors of the available sources are outsiders who write the name of this group either according to oral information or with reference to other sources which in turn are based on oral information.119

"No one", Burton wrote, "could tell me whether these heretics had not a peculiar name for themselves"120. According to Carlo Alfonso Nallino, who tried to gather information about them when he was in Jeddah, the preferred name of the nakhawila for their own community was ashab al-nakhl, i.e. something like "the people of the date palm". This scholar also presumes that the

singular of nakhdwila should be nakhili or nakhwali.121 The latter form is in fact mentioned by Dozy, who, however, has this as a separate entry.

As for the designation ashdb al-nakhl mentioned by Nallino, it is likely that some of the Twelver Shiites of Medina prefer it to that of nakhawila because of the pejorative meaning the latter term has assumed (especially when used by Sunnites).122 While ashib al- nakhl still alludes to their work in the palm groves, it may also carry religious connotations. In the imagination of the Shia, the date palm is symbolically linked to Medina:

In Shiite (-inspired) art, pictorial representations of the holy city very often show date palms in or around the haram. These palms are said to represent Fatima (whose so-called "garden" inside the haram is famous) as well as the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. In Persian (Shiite) folklore, the date palm is of considerable importance.123

119 Kawkab al-hajj, 53; see Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 378. 120 Personal Narrative, vol. 2, 1, fn. 2. 121 L'Arabia Saudiana, 92. 122 Sa'id: Tarikh, 491f. 123 Fontana: Una rappresentazione; art. "Date Palm" in Encyclopaedia Iranica,

vol. 7, 123.

296


Several of the early Imams are reported to have owned large palm groves near the holy city. Their sayings about the special qualities of the dates grown there are repeated in a number of sources. In other words, both the palm tree as such and its fruit have a special significance in Shiite religious tradition. There is an anecdote concerning the Eighth Imam, 'All al-Rida (d. 818): when he was asked why he devoured some dates (of the notably excel- lent barni type) with such obvious delight, he is said to have ans- wered:

"Yes, I really love (eating) dates (..), because the Messenger of God was a tamari (kana tamariyan, meaning he was very fond of dates, tamar, i.e. especially dried ones). Likewise, Amir al-Mu'minin ('All) was a tamari, and also (the Imams) al-Hasan, Abf 'Abdallah al-Husayn, Sayyid ('All Zayn) al-'Abi- din, Abfi Ja'far (Muhammad al-Baqir) as well as Abfi 'Abdallah (Ja'far al- Sadiq) and my father (Muisa al-Ki.zim). So I myself am also a tamari. (In general the followers of) our shi'a love the fruit of the palm tree because they are created from our stuff (clay, min tinatina), while our enemies love intoxi- cating beverages (muskir) because they are created from (smokeless?) fire (or: from a flame of fire, see Koran 55:14-15)."124

There is a considerable number of sayings of the Prophet Mu- hammad and of his companions suggesting that the unsurpassed quality of the palm trees of Medina and their fruit are an important element of the fada'il of Medina.125 (Incidentally, one of the

epithets of the town ist Dhat al-Nakhl.)126 Up to modern times, Medinese traders selling dates in the market would commend their merchandise by quoting these (and other, rather fanciful) sayings. Moreover, there are legends-mentioned by Samhiud and others-according to which some palm trees spoke to Muhammad and 'All, proclaiming that he was the Prophet and 'Ali his wasiy.127 A number of very old palm trees which allegedly had been planted by Salman al-Farisi (following an order of Muhammad to do so) survived until recently. Probably as a result of Wahhabi protests against the veneration which Iranian and other visitors (as well as local Shiites) used to show for those trees, they were cut down some time ago.128

124 Majlisi: Bihar, vol. 49, 102f.

25 Husari: Al-nakhil, 241-45; Casewit: Fada'il, 13f. 126 Samhfdi: Wafa', vol. 1, 15; Wfustenfeld: Geschichte, 10, has Dhat al-nakhil. 127 Batanini: Rihla, 254; al-Yfsuf: Al-masajid, 72f. 128 Ibid., 87-89; Khoei: The Shi'a, 5; Maghribi: Al-muhaddam, 42 (text of a let-

ter, signed by 'Abd al-'Aziz b. 'Abdallah b. Hasan Al al-Shaykh-at that time presi-

297

WERNER ENDE

Broadly speaking, the term "Nakhawila" has become the modern designation for all the indigenous Twelver Shiites in the Hijaz in the same way as "Bahrani" (plural "Baharina") is loosely applied to those of the Arab Gulf coast and "Mutawali" (plural "Matawila") to Lebanese Shiites in general.129 With regard to the inhabitants of Wadi 1-Fur', however, the name 'Jahami" is still in use.130

More questions than answers: the origin of the nakhawila

In many sources, the nakhawila are called a "tribe" (qabila in Ara- bic, kabile [Turk.], tayifeh [Pers.]). One modern Arab author treats them as one of several "pseudo"- or "quasi"-tribes.131 Batanfini, in his list of Arab tribes in the Hijaz, singles out the nakhawila as a special case by inserting a short commentary. It runs as follows:

"A despised tribe (qabila haqira) living on the outskirts (dawahi) of Medina. The inhabitants (of the town) employ them as servants (ft khidmatihim) as well as for the cultivation of their gardens and fields. They are rafida who do not give the names of Abfi Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman and 'A'isha (sic) to their sons. They call their children al-murun and permit temporary marriage (nikah al-mut'a). The Medinese do not intermarry with them."132

Batanfini's notice is obviously based on Eyyib Sabri's chapter on the nakhdwila (see below). For instance he accepts, without further discussion, Sabri's assumption that their total number was 12,000 persons (nufus; in this sense, masc.). In many sources, it is said that the men of the nakhawila never marry outside their community, but at the same time allow-or even encourage-their womenfolk to conclude temporary marriages (mut'a) with Shiite foreigners coming to Medina as pilgrims or muj&wirun. I shall return to this point later.133

Concerning their origin, the nakhawila trace the history of their community back to early Islam: they see themselves as the off-

dent of the Hay'at al-amr bi-l-ma'rfuf-to the Minister of Urban and Village Affairs. The letter was written in 1976 or somewhat later).

129 See arts. "Al-Bahrayn" in El, vol. 1, 941ff., and "Mutawali", ibid., vol. 7, 780f.

130 Private information; see also Biladi: Mu'jam qaba'il, 95; for Wadi 1-Fur' (or Furu') see idem, Mu'jam ma'alim. vol. 9, 41ff.

131 Sa'id: Tarikh, 487-89. 132 Rihla, p. 52 of the tamhid (separate pagination). Al-murun is a printing er-

ror, see below, p. 303. 133 Below, p. 315f.

298


spring of the ansar, many of whom (or their descendants), so the nakhawila claim, worked in the palm groves owned by Prophet Muhammad's grandson, al-Hasan ibn 'All, the Second Imam of the Shia.134 In the old quarter (mahalla) of the nakhawila, there are (or were until recently) two gardens called .Safa and Marijn which, according to Shiite tradition, had been turned into waqfby Imam Hasan and/or 'All Zayn al-'Abidin, the Fourth Imam.135 (For the

present condition of the two gardens, as well as their function, see below).

In Persian sources, the nakhawila are sometimes called sddah.136 This would imply a blood relationship with the family of Prophet Muhammad.137 It is very unlikely that all nakhawila themselves se-

riously claim such kinship. It is possible, however, that even some nakhawila villagers present themselves as sddah in order to produce a favourable impression on their foreign visitors. Moreover, it can be assumed that the term sddah is used by many Iranian Shiite authors mainly as a polite, honorific designation for their co- religionists in the Medina region in general-the urban, established sharif families as well as the rural, "real" nakhawila.138

With regard to the sharif families of Medina, a modern Shiite author from Iraq, referring to "some historical texts", offers the

following version: at the time of his residence in Medina, Imam Musa b. Ja'far al-Sadiq (Musa al-Kazim, the Seventh Imam, d. 799) supported 500 families consisting of widows, children and orphans of the BanCu Hasan. When Harun al-Rashid sent him off to Bagh- dad, he instructed his son 'All al-Rida (who was to become the Eighth Imam) to provide for the Tzlibiyiun of Medina, "and thus their roots and branches have remained there until today" in spite of the crimes committed against them by the "ruling gangs" (al- 'asadbt al-hzkima) from the time of the Abbasids onwards.139

The author, Muhammad Hadi al-Amini, does not specify the "historical sources" he is referring to. Instead, he quotes one of his own works called Batal Fakhkh, a book devoted to Al-Husayn b. 'All,

134 Khalili: Mawsu'a, vol. 3, pt. 1, 257. 135 Shihabi: Awqaf, 1268. (Sabd is a printing error or slip of the pen). 136 See, e.g., Bayglari: Ahkam, 292; Bastani Parizi: Az Pariz, 53, fn. 2. 137 See arts. "Sayyid" and "Sharif" in EI, vol. 9, 115f. and 329-37, respectively. 138 See above p. 267 and 269. 139 Amini: Makka, 304.

299

WERNER ENDE

known as "Sahib Fakhkh", the leader of an Alid revolt in Medina. This man was killed in battle near Mecca in June 786, together with about a hundred other Alids.140 In his book, Amini again does not name his sources concerning the alleged support given by two Imams to the widows and orphans of the martyrs of Fakhkh. He just quotes a (possibly unpublished) book by one Sayyid Hasan Shubbar-most probably a modern author.

This story too may be apocryphal, but once again it is interesting in itself: for the crypto-Shiite ashr&f-families of Medina (both Hu- saynid and Hasanid), this account seems to give proof of their deep roots there as well of their special relationship to two Imams of the Twelver Shia.

On the other hand, the same story may have influenced Shiite scholars as well as pious "lay" persons in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere: for them, the action of the two Imams could provide an incentive, even in modern times, to support the (mainly poor) Shiites and crypto-Shiites of Medina-financially and otherwise. Thus, we find that Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Shafti, one of the most prominent scholars of 19th-Century Isfahan, is said to have sent money every year for the poor (fuqara') of Medina.141 He is even credited with having successfully intervened in favour of the (Shiite) sayyids of Medina: he went to Mecca at the time when Muhammad 'All, the Pasha of Egypt, was there (i.e. in 1813), and allegedly established friendly relations with him. He "received the garden (-oasis) of Fadak from him and returned it to the sayyids of Medina."142

Given the hagiographic character of the biography where this short account is to be found, it is doubtful whether Muhammad 'Ali ever allowed the oasis of Fadak to be "returned" to the sayyids of Medina, i.e. the descendants of 'Ali and Fatima. To the best of my knowledge, there is no account or document to this effect in the Arabic, Ottoman or other sources concerning Muhammad 'Ali's policy in the Hijaz. It is, however, true that years later, in the 1830s, Muhammad 'Ali ordered the governor of Medina to enforce

140 Snouck Hurgronje: Mekka, vol. 1, 41; see articles "Fakhkh" in El, vol. 2, 744f., and "Al-Husayn b. 'All, Sahib Fakhkh" ibid., vol. 3, 615-17. More recently MahirJarrar (ed.): Akhbar Fakhkh.

141 Tunikabuni: Qisas, 149. 142 Ibid., 145; see also Dabashi: Lives, 315f.

300


equal treatment for Shi'i pilgrims.'43 This-together with the fact that he and his sons successfully fought the arch-enemies of the Shia, the Wahhabis-may have led Shiites in the Hijaz to hope that this ruler would improve their lot. Even if Muhammad 'All had made promises to this effect (including one to issue a decree concerning Fadak), such practical measures as were taken would have been short-lived, since the Egyptians were forced to withdraw from the Hijaz in 1840.144

Most probably the story of Muhammad Baqir Shafti's success is

pure fiction. As such it may be seen as the reflexion of a widespread sentiment among (Shiite and crypto-Shiite) Sayyid families, particularly those of the Hijaz, and notably of Medina, that Fadak was-and still is-their inheritance by right.145 It should be noted here that the conflict between Abu Bakr and Fatima over Fadak and the ensuing struggle for its possession is a major theme of Shiite historiography-not only for authors of the remote past, but to some extent also for prominent modern Shiite scholars such as Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (d. 1980), whose first published work was devoted to the religious and legal interpretation of that famous issue.146

Let us return to the question of the origin of the "real" nakhawila: Unsurprisingly perhaps, non-Shiite sources present the story of the nakhawila and their origins in a rather different light. Al- though Sunnite authors also trace their origins to the First Century of Islamic history, they make the ancestors of the nakhdwila appear as outcasts from the beginning, namely, as bastards who were born after the Umayyad conquest of Medina in 683 A.D.

It may never be possible to say exactly at what time in history this version about the origin of the nakhdwila came into existence. Burckhardt, who visited Medina in January 1815, obviously heard it, or allusions to it, from his Sunnite informants there. In his Travels in Arabia, he writes that the nakhdwila "are said to be descendants of the partisans of Yezid, the son of Mawiya".

143 Ochsenwald: Religion, 63. 144 Batanuni: Rihla, 87-94; Faqihi: Wahhdbiyan, 176ff.; for a discussion of the

Arabic sources see Peskes: Muhammad b. 'Abdalwahh&b, 312ff.; further art. "Muhammad 'All Pasha" in El, vol. 7, 423-31.

145 Art. "Fadak" in El, vol. 2, 725-27; Hrbek: Muhammads Nachlafi. 146 Amini: Mu'jam al-matbfu'dt, 261f. (no. 1064).

301

WERNER ENDE

This phrase is open to misinterpretation. Even Richard Burton, who himself visited Medina in 1852, fell into this trap. He remarks that the nakhawila, "according to some, are descendants of the Ansar, whilst others derive them from Yazid, the son of Mu'awiyah: the latter opinion is improbable, as the Caliph in question was a mortal foe to Ali's family, which is inordinately venerated by these

people." Nallino, in turn, quotes Burton's remark, and accordingly seems to discard as baseless any link between the nakhawila and Yazid, the second Umayyad Caliph.147

It is very probable that the story Burckhardt heard-and partly misunderstood -is pure fiction. But even if this is so, it would be

interesting to know the origin of this fictitious report. It is not too difficult to find at least a clue to its background: what Burckhardt's (Sunnite) Medinese informants obviously had in mind when talking about the alleged origin of the nakhawila, was indeed an event related to Yazid ibn Mu'awiya:

The content of what we may call the traditional Sunnite Medinese version-possibly based on medieval sources-of the nakhawila's origin can be found in a work on the families of Medina written in the 18th Century by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ansari, a local notable who died in 1783 or thereabouts.148 In it, he mentions:149

"Bayt al-Nakhli, who are called 'al-Nakhwali' by the common people, (the name) under which they are generally known today, referring to their occupation of cultivating date palms: they are many persons, all of them belonging to the abominable Shia. However, they do not proclaim anything of that in public, as they believe that it is incumbent on them to practise taqiya. Most of them are ignorant people, who hardly understand anything of the doctrine of the rdfida.150 Rather, they found their forefathers professing (the creed of that) community and merely followed in their footsteps. No doubt they will be gathered in hellfire together with their ancestors.15- The (outward) signs of their dissent (rafd) and hatred (against others) are many. Among these signs are their shuhra as well as the fact that they neither enter the hujra (of the prophet) with their newly-born children nor the

147 For Burckhardt and Burton, see above, p. 268f.; Nallino: L'Arabia, 91f. 148 Zirikli: Al-A'lam, vol. 3, 311; Kahhala: Mu'jam al-mu'allifin, vol. 5, 146;

Hamdan: Al-Madina, 116-19; al-Tfnji: Tarajim, 54. On the work in question, the Tuhfat al-muhibbin, see further Muhammad al-'Arasi al-Matwi's introduction to his edition.

149 Tuhfat al-muhibbin, 479f. 150 For this term see EI, vol. 8, 386-89. 151 See Koran 43:23 and 41:19; an allusion to 43:23 is already made by

Qalqashandi: Subh, vol. 12, 243.

302

THE NAKHAWILA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA 303

haram with their deceased (during funeral processions).152 They refrain from all that for the sole reason that the Shaykhdn (Abfi Bakr and 'Umar), may God favour both of them, are (buried) in there. They do not inter their dead among (those of) the Sunnites and do not attend funeral services for the latter. No one from the ahl al-sunna would wash (the corpse) of one (of the bayt al-nakhli), nor would he attend the burial of any of them.153 They (in turn) do not call their children Abf Bakr or 'Umar, or 'A'isha or Hafsa. They do not give (their women) in marriage (to Sunnites) nor do (any of their men) marry women of the ahl al-sunna. Most of the above remarks would also apply to the Banu Husayn, (a clan) which is famous in Medina as well in the region of Najd. Between the two there is total harmony and love. There are many other signs of their dissent, for instance the fact that they never associate with Sunnites but only ever with their own people, and also that they do not perform the prayer of tarawih154 in the month of Ramadan etc.; it would take too long to mention all that. Some of the Arab (tribes) which live in the vicinity of Medina, such as the Banuf 'All, the Banfl Safar, the Nahhasin and the Ahl al-Birka, imitate them (in their behaviour).155 The occupation of the above-mentioned nakhdwila is the cultivation of date palms. There is almost no other work they are proficient in, and it is mainly by their skill that the cultivation of palms thrives. The majority of them are the product of miscegenation. They have been in Medina for a long time, but I have not been able to discover the origin of their earliest ancestors. There are many rumours that they descend from the women who became pregnant as a result of zina' following the ill-reputed events of al-harra at the time of the wicked Yazid, may God rebuke him, when he declared Medina to be open (for his troops) to kill, rob, fornicate and plunder. It is said that the Mudun156 also belong to them. (Likewise), people say that some of the nakhdwila are the offspring of (black) slaves, and some others that of Indians; further, that some of them are related to the people of Yaman, of the Maghreb, of Egypt, of the Hijaz and other regions. I heard that the Khatib Khayr al-Din Ilyas al-Madani157 had written a book about their roots and branches, but I do not know it".

In addition to the Bayt al-Nakhli, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ansari men-

152 For this custom of the Sunnite Medinese see Batanuni: Rihla, 260; Ibn Salam: Al-Madina, 84f., 221; Bulayhishi: Al-Madina, 333.

153 See below, p. 318f. 154 Batanuni, ibid., 261. 155 For the first two mentioned (both belonging to the Masrfuh of the Harb),

see Biladi: Mu'jam qaba'il, 488, and idem: Nasab, 31 and 55f.; also Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 371 (referring to Burckhardt and Burton), and Kahhala: Mu'jam qabd'il, vol. 1, 260, with fn. 2. For the role of the Banf 'All in the 19th and 20th Centuries see above, p. 283, 287ff. and 312-14. The Nahhasin ("the copper- smiths") probably are one of the pariah-type "tribes" described by Henninger: Pariastdmme, see esp. 277-80 and the literature mentioned there. "Ahl al-Birka" (or "Baraka"?) is likely to refer to a toponyrn, see Biladi: Mu'jam ma'alim, vol. 1, 210f., see also vol. 10, index, 128. According to Bulayhishi, there is in present-day Medina a clan of the Banu Husayn called "Birka" (Al-Madina, 311 ), see also p. 286 above.

156 See below fn. 160. 157 About this person (d. 1715) see Zirikli: Al-A'ldm, vol. 2, 327; Al-Tfinji:

Tardjim, 30f.

WERNER ENDE

tions two other clans which, he says, very much resemble the nakhawila. They are

1. Bayt al-Kabuis, and 2. Bayt al-Madini

Concerning the Kabus, al-Ansari remarks that in his day most people in Medina believed they descended from the nakhdwila. This, however, was not correct. Rather, he says, they originated in Egypt, but are erroneously identified as nakhdwila "because they resemble one another and live together in their enclosures (ahwisha)."158

About the Bayt al-Madini, the author has the following to say:

"The Medinese nowadays call them Bundt (?) al-Mudun159, but disagree with regard to their real nature and descent. In any case, however, they resemble the nakhawila both in their origin and madhhab, i.e. all of them, like the nakhawila, belong to the abominable Shia (shi'a shani'a). They are guilty of innumerable intrigues and plots against the Sunnites. The butchers (al- jazzdra) are from among them. They live in the outskirts of Medina in (their own) enclosures."160

The gist of the above account is also to be found in a 19th-Century Ottoman Turkish work. The author, Eyyfib Sabri, served for some years as a senior official in Medina.161 In his Mir'atu l-haremeyn, printed in Istanbul in 1888 or 1889, Sabri, like Ansari, links the nakhdwila to the so-called awlad al-harra, i.e. the children born after the conquest of Medina following the "battle of the harra" (63 A.H./683 A.D.). According to Eyyiib Sabri,162

"the Nakhdvile are a tribe who are considered extremely despicable by the (Sunnite) inhabitants of the two sanctuaries (haremeyn, i.e. Mecca and Medina). It is (well) known that the accursed troops whom the damned (caliph) Yezid had dispatched with the evil intention of conquering and occupying Medina, returned to Syria after having robbed the people of that fortu- nate town of all their property and destroyed the adamantine dignity and honour of their women!!! Those women who were raped by the Syrian (troops) on this infamous occasion and became pregnant were isolated. The "illegitimate children" ('veled-i zind') of these women were segregated and destined to work in the gardens surrounding Medina. The tribe of the Nakhavile originates from the children and grandchildren of those bastards who had been selected for gardening (in the palm groves) at that time, and this is why the members of the afore- said tribe are called Nakhdvile. Since then the people of Medina refrain from marrying girls (from among this tribe) and giving (their own daughters) in

158 Tuhfat al-muhibbin, 41 If. 159 See above, p. 298. '60 Tuhfat al-muhibbin, 445f. 161 Babinger: Die Geschichtsschreiber, 372f. 162 Mir'&t, vol. 3, pp. 275-77. See art. "Al-Harra" in El, vol. 3, 226f.

304

THE NAKHIAWLA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

marriage to them. They even avoid any social intercourse with them. As a rule (the Nakhavile) belong to the Shiite creed (rafiziyu l-mezheb). It is thus quite impossible to find among their men and women anyone called Ebf Bekir, 'Omer, 'Osman or 'Ayse. The people who, as (living) reminders (of the outrages of) the Syrians, belong to this tribe, always associate with those pilgrims who are of the same heretical creed. With them they exchange their girls and wives by means of "mut'a", for a fixed period. Today no one is left from the (primordial) family (familya) of the Nakhavile, who at the present time are (also) called Mudun-i.e. no one of the breed of bastards born by the women who had been raped by the Syrian (troops). Nevertheless their number has quite considerably increased because they associate with the heretics (who visit Medina) and exchange their girls and wives with each other by means of mut'a. The number of the Nakhdvileliler (sic) just mentioned, who live in gardens and souterrain rooms (? yer odalannda) called havuz, can today be estimated at 12,000 persons. Whatever pilgrims from among the heretics and rdfizi come to Medina will usually find accommodation at the houses of the Nakhavile. As for the latter, they dwell in gardens outside Medina and live in quarters called Havis 1- Nakhavile. Not a single person of their race is to be found inside the holy city of Medina".

This, then, is the alleged link between the nakhawila and Yazid, further misinterpreted by Burckhardt and Burton. It would go beyond the scope of the present study to re-examine the general reliability of the stories about the battle of the harra and its aftermath, the so- called ibahat al-Madina163. There is only one aspect of the ongoing discussion among historians concerning this problem which may be of some interest here, i.e. a trend in modern Sunnite-Arab historiography which might be described as a systematic attempt to rehabilitate the Umayyads, and to radically improve their image. This implies, inter alia, the refutation, as calumnies, of all accounts

concerning crimes perpetrated by the Umayyad troops in Medina. For several reasons, this school of modern Sunnite-Arab historio-

graphy is especially influential in Saudi-Arabia. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, that Saudi historians have published a number of books and articles in which they try to reject as fabrica- tions all reports in medieval sources about Umayyad misdeeds committed after the battle of the harra.164

163 Concerning the transgressions against the women of Medina see, e.g., al- Jahiz: Thalath rasa'il, 70f.; al-Ya'qubi: Tdrikh, vol. 2, 298; Yaqft: Mu'jam al-bulddn, vol. 3, 262; Ibn Hajar al-Haytami: Al-sawa'iq, 222; al-Amin: Da'irat al-ma'drif, part 1, 19.

164 See al-'Uraynan: Ibtahat al-Madina, 80-90; al-'Aqili: Yazid, 67-69, and al- Wakil: Al-Madina, vol. 1, 239-44 and 255-69. For the ideological context see Ende: Arabische Nation, 91ff.

305

WERNER ENDE

As regards the present-day nakhawila, this trend in historio-

graphy seems, at first glance, to provide an argument against the

old, denigrating story about their descent from the awlad al-harra. On the other hand, the same school of historiography propounds a vehemently anti-Shiite view of history. This means that the general outlook of its authors is not favourable to any Shiite commu-

nity, past or present. As far as Shiites are concernced, they have to

reject any tendency to rehabilitate the Umayyads.165 Their at-

tempts to dissociate the origin of the nakhawila from the awlad al-

harra-story would therefore need another starting point. In addition, it should be noted that any protest by modern

Sunnite historians against what they consider as the vilification of the Umayyads does not necessarily imply a sudden change in the

popular view of history. Apparently, the traditional version of the nakhawila being the descendants of the awlad al-harra, born after the ibaha, has not disappeared. It is to be found, e.g., in a relatively recent history of his home-town written by the Medinese Sunnite author 'Abd al-Salam Hashim Hafiz.166 It was also related quite spontaneously to the present writer by a Sunnite from Medina who was asked about the nakhawila in March 1988.

Generally speaking, it is obvious that the more or less malicious stories concerning the Shiites of Medina found in earlier Sunnite sources are repeated (and even elaborated) in the 19th and 20th Centuries. In this connection, it would be wrong to believe that modern educated Sunnite authors were necessarily more critical about the oral and written information they were able to gather about the nakhawila. Two Egyptian authors, Muhammad Bey Sadiq and Ibrahim Rif'at Pasha, may both serve as cases in point: the latter's remarks concerning the nakhawila (mentioned below, p. 308f.) are partly based on a passage in Muhammad Bey Sadiq's work Kawkab al-hajj, published in Bulaq in 1303/1885-86. Like Ibrahim Rif'at, Sadiq (1822-1902)-who had studied in Cairo and Paris-was an army officer who in 1880 served as amin al-surra of the Egyptian mahmal.167 Ibrahim Rifat copied Sadiq's words concerning the nakhawila being the offspring of Persians and their

165 Ibid., 113ff. 166 Al-Madina, 124. 167 Mujahid: Al-a'lam, vol. 2, 48f.

306

THE NAKHAWLA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

custom of concluding mut'a marriages, but omitted the following sentences:

"Before washing their dead, they beat them on the mouth and on the face, enjoining them not to mention the Shaykhan (Abu Bakr and 'Umar) when questioned by the two angels (Munkar and Nakir). This is what I heard from Sayyid Husayn in Mecca. That ta'ifa is (also?) known as the Isma'iliya."168

In what follows, S$diq makes a short comparison between the nakhawila and the Qaramita and the latters' alleged heretical be- liefs and practices. The whole passage concerning the nakhawila shows the author's bias and his reluctance to gather serious information about this community. Rather, he is all too ready to believe the calumnious stories he has heard from local informants such as the Sayyid Husayn in Mecca he refers to. This is astonishing in view of the fact that Sadiq is to be considered an enlightened person- who, incidentally, took (and published) the first ever photographs of Mecca and Medina and later became an active member of the Khedivial Geographic Society.169

Under these circumstances, it is remarkable that a modern

Hijazi Sunni author, the journalist-cum-historian Ahmad al-Siba'i (1905-1983/84),170 has strongly protested against the widespread slander in his country against the Shia in general and of the nakhawila in particular. In his book Tdrikh Makka, he comments on the defamatory legends concerning the origin of the nakhawila in the following way:

"In this context, it must offend any righteous person to read what some historians relate about the present-day Shiite inhabitants of Medina, i.e. that those people, whom they call al-nakhawila, are the offspring (of the women who had become the victims) of the ibaha. Such a view is the clearest evidence of fanaticism. How else could one see a connection between the descendants (of those women) and Shiism? If, as some accounts say, the people of Medina had really repudiated those of their offspring who were born after the ibaha and had banished them to live in a certain area of Medina-then why were these descendants not ashamed of their stigma and why have they not dispersed all over the land? It would have been more logical for them to do this than to remain in one region of Medina until today. As a matter of fact, some historians just stop using their brains whenever they transmit tales (of the past), while others allow their (confessional) ten-

168 Sadiq: Kawkab, 53. 169 Facey: Saudi Arabia, 8, 23 (fn. 1 and 3). See also Badr El-Hage: Saudi Ara-

bia. Caught in Time, London 1997. (This book was due to appear when the present study was already at proof stage. The original Arabic version, Suwar min al-madi, London 1989, was not available to me.)

170 About this author see Ibn Salam: Mawsu'at al-udabd', vol. 1, 30-32.

307

WERNER ENDE

dencies to dominate their opinions. Thus, they write according to their pas- sions rather than for the sake of the truth and of (factual) history. Further, it is deplorable that some of the common people ('dmrma) in Medina are still today influenced by those outrageous tales. As a result, they view their brethren, the nakhawila, according to this (negative image). Among the nakhdwila, this attitude (in turn) strengthens them in their revolt against the madhhab of the Sunna. In reality, the nakhawila are part of the Shia in the Islamic World, and Shiism is not alien to the Arab countries. Rather, the history (of Islam) at- tests (its existence) in all periods and in many (social) strata, i.e. from the ashrdf to the common herd. People learned to disavow the nakhtwila because the Ottomans, for political reasons, were enemies of Shiism. There is no other way for the (Sunnite) Muslims to reach an agreement with the nakhawila than to take an interest in them and to agree upon (an effort) to convince them, so that the latter may join the ranks of their brethren and be united unanimously with them. In this way, disagreement would be over- come at a time when we are more in need of integration and unification than ever before".171

To the passage quoted above in translation, the editor of the fourth edition of SibaT'is book, 'Atiq b. Ghayth al-Biladi,172 has added an interesting footnote:

"In (Saudi) governmental departments, the official name (of the nakhdwila) is al-nakhliyfun, with the singular nakhli. In (my work) Mu'jam qaba'il al-Hijaz I wrote a chapter about them. In it, I expounded my view with regard to the questions raised by the esteemed author, but it (i.e. the chapter) was not permitted to be published".173

In another of his works, Biladi-with obvious reluctance-quotes a legend still popular among Sunni Medinese which claims that it was the Umayyad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik (reigned 685-705) who as- signed a palm grove to the awlad al-harra. As those children could not be related to a particular tribe, they were called after the palm grove which had been allotted to them. When they grew up, they became followers of the Shia because they saw themselves as victims of acts committed by Sunnites.174

It seems that not all Sunnite authors who mention the nakhawila have heard- or are convinced-of the awlad al-harra-version. In their accounts concerning the population of Medina, a number of foreign writers give other explanations with regard to the origin of the nakhdwila. An Egyptian officer and former amir al-hajj, Ibrahim Riffat (d. 1935),175 assumes that the nakhdwila are dhurriyat al-

171 Tarikh Makka, 4th ed., vol. 1, 94f. 172 About Biladi see Ibn Salam: Mawsiu'at al-udabd'. vol. 1, 89ff. 173 Tarikh Makka, 95 (fn. 1), and Siba'T's preface, 14. 174 Mu'jam ma'alim, vol. 6, 186. 175 About this person see Stratk6tter: Von Kairo, 15-19, and the literature men-

tioned there.

308


a'ajim, i.e. "the offspring of non-Arab foreigners (or: Persians)".176 If we suppose that Riffat Pasha is using the term a'djim here to mean Persians, this would appear to be simply an extrapolation from the fact that the nakhawila, like the majority of the Iranians, are Twelver-Shiites. To the best of my knowledge, Shiite writers in

general and Iranians in particular never mention the possibility of an Iranian origin of the nakhdwila.

Jalal Al-i Ahmad,177 an Iranian author who, after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, went to Medina for a ziydra, notes that "all" of the nakhawila he met there were of dark complexion, with the

exception of one of them-who spoke some Persian.178 While it

may well be that over the centuries a number of Shiites from Iran, India and other Eastern countries, living in Medina, have mixed socially-and even intermarried-with the nakhdwila, there is no evidence so far that the whole group, or a considerable part of it, is originally of Iranian, Indian or otherwise "Eastern" extraction.

Al-i Ahmad's observation that most of the nakhawila he met in Medina were dark-skinned may, on the other hand, lend credence to the notion that they are (to some extent at least) descendants of black Africans (not necessarily: slaves). With regard to the remarks of several authors to this effect179 we should keep in mind that there has been, over many centuries, a steady influx of black Africans-both men and women-into the towns and villages of Arabia. One of several reasons for this development was the need, in the early centuries of Islam, to replace the indigenous agricultural labourers who had left the oases of the Arabian Peninsula following the expansion of the early Caliphal state in order to settle in the lands of the Fertile Crescent and far beyond.

In his Travels in Arabia Deserta, Charles Doughty notes his observation, made between 1876 and 1878, that

"there are a multitude of negroes in Arabia; they are bond-servants in oases and nomad tribes, and freed men, and the posterity of such. There are some whole villages of negro blood in Arabia, as Kheybar and el-Hayat".180

176 Mir'at al-haramayn, vol. 1, 440. 77 Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 1, 745-47.

178 Khasi, 39, 64, 66f.; engl. translation (Lost in the crowd) 27, 44-46. 179 See, e.g., al-Ansari: Tuhfat al-muhibbin, 480; Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 66. 180 Travels, vol. 2, 656.

309

WERNER ENDE

Of Kheybar, Doughty says it appeared to him as if it were "an Afri- can village in the Hejaz".181

Under these circumstances, the comparatively dark complexion of the "real" nakhdwila, i.e. peasants, farmhands, gardeners, herdsmen and workers of different trades living in the palm groves near Medina, does not really come as a surprise.

It is likely that some of the nakhdwila themselves imagine they are the distant offspring of Bilal, Muhammad's companion and first "official" mu'adhdhin. According to Muslim tradition, this was a man of black African origin, who had been born in slavery in Mecca and had emigrated to Medina together with the Prophet.182 On the other hand, the Sunnite population of Medina, influenced

by the old accounts concerning the battle of the harra, may have associated (and may still associate) the dark skin of most of the nakhdwila with the ibahat al-Madina: a number of medieval sources mention that black Umayyad troops were involved in the transgressions against the women of Medina.183

It cannot, of course, be ruled out that further research may show that the nakhdwila peasants are in fact of mixed origin, i.e. a group somehow combining Arab, African and, to a lesser extent, Iranian, Indian and/or other ethnic elements. There is a possibility that at least one component of this community consisted of people who had come to Medina as pilgrims from abroad and, for some reason or other, remained there. Others, including some Shiite mujdwiran, may have joined them later. As we can see from Ansari's remarks quoted above (p. 303), speculation concerning such a mixed origin was already rife among Sunnite Medinese in the 18th Century-and possibly much earlier. There can be no doubt, however, that the core of this community as it exists today has deep roots in the Hijaz and is basically of Arab origin. Accord- ing to Hamza al-Hasan, a number of members of other tribes, seeking protection, joined them about two centuries ago-among them some of the 'Asara or Banfu A'sar, a section of the 'Anaza.184

At least until recently, more or less all nakhdwila were engaged in the performance of what their neighbours would see as menial

181 Ibid., 94. 182 Al-i Ahmad: Khasi, 64 (Lost in the Crowd, 44); EI, vol. 1, 1215. 183 See, e.g., al-Jahiz: Thalath rasa'il, 70f.; 'Ayyashi: Al-Madina, 344. 184 Al-Shi'a, vol. 1, 65.

310


tasks. In the past, this has given rise to speculation about the nakhdwila being "gypsies". The Tunisian traveller Muhammad

Bayram,185 who visited Medina in the 1880s, has the following to say about them:

"This tribe originates from people (qawm) scattered over all parts of the world. Wherever they are, it is typical for them to live entirely self-reliantly, talking to outsiders and mixing with other people only when necessary (such as) in the case of buying and selling. In every region where they live, they have a special name (laqab) given by the inhabitants of that region. Thus, in the countries of the Turks they are called shinkanah, and in Tunis jamdziya.186 Everywhere they pursue humble occupations like that of repair- ing copper vessels and horseshoes. This also applies to Medina".187

It is well known that a great number of terms denoting "gypsies" are applied to different minority groups all over the world. In the Middle East and North Africa, names like cingane, luli, ghurbat, nawar, ghajar etc.188 are used for several groups, both settled and nomadic, whose real ethnic origin is not clear at all, and who may not be related in terms of ethnicity, but who have at least one thing in common: their members pursue occupations considered de- grading and more or less despicable by the majority of the population.

A discussion of the problems caused by terminological and other kinds of confusion concerning these "pariah"-groups would certainly fall outside the scope of the present study. Suffice it to say here that with regard to the Arabian Peninsula, there exist a number of useful surveys as well as case studies concerning low- status groups such as the du'afa', akhddm and others in Yemen and elsewhere.189 In future research, the information gathered in this literature should be compared with all the data available about the (urban and rural) nakhdwila. As a result of that comparison, we may come to the conclusion that the latter fit quite well into the general pattern of pariah-groups in Arabia, but, given their peculiar religious orientation and special relationship with both the

185 See above, p. 294. 186 For shinkanah see fn. 188 below (art. "Cingane"); jam&ziya seems to be de-

rived from Ottoman Turkish jambaz or jdnbaz, "acrobat", "rope dancer", "trick- ster" etc., see art. "Djanbaz" in El, vol. 2, 442f.

187 Safwat al-i'tibdr, vol. 5, 19. 188 See arts. "6ingane", "Lfili" and "Nuri" in EI, vol. 2, 40f., vol. 5, 816-19 and

vol. 8, 138f., respectively. Further Canova: Notizie. 189 Grohmann: Sudarabien, 52-106; Dostal: Paria-Gruppen; Henninger: Paria-

stdmme; Bruck: Being worthy, passim (with good bibliography).

311

WERNER ENDE

tribes of Hijaz and the ashraf of Medina, represent a category apart.

According to Muhammad Shawqi Makki, who describes the situation prevailing in the 1970s and early 1980s, the (more or less self-imposed) isolation of the nakhawila (including the preference for in-group marriages) is still common among them. He adds:

"This isolation has contributed to the fact that the nakhawila can be easily distinguished from the rest of the inhabitants, namely because of their facial expression (sahnat al-wajh) and their somewhat dark complexion as compared to the other residents of Medina, who have mixed with other races. Their present generation has begun to marry (partners) from outside Medi- na, but probably not from outside the followers of their own madhhab."190

With regard to the point last mentioned, we may ask whether there have been, in modern times, any marriages between (crypto-)Shiite ashraf and "real" nakhdwila families. According to oral information I received in 1996, such marriages, if any, would be extremely rare. Rather, those ashraf prefer to give their children in marriage to members of families belonging to the Sunnite middle or upper classes of the Hijaz.

Ownership and cultivation of land

It seems that-at least until recently-most of the nakhzwila were tenant-farmers or farm labourers. According to Muhsin al-Amin,191 quite a number of the palm groves were owned at the time of his visits by aghawat or khudddm, i.e. eunuchs serving in the Prophet's mosque.192 Other authors mention Hasanid and Husaynid ashraf as well as Sunni Medinese notables as owners of the palm groves.193 In addition, many of these estates were in the possession of tribal leaders: according to Hogarth, the Banfi 'Amr section of the Harb owned most of the date gardens near Medina, while the Banfu All (who are called "a turbulent lot of Shiahs" by Hogarth), a sub-section of the 'Awf (also belonging to the Harb), cultivated the gar-

190 Sukkan, 128. 191 Rihalat, 48; see also Ibn Miusa: Wasf, 26f. 192 For the origin and development of the eunuch society of Medina see

Marmon: Eunuchs, passim; Caskel: Das Farraschen-Amt; further Ibn Mfsa, ibid., 71f., and Ibn Salam: Al-Madina, 32-35, 233-36.

193 Ibn Musa, ibid., 18ff. Many Medinese, however, would rent a garden only for a number of months every year, see Abul Fadl: Zur Kultur, 299.

312


dens around Quba in the 'Awali plains.194 Elsewhere, the author remarks that the Harb tribe held "all the vicinity of Medina". He adds that the Banfi 'Ali clan "was most to be reckoned within and near the city itself, where it was a constant source of trouble to the Turks and disorder among the citizens."195

It is a well-known fact that nomadic tribes or the families of tribal leaders used to own agricultural land in the oases of Ara- bia.196 This land was cultivated by tenant farmers and their servants. If it is true that the Harb, as Hogarth claims, owned "most" of the palm groves near Medina, we may deduce from this fact that their special relationship with the nakhawila of Medina, al-'Awali and other villages in this region, as described by Muhsin al- Amin197, was partly based on strong economic interests.

Nevertheless, Hogarth's statement seems to need some qualifica- tion: according to Burckhardt, many of the gardens and fields in the immediate vicinity of Medina were indeed the property of Medinese notables or had long been turned into waqf land, to be administered by urban mutawallis, such as notables, 'ulama' and servants of the haram. The situation may have changed somewhat between 1815, i.e. the year of Burckhardt's visit, and the time when Hogarth filed his report, but it is very probable that the Swiss traveller's description was still valid about a century later. The relevant passage in Burckhardt's work runs as follows:

"Most of the gardens and plantations belong to the people of the town; and the Arabs who cultivate them (called nowakhele) are mostly farmers. The property of the gardens is either mulk of wakf, the former, if they belong to an individual; the latter, if they belong to the mosque, or any of the medreses or pious foundations, from which they are farmed, at very long leases, by the people of Medina themselves, who re-let them on shorter terms to the cultivators."198

Burckhardt's description is correct mainly for the agricultural land on the immediate outskirts of Medina, and much less for al-'Awali and the area further South. For the latter region, i.e. the realm of the Harb, Hogarth's statement stands. In several sources, however, gardens and houses even in this area are mentioned as being

194 Hejaz, 39. 95 Ibid., 28.

196 Pfullmann: Steuern, esp. 432-34. 197 See above, p. 290f. 198 Travels, vol. 2, 207f.

313

WERNER ENDE

owned by Medinese. In these cases, we may assume that at least some of those persons were ashraf who, as crypto-Shiites, had established a special relationship with the chiefs of the Harb in general and with the Shiite BanC 'Ali in particular. Otherwise it would not have been possible for them to make full use of their property. One such person, by the name of Shahin b. Muhsin al-Husayni al-

Shadqami, is named by 'Ali b. Mfisa as main owner of a well and a

garden for about the year 1885. Almost at the same time, a Persian visitor remarks upon a palm grove and pleasent garden near the

mosque of Fadih which, he says, was the property of a Shi'i Sharif of Hasani descent.199 Nevertheless, the bulk of agricultural land in that area was under the direct or indirect control of the Harb.

Other occupations

Muhammad Bayram's above-mentioned attempt to link the nakhawila with similar "low-caste" or "gypsy"-communities is inter-

esting.200 He does not say what the humble professions of the nakhawila were. Other sources, notably Burckhardt, mention occupations in addition to those of gardeners, peasants or herdsmen:

"the women of the cultivators, and of the inhabitants of the suburbs, serve in the families of the townspeople, as domestics, principally to grind corn in the handmills".201

Although Burckhardt does not say here that these cultivators were mostly Shiites, it is safe to assume that at least at the time of his visit (1815), many of the female servants employed in the richer house- holds of Medina did in fact belong to nakhawila families, who would come to town daily (or sporadically) from the suburbs.

Eldon Rutter, who visited Medina in the mid-1920s, notes that a number of nakhawila used to come daily to an open space near one of the gates of the haram, the Bab al-Salam, in order to sell vegetables there.202

It should be added here that the nakhawila's income did not derive solely from the cultivation and (direct or indirect) sale of

199 Ibn Muisa: Wasf, 25; Farahani: Safar namah, 236 (English translation, A Shi'ite Pilgrimage, 279).

200 See p. 311 above. 201 Travels, vol. 2, 265. 202 The Holy Cities, 552.

314


dates and vegetables: Another substantial source of income was the manufacture of goods from the trunks, the branches and the leaves of the date palm, namely seats, armchairs and benches, bedsteads, tables, baskets, fans and brooms, mats, wall hangings and even a special type of veil to be used during the hajj. The

production of many of these goods was more or less exclusively in the hands of women.203

Other occupations the nakhdwila are said to have pursued, or to pursue today, are those of butcher, house-servant, and sweeper. Probably they were also hired from time to time to clean the cess- pools of Medina.204

Especially during the hajj-season, many of their men would serve Shiite pilgrims visiting Medina as guides (muzawwirun or adilla), hosts, interpreters etc. Some of them offered to perform the rites of the pilgrimage as "substitutes" for people who were prevented from doing so themselves. According tojalal Al-i Ahmad, this practice was still alive in the mid-1960s.205

To this day, the functions last mentioned provide the nakhdwila with a more or less important source of income. It may have been envious Medinese Sunnites who first suggested that the nakhdwila in general would rent not only their houses, but also "all that is inside", i.e. even their wives and daughters to their Shiite co- religionists visiting Medina. In this context, almost all Sunnite authors mention the institution of the mut'a-marriage.206 Shiite writers never seem to touch on this issue when talking about the nakhdwila. But there may have been cases-even recently- of mut'a-marriages being concluded between nakhawila women and Shiite visitors to Medina.

In spite of some criticism by modernist scholars, temporary marriage (mut'a) is considered valid by all Twelver Shiite fuqahd'. In recent years, it has even been propagated by some Shiite religious writers as a means of solving social problems.207 There would therefore be nothing wrong with nakhawila women concluding

203 Abul Fadl: Zur Kultur, 301-03. 204 See Ansari (quoted p. 304 above); Burckhardt: Travels, vol. 2, 239; Al-i

Ahmad: Khasi, 66; Winder: Al-Madina, El, vol. 5, 1007. 205 Khasi, 39f. (English translation 27). 206 See p. 298 and 305f. above; further Rutter: The Holy Cities, 552. 207 See art. "Mut'a" in El, vol. 7, 757-59; Ende: Ehe, 17-25, 38-42.

315

WERNER ENDE

mut'a-marriages with Shiite foreigners, provided that the rules of Twelver Shiite law governing this practice were observed-in particular the rule that a woman who is normally married may not conclude a mut'a.

It is, of course, almost impossible to say whether or not these rules were (and are) always respected. Sunnite sources suggest that the prostitution of married and unmarried nakhawila women was (and possibly still is) more or less general. This innuendo is cer-

tainly without foundation. But since there are some so-called

"gypsy" tribes in Arabia who-at least until recently-were indeed known for the prostitution of their womenfolk,208 Sunnite Medinese as well as Sunnite visitors to Medina may have been all too willing to believe that the nakhawila do the same.

Another uncertainty: the numerical size

There is uncertainty with regard to the numerical size of the Shiite

community of Medina: in 1964, a young nakhili, answering a question by the Iranian writer Jalal Al-i Ahmad, said that it numbered about 5,000.209 In a booklet written especially for Shiite pilgrims and published in Pakistan in 1972, the number of the nakhdwila is given as 4,000.210 However, in the second edition of his Mu'jam qaba'il al-'arab, published in Beirut in 1968, the Syrian Sunnite author 'Umar Rida Kahhala notes that the number of the nakhdwila is close to 12,000.211 In this connection Kahhala is drawing on Batanfini's Rihla hijaziya.212 Batanuni (d. 1938) wrote his travel account in 1909 (first ed. Cairo 1910, second enlarged ed. 1911). It is highly probable that he in turn derived the number of 12,000 nakhawila from Eyyub Sabri (d. 1890), who mentions exactly this figure.213 As this author had been living as an Ottoman official in

208 Serjeant The Ma'n "Gypsies", 741f.; Dostal: "Sexual Hospitality"; see also Henninger in Arabica Varia, index pp. 488 (s.v. "Gastprostitution") and 494 ("Prostitution").

209 Khasi, 66 (English translation 45). 210 Hajj Masail, 55. 211 Vol. 2, 1176. 212 Rihla, p. 52 of the tamhid. 213 See above, p. 305. Curiously enough the number of 12,000 has found its

way even into a modern Persian dictionary, i.e. Dihkhuda's Lughat-ndmah, vol. 11, 310.

316


Medina for some time, his estimation may be close to the truth as far as the situation in the early 1880s is concerned.

The number of 12,000 persons for that period is more or less borne out by an Iranian traveller, Muhammad Husayn Farahani, who visited the holy cities in 1885-86. According to this author, Medina and the surrounding villages had a total population of 80,000 at the time, including 10,000 Shiites. Of the latter, about 4,000 would have resided in the city, and 6,000 in the adjacent villages. It seems that Farahani counts as nakh&wila both the Banu

Husayn in the town and the poor peasants outside the walls, since, in his words, their homes "are in part in the city and outside the wall near the Baqi' cemetery". He distinguishes them both from the Banfi 'All and two other Bedouin groups and from the few Hasani ashrdf residing in the city, who were also Shiites.214

Describing his visit to Medina in 1888, Na'ib al-Sadr-i Shirazi

speaks of 2,000 persons, but he is referring here only to the inhabitants of the mahalla outside the town, a quarter which he calls a "new enclosure" (hisdr-i jadid).215

No official data are available for present-day Medina. There may be reliable Saudi statistics concerning the nakhawila, but, to the best of my knowledge, no material of this kind has ever been

published. Some of the estimates given by Shiite authors are obviously ex-

aggerated. Moreover, we have to bear in mind that some of the

figures mentioned by them refer to the Twelver Shiites of the

Hijaz in general, while others refer only to the nakhdwila living in Medina or in the villages south of that town.216 Even in this case, we have to differentiate. Thus, Yousif al-Khoei in his recent report on the Shi'a of Medina is careful to avoid sweeping statements:

"The actual population of the Nakhawila is difficult to estimate. Some have indicated a figure above 100,000. But a religious leader I met proffered the more conservative estimate of about 32,000, comprising some 19,000 Nakha- wila-8,000 from the tribes in Wadi al-Fara'-in addition to some 5,000

214 Safar ndma, 210 (English translation 257). 215 Tuhfat al-haramayn, 235. 216 Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 68, mentions about 100,000 Twelver Shiites for

Medina and its vicinity and another 20,000 forJeddah, Ta'if and Mecca. In addition, there are allegedly 160,000 Zaydis and between 250,000 and 300,000 Isma'ilis in Saudi Arabia (ibid.).

317

WERNER ENDE

Shi'a Sayyeds living in and around Medina. Others put the figure nearer 40,000, based on an estimate of 15% of Shi'a pupils in Medina's schools."217

Burial and cemeteries

As Eldon Rutter notes after making enquiries about them: "The Nakhawila, say the (Sunnite) Medinans, will do anything for money". Thus, he continues, a number of them were prepared, after the Saudi occupation of Medina in late 1925, to demolish the tombs of al-Baqi' at the behest of the Wahhabi qddi Ibn Bulayhid.218 With regard to the tombs of 'Uthman and many other sahaba buried there, the nakhawila may not have had many qualms about per- forming the task for which they had been hired by the new rulers. It is also possible that they were forced to do so by the Wahhabi conquerors. In this case, Ibn Bulayhid's order must be interpreted as an expression of his spitefulness towards this poor and weak minority, since the demolitions included the tombs of the four Imams buried at the Baqi' as well as those of a number of the ahl al-bayt.

There was, incidentally, a precedent to Ibn Bulayhid's action: according to Ahmad ibn Zayni Dahlan, at the time of the first Wahhabi occupation of Mecca in 1803 the (Sunnite) inhabitants of the town were forced by the conquerors to destroy the cupolas at the cemetery of al-Ma'la and elsewhere.219

Since 1925, protests against the destructions at the Baqz' in general and of the tombs of the Imams in particular have been a leitmotiv in Shiite writings about Medina.220

For a long period of time, the "real" nakhawila (i.e. the inhabitants of the mahalla and of the palm groves south of Medina) were not allowed to bury their dead at al-Baqi'.221 On the other hand,

217 Khoei: The Shi'a, 4; for Wadi al-Fara' (sic) see fn. 130 above. 218 The Holy Cities, 552, 563. Afatwa to this effect, issued by a number of Sunni

Medinese 'ulama' at the request of Ibn Bulayhid, and a critical comment concerning its content is to be found in Amin: Kashf, 359ff. An Italian translation of the fatwa was published in "Oriente Moderno" (Rome), vol. 6 (1926), 288f.

219 Peskes: Muhammad b. 'Abdalwahhab, 146, 320. 220 See, e.g., al-Amin: Kashf, 60f.; Najafi: Madinah-shindsi, 337-39; Mughniya:

Hadhihi, 46-49, reprinted in: Tajarib, 371-73; Faqihi: Wahhabiyan, 215ff.; Salfr: Armaghdn, 18, 22-24, and Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 2, 203ff. Further the books by Hajiri and Samarra'i mentioned above, fn. 6. A number of prominent Sunni visitors to Medina have also criticised the Wahhabi measures, see, e.g., Haykal: Ft manzil, 525f.

221 Rutter: The Holy Cities, 563; Madani and Zu'bi: Al-islam, 126. According to

318


'Ali b. Mfsa mentions the fact that some 'Alawi Sayyids as well as a number of Emirs of Medina from the Banuf Husayn had been buried near the burial place of the Al al-bayt. This information is corroborated by Richard Burton.222

Describing the situation as it was in about 1885, 'Ali b. Mfsa- a local official and for some time Imam of the Malikiya in

Medina223-says that no prayers were recited over the nakhdwila's dead inside the haram. Rather, they would enter the Baqi' through a gate singled out for that purpose, i.e. to bring their jana'iz to the tombs of the Al al-Bayt and perform mourning prayers there.224 We

may assume that in almost all these cases the burial of the dead took place outside the walls of al-Baqi', namely at an adjacent cemetery mentioned by Burton and marked accordingly on his map of Medina. With regard to this spot, he speaks sarcastically of his blunder of momentarily mistaking "the decaying place of those miserable schismatics the Nakhawilah for Al-Bakia, the glorious cemetery of the Saints".225

In recent years the Shiites of Medina have also been allowed to bury their dead at al-Baqic, "in a special plot close to the graves of the Ahl al-Bayt".226 It should be noted here that a number of foreign Shiites who happened to die in Medina have been buried at al-Baqi' under Ottoman and even under Saudi rule. As for the Saudi period, Muhammad Sharif-i Razi in this connection mentions three Iranian Shiite scholars: 1. Muhammad Taqi Taliqani (of whom more will be said below, see p. 332); 2. Sayyid Muham- mad Riza Bihbihani Hayiri (d. 1391/1971-72); 3. Hujjat al-Islam

Hajj Mirza 'Abd al-Rasfil Marzubani Tabriz! (d. 1393/1973-74).227 There is, moreover, a Shiite cemetery near the village of Quba.

This burial ground covers the alleged site of the Masjid al-Dirar. This mosque is said to have been destroyed by order of the Pro- phet Muhammad in the year 9 A.H.228 Given the religious conno-

Ansari, however, the nakhdwila did not want to bury their dead side by side with the Sunnis, see p. 303 above.

222 Ibn Musa: Wasf, 11; Burton: Personal Narrative, vol. 2, 4. 223 See preface by 'Ubayd Madani to Ibn Musa: Wasf, 10. 224 Ibid., 12. 225 Burton: Personal Narrative, vol. 2, pp. 2 and 31, and map in vol. 1, 392f. 226 The Shi'a, 5. 227

Ganjinah-i ddnishmanddn, vol. 7, 66. 228 Lecker: Muslims, 74, 145f.; see also EI, vol. 6, 642.

319

WERNER ENDE

tations of such an account, it may not be too far-fetched to suppose that it was put into circulation by enemies of the Shia. We shall refrain from discussing this point any further. The famous Egyptian writer and politician Muhammad Husayn Haykal (d. 1956), who visited Quba in 1936, notes he was told that the cemetery in question was at present "the burial place of the rafida, the shi'a and (sic!) the nakhawila". He rejects, however, its identifica- tion with the site of the Masjid al-Dirar.229 According to Yousif al- Khoei, who was there in 1996, it is now a large cemetery, where Shiite pilgrims having died in Medina may also be buried.230

Isolation, discrimination and survival

1. The mahalla

In addition to discrimination with regard to the burial of their dead, both Sunnite and Shiite as well as non-Muslim authors mention other forms of prejudice towards, and ill-treatment of, the nakhawila at the hands of the Sunnite majority. Of course, not eve- rything reported in this respect is necessarily true. For instance, some (Ottoman) pashas allegedly ordered the nakhawila to wear red turbans and orange-coloured clothes.231 It is not certain that such an order ever existed. If it did, we may assume that the order in question (the red turban being an allusion to the qzzzlbash?) as well as some other discriminatory measures described in the sources were short-lived and/or were not enforced strictly.

Nevertheless it is evident that the nakhawila (with the exception of the ashraf) were for a long time forced to exist under conditions typical for a pariah-like community. First of all, they were not allowed-in Ottoman times at least-to stay overnight within the walls of Medina, let alone to settle there.232 Their mahalla, consisting of clusters of enclosures called hawsh (plural ahwisha, ahwash or hishan), was located outside the walls, south of the haram. On a map printed in 'Abd al-Quddfis al-Ansari's book, Athar al-Madina

229 ft manzil, 574. 230 The Shi'a, 5. 231 Madani and Zu'bi: Al-islam, 126. 232 Rutter: The Holy Cities, 552.

320

THE NAKHAWTLA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

al-Munawwara (published in 1935), it is marked as mahallat al- nakhdwila.233 On another, earlier map, based on sketches made by Turkish officials and published by Bernhard Moritz in 1916, the area in question is marked as "Garten mit Hausern".234 The best short description of these rural suburbs is to be found in Burton's work. At the time of his visit (1852), the whole area to the South of Medina appeared as

"a collection of walled villages, with plantations and gardens between. They are laid out in the form, called here, as in Egypt, Hosh-court-yards, with single storied tenements opening into them. These enclosures contain the cattle of the inhabitants; they have strong wooden doors, shut at night to prevent "lifting", and they are capable of being stoutly defended. The inhabitants of the suburb are for the most part Badawi settlers, and a race of schismatics who will be noticed in another chapter."235

On a number of modern maps or sketches, the mahalla is no longer discernible, or at least not mentioned as such. However, a "Nakhawila Street" (shari' al-nakhawila), leading from the South to the Baqi', is to be found on a map attached to the second edition of 'Abd al-Salam Hashim Hafiz' book as well as in a number of other publications in Arabic.236 It also appears (as khiyabdn-i nakhawilah) in vol. I of a more recent Persian work on the historical topography of Medina.237

According to R.B. Winder, the hawsh of the nakhawila was "bro- ken up by the Su'udi regime first, apparently, in the 1920s and, definitely, following serious communal disturbances in the mid- 1960s, when a large highway was routed through it."238 This highway, forming a southern extension of Abu Dharr Street, is to be found on a number of modern maps of Medina. Parallel to it, but

233 Athar, 2; see also Haykal: Fi manzil, facing 512, and Najafi: Madinah-shindsi, map no. 45; Ibn Salam: Al-Madina, 241.

234 Bilder, no. 63a. It is obvious that this map, as well as earlier ones published by Batanini (Rihla, facing p. 252) and others are based on Burckhardt (Travels, vol. 2, 144) and Burton (Personal Narrative, vol. 1, 392f.). See also Rutter, op. cit., and The Middle East Intelligence Handbooks, vol. 2, 562. The area to the South of Darb al-Jana'iz is called "El-Shahriye" by Burckhardt (vol. 2, 146, no. 37) and a number of other Western authors, including Rutter. As far as I can see, this designation is not used by Muslim authors. For Burckhardt's and Burton's maps, see reproduction at the end of the present study.

235 Burton, op. cit., vol. 1, 396f. 236 Hafiz: Al-Madina, facing 208; Ibn Salam: Al-Madina, 173 (no. 7); Bulay-

hishi: Al-Madina, 32. 237 Najafi: Madinah-shindsi, maps no. 36-40, 42-43, 46. 238 Art. "Al-Madina", 999.

321

WERNER ENDE

with a dead end towards Darb al-Jana'iz, there is (or was until re-

cently) a smaller street running from South to North-probably the older Shari' al-Nakhawila.239

Whether or not the destruction of the quarter really began in the mid-1920s, i.e. immediately after the Saudi conquest of the

Hijaz, is not altogether clear. There is no mention of such an event, with regard to that period, in any of the other sources known to me.

In any case the continuous existence of the mahalla is attested in various sources up to the 1960s.24? According to Hamza al- Hasan, the district which had been known in the past as mahallat (or zuqaq) al-nakhdwila is now called .Hayy al-Rawda.241 There is, however, no detailed description of its layout and the area it covered. Nevertheless, the snippets of information that can be culled from a great number of works make it appear an especially inter-

esting case for the study of ethnic clusters in Middle Eastern cities, namely for the study of "population groups maintaining a particular identity based on racial, religious, linguistic or cultural status, on tribe, subtribe or family, or on region, town or village of ori-

gin".242 For the various aspects of this topic, such as the relationship of immigration and quarter formation, the barriers of separa- tion between the members of the cluster and the surrounding population, processes of assimilation and disintegration etc., the mahalla of the nakhawila certainly would be a rewarding object of research. For the time being, however, the available documenta- tion is not sufficient to allow a comprehensive study.

With regard to the road-building measures from the 1960s onwards which affected, inter alia, the quarter of the nakhdwila, there is some more or less vague information in a number of publications. One author speaks of the necessity to enlarge the streets leading into the ahwish (not only, of course, those of the nakhdwila) in order to facilitate the access of modern traffic, and particularly fire-brigades, to these districts.243

239 Ibid., 1001 (map of the modern city); Bindaqji: Maps; Farsi: Map; Badr: Al- tarikh, vol. 3, facing 301.

240 Philby A Pilgrim, 59 (for 1935); Bayglari: Ahkam, 353; Shihabi: Awqaf, 128f.; Al-i Ahmad: Khasi, 76 (for 1964); Makki: Sukkan, 127 (hawsh al-nakhawila).

241 Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 67; see Farsi: Map and Guide. 242 Greenshields: "Quarters", 120. 243 Sayyid Rajab: Al-Madina, 39ff., see also Hafiz: Fusul, 301, 308, 310; further

322


In 1986/87, a new wave of urban development was ushered in at Medina by the Saudi government.244 One can safely assume that if anything has been left of the old mahalla of the nakhawila, it is going to be destroyed sooner or later. Nakhawila families may still be an important element in some of the newly-established suburbs in the south-western parts of Medina, but probably there is no

longer a closed quarter populated exclusively by members of this

community. According to al-Khoei, however, the nakhawila still in- habit an area of approximately 12 sq. km. named after them.245

The importance of Medina's agricultural sector, including the once famous palm groves, is rapidly dwindling, and gardens and farmland are being turned into modern housing estates. The nakhdwila farmers therefore have to look for other occupations. According to oral information (March 1988), quite a few of them now own little shops or stalls, mainly in one street of Medina, where they sell grilled meat etc.

The neglect and even destruction (as a result of building measures etc.) of many mosques, cemeteries and other places of religious importance is noted with regret not only by Shiite, but also by Sunnite authors.246

Some of the palm groves have been transformed into public parks. The annual official 'Id al-fitr festivities, organized by the Municipality of Medina, were held at a public garden called "Al- Nakheel Park" in February 1997.247

Where Shiites (both urban ashraf or "real" nakhawila) owned land in the areas touched by modern development schemes, it is likely that they-like Sunnites-have been compensated for the expropriation of their estates.248

Ibn Salam: Al-Madina, 192-95; Rasch: Die Zeltstddte, 226-28, and Mustafa: Al- Madina.

244 Badr: Al-tarikh, vol. 3, 310-23; for the gigantic expansion of the haram area see, e.g., Al-Nounou: On s'y rend, and Al-Hamid: Expansion. In 1997, a new master plan for Medina was made public. According to the Governor, Prince 'Abd al- Majid, the authorities are determined to make Medina "one of the most advanced cities in the world" ("Arab News", April 13, 1997, p. 2).

245 The Shi'a, 4. According to Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 67, there are nakhawila also in the Bab al-Kuma quarter, North-West of the Prophet's Mosque.

246 See, e.g., al-Yusuf: Al-masdjid, 25, 46-48, 66f., 74, 82, 91, 95 (footnotes 4 and 5).

247 Makki: Tawzi'; "Arab News", February 2, 1997, p. 2. 248 Hafiz: Fusul, 306, 308; Rasch: Die Zeltstddte, 226; Badr, vol. 3, 232.

323

WERNER ENDE

A good number of them are said to have benefited from the oil boom and to be successful businessmen, shopkeepers and land- lords who rent their houses, on the outskirts of their farms close to the vicinity of the haram, to pilgrims. Moreover, many are enjoy- ing economic benefits from the Saudi state such as social security payments as well as interest-free loans up to an amount of 300,000 Rials (about 80,000 US-Dollars).249

As for the two gardens called .Safa and Maijan, it is unlikely that much of them is left in the wake of the Saudi town-planning measures.250 Jalal Al-i Ahmad, noticing with surprise the popularity of the two gardens with the Iranian pilgrims, found them quite un-

impressive and neglected: the toilets of al-.Safa were extremely filthy.251 Without giving his precise name, he mentions an Iranian

mujawir-a man from Yazd or Isfahan-as the "owner" (sahib) of

Bagh-i .Safa.252 This designation may be the result of a misunder-

standing, i.e. it is quite likely that the Iranian mujawir had only leased the garden in question. However, it is far from certain that both al-Safa and al-Marjan were still considered as waqfin 1964, or even in the 19th Century. If we give any credence to the assertion that the two gardens had been mawquf for a long time, we may assume that they had already been turned into private property under the Ottomans. The very names of the gardens seem to support this hypothesis: according to 'Ali b. Musa, a Sunnite Medinese describing the situation in 1885, one of the two gardens was owned (and named after) a servant of the haram, Marjan Agha Salim, a eunuch holding the office of mutesellim. This information is corroborated by an Iranian author writing in 1888.253

Concerning a second garden-not mentioned by name-'Ali b. Muisa says that it was owned by one "Al-Sayyid Safi".254 As the editor, Hamad al-Jasir, remarks at this point, the text of the manu-

script is corrupt here. It is possible that the name of the garden,

249 Khoei, op. cit., 4. 250 See above, fn. 244. 251 Khasi, 44 (English translation 30f.). For Bdgh-i Marjan as a place for con-

gregational prayer see also Salfr: Armaghan, 20, 25. 252 Al-i Ahmad, ibid. 253 Wasf, 27, 54; Na'ib al-Sadr Shirazi: Tuhfat al-haramayn, 233. 254 Wasf, 54 (probably identical with the Sayyid Safi al-Ja'fari mentioned ibid.,

43 and 50); Farhad Mirza, who visited Medina in 1875, mentions a Sayyid Safi as his host. His house had a garden with palm trees (Safar namah, 139, 147, 158).

324

THE NAKHAWLA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

Safa, was mentioned in the original, and that this designation was somehow related to that Sayyid Safi. It is not certain that this

person was the official proprietor of that garden. Concerning the popularity of the two gardens especially with

the Iranians, it should be noted that not only Shiites, but also (at least occasionally) Sunnites from Iran used to stay there during their visit to Medina. Thus, Sayyid 'Abdallah Shirazi, who performed the pilgrimage in 1942, mentions that a number of Sunnite villagers from Khurasan found accommodation at al-Safa while he himself was staying there. They were even ready tempor- arily to vacate part of the space they were occupying at al-Safa so that their Shiite countrymen could celebrate 'Ashura' without the

danger of overcrowding.255

2. Public education

The Saudi authorities have expanded public education,256 and it seems that the nakhawila have not been excluded from this devel-

opment. A book published in Beirut in 1950 devoted to the promo- tion of better understanding between Sunnites and Shiites, quotes a letter to the authors from one Shaykh Muhammad al-Daftardar (a Saudi official responsible for educational affairs in Medina) stat-

ing that the government had set up modern schools for the children of the nakhdwila. They would now be able to become partners of their (Sunnite) brethren in every respect, since the Saudi government was pursuing its policy according to the example of the salaf salih, mindful of the Islamic injunction of tolerance.257

At first glance, a statement such as this paints an attractive picture, but it can (and probably should) be interpreted as meaning that the government conducted a policy of forced assimilation in

religious matters: it is extremely unlikely that the Saudi authorities would ever have endorsed any special school curricula for Shiites with regard to both the dogma and the history of Islam. Rather, we

255 Al-ihtijajat, 24; in the Persian translation (Munazardt) 41f. 256 For Medina in the late Ottoman and Hashimite periods, see Shamikh: Al-

ta'lim, 59ff., and Duhaish: Elementary Schools; for the Saudi era Bulayhishi, op. cit., 11 lff., and al-Ansari: Al-ta'lim.

257 Madani and Zu'bi: Al-isldm, 126; about Shaykh Muhammad al-Daftardar see Hafiz: Al-Madina, 167, and Ibn Salam: Mawsu'at al-udaba', vol. 1, 361.

325

WERNER ENDE

should expect that every topic relating to these fields would be

taught uniformly at all Saudi schools, i.e. including those attended

by the children of the nakhdwila, strictly according to the doctrines of the Wahhabiya. Concerning the early history of Islam, the attitude of the sahiba during the fitna, the image of Mu'awiya and his son Yazid, or the role of 'Abdallah ibn Saba' would be cases in

point.258 Pupils and parents alike would inevitably see the teaching of such topics in Saudi state schools as the enforcement of an anti- Shiite view of Islam and its history. In November 1991, there were

protests by Shiite students in the Eastern Province against new textbooks in which their madhhab was treated as an outright heresy.259

According to a recent report, it is an unwritten rule that a Shiite may not become a teacher of religion, history or Arabic, or the headmaster of a school.260 On the other hand, there are, of course, no special state-run schools for the nakhdwila. At the same time, they are not allowed to establish private schools. The last of the traditional Shiite maddris ( in the Eastern Province) are said to have been closed in the 1950s.261 Pupils of nakhawila origin have little or no chance of receiving state scholarships to study abroad.262 Nevertheless, it is to be assumed that in recent years, public education, including for girls, has made some progress among them.

Whatever the results of this development, it is likely that at least some children of the nakhawila have made use of the opportunities offered by modern education, and may increasingly be doing so today. Better education for the nakhdwila, however, does not necessarily mean equality of opportunities in social life. There may be more or less subtle measures to keep them out of attractive jobs etc. In this context, al-Khoei speaks of a feeling of widespread discrimination in employment: those who manage to find work in the civil service, the police and the armed forces cannot achieve senior positions, although on occasion they may reach middle

258 Ende: Arabische Nation, 191ff. and passim. See also p. 304f. above. 259 Hasan: Dajja, 16; see also "Issues" (Paris), January 1992, 7. 260 Khoei, 4. 261 Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 2, 341. 262 Khoei, 4.

326


ranks. The nakhawila are not given duties in sensitive areas such as the judiciary, the haram or at al-Baqi'.263

3. Representation in domestic politics

With regard to their representation in domestic politics, Nallino-

drawing on oral information- speaks of widespread local (Sun- nite) protests, in 1937, against the admission of the nakhawila to

participate in the elections for the majlis al-shura of the Hijaz. Citing the alleged precedent of the Young Turk administration early this century, Ibn Sa'ud reacted to the protests by denying the nakhawila the right to vote.264

According to anti-Saudi writings published in Beirut and elsewhere by members of the opposition in exile, the nakhawila staged a demonstration in 1952 (or 1953?) to demand equal treatment for themselves and an end to all kinds of humiliation, as well as an end to their persecution-as Shiites-by Saudi (Sunnite) men of religion. A son of Prince (later King) Faysal, Emir 'Abdallah al-

Faysal (for some time minister of the Interior), is said to have

personally supervised a punitive expedition by soldiers and slaves (sic) against the defenceless peasants: first they were rounded up in their huts and brutally beaten. Then some of them were fettered to the backs of motor vehicles and dragged through the streets of Medina. Finally, many of the detainees were roughly thrown into lorries and whisked off to prison, where some of them died as a result of torture.265

Here again, it is difficult to ascertain the reliability of the report. It may be based on a single (perhaps biased) source. To the best of my knowledge, there exists no statement by the Saudi government concerning such an incident in 1952 or 1953. A scrutiny of the contemporary Middle Eastern press may yield some results to this effect, but this is a task we have not so far been able to carry out. There is also the possibility that the incident in question is referred to in some diplomatic correspondence.

263 Ibid. 264 L'Arabia Saudiana, 92. 265 Jabhat al-islh: Jahim, 7; al-'Attar: Al-harakat, 70; al-Sa'id: Tirikh, 491f.;

Amini: Makka, 305. (Both Jabhat al-islah and al-'Attar give 1953 as the year of this event, the two following 1952.)

327

WERNER ENDE

With regard to the demands raised by the nakhawila in their demonstration, the opposition publications describing the event do not give many details. One author notes that the nakhdwila were not allowed to testify in court (when Sunnites are involved). They may have demanded that the Saudi authorities abolish this

practice. A passage in another publication seems to imply that on the same occasion, the nakhdwila demanded the right to form a

niqdba, i.e. a kind of guild or union, such as had existed, the author claims, at the end of Ottoman rule and had been dissolved by the Saudis on the first day of their assumption of power in Medina.

(Perhaps he is referring to a niqaba of Shiite muzawwiruin).266 In the early 1950s, there was indeed organized labour unrest in

Saudi Arabia, which culminated in a mass strike at the oilfields around Dammam (Eastern Province) in October 1953. The government reacted, inter alia, by repeatedly banning all kinds of union organization. With the material at my disposal, however, it is impossible to ascertain whether or not there was any connection between the demonstration staged by the nakhawila in Medina and the unrest in the Eastern Province-where many workers and other employees of ARAMCO are Shiites.267

If the demonstration of the nakhawila took place in 1953 rather than 1952, we may speculate that there could be a connection between this incident and the death of King 'Abd al-'Aziz Ibn Sa'ufd in the same year (November 9, 1953).

4. A lonely minority: the religious aspect

It is presumed that at some time under Ottoman rule, the nakhdwila were prohibited from entering the Prophet's mosque; however, they are said to have been ordered by one mayor of Medina to supply a guard around the mosque to drive away the dogs.268

In the late Ottoman period, Shiite ta'ziya practices were to some extent tolerated by the authorities: as Amin al-Dawla observed in 1899, Muharram elegies for Imam Husayn could be recited more or less openly during gatherings of the nakhawila in the 'Awali

266 Al-Sa'id, ibid., 492. 267 Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 2, 296ff. 268 Rifat: Mir'at, vol. 1, 440; Rutter, op. cit., 552.

328


region.269 It is difficult to say whether the Shiite villages of that

region have witnessed any public processions commemorating Imam Husayn's martyrdom. Self-flagellation and other related

practices would probably not have been permitted in public, but may have been performed behind closed doors during private majalis. It should be remembered, however, that flagellation had come to the western Arab Shiite communities (such as those of

Jabal 'Amil) at a relatively late stage.270 With regard to the Hijaz, we may assume that, if any, it was Shiite mujzwirin and visitors from the East who imported these practices, and that the nakhawila would not necessarily have participated.

Recent oppositional publications criticize the Saudis for pre- venting the nakhawila from practising their religious customs.271 With regard to this criticism, we should bear in mind that a number of measures taken by the Wahhabis against what they perceived as bida' affected Sunnis and Shi'is alike. The public celebration of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad and Sufi dhikrs would be cases in point.272 But there can be no doubt that any outward expression of the nakhawila's Shiite customs are more or less strictly suppressed by the Saudi authorities. As compared to the situation in the Eastern Province (Qat.if and Ahsa'), the Shiites of Medina are

"neither allowed to proclaim their faith nor to perform their rituals openly; they may not declare their call to prayer, and must not wear the traditional turban, though foreign pilgrims are excluded from this prohibition (...). Government employees who have to join in congregational prayer may not display any outward signs of being Shi'a, such as using the turba."273

Moreover, the nakhdwila are not allowed to build mosques, but may assemble in so-called majalis husayniya (see below). On the other hand, they cannot really be prevented from entering the haram and praying there: given the growth of the town's population (ac-

269 Safar ndmah, 265. 270 Ende: The Flagellations, 26-28. 271 See titles mentioned in fn. 265; further Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 2, passim, and

Al-Lajna al-Duwaliya: .Huqfuq, 42-44. 272 See the article by Mark Sedgwick in this issue. 273 Khoei: The Shi'a, 5. The so-called shahada thalitha in the adhdn (the for-

mula "I bear witness that 'Ali is the wali of God") is, of course, to be avoided in public. For the dispute over the use of the turba (prayer tablet, Persian muhr-i namdz) by Shiite visitors from abroad see Shirazi: Al-ihtijdjdt, 13-16 (Mundzardt, 17-22).

329

WERNER ENDE

cording to the 1974 census, almost 200,000 even then)274 as well as the growing number of Saudi and foreign visitors, it would be difficult for the guards and servants of the mosque to single out the nakhawila and prevent them from entering. It is more likely that the complaint of being discriminated against refers (inter alia) to the fact that public Shiite ceremonies such as ta'ziya-processions, and especially passion plays etc., are forbidden. A Lebanese Shiite scholar who visited the nakhawila during the pilgrimage season of 1964, however, mentions their husayniya where he delivered a lecture on the occasion of a Shiite holiday, the 'id al-ghadir. The scholar in question, Muhammad Jawad Mughniya (d. Dec. 1979), did so, he says, at the request of Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali al-'Amri, who was then the religious leader of the nakhawila. Mughniya states that a large crowd attended his lecture.275

As for the Husayniya mentioned by Mughniya, it is probably identical to the one described by Yousif al-Khoei in 1996 as the place where the main commemoration of 'Ashura' was performed. According to this author, it "is situated in a run-down farm away from the centre", in the neighbourhood of a mosque named after Salman al-Farisi. In addition to this large one mentioned by al- Khoei, there are today a number of other Husayniyas in Medina (about ten altogether), including one for women. All of them are to be found in unmarked houses, i.e. situated inside buildings without any outward signs or inscriptions.276

It is obvious that, even under Saudi rule, the nakhawila have provided (and still provide) opportunities for Shiite pilgrims to commemorate the death of the martyrs of the Al al-bayt according to tradition and without Wahhabi interference. An Iranian author thus advises his co-religionists that

"it is better to perform (the ceremonies of) 'azddari and the lamentation over the wretchedness and martyrdom of Fatima as well as of the Imams (buried at) al-Baqi' in the company of (local) Shiites and inside their living quarters, away from the glances of Sunnites."277

In the chapter about his stay in Medina in 1950, an Iranian author, Sultanhusayn Tabandah Gunabadi (also known as Riza 'Alishah,

274 "Al-Madina", EI, vol. 5, 999. 275 Hadhihi, 50; Tajarib, 374. 276 The Shi'a, 5. 277 Bayglari: Ahkam, 353.

330


born in 1913/14) quotes the complaint of a Saudi Wahhabi scholar about the unacceptable behaviour of the nakhawila. According to this person, one Ibrahim al-Salam (sic), who at the time was chief librarian of the haram, the nakhawila still practice the sabb al-

shaykhayn, i.e. the cursing of Abu Bakr and 'Umar. This custom, the Iranian author admits, should indeed be abandoned.278

There can be no doubt that the great majority of the 'ulama'

teaching at the haram as well as at the Islamic University of Medina (established in 1961/62)279 invariably take a wholly negative view of the Shia in general, and of any genuine rapprochement between Sunnites and Shiites in particular. It is, therefore, still un- thinkable that a Shiite foreigner or a Saudi Shiite from the Hijaz or from the Eastern Province should be allowed to study regularly at one of these institutes in Medina-with the exception, perhaps, of a person who had previously declared his conversion to Sun- nism officially and convincingly. Likewise, the proposal made by the Iranian scholar Mirza Khalil Kamarah'i (Kamare'i), in a letter to King Faysal in December 1964, that the study of Imami Shi'ifiqh should be introduced into the teaching program at the Prophet's mosque in Medina (and Iranian students be admitted there) appears to be totally unrealistic, and has been treated as such by Saudi religious and political authorities.280

5. Religious guidance

It seems that there was (and probably still is) a tradition among the nakhawila of inviting Shiite scholars from abroad to stay with them for some time and to act as religious authorities. In a biography of Sayyid 'Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din, a Shiite Lebanese scholar, it is reported that, at the request of the nakhawila, he gave religious lec- tures and advised them on Muslim ethics when he came to Medina in 1328/1910-11.281 Probably Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin, who visited Medina three times in his life, did likewise.282 For 1964, we have the example of Mughniyajust mentioned.

278 Khdtirat, 80f., 84f. 279 Badr, vol. 3, 236-41; Bulayhishi, 85-105; Ansari: Al-ta'lim, 610-40. 280 Mandzil al-wahy, 110. 281 Qubaysi: Hayat, 106. About Sharaf al-Din see art. in EI, vol. 9, 314f. 282 About this person see above, fn. 91.

331

WERNER ENDE

After World War II, the Iranian Ayatollah Burujirdi (d. 1961), for several years the highest Shiite religious authority,283 even sent one of his former students to Medina in order "to keep the remnants of Shiism alive" there.284 This representative, a man called Muhammad Taqi Taliqani, suddenly died in Medina in 1953, about two years after his arrival.285 Thirteen years later, his

younger brother, the Iranian writer Jalal Al-i Ahmad (d. 1969)- who had been a member of the Tudeh Party for some time-went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and later visited Medina. However, he did not get very far with his enquiries among the nakhawila about the circumstances of his brother's death.286 There may be, in Qom or elsewhere, letters and other documents concerning Muham- mad Taqi Taliqani's activities in Medina, but even if they existed, they would not yet be made available.

Muhammad Taqi Taliqani was not the only person to be sent to Medina as a representative of the Ayatollahs of Qom. About one year after the latter's death, Hajj Sayyid Ahmad Lawasani was ordered by Burujirdi to go to Medina in a similar capacity. An Ira- nian author briefly mentions him and his activities there in an account of a pilgrimage made in 1956.287 From the material available to me, it is not clear how long Lawasani had been in Medina.

Over several years, another religious scholar, Shaykh 'Abd al- Husayn Faqihi Rashti (born in Najaf in 1903), went to Mecca and Medina during the hajj season in order to advise the Iranian pilgrims on all matters related to the shari'a and more particularly on the pilgrimage. This he did at the behest of his teacher, Burujirdi, and he continued to do so after the latter's death (1961) at least until the early 1970s. However, his main task was the instruction of pilgrims, not the guidance of the native Shi'is of Medina.288

A discussion of Burujirdi's policy of sending representatives abroad would fall outside the scope of the present study. What

283 See articles in EI, supplement 3-4, 157f., and Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 4, 376-79.

284 Al-i Ahmad: Khasi, 139 (Engl. translation 115). 285 Razi: Athar, vol. 2, 348f.; Ganjinah, vol. 4, 506, and vol. 7, 66 (portraits in

Athar, vol. 2, 349, and Ganjinah, vol. 4, 692). 286 Khasi, 40, 66f., 167 (English translation 27, 45f., 115); see Mottahedeh: The

Mantle, 303f. 287 Razi: Athar, vol. 2, 349; Salhr: Armaghan, 26, 28, 34. 288 Razi: Ganjinah, vol. 2, 222f.

332


interests us here is rather how these representatives of Qom were received by the local Shiite community, especially since their own

religious leader, Shaykh 'Amri, was a follower of the maraji' resid-

ing in Najaf. Another question is whether or not the Saudi authorities were fully informed about these developments.

From the sparse data available it is clear at least that the nakhawila have had their own religious leaders in modern times

(though probably not in an uninterrupted succession), but have also been eager to receive foreign scholars in order to gain their

spiritual support. We may assume that those of the latter who carried an Iranian passport were (at least during the greater part of the Pahlavi period) in a somewhat better position vis-a-vis the Saudi authorities than any indigenous religious leader of the nakhdwila.

With regard to these local 'ulam', it is an open question where these men received their (higher) religious education. Some may have studied in the Iraqi 'atabat for some time. In his account of his visits to Medina in the late Ottoman period, Sayyid Muhsin al- Amin mentions two learned men from 'Awali he met there. Both had been students at Najaf.289 Men such as Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali al-Hajutj probably acted primarily as religious authorities among their own tribe, and only occasionally-if at all-among the nakhawila of Medina.

Concerning Shaykh Muhammad 'All al-'Amri, already mentioned above (p. 330), we may assume that his nisba points to the Banuf 'Amr, a subtribe of the Harb.290 In fact al-Khoei calls him "an elderly religious and tribal leader".291 A portrait of this person, who is called al-'allama by Mughniya, can be found in Hamza al-Hasan's book on the Shia of Saudi Arabia-to the best of my knowledge the only photograph of a "real" nakhili published so far.292 Accord- ing to oral information I was able to gather about him in 1995, Shaykh Muhammad cAll al-'Amri received his religious education mainly in Najaf. His principal teacher there, in the 1940s and 50s, was Sayyid Baqir (ibn al-Sayyid 'All) al-Ahsa'i, known as al-Shakhs. This person (who is called "Ayatollah" by some) was born in a

289 A'yan, vol. 10, 364f.; see above, p. 289. 290 Biladi: Nasab, 66ff.; Oppenheim: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, 379-82. 291 The Shi'a, 5. 292 Al-shi'a, vol. 2, 367.

333

WERNER ENDE

village of al-Ahsa' in 1316/1898-99. He came to Najaf, as a child, in 1321/1903-4, and lived there until his death in 1962. Having been a student of Mirza Muhammad Husayn al-Na'ini and a number of other prominent Mujtahids, he later became one of the most successful teachers himself, while the number of his works- at least of the printed ones-seems to be rather limited.293

It was with this scholar that our Shaykh 'Amri studied in the first

place. He seems to have been rather close to his teacher, and is even said to have married one of his daughters, who followed him to Medina when he returned there.

After the death of al-Shakhs, Shaykh 'Amri continued his studies in Najaf for some time, and especially with the two famous

Ayatollahs Muhsin al-Hakim (d. 1970) and Abfi 1-Qasim al-Khfu'i (d. 1992). The exact date of his return to Medina is not known to me. Likewise I am not able to say whether, before coming to Najaf, Shaykh 'Amri received his primary religious instruction in Medina itself or in the vicinity of the holy city, and if so, who his teacher was-a local (nakhdwila) teacher, a mujdwir or some other person. It is unlikely that he would have been prepared-or been allowed-to enrol as a regular student at any Sunnite institute of learning in the Hijaz or elsewhere. Rather, we may assume that he went directly to Najaf in his youth. Possibly on his way there or after graduation, i.e. before his final return to Medina, he may have stayed in Bahrayn or in al-Ahsa', i.e. the home of his teacher, Sayyid Baqir al-Shakhs. (There are ties between the Shiites of al- Ahsa' and those of Medina, but no details are known to me).

According to al-Khoei, there are now (1996) "also a handful of other Shi'a religious figures in Medina",294 but for many years, Shaykh Muhammad al-'Amri has been the main representative of the leading maraji' of Najaf such as Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, Abfi 1-Qasim al-Khi'i and, currently, Ayatollah 'All Sistani. On the occasion of his visit to the place where Shaykh 'Amri holds congregational prayer, al-Khoei noticed portraits of (his grandfather) Abu 1-Qasim al-Khu'i as well as of both Ayatollah Gulpaygani (d. 1993) and Sistani.

293 al-Shakhs: Min 'ulama'ina (Shaykh 'Amri is mentioned in a list of his students on page 298); on the family of al-Shakhs see idem (?), Al-usar, 114-16, and Amini: Mu'jam rijal, vol. 2, 722.

294 The Shi'a, 5.

334


In addition to leading midday and evening prayers and also prayers for the dead, Shaykh al-'Amri performs marriage ceremonies. As there are no Shiite courts in Medina, he acts as an unof- ficial arbiter in disputes involving nakhawila only. Likewise, he is consulted in matters related to Shiite awqaf. it is, incidentally, not clear what has happened to the old ones, but it seems that new foundations have been established by Shiites, which are registered separately from those of the Sunnites.295

There is some indication that a tradition of religious learning has continued in the family of Shaykh 'Amri: on July 1, 1987, i.e. a few weeks before the "bloody Friday" in Mecca (July 31),296 a report appeared in Kayhdn-i Hawa'i of Tehran dated June 23, 1987, saying that a prominent man of religion in Saudi Arabia, namely "the leader (rahbar) of the Shiites of Medina", Shaykh Kazim 'All al-'Amri, had been arrested. According to "well informed sources", Saudi security agents had arrested him in mid- April, following a sermon he had preached on the occasion of laylat nisf sha'bdn (which is considered by the Twelver Shia to be the birthday of the Mahdi). Shaykh Kazim is mentioned by Hamza al-Hasan as Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali al-'Amri's son.297

As I have no reliable information about Shaykh Kazim's arrest, viz. its political background, duration and possible repercussions on the nakhawila, I shall refrain from commenting on this event.

It is clear that the nakhawila are presently in danger of becoming the object of Shiite (not only Iranian) revolutionary agitation, and also the target of extreme suspicion by the Saudi authorities. As a result of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, that suspicion is partly political, but at the same time intertwined with long- standing controversial issues of religion such as the sabb al-sahdba. A wave of polemical literature published by both sides especially after the "Bloody Friday" of 1987 clearly supports this assertion.298 There are recent fatdwd issued by leading Wahhabi 'ulama' such as 'Abd al-'Aziz Ibn Baz, Ibn Jibrin and others to the effect that Shiites (Twelver as well as Zaydis) are heretics and that, accord-

295 Ibid. 296 See Kramer: Behind the Riot; idem, Tragedy, and Khomeini's Messengers. 297 Al-shi'a, vol. 1, 66. 298 Ende: Sunni Polemical Writings.

335

WERNER ENDE

ingly, "true" Muslims should not even eat the meat of animals slaughtered by a Shi'i butcher, for example.299

Nevertheless, some relaxation of Saudi Wahhabi policy towards the Shiites of the Kingdom is said to have been observed after the Gulf War of 1991, and especially since 1993/94. There have even been promises that the ban on building mosques and Husayniyas would be lifted and (public?) ta'ziya ceremonies allowed. It seems, however, that such a relaxation, if any, is intended for the Eastern Province only and not for Medina.300

Compared to their co-religionists in the Eastern Province, the Shiites of Medina appear to be scarcely politicized even following the Iranian Revolution of 1978/79. They have for the most part avoided involvement in both domestic politics and in the recent political tension following the clashes in Medina and Mecca, especially in the 1980s, between Shiite (mainly Iranian) pilgrims and Saudi security forces during the annual hajj season.301 It is said that in these years Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali al-'Amri used to leave Medina at the time of the hajj in order to avoid being drawn into the nascent conflicts.302

One point of contention which comes up time and again is the demand that the two holy cities (or at least the organization of, and control over both the hajj to Mecca and the ziyira to Medina) should be entrusted to an international Muslim body. The idea as such is not new. Over the years, it has been put forward by different authors, movements and politicians-both Sunnite and Shiite.303 It is clear that such a demand, if advanced by Iran or any Shiite group in that country or elsewhere, will sooner or later call the attention of Muslims all over the world to the long-standing existence of a Shiite community in the Hijaz. As a result, the Saudi authorities (who, of course, totally reject the idea of international control over the haramayn) are in turn monitoring the behaviour

299 Hasan: Al-shi'a, vol. 2, 341; idem, Dajja; "Issues" (Paris), January 1992, 6f.; see also Ibn Baz et al.: Fatdwa hay'at kibdr, 136; idem: Fatawa isldmiya, vol. 3, 104- 07.

300 al-Rasheed: The Politics, esp. 113f. 301 See Kramer (fn. 296 above) and the same author's annual surveys in Mid-

dle East Contemporary Survey, esp. from vol. 11 (1987) onwards. 302 AI-Khoei, 5. 303 See, e.g., Middle East Contemporary Survey, vol. 11 (1987), 175f.; further

Bangash: The Makkah Massacre, esp. 77-85, also Al-i Ahmad: Khasi, 45 (Engl. translation 31).

336


of this minority group with increasing distrust. They may even be

considering preventive action. So far the Iranian government as well as most of its allies and

sympathisers abroad have refrained from launching any vociferous propaganda campaign in favour of the nakhdwila. Such a campaign would not in fact help them. Drawing international attention to their difficult situation is, however, another matter.

Bibliography

Al-i Ahmad, Jalal: Khasi dar miqat, 7th ed. Tehran 1357 sh/1978 (Intisharat-i Rawaq); engl. transl. by John Green: Lost in the Crowd, Washington, D.C., 1985

Abul Fadl, Said Memun: Zur Kultur und Verwertung der Dattelpalme im Gebiet von Medina, in: Archiv ffir Wirtschaftsforschung im Orient (Weimar), vol. 1, no. 2 (July 1916), 296-305

'Ali, 'All al-Sayyid (duktfur): Al-hayat al-thaqafiya fi 1-Madina al-Munawwara 'asr salatin al-mamalik, 642-923h, 1st ed. Cairo 1414/1994 ('Ayn)

Altunji see al-Tunji Amhazfin, Muhammad: Al-Madina al-Munawwara fi rihlat al-'Ayyashi. Dirasa wa-

tahqiq, 1st ed. Kuwayt 1988 (Dar al-Arqam) al-Amin, al-Sayyid Hasan: Da'irat al-ma'arif al-islamiya al-shi'iya, part I, Beirut

1391/1972 (Matabi' al-Wafa') al-Amin, al-Sayyid Muhsin: A'yan al-shi'a, 4th ed., 56 vols., Beirut 1960ff.; revised

and enlarged ed. by Sayyid Hasan al-Amin, 10 vols., 1 vol. Malahiq, 1 vol. Faharis, 7 vols. Mustadrakat, Beirut 1986ff. (Dar al-Ta'aruf)

Idem: Rihalat al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin fi Lubnan wa-l-'Iraq wa-Iran wa-Misr wa-l- Hijaz, Beirut s.d. (Dar al-Turath al-Islami)

Idem: Kashf al-irtiyab fi atba' Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab, 1st ed. Damascus 1346/1927-28, 3rd ed. Tehran s.d. (1973?)

Amin al-Dawla (Hajj Mirza 'All Khan Sadr-i A'zam): Safar namah, pref. Dr. 'Ali Amini, Tehran 1354 sh/1975

al-Amini, Muhammad Hadi (al-duktfir): Makka, 1st ed. Tehran 1408/1988 (Maktab Nashr al-'Ilm wa-l-Adab)

Idem: Batal Fakhkh, 1st ed. al-Najaf 1388/1969 (al-Matba'a al-Haydariya) Idem: Mujam rijal al-fikr wa-l-adab fi 1-Najaf khilal alf 'am, 2nd ed., 3 vols. s.l.

(Beirut?) 1992 Idem: Mu'jam al-matbu'at al-najafiya, 1st ed. Najaf 1385/1966 (Matba'at al-

Nu'man) al-Ansari, 'Abd al-Quddfis: Athar al-Madina al-Munawwara, 1st ed. Damascus

1353/1935 (Matba'at al-Taraqqi) al-Ansari, 'Abd al-Rahman: Tuhfat al-muhibbin wa-l-ashab fi ma'rifat ma li-l-mada-

niyin min al-ansab, ed. Muhammad al-'Arfsi al-Matwi, Tunis 1970 (Al-Maktaba al-'Atiqa)

al-Ansari, Naji Muhammad Hasan 'Abd al-Qadir: Al-ta'lim fi 1-Madina al-Munaw- wara min al-'am al-hijri al-awwal ila 1412, 1st ed. Cairo 1414/1993 (Dar al- Manar)

al-'Aqili, 'Umar Sulayman (al-duktur): Yazid b. Mu'awiya. Hayatuhu wa-'asruh, Riyad 1408/1988

337

338 WERNER ENDE

al-'Attar, 'Adnan: Al-harakat al-taharruriya fi 1-Hijaz wa-l-Najd, 1901-1973, Beirut 1393/1973 (Matabi' Ma'tfq Ikhwan)

'Awwad, Kfrkis: Mu'jam al-mu'allifin al-'iraqiyin, 3 vols., 1st ed. Bagdad 1969 (Matba'at al-Irshad)

al-'Ayyashi, Abu Salim 'Abdallah, see Amhazun al-'Ayyashi, Ibrahim b. 'All: Al-Madina bayn al-madi wa-l-hadir, 1st. ed. Medina

1392/1972 Babinger, Franz: Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke, Leipzig

1927 Badeeb, Saeed M: Saudi-Iranian Relations 1932-1982, London 1993 Badr, 'Abd al-Basit: Al-tarikh al-shamil li-l-Madina al-Munawwara, 3 vols., 1st ed.

Medina 1414/1993 Bakr, Sayyid 'Abd al-Majid: Ashhar al-masajid fi 1-islam, vol. I, Jeddah 1400/1980

(Matabi' Sahar) Bangash, Jafar: The Makkah Massacre and the Future of the Haramain, London

1988 Barzanji, Ja'far b. al-Sayyid Isma'il: Nuzhat al-nazirin fi masjid sayyid al-awwalin

wa-l-akhirin, 1st ed. Cairo 1332/1914 (Matba'at al-Jamaliya) Bastani Parizi: Az Pariz ta Paris, Tehran 1973 (Amir Kabir) al-Batanfni, Muhammad Labib: Al-rihla al-hijaziya, 2nd ed. Cairo 1329/1911 (Al-

Matba'a al-Jamaliya) Bayglari, Hajj Hasan: Ahkam-i hajj wa asrar-i an, Tehran 1345 sh/1966 Bayram, Muhammad (al-Khamis al-Tfnisi): Safwat al-i'tibar, juz' 5, 1st ed. Cairo

1311/1893-94 (Matba'at al-Muqtataf) Bidwell, Robin (ed.): The Arab Bulletin. Bulletin of the Arab Bureau in Cairo,

1916-1919, 4 vols. New introduction and comment by Dr. R. Bidwell, London 1986

al-Biladi, 'Atiq b. Ghayth: Nasab Harb. Qabilat Harb: Ansabuha, furf'uha, tarikhuha wa-diyaruha, 3rd. ed. Mecca 1404/1984 (Dar Makka)

Idem: Mujam qaba'il al-Hijaz, 2nd revised and enlarged edition, Mecca 1403/ 1983 (Dar Makka)

Idem: Mujam ma'alim al-Hijaz, 10 vols., 1st ed. Mecca 1398/1978 - 1404/1984 (Dar Makka)

Bindaqji, Hussein H.: Maps of Hajj to the Holyland [sic], 2nd ed. Cairo 1397/ 1977 (The Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop)

Bin Duhaish see Duhaish Brockelmann, Carl: Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, zweite den

Supplementbanden angepaBte Auflage, 2 vols., Leiden 1943-1949; Supple- ment 1-3 (1937-42)

Bruck, Gabriele vom: Being worthy of protection: The dialectics of gender at- tributes in Yemen, in: Social Anthropology, vol. 4 (1996), 145-62

al-Bulayhishi, Muhammad Salih: Al-Madina al-yawm, 1st ed. Medina 1402/1981- 82 (Manshfrat Nadi 1-Madina al-Munawwara al-Adabi)

Burckhardt, John Lewis: Travels in Arabia, 2 vols., London 1829; German transl. (Reisen in Arabien) Weimar 1830, reprint Stuttgart 1963

Burton, Richard F.: Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Mecca, memorial ed. in 2 vols., London 1893

Buzpinar, $. Tufan: The Hijaz, Abdulhamid II and Amir Hussein's Secret Deal- ings with the British, 1877-80, in: Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 31 (1995), 99- 123

Canova, Giovanni: Notizie sui Nawar e sugli altri gruppi zingari presenti in Egitto, in: La Bisaccia dello Sheikh. Omaggio ad Alessandro Bausani (..), =


Quaderni del Seminario di Iranistica (..), Venice 1981, 71-84 Casewit, Daoud S.: Fada'il al-Madinah. The Unique Distinctions of the Prophet's

City, in: The Islamic Quarterly, vol. 35 (1991), 5-22 Caskel, Werner: Das Farraschen-Amt in Medina, in: Aus ffinf Jahrtausenden

morgenlandischer Kultur. Festschrift Max Freiherr von Oppenheim zum 70. Geburtstage, ed. E.F. Weidner, 1st ed. Berlin 1933, reprint Osnabrfuck 1967, 138-47

Clayton, Gilbert Falkingham: An Arabian Diary, ed. R.O. Collins, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1969

Dabashi, Hamid (transl. and ed.): Lives of Prominent Nineteenth-Century 'Ulama' from Tunikabuni's Qisas al-'ulama', in: Authority and Political Cul- ture in Shi'ism, ed. by Said Amir Arjomand, Albany, N.Y., 1988, 305-28

al-Daftardar, Hashim, see al-Madani Dihkhuda, 'All Akbar (et al.): Lughat-namah, 39 vols., Tehran 1946-1980 Dostal, Walter: Paria-Gruppen in Vorderasien, in: Zeitschrift ffir Ethnologie, vol.

89 (1964), 190-203 Idem: "Sexual Hospitality" and the Problem of Matrilinearity in Southern Arabia,

in: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, vol. 20 (1990), 17-30 Doughty, Charles M.: Travels in Arabia Deserta, 1st ed. Cambridge 1888, new and

definitive ed. in 2 vols. London 1936, several reprints, inter alia 1964 Dozy, R.: Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes, 2 vols., Leiden 1881, reprint Bei-

rut 1968 (Librairie du Liban) Duhaish, Abdul Latif Bin: Elementary Schools in Hijaz during the Half Century

A.H. 1295-1345, in: Islamic Culture (Hyderabad), vol. 60 (1986), 35-60 El-Hage, Badr: Saudi Arabia. Caught in Time, Reading/Berkshire, 1997 The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition (engl.), Leiden and London 1960ff. Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. by Ehsan Yarshater, London (etc.) 1985ff. Ende, Werner: Arabische Nation und islamische Geschichte. Die Umayyaden im

Urteil arabischer Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts, Beirut and Wiesbaden 1977 Idem: The Flagellations of Muharram and the Shiite 'Ulama', in: Der Islam, vol.

55 (1978), 19-36 Idem: Ehe auf Zeit (mut'a) in der innerislamischen Diskussion der Gegenwart,

in: WI, vol. 20 (1980), 1-43 Idem: Sunni Polemical Writings on the Shi'a and the Iranian Revolution, in: The

Iranian Revolution and the Muslim World, ed. by David Menashri, Boulder/ Col. 1990, 219-32

Idem: More Questions than Answers: The Origin of the Nakhawila, in: Studies in History and Literature in Honour of Nicola A. Ziadeh, ed. by Ihsan Abbas (et al.), London, Paris and Beirut 1992, 68-72

Facey, William: Saudi Arabia by the first photographers, London 1996 Faqihi, 'Ali Asghar: Wahhabiyan, Tehran 1352 sh/1973 (Kitab furfshi-i Saba) Farahani, Muhammad Husayn: Safar namah-i Mirza Muhammad Husayn Husayni

Farahani, ed. Mas'ud Gulzari, 1st ed. Tehran 1362 sh/1983. Engl. transl. by Hafez Farmayan and Elton L. Daniel: A Shi'ite Pilgrimage to Mecca, 1885- 1886. The Safarnameh of Mirza Mohammad Hosayn Farahani, London 1990

Farhad Mirza (Mu'tamad al-Dawla): Safar namah, ed. Ghulam-Riza Tabataba'i, 1st ed. Tehran 1366 sh/1987 (Matbbu'at-i 'Ilmi)

Faroqhi, Suraiya: Pilgrims and Sultans. The Hajj under the Ottomans, London 1992

Farsi, Zaki M.A. (Farisi, Zaki Muhammad 'Ali): Map and Guide of/Plan et Guide de Almadinah Almunawwarah/Kharita wa-dalil za'ir al-Madina al-Munawwara, Jeddah, s.d. (about 1994)

339

WERNER ENDE

Fontana, Maria Vittoria: Una rappresentazione "shi'ita" di Medina, in: Annali (Naples), vol. 40 (nuova serie 30), 1980, 619-25

Fragner, Bert G.: Persische Memoirenliteratur als Quelle zur neueren Geschichte Irans, Wiesbaden 1979

Graf, Erwin: Das Rechtswesen der heutigen Beduinen, Walldorf-Hessen, s.d. (1954)

Greenshields, T.H.: "Quarters" and Ethnicity, in: Blake, G.H. and R.I. Lawless (eds.): The Changing Middle Eastern City, London and New York 1980, 120- 140

Grohmann, Adolf: Sfidarabien als Wirtschaftsgebiet, vol. I, Vienna 1922 Gunabadi, Hajj Sultanhusayn Tabandah (Riza 'Alishah): Khatirat-i safar-i hajj, 1st

ed. 1968(?), 2nd ed. Tehran 1357 sh / 1978 (Capkhana-i Taban); Arab transl. by Abu Muhammad al-Mu'addil: Mudhakkirat rihla ila 1-buldan al-'arabiya (not available to me)

al-Hafiz, 'Abd al-Salam Hashim: Al-Madina al-Munawwara fi l-tarikh, 1st ed. Cairo 1381/1961-62, 2nd ed. Cairo 1972 (Dar al-Turath)

al-Hafiz, 'Ali: Fusul min tarikh al-Madina al-Munawwara, 2nd ed. Jeddah s.d. (1405/1984-85)

al-Hajiri, Yfisuf (al-muhandis): Al-Baqi'. Qissat tadmir Al Sa'fid li-l-athar al- islamiya fi l-Hijaz, Beirut, 1st ed. 1411/1990 (Mu'assasat al-Baqi' li-Ihya' al- Turath)

Hajj Masail. Precepts and Practices of Hajj, publ. by Peermahomed Ebrahim Trust, 1st ed. Karachi 1972

Hamdan, 'Asim Hamdan 'All Hamdan al-Ghamidi (al-duktfir): Al-Madina al- Munawwara bayn al-adab wa-l-tarikh, 2nd ed. Jeddah 1413/1992 (Dar al-'Ilm li-l-Tiba'a wa-l-Nashr)

Idem: The Literature of Medina in the Twelfth Century A.H. (Eighteenth Cen- tury A.D.) examined from contemporary sources (..), 2 parts, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Manchester 1986

al-Hamid, Nadeem: Expansion of Prophet's Mosque complete, in: Arab News (Jeddah), April 30, 1994, p. 3

al-Hasan, Hamza: Al-shi'a fi 1-Mamlaka al-'Arabiya al-Sa'fudiya, 2 vols., 1st ed. Bei- rut 1413/1993 (Mu'assasat al-Baqi')

Idem: Dajja tasfd al-awsat al-shi'iya fi 1-mamlaka, in: Al-Jazira al-'Arabiya (Lon- don), no. 11 (December 1991), 15-16

Haykal, Muhammad Husayn: Fi manzil al-wahy, 1st ed. Cairo 1937, 7th ed. Cairo s.d. [1979] (Dar al-Ma'arif)

Henninger, Joseph: Pariastamme in Arabien, in idem: Arabica Varia. Aufsatze zur Kulturgeschichte Arabiens und seiner Randgebiete, Freiburg/Schweiz and Gottingen 1989, 180-304

Hogarth, David George: Hejaz before World War I. A handbook, 2nd ed. 1917, with a new introduction by R.L. Bidwell, Cambridge 1978

Idem: War and Discovery in Arabia, in: Geographical Journal (London), vol. 55/ 1 (1920) 422-39

Hrbek, Ivan: Muhammads NachlaB und die 'Aliden, in: Archiv Orientalni, vol. 18 (1950), 143-49

Huraydi, Muhammad 'Abd al-Latif (duktur): Shu'un al-haramayn al-sharifayn fi 1- 'ahd al-'uthmani, Cairo 1989 (Dar al-Zahra')

Hurgronje, see Snouck Hurgronje al-Husari, Adib 'Umar: Al-nakhil fi 'ahd al-nabi, 1st ed. Damascus (Dar al-Qalam)

and Beirut (Al-Dar al-Shamiya), 1414/1994 Ibn Baz, 'Abd al-'Aziz (al-shaykh) et al.: Fatawa hay'at kibar al-'ulama' wa-fatawa 1-

340


lajna al-da'ima wa-ghayrihim, 1st ed. Cairo s.d. [1990], (Maktabat al-Turath al- Islami)

Idem et al.: Fatawa islamiya, 3 vols., 1st ed. Beirut 1408/1988 (Dar al-Qalam) Ibn Farhun, Burhan al-Din Ibrahim: Tabsirat al-hukkam, in the margin of Abiu

'Abdallah al-Shaykh Muhammad Ahmad 'Ulaysh: Fath al-'ali al-malik, 2 vols., Cairo 1321/1903, reprint 1378/1958 (Matba'at Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi)

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Ahmad: Al-sawa'iq al-muhriqa, ed. 'Abd al-Wahhab 'Abd al- Latif, Cairo 1375/1955 (Maktabat al-Qahira)

Ibn Jubayr, Abfi 1-Husayn Muhammad: The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, ed. W. Wright, second ed. revised by MJ. de Goeje, Leiden 1907 (= EJ.W. Gibb Memorial Se- ries, 5). French translation by M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes: Voyages, parts 1 and 2, Paris 1949 and 1951.

Ibn Khaldfn, 'Abd al-Rahman: Al-'Ibar, vol. 4, Bulaq 1284/1867-68 Ibn Mfsa, 'Ali: Wasf al-Madina al-Munawwara, in: Rasa'il fi tarikh al-Madina, ed.

Hamad al-Jasir, 1st ed. Riyad 1392/1972 (Dar al-Yamama) Ibn Salam, Ahmad Sa'id: Mawsu'at al-udaba' wa-l-kuttab al-sa'fidiyin, 3 vols.,

Medina 1412/1992 (Nadi 1-Madina al-Munawwara al-Adabi) Idem: Al-Madina al-Munawwara fi 1-qarn al-rabi' 'ashar al-hijri, 1st ed. Cairo

1414/1993 (Dar al-Manar) Ibn Silm, see Ibn Salam Ibn Taymiya, Taqiy al-Din Ahmad: Sihhat usul madhhab ahl al-Madina, ed.

Zakariya 'Ali Yusuf, Cairo s.d. (Matba'at al-Imam) Ibn al-Zubayr, Muhammad (ed.): Mu'jam asma' al-'arab, 2 vols., 1st ed. Maskat

and Beirut 1411/1991 (Jami'at al-Sultan Qabuis/Maktabat Lubnan) Jabhat al-islah al-watani fi l-Sa'fidiya: Jahim al-hukm al-sa'ucdi, s.l., s.d. al-Jahiz, Abu 'Uthman b. Bahr: Thalath rasa'il, ed. G. van Vloten, 1st ed. Leiden

1903 (reprint 1968) Jarrar, Mahir, see al-Razi al-Jasir, Hamad: Mu'allafat fi tarikh al-Madina, in: Al-'Arab (Riyad), vol. 4 (1969-

70), pp. 97-100, 262-67, 327-35,385-88, 465 Juda, Jamal: Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekte der Mawali in

frfihislamischer Zeit, (Diss.) Tfibingen 1983 Kahhala, 'Umar Rida: Mu'jam al-mu'allifin, 15 vols., 1st ed. Damascus 1376-

1381/1957-1961 (Matba'at al-Taraqqi); Al-Mustadrak, 1st ed. Beirut 1406/ 1985 (Mu'assasat al-Risala)

Idem: Mu'jam qaba'il al-'arab al-qadima wa-l-haditha, 2 vols., 1st ed. Beirut 1388/ 1968 (Dar al-'Ilm li-l-Malayin)

al-Kamarah'i, Mirza Khalil: Manazil al-wahy, s.l., 1965 Kazem Zadeh, H.: Relation d'un Pelerinage a la Mecque en 1910-1911, Paris

1912 al-Kazimi, al-Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi al-Mfisawi al-Isfahani: Ahsan al-wadi'a fi

tarajim mashahir mujtahidi l-shi'a, 2 vols., 2nd ed. Najaf 1388/1969 Kedourie, Elie: The Surrender of Medina, January 1919, in: Middle Eastern Stud-

ies, vol. 13 (1977), 124-43 al-Khalili, Ja'far: Mawsfi'at al-'atabat al-muqaddasa, vol. 3: Qism al-Madina al-

Munawwara, juz' 1, 1st ed. Baghdad 1970 (Dar al-Ta'aruf); 2nd ed. Beirut 1407/1987 (Mu'assasat al-A'lami)

al-Khoei, Yousif: The Shi'a of Medina, in: Dialogue (London), July 1996, 4-5 Kibrit, Muhammad, see al-Madani King, G.R.D.: The Historical Mosques of Saudi Arabia, London and New York

1986 Koningsveld, P. van, see Snouck Hurgronje

341

342 WERNER ENDE

Kramer, Martin: Behind the Riot in Mecca, in: Policy Focus (Washington, D.C.), Research memorandum no. 5, 1987

Idem: Tragedy in Mecca, in: Orbis, vol. 32 (1988), 231-47 Idem: Khomeini's Messengers. The Disputed Pilgrimage of Islam, in E. Sivan and

H. Friedman (eds.): Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East, Albany, N.Y., 1990, 177-94

Al-Lajna al-Duwaliya li-l-difa' 'an huquq al-insan fi l-Khalij wa-l-Jazira al-'Arabiya (ed.): Huqfq al-insan fi l-Khalij wa-l-Jazira al-'Arabiya, al-taqrir al-sanawi 1989, s.l. (London)

Lawrence, T.E.: Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A Triumph, London 1973 Lecker, Michael: Muslims, Jews and Pagans. Studies on Early Islamic Medina,

Leiden 1995 al-Madani, Hashim al-Daftardar, and Muhammad 'Ali al-Zu'bi: Al-islam bayn al-

sunna wa-l-shi'a, 1st ed. Beirut 1369/1950 (Matba'at al-Insaf) al-Madani, Muhammad Kibrit al-Husayni: Al-jawahir al-thamina fi mahasin al-

Madina, ed. Muhammad Hasan Muhammad Hasan Isma'il al-Shafi'i, Beirut, 1st ed. 1417/1997 (Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiya)

Madelung, Wilferd: The succession to Muhammad. A study of the early Cali- phate, Cambridge 1997

al-Maghribi, 'Umar 'Abd al-Qadir: Al-muhaddam min athar al-Madina al- Munawwara, s.l. (Tehran?), 1st ed. 1408/1988

al-Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir: Bihar al-anwar, vol. 49, 3rd revised ed. Beirut 1403/ 1983 (Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi)

Makki, Muhammad Shawqi b. Ibrahim: Sukkan al-Madina al-Munawwara, 1st ed. Riyad 1405/1985 (Dar al-'Ulfim)

Idem: Medina, Saudi Arabia: a geographic analysis of the city and region, Avebury, s.d. (1982)

Idem: Tawzi' al-hada'iq al-'amma fi 1-Madina al-Munawwara, in: Al-Dara (Riyad), vol. 14, no. 1 (May 1988), 192-207

Al-Manar (journal, Cairo), vol. 26, no. 9 (15 Sha'ban 1344/28 February 1926) Marmon, Shaun: Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society, New York

and Oxford 1995 al-Marrakushi, Abfi 'Abdallah Muhammad: Al-Dhayl wa-l-takmila, vol. 5, part 2,

ed. Ihsan 'Abbas, Beirut 1965 (Dar al-Thaqafa) Meier, F.: Der Prediger auf der Kanzel (Minbar), in: Studien zur Geschichte und

Kultur des Vorderen Orients (Festschrift B. Spuler), ed. H. R. Roemer and A. Noth, Leiden 1981, 225-248

Middle East Contemporary Survey, ed. Haim Shaked et al., 1976/77ff.; vols. 1-7 New York, 8-9 Tel Aviv, 10ff. Boulder/Col.

The Middle East Intelligence Handbooks, 1943-1946. Vol. 2: Iraq and the Per- sian Gulf, Western Arabia (etc.), originally prepared for the Geographical Handbook Series, Naval Intelligence Division, the Admiralty, London; ed. by Archive Editions, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, 1987

al-Miknasi, Ahmad b. al-Qadi: Jadhwat al-iqtibas, Rabat 1973 (Dar al-Mansur) Moritz, B.: Bilder aus Palastina, Nord-Arabien und dem Sinai, Berlin 1916 Mortel, Richard T.: The Origins and Early History of the Husaynid Amirate of

Madina to the End of the Ayyfibid Period, in: Studia Islamica, vol. 74 (1991), 63-78

Idem: The Husaynid Amirate of Madina during the Mamluik Period, in: Studia Islamica, vol. 80 (1994) 97-123

Mottahedeh, Roy: The Mantle of the Prophet. Religion and Politics in Iran, New York 1985


Mughniya, Muhammad Jawad: Hadhihi hiya al-wahhabiya, Beirut 1964, 3rd ed. Tehran 1987 (Munazzamat al-I'lam al-Islami); excerpts reprinted in: Tajarib Muhammad Jawad Mughniya, bi-qalamihi (..), ed. 'Abd al-Husayn Mughniya, 1st ed. Beirut 1980 (Dar al-Jawad), pp. 365 - 81

Muhammad, Subhi 'Abd al-Mun'im (duktftr): Al-'alaqat bayn Misr wa-l-Hijaz zaman al-fatimiyin wa-l-ayyfibiyin, Cairo 1993 (Al-'Arabi)

Mujahid, Zaki Muhammad: Al-a'lam al-sharqiya, 3 vols., Cairo 1949-50 (Dar al- Tiba'a al-Misriya al-Haditha)

Mushar, Khanbaba: Mu'allifin-i kutub-i capi, 6 vols., Tehran 1340 sh/1961ff. (Rangin)

al-Musnad, 'Abdallah b. 'Ali: Al-'alawiyfin fi 1-Hijaz, 132-203 h, 1st ed. Cairo 1412/ 1992 (Dar al-Manar)

Mustafa, Salih Lam'i: Al-Madina al-Munawwara. Tatawwuruha l-'umrani wa- turathuha l-mi'mari, Beirut 1981 (Dar al-Nahda al-'Arabiya)

al-Muzaffari, Muhammad al-Husayn: Tarikh al-shi'a, Najaf 1361/1942 (Matba'at al-Zahra')

Na'ib al-Sadr Shirazi, Muhammad Ma'sum: Tuhfat al-haramayn. Safar namah (etc.), Tehran 1362 sh/1983 (Intisharat-i Babak)

al-Najafi, Muhammad Hasan b. Baqir: Hidayat al-nasikin, ed. 'Abd al-Hadi al- Fadli, Beirut 1411/1991 (Dar al-Ta'aruf)

Najafi, Muhammad Baqir: Madinah-shinasi (English subtitle: Madinology), vol. 1, s.l. (Cologne, Germany), 1985

Nakash, Y.: The Visitation of the Shrines of the Imams and the Shi'i Mujtahids in the Early Twentieth Century, in: Studia Islamica, vol. 81 (1995), 153-64

Nallino, Carlo Alfonso: L'Arabia Saudiana, Rome 1938 (= Raccolta di scritti, I) Netton, Ian Richard: Basic Structures and Signs of Alienation in the Rihla of Ibn

Jubayr, in: Journal of Arabic Literature, vol. 22 (1991), 21-37 Newman, Andrew J.: The Myth of the Clerical Migration to Safawid Iran, in: WI,

vol. 33 (1993), 66-112 al-Nounou, Moutih: On s'y rend par millions ..., in: Arabies (Paris), no. 90 (June

1994), 58-59 Ochsenwald, William: Religion, Society and the State in Arabia. The Hijaz under

Ottoman Control, 1840-1908, Columbus/Ohio 1984 Oppenheim, Max Freiherr von: Die Beduinen, vol. 2, Leipzig 1943 Peskes, Esther: Muhammad b. 'Abdalwahhab (1703-92) im Widerstreit, Beirut

and Wiesbaden 1993 Pfullmann, Uwe: Steuern und Abgaben in den Randgebieten des Osmanischen

Reiches (19. Jahrhundert - Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts), in: Asien Afrika Lateinamerika, vol. 22 (1994), 431-46

Philby, H.StJ.B.: A Pilgrim in Arabia, London 1946 Philipp, Hans-Juirgen: Der beduinische Widerstand gegen die Hedschasbahn, in:

WI, vol. 25 (1985), 31-83 al-Qalqashandi, Abfi l-'Abbas Ahmad: Subh al-a'sha, ed. Dar al-Kutub al-

Khidiwiya, vols. 4 and 12, Cairo 1332/1914 and 1336/1918, respectively (Al- Matba'a al-Amiriya)

Qubaysi, Ahmad (al-shaykh): Hayat al-Imam Sharaf al-Din fi sutuir, ed. Hasan Qubaysi, 1st ed. Beirut 1400/1980 (Dar al-Tawjih al-Islami)

Rajab see Sayyid Rajab Rasch, Bodo: Die Zeltstadte des Hadsch/The Tent Cities of the Hajj, Stuttgart

1980 (= Universitat Stuttgart, Mitteilungen des Instituts ffir leichte Flachentragwerke, no. 29)

al-Rasheed, Madawi, and Loulouwa al-Rasheed: The Politics of Encapsulation:

344 WERNER ENDE

Saudi Policy towards Tribal and Religious Opposition, in: Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 32, no. 1 (Jan. 1996), 96-119

al-Rayhani, Amin: Tarikh Najd al-hadith wa-mulhaqatih, 1st ed. Beirut 1928 (Al- Matba'a al-'Ilmiya)

al-Razi, Ahmad b. Sahl: Akhbar Fakhkh, ed. MahirJarrar, 1st ed. Beirut 1995 (Dar al-Gharb al-Islami)

Razi, Muhammad Sharif: Athar-i hujjat, vol. 2, Qum s.d. (1963-64?) Idem: Ganjinah-i danishmandan, 8 vols., Tehran 1352 sh/1973 (Kitabfurushi-i

Islamiya) Rida, Muhammad Rashid: Maqalat al-Shaykh Rashid Rida al-siyasiya, ed. Yfisuf

Husayn Ibish and Yfisuf Quzma Khuri, 5 vols., 1st ed. Beirut 1994 (Dar Ibn 'Arabi)

Rif'at Basha, Ibrahim: Mir'at al-haramayn, 1st ed., 2 vols., Cairo 1344/1925 Rudd, Jeffery: Abdullah bin al-Husayn. The Making of an Arab Political Leader.

Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, SOAS, London 1993 Rush, Alan de L. (ed.): Records of the Hashimite Dynasties. A Twentieth Century

Documentary History. Vol. 4: The Hijaz. The Reign of King 'Ali and the After- math, Archive Editions, 1995

Rutter, Eldon: The Holy Cities of Arabia, 1928, reprint London and New York 1930

Sabri, Ayyfib (Eyyfib): Mir'atuf 1-haremeyn, 3 vols., 1st ed. Istanbul 1306/1888-89 (Bah. riye Matb.). An Arabic translation, published in 2 vols. in Riyad 1403/ 1983 (Mir'atjazirat al-'arab), is not available to me.

Sadiq, Muhammad Bey: Kawkab al-hajj, 1st ed. Bulaq 1303/1885-86 Idem: Mash'al al-mahmal. Risala fi sayr al-hajj al-misri (..), Cairo 1298/1881

(Matba'at Wadi n-Nil) al-Sadr, Muhammad Baqir: Fadak fi l-tarikh, 1st ed. Najaf 1955 (according to

Amini: Mu'jam al-matbib'at, 261f.); several later editions such as, e.g., Beirut 1403/1983 (Dar al-Ta'aruf)

al-Sa'id, Nasir: Tarikh Al Sa'ud, part 1, s.l. (Beirut?), s.d. (Manshurat Ittihad Sha'b al-Jazira al-'Arabiya)

al-Sa'idi, 'Abd al-Razzaq b. Farraj (al-duktfir): Mu'jam ma ullifa 'an al-Madina al- Munawwara, pts. 1-3, in: Al-'Arab (Riyad), vol. 31 (1417/1996), 49-79, 343- 60, 453-74

Salur, Manucihr: Armaghan-i Hijaz, 1st ed. Tehran 1339 sh/1960 (Ibn Sina) Samarra'i, Sa'id: Al Sa'fid wa-athar al-islam, 1st ed. London 1413/1993 (Mu'as-

sasat al-Fajr) Samhfdi, Nfr al-Din 'All: Wafa' al-waf'a bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa, ed. Muhammad

Muhyi 1-Din 'Abd al-Hamid, 1st ed. 1374/1955, 4th ed. Beirut 1404/1984 (Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi)

Sauvaget,J.: La mosquee omeyyade de Medine, Paris 1947 Sayyid Rajab, 'Umar al-Farfq: Al-Madina al-Munawwara, al-tarkib al-wazifi (...),

Cairo 1977 (Jami'at al-Duwal al-'Arabiya, Ma'had al-Buhfth) Sayf al-Dawla, Sultan Muhammad: Safar namah, ed. 'Ali Akbar Khuda-Parast,

Tehran 1364 sh/1985 (Nashr-i Nay) Serjeant, R.B.: The Ma'n "Gypsies" of the West Aden Protectorate, in: Anthropos

(Freiburg, Switzerland), vol. 56 (1961), 737-49 al-Shakhs, al-Sayyid Hashim Muhammad: Al-usar al-'ilmiya wa-l-adabiya fi l-Ahsa',

in: Al-Mawsim (Oud-Beijrland, Holland), no. 16 (1414/1993), 99-126 Idem (?): Min 'ulama'ina 1-mujahidin: Ayatullah al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-

Shakhs, 1315-1381 h, ibid., 297-303 Shamikh, Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahman: Al-ta'lim fi Makka wa-l-Madina akhir al-

'ahd al-'uthmani, Riyad 1393/1973


Sharaf al-Din, al-Sayyid 'Abdallah: Ma'a mawsu'at rijal al-shi'a, 3 vols., 1st ed. Bei- rut 1411/1991 (Al-Irshad)

Sharaf al-Din, al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Husayn: Bughyat al-raghibin fi silsilat Al Sharaf al- Din, ed. 'Abdallah Sharaf al-Din, vol. 2, 1st ed. Beirut 1411/1991 (Al-Dar al- Islamiya)

Shihabi, 'Ali Akbar: Art. "Awqaf' in Iranshahr (ed. UNESCO Iran), vol. 2 (Tehran 1963), 1268

al-Shirazi, al-Sayyid 'Abdallah: Al-ihtijajat al-'ashara ma' al-'ulama' fi Makka al- Mukarrama wa-l-Madina al-Munawwara, 4th ed., s.l., 1393/1933; Persian transl. of an earlier Arabic edition (such as, e.g., 2nd ed. Najaf 1379/1959-60): Munazarat-i Ayatullah-i Shirazi dar Makkah wa Madinah, Tehran 1385 sh/ 1965-66 (Capkhanah-i Haydari)

Shirazi, see Na'ib al-Sadr Shirazi al-Siba'i, Ahmad: Tarikh Makka, vol. 1, 1st ed. Mecca 1380/1960-61, 4th ed.

1399/1979 (Dar Makka) Snouck Hurgronje, C.: Mekka, 2 vols., The Hague 1888-89; Engl. transl. of vol. 2:

Mekka in the latter part of the 19th century, Leiden and London 1931 Idem: Orientalism and Islam. The Letters of C. Snouck Hurgronje to Th.

N6ldeke, published by P.Sj. van Koningsveld, Leiden 1985 Idem: Scholarship and Friendship in Early Islamwissenschaft. The Letters of C.

Snouck Hurgronje to J. Goldziher, published by P.Sj. van Koningsveld, Leiden 1985

Stewart, Devin J.: Popular Shiism in Medieval Egypt: Vestiges of Islamic Sectarian Polemics in Egyptian Arabic, in: Studia Islamica, no. 84 (1996), 35-66

Stratk6tter, Rita: Von Kairo nach Mekka. Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Pilgerfahrt (..), Berlin 1991

Tauber, Eliezer: The Arab Movements in World War I, London 1993 Tunikabuni, Mirza Muhammad: Qisas al-'ulama', Tehran s.d. (1934 or later), ed.

Hajj Sayyid Mahmuid Kitabtl (Kitabfurfushi-i 'Ilmi-i Islami-i Tihran) al-Tunji (Altunji), Muhammad (al-duktfir), ed. and comm.: Tarajim a'yan al-

Madina al-Munawwara fi 1-qarn 12 al-hijri, (li-) mu'allif majhul, 1st ed.Jeddah 1404/1984 (Dar al-Shurfq)

Umm al-Qura (newspaper, Mecca), vol. 2, no. 51 (2Jumada II, 1344/18 Decem- ber 1925)

al-'Uraynan, Ahmad Muhammad (al-duktfr): Ibahat al-Madina wa-hariq al-ka'ba fi 'ahd Yazid b. Mu'awiya bayn al-masadir al-qadima wa-l-haditha, in: Majallat Kulliyat al-Adab,Jami'at al-Riyad, vol. 5 (1977-78), 79-100

al-Wakil, Muhammad al-Sayyid: Al-Madina al-Munawwara, ma'alim wa-hadara, vol. 1: al-ma'alim, 1st ed. Damascus (Dar al-Qalam) and Beirut (Al-Dar al-Shami- ya) 1417/1996

Wavell, AJ.B.: A Modern Pilgrim in Mecca and a Siege in Sanaa, London 1912 Winder, R. Bayly: Art. "Al-Madina", pt. 2: The Modern City, in: The Encyclopae-

dia of Islam, 2nd ed., vol. 5, Leiden 1986, 998-1007 Wizarat-i Umur-i Kharijah (ed.): Rawabit-i Dawlat-i Shahinshahi-i Iran ba (...)

'Iraq, 'Arabistan-i Sa'fidi (etc.), Tehran 1976 Wuistenfeld, Ferdinand: Geschichte der Stadt Medina. Im Auszuge aus dem

Arabischen des Samhfidi, G6ttingen 1861 (= Abhandlungen der K6niglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu G6ttingen, neunter Band von dem Jahre 1860)

al-Ya'qfbi, Ahmad b. Ya'qub: Tarikh, ed. M.Th. Houtsma, vol. 2, Leiden 1883 Yaqut al-Hamawi, Shihab al-Din: Kitab mu'jam al-buldan, 1st ed. by Muhammad

Amin al-Khanji and Ahmad b. al-Amin al-Shinqiti, 10 vols., Cairo 1906 (Matba'at al-Sa'ada)

346 WERNER ENDE

al-Yfisuf, 'Abdallah: Al-masajid wa-l-amakin al-athariya fi 1-Madina al-Munawwara, 1st ed. Beirut 1416/1996 (Dar al-Mu'arrikh al-'Arabi)

Yusuf, Muhammad Khayr Ramadan: Dalil al-mu'allafat al-islamiya fi 1-Mamlaka al- 'Arabiya al-Sa'udiya, 1st ed. Riyad 1413/1993 (Dar al-Faysal)

Zirikli, Khayr al-Din: Al-A'lam, 7th ed. Beirut, 8 vols., 1986 (Dar al-'Ilm li-1- Malayin)

THE NAKHFAWlLA, A SHIITE COMMUNITY IN MEDINA

.Map 1 . (From: John Lewis Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, II, London 1829).

Map 1. Medina (From:John Lewis Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia, II, London 1829).

347

348 WERNER ENDE

?P 7 ?'

Map 2. Medina. (From: Richards F. Burton's Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, I, London 1893.

shia in medina

Documents