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Umara ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Yamani

Umāra ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Yamanī (Arabic: عمارة بن ابي الحسن اليمني)[n 1] was a historian, jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. He was executed by order of Saladin at Cairo on April 6, 1174 for his part in a conspiracy to restore Fatimid rule. His Tarikh al-Yaman is the earliest, and in respects the most important, history of Yemen from the Islamic era.[4]

Umāra ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Yamanī, or Najm al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥakamī
Born1121 AD (515 AH)
al-Zara'ib, Yemen
DiedSaturday, April 6, 1174 AD (2 Ramadan 569 AH)
Occupation(s)faqih (juriconsult), historian, poet
Academic background
Academic work
EraAbbasid period
School or traditionShafi'i, Sunni
Main interestsTraditional Arabic Literature
Notable works
  • Tarikh al-Yaman (تاريخ اليمن)
  • Mufid fi Akhbar Zabid (مُفِيد في أخبار زبيد)
  • Al-nukat al-'Asriyah (النُّكت العصريَّة في أخبار الوزراء المصريَّة»).
InfluencedLiterary Movement Literature in the Second Abbasid Period (Fragmentation of the Caliphate)

Biography

Invariably given the title al-faqīh ("The Jurist"), Umara was born ca. 1121. His Tarikh gives the town of al-Zara'ib[n 2] (الزرائب), Ibb province in northern Yemen, as his place of birth. The tribal district of the Banu Hakam is indicated by his denomination, "al-Hakami".[1] He was descended from the Qahtan tribe through al-Hakam ibn Saad al-Ashira[n 3] of the Banu Madh'hij. In 1136-7, he went to Zabid, where he studied jurisprudence for four years. In 1154-5 while on pilgrimage to Mecca he came to the notice of the ruler of Mecca, Qasim ibn Abi Falita,[n 4] who sent him as his envoy to the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate. In May 1155, Umara arrived at the court in Cairo of the six-year-old caliph Al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah. The vizier Tala'i ibn Ruzzik[n 5] was the effective ruler, styling himself al-Mālik aṣ-Ṣāliḥ, "The Virtuous King". In the presence of both, Umara recited his panegyric qasida. This short extract is a paraphrase:

O that the stars would draw near me that I should form from them a necklace in praise of you; for words are inadequate. [...] A caliph and his vizier, whose justices extends a protecting shade over Islam and the nations. Their generosity is to the Nile’s increase as a diminished stream; that vanquishes the copious rains.[7]

Tala'i ibn Ruzzik, who surrounded himself with scholars, qāḍīs and kātibs,[8] favoured Umara with distinction. Umara resided at the Fatimid capital until December 1155 and by April 1156 had returned to Mecca, before journeying on to Zabid. The same year Qasim once again sent him as envoy to Egypt, where he remained until his death. Ibn Ruzzik, a zealous Isma'ilite, failed to convert Umāra, who remained steadfast to his Sunni orthodox faith and the Shafi'i school. Despite their religious differences and due to Umara's great sociability, they became constant companions, Umara composing numerous eulogiums for the vizier and his sons.

In 1160 al-Fa'iz died aged 11 and Ibn Ruzzik placed his cousin al-Adid, also a minor, on the throne.[9] When Ibn Ruzzik died in 1161, he was briefly succeeded by his son, Ruzzik ibn Tala'i, who took the title al-Malik al-'Ādil al-Nāṣir. Upon al-Adil's assassination in 1162 the rival claimant Shawar was installed as vizier with the aid of the Sultan of Aleppo, atabeg Nur ad-Din Mahmud, whose Kurdish general Shirkuh led his army into Egypt. A five-year struggle for control of the enfeebled Fatimid realm ensued between the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Nur ad-Din, culminating in the killing of Shawar in 1168, and the accession of Nur ad-Din's representative, Shirkuh, to the vizierate. Shirkuh died later that year, and al-Aḍid invested the vizirate in Shirkuh's nephew, Saladin, who received the title of al-Mālik al-Nasir ("the Succouring King"). By 1171 al-Aḍid was on the point of death when he was formally deposed by Saladin as the last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, and the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate was restored over Egypt.

Conspiracy and execution

When a plot, involving Amalric of Jerusalem to restore Fatimid rule, was discovered, Umara was among the eight principal conspirators arrested. He and his co-conspirators were sentenced to death by strangulation. The execution took place at Cairo on a Saturday in April 1174.

Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani wrote in his Kharīdat al-Kasr:[10]

[Umara’s] body was exposed on a cross with those of the other persons who had been accused of plotting against [Saladin] and of inviting the Franks [i.e., the Crusaders] by letter to come and assist in placing the son of al-Aḍid on the throne. But they had received among them a man belonging to the army, who was not a native of Egypt, and this person informed Saladin. When they were brought before the prince, they did not deny their intentions.

Evidence supporting the suspicion of Umara's involvement in the conspiracy had been his proposal for Turan Shah, Saladin’s brother, to lead an invasion force for the conquest of Yemen. The commander’s absence would have greatly increased the chances of the conspiracy succeeding.

Another factor may have been the influential head of Saladin's chancellery, al-Qadi al-Fadil (1135-1200). Umara had for a time enjoyed amical relations with him, and it was al-Faḍl who had suggested to Umara to write a history of Yemen. However they became bitter enemies and his hatred of Umara, and others' of Saladin's adherents, may have fed the suspicions.[11]

Some of Umara's poems in honour of Saladin and his family are included in his Dīwān (collection of poetical works). However, in one addressed to Saladin, entitled Shikāya tal-Mutazallim wa Nikāya tal-Mutaāllim ("Complaint of the oppressed and pains of the afflicted"), he describes his miserable situation. In another, the “People of the Palace”, he openly laments the fall of the Fatimids.

Al-Maqrizi says the following poem composed by Umara was the cause of his death:

They that have been false in their allegiance, will not escape the effects of God's anger [...] Their burning thirst will not be slaked by the hand of the noblest of created beings, the Seal of the Apostles [...] Love of the Imams is the foundation of faith in God, and of all good works. They are the divine Light of true guidance, torches piercing through the darkness of night.

Umara was also accused of writing this dubious verse:

This religion (Islam) took its origin from a man who aspired to be called the lord of nations.

Idris Imad al-Din quotes verses of as-Salih ibn Ruzzik addressed to Umara, pressing him to become a Shi'ite. In the same page he observes “Strange that Umara, who had refused to attach himself to the Fatimid Ismaili doctrines when they ruled, should have given his life to restore them to power.” [n 6]

Works

  • The Land of Yemen and Its History (translated by Henry Cassels Kay into English and published with the title Yaman, its early mediaeval History by Najm ad-Dīn ‘Omārah Al-Ḥakami…; (original texts, with translation and notes; London: Edward Arnold, 1892), by Umarah ibn Ali al-Hakami (1120 or 1121-1174), Ibn Khaldun, and Muhammad ibn Ya'qub Janadi.
  • An-Nukat al-Asriya il-Wuzarā il Misriya ((النكت العصريَه، في اخرار الوزراء المصريَه); (contemporary anecdotes respecting the vizirs of Egypt) [n 7]
  • Les finesses contemporaines, récits sur les vizirs d’Égypte; French-Arabic edition published by the French orientalist Hartwig Derenbourg.
  • Dīwān of ‘Umāra, or unknown poems by two other editors introduced by ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ismāʻīl Abū Shāmah; ca. 1250 into his Kitāb al-Rawadhatayn fī Akhbār al-Dawlatayn, (كتاب الروضتين ، في اخبار الدولتين) (Book Of Two Gardens) dedicated to the two rulers Nūr ad-Dīn and Saladin. (Bayrūt, Muʼassasat al-Risālah, 1997.)
  • ʻImād al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Kātib al-Iṣfahānī (1125-1201), Saladin’s first secretary for Syrian affairs, in Kharīdat al-qaṣr wa-jarīdat al-ʻaṣr published Umāra's poems and a short biography in rhyming prose.
  • Mufid fi Akhbar Zabid (مُفِيد في أخبار زبيد) ("Book of Instruction on the History of Zabid"),[n 8]

Manuscripts

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Also known as Najm al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥakamī, or Umāra ibn Abī Ḥasan ibn Alī ibn Zaidan,[1] or al-Faqīh Abū Muḥammad (Imad al-Din gives him the surname of Abū Hamza), Umāra ibn Abī’-Ḥasan Alī Raidān Ibn Aḥmad al-Hakami al-Yamani,[2] or even Omara al-Yamani the Jurisconsult.[3]
  2. ^ The 13th century biographer, Ibn Khallikan, whose account, according to Kay, seems to have come from Umara's text, has Mertan (مرطان), in Tihama province, in the valley of Wasaa south of Mecca. This town has not been identified.[5]
  3. ^ de Slane, Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary, vol.I. p. 106
  4. ^ Ibn Khallikan erroneously gives this emir’s name as Qasim ibn Hashim ibn Falita. Cf. de Slane II, p.368, n3.[6]
  5. ^ de Slane, Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, vol. I. p. 657
  6. ^ Aṣ-Ṣāliḥ offered him a large sum to induce him to become a Shiite.[12]
  7. ^ A copy of this atreatise amended by the author is in the Bib. du Roi, anciens fonds No.810 He inserts a number of his own poems, and an account of his intercourse with the vizirs Shāwar and as-Salih.[13]
  8. ^ The title is omitted in the Book of Chronicles by the illustrious Kadi 'Omarah the Yamanite (Brit. Mus. MS.,). ‘Umāra mentions a book by an early king of the Banu Najah dynasty, Abu at-Tami Jayyash, entitled Kitab al-Mufid fi akhbar Zabid, mentioned in the Kashf az-Zunun.[14]
  9. ^ Baron de Slane, p. 380.
  10. ^ Note: (و كان الفراغ من نسخه ليلة خميس العدس الثامن عشر من جمادى الاولى سنة تسع و خمسين وستّمائة) “The copy was completed the night before the “Thursday of the Lenses" the 18th Jumada al-awwal, 659", This was a popular holiday in Cairo and Egypt celebrated on 20 April 1261 AD.
  11. ^ D. S. Margoliouth, prof of Arabic language, Oxford University, assessed the copy was made in Egypt. Dr Gottheil professor of Semitic languages, Columbia College New York; began collations.
  12. ^ Notes by Baron Victor Rosen (Saint Peterburg, 1881, p. 255-256)

Citations

  1. ^ a b Kay 1892, p. v.
  2. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 368.
  3. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 367.
  4. ^ Kay 1892, p. iv.
  5. ^ Kay 1892, p. v, note.
  6. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 368, n.3.
  7. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 369.
  8. ^ Bianquis 2000, p. 150.
  9. ^ Bianquis 2000, pp. 149–151.
  10. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 370.
  11. ^ Kay 1892, pp. viii–ix.
  12. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 372, n.12.
  13. ^ Ibn Khallikan 1843, p. 370, n.10.
  14. ^ Kay 1892, p. xii.

References

  • Kay, Henry Cassels (1892). Yaman, its early mediæval history. London: Edward Arnold.
  • Abi Hasan al Yamani (Ibn), Umara (1893). Derenbourg, Hartwig (ed.). Kitab fihi al-nukat al-'asriyah (Oumāra du Yémen). Vol. 1 (Série ed.). Paris: L’École des Langues Orientales Vivantes.
  • Ibn Khallikan (1843). Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Translated from the Arabic. Vol. II. Translated by Baron Mac Guckin de Slane. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • Bianquis, Thierry (2000). "Ṭalāʾiʿ b. Ruzzīk". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume X: T–U. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 149–151. ISBN 978-90-04-11211-7.

umara, hasan, yamani, umāra, abī, Ḥasan, yamanī, arabic, عمارة, بن, ابي, الحسن, اليمني, historian, jurist, poet, yemen, great, repute, closely, associated, with, late, fatimid, caliphate, egypt, executed, order, saladin, cairo, april, 1174, part, conspiracy, r. Umara ibn Abi al Ḥasan al Yamani Arabic عمارة بن ابي الحسن اليمني n 1 was a historian jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt He was executed by order of Saladin at Cairo on April 6 1174 for his part in a conspiracy to restore Fatimid rule His Tarikh al Yaman is the earliest and in respects the most important history of Yemen from the Islamic era 4 Umara ibn Abi al Ḥasan al Yamani or Najm al Din Abu Muḥammad al ḤakamiBorn1121 AD 515 AH al Zara ib YemenDiedSaturday April 6 1174 AD 2 Ramadan 569 AH Cairo EgyptOccupation s faqih juriconsult historian poetAcademic backgroundAcademic workEraAbbasid periodSchool or traditionShafi i SunniMain interestsTraditional Arabic LiteratureNotable worksTarikh al Yaman تاريخ اليمن Mufid fi Akhbar Zabid م ف يد في أخبار زبيد Al nukat al Asriyah الن كت العصري ة في أخبار الوزراء المصري ة InfluencedLiterary Movement Literature in the Second Abbasid Period Fragmentation of the Caliphate Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Conspiracy and execution 2 Works 3 Manuscripts 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Citations 7 ReferencesBiography EditInvariably given the title al faqih The Jurist Umara was born ca 1121 His Tarikh gives the town of al Zara ib n 2 الزرائب Ibb province in northern Yemen as his place of birth The tribal district of the Banu Hakam is indicated by his denomination al Hakami 1 He was descended from the Qahtan tribe through al Hakam ibn Saad al Ashira n 3 of the Banu Madh hij In 1136 7 he went to Zabid where he studied jurisprudence for four years In 1154 5 while on pilgrimage to Mecca he came to the notice of the ruler of Mecca Qasim ibn Abi Falita n 4 who sent him as his envoy to the Isma ili Fatimid Caliphate In May 1155 Umara arrived at the court in Cairo of the six year old caliph Al Fa iz bi Nasr Allah The vizier Tala i ibn Ruzzik n 5 was the effective ruler styling himself al Malik aṣ Ṣaliḥ The Virtuous King In the presence of both Umara recited his panegyric qasida This short extract is a paraphrase O that the stars would draw near me that I should form from them a necklace in praise of you for words are inadequate A caliph and his vizier whose justices extends a protecting shade over Islam and the nations Their generosity is to the Nile s increase as a diminished stream that vanquishes the copious rains 7 Tala i ibn Ruzzik who surrounded himself with scholars qaḍis and katibs 8 favoured Umara with distinction Umara resided at the Fatimid capital until December 1155 and by April 1156 had returned to Mecca before journeying on to Zabid The same year Qasim once again sent him as envoy to Egypt where he remained until his death Ibn Ruzzik a zealous Isma ilite failed to convert Umara who remained steadfast to his Sunni orthodox faith and the Shafi i school Despite their religious differences and due to Umara s great sociability they became constant companions Umara composing numerous eulogiums for the vizier and his sons In 1160 al Fa iz died aged 11 and Ibn Ruzzik placed his cousin al Adid also a minor on the throne 9 When Ibn Ruzzik died in 1161 he was briefly succeeded by his son Ruzzik ibn Tala i who took the title al Malik al Adil al Naṣir Upon al Adil s assassination in 1162 the rival claimant Shawar was installed as vizier with the aid of the Sultan of Aleppo atabeg Nur ad Din Mahmud whose Kurdish general Shirkuh led his army into Egypt A five year struggle for control of the enfeebled Fatimid realm ensued between the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Nur ad Din culminating in the killing of Shawar in 1168 and the accession of Nur ad Din s representative Shirkuh to the vizierate Shirkuh died later that year and al Aḍid invested the vizirate in Shirkuh s nephew Saladin who received the title of al Malik al Nasir the Succouring King By 1171 al Aḍid was on the point of death when he was formally deposed by Saladin as the last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty and the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate was restored over Egypt Conspiracy and execution Edit When a plot involving Amalric of Jerusalem to restore Fatimid rule was discovered Umara was among the eight principal conspirators arrested He and his co conspirators were sentenced to death by strangulation The execution took place at Cairo on a Saturday in April 1174 Imad ad Din al Isfahani wrote in his Kharidat al Kasr 10 Umara s body was exposed on a cross with those of the other persons who had been accused of plotting against Saladin and of inviting the Franks i e the Crusaders by letter to come and assist in placing the son of al Aḍid on the throne But they had received among them a man belonging to the army who was not a native of Egypt and this person informed Saladin When they were brought before the prince they did not deny their intentions Evidence supporting the suspicion of Umara s involvement in the conspiracy had been his proposal for Turan Shah Saladin s brother to lead an invasion force for the conquest of Yemen The commander s absence would have greatly increased the chances of the conspiracy succeeding Another factor may have been the influential head of Saladin s chancellery al Qadi al Fadil 1135 1200 Umara had for a time enjoyed amical relations with him and it was al Faḍl who had suggested to Umara to write a history of Yemen However they became bitter enemies and his hatred of Umara and others of Saladin s adherents may have fed the suspicions 11 Some of Umara s poems in honour of Saladin and his family are included in his Diwan collection of poetical works However in one addressed to Saladin entitled Shikaya tal Mutazallim wa Nikaya tal Mutaallim Complaint of the oppressed and pains of the afflicted he describes his miserable situation In another the People of the Palace he openly laments the fall of the Fatimids Al Maqrizi says the following poem composed by Umara was the cause of his death They that have been false in their allegiance will not escape the effects of God s anger Their burning thirst will not be slaked by the hand of the noblest of created beings the Seal of the Apostles Love of the Imams is the foundation of faith in God and of all good works They are the divine Light of true guidance torches piercing through the darkness of night Umara was also accused of writing this dubious verse This religion Islam took its origin from a man who aspired to be called the lord of nations Idris Imad al Din quotes verses of as Salih ibn Ruzzik addressed to Umara pressing him to become a Shi ite In the same page he observes Strange that Umara who had refused to attach himself to the Fatimid Ismaili doctrines when they ruled should have given his life to restore them to power n 6 Works EditThe Land of Yemen and Its History translated by Henry Cassels Kay into English and published with the title Yaman its early mediaeval History by Najm ad Din Omarah Al Ḥakami original texts with translation and notes London Edward Arnold 1892 by Umarah ibn Ali al Hakami 1120 or 1121 1174 Ibn Khaldun and Muhammad ibn Ya qub Janadi An Nukat al Asriya il Wuzara il Misriya النكت العصري ه في اخرار الوزراء المصري ه contemporary anecdotes respecting the vizirs of Egypt n 7 Les finesses contemporaines recits sur les vizirs d Egypte French Arabic edition published by the French orientalist Hartwig Derenbourg Diwan of Umara or unknown poems by two other editors introduced by ʻAbd al Raḥman ibn Ismaʻil Abu Shamah ca 1250 into his Kitab al Rawadhatayn fi Akhbar al Dawlatayn كتاب الروضتين في اخبار الدولتين Book Of Two Gardens dedicated to the two rulers Nur ad Din and Saladin Bayrut Muʼassasat al Risalah 1997 ʻImad al Din Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Katib al Iṣfahani 1125 1201 Saladin s first secretary for Syrian affairs in Kharidat al qaṣr wa jaridat al ʻaṣr published Umara s poems and a short biography in rhyming prose Mufid fi Akhbar Zabid م ف يد في أخبار زبيد Book of Instruction on the History of Zabid n 8 Manuscripts EditManuscript A Paris 610 de l ancien fonds Cat No 2147 n 9 Manuscript B Gotha 2256 described by Wilhelm Pertsch Cat IV p 268 n 10 Manuscript C Oxford 835 Marsh 72 Uri Catalogus p 181 n 11 Manuscript D Asiatic Museum Saint Petersburg Russia 298 n 12 See also EditMuslim scholarsNotes Edit Also known as Najm al Din Abu Muḥammad al Ḥakami or Umara ibn Abi Ḥasan ibn Ali ibn Zaidan 1 or al Faqih Abu Muḥammad Imad al Din gives him the surname of Abu Hamza Umara ibn Abi Ḥasan Ali Raidan Ibn Aḥmad al Hakami al Yamani 2 or even Omara al Yamani the Jurisconsult 3 The 13th century biographer Ibn Khallikan whose account according to Kay seems to have come from Umara s text has Mertan مرطان in Tihama province in the valley of Wasaa south of Mecca This town has not been identified 5 de Slane Ibn Khallikan s Biographical Dictionary vol I p 106 Ibn Khallikan erroneously gives this emir s name as Qasim ibn Hashim ibn Falita Cf de Slane II p 368 n3 6 de Slane Ibn Khallikan s Biographical Dictionary vol I p 657 Aṣ Ṣaliḥ offered him a large sum to induce him to become a Shiite 12 A copy of this atreatise amended by the author is in the Bib du Roi anciens fonds No 810 He inserts a number of his own poems and an account of his intercourse with the vizirs Shawar and as Salih 13 The title is omitted in the Book of Chronicles by the illustrious Kadi Omarah the Yamanite Brit Mus MS Umara mentions a book by an early king of the Banu Najah dynasty Abu at Tami Jayyash entitled Kitab al Mufid fi akhbar Zabid mentioned in the Kashf az Zunun 14 Baron de Slane p 380 Note و كان الفراغ من نسخه ليلة خميس العدس الثامن عشر من جمادى الاولى سنة تسع و خمسين وست مائة The copy was completed the night before the Thursday of the Lenses the 18th Jumada al awwal 659 This was a popular holiday in Cairo and Egypt celebrated on 20 April 1261 AD D S Margoliouth prof of Arabic language Oxford University assessed the copy was made in Egypt Dr Gottheil professor of Semitic languages Columbia College New York began collations Notes by Baron Victor Rosen Saint Peterburg 1881 p 255 256 Citations Edit a b Kay 1892 p v Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 368 Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 367 Kay 1892 p iv Kay 1892 p v note Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 368 n 3 Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 369 Bianquis 2000 p 150 Bianquis 2000 pp 149 151 Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 370 Kay 1892 pp viii ix Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 372 n 12 Ibn Khallikan 1843 p 370 n 10 Kay 1892 p xii References Edit Biography portal Fatimid Caliphate portalKay Henry Cassels 1892 Yaman its early mediaeval history London Edward Arnold Abi Hasan al Yamani Ibn Umara 1893 Derenbourg Hartwig ed Kitab fihi al nukat al asriyah Oumara du Yemen Vol 1 Serie ed Paris L Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes Ibn Khallikan 1843 Ibn Khallikan s Biographical Dictionary Translated from the Arabic Vol II Translated by Baron Mac Guckin de Slane Paris Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland Bianquis Thierry 2000 Ṭalaʾiʿ b Ruzzik In Bearman P J Bianquis Th Bosworth C E van Donzel E amp Heinrichs W P eds The Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Volume X T U Leiden E J Brill pp 149 151 ISBN 978 90 04 11211 7 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Umara ibn Abi al Hasan al Yamani amp oldid 1128136384, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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