Study Guide for Oleg Grabar. "The Umayyad Royal Idea and its Expression
under Mu'awiyah I"
There are a number of names and authors you can ignore. Here are some
that are particularly important to understanding Grabar's ideas as well
as issues which will come up later in the course.
- The first four "rightly guided" caliphs--check Saunders--they
are discussed throughout this chapter.
- Umayyads, Abbasids
- Mu'awiyah
- caliphate/khalifah = the "successor" of or "substitute"
for Muhammad as leader of the Islamic community, later Islamic state.
- sunnah/sunni; shi'a/shi'i; check Saunders. The adjective for the latter
is often in the readings "shiite".
- prophetic
- salat
- mulk=an abstraction for power, in other words, in theory.
- You should know the meanings of and differences between "kursi",
"maqaurah", and "sarir" as discussed in this chapter.
Grabar gives the meaning of each at the first mention. Much of Grabar's
argument and theory derives from the differences and meanings of these
three terms.
- majlis
- halwa = a sweet made from ground sesame seeds and often ground pistachio
nuts; still very popular throughout the Middle East.
- minbar = Muhammad used to climb a simple pulpit, during the community
prayer services- the minbar - it had been a judge's seat in pre-Islamic
times which eventually became the symbol of authority in the ceremony of
prayer and in all related mosque activities.
- khutbah = a "sermon" on moral, religious, and also political
and social themes; delivered during the Friday community prayer service
[the salat jama'ah].
- khatib
- imam = the leader of prayer during the Friday community prayer.
- jahiliyah = ignorance; term used by Muslim Arabs for the period of
Arab history before Muhammad.
- hammam = bath building
- wafd = assembly. In the early 20th century, name given to the Egyptian
revolutionary party [leading movement for independence from British occupation].
- famous Umayyad palaces [which have survived today more or less intact]:
Qusayr Amra, in the Jordanian desert s.e. of Damascus; Qasr-al-Hayr East
- in the Syrian desert, n.e. of Damascus.
2. General themes: Ceremonial as a reflection of politics; Influence
of Byzantine and/or Persian Sasanian ceremonial, political theory and practice
on early Islamic politics; the contributions [innovations] of Mu'awiyah
in politics, political theory and political practice.