13th Century Logic

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A Thirteenth-Century Scholar in the Eastern Mediterranean: Sirj al-Dn Urmav, Jurist, Logician, DiplomatLouise Marlow Version of record first published: 14 Dec 2010.

To cite this article: Louise Marlow (2010): A Thirteenth-Century Scholar in the Eastern Mediterranean: Sirj al-Dn Urmav, Jurist, Logician, Diplomat, Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, 22:3, 279-313 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2010.522386

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Al-Masa q, Vol. 22, No. 3, December 2010

A Thirteenth-Century Scholar in the Eastern Mediterranean: Sira j al-D n Urmav , Jurist, Logician, Diplomat

LOUISE MARLOW

Downloaded by [University of Chicago] at 22:06 09 January 2013

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the career of the Shafi 6 jurist and logician Sira j al-D n Urmav (11981283), who combined his scholarly and judicial activities with ambassadorial appointments to Frederick II, King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, legu . Originally from Azerbaijan, Sira and the Ilkhan Hu j al-D n spent most of his professional life in Ayyu Cairo and, from 1257, in Seljuk Konya, where he spent the bid final decades of his life as chief qadi. Through a contextualised reading of the extant biographical information for Sira j al-D n, the article draws particular attention to two aspects of his physical and professional trajectory. First, the essay situates Sira j al-D ns career in the context of processes of cultural change in thirteenth-century Anatolia. It seeks to demonstrate both the transfer and adaptation to the Anatolian urban milieu of social cultural patterns attested for the a 6ya n in neighbouring predominantly Muslim societies, and the shaping of the social and cultural functions of immigrant scholars to Anatolia by local conditions. Second, the article identifies Sira j al-D n as a prominent participant in an intellectual community engaged in inter-cultural exchange across political and confessional boundaries in the thirteenth-century eastern Mediterranean. Keywords: Sira l al-D n Urmav , jurist; Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor and king of Sicily; Embassies and ambassadors; Anatolia society; Konya, Konya, Turkey scholars; Ru m (sultanate)

In the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Iranians in considerable numbers emigrated from their native cities to points to the east and west. This Iranian diaspora contributed significantly to the Islamisation and more specifically the Persianisation of northern India and Anatolia.1 The movement, which antedated the Mongol irruptions, seems to have begun as a response to a general deterioration of economic conditions in the Iranian cities.2 The Mongol advances accellerated the movement of Iranians to the west, and intensified the influx of

Correspondence: Louise Marlow, Director, Middle Eastern Studies, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481-8203, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Richard W. Bulliet, Islam: The View from the Edge (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp. 145168; Carole Hillenbrand, Ra vand , the Seljuk court at Konya and the persianisation of sogeios, 2526 (2005): 157169. Anatolian cities, Me 2 Bulliet, View from the Edge, 129144.ISSN 09503110 print/ISSN 1473348X online/10/030279-35 2010 Society for the Medieval Mediterranean DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2010.5223861

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Persian-speaking scholars, mystics, poets and others into Anatolia.3 This essay pursues the topic of scholarly migration to Anatolia through an exploration of the professional life of one thirteenth-century Persian-speaking migrant, the eminent Sha jurist, logician and philosopher Sira fi 6 j al-D n Mahmu Bakr Urmav d b. Ab _ (r. 594682/11981283), who was appointed to the post of chief qadi of Konya, a capital city of the Seljuks of Ru j al-D n was one of a number of scholars, m. Sira proficient in Persian and Arabic, whose migration to Anatolia in the second half of the thirteenth century contributed to the transformation of the leading Anatolian cities from places of refuge to destinations that were increasingly integrated into their professional itineraries. Born in Urmiya, in Azerbaijan, Sira j al-D n was already 60 when he settled in Konya. His earlier travels had taken him to Mosul, probably Damascus, and, most significantly, Egypt, where he became a member of the a 6ya n, the civilian elite, and appears to have spent several years.4 Sira j al-D n thus occupied a prominent position in at least two contrasting thirteenth-century societies, to the south and north of the Mediterranean Sea. His writings encompass a range of fields, and bring together the religious, transmitted (naql ) and rational ( 6aql ) sciences. His scholarly production attests to the continuing transmission of religious and philosophical learning, in Persian and Arabic, to Anatolia in the course of the thirteenth century. Sira j al-D n also participated significantly in the diplomatic and intellectual interactions among the Muslim and Christian courts of the central and eastern Mediterranean regions of the period. The experience of a single individual naturally provides limited information, but when situated in a larger context, it illuminates the particularities of the world in which he lived. This article attempts, to the extent that the evidence permits, to trace Sira j al-D ns professional activities, and to explore the factors involved in his migration from one environment to another, as well as the means by which he negotiated his entry into a new society. It also considers the degree to which immigrant scholars such as Sira j al-D n facilitated the transfer to Anatolia of social-political patterns attested for the ulama of contemporary Egypt, and conversely, the impact of thirteenth-century Anatolias distinctive conditions on the roles of scholars who settled there. Owing to the extended periods of time that Sira j al-D n spent in Egypt and Anatolia, his case provides instructive material for a comparative study of the lives of the a 6ya n, especially the higher-ranking ulema, in these two thirteenth-century societies. Several studies of the predominantly Muslim societies of the eastern Mediterranean in the thirteenth century have drawn attention to the interdependence of rulers, military elites, networks of a 6ya n and the urban populations.5For a celebrated example from approximately 618/1221, see Najm al-D n Ra z , Mirsa d al- 6iba d min _ al-mabda8 ila , 1363/1984), bkha neh-yi Sana 8 l-ma 6a d, ed. H. al-Husayni al-Ni 6matullahi (Tehran: Kita pp. 911; Hamid Algar, The Path of Gods Bondsmen from Origin to Return (Delmar: Caravan Books, -ottomane (IstanbulParis: lInstitut franc 1982), pp. 4143. See further Claude Cahen, La Turquie pre ais tudes anatoliennes dIstanbul, 1988), pp. 216217, 329; The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid de Sultanate of Ru m: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century, trans. and ed. P.M. Holt (Harlow: Longman, 2001), pp. 163, 261. Since Holts translation of Cahens indispensable study does not include the footnotes of the original, references will be given to the French and English versions. 4 On the use of the term a 6ya n, see Michael Chamberlain, Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus, 11901350 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 4, n. 4. 5 Ira M. Lapidus, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), esp. pp. 79142; Jonathan Berkey, The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo: A Social3


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In the context of Ayyu bid and Mamlu k Egypt and Syria, the interdependence among rulers, amirs and a 6ya n has often been linked to the alien or outsider status of the rulers and military elites, whose lack of common background and interests with the urban populations, among other factors, obliged them to seek the support and intermediacy of the local notables.6 In the context of thirteenthcentury Anatolia, the gradual but far-reaching processes of social and cultural transformation taking place complicate the ascription of alien status, yet comparable patterns of interdependence prevailed.7 As will be demonstrated, the reign of the Seljuk 6Izz al-D n Kayka 8u s II (r. 644655/12461257) in particular has been noted for the numbers and prominence of Greek Christians in the administration and in the life of the court at Konya; at the same time, many of the Muslim notables were, like Sira j al-D n, immigrants, or recent converts and their immediate descendants. Moreover, many of the Seljuk rulers of Rum were connected, through ties of marriage and other alliances, to multiple constituencies, including the families of prominent judges, in this diverse and relatively newly Islamised society.8 These features of thirteenth-century Anatolia indicate patterns of interdependence, which, while differently configured according to local conditions, prevailed in Anatolia as in Egypt and Syria. The historiographical and biographical literature pertaining to the ulema of thirteenth-century Egypt and Syria is abundant, and has supplied ample material for several indispensable studies.9 By contrast, sources for Anatolia in the same period are relatively limited; indeed, as Claude Cahen noted, If . . . a scholar died there, remote from colleagues accustomed to write biographical notices and obituaries, his name was in danger of being forgotten.10 At the same time, the Egyptian and Syrian sources themselves record several cases of scholars who, like Sira j al-D n, moved among locations in Egypt, Syria and Anatolia. Exploration of the Anatolian sources in conjunction with those produced in neighbouring regions facilitates the generation of a fuller and more differentiated picture of urban society and culture in thirteenth-century Anatolia.11 The four main parts of the present article will address, in turn, Sira j al-D ns intellectual interests and scholarly work, situated in the context of his personal ties to a particular network of a 6ya n; his professional life in Egypt, including his ambassadorial appointment; the factors involved in his decision to leave Egypt for(footnote continued) History of Islamic Education (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), esp. pp. 95127; Chamberlain, Knowledge, esp. 411. For a general discussion, see also M.G.S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1974), II: 6469, 9194, esp. 64. 6 Lapidus, Muslim Cities, esp. 4478; Berkey, Transmission, 1112; Jonathan P. Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 6001800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 205207; Chamberlain, Knowledge, 38, 4447. 7 Speros Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1971), pp. 143287. 8 Several judges married Seljuk princesses; see 6Az z b. Ardash r Astara ba d , Bazm-o razm (Istanbul: Evkaf Matbaas|, 1928), pp. 4546. 9 Among the many examples, see especially Lapidus, Muslim Cities; George Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981); Berkey, Transmission; Chamberlain, Knowledge. 10 -ottomane, 210; Formation, 158. Cahen, La Turquie pre 11 -ottomane, 212, 213; Formation, 160, 161. Cahen, La Turquie pre

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Anatolia; and his subsequent career in Konya. The concluding section will compare Sira j al-D ns life among the a 6ya n in the Egyptian and Anatolian settings, with particular reference to his relations with the ruling authorities, the larger civilian elite, and the urban population.

I. Sira j al-D n Urmav , the scholar and his context The available information regarding Sira j al-D ns professional life derives from a small number of oblique autobiographical references in his own work and notices, sometimes in his own voice, scattered across a number of biographical, bibliographical and historiographical sources. Compilers of biographical and bibliographical works emphasise Sira j al-D ns scholarly writings, most of which were in Arabic and several of which indicate his intellectual affinity with the great Sha philosopher and theologian Fakhr al-D fi 6 n al-Ra z (r. 543606/11491209). l, an Sira j al-D ns most celebrated Arabic works include his Kita b al-Tahs _ _12 of al-Ra z , on the principles of jurisprudence; the abridgement of the Mahsu l __ Kita n of al-Ra z , on the principles of b al-Luba b, an abridgement of the Arba 6 religion (usu l al-d n); the Baya n al-haqq, a logical and philosophical treatise; and the _ _ Kita li 6 al-anwa r, a two-part work devoted to logic and dialectical theology.13 b Mat a _ These compositions played an important role in teaching and learning soon after and even during the authors lifetime. Al-Yu n (r. 640726/12421326), in his n obituary for Shiha h m al-Jazar , who died prematurely in b al-D n Ahmad b. Ibra _ 700/1300, mentions that the deceased Shafi 6i jurist had committed Sira j al-D ns l and Luba Tahs b to memory at a precocious age and in a short amount of time.14 __ The first of these two works was sufficiently well known that some biographers l (sa l).15 referred to Sira j al-D n simply as the author of the Tahs hib al-Tahs __ _ _ __ Writing in the seventeenth century, Ha jj Khal fa (d. 1067/1657) emphasises _ the high esteem in which the Mat a li 6 was held, its pedagogical importance, and_


12 Al-Tahs l min al-Mahsu d 6Al Abu la, 1408/ l, ed. 6Abd al-Ham Zunayd (Beirut: Mu8assasat al-Risa __ __ _ 1988). The text is preceded by the editors extremely helpful introduction (5158). 13 On these and other works of Sira j al-D n, see Ta j al-D n al-Subk , T abaqa t al-Sha fi 6iyya l-kubra (Cairo: _ lim Kha Shuhba, T abaqa al-Matba 6a l-Husayniyya, n.d.), V: 155; Ibn Qa d n t al-Sha fi 6iyya, ed. 6Abd al- 6A _ _ _ _ (Hyderabad: Matba 6at Majlis Da ko pru zade, 8irat al-Ma 6a rif al- 6Uthma niyya, 1399/1979), II: 262; Tas _ Mifta 8irat al-ma 6a rif al-Niza miyya, 13281356/ h al-sa 6a da wa-misba h al-siya da (Hyderabad: Matba 6at da _ _ _ _ _ 19111937), I: 245; Ha elebi, Kashf al-zunu jj Khal fa Ka tib C n 6an asa m l-kutub wa-l-funu n (Istanbul: _ _ l Pas a Matba 6at Wika lat al-Ma 6a rif al-Jal la, 19411955), I: 61, 92, 261, 848, II: 17151717, 1846; Isma 6 _ al-Baghda itim d , Hadiyyat al- 6a rif n: Asma 8 al-mu8allif n wa-a tha r al-musannif n (Istanbul: Milli Eg _ Bas|mevi, 19511955), II: 406; Khayr al-D n al-Zirikl , al-A 6la r al- 6ilm lil-mala y n, 1979), m (Beirut: Da VIII: 42; Zabihullah Safa, Ta ra t-i Da nishga h, 13571378/1978 r kh-i adabiyya t dar Ira n (Tehran: Intisha dharba 1999), III: 216, 235236; M. 6A. Tarbiyat, Da zma n-i cha p va nishmanda n-i A yja n (Tehran: Sa intisha l, Editors Introduction, 2733, 5066; Carl Brockelmann, ra t, 1378/1999), pp. 277278; al-Tahs __ Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996), GI 614615, 666667; SI 817, 848849. 14 Li Guo, Early Mamluk Syrian Historiography: Al-Yu t al-zama n (Leiden: Brill, 1998), n n s Dhayl Mir8a II: 228. See also the example of Khal (d. 761/1359) (al-Safad , A 6ya l b. Kaykald al- 6Ala 8 n al- 6asr _ _ wa-a 6wa r al-fikr al-mu 6a sir; Damascus: Da r al-fikr, 1998], II: 331). n al-nasr [Beirut: Da _ _ 15 Ibn Qa Shuhba, T abaq d at, II: 297, 308; Ibn al- 6Ima d, Shadhara t al-dhahab f akhba r man dhahab _ _ (Cairo: Maktabat al-Quds , 1351/1933), VI: 37.


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the commentaries it generated, in particular the Lawa n mi 6 al-anwa r of Qutb al-D _ al-Ra n (d. 766/1365).16 Ha jj Khal fas extensive discussion of the Mat a z l-Tahta li 6 _ _ _ and the supplementary literature that it inspired reflects their adoption into the 17 curricula of Ottoman (and also Safavid) madrasas. Other Arabic works ascribed to _ Sira j al-D n include a commentary on the Waj l (450505/1058 z of al-Ghaza 1111); a continuation of the Niha n Ibn al-Ath r th of Majd al-D ya f ghar b al-had _ (d. 606/1210); a commentary on the Isha na (370428/9801037); and ra t of Ibn S works on philology and disputation ( 6ilm al-jadal).18 Also among Sira j al-D ns writings is the Lat a 8if al-hikma, a work of philosophy, ethics and counsel, hybrid in _ _ genre, composed in Persian and dedicated to the Seljuk ruler of Konya, 6Izz al-D n Kayka j 8u 8if al-hikma, Sira s II (r. 644655/12461257).19 As will be seen, the Lat a _ _ al-D ns only known work in Persian, furnishes a small number of autobiographical references.


Sira j al-D ns scholarly network Sira j al-D n lived in an era when the combination of the rational and the religious sciences, while not uncontested, was widely prized among the cultural elites of the eastern Mediterranean regions. As Gerhard Endress has put it, the period saw the rise of a rank of scholars assuming a general competence: the philosopherscientist, and at the same time philosopher-theologian, at home in the courts as well as in the madrasa.20 Several authors of biographical notices for the period appear to have valued such wide-ranging learning above more specialised expertise in a narrower field.21 Sira j al-D n, as will be seen below, was among the many contemporary observers who praised the Ayyu mil (r. 615635/ bid al-Malik al-Ka 12181238) for his sponsorship of and participation in a broad variety of disciplines and interests. References to Sira j al-D ns intellectual lineage, colleagues and associates suggest that he belonged to a network of accomplished Shafi 6i scholars, expert in the naql and 6aql branches of knowledge and favoured by certain members of the ruling families of the era. As Konrad Hirschler has recently16 Kashf al-zunu ko pru zade, Mifta d, n, II: 17151716. See also Tas h al-sa 6a da, I: 246; Ibn al- 6Ima _ _ Shadhara t al-dhahab, VI: 207; Safa, Ta r kh-i adabiyya t, III: 236237, IV: 100; Tarbiyat, Da nishmanda n, 277. Qutb al-D n composed the Lawa th al-D n Muhammad b. Rash d al-D n mi 6 for the vizier Ghiya _ _ Fazl Alla h (d. 736/1336). 17 _ F. Robinson, OttomansSafavidsMughals: shared knowledge and connective systems, Journal of Islamic Studies 8 (1997): 154, 177, 180. See further Badi 6 al-Zaman Furuzanfar, Risa q-i leh dar tahq _ ahva pkha neh-yi majlis, 1315/1937), 127; l-o zindiga n -yi Mawla na Jala l al-D n Muhammad (Tehran: Cha _ _ Muhammad 6Ali Mudarris, Rayha nat al-adab f tara jim al-ma 6ru f n bi-l-kunya aw l-laqab (Tabriz: n.d.), _ I: 108109; Gerhard Endress, The cycle of knowledge: intellectual traditions and encyclopaedias of the rational sciences in Arabic Islamic Hellenism, in Organizing Knowledge: Encyclopaedic Activities in the Pre-eighteenth Century Islamic World, ed. G. Endress (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 130131. 18 Al-Subk , T abaqa jj Khal fa, Kashf al-zunu d , t, V: 155; Ha n, I: 9495, 902, II: 2002; al-Baghda _ _ _ Hadiyyat al- 6a , al-A 6la n (d. 749/ rif n, II: 406; al-Zirikl m, VIII: 42. See also the titles listed by Ibn al-Afka 1348), in D. Gutas, Aspects of literary form and genre in Arabic logical works, Glosses and Commentaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts: The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin Traditions, ed. Charles Burnett (London: The Warburg Institute, 1993), p. 61. 19 ra Lat a ra t-i bunya d-i farhang-i I n, 1351/1972). 8if al-hikma, ed. Gh.-H. Yusufi (Tehran: Intisha _ _ ra See al-Zirikl , al-A 6la n va-dar zaba n-i fa rs m, VIII: 42; Sa 6id Nafisi, Ta r kh-i nazm va-nathr dar I _ (Tehran: Intisha ra t-i furu , 1363/19841985), I: 150151; Tarbiyat, Da gh nishmanda n, 277278. 20 Endress, Cycle of knowledge, 127. 21 Chamberlain, Knowledge, 8586.

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demonstrated in his study of two contemporaries of Sira j al-D n, Abu ma Sha (d. 665/1267) and Ibn Wa sil (d. 697/1298), scholars professional standing _ depended not only on the rulers who appointed them to posts but also, and in significant measure, on the networks in which they participated.22 Despite the incomplete nature of the available evidence, the case of Sira j al-D n suggests further the degree to which personal networks overlapped, so that links among individuals rested on a variety of factors, such as common scholarly training and religious affiliation, shared local roots, family connections, and shared attendance at the majlis of a given ruler or other eminent personage. As the list of his works indicates, Sira j al-D ns scholarly production was weighted towards the rational sciences, and his reputation, during and after his lifetime, depended above all on his mastery of the science of logic.23 Other specialists with expertise in these disciplines, and who shared Sira j al-D ns intellectual links with Fakhr al-D n al-Ra z , formed the core of his network. These figures included, most prominently, Sira j al-D ns teacher Kama l al-D n Mu Ibn Yu sa nus (d. 639/1241) and his slightly older relation Afdal _ al-D n al-Khu (d. 646/1249). naj Kama l al-D n Ibn Yu nus was among the leading Shafi 6i jurists and scientists of his day. After a period of study at the Niza miyya in Baghdad, he returned to Mosul, _ the city of his birth. There, Ibn Yu nus taught at a number of institutions, including the madrasa where his father, also a well-known scholar, had taught;24 after his many years of association with it, this madrasa subsequently came to be known as the Kama liyya.25 He was learned in a vast range of sciences, including the principles of jurisprudence and theology, exegesis, had th, mathematics, astronomy, Arabic grammar and philology, logic, medicine, music, history and poetry.26 Ibn Khallika n (608681/12111282), whose father was a close friend of Ibn Yu nus (ka na baynahu wa-bayn al-wa lid . . . min al-mu8a nasa wa-l-mawadda l-ak da)27 and who, through his father, became acquainted with Ibn Yu nus and visited him several times in Mosul in 626/12281229, remarked on his unparalleled abilities to comprehend and

Konrad Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography: Authors as Actors (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), esp. pp. 1542. 23 See, for example, Wael B. Hallaq, Ibn Taymiyya Against the Greek Logicians (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), p. xiv. 24 On Yu Shuhba, T abaqa d nus b. Muhammad, see Ibn Qa t, II: 2526. On Ibn Yu nuss teaching in _ _ _ Mosul, see Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges, 86. 25 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya s (Beirut: Da r Sa dir, 1414/ t al-a 6ya n wa-anba 8 abna 8 al-zama n, ed. I. 6Abba _ 1994), V: 311; al-Subk , T abaqa l al-D n al-Asnaw , T abaqa llah t, V: 158; Jama t al-Sha fi 6iyya, ed. 6Abda _ _ al-Juburi (Riyadh: Da 6a wa-l-Nashr, 1401/1981), II: 571. r al- 6Ulu m lil-Taba _ 26 According to several accounts, Ibn Yu nus had mastered 14 (or 24) branches of knowledge (fann) (Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya , Siyar a 6la t al-a 6ya n, V: 311312; al-Dhahab m al-nubala 8 [Beirut: Mu8assasat al-risa la, 1422/2001], XXIII: 86; al-Subk , T abaqa , T abaqa d t, V: 158; al-Asnaw t, II: 571; Ibn Qa _ _ _ Shuhba, T abaqa s remarks on Ibn Yu t, II: 118). See also al-Safad nuss reputation (A 6ya n, III: 222). _ _ On Ibn Yu , al-H awa nuss poetry, see also Ibn al-Fuwat dith al-ja mi 6a wa-l-taja rib al-na fi 6a f l-mi8a _ _ al-sa d (Baghdad: al-Maktaba l- 6Arabiyya, 1351/1932), pp. 149150. (On this work bi 6a, ed. M. Jawa and its attribution, see F. Rosenthal, Ibn al-Fuwat , Encyclopedia of Islam [1986], III: 769770; C. _ , Encyclopedia of Islam [1998], VIII: 2526.) Melville, Ebn al-Fowat _ 27 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya t al-a 6ya n, V: 311. On the importance of such ties of friendship with particular reference to this region and period, see Chamberlain, Knowledge, 114; Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography, 19.

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explicate scholarly works, especially those of Fakhr al-D n al-Ra z .28 Ibn Yu nus is noted for having taught not only Muslim students with Hanafi as well as Shafi 6i affiliations, but also Jews and Christians, for whom he explicated the Torah and Gospels.29 Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a (d. c. 668/1270) reports that when an envoy from _ Frederick II (r. 11941250), King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, arrived at the court of al-Malik al-Ka mil with a series of mathematical queries, al-Ka mil sent him to Badr al-D n Lu8lu8 (d. 657/1259) in Mosul, where Ibn Yu nus alone provided the correct answers.30 The Syriac bishop and historian Barhebraeus (d. 1286) reports that the Christian philosopher (hak dhur ) of Antioch, m) Theodore (Tha _ who joined Frederick IIs entourage at an uncertain date between 616/1220 and 635/1238 and served as an intermediary between the Emperor and Muslim intellectuals, had spent two periods of his life in Mosul, where he studied under Ibn Yu nuss broad nus.31 It is evident that many of his contemporaries held Ibn Yu learning in the highest esteem. Some individuals nevertheless regarded his inclination towards the rational sciences with suspicion: in fact, Ibn Yu nus acknowledged that many people associated the science of logic with corrupt beliefs (fasa d al-i 6tiqa d), and he attempted to dissuade at least one potential student from its pursuit.32 Such reticence notwithstanding, he had numerous students, the most r al-D illustrious of whom was probably the great scientist and philosopher Nas n _ Tu (597672/12011274).33 s _ Shaykh Afdal al-D n Muhammad b. Na ma var al-Khu (d. 646/1249), naj _ _ according to al-Yu n , was a close associate or relative (qar j al-D n.34 n b) of Sira Al-Khu , like Sira j al-D n, hailed originally from Azerbaijan, and according to naj Ibn al- 6Ima d (d. 1089/1679), he pursued intensive studies in the Persian-speaking28 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya , T abaqa ns respect and t al-a 6ya n, V: 312; al-Subk t, V: 158159. Ibn Khallika _ affection for Ibn Yu d nus are indicated in his naming of his son after him (V: 317). See also Ibn Qa _ Shuhba, T abaqa bird , al-Nuju t, II: 212; Ibn Taghr m al-za hira f mulu k Misr wa-l-Qa hira (Cairo: _ _ Mu8assasat al-misriyya al- 6a mma, 19631971), V: 343. _ 29 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya , Kita t al-a 6ya n, V: 312313; Abu l-Fida b al-Mukhtasar f akhba r al-bashar _ (Cairo: al-Matba 6a al-Husayniyya al-misriyya, n.d.), III: 170; al-Dhahab , Siyar, XXIII: 8587; al-Subk , _ _ _ T abaqa Shuhba, T abaq , T abaqa d at, II: 119; al-Zirikl , t, V: 158159; al-Asnaw t, II: 571; Ibn Qa _ _ _ _ al-A 6la l, Editors Introduction, 24. m, VIII: 288289; Lat a 8if al-hikma, Editors Introduction, xv; al-Tahs _ _ __ Chamberlain cites other examples of study circles that brought together adherents of several religions (Knowledge, 85, and nn. 83, 84). 30 Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a, 6Uyu r al-kutub al- 6ilmiyya, 1419/1998), n al-anba 8 f t abaqa t al-at ibba 8 (Beirut: Da _ _ _ p. 376. See also H. L. Gottschalk, Der Untergang der Hohenstaufen, WZKM 53 (1957): 274. Badr al-D n had become Atabeg of Mosul on the death of the Zengid Na sir al-D n Mahmu d in 619/ _ _ 1222. He received official recognition of his authority with a caliphal diploma in 629/1232, and was retained as a vassal of Hu legu until his death in 657/1259 (Cl. Cahen, Lu 6lu8, Badr al-D n, EI2 V [1986]: 821). 31 Charles Burnett, Master Theodore, Frederick IIs philosopher, Federico II e le nuove culture (Todi, ge zur Geschichte der 1995), pp. 225285, esp. 228229, 264265. See also Heinrich Suter, Beitra Mathematik bei den Griechern and Arabern (Erlangen: Kommissionsverlag von Max Mencke, 1922), pp. 18. 32 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya , al-Mukhtasar, III: 170; al-Subk , t al-a 6ya n, V: 314, 316317; Abu l-Fida _ T abaqa Shuhba, T abaqa d bird , al-Nuju t, V: 160, 162; Ibn Qa t, II: 119; Ibn Taghr m al-za hira, V: 343, _ _ _ VI: 343; al-Zirikl , al-A 6la m, VIII: 289. 33 F.J. Ragep, Nas r al-D n al-T u s s Memoir on Astronomy (al-Tadhkira f 6ilm al-hay8a) (New York: _ _ Springer-Verlag, 1993), I: 69. 34 Al-Yu n , Dhayl Mir8a 8irat al-ma 6a rif al- 6Uthma niyya, n t al-zama n (Hyderabad: Matba 6at majlis da _ 1374/1954), II: 125.

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regions (ishtaghala f fi 6i l- 6ajam) before moving to Egypt.35 He was a leading Sha judge and theologian as well as a physician, philosopher and logician.36 Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a, who met al-Khu in Cairo in 632/12341235 and studied under him, naj _ remarked on his distinction in the philosophical sciences as well as in matters of law (al-umu r al-shar 6iyya), and his expertise in diverse fields of knowledge.37 Above all, al-Khu was noted for his unparalleled expertise in the 6ulu naj m al-awa 8il.38 He was the author of a number of works in the fields of logic and medicine, and some of his books, such as the Kashf al-asra r, were the subject of well-known commentaries and other supplementary texts.39 It appears that Sira j al-D n wrote a commentary on the Mu s best-known work on logic.40 In 634/1237, the jiz, perhaps al-Khu naj Ayyu mil I (r. 615635/12181238) selected al-Khu as his bid al-Malik al-Ka naj ambassador to Ghiya th al-D n Kaykhusraw II (r. 634644/12371246), who had just succeeded his father 6Ala 8 al-D n Kayquba d I (r. 616634/12201237) as ruler of the Seljuk kingdom of Rum. Al-Khu s diplomatic mission to the new sultan naj carried significant responsibility: 6Ala 8 al-D n Kayquba d I, who had previously sent a number of embassies to the Ayyu bid court, had at the time of his death entered into an alliance against al-Ka mil.41 At the time of al-Khu s return to Egypt, naj al-Ka mil died, and the scholar went back to Ru m, where he assumed the post of35 Ibn al- 6Ima d, Shadhara t al-dhahab, V: 236. On the use of the term ishtigha l to denote intensive study and possibly teaching, see Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges, 206210, and Chamberlain, Knowledge, 162. 36 Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a, 6Uyu ma, Tara n al-anba 8, 541542; Abu Sha jim rija l al-qarnayn al-sa dis _ wa-l-sa r al-Kutub al-Ma likiyya, 1947), p. 182; al-Dhahab , bi 6 al-Dhayl 6ala l-Rawd atayn (Beirut: Da _ Siyar, XXIII: 228; al-Dhahab , Ta8r kh al-Isla m wa-wafaya t al-masha h r wa-l-a 6la m, ed. B.A. Ma 6ru f (Beirut: Da r al-Gharb al-Isla m , 2003), XIV: 557, no. 457; al-Safad , al-Wa f bi-l-wafaya t (Wiesbaden: _ Franz Steiner Verlag, 1962), V: 108109, no. 2121; al-Subk , T abaqa , T abaqa t, V: 43; al-Asnaw t, _ _ I: 502503; Ibn Kath r, al-Bida r al-kutub al- 6ilmiyya, 1421/2001), XIII: 177; ya wa-l-niha ya (Beirut: Da al-Maqr z , Kita f b al-sulu k li-ma 6rifat duwal al-mulu k, ed. M.M. Ziyada (Cairo: Lajnat al-ta8l wa-l-tarjama wa-l-nashr, 19561973), I: ii: 332, 371; Jala , H usn al-muha l al-D n al-Suyu t d ara f _ _ _ _ ta8r h m (Cairo: Da r Ihya 8 al-Kutub al- 6Arabiyya, 1387/ kh Misr wa-l-Qa hira, ed. M. Abu l-Fadl Ibra _ _ _ 1967), I: 541; Ibn Iya s, Bada (Cairo: al-Hay8a al-Misriyya 8i 6 al-zuhu r f waqa 8i 6 al-duhu r, ed. M. Mustafa __ _ mma lil-Kita al- 6A b, 1402/1982), I: 275276, 310, 317, 325; Ibn al- 6Ima d, Shadhara t al-dhahab, V: 236237; Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Husayn , S ilat al-takmila li-wafaya t al-naqala, ed. B. 6A. Ma 6ruf _ _ _ _ (Beirut: Da r al-gharb al-isla m , 1428/2007), I: 200201, no. 290; Safa, Ta r kh-i adabiyya t, III: 236; Tarbiyat, Da nishmanda n, 9091. 37 Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a, 6Uyu n al-anba 8, 541. _ 38 Al-Asnaw Shuhba, T abaq , H usn al-muha , T abaqa d at, II: 158; al-Suyu t, I: 502; Ibn Qa t d ara, I: 541, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ where al-Khu is also described as faylasu d, Shadhara naj f (see further below); Ibn al- 6Ima t al-dhahab, V: 236237; al-Zirikl , al-A 6la m, VII: 344. 39 Al-Safad ko pru zade, Mifta , A 6ya d, Shadhara n, III: 715; Tas h al-sa 6a da, I: 245246; Ibn al- 6Ima t _ _ al-dhahab, V: 237; Gutas, Arabic logical works, 61; W. Ahlwardt, Verzeichniss der arabischen niglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin: A. Asher, 1892), IV: 497; GAL GI 607, SI 838; Handschriften der Ko Tarbiyat, Da nishmanda n, 9091. 40 GAL SI: 838; al-Tahs l, Editors Introduction, 59. __ 41 The Ayyu involved the offering of condolences for the death of 6Ala 8 bid embassy carried by al-Khu naj al-D n, who, with other rulers in the eastern Mediterranean regions, had challenged al-Ka mils authority in northern Syria and adjacent areas. See H.W. Duda, Die Seltschukengeschichte des Ibn B b (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1959), pp. 197200; Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b f akhba r ban Ayyu b _ (Cairo: Matba 6at da r al-kutub, 1972), V: 162; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 254. On relations between _ al-Ka mil and 6Ala 8 al-D n, which had included gift-giving and the arrangement of a marriage between ` le poque des croisades (Paris: Institut franc their families, see Claude Cahen, La Syrie du nord a ais de Damas, 1940), pp. 637638; Hans L. Gottschalk, Al-Malik al-Ka mil von Egypten und seine Zeit (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1958), pp. 133134, 224225 and passim; R. Stephen Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 11931260 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1977), pp. 214231.


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qadi under Kaykhusraw II and remained in this position for some years. In the face of the Mongol incursions that culminated in the Seljuk defeat at Ko sedag in 641/ 1243, al-Khu returned once more to Egypt, where in 641/1244 al-Malik naj al-Sa lih Najm al-D n Ayyu b (r. 637647/12401249), who had succeeded al-Malik _ _ dil al- 6A II (r. 635637/12381240) after the latters deposition, appointed him to the chief qadiship of Egypt.42 He also taught at the Sa lihiyya in Cairo and issued _ _ fatwas.43 Like Ibn Yu faced suspicion from certain quarters on nus, al-Khu naj 44 account of his expertise in the rational sciences. Nevertheless, Abu ma, whose Sha contempt for the rational sciences was well known, concedes that despite al-Khu s s dedication to them (ka man mant iqiyyan), during al-Khu naj naj na hak _ _ time being a judge in Egypt he had heard only favourable things about him,45 and Ibn Kath r (d. 774/1373), who shared Abu mas antipathy towards the 6aql Sha disciplines, observed that despite his prominence as a logician, al-Khu s naj conduct in reaching his legal judgements (ahka m) was good.46 A century later, _ however, Jala (849911/14451505) expressed astonishment at l al-D n al-Suyu t _ the dismissal of al-Khu s predecessor, 6Izz al-D n b. 6Abd al-Sala m, whom he naj describes as shaykh al-Isla m wa-ima m al-a8imma sharqan wa-gharban, and his replacement by a rajul falsaf .47 Sira j al-D n followed the examples of Ibn Yu in several nus and al-Khu naj respects. Like them, he mastered a combination of scholarly disciplines, integrating those based on traditional sacred textual authorities such as hadith and jurisprudence, with those based on the rational sciences of logic, disputation and philosophy (hikma). Like them, he stood in the intellectual lineage of Fakhr al-D n _ al-Ra z , whose capacious sense of the diverse branches of knowledge was attested in his encyclopaedic Ja mi 6 al- 6ulu m.48 Like them, he combined his learning and teaching in the naql and 6aql sciences with the holding of high judicial office. One of the practical advantages of such broad knowledge, it is suggested, was that it facilitated scholars interactions with a diverse range of people across religious and political boundaries. It contributed to Sira j al-D ns appointment as an ambassador to non-Muslim rulers, in relation to whom his multi-disciplinary learning was, as will be seen, a significant asset.49 In the tradition of Ibn Yu nus, who had taught Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Sira j al-D n cited the Torah and the42 Abu ma, al-Dhayl 6ala sil, Mufarrij al-kuru Sha al-Rawdatayn, 182; Ibn Wa b, V: 162, 325, 335 _ _ (al-Khu returned by way of Aleppo, where Ibn Wa sil met him in 641; V: 325; cf. Duda, naj _ Seltschukengeschichte, 234); al-Subk , T abaqa , T abaqa z , al-Sulu t, V: 43; al-Asnaw t, I: 502; al-Maqr k, _ _ -ottomane, 214; Formation, 161162. I: ii: 315; Cahen, La Turquie pre 43 Ibn Wa Shuhba, T abaq sil, Mufarrij al-kuru d at, II: 158; Ibn Iya s, Bada8i 6 al-zuhu b, V: 162; Ibn Qa r, _ _ _ I: 275, 276; Ibn al- 6Ima d, Shadhara t al-dhahab, V: 236237. 44 See, for instance, al-Asnaw , T abaqa t, I: 503. In his Irsha d al-qa sid ila asna l-maqa sid, a widely _ _ circulated encyclopaedia of the sciences, Ibn al-Afka n , who lived and wrote in Cairo in the first half of the eighth/fourteenth century, addressed the (in his view mistaken) view that logic compromised religious belief; see Gutas, Arabic logical works, 60. 45 Abu ma, Dhayl, 182. On Abu mas attitude towards the rational sciences, see Hirschler, Sha Sha Medieval Arabic Historiography, 44 and passim. 46 Ibn Kath r, al-Bida ya, XIII: 177. 47 Al-Suyu , H usn al-muha t d ara, 541. _ _ _ _ 48 See further Hans Hinrich Biesterfeldt, Arabisch-islamische Enzylopa dien: Formen und die im Wandel vom Hochmittelalter bis zur fru hen Neuzeit, ed. Ch. Meier Funktionen, in Die Enzyklopa (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2002), pp. 7678; Endress, Cycle of knowledge, 128. 49 Makdisi has indicated the relevance of training in disputation for ambassadors; The Rise of Colleges, 155.

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Gospels in his writings;50 perhaps, given his familiarity with the Jewish and Christian scriptures, he followed his teachers example in offering instruction to the ahl al-kita , he demonstrated the scholarly passage open b. Finally, like al-Khu naj to Azerbaijani scholars between Egypt and Anatolia. If his teachers and family members formed the core of Sira j al-D ns network, he enjoyed looser connections with several other individuals who shared his affiliation with the Shafi 6i madhhab, his links with the intellectual tradition of Fakhr al-D n al-Ra z , and his cultivation of a wide range of scholarly interests. By virtue of his connections with Ibn Yu , Sira j al-D n acquired secondary nus and al-Khu naj ties to their students and associates, including Ibn Ab Usaybi 6a, Ibn Wa sil (d. 697/ _ _ 1298), Ibn Khallika r al-D n and Nas n Tu . The experiences of these a 6ya s n provide _ _ useful contextual information. The historian Ibn Wa sil, described by Abu (d. l-Fida _ 732/1331) as learned, an outstanding leader in many sciences (ka na fa d ilan _ ima man mubarrizan f 6ulu m kath ra), including logic, geometry, the principles of religion and jurisprudence, astronomy and history, was a student of al-Khu , on naj whose works he, like Sira j al-D n, composed commentaries.51 Sira j al-D n and Ibn Wa sil were acquainted with one another, and the latters residence in Cairo from _ 644/1246 until the early 660s/1260s probably coincided significantly with that of in, held the Sira j al-D n. Towards the end of his life, Ibn Wa sil, again like Sira j al-D _ office of Shafi 6i chief qadi, in Ibn Wa sils case in Hama. Furthermore, both men _ engaged in discussions with Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals, and undertook extended diplomatic missions to the Hohenstaufen court.52 In another example, Ibn Khallika n, who was associated through his father with Ibn Yu nus, combined expertise in numerous arts, including jurisprudence, grammar, history and lexicography; his own broad sense of the qualifications that entitled an individual to be considered among the a 6ya n is attested by the comprehensiveness of his renowned biographical collection, the Wafaya t al-a 6ya n wa-anba 8 abna 8 al-zama n. Like Ibn Wa sil, Ibn Khallika n travelled between Syria and Egypt and held judicial _ appointments in both regions, as deputy to the chief qadi in Cairo and chief qadi of Damascus.53 The most widely attested piece of information regarding the professional life of Sira l-qud a j al-D n is his service as chief judge (qa d t) under the Seljuks of Rum at _ _ their capital of Konya. Sira j al-D n writes in the introduction to his Lat a 8if al-hikma _ _ that he arrived in Konya in 655/1257.54 He appears to have spent the remainder of his life in the city, where he eventually died.55 Among Sira j al-D ns nisbas, some later authorities include the designation al-Dimashq ;56 it is possible that Sira j al-D n spent a period of time in Damascus, where, as the evidence of the extant manuscripts of the Tahs l suggests, he may have composed that work.57__


Lat a 8if al-hikma, 13, 16, 17; see further Yusufi, Editors Introduction, xixxx. _ _ GAL GI 607, SI 838. 52 Al-Safad , A 6ya sil, Mufarrij al-kuru , al-Mukhtasar, n, II: 404; Ibn Wa b, IV: 247 (see below); Abu l-Fida _ _ _ IV: 38; Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography, 2021, 26, 60, 61. 53 Al-Yu Shuhba, T abaq n , Dhayl, IV: 149153; Abu , al-Mukhtasar, IV: 16; Ibn Qa d at, n l-Fida _ _ _ II: 212215. See also Chamberlain, Knowledge, 86, 99. 54 Lat a 8if al-hikma, 6. _ _ 55 Al-Subk , T abaqa , T abaqa t, V: 155; al-Asnaw t, I: 155. _ _ 56 Al-Baghda l, Editors Introduction, I: 15. d , Hadiyyat al- 6a rif n, II: 406; al-Tahs __ 57 Al-Tahs l, Editors Introduction, I: 26, 125. Other modern scholars have likewise concluded that Sira j __ al-D n lived in Damascus (al-Zirikl , al-A 6la m, VIII: 42; Lat a 8if al-hikma, Editors Introduction, x). _ _ It may be noted, however, that Sira j al-D n does not appear in the Mu 6jam al-sama 6a t al-Dimashqiyya: Les50 51


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In what follows, I shall discuss, in turn, Sira j al-D ns career prior to his arrival in Konya, the possible factors involved in his move from Egypt to Anatolia in the middle of the thirteenth century, and his subsequent life in Konya, with a focus on Anatolias gradual integration into broader patterns of contemporary scholarly life prevalent in the societies of the eastern Mediterranean.

II. Sira j al-D ns career in Egypt during the Ayyu bid period From several sources, it is evident that before his arrival in Konya in 655/1257, Sira j al-D n had spent an unspecified period of time in Egypt. In this respect his professional migration mirrors that of his relative al-Khu . Contemporary naj sources mention Sira j al-D n in connection with a sequence of Ayyu bid rulers, the earliest of whom is al-Malik al-Ka mil (r. 615635/12181238). Sira j al-D n relates that al-Malik al-Ka mil held assemblies on Friday nights in the company of scholars and philosophers devoted to religious knowledge, philosophy, hadith, poetry, and the conduct of kings and caliphs.58 Al-Malik al-Ka mil was renowned for his holding of such assemblies, as well as for his foundation of religiousscholarly institutions and his renovation of venerated sites.59 Ibn Iya s (d. c. 930/1524) notes that the ruler was fond of adab and conversed with poets too.60 The Ayyu bid rulers patronage of scholars of many disciplines and his personal cultivation of broad learning attracted the attention and admiration not only of Sira j al-D n but also of other a 6ya n observes that al-Ka mil n affiliated with his network.61 Ibn Khallika used to ask the fud ala 8 whom he received on Friday evenings difficult questions in _ every branch of knowledge as if he were one of them (yas8aluhum 6an al-mawa di 6 _ al-mushkila min kull fann wa-huwa ma 6ahum ka-wa hid minhum).62 According to Ibn _ Wa sil and al-Maqr z (d. 845/1442), among the scholars who frequented al-Ka mils _ sessions was Afdal al-D n al-Khu .63 It is unclear from Sira j al-D ns account, naj _ introduced by the phrase in our own time (dar ru zga r-i ma ), whether he himself witnessed these events and participated in them, or whether he simply knew of their occurrence. Given his association with al-Khu , however, it is likely that Sira j naj al-D n attended al-Ka mils sessions with him. According to the anonymous record of the Mana qib of the celebrated mystic Awhad al-D n Kirma n (d. 635/1238), Sira j al-D n journeyed from Egypt to _ Malatya during the reign of 6Ala 8 al-D n Kayquba d I (r. c. 617634/12201237) for(footnote continued) ` Damas, 550750 h./11551349, ed. S. Leder, Y.M. al-Sawwas and M. al-Sagharghi certificats daudition a (Damascus: Institut franc ais de Damas, 1996). 58 Lat a 8if al-hikma, 288. _ _ 59 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya , Kita t al-a 6ya n, V: 81; al-Dhahab b duwal al-Isla m (Les dynasties de lIslam). ` gre (Damascus: Institut franc e des anne es 447/10556 a ` 656/1258, ed. Arlette Ne Traduction annote ais de Damas, 1979), p. 235; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu s, Bada k, I: i: 258260; Ibn Iya 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 264. 60 Ibn Iya s, Bada mil also composed poetry himself (H.L. Gottschalk, 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 267. Al-Ka Die Friedensangebote al-Ka mils von Egypten an die Kreuzfahrer, WZKM 51 [19481952], 64). 61 For a discussion of the Ayyu bid military elites cultural dependence on the a 6ya n, see Chamberlain, Knowledge, 4850, and nn. 69, 70; cf. Berkey, Transmission, 146160. 62 Ibn Khallika n, Wafaya r, al-Bida t al-a 6ya n, V: 81. See also Ibn Kath ya, XIII: 151. 63 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru sil, on their initial meeting, al-Ka mil b, V: 160162 (according to Ibn Wa _ _ addressed questions on medical subjects to al-Khu , who answered incorrectly and suffered naj embarrassment as a result); al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 258259.


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the purpose of visiting the shaykh. The source, which draws on Sira j al-D ns authority, relates that the Seljuk ruler, whose successor would receive al-Khu , naj welcomed Sira j al-D n, and offered him a post as qadi in an Anatolian city of his choice. When Sira j al-D n requested a posting to Malatya, the monarch suggested that the town was beneath his station, but the jurist insisted, on the grounds that his only interest was proximity to Awhad al-D n. Accordingly, Sira j al-D n served _ in a judicial and pedagogical capacity in a madrasa close to the Friday mosque in Malatya.64 The function of the narrative in this overtly hagiographical context is to enhance the reputation of Shaykh Awhad al-D n, a purpose for which, as will be _ seen below, Sira j al-D n would also be invoked in connection with Jala l al-D n Ru . But the report, if accurate, also confirms that Sira j al-D n, like al-Khu , m naj was resident in Egypt during the reign of al-Ka mil, and that, again like al-Khu , naj he travelled between Egypt and Anatolia, where, in the first half of the thirteenth century, both scholars accepted judicial appointments. The passage incidentally conveys an eagerness on the part of the Seljuk rulers of Anatolia in the decades before the Seljuk defeat at Ko sedag to recruit prominent Muslim scholars to their cities, a reflection of the relatively short supply of well-qualified individuals available in the region, and perhaps of the difficulty of retaining specialists of the calibre of Sira j al-D n and al-Khu in this period.65 naj The length of Sira j al-D ns stay in Malatya is unknown. It is possible that like al-Khu , he was among the scholars who left Anatolia at the time of the battle naj of Ko sedag in 641/1243.66 It is in any event clear from other sources that he was among the a 6ya lih (r. 637647/ n resident in Egypt during the reign of al-Malik al-Sa _ _ 12401249), who sent him on an embassy to the Hohenstaufen court. Ira Lapidus, Jonathan Berkey and Michael Chamberlain, among other scholars whose work is relevant to this study, have drawn attention to the frequent involvement of the a 6ya n of Egypt and Syria in extra-judicial capacities, in which, as Lapidus observes with reference to the Mamluk period, they were connected with the political and administrative concerns of the . . . state.67 Situated in the larger context of his extended network, the case of Sira j al-D n suggests that the broad intellectual competence so widely admired among the elites in the thirteenth century prepared individuals particularly well not only for judicial and pedagogical appointments, but also for diplomatic service in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean. Diplomatic relations between the Ayyu bid and Hohenstaufen dynasties An important part of the context for Sira j al-D ns role as an ambassador for al-Sa lih is the pattern of diplomacy between the Ayyu bid and Hohenstaufen courts_ _64 Mana 6 al-Zama n Furuzanfa r (Tehran: qib-i Awhad al-D n H a mid b. Ab l-Fakhr-i Kirma n , ed. Bad _ _ Bunya l, Editors Introduction, 25. d-i Tarjameh va-Nashr-i Kita b, 1347/1969), 91. See further al-Tahs __ 65 For example, the conduct of an earlier Sha scholar appointed to the judgeship in Konya, 6Al fi 6 b. Hibatalla h al-Bukha r l-Baghda d (d. 565/1170), apparently met with some disapproval (lam yakun mahmu d al-s ra f hi) (Ibn Manzu r, Takmilat mukhtasar ta8r kh Dimashq li-bn 6Asa kir, ed. M. al-Arna8ut _ _ _ and R. 6Abd al-Hamid [Damascus: Da r al-fikr bi-Dimashq, 1425/2004], IV: 189; cf. al-Subk , T abaqa t, _ IV: 284). His son 6Al b. 6Al (d. 593/1197), born in Baghdad, also travelled to Anatolia, but returned to Baghdad where the Caliph al-Na sir appointed him to a judgeship, and where he eventually became chief _ qadi and deputy to the vizierate (al-Subk , T abaqa t, IV: 279280). _ 66 Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 234. 67 Muslim Cities, 137138.


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that had been developed by al-Malik al-Ka mil I and Frederick II.68 Negotiations among Muslim and Christian powers occurred, necessarily, quite frequently in the Mediterranean regions, but the diplomatic relations between al-Ka mil and Frederick attracted particular attention, both positive and negative, in Christian and Muslim sources alike; for example, when Aragonese ambassadors to the Mamluk court sought to contract a treaty, they invoked the precedent of the emperor with al-Malik al-Ka mil had mil.69 In 624/12261227, al-Malik al-Ka sent the Amir Fakhr al-D n Yu suf b. Shaykh al-Shuyu kh (d. 647/1250) as an envoy to Frederick II.70 The Awla d al-Shaykh, described by Chamberlain as a kind of shadow ruling household, exemplify the participation of individuals and households in a wide variety of overlapping functions and activities; Fakhr al-D n combined his military and diplomatic service with the hearing and transmission of hadith, and several members of the family, including Fakhr al-D n, were trained in Shafi 6 fiqh.71 The mission involved protracted negotiations, but the ensuing truce, settled in 626/1229, allowed, as is well known, for the cession of Jerusalem to Frederick.72 Al-Ka mils initial overture to Frederick was prompted by his needSee al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 194ff; Gottschalk, Der Untergang der Hohenstaufen, 267282; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 162163, 169170, 183184, 194198, 202203 and passim; P.M. Holt, The Crusader States and Their Neighbours (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2004), pp. 8084; Michael Chamberlain, The crusader era and the Ayyu bid dynasty, in The Cambridge History of Egypt, I: Islamic Egypt, 6401517, ed. Carl F. Petry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 223 224. In earlier negotiations, Fredericks maternal grandfather, Roger II, had contracted a commercial dil (r. 596615/ agreement with Egypt and also engaged in correspondence with its rulers; and al- 6A 12001218), father and predecessor of al-Ka mil, had concluded truces with local crusading principalities as well as commercial treaties with Italian states. See further Hadia Dajani-Shakeel, Diplomatic relations between Muslim and Frankish rulers 10971153 A.D., in Crusaders and Muslims in Twelfth-century Syria, ed. Maya Shatzmiller (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993), pp. 190215. 69 P.M. Holt, Early Mamluk Diplomacy (12601290), Treaties of Baybars and Qala wu n with Christian Rulers (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), pp. 26, 130131. 70 Born in Damascus after 580/11841185, Malik al-umara 8 Fakhr al-D n Yu suf b. Shaykh al-Shuyu kh was among the most powerful amirs of the Ayyu bid period. Like his father, he was frequently entrusted with diplomatic missions of the highest importance, and, despite a three-year period of imprisonment under al-Sa lih, the latter appointed him for a time as his deputy (na 8ib al-salt ana, na 8ib al-mamlaka; on _ _ _ the nature of this post during the Ayyu bid period, see Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 4850). See Sibt Ibn al-Jawz , Mir8a 8irat al-Ma 6a rif t al-zama n f ta8r kh al-a 6ya n (Hyderabad: Matba 6at Majlis Da _ _ al- 6Uthma , niyya, 1371/1952), VIII: 776778; Abu ma, al-Dhayl 6ala Sha l-Rawdatayn, 184; al-Dhahab _ Kita , Siyar, XXIII: 100102; al-Safad , al-Wa b Duwal al-Isla m, 252255; al-Dhahab f , X: 5657; _ al-Subk , T abaqa r, al-Bida z , al-Sulu t, V: 40; Ibn Kath ya, XIII: 179180; al-Maqr k, I: i: 215ff; Ibn _ Taghr bird , al-Nuju s, Bada d, Shadhara m al-za hira, VI: 363; Ibn Iya 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 273; Ibn al- 6Ima t al-dhahab, V: 238239; al-Husayn , S ilat al-takmila, I: 211212, no. 317. _ _ 71 Chamberlain, The crusader era and the Ayyu d bid dynasty, 239; see also H.L. Gottschalk, Awla 2 al-Shaykh, EI I (1986), 765766; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 377. 72 For a full discussion of the agreement and the background to it, see Gottschalk, Die Friedensangebote al-Ka mils, 6482. On the variously reported terms of the agreement and the populations reactions to it in Jerusalem and Damascus, see Ibn al-Ath r, al-Ka r mil f l-ta8r kh (Beirut: Da sa dir, 1386/1966), XII: 482483; Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru d, al-A 6la b, IV: 241246; Ibn Shadda q _ _ ra f al-khat dhikr umara 8 al-Sha m wa-l-Jaz ra, ed. S. Dahan, Liban, Jordanie, Palestine: Topographie _ historique dIbn Sadda ais de Damas, 1963), pp. 234235; Muhammad b. 6Al d (Damascus: Institut franc _ al-Hamaw , al-Ta8r t kh al-Mansu r : Talkh s al-kashf wa-l-baya n f hawa dith al-zama n (Damascus: Matbu 6a _ _ _ _ _ Majma 6 al-Lugha al- 6Arabiyya, 1402/1982), pp. 176177; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 230233; D. Abulafia, Frederick II, A Medieval Emperor (London: Allen Lane, 1988), pp. 170172; Gottschalk, Al-Malik al-Ka mil, 156158; Holt, Crusader States and Their Neighbours, 8283; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 202203. On the general tenor of relations between Frankish and Muslim rulers ge zwischen in the first half of the thirteenth century, see Michael A. Ko hler, Allianzen und Vertra68

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for support against his brother al-Malik al-Mu 6azzam, after whose death in __ 624/1227 al-Malik al-Ka mil is reported to have regretted his promise.73 Of particular relevance in the present context is the affirming intellectual and cultural climate portrayed in several Arabic sources as the setting against which the controversial political agreement regarding Jerusalem is said to have been reached. Ibn Wa n , writing some decades after the death of the central figures sil and al-Yu n _ involved in the negotiations over Jerusalem but in an era when the successors to al-Ka mil and Frederick had also entered into diplomatic relations, emphasise the productive intellectual contact that accompanied the diplomatic exchanges between the Ayyu bid and Hohenstaufen courts. Like some other Arabic historians, they describe the Emperors respect and affection for al-Ka mil and especially for Fakhr al-D n, in whom Frederick is said to have confided, sometimes at the expense of the Franks.74 Several Arabic sources affirm Fredericks receptivity towards Islam and Islamic culture. In a widely reported example, Frederick is said to have expressed disappointment when the qadi of Nablus, appointed by al-Ka mil to serve as the Emperors guide to Jerusalem, ordered the muezzins of the city to forgo the adha n.75 The Muslim historians report that Fredericks favourable disposition towards Muslims and Islamic culture aroused papal hostility, and that the Popes (Gregory IX and Innocent IV) repeatedly excommunicated the Emperor; Ibn al-Fura t (d. 807/1405) avers that Frederick was secretly a Muslim himself.76 Even after Fredericks departure from Palestine, according to Ibn Wa sil and other Arabic _ historians, the Emperor continued to send gifts and to maintain an active correspondence with al-Ka mil and his successors. Contemporaries and later writers praised al-Ka mil for his interactions as an equal with the scholars at his court, to whom he posed challenging questions on a variety of scholarly subjects. Frederick likewise directed a number of abstruse questions on scientific and philosophical matters in his letters to al-Ka mil, who gathered answers from the leading scholars in his dominions; on one such occasion, as noted above, al-Ka mil forwarded Fredericks envoy to Badr al-D n Lu8lu8, who submitted the Emperors queries to the attention of Ibn Yu nus.77 Frederick also corresponded directly with certain Muslim scholars, most notably the Maghribi scholar Ibn Sab 6 n(footnote continued) nkischen und islamischen Herrschern im Vorderen Orient (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1991), fra pp. 357369. 73 See al-Yu n , Dhayl, II: 125; al-Dhahab , Kita n b Duwal al-Isla m, 220223; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 176185, 193198, 202203; Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Vol. III, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), pp. 184185; Abulafia, Frederick II, 180188. 74 Frederick is reported to have expressed little ambition for the regaining of Jerusalem, only a concern to safeguard his own reputation and standing among the Franks (Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b, IV: 242 _ 243; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 230). The Emperor is also said to have made derogatory remarks about the Franks intellectual shortcomings in an exchange with Fakhr al-D n (Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b, _ IV: 251). See also Runciman, History of the Crusades, III: 184185; Gottschalk, Al-Malik al-Ka mil, 156; Holt, Crusader States and Their Neighbours, 82. 75 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru z , al-Sulu b, IV: 244245; al-Maqr k, I: i: 231. _ 76 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru t, Ta8r b, IV: 248249; Ibn al-Fura kh al-duwal wa-l-mulu k, text and _ translations by U. and M.C. Lyons, Ayyubids, Mamlukes and Crusaders (Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, 1971), I: 48, II: 39. 77 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru , al-Ta8r b, IV: 246; al-Hamaw kh al-Mansu r , 189194, where Fredericks _ _ _ purported correspondence of 627 is reproduced (see further F. Gabrieli, Federico II e la cultura musulmana, Rivista storica italiana 64 [1952], esp. 711); al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: i: 232, 237.


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(d. 668 or 669/1271).78 Charles Burnett has situated Frederick IIs correspondence with and patronage of intellectuals who wrote in Arabic, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, in the context of the liveliness of debate and the simultaneous existence of several great Hellenistic scholars in the Mediterranean basin as a whole.79 The favourable image of Frederick that emerges from the accounts of Ibn Wa sil _ and al-Yu n should be situated in the context of the Muslim historians efforts to n enhance the reputations of the Ayyu bid rulers who had entered into controversial, if pragmatic, agreements with the Emperor, and by implication, to legitimise the later negotiations conducted by the Mamlu ks with Fredericks successors. Presenting Frederick as an exception to prevailing negative perceptions of the Christian rulers of the Latin West served to excuse, perhaps even justify, the contraction of agreements with him, and with his descendants who resembled him (according to Ibn Wa sil, al-Yu n and Abu , Fredericks sons Conrad IV n l-Fida _ [r. 12371254] and Manfred resembled their father in their love of the rational sciences).80 The positive portrayal of Frederick in several Muslim sources provides a counterpoint to the hostile representations that appear in several Latin sources, in part derived from concerted papal efforts to undermine Frederick by impugning his loyalty to Christianity.81 It is also important to note that the cultivation of a positive image among Muslims in the Mediterranean represented a purposeful strategy on the part of Frederick: as James Powell has put it, Frederick launched a propaganda effort to buttress his negotiations with the Ayyu bids who, in their turn, conducted a deliberate propaganda campaign to defend their negotiations and eventual treaty with the Emperor.82 Indeed, the contrast between the often oppressive measures adopted by Frederick towards the Muslim inhabitants of Sicily, culminating in his deportation of large numbers of Sicilian Muslims to Lucera in approximately 12211223, and his cultivation of cordial relations with renowned Muslim figures elsewhere in the Mediterranean is striking.83 Karla Mallette has described Fredericks correspondence with distant, eminent Muslims as a sign of his construction of an idealized Muslim virtual community, an element in his strategy of appropriating and manipulating certain aspects of Arabic culture and containing or distancing aspects that might threaten or undermine his authority and the stability of his kingdom in Sicily.84 de ric II de Hohenstaufen, Texte arabe publie Ibn Sab 6 n, Correspondance philosophique avec lempereur Fre ologie de Stamboul, 1943). par S erefettin Yaltkaya (Paris: lInstitut Franc ais dArche 79 Burnett, Master Theodore, 253. See further Dag Nikolaus Hasse, Mosul and Frederick II Hohenstaufen: Notes on At add radd n al-Abhar and Sira g n al-Urmaw , in Occident et Proche-Orient: Contacts scientifiques au temps des Croisades, ed. Isabelle Draelants, Anne Tihon and Baudouin van den Abeerle (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 145163. 80 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru n , Dhayl, II: 125; Abu , al-Mukhtasar, 3839; b, IV: 248; al-Yu n l-Fida _ _ Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 340. 81 James M. Powell, Frederick II and the Muslims: the making of an historiographical tradition, in Iberia and the Mediterranean World of the Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Robert I. Burns S. J., ed. Larry J. Simon (Leiden: Brill, 1995), I: 261269; Charles Burnett, The Sons of Averroes with the Emperor Frederick and the transmission of the philosophical works by Ibn Rushd, in Averroes and the Aristotelian Tradition, ed. Gerhard Endress and Jan A. Aertsen (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 261262, n. 10. 82 Powell, Frederick II, 265. 83 See John Philip Lomax, Frederick II, his Saracens, and the papacy, Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam, ed. John Victor Tolan (New York and London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 175197. 84 Karla Mallette, The Kingdom of Sicily, 11001250 (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 5859.78

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The utility of the intellectual aspect of the Ayyu bidHohenstaufen relationship, initiated by al-Ka lih mil and Fakhr al-D n, is indicated in its perpetuation by al-Sa _ _ and Sira j al-D n. In his Lat a j al-D n relates an incident that took 8if al-hikma, Sira _ _ place during an embassy sent by al-Malik al-Sa lih to the Emperor, King of the _ _ Franks (malik-i afranj-i imbirat u sil and r).85 From the accounts of Ibn Wa _ _ al-Yu n , both of whom were acquainted with Sira j al-D n, it becomes clear n that Sira j al-D ns brief reference to this episode was based on his personal ambassadorial experience: it was he who served as al-Sa lihs envoy to Frederick. Ibn _ _ Wa sil, who himself conducted a diplomatic mission to the court of Fredericks son _ 86 Manfred, King of Sicily (r. 12581266), reports that after al-Malik al-Sa lih came _ _ to power, he resumed the pattern of diplomatic engagement with the Hohenstaufen dynasty by sending the learned shaykh Sira j al-D n al-Urmaw , who is now qadi of Konya to the court of the Emperor (Frederick II).87 According to Ibn Wa sil, _ Sira j al-D n spent some time in attendance on the Emperor, who held him in the greatest respect. Eventually the logician returned in honour to al-Malik al-Sa lih.88 _ _ Al-Yu n , who describes Sira j al-D n as a leader in the rational sciences (ima n man f l-ma 6qu la t) and notes that the Emperor loved the [scholarly] virtues, the philosophical sciences and so on (ka 8il wa-l- 6ulu m na . . . muhibban lil-fad a _ _ al-hikmiyya wa-ghayriha sils account. According to al-Yu n , ), confirms Ibn Wa n _ _ Frederick welcomed Sira j al-D n, who remained at his court for a long period of ma) between the time, engendering extremely positive relations (mawadda 6az _ Emperor and al-Malik al-Sa lih, just as there had been between the former and _ _ the latters father al-Malik al-Ka mil.89 While the Emperors professions of admiration for Muslim culture and of personal affection for individual Muslims served distinctly instrumental purposes,90 it is also acknowledged that the Emperor, who received Muslim visitors and corresponded with Muslim scholars, probably understood Arabic,91 and demonstrated considerable interest in the knowledge that he acquired from Arabic books, in the original and in translation, especially in the natural sciences.92 Among the most intriguing elements in Ibn Wa lihs embassy is that Sira j sils account of al-Sa _ _ _ al-D n, while in Fredericks entourage, composed a book on logic for him.93Lat a 8if al-hikma, 288. _ _ Manfred was elected King of Sicily after Conrad IVs death in 1254, but his coronation took place only in 1258. 87 Ibn Wa sil wrote his Mufarrij al-kuru b in 671683/12721285. _ 88 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b, IV: 247. See also Gottschalk, Der Untergang der Hohenstaufen, 275; _ Francesco Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades, translated by E.J. Costello (London, 1969), pp. 27680; Burnett, Master Theodore, 252; Burnett, Sons of Averroes, 267, 274; Hasse, Mosul and Frederick II. 89 Al-Yu n , Dhayl, II: 125. For the political context for the initiative, see al-Maqr z , al-Sulu n k, I: ii: 328339; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 292293. 90 Cf. Abulafia, Frederick II, 144148, 180188. 91 The extent of Fredericks knowledge of Arabic is uncertain; see Gabrieli, Federico II, 6; Alex Metcalfe, Muslims and Christians in Norman Sicily: Arabic Speakers and the End of Islam (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), pp. 110111. 92 Abulafia, Frederick II, 1162, 251289. See also Hans Martin Schaller, Kaiser Friedrich II. Verwandler der Welt2 (Go ttingen: Musterschmidt, 1971), pp. 36, 4748; Mallette, Kingdom of Sicily, 4564, esp. 58. See also Burnett, Master Theodore, esp. 24854, where considerable prominence is given to Fredericks engagement with Arabic and Islamic intellectual culture, and Hasse, Mosul and Frederick II, where the Emperors connections with scholars from Mosul are particularly emphasised. 93 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b, IV: 247.85 86

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This information augments significantly the relatively limited documentary basis available for assessments of the presence and activities of Arabic-speaking intellectuals in Fredericks dominions in Sicily and southern Italy. In Fredericks reign, Arabic and Greek were falling into disuse in Sicily, and Sicilian poets were initiating a new literary production in an Italianate vernacular.94 Frederick sponsored translations of scientific works from Arabic into Latin, and his chief means of access to the Arabic scientific literature seems to have been provided by Christian philosophers and translators such as Michael Scot, who came to Sicily from Toledo; Jewish scholars also undertook some translations from Arabic for Frederick.95 Sira j al-D n, however, completed an original scholarly work, presumably in Arabic. This gesture, undertaken in the context of an extended ambassadorial visit, is somewhat reminiscent of the more extensive, cosmopolitan intellectual exchange fostered at the court of Fredericks maternal grandfather, Roger II (10951154) of Sicily, for whom al-Shar f al-Idr s had composed his geographical compendium, the Kita b Nuzhat al-mushta q f ikhtira q al-a fa q, also known as the Kita b Ruja r (completed in 548/1154).96 Charles Burnett has speculated that Frederick may have requested a book on logic from Sira j al-D n as a result of having been recently tutored in the subject by an unidentified Sicilian Muslim scholar.97 In its context of inter-cultural diplomacy, the book provided an intellectual meeting ground and certainly carried important symbolic significance as well. It seems likely that it functioned as a token of the givers learning and culture and the recipients intellectual receptivity and generous patronage. For Ibn Wa sils readers, it may have signified the powerful Emperors recognition of the _ superior intellectual status of Muslim scholars. The intellectual component in such inter-cultural contacts, important in itself, also provided an acceptable, even respectable, background for more pragmatic negotiations. When the Mamluk al-Malik al-Za hir Rukn al-D n Baybars I (r. 658676/1260 _ 1277), who had been trained and educated by al-Sa lih and claimed to rule as his _ _ heir, sent Ibn Wa sil in 659/1261 as an envoy to Manfred, the historian was aware _ that he had been preceded in the role by Sira j al-D n. Ibn Wa sil recounts that _ he spent some time with the king, who treated him with great honour, in one of the cities of Apulia (Barletta) near Lucera, where Manfred had ordered the construction of a house of knowledge, and where all the inhabitants were Muslims from Sicily, who openly professed and practised their faith.98 Significantly, Ibn Wa sil composed for Manfred the Risa la al-Anbru riyya, a treatise on logic later _ revised in the form of a commentary on a work of al-Khu , just as Sira j al-D n naj sil had written such a work for Frederick.99 In his diplomatic conduct, Ibn Wa : thus emulated Sira j al-D n: he presented a treatise of his own composition to the Christian ruler, and moreover selected for the purpose a work of logic based on the writings of Sira j al-D ns relative and the close intellectual associate of both men.Karla Mallette, Translating Sicily, Medieval Encounters, 9 (2003): 140163. Abulafia, Frederick II, 251279; Mallette, Kingdom of Sicily, 5963. 96 See further Abulafia, Frederick II, 1162, esp. 4950. 97 Burnett, Sons of Averroes, 267268. See also F. Gabrieli, Federico II, 6; Hasse, Mosul and Frederick II. 98 Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru , al-Mukhtasar, IV: 3839; Hillenbrand, The b, IV: 248; Abu l-Fida _ _ Crusades, 340341. The community at Lucera would be suppressed in 1300. 99 Abu , al-Mukhtasar, IV: 38; G. El-Shayyal, Ibn Wa sil, Encyclopedia of Islam (1986), III: 967; l-Fida _ _ Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography, 15, 60.95 94


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Ibn Wa sils and al-Yu n s accounts thus place Sira j al-D n in a particular group n _ of a 6ya j al-D ns n chosen to serve as envoys to the Hohenstaufen rulers. Sira discharge of this diplomatic mission demonstrates not only the high regard in which he was held at the Ayyu bid court, but also, considered in the context of earlier and later embassies between the Ayyu bids and the Hohenstaufen rulers, the importance of his placement within his personal network. Like his teacher Ibn Yu nus and his colleague al-Khu , Sira j al-D ns expertise in a broad range of disciplines naj suited him particularly well for the conduct of diplomatic relations with Muslim and non-Muslim rulers. That their expertise in the rational sciences constituted an important consideration in the selection of Ibn Yu j al-D n and Ibn Wa sil nus, Sira _ for such inter-cultural contact is suggested by the report of al-Safad (d. 764/1363) _ that Manfred greeted Ibn Wa sils treatise with the words, We did not ask you _ concerning what is licit and illicit in your religion, in which you are a judge. Instead we asked you about things that only the ancient philosophers knew. You answered [our questions], even though you had no books with you or any other [material] that might help you.100 That Sira j al-D ns efforts were perceived to have been effective ils account, based on a personal communication may be inferred from Ibn Wa s _ from Manfreds mahmanda r , that when Louis IX (r. 12141270) was planning to invade Egypt in 647/1249, Frederick sought vigorously to deter him. When these attempts failed, the Emperor reportedly intervened by warning al-Sa lih of the _ _ Franks advance.101 The latest chronological reference that associates Sira j al-D n with the Ayyu bid court falls during the brief reign of al-Malik al-Mu 6azzam Tu nsha h (r. 647648/ ra __ 12491250). At the time of al-Sa lihs death in 647/1249, the Franks, under Louis _ _ IX (referred to in most of the Arabic sources as roi de France), undeterred by Fredericks reported remonstrances, had, for the second time in the century, reached Damietta.102 Al-Sa lihs widow Shajar al-Durr, in concert with the Amir _ _ Fakhr al-D n Yu suf, took charge of affairs. As is well known, to avoid exposing Egypts vulnerability, Shajar al-Durr and Fakhr al-D n concealed the fact of al-Sa lihs death, and Fakhr al-D n sent al-Fa ris Aktay, one of al-Sa lihs principal _ _ _ _ mamluks, to Hisn Kayfa to summon the deceased rulers son Tu nsha h to the ra throne. By the time Tu nsha h, invested as al-Malik al-Mu 6azzam, reached ra __ al-Mansura, some of the Franks had crossed the Nile, and Fakhr al-D n, taken by surprise, was killed in 647/1250.103 Ayyu bid forces subsequently intercepted and seized the Franks supplies, inflicted a decisive defeat on the invading army at al-Mansura in 648/1250, and captured Louis IX.104Al-Safad , A 6ya n, IV: 447; cf. Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography, 59. _ Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru b, IV: 247. _ 102 dil in 615/1218; see Humphreys, From The earlier episode took place at the time of the death of al- 6A Saladin to the Mongols, 158165. 103 Sibt Ibn al-Jawz , Mir8a ma, al-Dhayl 6ala t al-zama n, VIII: 776778; Abu Sha al-Rawdatayn, 184; _ _ al-Dhahab , Siyar, XXIII: 100102; al-Dhahab , Kita , al-Wa b Duwal al-Isla m, 252255; al-Safad f , X: _ 5657; al-Subk r, al-Bida z , al-Sulu , T abaqa t, V: 40; Ibn Kath ya, XIII: 179180; al-Maqr k, I: ii: 339, _ 342346, 349351; Ibn Taghr bird , al-Nuju d, Shadhara m al-za hira, VI: 363; Ibn al- 6Ima t al-dhahab, V: 239; al-Husayn , S ilat al-takmila, I: 211212, no. 317. _ _ 104 Ibn al-Fura t, Ayyubids, I: 3237, II: 2631; Badr al-D n al- 6Ayn , 6Iqd al-juma n f ta8r kh ahl al-zama n, mma lil-Kita ed. M.M. Am b, 1408/1988), I: 1723, 2931; n (Cairo: al-Hay8a al-Misriyya al- 6A _ al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: ii: 356; R.J.C. Broadhurst, A History of the Ayyu bid Sultans of Egypt (Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers, 1980), p. 309; Ibn Iya s, Bada 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 278283; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 301302; Holt, Crusader States and Their Neighbours, 8486.100 101



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During this period, according to Ibn al-Fura t and al-Maqr z , Sira j al-D n, with other eminent scholars and jurists, attended a disputation with al-Malik al-Mu 6azzam Tu nsha h.105 Also present was the qadi 6Ima d al-D n al-Hamaw , ra __ _ who, according to Ibn al-Fura t, had been appointed qadi of Egypt after al-Khu s naj death.106 The disputation, which occurred immediately after Tu nsha hs arrival in ra Egypt in 647/1249, presumably took place at al-Mansura. The new monarch never reached Cairo; his brief rule ended when he was assassinated in 648/1250.107 Collectively, these reports attest to Sira j al-D ns growing stature in Egypt under successive Ayyu mil. The available bid rulers, probably beginning with al-Ka information indicates that Sira j al-D n belonged to a group of scholars who, trained in the manqu la t and the ma 6qu la t, took up residence in Cairo and became prominent members of the a 6ya lih, Sira j n. During the reign of al-Malik al-Sa _ _ al-D ns broad learning and social standing equipped him to maintain and develop the pattern of ostensibly cordial relations between the Ayyu bids and the Hohenstaufens. In this diplomatic role, he followed the example of the renowned Fakhr al-D n Yu suf and moreover established the practice of composing and presenting scholarly works as part of inter-cultural ambassadorial contacts. Sira j al-D ns position among the a 6ya n in Egypt facilitated his rapid assumption of notable status following his arrival in Konya.

III. Sira j al-D n Urmav s migration to Anatolia Sira j al-D n informs us that he arrived at the court of 6Izz al-D n Kayka 8u s II in Konya towards the end of 655/1257.108 Whether he had remained in Egypt after Tu nsha hs assassination until his departure for Konya remains unknown, and the ra reasons for his move to Anatolia are not recorded. It is conceivable that, just as al-Khu had left Egypt for Konya at the death of al-Ka mil, the deaths of Sira j naj al-D lih, and his successor Tu nsha h, as well as ns Ayyu ra bid sponsor, al-Sa _ _ al-Khu s death in 646/1249, may have contributed to his decision to leave naj Egypt permanently. The years that followed al-Sa lihs death in 647/1249 saw the _ _ departures of some other Cairene a 6ya j al-D n may have considered it n, and Sira advantageous to leave the city during the years of struggle between the remaining members of the Ayyu j al-D n ks.109 If Sira bid ruling family and the Bahriyya Mamlu _ left as late as 655/1257, the disturbances that followed the assassination of al-Malik al-Mu 6izz (648/1250, 652655/1254657) may have inclined him to move.110Ibn al-Fura t, Ayyubids, I: 33, II: 27; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu k, I: ii: 354; Broadhurst, History, 307. Ibn al-Fura t, Ayyubids, I: 33, II: 27; cf. al-Maqr z , who states that 6Ima d al-D n succeeded al-Jama l Yahya in the office (al-Sulu k, I: ii: 354). 107_ Ibn Wa sil, Mufarrij al-kuru t, Ayyubids, II: 3234; al-Maqr z , al-Sulu b, IV: 248; Ibn al-Fura k, I: ii: _ 358363 (where he is said to have ruled for 71 days); al- 6Ayn , 6Iqd al-juma s, Bada n, I: 2328; Ibn Iya 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 285 (where his rule is said to have lasted a mere 40 days); Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 302303. 108 Lat a 8if al-hikma, 6. _ _ 109 See further Hirschler, Medieval Arabic Historiography, 2425. 110 See al-Yu n , Dhayl, I: 4562; al-Dhahab , Kita kir al-Kutub , Fawa n b Duwal al-Islam, 265; Ibn Sha t al-wafaya d (Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahda al-Misriyya, 1951), I: 185188; Ibn t, ed. M. 6Abd al-Ham _ _ Kath r, al-Bida , 6Iqd al-juma s, Bada ya, XIII: 197198; al- 6Ayn n, I: 118, 140142; Ibn Iya 8i 6 al-zuhu r, I: 293295; Humphreys, From Saladin to the Mongols, 329340.106 105

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While it is possible, and perhaps likely, that conditions in Egypt and Syria where plague broke out the following year111 prompted Sira j al-D ns departure during these years of the consolidation of Mamluk power, they cannot account for his choice of destination. In this regard, the example of al-Khu , who had naj travelled more than once between Cairo and Konya, may have played an important role in Sira j al-D ns decision. It has been suggested that Sira j al-D n sought refuge in Konya from the renewed advances of the Mongols.112 On first consideration, the proposal is plausible. At the moment of Sira legu had already j al-D ns arrival in Konya, Hu taken Alamut and was planning to conquer Baghdad; the Mamluks victory over a Mongol army at 6Ayn Jalut in 658/1260 had not yet taken place; and the Mongol advance must have seemed relentless to many contemporary observers. The explanation seems insufficient, however, when it is remembered that by the midthirteenth century, Anatolia, while never subjected to devastation of the kind experienced in regions further to the east, had itself suffered repeated military, political and economic interventions in the decades following the Seljuks defeat at Ko sedag and was, from 641/1243, increasingly absorbed into the Mongol sphere. Indeed, in 654/1256, shortly before Sira j al-D ns arrival in Konya, the Seljuk army had suffered another major defeat at Aksaray, and 6Izz al-D n Kayka 8u s II, the Seljuk ruler to whom Sira j al-D n would soon dedicate his Persian work, had fled from his capital to Antalya.113 In the absence of biographical information regarding Sira j al-D ns activities in this period, the following section addresses the larger context for his movement to Konya, and may, it is hoped, evoke a fuller range of potential factors in his decision to settle there. Relations between the Seljuks of Ru m and the Mongols in the mid-thirteenth century In 641/1243, the Seljuk territories in Anatolia constituted a dependency of Batu (d. c. 654/1256),114 who, as the second son of Jochi (d. 624/1227), had received the western part of his fathers appanage on the latters death and was to become first khan of the Golden Horde. After the Seljuks defeat at Ko sedag , Batu had allowed Ghiya th al-D n Kaykhusraw II (r. 634644/12371246) to return to Konya as his deputy. Following Ghiya th al-D ns death in 644/1246, the vizier Shams al-D n (d. 646/1249) had raised the monarchs oldest son 6Izz al-D n n al-Isfaha _ Kayka 8u s II (r. 644655/12461257), aged 11, to the throne with his two younger brothers, Rukn al-D Arslan IV (r. 646663/12481265) and 6Ala n K|l|c 8 al-D n Kayquba d II, on either side of him.115 When Batu issued a summons for 6Izz al-D nAl-Yu n , Dhayl, I: 91. n Lat a l, Editors Introduction, I: 24. 8if al-hikma, xi; cf. Tahs _ _ __ 113 Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 273. Aksara 6i reports the date of the battle as 656/1258 (Kar m sa meret al-Aqsara [Aksara8i], Musa 8 marat al-akhba r wa-musa yarat al-akhya r, ed. Osman Turan, Mu l-ahba r: Mog ollar zaman|nda Tu rkiye Selc u uklular| tarihi [Ankara: Tu rk Tarih Kurumu Bas|mevi, 1944], p. 41). 114 On the date of Batus death, see Peter Jackson, The dissolution of the Mongol empire, Central Asiatic Journal, 22 (1978): 208, n. 87. 115 Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 23940; Aksara8i, Musa , 6Iqd al-juma marat al-akhba r, 3638; al- 6Ayn n, 8l Faraj, translated from the Syriac by Ernest I: 136137; Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography of Gregory Abu -ottomane, A. Wallis Budge (London: Oxford University Press, 1932), I: 410; Cahen, La Turquie pre 228230; Formation, 174176. The sources offer differing accounts; Aksara8i, for example, states that Ghiya th al-D ns death and 6Izz al-D ns accession took place in 647/12491250 (38).112 111


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Kayka 8u 8 al-D n s II in 652/1254, it was decided that his youngest brother 6Ala Kayquba 8 al-D n d II should attend in his stead.116 From Batus camp 6Ala proceeded at an uncertain date to the camp of the Great Khan Mo ngke (r. 649 658/12511260) in Karakorum, but died en route under suspicious circumstances and never returned to Konya.117 The two older brothers, 6Izz al-D Arslan IV, n Kayka 8u n K|l|c s II and Rukn al-D reigned sometimes jointly and sometimes over separate, partitioned territories. In the decades that followed their accession, 6Izz al-D n and Rukn al-D n came to represent divergent political and cultural outlooks and their constituencies, conjoined with different patterns of external alliances; these differences manifested themselves in the repeated outbreak of hostilities between them.118 From his capital at Konya, 6Izz al-D n Kayka 8u s II exercised authority in the western regions of Anatolia. His mother, the daughter of a priest, was Greek, and 6Izz al-D n retained close ties with his Greek relatives and with the Byzantine court for much of his life.119 Greek and Byzantine individuals, including 6Izz al-D ns uncles, were particularly prominent during his reign;120 in fact, Speros Vryonis has asserted that 6Izz al-D ns court was run by his maternal uncles and their influence and Christian orientation were such that there was a sharp and dangerous split between Muslims and Christians in the dynastic politics of Konya.121 6Izz al-D n, and later his sons, also enjoyed the strong support of the Turkman communities, who, like him, resisted assimilation into the Mongol dominions.122 In a demonstration of his interest in Turkman culture, 6Izz al-D n commissioned the Danismendname, the romance in which the author Ibn 6Ala 8 assembled, in Turkish, various narratives Arslan IV, concerning Malik Danis mend Ahmad Gazi.123 Rukn al-D n K|l|c by contrast, adopted Kayseri (sometimes Tokat) as his capital, and held authority in the eastern regions of Anatolia, where his position required his readiness to accommodate Mongol interests. His co-operative relations with the Mongols dated from his fathers plans, implemented subsequently, to send him to Batu, and they were later strengthened by his close association with the pervane, Mu 6 n al-D n Sulayma n (d. 676/1277), through whom the Mongols ensured the effective representation of their objectives in Anatolia.124Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 262264; Aksara8i, Musa marat al-akhba r, 3839. Al- 6Ayn , 6Iqd al-juma records 6Ala 8 al-D ns death as occurring in 655 n, I: 144150, esp. 149. Al- 6Ayn (I: 144145, 147), although Ibn al-Fuwat records it under the year 657 (al-H awa dith al-ja mi 6a, 341). _ _ -ottomane, 238, See further Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 278279; Cahen, La Turquie pre 246; Formation, 182; 188. 118 -ottomane, Aksara8i, Musa , 6Iqd al-juma marat al-akhba r, 3940; al- 6Ayn n, I: 145; Cahen, La Turquie pre 234, 238239; Formation, 179, 182183. 119 On intermarriage between the Greek Christian aristocracy and the Seljuk ruling family, see Vryonis, Decline, 227229. 120 Duda, Seltschukengeschichte, 265, 284; Aksara8i, Musa marat al-akhba r, 40; Vryonis, Decline, 232, cf. 440. 121 Vryonis, Decline, 466. 122 See F. Su mer, Kara ma n-Oghullar|, Encyclopedia of Islam (1997), IV: 619. _ 123 Mehmed Fuad Ko pru lu , The Seljuks of Anatolia: Their History and Culture According to Local Muslim Sources, trans. and ed. Gary Leiser (Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1992), pp. 4143; -ottomane, 335; Formation, 266. Cahen, La Turquie pre 124 Carole Hillenbrand, Mu 6 n al-D n Sulayma n Parwa na, Encyclopedia of Islam (1993), VII: 479. Aksara8i defines the pervanes office as the ima rat, called the perva neg (Musa marat al-akhba r, 89). On Mu 6 n al-D n, see further Ibn Sha kir, Fawa d, Shadhara t al-wafaya t, I: 362, no. 150; Ibn al- 6Ima t al-dhahab, V: 352.116 117

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As noted above, the Seljuk army suffered a major defeat in 654/1256. The sequence of events that led to this eventuality began when the G

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13th Century Logic