'Umar b. al-Khattab and the Abbasids.

• Author: El-Hibri, Tayeb
• Position: Essay

This article explores the possibility of mutual legitimation between Sunni religious foundations and Abbasid political interests. The main argument centers on anecdotes that elevate the images of al-'Abbas as imam and of his son Ibn 'Abbas as the expert (even founder) of the science of hadith (through close interactions with 'Umar on topics of learning, and through the collection of hadith in general). It shows the overall relation between historical and religious anecdotes, and how the medieval reader could not accept the authority of hadith collections from their first student, Ibn 'Abbas, without accepting the political primacy of the Abbasid family from the early days of Islam.

Verily God, in His grace and mercy and indulgence, has made those who exercise command vicegerents upon His earth, and has furnished for them a light that illuminates for the subjects those matters in their mutual relations which are obscure to them, and that makes manifest what is confused in the duties laid upon them. The illumination of the light of those who exercise command consists in maintaining the Divine ordinances and giving to all men their rights with resolution and clear command. And the quickening of the sunnas which the pious men of old have established as precedents is of chiefest importance, for the quickening of the sunnas is of the good which lives and dies not. (1)

In this celebrated passage at the outset of Kitab al-Kharaj, Abu Yusuf, the leading judge during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, asserts the religious right of the Abbasids. This assertion is rare because Sunni treatises that advised on issues of government generally did not recognize the category of gnosis as a caliphal skill. The office of the caliphate was usually described as a practical institution for communal welfare or a historical and accidental legacy that happened to be in the charge of either the Umayyads or the Abbasids. In either case, the caliphs were viewed as aspiring to the imagined ideal behavior of the earlier pious caliphs (Rashidun) but never themselves possessing a special privilege to guide religious knowledge. (2) This view gained further authority with the tenth- and early eleventh-century works of al-Baghdadi and al-Baqillani, which reduced the rank of al-'Abbas compared to other Companions (especially the Rashidun caliphs) and back-projected an image of the ulema as the holders of religious authority. (3) Al-Mawardi's celebrated political treatise al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya finally distanced the caliphs from any pretension to religious authority or to use of the title "God's Caliph," and this judgment has filtered into modern studies as analytic opinion. (4)

To revise this image of the caliphs as secondary actors in religious authority, this study seeks to explore the interaction between Sunni tradition and Abbasid interests in the domain of historical narratives. It approaches the question by exploring a particular pattern of dialogue between the second caliph, 'Umar b. al-Khattab, and the patriarchs of the Abbasid family, al-'Abbas and his son 'Abdallah. (5) At first glance, any connection between 'Umar's biography and his dicta and Abbasid historiography may seem to posit two chronologically different and unrelated themes. 'Umar's caliphate was, after all, an example of modest religious rule, openness to criticism, and exclusive emphasis on the sunna and the law, while the Abbasids developed the authoritarian concept of caliphal rule and based their political and religious pretensions to the caliphate on their kinship to the Prophet and on ideas that are drawn from Shi'i Islam. Yet it will be the argument of this article that in the historical texts the image of 'Umar as caliph and orthodox example is heavily dependent on the image of the Abbasids, and that the latter in turn used the biography of 'Umar as an occasion to build their centrality as rulers and official purveyors of Islamic law. With such a linkage it will be hypothesized that a new reading of Islamic texts is better based on the mutual legitimation that is at work in both the historical chronicles and the hadith literature, a legitimation not only of the authority of Sunni legal rules as expounded and demonstrated in the career of 'Umar, but also of the political and leadership pre-eminence of the Abbasids.

An initial exploration of this problem may begin with the well-known historical images of 'Umar and certain Abbasid caliphs. In spite of his renowned lack of interest in the trappings of power, 'Umar is usually portrayed in the sources as an effective centralizing figure and a strong personality to be reckoned with in times of crisis. This image did not exist in isolation from the images of other caliphs. Rather, it served as a model of hazm (resolve) and tadbir (careful planning) for which later caliphs (particularly al-Mansur) were famous. In fact, some statements attributed to 'Umar are identical to statements attributed to al-Mansur. (6) 'Umar lies at the intersection of voices in historical composition, including those of political wisdom, and Abbasid and Persian interests. Al-Tabari's descriptions of interactions between 'Umar and his governors and commanders illustrate this, but one can also refer to Kitab al-Taj, which was written in the Samarran period of the Abbasid caliphate and includes a prominent role for 'Umar as the keeper of the ancient Persian state order and the reviver of Ardashir's methods of government. (7) 'Umar appears willing to characterize the authority of the caliph as sultan allah (the hegemone of God) in order to safeguard the prestige and authority of the caliphal office, (8) and he shows signs of hierarchical courtly practice that was more typical of the Sasanids and the Abbasids. Ibn Sa'd's report that 'Umar used to admit Ibn 'Abbas along with the class of those who attended the Battle of Badr illustrates the ninth-century Abbasid and Persian practice of audiences according to rank (manzila) and the rigid hierarchy outlined in the courtly manual of Kitab al-Taj more than the democratic mix of interactions in seventh-century Medina. (9)

'Umar's biography was undoubtedly related, albeit in a literary manner, to a range of caliphal narratives. It related to the life of Harun al-Rashid, for example, in broad folkloric terms. 'Umar represented the epitome of the rustic Arab of the desert, as well as the austere caliph, both characteristics missing in al-Rashid's lifestyle. The second caliph's personality was constructed so as to contrast with al-Rashid's biography, while simultaneously showing the two caliphs' resemblance in seeking firm religious practice. The resemblance is sometimes evident in tangential motifs. The accessibility of the caliph to the public, for example, was a theme that received different adaptations--just as Harun al-Rashid sojourned in disguise in the streets of Baghdad, with his minister Ja'far, so too did 'Umar take nightly trips in Medina, accompanied by his servant Aslam, to check up in secret on the opinions and livelihoods of his subjects. While in the case of 'Umar such stories showed his religious concern for the welfare of the community, al-Rashid' s journeys showed a lighter purpose of sociability as the caliph encountered ironic and humorous conversations with commoners, and gained perhaps an occasional insight. (10)

Associating 'Umar with individual Abbasid caliphs helped strengthen their political image, but the key to legitimating their authority probably occurred in the crafting of narratives that gave particular central roles to the progenitors of the Abbasid dynasty, al-'Abbas and Ibn 'Abbas, in early Islamic history. These accounts, showing cooperation and reflective dialogue between 'Umar and the Abbasid patriarchs, sought not only to respond to competing 'Alid claims for authority, but to put the Abbasid ancestors in a superior light compared to everyone else, whether in the Rashidun or Umayyad periods, and to link political and legal interests in Islamic history. (11) The evidence that will be described below encourages one to hypothesize that the same narrators of 'Umar's akhbar were narrators of Abbasid history, or that they were writing in synchrony with that literature.

AL-'ABBAS

The thematic and literary link between 'Umar's narratives and those relating to the early Abbasid caliphate requires some analysis based on the patterns of orthodox polemic and Abbasid political propaganda. The most prominent expression of this combination of political and religious purposes lies in the high praise for al-'Abbas and his son 'Abdallah in the story of 'Umar's reign. Even a cursory reading of 'Umar's biography shows the high proportion of stories that relate to al-'Abbas and his son. Both figure in a variety of anecdotes and conversations with the second caliph that reflect favorably on the religious and political pre-eminence of the Abbasid family. This situation is unusual because throughout his career 'Umar never seems to have owed the Abbasids any debt for political or religious support. His career falls squarely within the drama of the broader group of the Companions, from the time of his conversion to Islam to the conflict over the succession to the Prophet. In fact, during the episode of al-Saqifa--when the first caliph, Abu Bakr, addressed the Medinans (Ansar) who opposed his nomination--'Umar is represented as vehemently opposed to the Hashimite faction (including the Abbasid family) and the Ansar who put forward their respective claims to the caliphate.

Whereas 'Umar's relations with 'Ali never warmed, his relations with the Abbasid family seem to have been frequent, cooperative, and critical. In a rich cluster of lore, 'Umar is portrayed as having revered and been deferential to al-'Abbas. 'Umar, who for whatever reason rarely translated his humility into a deference to the religious opinions of other Companions, consistently put al-'Abbas ahead of...