É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
LARSSON, Göran: Ignaz Goldziher on the Shuübiyya Movement
G ÖRAN LARSSON creative use of the categories of the history of religions, to reconstruct the architecture of the history of Islamic religion as he did". 5 It is also important to note that, in analysing the early history of Islam and the prevailing exegesis among the various Muslim groups, Goldziher paid attention to local variations of time, space and spatiality, using a scientific approach not necessarily or commonly shared by his contemporary colleges. By this method it became possible to study, analyse and compare the 'classical heritage' of Islam with so-called heretical and sectarian interpretations. A second important scientific improvement of Goldziher's was that he demonstrated how Islam embraced local variations and tensions, for example between Arab and non-Arab Muslims ( cajam , mawlä etc.). By addressing this issue he brought up the essential but very difficult question of Islam and egalitarianism. 6 As a theological system, does Islam support egalitarian structures or hierarchical ones dividing believers? 7 Even though Goldziher never answered this question, it is closely related to the shiiübiyya movement and their reactions to Arab domination. The shu'ubiyya To Goldziher the shuübiyya, which reached its peak during the second and third centuries AH in Persia and Central Asia, was seen as a clearly defined political party consisting mainly of well-educated non-Arab writers, poets and administrators. 8 Even though the movement developed in the East, similar ideas were also expressed in al-Andalus during the 5th/uth century. 9 In any case, according to the tenets of the shu übiyya, the Arabs were inferior to the non-Arabs in race and ethnicity and not vice versa, as often claimed by Arabs." 1 However, this opinion could be used to legitimize either an egalitarian interpretation of Islam or a hierarchical interpretation in favour of the non-Arabs. According to Goldziher, to be able to understand this development and the tensions articulated by the shufibiyya, it is necessary to pay attention to the political changes that followed the fall of the Umayyad dynasty and the rise of the Abbasids. He writes: 5 Jacques Waardenburg, 'Goldziher, Ignácz', in: The Encyclopedia of Religion , ed. M. Eliade, Vol. 6. New York 1987, 74. 6 Ignaz Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, Halle 1889-1890, 2 vols. 101-146. English trans, by S. M. Stern, Muslim Studies. London 1967. 7 Cf. Louise Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought. Cambridge 1997. 8 Goldziher 1889-1890, 147. 9 On the shiTübiyya in al-Andalus, see N0.1. above; Göran Larsson, Ibn Garcia's shuübiyya Letter: Ethnic and Theological Tensions in Medieval al-Andalus. Leiden 2003; James Monroe, The shu Lübiyya in al-Andalus. The Risala of Ibn Garcia and Five Refutations. Berkeley 1970. 1 0 Goldziher 1889-1890, 147. 152
