É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

LARSSON, Göran: Ignaz Goldziher on the Shuübiyya Movement

IGNAZ GOLDZIHER ON THE SHLCÜBIYYA M

OVEMENT "Whereas in the Umayyad period it was dangerous for the poet IsmäTl b. Yasär, who was moved by Shu'ubite ideas and ridiculed the pre-Islamic Arabs and their barbaric customs, to boast of his Persian descent, it was possible under the cAbbasids for scholars, poets and belletrists freely to oppose the national vanity of the Arabs with their proud reference to Iranian ancestry". 1 From this time onwards Persian and non-Arab traditions, especially in relation to ideologies of rule, became more influential and important to Muslim rulers. Generally speaking, the expansion of the Muslim territory appears to have created a new demand for an efficient administration and a suitable ideology of rule. This allowed the Sassanian and Persian traditions to be used as models for the Muslim community.

1

2 But Goldziher takes this argument still further: to him the shu

cübiyya could be seen as a promoter of Persian nationalism. However, this opinion was strongly opposed and criticised by H. A. R Gibb (see below).

1

. In any case, and irrespective of how we interpret the source material, it is clear that the shu'übiyya argument soon developed into a specific literary fashion and genre in Arabic literature. From that time it became possible to criticize and scorn the Arabs and their culture and way of life with the aid of the so-called Persian and Byzantine traditions.

1

4 For example, the famous Iraqi poet and follower of the shuübiyya, Bashshär Ibn Burd (95/714-167/783), writes in his DTwän

: Is there a messenger, who will carry my message to all the Arabs, to him among them who is alive and to him that lies hid in the dust? To say that I am a man of lineage, lofty above any other one of lineage: the grandfather in whom I glory was Chosrocs, and Säsän was my father, Caesar was my uncle, if you ever reckon my ancestry. How many, how many a forebear I have, whose brow was encircled by his diadem, Haughty in his court, to whom knees were bowed, Coming in the morning to his court, clothed in blazing gems, One splendidly attired in ermine, standing within the curtains, The servitors hastening to him with golden vessels: He was not given to drink the thin milk of a goatskin, or to sup it in leather vessels; Never did my father sing a camel-song, trailing along behind a scabby camel. Nor approach the colocynth, to pierce it for very hunger; Nor approach the mimosa, to beat down its fruits with a stave; Goldziher 1967, English trans. 148. Goldziher 1889-1890, 147-149. 1

1 Cf. Goldziher 1889-1890, 155. Cf. Gibb 1962. 1

4 Cf. H. T. Norris, ' Shuübiyya in Arabic Literature', in: Julia Ashtiany et al. (eds.), The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: ' Abbasid Belles-Lettres

, Cambridge 1990, 3147153