This dissertation tries to study the reign of al-Qadir billah, the `Abbasid caliph who assumed power in 381/991. It deals with political, economic and religious aspects of his reign in an attempt to give a balanced description of his achievement. / When al-Qadir was appointed caliph the `Abbasid caliphate had already declined politically and economically. The political decline was caused mainly by the soldiers' intervention in politics since the reign of al-Mutawakkil (232/847--247/851) onwards and the take over of the state administration and military control by the amir al-umara. The economic decline resulted from two important factors: first, it was caused by a great decrease in revenues coming from the lands since they were now held by the newly emerging principalities. Second, it was due to the military iqṭas which prevailed during Buwayhid rule and damaged the lands so badly that they could no longer be cultivated. / With this political and economic decline al-Qadir was unable to face the encroachment of the Buwayhids. However, with the support of the Ghaznavids and the increasing weakness of the Buwayhids, al-Qadir tried to exert himself. In 390/1000 he sent a letter to the new qaḍi of Jilan asking him to exhort the people to be loyal to the caliph. He rejected Baha' al-Dawla's appointment of the Sharif al-Musawi to the post of the qaḍi al-quḍat in 394/1003. In 401/1010 he ordered Baha' al-Dawla to crush a deviant ally of the `Abbasids, Qirwash b. Muqallad. He criticized Musharrif al-Dawla's initiative to renew the oath of allegiance of the soldiers in 414/1023 without his permission. And during the conflicts in (419/1028) between the soldiers and the Buwayhid amirs, he succeeded in reconciling both parties and prevented them from fighting. Finally, al-Qadir was also able to appoint his successors without first consulting the Buwayhid amirs. / Realizing that his temporal power was limited, al-Qadir embarked on the Sunnite restoration and made a serious attempt for this purpose. In 408/1017 he demanded that the Ḥanafite-Mu`tazilite jurisconsults and qaḍis make public renounciation of Mu`tazilism and Rafid&dotbelow;ism and banned any Discussion and instruction of all other allegedly Deviant Doctrines. In 420/1029 he wrote three epistles in which he acknowledged the excellence of Sunnite orthodoxy, condemned Mu`tazilism and declared that those who believed in the createdness of the Qur'`ān as fasiq. All these epistles which were obviously inspired by the ideas of the Ḥanbalite Traditionalists were called al-I`tiqad al-Qadiri (the Profession or Creed of al-Qadir). / In maintaining his caliphate, al-Qadir established good relations with scholars of the four schools of law, most significantly with the Malikite al-Baqillani, the Shafi`ite al-Mawardi and the H&dotbelow;anbalite Abu Ya`la. Finally, al-Qadir contributed to the literary Development of the theory of the Sunnite imamate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.38524 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Tholib, Udjang |
| Contributors | Little, Donald P. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001954045, proquestno: NQ85747, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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