questions
on Dome of the Rock:
--inscriptions and
decorations
--political meaning in civil war
--religious meaning in relation to Judaism and Christianity
article
on Makiya in New York Times Magazine, Oct. 8
brief note on early caliphate:
- Four "rightly guided" caliphs
- Abu Bakr
- `Umar
- `Uthman (related to aristocratic Umayyad
family; assassinated)
- `Ali (d. 661)
- Umayyad (or later, Marwani) dynasty
- Mu`awiya (descendant of Umayya) defeats
`Ali, succeeded by son Yazid
- contested by Husayn, grandson of Muhammad
and son of `Ali (killed at Karbala, 680)
- also contested by Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca
(besieged in 683) and by Khariji (Seceder) movement
- Marwan takes power 684, succeeded by `Abd
al-Malik (685-705)
Caliphate
Umayyad dynasty 661-750
`Abbasid, 750-945, theoretical until 1258
relative goes to Cairo, Mamluks to 1500
1773, Ottomans claim to be caliphs
1924, caliphate abolished by Ataturk
Makiya,
The Rock, Part 3, pp. 142-204
Facing Whose Rock?
Arab
warriors, the treasury register, the garrison cities
Jewish scholars converted to Islam
the change of the prayer direction
Jewish hopes that Umar would be a messiah
Jewish Muslims who preserve the prayer direction
Growing
up in Jerusalem
struggle
between the House of Hashim and House of Umayya
Uthman's nepotism, and Mu`awiya's appointment
Arab acquisition of Christian lands
the beauty of the book
condemnation of pictures
open-air dome of the Church of the Ascension (picture p. 156)
blood sacrifice on the rock
critique of idolatry coming in the back door
How many centers can the world have?
verses on p. 159 are from al-Ma`arri, famous skeptical poet --
reflective of the author's position?
the
Death of Ka`b
Civil
War
the followers of `Ali
(Makiya's position?)
note that Ka`b is
buried facing Jerusalem
The Wait in the Grave
angels'
interrogation in the grave
"if I am alone, I pray facing Jerusalem's Rock."
the death of Uthman; his Qur'an, and the bloody
shirt
Hasan poisoned in Medina
The Footprint
the Caliph as
deputy of God
footprint of the Prophet in Istanbul (page 178)
story of the ascension of the Prophet into heaven
sarcastic reference to the origin of the prayers (see picture page 183)
problem of oral tradition
the footprint of God?
War of the Holy Cities
Caliph becomes king
Civil war -- the murder of Husayn
Zubayr claims Caliphate in Mecca
Abd al-Malik rules the Empire, but not from Arabia
burning down the Ka`ba
Meeting Abd
al-Malik
anthropomorphism
(196)
more questions about David
`Abd al-Malik's coin, p. 200
dispute over where Adam fell to earth
the role of the court poet
search for a symbolic, not just a military, solution for the Empire