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- Title
A Jewish Vizier and his Shīʿī Manifesto: Jews, Shīʿīs, and the Politicization of Confessional Identities in Mongol-ruled Iraq and Iran (13th to 14th centuries).
- Authors
Brack, Jonathan
- Abstract
This paper seeks to situate Jewish individuals from the upper echelons of the Mongol government in Iran and Iraq (1258‒1335) in relation to the process of confessional, Sunnī-Shīʿī polarization. Focusing on the case of the Baghdadi Jewish physician and vizier Saʿd al-Dawla (d. 1291), I explore how the Jewish minister sought to take advantage of Twelver-Shīʿī rise to prominence under the Mongols. I argue that the vizier attempted to strike an alliance with the Shīʿī communities in Iraq and with influential Shīʿī families with long-established ties to the Mongol regime, in order to curtail resistance to his policies and to the Jewish dominance in the realm's bureaucracy. I consider Saʿd al-Dawla's endeavors within the broader historical context of Shīʿī-Jewish relations. The article concludes by examining the two decades following Saʿd al-Dawla's downfall, when a group of eminent Jewish physicians at the Mongol court converted to Islam. I show how these converts continued to exploit the process of politicization of confessional identities under the Mongols.
- Publication
Der Islam, 2019, Vol 96, Issue 2, p374
- ISSN
0021-1818
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/islam-2019-0028