Hajib

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the village in Iran, see Hajib, Iran.
Not to be confused with hijab.

Hajib or hadjib (

Mamluks
, they acquired important judicial duties.

Origin

The office has its origins in

Ibn al-Zubayr.[1] However, in Arabic historiography, their existence is often obscured or euphemistically paraphrased, since the office was ill regarded in early Muslim society, with its strong egalitarian tendencies.[1]

Indeed, the formalization of the hajib is part of the consolidation and stratification process of the Muslim society after the

Sassanid Persian practic.[1]

Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates

In the Umayyad and early

Abbasid periods, up to the early 9th century, most of the occupants of the office were still mawālī.[1][2] During this time, the hajib still occupied a lower rung in the court hierarchy than the Arab aristocracy or the great ministers of state.[1][2] His main duties were those of a master of ceremonies, organizing and supervising caliphal audiences, and bringing visitors to the caliph's presence.[2] He was also head of the palace staff, and might sometimes be employed by the caliph as a trusted agent in eliminating certain of the caliph's subjects.[2]

With the rise of the Abbasids, the mawālī gained in prestige at court, despite their often very humble origin.

al-Fadl ibn al-Rabi' both became viziers after the dismissal of their rivals who previously held the office. This division and the rivalry between the two offices was strengthened during the "Samarra period", when the office of hajib began to be occupied by Turkish slave soldiers (ghilman, sing. ghulam), whose "background, formation, and interests differed starkly from those of the bureaucratic vizier".[1][2] Under Caliph al-Mutawakkil, the Turkish hijab Itakh served as chief minister, since the Caliph did not nominate a vizier.[2]

In the late 9th century, the position of the vizier was strengthened, as the powers of the office became more formalized and he emerged as the head of the civilian administration, underpinned by a highly specialized secretarial class. Another contender for authority also emerged in the commander-in-chief of the army.[2] However, the hajib remained a powerful official, especially during palace coups, as he controlled a part of the caliphal bodyguard, notably the Maṣāffiyya.[2] Under al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932), the hajib Nasr al-Qushuri became a major power-broker, since he occupied his post continuously from 908–929, whereas the viziers changed rapidly during this period. He not only had a role in the selection of several viziers, but also was responsible for arresting them when they were dismissed.[2]

After 929, the commanders-in-chief supplanted the viziers in power and began dominating the government, becoming the main rivals of the hajib, who now also assumed a more military character. Thus the hajib

Ibn Ra'iq who was selected as amir al-umara, and became the de facto ruler of the caliphate.[3] Having lost the struggle for power, the chamberlains were recompensed with an increase in titulature: from 941, the head chamberlain was known as hajib al-hujab ("chamberlain of chamberlains").[3]

Al-Andalus

In the Umayyad

Caliphate of Cordoba, the hajib was from the outset the most senior minister of the state, at the head of his own court (majlis), where he received petitioners and messengers.[3][4] The hajib was the chief aide of the emir or caliph and the head of the administration, supervising the three main branches into which it was divided: the royal household, the chancery, and the financial department.[3] Several of the holders of the office also commanded armies.[5] Unlike the Islamic East, the title of vizier was given to lower-ranking counsellors tasked with various matters, and subordinate to the hajib; the latter was almost always chosen from the viziers.[3][5] A number of ordinary hajibs was tasked with the doorkeeping duties and directing court ceremonies.[1]

Notable hajibs were

Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822–852);[5] the famously incorruptible Isa ibn Shuhayd, who served under Abd al-Rahman II and into the reign of Muhammad I (r. 852–886);[6] and finally Almanzor, who as the hajib assumed quasi-regal authority and was the de facto ruler of the Caliphate of Cordoba 978 until his death in 1002.[3][7]

Following the collapse of the caliphate and the political fragmentation of al-Andalus into the competing taifa kingdoms, some of the taifa rulers, who were not members of the Umayyad dynasty and could not claim the title of caliph, imitated Almanzor and used the title of hajib, rather than malik ("king"), thus maintaining the fiction that they were simply representatives of the long-vanished caliph.[3][8]

Eastern Islamic dynasties

Many of the dynasties that emerged in the eastern Islamic world after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate in the mid 9th–10th centuries modelled their administrative and courtly practices on the Abbasids. Thus the title of hajib was still used for masters of ceremonies and intermediaries between the ruler to the bureaucracy, but also as a military rank given to generals and provincial governors.[1][3]

Thus in the

qa'id and then to hajib.[3]

In the

Mahmud II—and was often held by some of the most powerful amir of the day, while others are rather unknown.[9] There were also a number of junior chamberlains with the simple title of hajib in the Seljuk court.[9] In time, the most important generals and provincial governors, as well as other prominent men of the realm, also acquired hajibs in their retinues. These were not always military men.[9]

Under the

Safavids the chief chamberlain was known as ishik-aqasi bashi and held the duties of a master of ceremonies analogous to the hajib-i dargah.[9]

Egypt and the Levant

In the Fatimid Caliphate, the hajibs were chamberlains, with the chief chamberlain known as the "Lord of the Gate" (sahib al-bab) or, occasionally, as "Chief Chamberlain" (hajib al-hujjab).[9] Furthermore, the writer Ibn al-Sayrfi mentions the existence of a hajib al-diwan, tasked with preventing unauthorized visitors and preserving state secrets.[9]

The military hajib was introduced to the Levant by the Seljuks, and this model was followed by the

Ayyubids after them.[9] However, the use of the title hajib for chamberlains continued in Egypt until the 13th century.[10]

Maghreb

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morris 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sourdel, Bosworth & Lambton 1971, p. 45.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sourdel, Bosworth & Lambton 1971, p. 46.
  4. ^ Kennedy 1996, pp. 44–45.
  5. ^ a b c Kennedy 1996, p. 45.
  6. ^ Kennedy 1996, pp. 45, 64.
  7. ^ Kennedy 1996, pp. 110–122.
  8. ^ Kennedy 1996, pp. 131, 135–136.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sourdel, Bosworth & Lambton 1971, p. 47.
  10. ^ Sourdel, Bosworth & Lambton 1971, p. 48.

Sources

Look up hajib in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  • D. Sourdel, Le vizirat 'Abbaside, Damascus 1959-1960.
  • El Cheikh, Nadia Maria (2013). "The chamberlains". Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir (295-320/908-32). Leiden: BRILL. pp. 145–163.
    ISBN 978-90-04-25271-4
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-582-49515-9
    .
  • Morris, Ian D. (2017). "Ḥājib". In Fleet, Kate;
    ISSN 1873-9830
    .
  • OCLC 495469525
    .
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