Ribat
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A ribāṭ (
The ribat fortifications later served to protect commercial routes, as caravanserais, and as centers for isolated Muslim communities as well as serving as places of piety.
Islamic meaning
Historical meaning
The word ribat in its abstract refers to voluntary defense of Islam, which is why ribats were originally used to house those who fought to defend Islam in jihad.[1] They can also be referred to by other names such as khanqah, most commonly used in Iran, and tekke, most commonly used in Turkey.[2]
Classically, ribat referred to the guard duty at a frontier outpost in order to defend dar al-Islam. The one who performs ribat is called a murabit.
Contemporary use
Contemporary use of the term ribat is common among
As caravanserais
In time, some ribats became hostels for voyagers on major trade routes (caravanserai).[6]
As Sufi retreats
Sufi brotherhoods
In time, some ribats became refuges for mystics. In this last sense, the ribat tradition was perhaps one of the early sources of the
Ribat was originally used as a term to describe a frontier post where travelers (particularly soldiers) could stay. The term transformed over time to become known as a center for Sufi fraternities. The ribats were converted to a peaceful use where Sufis could congregate.[8] Usually the ribats were inhabited by a shaykh and his family and visitors were allowed to come and learn from him.[2] Many times the tomb of the founder was also located in the same building.[2] The institutionalization of these centers was made possible in part through donations from wealthy merchants, landowners, and powerful leaders.[9] Some of these compounds also received regular stipends to maintain them.[2]
These institutions were used as a sort of school house where a shaykh could teach his disciples the ways of the specific
Female Sufis
Another use of ribat refers to a sort of convent or retreat house for Sufi women. Female shaykhas (شيخة), scholars of law in medieval times, and large numbers of widows or divorcees lived in abstinence and worship in ribats.[10]
See also
- Almoravids
- Al-Awasim, Muslim side of the frontier between the Byzantine Empire and Early Islamic realm
- Khan, Persian word for caravanserai; Turkish variant: han
- Khanqah, building used specifically by a Sufi brotherhood
- Ksar, North African (usually Berber) fortified village
- List of caravanserais
- Rabad, Central Asian variant for 'rabat'
- Rabat (disambiguation), Semitic word for "fortified town" or "suburb"
- Robat (disambiguation), Persian variant for 'ribat'
- List of Early Muslim ribats
- Cafarlet in Palestine
- Minat al-Qal'a in Palestine
References
- ^ Northedge, Alastair. "ʿAbbāsid art and architecture". Encyclopedia of Islam. 3.
- ^ ISBN 0807812234.
- S2CID 143772587.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Radical Islam In Gaza" (PDF), International Crisis Group, Middle East Report N°104, 29 March 2011, pp. 6-7 with note 61. Re-accessed 22 Oct 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0300053304.
- .
- ^ Hillenbrand, Robert (1994). Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 331.
- ^ Auer, Blain. "Futuh". Encyclopedia of Islam. 3.
- ISBN 978-1570038495.
- Cache of The Ribat by Hajj Ahmad Thomson, 23 06 2007[dead link].
- "The Ribats in Morocco and their influence in the spread of knowledge and tasawwuf" from: al-Imra'a al-Maghribiyya wa't-Tasawwuf (The Moroccan Woman and Tasawwuf in the Eleventh Century) by Mustafa 'Abdu's-Salam al-Mahmah)
- Majid Khadduri, War And Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955), ISBN 1-58477-695-1. p. 81.
- Hassan S. Khalilieh, "The Ribat System and Its Role in Coastal Navigation," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 42,2 (1999), 212–225.
- Jörg Feuchter, "The Islamic Ribаt - A Model for the Christian Military Orders? Sacred Violence, Religious Concepts and the Invention of a Cultural Transfer," in Religion and Its Other: Secular and Sacral Concepts and Practices in Interaction. Edited by Heike Bock, Jörg Feuchter, and Michi Knecht (Frankfurt/M., Campus Verlag, 2008).
External links
- Branning, Katharine. "The Seljuk Han of Anatolia". Retrieved 2 May 2021. With a map and list of Seljuk hans.
- Introduction and definition
- Origins of the Han. The evolution of stopping posts from the Ancient Near East, through the Early Muslim ribats, to the Seljuk han (Turkish for caravanserai); with a list of "Great Seljuk era hans and ribats in Central Asia and Iran"
- ArchNet: Origin and layout of a ribat and its adaptation as a caravanserai. Accessed May 2021.
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