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Futuwwa Varieties and the Futuwwat-nāma Literature: An Attempt to Classify Futuwwa and Persian Futuwwat-nāmas

2013; Routledge; Volume: 40; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13530194.2012.734955

1469-3542

Khachik Gevorgyan,

Archaeology and Historical Studies

Abstract The purpose of this article is to present Iranian futuwwa brotherhoods in three main groups and to propose a systemised classification of their literature—the futuwwat-nāmas—according to their belonging to a particular group. As a result, in addition to Sufi (spiritual) and military futuwwa, a new futuwwa type or group, namely ‘craftsmen chivalry’, will be posited. The futuwwa literature of these three groups will be classified and similarities and differences discussed, with a special focus on those attributed to Iranian craft guilds. Notes 3 Mohsen Zakeri, ‘Muslim “Chivalry” at the Time of the Crusaders: The Case of Usāma b. Munqidh’, Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft, 22 (1996), pp. 29–50, at p. 39. 1 It seems that for the first time the term ‘chivalry’ was coined in relation to futuwwa by the Austrian orientalist and scholar Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall in his two articles on the topic: ‘Sur la chevalerie des Arabes anterieure a celle de l'Europe, sur l'influence de la premiere sur la seconde’, Journal Asiatique (Quatrième Série, Tome XIII, 1849), pp. 4–14; ‘Sur les passages relatifs a la chevalerie dans les historiens arabes’, Journal Asiatique (Cinquième Série, Tome VI, 1855), pp. 282–290. 2 Gerard Salinger, ‘Was the Futuwa an Oriental Form of Chivalry?’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 94(5) (October 1950), pp. 481–493. 4 In M. arrāf (ed.), Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, with analytic introduction by H. Corbin (pp. 1–109) (Tehran & Paris: Mo'in Publishing House, 1352/1973), pp. 6–7; the Persian translation of the same introduction: H. Corbin, Ayīn-i javānmardī, trans. Esān Naraqi (Tehran: Sokhan, 2004), p. 6. 5 Maurice Keen, Chivalry (New Haven, CT & London, Yale University Press, 1984), p. 16. 6 See http://iranica.com/articles/javanmardi 7 In Moammad Jaafar Majoub, Ayin-i javanmardi ya futuwwa (New York: Bibliotheca Press, 2000), p. 107. It should be noted that the same definition—that the futuwwa is the simplified version of Sufism—is given by Suhrawardī in his futuwwat-nāma at the end of the twelfth century (Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn ‘Umar Suhrawardī, ‘Futuwwat-nāma’, in arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, p. 94). 8 C. Cahen and W.L. Hanaway Jr., ‘Ayyār’, Encyclopedia Iranica; I.B. Mikhaylova, Srednevekoviy Baghdad (Medieval Baghdad) Vol. III, Fasc. 2, pp. 159–163 (Moscow: Nauka, Glavnaya Redaktsia Vostochnoy Literaturi, 1990). 9 arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, Introduction by H. Corbin, pp. 6–7; the Persian translation: Corbin, Ayīn-i javānmardī, p. 6. 10 As Suhrawardī mentions, there were some differences between these two groups in the ritual of initiation: ‘Dar futuwwa nīz ’ahd-i dūst, yekī sayfī va yekī qawlī’ (Suhrawardī, ‘Futuwwat-nāma’, in arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, pp. 89–102, at p. 101); ‘There are two initiation pledges; one is by girding the sword (sayfi) and the other is verbal (qawli)’ (translation of Suhrawardī's futuwwat-nama in Lloyd Ridgeon, ‘Javanmardi: Origins and Development until the 13th Century and Its Connection to Sufism’, Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies, 21[2] [2006], pp. 49–74). 11 Najm al-Dīn Abu Bakr Muammad b. Zarkūb Tabrīzī, ‘Futuwwat-nāma’, in arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, pp. 167–218; ‘Amma arbāb-i futuwwa ki hastand bar sih sinfand: yekī qawlī, duvvum sayfī, siyyum shurbī’ (p. 187); ‘… va shar -hā bar īn tartīb va bi qa d, kasī digar nayāvarde ast…’ (p. 192). 12 This futuwwat-nāma has been named Futuwwat-nāma-yi Mīrzā Abd al-‘Azīm Khān Qarīb by the editor. Mehrān Afshārī (ed.), Chahārdah risāla dar bāb-i futuwwa va a nāf (Tehran: Cheshme, 1381/2002), pp. 47–119; ‘Amma, futuwwa sih mazhab ast mar fetyān ra, ke ba'zī shurbī va ba'zī qawlī va bażī sayfī bashand’ (p. 71). See also the English translation by Lloyd Ridgeon in Jawanmardi, A Sufi Code of Honour (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), pp. 108–146. 13 Julian Baldick paid attention to the threefold division of futuwwat within Iranian society, but his views were mainly based on Zarkūb's futuwwat-nāma, without any notion of futuwwat-nāmas belonging to craft guilds. As one of the results of his research, Baldick concludes that ‘the continuity of the tripartite configuration from the Mazdean, pre-Islamic past to the Islamic futuwwa is solidly established’, while stating that ‘[i]t does not depend upon acceptance of the controversial views of Georges Dumezil. To him we do of course owe our inspiration in all that has gone before; but our proof is independent, and confirms and strengthens his arguments, while weakening those of his adversaries’. Julian Baldick, ‘The Iranian Origin of the Futuwwa’, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli, 50 (1990), pp. 345–361. 14 This theory has already been presented by the author. See K. Gevorgyan, ‘Fot'ovvat'i p'ulabažanum yev fot'ovvat'nameneri dasakargman harc'’ [The periodisation of the futuwwat and the problem of the classification of futuwwatnamehs], Iran Nameh [Armenian Journal of Oriental Studies], 39 (Yerevan 2005), pp. 22–26; idem, ‘Fot'ovvat'i zargac'man p'uleri andradardz fot'ovvat'namenerum’ [The stages of the development of futuwwa according to futuwwat-namas], Iran-Nameh [Armenian Journal of Oriental Studies], 40 (Yerevan 2005), pp. 43–50; idem, ‘A New Glance at the Futuwwat-namas’, Paper presented at the International Conference ‘Asian and African Studies in the Universities of St Petersburg, Russia, Europe’, dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of the Faculty of Asian and African Studies, St Petersburg State University, 4–6 April 2006 (Abstracts of Papers, pp. 182–183); idem, ‘An Attempt to Classify the Persian Futuwwat-namas’, Paper presented at the Third Biennial Convention on Iranian Studies (Organised by the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, ASPS), Tbilisi, Georgia, 8–11 June 2007 (Abstracts of Papers, pp. 59–60). 15 It should be noted from the outset that there were ‘transitional futuwwat-nāmas’, which were written in the fourteenth–sixteenth centuries, the period of the spiritual chivalry–craftsmen chivalry transition, that were mostly named futuwwat-nāma-yi Amīr al-Mūminīn ‘Alī. However, these works, sometimes not more than three or four pages in length, are similar to Sufis’ futuwwat-nāmas. The famous Futuwwat-nāma-yi Sul ānī is also considered a transitional futuwwat-nāma as it preserved the literary and folkloric features of both Sufi and craftsmen futuwwa. 16 arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān; Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla; idem (ed.), Futuwwat-nāma-hā va Rasāil-i khāksariya sī risala), Tehran, Pazˇuhisˇgāh-i olum-i insān-i va mutāliāt-i farhang-i (1382/2003). 17 Franz Taeschner and Claude Cahen, ‘Futuwwa’, Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM Edition, Brill. 18 W.M. Floor, ‘The Guilds in Iran – An Overview from Earliest Beginnings Till 1972’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 125(1) (1975), pp. 99–116; idem, ‘Guilds and Futuvvat in Iran’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 134(1) (1984), pp. 106–114; idem, “Anāf”, Encyclopedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 7, pp. 772–778. 19 Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla; idem, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va Rasā'il-i Khāksāriya. 20 The Russian scholar V. Gordlevskiy has shown the same in the example of Turkish guilds: V.A. Gordlevskiy, ‘Dervishi Akhi Evrana I Tsekhi Turtsii’, Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR (VI series, vol. 21, issue 7, 1927), pp. 1171–1194. idem, Gosudarstvo Seljukidov Maloy Azii (Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1940), in Izbranniye Sochineniya (Moskva, 1960), Vol. I, pp. 31–307. For Bosnian guilds, see Ines Aščerić-Todd, ‘The Noble Traders: The Islamic Tradition of “Spiritual Chivalry” (futuwwa) in Bosnian Trade-Guilds (16th–19th Centuries)’, The Muslim World, 97 (Izdatelstvo Vostochnoy Literaturi: April 2007), pp. 159–173. 21 M. Gavrilov, Risolya saratovskikh Remeslennikov (Tashkent, 1912), p. 10; idem, ‘O remeslennikh tsekhakh v Sredney Azii I ikh statutakh Risolya’, in Izvestiya Sredne-Aziatskogo komiteta po delam muzeev I okhrani pamyatnikov starini, iskustva I prirodi (Tashkent: Vipusk tretiy, 1928), pp. 223–241, at p. 229. 22 arrāf, op. cit., pp. 225–240. 23 All these texts are published in Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla. The translations of crafts’ names are listed according to Willem Floor's translation, in his book review on Fotovvat va asnaf – Chahardah Resaleh dar bab-e Fotovvat va Asnaf, published in Iranian Studies, 37(2) (2004), pp. 366–368. 24 All these texts are published in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-ha va rasā'il-i khāksāriya. 25 Iraj Afshār, ‘Futuwwat-nāma-yi saqqāyān’, in Nāmvarā-yi duktur Mu ammad Afshār (Tehran: jild-i haftum, 1372), pp. 3887–3894. 26 ‘Ali Akbar Khānmuammadī, ‘Futuwwat-nāma-yi bannāyān’, ofe, 2/5, (Tehran 1371/1992), Danisˇgāh-i Sˇāhid Behesˇti, pp. 10–15. 27 Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla, pp. 119–137. 28 M. Afshārī, ‘Futuwwat-nāma-yi sipāhgarān’, in Yād-i Bahār, Yādnāma-yi Duktur Mihrdād Bahār (Tehran: Intishārāt-i āgāh, 1376/1997), pp. 85–89. 29 ‘Futuwwat-nāma-yi dīgarī az ‘Umar Suhravardī’, in arrāf, Rasā'īl-i javānmardān, pp. 105–106. 31 Abdālbāqi Golpinārli, Futuwwa dar kešwarhā-yi islāmī va mākhi z -e ān, hamrāh bā futuwwat-nāma-yi man ūm-i Nā irī (Tehran: Ruzane, 1379/2000), pp. 157–197, at p. 162. 32 Golpinārli, Futuwwa dar kešwarhā-yi islāmī. 30 Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va rasā'il-i khāksāriya, p. 73. Of course these particular canons are also preserved in Islamic purity laws. 33 On the relations between Khāksāriya and futuwwa see Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāmaha va rasā'il-i khāksāriya; A. Zarrīnkūb, Justajū dar ta awwuf-i Irān (Tehran, 1357/1978); Lloyd Ridgeon, Morals and Mysticism in Persian Sufism: A History of Sufi-futuwwat in Iran (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), pp. 148–154. 34 Afshāri, Futuwwat nāmahā va Rasā'il-i Khāksāriya, p. xxxvi of introduction (in footnotes). 35 The treatise called Wasilat al-Najāt tells about all the 70 crafts which were known to be common among the followers of the ‘Ajam order (see Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va Rasā'il-e Khāksāriya, pp. 231–294). 36 For more on this see M. Maūb, ‘Sukhanwarī’, in Adabiyāt-e ‘amiyana-yi Irān (Tehran: jild-i duvvum, 1381/2003), pp. 1052–1078. 37 Futuwwat-nāma-yi dallākān, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va …, p. 93. 38 Futuwwat-nāma-yi qa āb, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va…, pp. 46–52; Risāla-yi qa ābān va sallākhān, in Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla, pp. 176–195. 39 The story of Adam and his children being engaged in agricultural work is also preserved in Suhrawardī's short futuwwat-nāma, where the passage states: ‘Adam taught his children a profession and trade so that they would be engaged in pastoralism and tillage of this world. Since Adam was the deputy of the land, it was necessary to spread out the stall (besat) of justice and he engaged [his] children in pastoralism and tillage, teaching all of them a trade and profession, except the messenger Seth’. See translation of Suhrawardī's futuwwat-nāma in Ridgeon, ‘Javanmardi’, p. 66. 40 Risāla-yi qa ābān va sallākhān, in Afshārī, Chahārdah risāla, p. 181. 41 Futuwwat-nāma-yi kafshdūzān (2), in Afshari, Futuwwat-nāmā-ha va…, p. 58. 42 Futuwwat-nāma-yi abbākhān, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va…, p. 64. 43 Futuwwat-nāma-yi salmānīyān, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va…, p. 76. 44 Futuwwat-nāma-yi salmānīyān, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va…, pp. 78–79. 45 Futuwwat-nāma-yi salmānīyān, in Afshārī, Futuwwat-nāma-hā va…, p. 76. For more on hair among Sufis, see Lloyd Ridgeon, ‘Shaggy or Shaved? The Symbolism of Hair among Persian Qalandar Sufis’, Iran and the Caucasus, 14 (2010), pp. 233–264.