In the eleventh century, Meccan descendants of the line from Ali and the Hashemite clan of the Quraysh increased their influence in the Hijaz. After shifting from Shia Islam to Sunni Islam, Ottoman protection allowed the Hashemites to extend their territory and take over much of the Nejd in central Arabia. They ruled the Hijaz and other parts of Arabia until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Introduction
In the early Umayyad period, between about 680 and 692 CE, Arabia became important politically as the centre of a brief rival caliph named Abd Allah bin al-Zubayr. However, he was largely powerless outside the cradle of Islam.
The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik overcame him at the end of the seventh century CE. In the centuries after that, the history of Mecca remains quite obscure. The political centre of gravity had shifted to the north, first to Damascus and then, under the Abbasids, to Baghdad. Although the famous caliph Harun al-Rashid made nine pilgrimages and spent huge amounts of money in Mecca, the situation there was not peaceful.
Shia Rebellion
Supporters of the Shia branch originating from the fourth Righteous Caliph, Ali, rebelled repeatedly. One of the most dangerous rebellions came from the Qarmatians who prevented the pilgrimage caravans from reaching Mecca.
In 930 they even raided the holy city, massacred thousands of its inhabitants and stole the Black Stone out of the Great Mosque and took it to Bahrain. They eventually handed it back, but Mecca remained disturbed. It was prosperous but riven by quarrels over the details of Muslim observance.
The Muslim pilgrim Ibn Jubayr, who came from Spain in the twelfth century CE, described the riches of the daily markets in Mecca:
“Concerning the foods, fruits, and other good things, we had thought that Spain was especially favoured above all other regions. So it was until we came to this blessed land and found it overflowing with good things” 1
However, he also wrote of extreme religious disputes:
“In the watching for it [the new moon] the people were involved in a strange circumstance, and a remarkable fabrication; and a false utterance almost provoked the stones, not to mention else, to rebut and deny it…rising to behold what they could not see, and pointing at what they only imagined, such was their eagerness that the standing on Mount ‘Arafat should fall on Friday.” 2
Madina was less contentious and prospered from being a political backwater. It became an important intellectual centre, famous for the teaching in its mosques. Islamic jurisprudence was particularly important. Madina was also an important stop for scholars performing the hajj pilgrimage. One of the most famous of them, the Moroccan Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth century, described the inside of the Great Mosque in glowing terms:
“Our stay in Madinah the Illustrious, on this journey, lasted four days. We spent each night in the Holy Mosque, where everyone engaged in pious exercises. Some formed circles in the court and lit a quantity of candles. Volumes of the Holy Qur’an were placed on book-rests in their midst. Some were reciting from it; some were intoning hymns of praise to God; others were contemplating the Immaculate Tomb [of Muhammad]; while on every side were singers chanting the eulogy of the Apostle {Muhammad], may God bless him and give him peace.” 3
The Hashemites
In the eleventh century, Meccan descendants of the line from Ali and the Hashemite clan of the Quraysh, and Shia, increased their influence in the Hijaz. Abu Hashim Muhammad (died 1094 CE) became Grand Sharif of Mecca.
His descendants, the Hashemites, often fought each other, but they sealed themselves in position by shifting from Shia Islam to Sunni Islam in the late fourteenth century CE and submitting to the Ottoman sultan after Sultan Selim took Egypt in 1517 CE.
Ottoman protection allowed these Hashemite Sharifs to build up their territory to the north and south and take over much of the Nejd in central Arabia. Despite a history of dynastic feuding, the Hashemites ruled the Hijaz, and other parts of Arabia until the beginning of the twentieth century. They had a lot of autonomy, and for much of the time, the Hijaz was quite prosperous.
For its food supply, the Hijaz depended on corn from Egypt, and on India for other commodities, which were imported through the Red Sea port of Jedda and subjected to customs duties. Massive numbers of pilgrims arrived there as well, making the port vulnerable to attacks.
In the sixteenth century, as it was on the front line of the sea war between Muslim ships and Portuguese, the Ottomans provided protection by sending one of their most skilled admirals to the Red Sea – the famous corsair and cartographer Piri Reis. Reis had begun his career in the Mediterranean, but became commander of the Ottoman fleet in Suez in Egypt. Piri was not very successful against the Portuguese, and he was executed in Cairo in 1553 or 1554.
Exploits of the English pirate Henry Avery and a group of five other pirate ships who captured an enormous trading ship belonging to the Mughal Emperor in India in 1695, give us some idea of the size of the Red Sea trade at the time. The loot was valued at between £325,000 and £600,000 (£38,946,017 – £71,900,340 in modern prices), even though the figure may have been exaggerated.
1 The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, A Medieval Journey from Cordoba to Jerusalem, ed. R.J.C. Broadhurst and Robert Irwin, I.B. Tauris 2019, p. 137
2 The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, A Medieval Journey from Cordoba to Jerusalem, ed. R.J.C. Broadhurst and Robert Irwin, I.B. Tauris 2019, p. 192
3 The Travels of Ibn Battuta AD 1325-1354 ed. H.A.R. Gibb, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1958, p.182