INTRODUCTION

The shift of the ḥanbalite metropolis from Baghdad to Damascus represents the first of two major geographical discontinuities in ḥanbalite history. Up the end of the ‘Abbāsid caliphate, Baghdad had remained the undisputed centre of the ḥanbalite school; and even after the Mongols sacked the city in 656/1258, the ḥanbalite scholars of Baghdad retained a certain distinction. But it was the ḥanbalites of Damascus, already prominent in late ‘Abbāsid times, who now played the leading role in ḥanbalite scholarship. It is to this milieu, for example, that we owe our first substantial ḥanbalite law-book, the voluminous survey of Muwaffaq al-Dīn ibn Qudāma (d. 620/1223). The result of this geographical shift was that ḥanbalite thought now evolved in a markedly different setting. Living as they did in a predominantly Shāfi'ite city, the ḥanbalites of Damascus were a minority of the population – albeit, as Madelung has put it, a vocal and respected one. There could thus be no question of their dominating Damascene society, whether with or against the state; and ḥanbalite demagoguery in the style of Barbahārī was never a serious option in Damascus.

The attitude of the state was accordingly a key factor in determining how far the ḥanbalite community was left out in the cold. Here there was a gradual shift in its favour.