The other main element was the legend that Husayn, son of Ali (the fourth orthodox caliph, and grandson of Muhammad by his daughter Fatima) had married a captive Sasanian princess called Shahrbanu, the 'Lady of the Land'. This wholly fictitious figure, whose name appears to derive from a cult-epithet of Ardvisur Anahid, was held to have borne Husayn a son, the historical fourth Shi' a Imam; [Zoroastrians: Their religious beliefs and practices by Mary Boyce, p151]
This raised the question of why on earth she would equate an ancient Persian goddess of water and fertility with a person who existed in recent times and was not seen in any divine light, since we are dealing with Muslim beliefs that reject any demi-gods.
With a quick Google search I discovered the book: The Spirituality of Shi'i Islam: Belief and Practices By Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi. From chapter 1 to 4 it discusses the origins of "Shahrbanu" being the mother of Ali ibn Al-Hussain (AS). What is interesting is it states that this belief was evolved by several Persians around 282AH+ and the myth of the Sasanian princess exploded in Shi'i literature because people were too lazy to look into the details and confirm it... yet later on in the book it reveals the poet Abu Aswad al-Du'ali in 69AH mentions the mother of the Imam to be the daughter of Kisra (Yazdgird III). (more about this below).
Furthermore the myth was used to promote Persian-Araboislamic relations and perhaps played a role in the acceptance of the Muslim faith amongst the higher class Persians initially, followed by the lower class (the spread of Islam in Persia was irregular and unusual).
But Shi'a Islam is known for its scholarly approach to studying the original texts and logical thinking and reasoning and that is why we have this gem of a book available to us.
It states Imam Ali Ibn Al-Hussain's (AS) mother was originally called Sulafa or Ghazala and was an enslaved woman captured by the Muslim armies. An interesting quote from the infamous author of Al-Kafi by Al-Kulayni (329AH) also reiterates her being of noble birth but states her name to be 'salama', but those versed in Qur'anic text may be familiar with this word and its usage in the Qur'an and it is quite possible that it is not used as a literal name, but rather a descriptive metaphor about the personality of the Imam's mother, in that she is peaceful and/or comforting [see Quran 21:69].
Most interesting, Al-Kulayni quotes Abu Aswad al-Du'ali 's poem on the subject from 69AH which mentions the mother of the Imam to be the daughter of Kisra (Yazdgird III). The quote also contains mention of the "evil eye", which leads me to think this is not a valid source and my doubt about this source is acertained by al-Kulayni's well known method to have lay out the chapters of his Kafi book in order of trustworthiness of the narrations from the highest in trustworthiness at the beginning to the lowest trustworthiness at the end of the chapter, and this quote features near the end (according to Amir-Moezzi). Also, Amir-Moezzi points out that this poem is probably not by Abu Aswad al-Du'ali.
As for stories of how Shahrbanu gets to be associated with the Imams, there are different stories. Some say she was captured during Omar's caliphate, others Uthman's caliphate, and there are other variations. The only consistency between these stories is that she was a Persian woman who was captured by the Muslim army, enslaved as a prisoner/booty of war, was freed by Imam Ali (AS) and of her own free-will chose to marry Hussain ibn Ali (AS).
From page 87 it starts to explain Mary Boyce's belief about Ardvisur Anahid. Basically, she and a couple of modern Persian scholars try very hard to associate ancient Zoroastrian beliefs with the name Shahrbanu and come to the conclusion that there are various parallels between the myths about Shahrbanu in Islamic texts and the pagan worship of Anahid. Thus she equates Shahrbanu as a continuation of the worship of this pagan god though Persian Muslim traditions of visiting a particular spring and ascribing miracles surrounding the escape of Shahrbanu from the army of Yazid I after the massacre of Hussain ibn Ali and his companions in Karbala, Iraq, and her connection with God through intercession, especially for infertile women. But this makes little sense to me as the location of this spring in Iran is many hundreds of miles away from the plains of Karbala so I have no idea how the two can be connected.
It is worrisome that incorrect history keeps being repeated and Islamic scholars need to stand up to such ignorance and educate the masses and not continue stating she was the daughter of Kisra.
No comments:
Post a Comment