Amir al-Mu'minin
al-Mu'minin (Arabic: أَمِير ٱلْمُؤْمِنِين, romanized: ʾamīr al-muʾminīn) is an Arabic title that is usually translated "Commander of the Faithful". It is sometimes translated as "Prince of the Believers", since the word amir is also used as a princely title in states ruled by the royalty or monarchies. However, according to orientalist historian H. A. R. Gibb, this translation is "neither philologically nor historically correct".[1] The title is latinized as Miramolinus, hence Italian Miramolino, Sicilian Miramulinu, French Miramolin, Spanish Miramolín and Portuguese Miramolim, and in Byzantine Greek, ἀμερμουμνῆς amermoumnês.
History Edit
The title derives from the common Arabic term designating a military commander, amīr, and was used for Muslim military commanders already during the lifetime of Muhammad. In this capacity it was, for example, borne by the Muslim commander at the Battle of al-Qadisiyya.[1]
On his accession in 634, Umar ibn Khattab (r. 634–644), the second Muslim caliph, adopted the title as his own. This was likely not for its military connotation, but rather deriving from a Quranic injunction to "Obey God and obey the Apostle and those invested with command among you" (Sura 4, verses 58–62).[1] According to Fred M. Donner, the title's adoption marked a step in the centralization of the nascent Muslim state, as the amīr al-muʾminīn was acknowledged as the central authority of the expanding Muslim empire, being responsible for appointing and dismissing generals and governors, taking major political decisions, and keeping the dīwān, the list of those Believers entitled to a share of the spoils of conquest.[2] From Umar on, the title became a fixed part of caliphal titelature;[1] Indeed, it appears to have been the chief title of the early caliphs,[3] and the actual title of caliph (khalīfa, lit. 'successor') does not appear to have been adopted until the reign of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705), when he adopted it as a means to strengthen his position, whose legitimacy had been shaky following the Second Fitna.[4]
Among Sunnis, the adoption of the title of amīr al-muʾminīn became virtually tantamount to claiming the caliphate. As a result, the title was used by the great Islamic dynasties that claimed the universal leadership over the Muslim community: the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Fatimids.[1] In later centuries, it was also adopted by regional rulers, especially in the western parts of the Muslim world, who used the caliphal rank to emphasize their independent authority and legitimacy, rather than any ecumenical claim.[1] The Umayyads of Cordoba adopted it in 928, whence it was also used by several other minor rulers of al-Andalus. From 1253, the Hafsids of Ifriqiya claimed the caliphate, and were followed by the Marinids of Morocco, following whom all successive Moroccan dynasties—the last two of them, the Saadi dynasty and the current Alaouite dynasty, also by virtue of their claimed descent from Muhammad[5]—have also claimed it.[1] The Constitution of Morocco still uses the term amīr al-muʾminīn as the principal title of the King of Morocco, as a means to "[legitimise the monarchy's] hegemonic role and its position outside significant constitutional restraint".[6]
At the same time, the title has retained a connotation of command in the jihād ('Holy War'), and has been used thus throughout history, without necessarily implying a claim to the caliphate.[1][7] It was used in this sense by the early Ottoman sultans—who notably rarely used the caliphal title after they took it from the Abbasids in 1517—as well as various West African Muslim warlords until the modern period.[1] The Afghan ruler Dost Mohammad Khan likewise used it when he proclaimed a jihād against the Sikh in 1836.[8] According to historian Richard Pennell, this pattern reflects the use of the term amīr al-muʾminīn for regional rulers with the connotations of wide-ranging and absolute authority over a region, the power to conduct relations with foreign states, the upkeep of the Sharia, and the protection of Muslim territory from non-believers.[9]
More recently, the title was adopted by the Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 1996,[8] and the Islamic State leader Abu Umar al-Baghdadi in 2005, nine years before IS proclaimed its caliphate in 2014.[10] As Richard Pennell commented, by claiming the title they positioned themselves as potential "caliphs-in-waiting",[9] but for the moment, the title was simply the expression of their claim to an overarching "activist authority" over the areas they controlled.[11]