The Socio-Political Developments That Fostered the Phenomenon of Heresy in the Early ʿAbbāsid Period

Abstract

This study aims to examine the historical background of the phenomenon of (zindīq) heresy and the political and social developments that fueled this phenomenon it in the early ʿAbbāsid period. With the political, geographical, and cultural developments at the end of the Umayyads and the beginning of the ʿAbbāsids, certain deviant ideologies emerged, referred to as heresy, which deeply affected Muslim society. These groups, which held various ideas and ideologies incompatible with the fundamental principles of Islam, sometimes gained enough power to influence the bureaucratic mechanisms of the state, parallel to the political and social developments of the early ʿAbbāsid period. The ʿAbbāsid caliphs engaged in a decisive struggle against heretical groups such as Markūnīism, Dahrīism, Manicheanism, Daysānīism, Sanawīism, Mazdakīism, and Madjūsīism, which mainly aimed to revive ancient Persian beliefs and traditions; they even considered this issue important enough to bequeath it to their successors. As a matter of fact, for the first time in this period, an institution called Dīwān al-Zanādiqa was established in which these heretical groups were tried and punished. The heretics and blasphemers tried to spread their deviant ideas and ideologies at every opportunity, and took a deliberate attitude towards corrupting the Muslim society at the level of belief and practice. While the heretical movements continued secretly and deeply during the phases when the state mechanism was authoritarian, they continued more openly and visibly during the phases when political and social policies began to soften. In this framework, it has been observed that the heretics developed their attitudes according to the atmosphere created by the political and social policies adopted by the caliphs. The study focuses on the thesis that religious and sociocultural developments in the early ʿAbbāsid period, such as the institution of Bayt al-Hikma, translation movements, the Mihna incident, and the Shūbiyya movement, fed the phenomenon of heresy. Finally, the study adopts a literature review and documentation method. Classical and modern sources covering the early Abbasid period have been reviewed and classified to the extent that they enable the identification of phenomena shaped around the concept of heresy, striving to present a meaningful whole.