''Shu'ubiyya'' () was a social, cultural, literary, and political movement within the

Muslim world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

that sought to oppose the privileged status of

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

and the

Arabization Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociology, sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arabs, Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic, Arabic language, Arab cultu ...

of non-Arab civilizations amidst the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

, particularly under the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

. The vast majority of the ''Shu'ubis'' were

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. It was first seriously studied by Hungarian scholar Ignaz Goldziher in the first volume of his work '' Muslim Studies''.

Terminology

The name of the movement is derived from the use of ''šuʿūb'' for "nations" or "peoples" in the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Islamic scholars In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

and Quranic exegetes interpret this verse as a declaration of the fundamental equality of all human beings against ethnic, racial, social, cultural, or linguistic differences, with only faith in God serving as a valid measure of a person's value.

In Iran

When used as a reference to a specific movement, the term refers to a response by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s to the failed attempt of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in the 9th and 10th centuries. It was primarily concerned with preserving Persian culture and protecting Persian identity. In the late 8th and early 9th centuries, there was a resurgence of Persian national identity. This came mainly through the patronage of the Iranian

Samanid The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...

dynasty. The movement left substantial records in the form of Persian literature and new forms of poetry. Most of those behind the movement were Persian, but references to

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

Berbers Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connec ...

and

Arameans The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered c ...

are attested.

In Al-Andalus (Spain)

Two centuries after the end of the Shu'ubiyyah movement in the east, another form of the movement came about in Islamic

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

and was controlled by Muwallad (mixed Arab and Iberian Muslims). It was fueled mainly by the

, but included many European cultural groups as well including

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

(known by that time as

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

ns, and

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

. A notable example of ''Shu'ubi'' literature is the epistle ('' risala'') of the Andalusian poet

Ibn Gharsiya Abū ‘Āmir Ibn Gharsīyah al-Bashkunsī () (died 1084), popularly known as Ibn Gharsiya or Ibn García, was a Muwallad poet and ''katib'' (writer) in the Taifa court in Denia. Ibn Gharsiya is known as a proponent for the shu'ubiyya polemi ...

(García).

Opposition

Ibn Qutaybah Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī better known simply as Ibn Qutaybah (; c. 828 – 13 November 889 CE/213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was an Islamic scholar of Persian people, Persian descent. He served as a q ...

scholar) and the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

writer and scholar

Al-Jahiz Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri (; ), commonly known as al-Jahiz (), was an Arab polymath and author of works of literature (including theory and criticism), theology, zoology, philosophy, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, philology, lin ...

are known to have written works denouncing Shu'ubist thoughts.

Neo-''Shu'ubiyya''

In 1966, Sami Hanna and G.H. Gardner wrote an article "Al-Shu‘ubiyah Updated" in the Middle East Journal. The Dutch university professor Leonard C. Biegel, in his 1972 book ''Minorities in the Middle East: Their significance as political factor in the Arab World'', coined from the article of Hanna and Gardner the term ''Neo-Shu'ubiyah'' to name the modern attempts of alternative non-Arab and often non-Muslim nationalisms in the Middle East, e.g.,

Assyrian nationalism Assyrian nationalism is a movement of the Assyrian people that advocates for Assyrian independence movement, independence or autonomy within the regions they inhabit in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. ...

Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism () is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

, Berberism, Coptic nationalism, Pharaonism,

Phoenicianism Phoenicianism is a form of Lebanese nationalism that apprizes and presents Phoenicia, ancient Phoenicia as the chief ethno-cultural foundation of the Lebanese people. It is juxtaposed with Arab migrations to the Levant following the early Muslim ...

. In a 1984 article, Daniel Dishon and Bruce Maddi-Weitzmann use the same neologism, ''Neo-Shu'ubiyya''.Daniel Dishon and Bruce Maddi-Weitzmann, "Inter-Arab issues", in: e.g. p.279

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{cite book, last=Wehr, first=Hans, author2=J M.Cowan, year=1994, title=Arabic-English Dictionary, publisher=Spoken Language Services Inc., location=Urbana, Illinois, isbn=0-87950-003-4 Ethnic groups in the Middle East Islam in Iran Islamic terminology Religion and race Culture of the Abbasid Caliphate Persian literature