Rashid al-Din
RASHID AL-DIN
RASHID AL-DIN (Fazlallah Tabib al-Hamdani , "the physician from Hamadan"; 1247–1318). He was born to Jewish parents in *Hamadan. He was the son of ?Im?d al-Dawla b. Abu al-Khayr, a pharmacist by profession. We do not have any knowledge of the early periods of his life until we hear of him entering the service of the Ilkhan Abaqa (r. 1265–1282), the second *Mongol Emperor, as a physician. We are informed from some early sources that he had embraced Islam around the year 1278, when he was 30 years old. Twenty years later, namely around 1298, Rashid al-Din became a deputy to Sadr al-Din Zanj?ni, the vizier of Arghun's son, Ghazan Khan (r. 1295–1304). A few months later, Sadr al-Din was put to death and his place was taken by Sa?d al-Din S?vaji who made Rashid al-Din his associate. In this capacity Rashid al-Din introduced substantial administrative reforms during Ghazan's reign. He amassed tremendous power and wealth and owned property in almost every corner of the Mongol Empire. Eight of his 14 sons were appointed governors of provinces. As the associate of the S?hib Div?n, mostly using his fortune he built madrasa s, hospitals, and other public and educational institutions in many places in the empire, especially in the capital city of *Tabriz and in the nearby city, Sult?niyya. In the suburb of Tabriz he constructed a little town, called by his name Rab?-i Rashidi, to which he brought intellectuals and artists from different Islamic lands.
In T?rikh-i Uljeitu, composed by ?Abdallah K?sh?ni (d. 1337), we read about a bitter debate which took place between Rashid al-Din and Sa?d al-Din S?vaji in the presence of the Uljeitu. Sa?d al-Din vilified Rashid al-Din with abusive words and called him a Jew (1969:121ff.). For this impudent behavior, Sa?d al-Din was dismissed from the office of the S?hib Div?n and was put to death on February 19, 1312. Rashid al-Din almost experienced the same fate.
Soon afterwards, T?j al-Din ?Ali-Sh?h was appointed by the Emperor Uljeitu to replace Sa?d al-Din. From that time, because of the deep hatred and rivalry between ?Ali-Sh?h and Rashid al-Din, the vast Mongol Empire was divided and administered by the two S?hib Div?ns. Thus ?Ali Sh?h became responsible for northwestern *Persia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor, and Rashid al-Din took charge of central and southern Persia. Eventually, the enmity between the two viziers brought disaster to Rashid al-Din when he was accused of having poisoned the Uljeitu. In an interesting account, related mostly by K?sh?ni, Rashid al-Din was charged with murdering the emperor by prescribing the wrong medicine. During his trial, his Jewish background was mentioned very often. Rashid al-Din, when defending himself against the accusation that he had poisoned Uljeitu, said: "How could I do such a thing? I was a Jewish pharmacologist, a physician, a weak person who rose to a high rank" (Suq??i 1974:183). Rashid al-Din and his 16-year-old son, Ibrahim, were put to death in 1318 by the new emperor, Abu Sai?d, the son of Uljeitu. Consequently, Rashid al-Din's property was confiscated and Rab?-i Rashidi was looted. Later on, one of Rashid al-Din's sons, Ghiy?th al-Din, was appointed vizier to Abu Sa??d (r. 1316–1335).
Rashid al-Din is considered one of the greatest scholars in Persia. Besides Persian, he knew Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, and Mongolian languages. He produced several monumental books, the most important of which was J?mi?al-Tav?r?kh. The latter includes the history of the Mongols and accounts relating to the history of many nations including the European peoples. His production of the history of the Mongol and Turkish tribes remains a single, uniquely valuable source until now. Regarding his writings, including a commentary on *Koran, see S.H. Nasr et al. in the bibliography below. About 80 years later, Rashid al-Din's body was transferred from the Muslim graveyard and buried in the Jewish cemetery.
bibliography:
E. Blochet, Introduction à l'histoire des Mongols (1910); W.J. Fischel, "Ueber Raschid ad-Daulas juedischen Ursprung," in: mgwj, 81 (1937), 145–53; J. Karl, Die Geschichte der Kinder Israels des Rašid ad-Din (1973; ?Abdallah K?sh?ni, Tarikh-i Uljeitu (1969), in Persian; S.H. Nasr et al. (eds), Proceedings of the Colloquium on Rashid al-Din (1971), in Persian; A. Netzer, "Rashid al-Din and His Jewish Background," in: Sh. Shaked and A. Netzer (eds.), Irano-Judaica, 3 (1994), 118–26; B. Spuler, Die Mongolen in Iran (1939); F. Suqa'i, T?li kit?b wafay?t al-a?y?n ibn al-Suq??i (1974).
[Amnon Netzer (2nd ed.)]