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Bankers and Politics: The Kufan Money-Changers in the Eighth Century and Their Role in the Shiite Community
Abstract
Shiite biographical dictionaries contain a number of entries about individuals with the nickname sayrafi, i.e. “money-changer.” These reports indicate that virtually all of them lived during the lifetime of the sixth and seventh Shiite Imams Ja‘far al-Sadiq (d. 765) and Musa al-Kazim (d. 799), and that they formed a professional network. This paper looks to answer a number of questions regarding these money-changers, namely: How was their network organized? What was their role in Shiite political activities? What was their relation to the Imams? Were they the Imams’ associates, and what was the latter’s attitude toward them? How was the money they raised and possessed used? Finally, why did most of them live in the eighth century? Although scanty, the sources do answer these questions. Thus, Shiite hadith collections portray them not only as people dealing with money, but as men wielding considerable influence within the Shiite circles of Kufa, being close associates of the two Imams who as their financial agents received donations on their behalf, disposed of the received money, or raised funds for the Imams in case of need. They formed a tight network, where all the members were bound by the obligation of mutual support. Thus, according to some reports, one such sayrafi was able to raise a considerable sum of money through his “friends” upon the Imam’s request. That Kufa had a special quarter called “the market of money-changers” (suq al-sayarifa), is indicative of the organized manner in which they operated. How was the money raised by these sayarifa used? Some of it went to the settling of inter-community disputes and care for the needy. Some of it, no doubt, was used to promote the Shiite cause in the Caliphate at large. As to why after the time of the Imam Musa the sayarifa disappear from the scene, this is likely because after this period, the Shiite Imams became politically much more invisible than their predecessors and much more closely controlled by the ‘Abbasid caliphs. So even though the profession of money-changing did not disappear in Kufa, they lost their political significance, and hence, do not figure in the sources. In sum, the paper studies the network of money-changers in eighth century Kufan Shiite circles, which was in charge of collecting and distributing money on behalf of the Imams, and played an important role in the political life of Kufan Shiites.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Iraq
Sub Area
7th-13th Centuries